Chapter 531 Lin Chong: I have no experience in dealing with the Queen Mother, lets just talk about it on paper.
"This is not the place where the king was killed."
The first person to break the silence was Qiu Wuzuo.
He looked at the body for the longest time, and even took the initiative to circle around the rockery and make a judgment.
Li Yan looked slightly uncomfortable, but he nodded slightly: "There is too little blood on the rockery, and there are no splashes of blood around. If Prince Xiang was directly killed here, it really shouldn't be the case."
Due to his wild thoughts, Gongsun Zhao finally spoke: "Find the real murder scene first, and then take down the body... Where are the stewards in the house? Bring them all here!"
The latter sentence was said to Pu Bing, but their answer was trembling: "I can't bring it over, but I can carry it over..."
Gongsun Zhao's expression changed: "All dead?"
Pu Bing nodded and pointed to the location of the main hall.
Gongsun Zhao walked quickly that way. Qiu Wuzuo asked Fan Chunli for instructions and followed closely behind.
Li Yanze continued to look at the corpse, then turned his gaze to the trembling concubines not far away, and called the soldiers: "Did you gather them here after you found the corpse?"
Pu Bing shook his head: "No, they had been escaping here for a long time, and they didn't dare to move. It wasn't until dawn that a courageous dancer went out to call for help."
Li Yan looked at the group of women again: "Who is calling for help? Please come out and answer."
A dancing girl with reddish eyes walked out: "My concubine, Mrs. Xu, has seen the husband, and she doesn't dare to be the husband and ask for your favor."
Li Yan moved his steps and changed his position: "Don't panic, just think carefully about what happened last night?"
The dancer then turned sideways and immediately avoided looking at the rockery. She did not need to look at the body, and her mood slowly calmed down. She replied: "I was singing and dancing in the main hall at that time. First, there was a sudden scream from outside.
The king ordered the steward to go with the guards to check, but no one who went there came back, but the screams got closer and closer, and then..."
She swallowed her saliva and said with a trembling voice: "The steward rushed in covered in blood, talking nonsense and some very scary words, and then..."
Those who can be given a surname are valued by their masters. This manager Xiang should be a wealthy slave similar to Xiang Ba.
When Li Yan heard this, he raised his hand to stop her and said, "Wait a minute, what did that person say to the steward?"
The dancing girl shook her head suddenly: "I don't dare to say it...I really don't dare to say it..."
Li Yan said gently: "Don't be afraid. What I told the manager was probably what the murderer forced him to say. You can't take it seriously. You are reciting it to provide evidence, and you are definitely not guilty of the following."
The dancing girl's face softened a little, and she whispered: "Tell the steward... that the prince has done evil... retribution is coming..."
When Li Yan was asking, other people from the Kaifeng government office also came over. Their expressions changed when they heard this, especially Fan Chunli, who secretly thought something was wrong.
To his relief, Li Yan stopped talking about this topic and continued to ask: "What next?"
The dancing girl showed fear and said intermittently: "Then... she screamed to the steward and died... blood spurted everywhere... I was so frightened that I rushed out... I heard screams from behind...
Then there was a strange sound ahead..."
Li Yan asked: "What is the sound?"
The dancing girl said: "The sound was very strange... It seemed to be the song of a bird... but it didn't sound like a bird... it moved forward and then back... as if it was leading a concubine... and finally came to the back garden to hide..."
When the people in the Kaifeng government office heard this, their expressions changed again, and some even exclaimed: "Could this be the evil spirit causing trouble?"
Fan Chunli noticed that Li Yan looked calm, with some thoughts on his brows, and was not affected by the theory of strange power and chaos, so he couldn't help but nod again.
After Li Yan pondered for a while, he concluded: "So, you were in the main hall at that time, and you didn't know the appearance of the murderer at all. You didn't know whether he was a man or a woman, old or young. You only heard one sentence.
He made a strange sound like a bird chirping before escaping here and surviving?"
After he summarized it like this, Wu Ji felt that her thinking was much clearer, and she nodded heavily: "That's it."
Li Yan looked at the other women again: "Do you have anything else to add?"
The voices of the women varied in volume, but they all answered in unison: "No...no..."
Li Yan frowned slightly: "This case is indeed difficult to handle. We can properly resettle these women, search for survivors in the mansion, and gather them all together. People from the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple will also arrive next, and we can all ask questions together at that time."
So, Mr. Fan thinks this arrangement is appropriate?"
Fan Chunli stroked his beard and said, "Lin Erlang is very organized. Do you really want to be the inspector of Kaifeng Prefecture?"
Li Yan said seriously: "Thank you so much, Mr. Fan, for taking this seriously. I really don't want to."
As soon as this conversation came out, the eyes of everyone in the Kaifeng government office suddenly lit up.
Fan Chunli had said in private before, but now he would simply invite him publicly. As we all know, those who hold unofficial positions are good people. Once they finally become officials, they will be high officials. But you have to take advantage of the fact that the other person is white and flatter him.
Li Yan knew that Fan Chunli was taking the opportunity to raise his own status and show his favor. He was obviously under great pressure and pinned some of his hopes on him as a consultant.
Li Yan reciprocated the favor and maintained order at the scene. Under his arrangement, everyone performed their duties and protected the scene extremely well. The surviving concubines and the hidden guards also came out one after another and were gathered aside for placement.
Fan Chunli was very sick and uncomfortable, and he was relieved to go to the side to rest. With the strength of his front and back legs, Gongsun Zhao and Qiu Wuzuo brought people over. Their bodies were more or less stained with blood, and their faces were very ugly.
When he came to the scene, Gongsun Zhao directly characterized the case: "This is not an assassination, but a massacre."
Qiu Wuzuo also said solemnly: "Everyone with a certain status in the county prince's palace was killed. The murderer was simply unscrupulous..."
What is an assassination? Wu Yuanheng, the front hall, went to court at dawn and was knocked down by an assassin hiding in a ditch, and his head was cut off. The whole process was lightning fast. This was the assassin's method.
But now, this kind of thing is undoubtedly a massacre. You can kill whoever you want. Except for concubines and maids, it seems that all the prominent people in the house can only be carried out. It is too cruel and too arrogant.
After Li Yan asked carefully, his expression could not help but become more serious: "I just asked the surviving concubines in the house and got what they saw..."
He repeated the words of the dancer. When he heard the words "retribution is coming," Gongsun Zhao resisted the change in his expression, but he still couldn't help but hum: "It may not be the murderer's lies, maybe it is really retribution."
arrive!"
Qiu Wuzuo said in a deep voice: "If it is really the people who were hurt by Prince Yongyang in the past who came to seek revenge, the murderer's motive does make sense. Such a cruel killing method, but he let those maids and concubines go, and even kept many bodyguards.
He just killed the county king and his evil slaves alive, which is obviously a purposeful revenge!"
Li Yandao: "This is indeed a possibility, but the timing of this case is sensitive, and I'm afraid there is something fishy. The possibility that the murderer did it deliberately cannot be ruled out... Hey, someone is coming slowly!"
The two of them followed his gaze and saw two groups of people appearing not far away. They moved over cautiously. Their steps were so hobbling that they were older than Fan Chunli.
"They're from the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple!"
Looking at this group of timid people, Gongsun Zhao became very angry: "Whenever they rob a prisoner, they come the fastest. Now we really have to investigate the case. Not to mention purple robes, there is not even one wearing scarlet robes."
!”
Qiu Wuzuo sighed: "The Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple also have experts in solving cases, but they obviously don't want to stir up this muddy water. The difficulty of this case is even higher than what we expected before coming!"
Apart from anything else, once the news reaches the palace, no one can predict how Empress Dowager Xiang will react when she finds out that her brother has merged with the rockery, and what kind of turmoil will arise between the government and the public.
But what can be predicted is that those who are caught in the center of the storm will end up being shattered to pieces if they are not careful.
Therefore, whoever wants to investigate this case will investigate it. The Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple would rather shrink their heads and be impeached by the censor than take on this hot potato.
It's not that Gongsun Zhao didn't understand the twists and turns of officialdom. Without a smart mind, it would be impossible to solve cases repeatedly. It's just that those things were clear, but he was unwilling to follow them against his principles. He said coldly: "Those people don't
It's good to come, it will avoid many constraints, but it will cause trouble for our investigation and cause the murderer to go unpunished. I plan to investigate the past crimes of Prince Yongyang, what do you think?"
Qiu Wuzuo wanted to persuade, but after hearing the decisiveness in his tone, he finally gritted his teeth and said: "Sanlang, I support you!"
Perhaps Gongsun Zhao has become less insistent recently and has begun to learn to take care of other people's feelings, but when it comes to the most critical issue of principle, this cold-faced judge obviously will not give in at all.
Li Yanze said: "Innocence means innocence, guilt means sin. The dead cannot escape this, and it should be revealed, because it can serve as a deterrent to the wicked who are still alive and reduce the occurrence of subsequent crimes."
Li Yandao: "I do understand Judge Gongsun's pursuit, but I don't agree with your way of doing things. Those who pursue justice must pay more attention to methods and methods in order to achieve this more difficult goal. You must adapt to this world."
Gongsun Zhao wanted to say that he couldn't adapt, but after realizing his kindness, he still asked for advice: "Then according to your wishes, what should I do next?"
Li Yan said in a low voice: "Investigate secretly and do not make it public. If necessary, you must disguise it. Don't let others see the purpose in advance, especially the Queen Mother!"
Gongsun Zhao's expression changed: "Will the Queen Mother recruit me into the palace?"
As a detective who went to the palace all day long to support the emperor and the empress when investigating cases, Li Yan was actually quite speechless about Gongsun Zhao's solo approach. The court judges were treated like private detectives. It's no wonder that he only had a reputation among the common people, and in the officialdom
I hit a wall everywhere, so I gave some advice:
"No one else dares to take over this case. If you, a cold-faced judge with a reputation, take over the case, the Queen Mother will naturally notice you. The better the relationship between her and her brother, the sooner she can recruit you to the palace for questioning."
"You have already raised the suspicion that the prince is related to Wuyou Cave. If Ren Zhengyan has exposed this matter, then you need to think about how to deal with the Queen Mother's next attack!"
Although Gongsun Zhao was very dissatisfied with the Queen Mother's greed for power and was unwilling to return power to the new official family, he still had awe of the imperial power for the current controller, and had a deep-rooted loyalty to the emperor since he was a child. Hearing this, his expression changed: "
What should we do?"
Seeing Gongsun Zhao looking over eagerly, Li Yan stuck to his character: "I am just an ordinary Bianjing citizen, and I am not good at dealing with the Queen Mother..."
Qiu Wu became anxious: "Young Master Lin is a genius. If you have any ideas, please give me some advice. This is really a matter of life and death!"
Gongsun Zhao also hurriedly said: "Please give me some advice from Lin Erlang!"
Li Yan laughed and said: "You think too highly of me. My ideas are just castles in the air, just words on paper. They are purely conjectures based on the news on the streets in Beijing... Anyway, if you are really willing to listen, then
I’ll just say it as a reference!”
As Li Yan narrated, Gongsun Zhao nodded slightly at first, then showed his thoughts, and by the end he was a little stunned.
It turns out that this is how politics is played, and is this how the Queen Mother deals with it?