The assassin and his accomplices had been lurking in Zhengzhou for more than ten days.
They waited outside the temporary palace where Jin Yuehou lived every day, dressed in disguise, blended in with the crowd, and investigated the situation.
Although it was wartime, the defense of the palace did not appear to be particularly strict.
But for some reason they couldn't find any flaws. They contacted several servants serving Marquis Jin Yue, but couldn't find even one who could be bribed, and were completely unable to find out any information on Marquis Jin Yue's whereabouts.
It is rare to see a situation where everyone from top to bottom is loyal to their lord.
This shows that the Duke of Jin Yue was indeed a powerful figure, at least he did a very good job in controlling his subordinates.
Fortunately, after patiently waiting, these people finally saw Jin Yue Hou Cheng Qianyu coming out of the palace for the first time.
Do you want to take action? There are not many guards accompanying us, this is an opportunity.
The thin assassin squatted on the ground, staring at the window across the street through the gap in his hat.
He has a hunched back, wrinkled face, and gray hair. He looks like an ordinary, hard-working commoner.
No one could tell from his appearance that this was an assassin with countless lives on his hands.
As a veteran assassin, he knows the tricks of assassination, the most important thing is to hit the target with one strike.
If you fail once, the enemy will be alerted and will be on high alert to guard against you, then it will become doubly difficult to kill your target.
He had performed this kind of mission countless times for his lord in the past few decades of his life.
The only secret that enabled him to succeed time and time again and become the leader of the Deadpools trusted by his lord is his ability to "endure".
He once lurked around a target for five years, until he had a sure chance, then he struck with lightning and retired.
Forget it. It’s too hasty. You shouldn’t take risks unless you are absolutely sure.
He concealed the gleam in his eyes, gestured to retreat to his companions who were lurking nearby in disguise, then bent down and slowly packed up the burden in front of him.
In the bustling crowd, no one would pay attention to an inconspicuous peddler like him, so he could withdraw calmly.
Perhaps before leaving he should go into this teahouse, have a cup of tea, and observe the preferences of the Marquis of Jin Yue and the people around him.
The moment the assassin bent down, the skin on his back felt a creepy sensation. The intuition from years of walking on the edge of life and death made his body reflexively dodge a fatal arrow.
The sharp arrow grazed his face, cut off his temple hair and left a painful wound on his face.
Several sharp arrows came one after another, piercing into the ground where he had just stood, raising a cloud of dust.
The assassin rolled over to avoid the continuous rain of arrows and suddenly raised his head.
His eyes met with a red figure standing in the window of the teahouse. The man had a frosty face and stretched out his arms without hesitation, drew the bow and shot arrows, and a series of sharp arrows broke through the air and came towards him again.
The assassin was small but extremely agile, and he dodged the arrow by twisting his body.
At the same time, he took out the short blade he had hidden and blocked a pair of daggers that were attacking him from behind.
The one who attacked him was a young woman. She was very young but her attack was very ruthless.
The woman wielded a pair of short blades, and each move was aimed at the vital points, quickly and fiercely.
There was no expression on his face, but he used all his strength, not even a single move to defend himself.
The assassin's keen intuition told him that this was a Deadpool who had been trained in hell since childhood just like himself.
This woman is even more ruthless and fearless than I was back then.
But after all, he was still too young and should not be a match for the more experienced me.
If it weren't for the powerful archer on the windowsill who shot arrows continuously, he could have gotten rid of this person quickly.
The archer was a very capable man. He shot his arrows continuously with almost no intervals, and every arrow hit the target on his way back.
When there was no way to avoid it, the assassin was hit by two arrows in succession, and his movements began to slow down.
Is this going to be my end, to fall into the hands of such a young woman
The assassin was like a wounded old wolf, launching the most fierce counterattack before dying.
The pedestrians on the street suddenly panicked when they saw this sudden change. Some pushed and ran away, while others screamed in fear. The scene became chaotic for a while.
A horse-drawn carriage rushed out from the corner of the street, and a young man jumped out. The young man held Ajia's blade tightly and helped the injured assassin.
Cheng Feng stood at the window and shot an arrow through the young man's leg, throwing him to the ground.
Taking advantage of this gap, the injured assassin jumped on his horse, wielded his sword to block the arrows shot from downstairs, and rode away.
At the last moment before escaping, he turned around and took a last look at the window of the teahouse. Next to the red-clothed guard stood a handsome man. The man looked at him coldly with a pair of eyes that saw through everything.
Argentine Jia started to chase.
"Ajia, don't chase him. The safety of our lord is the most important thing." Cheng Feng's voice came from upstairs.
He and the other guards did not leave Cheng Qianye's side to prevent a sneak attack by the enemy.
Ajia's eyes fell on the fleeing horse, his face expressionless, but his heels moved slightly.
"Don't go," Cheng Qianye's voice came from the windowsill, "You are also injured, come back to me quickly."
Ajia stopped helplessly and controlled the struggling boy.
How could my Lord know what I was thinking
She was very puzzled because the master had clearly told her that I had the best control over facial expressions among everyone.
She touched her face and wondered: Have I regressed recently
Soon, the guards patrolling the city arrived and escorted Cheng Qianye and his party back to the palace.
Ajia threw the captured boy in front of Cheng Qianye. The man's face was black, blood was flowing out of his mouth, and he was unresponsive.
"The moment he was caught, he took poison," Ajia explained.
Cheng Feng squatted down to check it out and shook his head.
Cheng Qianye looked at the young corpse and sighed: "He is so young, and he was sent out as an assassin?"
"All the Deadpools and assassins are trained since childhood. If they are able to go out and do things, they are not considered young anymore." Ajia replied.
There was a cut on the back of her hand, and red blood was dripping down her fingers. This injury was nothing to her, and she raised her arm and licked the wound as if nothing had happened.
Yao Tianxiang pulled her over, took out a bottle of medicine from Cheng Qianye's drawer, and applied some medicine to her wound.
"I really can't tell at all. You are a quiet girl in daily life, but I didn't expect you to be so skilled." Yao Tianxiang took out her handkerchief and wrapped it around Ajia's hand.
"It's all my fault," Yao Tianxiang said with some fear, "If I hadn't made a scene and left, this wouldn't have happened. Fortunately, Cheng Feng and A Jia were here, otherwise who knows what would have happened."
"Thanks to my lord's keenness, the assassin was discovered in time and the danger was avoided." Cheng Feng bowed and praised.
In his mind, it was normal for his lord to be wise and intelligent and see through the assassin at a glance.
Argentine Jia didn't think so. The man today was an assassin who had undergone long-term training and was very experienced.
He was lurking among the crowd, and even if I had been trained since childhood, I might not be able to see through his disguise.
How did the lord find out
She was itching to ask her lord for the trick.
But the training she received since childhood told her that she should keep a low profile when next to her lord and try to make herself seem less noticeable, which is what a qualified Deadpool should do.
Don't ask too many questions, she told herself.
Cheng Qianye found it very interesting to see the young girl in front of him who had no expression on her face but was filled with strong curiosity.
But she couldn't explain it, so she could only change the subject.
"Can we find out who sent the assassin?"
Cheng Feng said: "I have ordered the whole city to be sealed off and the assassins to be searched for. I hope we can find some results."
Ajia said, "I think they might be from the Song Dynasty."
"The State of Song?" Cheng Qianye was very surprised. The weak and cowardly State of Song that was defeated by Mo Qiaosheng and could only cede land, pay compensation and beg for withdrawal
"I'm just guessing," Ajia said, "The Song army is weak, but they pay special attention to training dead servants and spies. I heard that their crown prince Ji Ang has hundreds of dead servants around him, most of whom are young boys and girls. Their leader is named Jie, and his appearance is rumored to be very similar to the assassin we met today."
"That Jie, I also heard of his name when I was on a diplomatic mission to Song State." Cheng Feng recalled, and he looked up at Cheng Qianye, "Lord Zhou Zixi's legs were crippled by this man."
…
At this moment, Zhou Zixi was sitting in the hall of Chu Anhou, the king of Chu.
Zhou Zixi's former state, Wei, bordered the state of Chu.
Before Chu Anhou inherited the title, he studied in the State of Wei and became a close friend of Zhou Zixi, who was famous at a young age.
At this moment, he looked at his old friend who was sitting in a wheelchair with disabled legs, and sighed: "Back then, the Quanrong were rampant and the Wei State was destroyed. Our country was also unable to take care of itself. I never thought that you, Zixi, would suffer such a disaster."
Chu Anhou stood up, walked to Zhou Zixi, and held his shoulders: "Fortunately, you and I will meet again one day. Now that you have come to my Chu State, don't leave. I will definitely treat you well."
Zhou Zixi bowed and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Lord Marquis. But I am now a minister of Jin. I came to Chu State on the orders of my lord, Marquis of Jin Yue, to invite you to join me in fighting against the Quanrong."
Yang Yu, a minister sitting in the hall, sneered and said, "Since you are asking our country to send troops to help you, you should send a proper envoy. Don't you think that you, Jin State, don't even have a person with legs? You must send a cripple to our Chu State."
"Zixi is my good friend, Lord Yang, you shouldn't do this." Chu Anhou symbolically reprimanded him and returned to his seat. "We can discuss the matter of sending troops slowly. Zixi has come from afar, so you should take a good rest for a few days. Let me hold a banquet to welcome you and talk about our farewell."
The attendants accompanying Zhou Zixi were all indignant when they saw that Marquis Chu An was so neglectful.
But Zhou Zixi acted as if nothing had happened, as if he could not hear the contempt of Yang Yu and Chu Anhou. He saluted and said, "Our Great Jin is full of talents. We first occupied the Quanrong in Bianjing. Within two years, we took Qi County, defeated the Song State, and seized Zhengzhou. How magnificent it is. Now our Jin State's Left General Mo Qiaosheng has led an army of 100,000 to attack the Quanrong in Haojing. Why do we need the help of the Chu army? If I hadn't thought of our long-standing friendship and specially asked for permission from my lord, he would not have sent an envoy to Chu at all."
Chu Anhou was surprised and asked, "What does Zixi mean by this?"