"Does the prince not want to say it or dare not say it?"

Xie Hanci's tone was full of mockery: "My father was dragged into the woods by a frightened horse in full view of everyone, just to send him back to Shuzhou to recuperate, and find another scapegoat on the way." Lord, don't worry, I will take you this favor. ”

King Ning didn't answer, but just clamped the horse's belly with his legs, tightened the reins, and sped up.

Xie Hanci then said unrelentingly: "Don't you just want to buckle your hat on the head of the bandit?" The goldfinch was wounded by a bandit and died at the hands of a scapegoat. If Da Yue wants to gently expose it, he just killed the thieves in the cave of a hundred diseases, which is also a great achievement, if Da Yue does not follow, he will hand over the thieves and scapegoats together, and let them fall. ”

Xie Hanci's ears were whirring wind, the broken hair on her sideburns hooked on the armor of the person behind her, the horse jumped over the bushes, and her hair was torn painfully, and she gasped.

The person behind him immediately loosened the reins, and the horse's speed slowed down, and King Ning freed up a hand, wanting to untie the hair stuck in the gap in the armor, and the movement was gentle, but he was wearing armor, and there was still a sound of metal rubbing.

Xie Hanci glanced behind him, and just saw the white and slender fingers pinching the ends of his hair, and a few strands of hair were wrapped between his fingers.

It occurred to her that on summer nights, when her mother used to sit in the shade under the bamboo tree after bathing, her hair was spread out like that, and her father took a small grate dipped in osmanthus head oil and combed her hair, and he would wrap his fingers around the ends of her hair, and the black hair was like a silky brocade between his fingers.

During that time, my father always had a fragrance of osmanthus on his body, and he was ridiculed by his brother, saying that this fragrance should be called "finger wrapping soft".

Xie Hanci thought that he had also used osmanthus head oil before leaving, and looked at his hair wrapped around his fingers, wondering if the fragrance would also get on his hands.

Thinking about it, I suddenly felt a hot flush on my face, so I had to quickly stop it and pretend that I didn't see anything.

"I used the same trick as Governor Zhang to design and hurt Lord Xie, and then find another person to take the blame." He whispered to Xie Hanci's ear and laughed at himself: "In your eyes, I am such a person, right?"

Xie Hanci subconsciously shook his head, but when the words came to his lips, he became one, "I only know that Governor Zhang did not kill the golden finch, and he killed two innocent people in order not to bear this trumped-up charge." ”

King Ning untied his tangled hair and drove the horse again: "Governor Zhang has done all the bad things, which crime listed in Hu Sanmi's letter wronged him?" You say, "Don't such people deserve to die?" ”

Xie Hanci didn't think he was innocent, but he couldn't say that he had to die, in the howling wind, she whispered, like a kite that was about to float away at any time, but it still fell into King Ning's ears.

"According to the "Dafeng Law", he should be tried by the three divisions, whether he deserves to die or not, it is not for me to decide."

In the cave in front of him, there was a neighing of horses, and Xie Hanci immediately shouted through the hole: "It's a white crane!" Over there. ”

The two dismounted and walked to the depths of the cave with a little blood on the ground, and along the way, Xie Hanci subconsciously tugged at the corner of his cloak, and the sweat on his hands soaked the dark blue satin into black.

Turning a corner, Xie Hanci saw a man and a horse, Xie Yuan lying on the gravel, next to a small waterfall, the water sloping down from the crack in the roof of the cave, and then falling into a deeper crack.

"Daddy! How are you? Xie Hanci came to Xie Yuan's side, only to see that his eyes were closed, his face was pale, the crown of hair on his head was gone, and his wet hair was attached to his face, so he quickly put his hand under Xie Yuan's nose, but fortunately, his snort was gentle and steady, and he was a little relieved.

King Ning put his hand on Xie Yuan's pulse, and after a cup of tea, he said, "It's not a big deal, it should be too frightened and kowtowed, just go back and pour a little antler wine." ”

The "White Crane" next to him seemed to understand King Ning's words, let out a low nasal voice, reluctantly swept the master's cheek with a ponytail, and finally glanced at Xie Yuan, then fell down and never got up again.

Its horse's head rested on the pile of rubble, and its eye, which had not been hit by the arrow, was half-open, still looking at Xie Yuan, its eyes were scattered, as if it was covered with a thin layer of white mist.

Xie Hanci stepped forward and touched its sideburns that were clumped together due to blood, and he couldn't bear it.

King Ning took out the dagger on his waist, squatted down, and said softly: "It can't live, I can not let it hurt so much, as long as you agree." ”

Xie Han said goodbye to his face, listened to its heavy and painful gasps, and finally nodded.

The warm horse's blood flowed into the icy water, down the waterfall, and into a deeper place.

On the way back, King Ning led the horse in front, Xie Hanci held Xie Yuan on the horseback with one hand, and pinched the arrow pulled from the "white crane" with the other hand.

She wanted to put the arrow in her purse and send it to the temple to chant prayers in the future, but she found that something was wrong with the arrow in her hand, this arrow was not an ordinary conical arrow, but a soul-chasing arrow!

The arrow of the conical arrow is flat, triangular, ordinary blacksmith can forge it, the cost is low, the process is simple, the disadvantage is that the lethality is not strong, but the bandit is to rob the money, and the living mouth can also ask for an extra ransom.

But this soul-chasing arrow is different, the soul-chasing arrow is also known as the "barbed arrow", the arrow is designed in the shape of a barb, there are barbs at both ends of the arrow's tail, extremely sharp, once it is shot by this kind of arrow, the arrow will be stuck in the body, and the wound will bleed profusely, and the whole piece of meat can only be cut off with a knife.

Xie Han called King Ning in front of him, handed over the arrow, and said, "Lord Wang, look, this is an arrow pulled from the white crane, how can ordinary thieves use soul-chasing arrows?" ”

He frowned after taking the arrow, "It's not an ordinary soul-chasing arrow, the tip of the arrow is sharpened into a prismatic shape, and if the arrow is not pulled out in time, it will also bleed and die." This is a vicious method that the assassins in charge of assassination in Da Yue have only studied in the past few years, and many of the people under my command have died under this kind of arrow. ”

Hearing this, Xie took back the arrow in his hand, took out a white square handkerchief from his arms, wrapped it and handed it over, "Keep it, in case the scapegoat you find is useless, you can also push it on the assassin." ”

King Ning stared at Xie Hanci's dusty and bloodstained face, and said, "There will be no more scapegoats, the golden finch died at the hands of the bandits, and Da Yue will not investigate deeply." ”

Xie Hanci looked up at the sky, the sun was obscured by the overlapping trees in the valley, and the light shot to the bottom of the valley through the dense leaves, leaving only irregular spots of light.

"The prince's words, like this light shining on the ground, the shadow is enough, you have to go over the layers of trees to see the true face, if the prince is not at ease, you don't have to speak, if you are willing to treat me as your own, then ......"

Is she one of her own? He is a prince, often in and out of the deep palace, accompanied by the king like a tiger, where can such a person believe in others?

Xie Hanci still swallowed the words back, and the remaining half of the sentence was like a broken half-broken branch, hanging on the trunk, but there was no way to grow back.

Xie Hanci couldn't take his words, and King Ning also lowered his head in front, not knowing what to say, he didn't know where to say it, how to say it. Every time the emperor explained something to him, he only looked at the result, and no one cared about the process, so he didn't need to explain it to anyone.

The two walked in silence for a long time, and King Ning sighed, but still opened his mouth: "Do you know where the thieves in this cave of the hundred diseases come from?" “

Xie Hanci shook his head and said, "I only heard that it was a homeless person from the south." ”

"Outcasts? They are not ordinary homeless, ordinary homeless people have long been powerless because of long-term travel, starvation, and have to beg outside the city to make a living. King Ning pulled the reins, glanced back at Xie Hanci and said, "They are the descendants and old subordinates of General Kunyu. ”

Xie Hanci opened his mouth in disbelief, "General Kunyu? Da Yue's Kunyu Xianrong? ”

Seeing King Ning nodding, Xie Hanci continued: "No wonder the king joined the army for three days and three nights and failed to exterminate him, but how could they come here and become bandits?" ”

"Many years ago, Kunyu Xianrong was suspected of having an affair with my concubine Hui, and the secret letter between the two was intercepted by the palace guards. The concubine committed suicide, and her mother's family was convicted and beheaded all over the house. General Kunyu was already a master in Dayue, and was feared by the emperor, and after this incident, the Dayue Emperor immediately executed him secretly, and his clansmen and old tribes were also assassinated. “

Xie Hanci bit his lip and was silent for a long time before he said: "I only know that General Kunyu suddenly fell ill at the border a few years ago and died young. Concubine Hui drowned, and her brother missed her deceased sister too much, leading the demon monk into the house, involving the witch Gu case. I never thought that there would be such a connection. ”

King Ning lowered his eyes slightly, "The secret affairs in the palace are disgraceful, and the emperors of the two countries are reluctant to make a noise." It's just that in the past few years in Dayue, there have been no generals who can get their hands on it, only a Zhaogui general, or a woman, and there are often people in the Dayue Dynasty who reiterate how heroic Kunyu Xianrong was back then, if it is ......"

Xie Hanci took over the words: "If it is known that such a great general was executed without investigation for a few secret letters, and the old clan even fled to Dafeng and became the king of the mountain, it would really be enough to shake the government and the opposition." Therefore, Emperor Dayue will definitely not delve further. ”

King Ning nodded and continued.

"I let out the news two days before I set off, the bandits only knew that this was a caravan from Shuzhou to the capital, in order to eat this 'fat sheep', they dug a ravine in advance, and also bought explosives from the black market, created a landslide, blocked the mountain road in Xiushuiling, and I took the opportunity to propose to take the road of the Hundred Sick Caves."

His left hand slowly pulled the reins tight, and his voice grew colder.

"I knew they had dug a trap and that the wagons carrying the tribute would sink into the pit. But they shouldn't have so many archers, and they shouldn't have such arrows in their hands! “

Xie Hanci frowned and said: "But this doesn't make sense, this kind of arrow was only used by the Dayue assassins in the past two years, and the bandits in the Hundred Sick Caves had it ten years ago, could it be that they have always been in contact with Dayue?" ”

King Ning shook his head and said, "Impossible, Emperor Dayue is suspicious, and he likes to cut grass and eradicate roots, and the assassins sent to chase them down are too late, how can he provide them with weapons?" ”