Chapter 220 The Truth
Zeng Tai saw Zong Huaichang's statement and couldn't help but say, "Master, General Zong is right! He has bad luck, but he shouldn't be a Khitan spy."

"Otherwise, why would Snake Spirit go to so much trouble to protect the two spies Qiu Jing and Su Honghui and convince General Miezong? I think Chengyuan has misunderstood."

Di Renjie smiled and shook his head: "You are wrong, on the contrary, the snake spirit did not kill Zong Huaichang to protect Qiu Jing and Su Honghui, but sacrificed Qiu Jing and Su Honghui to protect Zong Huaichang!"

"Ah?" Zeng Tai was shocked when he heard this and quickly turned around to look at Zong Huaichang.

Zong Huaichang looked at Di Renjie in disbelief: "Marshal, why do you say that? Where is the evidence?"

Zhao Ji looked at Zong Huaichang coldly: "Do you think that since Zhang Xuanyu is in Khitan and Su Honghui and Yan Feishi are dead, no one will confront you?"

"Let me tell you, we have re-interrogated Qiu Jing and Song Wuji, and they have confessed. First, since Wang Xiaojie did not allow the Pingzhou Governor's Office to interfere with grain transportation, you were in charge of the grain protection team once, but it was still robbed by the Khitan."

"Second, the ambush you suffered by the Khitan outside Pingzhou City had nothing to do with Su Honghui's rebels. In other words, the spy in these two incidents was you!"

Zong Huaichang sneered, refused to plead guilty, and said tit for tat: "Captain Zhao is wrong! First, the words of these two traitors, Qiu Jing and Song Wuji, cannot be trusted."

"Secondly, even if what they said is true, it does not prove that I am a spy. Could it be that the Khitans are too cunning? Could it be that there are spies under my command? Please investigate carefully, Marshal!"

Upon hearing this, Zeng Tai nodded dazedly again and looked at Di Renjie.

Di Renjie smiled slightly and began his deep voice: "Remember when I first met General Zong, you happened to be seriously injured and fell on the road we had to take to get to Dongliulin Town. Don't you think it's a coincidence?"

"My army was defeated nearby and I lost my way at night. There is nothing strange about this," Zong Huaichang explained.

Di Renjie continued to smile and ignored him, continuing: "You lost too much blood at the beginning and indeed fell into a coma. But judging from your pulse, it is far from being possible to be in a coma for two or three days in a row."

Zong Huaichang was about to refute when he heard this, but Di Renjie spoke first: "Of course, it is also possible that you are really seriously injured, and the pulse condition cannot be completely accurate. The most suspicious thing is still the assassination."

Zeng Tai was very puzzled when he heard this: "Assassination? Why is it suspicious that General Zong was assassinated? He almost lost his life because of it!"

Zhao Ji smiled when he heard this: "The problem lies in this 'almost', he didn't die!"

Zong Huaichang was stunned when he heard this, and became emotional: "Zhao Ji! What do you mean? What do you mean I am not dead? Marshal, this, Commander Zhao is really going too far!"

Di Renjie picked up the teacup, took a sip, and agreed: "In fact, I felt the same way at the time. The fake Di Chun was responsible for taking care of you. He had ten thousand ways to kill you. But in the end, although you were poisoned, you survived. Why is that?"

Zeng Tai thought for a moment and said, "Master, I remember that you and Cheng Yuan analyzed that it was the fake Di Chun who wanted to clear himself of suspicion. He reported the good news after General Zong woke up and then sent another assassin to assassinate him. As a result, the guards left too quickly, so General Zong survived."

Zhao Ji shook his head and denied it: "On the surface, it seems so, but it doesn't make sense when you think about it carefully. Su Honghui and Qiu Jing are in high positions, and they hold great military and political power."

"Khitan relied on them to win in the previous times. In fact, their importance is even greater than Shadow's. Although Shadow thinks highly of himself, he is not afraid of death and is unlikely to create such a loophole for his own safety."

"Besides, I saw with my own eyes that Shadow shot Deputy General Sha to death with the Shadowless Needle. There's no reason why he couldn't kill Zong Huaichang."

Di Renjie looked at Zong Huaichang deeply and said, "The most important thing is the mysterious assassin who came and went without a trace."

"Assassin?" Zeng Tai was a little confused.

Zhao Ji nodded and said, "That's right, we initially thought that the assassin was Ruyan."

"Ruyan?" Zeng Tairen was stunned. He didn't know Ruyan's tortuous story yet.

Di Renjie continued, "Yes, Ruyan was another spy who infiltrated my circle, but she had already defected in the Turkic region. We talked about this topic while chatting." "She looked very surprised at the time. She said that she had not assassinated Zong Huaichang. When she saw that Zong Huaichang was not dead, she was very puzzled and thought that Shadow had made a mistake. So Chengyuan and I immediately realized that we had overlooked a possibility."

Zong Huaichang no longer had any interest in refuting at this point. He realized that his words were meaningless.

Zhao Ji took a deep breath and continued, "Yes, there was no assassin at all. The Qianniu guard who broke into the room was killed by Zong Huaichang himself."

"That's why all the guards didn't see the assassin. It's not because the assassin's martial arts and concealment skills are so advanced, but because there is no such person at all!"

"The poisonous invisible needle was also stabbed into Zong Huaichang's own shoulder. And this is the dagger he used to kill Qianniuwei!"

As he spoke, Zhao Ji took out a dagger from his arms.

The moment he saw the dagger, Zong Huaichang couldn't help but sigh and was completely in despair.

When Zeng Tai saw Zong Huaichang's appearance, he finally realized that the person in front of him was indeed a Snake Spirit spy.

But he still had some confusion: "Chengyuan, but there were four Qianniu guards standing guard outside Zong Huachang's room, three of them died in the room, and one died under the west window."

"Based on this, it was inferred that the assassin first killed the Qianniu Guards at the west window and entered the room from the west window. If Zong Huaichang killed the three assassins who entered the room, it is indeed possible."

"Zong Huaichang couldn't leave the room, so how could he kill the Qianniu Guard outside the west window? Even if he attacked from behind the window, the wound should be on the back, but the wounds of the Qianniu Guard were all on the neck."

Zhao Ji smiled and answered: "It's very simple. The Qianniu Guard under the west window was not killed by him, but by his shadow. The situation at that time should be like this..."

"The shadow killed the Qianniu guard at the west window first, and then ran to report the news. The other three Qianniu guards were at the east window and the main gate respectively, and could not see the person who was killed."

"Zong Huaichang calculated the approximate time and began to call for help. The three surviving Qianniu Guards rushed into the room. They never expected that the person calling for help would attack them, so they were caught unawares and all died."

"Later, Zong Huaichang hid the bloody dagger and stabbed his own shoulder with a poisonous invisible needle, completing the inflicting self-torture."

Di Renjie nodded and said, "Yes, this dagger was found in the fake Di Chun's room. They were afraid that putting it in Zong Huaichang's room would arouse suspicion. They really thought hard about it!"

"Since the battle of Dongxiashi Valley, Xiao Qingfang has made two preparations. One is to frame Wang Xiaojie and protect Su Honghui and Qiu Jing. They used a clumsy self-torture trick."

"But after testing them, they found that Qiu Jing and Su Honghui could not gain our trust, so they quickly changed their plans and abandoned them to cover for you."

"You have some friendship with Chengyuan, and you took advantage of your coma to avoid Wang Xiaojie's 'rebellion'. Unlike Qiu Jing and Su Honghui, you did not reveal your flaws."

"Your spying activities are well hidden. Just like your defense, it is always specious and lacks evidence."

"With your self-torture and deception, the Snake Spirit attempted to silence you twice to protect Qiu Jing and Su Honghui. This is logically impeccable."

"If it weren't for so many coincidences and Ruyan's behavior, it wouldn't be that easy to completely confirm your identity."

Zong Huaichang sighed again upon hearing this: "So what? Losing is losing after all. We were just one step behind in the end."

Zhao Ji said coldly: "You were wrong from the beginning. Snake Spirits are not up to par after all. Relying on the Khitan and Turks is like seeking the skin of a tiger."

"Using spies is a means of military warfare, but it is impossible to always win by this means. There will always be times when one makes mistakes. Now I am using a counter-espionage strategy. The Khitan army has always relied on the spies of the Snake Spirit. Now I want them all to be returned!"

(End of this chapter)