Liu Zhen "raised" 50,000 taels of salary and 1,000 taels of benefits at once. Of course, he didn't dare to be greedy for the money, so after sending Mi Yuanwai away, he asked his master to help Write a memorial to the court, explaining the matter, and casually talk about your achievements in subjugation.
However, before Liu Zhen's memorial was sent out of the city, a group of royal guards broke into Wuchang City and without saying a word, surrounded the official office where Liu Zhen was. Seeing such a posture, the guards guarding the gate were frightened. It's not a serious injury, so go report it to their master immediately.
As soon as Liu Zhen heard that Jin Yiwei came to the door, she started to tremble all over. You know, Jin Yiwei are not ordinary official servants. They are the emperor's personal servants, and they handle all the imperial cases assigned by the emperor. Liu Zhen was thinking about it. I didn't know where I had disobeyed the holy will, so I had to bite the bullet and go see him.
"Come here, let me search carefully. Don't miss any corner." As soon as Liu Zhen left the study door, she saw Qianhu, a Jinyiwei guard, commanding dozens of people to rush in. They had already begun to rummage through the boxes and cabinets. Liu Zhen thought He opened his mouth to shout, but was glared at by Qian Hu, the Jin Yiwei guard, and shrank back as he spoke.
"Master Liu, I don't mean anything else. We are here to investigate the case on the order of the emperor. You sit here." The person who came to handle the case was Ma Degong. Although he was domineering, he still gave some respect to the first-level officials. Of course, this is before the physical evidence has been found. Once confirmed physical evidence is found, it will be different.
Dozens of Jin Yiwei worked together and quickly turned the entire government office upside down. The 50,000 yuan of money was still in the government office and had not been distributed. They turned it out as soon as they were turned over. Ma Degong looked at these boxes. The money box was full of copper coins. With a straight face, he said to his subordinates: "Come here, scoop out Liu Zhen!"
Several Jin Yiwei swarmed up, held down the dumbfounded Liu Zhen, and put a long rope on his head. The soldiers beside Liu Zhen were even dumbfounded. Due to the power of the Jin Yiwei, they did not even dare to move and could only watch helplessly. Liu Zhen was tied up.
"I, I am an official of the imperial court, you, you..." Liu Zhen was about to protest, but he received a heavy punch in the stomach, which hurt so much that his veins popped out. A gilded guard had already begun to search him. The bank note hidden on his body was found before he could even warm it up.
"Sir Qianhu, please look." The person who searched him was none other than the captain known as Xiao Dezi. He was already Ma Degong's capable subordinate.
"Okay, you actually accepted bribes. Come here, let me search the entire government office carefully and take away all the papers." Ma Degong handed the banknote to his subordinate and asked him to test it with rice soup immediately. Because he knew that this was not only irrefutable evidence of Liu Zhen's bribery, but there might be another mystery hidden in the bank note.
As expected by Ma Degong, after the silver note was coated with rice soup, some blue-purple writing appeared on the back. Ma Degong glanced at it and said angrily: "Pull him down for interrogation and torture the rebels." Check them all out."
Just as the two Jin Yiwei were about to take away Liu Zhen, who was still struggling and protesting, there was a sudden roar of wind, and a cold arrow flew towards her with great force. Before the two Jin Yiwei could react, Liu Zhen was already hit in the chest. The arrow fell directly to the ground.
"No, there are assassins!" The Jinyi guards exclaimed, and everyone drew out their embroidered spring knives and protected Ma Degong's surroundings. Their eyes looked around nervously. But at this moment, not far away from the opposite side, On the roof, a black shadow flashed away.
"The assassin is over there, chase!" Ma Degong waved his hand, and a dozen or so guards in uniforms rushed out and chased in the direction of the man in black. However, the body in black was so fast that it took less than half a quarter of an hour. When he arrived, he had already rushed to a small river in the city, jumped into the river, and disappeared from the sight of Jin Yiwei.
The assassin was not caught, and the most important witness, Liu Zhen, had died. Ma Degong was furious, but had no choice but to order some of the Jinyi guards to stay in Wuchang for an open and secret investigation. However, he was worried that the physical evidence would be lost, so he took him with him. He led some of the imperial guards to protect the evidence and quickly returned to Beijing.
The Jin Yiwei suddenly appeared and caused a loss of life. Moreover, he was an official of the first rank. People in Wuchang City were even more panicked. At this time, a black boat was parked on the Yangtze River. An arm suddenly stretched out from the water. The people hurriedly grabbed hold and pulled the man out of the water.
"How is it, is everything going well?" The people on the boat were also dressed as fishermen, but the man in the leader was Mi Yuanwai who appeared in Wuchang City during the day.
"It went very well. He has been silenced." The man in black who had just emerged from the water replied as he took off his wet clothes, revealing his true face, and a small steel plate hanging on his chest swayed gently. , this is the identity certificate of Jingzhongwei.
"Okay, very good. Send a message to Feige, the headquarters, saying that the task has been completed and you can proceed with the next plan." "Mi Yuanwai" looked happy and ordered to the "crew": "Set the ship, let's leave here immediately. .”
In Wuchang City, Ma Degong realized the seriousness of the situation, so he led dozens of Jinling Guards on the road overnight, trying to get back to Jinling City as soon as possible so that he could report the matter to the emperor. It was already late at night, and Ma Degong and his party drove away. The boat made a quick trip and didn't encounter any trouble along the way.
In order to travel faster, Ma Degong disembarked at Ningguo Mansion at dawn and changed horses. He drove the horse along the way and arrived at Yingtian Mansion at dusk. Ma Degong was afraid that things might change, so he still ordered The subordinates traveled all night, trying to return to Jinling before dawn.
That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high, and the whistling north wind brought a biting chill. After driving for several days in a row, Ma Degong and others were tired and sleepy, and they only relied on the belief that they would be rewarded for their meritorious service. .And when they passed by a deserted suburb called Jihuaipo, dozens of cold arrows suddenly flew in the howling north wind. Many people were hit by arrows in the chest before they could react, and they fell off their horses in pain.
"No, there's an ambush!" Ma Degong shuddered and immediately stopped moving forward, while the imperial guards around him also immediately protected him.
By this time, it was too late. A dozen cold arrows flew out of the locust tree forest again. At the same time, a dozen men in black also sprang out. These men in black rolled out of the ground. They did not kill people, but only chopped horses' feet. Wherever they passed, war horses fell to the ground with cries, and the guards on horseback were also beaten to pieces.
After a successful blow, the men in black rolled on the ground again and disappeared into the locust tree forest. They came and went like the wind and looked like ghosts. Even the brave and fierce Jin Yiwei were secretly frightened when they saw it. They immediately Got up from the ground and looked around nervously, fearing that these men in black would appear again and take their lives.
However, the man in black stopped attacking once he got the back blow, and just kept firing cold arrows. It was hard to look at the dozens of guards in uniform, and a few unlucky guys were hit by arrows and fell to the ground dead. Fortunately, they survived. The Jin Yiwei were even more frightened because they knew that these cold arrows were poisoned and they would die if they got on them.
"Don't mess around. Let's form a circle first and be on guard against each other." The Jin Yiwei named Xiao Dezi was calm. When he shouted, the Jin Yiwei who were originally fighting on their own began to look for partners, and three or four people formed a circle. Circle, back-to-back cover, Ma Degong even gave Xiao Dezi an appreciative look.
As soon as the Jin Yiwei lined up in formation, the cold arrows stopped shooting out. There was a deathly silence in the locust tree forest, with only the whistling north wind shaking the soul like a ghost crying. Seeing this, Ma Degong lost his composure and ordered The subordinates began to break through and leave this hellish place.
The enemy was in the dark and they were in the open, and their horses were either dead or injured, and they were carrying several large boxes of copper coins. Under such circumstances, walking in the dark was of course a slow speed. But they had just walked a few dozen meters, and a small The captain's foot touched something, and he heard a "boom", a big crater exploded in the ground, and several people nearby were blown into the air.
"Be careful, mines!" Xiao Dezi reacted quickly and pushed Ma Degong to the ground and pinned him down. The violent explosion wave carried countless mud and rocks flying horizontally, and fell on him. And then At this moment, a dozen men in black clothes rushed out from the side of the road, and the dozens of Jinyi guards who were stunned by the mines were hacked to death before they could recover.
"Execute..." Ma Degong saw his men being chopped up melons and vegetables, and was about to ask them to form a formation to resist, but his mouth was held down by the little virtue on his body.
"The situation is over, we can only pretend to be dead." Xiao Dezi whispered in Ma Degong's ear, and then stretched out his hands, pretending to be dead. Ma Degong saw his subordinates being hacked to death one after another. , the remaining people began to flee in all directions again, knowing that there was no way to save themselves, so they had no choice but to imitate Xiao Dezi and pretend to be dead.
After the man in black slashed and killed, the battle ended quickly. There was even a man in black who made a few more cuts on Xiao Dezi's body. Ma Degong was so frightened that his face turned pale. Fortunately, Xiao Dezi fell. He was able to bear it, and even when the knife was scratched on his body, he remained motionless, so he was not exposed.
"Kill them all?" The man in black wiped the bloody knife on Xiao Dezi's clothes. At this time, the men in black who went to hunt down the fleeing Jin Yiwei came back.
"Kill them all, leaving no one alive." The men in black whispered.
"Okay, send an order to Master Xu, saying that everything has been done, so that he can feel at ease." The man in black put his sword back into its sheath, "Let's go, take these copper coins and leave immediately."
"Yes!" After the order, a dozen men in black pulled the carriage containing 50,000 yuan and quickly disappeared into the night, as if it had never appeared before.
After escaping death, Ma Degong, who was pinned down by Xiao Dezi, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he was even more frightened because he clearly heard the three words "Master Xu". He could conclude that these two consecutive robberies and murders were all related to Master Xu. And Ma Degong believed that this Master Xu was most likely Xu Qin.
After the man in black had gone far away, Ma Degong finally dared to get up from the ground. Xiao Dezi was always very clever, so he immediately suggested that Ma Degong take off the uniform of the royal guard, hide the sword, and dress up as a civilian. It was only then that he returned to Beijing. Seeing how loyal and careful Xiao Dezi was, Ma Degong patted his chest and promised that he would be rich and noble in the future.
However, the man named Xiao Dezi spoke modestly, but in his heart he sneered: You are walking on the dark road of hell, I am walking on the sunny road, and I will share my wealth and wealth with you!