73. Jianghu
The Red Lane is full of vibrant colors at night.
The alley is decorated with lights from beginning to end, as if every day is a newlywed couple, with wine drinking and sorrow disappearing every night, and red sleeves waving everywhere in the building.
The reason why Jinfang became famous is that in this bright red, it used gold foil and gold powder to paint its beams and pillars golden. The Qianqiu Pavilion caisson in the building is inlaid with gems, which is magnificent and dazzling.
This practice is common in Jinling, but it is unique in Luocheng.
In the corner outside Hongyi Lane, the dark clouds slowly disappeared into the darkness, while Chen Ji quietly climbed up the eaves with his hands, and with just a slight effort, he jumped up and stood steadily on the eaves.
With another light leap, he grabbed the eaves of the pavilion with both hands and swung himself onto the roof.
His right leg was injured and he couldn't use it, but fortunately he had already lit twenty-six fires and could easily climb the stairs with his arm strength alone.
Chen Ji squatted down and looked around quietly. The crowds of people downstairs were like a flowing river, and the gray gable roofs upstairs were like hills rising one after another.
The roof ridges are like mountain ridges. The one facing Hongyi Lane is the bright sunny side, while the other side is the dark shady side.
After making sure that there was no one around, Chen Ji slowly walked on the shady side of the roof. He stepped lightly on the grey tiles, fearing to disturb the people downstairs. Fortunately, the Red Lane was already noisy, so the tiny footsteps were nothing.
As he walked, his eyes looked over the rooftops and towards the Red Lane downstairs.
The old traces on the gray tiles walked in the night, and the white carp and the prince in the Red Lane walked in the lights, as if they were two parallel lines that would never intersect.
He turned his head and stared at the footsteps of Bai Li and the prince, wanting to see where the prince was going. He only thought in his heart that it must not be Jinfang, as there would be danger there.
At this time, hawkers were seen coming and going with their shoulder poles. Princess Baili stopped and picked up a snack box from the shoulder pole. The snack box contained some side dishes mixed with malt sugar and plum sauce. She picked them up with bamboo sticks and ate them while walking.
Amidst the crowd and the red, Baili and the prince were both dressed in white, like two pieces of mutton-fat jade hidden in the turbid waters of troubled times, attracting special attention.
The next moment, Chen Ji heard the sound of tiles rolling in front and behind him.
He turned around suddenly and saw two men in black with long swords on their hips climbing up from downstairs with a ladder.
On the lonely rooftop, Chen Ji was startled, and so were the two men in black.
This elite man in black, who was not sure whether he was from the Secret Service or the Military Intelligence Department, climbed to the rooftop and wanted to overlook the Red Lane from a high vantage point to observe and keep watch...but he happened to meet Chen Ji!
In an instant, two men in black drew their swords silently, and came forward one after the other, stepping on the tilted gray tiles to kill.
Chen Ji cursed in his heart that he was unlucky. When he climbed up just now, he was worried that someone would have the same idea as him, so he made sure that there was no one on the roof before climbing up.
At that time, he was still wondering in his heart, why was there no one to occupy such a good observation post position? The Military Intelligence Department and the Secret Service Department had really poor awareness of small-scale battlefield layout.
Who would have thought that the other party didn't think of this place, but came too late!
There was singing and dancing in the red room downstairs, but murderous intent was evident in the night upstairs. None of the three people shouted or spoke, as if they were afraid of being discovered by the outside world.
Chen Ji ran quickly. He tried his best to control himself and ignore the pain in his legs, running like a normal person. He ran out of the encirclement before the two men in black surrounded him, avoiding the danger of being attacked from both sides.
However, these two men in black were also experienced in battle. After seeing through Chen Ji's intention, they immediately changed their movements and worked together to block his direction of movement, one in front and one behind.
The roof was so small that Chen Ji had no way to retreat unless he jumped off the roof.
He stood at the edge of the eaves, looked at the height of more than six meters, and then thought of his injured leg. After careful consideration, he retreated.
While he was thinking, two elite soldiers had already arrived in front of Chen Ji and slashed at him with their swords at the same time!
Two long knives came towards him like scissors, and the red light in the alley was reflected on the blades of the long knives!
In the blink of an eye, Chen Ji's swordsmanship instinct, which was engraved on his bones, seemed to be awakened. Like the sound of a hammer striking a forge, he suddenly burst out in his heart, and he swung his sword twice back and forth as fast as thunder.
Chen Ji was faster than the two men in black. Although he drew his sword later, he was the first to arrive. The trajectory of his sword was like a white deer in the forest, effortless and natural.
The clanging of metal was drowned out by the clashing noise of Red Alley. Then, a black-clad man's forged steel sword snapped, its shard clattering onto the tilted tiles and sliding down the roof into the dim courtyard behind. The other black-clad man's sword, though intact, was shattered from his grasp.
Chen Ji was stunned, and the two elite soldiers were also stunned again.
The pupils of the three people suddenly contracted, as if they had seen something incredible.
Inlaid gold.
Chen Ji once asked Feng Huai what this move was that made the hand hurt when hitting the blade. Feng Huai replied that it was gold inlay, using clever force to find the flaw and break the blade. If it were not for the special material of whale, it would have broken long ago.
And now, a young apprentice at the clinic, who should have been fleeing in panic under the siege, responded with his honed instincts, using the clinic's short knife, used to chop medicinal herbs, to chop one off and send another flying. If Chen Ji hadn't been a bit unfamiliar with using the inlaid gold on an outsider for the first time, he'd probably have broken both knives.
The two men in black exchanged a glance, feeling that tonight was a bit strange. It was one thing to encounter a swordsman of this caliber on this remote rooftop, but why had he just tried to run away? Why was he even more shocked than they were?!
Little did he know that when Chen Ji fought Feng Huai, he felt like he had no strength to use. Feng Huai had no flaws and was often suppressing him. Facing someone like Feng Huai, he always felt a sense of powerlessness and frustration, and even wondered if he didn't have the talent for swordsmanship.
But when he changed his opponent to someone other than Feng Huai, everything seemed different.
The two men in black lowered their heads to take another look at the broken blade, a trace of fear rising in their hearts, but since they had come here, there was no reason to retreat.
The two men, with the resolute will cultivated in the bitter cold land, threw away the broken sword at the same time and drew daggers from their waists to stab.
The two men cooperated with each other tacitly, one feinting and the other attacking, one false and the other real, blocking Chen Ji's possible escape route.
However, Chen Ji suddenly felt that compared with Feng Huai, these two people were full of flaws.
When two daggers stabbed at him one in front and one behind, Chen Ji gently turned his body to avoid the trajectory of the two daggers, and he grabbed one of the men's wrists with his left hand, pulling him like an iron clamp so that he could not retract the dagger.
With a light flick of his right hand, the blade severed the other man's tendons. With a clang, the dagger fell on the gray tiles on the roof and rolled into the yard under the eaves.
The man in black, whose tendons were cut, retreated quickly.
Chen Ji tugged at the other man's wrist, like a puppet, and followed the retreating man in black, pressing his blade forward. The dagger stabbed into the heart, spleen, and liver again and again, finally slicing through the neck.
Another man in black had his wrist clamped and pulled, so he could only stagger to keep up. He watched his colleague being stabbed again and again, but he couldn't even stand steadily.
Before he could figure out how to break free from Chen Ji's wrist, he saw the cold knife light suddenly reverse and slash across his neck under the moonlight.
Blood splattered lightly on Chen Ji's face, which was covered in charcoal dust. He slowly let go and let the man in black slowly kneel down.
Chen Ji searched the bodies. He knew that all the spies under Jin Zhu carried a copper whistle that could imitate bird calls to transmit information, but these two people did not have it.
This is Manager Yuan’s man.
…
…
The wound on his leg was stinging, but he hadn't felt it during the fight just now. Now Chen Ji realized that the fight had agitated the old wound.
Chen Ji wiped the blood off his hands so that they wouldn't be slippery when he held the knife, but it was no use.
He lowered his head, tore off a piece of cloth from the hem of his clothes and wrapped it around his hands. Then he looked up and looked over the rooftop into the Red Lane. He saw that several people from the martial arts world had gathered around the Prince and Bai Li, and they were having a cheerful conversation with each other.
But they saw that Princess Baili and the prince had already walked to the gate of Jinfang. Miss Yan'er walked out of the gate and welcomed them in with a smile.
It turned out that he was going to Jinfang.
Chen Ji sighed in his heart, stood silently on the roof, and looked around quickly.
He no longer cared about the prince and Bai Li, and had to find Manager Yuan as soon as possible.
In Hongyi Lane, more and more people walked into the Jinfang, but there was no sign of Manager Yuan. I wonder if he didn't come or had already gone in?
etc.
Chen Ji saw figures gathering in the darkness outside Red Clothes Alley. Hundreds of spies, swords drawn, formed two teams and surrounded the alley from the front and back. Among the crowd, Jin Zhu, now dressed in light armor, lost his usual warm smile, looking more like a general on his way to the palace.
Further away, Chen Ji actually saw five hundred Jiefan Guards with their horses' hooves wrapped in sackcloth. Each of them wore a straw hat and raincoat, and stood quietly in the darkness outside the alley with their guns in hand.
The leader held his sword across his saddle, standing still.
Lin Chaoqing...
Lin Chaoqing is here too!
Chen Ji lamented that Jin Zhu was too cautious
, they had just found a clue about the missing firearms from the craftsman inspection, but they actually cooperated with the Chief Criminal Department and directly transferred the Jiefan Guards from the Mengjin camp!
At the entrance of Hongyi Lane, Lin Chaoqing sat on his horse and said calmly, "The twelve zodiac animals in the Secret Service are all impulsive and reckless. The last time Jiaotu and Yunyang mediated Fanwei, they got themselves thrown in jail. I wonder what will happen to you, Master Jinzhu, this time?"
The Golden Pig chuckled and said, "How can I be the same as them? I have already found the thief from Jing Dynasty. Not only did I find the thief from outside, I also found the thief from within my family."
"Oh? Lord Jinzhu is incredibly tight-lipped. He didn't leak any information before," Lin Chaoqing sneered. "Ever since you arrived at my Mengjin camp, you've been clamoring for carp from the Yellow River, ordering me, the Jiefan Guard, to catch them for you. I thought you only cared about eating. With the lessons learned from Jiaotu and Yunyang, I won't take action this time unless you tell me what you want."
Jin Zhu smiled and said, "Commander Lin, please don't be angry. You are in charge of the Yuzhou Criminal Division, so I naturally need to let you know why I'm mediating with Fan Wei. Commander Lin, what do you think the Jing Dynasty thieves want most from our Ning Dynasty?"
"Military formations, court secrets, firearms."
"That's right. Zhou Chengyi had been trying to incite the officials of the Craftsmen's Supervisory Commission for rebellion, which meant their biggest target was firearms. So after I arrived in Luocheng, my first order of business was to monitor all sales of saltpeter and sulfur, and my second was to track down the Craftsmen's Supervisory Commissioner's inventory and accounts. A few days ago, I discovered that the firearms in the Supervisory Commissioner's inventory didn't match the account books, and several blueprints were missing. I then followed the clues and arrested six people, some from the Cao Gang and some from the Craftsmen's Supervisory Commissioner. Finally, I discovered that the missing firearms had ended up here, in Hongyi Lane."
Lin Chaoqing was puzzled: "There are so many brothels in Hongyi Lane, which one is it? Do you know that those who can do business in Hongyi Lane have deep backgrounds? You are not going to ask the Jiefan Guard to raid all the brothels, are you?"
Golden Pig chuckled. "I set up a trap earlier and captured twelve spies alive in the Chaocang Casino. Eleven of them committed suicide by taking poison, and the last survivor defected. He told me that he had been instructed by the Military Intelligence Department to come to the Jinfang to pick up a batch of goods. Logically, the thieves of the Jing Dynasty wouldn't be stupid enough to trade twice in the same place, so I initially only arranged for a few secret agents to monitor this place as a casual move. But who knew that today, another suspicious person suddenly transported a batch of goods into the Jinfang, and I caught him."
Lin Chaoqing no longer questioned it. He knew that the Golden Pig was a favorite of the Minister of Internal Affairs and had made great contributions. The reason why the other party still chose the lower nine zodiac signs was not because of lack of ability, but because the Golden Pig and the Pegasus had a very good relationship. The Minister of Internal Affairs did not allow such a close relationship between the upper three zodiac signs.
Some people speculate that if the sick tiger abdicates in recent years, it may be replaced by the golden pig.
But Lin Chaoqing knew that with the character of the Prime Minister, as long as Tianma was not dead, Jinzhu would never have a chance.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "Master Jinzhu, the Jiefan Guard is at your disposal tonight. Just don't make any mistakes."
"Your words are enough," Jin Zhu made a few gestures to his spies.
Dense spies rushed into Red Lane to arrest people. For a time, there was chaos and the guests in restaurants and brothels fled in panic for fear of being affected by this incident.
They wanted to escape from Hongyi Lane, but were blocked by Jiefanwei's cavalry at the north and south entrances of the lane and could not get away at all.
Chen Ji was hiding on the roof when he suddenly saw the prince, Bai Li and those chivalrous knights running out of the Gold Shop. Seeing that both roads were blocked, they simply rushed into the restaurant opposite the Gold Shop and under Chen Ji's feet, trying to escape through the restaurant lobby and climb over the wall from the backyard!
The six spies discovered their attempt to escape and immediately gave up on capturing the others and chased them into the restaurant with knives.
Chen Ji stood at the edge of the eaves and looked down, but saw that the martial artists around the prince came to the backyard and jumped over the more than two-meter-high wall with just a light flip.
The prince shouted from the backyard over the wall: "Hey, give us a hand, help us climb over!"
The Jianghu people stopped, one of them jumped up, lay on the top of the wall and stretched out his hand, saying: "Grab my hand, I will pull you up."
But before the prince could grab his hand, he saw six secret agents chasing him with knives...
"Go!"
The next moment, the heroes left the prince and Baili behind and ran away into the alley outside the courtyard wall without a trace.
Chen Ji frowned, there was something fishy about this matter.
If the prince came here just for fun, then he just needed to stay here and wait for the Secret Service to interrogate him.
Once the matter is investigated, those who are not suspects will be fine.
Why risk running away?
(End of this chapter)
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