He was dressed in official clothes, his hair was gray, his expression was solemn, his eyes were slightly narrowed, and the cold was surging, sitting under the mirror.

Li Ji was about to speak, but when he heard the startling sound in the hand of the county commander, the cheers suddenly sounded.

"What a big official!" Li Ji hurriedly took the conversation and motioned for Boss Yu to look at the field.

The county magistrate looked majestic, and asked, "Are the two of Yu Baoqing and Li Ji kneeling in the hall?"

Hearing the name Yu Baoqing, Li Ji's heart moved, and he asked in a low voice, "Old man, is Yu Baoqing you?"

I don't know whether to answer him Li Ji or the county order, I saw Yu Baoqing bow his head and say in a trembling voice: "The grass people are Yu Baoqing." ”

Li Ji suddenly remembered what Yu Nizi had explained, it turned out that the person he was looking for was far away in the sky, close in front of him, and he couldn't help but sigh inexplicably.

The county magistrate patted the shocked wood and shouted: "Boldly Diao Min, what crime should you be guilty of arson last night?"

Yu Baoqing was so frightened by the majesty of the county order that his legs trembled, and said, "The grass people are wronged!"

"Wronged? You were arrested on the spot, and the evidence is ironclad, do you still dare to quibble?"

Yu Baoqing was a little flustered in fright, and suddenly didn't know how to respond, Li Ji saw it, and hurriedly asked the county order: "My lord, just because we appeared at the scene, it would be too arbitrary to conclude that it was the murderer, right?"

The county commander shouted angrily: "The kid is rampant, this official dares to arrest you, it is definitely not chasing after the wind, it must be complete in human and material evidence." Present the physical evidence to the court. ”

I saw Mr. Jiang's head catcher dressed as a scholar appear in everyone's field of vision, and the people watching outside the hall discussed: "The murderer who the famous 'cold-faced scholar' Mr. Jiang catches the head and chases with his own hands, and he can't be wrong!"

"Cold-faced scholar" Jiang Ping held a wooden lacquer box in his hand, slowly entered the hall, and bowed down to report: "My lord, this is the physical evidence found at the scene last night!"

With that, he opened the wooden lacquer box, only to see a severed wooden stick with blood stains on it.

Li Ji saw that this wooden stick was a sharp weapon used by the black bull in the temple last night, and he had used it to knock himself and the monk Zhikong unconscious, and then it was cut off when he fought with the man in black, and he didn't expect to be picked up by this broken scholar.

As soon as Yu Baoqing saw this stick, he saw things and thought about people, and said with tears: "My lord, the grass people are really wronged! Last night, there was indeed a group of black-clothed people who broke into the house and set fire to the murder, and the black cow was mutilated to death.

The county commander said angrily: "Boldly Diao the people, the temple caught fire last night, fortunately, the government dealt with it in time, and the fire did not affect the surrounding area. ”

Li Ji saw that the county commander was incompetent and aggressive, and said with his fists clenched: "My lord, the grass people and Yu Baoqing have never met, they only met in Pingshui, and they happened to be in the temple last night, and they witnessed the murder of the man in black first, and the arson last. I can testify to Yu Baoqing's innocence, and he absolutely did not commit any illegal crimes. ”

Yu Baoqing nodded excitedly: "Yes, yes......" and nodded at Li Ji and hugged his fist, and his gratitude was all in words.

The county order was obviously enraged, his eyes widened angrily, as if he wanted to swallow Li Ji and Yu Baoqing in one bite, and the master on the side was also so angry that his beard trembled, and the master waved a folding fan and said: "It seems that you will not die if you don't reach the Yellow River. ”

A strange thought flashed through Li Ji's mind, and he was secretly surprised: "The county government has even prepared such human and physical evidence, it seems that he will not give up if he does not sit on the charges today." But Boss Yu has never met him, and he has nothing to do with him, so how can he be so desperate to die? Is there anyone else involved in this?"

He quickly shook his head and waved away these strange thoughts.

After a while, I saw a black-faced young man in ragged clothes, walking in with two jailers, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing to say hello.

When Li Ji saw this person, he was fifteen or sixteen years old, short in stature, with roe deer eyes, and his eyes wandering, and he turned out to be the market scoundrel Huang Ergou who had been wandering around the "Chunmanlou" a few months ago.

Li Ji vaguely remembered that in order to get his mother's wallet back, he broke into the thief's den alone, punched Huang Ergou, and finally took the wallet back.

Huang Ergou suddenly saw Li Ji, and recognized him at once, his face was also full of surprise, hearing the county order's question, he cowered and knelt on the ground, and said in a trembling voice: "Grass people Huang Ergou, meet the master of the blue sky......"

The county commander said gently: "When the official asks, you have to answer truthfully, if there is half a lie, the official will send you to prison." Say, where were you last night?"

When Huang Ergou heard this, his face turned pale with fright, and he stammered: "Grass, grass people, I ...... near the temple last night."

The county magistrate stroked his long beard and said: "Don't panic, you will tell the truth what you saw last night, if it is true, you will be meritorious and will be rewarded." ”

"Yes, when the grass people were strolling around the temple last night, they saw a monk and a layman chasing after Yu Boss and others, and finally they all entered the temple and did not move for a long time. I wondered, so I went to the crack in the door and saw that there was a fight inside, and then it caught fire. ”

The county magistrate asked again, "Do you recognize the two of them?"

Huang Ergou raised his head slightly, looked at Li Ji and Yu Baoqing, and then lowered his head and said: "Hehe, I recognize, Boss Yu is also a notorious figure on the local road, and it is clear from the bottom that it was he who killed people in the temple, and then this little brother assisted on the side!"

Yu Baoqing said: "Wronged! We were chased and killed by the men in black, and we were forced to defend ourselves and fight back, not intentionally killing people." ”

Huang Ergou said firmly: "The grass people's sentences are true, please make a clear decision from the Qingtian master!"

The county magistrate obviously waited for a long time for his words, and when he spoke, he slapped the shocking Mutang and said angrily: "Bold, there are all human and material evidence, how can we deny it? There is no need to quibble, murder and arson, heinous crimes, and behead according to the law! Come on, temporarily put Yu Baoqing, the main culprit in the arson murder case, and Li Ji, the accomplice, into prison, and ask them to be beheaded at a later date!"

At this time, a jailer walked into the public hall and said, "My lord, General Xiao Yan, a member of the Gyeonggi Praetorian Guard, came to the door to ask for a meeting. ”

Hearing this, the county commander looked surprised, and said in disbelief: "Oh, how could General Xiao come here at this time? ”

Since the Qixi Palace Mountains and Seas Collection, Xiao Yan won the name of Kuixing, and it spread all over Kyoto in just one or two days, and it was a side branch of the Xiao royal family, which won the trust of the emperor, so that Kyoto suddenly rose up overnight The trend of Xiao Ti poetry, up to the civil and military officials, harem concubines, down to the literati, all flocked to it, and even more high-ranking officials and nobles even frankly said that they were willing to exchange for rare treasures and peerless magic soldiers for their poetry collections!

When Li Ji heard this, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and secretly said: "There are many loopholes in this case, and the county order does not study these details, but decides the case as soon as it goes to court, obviously eager to convict Boss Yu and himself!"

"Lord Wang Dan, I haven't seen you for a long time, don't come unharmed!"

I saw Xiao Yan dressed in a military uniform, with a sword hanging from his waist, and a majestic demeanor, striding over, followed by Monk Zhikong, Xi'er and a little scholar.

The county commander Wang Dan immediately got up and arched his hand: "General Xiao, look up for a long time, come to the Humble House today, make the lower official Pengbi shine, please sit down!"

Xiao Yan hugged his fists and said: "There, Brother Wang has won the award, and the younger brother came to visit rashly, please bear with me if I am disrespectful." The so-called nothing is not to go to the Three Treasures Palace, and today the younger brother came here to ask for something. ”

"Oh, I don't know what General Xiao is doing, but it doesn't matter, Wang will definitely do his best. ”

"Thank you Brother Wang, if you can help, the younger brother is grateful and crying, the brotherly love is unforgettable in this life, and he will be rewarded in the future. After speaking, Xiao Yan bowed respectfully to the county commander Wang Dan.

"General Xiao is serious, how can the subordinate officer dare to accept this great gift, I don't know what the general has to say, the subordinate listens. ”

"Here's the thing, last night I sent a spy to your place to do business, but unexpectedly I was attacked by an unknown man in black at the temple, the temple caught fire, and people disappeared. I learned this morning that I had come from Kyoto overnight on a horse from your house. ”

Wang Dan frowned and said, "Oh, there is such a thing, and the lower official doesn't know about it, who is the general referring to?"

Xiao Yan said: "It is Yu Baoqing and Li Ji above this court. ”

Wang Dan's eyes widened and said: "What? General Xiao is looking for the people they are looking for? Last night, there was a horrific arson murder case in the local temple, and the culprit has been arrested on the spot, and there are all the human and material evidence, and now he is being tried and convicted!"

Xiao Yan said movingly: "What crime?"

Wang Dan said: "According to the law of the Great Qi State, it is determined to be the crime of intentional homicide and arson, and it should be beheaded according to the law." ”

Xiao Yan said: "But then again, there is a murder case in this county, and the county commander must of course deal with it impartially." But what if the identity of these people was a spy of the Northern Wei Dynasty? Not only did they not break the law, but they were meritorious. ”

Wang Dan was shocked when he heard this, and said, "According to General Xiao, these corpses are secret agents of the Northern Wei Dynasty, is there any evidence?"

Xiao Yan said: "Since you have some witnesses and physical evidence, how can this general be empty-mouthed, I also brought a witness, which happens to be a little different from what you said." Zhikong, Xi'er, tell me more about what happened last night. ”

Zhikong and Xi'er stood up and saluted Wang Xianling, and then the two of them successively told the truth about what happened last night.

Xiao Yan smiled lightly and said, "My lord, what do you think?"

Wang Xianling wiped the sweat on his forehead and said nervously: "General Xiao, this ......"

General Xiao waved his hand, motioned for Wang Xian Ling to approach, and then took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to him.

Wang Xian Ling opened the letter and glanced at it hurriedly, his face suddenly changed greatly, and he said in a trembling voice: "This matter actually alarmed the palace inside?"

"Lord Wang, you can just watch it!"

Wang Xian Ling frowned, his body trembled slightly, and beads of sweat the size of beans oozed from his forehead, but he couldn't raise his hand to wipe it, and said in a low voice: "General Xiao, it's really not a secret, the lower officials also received a report that they set fire to the temple, and the lower officials really don't know the inside story of this matter! If it weren't for General Xiao's timely arrival, the lower officials almost misjudged, and it was really hard to escape the blame. ”

"Then according to the king's wishes......"

"Everything depends on the general, the people under the hall are not only not guilty, but meritorious, this government should be rewarded, should be rewarded!"

"Thank you Lord Wang for your help, I am troubled today, my little brother is not very afraid, please forgive me, say goodbye, and visit me another day. ”

"Where did General Xiao say, it's just a little thing, if it weren't for the general's teaching, the lower officials would still be in the dark, and almost made a big mistake. ”

Xiao Yan was so smart that he knew that Wang Dan was worried that he would participate in this matter and ruin his official career, so he smiled heartily and said, "Lord Wang, don't worry, this matter is here, it's just a misunderstanding." Goodbye, please stay. ”

When Wang Dan heard what Xiao Yan said, he was slightly relieved, and hurriedly sent him out of the court with a smile.

Monk Zhikong and Xi'er immediately untied Li Ji and Yu Baoqing, and the little scholar who followed behind Xiao Yan suddenly turned around and gave Li Ji a strange look.

Li Ji was stunned, isn't this Princess Wukang?