"Sir, please sit down for a while, since the portraits have been painted, Yang will go to see Master Meng and take a step first."

Yang Congyi put down the fan, put away the twelve portraits, and immediately took his leave.

"Well, Lord Yang should go." The painter glanced at Yang Congyi and looked away again.

After smiling slightly and nodding slightly, Yang Congyi quickly left with the portrait and went to the front office.

After the painter looked up at him leaving, he sat back down in front of the bookcase, still distracted, but his hand unconsciously lifted the brush and dipped it in ink.

Seeing this, the maid with a fan on the side quickly took a piece of drawing paper and laid it out in front of her.

This action attracted the attention of the painter, and he immediately put down the brush, picked up the fan on the bookcase, slapped it heavily on his chest a few times, and said, "I'm tired, I won't paint." ”

"Let's go back, it's so hot, and we can't just walk around. I haven't finished the cold soup I made before, so I just went back to relieve my fatigue and relieve the heat. The maid played the fan vigorously and raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead.

"Well, the veil is annoying." As he spoke, he exhaled and blew up the veil, revealing a delicate and delicate face that was white and red.

As soon as the maid saw that her master agreed, she quickly began to pack up the painting tools on the bookcase, she didn't want to stay in this place for a moment, she just wanted to go back to the backyard as soon as possible, and return to the world that belonged to them.

Soon after, the makeshift studio was empty, leaving only a faint scent of orchid.

In the lobby of the front office, twelve portraits of bandits have been sent to the state school by the county with seven or eight arrests, so that students who know how to paint can copy them in the same way.

Yang Congyi stayed in the lobby and discussed with Meng Zhizhou and Liu Zhutou about the arrest of the murderer.

I only heard Meng Zhizhou say: "Secretary Yang, just now you helped paint the portrait of the bandits, and the official is very grateful." With the portrait, as long as it appears in the city, sooner or later it will be arrested. Liu Zhutou went to the scene of the murder early in the morning to investigate, and only came back not long ago, the information he brought back is very important, Secretary Yang will listen to it together? ”

Yang Congyi nodded and said: "The lower officials also want to solve the case as soon as possible, so they should leave early, if there is any place to help the yamen, it is also the honor of the lower officials." ”

Liu Zhutou looked at Meng Zhizhou, and saw that he seemed to be very fond of this Lord Yang, whom he had never met, and he did not shy away from such a major case, even if he was a little worried, he could only suppress it.

Then he said: "It took us three hours to investigate all the 23 murder scenes, and we did get a lot of clues, the most important of which is that we found that these 23 murders were not ordinary murders, but well-planned murders, all of them, without exception. And in each murder case, the methods used are similar, climbing over the wall, prying the door, and going straight to the target, but the murder weapon used is different, and there are as many as eight kinds of murder methods, after investigation, it is preliminarily judged that there are 17 murders without the same murderer, that is to say, there are at least 17 murderers. According to some clues found during the investigation at the scene, after a preliminary investigation, it can be determined that these murders occurred almost at the same time period, between the third and fourth watches, and within half an hour, because of the short time of the crimes, it can be basically judged that the 23 murders were committed by at least 23 murderers.

From this, we can know that these murderers are definitely not only the twelve bandits, they also have accomplices, it is very likely that they have been hiding in the city all the time, and are very familiar with the city, or they have obtained the information and their respective residences in advance of the Renhe Pharmacy, which transported medicinal materials back to the city, otherwise they would not be able to find out all the circumstances of the deceased in half a day, including the room where they slept, because the murderer was too precise in killing, and there were twenty-three murders, and there was no more door to prie. ”

Liu Zhutou's investigation and reasoning coincided with Yang Congyi's previous speculation, and I don't know if Meng Zhizhou told him something.

"Secretary Yang, what do you think of this case?" Meng Zhizhou asked knowingly.

Yang Congyi felt a little surprised in his heart, Meng Zhizhou hid it deep enough, his heart was like a mirror, but he didn't reveal a word to the head catcher who was in charge of handling the case, the three words of the old fox.

Although there is slander, since he has been pointed, he still has to say that the play still has to be played, so he replied: "Liu Zhutou's judgment and speculation based on the clues found at the scene are very reasonable for the lower officials. In the dark night, twenty-three murders occurred at the same time within half an hour, you don't need to think about it, this is definitely carefully planned, and you can even boldly speculate that the murderer has found everyone's residence before the deceased returns to the city, and observed the scene in advance, otherwise it will definitely not be so smooth at night, it will definitely not be so accurate, the twenty-three murders only killed twenty-eight people, it can be determined that they are there to extinguish the mouth, all regardless of whether the murderer is the twelve bandits, the murderer is to protect the bandits, Therefore, our breakthrough in solving the case should still be placed on finding bandits, there are portraits of bandits in the yamen, and it is easier to find bandits than to find murderers. ”

Meng Zhizhou echoed: "What Secretary Yang said makes sense, we can't know who the murderer is, but the deceased was killed because they had seen the twelve bandits, and if they found the bandits, they could sort out the case and capture the real culprit." ”

After pondering for a moment, Liu Zhutou replied: "Lord Yang's speculation is agreed by his subordinates. Through on-site investigation, I found that the 23 murders were almost all over the city, most of them were still in the depths of the alleys, the roads were complicated, not to mention at night, even during the day, I have lived in this city for more than 30 years, many places, and today is the first time to go, so I believe that these 23 murders have been planned for more than one day, and the murderers are more than 23 people. In addition, I suspect that one of the murderers was very familiar with Renhe Pharmacy, and he was able to find out the names of all the people who transported medicinal materials from Jianning Mansion back to the city, and he could directly find out where everyone lived. ”

Yang Congyi nodded and said: "What Liu Zhutou said is reasonable, we met the bandits at noon three days ago, and we returned to the city at noon yesterday, and the place where the incident happened is more than 100 miles here, if the bandits retreated at that time, they immediately thought of exterminating the city, then they had to rush for a hundred miles, and they had to enter the city the morning before yesterday at the earliest, but in fact this was impossible, because the bandits could not see the appearance of the people transporting the medicinal herbs, and it was impossible to know where their family lived, so after the robbery failed, The only thing they would do was to quickly report to their accomplices in the city and tell them that they had been exposed.

It can be assumed that the companions decided to kill the people in a very short time after receiving the news, but the first thought would definitely not be in the city, because they did not know the names of the twenty-three deceased, let alone where they lived. Therefore, the easiest way to eliminate the mouth is of course on the way back to the city of the deceased, so their first thought must be to arrange people to rob and kill again on the way, but we have been smooth all the way, and we have not encountered any bandits, this is simply because Yang has always been with the deceased's convoy, they are worried about hurting the life of Yang, the former official of the palace, the bandits did not appear again does not mean that they did not try halfway, it also takes time, one to come and go, at least one day. Therefore, it can be speculated that they will not have more than one day to plan to exterminate the mouth in the city, and this day they will have to find out the identities of the twenty deceased and their residences, and if they do not inquire with the people of Renhe Pharmacy, they will not be able to complete all the preparations, and there should not be many people in Renhe Pharmacy who know who is sent to Jianning Mansion, and at the same time, he must know where everyone lives. ”

After finishing speaking, Meng Zhizhou was thoughtful, and Liu Zhutou nodded.

"Liu Zhutou, you immediately take someone to ban Renhe Pharmacy, and bring all the principals, including Shopkeeper Lin himself, for questioning, and you must not let anyone go!" Meng Zhizhou figured out the key point, suddenly ordered, and casually took out the order sign and handed it to Liu Zhutou.

"Yes, sir!"

Liu Zhutou took the order, quickly ran out of the lobby, and summoned the officials to go to Renhe Pharmacy to get people.

After everyone left, Meng Zhizhou said: "Secretary Yang is still quick-witted, and he immediately grasped the key to solving this case." ”

Yang Congyi replied with some embarrassment: "Xiaguan also followed Liu Zhutou's meaning, in fact, he has already said it clearly, he is also suspicious of Renhe Pharmacy, but it is inconvenient to say it in detail, Xiaguan is just saying it for him." ”

Meng Zhizhou was slightly stunned, and then said with a smile: "Then it's even more interesting now, why did the head of this Renhe Pharmacy kill his own people." ”

"Pharmacies are meant to make money, nothing more than profit. Didn't the adults say before that they deliberately infect the Jianzhou medicinal herb business, maybe someone in the pharmacy was bribed, and they might collude with each other. If there really is a pharmacy owner who colludes with them, it makes sense to kill twenty-three people overnight. It's just that in this case, I don't know how big the case will be, and will it cause chaos? Speaking of this, Yang Congyi was a little worried.

Who knew that Meng Zhizhou smiled and said: "I just want them to be involved, the bigger the better, since they choose to start at this time, where to end, it is up to them." As for your concerns, you don't have to, and that's what I'm here for. ”

Yang Congyi was shocked, but when he thought that he was also trapped in it, if he didn't break the sword behind him, he would not be able to live in the future, so he began to support Meng Zhizhou in his heart to fight them to the end, although he received the money, what did it matter.

However, when he heard Meng Zhizhou's last words, he had doubts in his heart, and then asked: "Why is the lower official staying here, not afraid of causing chaos?" ”

Meng Zhizhou said with a smile: "Secretary Yang is afraid that he has not been in the palace department for a long time, and there are some unwritten rules that you may not know." ”

"The lower officials are willing to listen to the teachings of adults." When Yang Congyi heard this, he hurriedly bowed down and asked for advice.

Meng Zhizhou said: "The power of the Great Song Dynasty to transfer troops is in the Privy Council and in the imperial court, and the right to command the troops is in the front of the palace and the front of the palace, and the front of the palace is in charge of the world's army. Secretary Yang is in Nanjian Prefecture, and your status in the army is the same as that of the Divine Cavalry Army, or even slightly higher. Do they dare to move? ”