Zhou Zhengzhi ordered someone to take out the thing in Hu Xiude's ear, which was an iron needle about three inches long. Yuan Rui finally came back to his senses from his surprise for a long time: "Could it be that someone infiltrated Yongning Temple and assassinated Hu Xiude, should we immediately check the monks to see who will make this secret weapon?" ”

Zhou Zhengzhi disagreed: "The lower officials don't think so. ”

Yuan Rui: "What is Zhou Gong's opinion?" ”

Zhou Zhengzhi: "Your Highness, look, this needle was inserted into the brain from Hu Xiude's right ear, killing him with one blow, and the strength is very crucial." According to Xia Guan's understanding, when Hu Xiude and a group of guards from his Duwei Mansion clashed with the masters of Yongning Temple yesterday, he was not in the front row. And it is impossible to kill people in this way, without a close enough distance. ”

Yuan Rui was shocked: "The murderer is from the Duwei Mansion!" ”

Zhou Zhengzhi nodded slowly: "It has been a whole day since the incident, and the murderer is afraid that he has already escaped, let's immediately go to the Governor's Mansion to check if there is anyone who left without reason among the guards who recruited with Hu Xiude yesterday, if so, this person is the murderer." ”

Luoyang Governor's Mansion, Zhou Zhengzhi and Yuan Rui summoned the main bookkeeper to Bi. Wei Bi asked with a puzzled expression, "What do you command?" But have you found the murderer of the Captain? ”

Zhou Zhengzhi: "There are many doubts about the death of Du Wei Hu, so this official and His Royal Highness King Changle want to find out about the situation with the brothers who were on duty with Lord Du Wei yesterday. ”

Wei Bi was puzzled: "Yesterday, Lord Duwei took twenty or thirty people to Yongning Temple, I don't know which one the two adults are looking for?" ”

Zhou Zhengzhi: "All! Seeing that Wei Bi was stunned there, he urged again, "There is a master of Lao Wei!" ”

After a while, Wei Bi appeared in front of Yuan Rui and the others with a group of guards, explained a few words to them, and was about to leave. Yuan Rui suddenly asked, "Master Wei, is everyone here?" ”

Wei Bi thought for a moment: "Except for Qin Daniu who took leave because of something at home, none of the rest of the people are here, and the two adults have anything to ask them." ”

Zhou Zhengzhi and Yuan Rui glanced at each other, everything was silent, and asked Wei Bidao: "Where does this Qin Da Niu come from, can you know the origin of the Wei master book?" ”

Wei Bi Xindao worked hard to help you find all the people, and instead of interrogating them, they came to interrogate me, but he didn't dare to show the slightest impatience on the surface: "This Qin Da Niu, he is a relative of Qin Zhi and Qin Gonggong in the palace, and about half a year ago, Gonggong Qin asked someone to find Hu Duwei and give him this errand." Yesterday, after returning from Yongning Temple, he suddenly said that he received the news that his mother was critically ill and wanted to go back to his hometown in a hurry. ”

Zhou Zhengzhi asked a few more guards about Qin Daniu, and everyone generally had no special impression of him, he was silent, his ability to do things was neither high nor low, and he had no friends in private, and he lived alone in a small dilapidated house in the south of the city.

After learning enough clues, Zhou Zhengzhi and Yuan Rui got up and left, leaving Wei Bi and the others in a daze. "Okay, ask about the details of yesterday's incident one by one? Officials can entertain people at will, right? Wei Biwu was talking to himself.

Zhou Zhengzhi led people to carefully search Qin Daniu's residence, which was empty, and sure enough, they found the same iron needle as in Hu Xiude's ear. This discovery made Zhou Zhengzhi and Yuan Rui excited, and after a brief discussion, both of them felt that the eunuch Qin Zhi was a key figure. Although after some tossing, it was already in the sky at this time, but the arrest of the murderer could not be delayed for a moment, and the two decided to send people to Qin Daniu's hometown to arrest people, and at the same time entered the palace overnight to ask the Queen Mother to detain Qin Zhi to prevent him from escaping.

Since Yuan Yaona, he has refused to go to Hu Bizhu's dormitory for the night. The Queen Mother tried her best to match them, and all kinds of means of soft grinding and hard foaming had been exhausted, so she almost stripped them naked and threw them on the bed. This day is no exception, the Queen Mother specially summoned the famous servants of Luoyang to perform in the palace, and they were enjoying the performance with Yuan Yao Hu Bizhu with great interest.

The eunuch came to report that Yuan Rui and Zhou Zhengzhi asked to see him, and after retiring from the left and right, the Queen Mother first asked: "But the case of Xiude has already been raised?" ”

Zhou Zhengzhi replied respectfully: "Exactly!" And presented an iron needle, "This thing is a murder weapon taken from Hu Duwei's ear." ”

The Queen Mother picked up the iron needle and played back and forth: "So what? ”

Zhou Zhengzhi: "If you want to pierce an iron needle into your ear and kill someone, you must be close enough to do it, and the monks of Yongning Temple are not close enough to Hu Duwei when the conflict occurs, and only the men brought by Hu Duwei have the opportunity to kill." ”

Hearing this, the Queen Mother's eyes suddenly brightened: "Have you ever caught the murderer?" ”

Zhou Zhengzhi: "Although the person has not been caught, the identity of the murderer has been determined, and he has fled after Hu Duwei's death. ”

The Queen Mother said impatiently: "Then why don't you arrest people, what are you doing to find the mourning family?" ”

Zhou Zhengzhi: "The murderer and others have sent someone to hunt him down, but the reason why he was able to work as an errand in the Governor's Mansion was due to the recommendation of Qin Zhi and Qin Gonggong, and it is said that this person is still of the same clan as Qin Gonggong. ”

The Queen Mother was furious and immediately ordered someone to bring Qin Zhi here. At this time, Hu Bizhu suddenly got up and said goodbye: "Queen Mother, Your Majesty, the concubine is a little tired, and I want to go back to the palace to rest first." ”

The Queen Mother waved her hand to signal her to step back, and asked Yuan Rui instead of the topic: "King Changle, what kind of person is your brother-in-law Sun Rong?" I've heard that he's very good at fighting, right? ”

Yuan Rui was stunned, since the last time Sun Rong was appointed as a partial general, the Queen Mother has never asked him, Yuan Rui only said that the Queen Mother had forgotten this person, how could she ask him for no reason at this moment, so she had to answer truthfully: "Repelling 70,000 regular troops with a mere 1,000 civilian armed forces, if you talk about conquest, you are indeed an immortal genius, but you are a little mean." ”

Queen Mother: "For those who have achieved great things, it is normal to have some small flaws." What would you think of him being involved in counterinsurgency? ”

Yuan Rui didn't know whether the Queen Mother wanted to entrap herself or test herself, and she didn't know how to answer for a while. But fortunately, the Queen Mother didn't want to listen to his opinion, and continued: "In this way, the mourning family let him be the general of Hengzhou Assassin Shi Longxiang and send troops to fight against the thieves, but the imperial court really can't send troops now, and the soldiers let him figure out his own way, and the imperial court will not interfere." ”

Yuan Rui was busy thanking Sun Rong. On the surface, Sun Rong has been promoted several levels in a row, which can be described as the emperor's grace, but if you think about it carefully, the queen mother named Sun Rong as the general of Long Xiang but did not give soldiers, but on him he lifted the restrictions of the imperial court on the private expansion of the army in the local area, which is equivalent to giving an empty name to a general. This is understandable, after all, the army is needed everywhere to quell the rebellion, and it has been proved that the method of recruiting Ding from the temple to expand the army is not feasible, as for the post of Hengzhou's assassin, it is even more desperate, because now Hengzhou is still in the hands of the rebels. Isn't this equivalent to saying that I will let you be a general and an assassin, but you have to recruit soldiers by yourself, and you have to fight the land by yourself? Yuan Rui couldn't help but secretly sigh that this queen mother is really a master, and she can make others work for her with gratitude without a little capital.

While he was talking, a guard ran over with a panicked look: "Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, His Royal Highness King Changle, no, the villain was ordered to take Father-in-law Qin Zhi, but the queen suddenly appeared, not only did she not let the villain take people, but also tortured Father-in-law Qin to extract a confession......"

"How can this be true? It's insane! Where are the people? Lead the way! The Queen Mother was furious, and the guards hurriedly took the four Queen Mothers to Qin Zhi's bedroom.

Before the people arrived, they heard the screams of killing pigs in the distance. Pushing open the door, everyone was stunned by the scene in front of them, only to see blood all over the ground, Hu Bizhu was holding a short knife that kept dripping blood and forced a eunuch who was tied to the ground, this eunuch was naturally Qin Zhi. And when Qin Zhi saw the Queen Mother and others coming in, he immediately begged for mercy: "The Queen Mother spares her life!" The Queen Mother spares her life! The old slave really doesn't know anything! ”

The Queen Mother ignored him and yelled at Hu Bizhu: "Are you crazy!" Is this what you're supposed to do? ”

Hu Bizhu did not show weakness: "This slave killed Brother Xiude, this is the punishment he deserves." From childhood to adulthood, except for a few brothers of our Hu family, the sons and ladies of other families all dislike the ugly concubines and are unwilling to play with the concubines, and the concubines will never spare the people who kill our Hu family's brothers and sisters! ”

Qin Zhi still kept wailing: "The old slave really didn't harm Hu Duwei, the old slave really didn't know what Qin Da Niu did, the Queen Mother Ming Jianna!" While begging for mercy, he knelt and slowly moved towards the Queen Mother, leaving a trail of blood where he passed. Only then did Yuan Rui and the others notice that Qin Zhi's left hand had been cut off three fingers, and there were many wounds on his body, and the scene was so bloody that he felt that his hands were a little weak.

The Queen Mother sighed: "The mourning family is also surnamed Hu, doesn't the mourning family want to seek justice for Xiude?" It's just that you haven't found out yet, why are you in a hurry? ”

Hu Bizhu: "Isn't the concubine investigating now?" ”

The Queen Mother was so angry that she trembled, she didn't bother to talk to her anymore, and turned around and instructed Zhou Zhengzhi and Yuan Rui: "Take people away quickly!" ”

The two of them were ordered to bandage Qin Zhi's wounds briefly, and took the person back to the Tingwei Mansion and locked him up. Until he left the palace, Yuan Rui was still shocked and sent chills down his spine, this woman of the Hu family is really ruthless one by one, and you must be very careful with them in the future.

Maybe it was because of excessive fright, since Qin Zhi was taken to the Tingwei Mansion prison, he has been crazy for several days, and he can't find any clue at all. On this day, Yuan Rui returned home early, bowed his head all the way to think about the case, and collided with a person without paying attention.