Criminal investigation in ancient times

Mrs. An shed tears before she spoke, she took out a handkerchief from her skirt and wiped the corners of her eyes and said, "Husband reads very late in the study every day, usually I rest first by myself, and he only goes back to bed in the middle of the night, occasionally busy Sleeping too late in the study room is also possible. That day was as usual...Who would have thought that such a thing would happen...I slept soundly at night, and I didn't wake up until I heard the noise in the yard. When I came out, I saw...then I saw my husband's body lying on the ground." Said here, he was so sad that he couldn't bear to cry.

Lin Xiaoqing sighed and said, "Did no one else hear anything in that courtyard?"

Mrs. An shook her head, Lin Xiaoqing led the servants to the courtyard to have a look, there was a big locust tree in the center of the courtyard, the branches were bare, only the blackened trunk.It is said that the trees outside have already sprouted green leaves, why does this tree have no green shoots at all?After asking the steward next to him, he found out that the locust tree was dead, but how did the tree die so well... It's really evil.

In the distance, a man in a navy blue robe sat on a chair and looked at them coldly. He didn't look like a servant.After asking the housekeeper, it turned out that An Yunsheng also had a concubine brother named An Yunshu, who had been living in Anfu because of his disabled legs and had not married a wife.Lin Xiaoqing glanced at the man and patted the dead tree, but when he reached out his hand, he saw a small piece of black dregs in the palm of his hand, which shattered into powder when he held it.Lin Xiaoqing put the powder under his nose and sniffed, his face changed slightly and he said, "Let's go."

After returning to Dali Temple and telling Zhang Yaozhi about the Anfu, Mr. Zhang stroked his beard and said, "This Mr. An actually has an elder brother, and his elder brother has disabled legs?"

Lin Xiaoqing nodded and said, "The housekeeper said so."

Zhang Yaozhi: "Go and check his brother, I always feel that this matter has something to do with him."

Lin Xiaoqing paused and said: "My lord, I found dried blood on the tree where An Yunsheng hanged himself. It seems that it has been a while."

Zhang Yaozhi said, "Oh? There are bloodstains on the tree?"

Lin Xiaoqing: "And that tree is already dead..."

***

I have to say that this hidden guard is really extraordinary!The man in black was found three days later!

Zhang Rui sent someone to lock him secretly in a small room in the backyard.After being caught, the man just lay on the bed, neither eating nor drinking. As Zhang Rui expected, he had several stab wounds on his body, his face was burnt beyond recognition, and his hair and eyebrows were gone.It may not have been healed, and the wounds were inflamed and festered, which looked horrific.

He Ming went to apply medicine to him several times, but the man opened it with a wave of his hand. He had no choice but to ask Duan Xiaobai to apply medicine on his acupuncture points.

Zhang Rui would go to see that person at night. At first, this person just turned his back to Zhang Rui and didn't look back no matter what he said.Slowly began to turn his head to listen to what Zhang Rui said.In the end, he finally let go of his vigilance, and Guan Zhangrui asked for a pen and paper.

The man's throat was smothered by the fire, and he could not speak. The ten fingers of both hands were burned and lost half of their fingers. It was difficult to hold the pen. It took a long time to write a few words: I am Xu Chao.

Zhang Rui was stunned!When he got up in a panic, he brought the inkstone on the table to the ground, splashing ink all over his body.

Xu Chao bent down to pick up the inkstone, and laughed silently with his mouth open: Drink, drink...

Zhang Ruidao: "Impossible! If you are Xu Chao, who is the corpse in Yizhuang?!"

Xu Chao raised his eyes and glanced at him, took a pen and wrote: That's the guard next to me. When I found out that I was poisoned that day, the two of us changed clothes.

Zhang Rui: "Then why are there 37 corpses in total?"

Xu Chao: One of them was a beggar on the side of the road. After I escaped, I knocked the beggar unconscious and threw him into the fire to pretend to be a dead body.

Zhang Rui sat back on the chair in a daze and said, "Then who poisoned you?"

Suddenly, Xu Chao's eyes turned red and his face was ferocious, and he wrote two large characters on the paper: Xiongnu!

Zhang Rui: "The Huns?! But are they related to Wu Guan?"

Xu Chao nodded, sighed and began to write slowly...

Tongzhou has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times, and it is also the only way to escort grain and grass during war.Under the guise of banditry in Tongzhou, the Huns began to raise soldiers in Tongzhou, and Wu Guan was a pawn placed by the Huns in Tongzhou!When Xu Chaocong accepted his appointment as the prefect of Tongzhou, he focused on suppressing bandits. At the beginning, he almost wiped out the bandits pretending to be common people on the mountain, but the bandits that appeared later did not look like bandits, but like an army!

Xu Chao was just skeptical, and then slowly figured out the way. This group of people did not leave any survivors when they robbed them, regardless of whether they were young or old, they were all killed with one blow.In order to track down this group of people, Xu Chao spent a lot of effort.The previous attempts all ended in failure.But the hard work paid off, and finally encountered this group of people in a siege, and the two sides fought fiercely.In the end, Xu Chao's side had an advantage in numbers, and wiped out the gang of bandits, leaving two survivors.The words spoken by these two people were actually in Hun language!Xu Chao knew that this matter was so important that he could not solve it by himself as a magistrate, so he had to report it to the emperor.But he was afraid of being found out by the elaborator, so he wrote a memorial overnight and sent it out in the name of requesting a transfer.

Unexpectedly, the memorial was intercepted before it was delivered to the emperor. The man found out that Xu Chao knew the secret of the banditry in Tongzhou, so he issued an explicit order to kill Xu Chao, which was also the reason why Xu Chao's family was wiped out in the end.The sky has eyes, that person never thought that Xu Chao escaped the catastrophe and survived the catastrophe, so he brought out this secret.

After reading Xu Chao's writing, Zhang Rui fell into silence. In this way, it should be this group of people who intercepted and killed him on the way.It seems that there are secret works of the Huns in the imperial court!

Zhang Rui: "I will report this matter to the emperor, and let the emperor decide for you!"

Xu Chaoyi shook his head hastily, pulled Zhang Rui and yelled, what he meant Zhang Rui understood, if this matter was revealed, he would end up like him.

Zhang Rui: "Master Xu, don't worry, I have other ways to send this matter to the capital. If you trust me, stay here and wait for my news."

Xu Chao hesitated for a long while, nodded heavily and wrote: I will entrust the matter of Xu Mou to Mr. Zhang!More than [-] members of my Xu family died, please seek justice for me, my lord!

Zhang Rui looked at Xu Chaotou covered in scars, his face was completely changed, only half of his hands were left, and one leg was still limping.The bottom of my heart throbbed slightly. The once majestic and majestic Lieutenant Qingche now fell into this inhuman and ghost-like appearance. It is really sad and helpless!When he returned to his room, his heart was still uncomfortable as if he was being pressed by a big rock, so he took out a pen and paper and wrote out the whole story, and sent it to Beijing through the secret guard.I don't know what expression Zhou Yin will have when he sees it, the person who everyone thought was dead is still alive...

***

It was almost May when this letter was delivered to Kyoto, and there were several twists and turns along the way.Zhou Yin was taken aback when he received the letter. He didn't expect that the murder of the prefect of Tongzhou was actually done by the Huns, and that Xu Chao, the prefect of Tongzhou, was not dead!He immediately set off to the palace and told the emperor about it in person.

The weather got warmer, and the emperor's health improved a lot. These days, there were some signs of taking pills. Although Zhang Rui persuaded him many times, none of them worked, and he gave up after a long time.

After listening to his words, the emperor said: "Zhang Rui did a good job investigating this case, do you miss him after being separated for so long?"

Zhou Yin blushed and said, "That's for sure."

The emperor chuckled and said, "Then I will help you, and lead five thousand soldiers to Tongzhou to support your little Lanyan."

Zhou Yin was taken aback for a moment, and then said with a smile on his face, "Brother Huang's words are true?!"

The emperor: "You are not joking."

Zhou Yin hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed to thank the emperor.

The emperor: "Get up quickly, you are too close to Zheng'er, it's not suitable to stay in the capital now, Sheng'er and Zheng'er each rely on their own abilities, if someone else intervenes between them, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep this person."

Zhang Rui's breath stagnates and he nods: "My brother has one more thing to ask..."

***

The case in Tongzhou was clear, but Zhang Rui hadn't made up his mind. It had been more than half a month since the letter was sent, but there was no news from Kyoto, and it was unknown whether Zhou Yin had received the letter.Called the hidden guard to inquire several times but shook his head in silence.

Zhang Rui was anxious in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face. Wu Guan got the news from nowhere in the past few days, and visited Zhang Rui's mansion several times openly and secretly. tone.While dealing with him, Zhang Rui was wary of the changes of the Huns, for fear that the news that Xu Chao was not dead would spread.

Recently, Lin Xiaoze became obsessed with writing. He shut himself in the study every day to copy the copybooks. His handwriting was pretty good. Even his husband praised him when he was in school. Now that he has worked hard, his writing skills are even better. Thousands of miles a day.And he also found that he could copy anyone's handwriting, as long as he read it once, no one else could tell the difference!

When He Ming had nothing to do, he gave him a copy of the medicine list he had written, but even he himself couldn't tell which one was written by him and which was written by Lin Xiaoze. This skill is amazing!

Zhang Rui also praised him after learning about it. Since he is keen on writing, it is better to train him to write this. Handwriting verification has always been rarely done by people. Most people who are proficient in calligraphy are not willing to do this kind of thing.If Lin Xiaoze develops this ability, it will be much easier to authenticate any letters in the future.

Xu Chao's health has also improved in the past few days. The medicine He Ming gave him is quite effective. The wounds on his body have scabbed over, and it won't take long for him to recover.It's just that the throat was poisoned and then smoked, making it difficult to speak in the future.

After waiting for nearly a month, there was still no sound from the court. Zhang Rui and others were very anxious. Could it be that the letter hadn't been delivered?impossible!The secret guard said that he had sent the letter to Zhou Yin, so why hasn't Zhou Yin responded yet?He didn't reply to himself, maybe he has another way?When he was thinking hard, Zhou Yin had already followed the army towards Tongzhou!

The army was led by Zhongwei doctor Yang Yuanzhong, and Zhou Yin supervised the army.This Yang Yuanzhong was related to Zhou Yin as a cousin of his mother's family.It's just that Zhou Yin's mother concubine Yang Taifei has a bad relationship with the Yang family, so the two have never been in contact.

After all, they are related by blood. Yang Yuanzhong and Zhou Yin look quite similar when they stand together. The difference is that Yang Yuanzhong is a military general and has the aura unique to military generals, while Zhou Yin has the noble aura unique to the royal family. gas.The two didn't say anything else when they met, and obeyed the emperor's order.

Zhou Yin did not tell Zhang Rui the news that he led the troops to suppress the bandits. First, this dispatch was carried out secretly, because there was an enemy spy in the imperial court, and he could not make a big fanfare until he found out who the spy was. So he led his troops to Tongzhou to suppress the bandits.Once the wind leaks out, it is estimated that it will only be counterproductive.The second is to give him a surprise. I haven't seen him for such a long time. I don't know if the kid has grown taller or thinner...Thinking about this, I wish I could grow wings and fly over.

The five thousand soldiers and horses were also temporarily drawn from Youzhou, and as far as the court was concerned, it was almost unknown.

The previous spies reported that there were about [-] Huns disguised as bandits. This group of people was good at ambushes and moved quickly. They were a very strong team.This siege must be done in one go. If any fish slip through the net, it will not only scare the snake, but also make those who are ambushing in Tongzhou unfavorable to Zhang Rui. Zhou Yin has to deal with it with [-] points of energy.The army rushed for half a month and arrived in Tongzhou in early June.

Zhang Rui had been following the army in a carriage because of his physical discomfort. The bumps along the way made him uncomfortable, but he was in good spirits, his eyes sparkled, and finally... finally came out of the capital!It was finally time to meet that person... The closer he was to Tongzhou, the more uneasy Zhou Yin felt. The two hadn't seen each other for three months, so he didn't know what he looked like now.I don't know if I look more haggard than before.

This time, apart from Zhan Qing and the dark guard, He Xiangru and Na Fengxuan's little apprentice were also brought along.

Speaking of which, this kid was also secretly followed. On the day he came out of the mansion, this kid actually secretly hid in the luggage car, and was caught by someone who accidentally found him.Zhan Qing brought him over, Zhou Yin asked him why he ran out privately?

The kid said: "I'm going to find my master!"

Zhou Yin: "Your master is not in Tongzhou, what are you going to Tongzhou for?"

Qing Luo rolled his eyes wildly and said, "Who is going to Tongzhou? I just want to follow the carriage out of the city. After I leave the city, I will go find Master by myself."

Zhou Yin raised his eyebrows and said, "Okay, then come out of the city with me, and get off the car to find your master by yourself."

Qing Luo pursed her lips and said inwardly: Hmph, I'll go to my master when I leave the city, who loves to follow you.As a result, he was dumbfounded when he left the city. He couldn't even tell the difference between the southeast and the north, how to find it?I had no choice but to follow the carriage obediently and dare not wander around again.

Seeing him laughing like this, Zhou Yin said, "It's fine if you go to Tongzhou with me, but if you're dishonest, don't blame me for throwing you down halfway." Man, if he really threw himself on the road, wouldn't he never see the master again!