Xiangcheng County, like other county seats, also stationed 300 local state soldiers, the existence of state soldiers is to maintain law and order, guard the city gates, generally each county is led by a school captain, directly responsible to the assassin Shi.

The state soldiers of Xiangcheng County are divided into three shifts, taking turns to guard the city gate, there are hundreds of soldiers responsible for guarding the city at night, each city gate has about twenty-five people, but Xiangcheng County does not have any war situation, in the prosperous peace period of the Tang Dynasty, guarding the city is actually just a routine official business, no one will really be honest and sleepless all night guarding the city.

Time has passed three watches, most of the more than 20 defenders guarding the south gate have gone into the city tower to sleep, only a few recruits wrapped in thick blankets sit at the base of the wall to nap, in fact, after the city gate is closed, it will not be opened again at night, unless there is urgent business, but this situation is also extremely rare.

At this time, the county lieutenant Pei Shunqing appeared in Nanchengtou, as the magistrate in charge of public security in a county, he also often patrols the city gate, which is a normal thing, and his appearance did not surprise the soldiers, but several recruits were so frightened that they stood up one after another.

Pei Shunqing smiled and said: "I guess you won't pay attention to me for another two years, if you want to sleep, go to sleep inside, and leave one person here." ”

"Thank you, Lieutenant"

After Pei Shunqing walked through the city, several soldiers quietly pulled and slipped into the city tower one after another, since even the county lieutenant allowed them to sleep, what were they polite? Only one of them hid in the leeward place and wrapped his body tightly with a blanket again.

At this time, a group of black shadows appeared on the south city wall, about a hundred people, they threw several rolls of soft ladder ropes onto the city wall, stuck to the city wall, and waited patiently for Pei Shunqing to appear on the city.

The leader is Jian Dongxi, most of the samurai he led are outlaws hired at a high price, Jian Dongxi also knows that he is taking a big risk, but he does not dare to disobey Wu Sansi's order, after some consideration, he decided not to bring Goguryeo warriors, so as not to cause serious consequences if the assassination fails.

At this time, Pei Shunqing walked over slowly, picked up three soft ladder ropes and hung them on the battlements, and threw the other end of the soft ladder down, he slowly walked away again, he didn't want to reveal his identity, he could only secretly help Jian Dongxi and his men.

Jian Dongxi pulled the soft ladder, which was already firmly hung, he was overjoyed, and waved his hand, "Up"

A hundred black-clothed warriors jumped up the soft ladder and quickly climbed to the top of the city, and soon they climbed to the top of the city, and they crouched on the city wall, both sides were very quiet, and they were about fifty paces away from the tower, with a battlement in between, and the soldiers there could not see what was going on.

Jian Dongxi slowly looked down, the location they were in now was exactly where he had confirmed in advance, under the city wall was the inner courtyard of the post house, only to see three courtyards side by side, on both sides was the courtyard where the guards lived, and in the middle was the main courtyard, that is, where Li Xian, the king of Luling, and the princess stayed.

Jian Dongxi's sharp eyes stared at the rooms in the middle, the target they wanted to assassinate was now asleep, he waved his hand, and the black-clothed warriors gathered around.

Jian Dongxi whispered to everyone: "I repeat, our target today is a high-ranking official of the Tang Dynasty, more than forty years old, only he is the oldest, he is white and fat, this person lives in the middle courtyard, and those who get his head will be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold, and he will never break his promise."

These warriors are all outlaws who kill people for money, Mo said that Jian Dongxi deliberately concealed the identity of the target, and told them that they were Li Xian, the king of Luling, and they would not hesitate to start, a thousand taels of gold Everyone's eyes were red, and they were all gearing up, waiting for the order to attack.

Jian Dongxi observed for another moment, and was sure that as he knew in advance, the inner guards were all patrolling the periphery, and there were only guards in the inner courtyard, he didn't care about these guards, the only thing he was worried about was the internal guard warriors, so Pei Shunqing made this suggestion, came down from the city wall, and directly entered the inner courtyard, and ended Li Xian's life before the inner guards arrived.

Jian Dongxi's heart was crossed, and he shouted in a low voice: "Action"

More than a dozen long ropes threw off the city wall, and strings of black-clothed warriors quickly slid down the city with long swords in their hands, and swooped down on the middle compound where Li Xian was staying.

At this moment, one of the guards happened to come out of the room, and when he looked up, he saw countless men in black rushing towards him, and he was so frightened that he shouted, "There are assassins"

"There's a thorn in it."

The guards were stabbed by Jian Dongxi, and then slit his throat, and died tragically on the spot, but several guards who were gambling in the room were alarmed, and they drew their swords and rushed out, and dozens of assassins rushed like a violent wind, fighting fiercely with several guards.

"There are assassins, there are assassins"

Several guards shouted while retreating, but soon they were engulfed by the black-clothed assassins and were killed one after another, the guards' shouts alarmed the surrounding guards, Han Zhiqi was shocked and angry, shouted loudly to order all the guards to gather in the middle courtyard, and shouted to one of his subordinates: "Go quickly and ask the internal guards for help, go quickly"

More than a dozen guards were distributed on the roof and in the courtyard, fighting fiercely with the hundreds of black-clothed assassins who swarmed and killed, although the guards' martial arts were not weak, but their numbers were too small to withstand the attack of the opponent's wolves.

In the room, Li Xian and Princess Wei were awakened by screams and warnings, the husband and wife were so frightened that they hid under the table, both of them were pale and trembling, several eunuchs and palace maids were even more frightened and shrunk into the corner, Su Yue drew out his long sword and stood in the room, staring at the surrounding situation with a stern gaze, she had already heard that there were a lot of stabbing guests outside, and the guards couldn't stand it.

At this moment, there was a loud bang overhead, a big hole was opened in the roof, and two black-clothed assassins jumped down, and before the two of them landed, the sword light in Su Yue's hand flashed, and the two human heads flew up, blood sprayed a wall, and the two corpses fell to the ground, and a scream suddenly sounded in the room.

A human skull rolled right in front of Princess Wei Lian, Wei Lian had never seen such a terrifying scene, the deceased's eyes were still blinking at her, she was also so frightened that she screamed, fainted, Li Xian was a little bolder, stretched out his foot and kicked away the head.

At this time, there was a scream overhead, but no one jumped down from the big hole in the roof, Su Yue was suddenly surprised, this should be the arrival of reinforcements, followed by another loud bang, the window was knocked open, and several black-clothed assassins rolled in.

Their martial arts were high-definition, their bodies turned over in the room, and several sword lights stabbed straight in, Su Yue saw that the other party was menacing, and couldn't help but take a step back, blocking Li Xian and his wife in the table hole with his body, swinging his sword to fight, and fighting fiercely with several black-clothed assassins who rushed in.

Thirty warriors of the inner guard had arrived in time, they were all ready, sleeping in their clothes, their swords were by their side, and they could rush to support them as soon as there was any movement in the inner courtyard.

These thirty internal guard warriors were specially selected by Li Zhen, all of them were strong in martial arts and experienced, they didn't care about the side courtyards on both sides, but went straight to the middle courtyard where Li Xian lived, and under the leadership of Zhao Qiuniang, they directly entered the courtyard, and fought fiercely with a hundred black-clothed assassins.

Li Zhen stood on the roof dozens of steps away, holding a bow and arrow, he brought three pots of arrows, specifically hunting the assassins on the roof, only to see his arrows like meteors, one arrow hit an assassin who was about to jump through the big hole in the roof, the assassin screamed, rolled down from the roof, and then the second arrow and the third shot like a meteor, all of them were killed by one arrow, and the arrow hit the assassin's vital point.

In just a moment, none of the dozen black-clothed assassins on the roof survived, all of them died under Li Zhen's sharp arrows, and several guards on the roof were stunned by Li Zhen's magic arrows, but they were glad that they had escaped, and at this time, a purple shadow rushed towards the main roof, and the target went straight to the big hole in the roof.

The two guards were shocked, and just as they were about to swing their swords to intercept, Li Zhen's two arrows immediately shot, 'Dangdang, there were two crisp sounds, and the sword in the guard's hand was shot out

As the elite internal guard warriors joined the battle, the situation was quickly reversed, and the black-clothed assassins began to develop on the negative side, but the fierce battle in the room was still very fierce, and Su Yue gradually lost the upper hand with one enemy and six enemies, and became extremely difficult.

An assassin discovered Su Yue's loophole, and she seemed to be unable to take care of her feet, so he lay on the ground and slowly crawled towards the table hole, looking at Li Xian and his wife in the table hole with a cruel smile.

Li Xian was holding a dagger in his hand, he couldn't move, he was already desperate, at this moment, a purple shadow fell from the big hole in the roof, Su Yue was shocked, and was about to swing his sword to provoke, only to hear Di Yan's voice shouting: "Senior sister, it's me"

Her body was as light as a milk swallow, and with a wave of the long sword in the air, it forced an assassin back, and then the long sword went downward, like a bolt of lightning, and pierced deeply into the head of the assassin who had crawled to the edge of the table, Li Xian recognized Di Yan, who was the girl who was with Li Zhen in Xiao'en Temple that day, and he suddenly breathed a long sigh of relief, as if he had passed by death, and couldn't help but give her a thumbs up.

Di Yan flew up, and the long sword stabbed at the two assassins in the air, relieving the danger on Su Yue's right side, and the two sisters fought side by side, withstanding wave after wave of crazy attacks by the assassins, and as the two internal guard warriors also entered the room, the crisis in the room was finally alleviated.

Jian Dongxi hated and angry in his heart, but he was helpless, the strength of the internal guards was too strong, they were not opponents at all, seeing that the general trend had gone, and the task of assassinating Li Xian was no longer possible, he immediately shouted in Goguryeo: "Retreat, retreat, retreat"

He turned around and ran towards the outside of the post house, followed closely by several Goguryeo warriors, while the other black-clad assassins did not understand his shouts and did not retreat in time, becoming the cover for the retreat of the Goguryeo warriors.

Li Zhen heard Jian Dongxi's shout, and he was stunned in his heart, aren't they from the Tang Dynasty?

At this time, he saw several black-clothed people flying towards the outside of the post house, he immediately opened his bow and arrows, aimed at the last black-clothed man, and as soon as the bowstring was loosened, a wolf's tooth arrow shot out like lightning, 'poof, an arrow hit the thigh of the last black-clothed man, the black-clothed man stumbled, fell to the ground, and Li Zhen immediately pounced.

But he was still a step too late, and the man in black saw that there was no hope of escape, and the pursuers had arrived, so he drew a dagger and stabbed him in the chest, killing him instantly.