Chapter 587 Not Professional

Chapter 587 Not Professional

Chapter 587 Not Professional
The Ministry of Internal Affairs urgently dispatched 500 soldiers to stand guard around the Prince of Jin's palace, and sentries were also set up around the residences of other high-ranking officials.

Li Luming ordered the Security Bureau to start searching the entire city for suspicious persons.

Three investigating spies came to Gaoping Inn next to the north city gate and walked into the lobby. The leading spy raised the housekeeping card. The innkeeper was startled and smiled and said, "If you have anything to say, please tell me!"

"There's an assassin in the city. We're conducting a comprehensive investigation. Give me the registration book!"

The shopkeeper quickly took out the thick registration book and put it on the table. Several spies looked through the recent registration information. At this time, the shopkeeper saw that there was no one around and whispered, "A strange person came last night."

"What a strange method?"

"He said he was doing business, but he had neither goods nor money. Moreover, he was a martial artist. I have seen him practice martial arts many times. The sword on his waist is not just for decoration."

The leading spy pointed to a person on the registration book, "He Kuan, from Luoyang, is that him?"

"That's him. He lives in the easternmost suite on the second floor, but he went out early this morning."

"Open the door, let's go in and take a look!"

The shopkeeper took the spare key and went upstairs with the three spies until they reached the easternmost part. He carefully opened the door, and the three spies drew their swords and slipped in.

There was indeed no one in the room. The leader left one person to guard the door and took another person into the inner room. The two searched around and soon found a wooden box under the bed.

The leader opened the box and found a short crossbow, ten poisonous arrows, and a roll of blueprints. When he opened the blueprints, his eyes widened, because the blueprints showed the Prince of Jin's Palace.

At this moment, a scream suddenly came from outside. It was the voice of the shopkeeper, and then the spy guarding the door shouted, "He's back!"

The conversation stopped abruptly. Seeing that the situation was not good, the two spies drew their swords together, and the leading spy rushed forward.

I saw a black shadow flash in, his figure like a ghost, and instantly appeared next to the spy leader. Before the spy leader could react, the long sword in the other party's hand had pierced the spy leader's neck. The speed was too fast.

The third spy saw that the situation was not good, so he jumped up, broke open the window and flew out.

The man in black did not chase after him and hurriedly packed up the box, but found that the map was gone. He was shocked and rushed to the window, only to see that the spy had already run dozens of steps away with his map in his hand.

The man in black had no choice but to close the box and leave quickly with it.

In less than a quarter of an hour, nearly a hundred inner guard soldiers quickly surrounded the inn. Guan Ning, the Lieutenant General of the Inner Guard, rushed to the second floor with more than twenty soldiers, and together raised their crossbows and shot arrows into the easternmost room.

The walls were made of wood and were very thin, with dozens of small holes shot through them. When everyone rushed in, they found only three bodies in the room, the shopkeeper and two internal security spies. The assassin was nowhere to be seen.

Guan Ning turned around and asked the spy who reported the news, "Look, what's missing from the room?
The spy came in, covering his arm. His left arm was unfortunately broken when he jumped out of the window. He looked around the room and said to Guan Ning, "The box containing the short crossbow and poison arrows is missing, but nothing else has changed!"

Guan Ning looked at the blueprints that the spy had risked his life to bring back, and praised: "Thank you for your hard work, go and heal your wounds!"

The spy was taken away by the soldiers to have his bones fixed. Guan Ning asked the servants again, and a sergeant quickly drew a picture of the spy: he was tall and thin, with a slightly long face, dark skin, a high nose bridge, eyes as sharp as an eagle, and a pair of particularly rough eyebrows, like a brush.

This doesn't look like a Han Chinese!"

"He's Han Chinese, but has a bit of Hu blood. I've seen all kinds of guests, so I wouldn't be wrong." Guan Ning nodded. The innkeeper and the waiters all make a living by their eyesight, so they shouldn't be wrong.

In the official room, Li Luming reported to Xiao Xia about the assassin in Gaoping Inn. Xiao Xia listened very carefully. He looked at the drawings he got from the assassin and smiled slightly, "This person is not an assassin, at least not a professional assassin!"

"What do you mean by that, Your Highness?" Li Luming asked in confusion.

Xiao Xia said slowly, "He actually made a lot of mistakes, none of which a qualified assassin should make. First of all, he made a big mistake when he said he was doing business. He could have said he came to the martial arts hall to find a job, or to join the army, and no one would suspect him. But he said he was doing business, and the shopkeeper knew he was lying. A true assassin would not stay in a big street inn like Gaoping Inn, but would look for a small inn in a deep alley."

Li Luming nodded and said, "Your Highness is right. He put the box under the bed when he went out. This is a typical novice. I have visited his room and there are many places to hide things."

"You're talking about the second mistake. There's also a third mistake. The shopkeeper was standing at the door, right? When he killed the shopkeeper, he didn't see anyone in the room. A real assassin would be calm and composed and wouldn't act rashly. If the room was just being cleaned, he would expose himself. From this incident, we can see that this assassin is actually an impulsive, reckless person with a strong desire to kill. But why would such a person be sent to assassinate me? There is only one reason. His martial arts are extremely strong. If I'm not mistaken, after he lost the map, he would probably resort to assassination in the street."

Li Luming bowed and said, "I know what to do now!"

Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "There were three assassins who appeared in my palace last night, but the assassin you met today was alone. I suspect they were actually two groups of people who just happened to come to assassinate me at the same time."

Li Luming was shocked. After thinking about it, she realized that it was true. She couldn't help but feel ashamed. His Highness saw things much more sharply than she did.

Xiao Xia handed the map to her again, "Check this map carefully. My palace is newly built, and the court doesn't have the blueprint. This map must have been circulated from us. We have a thief inside, and we must find him out."

Li Luming bowed and left. Liu Wenjing, who was sitting next to him, asked with a smile, "Who do you think is the mastermind behind this, Your Highness?"

"To be honest, it's possible that anyone could have done that, including those who strongly opposed the second expedition to Goguryeo. If they assassinated me, the emperor would not have time to attack Goguryeo for the time being. This could even include the Guanlong nobles, who wanted to cooperate with me on the one hand, but wanted me dead on the other. As for my enemies, there are even more of them, so it's hard to find the mastermind behind it."

After a pause, Xiao Xia continued, "I don't really care who the assassin's mastermind is. What I'm worried about is the thief within. He sold out the blueprints of my palace and will definitely sell out other important information. I must catch the thief no matter what."

In the afternoon, Xiao Xia took a carriage back to the palace. The General Manager's Mansion was located in the north city, while the palace was outside the east city. The convoy had to cross half of the county.

The thick snow on the streets has been cleared, and there are more pedestrians. As the New Year is approaching, business in all the shops is good.

The carriage of the Prince of Jin was closely guarded by hundreds of cavalrymen as it moved slowly. The carriage turned to East Street and headed directly east. There were many shops on both sides, and many large restaurants were located on East Street.

The carriage began to speed up. This area was quite complicated and the soldiers were extremely vigilant.

At this moment, a crossbow arrow shot out from the second-floor window of Qingfeng Restaurant with a 'whoosh!' sound and instantly shot into the carriage. A faint 'dang!' sound was heard.

People with experience knew that the arrow was blocked. At this moment, a tall and thin man in black jumped down from the second floor. He was the assassin who escaped in the morning.

He was a very skilled martial artist, and when he heard the noise inside the carriage he knew that the King of Jin was protected. The tall and thin assassin became anxious and jumped onto the carriage with his sword drawn. At this moment, the guards raised their spears and stabbed at him. The assassin did a very thrilling low roll to avoid the spears. He hooked his feet on the roof of the carriage, and with his extremely resilient body, he actually rushed in through the window.

Suddenly there was a scream in the carriage. The assassin's body loosened and he fell heavily from the carriage. His face and body were full of poison needles. Dozens of guards raised their spears and stabbed at him, leaving more than a dozen bloody holes. The assassin died on the spot.

At this time, the carriage door opened, and a warrior in heavy armor walked down. His whole body was covered with iron armor, and he held a cylindrical short crossbow in his hand. This short crossbow did not shoot arrows, but poison needles. Hundreds of poison needles were shot out like a rainstorm, and no matter how skilled the assassin was in martial arts, he could not avoid them.

Hundreds of guards took control of all the shops and searched for possible accomplices of the assassin. Apart from finding the assassin's box, they found nothing else about the other accomplices.

(End of this chapter)