The Song Dynasty has been deliberate for 16 years, only to know that it is the Water Margin

Chapter 438 Revenge
The night was deep, as black as ink, and covered with clouds.

Zhao Tong was sitting in the middle hall, the candlelight was red, and the shadows were blurry and hazy.

He picked up the teacup and took a sip, then looked at Gao Chong beside him: "What time is it?"

Gao Chong's face was slightly flushed, and he was a little excited. Hearing this, he hurriedly ran to see the incense leakage, and then came back and said, "Master, it's already three o'clock in the morning."

Zhao Tong nodded: "Let's change clothes."

"Okay!" Gao Chong was very excited. He immediately opened a small bag next to him, took out a black night clothes, put it on, and covered his face with a black cloth.

Zhao Tong also put on black clothes, which also covered his face.

Gao Chong said: "Master, are you going to kill Cai Jing?"

Zhao Tong glanced at him: "You need to go at night to kill Cai Jing?"

Gao Chong rubbed his hands and said, "That's right. That old dog can be killed if I bump into him while walking, so why bother doing it at night?"

"Just follow me." Zhao Tong said calmly.

The two of them exited the mansion from the back, then walked quickly against the wall, avoiding the night patrol of the Imperial Guard, and headed straight for the West City.

Zhao Tong was going to go to the house where Hu Sanniang went back during the day to find out who was there and whether it was Lin Chong.

After halfway through the journey, the two of them changed their way of moving forward. Instead of hiding the shadows on the wall, they climbed over the wall and flew forward on the ridge of the roof.

Zhao Tong has already taught Gao Chong the Shadowless Footwork of Divine Walking, but as Dai Zong said, this footwork is almost impossible to practice after the age of ten, and there is no blessing from armored horses, so even if Gao Chong learned the speed, it would be difficult to practice it. Not much faster.

However, Zhao Tong later taught him Shi Qian's Night Walk of One Hundred Ghosts. This one was easy to practice, but without Dacheng's Shadowless Blending of Divine Walks, Gao Chong was unable to combine the Hundred Changes of Divine Walks, a movement technique with extremely fast dodge speed. .

At this moment, Zhao Tong's figure was like a wisp of blue smoke, flying over the eaves and ridges of the house. Even if someone passed by and looked at him on the road, they couldn't see it clearly. They just thought it was a big bird like an eagle owl and fluttered away.

Gao Chong was much slower. He was born with supernatural power and his steps were very heavy. He always felt awkward with such light-weight martial arts, so he was left far behind.

Seeing that Hu Sanniang's house was approaching during the day, Zhao Tie waited for Gao Chong for a moment. When he came up, the two of them walked around to a secluded place next to the house, then climbed up the wall, looked at no one around, and then fell down gently.

This house is four doors deep. In Tokyo, a house with more than two doors is considered a big house, so this house is worth a lot of money.

It was dark all around at this time, there were no lanterns lit in the house, and dark clouds covered the moon, making it difficult to see much.

After hiding for a moment, the two of them cautiously walked forward.

There are many flowers and plants in the house, but many of them are messy and dense, as if few people take care of them. However, the middle of the house is very clean. There is a damp area next to the stone well, which is the trace left by drawing water every day. It is obvious that people have always lived in it. As for the dense flowers and plants, Then there are not many people living there and there is not much time for pruning.

Zhao Tong and Gao Chong walked around quietly first, and found that no room had a light on. Zhao Tong thought for a few seconds, and finally came to the third house. Generally, in a house with this layout, the third house is full of lights. The main family resides.

After listening for a moment in front of the window, Zhao Tong couldn't help but frown. There was no movement inside. With his superb martial arts skills as a half-step grand master, and the silence of the night, he could definitely hear the sound of breathing in the room, but there was no sound.

He even heard the sounds of mice crouching on the beams, the rustling of crickets under the bed, and the crawling of tiny insects on the walls, but there was no human sound.

Is there... no one in the room?

Zhao Tong frowned, quietly came to the door and reached up to touch, and found a lock. The door was locked.

Then he went to the side rooms on both sides. The doors were still locked. Zhao Tong thought for a while and took Gao Chong to the other three houses to check. As expected, General Tie was guarding all the doors.

There is a problem. Sure enough, there is a problem. Zhao Tong frowned and said, "Go to the front door and have a look."

Gao Chong followed the instructions and came back after a while: "Master, the door of the house is not locked on the inside, but it cannot be pushed outward. It is obviously locked on the outside."

Zhao Tong nodded. This was an empty house. Hu Sanniang was not in it, so it was empty at the moment.

This was noticed by the other party, otherwise all the traces in the house would indicate that someone had always lived in it, but after he and Hu Sanniang met, all the people living in the house moved out.

Zhao Tong thought for a while, judging from Hu Sanniang's past behavior and her performance during the day, it was absolutely impossible for her to leave so neatly. Then someone else must have heard what happened today and did so. Make the decision to move out quickly.

It's easy to figure out who the person is here, it must be Lin Chong!

Since it was Lin Chong, questions arose. Lin Chong should have gone far away, but he took the risk to return to Beijing and seemed to have been hiding for a long time. So what did he want to do?
Regardless of whether she wanted to harm her family or wanted to kill Gao Qiu for revenge, the time was far exceeded. Last winter, Hu Sanniang went to the vegetarian tea shop to buy hot drinks. She might have stayed in Tokyo for a long time at that time, and now it is almost Half a year passed, and no movement was seen from Lin Chong.

It doesn't make sense that Hu Sanniang still went to the theater leisurely after waiting for every opportunity for such a long time, but she didn't say anything at all.

"Master, what should we do now?" Gao Chong asked. Although Zhao Tong didn't say what he was bringing him out for, he could tell now that Zhao Tong was here to find someone.

"Now..." Zhao Tong narrowed his eyes.

Lin Chong ran away with Hu Sanniang, not even the house, most likely fleeing the city.

After all, no matter what they wanted to do after staying in Tokyo for so long, since they didn't even want the house, they were aware of the danger and felt that they might be disadvantageous to them, so leaving Tokyo was the best option.

But maybe he didn't go out, but the reason cannot be guessed. For example, Lin Chong came back late and knew that the four gates of Tokyo were closed during the day, and he couldn't get out even if he wanted to go out.

There are also some things that Lin Chong has not finished, and he is anxious to finish these things before leaving Tokyo.

If it was the latter, what else would Lin Chong do?Zhao Tong couldn't think of what he and Hu Sanniang had been waiting to do for a long time, but he knew that killing Gao Qiu was definitely an important matter for Lin Chong.

If he had not left the city, would Lin Chong have gone to kill Gao Qiu?
Zhao Tong frowned as he thought...

At this moment, due south of the imperial city, near Shangshu Province on the right side of Imperial Street, two people were walking carefully in the dark.

After turning into an alley, one of them said: "Sanniang, next to this is Gao Qiu's mansion. You find a place to hide. I will go in and kill the old dog and then come out to meet you."

"Husband, I want to go with you!"

"Your little martial arts skills will only become a burden. If you don't kill anyone, you will be in danger and you will regret it!"

"I……"

"Just now I saw a thick tree a little higher up outside the alley. You go and hide there. If I don't come out within an hour, you immediately go back to where you stayed until dawn. When the city gate opens, go out immediately and fly away. , never come back again.”

"Husband..."

"Go quickly! Don't delay my revenge!"

The two of them were Hu Sanniang and Lin Chong. Hu Sanniang heard Lin Chong's decisive words at this time and knew that she could not help, so she had no choice but to turn around and walk out of the alley, cautiously walking towards a big tree not far away.

Lin Chong's expression turned gloomy when he saw her walking away. He walked a few dozen steps close to the wall of the alley. Then he shook his hand and couldn't see anything shooting out, so he hung directly on the wall.

The courtyard wall of Gao's Mansion is extremely high, about one and a half feet. In fact, it was only one foot at first. But a few years ago, Zhao Tong sent people to throw small notes inside Gao Qiu's ashes, and used basins and pots to pour out the dirt. , then Gao Qiu ordered the palace wall to be built half higher, and it became what it is now.

At this moment, Lin Chong was seen grabbing the silk-like object hanging on the wall with one hand. He jumped up, then raised his feet and borrowed force from the wall of the mansion several times, and then he reached the top.

Then he lay still on the wall and listened carefully to the movements inside. He had been to this high house before. Although he entered the White Tiger Hall by mistake, he saw many soldiers patrolling in groups on the road at that time. I guess there should be more at night.

Hearing that there was no special sound inside, he carefully jumped off the wall. Then with a shake of his arm, a red thread with a cold silver needle at the head penetrated straight into the wrist guard.

Then he continued to walk close to the wall, and soon he saw a bright spot in front of him. There were lanterns lit in many places in the mansion. Only the wall of the mansion was relatively dark, and few people paid attention to it.

At this moment, every once in a while, soldiers patrolling the mansion passed by. After this group of soldiers passed, another group from the distance came in horizontally. The gap in between was extremely short. Once they went out from under the palace wall, they would not be caught. The other party finds it difficult.

Lin Chong hid by the wall and thought for a while. Gao Qiu was easy to kill, but it was not easy not to alert others.

After all, Gao's mansion is too big, and he doesn't know where Gao Qiu sleeps specifically. He needs to search a little bit, but during this search, he may be seen. Once he is seen, there is only two ways to go, run away directly. Or kill him by force.

Let’s not talk about escaping, but if Gao Qiu is killed by force, I’m afraid it will be difficult to get out of the city tomorrow.

His original plan was to sneak into the Gao Mansion secretly, kill Gao Qiu without anyone noticing, and then hide the body. He would take Hu Sanniang and leave Tokyo as soon as the city gates opened tomorrow morning. At this time, the Gao family probably didn't know about Gao Qiu. Qiu is already dead.

But killing by force is different. Gao Qiu is the current prince and the commander-in-chief of the palace. Even if it is midnight, once he is killed by force in the palace, the court will be alerted immediately, and people will be searched all over the city. indefinite.

He was already being targeted by Zhao Tong, and then Gao Qiu died again, and there was another search and arrest in the city, so it would be difficult to get out of the city.

Lin Chong thought about it for a long time and felt that it would be better to assassinate him. The first thing to do was to find Gao Qiu's residence and then act according to the opportunity.

Although the various mansions in Tokyo are of different sizes and have different interior layouts, their basic layouts are similar.

That means there must be a back house and three halls.

Needless to say, the back house has the owner's bedroom and study room in the front, followed by the back hall, middle hall, and front hall.

Some of the distances between these three halls are very close, and some are very far away, depending on the size of the mansion, and other palaces and buildings are mostly built around the three halls.

The White Tiger Festival Hall that Lin Chong entered by mistake was right next to the central hall of the Gao Mansion. Gao Qiu himself was serving as a military governor, so the White Tiger Festival Hall was built in the mansion. However, the military governor was only a false title in the Song Dynasty, and it was a qualification. Glory, so this Festival Hall actually has no role and is not important. As for the so-called Lin Chong breaking into the White Tiger Festival Hall to peek at the secrets, it is just an excuse to punish him.

Lin Chong, the spear and stick instructor of the 80-strong Forbidden Army, had not only 100 but more than [-] people in the two departments and three yamen of the Palace Front Department and the Guards and Military Department.Moreover, these instructors are not officials, they just have military positions.

The so-called officials need to have good grades. In the Song Dynasty, officials had grades one to nine, and only those who achieved the grade could truly be considered officials.

In the army, everyone from the squad leader, to the squadron leader, to the captain, or even to the military (battalion) commander in charge of 500 people, is not an official, because he has no character.

Only the commander of a small army with 500 people in charge is an official, because at this time he is not called a commander, but a commander. You must have a rank to be called this name. If you don't have a rank, you won't be able to sit in this position.

It is extremely difficult to be an official in the Song Dynasty army, even in the Western Army. Take Han Shizhong as an example. Han Shizhong is currently in charge of thousands of soldiers and horses, and he is only an eighth-rank officer.

As for those lieutenants of a certain route, they sound very big, but in fact they are only about the seventh rank.

As for the minister of economics and strategy, the high official position of Fushuai is just because he is a civil servant in charge of the army. If he is purely a military officer, he is almost at the end of the fourth rank.

The same goes for Zhao Tong and Gao Qiu. There must be many soldiers in the two divisions and three yamen, and the yamen gate is big enough, but except for the two of them, the highest one inside is actually the fourth rank.

Because Zhao Tong is a prince and has the title of Sangong, he is in the first rank. Gao Qiu is the Kaifuyi Tongsansi, so he is in the first rank. As for the military attachés below the Fusi, they fell directly to the fourth and fifth ranks like a cliff. , which shows how difficult it is to get promoted in the Song Dynasty army.

And Lin Chong was not an official at all, nor was he a low-level military attaché in the army as discussed in later generations. He only had a military position, an appointed position in the army, and was not considered an official outside.

Therefore, it was too easy for Gao Qiu to take advantage of him. He just sent him to Kaifeng Mansion under the pretext of Baihutang. This was impossible for a high-level official.

If a person with an official status commits a crime, he will not be taken directly to the Kaifeng Mansion for trial. Instead, he will be reported to the Emperor for approval, and the Emperor Daojun will designate which yamen, or several yamen, to jointly interrogate.

As for the crimes committed by officials in the outer prefectures, they must be reported to the court. Among the border troops, the situation is more relaxed, but if it is not wartime, they still need to be reported.

At this time, Lin Chong slowly searched for the location of the White Tiger Hall along the palace wall. According to the layout of the Tokyo mansion, since the White Tiger Hall is near the middle hall, it is in the middle of the entire mansion.

He was deeply impressed by Baihutang. After all, if it hadn't been for this incident, he wouldn't have been convicted and sent away, and his fate wouldn't have been changed out of thin air, as would the tragic events that followed.

After about a quarter of an hour, he finally locked the position of the White Tiger Hall. After all, the lights in the middle hall were very bright and it was very good to see.

Then Lin Chong walked back and confirmed the location of the back hall. After passing the back hall, there was Gao Qiu's study and bedroom.

But there were many houses here, and the arrangement was more complicated. He couldn't see clearly from the position beside the wall, so he aimed at the patrolling soldiers.

It was already midnight, and many of the soldiers were yawning and walking with squinted eyes, just moving forward numbly, not paying much attention to the movement on both sides.

Lin Chong took a look for a moment, then swept forward from under the palace wall like a ghost, and disappeared under a flower garden without making any sound.

In fact, he was very close to the soldiers at the moment, but his body was like a black shadow, so that the soldiers did not notice it at all.

Seeing that the soldier was slightly farther away, he continued to move away without any movement, as if his body was as paper as fleshless, fluttering and fluttering, and soon he approached the houses in the back house.

Then he raised his wrist, and the red thread of the flying needle caught on the eaves of a house, then he lifted up lightly and went up to the ridge of the house.

At this moment, he breathed a sigh of relief. It would be easier to go up to the roof. The soldiers patrolling below were all too sleepy to look up and could not find him.

He looked down carefully. There were lanterns lit everywhere below, and he could vaguely see clearly. However, the population of Gaofu was sparse, and many courtyards were empty and uninhabited. It was obvious at a glance that it was definitely not Gao Qiu's. residence.

Gao Qiu must have lived in the most luxurious place, but it was hard to tell whether he had a study or a bedroom. If neither was found, he would have had to go to the back house to find it.

Lin Chong walked across the rooftops, and soon he finally saw a courtyard. There was a large room in front of the courtyard. After careful observation for a long time, he determined that the large room should be the study, and the courtyard behind it was most likely Gao Qiu's. bedroom.

After thinking for a while, Lin Chong decided to go to the courtyard to take a look first. After all, most people would sleep in the bedroom, not the study.

This yard is huge, and when we reach the roof, we can see that there are two entrances, front and back, which fits the layout of the master's bedroom.

Lin Chong carefully climbed onto the roof of the second room he entered. Just as he was about to hang the bead curtain upside down, he looked in from top to bottom, but suddenly he saw two people sitting in front of the door, taking a nap.

The two people, a boy and a maid, were leaning against the door, seemingly asleep.

Upon seeing this, Lin Chong became even more certain that Gao Qiu was in the room, otherwise Gao Yanei would have died by then, and no one in the Gao Mansion would be treated like someone who could be waited on at night.

But at this moment, he felt a little confused. With these two people leaning against the door, how could he enter the house?
But if you think about it carefully, the boy and the maid are no better than the soldiers patrolling outside. As long as they don't alert others, they will kill them and then find a place to hide them. This saves them the worry of finding out Gao Qiu can't afford it tomorrow morning and making suspicious inquiries.

After making up his mind, Lin Chong took a closer look at the outside of the courtyard from a high place. Seeing that the soldiers had not patrolled over, he grabbed the eaves with one hand and jumped to the ground lightly.

Then he slowly walked towards the boy maid. When he saw that the distance was about the same, he raised his wrist slightly, flicked his fingers, and suddenly two rays of light were shot out.

The light was extremely fast and outrageous. There was a red line falling behind it, and it shot into the two people's throats in the blink of an eye.

The boy and the maid didn't even have time to open their eyes before their bodies trembled and they died on the spot.

Then Lin Chong walked forward carefully, checked their breathing, and moved the bodies aside. Just as he was about to open the door, he heard a hoarse old voice coming from inside: "Mingyue, Mingyue, bring the tiger zi..."

He was suddenly startled, but then he realized that it was Gao Qiu calling the boy, so he didn't say anything. He lowered his head and saw "Hu Zi" beside him. After lifting it up, he gently pushed the door open and entered the room.

There was a small night light in this room, but it was only a light that could only vaguely distinguish things and human shapes.

I heard Gao Qiu muttering to himself on the other side of the bed: "I'm old, I'm old, I always want to get up at night..."

Lin Chong walked forward with "Huzi" in hand, and stood still when he reached the couch. His eyes fell on Gao Qiu. Gao Qiu was much older than when he left the capital. His face was full of wrinkles, but that Although his eyes looked dim, there was still an unconcealable evil intention inside them.

"Why haven't you put down the tiger yet!" Gao Qiu's voice was a little annoyed: "Why don't you wait for me to pick him up!"

A smile appeared on Lin Chong's face and he bowed: "Lieutenant, is this what you are talking about?"

He raised his hand slightly to reveal the "Hu Zi", which was a long porcelain jar in the shape of a tiger, an utensil used when getting up at night.

"You..." Gao Qiu felt something was not right at this time. Although he had been sleeping in a daze before, the voice he heard at this moment was not that of Tongzi Mingyue at all. He couldn't help but trembled and raised his head.

It didn't matter when he raised his head, he immediately saw a face covered with scars.

Lin Chong had already taken off his mask and looked at Gao Qiu with his true face.

"Ah..." Gao Qiu was so frightened that he was about to shout loudly. Lin Chong shook his wrist, and a silver needle with red thread flew out and plunged into Gao Qiu's mouth like lightning.

Gao Qiu was suddenly speechless, but his body could still move and he was about to sit up.

Lin Chong flicked his fingers, and several more silver needles shot out, immobilizing Gao Qiu's limbs respectively. Gao Qiu immediately felt numb all over and could not move at all.

His face was full of panic, his eyes showed fear, and his mouth made a weak sound like a rat's chirping.

At this time, Lin Chong slowly sat down on the edge of the couch, with a strange look on his face, and whispered: "I'm afraid the Lieutenant doesn't recognize me anymore, right?"

Gao Qiu was frightened to death. Not to mention that Lin Chong had been disfigured. Even if Lin Chong had not been disfigured, he would not be able to recognize who he was when he suddenly appeared beside the couch.

Lin Chong reached out and gently touched his scar-covered cheek, which was covered with grooves and ravines, as if they were covered with earthworms. He sighed softly: "Lieutenant, this is all thanks to you!"

Gao Qiu didn't know what he meant, so he couldn't help but make a weak voice again.

Lin Chong glanced at him, then suddenly stretched out a hand to strangle his neck, and brought his face closer: "Lieutenant, I am Lin Chong, I am Lin Chong!"

Gao Qiu was choked by him and felt out of breath. He immediately turned his head and struggled, but when he heard the word "Lin Chong", he stopped suddenly, and then looked ahead blankly in disbelief.

"The Lieutenant doesn't recognize me, right?" Lin Chong smiled: "My family was ruined by the Lieutenant, and I live in the wilderness, but the Lieutenant actually doesn't recognize me!"

After he finished speaking, he suddenly raised his fingers and stabbed one of Gao Qiu's eyes.

Gao Qiu's body trembled, and he was about to scream in pain, but with the silver needle in his mouth, he couldn't scream.

He heard Lin Chong shake his head and continued: "The Taiwei is short-sighted, just like me, Lin Chong. The Taiwei does not promote and reuse, but instead does harm, but the harm is nothing. Lin Chong walked in the green forest and suffered a lot. That's fine. Later, when I went to Liangshan to recruit troops, why did the Taiwei kill me behind my back again and let the thief Song Jiang secretly ambush me and try to kill me?"

Although Gao Qiu could hear Lin Chong speaking at this moment, he couldn't express his meaning at all and just kept shaking his head.

Lin Chong sighed: "Lin Chong originally wanted to serve the Taiwei and go through fire and water, but it's a pity that the Taiwei treated me like an ant. Isn't this short-sighted?"

After he finished speaking, he raised his hand and pointed again, blinding Gao Qiu's other eye.

Gao Qiu was about to faint from the pain. Lin Chong raised his hand and shot another flying needle, but it was nailed into Gao Qiu's middle. Gao Qiu trembled and his head came to his senses.

I heard Lin Chong say quietly: "Originally, I didn't want the Lieutenant to die so easily. I wanted the Lieutenant to try all the sufferings I suffered, but I'm afraid I can't. This is really a pity."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Gao Qiu carefully for a moment, with a smile on his face, then shook his head and let out a long hiss, then picked up the "tiger" and hit Gao Qiu hard on the head.

I don’t know how many times I was beaten until the “tiger” finally landed on the pillow, and Gao Qiu’s head had been beaten off.

Only then did Lin Chong stop, and then sat on the edge of the couch in a daze for a while, with a dull expression on his face. He stood up, wrapped Gao Qiu's body in the quilt, and stuffed it under the bed.

Then he stayed in the room for a while, then slowly walked out of the door, found a place to hide the bodies of the boy and the maid, then climbed up the ridge of the house, looked back at the yard, and left the house along the same road. …

(End of this chapter)