In the copper incense burner, there were two sticks of incense that someone had memorized in advance, one of which had been burned out, leaving only a small red stick inserted in the ashes.

There is one column left, three-fifths of which has been burned.

Seen from a distance, this spark is slowly moving downward.

But no one paid attention. The eyes of everyone in the audience were silently focused on the blue Confucian shirt on the high platform.

The majestic Buddha with its back against the cliff of Beifeng, one hand raised, a golden Buddha head, and kind eyes, is looking at the rolling mountains of Kuanglu Mountain in front of it, and compared with this mountain range, the "small" one on the ground between them is

"Small" city.

The placement of this Donglin Giant Buddha is very particular. It is not on the cliff of the south peak, but on the cliff of the north peak, sitting facing south.

It means sitting north and facing south.

The face of the golden Buddha head is said to be modeled on the dragon face of a saint. It seems that he is sitting here, replacing the saint and emperor in the capital of gods, patrolling the entire southern land with a pair of "kind eyes".

It means having eyes to observe six directions, discerning everything clearly, and watching the world.

But at this moment, perhaps because of the angle, the Merciful Buddha, who is looking into the distance, cannot see what is happening below his feet at this moment.

Today's celebration ceremony has actually been cancelled. Most of the guests did not come, leaving only the high platform and the surrounding red and festive decorations.

As for the sounds and movements on the high platform, in addition to Rong Zhen, Yi Qianqiu, Aunt Song, Duan Quanwu, and some trusted female officers who were waiting for orders near the high platform, the White Tiger Guard general could hear them clearly.

Those who are farther away, such as most of the female officers and soldiers guarding around the main grotto, cannot hear it. They can only take a look at some scenes on the high platform from a distance. Moreover, everyone is fulfilling their duties, unless they are standing guard and patrolling.

It happens to be facing this way, otherwise it would be inconvenient to peek.

The entire main grotto is strictly sealed, and no one can get close to it. It was extremely difficult for Wang Caozhi and others to get in before.

Even Ouyang Rong, the governor of this state, came in without inspection under the leadership of Rong Zhen and Yi Qianqiu.

But at this moment, Princess Anhui's groom, a man named Wei Wu, walked in unimpeded, climbed onto the high platform majestically, and cut the throat of the witness in front of Ouyang Rong and everyone else.

.

There was no one to stop the whole process.

There is no such thing as Rong Zhen, who represents the female official of the Control Yuan.

Aunt Song, who represented Luoyang Si Tianjian, did not.

Neither Yi Qianqiu nor Duan Quanwu, representing the White Tiger and Xuanwu guards.

Not to mention the highly disciplined female officers and generals on standby around them.

Ouyang Rong didn't stop him either.

After Qian Chen fell to the ground with a white cloth stuffed in his mouth, eyes wide open, and his hands covering his throat.

In addition to tilting his head and asking, confirming Wei Wu's identity, Ouyang Rong reached into his arms with a slender hand, fumbled around, and took out a piece of jiepa.

This was prepared by Wei Lai for him every day when he went out. The girl smiled sweetly and asked the young master to use it to wipe the dirty things outside. But these days, he rarely encounters it, and he is a clean person, so he uses it rarely.

It's gone, sitting idle in my arms.

At this moment, Ouyang Rong ignored Wei Wu's polite inquiries from behind.

Twisting the white handkerchief, he lowered his eyes and carefully wiped the few drops of red throat blood that had been shot at the hem of the Confucian shirt. After it was roughly clean, he put away the white handkerchief, folded his sleeves with his hands again, calmed his eyes, and looked around at the people around him.

The whole place was dead silent.

The young man in a Confucian shirt has a thin figure and looks a little lonely and brave.

Everyone was looking at him alone.

He looks at everyone even when he is alone.

Duan Quanwu was the first to make any noise. He walked to Qian Chen's body, picked up the sword and put it into its sheath silently. He stood behind Wei Wu, holding the sword in his hand without saying a word, as if waiting for an order.

Grandma Song's old face was wrinkled and expressionless, and her eyes could not be clearly seen. She seemed to be staring directly at Ouyang Rong, observing his every move.

Yi Qianqiu's fierce tiger mask covers his face, and only the exposed tiger eyes are slightly closed. Standing in the sun, he looks like a marble statue, turning a deaf ear to any disturbance from the outside world, like a dead thing.

Only Old Yangtou was special, with a surprised look on his face. He looked around. Just now, Wei Wu suddenly walked up to Qian Chen and cut his throat. His eyes were also very surprised. This old cool official was originally arranged to wait for instructions outside the main grotto today.

, Ouyang Rong was summoned by Rong Zhen because he needed to handle a case for interrogation.

Looking around, Old Yangtou didn't know whether he noticed that he was out of place on the field, or that the young scholar who called him over was in a bad situation, or maybe both.

The old man silently took two steps back, away from Qian Chen's tragically dead body, and away from the faintly separated people on both sides of the field. However, he still took a deep look at the calm and upright back of Little Scholar Ouyang.

Ouyang Rong's clear eyes swept across them one by one, and finally fell on the face of the girl in purple palace clothes standing side by side.

Rong Zhen held the confession in both hands, lowered his head slightly, and scanned the blood-stained confession without blinking, as if he was reading it very seriously and selflessly, and was completely absorbed in it, unaware of changes in the outside world.

The girl's delicate body remained motionless.

At this moment, Ouyang Rong had nothing to say to anyone else.

Only one exception is made.

He looked at Rong Zhen and asked softly:

"When did it start?"

Rong Zhen lowered his head and read the confession, as if he didn't hear it.

Ouyang Rong then asked slowly:

"On the day Yi Qianqiu arrived with his troops, he falsely reported that he had confiscated the Yunmeng Ling from the water thieves in Hukou County;

"It was you who firmly urged me and the prince to start writing together to ask for help;

"Or did you get a promise from King Wei or King Liang when you first came to Jiangzhou from the capital?

"Well, it's no wonder that when you, the female historian, first came to Xunyang, in your so-called neutral capacity as the emperor's envoy, you insisted on re-investigating the rebellion case of Zhu Lingxu and his son, and later the case of Wei Zhao Ru's sudden death in Jishui County.

Don’t let go, and chase the owner of Dielianhua from the beginning..."

Rong Zhen's petite body trembled slightly,

Ouyang Rong nodded and said sincerely:

"Ms. Shi, I really thought you were neutral and selfless at first. You had no selfish motives in the country and the country. I didn't think you were trying to overturn the case for the two kings of the Wei family. I never thought there was anything wrong with your perseverance and pursuit of the truth.

, even if overturning the verdict is beneficial to Mr. Wei.

"Really, even if you detained the official in Jiangzhou Hall for three days and three nights because of the beheading of Zhu Lingxu at the city gate, the official still thought you were a good person. Yes, this is the way to investigate.

Those in charge of public affairs should be so unselfish, enforce the law impartially, and ignore their official positions, and there should be no exception because the subordinate officials have the Xunyang Palace as a guarantee."

Ouyang Rong recalled the contradictory voice of smiling but extremely calm, which echoed on the high platform.

Everyone saw the girl in purple palace clothes on the side, holding the blood-stained fingers of the confession and pinching them until they were blue and white, and a large area of ​​rosy blood was frightened away from her fingernails.

When Duan Quanwu saw this, his face was gloomy and he still said the same words as before:

"Prince Ouyang is just a demented villain who lied about a false case and gave a false confession. Why should he be so emotional? And he was provoked and misunderstood and slandered the female history of Rong Zhen who relied on you? This kind of posturing is unavoidable.

A little too immature."

He shook his head, with an incomprehensible expression, and said solemnly:

"What this little man named Qian said is ridiculous if you think about it with your toes. The two princes in the current dynasty have the same clan as the saint. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are from the royal family of this dynasty. They share the same status with the country.

, how could it be possible to hook up with the rebel thieves in Tiannan Jianghu? How could it be connected with these low-grade water thieves? It’s a big joke in the world.”

Aunt Song nodded and said in a somewhat stiff tone:

"Princess Anhui is pure in nature, virtuous and gentle. I feel deeply about it. It is impossible for the princess to collude with the rebels in Tiannan Jianghu, let alone send her subordinates to pretend to be water thieves. If anyone dares to speak nonsense, I

I won’t give up until you forgive me, little scholar, don’t be deceived by these monster words.”

"Yes, anyone who destroys the reputation of King Wei, King Liang and the princess should be executed."

Duan Quanwu answered with a sly smile and a sigh:

"President Ouyang, I will say something fair that you may not like to hear. You should really thank Manager Wu and decisively kill the slanderer. This will save you a lot of trouble. Otherwise, if this false case is a false confession,

Once it reaches the capital of the gods, it won’t be as simple as just losing this villain’s head.”

Wei Wu put his hands behind his back and stood there with his eyes lowered and said nothing, nodding his head or saying anything enthusiastic.

Ouyang Rong smiled when he heard this.

At this moment, a close female officer returned. She may have noticed that something was wrong with the atmosphere on the stage, especially Rong Zhen's female history, who seemed to be in a strange state. The close female officer stopped in the audience and hesitated to move forward.

At this time, Yi Qianqiu, who was as still as a mountain, suddenly turned his head and waved gently to the audience. A trusted female official came up to the stage, reported something in Yi Qianqiu's ear, and stepped back in small steps.

Yi Qianqiu couldn't see his face clearly, and said in a loud voice to the people who came to look at him:

"In compliance with the order just given by Governor Ouyang, over at the South Bank Ferry, Li Congshan and Miaozhen Nvshi have returned to the city with three hundred soldiers to support them, to blockade the Xunyang Ferry and protect the Xunyang Palace."

After a pause, she faced Ouyang Rong and said softly:

"Provincial Governor Ouyang, Manager Wu was specially left by Princess Anhui before she left to help protect the Donglin Giant Buddha. There were also some masters and dead soldiers who were left behind. This move was regarded as entrusting the support of Princess Anhui and the two princes above.

care.

"The King of Wei and the King of Liang are the advocates of the Songde Tianshu and the Buddha statues in the four directions in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Without them, there would be no Donglin Buddha. It is too late to protect the Buddha. How could they collude with the Tiannan rebels? The two princes should be the ones who hate those the most.

anti-thief
To be continued...