The atmosphere in Hecheng at this time is strange!
No one was staying in the usually noisy market at this time. Everyone hid in the house after the gong sounded in the quiet street.
In the streets and alleys, there were only groups of running soldiers and galloping cavalry.
You can still hear banging on the door in the distance, it's the team entering the house to search.
People were also coming and going in the Qi Mansion, and the domestic slaves who were usually kept were sorting out their weapons, including broadswords, short spears, and poisonous needles.
Qi Kexian also put on neat clothes. If he could not snatch Qi Heng out today, he was going to retreat to the grassland and encourage the Dilu tribe to attack Hecheng.
Then he notified his family in the capital that Zhao Tinglei had colluded with the Di people to massacre the imperial merchants in order to rebel.
With the support of the eldest princess and the imperial concubine, even if Zhao Yanjiao is now Duke An, this matter cannot be solved.
Dilu Grassland has always been a worry for the Wu Dynasty.
How to stay with the tiger is a method that even the emperor wants to find.
The Qi family used business to deal with the Dilu tribe, which was also a means of seeking peace.
If the combined city is in chaos and Xia Shiguan is lost, the new emperor who has just ascended the throne will have a headache.
But before that, Qi Kexian still had to remove himself.
Qi Heng and others need to be retrieved, life or death.
The group of people from Laoshanlin in the other courtyard must also be sent out quickly. If they fall into the hands of the Zhenbei Army, they will not be able to clean themselves.
"Master, the group of people from the other courtyard left Hecheng half an hour ago and have passed Xia Shiguan!" Someone came to report.
Zike nodded, feeling slightly relieved.
As soon as Qi Heng disappeared, he asked someone to notify the other hospital and asked Lao Shanlin and his group to leave Hecheng through a secret passage, and then find a route he had already taken to exit the customs.
As long as no one gets the stolen goods, he is not afraid of searches by the garrison.
As for Qi Heng... he believed that his nephew was smart and knew better than himself what he could and could not say.
The Qi family has been operating in Hecheng for decades, so it is very easy to inquire about things.
Only after the initial panic did he realize everything that happened inside and outside the restaurant.
Even the truth about Qi Heng's bizarre things came to light.
Although the process is not very clear, when the third master of the Qi family disappeared, someone saw a Dilu noblewoman jumping from a private building into a carriage. The carriage was picked up by the Zhenbei Army in the city and went directly out of the city and into the military camp outside the city.
This was obviously a deliberate hostage-taking route.
It also clearly shows that Qi Heng is in the hands of the Zhenbei Army, and what is being searched all over the city is just for that evidence.
No matter how powerful the Qi family is, they cannot infiltrate the Zhenbei Military Camp. Even if they know that Qi Heng is inside, there is nothing they can do.
As long as the garrison was densely covered with eyeliners and had become a sieve, the positions of Lin Qingyuan and the others were clear.
It's just that Lin Qingyuan is now under strict protection, and his spy can't get close.
There is another person that Qi Kexian is angry about and wants to get the most, and that is the "Noble Girl of the Di Clan"!
Now Di Lu's noble daughter is also in the garrison, and it is a small courtyard with only a few maids.
He didn't know if this was Zhao Tinlei's deliberate bait, or if it had some other meaning...
In any case, this Dilu noblewoman is the key to Qi Heng's disappearance.
And the two censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate...
As time passed, another night fell, and Hecheng was still brightly lit.
Some were dragged out of the house crying, while others tried to escape but were quickly caught.
Although this rigorous search came suddenly, to the Zhenbei Army, who were accustomed to obeying orders and were well trained, they only thought it was a bloodless military training operation.
But soon they couldn't relax anymore.
There were more than twenty corpses in an ordinary house, and the blood on them had not yet dried. This was also a key search area.
Urgent whistles sounded all over the city!
In the garrison, Zhao Tinlei continued to assign manpower.
Because I missed Song Liyun’s greeting the night before, it’s a bit sudden to deal with it now.
Fortunately, the Zhenbei Army has always been under his control, and the team of several thousand people can be commanded like an arm.
In just one hour, the security level at Kip Shek Checkpoint was upgraded, the checkpoint was closed, and the movement of people was prohibited.
There are also three steps, one post, five steps and one sentry in the city. Disciplining some people is difficult to fly. This is something Zhao Tinlei has wanted to do for a long time.
In the past, he was only a member of the Zhenbei Army. There was a hint from the old emperor that the local government was not in harmony with the Zhenbei Army.
The Yunzhou garrison and the Hecheng government office had no other friendship except for the unpleasantness of asking for military supplies, food and pay.
Now Zhao Tinglei is on the defensive, but the Qi family is blocking everything. They are colluding with the merchants in Hecheng and are monolithic, unable to interfere.
But today is different, Qi Heng is missing, the Qi family is in chaos, the Qi family is looking for someone, and the Zhenbei Army takes the opportunity to also look for someone.
Moreover, dozens of helpers were captured in the restaurant during the day, catching the merchants in Hecheng who were originally connected together by surprise.
In a short period of time, the Zhenbei Army searched half of the city.
Song Liyun leaned against the window and watched the movement outside.
The Anhua Courtyard where she lives is not just one courtyard, but consists of several independent courtyards, which are prepared by the garrison for officials who have official business dealings.
Two of the imperial censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate also live here.
There was only a wall between them, and the noise outside spread into Anhua Courtyard, making the maids and servants very nervous.
In Song Liyun's house, a maid came over twice to ask if she wanted tea, and a rough lady came to refill the lamp oil twice.
Just when the maid came in for the third time and asked Song Liyun if she wanted a midnight snack, Song Liyun stopped her and asked, "What's for a midnight snack?"
The maid was stunned for a moment before replying: "At this hour, there's usually porridge on the stove!"
Song Liyun raised her eyebrows and asked if she wanted to have a midnight snack, but she didn't know what it was, which was strange!
She waved her hand: "No need for midnight snacks, you can go down! I'm going to bed!"
With that said, he walked from the window to the bedroom and lowered the curtain.
When the maid saw this, she turned back and went out. She didn't even wait to turn and ran straight to the second door.
In the room, Song Liyun blew out the lights, took off his coat and hung it on the bedside, then took out a roll of sheepskin from the space and placed it under the quilt, pretending to be sleeping.
After finishing everything, she lay down at the foot of the bed, took out the invisible fabric and wrapped it around herself.
It was late at night and no one was quiet. Lying close to the ground, the sounds outside were even clearer.
Just after tea time, a series of footsteps sounded from outside. When they stopped at the door of the room, they only hesitated for a moment and then opened the door bolt with a knife.
Under the dim moonlight, Song Liyun saw a pair of soap-faced fast boots slowly approaching the bed.
Before anyone could see what was on the bed, Song Liyun had quietly put a rope around the man's ankle from under the bed.
"Wow" was the sound of the quilt being opened. When the man saw a roll of sheepskin under the quilt, he felt bad and quickly pulled away.
But... after taking only two steps, his feet tightened, and he suddenly flew into the air and fell to the ground.
Song Liyun didn't understand the invisibility cloth, rolled out from under the bed, swung an ax in his hand and hit the man on the head.
The man was falling to pieces when he saw a gray mass rolling out from under the bed. Before he could even scream, a dark stick hit the door directly in front of him.
All this was just a matter of taking a breath, and the man's brain was so smashed that he fainted and died.
Song Liyun did not move anyone, but listened carefully. There was no movement outside, and then he took a closer look at the person who tried to kidnap him.
He was a middle-aged man, dressed as an official, and he seemed to be a staff member of the garrison.
hehe!
Coupled with the maid and the rough lady just now, this garrison is really a sieve!