Plan to cut off the nine states

Is searching the city a stupid move? Xu Chu didn't think so. Apart from feeling a little dizzy, he didn't think any of his actions were wrong.

"I cheated Fei Bing, so Fei Bing wants revenge. Very good, this is fair." Xu Chu at least controlled his anger. "Since General Cao didn't know, then stay and 'help' me find the assassin Fei Bing left in the city."

"I can't help."

"It's better to take a look. When Fei Bing asks about it later, General Cao can explain it clearly."

Cao Shenxi wanted to say that he probably wouldn't have the chance to see Fei Bing again, but he swallowed the words back. This was no longer the King of Wu Xu Chu who asked him to govern the Eastern Capital. He couldn't refuse casually.

"Yeah." Cao Shenxi looked at the King of Wu deeply, and then lowered his eyes.

Xu Chu returned to the place where Meng Senglun and others were discussing matters. The first batch of news had already arrived. The Wu army had found many young and strong men in the south city and was strictly checking whether they were from Jizhou.

Xu Chu said to Meng Senglun: "All of them will be detained. The assassins planted by the officers and soldiers in the city are not just from Jizhou."

"Yes, Prime Minister." Meng Senglun was a little surprised, but he was very careful now and acted according to orders without asking any more questions.

Xu Chu brought Cao Shenxi out, "When Fei Bing planned to defend the Eastern Capital to the death, he recruited more than 200 soldiers in the city. After he left the Eastern Capital, those people never showed up. Does General Cao have anything to say about this?"

Cao Shenxi shook his head, "I only hid Lord Fei and knew nothing about him." After a pause, he added, "Even if I knew, I wouldn't say it."

"Haha. General Cao can at least provide one or two people who are familiar with the streets and alleys of the South City?"

"Okay." Cao Shenxi didn't need to refuse everything, anyway, the King of Wu could always find a guide.

Xu Chu led 300 guards out of the camp and was surrounded tightly. Swords and guns were cleared in front, and no pedestrians were allowed to stay on the street.

There were not many people on the street. Occasionally, the families of the Advent Army came out and hid early when they saw the King of Wu's troops.

Part of the palace had been searched, especially the place where Cao Shenxi used to handle affairs. All the walls were carefully checked, and seven secret rooms were found. There were some jewels hidden in them, but no one was there.

The jewels were piled on the ground, very few. Xu Chu knew that most of them had been divided up by the soldiers. He didn't say anything. Now was not a good time to enforce strict military discipline.

Dozens of old officials stood aside and trembled. Cao Shenxi called two people and said to Xu Chu: "These two have been the police officers in Nancheng for a long time and are most familiar with the streets and alleys."

Xu Chu looked at them for a few times. The two officials were not young, their faces were pale, and their beards were shaking constantly.

"Don't be afraid. I know the assassins have nothing to do with you. I just want to ask for your help to find these people as soon as possible."

The officials all breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this. An old official reluctantly said, "The two of us can lead the righteous army to search the south city and never miss a household."

"No need." Xu Chu ordered a city-wide search without having to identify the streets and alleys. "Who of you knows a man named Tian Jiang?"

The two officials looked at each other, obviously knowing Tian Jiang.

"Take me to Tian's house."

Tian's house was located in an ordinary alley. After the battle the day before, half of the courtyard wall collapsed, the doors and windows were smashed, and the house was in a mess. This was the "masterpiece" of the advent army. They took away everything that could be used.

Xu Chu stood in the yard, imagining Tian Jiang's daily life here, and said to the two old officials who led the way, "Go and ask, has Tian Jiang come back recently? Where might he be hiding?"

The guards took the old officials to ask the neighbors.

Cao Shenxi stepped forward and said, "King Wu believes that this Tian Jiang is the assassin?"

"Scattered soldiers are not enough to accomplish the task. Fei Bing can only find this person in charge in the city."

Xu Chu ordered people to go to the place where the young man was imprisoned and inquire about Tian Jiang's whereabouts. The news came quickly. Before last night, someone had indeed seen Tian Jiang, but they didn't know where he was.

The two old officials asked carefully and came back a little later, and got a lot of information.

"Since his mother passed away, Tian Jiang has not lived here. He occasionally comes back. In the past three days, he has not come back once. He rarely interacts with neighbors. He also handled his mother's funeral by himself without asking for help. So no one knows where he went."

"Where is Tian's mother's coffin placed?" Xu Chu asked. The whole city was closed, and Tian's mother could not leave the city for burial. With Tian Jiang's filial piety, it is impossible to bury her in a random place.

The old official asked everything and replied, "It is said that it is in Wuyun Temple."

Wuyun Temple is not far from Tian's house. Xu Chu went there in person to check. As soon as he left Tian's house, a messenger came on horseback.

"General Jiangshi asked King Wu to go back and finalize tomorrow's formation."

Xu Chu hesitated for a moment and said to the messenger, "Go back and tell General Jiangshi that she will decide the battle and I will be back soon."

After the messenger left, Xu Chu still went to Wuyun Temple.

The temple is not big and is located at the end of an alley. Coffins are not usually stored here. The old monk in the temple made an exception to accept the coffin of Tian's mother in order to thank Tian Jiang for a favor he helped many years ago.

There are more than ten monks in the temple, three of whom are relatively young. Xu Chu asked the three to recite scriptures and let them leave after confirming that they are real monks.

The coffin was placed in a wing room, and the coffin lid had not been nailed shut. The two old officials recognized Tian's mother and checked that it was correct.

"Go and spread the message: If Tian Jiang doesn't come to Wuyun Temple before dark, the King of Wu will burn the coffin and destroy the body." Xu Chu said coldly.

The two old officials obeyed the order and hurried out to spread the King of Wu's threat.

Xu Chu asked someone to find two chairs and sat outside the wing room, leaving the other chair for Cao Shenxi.

It was still cold. Xu Chu was wearing a suit of armor and a cloak, sitting there silently without saying a word.

Cao Shenxi was old and a little afraid of the cold. He wore several layers of cotton clothes and was also silent. He had never been a person who gave advice, let alone to the King of Wu. He just wanted to see how this matter would end.

It was past noon when Xu Chu made the announcement. He didn't have much time left for Tian Jiang, but he believed that Tian Jiang must be nearby and would not hide too far.

Xue Jinyao and Meng Senglun sent people over in turn, and Xu Chu sent them all back. He had to find all the assassins today and never leave trouble for tomorrow.

Tang Weitian woke up and ran from the camp. Even he noticed that the atmosphere was wrong, so he quietly stood behind the King of Wu and remained silent.

Meng Senglun came in person, "The search of the South City has been completed, and the other three sides are almost finished. A total of 8,760 men between the ages of 15 and 50 have been arrested..."

"So many?" Cao Shenxi interrupted in surprise. In order to defend Dongdu, he had recruited soldiers from the whole city before, but he didn't expect so many people to be missed.

Xu Chu sneered, "Search again, there must be more."

Meng Senglun asked carefully, "Do you want to search again?"

Xu Chu shook his head, "Go on, how many officers and soldiers are there?"

"Forty-five people." Meng Senglun was worried that this small number would not satisfy the ruling party, and hurriedly added, "These are the confirmed Jizhou soldiers. There are still some who refuse to admit it. We are checking. After the ruling party reminded us, we also checked the people in Dongdu and confirmed that at least 800 people had hidden weapons and had received orders from Fei Bing."

Fei Bing claimed that there were only more than 200 people available. I don't know if he lied or Meng Senglun and others were eager to make a contribution, so they exaggerated the number.

Xu Chu didn't care much and asked, "Who did they confess to being the leader?"

"Most people didn't admit to participating in the assassination. A few claimed that they heard rumors that... Yecheng offered a reward. If you can kill a soldier of the rebels in the city, you will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver. If you kill a general, you will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver and a fifth-rank official title. If you kill a king, you will be rewarded with 1,000 taels of silver, a third-rank official title, and a title of marquis."

"Hey, if Tiancheng had been so generous earlier, wouldn't it have been much easier?" Xu Chu felt amused.

"And."

"Hmm?"

"Rumor has it that if you kill...if you kill the King of Wu..."

"How?"

"Two thousand taels of gold, a third-rank official title, and a title of marquis..."

"Only one thousand taels of gold more?" Xu Chu laughed, thinking that his price was not high.

"You can also marry Princess Fangde."

Xu Chu was stunned. Princess Fangde was the daughter of the King of Jibei and Xu Chu's first wife. She once wrote a "divorce letter" but was not recognized by her family.

Xu Chu laughed first, then got angry, "What a Fei Bing, you made fun of me."

"Those people didn't say the rumor came from Fei Bing." Meng Senglun had to remind him so as not to mislead the King of Wu.

"Don't ask anymore, it must be Fei Bing who came up with the reward, and Tian Jiang spread it in the city for him. Keep the Jizhou soldiers and those who hide weapons, and incorporate the others into the army. In tomorrow's battle, if the soldiers kill the Wu soldiers, the righteous army will use these 800 people to sacrifice to the gods, and then use the remaining Dongdu people to break through the enemy camp."

"Yes." Meng Senglun said goodbye, knowing that he had escaped a disaster and didn't have to die, but he was still uneasy in his heart, feeling sorry for the ruling, the dead Song Xingcai, and Wang Dian and the soldiers who fell into the hands of the soldiers.

It was almost dusk, and Tian Jiang still didn't show up. Xu Chu didn't drink food or water, just sat there, not feeling tired at all, but more awake, and even the feeling of dizziness only appeared occasionally.

"Dongdu must be clean." Xu Chu was talking to himself and Cao Shenxi at the same time. "Fei Bing made a random move in a hurry, thinking that the people of Dongdu would be angry and revolt. Hey, he was wrong. There were only a few people like Tian Jiang who could fight for him."

"But the King of Wu wanted to kill more than 800 people." Cao Shenxi said.

"General Cao was wrong too. Fei Bing didn't want to see my stupid move, but wanted to see my weakness." Xu Chu laughed, "He thought that my kindness would make the kings disloyal to me again - you are all wrong."

Cao Shenxi didn't respond. At this moment, he really didn't think that the King of Wu would show mercy.

Before dark, Xue Jinyao also came with a comprehensive plan for tomorrow, and explained it in detail one by one. Xu Chu didn't make any adjustments, "Very good, just follow your arrangement."

"There is only one thing you need to decide, which direction to rush out from?" Xue Jinyao asked.

"East City. After the Ning army fights with the officers and soldiers, you can send troops out of the city."

"I can only lead troops out of the city, not send them out." Xue Jinyao corrected, and stopped when he wanted to leave. "You need to sleep for a while. You look like a ghost."

Only Xue Jinyao dared to say such words. Xu Chu forced a smile, "Soon, I will be able to rest soon. There will be no more threats in the city. You are safe, and everyone will be safe."

"I am not afraid of assassins." Xue Jinyao snorted and led his men away.

Looking at Xue Jinyao's back, Cao Shenxi couldn't help but say: "The wife of King Wu is quite talented in generals, but there are some problems with her fighting style."

Xu Chu was silent, with only the gradually falling night and the torches that had been prepared in his eyes.