Daylight poured in through the crumbling rooftops, and tiny specks of dust flew in the air. Several corpses were hung from the beams of the house with thick hemp rope in a strange situation, looking like fishermen drying salted fish on the seaside.

Cheng Yuan commanded the catcher to put the body down, and then carried the trembling lieutenant chief, and asked viciously: "Can you see clearly, are these people from your village?" ”

"Yes, yes!" The lieutenant chief just glanced at the bruised corpse's face and turned his head away, recognizing it randomly, "Little general, don't embarrass me, this family is indeed a famous porcelain burner in our village." ”

Cheng Yuan's eyes closed, and he exclaimed in his heart.

According to Chu Zhixia's train of thought, he first investigated the fake bronze statue of King Ming. The statue of King Ming is two or three people high, fired with ceramics, and then used the miraculous painting skills to fake the color and texture of bronze, ordinary porcelain kilns can not do, and dare not do.

The ceramics are fragile, and Qing Xuan and his party returned from Tianzhu and checked the checkpoints layer by layer, so the statue of King Ming must have been dropped near the imperial capital.

Cheng Yuan unprecedentedly instructed the young master soldiers in the three guards of the Yulin Guard, but he really found the clues.

This village is located outside the imperial capital, and the people of the whole village make a living by firing porcelain, and there are many porcelain kilns. Cheng Yuan brought someone to inquire and learned that a family had made a windfall, and the employer had just paid off the balance not long ago.

But it's still a step too late.

"Do you know who hired them and what they burned?" Cheng Yuan asked.

"Alright, if he knew, there would be more than a few people lying here."

Chu Zhixia, who was dressed in civilian clothes, squatted on the ground, bowing his head and playing with the dead man's soft neck. She looked serious, like a lady holding flowers, and she could see Cheng Yuan's cold hair standing upright.

"The traces left by the hemp rope extend from the throat to the side of the neck and even the back of the neck, which is evidence that someone else has been strangled." Chu Zhixia instructed Cheng Yuan lightly, "Just report back to Dali Temple like this, lest next time Your Majesty asks again, you still don't know anything." ”

Cheng Yuan's face was hot, and he nodded yes.

His subordinate Yu Linwei searched this room that could shelter from the wind and rain, and soon found a beautiful wooden box from under the stove.

Chu Zhixia wiped the dust off the box with a handkerchief, and opened the lock with a "click". Lying quietly in the box lay four gold collars and a stack of drawings.

Four gold collars have been the family's expenses for decades.

It's a pity that they don't know who they're doing for or why they lost their lives.

"It's really a life to earn, but no life to spend." Chu Zhixia sighed faintly.

——

On the carriage back to the imperial capital, Chu Zhixia looked at the four gold collars over and over in his hand.

The currencies issued by the Great Zhou were copper plates, silver taels, gold and silver tickets, but gold collars were not used much.

There is an official seal cast on the back of the gold collar, and one gold collar can be worth ten taels of gold. However, businessmen often carry silver tickets when they travel, just because the silver tickets must be exchanged at the bank, which can prevent them from being stolen and robbed, but the gold collar is valuable and cannot be checked.

Chu Zhixia closed his eyes and pondered.

The main mission behind the scenes, Qing Xuan, carried a fake statue of King Ming, and used the void of the gift to carry out the assassination. The name of Qingxuan is heard all over the world, and there are people who follow it from time to time, so the person who comes to prepare the fake Ming King statue must be the person who is behind the scenes.

Jin Ling is also the mastermind behind the scenes.

First, it can prevent the craftsman from exchanging silver tickets, and then track him down; Second, such a large sum of money, these poor craftsmen would not spend it easily, and it also gave him time to observe the emperor's reaction.

"Cheng Yuan." Chu Zhixia suddenly called.

Cheng Yuan retreated to the carriage window and asked in a low voice, "Miss, what's wrong?" ”

"Give me a list of people who know we're here to investigate." Chu Zhixia closed his eyes, put the golden collar aside, and rubbed the Buddha beads on his wrist.

Cheng Yuan was stunned for a moment, "Is there a problem with our people?" ”

"There are a lot of people in the daytime, so I didn't say it." Chu Shixia said, "Those craftsmen still have residual warmth, if we come earlier, maybe we just bump into them." ”

But how could it be so coincidental that the Assassins were one step ahead of them if they were impartial?

"Miss, are you suspicious—" Cheng Yuan was startled by his own conjecture, and his body shook.

They are all Yulinwei from the Sanwei Institute today, and their families are either court officials or protégés, and they are widely implicated. Chu Zhixia suspected that the person who intended to assassinate was still hiding in the court, watching coldly.

"If we hadn't tracked it down, they wouldn't have done it for fear of attracting attention, and those craftsmen might have survived." Chu Shixia sighed again, "It's us who are late." ”

Cheng Yuan was silent for a moment and said, "Miss, you have always sighed in the past two days. ”

"Is there one?" Chu Zhixia held the Buddha beads and looked at him.

"You were still happier when you first came to the imperial capital." Cheng Yuan said seriously, "Lawless, high-flying, it looks like the daughter of the Chu clan in the clouds." ”

Chu Shixia smiled lightly: "I'll just treat you as praising me." ”

She was silent for a long time and said: "I used to only say that the four northern states were the fortresses of Beidi, and they had been fighting for many years, so human life was not worth anything. I didn't expect that in this glorious imperial capital, at the feet of the Son of Heaven, human life would be so cheap. Forty taels of gold bought the lives of a family of six. ”

Tianhuang nobles, seeking power and usurping the throne, these words can scare to death the common people who have been keeping to themselves for a lifetime. They only knew that forty taels of gold could not be spent under any circumstances, but they were easily crushed by the storm set off in the shadows.

Cheng Yuan sneered and mocked: "The lives of the imperial capital are valuable, but in the eyes of those dignitaries, such as me and craftsmen, they can't be regarded as human beings." ”

Chu Zhixia heard the indignation and resentment in his words, and joked: "You are the son of an official eunuch, how can you say such a thing?" ”

"Miss, I have long since severed my relationship with the Cheng family, and I am not a child of an official eunuch. Today's Cheng Yuan is just a cloth dress, and the eldest lady pays me money on time, and I am satisfied. Cheng Yuan squeezed his eyebrows and said.

Chu Zhixia laughed out loud.

At this moment, a thin sound of breaking wind passed.

Chu Zhixia tilted her head slightly, the hair hanging from her ears undulated, and she held a long needle between her two fingers, and the tip of the needle was glowing with a deep green.

Cheng Yuan's face changed suddenly, "There are assassins!" ”

"Cheng Yuan dodge!"

Chu Zhi Xia Li shouted, and Cheng Yuan threw himself from his horse to the ground without thinking. A sharp knife split the carriage, and the sound of wooden planks shattering was clearly audible. The copper-handled iron umbrella that fell from the sky smashed Cheng Yuan's horse's head, and blood spurted wildly.

The Yulin guards who shook their heads and walked towards the imperial capital in front of them were shocked, some were scared silly, some ran away, and none of them turned around to look at Chu Zhixia and Cheng Yuan.

Chu Zhixia picked up the drinking stream snow on his leg with his backhand, and climbed out of the back window of the carriage backwards. The frightened horses galloped wildly and rampage with half of the carriage.

The man who split the carriage stood up, as tall as an iron tower. He was carrying a big knife, shirtless like a butcher, and a white fox crawling on his shoulder, bullied by his bulging muscles, as if the white fox had come to life.

Another woman, Shi Shiran, picked up the copper umbrella and slowly opened it, and the sticky horse blood slipped from the umbrella like spring rain and hit her skirt ticking. The woman traced her lips and eyes with black and purple rouge, looking like she was neither human nor ghostly.

"Come and kill me?" Chu Zhixia was not surprised, "It seems that I really stepped on your master's tail." ”

"Entrusted by people, loyal to people, little girl is not strange." The big man spoke, but it was a tactful and obsessive woman's voice.

"Whatever you do with so much talk, just kill it." The voice of the woman holding the umbrella was rough and fierce, majestic and low.

"It's still a double reed." Chu Zhixia smiled even more, and his fingers brushed the scabbard of the sword that drank the snow, "Give you a chance to say your master's name, and I will leave you alive to confess your guilt in the Xuanzheng Palace." ”

The faces of the man and the woman changed suddenly, and they had seizures at the same time.

The copper umbrella in the woman's hand opened in an uproar, and a mouthful of poisonous needles spewed at Chu Zhixia. The man followed closely behind, carrying a large knife that could cut off half of Chu Zhixia's body.

Chu Zhixia waved the snow and swung away all the poisonous needles, and the man's big knife was already in front of him. She smiled, not dodging to look at the man whose shadows had completely enveloped her.

The man was upset, and the next moment, his knee bent as if it had been bitten by a mosquito. This pain couldn't stop him from stabbing him, but his lower body suddenly lost support, and he stumbled and fell in front of Chu Zhixia, and the big knife missed.

The man's legs were broken at the knees.

Shen Zhou, who appeared behind him at some point, twisted his arm and broke his joints with strong resistance. Shen Zhou shook the knife in his hand, and the blade flew out, stabbing straight at the woman who was fighting with Cheng Yuan.

The woman reacted quickly and swung the umbrella to block the knife, leaving deep scratches on the surface of the umbrella.

"Hearing that Xuanzheng Hall is so excited, why, you are also like Qingxuan, and you have an enmity with the imperial court?" Chu Zhixia smiled and said, "It's better to tell me." ”

"The Chu clan in the clouds protects one side and benefits the people, but you help the abuse, it is really a shame for your ancestors!" The man who threw himself in a pool of blood scolded angrily in a thin voice.

"The Chu clan in the clouds is guarding the border pass, and you haven't killed me yet. Now that I remember my surname is Chu? Chu Zhixia was unmoved, "Either explain who sent you, or I will make him worse than dead." ”

"Gorou, leave me alone, run!"

The man roared, and then bit his teeth hard, but Shen Zhou pinched his cheeks and grabbed his teeth hard, making a creaking sound. Saliva ran down the man's mouth, and Shen Zhou pulled a small thing out of his mouth.

"It's the gall of a viper." Shen Zhou said lightly, "It's a dead man again." ”

The woman on the other end screamed in pain, threw a copper needle, and turned her head and fled into the endless night.

The man closed his eyes and looked like he was killed.

Chu Zhixia flicked his fingertips, and the copper plate flew away the poisonous needle that was aimed at the man's throat.

"I'm really curious." Chu Zhixia squatted in front of the man and asked seriously, "You say that I am aiding and abusing, then you must think that the person you are loyal to is virtuous, virtuous, benevolent, and kind." But what was such a lord thinking when he ordered the killing of that craftsman? ”

Shen Zhou raised his hand and "snapped" to restore his dislocated chin.

"If you hadn't found that village, they wouldn't have died." The man said with blood-red eyes.

"Stupid and naïve." Chu Zhixia shook his head and said, "Even if we don't come, that craftsman will die." Even if your master ascends to the throne, he will not dare to bear this charge of rebellion against human morality, killing his father and killing his brother. ”

The man's face was momentarily flustered.

"Guess right?" Chu Shixia smiled, "Let me guess which prince it is." ”