The little heroine investigates a mysterious case

For hundreds of years, the major vassal states in the Qiankun Continent fought against each other year after year, and eventually Chen, Yue, and Song became the three kingdoms.

The Tianling Mountains served as the boundary between Chen and Yue in the east, and the Heng River meandered southward from Chen to Yue. The areas on both sides of the middle reaches of the Heng River, mainly the important town of Fengcheng, were fertile and rich in real estate, and had always been a battleground for the two countries.

In the 15th year of Chen Yuanzhen's reign, the Emperor Chen was tyrannical, with internal and external troubles, and the people were living in misery. Gu Li, the king of the northern border, and Qin Shao, the commander of the Chen army, rose up in rebellion. They were unstoppable and attacked the capital city of Liyang. The Emperor Chen committed suicide, and Gu Li proclaimed himself king, changing the country's name to Xia and the reign title to Xuanhe.

Since the founding of the Xia Dynasty, in order to prevent the remnants of the Chen Dynasty from colluding with the Yue and Song States to commit evil, the Xia Dynasty has always pursued a policy of "closing the country".

The national caravan under the Ministry of Revenue was the only caravan that had obtained permission from the Xia Emperor to trade with Yue and Song. When the "Wuwei Escort Agency" was first established, its main task was to protect the caravan.

On the beginning of autumn in the ninth year of Xuanhe, the autumn wind was howling. On the road from Fucheng to Fengcheng, a group of people with flags waving could be seen from afar. The words "Wuwei Escort Agency" were waving in the wind. Ox carts loaded with heavy boxes of goods were moving slowly forward.

The person in charge of this escort mission is Wang Sheng, deputy chief escort of the "Wuwei Escort Agency", known as the "fatal shot". At this time, Wang Sheng is sitting upright on his horse, holding a spear in his hand, and the tip of the spear is shining in the autumn sun.

The closer he got to Fengcheng, the more excited Wang Sheng felt. That city witnessed the indissoluble bond between him and the chief escort leader Zhao Xiaoman.

That was in the first year of Xuanhe. He was the owner of a martial arts school in Fengcheng, and made a living by teaching students some physical fitness techniques.

Unexpectedly, the State of Yue suddenly sent troops to attack Fengcheng. After several days of bloody fighting, General Hu Yiba, the defender of Fengcheng, was killed in the battle, and Fengcheng was in danger for a while.

When the country was in crisis, he picked up his spear and joined the temporary city defense team, fighting desperately with the Vietnamese army on the city wall.

He still remembered that day was the winter solstice, the wind was freezing cold, and heavy snow suddenly fell from the sky. He was leaning against the wall, covered in blood, and had exhausted his last bit of strength, watching the Vietnamese soldiers climbing up the wall one by one.

He thought that it would be better to die like this, as it would be worthy of the courage a warrior should have.

But at this moment, he heard the sound of war drums, and a group of people rushed out of the city and fought with the Vietnamese army.

He looked outside the city and saw a woman in red rushing into the Vietnamese camp with a long sword in hand. She jumped into the air from time to time like a flying bird, waving her long sword and fighting hard with the Vietnamese army.

A surge of heroism suddenly surged in his heart. He struggled to pick up the spear on the ground and fought fiercely again with the Vietnamese troops who were rushing onto the city wall.

Also at dusk that day, he was already dying when he saw the woman come to his side, squat down to carefully check his injuries, and then resolutely carried him down the city wall.

Later he learned that the woman's name was Zhao Xiaoman. From then on, he followed her, traveling all over the country and enduring hardships without regrets.

Wang Sheng's thoughts were lost in memories of the past.

He never expected that in the tall weeds on both sides of the road, a group of mysterious people were quietly hiding. They were dressed in ordinary people's clothes, with black scarves covering their faces, and a cluster of dazzling red flame patterns embroidered on the scarves. Each of them had a bow and arrow in his hand, aiming at the slowly approaching caravan.

At this time, Wang Sheng heard someone calling him, turned around, and saw the caravan leader Zhao Ji galloping after him.

Zhao Ji was a little worried: "Captain Wang, do you think they will come again this time?"

Wang Sheng said solemnly, "Xiao Man suspected that the Flame Organization that suddenly appeared and robbed the caravan last time was related to her master, Elder Xuanji. After all, Elder Xuanji claimed to be a descendant of the Fire God Zhurong. For many years, he has used flames as his symbol, traveling around the world to save people and gaining a great reputation among the people."

Zhao Ji said, "That's even more strange. Why would Xiaoman's master send people to rob our Xia Kingdom's caravan?"

Wang Sheng thought for a moment and said, "Xiao Man hasn't heard from his master in seven or eight years, and I don't know why. That's why I volunteered this time. If this group dares to come again, I'll definitely find out something!"

Zhao Ji sighed and looked at the moving caravan.

"It's been so hard to come by these years without fighting between the northern and southern borders, allowing the people to recuperate and live a peaceful life. My cousin's job as the head of the Ministry of Revenue is already difficult, and this caravan, the only one able to trade with the Kingdom of Yue, has suddenly been robbed. Besides seeing the flame pattern embroidered on the black cloth covering the robbers' faces, we don't know anything else. I'm afraid..."

"This group of people is not simple. They robbed the goods and escaped unscathed." Wang Sheng gripped the spear in his hand. "We have been safe all the way. There is a narrow gap ahead. This group of people is most likely setting an ambush there. You should tell everyone to be vigilant. The head escort said that if we can't defeat them, we would rather give up all the goods than save our lives."

Zhao Ji looked at the sky.

"If we can successfully pass through the narrow passage, we can reach Fengcheng in the evening, then..."

Before Zhao Ji could finish his words, his eyes suddenly widened in horror, and he leaned forward and fell off his horse.

Wang Sheng gasped. He saw an arrow deeply stuck in Zhao Ji's back, with blood slowly oozing out. At this moment, countless arrows were shooting towards the caravan from the weeds on both sides.

Wang Sheng brandished his spear to block the rain of arrows and shouted at the caravan: "Guards! Protect the caravan! Everyone else! Hide! Hide!"

At this moment, the rain of arrows suddenly stopped, and there was silence in the grass.

Wang Sheng felt horrified. Soon, he saw people in civilian clothes holding short knives in their hands, but all of them were masked with black cloth embroidered with a cluster of dazzling red flame patterns. They were rushing towards them in dense groups.

Wang Sheng hurriedly waved his spear to block. For a moment, Wang Sheng wielded the spear in a dazzling manner, protecting his body tightly. In a moment, it was difficult for the robbers who besieged him to get close to him.

But the robbers showed no sign of weakness. Seeing that they could not capture Wang Sheng quickly, they immediately rushed towards the other guards. With their excellent martial arts skills, they killed them with every blow.

Wang Sheng chased after the robbers with his gun, but he didn't expect to be attacked from the left and right by the other two robbers. They stabbed the horse's legs with a dagger, and the horse fell to the ground with a neigh.

Wang Sheng quickly dismounted and stood steadily on the spot. He instantly shot a robber to death with a single shot in the throat. He then used the barrel of his gun to hold down another robber's dagger. However, the other robbers were fearless and rushed towards Wang Sheng one by one, trapping him among them.

Just as one of the robbers fell to the ground after being stabbed by Wang Sheng, but struggled to stand up and wait for an opportunity to attack Wang Sheng, Zhao Ji, who had been shot by the arrow earlier, suddenly got up from the ground, hugged the robber tightly, and shouted to Wang Sheng:

"Captain Wang! Go! Go!"

The robber was furious and without hesitation stabbed Zhao Ji's abdomen with a dagger.

Wang Sheng was furious when he saw this. He raised his spear and killed another robber, then rushed towards Zhao Ji and killed the robber who killed Zhao Ji with one shot. He leaned over and looked at Zhao Ji.

Blood oozed from the corner of Zhao Ji's mouth. He opened his mouth, but no word came out, and then he slowly closed his eyes.

"Zhao Ji! Lord Zhao!"

Wang Sheng cried out in grief, but the situation did not allow him to slack off at all. Several robbers rushed forward and surrounded Wang Sheng again.

Wang Sheng suddenly remembered the instructions given by the chief escort Zhao Xiaoman before leaving.

At that time, Zhao Xiaoman patted his shoulder, her eyes earnest, and said to him: "Old Wang, remember, if you really meet that group of people, if you can't beat them, just run away. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Life is more important than anything else!"

But when Wang Sheng saw the guards falling one by one and the people in the caravan fleeing in all directions, a surge of anger surged in his heart, burning his eyes until they turned blood red. He roared and fought even harder.

Suddenly, Wang Sheng looked at the robber's knife-drawing moves and his light-weight jumping and changing steps, and a sense of familiarity arose in his heart. It was a familiar feeling he had felt when he had fought with Zhao Xiaoman before, and he was suddenly in a trance.

But just at that moment when he was in a trance, he saw a bright blade reflecting the sunlight in front of him. It flashed by, and Wang Sheng felt a sharp pain in his neck. His spear fell to the ground and his body fell down with a bang.

But soon, he no longer felt the pain. He felt too sleepy to open his eyes. He saw the group of people driving the ox carts loaded with goods gradually disappearing on the horizon. He finally slowly closed his eyes. He thought it was because the sunlight was too dazzling.

At the moment when he was deeply immersed in darkness, Wang Sheng sighed softly and said, "Xiao Man, I'm sorry, I didn't listen to you..."