Today is the day of the imperial court's recess, although Wu Zhi did not go to Kaifeng Mansion to work, but he still met with Lan Lord Qin Hui and Song Gong in the study of the mansion, ready to listen to the progress of their investigation of the Sun family's case.

The study room is elegant and chic, a few rays of morning light shine from the window, green smoke curls from the incense burner on the desk, Wu Zhi sits at the desk, and the other three people sit separately.

"My lord, my side has basically completed the investigation." Lord Lan took the lead in clasping his fists and said: "The officials in the court who are related to Lord Sun have all been investigated, and none of these people have a motive to commit the crime. Even the officials who were brought to justice and demoted by Lord Sun have received reports from subordinates in various places, and they do not have the ability and courage to dare to do wrong to Lord Sun. ”

Lord Lan is responsible for investigating whether the court officials have grievances or interests with Lord Sun, in fact, it is a general investigation to find clues, and only with clues can we continue to investigate in depth.

Qin Hui then said: "Report to your lord, I have also checked seventy percent of the case file information on the government side, the ancestors of Lord Sun's family have been virtuous for generations, and there are no evil people among relatives and friends, and the maids and daughters-in-law who are called by their families are also from good families, according to the current results, there is no suspicious person." ”

"Still no progress"

After listening to the report of the two, Wu Zhi frowned, in fact, since the three of them came, Wu Zhi had already guessed that there was no progress in the case, because he and the three agreed that once important clues were found, they would report to themselves as soon as possible, and the report every morning was just a regular rule, indicating that there was no major progress in the case.

Wu Zhi was in a bit of a hurry, he had taken over this case for almost ten days, although he had not done anything on the surface in ten days, but Lord Lan and Qin Hui had not been idle for a moment, but there was still no progress in checking and checking, and even if Zhao Ji was patient like this, I am afraid that the officials in the court would not let Wu Zhi have a good time.

Originally, Wu Zhi was a flattering minister with no political achievements, and there were already many ministers in the court who took over this big case as the judge of Kaifeng Mansion, and once they broke out, coupled with the fanning of Zhu Mian and his faction, things would be troublesome.

"Your Excellency must calm down, your thinking about handling the case is correct, as long as you continue to investigate carefully, you will definitely be able to find clues" Qin Hui saw Wu Zhi's gloomy face, and immediately comforted.

Lord Lan also said: "Xiao Qin is right, the adults are very quick and proper in the investigation and arrangement of the case, if any official takes office, it will not be able to find out this level in less than ten days, the adults just need to wait patiently." ”

On the first day of his tenure, Wu Zhi found conclusive evidence that the Sun family fire case was a murder, and quickly arranged a tracing task, which is indeed impeccable in this regard, as for the lack of any clues, it can only be said that the time has not come.

Wu Zhi nodded, looked at Song Gong, who had been bowing his head and contemplating beside him, and asked, "Lord Song, have you found anything over there?"

"Back to Adulthood"

Song Gong raised his head and said with a straight face: "The minister has also finished checking Lord Sun's relatives and friends, as well as the neighbors near Sun's house, as Lord Qin said, there is nothing suspicious about these people." However, "

"But what"

Wu Zhi immediately asked, he was too desperate for some turn in the case.

"However, when Xia Guan visited the neighbors around Sun's house, he learned that a few days before the fire in Sun's house, there were often people coming in and out of Sun's house." After a pause, Song Gong continued: "The Sun family is originally from Bianjing, and it is normal for some relatives and friends to visit in Bianjing, but relatives and friends generally go through the main gate, and few people leave, so I feel strange." ”

"Go"

Wu Zhi immediately asked, "Can you know the name and identity of this person?"

This is a suspicious point, and if this person can be found, maybe a clue can be found.

"That person is not the Sun family, and Xia Guan later took the neighbor to see all the relatives, friends and deceased members of the Sun family in Bianjing, who were not among them."

"In this way, wouldn't the clue be broken again," Qin Hui frowned.

"The more this person is not among the relatives, friends, and deceased of the Sun family, the more it shows that this person has a great relationship with the case, as long as this person can be found, there must be clues in the case." Lord Lan affirmed.

Wu Zhi nodded and asked Song Gong, "Have you asked your neighbors about this person's physical characteristics?"

"Clear."

Song Gong nodded, but still looked pensive.

"Great, as long as you ask about the physiognomy characteristics, you can find a painter from the Hanlin Painting Institute who is good at drawing characters to draw this person according to the oral description, the sketch invented by the adult is extremely realistic, as long as the portrait comes out, we will definitely be able to find this person" Qin Hui said happily.

Hearing Qin Hui say this, Wu Zhi's eyes also lit up.

The sketch painting I made in order to shoot the horse at the beginning, and now I have done myself a great favor by chance, otherwise it would be too difficult to find someone with the rough painting method of the ancient government.

"It's been so long, and even if that neighbor has a good memory, I'm afraid he will be wrong. And even if you roughly draw the appearance of this person, it is probably not easy to find this person in the huge Bianjing City. What's more, if this person is not in Bianjing, then finding someone in the world who draws from memory is tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack. Lord Lan analyzed on the side, "So, we have to narrow down the scope a bit."

Lord Lan's words were tantamount to a basin of cold water, which made Wu Zhi calm down instantly, yes, there are more than one million people in Bianjing City alone, and there are more than eighty miles from the south gate of the city to the north gate of the city, and it will take at least half a month to find someone in Bianjing City, let alone find it in the whole country.

And if that person really had something to do with the Sun family's murder case, he was probably one of the suspects, otherwise he would have shown up a long time ago. If he had the intention to disguise himself to avoid the Fengfu, with the situation in ancient times, it would be impossible for the Kaifeng Mansion to find this person.

The crowd fell silent

"Arashi-sama is right, I've been thinking about this before." Song Gong finally stopped pondering, raised his head, and said with a strange light in his eyes: "But now, I can basically determine the scope of this person's position."

"Oh"

Wu Zhi suppressed the excitement in his heart and asked calmly, "Tell me about it." ”

Qin Hui and Lord Lan also looked at Song Gong intently.

When the lower official asked the neighbor before, he asked not only about the person's appearance and physical characteristics, but also about the person's dress. I learned that there was nothing special about the person's appearance, that is, a middle-aged man, who was also of medium height, and was dressed in the dress of ordinary people, with a kudzu cloth robe and short boots. It doesn't sound like there's any clue to the person's information, and that's what I thought at first, but I always felt that something was wrong, and just now, it occurred to me that the problem was in the booties."

Wu Zhi and the others couldn't help but be suspicious.

Song Gong continued: "Although it is now spring, but the spring is cold, the weather is still very cold, the people of Bianjing usually wear cotton shoes and cotton boots when they go out, and then there are rich and noble people who wear mink leather boots, dare to ask who has ever seen anyone wearing that kind of black soap step hardwood boots?"

When Song Gong asked, Wu Zhi and Qin Hui both shook their heads, it's not that they haven't seen it, it's just that no one usually notices this kind of detail.

"I think I've seen someone wearing boots," Arashi-sama said unsurely.

"Lord Lan is right, there are indeed many people in Bianjing who wear boots, but those people are not from Bianjing without exception."

"Why did Lord Song say this," Lord Lan wondered.

"Boots are worn by the common people in spring and autumn, but now in winter, only those who are in a hurry will wear boots for fear of sweating and stuffy feet. So I concluded that this person was not from Bianjing. ”

"In this way, this person is not from Bianjing, wouldn't this be even more detrimental to our investigation of the case," Wu Zhi said depressedly.

If people still have a chance to find out in Bianjing, but if they are not in Bianjing, they are really looking for a needle in a haystack, Wu Zhibai was excited for a long time

"Listen to me, sir." Song Gong smiled unprecedentedly and continued: "Although this person is not from Bianjing, he is from Kaifeng Mansion."

Bianjing only refers to the giant city of Bianjing, and Kaifeng Prefecture not only includes Bianjing City, but also includes several county towns around Bianjing, which belongs to the level of the later World Bank Province.

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because those boots have a hard soles, they are only suitable for walking within 100 miles, and they will wear their feet when they go far. Moreover, most of the people who traveled long distances would ride in horse-drawn carriages or ox-carts, and would not wear short boots. So I guess this person should be from several counties around Bianjing. Song Gong paused and continued: "There is another point to corroborate, I asked the neighbor next to Sun Mansion before, and he said that there is nothing special about this person's dress, but it is precisely because there is nothing special, it just means that this person is a native of Kaifeng Mansion."

After Song Gong finished speaking, Wu Zhi Qin Hui and Lord Lan nodded knowingly, the hidden meaning of this can only be understood by people living in Bianjing.

Because Bianjing is the richest, most prosperous and fashionable metropolis in the Great Song Dynasty, the small citizens here naturally have a natural sense of superiority over the foreign population, except for the Qingzhou people, they draw the boundary between themselves and the foreign population very clearly, if it comes to a certain foreigner, the citizens will definitely say the identity of the other party's foreigner as soon as possible.

The county seat around Kaifeng Mansion also belongs to Kaifeng household registration, no different from Bianjing people, the clothing style and color of the people in the county town are also closely following the fashion trend of Bianjing, if outsiders enter Bianjing, they will be recognized by the shrewd people of Bianjing, and the neighbors of the Sun family said that the person is nothing special, and Cha Qing then proved that the person is authentic Kaifeng people whether it is clothing or words and deeds.

"Combined with the above points, it can now be basically concluded that the person is in several counties around Kaifeng, and as long as we investigate in this direction, we can find the specific county seat." After Song Gong finished speaking, he looked at Qin Hui and said, "Lord Qin, among all the relationships of the Sun family, are there any relationships in the counties around Kaifeng Mansion?"

"Well, not yet." Qin Hui hurriedly said, "But there is still some information on my side that has not been checked, and there may be one later." ”

"Good, good"

Wu Zhi stood up happily, Song Gong was able to deduce so many clues based on this seemingly inconspicuous appearance, which really made Wu Zhi breathtaking and admiring, to be able to get this kind of Song Dynasty Sherlock help, Wu Zhi was full of confidence in solving the case.

"Let's follow this clue to trace" Wu Zhi began to make arrangements, "Lord Lan, you take my waist card to the Hanlin Painting Academy to find the vice president of Wu there, he is good at drawing characters, take him and Song Tixing to the Sun family's neighbors to draw the portrait of the suspect, be sure to verify it again and again, in order to restore the appearance of this person to the greatest extent, after the two of you don't make a noise, secretly investigate all the restaurants and inns in Bianjing, see if there are any traces of this person, be sure to collect all clues"

"Yes, you immediately take someone to review the remaining files and see if the Sun family has servants or miscellaneous servants with the counties around Kaifeng Mansion."

Even if Qin Hui didn't find anything here, as long as the portrait was drawn and sent to the surrounding counties of Kaifeng Mansion, it was very likely that clues would be found.

"Yes"

The case finally had a clue, and the three of them received the order with great enthusiasm.

"Wait"

The three of them were about to leave, but Wu Zhi stopped them again, and the three of them looked at Wu Zhi together.

"Arashi-sama, remember to protect that neighbor, he is an important witness"

Lord Lan said in a deep voice: "This, I understand. ”

In fact, this kind of thing can be done without Wu Zhi deliberately telling Lord Lan, and Wu Zhi deliberately commanded, the implication is to imply that Lord Lan is acting in a low-key manner, after all, the Sun family's murder case is a serious crime, and the murderer behind the scenes will definitely take action if they know that they have found clues.

Wu Zhi reminded Lord Lan of this, and the experienced Lord Lan naturally understood.

...