Fenghou

Chen Qing was closely guarded by the guards and went to the court in a carriage. He made a special turn and walked by the lake.

A large number of guards and palace guards gathered by the lake, they surrounded a place, apparently found something?
Someone shouted, "Your Majesty is coming!"

The guards moved away one after another, and Chen Qing walked over, only to see a corpse covered with a black cloth on the ground, only a pair of feet were exposed, it should be lying face down on the ground.

Chen Qing stepped forward and lifted the black cloth to look. It was indeed a woman, naked, thin, with disheveled hair. The deadly part was her back. She was pierced through the chest by something like a water thorn, and died in one blow.

Chen Qing covered the black cloth and asked, "Where did you find it?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, it is here, the corpse has not moved!"

"Where were those black clothes found?"

The guard pointed to a boulder dozens of steps away, "It's under that boulder."

"Are there holes in the clothes?"

"No, they should have taken off their clothes and entered the water."

Chen Qing nodded, then asked Yang Jinchai and Xu Hong, "What do you two think?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, they should have different opinions internally, and there was internal strife, and the result was murderous intentions, and they were stabbed to death from behind!"

"Are you using a sword?" Chen Qing asked.

Yang Jinchai nodded, "It's a very thin sword that I've tested for my humble position."

"Do you think the other two escaped by the waterway?" Chen Qing continued to ask.

"From the current situation, it should be so!"

Chen Qing shook his head, "They can swim around in black clothes, why are they naked, and it is easier to be found at the bottom of the water naked, black clothes can cover up, this is one; second, the water flows from the west Yuhe, and then flow out from the east, this is the direction of the water flow, if it is assassinated in the water, it will never rush to the shore, but will go along the current; thirdly, could this be a trick used by the other party to let You mistakenly thought that the other two had escaped, but in fact they didn’t, they just took off their clothes to change into palace clothes.”

Everyone was shocked, could it be that the two assassins are still in the palace?
Chen Qing said again: "I suggest that you still investigate the palace guards and maids. They use women to assassinate, and they must want to pretend to be people in the palace."

After finishing speaking, Chen Qing boarded the carriage and went to the court under strict guards.

Yang Jinchai hurriedly said: "I'll arrange for the empress not to come out, and continue to investigate at dawn!"

Xu Hong nodded, "We need to gather all the court ladies and eunuchs, so that it will be easy to investigate."

The two split up
When Lu Xiu and others heard that the assassin was still hiding in the palace, they became worried again. They were mainly worried about the emperor.

Yang Jinchai comforted them and said: "Your Majesty went to the imperial study, but it is safe. Now the inner palace is not safe. The two assassins we must find are male or female, but they must be thin."

Zhao Qiaoyun said from the side: "If it is a gathering of palace people, then they must not dare to go. It is better to hide in the palace. Let the hounds smell the smell of the corpse, and maybe they can find their previous hiding place."

"But it's been raining outside and their smell has been washed away by the rain."

Zhao Qiaoyun shook her head with a smile, "They were soaked in the rain, and the smell was even stronger, and they weren't hiding in the rain!"

Zhao Yingluo also said: "It's best to go to the imperial dining room to check. If there is a lot of food missing, they may have plans to lurk in the palace for a long time."

One sentence reminded Yang Jinchai, and she immediately rushed to arrange the hounds and check the imperial dining room.

There are not many maids and eunuchs in the harem, and there are only more than five hundred people in total. It is easy to check, and the imperial dining room also found that three packages of dim sum were missing.

At this time, the rain had already lightened and turned into a drizzle, and the three mastiffs finally found their way. They galloped along a corridor, barking at an attic in Yu Ying's courtyard at the same time.

A large number of palace guards surrounded the attic and began a rigorous search. The three-headed mastiff was also released, and the mastiff went straight to the third floor.

A mastiff had just rushed up to the third floor when it suddenly screamed and rolled down from the third floor with a flying knife nailed to its head.

"They're upstairs!"

The palace guards shouted, and the palace guards who had been tossed all night were in high spirits. It was hundreds of guards who also came and surrounded the attic.

At this time, two women in palace costumes suddenly came out from the broken window on the third floor, and ran away one by one, and jumped towards a big tree. , the west assassin let out a scream, was pierced by random arrows, and fell from the air.

Commander Xu Hong shouted anxiously: "Catch the living!"

The guards received the crossbow arrows, and the assassin who fled from the east landed on a big tree. She jumped from the big tree, and just as she landed, seven or eight nets fell from the sky, trapping her tightly.

"Caught!"

The guards rushed forward and held down the assassin in the net, one of the guards suddenly shouted, "Hold her hand, she will kill herself!"

The guards tried their best to hold down the female assassin's hand, but it was too late, she lowered her head, and the poisoned flying knife in her hand had already pierced her throat.

The guards hurriedly pulled the net away, only to see the female assassin foaming at the mouth and twitching all over, she was already dying.

After a while, the two female assassins were both dead, and the palace guards searched the attic again, only finding a few bags of stolen food, nothing else.

Helpless, the guards had no choice but to hand over the bodies of the three female assassins and all their belongings to the inner guards, who would then investigate their origins, and the danger in the palace was lifted.

At the same time, the guards stepped up their monitoring and patrolling of the Donggong construction site, which was a fatal loophole that they had ignored before.

But whether there were only three assassins or there was another ambush, Yang Jinchai didn't dare to be careless. She took the palace guards and mastiffs to search repeatedly, and finally confirmed that there was no fourth person, and then ended the alarm.

But the vigilance did not relax. The emperor's family members were not allowed to leave the house for the time being, and could only move about in their respective rooms.

The alarm in the palace is lifted, but the investigation into the assassination has only just begun.

The inner guard took over the case, but found nothing in the investigation of the three bodies and belongings.

Zhong Huan was listening to the report from Xu Cheng, the commander of the internal guards, "The three female assassins are about the same size and almost the same weight. After carefully inspecting their hands and feet, I can conclude that they have received the same training and should come from an organization. , but none of them had any marks on them."

"They look like people from the Central Plains?"

"Unrecognizable!"

Zhong Huan asked again: "Is there any clue to their belongings?"

Xu Cheng shook his head, "There are only three things that belong to them, black clothes, flying knives and sharp swords, the sharp sword is a willow-leaf sword, very thin, you can buy it in sword shops, flying knives are also relatively common, the only special thing is The poison quenched on the flying knife is very strong, it belongs to the kind that sees blood and seals the throat, and the weapons shop is currently studying it."

Zhong Huan nodded, "Since they are sent to assassinate the emperor, they won't leave any clues, but they chose the right timing and breakthrough point. We should start from the East Palace construction site."

Zhong Huan immediately ordered: "Go to the East Palace construction site!"

Dozens of inner guard cavalry rushed in the drizzle. After a while, they rushed to the construction site of the East Palace. The construction site has been suspended and is under the control of the inner guard. Several main managers are here. The guards have stepped up their guard inside the palace wall , Outside the palace wall, the internal guards investigate.

An internal guard led the night watchman up, Zhong Huan squatted down and looked at the dog that was shot, and asked the night watchman, "How many times did the dog bark and was killed?"

"Reporting to the general, he was killed after calling twice?"

"Are you sure?"

"Sure, the villain can hear it clearly, and thinks it's hungry."

Zhong Huan nodded, and asked again, "You were the only one at the construction site last night?"

"Exactly!"

A steward next to him said: "It rained heavily last night, the craftsmen were resting in the shed, and no construction was arranged."

Zhong Huan came to the wooden shelf next to the palace wall, from where the three assassins climbed into the palace last night.

"How long was the wooden shelf?"

The manager hurriedly said: "It was only left for a day. It was built last night and morning, and the tiles on the wall fell off. We are going to repair the tiles."

Zhong Huan turned back to Xu Cheng and said, "They didn't carry hooks or claws to climb over the wall, which means they are planning to climb over the wall from here. They just built one and seized the opportunity. The craftsmen must have their eyeliner."

Xu Cheng also quickly said: "Reporting to the general, there was only a quarter of an hour between the dog barking and being killed, and the alarm sounding in the palace. They were still able to go to the imperial dining room to get food, which shows that they are very familiar with the layout of the palace."

"You are right. They have internal plans and have been patiently waiting for an opportunity, but this is also our breakthrough."

At this moment, a craftsman ran to report to the steward in a panic, "Report to the steward, someone died in the dormitory!"