Judge of the Lamp

Chapter 983 Yuan Chengfeng's Whereabouts
Han Chen had never heard of Xu Yongren's name. He wandered around the world for many years. When he came to the capital, Xu Zhiqiong had already become a lantern bearer. There was no intersection between him and Xu Yongren.

All that Li Shabai knew about Xu Yongren was that he was Xu Zhiqiong's father who died on the battlefield of the Northern Expedition.

Xu Zhiqiong didn't ask any more questions. He could only investigate this matter by himself. What he should be most concerned about now is the resurrection of Nuzu.

Han Chen prevented a sacrificial ceremony, will Nuzu encourage Liang Jixiong to hold a second sacrificial ceremony immediately?

If the sacrificial ceremony could be held anytime and anywhere, wouldn't the Nuzu be able to be resurrected at any time?
Li Shabai has a certain understanding of this: "When I destroyed the altar, I could feel that Nu Zu was injured, and Nu Zu is the god of external usurper after all. This sacrifice was quite exhausting for Nu Zu. If he is sure of success, he will not hold a sacrifice easily again,
Moreover, the preparations for the sacrificial ceremony are very obvious. There must be an altar, there must be witnesses from the blood of the clan, and tens of thousands of lives must be sacrificed, so that false gods can ascend to the throne of gods.
I have sent disciples to monitor the people in the Canglong Hall day and night. If there is any sign of sacrifice, Dr. Han and I will stop it and never let the false god succeed. "

Han Chen nodded and said: "Brother, you don't need to ask the emperor to excuse us, this matter is not clear, so don't embarrass yourself."

"This matter must be made clear, how can a salary holder freeze to death in the snow!" Xu Zhiqiong has already thought of a way to deal with it, but he must wait until the chaos of the angry husband comes to an end.

While talking, He Fang had something important to see, and Li Shabai asked her to come in. He Fang copied a copy of the Ministry of War newspaper and handed it to Li Shabai.

After Li Shabai read it, his face was solemn, and everyone passed it around without saying a word.

The magistrate of Yuanzhou led more than 6000 remnant troops to retreat to Qinshu County, and recruited more than [-] young and strong people from the countryside, and gathered nearly [-] people. He originally planned to counterattack.

Unexpectedly, the Nufu Sect took the initiative to send 5000 people to attack Qinshu County.

There is a city in Qinshu County, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and the mob doesn't know how to attack the city.

The prefect of Yuanzhou was determined to win this battle, but unfortunately he only held on for less than two days before Qinshu County was captured. The prefect took less than 200 people and fled to Guzhou east of Yuanzhou. Since then, the entire territory of Yuanzhou has fallen .

Han Chen frowned: "Yuanzhou is lost just like that? The Yuanzhou army was beaten so helplessly??"

Xu Zhiqiong squeezed his chin and said, "Even the frontier army has no power to fight back. How can Guzhou resist? Guzhou still has so much food..."

Although Guzhou is close to Yuanzhou, it is rainy and the land is fertile, but it is not as barren as Yuanzhou. It is the granary to the west of Daxuan.

If the Nufu Cult captures Guzhou again and gets food and grass supplies, they may really go straight to the capital.

He Fang heard the words and said: "This is not the combat power that the Nufu Sect can have. I suspect that they were instructed by the Fanxiao Kingdom. There may be soldiers from the Fanxiao Kingdom among the Nufu Sect members."

Xu Zhiqiong shook his head slightly. Over the past few days, he had a certain understanding of the situation in Fanxiao Kingdom: "Fanxiao Kingdom is experiencing civil strife. When there is civil strife, Fanxiao Kingdom cannot use troops abroad. This is the law of Fanxiao Kingdom. Law."

He Fang said: "Laws are determined by people after all. Does King Fanxiao obey the laws? But can't he be flexible?"

Han Chen traveled around in his early years and had a certain understanding of Fanxiao Kingdom: "King Fanxiao will not easily violate the law, nor will he easily use troops. Fanxiao people are not good at flexibility."

Li Shabai said to He Fang: "Fanxiao and Daxuan are not in the same temperament. When you go to Fanxiao more in the future, you will know the reason."

He Fang was quite dissatisfied: "Master taught me that Fanxiao people are like saints."

Fanxiao people are not saints. Many of them are eager to be flexible, especially those with status and power. They are eager to be flexible like Daxuan, and it is best to be flexible like Qiancheng.

But Fanxiao Kingdom's rules do not allow them to be flexible.

Xu Zhiqiong also felt that there was no Fanxiao Army in Yuanzhou, but why Nufujiao could fight so well, Xu Zhiqiong was puzzled.

He Fang also inquired into some rumors: "I heard that the weapons of the Nufu Cult are very good, and many weapons are much better than those on the frontier."

Han Chen said in surprise: "Can the weapons taught by Nufu be better than the frontier army? Is this an excuse from the prefect of Yuanzhou? I think this excuse is a bit outrageous."

He Fang shook his head and said: "This matter is absolutely true. The prefect of Yuanzhou sent the military equipment seized from the enemy to the Ministry of War. Someone in the Ministry of Military Affairs said that these military equipment were unique to the Qiancheng Kingdom. For this matter, the emperor returned the order to the Ministry of War." A letter was specially sent to Emperor Yelang."

The unique ordnance of Qiancheng Kingdom?

Xu Zhiqiong's ears perked up.

He Fang said again: "Their general is also very powerful. It is said that he has a pockmarked face and no teeth. He is extremely ugly."

Pockmarked face, no teeth...

Why is this person so familiar?

Xu Zhiqiong asked: "Where is Canglongwei now?"

"There are still 180 miles away from Yuanzhou. They all have cultivation bases and the help of the magic circle. They will arrive in Yuanzhou the day after tomorrow. As for when the war will start, it is hard to predict."

Li Shabai said: "Before the war begins, Liang Yushen must encourage Liang Jixiong to perform another sacrificial ceremony. This time the sacrificial ceremony may be done in a more concealed manner."

Han Chen said: "I will go to Yuanzhou tonight and make arrangements in advance."

Xu Zhiqiong said: "The two elder brothers will go first, and the younger brother will arrive later. I want to find out the history of the Nufu Sect's generals and weapons."

Make a deal and act on your own.

Xu Zhiqiong first set up an altar in the Marquis Mansion, and told Xue Yun about the matter through prayer.

Then he went to the Yamen of the Ministry of Criminal Justice to visit his old classmate, Liu De'an.

Liu De'an was not in the yamen, he took sick leave, Xu Zhiqiong directly asked him where he lived, Zou Shunda looked suspicious: "With Yunhou's current status, do you still want to argue with De'an about some trivial things in the past?"

As Zou Shunda, he dared to defend Liu De'an in front of Xu Zhiqiong. How much did Liu De'an benefit him?

Xu Zhiqiong said with a smile: "Why bother to bring up the past, since it's a classmate and he's sick, shouldn't I visit him?"

Zou Shunda nodded repeatedly and said: "Yun Hou is thinking about the friendship of his classmates, so he came with Zou."

Zou Shunda personally led the way and brought Xu Zhiqiong to Liu De'an's residence.

Liu De'an lives in a small courtyard in the east of the city.

Zou Shunda said: "De'an has always been a nine-rank poor official, his salary is meager, and he can't afford a house. He still lives in his small courtyard. Don't let the Marquis dislike him."

"What do you hate?" Xu Zhiqiong sighed softly, "I don't know about De'an's hardships these years. I should have helped him."

Zou Shunda nodded and said, "I'm here, thanking Marquis Yun for De'an."

The two entered Liu De'an's bedroom. Liu De'an was lying on the bed with a bloodless face, and his ugly face made him a little haggard.

He is still in Beijing.

Isn't he the one who commanded the battle in Yuanzhou?
This is not necessarily the case, it is hard to say what method this guy has learned.

Xu Zhiqiong sat beside Liu De'an, and asked earnestly, "De'an, what's wrong with this? How did you become so thin?"

Liu De'an said in a hoarse voice: "I went to Jiqing class, I went too much, I got dirty."

After speaking, Liu De'an grabbed Xu Zhiqiong's right hand.

Xu Zhiqiong found that Liu De'an's hands were full of abscesses.

Liu De'an let out a long sigh and said, "Zhiqiong, I'm sorry for the matter in the academy, so don't argue with me."

"It's all over." Xu Zhiqiong drew back his right hand.

Liu De'an grabbed Xu Zhiqiong's left hand again: "Zhiqiong, the medical officer said that I don't have much time left, my lower body is rotten, and several pieces of my body are rotten, it probably only happened in the past few days, wait for me On the day of being buried, you have to come!"

"Come, definitely come! Even if I can't make it, the ceremony will come!"

"I'm afraid I won't be able to attend this ceremony." Liu De'an covered his mouth and coughed a few times, coughing up a mouthful of pus and blood, and spat it on the palm of his hand.

He came to grab Xu Zhiqiong's hand again, Xu Zhiqiong stood up and said, "De'an, take care of yourself. I will come to see you again in a few days. I didn't bring anything with me today. I'll just give you a lantern.
Don't underestimate this lantern, since I gave it to you, as long as it is my friend Xu, I have to give you some face. "

Xu Zhiqiong stuck the lantern on Liu De'an's lintel, and hurriedly found a place to wash his hands.

After Xu Zhiqiong left, Liu De'an stretched out his hand to grab Zou Shunda again: "My lord..."

Zou Shunda remained motionless, and let Liu De'an's hands full of abscesses grab his clothes and grasp his arm, caressing his cheek: "My lord, De'an is loyal to you, you can't let De'an down!" install."

Zou Shunda looked numb, nodded repeatedly and said: "I will not let you down as a teacher, I will wait for you to get better, and share the wealth."

Drops of pus and blood flowed down Liu De'an's arm and slipped into Zou Shunda's mouth.

……

After leaving Liu De'an's courtyard, Xu Zhiqiong immediately went to the Ministry of War and saw several pieces of ordnance seized by the Yuanzhou Army.

No need to look at anything else, just the two arrowheads, Xu Zhiqiong saw the clues.

The construction method of this arrowhead is very peculiar. There are blades on both sides and short hooks under the blades. The short hooks are asymmetrical, one on the left and two on the right.

Once hit by an arrow, the wound is so deep that it can be directly nailed to the bone, and it cannot be pulled out easily, otherwise a large piece of bone and flesh can be hooked off.

Even if there is a good medical officer, it takes a lot of effort to pull out the arrowhead. The left and right arrowheads have to be treated differently, and the knife techniques, techniques, and sutures used are different.

On the battlefield, after being hit by this kind of arrow, officers above a centurion may be treated by top medical officers.

If it was an ordinary sergeant, he would either die or be seriously disabled. To put it bluntly, an arrow could make a soldier lose his combat effectiveness.

If such a fine arrowhead is paired with the ability to shoot without fail...

Xu Zhiqiong was about to find out the reason why the Yuanzhou Army was defeated.

Xu Zhiqiong had indeed only seen this type of arrowhead in Qiancheng Kingdom, and only in two places.

One is the Forbidden Army, the only capable army in Qiancheng Kingdom.

The other place is Yuezhi Peak, where Yuan Chengfeng used to hide his belongings. At that time, Hong Zhenkang hired Youdao Lingzheng and others to forcibly break through the peak, fought hard among the living corpses, and finally opened the way for Xu Zhiqiong.

In the end, all of Yue Zhifeng's belongings fell into Xu Zhiqiong's hands, including more than 300 million silver, some military equipment, and a page of Nu Zulu.

Among the ordnance, Xu Zhiqiong had found similar arrowheads. Yuan Chengfeng's wealth was very rich, and the silver and the ordnance were kept in five strongholds, but Xu Zhiqiong only checked two strongholds, not the other three.

At that time, Xu Zhiqiong had no free time, and he did not expect that these three strongholds were finally left to Yuan Chengfeng.

The money and weapons Yuan Chengfeng originally used to fight against Hong Juncheng are now in the hands of the Nufu Sect.

But that's good too, at least one thing has been confirmed, Yuan Chengfeng is the general of Nufu Cultists, Xu Zhiqiong finally found his whereabouts.

He was going to go to the battlefield to see this old friend first.

As for Liu De'an, Xu Zhiqiong could see that he had a problem, but he couldn't see what the problem was.

It's not difficult to kill him, even if Yuan Chengfeng possesses his body, Xu Zhiqiong is sure to kill him.

But now is not the time, from Liu De'an, Xu Zhiqiong wants to see Yuan Chengfeng's next plan.

Xu Zhiqiong was about to leave the Ministry of War, and happened to meet Fang Shichen, Minister of the Ministry of War.

Fang Shichen participated in the Northern Expedition back then, and Xu Zhiqiong asked him something: "Do you know Xu Yongren?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Shichen knew that this was Xu Zhiqiong's father, and quickly responded: "My father was not in our army at the time, and those who knew him well can still be called by their names. I remember there are two other people, one is Sui... ..."

He wanted to talk about Sui Zhi, but then he bypassed this person: "I misremembered, there should be only one person left, and that person is Zhen Guo General Ji Qi."

(End of this chapter)