Since the victims were businessmen from other states this time, they usually had the most important contact with Fan Ming, so the arresters who followed them did not feel that there was anything wrong, on the contrary, Fan Ming dared to follow them to the scene of the murder, and he was more courageous than other officials, which made the arresters look at Fan Ming with more admiration.

The scene of the murder was on the official road leading to Songzhou outside Chuqiu City, about ten miles away, although the Hong County Lieutenant was over forty years old, his body bones were no different from those of young people, and Fan Ming was also born in a peasant family, and this foot strength was not much worse than these errand soldiers, and it took less than an hour for the group to arrive at the place where the crime occurred.

As soon as the official arrived, many farmers around the murder scene dispersed, and a group of arresters were also veterans of the case, and quickly isolated the murder scene, while the servant stepped forward to inspect the wounds and check the traces, and Fan Ming watched the whole situation with Hong Deshan on the side.

The whole scene was messy, there were five dead people, some old and young, lying on the ground, the most infuriating thing was that even the horses were all slaughtered, and the accompanying carriage was smashed to pieces, the blood stained the grass around it blood-red, and the bloody degree of the scene exceeded Fan Ming's expectations.

Although he had seen many similar scenes on TV in later generations, Fan Ming still felt a little uncomfortable when he really saw the murder scene, and at the moment when he saw the wound of the deceased who was still bleeding, Fan Ming finally couldn't help but turn around.

Hong Deshan could also understand Fan Ming's feelings, and patted him on the shoulder, "I'll get used to it once I see it." ”

After taking a deep breath, Fan Ming felt that he had eased up, and when he saw that no one around him was paying attention to him, he couldn't help but feel relieved, and when he looked at those corpses again, it seemed that they were not so terrible.

When the people around him were looking for clues, a reflective metal body next to the deceased caught his attention, and he was about to pick it up to take a look, but he was stopped by a pair of hands, it was Hong Deshan, "Be careful of poison!" ”

Fan Ming glanced at the servant who was rolling up his sleeves on the side, nodded apologetically, and waited for the test result of the servant calmly.

After a while, he finally put his hand away, wrapped the metal piece on the ground with a piece of paper, and sent it to Hong Deshan, "My lord, the inspection is over." ”

Hong Deshan nodded, "Well, how's that?" ”

"The two of them have the seal of the Songzhou merchant on them, and they should be the merchants who came to my Chuqiu." He paused and said: "The knife edge is three points long and two inches deep, and it should be a sharp dagger if it is injured by a sharp weapon. ”

"Look hard again and see if there's anything missing." Taking the piece of iron sent by the servant in his hand, Hong Deshan looked at it carefully, couldn't help sighing, and said to Fan Ming: "It's really a swarm this time." ”

Fan Ming was a little puzzled, "My lord, why are you so sure?" ”

Hong Deshan handed over the piece of iron in his hand, "Look at this." ”

Fan Ming took the iron sheet and observed it carefully in front of him, this long iron piece is nothing special in terms of material, it is just an ordinary pig iron piece, but two crossed scratches are engraved on one side of it, "My lord, this is ......"

Hong Deshan was silent for a moment, as if recalling something, "At the beginning, every time a 'swarm of bees' committed a crime, they would leave such a thing, and when it was most rampant, they even threw this thing into a family in the city. He frowned, and said to a catcher beside him: "Go and ask, who saw it for the first time, bring him for questioning." ”

After a while, an old-looking peasant woman was brought to Hong Deshan, talking to the public for the first time, and it was the first time she saw the county lieutenant, the peasant woman's body was a little trembling, the county lieutenant, obediently, the county lieutenant, except for the county lord, I am afraid that the county lieutenant is the biggest!

Hong Deshan glanced at it and asked, "What's your name?" ”

Li ...... The Li family! ”

"Tell me what you saw?"

Seeing that she was nervous, Fan Ming said: "Don't be afraid, if you see something, tell it truthfully, and it won't do anything to you!" ”

Maybe it was Fan Ming's white and pure face that he looked kind, and the peasant woman also relaxed and told the whole story intermittently, "In the morning, I was working in the field, and suddenly I heard a miserable scream, so I ran over to see what was going on, and I saw a group of bandits with knives chasing and killing the fleeing merchants, that ruthless!" ”

While listening to the peasant woman's story, Fan Ming asked, "How many robbers are there?" ”

"I'm too far away and there are trees blocking me from seeing clearly, plus they are moving too fast, and a moment of kung fu will pass, it seems that there are a few people, and there seem to be dozens of people!" The peasant woman remembered the scene at that time, and she couldn't stop being scared for a while, but she was also extremely angry, and she didn't care about the county lieutenant in front of her, and scolded: "This group of robbers is really not raised by people, and even this half-old child ......can do it."

Knowing that he couldn't ask anything more, Hong Deshan waved his hand to let the peasant woman still take away, Fan Ming's brows condensed more and more, and he couldn't stop a burst of indignation in his heart, "Where did this group of people come from, could it be that they can really fly away, and they must leave some traces!" ”

Hong Deshan shook his head helplessly, "It's not that I didn't catch their tails at the beginning, but this group of people seems to be psychic, every time we gather people to kill this gang of bandits, they disappear inexplicably, do you say there is a ghost." And it's been the case more than once. ”

Fan Ming's heart moved, "Will there be a thief?" ”

"Thief!" Hong Deshan frowned, he didn't know that this was a ghost made by internal thieves, but there were dozens of people in the yamen, and who could be hidden from it as soon as there was a feng shui movement, plus this swarm of bees has never come and gone without a trace, so he didn't know where the nest of this group of people was, and how to catch it.

Seeing Hong Deshan frowning, Fan Ming also understood the key to it, and it was difficult to explain in detail under the many words, "My lord, let's deal with this place first!" ”

Looking at the sky, it was really not early, Hong Deshan waved his hand, "Move the body back, and wait for his family to pick it up the next day." ”

As soon as Hong Deshan spoke, naturally some people did the same, simply using some wood from the carriage and folding some tree trunks from the side of the road, making some shelves to lift the corpse and transport it to Yizhuang outside the city, and return to the yamen on an errand, while Fan Ming walked home alone, thinking that he was afraid that he would be in big trouble during this time.

He didn't fall asleep after rolling in bed all night, and the tragic situation of the murder scene was always hovering in his mind, not that he felt so frightened by the death of these merchants, but that the ferocity and cruelty of this swarm of bees made him feel an unexplained indignation in his heart.

Grass and human life!