Liu Ming leaned over and looked at the corpse carefully, and saw a very deep knife wound on its back. It seemed that someone had stabbed the heart and lungs from behind without any precautions.
Turning the body over, Liu Ming was stunned. The face of the body seemed familiar, but he couldn't figure out who it was.
One of his subordinates stared at the pale face and suddenly said: "Master Xiaowei, I remembered this. This is the Zhike monk we met when we just entered the mountain gate. How could he die here?"
”
After his reminder, Liu Ming suddenly realized that no wonder this person looked familiar.
When King Hengyang arrived at the Iron Buddha Temple, the monks, led by the abbot Xuyun, lined up on both sides of the mountain gate to greet him. The Zhike monk who led them in at that time was this person.
Could it be that this Zhike monk is the assassin who sneaked into the Iron Buddha Temple?
Liu Ming quickly overturned his own inference. If Zhi Ke Monk was an assassin, then who should be his murderer?
The remaining three men left two of them on guard while one was rummaging around in the secret room. Liu Ming stood up and looked around. He saw a row of sandalwood shelves on both sides of the wall, with many items placed on them.
Both the sandalwood frame and the scriptures are spotless.
It means that people often come to clean this place.
Could it be that the monk was killed with a knife from behind by a murderer who suddenly broke in while he was cleaning and sorting the scriptures?
Back and forth, a series of questions emerged in Liu Ming's mind.
He looked up inadvertently, only to find a mural painted on top of his head.
Liu Ming did not believe in Buddhism and could not tell which Buddha was depicted in the mural. He just felt that the Buddha was smiling and seemed to be mocking his incompetence.
"Damn it!" Liu Ming cursed in a low voice, "Hurry up and chase!"
The four of them continued to chase forward, but they still found no trace of the assassin. Unknowingly, they chased them dozens of steps away, and there was a larger space there, as big as three rooms, in which there were also placed
Various scriptures.
Compared with the secret room outside, this place seemed messy. A dozen pieces of oily paper were scattered on the ground. The paper was greasy. Two empty leather bags were thrown in the corner. There was also a faint smell of alcohol in the air...
Needless to say, someone has stayed here, and there are quite a few of them.
After walking for more than thirty steps, Liu Ming suddenly squinted his eyes and saw a beam of sunlight shining down in front of him. It seemed that the exit was almost there.
However, what surprised Liu Ming was that it was not an exit, but a ventilation hole.
He became even more confused, but then he thought, since this secret room is used to store scriptures, it is unlikely that there are two exits, otherwise the sealing of the secret room will not be guaranteed.
Since there is only one exit, it means that the murderer escaped from the secret room first after they entered the secret room.
It’s too late again!
Liu Ming exited the secret room with anger.
"Captain, where should we go next?"
"Let's go and report to Master Sikong!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a sharp arrow suddenly shot through the air with a "wu" sound.
The arrowhead came so fast and urgently that Liu Ming only had time to turn aside when he heard a whistling sound in his ear. The arrowhead flew past his ear and was nailed to the red lacquered wooden door of the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion with a "dumb" sound. The arrow shaft buzzed.
The ground shook for a long time before stopping, which shows how powerful this arrow was.
Liu Ming's forehead was suddenly covered in cold sweat.
The three soldiers looked at the sharp arrow in shock. They were stunned for a moment, and suddenly one of them shouted: "Assassin!"
The two of them stepped forward to block Liu Ming.
Liu Ming's reaction was faster and more agile. Seeing this scene, he dragged one of his men and ducked behind the pillar on the side.
Just as the remaining two soldiers were about to take cover, a second sharp arrow flew and hit one of them in the calf. The man screamed and fell to the ground.
His companion rolled out from the ground, picked him up, and dragged him into the blind corner behind the pillars.
Liu Ming peeked slightly, and saw towering camphor trees opposite, with dense branches, and one branch was still shaking violently. It seemed that someone was hiding in the tree and shot these two arrows at them.
p>
The soldier following Liu Ming said anxiously: "Master Captain, what's going on? Why is there a longbow in the temple?" His voice was trembling.
He had already pulled out the first feathered arrow and held it in his hand. This arrow was two feet long and had a waxwood shaft. The arrowhead had a light metallic luster. It looked extremely sharp and had strong penetrating power. It could shoot through armor.
Looking at the system, it seems to be something used by Liang Junjun.
Liu Ming looked at the feathered arrow, his expression a little ugly.
After all, he was also a soldier of the Liang Dynasty before. After fighting in the army for so many years, he was very familiar with this kind of arrow. This is the standard feather arrow in the Liang army!
Without saying a word, he roughly estimated the distance between the archers and the others in his mind, and whispered: "If I guess correctly, the assassins use horn bows."
The soldier beside him nodded and said: "I guessed wrongly at the bottom of the mark. The archer's position is a hundred and twenty steps away from here. At such a long distance, only the longbows used by the infantry and cavalry in the army are used."
It can only be shot with a horn bow. I had a lot of trouble pulling out the arrow just now, and the arrow almost penetrated the door panel."
Liu Ming said: "That's right, that camphor tree has thick branches, and the long bow is inconvenient to carry, and even if it is brought up, it is not easy to draw. The horn bow is smaller, and it is very flexible to use on this tree. This kind of horn bow is smaller.
Most of them are compound horn bows, which can shoot through armor even from a hundred and fifty paces away. However, the assassin can only see the twigs and twigs of the tree. It is inevitable that he will not be able to fully draw the bow to allow the speed and strength of the arrow.
Discounted."
The soldier's face was still a little pale and he said, "Is there something between the assassin and someone from Liang's army?"
Liu Ming shook his head: "It is still not possible to conclude that it was Liang Jun's people who did it. Many of our Lieutenant General Chen Chaojun mixed this system with the new feather arrows."
Just as Liu Ming and the other four were trapped in the Sutra Pavilion, a scream came from the trees not far away, followed by the sound of something heavy falling to the ground, and then a shout:
"Is this Captain Liu in front of the Sutra Pavilion? Lieutenant Liu, is that you?"
Liu Ming immediately felt relieved when he heard that person's voice. The person calling was the elementary school he sent to the kitchen.
Liu Ming was extremely cautious and did not stick his head out. At this time, he heard the small school commander say again: "Sir, Captain, an assassin with a bow has been killed. It is safe here. Please move, Sir." <
/p>
Liu Ming and others slowly walked out from behind the corridor pillars. The principal ran a few steps forward and saluted: "The captain is frightened. Look, the assassin is right there!"
Liu Ming looked in the direction of the principal's finger and saw the body of a monk lying sprawled under the tree. Six or seven steps beside him was a compound horn bow.
I went forward to check and found that the man's hands were covered with calluses on his hands, palms, fingers, etc., which was obviously caused by years of use of weapons.
Liu Ming's face became even more gloomy, and he hurriedly reported to Hou Andu.
Cai Daye also learned about this from his subordinates. The assassin was so arrogant that he had no reason to stay out of the matter. He shouted angrily: "In broad daylight, in the clear sky, someone actually assassinated someone. Isn't this a crime of decapitation?"
Come on, follow me to capture the assassins, don’t let any of them go!”
After saying that, he ducked and was about to rush forward. Hou Andu grabbed him and said anxiously: "Master Cai, you have few people with you, so let us..."
Just when I said this, "Ah, ah, ah..." three times in succession, three Liang Jun soldiers outside the door were hit by arrows and fell heavily to the stone floor.
Immediately, seven or eight assassins masked in black scarves and dressed in mysterious clothes, armed with scimitars, broadswords, short spears, hammers and other weapons, rushed in with murderous intent.
When Cai Daye saw it, he immediately changed his words and said: "Quickly, stop these assassins, protect His Highness, protect Mr. Hou!" After saying that, he turned around and entered the house.
At this time, the temple was almost in chaos, as if there were assassins everywhere and fighting everywhere. Sergeant Liang and Chen Jun guards fought against the intruding assassins.
The monks were running for their lives, and screams of terror could be heard one after another.
The target of the assassins was not the monks, so they let them look for hiding places to escape, and only cut them down and stabbed them down when they were stopped.
In the panic, someone touched the incense burner and candle, causing thick smoke and flames to jump out.
In order not to disturb the purity of Buddhism, not many soldiers entered the temple. Facing the assassins swarming in from all sides, both Liang Jun soldiers and Chen Jun guards were somewhat powerless.
Under the unified command of Hou Andu, they began to break out of the temple. There were swords and swords everywhere, the clanking of weapons, and the sounds of fighting.
Chen Chang took Ning Jingrong's hand and fled in embarrassment under the protection of the guards. Zhou Hong held the Huanshou knife tightly and stood in front of them.
Soon, he was separated from Hou Andu, Liu Ming, Cai Daye and others.
After running for a while, Chen Chang felt his heartbeat was short of breath and his legs were weak. His feet slowed down unconsciously, and he panted: "I... I can't run anymore. It's strange, after only running for a while, why am I so exhausted?"
Zhou Hong said angrily: "It must have been poisoned at this moment! Tea or vegetarian food are all possible!"
Chen Chang exclaimed in shock: "Ah? Poisoned?"
Ning Jingrong was panting at this time: "Your Highness, I am also completely weak..."
After saying that, his body swayed twice and fell into Chen Chang's arms.
At this moment, there was a "boom", and a door panel in the side hall on the left was kicked away, and two masked men in black rushed out.
As soon as he saw Chen Chang here, he swung his sword and went forward. The two guards pulled away to meet him. The two sides fought fiercely, with their weapons clashing and sparks bursting out.
Chen Chang held Ning Jingrong's waist, dragged her and ran away, saying: "Hold on, hold on, it will be safe once you get out of the gate..."
Before he finished speaking, four more assassins appeared in front of him, all holding hard crossbows. Zhou Hong was shocked when he saw it: "Your Highness, quickly go into the room and hide!"
Chen Chang turned around and dragged Ning Jingrong to escape into a dormitory.
The room is small and simply decorated, with just a couch and a desk.
Chen Chang closed the door and window tightly, and through the gap in the window he saw two soldiers under Zhou Hong and Heiyi fighting against each other at the moment. Zhou Hong was guarding the door of the dormitory. Although the situation was dangerous, the assassin might not be able to do it in a short while.
Succeeded.
However, the assassins realized that they could not break through the defense line guarded by Chen Jun, so they mobilized more troops and started shooting rockets at the dormitory. For a moment, flames flew wildly and smoke billowed. Chen Chang and Ning Jingrong were choked and coughed.
Zhou Hong and others were also entangled at this moment and had no time to rescue...
This chapter has been completed!