The north wind howled, the snow was flying, and the sky and the earth were drowsy, as if with an inexplicable depression.
Rongguo's winter is very cold, and the heavy snow that starts to fall almost obscures people's sight. In such bad weather, there were naturally fewer people going out, and even the guards at the city gates became slack.
A soldier looked left and right, saw no outsiders passing by, and was a little unbearable by the howling cold wind, so he secretly took off the water bag around his waist to drink. Of course, the water bladder is not filled with water, but with spirits. Not to mention that Rong people love to drink, but in such weather, drinking a sip of strong wine can warm up. So as long as no outsiders saw him, the leading officer would turn a blind eye.
The entrance of the spirits is like a fire burning all the way from the mouth to the belly, and the whole person instantly warms up. There was a hint of enjoyment on the soldier's face that was about to freeze. He looked at the wine bag and then looked around. He didn't see the officer's figure and planned to take another sip.
It is customary to drink and warm up secretly when on duty, but it is absolutely impossible to get drunk. Fortunately, most people also have this self-control.
But obviously, today this soldier is a glutton, and he wants to drink more when the officer is not there. As a result, just as he raised the wine bag to his mouth, the companion beside him suddenly pulled him: "Someone is here, put the wine away!"
This is a well-intentioned reminder, but the bad thing is to pull the handle. The soldier didn't hold one firmly, and the wine bag fell to the ground. The gurgling wine flowed out and spilled on the ground, giving off a great smell of alcohol, which made the soldier feel bad. He hurriedly picked up the wine bag, and several companions around him were also anxious, and hurriedly kicked the snow over to cover the rich wine smell.
In fact, the wind was strong at the gate of the city, and it didn't take a moment for the alcohol to be blown away by the wind. But their luck was not very good. The heavy snow covered their sight, and the sound of wind covered up the sound of galloping hoofs, so that they failed to detect the group of people who came by on horseback in advance.
The horse-riding team quickly approached, and what was even more disappointing was that the leader was clearly the ruthless and stern General Zuo!
The strong smell of alcohol has not yet dissipated, and it clearly shows the crime of drinking when everyone was on duty. After the founding of Beirong, the law has gradually improved, and the military law has become more and more strict. Skin.
A few soldiers were so frightened that their legs were shaking, as if they were going to kneel down and apologize in the next moment. However, the galloping horses passing in front of them did not slow down. The entire team led by General Zuo rushed past them. The sound of hooves of "da da" went from far to near and then from near to far. In the hearts of all, until it is gone, until it disappears.
After a long while, someone raised their heads and glanced in the direction where General Zuo and others disappeared, and whispered, "General Zuo, have you passed?"
When this sound fell, everyone looked up as if they had just woken up from a dream, and then someone asked slowly, "Don't they smell alcohol?"
The rest were silent, because the smell of alcohol in the air was still as strong. Unless the group of people who passed by just now had their noses blocked by the wind and cold, it would be impossible not to smell it!
At this moment, General Zuo, who was rushing away, obviously had no time to pay attention to the few pawns at the gate of the city. He led the only remaining guards to rush through the empty streets, and suddenly a dark arrow came through the air. Fortunately, even if it was covered by wind and snow, he was still shrewdly avoided.
General Zuo did not stop his horse, and continued to walk in the direction of the palace, so an arrow turned into a piece.
To be bold enough to assassinate an important official in the imperial city, this move is almost unimaginable by others. However, General Zuo didn't panic as he had expected. Occasionally, one or two missed ones were dodged by his beast-like intuition, and he passed through a rain of arrows unscathed.
It's a pity that his entourage obviously does not have such ability. After a few mourning, three or five people fell from the horse. The lucky ones immediately rolled to the side of the road to save their lives, while the unlucky ones fell directly under the horse's hoofs of their companions, and blood stained the long street in an instant.
General Zuo's face became more and more difficult to look at. He looked around, intently trying to find out those assassins who were shooting arrows in the dark, but the other party was so well hidden and covered by the wind and snow, it was hard to find a trace for a while!
To entangle with assassins or to rush to the palace immediately? General Zuo of course chose the latter.
The sound of the hooves did not stop, and the assassins continued to hunt down.
When General Zuo rode his horse to a fork in the road, an idea suddenly flashed in his mind—the left side of this fork was the direction he was going home, and the right side was to go to the palace together. He was about to turn right, but when he came to the end, he suddenly turned left. I don't know if it was because of his unexpected turn, or for some other reason, the people chasing after him seemed to stagnate for a moment.
After only this moment of stagnation, General Zuo understood something. A sneer appeared under his bushy beard, and then he tapped his feet, and the warhorse with his mind immediately turned to the right.
The rain of arrows struck again, but was evaded by this man dexterously.
The pursuit continued until the palace, but unfortunately, no one was left behind in the end.
Meng Fei walked quickly through the prime minister's mansion, the speed of striding meteors was almost as fast as the trotting of others, and even when he stepped into Xie Yuan's yard, he did not slow down. The sound of his rapid footsteps alarmed Xie Yuan, who was looking at Xue again, who turned back with a frown.
As he approached, Meng Fei knelt down on one knee: "My subordinates neglected their duty and failed to stop General Zuo."
Xie Yuan's eyes flashed and he asked, "What about the corpse, has it been destroyed?"
Meng Fei said truthfully: "When the subordinates arrived, they only saw General Zuo carrying the corpse into the carriage, but they did not witness the confirmation with their own eyes. However, the princess was indeed gone, so the subordinate used his hands to burn the corpse and the carriage."
There is no problem with this kind of disposal. The body will be burnt to a hundred. General Zuo has no evidence to say that it is useless. Xie Yuan asked himself about his eloquence and ten General Zuo couldn't say anything about him. So the only thing worth worrying about is Emperor Rong's suspicion, and he just went to the other party this morning to expose Liang's alienation scheme, so there must be some doubts in Emperor Rong's heart.
Only one point, General Zuo entered the palace too quickly, and the body of the "Three Princesses" has not been properly destroyed. I wonder if there is any trouble
Xie Yuan was thinking this way, and before he could tell Meng Fei anything, the butler of the Prime Minister's residence had already arrived in a hurry. The Tao is that someone from the palace wants to take the body of the third princess back to the palace, and only after asking the wizard to pray for her blessings will it be buried in the coffin.
Beirong has the custom of sorcerers praying for blessings and transcendence. But Xie Yuan pleaded guilty in the morning, and Emperor Rong didn't mention it. Now that General Zuo has just entered the palace and rushed people to come, how can there be no deep meaning in it
Xie Yuan immediately realized that something unexpected happened that he didn't know about, and instructed the housekeeper in a deep voice: "You try to drag it on."
Hearing the order, the butler didn't ask any further questions, and hurried away.
Xie Yuan immediately led Meng Fei to the direction of Dingling, and asked, "Have you ever found out what's wrong with the corpse?"
Meng Fei followed closely and answered with certainty: "No, the subordinates have personally inspected it, and there are no features on the corpse."
Hearing this, Xie Yuan paused slightly. He suddenly thought that if the corpse to be replaced is no problem, is it that there is some special mark on Ayanna? But Ayanna was the princess and his wife, and no matter how he didn't care, Meng Fei couldn't look at her body. Besides, she was so miserable when she died that the person who was undressing and tidying up for her would not dare to look closely.
So what is the special mark on Ayanna
Xie Yuan thought about it carefully for a long time, but he couldn't think of it at this moment because he had never been interested in that person for more than ten years. This made him a little annoyed, but the uneasiness in his heart was even stronger.
After walking a few more steps, Xie Yuan suddenly asked, "Have you got the tattoo of the royal family's logo on that corpse?"
Meng Fei hurriedly said when he heard the words, "It's been done, enough to confuse the truth."
Xie Yuan couldn't think of anything else, so he hurried to the place where the spirit was suspended, and went to the side of the coffin to look at the female corpse. He knew that it was a substitute that Meng Fei had found, but at first glance, no matter his body shape or anything else, he couldn't find any flaws. He stretched out his hand to lift the stiff right hand of the female corpse, and then pulled the sleeve all the way to the upper arm, and saw a large and small eagle tattooed on the outer arm.
The eagle was the logo of Emperor Rong's original tribe, and the children of the chief clan were born with a tattoo. The girl is tattooed on the arm, and the boy is tattooed on the chest. Xie Yuan has not noticed Ayanna's tattoo, but he has seen this eagle more than once.
Looking at it now, and seeing no difference, Xie Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. But he doesn't know if there are any other characteristics of Ayanna, and now that everyone in the palace has come to the door, it is impossible to do anything on this corpse.
Sure enough, the housekeeper didn't stop the person for long, and almost as soon as Xie Yuan finished investigating, a group of soldiers rushed into the mourning hall.
Xie Yuan's expression darkened slightly, and the leading officer took two steps forward when he saw this. He raised his hand and saluted him, but he was neither humble nor arrogant: "Your Majesty has a purpose to welcome the princess back to the palace to pray for blessings and transcendence, and please don't interfere with the Prime Minister."
As soon as these words came out, Xie Yuan's face darkened, but he suppressed his temper in the end: "Since it is His Majesty's will, this minister should obey."
When his voice fell, the officer was even more rude, waved his hand to summon a few soldiers, carried the coffin and left. This group of people broke into the mourning hall carelessly, and took away the body so rudely.
Xie Yuan gritted his teeth and almost exploded with anger, but now is not the time to pursue this. He only thought about it for a moment, and immediately decided to follow the palace. Even because these soldiers were walking too fast, he didn't have time to go back to change his clothes, so he simply followed in his normal clothes.
Meng Fei naturally followed, only taking two steps, Xie Yuan suddenly turned around and gave him a few words in a low voice.
After agreeing to the promise, Meng Fei stopped, and when Xie Yuan's back disappeared from sight, he immediately turned around to complete his new task.
The newly built imperial city of Rongguo is far less than the capital of Liangguo, and the Prime Minister's Mansion is not very far from the palace, and it took only a quarter of an hour by car to arrive at the gate of the palace. As the prime minister, Xie Yuan naturally has the right to enter the palace, but he can only enter the palace on foot as a courtier, which is much slower than pulling a coffin straight into the palace by a carriage.
So when Xie Yuan hurried to the front of the hall, he heard Emperor Rong's angry voice coming from the hall: "This is really not Ayanna!"