Huo Zhishan smiled bitterly and said: "But what can I do, there's no point in catching me, I don't know who the murderer is"

"It doesn't matter"

Li Zhen shook his head and smiled: "The important thing is that you confirmed my guess, this pearl is a trap, it is deliberately misleading me astray, at least I don't have to go to Lingnan to arrest people anymore." ”

Huo Zhishan asked in a low voice, "Will I be executed?"

Li Zhen pondered for a moment and said, "Yesterday I met King Xiang again, and he pleaded with me on your behalf, saying that you did not have the intention of killing him, and that you blocked the third assassin at a critical moment, buying time for the other guards to arrive and saving his life, and he hoped that I could spare your life." ”

Huo Zhishan sighed, "King Xiang treats me so well, but I betrayed him, what face do I have to survive, Commander Li, I am willing to die for my sin, I only want to spare my father and eldest brother, it has nothing to do with them." ”

Li Zhen smiled, "Actually, I can indeed spare your life, but you have to at least tell me a little clue so that I have a reason to spare you." ”

Although Huo Zhishan was ashamed and willing to die in his heart, if there was a chance to live, he could not be unmoved, he thought about it, then bit his lip and said: "Among the assassins, there is a person with a very good hammer technique, very powerful, I have also seen him once, this person is not tall, has a baby face, and refuses to open his mouth easily, I think, there are very few people who use hammers, and there are few people who are powerful in hammer skills, Commander Li can find it from this direction, and he should be able to find the person who assassinated the king." “

Li Zhen realized, nodded and said: "This is a good suggestion, I believe it will be rewarding."

Li Zhen turned around and walked away quickly, and his order to the samurai came from outside the door, "Untie him and heal his wounds"

Although Huo Zhishan's suggestion sounded quite reasonable, using the hammer man as a clue to investigate, but when he began to track it down, Li Zhencai realized that the facts were not so simple, he asked many people, including the captains of the internal guard, as well as the local snakes in the Nanshi area, all of whom had never heard of people who used hammers as weapons.

This made Li Zhen very disappointed, but the internal guard warriors who went to capture Huo Zhishan told him that they had indeed seen a man in black who was using a hammer in Xingyang, and Huo Zhishan was not lying.

On the third floor of Jiangzuo Restaurant, Li Zhen looked a little sullen, drinking slowly with a wine glass, and didn't say a word for a long time, Di Yan understood his thoughts, she said in a low voice: "Have you ever gone to the fat man and asked him to go to Qianniuwei to inquire, I think Qianniuwei has a wide range of news, and they must have someone who knows about this person who makes the hammer." ”

Li Zhen sighed, drank all the wine in the cup, and said with a wry smile: "I also know that I can ask Qianniuwei to inquire, but this matter is relatively secret, if the news spreads too widely, even if someone knows about this person, he will disappear immediately, do you understand what I mean?"

Di Yan nodded silently, she understood Li Zhen's hardship, she wanted to find more people to inquire about the news, and she also wanted to keep it secret, which was really difficult to do.

Di Yan thought for a while, and suddenly smiled again: "Or let's go to the armory shop to inquire, I know that there is a largest armory shop in Nanshi, and there are all kinds of weapons, maybe they know." ”

A sentence reminded Li Zhen, and he immediately got up and said, "Let's go."

He walked quickly downstairs, Di Yan saw that he was so anxious that he didn't even care about eating, he couldn't help but shake his head, and said to the bartender who came up next to him: "We'll come back later." ”

The bartender was very familiar with them, and said with a smile: "Girl, go quickly, I will arrange it." ”

Di Yan hurriedly chased after him, "Hey, wait for me." ”

Running all the way to the gate of Nanshi, Di Yan caught up with Li Zhen, and she said angrily: "You guy, do you bully me because of your long legs?" There are more than a dozen weapons shops in Nanshi, do you know which one I'm talking about?"

"Isn't it Wudetang?" Li Zhen said apologetically,

"That's right, it's Wudetang, but if your dignified internal guard commander asks about it, do you think they will tell the truth?"

Di Yan coughed, pretending to be Li Zhen's voice and said in a rough voice: "Shopkeeper, I want to know who you sold the hammer to?"

She changed her voice again, as if she was the shopkeeper in the store, "What did Commander Li say, don't scare the small people, the small shop is law-abiding and operates on a small basis, how dare you sell contraband like a hammer, I have never sold it"

Li Zhen couldn't help laughing, he was a little negligent, forgetting that the hammer was contraband, and ordinary stores didn't dare to buy and sell it openly, like himself, an internal guard, they wouldn't admit it.

"Then I'll wait for you outside, you go and ask?"

"It's not necessary, I know the shopkeeper of Wudetang, I'm here, it's not a big problem, come with me"

Di Yan glanced at him and walked quickly towards the south city, Li Zhen no longer took the lead this time, and followed behind Di Yan.

The weapon shop is located in the northwest corner of Nanshi, consisting of more than a dozen shops, Datang has control over horizontal swords, armor, crossbow arrows and long weapons, and is not allowed to buy and sell privately, but there are no restrictions on ordinary swords, bows and arrows, leather armor, daggers and other ordinary weapons, especially long swords, which are worn by everyone.

Wudetang is the largest weapons shop on this street, maybe it is dusk, the store is very quiet, there are no customers, a guy greeted him, and said with a smile on his face: "Do you two want to buy weapons?"

"I want to see you rice shopkeeper, you go to him. ”

"Girl, wait a minute, I'll go"

The guy walked quickly, Li Zhen looked at this weapon shop with his hand, and saw that there were rows of sword racks in the middle, on which were placed all kinds of long swords, most of them had no scabbards, and the cold light was shining, but if you looked closely, they were very ordinary, they belonged to entry-level long swords, and the walls were also full of long swords, the quality was slightly better than the one on the sword rack, but it was not much better.

At this time, Li Zhen saw a row of sword racks in the corner, on which there were seven or eight long swords, different from other swords, the swords here all have scabbards, Li Zhen suddenly had a little interest, and came to the sword frame with his hand, and a guy next to him smiled: "Childe is very eye-catching, these eight swords are all made by famous craftsmen, and they are much better than other swords."

"Really?"

Li Zhen picked up a sword casually, only to see that the scabbard was shark skin, embroidered with gold and silver thread, and the hilt of the sword was also a good gold wood, and it was also inlaid with two rubies, which looked quite gorgeous, he slowly pulled out the sword, and his eyes suddenly showed a look of disappointment, it was a little better than the sword on the wall, but the so-called famous craftsman made it probably a waste of fame, and he really couldn't look down on it.

He put the sword back and snorted disdainfully, "Does Wudetang only sell these swords?"

Seeing that Li Zhen couldn't look down on the swords in the lobby, this guy bowed down and said with a smile: "These swords are ordinary long swords, purchased by ordinary people, if you are a person who really practices martial arts, or a person like Childe who knows the goods, of course you can't look at these swords, there are still some swords in the inner hall, I believe that Childe will not be disappointed, do you want the villain to take you there?"

"We'll talk about it later."

Li Zhen glanced at it and saw a middle-aged man hurriedly walking out, Di Yan greeted him and said with a smile: "Fourth Uncle Mi, I haven't seen you for a long time." ”

"It turned out to be Miss Ah Yan, it's been a long time, are you here to see the sword today?" The shopkeeper looked quite familiar with Di Yan, and his smile was very kind.

Di Yan stepped forward and whispered a few words to him, and then pointed to Li Zhen, the shopkeeper of Mi only realized that there was an unusual character here, he was suddenly startled, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "It turned out to be Commander Li, the villain Mi Nan, the shopkeeper of the store, disrespectful." ”

The guy was too scared to say anything more, Li Zhen smiled faintly, "I'm just accompanying Miss Di for a walk, nothing official." ”

Di Yan said two more words to him, and the shopkeeper showed embarrassment on his face, but finally agreed, "Please Miss Di and Commander Li come with me." ”

He took Li Zhen and Di Yan to the back hall and invited them to sit down, Li Zhen also had a few rows of swords in the back hall, obviously more than the swords in the front hall, he didn't dare that he didn't come to see the sword today, nor did he deliberately taste the sword, and after a while, the shopkeeper brought a thick scroll over.

Sitting down at the small table opposite Li Zhen and Di Yan, he handed the scroll to Li Zhen and said with a smile: "It is true that our store does not sell prohibited weapons, but if some customers have special requirements, we can help him find a famous person to order, and it has nothing to do with the small shop, and the small shop only charges a little intermediary fee." ”

The implication is that this weapons shop does not sell prohibited weapons, but it can be matched, but the so-called intermediary fee is actually the profit from the sale of weapons, which is just a marginal ball.

Li Zhen unfolded the scroll and took a closer look, only to see that there were all kinds of weapons in the atlas, swords, guns, swords, halberds, eighteen kinds of weapons, and even horizontal knives, crossbows, Mingguang armor and other forbidden weapons, Li Zhen did not dare to be interested in these, and directly found a hammer, there are about a dozen kinds of hammers, such as watermelon hammer, octagonal hammer, eight-sided purple gold hammer, thunder drum urn gold hammer, meteor hammer and so on.

Li Zhen pointed to the octagonal hammer and smiled: "I'm very interested in this octagonal hammer, I don't know if anyone in Luoyang has ever bought this kind of hammer, it weighs about thirty pounds, it's just a single-handled hammer, does the rice shopkeeper have an impression?"

The shopkeeper suddenly understood that Li Zhen was not here to buy prohibited weapons, but to investigate the person who used this octagonal hammer, and he was very embarrassed: "Although I have records, but we have store rules, and we must not divulge the secrets of guests, please forgive Commander Li." ”

Li Zhen sneered, "It seems that the shopkeeper Mi doesn't understand very well, I'm just asking one thing now, and I'm kind to ask, if the shopkeeper Mi refuses to cooperate, it doesn't matter, I will bring a large group of internal guards to investigate the case in half an hour, at that time, all those who buy and sell prohibited weapons will be tracked down by the internal guards, is Wudetang willing to bear this risk?"

The shopkeeper suddenly turned pale, if that is the case, then the reputation of Wudetang will be ruined, I am afraid that the proprietor will also have big trouble, and he doesn't want to do it, he was scared in his heart, so he had to get up and say: "Please wait, Gongzi, I'll check."

The shopkeeper walked quickly, and Di Yan complained in a low voice: "This shopkeeper is a distant relative of my family, why are you threatening him?"

"Oh - I don't know"

"I told you what you were going to rob?"

At this time, the shopkeeper Mi hurriedly walked out, holding a thick record in his hand, the expression on his face was very strange, and he said to Di Yan: "I only have one record of this single-handled octagonal hammer here, Ah Yan, yes." It was your master who booked it three years ago. ”