Hu Yuan obviously disagreed with Jueyuan's explanation, and retorted coldly: "According to what you say, could it be that my son is dying of old age?" ”

Yuan Rui mediated: "The state has national law, and this matter should be handed over to the Tingwei Mansion for punishment according to the law. And if Brother Hu knows underground, he must also hope to catch the real murderer and pay for his life, Hu Fujun, do you say yes? ”

Yuan Rui's words were reasonable, and Hu Yuan couldn't refute them, so he had to agree. After thinking about it for a while, he was not at ease and said: "In order to prevent the murderer or his accomplices from escaping, all the monks of Yongning Temple must be imprisoned!" ”

Yuan Rui and the others were waiting to refute, but Jueyuan took the first step to agree: "Just according to what Hu Fujun said!" Then he approached Yuan Rui to express his gratitude, "Your Highness has spoken up today and saved hundreds of lives in the temple, and he will be blessed in the future!" ”

Yuan Rui didn't care about any good fortune or not, but comforted Jueyuan: "Master rest assured, Zhou Tingwei will find out the real culprit and return an innocent person to Yongning Temple." ”

Jueyuan nodded, turned around and whispered the scriptures to Hu Xiude's corpse.

The next day, Geng Tong and Yuan Rui set out with more than 10,000 soldiers and horses. After yesterday's Yongning Temple trouble, Yuan Rui and others were preoccupied and speechless all the way. Just as he was about to leave the city, a horse from behind him rushed to chase after him, and a sharp voice shouted: "His Royal Highness King Changle stays!" ”

It turned out that it was Mao Qingyu, the eunuch next to the Queen Mother, who brought the Queen Mother's dictation and ordered Yuan Rui to postpone the expedition, and stay in Beijing to find out the real culprit of Hu Xiude's case with Zhou Zhengyi, the court captain. Listening to Mao Qingyu's announcement of the Empress Dowager's will, Geng Bao smiled: "That's fine!" I don't think Your Highness can let go of yesterday's incident, so it's better to finish this matter in person and then kill the enemy side by side with us, wouldn't it be happy! ”

Geng Bao's words are to the point, Yuan Rui is indeed very relieved not to go to prison Jueyuan and other monks, at this moment the Queen Mother left him to investigate this matter can be said to be in line with his heart, but it is a pity that he missed an opportunity to experience on the battlefield, and he bowed to Geng Tong with a fist full of apologies: "Yuan Rui has not been able to walk with the old general this time, it is a pity!" I hope the old general will cherish it! ”

Geng Tong replied: "Your Highness, rest assured, Lian Po is strong, the horse is in the saddle, and the old man asks himself not to lose to Lian Ma!" ”

Yuan Rui smiled: "This is natural, just remember not to be greedy." ”

Recalling the ugly state after being drunk that day, Geng Tong's old face suddenly turned red, and he hurriedly opened the topic and said goodbye to Yuan Rui on the road.

On the way, Mao Qingyu was asked in detail about the matter, and Yuan Rui finally figured out the ins and outs. It turned out that due to the recent defeat of Hu Dunlian, the imperial court was strained. I don't know who gave the Queen Mother an idea, saying that there are many temples in the Great Wei Dynasty, and many people are not monks because they are dedicated to Buddha, but simply to avoid military service. On the occasion of this eventful autumn, if we recruit soldiers from the temples, we can solve the problem of insufficient soldiers, and on the other hand, we can also purify the social atmosphere, which is really a good strategy to kill two birds with one stone. The Queen Mother was overjoyed when she heard this, and decided to try it out in Luoyang immediately, and handed over this task to Hu Xiude, the governor of Luoyang. However, Hu Xiude went to the first temple, Yongning Temple, and encountered a setback, and asked which normal monk was willing to fight and kill, and the conflict broke out. Hu Xiude wanted to enter the temple to recruit Ding, but the monks did not let him, and Hu Xiude died inexplicably during the push, provoking Hu Yuan to kill and burn the temple, but fortunately, Yuan Rui stopped it in time and proposed to hand it over to the Tingwei Mansion for punishment to temporarily resolve a fight. But the identity of the deceased is special, and Zhou Zhengzhi, the court lieutenant, was worried that there would be many obstacles to finding the emperor's relatives, so he suggested to the queen mother that the imperial court send a noble person to try the case together to show the court's determination to investigate to the end. Since the problem was solved by his Yuan Rui, the Queen Mother simply designated him to assist in the investigation of the case.

The cause of Hu Xiude's death was bizarre, and Yuan Rui was anxious to understand the progress of the case, so he went directly to the Tingwei Mansion without returning to his mansion. After the official reported, Zhou Zhengzhi personally came out to greet him. Before the person arrived, Yuan Rui heard a hearty laugh: "Your Highness, don't be surprised, it's about the Hu family, the status of the subordinate official is low, and there are inconveniences on the way to investigate the case, so I can only ask Your Highness to come forward!" ”

Yuan Rui: "Duke Zhou is polite, it is an honor for this king to be able to handle the case with Duke Zhou!" ”

Only then did Zhou Zhengzhi notice that Yuan Rui was dressed in a military uniform: "Your Highness, has you not returned to the house to change your clothes?" ”

Yuan Rui smiled and said: "Zhou Gongjian smiled, thinking that Master Jueyuan and they were still wronged, and he didn't feel anxious. ”

didn't want Zhou Zhengyi to change his relaxed state just now, and said: "Your Highness's words are wrong!" At present, the suspicion of the masters of Yongning Temple is still the greatest, and we must not be swayed by feelings. Then he realized that his tone was too heavy, and said apologetically, "When it comes to the case, the old problem of the lower official's love for more serious will be committed again, Your Highness is not strange." ”

Yuan Rui hurriedly said: "Where, where!" It's too late for this king to thank Duke Zhou for his guidance, so why blame? ”

Entering the lobby, a straw mat comes into view, covered with a white cloth. Yuan Rui stepped forward and lifted the white cloth, and as expected, Hu Xiude's body was lying underneath, but what he didn't expect was that there was no half cloth on the corpse to cover his shame. This Hu Xiude was also a master who called for wind and rain before his death, and he often made others angry when he did nonsense, and he didn't think that he would die once, but the corpse was parked in the lobby for others to fiddle with, Yuan Rui couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Zhou Zhengzhi has seen a lot of this kind of scene, and when he saw Yuan Rui's thoughts, he stepped forward and said with relief: "It's really helpless for us to do this, it's all to give justice to the deceased as soon as possible, Your Highness can see it!" ”

Yuan Rui didn't answer his words: "Has Gong Zhou found some clues?" ”

Zhou Zhengzhi frowned: "It's strange to say, Hu Xiude couldn't find a single knife wound or bruise under his body, and he didn't die of poisoning, how could a good person die?" The monks of Yongning Temple insisted that they didn't know it again......"

"Could it be that Gong Zhou has already executed the masters?" Yuan Rui was a little worried and interrupted Zhou Zhengzhi's words.

Zhou Zhengzhi: "Your Highness, rest assured! Although the masters are the most suspicious, after all, there is only one murderer, and the lower officials will not attack the eminent monks. But because of this, the difficulty of His Highness and the lower officials to investigate the case has also increased a lot. ”

Yuan Rui: "Zhou Gong is really a righteous gentleman, and this king has the heart of a villain." ”

Zhou Zhengzhi: "Your Highness, the two of us should stop touting each other, let's find out if there is anything missing in this Hu Xiude!" ”

The two looked back and forth at every inch of Hu Xiude's body, but still found nothing. While pondering and meditating, suddenly the official came to report that there was a group of monks outside the door who were making trouble, Zhou Zhengzhi put aside his thoughts and said to Yuan Rui: "Your Highness, let's go out and see what happened!" ”

When the two of them came to the door, they saw that the guards at the door were surrounded by a group of monks, and they were trying their best to persuade them: "Masters, don't be impatient, you have already informed Lord Tingwei, please wait a while." ”

Seeing Zhou Zhengzhi and Yuan Rui appear, the monks abandoned their servants and surrounded them. The first monk had a face full of meat, and his two eyes glared at the two like copper bells: "Which of you is Zhou Zhengzhi?" ”

Zhou Zhengzhi was completely unmoved, and said with a smile: "This master has something to do with Zhou?" ”

The monk shouted, "What a laugh! Believe it or not, I tore your mouth apart, and the Buddha asked you, why did you arrest Master Jueyuan and them? ”

Zhou Zhengzhi: "In the case of the death of Yongning Temple, it is necessary to detain the relevant people as usual, and they can be released after the case is solved." ”

The monk was furious: "You dare to slander the master and kill people!" He raised his fist and beckoned to Zhou Zhengzhi.

The monk said that he would do it, but Yuan Rui didn't have time to think about it, and pushed Zhou Zhengzhi away. The fist fell on Yuan Rui's shoulder, feeling as if his bones were about to break, Yuan Rui gritted his teeth and endured the pain: "The master has something to say, although the masters of Yongning Temple have temporarily lost their freedom, but this is also the best way to clear their suspicions, please believe in the imperial court, and will never wronged good people!" ”

The monks said one after another: "The court still lets us fight!" How to believe? ”

Yuan Rui: "There is indeed something wrong with the imperial court's move, isn't it now that the levy has been stopped?" Zhou Tingwei has always been impartial in handling cases, and if the masters are not guilty, they will definitely be released unscathed. ”

When the monk heard this, he scolded: "Are you kid entertaining the Buddha? We are monks who have not been unharmed, what do you mean when you say that we are unharmed? ”

Yuan Rui really couldn't laugh or cry, he had never seen such an understanding. At this time, a monk in the back recognized Yuan Rui: "Isn't this His Royal Highness King Changle?" Because Yuan Rui often travels back and forth between the monasteries in Luoyang, many monks have seen him more or less a few times, and after a closer look, more and more monks confirmed his identity and reminded the head of the monk: "Master Lichen, it is indeed His Royal Highness the King of Changle!" If it weren't for His Royal Highness yesterday, the monks in Yongning Temple, big and small, would have suffered an accident. ”

The tone of the monk who called the dust softened slightly: "Even His Royal Highness the King of Changle, then it's easy to say!" Dare to ask when His Highness will release people? "I still insisted on releasing people.

The name Yuan Rui has heard of it, it is said that he is the disciple of the presiding minister of Dinglin Temple, and his temperament is irritable and causes trouble everywhere, and even the minister himself can't control him. Yuan Rui patiently explained: "This king assures all the masters that Master Jueyuan is all right in prison, and we will find out the truth as soon as possible and return the masters to a clean slate, I hope you will understand." ”

Lichen said indignantly: "Then Hu Xiude blasphemed the Buddha and suffered from heaven, what else is there to investigate?" ”

Zhou Zhengzhi asked casually: "Why did the master say this?" ”

Lichen: "Hu Xiude forced the monks to fight and kill, and the Buddha naturally wanted to condemn him, at least he couldn't see with his eyes, he couldn't hear with his ears, and he was killed on the spot, which is called karma!" ”

Several monks behind him echoed one after another: "That's it!" ”

Before he finished speaking, Zhou Zhengzhi seemed to remember something important, turned around and ran to the house, leaving Yuan Rui and the others with stunned faces. Fortunately, because of yesterday's events, all the monks believed in Yuan Rui's words, and gradually dispersed under his hard persuasion. Seeing that he was the only one left in the end, he had no choice but to leave. Before leaving, he punched off one of the ears of the stone lion in front of the Tingwei Mansion, and said cruelly: "Your Highness had better do what you say, otherwise it will not be this stone lion who will be cut off at that time." ”

As soon as the front foot of the dust left, Zhou Zheng's back foot came out in a hurry. Seeing that all the troublemakers had left, he couldn't help but praise: "The Queen Mother really didn't choose the wrong person, and only Your Highness, can calm today's commotion so perfectly." ”

Yuan Rui said modestly: "Zhou Gong has won the award." By the way, why did Zhou Gong leave suddenly? ”

Zhou Zhengzhi smiled mysteriously: "Your Highness will understand when you take a look at the officials." ”

The two returned to the lobby one after the other, and Zhou Zhengzhi immediately motioned for Yuan Rui to move Hu Xiude's body with him. It wasn't until the body was dragged to the courtyard outside the hall that Zhou Zhengzhi moved his head sideways to the left, letting the sunlight shine into his right ear canal, and said to Yuan Rui: "Your Highness, please take a look." ”

Yuan Rui approached, and there was something shining in the sun in Hu Xiude's ears.

Zhou Zhengzhi looked at Yuan Rui, who couldn't close his mouth in surprise: "This thing should be the murder weapon, just now the dust monk said that the Buddha was guilty of making people unable to see and hear the words to remind the lower officials, so he hurriedly came over to check, and sure enough, he found something!" ”