A hundred miles outside Chang'an City, two ragged men, shattered and disheveled, were walking forward.

Behind them were several officials wearing yamen runners' clothes.

"Go away quickly, don't be too slow." An official pushed the man in front of him.

The man stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

"Go away quickly and send you to Chang'an, and our business will be completed."

"I dare to riot in Qizhou, but I am lucky that I will send you to Chang'an, otherwise you guys would have died long ago." Another official shouted coldly.

The whip in his hand whipped the man in front of him.

The man suffered a pain, his whole body trembled, and the iron chains on his feet sounded.

They are the prisoners escorted from Qizhou.

The two people in front were the leaders of the Qizhou riots. They were taken by the Qizhou government and are now being sent to Chang'an.

The official behind him was also a yamen runner of the Qizhou Governor's Office. He was ordered to escort the two to Chang'an.

The two men who were escorted just walked slowly without saying a word.

They knew that riots were death sentences.

And now they are just taking a step closer to death.

"A hundred miles ahead is Chang'an. After walking for so long, it's almost here." A yamen runner said with a smile.

Qizhou is a thousand miles away from Chang'an, and they walked on the road for half a month.

Now facing the closest Chang'an City, the few people feel much more comfortable.

"The governor told me that the sooner I was to arrive in Chang'an, the more careful they needed. These two guys were the thugs and bandit leaders, and His Majesty will definitely try the case in person."

"If something happens on the road, we will be done." Another yamen runner instructed.

They had a total of four yamen runners, responsible for the escort of two prisoners.

There are really few people.

"Don't worry, this has arrived in Chang'an, where else will happen?"

"Walking out of this valley, we will find an inn to rest and continue tomorrow..."

"call out--"

Before the yamen runner finished speaking, he could only hear the sound of breaking through the air.

When I looked back, I saw that my companion who was still talking to me had been shot through the heart by an arrow.

"There are assassins!" the yamen runner shouted.

The two yamen runners in front of them quickly pulled out their weapons.

But a few arrows shot in, and before they could react, they were pierced through their bodies.

The yamen runner who screamed out loud held a weapon and flew the oncoming arrows, but saw him escorting the prisoner who came to Chang'an and was shot through the throat by the arrows.

"Who... who..." The yamen runners were full of fear.

The weapon in his hand trembled slightly.

"Kill him." A cold voice came.

Then the yamen runners saw several assassins wearing black clothes rushing towards him.

He was about to raise his knife to resist, but suddenly he felt weak all over.

Then he fell down powerlessly.

Before his consciousness dissipated, the yamen runners only saw a cold look in front of them.

...

"Shangshu Zhang, something happened!" Zhang Xingcheng, the Minister of Justice of the Ministry of Justice, is handling official duties.

A person suddenly ran in front of him and said to him.

"What happened?" Zhang Xingcheng frowned.

"Reported to the Secretary of State, the two bandit leaders escorted from Qizhou, and the four Qizhou yamen runners who were responsible for escorting the bandit leaders were killed a hundred miles away from Chang'an City."

"According to the judgment of the coroner, it should be the Si Shi time two days ago." The visitor and Zhang Xingcheng reported.

Zhang Xingcheng's expression changed slightly.

"All dead?"

"But are there any clues?" Zhang Xingcheng asked in a deep voice.

The emperor personally inquired about the matter in Qizhou.

Now the bandit leader in Qizhou has been suddenly killed, and the yamen runners who escorted the bandit leader have also been killed. This is obviously a premeditated matter.

If the emperor pursues it, Zhang Xingcheng will not be able to escape the blame.

"Mr. Liu has sent someone there, but I only know that the two bandit leaders and three yamen runners are all dead under arrows."

"One of them was penetrated by a sword."

"They were killed without any resistance!" said the visitor and Zhang Xingcheng.

Zhang Xingcheng sighed in his heart. Such a premeditated assassination was probably not about destroying these bandit leaders.

"I understand, take the body back to the Ministry of Justice. I will report to Your Majesty!" Zhang Xingcheng spoke, stood up and tidied up his clothes, and then walked out of the Ministry of Justice.

...

The emperor was thinking about how he would interrogate the two bandit leaders who rioted in Qizhou after they arrived in Chang'an.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Xingcheng came over to tell him that the two bandit leaders were intercepted and killed.

The four yamen runners who escorted the bandit leader were also affected by disaster.

Looking at Zhang Xingcheng standing below with his head down, the emperor wanted to kick him.

"The two prisoners were escorted and only four yamen runners were sent. Who would have thought of it?" the emperor asked Zhang Xingcheng with a gloomy face.

Zhang Xingcheng didn't know why only four people were sent to escort two important criminals.

But he couldn't tell the emperor that he didn't know.

"Your Majesty, the escort of the prisoners was carried out by the Qizhou Governor's Office. I have previously been to the Qizhou Governor's Office to ensure that they must protect the safety of the bandit leader."

"But..." Zhang Xingcheng shook his head.

He didn't expect that someone would dare to do such a arrogant thing under the feet of the emperor.

The Qizhou Governor's Office actually sent only four people to escort the bandit leader.

This is even more unexpected.

"Qizhou Governor's Office..." the emperor said, his eyes becoming more and more cold.

Two days ago, Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng said that there are big problems with the tax in Qizhou.

In a prosperous place, taxes were actually at the end of the entire Tang Dynasty.

It's very strange.

Now, the Qizhou yamen runners escorted two riot prisoners and were intercepted and killed halfway?

This made the emperor suspected that someone did it on purpose.

"Your Majesty, the six corpses have been sent back to the Ministry of Justice. Maybe some clues can be found." Zhang Xingcheng said to the emperor.

Zhang Xingcheng, who had no clues, didn't know either. He only knew that if he didn't want a way to divert the emperor's anger.

You will have to be finished.

"Let the coroner of the Ministry of Justice check it out to see if there are any clues."

"Get out." The emperor glanced at Zhang Xingcheng and waved.

Zhang Xingcheng felt relieved, bowed to the emperor, and then left quickly.

...

Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng were called to Ganquan Hall.

When they heard about the riot in Qizhou, the two were stunned.

They don't know about this matter.

Obviously, the emperor concealed the news from the two of them before.

It is even said that the news has not passed through the three provinces, otherwise they would not have known it.

And when they heard that the rioting bandit leader was killed on the way to Chang'an, they had not come back to their senses for a long time.

It took a while before the two of them came to their senses and looked at each other, both of them found the horror in each other's eyes.

The team was intercepted and escorted, and the Qizhou riots were rioted.

Add to the previous tax issues.

There is obviously a big problem in Qizhou!

"Your Majesty, Qizhou, there is a big problem!" Fang Xuanling said in a deep voice.

If there were no major problems in Qizhou, why did we intercept and escort the prisoners?
Chapter completed!