Chapter 3: The Mystery of the Nine Palaces

When Yin Tiancheng rushed back to the yazhong, he saw Lin Zhifu angrily scolding his servants: "It's all a group of wine bags and rice bags, you can't do anything, what use do I want you to do!" ”

Governor Lin is Yin Tiancheng's father-in-law, born with an official appearance, and was promoted to the prefect after fifteen years as an official, although it is not fast, but it is not slow. Like many people in officialdom, the pen & fun & pavilion www.biquge.info looks wooden on the surface, but it is not confused at all.

Yin Tiancheng heard that he was scolding his colleagues and couldn't bear to comfort his father-in-law, so he heard Master Zhang step forward and persuade: "My lord, it's not that we don't work hard, everyone has broken their legs in the past few months, but these murderers are too cunning, and we can't help it." ”

"I have been in office for less than a year, and more than 20 murders have occurred at the feet of the Son of Heaven one after another, but you have only caught the real culprits of eight murders in total. My colleagues are laughing at me every day in the court, and not only do you not share my worries, but you make the thieves more and more rampant, and yesterday you even openly robbed and killed officials who came from Liaodong to deliver letters on the official road. Now that the Holy Lord has been furious, he has limited me to solve the case within three days, what do you say now! ”

Seeing that everyone in the hall looked at each other and was silent, Yin Tiancheng was afraid that his father-in-law would be angry, so he hurriedly followed Master Zhang to persuade Governor Lin: "Father-in-law, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, we have to think about it in the long run." ”

"It's still a long-term plan, time waits for no one." Governor Lin sighed.

"Lord Lin, what's so sad?"

Yin Tiancheng was about to reply when he heard this loud question from outside, so he opened his eyes and looked at it, it seemed who it was. I saw two men walk into the yawai, one of them was about thirty years old, wearing a brocade robe and a white robe, and the other looked like a father-in-law followed closely behind him.

Yin Tiancheng didn't care, who knew that Governor Lin saw that this person's face changed greatly, and he saw that he put away his sadness and walked down the hall to salute the man in brocade.

"Why should Lord Lin be polite, I just happened to pass by here, and when I heard the noise of people in the ya, I came in to see the excitement." The white-robed man stretched out his hand to stop Governor Lin's body as he was about to kneel.

"Yes, it's rare for our Lord Huang to have the leisure to go out for a walk elegantly, so don't be polite to Governor Lin."

"Yes, yes, Holy ...... Ah, Lord Huang, then the lower official will be offended, please sit down. ”

"This is the government, but your territory, how can I take the lead? You'd better set up another seat. ”

"Okay, okay." Governor Lin beckoned, Master Zhang hurriedly lifted a mahogany chair, and the two sat down separately, and the father-in-law-like person stood sideways behind Lord Huang.

"Who is this?" Lord Huang pointed to Yin Tiancheng, who was standing beside Governor Lin, and asked.

"He is the dog Yin Tiancheng." Governor Lin replied respectfully.

Yin Tiancheng saw that this Lord Huang was looking at him carefully when he was asking, and said in his heart that these two people were not like idle people, but I don't know what they are looking for my father-in-law?

While he was thinking about it, Yin Tiancheng heard his father-in-law beside Lord Huang asking him: "You are Yin Tiancheng, who is known as the god in the capital?" ”

"Adults laugh, that's just a false praise from friends in the rivers and lakes." Yin Tiancheng hurriedly replied, not daring to be lazy.

"I can't imagine you are so humble at such a young age, good! Good! Good! Lord Huang said three good words in a row.

"Tiancheng, why don't you come over and meet Lord Huang soon." Governor Lin said in a low voice.

"Humble to meet Lord Huang," Yin Tiancheng heard his father-in-law greet him, and hurriedly bowed to Lord Huang first, and then bowed to his father-in-law behind him, secretly carefully examining their speech and demeanor, as well as their clothes.

"You don't have to be formal." Lord Huang said lightly: "Stand up and speak." ”

Yin Tiancheng then stepped back and stood with the officials and waited for the questioning of Lord Huang.

Lord Huang asked Governor Lin: "I don't know what's going on?" ”

"Lord Qiyu, just now Xia Guan was discussing with his subordinates about the recent murder in the capital."

"Oh? Lord Lin is really diligent and loves the people, I don't know if the many murders that have occurred recently can have results? ”

"The lower officials are stepping up the investigation, and I believe that the murderer will be arrested soon."

Lord Huang said angrily: "Presumptuous! In less than a year, there were 24 murders in the imperial city, and the perpetrators of 16 murders were still at large. You haven't solved the case for a long time, which has made the Beijing division shaken and people panicked, I don't think you want to be this prefect. ”

"My lord is angry, why don't you want to relieve your worries, but there are many murderers, and the three days are too hasty, and the lower officials are really powerless."

"Bold!" The prince on the side interjected: "You don't want to concentrate on solving the case, but blame the time limit given by His Majesty is too short, do you want to go against the will?" ”

Governor Lin was so frightened that he fell to his knees with a "plop", and he didn't dare to squeak for a long time.

"Please let the wrath of the thunder be put to rest, and let the villain come in detail. He believed that all 16 cases were committed by one person. Yin Tiancheng didn't want his stepfather to be yelled at like a dog, so he answered below.

What, sixteen murders were all done by one person, how is it possible? The crowd exclaimed.

Lord Huang smiled, and his heart was really as Prime Minister Yan said, the young man in front of him was the only one who could solve these cases, and it seemed that I had really come to the right place today.

Lord Huang asked him kindly: "You just said that many murders were committed by one person, is there any basis?" ”

"Yesterday, I shared my colleagues' thoughts that there was no connection between the sixteen murders. It's a pity that the murderer, despite his cunning, still can't escape my eyes. At the mention of the case, Yin Tiancheng was a little brow-raising.

"Tiancheng, don't be poor." Yin Tiancheng heard his father-in-law whispering beside him, so he quickly stopped talking and didn't dare to say more.

"Lord Lin." The father-in-law spoke, "My father-in-law seems to be asking Yin Tiancheng, not you, right?" ”

Seeing that his father-in-law lowered his head and didn't dare to speak, Yin Tiancheng continued: "This is indeed a rare case in a century, the murderer tried his best to cover up the truth, but I still found a flaw. ”

"Go on." Lord Huang was already interested in continuing to listen.

"This year, Kaifeng Mansion has received twenty-four murders, in addition to the murders that have been solved, the remaining sixteen, although the identities of the victims are different, there are butchers, family members, hotel owners, and even court officials; The methods of the murderers are also different, some are hacked to death with knives, some are strangled to death by ropes, and some are strangled to death, but all murders have two things in common. ”

"Huh? What are the two things in common? Lord Huang asked curiously.

"First, the time when the victim was killed was the first or fifteenth day of the month."

"Well, that's good." Lord Huang nodded frequently.

"Second, there is a pattern to the location of the victim's murder."

"What pattern?" Lord Huang then asked.

Yin Tianmin picked up a stone and drew it on the ground, and after finishing the painting, he said to Lord Huang, "My lord, please take a look." ”

Seeing this, Lord Huang left his seat and looked down at the figure on the ground.

Yin Tiancheng painted a pattern similar to Bagua on the ground, and the eight directions, including the middle palace, were marked with symbols, and only the Gen position was a large gap.

"What do you mean by that?" Lord Huang asked.

"May I ask my lord, where did the first of these sixteen murders happen?"

"Longquan Villa."

"In what direction is Longquan Villa?"

"Due North."

"What about the second murder?"

"Breeze Inn."

"In what direction?"

"It's still north."

Yin Tiancheng stretched out his hand to wipe off the stump in the gossip map, and asked, "Where did the third murder take place?" ”

"Wuyi Alley."

Everyone in the hall was confused, and Governor Lin quietly asked Master Zhang: "Do you understand?" ”

"I don't understand." Master Zhang shook his head, he couldn't guess what Yin Tiancheng meant.

Yin Tiancheng and Lord Huang talked in general, and everyone couldn't help but be curious, and they all came forward to listen to their conversation.

Yin Tiancheng was about to continue at this time, but saw Lord Huang waving his hand to signal him not to ask again, so he stood up and listened to his reply.

"Yin Tiancheng, I seem to have a little clue, you listen to me whether it's right or not."

"Humble and respectful, listen to your lordship."

"The first two murders occurred due north, the third and fourth murders were in the southwest, five or six in the northwest, seventy-eight in the east, ninety in the west, eleventh and twelve in the southeast, thirteen and fourteen in the center, and fifteen in the south, and the official who was killed outside the city yesterday also happened to be in the south. These murders are not only regular in time, but also in direction, and do not seem to be committed by many people. Do you want to say that none of this is a coincidence, and it is very likely that they were all committed by the same person? ”

"Not bad!" Yin Tiancheng said loudly: "Although the murderer tries his best to cover himself, and the means he adopts are different every time he commits a crime, these two points fully expose his crime patterns. It's a pity that I only discovered this truth yesterday, otherwise I wouldn't have died so many innocent people. ”

Seeing that Lord Huang seemed to agree with his point of view, Yin Tiancheng continued: "If my inference is not wrong, the murderer's next murder location must be in the northeast. With that, he wiped off the directions marked on the pattern with his feet, leaving only the Gen position.

"I see!" Everyone suddenly realized.

"Yin Tiancheng, you really live up to your reputation, and you are worthy of the title of God Hunt." Lord Huang praised.;