On July 13, Zhengyang 476, the cicada chirping in early summer was not high-pitched, but it was full of vitality.
At a quarter of an hour, Liu Xin and Brother Cheng, who looked tired, returned to Liu's house together. In the afternoon, they visited Wu Baihu, who was wrapped in rice dumplings due to serious injuries.
I also met the new Baihu who succeeded Wu Hao, a middle-aged black-faced man named Du Daochun.
Liu Xin couldn't help but sigh at Liu Licheng's methods, but afterwards Senior Brother Cheng told Liu Xin that the man named Du Daochun was not simple. He was also a disciple of Emperor Wu City. He had been on duty in the Jinwu Vanguard before, but this time he was considered equal.
Jinwu avant-garde and Jinyiwei both belong to the Shangzhiwei personal army, one of the twelve Shangzhi guards. The status is not much lower than that of the Jinyi Guards, and the Jinwu Guards are specifically responsible for escorting the emperor on patrols, and their requirements for personal combat power are higher than those of the Jinyi Guards.
And this Du Daochun's cultivation level is at least as good as Gong Kexin's.
Gong Kexin is in the Inner East City Thousand Households Office, and his strength is second only to Liu Licheng of Dacheng Realm. The combat power is at the peak of Xiaocheng Realm, and this Du Daochun is also of this level. Liu Xin and Brother Cheng unanimously believe that Liu Licheng has felt the strength of the mastermind behind the scenes, and this is to strengthen his own strength to avoid capsizing in the gutter.
"Xin'er, Uncle Cheng, why are you back so late today?"
This was Mrs. Li's voice. When Liu Xinwen lost his reputation, he saw Mrs. Li walking out of the corner of the corridor. The latter walked towards Liu Xin and ordered the maid beside him:
"Let the kitchen heat up the food. If you come back at this time, I don't think it's because of the meal. I'm afraid I'm still hungry."
If there is a dinner party, it will not end so early and will usually last until later in the afternoon. The curfew time in the imperial capital is from Haishi to the end of Yinshi. The curfew started, and it was easy to stop going to and from each other.
"Auntie is really witty!" Liu Xin was now more familiar with Mr. Li and spoke more casually.
Li Shi smiled brightly, then asked some trivial matters as usual, and left. At this time, the food in the dining room is also hot and ready.
Liu Xin and Brother Cheng had dinner together. After the meal, only the two of them were left in the dining room, talking about the case.
Senior Brother Cheng mixed up the contents found by the secret investigation team. All the nearby servants and maids had been dismissed, so there was no need to worry about being eavesdropped, but Senior Brother Cheng still subconsciously put on a disguise.
Soon after dinner was over, Liu Xin also received all the investigation results of the secret investigation team from Senior Brother Cheng.
Si Yanqing's whereabouts could not be traced, even if the person with the same name on the household registration book of Yingtianfu Yamen was used, they had already been investigated. This woman must have used this name when she first entered the imperial capital. There is no mistake about it. Because this is the name used in the documents submitted to His Majesty the Emperor. No one dares to lie!
Now that this name is not on the household register, it means that the person's identity information has been tampered with.
There are a huge number of people who have the energy to tamper with household registrations. It can be said that anyone with an official status can do it. But this is the imperial capital, so the difficulty has increased a lot. At least officials with a grade no lower than the sixth grade can do it.
Si Yanqing was Liu Xin's biggest clue now, and the next one would have to wait until the next day, when he would go to another courtyard and ask those women. The role of the poison clues has almost been exhausted. The Xingxu Sect is active in the South China Sea. It is very difficult to find a disciple of two Xingxu Sect in the North. The Dongchang side can only use some hidden detection, but in fact it is not possible. Would have too high expectations.
The news I got from Liu Licheng in the afternoon was that a killer was captured alive, but this line will definitely be firmly controlled by Liu Licheng. The appearance of Du Daochun has a lot to do with this living person. Of course Liu Xin can try to steal people secretly, but the price/performance ratio is too low.
There is no clue at the moment, Liu Xin can only hope to get some new clues from the women tomorrow.
——
In one of the courtyards of the Imperial City Imperial Palace, Gui Qinchen was sitting alone at a stone table. There were three dishes of side dishes placed on the stone table. This was what he had specially asked an imperial chef from the Southern Imperial Kitchen to give him today. What he kept cost him three taels of silver.
Since the afternoon, he has noticed the sense of urgency slowly rising in the imperial city. Although everything seems to be normal, he can feel it because he has the cultivation level of Dacheng Realm.
Gui Qinchen sat alone at the corner of the stone table. Opposite him, there were five wine glasses filled with strong liquor.
He raised the wine glass in his hand and raised it high forward, with helplessness and guilt in his eyes.
After a while, he poured all the wine in his hand on the ground, put down the glass, and stood up slowly.
Half an hour later, a loud noise suddenly came from the Yuma Prison Yamen. A young eunuch hurriedly walked out of the Yuma Prison, shouting:
"It's not good. Chief Cui was killed. We need to catch the murderer!"
The next moment, a black shadow passed behind him, jumped twice in succession on the ground in front of the Royal Horse Prison, and then disappeared into the woods in the dark night.
The little eunuch opened his mouth wide in shock, liquid began to leak out from under his body, and he stayed in place in a daze.
The direction where the black shadow disappeared is Donghua Gate, which is closest to the Royal Horse Prison!
But the real target of this black shadow is not the Donghua Gate, because every gate of the Imperial City is stationed by masters, at least at the Dacheng level!
Now that the Royal Horse Prison case has not been resolved and the imperial city is under martial law, the quality or quantity of masters will definitely be better than before.
Because of the roar of the little eunuch in front of the Royal Horse Prison, the warrior soldiers patrolling not far away rushed over immediately. They did not see the black figure, but after learning the details of the matter from the eunuch, they immediately rushed towards the black figure. Shadow chased him in the direction he left, and at the same time, a sky lantern slowly rose into the sky.
Donghua Gate is the closest to the Royal Horse Prison, but it is still a full ten miles away. It takes at least forty breaths (1 breath, 5 seconds) for a Dacheng realm master to go all out, but it only takes less than ten breaths to lift the Kongming Lantern into the air.
When the sky lanterns rose to a certain height, gongs sounded from Donghua Gate, and many armored sergeants arrived at their posts. A middle-aged military officer wearing Mingguang armor slowly walked out of the tower, with sharp eyes like an eagle. Sweep towards the inside of Donghua Gate.
It has been forty breaths since the black shadow left outside the Royal Horse Prison. The general could already see the fire in the distance. It must be the men and horses of the Warrior Camp. The Royal Horse Prison controls the Warrior Camp, so there is no need for personal guards.
And this middle-aged general belongs to the personal guard Yanshan Left Guard and is a Qianhu official!
Ten breaths later, the middle-aged Qianhu of Yanshan's left guard could already see the generals of the warrior camp approaching the city gate with torches, but no thieves appeared. The deep "Sichuan" lines on his eyebrows suddenly tightened, and then his eyes penetrated. Through the darkness, look towards the southeast corner of the imperial city.
That place is a corner tower, where a hundred households of Yanshan Zuowei are stationed.
"Let's go to the turret!" Middle-aged Qianhu roared, with a hint of anxiety in his tone.
Donghua Gate is less than five miles away from the Corner Tower, and the Corner Tower is only eight miles away from the Royal Horse Prison. Compared with Donghua Gate, the Corner Tower is closer to the Royal Horse Prison.
When the middle-aged Qianhu of Yanshan Left Guard arrived here with his people, he found that someone had already arrived. Looking at the gray-brown military robes on their bodies, the middle-aged Qianhu knew that they were from Dongchang.
At the same time, the faint smell of blood in the air gave the middle-aged Qianhu an unpleasant feeling.
Before he could enter the turret, a person had already come out of the turret. Although he was also wearing a gray-brown robe, the robe was embroidered with a python pattern with silver-green silk thread.
Thousands of households in Dongchang! Yuan Dongxiang!
The middle-aged Qianhu of Yanshan Zuowei is well-informed and can identify a person's identity from his clothes, because only Dongchang Qianhu is qualified to embroider python patterns on clothes, and there is only one Dongchang Qianhu in the imperial capital, and that is the original Dongxiang.
From a position point of view, both of them are Qianhu, but from a status point of view, Yuan Dongxiang and the commander of Yanshan Zuowei are at the same level!
Therefore, the middle-aged Qianhu was the first to greet him: "Original Qianhu!"
Yuan Dongxiang's clothes are meticulous. Although he is not on duty, his clothes are still so neat. He nodded lightly: "Is it the guard of Donghua Gate, Ma Wei Ma Qianhu?"
Ma Wei smiled and replied: "It's me!"
Then, he frowned, his Sichuan pattern was deeply sunken, and asked: "What's going on? I saw the sky fire rising at Donghua Gate, and immediately ordered people to strictly guard Donghua Gate, and then I felt something was wrong, so I Come here."
Yuan Dongxiang had a cold face and seemed unwilling to say more. Ma Wei stood aside with some embarrassment, but his pride as a Qianhu prevented him from continuing to ask questions.
It was not until a quarter of an hour later that a team of Dongchang fans arrived, and one of them reported to Yuan Dongxiang:
"Qianhu! Cui Wenxiu, the head of the Royal Horse Supervisor, was killed in the duty room. The cause of death was that the internal force shattered the internal organs and he died on the spot. There were no signs of a fight at the scene. Although Cui Wenxiu was not a warrior, it can be confirmed from the wound inspection that the murderer was most likely Dacheng realm warrior!"
Being able to use internal force to shatter internal organs through the body surface is only possible with the internal force of the Dacheng Realm level.
"Dacheng Realm!" Yuan Dongxiang's eyes suddenly narrowed, and he immediately overlapped with this person and the murderer of the Yuma Supervisor Case.
Ma Wei on the side looked shocked. He didn't know the case of the Royal Horse Prison, but he knew that if the murderer was a Dacheng realm warrior, if such a thing happened in the imperial city and such a murderer appeared, things would be serious. Got it!
Just when Ma Wei was immersed in shock, another team of Dongchang fans arrived, probably sent by Yuan Dongxiang.
"Qianhu! Gui Qinchen, the eunuch who raised the horses, is missing!"
"It's him!" Yuan Dongxiang exclaimed. In the past few days, he had gone through the files of the Royal Horse Eunuch. When he heard the name, he knew that this was one of the three horse-raising eunuchs who were still alive. He was also the Royal Horse Eunuch. One of the most suspected persons in the case.
But not anymore.
Because he was almost certain that he was the real murderer!
Thinking of this, Yuan Dongxiang suddenly turned around, looked around, and shouted: "Don't let go of every inch of land, turn it over for me!"
"Yes!" All the fans around Dongchang responded in unison.
Then Yuan Dongxiang looked at a warrior camp general on the other side:
"General Qin! Ask your people to look at several waterways, roads and bridges!"
The warrior camp general who had been waiting aside nodded and turned to leave.
Then Captain Ma heard his name.
"Ma Qianhu, your people in the corner tower are all dead!"
Ma Wei was stunned in place at that time. He was still lucky, thinking that if someone broke out from here, a few brothers might die at most, but now they are all dead. He subconsciously felt that it was impossible, and immediately retorted:
"Impossible! There are more than twenty people guarding the corner tower, at least two general flags..." At the end of his sentence, Captain Ma remembered that the person who escaped was a Dacheng realm warrior!
The corner tower is usually guarded by a hundred households, and it is divided into three shifts every day. Each shift is also guarded by at least two general flags. But... the combat power of the two general banners, which are around the Xiaocheng realm, is completely different from that of the Dacheng realm.
But comparing his feelings, Ma Wei himself is also a Dacheng realm warrior. If he wants to force his way into this turret, these people will not be able to stop him. It is not impossible to kill them all. The key is that it is a waste of time.
If you are someone who wants to escape, you shouldn’t be like this!
The murderer was so murderous that he directly killed everyone here.
This is not in line with his character of escaping. People who are running for their lives shouldn't race against the clock!
"Ma Qianhu, this murderer is a Dacheng Realm warrior. He is very dangerous. No one can track him. Our men can only act as spies. The only one who can really track him down and capture him is the two of us. !”
Ma Wei nodded, he understood that Yuan Dongxiang wanted him to work with him to find clues about the murderer.
The walls of the imperial city are now tightly guarded, and there are crossbows and even killing weapons like the Thousand Ox Crossbow. Even Dacheng realm warriors cannot easily pass by. There will definitely be some commotion, but now that everything is safe on the city wall, this person should still be hiding somewhere.
Yuan Dongxiang's arrangement has surrounded the place, but the prey is too strong, and the only hunters of sufficient level are him and Yuan Dongxiang.
"Let's split up!" Ma Wei said.
"No!" Yuan Dongxiang denied Ma Wei's words and said word for word: "We have to be together!"
Ma Wei was shocked. Could it be that that person was not an ordinary Dacheng realm warrior? Otherwise, why would two people of the same level need to join forces.
But soon, Ma Wei discovered that things were not what he thought. Many times, when Yuan Dongxiang saw some bushes, nooks and crannies, and hidden places in rivers where people might be hiding, he would ask Ma Wei to investigate. .
Soon, Captain Ma's armor was covered with dirt. On the other hand, Yuan Dongxiang's clothes were still straight, meticulous and spotless!
——
The imperial capital, the inner city, in a mansion somewhere.
Late at night, by the lotus pond, the sound of frogs can be heard endlessly, but compared to the chirping of cicadas, it seems less harsh.
In the pavilion beside the lotus pond, an old man in linen clothes sat cross-legged. Opposite him was a tall, thin and masked man in strong clothes.
"You came to me all night, and something went wrong?" The old man's voice was rich, vicissitudes of life, and unhurried.
The masked man's voice was hoarse, he spoke very quickly, and his tone was a little weird, and he said, "Sir, something went wrong with the Qin brothers and they escaped back. I have already taken care of them."
The old man snorted coldly and remained silent for a long time.
...
After a moment of silence, the old man's rich voice spoke, this time a little faster, and said, "It's too hard to reuse! I wonder how much power you still have that you can use now?"
The tall and thin masked man seemed to be calculating, his eyes flashing, and after a moment he said quietly: "Regardless of military commanders, among civil servants, whoever is below the third rank, whoever you want to kill will die!"
The old man seemed a little surprised. He raised his head suddenly, looked at the masked man, and asked with some disbelief: "You are still so powerful?"
The masked man chuckled, shook his head and said, "It seems that you underestimate our power, sir."
The old man sighed and said: "I have never questioned your strength, but after all, this is the imperial capital, not the northern barbarians!"
The masked man turned around and looked, his eyes didn't seem to be looking at the garden, but more like looking at the entire Imperial City. He chuckled and said: "Sooner or later, the name of this place will be changed. The Imperial City doesn't sound good, and the Tiandi City is even more domineering. !”
The old man shook his head, as if unwilling to talk about these useless nonsense, he said quietly: "I have done everything I can do, but it is a pity that I am not able to do it. You should not have chosen me in the first place. What is Lord Bileg's plan? , he should be very clear about the power in my hands, how could the Qin brothers fail!" The implication is that he thinks that Lord Bileg should make a plan that is in line with his own abilities. This is Shirking responsibility.
The masked man put away his smile, as if he was full of respect for the name Bileg, and his tone became reverent: "Master Bileg has already planned everything, and the Qin brothers are just a small episode, it doesn't matter. They just It’s like a pile of sludge, it just needs to be mixed into the water to mix up the water.”
"But!" The old man didn't wait for the masked man to finish speaking, with a hint of anxiety in his tone as he said, "The Jin Yiwei have already protected those women and children. We don't have a better chance! Once they find something, trace Si On Yan Qing’s head, I might be exposed!”
"Tsk tsk!" The masked man laughed strangely. He comforted the old man and said, "Don't worry, sir. If there is a possibility of the matter being exposed, I will arrange for someone to rescue you. You know, our prince likes Han culture very much, and we are also the most fond of it." Tribes that can absorb Han culture, we can accommodate you, unlike the other three barbaric tribes! Especially for you, sir, you have helped us a lot in these years, and the prince will not abandon a person who has made great contributions to our tribe!"
The old man was silent again, as if he was considering the masked man's words. After a while, he slowly leaned forward. He was getting older, and his bones were gradually becoming too tired. After changing into a comfortable position, he said: "Okay. You don’t have to worry about me! I’m old and don’t care about these things behind my back. My precious grandson is already in Beiman, and my son can come out of isolation at any time. I have nothing to worry about. Everything I do now is for My son and grandson will lay the foundation. Therefore, I hope that things will go smoothly this time!"
"That's natural!" The masked man said with certainty: "How could Master Bileg's plan fail! Gui Qinchen should have killed Cui Wenxiu, the head of the Royal Horse Supervisor by now. Your original contact with Cui Wenxiu will never be known to anyone. Know!"
"Can he escape!" The old man said hesitantly: "Imperial City... Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon!"
The masked man didn't seem worried. He told the old man news that surprised him: "Gui Qinchen is a Dacheng realm warrior!"
"How is that possible!" The old man couldn't believe it, and his body immediately straightened up.
The masked man shook his head and said, "I don't know either. Lord Bileg used a secret method to secretly read the letters between Gui Qinchen and Si Yanqing. During their correspondence, Gui Qinchen told Si Yanqing, He has been secretly practicing martial arts for these years, just to be able to leave the Imperial City one day and reunite with Si Yanqing. Now that he has reached the Dacheng Realm, once he has the opportunity, he will leave the Imperial City!"
The old man frowned. He subconsciously glanced in the direction of the imperial city and said, "Gui Qinchen said there is a chance, but now is obviously not a good time!"
The masked man said softly: "Although now is not a good time, for Gui Qinchen, if he does not seize the opportunity now, he will not even have a chance in the future!"
The old man suddenly realized and said: "You... are trying to force him to take action now! But he knows that if my disciple is captured alive, what will he do?"
The masked man turned around, looked towards the direction of the imperial city, and said: "He won't survive tonight. Sir, you have forgotten again. I have said that regardless of military commanders, among civil servants, those below the third rank, whoever you want to kill will die!" "
