The wind is high and the night is dark, it is a good time to kill, Dengzhou City is still under martial law at the moment, and after nightfall, it is extremely quiet, and no one can be seen walking around in the streets and alleys.

From time to time, I can only see the patrolling soldiers, seeing that it is about to enter winter, and the night is particularly cool, the patrolling soldiers shrink their heads, patrolling against the cold wind, and none of them will be happy.

As soon as the chaos was controlled, Dengzhou City had calmed down, and there was no need for such martial law at all. But the officials have orders, and they, the lowest soldiers, can only obey. In recent days, everything has been peaceful, and at this moment, these soldiers obviously don't pay much attention, just go through the motions.

A few dark shadows slipped under their noses, but they didn't know it. Still muttering, he slowly turned away to patrol.

As soon as the patrolling soldiers left, several dark shadows reappeared on the main street, and they stopped for a moment, recognized the direction, and ran away in the direction of the palace.

In the backyard of the government, He Dafu and Hong Chengchou were checking a large number of lists.

He Dafu put down the account book in his hand, looked up at the sky, and saw that it was already midnight, so he hurriedly said to Hong Chengchou, who was still checking carefully: "Lord Hong, it's late at night, you better rest first." ”

Being disturbed by He Dafu like this, Hong Chengchou came to his senses, he opened his eyes, which were already a little presbyopia, looked at the sky outside, nodded and said: "Alas, I am old, I feel dizzy after watching it for a while." Well, that's all for today, and we'll continue tomorrow. ”

Hong Chengchou put down the notebook in his hand, then got up and moved his body, and then he recovered some of his spirit.

He Dafu stepped forward to support Hong Chengchou diligently, and said with a smile: "Lord Hong is too worried, you are still young." ”

Hong Chengchou waved his hand to stop He Dafu's support, and chuckled: "Time is not forgiving, you are always old, as long as your heart is not old." Okay, I'll go back and rest first, don't be busy, clean up and go back to rest. ”

"The next official will send your lord." He Dafu immediately sent Hong Chengchou outside the room, and after seeing Hong Chengchou leave, He Dafu went back to the room to clean up.

After making sure that nothing was missing, he blew out the candle and locked the door before walking towards the courtyard where he lived.

As soon as He Dafu left this small courtyard and entered the small garden in the mansion, he felt that the garden was gloomy. After living here for more than ten years, he has never felt like this, and Ho Tai Fook suddenly stopped at the entrance of the garden.

After carefully looking at the garden for a moment, He Dafu didn't find anything abnormal in the garden, shook his head with a wry smile, and He Dafu muttered in a self-deprecating voice: "I'm nervous." ”

There were no doubts in his heart, and He Dafu was also relieved, and strode into the garden, as long as he walked through this small garden, he arrived at the small courtyard where he lived.

In the darkness, several dark shadows were hidden by the path of the garden, and several large knives reflecting the cold light were hidden behind these black-clothed men. Their hungry wolf-like eyes never left He Dafu's body.

The more He Dafu walked forward, the more he felt that something was wrong, and he always felt as if he was being stared at. However, he never found anything wrong, and when he couldn't explain the situation, He Dafu made an excuse for himself, saying that his current nervous appearance was caused by excessive fatigue.

When He Dafu was thinking nonsense, he didn't notice that a dark shadow was quietly approaching behind him. The broadsword that flashed with cold light had been raised high, and the eyes of the man in black were bloody and red.

"He Dafu." The man in black suddenly shouted.

He Dafu obviously didn't expect someone to suddenly call out to him, and after he was frightened, he immediately turned to look.

However, what greeted him was a big knife that reflected the cold light of Sen Ran, and He Dafu was just about to shout loudly, but the big knife had already slashed at his neck without hesitation.

He Dafu's shout didn't have time to come out, and his head rolled directly to the ground.

The man in black was splashed with blood, but he didn't mind at all, walked to He Dafu's head in two steps, took out a fire fold from his body, and then blew on He Dafu's head to confirm that he didn't kill the wrong person.

After the man in black confirmed, he blew out the fire breaker, and then made a gesture to the dark place, and he himself took the lead and fled outside the palace.

And his companions did not flee in the same direction as him, but retreated to the back door of the palace.

The mansion under the dark night was still silent, and He Dafu's death did not attract anyone's attention. It wasn't until Ho Tai Fook's butler was ordered to come to look for Ho Tai Fook that he found him dead in the garden.

"Murder, there are assassins!" A cry of grief echoed in the palace.

Dengzhou City became nervous again, Hong Chengchou, who had just fallen asleep, was woken up again, and when he learned that He Dafu had been beheaded, he was also quite frightened.

Less than half an hour after being separated from him, I learned of his bad news, and he was killed in the heavily guarded palace.

After Hong Chengchou calmed down, he immediately realized that this was a premeditated assassination.

The Dongjiang army began to search the whole city for any suspicious people with torches, and the officials in the government office also began to search the entire government office nervously.

Hong Chengchou was also protected by the Dongjiang Army at the first time, and no one was allowed to approach his room.

Anxiously waiting in the room for news of the capture of the assassin, Hong Chengchou also wrote a secret letter, and then sent someone to Mao Wenlong in Kaifeng City, informing him of what had happened in Dengzhou City.

Hong Chengchou was already certain at this moment that this was the revenge of the imperial court, and it was not surprising that He Dafu, as the first whistleblower, would be assassinated. But this also sounded the alarm for Hong Chengchou, and the court was not without resistance.

He was afraid that the death of He Dafu was just the beginning, and if the imperial court really wanted to retaliate, there should continue to be cases of officials in various cities being killed.

The soldiers who sent the letter took the waterway, and at present, only the waterway was the safest and fastest channel, and they arrived in Kaifeng before dawn and handed the letter to Mao Wenlong.

Mao Wenlong was woken up early in the morning, unhappily opened the letter sent by Hong Chengchou, and after reading Hong Chengchou's report, Mao Wenlong suddenly frowned. He also sensed that things might be the same as Hong Chengchou had guessed.

Mao Wenlong did not dare to delay in the slightest, and immediately summoned Cheng Zuo, Zhuang Yexiang and others, and asked them to immediately send people to inform the defenders of each city that they must be vigilant in the near future to prevent the imperial court from launching assassinations against each city.

However, Mao Wenlong was still a step slower after all, and when it was noon, he received Tang newspapers from various cities one after another, which all talked about the same thing, that is, the assassination had begun.