In the yard planted with big trees, a tall figure was punching the air. The speed of the fists seemed to have a strange rhythm, and it was continuous. The thick tree, which was difficult for one person to hug, was shaking in the sound of the punches.
.
The yard is not luxurious. An old two-story wooden building is located in an "L" shape. The broken lantern hanging at the intersection emits dim light in the night, illuminating a few places, which seems to make the night more colorful.
A bit thicker.
There were other people in the yard. Inside the railing at the corner of the second floor of the wooden building, a swordsman stood silently in the darkness. There was also a dark shadow standing on the tiles of the roof.
In the distance of the field of vision, large and small riots are still going on in Fuzhou City.
After a while, the figure upstairs gave a simple signal, and then someone came in.
The fist pumping by the tree stopped.
The middle-aged man who entered the courtyard looked around, silently raised his hands, and then walked to the big tree in the center of the courtyard: "Master Ni is still practicing boxing at this time."
"I've been punching for an hour every day since I became an adult." Iron Fist Ni, who was standing under a tree, took off the cloth bandage on his hand. "I thought something was wrong in the afternoon, so I kept my strength for half an hour. I didn't want to worry about anything, which made me a little bit nervous.
disappointment."
"Miss, after careful arrangement, the government couldn't find it here for a while."
"Then the purpose of Mr. Yan coming here is..."
"But it's also the young lady's order that I need to discuss some things with Master Ni."
"Hit people, kill people, kill whomever. But it doesn't matter."
The person who came over this night was none other than Chen Yan, the steward next to Chen Shuangran. There had been a lot of fighting between the two sides, and Ni Po was also cheerful. Chen Yan was silent for a moment, and then handed over.
Then he spoke in the courtyard:
"The first group of people who took action have left the city this evening. They were personally selected by Master Ni. Miss feels that no matter whether the government can catch the people who left the city, the things that Master Ni has been doing in the city some time ago cannot be concealed."
"I just like fighting and making friends with force, so what?"
"The government won't listen. No matter what, Mr. Ni, you have finished your work this time. The lady said that this is your previous reward."
As Chen Yan spoke, he took out a small box and handed it over with open hands. Ni Po reached out to take it and frowned.
"Then what?"
"Then if Master Ni is interested, we can arrange for Master Ni to leave the city at any time. In three to five days, he will be able to completely escape from Fuzhou and avoid the chaos in Fuzhou."
"Humph, burning bridges? - You want to do me?"
"That's absolutely not the case." Chen Yan said calmly, "This time the young lady is recruiting people, Ni Daxia is not the only friend from outside to help. The young lady said that if you can leave safely, it will show our sincerity in the hiring this time, but if you do
He died immediately after the incident, and other friends probably won’t make it easy for us...right?"
What he said was fair and aboveboard, but the last sentence was spoken back to the other people in the yard. Someone on the second floor snorted, but they probably admitted that they were acting justly. Ni Po also opened the small
He took the box and stuffed the few banknotes and gems inside into his arms.
"Huh, let's go now. If you have a woman running the household here, it's a bit too petty."
"It's all for the sake of Master Ni."
"But I don't plan to leave yet."
Ni Po spoke slowly.
Chen Yan looked at him from the opposite side with calm eyes.
I saw Ni Po raise his finger: "When I came here, I once said that I, 'Iron Fist' Ni Po, from Jizhou, came here this time to establish my reputation in the world and make me famous! You guys
What I am doing is a major matter of rebellion, and I do things in a systematic way, which is good, but now at most the government has suspected me. It does not mean that they can find me, let alone catch me. Your Chen Shuangran, and that
Pu Xingui, Cao Jinlong and others are not walking in the city, but they are asking me to leave now. Do you look down on me?"
Chen Yan stared at him, then smiled: "Master Ni, do you really want to stay and have more fun?"
Ni Po also laughed.
"Old Yan." He said slowly, "Jizhou is a small place like many places in Fujian. Ni has been fond of martial arts since he was a child. When he was more than ten years old, he thought he was invincible in the world. But until the Jurchens went south,
It was not until the disgrace of Jingping that a northern boxer came to our place, and after some fighting, I realized that I was just a frog in the well. I resumed my apprenticeship, and in the following few years, Jianshuo moved south again, and northerners moved south in large numbers.
Only then will you know how vast the world is and how wonderful boxing skills are."
He untied the cloth in his other hand: "...At the Jiangning Conference last year, I finally saw the strongest boxing skills and the most wonderful skills in the world. I was afraid, but I knew that sooner or later, I would be able to walk away.
When I get there... before that, I will fight there step by step until one day, I can stand in front of Master Lin and spar with him!"
Under the darkness, he threw away the cloth strip in his hand.
"Mr. Yan, this trip to Fuzhou is far from my limit. I am not afraid of death. The eagles and dogs in the yamen are nothing more than chickens and dogs. If you need me, I can help you do great things."
At this point in his words, in the darkness of the night, Chen Yan seemed to be impressed by his courage and finally smiled heartily.
"The lady said...if Master Ni can have such an awakening, then we...can indeed do great things together."
"Stop being as boring as before and do something unsafe."
"Don't worry." Chen Yan smiled, "It won't be too safe...for everyone."
…
Outside Fuzhou City.
From a distance, you can see some images of figures running in the dark, and there are also knights holding torches, walking through the fields, through the village, and through the woods beside the pond outside the village in the yellow light...
As the time approached midnight, the forces of the city patrol army and the Ministry of Justice had stretched for dozens of miles, controlling all the main roads around Fuzhou, and besieged and screened the assassins who committed assassinations in the city in the evening.
Above an official post on the edge of the city, a figure was playing chess in a room that was slightly illuminated. A girl wearing a veil was sitting in front of the window drinking tea, observing the scene in the night outside through the diagonally opened gap.
.
At a certain moment, a warning slap came from the roof, and then the window opened, and a figure in black robes returned to the house like a ghost.
"That's not right." Monk Tunyun's voice was slightly hoarse, "Several groups of officers and soldiers went to Weizhuang."
In the room, Chen Shuangran paused slightly while holding the tea. The two figures playing Go in the middle did not move. Another person walked up to Tun Yun, picked up the telescope in his hand, and looked quietly from the window.
Look from a distance.
"Has it been discovered?" Chen Shuangran sighed.
Tun Yun said: "Do you want to save me?"
"There's no need." The man pointing at the telescope from the window said, "I've already prepared for it."
Chen Shuangran took another sip of tea.
In the center of the room, Go was still being played, and the night outside was still dark. At a certain moment, a fire suddenly lit up in the distant night, and the man in front of the window put down his telescope.
"It exploded," he said.
"Amitabha." Tun Yun raised his eyebrows, "Whether they can run away depends on their luck... But I am a little curious, how were they discovered?"
The man holding the telescope looked at the distance in the night, and then moved the corner of his mouth slightly, as if he was smiling: "Tie Tianying has long known that the chaos in Fuzhou is caused by various big businessmen with evil intentions. They
Although we won't come in person, our family's property is what we rely on to avoid... Fujian has been in a turmoil for two years. I see that the Ministry of Punishment has already made a list of those who may rebel, which ones are more suspected, and which ones are less suspected.
Including their other gardens inside and outside Fuzhou, they must have touched a round..."
He said: "If I were Tie Tianying, I'm afraid that starting last month, I would have quietly planted informants in various suspected companies without triggering them. Then, in a big battle like tonight, many people are running away.
Maybe we can catch a big fish... Now it seems that the iron catcher's sword is still young, which is also our luck this round, which is a bit bad..."
"Huh." Tun Yun smiled: "It seems that I should find a chance to do it to him first."
Chen Shuangran put down the tea cup: "If... the master takes action, I would also like to try..."
"He is not that easy to deal with." The figure holding the telescope shook his head, "Back then, in the arena, he was always surrounded and killed by Iron Sky Eagle, and very few people could surround him... Over the years, in terms of operational planning, he could
The only person he lags behind every step of the way..."
"Who is it?" Tun Yun asked.
The two people who were playing chess in the room also looked over at this time. But then, when everyone saw him shaking his head and remaining silent, they all realized who he was talking about. Suddenly, the two players playing chess looked over.
The man turned around, and Monk Tunyun's face looked as ugly as if he had swallowed maggots.
"Fuck." The monk cursed.
Chen Shuangran, who was standing aside, put down his tea cup: "Actually, I heard that when he was in Lin'an, didn't he also miscalculate a move and be tricked by Wanyan Xiyin's disciple...?"
Everyone nodded, and the person by the window sighed, and then smiled: "...That's right."
…
In the sleepless night, light and fire spread bit by bit outside the city. Within the city, from the palace to the princess's mansion, from Li Pin's school to Zuo's courtyard, a large number of people did not fall asleep until the early morning.
The lights stayed on all night, and there was a lot of traffic in front of the door, making it feel like a busy city all night long.
It rained in the morning.
It was close to noon when Tie Tianying brought a group of people back from outside the city. Their clothes and armor were all wet. He asked Chief Inspector Song Xiaoming to get dry clothes to change. Song Xiaoming joked: "Master, come in wet."
Is the palace better?"
"Crooked ways, don't use your thoughts on this."
"That's a bit difficult. You have to guess the bad guy's mind."
"Stop talking nonsense, how are you doing here?"
He first came here to understand the progress of the situation. Song Xiaoming compiled the case files that had been prepared and presented them.
"It's not good." He opened a few important ones. "We have arrested a lot of people, and some of them can be convicted of crimes, but the main ones exposed are not the big ones we want. According to their confession today,
Crime, this tan, the Yan family can already be copied, and I am afraid that two or three more families will be found out next, but the family is not very rich, and with this matter, I am afraid that they have already gone up the mountain and have to suppress... The previous targets
The three people living here have no movement and cannot reach the bandit leaders Chen, Pu, and Cao..."
Song Xiaoming said and clicked on one of the files again, hesitating: "Master, if we really can't find Chen Shuangran, the one in Houguan County, should we close the net first? He and some others
The arrest and the death of Zhong Ergui can put together the whole story of the instigation... Fuzhou Prefecture is also under a lot of pressure on this matter..."
Tie Tianying stared for a moment: "This Zhang Li must have met Chen Shuangran before."
"But has Chen Shuangran given up on him?"
"...There is someone from the yamen behind Chen Shuangran." Tie Tianying pressed his hand on the files, "Either it is the current yamen, or the arrester from the past six doors, maybe he knows me...
…”
Song Xiaoming opened his mouth.
"...Last night, I closed the hidden line outside the city. I knew there was a problem in Weizhuang. I did find someone when I went there, but the other party was well prepared. Several of the people below were almost killed by the bomb. Ten of them committed the attack in the evening.
The two of them hid in the village and escaped through a secret passage... One was killed, two were captured, and they were interrogated on the spot. No one knew how to find Chen Shuangran. At most, they could know who they were, and now they are all hiding...
…From last month to today, there are so many lines, and every one of them has been cut cleanly. People who are not familiar with the yamen can’t do it. And the gunpowder that exploded last night is not simple..."
Song Xiaoming hesitated for a moment, "...is it... from our own army, or from outside?"
"...It looks like it's from outside."
"Someone reach out?"
"Not sure who it is."
"There are only so many families in the world that are so close to each other... is this the King of Fairness?"
"I'm not sure, I can't say." Tie Tianying said, "I will report this matter, and you can't mention it to anyone again..."
"yes."
"Zhang Li, don't move for now. Zhong Ergui's case is sensitive. I'll tell you if we can close it or not. Prepare a carriage. I'll take a look at things on the road." Tie Tianying grabbed these compiled files, and before leaving, he remembered one more thing.
"By the way, one of the arrested people mentioned a name, 'Iron Fist' Ni Po, who was sent by Chen Shuangran..."
"I was about to say that we also asked about this person." Song Xiaoming took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and said, "We have already asked him to draw a shadow shape. Hey, he looks like this..."
He handed the image to Tie Tianying, who nodded: "The opponent is experienced and has probably been disconnected, but we might as well check... don't send it yet, and see if we can find it quickly."
Song Xiaoming nodded, but he didn't put much hope in this.
However, it was on this afternoon that people found it.
…
In the evening, Song Xiaoming took his two elite men in an alley in the east of the city and felt something was wrong.
The alley is not narrow, but the old walls on both sides are quite high. A huge locust tree in front casts a thick shade. The roads in Fuzhou city are rarely cool, but it seems a bit eerie at this moment. There are pedestrians outside the alley, and there are still
The sound of vendors hawking came, but the nearby watchtower could not pay attention to the situation in the alley for a while. The other two companions were walking around from the street to the other end of the alley.
The figure who was originally being followed stood under the big locust tree and showed him a smile.
Then came the roar.
"Hold."
Song Xiaoming drew his sword, and at the same time he waved his other hand, and the sound of a thunder shot up into the sky.
There was movement in the courtyard on one side, and the light of swords flowed; above the big locust tree, a hidden figure swooped down like an eagle.
As the sunlight passes through the shade of the trees, everything happens quickly.