After lunch, Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng, Scarface and a few personal soldiers, rode out of the county seat with Wang Xingben, and headed for Daqi Village. Wang Xingben rode a horse and followed him closely, courteous and attentive along the way, with obvious intentions, and introduced him to the customs and customs of Xia County as he walked.

The county lieutenant was one of the important officials in the county government, in charge of picketing, arrest, and prison. In a big county like Xia County, the county lieutenant should be an official of Zhengjipin. After Wang Xingben finished speaking, Li Zhiyun asked: "County Lieutenant Wang, are you a local?" ”

"Back to the King of Chu, Xia Guan is a local, and his hometown is in Fenghuang Village, ten miles outside Dongcheng."

"Who else is in the house?"

"There is only one sixty-year-old mother...... Well, and an uncle. ”

The two chatted, and soon came to Daqi Village, and under the guidance of the villagers, they found Niu Da's home. It is a dilapidated compound. They dismounted, went into the yard, and found the door locked. Obviously, Niu Da is not at home.

Li Zhiyun walked out of the courtyard and into the courtyard next door. There is a young couple in the house. He stood at the door and said, "I'm tired of asking, where is Niu Da, who lives next door to your house?" ”

"Niu Da is dead." The man in the room said.

Li Zhiyun was taken aback, and hurriedly said, "How did he die?" When did it happen? ”

"About half a month ago," said the man, "Niu Da was cutting pigweed by the pond and fell into the pond and drowned. ”

When Li Zhiyun heard this, he was very disappointed, thought about it, and said, "Then, is there anyone else in his family?" ”

"Nope. Niu Da's parents died early. He was poor, had no money to marry, and was alone. ”

"So, doesn't he have any relatives?"

The man shook his head. At this time, his wife interjected: "He has a cousin, I have met, but I don't know where he lives." After Li Zhiyun thanked him, he returned to the courtyard of the Niu family and said to everyone: "Niu Da is drowning, let's go back." ”

Niu Da died, and the clue to the disappearance case was broken. Li Zhiyun decided to start with the homicide case again. He took out the poem and read it a few more times, and then asked someone to call Scarface and said, "Wang Baoqiang, you select fifty soldiers, and you will personally lead the team to find the place where Zhou Shen's body was found, and search carefully within a radius of five miles to see if you can find anything." Scarface complied and turned to go out.

After Scarface left, Li Zhiyun thought for a moment and said to Zhang Zheng: "You go to find Master Hong, and you say that I want to see him." After Zhang Zheng went for half an hour, he brought Hong Zhaoran over. Li Zhiyun invited him to sit down, asked someone to serve him fragrant tea, and then sat down opposite and said, "Lord Hong, looking for you today, there is nothing important, just talk casually." Then, I talked to him about family life. After chatting for a while, he turned to the topic, "Master Hong, are you familiar with Zhou Shen?" ”

Hong Zhaoran smiled and said, "Can you not be familiar with an errand in a yamen?" ”

"Then, what do you think of Zhou Shen?"

"It's not bad, he's kind and kind, he's diligent, and he gets along well with his colleagues."

"Does he have any enemies? Or is it the right thing or something? ”

"I haven't heard of that." Master Hong said. After pausing for a while, he said again, "Don't hide it from King Chu, the villain has a very good relationship with Zhou Shen, and there are a lot of contacts." When he encountered an accident, the villain felt very uncomfortable. I still have a book I borrowed from him, and I haven't had time to return it to him......"

"What book?" Li Zhiyun asked casually.

"Zhou Yi Yishu."

"Zhou Yi?" Li Zhiyun had an idea, and hurriedly said, "Can you bring that book to me?" ”

"Absolutely." Master Hong stood up and took his leave. After he left, he took about a stick of incense and sent the book over.

Li Zhiyun took the book and said to him, "Master Hong, you go back first." If there is anything, this king will look for you again. ”

After Hong Zhaoran left, Li Zhiyun sat on the side of the case and flipped through the book "Zhou Yiyi Shu". After reading it for a while, I took out the poem again, compared the two compartments, and couldn't help but excitedly pat the case: "That's right!" ……”

Li Zhiyun called Zhang Zheng over and whispered in his ear, Zhang Zheng nodded.

Zhang Zheng returned to his guest room, took off his official uniform, changed into a robe, hid a short sword in his arms, and then left the post station, left the county seat from the north gate, and went straight to Yinhua Mountain.

Zhang Zheng was in good shape, walking like flying, and in less than an hour, he was already standing on the rooftop. In front of you is a rolling mountain with lush greenery, and in the valley, the roof of the temple is faintly visible.

He walked along the stone path to the back mountain, and after half an hour, he came to the front of a temple, only to see the plaque at the main entrance of the Buddha hall read: Puning Temple.

The temple covers a large area, and in addition to the Buddha hall in front, there are many houses in the back, and I don't know what it does. Zhang Zheng walked into the Buddha hall, and there were only pilgrims in twos and threes. He walked around the main hall and found nothing unusual, so he walked out of the main hall and walked towards the house behind him.

The layout of the building behind the main hall was complicated, and he passed through two cloisters and entered a courtyard. There was not a single person in the yard. He was looking around when he suddenly heard someone shouting behind him, "Stop! What for? ”

Zhang Zheng looked back and saw a rude-looking monk walking towards him, his face full of anger. He hurriedly arched his hand and said, "Master, I am a pilgrim who worships the Buddha. ”

"Worship the Buddha and go to the main hall, this is a place for monks to retreat, and outsiders are not allowed to trespass!"

"Yes, yes." Zhang Zheng bowed down and apologized, turned around and returned the way he came. After he left Puning Monastery, he went to several other temples and found nothing. At sunset, he returned to Puning Monastery and hid in a jungle next to the temple, eating the dry food he had brought with him, waiting for night to fall.

At night, the valley is not quiet, in addition to the various insect chirping, there is also the call of owls. Not far away, there was a long howl of mourning, which sounded creepy.

Zhang Zheng took out a face towel from his bosom and tied it, then walked out of the woods, sneaked to the temple, jumped over the high wall, and jumped into the courtyard. He clinged to the shadow of the wall, stood on tiptoe, and walked in a crane, until he turned a corner, and saw two monks with lanterns coming to him, and hurriedly hid in the shadows. After the two monks had walked past, he continued to bow on, entered another small courtyard, and touched the door of a room.

The door was unlocked, and it opened with a slight push. He entered the room, turned back to the door, took the candle and the fire sickle from his bosom, and lit the candle. The room was very cluttered, with many daily necessities in addition to the shrines embedded in the walls, and a few futons piled up haphazardly on the beds. It seems that this is the abode of the monks.

Zhang Zheng walked out of the room and touched the door of another room. The door to this room is locked. He pulled out an object and stabbed it lightly in the keyhole, and the lock opened. He pushed the door open and entered, nearly tripping over something. He hurriedly closed the door, took out a candle and lit it, and looked at it with bated breath, and couldn't help but be horrified. This room was full of weapons, swords, guns, halberds, axes, hooks, hairpins, bows, crossbows, spears, and all kinds of things, and there were thousands of them. It turned out to be an armory.

Zhang Zheng walked out of the room, came to the door next to him, and entered the room as he could. There were no weapons in this room, but many flags made of silk. There were many piles on the table and on the ground, and there were many Buddhist flags leaning against the wall. Zhang Zheng walked to the desk with the candle flame, put the candle down, and then unfurled the large roll of flags and looked at them one by one. Finally, he found a few sides, kneaded them and put them in his arms.

Zhang Zheng has practiced martial arts since he was a child, and his sense of hearing is extremely keen. He suddenly heard footsteps in the distance, and hurriedly blew out the candle flame with a "poof......

The footsteps were made by two monks who were patrolling the night. They came with lanterns in their hands, inspected the armory, and then went to the door of the room, and shone it with the lantern, and the lock was hung on the clasp.

"Hey, why isn't the door locked?" The monk with the lantern shouted.

Another monk said, "Let's go in and have a look!" The two pushed the door into the house and shone it with a lantern, but found nothing unusual. The monk carrying the lantern said, "Will there be outsiders coming in?" ”

"Hey, it's so secret, how can outsiders know? Xu Mingjue forgot to lock the door, let's go. ”

The two monks walked out of the house, closed the door, relocked the lock, and left. Inside the house, Zhang Zheng walked out from behind the Buddha flag against the wall. The monk locked the door, and he could no longer go out of the room, but fortunately there was a skylight. Although the skylight was about a foot or two above the ground, it was not difficult for him.

Zhang Zheng jumped up, climbed onto the window sill, gently pushed open the window sash, climbed out, and jumped down. Then he stooped down and ran over the wall, and after a moment he disappeared into the night......

Early the next morning, Zhang Zheng came to Li Zhiyun's guest room and told him about what he had discovered in Puning Temple last night.

"More than a thousand weapons?" Li Zhiyun was puzzled, "What are you doing with so many weapons stored in the temple?" ”

Zhang Zheng handed him the flags again. Li Zhiyun opened it and took a look, only to see a yellow Buddha flag printed with a few red characters: Mahayana Buddha Country. Printed on the other side: Mahayana Emperor. And a triangular flag reads: "Propagation of the Dharma."

"Mahayana Emperor?" Li Zhiyun said to himself, "Could it be that Gao Tansheng wants to rebel and establish himself as the emperor?" ”

Zhang Zheng nodded: "Very likely." ”

"Okay, I see, you can go back to your room and rest." Li Zhiyun said. After Zhang Zheng left, he looked at the flags and fell into deep thought.