The setting sun sinks into the ground, and the flaming clouds in the sky burn like raging flames in the sky, eventually extinguishing little by little.

Chen Ji was wearing a bamboo hat and standing next to a dim sum shop outside Cuiyun Alley. While pretending to choose some dim sum, he carefully looked around the alley with his peripheral vision.

The housekeeper of the Chen Mansion was standing at the door, shouting loudly: "Hurry, hurry, carry that box to the carriage! The Liu family's troops may be coming at any time, so we must not give them an advantage!"

Two boys were carrying a large box out. When they were crossing the threshold, one of them tripped and fell. The box fell to the ground and scattered gold and silver. Among them, a "phoenix crown and blue flower head and face" was particularly eye-catching.

The butler's expression changed, and he cursed and rushed forward to put the jewelry back into the box: "You are going to die, you can't afford to lose your life if it breaks!" Chen Ji counted out twelve copper coins from his sleeve and handed it to the shopkeeper. Chewing the fried to golden twists in the paper bag, I looked at the alley with an expressionless face. At this time, I heard the heavy sound of horse hooves in the distance.

Chen Ji turned around and saw that Zhang Xia was riding Zaozao at full speed, turning into Cuiyun Lane like thunder. He lowered his head slightly to prevent the other party from recognizing him. Zhang Xia was stationed in front of the Chen Mansion, curious. Looking at the housekeeper and others: "What are you doing?"

The housekeeper said awkwardly: "I heard that there was a war in the city, so we quickly packed up our belongings and moved to another place to avoid being harmed by the soldiers.

Zhang Xia sat on Zaozao's saddle and raised his eyebrows: "Now Mr. Chen and my father are under house arrest in the government office. You don't want to save them, but you want to deal with Xinruan first?!

The housekeeper of the Chen family had a sad face: "Miss Zhang Er is joking, how can we helpless servants save people? Preserving the valuables for the master is all we can do."

Zhang Xia snorted coldly: "It's up to you!"

After saying that, she rode her horse to the door of Zhang Mansion in Cuiyun Lane, handed the reins to the servant, and hurried in.

There were originally twelve residences in the entire alley. Later, Zhang Zhuo and Chen Liqin came to Luo City and successively bought other residences to open up the alley. Gradually, only four noble families remained.

Now that Chen Ji couldn't find the golden pig and couldn't leave Luo City, he could only come to Zhang Zhuo to discuss countermeasures. Unexpectedly, the Liu family acted faster and put Zhang Zhuo and Chen Liqin under house arrest in the government office.

He turned around to leave, but saw a dark mass of cavalry approaching at the end of the long street.

This group of cavalry is completely different from the previous elephant infantry. Everyone wears heavy black armor and iron helmets. The white tassels on their heads are moving in the wind. Under the helmets, a pair of black lacquer visors cover their faces. They are inexplicably fierce. The arrogance shines brightly.

This is the tiger-armored cavalry raised by the Liu family

Chen Ji stood still and did not move. He saw this group of cavalry holding their spears upside down and riding into Cuiyun Lane, driving away the crowds unscrupulously. A young boy opened his arms and stood in front of the horse: "What are you doing? Here? This is the residence of the magistrate of Luocheng, and you are not allowed to do whatever you want!"

A tiger-armored cavalry rode forward, stabbed the boy with a spear without warning, and then stepped over the body. The housekeeper was so frightened that he hurriedly hid aside.

The leader of the cavalry stood on horseback in front of the Chen Mansion. Without even looking at the gold and silver, a cold voice came from under the mask: "Search, take away all the family members of Zhang Zhuo and Chen Liqin, and leave them alive!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Tiger Armor Cavalry was divided into two teams, one team rushed into the Zhang Mansion, and the other team rushed into the Chen Mansion. Chen Ji hesitated for two breaths, then immediately dropped the twist in his hand and turned around to leave.

He came to the alley outside the backyard of Zhang's Mansion and looked up at the two-person-high gray-tiled white wall of Zhang's Mansion. In the narrow alley, he jumped up against the wall on the other side, relying on the reaction force to flip over lightly. Enter the high wall of Zhang Mansion.

In the yard, screams and wailings were heard one after another. The servants, maids, concubines, and relatives fled in all directions, and the soldiers were in chaos.

Chen Ji lay low behind the rockery and observed quietly. He saw a fiery red figure being chased by a cavalryman and rushing into the back house. It was Zhang Xia who closed his eyes and thought for a moment. When he opened his eyes again, he had quietly touched it under the cover of night.

... ..

In the back house, Zhang Xia turned back in a hurry while running for her life. The black-armored warrior behind her was obviously wearing heavy armor, but he was running faster than her. She had no choice but to get into a covered building in a panic. .

Zhang Xia turned around and closed the door, then pulled the Eight Immortals table from the house and placed it on the door.

Before she had a chance to breathe, the black-armored warrior outside the door kicked hard on the door. With a bang, the door opened, and Zhang Xia was knocked to the ground by the overturned table! She looked up in shock, only to see the black The armored warrior stood solemnly outside the door. The moonlight shone into the room, and she could only see the black outline on the opposite side.

Zhang Xia pretended to be calm and said: "According to Article 1 of Volume 18 of the Daning Law, all those who conspire to rebel, regardless of whether they are the first offender or the accomplice, will be executed at the earliest possible time! Grandfather, son, father, son, brother, uncles and brothers, regardless of the surname, will all be executed!"

The black-armored warrior turned a deaf ear, his face covered with armor showing no expression. He crossed the threshold with his spear in hand and approached step by step.

Zhang Xia continued to tremble and said: "Anyone who conspires against us, including mothers, daughters, wives, concubines, and sisters, will be sold into slavery by Jiaofangsi! Anyone who knows and fails to report will be punished with a hundred sticks and a ban of three thousand miles!" The black-armored warrior did not stop. , his shadow shrouded Zhang Xia's face bit by bit.

However, at this moment, he suddenly discovered that there seemed to be something extra in his shadow illuminated by the moonlight...

Taking a closer look, there seemed to be black shadows slowly crawling on both sides of his shadow's head, as if two hands were growing out from the side of his head.

No, there is someone behind you!

The black-armored warrior subconsciously wanted to turn around and sweep away with his spear, but it was too late.

Chen Ji stretched out his hands from behind his back, clamped his neck, and twisted it with all his strength. There was a clear sound of bone cracking, and the black-armored warrior's body softened and he fell toward the ground. Chen Ji supported the black-armored warrior and slowly lowered him to the ground. Zhang Xia was shocked and lowered his voice: "Chen Ji, why are you here?"

He explained softly: "I came to discuss matters with Mr. Zhang, and I happened to see the Liu family's private army rushing into Zhang's house." Zhang Xia asked, "So you came in to save me?"

"No." Zhang Xia was startled: "Ah?"

As he spoke, Chen Ji lifted off the black paint mask on the corpse's face. Under the mask was a young and green cheek. He was only twenty-one or two years old at most. He stood up, unbuttoned his coat, and took out his clothes piece by piece.

Take it off, leaving only the white lining inside.

Zhang Xia asked in surprise: "What are you going to do?!"

Chen Ji did not answer, but silently knelt down and took off the armor from the corpse.

Zhang Xia reacted immediately and helped him peel off the heavy armor, helmet, shoulder armor, body armor, breastplate, front armor, arm armor and leg armor from the black-armored warrior, placing them on the ground one by one. She said with concern: "

Are you going to sneak in among them? What if you are exposed?"

Chen Ji explained: "Only by sneaking into them can we find a chance to rescue Mr. Zhang. He is a big shot, smarter than you and me, and knows better than you and me how to face this mutiny."

He picked up the arm armor and put it on, but the structure of Ning Chao's armor was complicated, and only one arm armor needed to be tied with three straps.

Zhang Xia pursed her lips and finally plucked up the courage to pick up the armor: "You are wearing it wrong. You have to put on the body armor first, then the chest armor, front armor, arm armor... Open your hands and I will help you."

Chen Ji stood there and opened his arms.

Under the moonlight, Zhang Xia suppressed her fear and helped him put the armor and stomach parts on his body with slightly trembling fingers. While she was tying the armor and stomach straps, she asked: "Chen Ji, why don't you

Fear?"

Chen Ji calmly said: "I am also afraid, but fear is useless." Zhang Xia asked again: "What are your plans after sneaking in?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "I don't have a plan, just follow them. I can't decide where to go." Zhang Xia hummed.

Silence fell in the room, leaving only the sound of scraping iron pieces.

After a while, Zhang Xia took a step back and looked at the traces. After confirming that they were correct, he said: "It's done."

Chen Ji picked up the helmet from the ground and put it on his head: "Stay in this room and hide it. Don't go out. After the Liu family's private army has withdrawn, you can climb out of the back window and go around behind the rockery in the southwest corner.

, there is a place where you can use your strength to get out of the mansion. Remember to change your clothes, your clothes are too conspicuous."

After saying that, Zhang Xia saw Chen Ji put on his black lacquer visor, turned around and walked away with a spear in hand. She opened her mouth, but didn't say anything. However, before Chen Ji went out, she saw

A group of black-armored warriors came towards us from a distance.

As he walked closer, the leader's voice under his mask said in a low voice: "Why have you been here for so long? Did you find Zhang Zhuo's family in the guardhouse behind you?" Chen Ji silently clenched the spear in his hand and responded in a muffled voice:

"No."

The black-armored warrior opposite him fell silent, and the eyes behind his visor seemed to be staring at him closely. The black-armored warrior looked at the traces and then at the guard building: "Are you sure?"

"Sure."

The black-armored warrior sneered: "Get out of the way, I'll go take a look."

After saying that, he pushed Chen Ji's shoulders and pushed Chen Ji aside, and he led more than ten black-armored warriors towards the tower, the black armor and green clattering.

Chen Ji's eyes slowly turned cold. He had no time to deal with the corpse in the building. If the other party entered the house, he would definitely find the corpse and Zhang Xia inside. He also lost the opportunity to infiltrate the Liu family's private army.

Chen Ji silently counted the backs of the black-armored warriors: one, two, three, four... twelve black-armored warriors. He couldn't kill them all. At the critical moment, he saw a noise coming from the flower bed outside the tower. , the tall bushes kept shaking.

For a moment, all the black-armored warriors raised their spears and shouted angrily: "Who? Get out!" A red figure fled hastily from the flower bed and ran towards the distance.

Chen Ji was startled, why did Zhang Xia appear there?

Wait, this girl heard the noise outside the house, and was worried that the black-armored warrior's discovery of the body in the house would affect her plan, so she sneaked out of the house through the back window and helped herself draw all the black-armored warrior's attention away.

Chen Ji took a deep breath and followed the black-armored warriors behind him to arrest Zhang Xia. The crowd spread out in the courtyard lined with rockeries and chased him. Zhang Xia turned around while running, and finally ran in the direction of Chen Ji "in a panic" Come!
Chapter completed!