Murder

Because the gold bricks are complex and extremely special, they are also extremely precious and cannot be used by non-royals.

The brick kilns in Jiutou Mountain are absolutely not qualified to fire gold bricks, and the soil here in Jiutou Mountain is absolutely impossible to fire qualified gold bricks.Bian Jiang thought and thought again, breaking out in a cold sweat.The soil must have been transported from elsewhere, so where are the gold bricks used after they are fired?

The rebuilding of the city wall was proposed by King Lu and presided over by King Lu.This is a good thing, and it has supported a group of workers. The people in Pengyang welcome it very much, and the government has absolutely no objection.But, that being the case, who would dare to secretly burn this thing in the brick kiln of Jiutou Mountain?Frontier hardly dared to think about it.

He threw away the brick in his hand, crouched on the ground, and crawled through the bushes little by little, trying to get close to the place where the human voice was the loudest.

Frontier's movements were almost silent, so the three people hiding not far away did not know his approach.Frontier was the first to hear the sound of rapid breathing nearby, and then noticed three people hiding in the bushes.

He stopped immediately and held his breath.With the light of the fire, he could clearly see the faces of these three people.

They were relatives of the missing woman and two fellow villagers who came to work in Pengyang with her husband.

Zhang Songbai, Ban Mu and Liu Dali hid in the bushes, because the surroundings were very chaotic, the three of them did not deliberately suppress their voices.

They really planned to blow up the Chenzi kiln at the beginning, and Liu Dali even placed the explosives.But when the three of them were looking for Wang Huanxi to "watch the night" with him at night, Wang Huanxi said that he had switched shifts with someone else.This is the first time for the three of them to be on night duty with Wang Huanxi, so it is also the first time they know that Wang Huanxi often changes shifts with others during the night duty, and then disappears for most of the day, and the person who was replaced does not know where he went.

Liu Dali immediately went to Chenzi Kiln to dismantle the explosives.Zhang Songbai discussed with Ban Mu for a while, and decided to find Wang Huanxi first, and then kill him.

Create a similar brick kiln collapse within three days and kill Wang Huanxi—this is the condition Liu Fangcun gave them.In this condition, the most important thing is obviously to let Wang Huanxi die in an "accident".

The brick kiln at night is very quiet, except for the cave where the bricks are produced, the rest of the place is pitch black.

The three finally found Wang Huanxi outside Maozi Kiln.Maozi Kiln did not produce bricks tonight, but Wang Huanxi lit a fire and quietly walked into the brick kiln.

Liu Dali wanted to follow, but was held tightly by Zhang Songbai.

"You can't enter Maozi kiln casually." He reminded Liu Dali, "Don't move anyone, wait for that guy to come out."

Maozi kiln is the most special one among the fourteen cave dwellings in Jiutoushan.It produces very few bricks, and the bricks produced are extremely secret, only a group of confidantes under the steward can get close.Those people are powerful, but they are all taciturn, and no one can find out any news from them.Because the Maozi Kiln was built against a mountain, and it was a relatively hidden place, Zhang Songbai and others would not come here usually, so now when it comes to the Maozi Kiln, the three of them can't tell what it is.

"Wait for him to come out? Wait for him to come out, you and I still have a chance to kill him?" Liu Dali said in a low voice, "My surname is Zhang, don't think I don't know what you're thinking. This boy Ban Mu stabbed a half-dead man He knows Wang Huanxi, so he will never be able to kill him. As for you, you are the cleanest. Who knows if Wang Huanxi, who carries a knife with him, knows kung fu, so you will never I did it first. The rest is me! You are waiting for me to rush up and kill Wang Huanxi, I know."

Zhang Songbai's thoughts were hit by him, and he was speechless for a moment.

Liu Dali didn't want to wait, took advantage of the wind around him with the explosives in his pocket, quietly went around outside the Maozi kiln, and placed the explosives in the cracks of the bricks.

Wang Huanxi did not come out until the explosives were ignited and the brick kiln collapsed.He let out a scream in the brick kiln. This scream was mixed with the deafening explosion, and no one heard it.

The blast of the brick kiln blasted all the bricks inside, and Zhang Songbai and the others hurriedly hid everywhere. Even so, Ban Mu was still smashed with blood all over his head.

Zhang Songbai was a well-informed man, when he saw the bricks falling in front of him, he was speechless immediately.Liu Dali didn't know what was weird about this brick, so he urged the two of them to go up and stab the knife quickly, lest it would be difficult to start if someone came.

"Don't go... No, no, let's go." Zhang Songbai told Ban Mu, "Go, hurry up!"

It was rare for Ban Mu to see him so fierce, so he wiped the blood from his face, and approached Maozi Kiln with the knife he bought from Wang Huanxi.He came back soon and said that Wang Huanxi was blown to only half of it. "The kiln is full of these big square bricks. It's strange. We usually don't burn bricks like this."

"Stop talking, let's go, let's go." Zhang Songbai didn't dare to touch the brick, "This place is too dangerous, the three of us don't want Liu Fangcun's money, the best thing is to leave as soon as possible."

"Why?" Liu Dali quit, "What's wrong with this brick?"

Zhang Songbai was silent for a moment, and finally told the details of the brick: "I went to the imperial kiln village in the north a few years ago. This brick... these are imperial bricks, used by the emperor, not something that can be fired in places like ours. .”

The other two were stunned for a moment, and finally slowly understood the horror of these words.Ban Mu immediately agreed to leave, but Liu Dali still refused.

"Is this Liu Fangcun secretly burning imperial bricks here? Is this grandson going to rebel?" Liu Dali wiped the dust off his face, "This opportunity is gone. He has a handle in our hands now, why don't we take advantage of it?" How many strokes are there for the opportunity?"

Both Zhang Songbai and Ban Mu didn't want to knock, and they couldn't agree with Liu Dali, so they finally decided to part ways.The bank note was always with him, and Liu Dali watched the two of them slowly walk down the mountain with their waists bowed, and suddenly half straightened their waists.As soon as he moved, Zhang Songbai immediately turned around.

"...Ban Mu." Zhang Songbai whispered, "Take out your knife."

Ban Mu kept wiping the blood from his forehead, took out a knife from his pocket, and looked blankly.

Zhang Songbai didn't explain, but just pulled him, staring at Liu Dali who was half squatting.Liu Dali's hands were hanging by his side, each holding a stone.Zhang Songbai didn't dare to relax at all, he held Ban Mu tightly, and the two stepped back carefully, step by step into the darkness.

It was not until he could no longer hear the sound that Liu Dali let go of the stone in his hand, and squatted down silently.He turned around and stared outside, and waited until a lot of firefighters gradually arrived, then he got up and rushed out, grabbed a bucket and pretended he had just rushed to put out the fire, and then walked in another direction against the crowd while they were not looking.

He didn't hear the sound of his footsteps quietly stalking the frontier.

Liu Fangcun and Ma Yongzhi were also rushing over.The two happened to meet Liu Dali on the road.

"Master Liu, I'm sorry, we made a mistake." Liu Dali said with a smile.

"Go away!" Liu Fangcun was too lazy to talk to him, so he yelled viciously.

"My lord, we made a mistake, and you don't criticize it? But I also think that your lord has done something unethical." Liu Dali said, "Then why are all the bricks fired in the Maozi kiln?"

Liu Fangcun raised his head abruptly, staring at Liu Dali with bright eyes.He stood behind Ma Yongzhi, the torch in Ma Yongzhi's hand reflected his face half-lit and half-dark, and he was extremely ruthless.

"What imperial brick?" Liu Fangcun lowered his voice, "Liu Dali, don't talk nonsense."

It was very quiet here, people who got up at night had already rushed to Maozi Kiln to fight the fire, seeing that the few people who hurried past didn't notice, Liu Dali became more and more courageous, and took a few steps to approach.Ma Yongzhi pulled out the knife with a groan, and pointed the sharp tip at Liu Dali's throat.

"Liu Dali, do you think you have a handle on me? Or do you think you can fight against the person next to me?" Liu Fangcun sneered, "Why don't I have a handle on the three of you? How many people have you deceived? How many people have been murdered, how much money has been stolen secretly, can you still count it clearly?"

"My two brothers have gone down the mountain now. If I don't go down to find them with the 1000 taels of silver notes after an hour, they will go to Pengyang to meet the officials immediately. Mr. Liu, what are we afraid of? We have no home or room, We are not afraid of anything, at worst, we will all die together. What about you? Are you afraid?"

Liu Fangcun understood what he didn't finish.The worst is that the three of them die with themselves, but the best?In order to keep his black hat, he willingly took out 1000 taels of silver and dedicated it to the three hungry wolves.Since then, these three people have gone far away, and I have been here day and night, fearful and frightened.

Liu Fangcun nodded, as if agreeing to Liu Dali's proposal, and then reached out his hand to take it out of his sleeve.

Liu Dali was overjoyed, thinking that he was about to take out the banknote, but suddenly he heard Liu Fangcun calling Ma Yongzhi's name in a low voice.

There was a chill in his chest, and Liu Dali had another threatening word stuck in his throat, before he could say it, Ma Yongzhi stabbed him right through.

The blade was cold, passing through his chest and exiting from behind.

Liu Fangcun stood with his arms folded and nodded again: "Yongzhi, take care of this corpse. Go down the mountain overnight and guard the gate of Jiutou Mountain into Pengyang. If you see the other two people, you don't have to keep them alive. They should be clean." In no time."

Ma Yongzhi: "Okay."

Liu Dali collapsed on the ground, watching Ma Yongzhi slowly draw the long knife from his body.Liu Fang walked forward quickly without looking back, Ma Yongzhi turned his hand and swung his knife again towards his neck.

Before the knife got close to the flesh, a stone suddenly shot from the side and hit the back of the knife with a bang.

Ma Yongzhi raised his head slowly: "Your Excellency has been watching from the sidelines for so long, why do people only shoot when they are almost dead?"

The bushes rustled, and finally a person came out.Ma Yongzhi narrowed his eyes and looked at him, and finally smiled after a long while: "Oh, let's catch him fast."

Bian Jiang's heart was beating non-stop in his chest.He knew that he was not enough to beat Ma Yongzhi, but it was impossible for him to watch Liu Dali get killed.

Now that he stood up, he couldn't hesitate anymore, so he clenched the knife in his hand and said in a harsh voice: "Is there any law to kill people indiscriminately in broad daylight!"

Ma Yongzhi seemed to find it funny, the knife in his hand shook a few times, and suddenly let go.The tip of the knife landed on Liu Dali's face, and pierced straight in from the tip of his nose.

Liu Dali's remaining breath disappeared immediately.Bian Jiang stared blankly at Ma Yongzhi pulling out the knife, the blade was drenched in blood, and then walked towards him step by step.

Although his kung fu is not particularly good, it can be regarded as an upper-middle level in the yamen.Bian Jiang didn't dare to hesitate any longer, bent down and grabbed the stone on the ground and threw it at Ma Yongzhi's face, then immediately raised the knife and stabbed Ma Yongzhi's lower abdomen.Unexpectedly, Ma Yongzhi closed his eyes tightly, neither dodging nor blocking, and pushed his own knife forward with the palm of his hand - the knife that had just killed someone and was still flying out of his hand with a hot murderous look , pierced into the belly of the frontier.

Bian Jiang didn't feel any pain for a while, and the movement of raising the knife to stab him didn't seem to be slow, but the knife couldn't go down no matter what.He took a closer look, and found that Ma Yongzhi held the back of the knife with two fingers, stopping the knife's castration.Bian Jiang immediately changed his style, changing from stabbing to slashing, but this action was not enough - Ma Yongzhi suddenly raised his leg and kicked, and immediately kicked the knife that had been stabbed into Bian Jiang's body again.

"Ahhh!"

Severe pain erupted from the wound immediately.Bian Jiang's hands and feet softened, and he knelt on the ground.

Ma Yongzhi snatched his knife, as if he was too lazy to tangle with him any more, he wiped his neck with his backhand.

Bian Jiang's eyes were wide open, staring at the blade that was swung towards him.The blade was smooth and sharp, he had just sharpened it last night.He couldn't help closing his eyes.

But the expected pain did not come - his body suddenly flew into the air, and then someone quickly moved his fingers and tapped acupuncture points around the wound on his abdomen.

Bian Jiang opened his eyes in a daze, and what he saw was Sima Feng who was rushing through the forest with him in his arms.

"Stop talking! I'll stop the bleeding for you." Sima Feng whispered, "Now I'll take you back to Pengyang to find a doctor."

Ma Yongzhi swung his saber in the air, and stood on the spot in a daze for a moment.

The martial arts of the person who rescued the frontier was not only much higher than him, but he didn't mean to fight him. Obviously, saving the frontier was more important than defeating himself.

Ma Yongzhi wiped the knife on Liu Dali's body and continued walking.

Since he couldn't see Sima Feng's movements clearly, he couldn't hear Chi Yebai's voice following closely behind him either.

Ying Beishe is good at concealment, Chi Ye took off his white coat and put it on backwards, because the lining is thick navy blue, which almost blends with the night, no one notices.

He and Sima Feng walked all the way up, and naturally saw the gold bricks seen in the frontier.

The two hid around the Maozi kiln, Chi Yebai's ears were sharp, and recognized the voice of the frontier not far away, and the two immediately followed the sound, thus saving the frontier at a critical moment.

He and Sima Feng had an excellent understanding, and there was no need for any discussion at this time, the two immediately divided the work, one returned to Pengyang with a seriously injured frontier for treatment, and the other stayed here to continue to observe the development of the situation.

After Ma Yongzhi and Liu Fangcun had a round, Chi Yebai recognized Liu Fangcun's official uniform and confirmed that this person was the person in charge of the Jiutoushan Brick Kiln.It is absolutely impossible for the person in charge to secretly burn gold bricks in a brick kiln without knowing it.Sure enough, he heard that Liu Fangcun waited until the fire was extinguished and dispersed the workers, leaving only Ma Yongzhi present to discuss the matter with him.

"Maozi Kiln is gone, we have to report to the King of Lu." Ma Yongzhi said, "Sir, should I report it overnight, or you have finished writing it..."

"No! Don't say it! Don't say it!" Liu Fangcun stood at the door of the brick kiln, his back was a little bent, and he looked very frightened, "Don't say it, don't say it..."

"You can't hide what happened on Jiutou Mountain from King Lu." Ma Yongzhi said in a low voice, "Your Excellency, go and admit your mistake, and nothing will happen."

Liu Fangcun was furious: "What do you know!!!"

He pointed to the half-black corpse at his feet.

"This is Wang Huanxi, this is Wang Huanxi! It's Wang Huanxi who grew up watching King Lu!" He was almost incoherent, "But it was King Lu who asked me to find someone to kill Wang Huanxi! He asked Wang Huanxi to come to prison I watched the firing of gold bricks, but felt that he knew too much, and now that the gold bricks were almost burned enough, he didn't need Wang Huanxi anymore, so I wanted to kill him!"

"grown ups……"

"What the hell am I? I'm a bastard raised by King Lu. I bought this official hat. Does he want to protect me? Does he need it?" Liu Fangcun stared at the dark brick kiln and said in a panic , "Didn't the lord before me be dismissed because he missed a word? Where is he now, do you know? I can't find him, and he must have disappeared... King Lu, Lu Wang burns gold bricks, that's a crime against the heavens, what can I do? What else should I say, what else should I report!"

Ma Yongzhi was silent for a moment, then asked in a low voice: "Then, my lord, what do you want to do?"

Liu Fangcun stood stupefied, and it took a long time before he said hoarsely: "Flee, I'll run away. You, you go back immediately, pack up the silver for me, and take out the letterheads that I wrote to King Lu. Don't lose it."

"My lord!" Ma Yongzhi was taken aback, "Didn't those letterheads... the people from the King of Lu tell you to burn them immediately after you read them?"

"How dare you burn it... This is the handle, and it is my strongest handle." Liu Fangcun chuckled in a low voice, "Before I run away, I need to make amends. I will sue the king of Lu first, and wait for him to come in." After entering the heavenly prison, I will go all over the world, I can't go anywhere, I can't go anywhere!"

Ma Yongzhi nodded again and again: "Adults are far-sighted, and young people admire it. I'll go back and clean it up for you now. Those letterheads are placed on..."

"In the dark compartment at the head of the bed, if you move the incense burner on the sandalwood frame, you can see a button under the stove, press the secret compartment and it will pop out..." Liu Fangcun said carefully.

Chi Yebai crouched silently on the top of the tree, silently saying "idiot" in his heart.

Liu Fangcun couldn't say all the words.Ma Yongzhi's knife pierced through him as before, and at the end he twisted it, spattering the murderer's blood all over his body.

Kicking Liu Fangcun's body aside, Ma Yongzhi took off his blood-stained coat and strode back.

Chi Yebai remained motionless on the tree.When he heard Ma Yongzhi's cliché, he had already guessed that the confidant next to this lord was probably also a member of King Lu.

About a quarter of an hour later, the servant changed into neat clothes, carried a burden on his back, and rode down the mountain in a hurry.