When Meng Zimo took Niu Zhi to the yamen of the county guard's mansion, it was already dark and blind, but fortunately, there were two lanterns hanging under the porch, but he could see it clearly.

Several officials were already whispering outside the county guard's mansion, and Meng Zimo could see at a glance that these people were all officials of the criminal Cao.

Zhen County Liucao and the Du Wei Mansion are nominally subordinate to the County Guard's Mansion, but everyone knows that the County Keeper Mansion's Lord County Keeper really doesn't have much power in his hands.

The reason for the establishment of the county guard in Zhen County was actually that Zhen County was at least nominally still under the control of the Tang Dynasty, and half of the six Cao under it were in name only.

Hu Cao nominally has the responsibility of managing taxes, but in fact, Zhen County's taxes are collected by the Zhen Hou Mansion, and Hu Cao can't even collect a tael of silver, but often sends people to help the Zhen Hou Mansion calculate the accounts.

Among the six Cao, the only one with real power in his hands is the criminal Cao.

However, as we all know, the criminal Cao Cao official Lu Siyuan was directly recommended to the imperial court by the Zhen Hou Mansion, this person was originally from the Xiling Gate Valve, although the Zhen Hou Mansion pretended to be a gesture and did not directly use the Zhen family, but the Lu family is also a powerful family gate valve in Zhen County, directly attached to the foot of the Zhen Hou Mansion, and the Xing Cao controlled by Lu Siyuan is equivalent to the Zhen Hou Mansion's own territory.

When Meng Zimo saw the criminal Cao official whispering in front of the county guard's mansion, a sneer appeared on his lips.

The people who tortured Cao saw that Meng Zimo came with a few people, and naturally recognized that it was the people of the Duwei Mansion, and they didn't have a good face one by one, if it was in the early years, maybe they would deliberately provoke a few words, but now the Duwei Mansion has Han Yunong in charge, Han Yunong is also famous in Zhen County, and the Zhen Hou Mansion has to be afraid of a few points, and the people of the criminal Cao naturally do not dare to provoke the Duwei Mansion easily.

Meng Zimo stepped forward and saw that the gate of the county guard's mansion was open, and four guards with knives lined up in front of the gate of the mansion, and arched his hand: "Mencius Zimo of the Duwei Mansion was ordered to bring the jailer Niu Zhi to come and talk back." ”

The guards of the county guard mansion obviously received the order a long time ago, and when they heard Niu Zhi's name, they immediately got out of the way, and Meng Zimo was about to step forward, when a guard stretched out his hand to stop: "Niu Zhi go in, you wait outside." ”

Meng Zimo didn't argue, turned around and nodded to Niu Zhi.

Niu Zhi was apprehensive, he didn't dare to look directly at the guards, and when he entered the mansion, someone led him directly through the front yard to the main hall.

The main hall of the county guard mansion was brightly lit, Niu Zhi walked outside the door of the main hall, and the person who led the way had already said: "Lord Qiqi, the jailer Niu Zhi has brought it!" ”

"Let him in!" There was a voice in the hall.

Niu Zhi saw that the person leading the way made a gesture to himself, hurriedly arched his hand, half-bowed into the hall, and saw from a distance that the adult on the main seat was wearing an official mansion and leaning on a chair, knowing that he could only sit in that position Du Hongsheng, a few steps forward, kneeling on the ground: "Villain Niu Zhi, meet the county guard." ”

"Niu Zhi, let me ask you, what is the reason for Qin Xiao's departure from his post without permission?" The voice did not come from the front, but from his left head, which made Niu Zhi turn his head to look over, only to see an official staring at him with a cold face, and recognized it as Lu Siyuan, the official of Cao Cao.

Before Niu Zhi could answer, he heard Han Yunong's voice on the right: "Lord Lu, Lord County Shou is here to preside over this case, don't be impatient." ”

Han Yunong has a very high reputation in the Governor's Mansion, and one of the reasons is that he is particularly short-guarded.

When Niu Zhi saw Han Yunong on the side, he immediately calmed down, and saw Lu Hong and Qin Xiao standing under Han Yunong, thinking that he had to be careful with every word he said here.

The county guard Du Hongsheng coughed, and then asked, "Niu Zhi, this official asked you, did Qin Xiao leave the Jiazijian early yesterday morning?" ”

"My lord, that's true." Niu Zhi replied respectfully.

Du Hongsheng bowed his head and said, "Then where did he go?" ”

"He went out of the city to chase after Lu Zhutou."

"Why are you chasing Lu Zhutou?"

Niu Zhidao: "Lu Zhutou took away the prisoner Wen Budao who was imprisoned in the Jiazi Prison yesterday, although he signed it, but when he left, he forgot to take the custody documents with him. He glanced at Qin Xiao before continuing: "Without the documents for the detention, even if Lu Zhutou escorted the prisoners to Fenggan Mansion, he could not prove that the escort was Wen Budao and could not be handed over. ”

"Really?" Du Hongsheng said in a deep voice.

Niu Zhi kowtowed to the ground: "The villain doesn't dare to lie." ”

Lu Siyuan sneered: "My lord, what this person said is not credible, it must be the people of the Governor's Mansion who colluded with each other in private, so they made up lies." ”

"Master Lu, you are the criminal Cao Caoguan, you should understand that without evidence, you can't spew blood." Han Yunong said lightly: "If you think what Niu Zhi said is untrue, you must always come up with evidence." ”

Lu Siyuan was about to speak, when there was a sound of footsteps outside, and everyone followed the sound, and saw Zhen Yujiang, the young son of the Zhen family dressed in brocade, striding into the hall surrounded by several people.

Everyone present was taken aback.

Lu Siyuan's face immediately showed joy, and he was the first to greet him and arched his hand: "Young boy! ”

Du Hongsheng also got up and walked down the hall to give his hand.

Zhen Yujiang has no official status, but his father is the Marquis of Changxin, who is the master of Zhen County, and it stands to reason that Du Hongsheng, as the county guard of Zhen County, does not have to salute Zhen Yujiang, but he is obviously very jealous of the Zhen family, and he does not dare to lose his manners to Zhen Yujiang.

"Master Du continues to try the case." Zhen Yujiang said with a smile: "I heard about this case, so I came here to see what was going on." ”

Han Yunong did not pretend to Zhen Yujiang, and arched his hand: "Young boy, this case involves the Duwei Mansion and Xing Cao, and it has nothing to do with the Zhen Hou Mansion, so .....!" ”

"Captain Han is wrong." Staff member Lang Shenshui stood up from behind Zhen Yujiang, took a deed from his arms and held it in his hand, raised it and shook it: "This is the title deed of the Golden Hook Gambling House, in fact, as early as two months ago, Qiao Leshan had already arrived at the Golden Hook Gambling House to the Hou Mansion. ”

Everyone was shocked.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not that the Hou Mansion wants a gambling house." Lang Shenshui said with a smile: "In order to facilitate the circulation of silver for the people, the Hou Mansion opened a money village in the city many years ago, Qiao Leshan was in urgent need of a sum of silver, and used the Golden Hook Gambling House as collateral, so the Golden Hook Gambling House is actually owned by the Hou Mansion now." Glancing at Han Yunong, he continued: "I heard that this case involved Qiao Leshan, and the Hou Ye was worried that the silver borrowed by Qiao Leshan would not be repaid, so he came over to find out what was going on. ”

Lu Hong couldn't help but say: "We just returned to the city, and we have just explained to the county guard what happened last night, how did the Hou Mansion know that Qiao Leshan was involved so quickly?" ”

"The Zhenhou Mansion was entrusted by the saint to guard the people of Zhen County." Lang Shenshui sneered: "Early this morning, someone found a lot of corpses near the post station, and some people recognized that one of the corpses was Qiao Leshan of the Golden Hook Gambling House. ”

Qin Xiao sneered in his heart, knowing that Lang Shenshui's excuse was nonsense.

Although the Golden Hook Gambling House is quite famous in Turtle City, there are not many people who really know Qiao Leshan.

A few corpses were near the post station, and it was not strange to be seen, but it was really unbelievable that someone could recognize Qiao Leshan.

He knew Qiao Leshan's actions last night, and Zhen Hou Mansion must have known very well in advance, but Qiao Leshan had not come back to report the results for a long time, and Zhen Hou Mansion would naturally send someone to find out what the situation was.

Although it takes a day to walk from Turtle Castle to the post station, if you ride a horse, the speed is much faster.

When he came back from the post station, he and Lu Hong and the others also returned on foot, and if the other party sent someone to ride back and forth, it would naturally let Zhen Yujiang get the news in advance.

"Come on, show the young man a seat!" Du Hongsheng instructed the yacha to bring a big chair and invited Zhen Yujiang to sit down, and then said: "Young boy, yesterday the Duweifu sent someone to escort the prisoner Wen Budao to Fenggan Mansion, but he encountered a fierce man halfway and kidnapped the prisoner. ”

"Kidnapping prisoners?" Zhen Yujiang asked lightly: "Master Du, I don't understand this very well." ”

Du Hongsheng said to Lu Hong: "Lu Hong, what is the situation, you personally explain it to the young master." ”

Lu Hong arched his hand and said: "Young boy, we arrived at the post station last night, because we were tired from the journey, so we drank some wine, after everyone fell asleep, I watched the prisoners alone, in the middle of the night, Qiao Leshan suddenly led someone to break into the post station. ”

"What are they doing in the caravanserais?"

"Qiao Leshan wants to ask Wen Budao about the whereabouts of a sum of money." Lu Hong's face did not change: "Wen Budao is hard-mouthed, and he did not give in." ”

"You are the errand officer who escorted the prisoners, and you let Qiao Leshan do whatever he wanted?" Lang Shenshui said in a deep voice: "How do you prove that Qiao Leshan is trying to force Wen Budao?" ”

"Because I'm also a participant." Lu Hong said calmly: "Qiao Leshan found me in private a few days ago, and asked me to ask him with him about the whereabouts of the silver from Wen Budao's mouth, once successful, he would give me a sum of silver, I was confused for a while, and agreed to him." ”

Han Yunong obviously just knew about such a situation, and his face changed slightly.

Du Hongsheng was also a little surprised, and said in a deep voice: "You have a private agreement with Qiao Leshan?" ”

"Exactly." Lu Hong said: "The salary of the Duwei Mansion is meager, and my family has a hard time, so when Qiao Leshan promised a lot of money, I was greedy for profit and agreed to force Wen Budao with him." We planned in advance that whether Wen Budao told Wen Budao about the whereabouts of the silver or not, we would kill people, and when the time came, I would make up an excuse to say that there were thieves who attacked and killed Wen Budao, so that this matter could be covered up. ”

The corners of Zhen Yujiang's mouth flashed: "Then you now say that Wen Budao was kidnapped by thieves, which is naturally false." ”

"That's exactly what we didn't expect." Lu Hong sighed: "We asked for a long time, but Wen Budao never explained, so Qiao Leshan became murderous. It was also at that time that we heard the sound of horses' hooves, and immediately guessed that it might be a thief, and Qiao Leshan and I escaped from the post station with Wen Budao in tow. ”

"That's not right." Lang Shenshui immediately said: "As far as I know, the firewood room of the post station was burned, so why is that?" ”

Qin Xiao took a step forward, raised his hand and said, "I burned it." ”