By the way, Li Wen hurriedly put on his official uniform and went out, only to see people from the Pan family crowded into the lobby of the county government office, with loud cries and shouts. The government officials shouted twice loudly at midnight, but he didn't have any strength in his pubic area. Li Wen panicked
He went to the hall in a panic and asked, "Who is wronged below?"
The three sons of the Pan family howled in unison for a long time, saying the first and last words. It turned out that early this morning, the girl of the sixth aunt in their house went to help the master get up, but they saw that the house was in a mess, and the sixth aunt and the master were both together.
They fell half-dead on the kang and screamed loudly in fright. Several brave women who came later came to check and found that their hands and feet were tied up with small clothes or torn curtains, and their mouths were gagged.
Holding the fragments of the tent, Liu Yiniang woke up after being shaken for a long time. Their master had already died of anger.
The sixth aunt seemed to be frightened. Everyone was pinching and shouting, and she was still in a daze. In the end, their wife ordered someone to get a basin of cold water and pour it on her head to wake her up. After she regained consciousness,
She looked around for a long time and suddenly screamed: "There's a thief~~~Catch the thief~~~" The wife scolded her several times before she calmed down. After a while, she finally screamed
burst into tears.
Later she said that she and Mr. Pan were both in a dream last night, and she didn't know when they were suddenly woken up by someone. Under the moonlight, two masked burly men could be vaguely discerned, holding knives and forcing the master.
She heard them shouting "Speak quickly" in a low voice. The master was already tied up by them, so she was about to scream. Let the thieves notice, they also pinched her throat, gagged her and tied her up, and then hit her on the back of the head.
, she fainted. She didn’t know what happened next until she woke up just now.
At that moment, everyone checked the items, but only one hundred and twenty-four taels of silver were missing from the accounting room. The warehouse had been pried open, but nothing was missing, and everything else was intact. Since Old Man Pan was dead, he came to the Yamen to report the incident.
Li Wenden felt that dark clouds were gathering over his head. He was just an ordinary county magistrate. How could he bear the blame from his superiors when a member of his family died? He had to bite the bullet and call the sixth aunt to come over and ask questions.
The sixth aunt was only seventeen or eighteen years old. She was so frightened that her face turned pale and pale. She knelt down and trembled all over. Li Wen first asked her to describe the incident in detail from the beginning, and then asked what the thieves looked like. She said: "Those two
The thieves were all very tall and strong, and were all dressed in black. One of them was quite fat. Although they all covered their faces with black scarves, you could tell that the fat man had a beard, and the one who was not fat had a goatee like our master.
.”
Li Wen asked: "How does it sound?"
Sixth Yiniang said: "The fat man's voice is dull, not fat..." She thought for a while, "It's the same as an ordinary person's voice."
Li Wen asked again: "Where's the accent?"
Sixth Yiniang shook her head: "I don't know."
"How old do you sound?"
She thought again: "You should be over forty if you don't tell me."
Li Wen asked her to tell her story again, and it was the same as before, so he ordered her to draw a sign and asked the policeman to go to Pan's house to have a look. Their county was small and quite poor, and they didn't even have a widow. In previous years, it was like this
When there was a murder case, the villagers from Lin County were invited to come and see it. Now that a big shot died, he had to send someone out to borrow the prisoner. He also comforted the Pan family and promised to solve the case and avenge old man Pan. He also said many good words before
The group of people were sent away.
It was almost noon when he finished his work. When he returned to the back office, he saw that various account books were still spread out. Young Master Gao and others were all fast asleep. He thought they were busy very late last night. He suddenly trembled: Why did they
As soon as Mr. Pan arrived, he was attacked by bandits. Among the people accompanying them, there were more than a dozen burly men, some fat and some thin. Who in this county would dare to mess with the Pan family! It would be too coincidental if it was a passing thief.
After a while, he did not alert Young Master Gao and others, and came to the table to check if there were any clues.
However, he saw three pieces of white paper conspicuously on the case, with some frames drawn on them. Li Wen took a closer look and couldn't help but admire them.
There are words inside those boxes. The first column in the vertical column is the month, the horizontal column is the tax item, and the tax amount is filled in. If there is no space, there is a blank. The last line is the total, and the total number of taxes for the whole year is on the far right.
, and a few lines of unfinished sentences. "The total number of people in Angu County is counted as male and female (blank), and children under the age of sixteen are not counted. The average tax per person this year (blank). The common people (blank) households, balanced this year
Each household pays taxes (blank). Males above sixteen and sixty years old count (blank), and balance the taxes paid by each male (blank). "In which year and month, since when, what taxes have been added, how many taxes are there?
, clearly understood.
Li Wen's eyes suddenly turned red. He was no longer suspicious of Mr. Gao. These three cards are exactly the county's taxes in the past three years. If you can fill in the first few blanks, it is obvious that the taxes have been increased very fiercely. Anyone who is not a fool
You can understand it clearly when you see it. The one from the old year also has a line of writing on it, "The Master said, tyranny is fiercer than a tiger." There are so many account books, and it is very troublesome to check them. No need to ask, these young people were busy last night
With this.
Yao'er woke up at this moment and hurriedly woke up the others. Several children yawned and gradually got up. Jia Huan rubbed his eyes and bumped around, and saw Li Wen in front of him. He hurriedly came over to say hello: "Mr. Li,
morning!"
Li Wen hurriedly wiped away his tears, cupped his hands and said, "Good morning, Young Master Zhao." It turned out that Jia Huan pretended to be Young Master Gao's cousin, and followed the custom of princes and princes and gave his mother's surname.
Jia Huan blinked: "Why do I look a little sad, Sir?"
Li Wennai pointed to the frames on the case and sighed: "I, Li Wen, have always known that there are capable people in the world, but I didn't expect that there would be such a genius! Master Zhao, whose idea was this?"
Jia Huan glanced at it and said, "Oh, my cousin's husband taught him this form."
Li Wen couldn't help but sigh again. At this moment, Jia Cong, Gong Kun and others gradually came over, and they were all a little embarrassed. They cupped their hands and said, "I overslept." Li Wen hurriedly thanked them again, and this time it was better than
I felt so much more sincere yesterday.
He suddenly remembered the Pan family's case and said somewhat sarcastically: "Young Master Gao is extremely talented and compassionate. A big case has just happened in this county, and I have the guts to ask the young master for help."
When Jia Cong heard about the "big case", he perked up: "What big case? Say it quickly!"
Li Wen then told the story about Master Pan's murder. Jia Cong, Gong Kun and others listened while pretending to be quite curious and confused in their hearts. Last night, Wu You had already said that he was going to Pan's house to do business, because he was afraid that
Gong Kun repeatedly told him not to hurt anyone when he caused trouble, but why didn't he listen? If he had to kill old man Pan for some reason, he would have killed that aunt as well. Why was he still alive? What on earth was he thinking?
Just looking back and thinking again, Wu You is just a boy, how can he be a strong man? Besides, he doesn't have a beard. I am even more puzzled.
Gong Kun first suspected that one of his own people had done it. He thought about it for a long time and then said in a conspiratorial way: "I'm afraid this matter is not simple."
Li Wen hurriedly bowed and asked for advice.
Gong Kun said: "It's just more than a hundred taels of silver, it's really nothing." Li Wen thought to himself, how can you compare with your wealth? More than a hundred taels in this county is enough to make money and kill people. Gong Kun went on to say
, "They have never let Mr. Pan see his face. If they don't commit murder and silence, they can just take the money and leave."
Li Wendao: "Bao Buqi asked Mr. Pan where their family's savings are."
Gong Kun said: "Did the old man have any injuries on his body? How did he die?"
Li Wen smiled bitterly and said: "We don't have any work in this county, so we have asked people to borrow it from neighboring counties. I heard from some old servants at home that they might have died of suffocation, but there seems to be no injuries on their bodies."
Gong Kun said hurriedly: "That's it. Even if you want to ask for money, you should use some vicious methods. There is no reason why you will be suffocated if you don't speak out." He sneered, "If you have the ability, let this person
It is very easy to wait for the rich man to speak."
Li Wen suddenly trembled. Although he had guessed that this gentleman was unusual, now he looked even more unusual.
Gong Kun suddenly lowered his voice and said: "Since this old man Pan is related to the Dingcheng Hou Mansion, the fifth girl from Dingcheng Hou's third room has recently been favored and made a noblewoman. As Mr. Li said yesterday, he is the third young mistress's wife.
A biological uncle?"
Li Wen nodded repeatedly.
Jia Cong interjected coolly: "The third master of their family happens to be the third brother, the noble's half-brother, and now the third wife is the second wife. All in all, in the entire Dingcheng Hou Mansion, only the third master and the noble
Dearest."
Li Wenhao didn't even sit down on the ground. How could he understand such princes and royal relatives, as well as the depth of the palace? After half a day, he asked in a trembling voice: "What do you think, sir?"
Gong Kun shook his head and said: "God knows what he knows that he shouldn't know. It's common to silence him."
Li Wen was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth for a long time.
Gong Kun whispered again: "Let's do whatever you want, adults. We are just two little thieves, just catch them. If they come from an extraordinary place, they won't be discovered casually."
Li Wen nodded hurriedly, quietly putting the matter aside as "not allowed to get involved" in his heart.
For a while, everyone went out to eat again and met with Wu You and others. When they saw Wu You's face, they knew that he had not slept well last night. Gong Kun stepped forward and asked, "What's going on?" Wu You told the story of last night with a sad face.
The story was told from the beginning. Gong Kun suddenly felt a headache and choked for a long time. He raised his hand and poked his finger: "You are a firecracker!"
Wu You said with a sad face: "I obviously took that woman out."
Gong Kun knocked him again: "That's a person! It's not an object! People have legs! The legs can walk!"
Wu You defended: "I know this...I thought that she, a young girl from a small place, wouldn't have the guts to come here, so she would definitely listen to me..."
Gong Kun couldn't help but hit him with all his strength: "What's your idea? How big is this county? Her master died and the accountant lost money. She took the money and touched a layer of dust on her face and ran away? Then
Aren't you just waiting for death with your neck straightened? She can be caught after running away for a few days. Do you believe that if she talks about it, it will be a capital crime? Whether it is adultery or thief, she will not be able to survive as long as Mr. Pan is alive. "
Wu You shouted in a low voice: "You asked me not to hurt anyone's life..."
Gong Kun said: "Who asked you to involve that woman? Just ask the old man if you can?" He scolded him for a long time before starting to discuss the business.
After they finished lunch, Jia Cong, Gong Kun and others returned to the county government office, while Wu You and others returned to the inn. When they arrived at the door of the inn, they saw that there were hundreds of people surrounding them inside and outside, and they were all young.
The men, armed with knives and sticks, shouted: "Thieves, don't leave!"
Wu You and others hurriedly pretended to be frightened, and boldly stepped forward and asked: "Fellow folks, what happened?"
The leader was none other than Pan's eldest son. He pointed at them and cursed: "You bold thieves! Why don't you just surrender your money and hand over your money!"
Wu You said blankly: "What kind of thief? We were just passing by."
The Pan family uncle sneered and pointed at the few escorts behind him: "There must be thieves among these!"
Wu You shouted: "How can you spray blood on others! We are good travelers, there are no thieves anywhere. Do you have any evidence?"
Uncle Pan said with tears: "My father's life savings have been stolen by you. I want evidence? It's easy. Since you are just passing by, I think even if you have money with you, you should treat it as banknotes. You won't have a lot of cash."
If we find a lot of cash, then of course they are robbers."
Wu You hurriedly said: "Brother, you are from the Pan family. I went to the county government office this morning to see the excitement and saw you. I heard your family said that they only lost more than a hundred taels of silver. We, as a group of people, are all gone.
More than a hundred taels is nothing special."
Uncle Pan sneered: "You also stole my father's one thousand four hundred taels of cash!"
This place was originally a remote area. Who had ever heard of such a large sum of money as one thousand four hundred taels of cash? The people watching were in an uproar.
Wu You also sneered twice: "There is such a dependence on others, has anyone heard of it?"
Uncle Pan ignored him and shouted: "Search!"
The escort behind him immediately rolled up his sleeves: "Grandpa, aren't you afraid?"
Wu You waved his hand behind his head and said solemnly: "I am not afraid of shadows as I stand upright. Yes, we have never taken so much cash on the road. But, Mr. Pan, what if the search is finished? How will you treat me?
You upright man, you will be wronged if you want, and you will be searched if you want? Do you think that my surname is Pan? The young master also wants to warn you. Mr. Pan, our dynasty is very big and there are many capable people. Not everyone may be offended by you.
It's because you close your eyes today and just do whatever you want, and treat us like the ordinary people in Angu County who are easy to bully, and you will suffer a big loss. You can't afford to offend me!"