Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 73
"Who are they going to arrest?" After the soldiers left, a merchant couldn't help asking, "It's enough for them to go around here every day against the wind and sand."

"It must be some very important wanted criminal, right?" Another peddler said, "This person must have some background. Few of us here are completely innocent, but those who are soldiers don't pay attention at all. It treats us all as small characters."

"I wish they would only focus on catching 'big roles' every day, so that they don't have to see people in official uniforms and their hearts skip a beat." A one-eyed woman who was definitely not kind at first glance said, causing everyone to burst into laughter. The atmosphere here has eased a lot.People speculated one after another about who the Yu Clan wanted to arrest, and all kinds of absurd guesses popped out of everyone's mouths for a while, and it was right to be a pastime when they were bored.

"Didn't you notice the badges they wear? These soldiers are not the garrison of Mieyun Pass under the command of Yuhuang." As soon as these words were said, the inn fell silent.Everyone turned their attention to the speaker, an old businessman with a scorched complexion.He brought a small caravan of about twenty people, but stingyly asked for a big room with four beds, making it hard to imagine how these people would rest at night.In addition, most of the members of this caravan are very silent and rarely communicate with others on weekdays. Apart from knowing that the leader's surname is Xu, others know almost nothing about this caravan.That's why old man Xu actually took the initiative to speak, which surprised everyone.

"Then tell me, if they are not Yuhuang's soldiers, who are they?" asked the red-faced man who had attacked someone earlier.

"The emblems they wear and the decorations on the sleeves of their military uniforms all have the image of white cranes. They are the emblems of the city-state army evolved from the emblem of the Feng family in Ningnan," old man Xu replied, "These soldiers are all from Ningnan City. The people here are from the Huoqintu city-state of the Feng family."

They are all from Ningnan City.

After hearing this sentence, the people suddenly fell into silence again. Perhaps just hearing the name of Ning Nanfeng was enough to make them feel nervous.This "foreign" family who migrated from Lanzhou defeated the invincible Ningnan Yun family in just a few decades, founded the emerging Huoqintu city-state, and rapidly expanded to become the largest city-state in Ningzhou. The strongest city-state, even Yuhuang, has become a puppet in their hands. Its strong strength and thunderous means are self-evident.Although their family emblem is the elegant white crane, but in the eyes of others, the Feng family is not a crane, but a fierce falcon.

"Ningnan Fengshi...that is the city-state that now covers the sky with one hand." Although the red-faced man was rude and arrogant when fighting, he knew a lot, "Is there anyone worth asking them to go to this big Gobi to search? Woolen cloth?"

The old merchant shook his head: "I really want to know, but I have only been busy doing business all these years, so I don't know much about what happened in Ningzhou. I don't know if anyone here has heard of it?"

People looked at each other, most of them looked blank, but a small barbarian businessman sitting on the other side of the lobby seemed to be trying to show off: "Well, I heard some gossip, it is said that the Feng family has finally caught an extremely important witness. To ensure that this witness will not be rescued, they have sent people to set up checkpoints in various passages in Ningzhou, no matter whether it is their territory or not, other city-state lords can only turn a blind eye and let them toss."

"Which witness?" the others asked in unison.

The barbarian trader smiled mysteriously, and lowered his voice pretentiously: "20 years ago, the witness of the dismemberment case of Feng Baimu, the last lord of the city-state."

City-state lord.Dismemberment case. 20 years ago.

These keywords are really attractive.The crowd fell silent again.Among the people present, most of the younger ones had never heard of this incident, and the older ones who had heard about it all had ugly faces.After a while, a middle-aged feathered man with the appearance of a bodyguard waved his hand, "Brother, don't talk about it, this matter is too deep, so be careful to cause trouble for yourself. Don't forget, people from Ningnan may come again at any time."

The barbarian merchant stuck out his tongue, and as expected, he shut up obediently, but those young people who were aroused by their curiosity refused to let go, so they must ask to understand.The barbarian trader smiled wryly: "Everyone, Brother Yuren is right. This matter involves too much. It is best not to inquire about it. My big mouth is not off the hook. I invite everyone to drink, so please let me go."

After he said these words, it was difficult for others to force him, but at this moment, the old businessman Xu with a yellow complexion spoke again: "Brother Huo Da'er, didn't you always want to join me?" Caravan, so that people on the road can take care of them? If you are willing to explain this matter clearly, I will take you on the road together when the wind dies down."

People were even more surprised.No one would have imagined that this old merchant, who usually never gets close to others, would take the initiative to accept a stranger in order to inquire about an inexplicable past event 20 years ago.Why is he so interested in this matter?Before he took the initiative to reveal the city emblem of Ningnan City, was it just to provoke this topic?Everyone silently guessed in their hearts.

The barbarian named Huo Da'er was very hesitant, but Old Man Xu's conditions were indeed quite attractive.Crossing the Gobi is a very risky thing, and if you don't do it, you will lose your life. It is best to go with an experienced caravan.However, since those who dare to cross the Gobi are often people on the road with criminal records in hand, people are wary of each other and are generally unwilling to team up with strangers.Old man Xu looked like an experienced veteran at first glance, and it would be much safer to have him take care of him all the way.

"Okay, let me tell you about it," Huo Da'er said, "Actually, this is not a big secret, after all, the lord of the largest city-state of the Yu clan was assassinated, and the method is so cruel, it is impossible to hide it living……"

20 years ago.According to the current calendar of the Donglu Chinese dynasty, this year is the 24th year of Shengde.

In the winter of the 24th year of Shengde, Ningzhou was extremely gloomy and cold. The place was not hit by any massive snowstorm, but the temperature was inexplicably low. The sun was hardly seen throughout the winter. Under the gloomy sky, a wave of An undercurrent surged quietly in Ningnan City.

This undercurrent came from the court, and gradually spread to the people. In the winter of that year, many ordinary people began to whisper mysteriously in the streets and alleys: the owner of Ningnan City is the most powerful in Ningzhou The man who carried the Yuhuang to make the princes a generation of heroes - Feng Baimu, the lord of the Huoqintu city-state, has come to the end of his life.Although he looks healthy from the outside, and can still appear in various celebrations and sacrifices of the Yu clan, but according to the doctor's diagnosis, he is actually terminally ill, and he can live for about a year.

What the 67-year-old Feng Baimu left behind was the Huoqintu city-state with the strongest national power and the largest territory in Ningzhou at that time, and the tens of thousands of soldiers owned by the city-state.Like all the plots in stories that are too old-fashioned, his sons are fiercely fighting for the position of the future lord, especially the eldest son and second son. Negative.The third son is relatively low-key, but similarly, according to the old-fashioned stories, the more harmless the thing is, the more likely it is to hide its ulterior motives.

Just in this eventful winter, an uninvited guest came to visit, which touched people's sensitive heartstrings even more.As mentioned earlier, before the Feng family, Ningnan City was the territory of the Yun family for a long time, but this Feng family from Lanzhou—the ancestor of Feng Baimu—finally defeated the Yun family. The Feng family occupied southern Ning, and in this tragic war, the Feng family's greatest help was the Xue family who also came from Lanzhou.

However, after occupying southern Ning and establishing a new city-state, probably for the distribution of power, there were some inhuman quarrels between the Feng family and the Xue family, as well as some events that were inconvenient to be recorded in the history books. According to people's guesses, in the After several years of fighting, in order to prevent both sides from losing, the two families finally adopted a relatively moderate method - such as choosing a small number of elite contests - to compete for the outcome.As a result, the Feng clan dominated the city-state, and the Xue clan went far away, and promised not to establish a country or develop military power within 100 years.But Xue's basic strength is still preserved, and it becomes a heavy shadow on Feng's heart.

After that, although he called himself a "brother of the opposite sex" to the outside world, Xue never returned to Ningnan until the winter of the 24th year of Shengde.After a winter rain took away the last sliver of warmth in the air, a young man named Xue Ji came to this city, and all the tokens he carried with him unambiguously proved his identity: the once glorious Xue Ji His descendants.And this year happens to be the moment when the hundred-year period is about to expire.

Feng Baimu strictly abided by the agreement, and brought Xue Ji into the palace with the grand ceremony second only to welcoming the Emperor Yu, and Xue Ji lived in the palace honestly and unceremoniously for more than two months, never going out outcrop.No one knew what he and Feng Baimu discussed.

All in all, for Feng Baimu this winter, it can be described as dangerous and murderous at every step.And just as December was approaching, something big happened.

On a gloomy morning, Feng Baimu, as usual, went to the garden to enjoy the flowers and tend the flowers and plants himself.He has maintained this habit for decades, and it is said that it is used to exchange for a happy mood at the beginning of each day. When he is serving the flowers and plants, no other attendant officials are allowed to enter the garden except the closest ones.

Usually he would stay in the garden for half an hour, and then return to the palace for breakfast.But on this day, one time passed, but he never came out, and no one answered his calls outside.The guards began to worry, and finally a bold guard rushed in at the risk of being punished. After a while, his exclamation suddenly sounded.

The guards swarming in could hardly believe their eyes.In front of their eyes, a lord who was full of majesty before the time has turned into a lifeless corpse, and it is difficult to use the quantitative word "one" to describe this corpse, because it has completely become a broken corpse .

Yes, under the watchful eyes of the guards, Feng Baimu, the lord of Huoqintu city-state, was killed and dismembered.His body was turned into more than 30 pieces, and blood flowed all over the place. What is even more heinous is that these pieces were not discarded at will, but were still neatly put together, like a child playing a jigsaw puzzle The same as the game, still constitutes the outline of the Lord's body.

Two guards couldn't help vomiting on the spot.But after the initial moment of shock, they still thought of their responsibilities. While sending people to inform the high-level officials and nobles of the city-state, they began to quickly investigate the scene and look for the murderer.They quickly found some fresh footprints on the mud. One set belonged to the lord himself, while the other set was confirmed to belong to Xue Ji, a descendant of the Xue family, after comparison.Fearing that Xue Ji's arrival would harbor evil intentions, the Tiger Wing Division of the Huoqintu City State has been investigating this person as much as possible, and has already obtained his footprints, but he didn't expect it to come in handy in the end.

But at this time, Xue Ji had disappeared.There was originally a side door on the other side of the garden, but it was always locked, but now, the lock of the side door was unlocked, and Xue Ji's footprints went out from here, leaving the palace all the way.

three

"Then what happened later? Was Xue Ji caught?" A young bodyguard who heard the story couldn't help asking, "Did he kill the lord? Why did he use such a cruel method of dismembering the body?"

Huo Daer shook his head: "No, although Xue Ji is the biggest suspect in this case - at least he was the only person found at the scene - but he has not been caught. And afterward, he found some people who are not good for him. For example, before he escaped, he went to the residence arranged for him in the palace and took away some necessary belongings, and some bloodstains were left in the room. Later, some special drugs were found in the bloodstains, which were taken by the lord all year round. Those who came to recuperate proved that the blood belonged to the lord, and now Xue Ji's crime is almost confirmed."

"Of course, the nobles still have to investigate other possibilities, so they mercilessly searched all the people related to the struggle for the throne, but almost all of them have enough evidence to prove their innocence, only Xue Ji did not say anything. Fleeing, it seems that there are ghosts in my heart."

"At that time, the nobles of Ningnan City were extremely furious. They sent the city-state's best martial arts masters and mystics to track him down for several months. They chased him from Ningzhou to Wanzhou, but they still failed to catch him back. And because of the lord's He passed away suddenly, and the battle for the throne became out of control. Sure enough, the first prince and the second prince met each other with their own generals and soldiers. In the end, both of them were hurt by the third prince. .”

Huo Daer finished his narration, and the people who listened to the story had different expressions, and they all speculated about the truth of the incident that year in their hearts.Although Huo Daer briefly mentioned the subsequent battle for the title, people can imagine what kind of bloody scene it was.Old man Xu pondered for a long time, then suddenly asked: "Then, according to this, the third prince should be the final beneficiary of the lord's corpse?"

This question was asked so delicately that people were silent and no one dared to answer it.Old man Xu laughed: "Just kidding, just kidding...Brother Huo Da'er, you said that the reason for the riot in Ningnan City this time is because you caught the witness of the case back then. What kind of witness is that?"

Huo Da'er lowered his voice again: "Actually, strictly speaking, he is not a witness, but he is indeed a very important role. I heard...they captured the biological daughter of that Xue Ji back then!"

"My own daughter?" Everyone was taken aback.They also finally understood why Ning Nancheng was facing such an enemy this time: after capturing his daughter, he would naturally have a way to find her father through her, and then investigate the truth of the murder 20 years ago.On the other hand, the daughter may be the only clue that can be found in this case so far, so all possible obstructive factors must be rejected.

"It's just that they not only cast a net in Ningnan City, but they even traveled thousands of miles to Mieyun Pass to find someone. Obviously, they already have some specific targets, right?" Old man Xu asked.

"I'm not very clear about this," Huo Da'er scratched his scalp, "It's just some unfounded rumors that the woman who was arrested had a very powerful lover, and she seemed to be a long monk. Ningnan's life is afraid He will sneak into Ningnan to make trouble, that's why he mobilizes people like this."

Changmen monk?People were stunned again, and then it was inevitable that someone would come out and explain that although the Nagato monk insisted on asceticism, he was not forbidden to marry, so it is not surprising that there is a Nagato monk as a lover.The one-eyed woman from earlier frowned slightly: "But I haven't heard of any particularly powerful Nagato monk masters in recent years? Didn't they have been arrested by the Emperor Donglu for a while last year, and they were almost wiped out?" Is it?"

"Could it be Luo Xue?" An old man with a gray goatee speculated, "That guy joined Nagato halfway, and he was a killer before."

People talked a lot, and before they knew it, it was getting dark, and it was time for dinner.The two groups that had fought before broke out again, and this time, the one that was beaten at noon came for backup, and the two sides were evenly matched, smashing five or six tables, and a few of them were bleeding, fortunately, none of them were seriously injured.The passengers hid aside and watched happily, and no one talked about Ningnan anymore.The store clerk quickly cleaned up the mess. After chatting nonsense, people went back to rest. People who didn't have a room could only make do in the lobby.

(End of this chapter)