Criminal investigation in ancient times

Zhang Rui walked down the hall, squatted beside the deceased, and lifted the white cloth from his body, only to see that the two were pale and bleeding.Looking at the murderer's wounds, the flesh on the entire neck was turned up and the wounds were smooth... Pai He Xiangru conducted an autopsy again and found that the two deceased were killed by cutting off their heads with a sharp knife, which made people feel strange Well, cut off the head with one knife, not to mention there is still a bone in the middle, if this person is killed alive, he will still struggle.Unless this person was tied up beforehand, or drugged.

Reaching out to lift off the clothes of the two deceased, it turned out that the wrists and ankles of the two had been strangled by ropes. This kind of binding method is very special, both hands and feet are bound, but there is no trace of binding on the body. .Moreover, the strangle marks on the hands and feet were very heavy, as if they had been hung up before, which reminded Zhang Rui of slaughtering animals...

The crowd outside the hall saw that a big man had come, and even the magistrate wanted to kowtow to them, and they all scattered like birds and beasts in fright, Zhan Qing walked over and said: "Uncle Han, this dead man is too scary, you take Qing Luo and Hu Zi back to the inn first, we will investigate Go back after finishing the case."

Uncle Han nodded, and looked worriedly at the hall, seeing his young master looking at the corpse, he sighed inwardly, he felt dizzy looking at the red-stained white cloth, the young master is really getting bolder.

Zhang Rui: "Where were these two people found?"

The yamen servant next to him said: "It was discovered by a passing farmer, and he hurriedly reported it to the government yamen."

"Was the head separated from the body when the body was found?"

The yamen servant shook his head: "It seems that the head was placed on the neck of the corpse on purpose. If it hadn't fallen when we were carrying the corpse, it would not have been seen that it had been chopped off."

Zhang Rui squinted and touched his earlobe: "Where is the body found? Take me to see it!"

A group of people followed the yamen servant to the scene of the crime, searched around several times but did not find the murder weapon.Zhang Rui looked at the ground carefully and said: "This place is not the first scene of the crime! Both of them had their necks cut off, and all the blood in their bodies flowed out. It is impossible that there is only this little bit."

Zhou Yin said: "Could it all seep into the bottom?"

Zhang Rui shook his head and said: "Human blood is different from water. Blood is much thicker. Even if some seeps into the ground, there will still be a lot of viscous slurry left on the ground. Those slurry will coagulate into blood clots and will not seep into the ground. disappeared."

He Xiangru stroked his beard and said: "Master Zhang is right, blood will indeed coagulate and not seep into the ground. Besides, it is impossible for two middle-aged people to have only this amount of blood."

Xu Chang went up to have a look, and there was only a small bloodstain on the ground. "Check out any suspicious signs nearby!"

The yamen servants scattered around to search, and suddenly a person said: "My lord, there seems to be some blood here." Several people walked forward and saw a few drops of dried blood on the ground, and there were some more as they walked forward, walking further and further along the bloodstain, At the end of the walk, I came to the entrance of a small village, but the bloodstains were no longer to be found.

Xu Chang said: "Send people to search from house to house to see if there are any clues!"

Zhang Rui looked at the small village with a frown and wondered, was it the blood that the murderer accidentally dripped on the ground or was he trying to lure them into the small village?

This village is not big, there are only about [-] households, and there are no more than a hundred people in total.The yamen servants finished the search in a while, and brought out six or seven people from the private households.

Report back to the adults: "Blood-stained knives were found in almost everyone's home."

Zhang Rui wondered, how could there be blood-stained knives?These people were escorted out and knelt on the ground without knowing why.They all said, "My lord, why are you arresting us?"

Xu Chang said: "Why do you have bloody knives in your home!"

One of the men said: "My lord, we are all butchers. It is normal for a family to kill pigs and sheep with bloody knives."

butcher?It turns out that these people are all butchers!No wonder the dead man's wound was smooth and clean. It required both strength and skill to cut it with a single knife, and only a butcher can drive it out of this level.

Zhang Rui said: "Take out their knives and show them to me.

Liuqi put the bone-chopping knives on the ground, and Zhang Rui picked them up to identify them one by one. Although there were bloodstains on the knives, it was impossible to tell which was human and which was animal.

"Are you the only butchers in your village?"

The six people nodded, and suddenly one of them said: "Is there any change in career?"

Zhang Ruidao: "Change your career? What did you change to?"

The butcher said: "There is another butcher in our village who accidentally cut off half of his hand while slaughtering a pig, and then changed his career to become a groom."

Zhang Rui said: "Send someone to call him too, let's take everyone back to the yamen." He said and got into the car.

It was almost noon when we got back to the city, a few people didn't have lunch at noon, so they had to go back to the inn to have something to eat before going to the government office to interrogate the butchers.

When the shopkeeper saw the few people coming back, he hurriedly went up to kneel and kowtowed: "Thank you, Mr. Benedict, for clearing up the grievances of the little one today, otherwise a flesh and blood meal will be unavoidable."

Zhang Rui waved his hand and said, "There's no need to be too polite, the shopkeeper won't wrong you if he hasn't done anything outrageous."

The shopkeeper nodded, wiped the corner of his eyes with his hand and said, "Have you caught the real culprit? Those two people are really miserable. They were fine yesterday. I didn't expect it to be like this in a blink of an eye... Sigh~"

Zhang Rui: "Haven't been caught yet, but the Skynet is full of details, so the murderer will definitely be caught."

The shopkeeper said: "That's good, that's good..."

Zhou Yin: "The shopkeeper will arrange some meals for us."

"Okay, right now, you guys sit down first, and I'll ask Xiao Er to order for you." He said and made tea and brought it to the table.

Zhan Qing took the teapot, poured a cup of tea, and handed it to Zhou Yin, saying, "Today, the magistrate is so bold that he dared to attack the prince and your lord."

Zhou Yin took a sip and snorted coldly: "With eyes but no pearls, he deserves to be unlucky if he doesn't recognize this king. His official uniform will definitely be taken away. Although Duanzhou is not as good as Jiangzhou and Yangzhou, it is still very rich. , if he gets a book, those officials who want to make a fortune will definitely take the opportunity to trample him to death and arrange their own people to come up."

Zhang Rui nodded: "Xu Chang is really smart all his life. He was confused for a while. It is said that he managed Duanzhou well. He shouldn't have done such a thing. But this case should be reported to the court. It is good to be strict as an official, but if you blindly Severe punishment, after a long time, will make the common people feel insecure, fearful of the government, dare not report anything to the government, and help those treacherous people to murder other people's lives."

After a while Xiao Er came over from the backyard, looked a little sick, and spoke weakly, took the rag from his shoulder and asked, "What kind of food do you guys want?"

Zhang Ruidao: "The second brother is sick?"

Xiao Er hastily waved his hands and said, "It's nothing, it's all because I was scared today."

Zhang Rui nodded and said, "Let's make another table with the same food as yesterday." Xiao Er bowed and said goodbye.

After a while, the dishes came out, and the boss actually added two more dishes.Zhang Rui smiled and laughed that the boss knew how to behave. Although he knew that some people had special identities, he was not something he could flatter. He simply treated them as ordinary people, and everyone felt at ease.Suddenly remembering the strange voice at night, he called the shopkeeper to ask.

"Shopkeeper, is there anyone living in the backyard of your inn?"

The shopkeeper's expression changed slightly, he shook his head and said, "No, there is only a woodshed in the backyard, and there are only piles of firewood in the woodshed, so no one lives there."

Zhang Ruidao: "Then why are there women crying at night?"

The shopkeeper swallowed his saliva and said, "You guys also heard it last night?"

Everyone nodded, Qing Luo said: "That voice was so scary, I was so scared that I didn't dare to sleep all night."

Hu Zi also said: "Sounds like a ghost that is demanding his life!"

The shopkeeper hurriedly said: "Don't talk nonsense!... Hey, it has happened for more than three months. My shop has been passed down from my grandfather's generation, and its reputation has always been very good. There are many merchants We are so used to living here that we don’t want to go anywhere else.”

"Three months ago, the store was fine. Many customers came to stay in the store every day. The business was very hot. I hired three waiters and couldn't keep up. Then one night, there was a cry from the backyard. The sound frightened the business travelers to leave the inn one after another, unwilling to stay in again."

"At first I thought it was someone playing tricks, and secretly sent a few people to guard the backyard at night, and when the night was late, they would catch the person pretending to be a ghost! It's strange to say that every time I send people, the crying will stop. But I can't always send people to guard it. After a long time, the inn is rumored to be haunted. Except for the first time coming to Duanzhou from other places, people will come to our inn. Others rarely come, and so did the two people who died. Hear the crying and howling and leave the room."

After hearing this, Zhang Rui strengthened his guess, the crying must be man-made.Is this just to suppress the business of their inn?Or did the shopkeeper offend someone.

A few people went to the government office after dinner, Xu Chang was waiting at the door early, when he saw them coming, he hastily greeted them with a flattering smile and said: "My lord, my lord has already prepared wine and food in the mansion, but I never thought that the two of you have already returned home." The inn."

Zhou Yin smiled and said, "You can eat people with a short mouth, let's try the case." The smile on Xu Chang's face froze, and he followed the two into the lobby.

The butchers were brought up by the yamen servants.

These people were ordinary people, and it was the first time they came to the government at such a young age, and they were all so frightened that they didn't dare to breathe, and they didn't dare to look at the people above them.

Zhang Ruidao: "Two people died outside your village yesterday, ten miles north, do you know?"

Everyone in the hall shook their heads and said, "I don't know."

Zhang Ruidao: "Bring up those blood-stained bone knives and let them identify which one belongs to them."

Several butchers identified one by one and took away all their own knives. In the end, only one knife was left unclaimed.

Zhang Rui: "Isn't this knife yours?"

Several people shook their heads and said, "It's not ours."

Zhang Rui: "How could there be an extra knife? Where was this knife found?"

The yamen servant said: "This one was found in a groom's house."

Zhang Rui frowned: "Where is Mrs. Ma?"

Yamen servant: "I have sent someone to look for it, and it should be brought back soon."

Zhang Rui stepped forward, picked up the knife and looked at it. The blade was wiped clean, but the handle turned purple due to long-term blood soaking.I watched it several times with no problems.Zhang Rui casually touched the wood at the front of the knife handle.

"!!!" His finger was stained with blood.Zhang Rui raised the corner of his mouth slightly and said, "Is this groom the one who changed his career from a butcher?"

The butcher next to him said: "That's right, my lord, this is the guy the little one said, because he likes to drink, and he accidentally cut off half of his hand when he was slaughtering a pig when he was drunk, and then he changed his job as a groom." .”

Zhang Rui: "Does this man still slaughter livestock after becoming a groom?"

Butcher: "No, it's hard for him to hold livestock with one hand, and he drinks too much, and he's always drunk. People don't want to use him to slaughter for fear of accidents."

"So, this man hasn't slaughtered livestock for a long time?" Several butchers nodded.

Zhang Ruidao: "Catch this groom immediately, the murderer should be him!"

Xu Chang next to him was stunned and said, "How does your lord know that the murderer is a groom?"

Zhang Rui gave him the knife in his hand and said, "Look at this knife."

Xu Chang looked at it and said, "It's just an ordinary butcher's knife, nothing special about it."

Zhang Rui shook his head with a smile, and handed the knife to Zhou Yin again.Zhou Yin raised his eyebrows, looked up and down with a knife and said, "My king's eyes are clumsy, and I can't see any clues."

Zhang Rui showed him the handle of the knife, and Zhou Yin stretched out his hand to wipe it, and sure enough, his fingertip was also stained with a trace of blood.Zhou Yin's eyes lit up and said, "This knife should have been used recently!"

"That's right, several butchers said that he hasn't slaughtered a pig for a long time, so where did this wet blood come from?"

Xu Chang suddenly realized, and was immediately ashamed that he was not as careful as a half-old child in observing.It's no wonder that at such a young age, he has already been appointed as the inspector of the fourth rank.

When the groom was found, he was drunk and fast asleep in the car. When the yamen servants brought him back, they must have resorted to tough methods. He was so frightened that his face was pale and trembling, he peed his pants, knelt down and kowtowed incessantly.

Zhang Rui patted the gavel and said: "The people in the hall should report their names!"

The groom stammered, "Little...Little Cheng Er"

Zhang Rui picked up the butcher's knife from the table and said, "Do you recognize this knife?"

Cheng Er took a quick look and nodded hurriedly: "Yes... yes, this, this, this... this is the knife of the grassroots."

Zhang Ruidao: "I am asking you now, where were you last night?"

Cheng Erdao: "Little one, little one slept at home last night."

Zhang Rui threw the knife in front of him and said, "How dare you argue! You haven't killed livestock for a long time, how can you explain the wet blood on the handle of this knife!"

Cheng Er picked up the knife and stretched out his hand to touch it. Seeing the blood on his hand, he threw the knife on the ground with a "clang" and said: "My lord, I haven't used this knife for a long time. How can there be blood on this knife?" .” While kowtowing, he said, “Someone must be trying to frame the little one…”

"Framing?! Who would go to your house to steal a knife and kill someone, then clean it and put it back?! If you want to frame you, why bother cleaning the knife? Wouldn't it be easier to just put it in your house!"

With tears streaming down his face, Cheng Er said in mourning: "My lord, although the young one loves to drink, he has absolutely no guts to kill people. Besides, the young one has a disabled hand and can't even kill livestock, let alone people."

This... No, Cheng Er's expression doesn't seem to be lying. If a person can scare his pants before going to court, it will be even more difficult for him to have the courage to lie when he goes to court. Besides, if he tells a lie, he will have to use another lie to cover it up. Yuan, is it true that as Cheng Er said, the murderer is someone else?

Zhang Rui was a little confused. It is said that Cheng Er has the conditions to kill, the time to commit the crime, and the tools to commit the crime.Just imagine that when the two of them checked out of the room and went out that day, they must have taken Cheng Er's carriage.Afterwards, the two were knocked unconscious by Cheng Er, bound their hands and feet and took them home. They killed them at night and threw their bodies in the wild.

But where exactly did Cheng Er kill the two, and where is the crime scene?

Seeing his entanglement, Zhou Yin whispered to him: "Why don't you hit him twenty boards first and see if he recruits?"

Zhang Rui waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, the murderer should be Cheng Er, that's right, but he doesn't seem to be lying. What is hidden in it...Let me think about it."

The suspect was taken into prison, and several people returned to the inn. Zhang Rui was still thinking about what was wrong.

In the afternoon, Uncle Han took the two children to the street and walked around. He bought some things for the road and bought two robes for Zhang Rui. It may be because of changing places one after another. Zhang Rui suddenly grew taller like bamboo shoots after rain. , compared with the meeting in Kyoto, at least half a finger is longer, and the clothes are shorter.Originally standing beside Zhou Yin, he could only reach his shoulders, but now it almost reaches his ears.

Zhang Rui sat in the room, scribbling on paper with a brush, and roughly described what happened. There was no contradiction in any way. Could it be that Cheng Er is just pretending?Maybe we should really try what Zhou Yin said, beat him up to see if he recruits.

Zhou Yin walked into the room holding the clothes that Uncle Han handed him, and saw that he was still frowning and asked, "Why, haven't figured out what's going on?"

Zhang Rui nodded: "Why don't you try the method you said tomorrow."

Zhou Yin put the clothes on the bed and said: "Well, don't you like this method, don't you fear being tortured?"

Zhang Rui sighed: "If you don't try other methods, I always feel that there is something wrong with Cheng Er."

Zhou Yin walked up to him and squeezed his shoulders: "Okay, don't think about him for now, think about what we should do tonight?"

Zhang Rui hurriedly said: "What should I do... I've made a deal, I won't do it again, I still hurt from what I did that time..."

Zhou Yin thought about what he said for a moment, couldn't help laughing and flicked his head and said, "What are you thinking, I'm talking about the crying sound in the inn."

Zhang Rui's face flushed with embarrassment, he coughed twice and said, "That... didn't I just say, wait for the rabbit."

Zhou Yin lowered his head and pressed against his ear, "I was the one who was reckless last time, and I won't be like this next time."

Zhang Rui rolled his eyes and said in his heart: Is there a next time?Whoever makes you the last time is a badass.

***

Feng Xuan felt that he might be about to kill someone... It was none other than the man named Du Yuan.

"Hey, hero, what a coincidence that we meet again, you come to eat too."

Feng Xuan swallowed the food in his mouth, glanced at him and nodded slightly.

Du Yuan bared his teeth and said with a smile: "How about I share the table with the hero?"

Feng Xuan looked around the inn, there were ten tables in the entire inn, only theirs was occupied.

Du Yuan said: "Hero, why do you eat such a small amount? I'll order some more dishes for the hero, Xiao Er~~, Xiao Er brother, come quickly, that's right, this table."

Xiao Er looked at Du Yuan suspiciously and said in his heart: Didn't this guest officer just finish eating, why did he ask for food again?

"Put boiled fish, braised pork, and sweet and sour pork on this table..."

Feng Xuan wiped his mouth and got up to leave.

Du Yuan: "Hero, are you full? Huh? Wait for me..."

Xiaoer said: "Guest officer, do you want this dish?"

Du Yuan ran away and said, "You can figure it out."

Xiaoer scratched his head and said, "What should I do if I see what to do?!"

Feng Xuan looked at the people behind him, raised the corners of his mouth, changed his footwork and walked into the crowded place, and there was no trace in the blink of an eye.Du Yuan followed and ran over, why did the people looking around disappear?After searching for a long time, I couldn't find Fengxuan, so I had to leave in disappointment.

Feng Xuan leaned out from a stall selling makeup and powder, and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Du Yuan turned and left. This man probably has a problem with his head, and he follows behind him every day, and he doesn't know what his purpose is.

Not long after walking back, Du Yuan suddenly remembered, did this person hide from him on purpose just now?If you see yourself gone, you should come out!Thinking of this, he immediately turned around and walked towards the place just now, and as expected, he saw Feng Xuan walking to a wine shop, filling the jug at his waist with wine.

Du Yuan didn't rush to catch up this time, but followed him secretly. Seeing him wandering aimlessly along the street, he felt puzzled.I have been following this person for two days, and I haven't figured out what this person does until now, but there is another mysterious attraction in him, which makes him want to explore more.

After walking for a while, Feng Xuan found the follower behind him, sneered and said from the bottom of his heart: This kid has a lot of eyes, he actually pretended to leave and followed him secretly, since he wanted to follow, he followed, let's see what his purpose is.

After walking for a while, Du Yuan found that the road was getting more and more strange. There were many women in light clothes standing on the attic and making a pose.Seeing Fengxuan walking into a prostitute, Du Yuan's breath was stagnant, and he hurriedly followed.

As soon as Fengxuan entered, the old bustard greeted her and said: "Oh, what a handsome young master! Young master looked at the face, is this the first time we come to Tianxianglou? Then sister will find you some beautiful and sweet girls to accompany you How is it?"

Feng Xuan pursed his lips and said: "Luohua intends to be ruthless, I came to find Tianjiao and tell her that Mr. Feng is here."

The old bustard put away the flattering smile on his face, nodded hastily and said: "Young Master and the younger one come here and wait for a while, and the younger one will inform the master." The two walked towards the next compartment.

Du Yuan walked to the door and hesitated for a while, but couldn't help but walk in thinking of Feng Xuan.It was the first time for him to enter this kind of place. The Du family had strict family education and never allowed them to come to this kind of place.As soon as Du Yuan came in, the eyes of the girl in the building lit up, and she saw the handsome young man at the door, wearing high-quality silk and satin clothes, a jade crown on his head, a hollowed-out jade pendant around his waist, and gold-painted cloud-toed boots on his feet He looked like a local tyrant, and the girls rushed up, scaring Du Yuan into a daze, not knowing what was wrong.

"Yeah, this young master is so strange. Is this the first time we've come back to Tianxianglou?"

"My lord, this dress is so beautiful. Is it brocade cloth? It is said that only [-] pieces of brocade are produced every year, and [-] pieces are given as tribute to the palace. The remaining [-] pieces can only be worn by dignitaries!"

"Young master's jade is so beautiful!" A woman stretched out her hand to touch it.Du Yuan hastily stretched out his hand to cover the jade, thinking to himself: Why are these women so ignorant, they touch people randomly.

"My lord, let's go upstairs and have a drink with our sisters."

Du Yuan hurriedly waved his hands and said, "Sisters, let me go, I'm here to find someone."

Those women covered their mouths and smiled: "Who comes to Tianxianglou not looking for someone, tell me what kind of person you are looking for? We are tall, short, fat, thin, as long as you want, you can do it." Nothing can be found."

Du Yuan said, "I'm looking for a man."

"..." Yingying Yanyan suddenly fell silent.The leading woman flicked her handkerchief and said, "You can go to the Chu Pavilion to find a man, why come to Tianxianglou, we are all women in Tianxianglou."

The other woman said: "Yes, what are you looking for a man to come to our Tianxiang Building? Besides, what's so good about this young man, it's hard and heavy, it's not as soft and soft as our girls hug..." The two women laughed together.

Du Yuan rubbed his forehead and said, "The person I'm looking for has just entered your Tianxiang Tower."

These women looked at each other, this... But they don't care about it, seeing that Du Yuan really doesn't look like he's out for whoring, they lost interest, each shook their handkerchiefs and left.

Feng Xuan had already seen clearly what was going on in the lobby in the cubicle, and couldn't help laughing. I don't know if this kid is really stupid or fake.

"Hey, Mr. Feng is so happy today, it's really rare." A woman in a scarlet robe suddenly appeared in the cubicle.

Feng Xuan suppressed the smile on his face and said, "Is there any news about what I asked you to inquire about?"

The woman in red stretched out her slender hand, Feng Xuan rolled his eyes and took out a bank note from his pocket and handed it to her.