Before Zhao Ping had time to go to Xingyang City to interrogate Cui Yanze, Hui Chengdong and others, the Shenwu military general, who was in charge of guarding them, sent someone to send the news to the emperor's palace.

Bai Jinguang, who received the report, immediately rushed over and reported to Zhao Junsheng: "Your Majesty, Cui Yanze and Hui Chengdong were killed in prison!" ”

Zhao Junsheng's face sank: "What's the matter?" Didn't I send a Shenwu army to guard it personally, and no one was allowed to visit it? How could they be killed? ”

Bai Jinguang reported: "Last night, the assassin dug a tunnel from a private house near the prison to the inside of the prison, and happened to dig the tunnel into one of the empty cells, and the assassin entered the empty cell through the tunnel and killed Cui Yanze and Hui Chengdong!" ”

Zhao Junsheng was furious after hearing this: "These bull ghosts and snake gods are really getting more and more arrogant and bold!" ”

"Father is angry, they must be in a hurry to jump over the wall now, so they dare to dig tunnels and enter the prison to kill people!"

Zhao Ping persuaded and said: "It's not early, Erchen will rush over to investigate the scene and see if he can find some clues to catch the assassin!" ”

Zhao Junsheng nodded: "The assassin must have done a lot of homework before the operation, otherwise it would be impossible to dig the tunnel entrance in that empty cell, this must be a person who is good at using his brain, it is time-consuming and laborious to fight with this kind of person, catching the assassin is secondary, your main task is to dig out all the officials who collude with each other and have problems on the line of Xingyang County!" ”

"Yes, the retainers are retired!"

Zhao Pinggang wanted to leave, but when he remembered something, he said to Zhao Junsheng: "Father, a large number of problematic officials in Hanoi have been dismissed and sent to prison pending trial, which has seriously affected the local disaster relief affairs······

Zhao Junsheng said: "I know, I will arrange the disposal, you should do your own business first!" ”

"No!"

Zhao Ping rushed to Xingyang City, and the Shenwu military building led the team to greet him after getting the news.

"The last general will meet His Royal Highness the King of Shu!"

Zhao Ping waved his hand: "No need to be polite, this king was ordered to investigate the murder of Cui Yanze and Hui Chengdong, where is the body?" Take this king to see it! ”

"Your Highness, please!"

Accompanied by the general, Zhao Ping went to a morgue in a prison, where the bodies of Cui Yanze and Hui Chengdong were placed side by side.

Zhao Ping examined the two bodies one by one, and found that both of them had died of fatal wounds, one in the neck and one in the chest and heart, and it was obvious that the assassin was a veteran murderer.

Zhao Ping noticed the dagger stuck in Cui Yanze's chest, he turned his head and asked, "Look at the direction in which this dagger pierced, it was thrown by the assassin at close range to kill Cui Yanze, didn't the assassin kill him outside the prison door?" ”

The general looked surprised: "Your Highness is really a god, the murderer just ran away when the soldiers and soldiers on duty at night arrived, Cui Yanze is not dead yet, the prison door is still locked with iron chains, he should have been pierced through the chest by the assassin with an assassin's throw!" ”

Zhao Ping thought for a while and ordered: "Go and call all the people who arrived at the scene first, and this king is waiting for them at the scene of the crime!" ”

"No!"

The cell leader, several jailers, and the soldiers and soldiers on duty were quickly called to the door of Cui Yanze's cell.

Zhao Ping inquired about these people, and all the people who were called answered one by one.

After Zhao Ping finished asking, he said, "The assassin's tunnel just dug this empty cell, don't you think it's suspicious?" ”

The generals, the tooth masters, cell bosses, and soldiers looked at each other one by one.

The general said, "Your Highness is saying that the assassins know everything about the inside of the prison?" At least he figured out what was going on inside the prison before he did it? ”

Zhao Ping nodded and said: "If he is not a prison insider, then he must have asked the prison insiders about the relevant news, do you think about whether anyone has asked you for news in the past few days?" Or has anything suspicious happened inside the prison recently? ”

The general immediately asked the people, "Did you hear His Highness's question?" Does anyone know something unusual has happened lately? ”

Everyone shook their heads, but the cell boss hesitated and raised his hand to ask, "Five days ago, one of the villain's jailers drowned in a nearby pond when he came home drunk, I wonder if this is an unusual thing?" ”

Zhao Ping immediately asked, "What's his name?" Do you like to drink alcohol on weekdays? ”

"Back to His Royal Highness, his name is Sun Ming, he drinks two sips on weekdays, he is an old drunkard, and he can't hide anything after drinking. Early the next morning, when the neighbor went to the pond to fetch water, he found his body, and after the body was fished up, he was drunk and fell into the pond and drowned, and no one suspected that he was murdered. ”

Zhao Ping nodded, this was a relatively important clue, he instructed the accompanying scribes to record it, and then asked: "After Cui Yanze and Hui Chengdong were killed, did you find any other clues?" Are there any objects of suspicion? ”

The soldier on duty at that time raised his hand and said: "Your Highness, when the lowly duty brought people to arrive, Cui Yanze still had a breath, he said three words before he died, and the lowly position thought that it should be related to the command behind the back!" ”

Zhao Ping immediately asked, "What did he say before he died?" ”

"Thursday, Thursday!"

Zhao Ping frowned: "The second week must be repeated, what Cui Yanze really wants to say should be Thursday!" Do you have an official named Thursday in Xingyang County? ”

The cell boss replied, "I'm afraid I'm going to find someone from the county guard to go through the personnel files!" ”

Zhao Ping immediately sent two groups of people, the first group of two people was led by the cell boss to Sun Ming's house who fell into the water and drowned to find clues; The second group of two people went to the county guard office to look up the files to see if there was a person named Thursday in the official face, and if not, they checked the household registration file to see how many people named Thursday were in the whole city, and brought suspicious people for questioning.

Zhao Ping did not forget his duty, and he immediately ordered the other officials to be brought out for interrogation one by one.

······

Late at night, by the water, the wind is cold.

A man in black stood at the water's edge, his cloak rattled by the cold wind.

Soon, a middle-aged man in a leather jacket rode a horse and ran over, he stopped in front of the man in black cloak, the wind was very strong, blowing his face painfully, he jumped off the horse and rubbed his hands and complained: "I really don't know what kind of wind you drew to choose the meeting place here in such a cold ghost weather, isn't this looking for guilt?" ”

The man in the black cloak said in an emotionless voice, "You're late! ”

"It's better to be late than not to come, aren't you just worried that you won't be able to receive the final payment? Rest assured, you won't be missing! After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he took a small cloth bag from his horse and threw it to the black-cloaked man.

The black-cloaked man reached out to catch it, and the gold in the cloth bag made a crashing sound, which was very pleasant, he opened the cloth bag and reached out to touch it, and was sure that it was gold, and the weight was about the same.

At this time, the middle-aged man said: "You have collected the gold, but there is something I have to say, although you have eliminated the two main targets this time, but you have not cleaned up those small miscellaneous fish, should you finish the rest of the work?" ”

The black-cloaked man tied it into the mouth of the cloth bag, looked up and said, "Yes, but you have to add money!" ”

The middle-aged man was very dissatisfied: "What's the matter with you?" At the beginning, we said okay, I will pay you a hundred taels of gold, and you will kill all the officials who were arrested, but you only kill two, which is equivalent to not completing the task! Now you still have to add money, how can you do that? ”

The black-clothed cloaked man suddenly flashed, and hit the middle-aged man's ribs in a circle, the middle-aged man didn't have time to react at all, his eyes were bulging and about to fall off, his hand raised and pointed to the black-clothed cloak froze, and the expression on his face became stiff, and after a few seconds, his body fell straight to the ground and continued to twitch.

"Don't think I don't know that you want to use me to distract the attention of the government and hit me? Hmph, I'm going to make you walk around without eating, otherwise it will be difficult to solve the hatred in my heart! ”

The black-cloaked man whispered, carrying the gold, stepping onto the middle-aged man's horse, shaking the reins, and galloping away into the night.

The next morning, the body of the middle-aged man was found by a fisherman on the edge of Surabaya. At dusk, Zhao Ping was interrogating the offending officials when he received the news.

A head catcher of the government led the way in front with an oil lamp, and Zhao Ping walked into the morgue with a few catchers of the Imperial City Division and a few Shenwu soldiers, and Cao Cao, a thief from the government office, followed and accompanied.

The head catcher put the oil lamp on the table, and the thief Cao introduced to Zhao Ping: "Your Highness, the deceased is a forty-year-old middle-aged man, and the waist on the corpse is tied to the office, and the place shows that this person is from Chang'an, named Zou Fugui, judging from the identity shown on the office, this Zou Fugui is an ordinary person, but he is wearing silk and satin all over his body, and the leather jacket covered outside is finely made, not ordinary people can afford to wear it, if he is not a wealthy businessman, he must be a descendant of a wealthy businessman!" ”

Zhao Ping frowned and said: "Is it difficult to achieve it, because he is a Chang'an person, you are too guarded to push this case to this king?" ”

The thief Cao hurriedly said: "Your Highness has misunderstood, if it is just an ordinary criminal case, the lower officials will definitely not dare to alarm Your Highness, but the cause of this person's death is a little special!" ”

"Oh? What kind of special law? Zhao Ping asked.

"Your Royal Highness, this person was hit in the ribs with a punch, broke three ribs, causing a massive hemorrhage in the spleen and died, according to the inference, the punch was very strong, the force was very concentrated, and the deceased had no injuries on all parts of his body except for this position, which means that the deceased was killed by this punch, and the murderer did not use the second trick at all! Your Highness, think about it, who has the ability to kill such a part of the ribs with one punch? And the location is so accurate? The killer is clearly an assassin who is extremely proficient in killing! The lower officials heard that His Royal Highness was investigating the assassination of the criminals Choi Yeon-taek and Hui Sung-dong, so he wondered if the deceased was related to this case? ”

Zhao Ping beckoned, a soldier stepped forward with a lantern, Zhao Ping observed the location of the messenger's fatal wound under the illumination of the light, the injured part collapsed, and there was a bruised fist print.

"That's a good skill!" Zhao Ping let out an exclamation, he straightened his waist and quickly ordered an accompanying imperial city priest: "You go back to rest, and ride a fast horse back to Chang'an early tomorrow morning to find out the identity of this Zou Fugui to this king!" ”

"Yes, Your Highness!"