After lunch, Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng, Scarface and a few soldiers and followed Wang Xingben out of the county on horseback towards Daqi Village. Wang Xingben followed closely beside him on horseback. He was very attentive and had obvious intentions of currying favor with him. As he walked, he introduced the customs and customs of Xia County to him.
The county lieutenant is one of the important officials in the county government, responsible for pickets, arrests, and prison sentences. In a large county like Xia County, the county captain should be an official of the ninth rank. After Wang Xingben finished speaking, Li Zhiyun asked: "Wang County Lieutenant, are you a local?"
"Back to King Chu, Xiaguan is a local. His hometown is Fenghuang Village, ten miles outside the east city."
"Who else is at home?"
"There's just a sixty-year-old mother...well, and an uncle."
The two chatted and soon arrived at Daqi Village. Under the guidance of the villagers, they found Niu Da's home. This is a dilapidated courtyard. They dismounted and went into the yard, where they found the door locked. Obviously, Niu Da is not at home.
Li Zhiyun walked out of the yard and walked into the yard next door. There is a young couple in this house. He stood at the door and said, "Excuse me, where is Niu Da who lives next door to your house?"
"Niu Da is dead." The man in the room said.
Li Zhiyun was shocked and said quickly: "How did he die? When did it happen?"
"About half a month ago," the man said, "Niuda was cutting pigweed by the pond, fell into the pond and drowned."
When Li Zhiyun heard this, he felt very disappointed. After thinking about it, he said, "Then, is there anyone else in his family?"
"No. Niu Da's parents died young. He was very poor and had no money to get a wife. He was just alone."
"Then, doesn't he have any relatives?"
The man shook his head. At this time, his wife interrupted: "He has a cousin, I have met him, but I don't know where he lives." After thanking Li Zhiyun, he returned to Niu's yard and said to everyone: "Niu Da drowned Now, let’s go back.”
Niu Da is dead, and the clues to the disappearance are finally over. Li Zhiyun decided to start again with the murder case. He took out the poem and read it several times, then asked Scarface to be called over and said: "Wang Baoqiang, you select fifty soldiers and you will personally lead them to the place where Zhou Shen's body was found. Search carefully within a radius of five miles to see if you can find anything." Scarface said he obeyed the order, turned around and went out.
After Scarface left, Li Zhiyun thought for a moment and said to Zhang Zheng: "Go to Master Hong and tell him that I want to see him." Half an hour after Zhang Zheng left, he brought Hong Suran over. Li Zhiyun asked him to sit down and asked someone to serve him tea. Then he sat down opposite him and said, "Hong Zhubo, I'm looking for you today. I don't have anything important to do. I just want to chat casually." Then, he said to him We chatted about home affairs. After chatting for a while, we turned to the topic, "Hong Zhubo, are you familiar with Zhou Shen?"
Hong Jiran smiled and said, "I am running an errand in a government office. How can I not be familiar with it?"
"So, what do you think of Zhou Shen?"
"Not bad. He is friendly, diligent, and gets along well with his colleagues."
"Does he have any enemies? Or enemies or something?"
"I haven't heard of this," Master Hong said. After a pause, he continued, "To be honest with the King of Chu, the villain has a very good relationship with Zhou Shen and has a lot of contacts. When something unexpected happens to him, the villain feels very bad. I also have a book I borrowed from him. , I haven’t had time to return it to him..."
"What book?" Li Zhiyun asked casually.
"Book of Changes Yishu."
"Book of Changes?" Li Zhiyun had an idea and said quickly: "Can you bring that book to me?"
"Of course." Mr. Hong stood up and said goodbye. After he left, he delivered the book within a matter of a moment of burning incense.
Li Zhiyun took the book and said to him: "Master Hong, please go back first. If anything happens, I will see you again."
After Hong Jiran left, Li Zhiyun sat next to the table and read the "Book of Changes". After reading for a while, he took out the poem again, compared the two sides, and couldn't help but excitedly slapped the table several times: "That's right!..."
Li Zhiyun called Zhang Zheng over and whispered in his ear, and Zhang Zheng nodded.
Zhang Zheng returned to his guest room, took off his official uniform, put on a robe, hid a dagger in his arms, then left the inn, left the county town through the north gate, and headed straight for Yinhua Mountain.
Zhang Zheng has a strong figure and can walk as fast as flying. In less than an hour, he was already standing on the rooftop. In front of us is a stretch of rolling hills, lush and lush. In the valley, the roof of the temple can be vaguely seen.
He walked along the stone path to the back mountain. Half an hour later, he came to a temple and saw a plaque on the main entrance of the Buddhist temple that read: Puning Zen Temple.
This temple covers a large area. In addition to the Buddhist temple in the front, there are many buildings in the back. I don't know what they are used for. Zhang Zheng walked into the Buddhist temple, and there were only a few pilgrims inside. He walked around the main hall and found nothing unusual, so he walked out of the main hall and walked towards the buildings at the back.
The building layout behind the main hall was very complicated. He passed through two cloisters and entered a courtyard. There was no one in the yard. He was looking around when he suddenly heard someone shouting from behind: "Stop! What are you doing?"
Zhang Zheng looked back and saw a vulgar-looking monk walking towards him with an angry look on his face. He quickly cupped his hands and said, "Master, I am a pilgrim worshiping Buddha."
"Go to the main hall to worship Buddha. This is a retreat for monks. Outsiders are not allowed to enter without permission!"
"Yes, yes." Zhang Zheng bowed to apologize, turned around and returned along the original road. After he left Puning Zen Temple, he went to several other temples but found nothing. At sunset, he returned to Puning Zen Temple, hid in a jungle next to the temple, ate the dry food he had brought with him, and waited for nightfall.
At night, the valley is not quiet. In addition to the chirping of various insects, there are also the hoots of owls. Not far away, there was a long and mournful roar, which sounded creepy.
Zhang Zheng took out a scarf from his arms and tied it on, then walked out of the woods, sneaked to the temple, jumped over the high wall, and jumped into the courtyard. He clung to the shadow of the wall, stood on tiptoes, looked like cranes and herons, and when he reached a corner, he suddenly saw two monks holding lanterns coming towards him, and hurriedly hid in the darkness. After the two monks walked past, he continued to walk forward, entered another small courtyard, and reached the door of a room.
The door was unlocked and opened with a slight push. He entered the room, turned around and closed the door, took out the candle and the fire sickle from his arms, and lit the candle. This room is very messy. In addition to the Buddhist niche embedded in the wall, there are many daily necessities. There are several quilts piled randomly on the bed. It seems that this is the residence of monks.
Zhang Zheng walked out of the house and walked to the door of another room. The door to this room is locked. He took out something and gently poked it in the keyhole, and the lock opened. He pushed the door open and almost tripped over something. He quickly closed the door, took out a candle and lit it. He took a breathless look and couldn't help but be horrified. This room was filled with weapons, including swords, guns, swords and halberds, axes, axes, hooks and hairpins, bows, crossbows and spears. There were thousands of them all piled up in the whole room. It turns out that this is a weapons warehouse.
Zhang Zheng left the room, came to the door of the next door, and entered the room as usual. There are no weapons in this room, but there are many flags and flags made of silk. There were many piles on the table and on the ground, and there were many Buddhist flags leaning against the wall. Zhang Zheng held the candle and walked to the table, put the candle down, then unfolded the large roll of flags and looked at them one by one. Finally, he found a few noodles, rubbed them and put them in his arms.
Zhang Zheng has practiced martial arts since he was a child and has extremely keen hearing. He suddenly heard footsteps in the distance and hurriedly blew out the candle...
The footsteps were made by two monks on night watch. They walked over with lanterns, first inspected the weapons warehouse, and then walked to the door of this room. When they shined the lanterns, they found that the door lock was hanging on the ring.
"Hey, why isn't the door locked?" cried the monk holding the lantern.
Another monk said: "Let's go in and take a look!" The two of them pushed the door open and entered the house. They illuminated it with a lantern and found nothing unusual. The monk holding the lantern asked, "Have any outsiders come in?"
"Hey, this place is so secretive. How do outsiders know? Maybe you forgot to lock the door. Let's go."
The two monks walked out of the house, closed the door, locked the lock again and left. Inside the house, Zhang Zheng walked out from behind the Buddhist flags against the wall. The monk locked the door and he could no longer go out. Fortunately, there was a skylight. Although the skylight was about one foot or two from the ground, it was not a problem for him.
Zhang Zheng jumped up, climbed onto the window sill, gently pushed open the window sash, climbed out, and jumped down. Then, he bowed and ran to the wall, climbed over the wall, and disappeared into the night a moment later...
Early the next morning, Zhang Zheng came to Li Zhiyun's guest room and told him what he had found out at Puning Zen Temple last night.
"More than a thousand weapons?" Li Zhiyun asked in confusion, "Why are there so many weapons stored in the temple?"
Zhang Zheng handed him the flags and flags again. Li Zhiyun unfolded it and saw a few red letters printed on a yellow Buddhist flag: Mahayana Buddha Country. Printed on the other side: Mahayana Emperor. And a triangular flag reads: Promote the Dharma.
"Emperor Mahayana?" Li Zhiyun asked himself, "Does Gao Tansheng want to rebel and make himself emperor?"
Zhang Zheng nodded: "It's very possible."
"Okay, I understand. You can go back to your room and rest." Li Zhiyun said. After Zhang Zheng left, he looked at the flags and flags and fell into deep thought.
