Aggrieved Fish Sprite

Some wailed, some cried for help.

Intermittent weeping and wailing came from the ruins.

The incident happened so suddenly that the government didn't have time to block the nearby roads, and the sound was heard throughout Ningtai City.

Many people hurried to the place where the accident happened because their relatives and friends lived there.

When they reached the ground, everyone was terrified, trembling and unable to control themselves.

The bustling market seems to have been smashed into a big hole by a sledgehammer, and the fallen rocks are piled up into rolling mounds, and the original appearance cannot be recognized.Houses a little further away were smashed to pieces, and the streets were mixed with bricks, stones, tiles, sundries, and corpses lying horizontally.

Lime brick powder is everywhere, and a ghostly paleness is cast around the eyes.

——The mutilated corpse, and the arm struggling to grab something under the ruins.

Some people couldn't help rushing in, looking for it while chanting the blessings of the Bodhisattva with tears in their eyes. More people didn't even dare to step in, and turned their heads and ran away in fright.

"Where is the doctor?"

"Save people!"

Many living people were trapped in the outermost houses. They knocked on the doors and windows with blood on their faces, and were dragged out one after another.

If so, it is unavoidable that someone in their family hit the back of the head or the forehead and died directly.

So the crying became louder and louder, and the people panicked and said everything.

Why did a good city wall collapse?

Did the earth dragon stand up, or was the city god furious?Especially King Ning passed away a few days ago, could it be that he offended some god?

The strong smell of sulfur in the wind lingers for a long time.

Meng Qi stood expressionlessly under a collapsed city wall. The bricks and stones beside him seemed to be crumbling and unreliable. Ordinary people did not dare to get close to it. Only a few Jiang Hu people from Fengxing Pavilion came in time and looked around cautiously.

Everyone's face was ugly.

There were no enemy troops outside the city, but if there were any, such a big gap would not be able to be blocked at all.

Especially since this is the east of the city, it is not far from the royal palace and major yamen, so it is not an outer city that can be easily given up.

"Master Meng."

Qiu Jing came very quickly, she didn't close her eyes all night, and several bad news almost exhausted her energy.

She didn't bother to check the tragic situation around, and ran to the city wall first like Meng Qi, following the smell of sulfur and the traces of the collapse to find the place where the gunpowder was buried.

"Six places in total."

Even though the place has been turned into ruins, clues can still be found based on where the city wall collapsed.

Meng Qi clenched his right hand unconsciously. If this was decades ago, if he was still a Chu general who led an army under his command, after the army entered a city, he would definitely check out the hidden dangers. Check by the inch.Because he has manpower, capable and loyal subordinates, who will cut off the risk before the enemy strikes.

But now he is negligent, because Ning Tai is negligent in Yangzhou, which is far away from the king of heaven.After all, Fengxing Pavilion is not a decoration. Although the city is full of fish and dragons, no matter whether it is the government or the people of the rivers and lakes, whether it is the soldiers of King Ning or the spies of King Wu, they are unwilling to see this royal city fall quickly.

The interests of all forces are at stake, and the enemy's minions (Thunder Mart) have all been arrested and are under strict surveillance by the Fengxing Pavilion. Who would have thought that an accident would happen at this time?

And when it comes out, it's a big leak.

The third person who rushed over was Cheng Jingchuan, who was different from Meng Qi who knew how to do light work, he came on horseback, even though he reacted quickly, there was still a delay.

At this time, the officers and soldiers were already driving away the people, trying to arrest suspicious people.

Cheng Jingchuan stopped the conflict between the government and the army and the Jianghu people in time, and Fengxing Pavilion also agreed with him, so there was no other trouble.

Seeing such a tragic scene in front of him, Cheng Jingchuan was speechless for a long time, his eyes were full of anger, if the people from the Thunder Hall were in front of him, he might be cut into eight pieces by him.

Qiu Jing took a deep breath, facing Cheng Jingchuan who was in a state of desperation, and Meng Qi who was exuding coldness, and slowly said a word:

"This is too strange."

Cheng Jingchuan immediately frowned, because no matter what he said, it sounded like Feng Xingge was shirking responsibility.

It was the real Baiyu of Fengxing Pavilion who secretly hid the people in Thunder Mart, and the current predicament was caused by selfish desires. Although Qiu Si's plan was broken by accident, Qiu Jing took advantage of this incident to come back and reintegrate Fengxing Pavilion. , but for Cheng Jingchuan, the only benefit he got from this incident was probably Qiu Si's death.

Now a good thing has turned into a bad thing, and the city wall has been damaged, which has changed the deployment of troops in the entire area under King Ning's jurisdiction.

No matter how much Cheng Jingchuan proposed the method of fighting steadily and defending layer by layer, no one would listen to it.

—even if the city wall can be repaired in time.

What is collapsing in front of me is not a wall, but the guts of many people.

Who can guarantee that the army of King Tianshou will not approach the city?Who can guarantee that they will not send another manpower to blow down the second city wall?What's the point of fighting at that time, it's better to pack up the soft ones earlier and escape as far as possible.

So before the war started, the hearts of the people dispersed first, and Cheng Jingchuan fainted out of breath when he received the bad news. He had already withstood the blow of adversity.

Cheng Jingchuan tried his best to suppress his anger, he knew that now was not the time to blame each other, if the Fengxing Pavilion provided cover for the people of the Thunder Hall because of internal differences, and lured wolves into the house, wouldn't his subordinates make mistakes?Such a long section of the city wall has been buried with several places of gunpowder. How did these heavy gunpowder get into the city?

Wait, Cheng Jingchuan keenly grasped the problem here.

Although Ningtai is not an iron and copper wall that no fly can fly in, but compared to other cities, it has several lines of defense, which come from different forces.Even if these forces are opposed to each other, they are consistent in safeguarding common interests.

How did the Thunderbolt hide from so many eyes and bring in the prohibited gunpowder?The cover that Baiyu Daoist gave them?No, Master Bai Yu is not a fool. It is reasonable for Thunder Mart to bring some hidden weapons and crossbows, but enough gunpowder for siege warfare is outrageous.

These thoughts quickly slipped through Jing Chuan's mind, and he quickly turned from questioning and dissatisfaction to bewilderment, and finally followed Qiu Jing's words smoothly: "Master Qiu is right, this incident is unusual, quickly dig the ruins, Examine the remains."

If gunpowder is buried, it must be detonated.

Judging from this scale, the person who ignited the fuze was probably killed on the spot, and now we can only trace the dead bodies to find out the suspect. -->>

—Is it an unknown stranger?Or the city guards who eat inside and outside?

"I have an insider who came to my door." Meng Qi said suddenly, and pulled out a man wrapped in a black night suit from the side of the ruins.

Qiu Jing and Cheng Jingchuan blurted out at the same time: "It's you?"

"Oh, we all know each other?" Meng Qi sized up Li Kong'er, who had his acupuncture points tapped and was speechless.

Then Cheng Jingchuan sold Li Konger with one word.

"She is under Mr. Qiu's staff."

"She is the successor of Kong Kong Sect, and should be the only female disciple of the same generation." Qiu Jing added, and at the same time was quite surprised by Cheng Jingchuan's words, obviously she didn't know that Li Kong'er was still Qiu Si's subordinate.

Li Kong'er shook his head desperately, almost crying, and looked up pitifully.

It's a pity that the three people present... No, neither of them would follow her.

Longmai is blind, Qiujing is a woman, and Cheng Jingchuan knows Li Konger's details too well.

"Mr. Qiu uses her method...uh, eclectic." Cheng Jingchuan hinted euphemistically, and continued, "It's no wonder Pavilion Master Qiu doesn't know how to deal with the situation in the officialdom."

A godly thief with excellent lightness kungfu and nimble movements, with a pitiful and charming face, isn't he a born spy?Although the beauty trick is old, it can't hold up well, especially when facing official figures, they only guard against assassins. Li Kong'er doesn't carry a murder weapon at all. On the contrary, she wants to leave with "some" things.

Qiu Jing previously thought that this woman made her feel uncomfortable, but when she got the answer, she suddenly realized that she didn't have a problem with Li Konger's frivolous eyes, because it was other people's way of survival, just like the sharp claws and teeth of wild beasts. Same, always use it to attack the enemy and protect yourself.

"She saw the gunpowder planted by the people in the Thunder Hall 'a while ago', and she is going to sell the news to Huang Biejia, who is patrolling the city's yamen, 'this morning'. It is said that it is the power of King Wu?" Meng Qi's words are very Subtle, and deliberately accentuated the sound of certain words.

All the people present were smart people, including Li Kong'er, her expression suddenly changed, showing a hint of horror even though she tried her best to remain calm.

She thought her lies were very clever. After all, she was also shocked when the city wall collapsed, and she didn't expect it to be like this, so the disguise at that time can be said to be flawless.However, such an urgent matter happened, Meng Qi was furious, and even remembered a little thief, who didn't give her a chance to escape, and directly caught her here.Li Kong'er didn't even expect that the conflict between Cheng Jingchuan and Qiu Jing didn't break out at all, and her old background was exposed in one fell swoop.

"What you saw a while ago, why did you say it today? Why did you sell such important news to the King of Wu?" Qiu Jing stared at Li Kong'er. make no sound.

Cheng Jingchuan stared at Li Konger, the chill in his heart was slowly engulfing him.

Meng Qi released Li Kong'er's acupuncture points from the air, and the latter quickly complained: "Mr. Qiu's whereabouts are unknown, and his attendants are all dead, and the body fell into the hands of the Xuncheng yamen. The servant just wants to use this news to tell Huang farewell." To make a deal, the slave family is too worried about Mr. Qiu's safety..."

Before she could finish expressing her grievances, Cheng Jingchuan interrupted her unceremoniously, and said in a cold voice, "So, you haven't seen the people from the Thunderbolt Hall?"

"Yes, the slave family is talking nonsense. The collapse of such a large-scale city wall, plus this movement, must have been caused by a martyrdom." Li Kong'er nodded as if making trouble, and glanced at Meng Qi sadly, "the slave family It was just to get away."

Meng Qi reminded her expressionlessly: "The news that you said you were going to sell the Thunder Martial Hall was before the city wall collapsed."

Li Kong'er froze for a moment, and then argued strongly: "This, this is all a coincidence. The most valuable news in Ningtai City right now, except Mr. Qiu's whereabouts, is only the movement of the King of Heaven and Thunderbolt Hall. on..."

"Kill it." Qiu Jing waved his hand lightly.

Li Konger was shocked, and Cheng Jingchuan sighed: "Pavilion Qiu really doesn't want to leave this useful chess piece to me, no matter what, the situation in Ningtai is currently in turmoil, and the nobles of the family are thinking of relocating and fleeing for their lives. She is useless. Since there is a suspicion of collusion with the Thunderbolt Hall, let's make an example!"

"No, no, I didn't collude with Thunder Martial Hall, it wasn't me!" Li Konger blurted out in confusion, "The person who buried the gunpowder was not Thunder Martial Hall, but Mr. Qiu!"

Qiu Jing tilted his head slightly, and Cheng Jingchuan closed his eyes, silently hiding the grief and anger welling up in his heart.

——The guesses that I don’t want to confirm, the answers I don’t want to hear, finally came.

Before today, Meng Qi was very considerate of them, but now facing the corpses in the ruins, he didn't feel that way anymore.

"The matter is very clear. In Qiu Si's original plan, King Ning, General Cheng and Pavilion Master Qiu were coerced by their respective forces and had to confront or even fight. But because of my existence, none of you I will die." Meng Qi looked around at the two of them, and said mercilessly, "If there was no disturbance from the Thunderbolt Hall, after Ningtai was completely in chaos, the Lord Qiu Pavilion had no choice but to leave Jingzhou or In Qiantang County, just in time for the Tianshou Wang's army to advance, Ning Tai is still far behind to enjoy the comfort temporarily, which is not in line with Qiu Si's expectations, so the collapse of the city wall is also something that has been prepared for a long time."

Qiu Si had already prepared for his "death", whether it was a real death or a fake death, so his death would not change the crisis of the city wall collapsing.

Unless Cheng Jingchuan and Qiu Jing discovered the gunpowder here in advance, but... this is almost hopeless. Just looking at the timing of this choice, you can tell that the best time for the city wall to collapse is when the army of the god-given king is approaching the city, but it is not. How is it possible not to check the walls when deploying troops to guard?Now is the most chaotic time in Ningtai, and it is also the most suitable day to crush people's hearts.

"He wants everyone to know that there is no choice but to die."

Ningtai is in chaos, and Qiantang County will not be much better. Rich families will flock to the southeast.

Qiu Jing was forced to go away to prevent King Tianshu from going to Jingzhou.

Cheng Jingchuan had no choice but to lead Ning's soldiers and horses to set up a defense line in Jingzhou and Yangzhou. This battle is life and death, but it may not be possible to win this battle.Because people's hearts are broken, Ningtai's city walls can collapse. Can those officials and Jianghu forces who are afraid of death and have been fighting for their own interests for many years, go all out to follow Cheng Jingchuan Qiujing?

You must know that no matter who is the emperor, it doesn't matter to them.

Cheng Jingchuan has ambitions, Qiu Jing has ambitions, they want to do their best to maintain the situation in Jiangnan, and others can't afford to gamble with their wealth and life.

The people, business houses, and some powerful families in the south of the Yangtze River will all die in this war, but those powers in the rivers and lakes, those tax collectors and petty officials, as long as they surrender to the king of heaven, they will also have fame, fortune, power and wealth, so why risk their lives?

The general trend is like a torrent.