When Zhang Heng was in the southeast city, Cornu used the Balance Blade's doctrine to test him. After that, Zhang Heng told Altrus about it. Now that he was in the dungeon, there was no way he could lie about it.
At the same time, Zhang Heng also realized that it was not a coincidence that Commodus asked him and Clint to interrogate the assassin. Commodus wanted Zhang Heng, the "insider", to expose the existence of the Balance Blade.
This also meant that the assassination that took place at the bridge in the afternoon was not orchestrated by the Balance Blade. Instead, Altrus colluded with Commodus to perform a two-man show.
Altrus never thought of using a substitute to stand in front of the stage to do things for him. He only used the substitute as a consumable, and he successfully blamed the assassination on the Balance Blade. This way, he could use the power of the state to besiege the Balance Blade.
And the truth was even more exciting than Zhang Heng had guessed.
When he and Clint reported the information they obtained from the female assassin to Commodus, the emperor immediately issued a wanted order for all the members of the Balance Blade. In order to avenge his most trusted advisor, Commodus even took out 100,000 gold coins from his private vault as a reward.
The senate also expressed its concern about this matter. A group of nobles led by Dior immediately expressed their condolences for Altrus's assassination. Since it was against the rules to use the treasury's funds to hunt down the assassin, they even donated another 200,000 gold coins to add to the reward. But in private, many people were actually gloating.
Altrus was Commodus's man, and he had always been regarded as Commodus's right-hand man together with Clint. Now that Altrus was dead, Commodus had lost an arm. The young emperor would have to rely on the senate more in the future.
Such a situation was undoubtedly what a group of nobles led by Dior wanted to see. However, their happiness only lasted for less than half a day. After that, they were dumbfounded because they realized that they seemed to have underestimated the young emperor.
With Altrus's death, Commodus began to purge the high-ranking generals in the imperial guards.
Other than Sebutul, the Protector of the Militia, who had escaped the calamity because of his meritorious service in protecting Commodus, the other officers who were born nobles were either transferred or dismissed. They were replaced by a group of officers who had fought with Commodus against the Germanic tribes. Regardless of their origins, they all had one thing in common: they were loyal to Commodus.
In the end, except for Commodus, the supreme commander of the imperial guards, who did not move for the time being, all the other middle and high-ranking generals were replaced. This meant that Commodus actually had complete control over the strongest armed forces in Rome.
By the time the Senate reacted, everything had already been settled. Dio and the others could only look at each other in dismay.
However, Zhang Heng did not have much time to care about these political turmoil for the time being. Five days had passed since Altrus was assassinated, and the Balance Blade still had not contacted him.
For the past five days, nothing had happened around him. And just this morning, Commodus summoned him. Because of his outstanding performance in the assassination at the bridge, killing three assassins, Commodus decided to reward him with a large piece of land. So far, Zhang Heng's territory had even surpassed many aristocratic families that had been around for generations.
The only drawback was that it was a little far from Rome. If there was a war in the future, it would easily become the frontline. But even so, many people envied him. After all, even if they were all advisers, there were still differences in their abilities.
Now, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Clint would take over Altrus's position and become Commodus's chief advisor. And Zhang Heng would become the next Clint. Of course, the premise was that he could find a way to repair the small conflict between him and Clint because of his persuasion.
Clint was now waiting for Zhang Heng to bow down to him. Although he still felt that Zhang Heng was a threat, it did not prevent him from enjoying the victory at this stage. What embarrassed him was that Zhang Heng did not come to him for the next few days. And Zhang Heng was busy with something. He was often not at home all day.
But tonight, it was rare for Zhang Heng to spend the night at home. He reached out, pushed the door open, and walked into the front hall. Suddenly, Zhang Heng stopped in his tracks.
He had sent the slave girl away almost a month ago. Now, there were only Zhang Heng and two servants in the domus that came with the house. These two servants did not live with Zhang Heng for a long time, and they did not attract much attention. However, they did their job well.
In the past, when Zhang Heng returned home at this time, someone would come out to greet him. But now, the entire domus was silent. Zhang Heng stood in the front hall. The moonlight reflected on the walls of the rain-bearing pond, causing the water to sway slightly.
And Zhang Heng's ears caught the sound of a sharp weapon cutting through the air.
Almost as soon as Zhang Heng moved his front foot, an arrow shot the place where he was standing just now. Without looking up, Zhang Heng knew that the archer was hiding on the second floor, and it was most likely the assassin who killed Altrus by the bridge earlier.
The archer's archery left a deep impression on Zhang Heng. Hence, he did not think much about it. Instead, he flashed behind a marble pillar next to him. However, just when he was about to approach the marble pillar, he suddenly stopped without warning.
At the same time, a scimitar stretched out from behind the marble pillar, slashing at his face. If Zhang Heng did not stop moving just now, he would have been cut in half by the scimitar.
However, Zhang Heng's crisis was not over yet. Although he managed to avoid the premeditated ambush by relying on his superhuman hearing and judgment, he did not forget that there was a sharpshooter on the second floor. Obviously, the sharpshooter would not let go of such a good opportunity. And just as he thought, the moment he stopped moving, the sharpshooter on the second floor seized the fleeting opportunity and released the bowstring.
So now, not only did Zhang Heng have to face the scimitar in front of him, but he also had to deal with the second arrow that was coming at him.
Zhang Heng made a decision without much hesitation. Since the scimitar was about to slash his chest, he had to deal with this imminent crisis first. So, Zhang Heng swung the Persian dagger in his hand, and at the same time, his other hand quickly pressed on the hilt of the other Persian dagger.
Almost at the same time when Zhang Heng blocked the scimitar, the deadly arrow also flew in front of him. Zhang Heng had to use the sword-drawing technique to pull out the other Persian dagger at the last moment. After that, he used the method he used to deal with the archer gladiator at the Amphitheatrum Flavium to deflect the arrow that was shot at him.
One thing for sure was that neither of the two assassins in front of him had seen Zhang Heng's performance. So when they witnessed this scene, they were inevitably in a trance.
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