as expected...

As soon as Chu Zhaoci and the others left the gate of Kyoto, assassins arrived as expected, and they were all masters.

Fortunately, the guards given to him by the emperor were not vegetarians. With their skills, they had no problem killing these assassins.

But today the assassin was solved...

What about tomorrow?

Chu Zhaoci set out from Kyoto City two months ago, and until now, he has not yet reached the border!

why is that?

Because assassins are hunting him every day.

They kill today's assassins, and new assassins will come tomorrow, like flies.

On the other hand, look at his accompanying guards.

From beginning to end, it is those people who continue to fight even if they are injured. As long as they do not die, they cannot fall.

This... who can bear it?

In less than two months, all the guards who originally followed him died.

He was the only one left.

The so-called outnumbered...

No matter how powerful Chu Zhaoci's martial arts was, he himself could not withstand so many assassins, so he needed to ask for help.

Coincidentally, he was outside Heshui County.

Heshui County is the county seat where Chunxiang Tower is located, and it is also the former residence of his mother and concubine. There are many old friends of his mother and concubine in the city.

If he enters the city, he will definitely receive help.

But, why is he outside Heshui County?

If he were going to the border from Kyoto by taking the official road normally, he would not have passed through Heshui County at all. The reason why he came here...

It's because they were chased all the way here by assassins.

...

While Chu Zhaoci was being chased by officers and soldiers, he actually never thought about it until he told Shao Jingheng about it.

He suddenly realized...

When he came out of Kyoto City, he originally took the official road, but after being chased by assassins, they were forced into the county town.

Moreover, every county has entered.

It was as if those assassins were deliberately delaying him.

Their purpose was not to kill him, but to delay his arrival at the border?

Yes.

After all the guards who followed Chu Zhaoci died, the assassins did not launch any more fatal assassinations on him.

Instead, they kept forcing him to go to Heshui County.

It can be said that Chu Zhaoci was completely forced by those assassins to come to Heshui County.

So, is this still just to delay time?

But in fact, it's not.

Although Chu Zhaoci had doubts at the time, because his life and death were at stake, he didn't think much about it and entered the city.

In the first few days after entering the city, he did not look for anyone in the county. Instead, he hid everywhere while checking the movements of the assassins.

He wanted to see what those assassins wanted to do?

As a result, after he entered the city, the assassins seemed to have suddenly evaporated, and there was no movement for a long time.

But the more they behaved like this, the more Chu Zhaoci felt there was something fishy.

He took the initiative to find those assassins.

Later, he didn't find the assassin, but he inadvertently discovered something important.

There was money flowing out of the magistrate's house in Heshui County.

Salaries are not available to ordinary people. Even if they are used in the camp, they must undergo special processing before they can be used.

Or, even if it is not processed, it will be used directly by a specialized merchant and will not appear casually in the market.

He won't even appear in the prefect's office!

Chu Zhaoci began to wonder if the military pay issue had something to do with the prefect of Heshui County?

He even sneaked into the magistrate's office to check if there was any military pay in the magistrate's office.

As he expected, the prefect did have military pay.

But the quantity was not very large, only two large boxes.

The prince sent more military pay to the border than this.

Chu Zhaoci wanted to find the prefect and ask for details.

But he is not stupid. Considering his current situation alone, if he rushes to find the prefect, he is afraid that he will die without a burial place.

He needs to find someone to protect him.

He just wanted to go to the county government office to ask for some officers and soldiers.

But before he could go to the county government office, or even leave the gate of the government office, he was discovered by the guards of the government office.

The guards immediately pursued him.

Chu Zhaoci was injured when he was escaping, but fortunately he was able to get rid of the guards.

The injury was a bit serious, but he fainted uncontrollably while walking on the street, which was the night he met the little nun.

After Chu Zhaoci told Shao Jingheng this point, he stopped talking.

Because Shao Jingheng knew what happened next.

Shao Jingheng finally understood that Chu Zhaoci would be hunted down because he discovered the secret of the prefect.

...

In the prison.

Shao Jingheng told the little nun and Li Hu and Lin Han everything about what Chu Zhaoci told him.

The little nun listened with great interest.

She really likes to listen to stories.

Li Hu couldn't help but frowned, "Brother Shao, do you think there's something fishy about the prefect?"

If Chu Zhaoci thought, he would come to Heshui County because those assassins deliberately targeted him...

The person behind the assassins must have had a grudge against the prefect of Heshui County, and he wanted to use Chu Zhaoci as a sword.

How could Shao Jingheng not think of this?

He nodded slightly, "He wanted to use Chu Zhaoci to kill people with a borrowed knife, and Chu Zhaoci also wanted to use this information to check the results."

"It can be regarded as helping each other."

Li Hu was puzzled, "But I heard what you said before, that the person behind the assassin still wants to kill Chu Zhaoci?"

"Do you think he will continue to kill Chu Zhaoci after Chu Zhaoci helps him get rid of the prefect?"

The person behind the scenes pursued Chu Zhaoci all the way. Although he did not kill him, he killed all the guards around him.

This is enough to show that Chu Zhaoci was also among his targets.

It's just that Chu Zhaoci happened to be investigating the military pay issue, and the prefect happened to be one of the criminals, so it was most suitable to borrow Chu Zhaoci's hand.

Shao Jingheng also knows this very well.

However, he curled his lips slightly and said, "That person underestimated Chu Zhaoci's ability."

After listening to Chu Zhaoci's story, Shao Jingheng kept thinking, who was the person behind the assassin?

We can attack him in Kyoto City, and we have been planning for him to enter Heshui County from the beginning of Kyoto City...

He is definitely not an ordinary person.

People in the DPRK, for sure.

Moreover, this person should be someone who thinks he knows Chu Zhaoci very well.

Otherwise, he would not have made such arrangements in advance.

Who could be the person who has contacts with both Chu Zhaoci and Heshui County?

Shao Jingheng had a vague guess in his mind.
To be continued...