The room was dark and dirty, but not like an abandoned temple full of dust. Instead, it looked like a lazy person lived in the room and never cleaned it.
This guy is useless and cannot be kept, Li Dutou said coldly.
Another man said: Kill his son. His wife may be a little ugly, but we haven't had sex for a long time.
Lu Hanzi, whose left hand was broken, was terrified. Seeing these three men were big and strong, and their faces were fierce, Lu Hanzi was extremely frightened. He begged for a while, and suddenly thought of something: Although I don’t understand, I know where Sun Fangtou lives.
Oh Li Dutou looked at him.
Lu Hanzi said: When I was still working in the workshop, Sun Fangtou was the head of our sixth workshop. He knew how the things in the workshop worked, and he would instruct everyone to repair and replace parts from time to time. If a few uncles want to know how to make armor, as long as they catch him, they will definitely be able to make it.
Li Dutou asked anxiously where he lived.
Lu Hanzi replied: I also live in the town. All the craftsmen with their families live there because the workshop is too noisy.
After hearing this, Li Dutou gave a look, and a man next to him took out a crossbow, and another hid a short knife in his arms. Li Dutou said coldly: You'd better behave yourself, otherwise don't blame me for being ruthless.
A few people stayed in the broken yard until the evening, and then boldly took Lu Hanzi to the market in the south. When they arrived, the sun had already set below the horizon, and the chaotic lights in the market were dim. There were also official shops at the corners of the streets, with officials and soldiers inside, but no one was causing trouble in the market, so no one deliberately checked.
Li Dutou observed the atmosphere and felt that the problem was not serious. Lu Hanzi went out drinking last night and did not return, but the disappearance of a man of his status would probably only worry his family, and the local people would not be able to alarm the prodigal.
With Lu Hanzi's fingerprints, Li Dutou and others drove the carriage to the gate of a newly built house. This house was larger than ordinary houses and had a yard. It really looked like a place where a leader lived.
A man on the carriage said in a deep voice: Should we ask this guy to knock on the door and ask if anyone is there
Li Dutou said: "No need. The man surnamed Sun will come back eventually. There are four people in total, the man is Sun Fangtou, there is also a boy of several years old, a woman and an old servant. You stay and watch the carriage and this guy; we will climb over the wall and kill the other two people except Sun Fangtou and the boy first."
The man next to him said: The woman must be the wife of Sun Fangtou, we want to kill his family members
Li Dutou sneered and said: "We can kill a woman if we want. If Sun Fangtou goes to the Northern Han Kingdom in the future, we will find him 10 or 8 young and beautiful women. He will not be irreconcilable with us if the woman dies. But we cannot kill the boy, as it will cut off the incense of the Sun family, which will cause trouble later."
After the discussion, Li Dutou and a subordinate holding a crossbow moved towards the courtyard wall. Li Dutou was not afraid at all. He was a soldier under Zhao Kuangyin and had been on the battlefield for many years and had killed countless people. He had never done such a thing, but in his eyes it was not a big deal and he even thought it was easy. He thought that as long as he planned it well and did it without anyone noticing, he could get away without anyone being caught.
After arriving in Tokyo, Li Dutou has been doing things until now. He feels that committing crimes is quite easy. He laments about those people who were caught by the government, thinking that they were probably too stupid and foolish and did not know how to plan.
The two of them easily climbed over the wall, and just as they jumped down, they suddenly heard a bark, which scared Li Dutou. A black dog barked and rushed over, but was caught by a rope tied to a tree and barked there.
A crossbow arrow flew over, very accurately, and the dog immediately fell to the ground, with its four legs twitching.
At this time, a door creaked, and an old woman with a lantern poked her head out. She soon found Li Dutou and others standing by the wall. The old woman shouted: Who is it
The man with the crossbow quickly took out an arrow and was busy stringing it. Li Dutou rushed forward with a short knife. The old woman finally reacted and shouted in fear: There are thieves!
Li Dutou's forehead darkened when he heard the shouting. Damn, this matter has been messed up. There are official shops here. When the officials come, how can we get away
Li Dutou didn't think much and ran after her. The old woman ran slowly and was caught up in an instant. Without saying a word, Li Dutou went up and accurately covered the old woman's face, raised his hand and stabbed her chest with a knife, then let her fall to the ground.
At this time, a relatively young man came out from the inner gate, and was stunned when he saw the bloody knife in Li Dutou's hand. At the door of the main hall behind, Li Dutou's subordinates also caught up with him, aiming their crossbows at the man.
Don’t kill Li Dutou randomly.
The man with the crossbow said: Don't move, or I'll kill you with one arrow.
Soon, a woman came out. The man holding the crossbow turned around, and with a bang, the woman fell backwards with a crossbow arrow stuck between her eyebrows without even a groan. The frightened young man should be Sun Fangtou, who stared at the woman with wide eyes.
Li Dutou rushed forward with a knife in hand. Sun Fangtou was so frightened that he took two steps back, leaning his back against the wall, and said in fear: "Who are you and why are you trying to harm me?"
Without saying a word, Li Dutou put the bloody knife to his neck and said: You must do whatever I tell you to do, or you will die.
The two men hurriedly escorted Sun Fangtou out of the hall and out of the courtyard. As soon as they came out, they saw a woman peeking out from outside the door. Li Dutou turned around and saw that there were no arrows on the crossbows of his subordinates, and Sun Fangtou's arms were turned behind his back. Li Dutou immediately rushed forward. The woman screamed and turned to run, but was immediately grabbed by the neck. Li Dutou stabbed her in the chest with a knife. It was very accurate and killed her with one blow.
Li Dutou cursed, "Hurry up and get that guy on the carriage."
Here. The subordinate pushed Sun Fangtou, who was stunned with fear.
Li Dutou grabbed the corpse by the arms and dragged it towards the gate of the Sun family courtyard. As soon as he came out, he saw two figures coming from the alley. He didn't dare to stay, so he quickly got on the carriage, knocked Sun Fangtou unconscious with a palm, and said to the man driving the carriage in front: "Let's go! Damn, let's get into this situation!"
Zan Jurun, who was in the workshop area, heard about it and felt something was wrong, so he rode over overnight. Zan Jurun was the guest province envoy, and making armor had nothing to do with his job, but he was very interested in the new armor and changed the design of the new armor several times. Recently, he had a sudden idea that plate armor was forged quickly, but chain mail with movable parts was made slowly by hand, so he wanted to use leather armor to inlay and forge some armor faster. So he stayed in the workshop area.
He rushed to the market, met a police chief, and asked: "Have you sent anyone to chase the murderer?"
The leader responded.
Zan Jurun rushed to the crime scene and found two crossbow arrows, one on a woman and the other on a dog. The crossbow arrows were shot very accurately, hitting the head. The two people who were killed were killed with one blow. Zan Jurun immediately said: The murderer is definitely not an ordinary person.
At this time, an official clasped his fists and said: There was another incident yesterday. A woman came to the official shop to report that her husband went out drinking with someone the night before and has not returned yet. I asked her about it and she said that it was a disabled craftsman in the workshop. After all, it was not easy to take care of such things. I didn't pay much attention at the time, so I told her to go back and wait, maybe the man would come back.
Zan Jurun paced for two steps and gave the order: "Officer Wang, you must return to the workshop area immediately, sign the cinnabar letter, and dispatch the soldiers stationed in the workshop to the various ferry crossings on the Yellow River, guard the crossings, and strictly investigate those who cross north."
Wang Hong, the commander of Jiafang Office, whispered: "A murder has occurred, and Kaifeng Prefecture has come to investigate. Are we meddling in other people's business?"
Kaifeng Prefecture will certainly take care of it, but now we have to prepare for the emergency at all costs. Zan Jurun said solemnly, "Look at this situation. What if it is a spy sent by the enemy country who stole our armor-making technique? It is a serious matter."
He then said to a green-robed official: Send detectives to investigate the market for clues to see if there is anyone suspicious who has contact with the disabled craftsman. If there is an eyewitness, draw a portrait.
Zan Jurun paced back and forth there, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.
But he was a guest envoy and had no control over the officials who were in charge of arresting criminals or guarding the checkpoints. Even Wang Hong, the commander of Jiafang Office who was familiar to him, had no authority. He only had a small number of troops transferred from Kaifeng Prefecture to guard the workshop area. At least someone from the Kaifeng Prefecture government office had to step in to launch a comprehensive manhunt.
Zan Jurun was not familiar with the people in Kaifeng Prefecture. But he knew someone more powerful, namely the current emperor Guo Shao and Guo Shao's trusted aide Zuo You. Zan Jurun left the scene of the murder and said: I will write an urgent report to the city and submit it to the Privy Council; then I will visit the Zuo Shaoqing of the Taichang Temple at night.
When everyone heard that they were all high-ranking officials and figures, they were all in awe.
Zan Jurun took the seal and headed straight to Dongjing City with two followers. He handed in the seal for verification, claiming that he had urgent news. As a guest envoy, he was also considered a court minister, so he took a basket into the city.
After returning home, Zan Jurun first wrote a report and asked someone to send it to the Privy Council branch outside Xuande Gate. There were people on duty at that office twelve hours a day, but ordinary urgent reports could not be sent to the imperial city at night, unless such a major event as enemy troops invading the Central Plains occurred.
Zan Jurun then went to Zuo You's house, and went there at night. Even if he was a good friend, it was inappropriate to visit him in the middle of the night, and Zuo You was not Zan Jurun's good friend, just an acquaintance. But Zan Jurun felt that this matter was very serious, so he didn't care much.
Only then did he realize that the Armor Factory's confidentiality was so lax that it made it so easy for the spies to succeed. However, no one had really considered the possibility of technology leakage before.
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