Two days later, when it was dark and most people were still asleep, a carriage rushed down from Meishan Mountain and galloped eastward. Three strong horses followed closely beside the carriage. The people sitting on it were none other than the three brothers of the Hu family.
The sudden action on Meishan was beyond the expectations of many people, but it was also within the expectations of many people.
"Releasing the carrier pigeon." At the foot of the east mountain of Meishan, there were more than twenty households. In one of the houses, a carrier pigeon soared into the sky, not to the west, but to the east, toward Suzhou. After a while, in a dense forest east of Meishan, another homing pigeon soared into the sky.
Chen Fan did not leave with the carriage, but was monitoring the area not far from the dense forest. There were three men accompanying him, all men in their forties, who were selected by Chen Fan from the secret guards of Tianji Pavilion.
These three people are secret guards trained by Tianji Pavilion since childhood. They are loyal to Tianji Pavilion and are usually responsible for the security of Tianji Pavilion. Although they are unknown in the world, they all have good martial arts and have their own strengths.
One is good at tracking, one is good at poisoning, and the other is good at concealing weapons. Being borrowed by Chen Fan this time, Chen Fan has completely boarded the ship of Tianji Pavilion and integrated into the organization of Tianji Pavilion.
Chen Fan saw that no one from the Nether Palace had sent anyone to Meishan to assassinate Chen Ying. It was estimated that the Nether Palace did not want to offend Meishan, so it was preparing to intercept and kill Chen Ying after he left Meishan. The original You Ying used the pseudonym Chen Ying and devoted himself to His subordinates probably couldn't hide it from the prying eyes of Nether Palace, so they monitored Meishan's movements. When Chen Ying left, he sent out a message and arranged for men to intercept him on the way.
In order to find the person spying on him, Chen Fan activated the power of Tianji Pavilion and conducted a detailed investigation of the nearby area. Whose family raises homing pigeons, whose family has new arrivals, and where strangers come and go nearby are all targets for investigation. Fortunately, Tianji Pavilion itself makes a living by inquiring about information. When exploring its own place, it is fine if you don't pay attention. Once you pay attention, any troubles will not be hidden from Tianji Pavilion, which has been operating in this area for thousands of years.
After screening, there were six suspected places, three bright and three dark. The bright ones belonged to three farmers. One farmer raised pigeons a week ago, and two distant relatives also came. Although there were two other households that did not raise pigeons, But strangers also came.
For monitoring Meishan, settling in these farmers' homes not only provides a place to live, but also makes it easy to get information. It is a good choice, but the target is too obvious and can be easily eliminated. Chen Fan believed that the methods used by the Netherworld Palace must have some other secret arrangements. It was probably overtly used to attract attention and detect the movements of his opponents. Therefore, Chen Fan just let people monitor him secretly and did not alert them.
As for the dark places, there are three places that are suspected. These three places can monitor the situation of Meishan going down the mountain. Two places are above Meishan, in the mountain forests diagonally going down on both sides of the official road, and the other is the dense forest at the foot of Meishan. After investigation, Chen Fan finally located the suspected location in the dense forest.
No one has been in or out of the place above Meishan Mountain in recent days, but in this dense forest, some people have been in and out in recent days. There were no wild animals to hunt in this forest, and there was no fresh water to drink. People were coming in and out, which aroused Chen Fan's great suspicion.
Seeing a carrier pigeon take off, Chen Fan secretly sighed, knowing that he had made the right move. According to the plan, the man who was good at using poison, named Li Ye, flew westward. Chen Fan and the other two hid on the side of the path heading west to Jiankang City. Meishan was in the easternmost part of Jiankang. Beyond the dense forest, there is an official road to the east, a road up to Meishan Mountain, and an official road to the west. In addition, there is a small road to Jiankang City. Chen Fan and the others are hiding beside this small road.
After a while, two people walked out of the forest, dressed in fancy clothes. One looked like he was only in his twenties, with an ordinary appearance, someone who would not be taken seriously if he was thrown into the crowd. The other was in his forties, with a square face. His skin was so dark that he looked like a farmer working in the fields. The two people looked around and saw no one, so they used Qinggong and leaped towards the path.
Watching the two people passing by, Chen Fan and Cui Xue, who was good at using hidden weapons, did not move. Instead, Han Qian, who was good at tracking, followed them, with Chen Fan and the others following far behind.
Bypassing Meishan is the Imperial City. Going south along the Imperial City is the Qingxi Bridge area. There are three Qingxi Bridges, built on the winding Qinhuai River. They are not very far apart, forming an area on one side. This area is called the Qingxi Bridge area.
Qingxi Bridge has convenient transportation links. Passing through the South Qingxi Bridge is Wuyi Alley, where the wealthy Gaomen family live. Passing through the East Qingxi Bridge, to the east are the residences of the royal family and princes, as well as some garden villas, where the Yuzhang Prince's Palace is located. Passing the West Qingxi Bridge, heading west is the location of the Guozi Academy. As for the location of the civilians, they were on the outskirts of Jiankang. For example, where Chen Ying lived before, it was to the south of Wuyi Lane, a long way from the central imperial city.
The area around Qingxi Bridge is particularly prosperous, and its snacks and morning tea are very famous. Among them, Sixianglou is one of the famous teahouses. Chen Fan was passing by this teahouse with three secret guards from Tianji Pavilion.
"Lang Jun, people disappeared after entering this teahouse." Han Qian reported to Chen Fan.
"Could he have gone through another door?"
"There is a side door next to it, and people have been arranged to keep an eye on it. No one was seen coming out."
"Lang Jun, do you want to use moles? They have already left a faint scent on them before, which can be traced." Li Ye, who is good at using poisons, answered from the side. Just in case they were lost, Li Ye pretended to be a pedestrian on the path ahead and put the secret fragrance on the two of them.
"How long will this fragrance stay on their bodies? Will it be washed away by water?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Lang. As long as this dark fragrance is stained, it can't be washed away no matter how you wash it. The smell will only dissipate after twelve hours."
"Tell the people who are watching to stay away from this teahouse and don't show any traces. We'll come back tonight."
"Yes, Langjun."
Chen Fan was in Jiankang City. On the carriage, besides Chen Ying and Zhang Ke, there was also Zheng Xu, the guard commander of his uncle's house. According to his uncle, this man was taught swordsmanship by strangers since he was a child and has strong martial arts. In his early years, he was the personal guard of Chen Fan's grandfather Shen Gong and saved Shen Gong in danger many times.
At noon, the carriage drove more than 100 kilometers, passed Danyang, and arrived at Jinling County. The people on the way were okay, but the horse was already overwhelmed. It was panting heavily and was wet all over. The long running made the horse exhausted. .
"There is a tea pavilion in front, let's take a rest." Hu Gui said.
"Don't go to the tea pavilion, just rest on the roadside." Zhang Ke remembered Chen Fan's instructions and brought his own water and dry food on the way, and said immediately.
"That's fine." Although they didn't know why they were so cautious about returning this time, the three Hu brothers didn't object.
At this time, two people got out of the car, Zhang Ke and Zheng Xu, and Chen Ying, who was the party involved, parted ways with everyone after arriving in Danyang. The door of the empty carriage was open, making it clear that there was no one in the car. There were only six people in the group plus the carriage driver.
"Everyone, I hope you can come with us." After resting for a long time, Zhang Ke and the others were ready to continue setting off. Three people walked out of the tea pavilion and stopped in front of them.
The leader was a big man with a black face, holding a seven-foot-long sword in his hand, followed by two people, one holding a spear and the other with a sword on his waist.
"Bold, you actually dare to intercept the carriage of a fourth-grade official of the current dynasty. Do you still have the law in your eyes?" Zhang Ke immediately shouted loudly.
"Is this the carriage of a fourth-grade official?" The person who intercepted the carriage was obviously taken aback and asked.
"Of course, who are you? How dare you intercept me here?"
"We are looking for someone. Have you seen this person?" After saying that, the big man who intercepted took out a portrait and handed it to Zhang Ke.
"What do you want from this person?"
"This man is my master's servant. Unexpectedly, he stole the treasures in the house and escaped. If you see him, please let me know."
"I've seen him before. He took our carriage for a while and broke up with us after arriving in Danyang. As for where he is now, we don't know." Zhang Ke replied according to Chen Fan's previous instructions.
"Since you don't know, then please come with us. When we find the person, we will naturally let you go."
"Just the three of you? How brave!" Zhang Ke relied on the strength of his own people and was unafraid.
"Have you seen this tree?" The big man pointed to the tree next to him, which was as thick as a bowl and as tall as one person.
Zhang Ke didn't answer, thinking, isn't this nonsense? Just as he was about to taunt the other party, he saw the big man suddenly swung the knife in his hand, and the light of the knife suddenly appeared. The tree fell with the light of the knife, split in half, and pressed towards Zhang Ke.
"The sword skills are good." Zheng Xu, who was standing next to him, stepped forward and with a wave of his hand, he patted the fallen tree into the weeds four or five meters away.
The big man who was a little complacent at first, when he saw Zheng Xu showing off his skills, he secretly smacked his tongue in his heart and swallowed the words he was about to boast about.
Zheng Xu's swing was as light as a lift, without any smell of fireworks, and his upper body did not move at all. He struck out after standing still, without using the strength of his legs or waist, relying entirely on the arm strength of one hand.
The big man asked himself that he couldn't do it. At the same time, he was secretly glad that he didn't tell the truth just now, and there was still room for change. He immediately said: "Who is your Excellency?"
"Before asking me, should you introduce yourself?" Zheng Xu did not answer, but asked instead.
The killer is unknown, how can a big man reveal his identity? Originally, according to the plan, they intercepted here and the people behind them would follow them. Unfortunately, after waiting for a long time, no one came to respond. At that moment, they started to retreat. But if he wanted to retreat like this, he was unwilling to do so, but if he took action, there was no chance of winning, so the big man was in trouble for a while.
"Hey, why don't you get out of the way? We still have to hurry, and you can't afford to suffer if we delay our work." Zhang Ke could not help but scolded this man for blocking the road without saying a word.
"Your Excellency's martial arts are very high. The three of us brothers have a formation that we would like to ask you for advice." This black-faced man wants to join forces to deal with Zheng Xu. If the other party agrees to do so, then we can find ways to defeat him first. Take them out and then deal with the others.
"The three of us brothers also have a formation, which is a spear formation. Why not compare it with this spear-wielding friend first." Seeing that the other party wanted to rely on more to win, Hu Gui immediately interjected from the side. Seeing the skill of the man who wielded the sword, Hu Gui did not dare to rely on him and suggested that he knew how to use the gun. In this way, with three against one, Hu Gui was still sure to win.
"Okay, Zhang Kui, you go and learn the marksmanship of these three people." Seeing that the other party was not fooled, the black-faced man immediately asked the gunman who came with him to attack first. Jian's accomplices may not be able to win if they join forces, not to mention that there is another person next to the opponent. If Zhang Kui loses, he will have a reason to withdraw. If he wins, he can fight. It was immediately put aside.
