Nine dragons fight for the throne, I don't want to sit on this throne

He Mansion.

Four servants stood guard at the door as usual.

At this moment, the sound of horse hooves suddenly came from the street not far away, and a cavalry team of ten people headed straight for the mansion.

The four servants suddenly became nervous.

A moment later, the cavalry arrived at the gate and stopped. The tall Ran Ming in the lead shouted towards the mansion:

"Sir He, His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu invites you to go to the Prince of Chu's Palace!"

Upon hearing this, the servant at the door immediately stepped forward and said with a wry smile, "General, my master is not at home. You should come back another day."

He Peng has issued an order today not to see any guests!

Even if Ran Ming came wearing armor, the servants did not dare to inform him.

But who is Ran Ming? He came in person to invite him. If he didn't even see He Peng, how could he go back and report?

"Humph, I don't believe he's not at home!"

Ran Ming snorted coldly: "I want to go in and take a look myself!"

As he spoke, Ran Ming stepped forward.

Four servants immediately stepped forward to stop them.

"General, my master is really not in the mansion."

"Please go back. If you come back, I will tell you about this."

But their obstruction angered Ran Ming!

Ran Ming's eyes widened as he shouted angrily, "Get out of here!"

He exerted force with both hands, and the four servants who were blocking the way ahead flew backwards and fell to the ground, screaming in pain.

"Hmph, you don't know how to live or die!"

Ran Ming and his men rushed directly into He's residence.

He Peng, who heard the noise, came over with his servants. Seeing his men being beaten, He Peng was furious:

"Who dares to act so presumptuously in this official residence?"

"What a great official power!"

Ran Ming stepped forward quickly, staring at He Peng and sneering: "Aren't you at home? Why do these people say you are not here?"

When he saw it was Ran Ming, He Peng's momentum instantly diminished.

"It turned out to be General Ran Ming."

He Peng pretended to be calm and said, "I was not at the mansion just now. I just came back from the back door. I wonder when General Ran Ming came to see me?"

Others may not know Ran Ming's temper, but He Peng knows it very well. He is a reckless man who even dares to break into the imperial palace!

Don’t mess with this kind of person, otherwise you will die without knowing how.

Seeing that He Peng's attitude was pretty good, Ran Ming snorted coldly: "Your Highness asks you to go to the palace. Let's go, don't let the prince wait anxiously."

"Well...Okay, come on, prepare the sedan." He Peng knew he had no choice, so he had to leave with Ran Ming.

But when Ran Ming heard that they were going to prepare a sedan chair, he immediately glared at him and said, "Why prepare a sedan chair? I'll take you there!"

As he spoke, he picked up He Peng and rode straight to his warhorse outside the mansion.

Before He Peng could react, he felt like he was flying in the clouds. When he came to his senses, he had already been lifted onto the horse by Ran Ming.

"Gee~" The war horse galloped and headed straight for the Prince of Chu's palace.

He Peng felt bitter inside. Although he really wanted Ran Ming to let him go, looking at the situation, it was probably impossible.

Fortunately, Ran Ming was very fast and arrived at the Prince of Chu's Palace on horseback in just a quarter of an hour.

Palace, living room.

Chu Ning, who had already finished drinking the lotus seed soup, stood there in deep thought.

"Your Highness, Lord He is here!" Ran Ming's voice suddenly came from outside the hall.

Chu Ning came back to his senses: "Please ask Sir He to come in and talk."

He Peng came into the hall and bowed: "Greetings to His Majesty the King of Chu!"

Chu Ning stared at him with an indifferent expression and said nothing.

The hall was extremely quiet, but He Peng was terrified.

He didn't know why Chu Ning suddenly wanted to summon him, nor did he know why Chu Ning didn't speak at this moment.

After a long while, Chu Ning asked in a cold voice, "Seventh Brother was killed last night. I guess Lord He should know about this, right?"

He Peng's face straightened: "I just heard about this matter. Those villains really deserve to die. They dared to assassinate the Seventh Prince!"

"is it?"

Chu Ning sneered: "Then Lord He, do you know what weapon killed Brother Seven?"

"This……"

He Peng realized that Chu Ning was looking for trouble with him.

Frightened, He Peng immediately knelt on the ground and said, "Your Highness, Prince Chu, I can assure you that the sleeve arrow that shot and killed the Seventh Prince was definitely not made by the Ministry of Industry!"

Chu Ning smiled contemptuously: "What's the point of you saying this to me? You should wait until we get to the lobby of the Ministry of Justice and explain to the old King Qin and Lord Ling.

In the entire Chu State, only I and your Ministry of Works have the ability to forge hidden arrows and crossbows, but I was at the crime scene last night, so of course I can’t be the murderer.”

He Peng's face changed drastically.

If the murderer is not Chu Ning, then it must be him.

Did the King of Chu want to put the blame on him?

He Peng was shocked and quickly explained: "Your Highness, these sleeve arrows and crossbows have been around for almost two years. If they have been seen or heard of by powerful craftsmen, they may be able to be forged.

Besides, some of our other troops are equipped with crossbows."

As soon as these words came out, a cold light flashed in Chu Ning's eyes: "Do other soldiers in our dynasty also have crossbows? Were they forged by your Ministry of Works? Who gave the order?"

He Peng lowered his head, hesitated for a moment, and whispered: "After you defeated the Zhao army on the front line with the crossbow, His Majesty ordered the Ministry of Works to forge the crossbow.

Although you asked the craftsmen to forge each structure of the crossbow separately, the craftsmen still pieced the crossbow together by memory.

After receiving the order from His Majesty, I forged more than 20,000 crossbows."

Hearing this, Chu Ning narrowed his eyes and asked, "Do you know where these crossbows went?"

He Peng shook his head: "At that time, His Majesty asked me to deliver this batch of crossbows to the Ministry of War, and it was Xiahou Ren, the then Minister of War, who came to accept them."

Xiahou Ren!

A solemn look flashed across Chu Ning's eyes.

Now that Xiahou Ren is dead, no one knows where these crossbows have gone.

Thinking of this, Chu Ning asked again: "What about the sleeve arrows? Did you also make them?"

He Peng smiled awkwardly and said, "After His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu's sleeve arrows came out, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince liked them very much, so he asked me to order some to be made.

However, when delivering the crossbow, the hidden arrows were discovered by Xiahou Ren, who forcibly took them away, leaving only one pair for the prince.

The person who shot the seventh prince last night had several sets of hidden arrows. In this case, the prince can be ruled out as a suspect.

Chu Ning thought about it and then asked, "If the Hidden Arrow is obtained by other craftsmen, can they make more Hidden Arrows?"

"Of course!"

He Peng nodded and said, "The art of bows and crossbows is based on the principle of never deviating from the essence. Moreover, we have the finished product in hand, so we can naturally make more sleeve arrows."

Chu Ning nodded slightly after hearing this: "I understand. It seems that this matter has nothing to do with the Ministry of Industry. However, you must find a way to find out for me about the batch of bows and crossbows that were delivered at the beginning!"

He Peng's face turned bitter: "Your Highness, I am just a minister of the Ministry of Industry. I am afraid I am not capable of investigating such a matter."

He also had the task of raising money assigned by the prince, so he had no extra time to do anything for Chu Ning.

But Chu Ning sneered: "The crossbow that shot and killed Brother Seven was probably made by your Ministry of Works. If the emperor knew about this, he would be furious. Even if he didn't kill you, you wouldn't be able to keep your official hat."

He Peng's face changed, his eyes rolled, and then he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I will send someone to investigate this matter."

Chu Ning then showed a satisfied look: "Very good, next I will wait for good news from Lord He!"

"If there is nothing else, I will take my leave." He Peng dared not stay any longer and was eager to leave as soon as possible.

Chu Ning looked at He Peng's departing back with an amused look on his face.

The net has been set, and now it depends on whether the opponent will take the initiative to crash into it!