What happened next was complicated and trivial, but nothing exciting. Lord Xinling arrived at the square outside the city and received gifts from the young men in the city without any resistance. Lord Xinling also treated each other with courtesy, and the whole process went surprisingly smoothly.
Next, the small hundred people brought by Lord Xinling got busy: half entered the city to take over the city defense, and the postmen conveyed the news to the armies that the small city could be conquered without a fight by reporting victory. Each retainer arranged the garrison of each army outside the city. Masan was ordered to serve as the city lord's military envoy, leading the young men in the city to the new garrison outside the city. After each army entered the garrison area, they were busy setting up camp in the middle of the night, arranging patrols, setting passwords and a series of other routine tasks.
The military soldiers were led from the rear army to the edge of the city. One battalion was stationed inside the city and the other was stationed outside the city. The 4,000 people of the civilian army were almost on the same spot, slightly adjusted according to the terrain, and set up eight camps.
While each camp was busy setting up camp, Lord Xinling summoned Mang Mao and Jin Bi, together with the retainers sent to each camp, to the square to discuss tomorrow's affairs. Everyone agreed that the top priority tomorrow is to immediately find out the movements of the Qin army and prepare all armies for battle. By the time we had set up camp, the rooster was already crowing for the first time. Lord Xinling asked the retainers assigned to each camp to return to the camp and take good control of the troops. The remaining retainers went into the city and rested in the city lord's mansion, while the postmen went to the military soldiers' camps in the city.
Zhongyue said to Lord Xinling: "Seeing the bright moonlight here, I would like to invite a few gentlemen to carefully examine the corpses of the assassins." Zhang Noi said: "I also invite a few gentlemen to patrol the city together. One time." Several diners immediately agreed. Lord Xinling saluted and said, "But gentlemen, I have a lot to do!" Several people returned the greeting and said, "The branch should be assigned!" Lord Xinling said again, "Sir, who currently has no deacons, please come to the city for a while. I would like to teach Mr. Zhongyue. Fortunately, don’t refuse!”
Zhong Yue returned the greeting and said, "How dare you, my minister? It's just that you are busy, so what should I do?"
Mr. Xinling said: "I have rested for a while at sunset. It is time to get up when the rooster crows. It's just that you are tired, sir!"
Zhong Yue said no more, said a few words, and first asked a retainer to find a wind lantern in the city lord's palace. Then he walked to a car in the dark, called on several retainers to help him, and lifted the three corpses from the car. Go to a shelter from the wind under the wall next to the city gate. Not far away are the soldiers guarding the city gate.
Using the wind lantern that the retainer took from the city, Zhong Yue looked at the body carefully. "Male corpse, beardless, eyes wide open, face slashed...seven blades. One blade in the neck pierced the throat, turned outwards, and severed the tendons..." Zhong Yue muttered in a low voice while inspecting the body. A doorman stood nearby and quickly wrote down something on a piece of wooden tablet.
"Male corpse, long beard, eyes wide, face slashed with... eight blades. One blade in the neck pierced the throat, turned outwards, and severed the tendons..."
"Male corpse, short beard, wide eyes, face slashed...seven blades. One blade in the neck pierced the throat, turned outwards, and severed the tendons..."
"This is strange. The three people committed suicide in such a consistent way. They must be from the same sect. Whose sect is this?"
Lord Xinling on the side suddenly said: "Nie Zheng!"
Zhong Yue raised his eyebrows and said in surprise: "Why do you say this, Your Majesty?"
Lord Xinling said: "There is a girl living in a small room by the city. I don't know her name, she just calls her 'little slave'. She is accompanied by a little son, but she is destined to Mr. Zheng. At noon, the assassination was over. I and the little slave In the same tent, the young slave and his son were able to talk about the affairs of the knight Nie Zheng. They especially said that Nie Zheng cut off his nose and eyes, cut off his belly and removed his intestines to hide his name, which is comparable to these three sons!"
"The little slave actually knows about Nie Zheng? It's rare..." Zhong Yue sighed, then suddenly realized: "She is destined to Mr. Zheng?"
"According to Mang Shenyan, this is a post station, and Mr. Zheng is on duty. But when he entered the hut of Xiaonu, he took off all his armor there."
"When was this?"
"It should be after I entered the military camp. Mr. Zheng followed the car to the riverside of the abandoned city. He did not enter the military camp, but returned to the post where he was on duty..." Lord Xinling tried hard to recall the scene at that time, and tried his best to fill in the missing parts. scene completion.
"Judging from the time, Mr. Zheng should have met the assassin... The sword wound on his body was very deep, almost reaching the bone..." Zhong Yue pondered, then leaned over to examine the body, "Wearing three layers of clothing, underwear, middle coat , outer robe, a skirt and a skirt..."
Just as he was talking, Zhang Noi came over in a hurry with a deep expression on his face. He came closer and whispered: "Two more corpses were found outside the back door..."
"Yes..." Zhong Yue asked doubtfully.
Zhang Ye nodded solemnly, as if he fully understood what Zhong Yue's unspoken sentence was about.
"I'll go over and have a look." Lord Xinling said, and then said to the sentry on duty at the city gate: "No one is allowed to come near!" He led the guests here through the city, and followed Zhang Yue out the back door.
The body was lying in a pile of rocks, surrounded by weeds and thorns. It seemed that it was done intentionally.
"It's Nie Zheng again, the method is exactly the same!" Zhong Yue only took one look and concluded.
Lord Xinling also said: "When the assassins came, three people entered the tent and two porters were waiting outside the camp. When the chaos broke out, these two people disappeared. At that time, they thought they were unrelated servants, but it seems that there were five assassins. "
"Nie Zheng...little slave...Mr. Zheng..." Zhong Yue said to himself.
Zhang Noi asked: "What did you say, sir?"
Zhong Yue came back to his senses and said with a smile: "Your Excellency Shicai said something related to assassins. Oh, Mr. Yi, where do these two assassins come from?"
Zhang Ye said: "He who destroys his face and then kills himself is a loyal and brave man! But the origin is difficult to find out."
Zhong Yue said: "So what the Lord Shicai said is very mysterious! Sir, think about it, after the assassination, who cut off the nose, gouged out the eyes, disemboweled and removed the intestines, but who was it?"
Zhang Zhuo said: "Han Ke Nie Zheng!"
Zhong Yue said: "What your Majesty saw is similar to what you saw. Sir, think about it again. How did your Majesty hear about Nie Zheng's affairs?"
Zhang Noi said: "I don't know."
Zhong Yue said: "A woman lives in a small hut outside the city. I don't know her name. She only calls her 'little slave'. Isn't that surprising!"
Zhang Ye said: "Catch this woman and torture her, then everything will become clear!"
Zhong Yue said: "Mr. Zhang, good advice! What are you robbing? How do you know Nie Zheng?"
Lord Xinling interjected: "Mr. Zhongyue's words are quite insightful. How did the little slave on the edge of the city know Nie Zheng? And it was obvious that he had repeatedly told Nie Zheng, so skillfully that even his children could blurt it out."
Zhong Yue said: "Huh? Your Majesty's words give you a clue. There is no need to torture. Your Majesty can call him to serve, and ask him slowly, and you will naturally get the truth."
Lord Xinling said: "It will be dawn, these corpses must be dealt with first, otherwise the army may panic."
Zhong Yue said: "This place is remote and desolate. Drag all the corpses here and bury them lightly here. When the military is ready, we will go out and investigate carefully."
