The bitter north wind had been blowing for a whole day.

After nightfall, the whistling wind not only did not lose momentum in the slightest, but became more and more violent.

Sitting alone on the top of the high Funing Hall in the Dayu Palace, Han Bing was like an old monk who had settled down, his eyes were slightly closed, he sat cross-legged, listening to all the suspicious movements around him.

However, all he could hear at the moment was the cold wind blowing through the rings under the eaves, making some scattered noises.

At this moment, a burly figure suddenly appeared at the top of the temple and quietly approached his side.

Han Bing slowly opened his eyes, turned his head to look at the burly figure, and couldn't help laughing: "Commander Zhu is dressed like this, it seems that he is not on duty tonight." Appearing here at this moment, isn't it because you don't worry about your subordinates?"

Zhu Mo, who was not wearing armor and was only dressed in regular clothes, was silent and did not speak, but sat down next to Han Bing.

Han Bing naturally knew that this Commander had always been silent, but he still keenly sensed a strange coldness from Zhu Mo's attitude at the moment.

Although he immediately guessed the crux of the matter, he only smiled slightly unappetizingly, and still continued the topic of Fang Cai: "Extrapolating from the time and day, if the assassins from Beirong did not encounter any delays on the road, they should have arrived in Jingyang in these two days." ”

"Do you think Song Qingfeng's people can't stop them at all?" Zhu Mo finally asked in a deep voice.

Han Bing nodded, "They won't just swagger past the checkpoints set up by the Praetorian Guards along the way, and then enter directly through the city gates. I have a feeling that Duxiao Dome is already in this Jingyang City at this moment. ”

Zhu Mo's thick eyebrows furrowed, and he said in disbelief: "Since yesterday, the Praetorian Guards guarding the city have all added double posts, and the number of patrols in the city has also doubled. Although Duxiao Dome is a peerless master, it is impossible for those under him to have the ability to sneak over the heavily guarded city wall without being noticed. ”

"No, they won't go through the gates, and they won't climb over the walls. The way they entered the city was to be a secret passage. ”

Although Han Bing's voice was not high, his tone was quite affirmative.

"Secret passage?"

Zhu Mo couldn't help but ask with some surprise, "Didn't Song Qingfeng already lead people to find out all the secret passages in Jingyang City and die one by one?" I heard that even the secret passage in the Jingguo Mansion was completely sealed at the request of Old Master Xia. ”

"That's true. ”

Even though he said that, Han Bing's sword eyebrows kept frowning slightly, "However, after careful searching, only one of the secret passages that Song Qingfeng found may have been used recently, and the rest are already dilapidated or even collapsed.

At this end of the newly used Secret Passage was in an abandoned garden with crumbling walls on all sides, and the entrance was only haphazardly covered by a few wooden planks. It is indeed not easy to attract attention when you go in and out of it on weekday evenings, but it is by no means a very private place.

With Zheng Yong's cunning, he should not just rely on this secret passage that is easy to be discovered, as the only way to communicate between inside and outside the city.

Moreover, I remember that on the night when King Ji's rebels besieged the city, Zheng Yong suddenly disappeared from the city. At that time, it was likely that he fled directly outside the city through a secret passage.

The exit from the outer end of the city is in the eastern suburbs, and it is on the west bank of the Jingyang River, which is not far from the city wall. When King Ji's rebels besieged the city, the exit of the secret passage was surrounded by the rebels.

If Zheng Yong had escaped from this secret passage at that time, he would have inevitably fallen into the hands of the rebels. So, he must have known about another secret passage to the outside of the city. ”

"But apart from the secret passages that have been discovered, where else in this city could someone dig up another secret passage?"

Zhu Mo asked, turning his head to look at Han Bing, only to see the young man's shining starry eyes staring at the dark and dreary temple in front of him.

He was silent for a moment, and then Fang asked again, "Do you think that another secret passage is actually in the palace?"

Hearing this, Han Bing turned his head and glanced at him, and said with a smile: "Where Commander Zhu's position is, except for His Majesty the Emperor, this secret must not be leaked to anyone. But I used to be the successor of the 'dry key', so naturally I know more than others. So I know that in this Funing Palace, there is a secret passage that communicates with the abbot's meditation room of Jishi Temple. ”

Zhu Mo nodded solemnly and said, "Not bad." But this secret passage could never be a path for the Assassins to enter and exit. Because this secret passage has a very special feature, there is a mechanism at the exit at this end of the Funing Palace, which can only be opened from the outside.

In other words, no one can enter the Funing Hall from the end of the temple through the secret passage. Moreover, only His Majesty the Emperor and I know the method of opening the exit at this end of the Funing Palace, and others will definitely not be able to open this secret passage. ”

Han Bing nodded thoughtfully, "Since there is already such a secret passage, there is no need to dig another one. However, this does not completely rule out the possibility of another secret passage.

Because without it, it is really unimaginable how Zheng Yong outside the palace would keep in touch with Feng Yan, the leader of the Tianxiang Sect in the palace. And if they can't keep in touch at all times, how can they act in unison?"

Zhu Mo said a little disappreciatively: "Maybe there is indeed such a secret passage." But now it is impossible for Zheng Yong to contact Feng Yan through it. ”

"Why can't it be?" asked Han Bing in surprise.

"Not long ago, the palace maid that Feng Yan pretended to be was found to have many suspicious points. Subsequently, she was specially detained along with a dozen other palace people who also needed to further verify their identities.

should have known that she was about to be exposed and could no longer continue to hide in the palace, so she found an opportunity yesterday to poison the two Ouchi guards who were guarding outside the door, and used their waist cards to abscond out of the palace. ”

"I see—"

Han Bing said in some surprise, but a pair of sword eyebrows furrowed.

For some reason, Zhu Mo's narration unconsciously reminded him of the story that Abbot Huijue told him about the national teacher Yin Wuya.

It is mentioned that Yin Miaotong, the queen of Beirong that year, infiltrated the Dayu Palace and poisoned Princess Qingping.

Later, when she was detoxifying Princess Qingping, she was noticed by a palace person, thinking that she had encountered an assassin, so she immediately called the palace guards.

In order to escape, Yin Miaotong pushed one of his female subordinates into a well and drowned.

The guards responsible for the Assassin's arrest found the body in the well and mistakenly believed that she had committed suicide, so they immediately halted the mass search in the palace.

As a result, Yin Miaotong found an opportunity and slipped out of the palace.

Now, could Feng Yan also use the same trick as Yin Miaotong, Li Dai Taozhuang, to make Zhu Mo mistakenly think that this Tianxiang Sect Master had escaped from the palace, thus stopping the interrogation and detention of the rest of the palace people?

Although he thought of this possibility, Han Bing did not directly mention it to Zhu Mo. Because this is only a possibility after all, and there is no real evidence at the moment.

He didn't want to rely on just one of his own speculations, so that Zhu Mo, who was the commander of the guards, would start to check the rest of the palace people again.

Because, this is really not the power that a so-called prince like him, who has no court position, should have.

Besides, the Beirong Assassins should have arrived in Jingyang by now, and they would appear in this palace at any time. At this time, it is really not appropriate to distract Zhu Mo and do that thing that is likely not to be effective in a short period of time.

Therefore, Han Bing decided not to continue to talk about the topic of whether Feng Yan was still in the palace, but secretly kept the matter in his heart.