Late at night, Mertem stood at the top of a mountain town.

Outside the city, the besieging army lit torches. There were not many of them, and they half-surrounded the mountain city. But the people at the head of the city were terrified. Although you can only see their figures dimly, and you can't see their faces clearly, you can feel their panic and despair from their cowering movements and the frequent prayers from their mouths.

Under the city, the besieging army gathered again, and several banners with the character "Guo" entered the range of the firelight, allowing both sides to see clearly. A series of whistling and explosions rang out again, and huge flames streaked across the night sky like a meteor shower, smashing the city wall that had experienced two hundred years of wind and rain.

There were also bold guards who shouted "Hu Da supremacy" and "For Imam Ali, for the teacher" and rushed to the city. But after a series of explosions, cracks appeared in the thick stone walls, the breastwork and war tents at the head of the city crumbled, and the fanatics disappeared into the thick smoke and dust.

The wind in the mountains gradually blew and swept away the smoke and dust. The cacophony of the siege towers advancing was heard.

When the smoke cleared, Mertem saw a tower-tall giant Guo Kang moving towards her side of the wall.

"What a strange thing!" She was only calmly observing, but she was also startled, and hurriedly subconsciously shouted: "Don't come here!" The Eagle's Nest is the strongest city defense, and no one has ever been able to capture it! ”

"Hahaha!" The huge Guo Kang let out a loud laugh, and the big banner with the word "Guo" on his shoulder trembled: "Even the Persians are embarrassed to say that the city is defended?" Then let you taste the power of my peach blossom stone technology! ”

As it spoke, it made a creaking and turning sound as it moved. A huge ram, thick and long, sticks out from under the tower and is aimed at the crack in the wall.

"W-no--" Meltem cried mournfully, "the walls won't stand it!" ”

"Roar, roar, eat my Central Plains battering ram——!"

“……！”

She was still in a state of confusion when she suddenly felt someone slapping her. The habit formed by long-term training made her wake up from the confusion at once. When I looked up, I saw Hafsha crouching next to her, looking at her.

"Bejim, Bejim." She called out to Meltem softly, and when she saw her open eyes, she immediately said, "I'm back." ”

"Ah, why am I asleep......" Meltem came back to his senses, quickly sat up, and asked, "Why are you here too?" ”

"I have already arranged the things that Madame explained, so I will come back and take a look. As a result, they said, "You have brought people here." Hafsha asked, "Who are you trying to ambush?" Those target businessmen are all at home, why did they set up an ambush on the road? ”

"Leave me alone. But on your side, did you find the person who escaped? Meltem shook his head.

"Not yet. The woman was very shrewd, and the forces in this city were still too complicated for us. I don't think this can be found out in a day or two, so I told them to investigate and come here to see if they can help. Hafsha said, "It's more urgent than that." ”

"That's right......" Meltem hesitated, "If you're not afraid of your mother's blame, you can come here to help." Because this goal was indeed added by me without authorization, and it is not on the list. ”

"Just now, we stormed into the house of a Rus merchant. The merchant himself was absent, but he found some current accounts from him, most of which pointed to a man named Wang Zongwen. The Templars said that they had an impression of this man before, because the Wang clan had many properties in and around the city, and this person was the one who took care of them, and had business dealings with them, and had borrowed money from them. ”

"We urgently interrogated the Rus' men. They said that the merchant had already taken his family and went to meet the king. ”

"They've begun to assemble, and they're in command?" Hafsha immediately asked.

"Yes. According to what they said, I guess the Wang clan wants to seize the opportunity, play the banner of suppression, and kill the people who oppose them first. As long as he can gather his subordinates first, in terms of strength, he has this possibility, so his judgment is probably not wrong. As long as it works, it's up to them to say whatever they want after that. Mertem replied.

"My brother told everyone that things like this time are more organized than whom, not the number of people. I'm not very good at organizing people, and I can't be like him, quickly pulling a group of followers out of strangers. But I have some way to fight the enemy's organization. Wouldn't it be okay to kill their leaders one step earlier? ”

"According to the captives, the place where the Wang family is located is not big enough, so those people will gather in the open space outside the bamboo forest fang. I sent someone to investigate, and found that this Wang Zongwen was indeed meeting the leaders in the house, and his carriage was parked outside the door. We also intercepted the messenger he sent out, and found that he was delivering letters to Guo, Shi, Cao, and Li. I estimate that in this case, there should be more than one person sent out, and it is estimated that they have all received it. ”

"How did you send a letter to Guo?" Hafsha frowned.

"Maybe it's pretending to be stupid, or maybe I really don't know that my brother did it." "In the letter, he accused Shi Huizhen, saying that she took the lead in killing people and setting fires in the city, and also incited mobs to bully businessmen and destroy public and private property, which is really a heinous crime, and I hope everyone will do you a favor and bring her to justice." ”

"It seems that this person has a really bad reputation." Hafsha muttered.

"yes. Even if it is to avoid the conflict with the Guo family, this method is a bit outrageous...... "Meltem nodded: "I heard that this person's nickname is 'Shi Zetian', and he is a notorious usurper in the history of Taohuashi. I didn't understand it before, but now I know how exaggerated it is - you see, as long as there is her in the bad things, everyone thinks that she must be the lead. ”

"But it doesn't have anything to do with us." She sighed with emotion and quickly returned to the topic: "No matter who he claims to be targeting, he is our enemy." Moreover, in this military organization that is being mobilized, he himself is the weakest link. The best solution we have now is to kill him. ”

"Although he also has a lot of family members on hand, we know from his servants that he is going to Shi's house, probably to explain the situation and get support. As far as I know before, there are many people in the Shi family who are very dissatisfied with this Shi Huizhen, and someone has already taken action to support the Wang family. It is estimated that it is because of this that he has to make a special trip to determine the matter. ”

"Since he is going to the Shi family, it is impossible to bring a large number of people with him, otherwise the Shi family will also suspect him in this chaotic environment. On the way, it is the best opportunity for assassination. Meltem concluded.

"If you succeed, you will be the first person to die among the top nobles of the Roman Khanate." Hafsha reminded.

"We can hibernate, but we can't hibernate forever." "Of course, we can develop slowly in this state, and hopefully one day we can achieve our ideals," Meltem explained. But isn't it too illusory for those who expect everything to come? Outsiders won't respect us for this, and people inside the organization won't be convinced. ”

"It's a risky operation, but how can there be a good thing in the world that can achieve results without taking risks? Isn't my brother himself gambling with his life? She shook her head: "We always have to show the world our worth in exchange for the help of recognition." Otherwise, what else can we rely on, and what can I use to convince everyone? Is it because my brother loves me? ”

"Well, in fact, there are people in the organization who feel that you have a close relationship with the Guo family, and everyone can take advantage of this to get shelter." Hafsha told her with some embarrassment.

"Then I'll have to do something for him." Mertem said without hesitation: "I told you about it, and everyone agreed, so we came here to prepare." ”

"I wanted to look around a lot, but I fell asleep...... It's a bit of a gaffe. I didn't report it to my mother, and my brother didn't have time to talk about it. You can choose whether to participate or not, and I won't blame you. ”

"I'm here, what do you think?" It looked a little resentful, but in the end, he could only shake his head and sigh: "Hey, this kind of thing shouldn't have been made for a little girl of your age to come to risk overnight." You don't have to blame yourself, didn't Elder Hassan say it? When it's time to rest, take a break, don't brace hard. Assassination is a very tiring job, and only by using your energy in key areas can you increase the success rate. ”

"Okay, okay, I got it." Meltem hurriedly said.

"Then you go ahead and rest, and I'll go around and have a few looks." Hafsha stood up, glanced downstairs, tightened her burqa, and said, "Oh, do you still have a veil?" ”

"Take mine." Mertem took out the scarf from under his body and handed it to her: "The investigator hasn't reported yet, why is this surnamed Wang so slow." I'll take a look, too. ”

As she spoke, she tied up her sleeping hair and left.

(End of chapter)