Plan to cut off the nine states

Xu Chu was shocked to hear that Ma Lao Kandao was killed. The first person he thought of was Song Quzhu, thinking that he had done this to stop his father-in-law from leaving Xiangyang.

"Who did it?" Xu Chu asked.

Guo Shifeng was always calm, but at this time he was a little flustered and stretched out his hand to himself: "They said I hired someone to kill him."

Xu Chu was stunned again.

"You really killed them... Who are 'them'?"

"The leaders of the various families in the camp."

Xu Chu was more and more confused, but he didn't believe that Guo Shifeng would really kill people. "Where are the guards that Brother Guo brought?"

"They are all detained at the other end of the camp." Guo Shifeng suddenly became a little excited, "I really didn't kill them, nor did I send someone to kill them. They framed them..."

"I saw no one guarding outside."

"They knew I couldn't escape." Guo Shifeng finally calmed down and his expression returned to normal. "I am the envoy of King Ning. They dare not do anything to me - I will explain the matter clearly, but Brother Chu has to help me."

"Brother Guo, wait here." Xu Chu didn't want to listen to Guo Shifeng's words too much, so he turned and went out of the tent, found a few soldiers, and asked about Song Quzhu's whereabouts.

"The leaders are all in mourning in the Ma family camp. Let's lead Mr. Xu."

The Song camp is adjacent to the Ma camp, and we will arrive soon. The guards here are more strict, and there are people and torches everywhere. At the same time, there are signs of being out of control. Occasionally, shouts and curses will be heard from the shadows, and there are ownerless horses running back and forth, and the owners are nowhere to be found.

The guards of Ma camp were very rude, "Another outsider. Ma Laokandao was killed because he trusted outsiders too much. What are you doing here? Do you want to steal the credit of the leader?"

The leader of the Song army said, "This is Mr. Xu Chu, the one who once assassinated the emperor. He has done you a favor and is a distinguished guest of our General Song."

The guards of Ma camp looked at each other and reluctantly stepped aside, "You go in alone and go straight to the big tent with the most lights. Everyone is there."

Walking into Ma camp, Xu Chu found that the situation was even worse. In the flickering firelight, a large number of soldiers gathered between the tents. The number of people varied. All of them held swords and guns, some whispered, some preached loudly. When an outsider approached, they immediately looked over vigilantly.

Xu Chu could only take a few glances and hurried to the big tent.

Dozens of people stood outside the big tent, all unarmed, in groups of three or five, talking in low voices. When Xu Chu appeared, many people looked over immediately. Most of them did not speak, but one person came over and said loudly: "Mr. Xu, how come something happened here when you came?"

"I was not in the camp when it happened." Xu Chu replied.

"It's more suspicious, maybe you deliberately avoided suspicion."

Xu Chu nodded, "Maybe you deliberately questioned in public to show your loyalty so that others would not suspect you."

The man was furious, "I am Ma Lao Kandao's godson, and I was drinking when the accident happened. Many people can testify..."

"Are you also avoiding suspicion?"

The man was even more angry. He had no knife in his hand and was about to rush over with his bare hands. He was pulled away by others and persuaded: "Forget it, forget it. You suspected others first, and you don't allow others to say you?"

"He is an outsider, I am..."

Xu Chu ignored him and walked straight into the big tent.

The big tent was already in a mess.

Nearly thirty people crowded in the tent, all of them were military leaders and Ma Laokandao's close relatives, but his godson was not among them. They guarded the corpse in the middle, accusing each other and swearing to defend themselves.

As soon as Xu Chu came in, someone reached out to stop him and didn't allow him to go in.

Song Quzhu saw him and shouted, "Mr. Xu can come in!"

Other leaders retorted, "Why? He is not a member of the Ma family, nor a leader, and he is not even in the same group as us."

Song Quzhu's wife Ma Qigu was also there, and said, "We are arguing here and getting nowhere. Mr. Xu is here at the right time. He is an outsider, and he is resourceful and can distinguish right from wrong."

Not everyone agreed, but Ma Qigu's words were more weighty, and no one openly opposed it. The guards at the door also lowered their arms and allowed Xu Chu to go in.

Ma Laokandao was not dead yet, and he had not had time to be put into the coffin. He lay on a wooden board, wearing a new robe, and no wounds could be seen.

Xu Chu stepped forward and bowed three times to the corpse before saying, "Right and wrong will be judged by justice. I just want to know the facts."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone started arguing again. No one could suppress it. Song Quzhu shook his head helplessly and motioned Xu Chu to go aside. He also came over and said, "It's a mess, a real mess."

"Let's talk about what happened first? Don't you even know who the real murderer is?"

"It happened last night. Ma Lao Kandao and one of his concubines were killed in bed quietly until this morning. The murderer has not been found out yet."

"Where are the guards?"

"There were guards in the first half of the night, and they went out to drink in the second half of the night. The rules here are not strict. Several guards were beaten half to death during the day. They talked nonsense and almost implicated all the leaders, including me. This is really..." Song Quzhu cursed.

Xu Chu was relieved a little, "Who is the most suspected person?"

"The first one is Guo Shifeng. He gave Ma Lao Machete a generous gift and hoped that everyone would defect to Prince Ning. But my father-in-law said that the most important thing in traveling around the world is a letter, so he accepted the gift from the Xi family first. , we can't give up halfway. The situation was a bit awkward at that time. Guo Shifeng didn't insist. Ma Lao accepted half of the gift and said that it was a meeting gift. He would remember Prince Ning's kindness and he would repay it in the future. We all understood that my father-in-law was tempted. A little bit more..." Song Tizhu glanced at his wife and saw that she was still arguing with everyone, and continued: "A little bit greedy, I plan to get all the gifts from the Xi family first, and then go to Prince Ning."

"In this case, Guo Shifeng should not be suspected."

"That's the problem. We understand that Mr. Guo didn't seem to understand... and later met with several leaders alone." Song Qizhu pursed his lips. The people he mentioned were the core of the quarrel. "Everyone suspected Guo Shifeng. Use the remaining half of the gift to bribe the leader to assassinate Ma Lao Machete."

Xu Chu shook his head, "Guo Shifeng has always been thoughtful in his actions. It is definitely not his style to assassinate Ma Lao Machete without planning an escape route in advance."

"Mr. Xu knows Guo Shifeng, but we don't."

"He's the only one under suspicion?"

"There are also the Xi family envoys. They just came yesterday to discuss the specific handover matters. Someone must have talked too much and revealed some things. The Xi family can also bribe assassins. And after the incident this morning, one of the Xi family envoys ran away. Now There are five left in the camp.”

"In this case, the Xi family is even more suspicious."

"But the Xi family is from Jingzhou or a high official in Jingzhou. Guo Shifeng and Prince Ning are outsiders. It's clear who is easy to offend."

Xu Chu already understood the general idea. He also heard some of the quarrels around him and knew that Guo Shifeng was in a more unfavorable situation. Several leaders who had met Guo Shifeng alone were also under suspicion.

Ma Qigu came over and said to Xu Chu: "Let Mr. Xu laugh, a bunch of rough people, they just quarrel."

Xu Chu cupped his hands and said, "I have an unkind request, please accept it from Mrs. Song."

"Please tell me."

"Guo Shifeng lives in General Song's camp. Is General Song also under suspicion?"

Ma Qigu glanced at her husband and hummed.

"General Song should not stay here for a long time. I hope he can follow me back to his home camp."

Song Tizhu immediately whispered: "Then won't I be even more suspected?"

"The one who is clean will be clean himself, and it does not depend on quarrels or presence."

Song Qizhu was still hesitating, so Ma Qigu said, "You two go first, and I'll explain to them."

"lady……"

"Don't worry, mother-in-law." Ma Qigu glared slightly.

Song Qizhu followed Xu Chu out, and someone immediately shouted: "Song Qianshou, where are you going? The things here haven't been explained clearly yet."

Ma Qigu said: "He is my husband, it is enough for me to be here."

"How can that be done? Song Qianshou is suspected of being his own son..."

Ma Qigu said angrily: "My biological father, do you want you to take revenge?"

The two sides started to quarrel, but Song Qizhu did not hesitate anymore, and hurriedly left the tent with Xu Chu and returned to their own camp.

Upon entering the camp, Song Qizhu asked the guards to leave first and said to Xu Chu, "I still don't understand Mr. Xu's intention."

"It's easy to kill, but hard to do the right thing."

Song Tizhu smiled and said: "Does Mr. Xu also doubt me? I really don't want to leave Xiangyang, but I won't kill my father-in-law either..."

"General Song, there is no need to explain to me. I just want to ask you, do you want the whole family to stay in Xiangyang, or do you want to keep all the families?"

Song Qizhu laughed twice and thought for a long time, "I definitely didn't kill the person, but once Ma Lao machete died, the Zhu families must need a new leader, but I am not a bandit, and I have not been married to the Ma family for a long time, so it is difficult to get support. ”

Xu Chu was silent.

Song Qizhu said seriously: "I hope everyone will stay and ask Mr. Xu for advice."

"I see that everyone is busy quarreling, no one is wearing sackcloth or showing mourning, and there is no intention of mourning. General Song should be the first to advocate it."

"I can do this."

"General Song's departure will definitely increase suspicion over there."

"That's what I meant, so I never left."

"Wait another half hour, and General Song will bring Guo Shifeng over with him to explain things clearly in person."

Song Tizhu smiled bitterly and said, "It's just because we can't explain clearly that we're arguing now."

"Let Guo Shifeng speak."

"He was kind of petrified."

"He will calm down, General Song doesn't have to worry."

"Okay, what about after Guo Shifeng explains it clearly?"

"No more."

"No more?"

"Ma Lao Ma Ke Dao has a deep kindness to General Song and personally chose you as his son-in-law. Now that Ling Yue has been killed, General Song can only mourn and take revenge. It is not appropriate to think about it anymore."

Song Qizhu was stunned for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Mr. Xu, for your advice. Please go back to your tent and rest first. I'll go and ask for Mr. Guo in half an hour."

Xu Chu returned to his residence. Guo Shifeng, who was sitting inside, had returned to normal and could even smile, "Brother Chu came back too soon."

"It's not that troublesome, Brother Guo is worry-free."

"Did you find the murderer?"

"Not yet. General Song will come over later to invite us, and we will go together with Brother Guo to find out the person in charge."

"How? General Song has evidence in his hand?"

"The evidence in General Song's hands is Brother Guo."

"Me? I don't know anything." Guo Shifeng said in surprise.

"The main messenger must be the Xi family, must be the Xi family, and can only be the Xi family. Brother Guo can't even do this, right?"

Guo Shifeng was stunned for a moment, and then said, "You have to tell me a few more words."