The investigation of the murder was by no means smooth, and the on-site investigation only took a small amount of routine questioning, but Zhang Tang and Jiang Xu felt more and more weird. The situation is clear, Luo Yanjie was killed in his sleep by someone covering his head with a quilt and then stabbing him in the chest and abdomen, and the deceased had a total of three knife wounds, of which the wound under the third rib in the right chest was fatal. According to the preliminary understanding, Zhang Tang found that Luo Yanjie used to be a frequent visitor to the Manchester Youth Academy, but since he was recalled to Taiyuan by his brother Luo Yanying four years ago, he rarely came back, and only returned to Luoyang every year around the Yuan Zheng or Zhongyuan Festival to worship his parents.

Zhang Tang asked in turn about Aunt Yingcui, the top brand of Manqing Courtyard, who served Luo Yanjie last night, Zheng Duan, a teapot who had been standing in the foyer to welcome guests, Miss Wenniang and prostitute Jiao Dalang, who stayed in the room next to Luo Yanjie, and Wang Si, a guy who walked around in the foyer to serve tea and water. However, the testimony of these men confuses the whole case.

Yingcui's confession said that she left the room after serving Luo Yanjie to sleep last night, and went back to her room to sleep, and then she didn't know anything, and she was only sure of one thing, that is, Luo Yanjie was still alive and had fallen asleep when she left, and it was about seven o'clock in the morning. Zhang asked her why she didn't spend the night in the room, and Yingcui replied that Luo Yanjie was like this every time he came to the Manqing Courtyard to have fun, and he didn't like to sleep with people, so every time the woman who served him after falling asleep would leave and return to her room to sleep, and after asking the other ladies and Liang Bustard, Zhang confirmed this. In addition, Zhuang Qian, the head of the seventeen Qinglou in Luoyang City, also confirmed this, and Luo Yanjie's habit is known to many Qinglou ladies.

Zheng Duan's confession was that he watched Yingcui leave last night, and asked a question, after which Yingcui returned to the room, and he continued to stand in the foyer to greet guests, and then Dr. Chai came to the door, and he led him to Miss Yihong's room and settled him. Then he came out to the kitchen and ordered a midnight snack. Then it was back in the foyer. Five more guests were picked up and entered the door, and they didn't go to rest until the shift change came at five o'clock in the morning, and no one was seen entering Luo Yanjie's room during this time.

Drunk, I didn't go to bed until almost midnight, and I didn't know what was going on next door. I didn't hear any sound.

Jiao Dalang's confession was a little vague, he drank too much yesterday, but according to him, it seemed that he had heard a very faint and dull percussion sound in the middle, Wen Niang once went out to take a look, and when he came back, he said that he must have heard it wrong, and there was no sound, and then he continued to drink, and he couldn't remember anything about the rest of the matter.

I once went out to see, and yesterday the two of them drank until they got drunk, and Jiao Dalang got into bed and became a pile of mud. I didn't even do anything like that, and I could hear anything in that state. Zheng Duan confirmed Wen Niang's statement, he had been standing in the foyer last night and had not seen Wen Niang come out. And Jiao Dalang really can't be sure if he really remembers wrong. Therefore, his testimony, while of some value, does not serve as a direct lead.

Guy Wang Si said that he had been serving tea and supper to the guests in the first half of last night, and had run in the hall about a dozen times, but he never remembered seeing anyone enter Luo Yanjie's room.

According to the results of the autopsy, judging from the stiffness of Luo Yanjie's body, he should have been killed before Yinshi, and during this period, almost no one provided valuable information except for Jiao Dalang's vague testimony. At Jiang Xu's suggestion, Zhang Tang immediately began to ask the entire Manqing Courtyard Zhongdi teapot guy Miss Lonely, and went door to door to inspect it, although there was not much spilled out because the quilt was covered with blood donation, but the murder weapon was obviously not the deboning and chopping knife used in the kitchen, but a murderous weapon with a slender and sharp blade. If it was really committed by someone in the middle of the Manqing Hospital, then the murder weapon must have not been taken out yet, but was hidden somewhere in the courtyard.

When he asked Chai Shouli very humbly, this old man was not ashamed but mentioned a detail that Jiang Xu cared about, Chai Shouli said that when the guy led him into Yihong's door, he vaguely saw a woman walking from the corridor with a basin of water, but Lao Chai had drunk a lot during the day yesterday, and at night the corridor upstairs was dim and could not see clearly, he did not see the woman's appearance and clothing, but remembered that the woman came from the right side of the corridor, and it seemed to be delivering water.

Zhang Tang and Jiang Xu concluded that this woman was a key figure at that time, because Zheng Duan, who sent Chai Shouli into the room, and Yingcui, who returned to the room, had never mentioned this person. The well and the place where the hot water was boiled were downstairs, so the woman could not have gone to deliver water, but could have come out to pour water and put it in a basin. Pouring water must go downstairs, and Zheng Duan has not yet gone downstairs, and this woman is the only one in the hall downstairs, so if someone enters Luo Yanjie's room to commit murder at this time, this woman will be the only witness.

There are three rooms on the right side of Chai Shouli's room, from near to far is a foot merchant named Qu Wu, a handsome scholar named Yan Shuying, and Li Wenge, the marshal of the Yanzhou Jiedu Domain. There were two personal soldiers standing guard outside the door of Li Wenge's room, and it was okay to ask them, but Zhang Tang knew that he didn't have this face, so he still asked from left to right room by room, and no one in these three rooms admitted that he had gone out to pour water yesterday, and Li Wenge simply blocked the two out with a word.

When they went out, the two of them were even more suspicious, and asked Yingcui and Zheng Duan again, these two still insisted that they didn't know anything, about the woman who poured water, Zheng Duan only said that he was busy helping Chai Shouli into the door and didn't pay attention, he was vague about whether there was such a person, and Yingcui simply denied seeing such a person.

Zhang Tang frowned and Jiang Xu returned downstairs, asked a few more words from the head of the team, turned around and said to Jiang Xu: "All the rooms have been searched, only one has not been searched, what does Chen Yang think?" ”

Jiang Xu smiled: "The proprietor has already made a decision, but he came to ask me!" ”

Zhang Tang smiled conceitedly: "It's an obvious thing." How can I not understand it? It's just that if the marshal is protecting him, but it's also quite tricky, can Chenyang teach me a good way? ”

Jiang Xu shook his head: "If you can't find the murder weapon, there is no direct evidence, even if you forcibly go in and search and find the murder weapon, Li Guanguan will take care of this matter, and the proprietor will be even more troublesome!" ”

Zhang Tang said: "That can't be so conniving with the murderer. I'm for Luoyang Order. If you can't even keep the place safe. It's better to go back to the Bianliang History Museum to continue looking for chapters and sentences! ”

Jiang Xu asked: "Don't be anxious, the proprietor must not be impatient, there are still a few doubts about this matter......

"Oh——? Tell me about it! ”

"Please think about it, if it was really the woman in the marshal's room who did it, what was her motive? How could two people who couldn't be beaten with eight poles kill people with knives, if there was no hatred and resentment in the sky, how could she be a weak woman. It's a strange ......."

"Oh!" Zhang Tang nodded.

"In addition, if it is really the person she killed, she will not run away after killing someone, and return to the marshal's room to play the piano for fun, which does not seem to be normal, where did the ordinary woman come from such a calm and calm mind? Li Guanguan has nothing to do with it, but he slept for one night, how can he rush to stand up for it? Even if he has the heart to protect the flowers. And how do you know that she killed the person? When we went in. He didn't seem to understand, but there was a sudden turn in the middle, and he must have thought of something. insisted that the woman had been with him all night, which was strange. ”

Zhang Tang listened quietly and gradually fell into his mind.

"The woman killed, and the teapot returned to the hall after sending the firewood to the court, but it was only a short time, even if there was no one in the hall when she entered the door, the teapot should have come down when he came out, how could he be sure that he had never seen it? If what Jiao Dalang said was true, and the teapot and Wenniang were aware of the murder when the woman committed the murder, why did they all deny it in unison to conceal it? It's not strange if it's just one person who hides the teapot, but several people hide it together, isn't this three weird? ”

Zhang Tang nodded and said, "Reasonable, it seems that there is a lot involved in this!" ”

Jiang Xu smiled, lowered his voice in his ear and said a few words in a low voice, Zhang Tang smiled: "Wonderful! ”

He turned around and said to the officials in the hall with a straight face: "Listen all - take Yingcui, Zheng Duan, Wen Niang, Liang Bustard, Wang Si and other people involved in the case into custody and bring them back to the county office for trial!" ”

The officials agreed, shook off the rope and began to take people.

The courtyard was suddenly noisy and boiling, with cries and screams, mixed with the shouting and shouting of the officials, and it became a mess.

Just when these people were locked in the hall one by one, the door of the room where Li Wenge stayed upstairs quietly opened, and Luo Yiniang came to the corridor with a bloodstained short knife in her hand, and said to everyone through the railing: "Lord Mingfu, people were killed by concubines, and they have nothing to do with others-"

Zhang Tang raised his head and looked at Yiniang, glanced at Jiang Xu, and smiled coldly: "It's best for you to admit your guilt!" ”

He waved his hand and said, "Locked!" ”

When several officials heard this, they walked upstairs, and Yiniang said, "Lord Mingfu, please let the others go!" ”

Zhang Tang said quietly: "...... They are all witnesses, and when a prisoner adjudicates a case, someone must come to the court, and they must go together after all, so why rush at this time? Rest assured, this official will not wrongfully accuse the innocent! ”

At this time, the two officials had already walked into the corridor, and were about to step forward to detain Yiniang, and the two personal soldiers of Li Wengedi, who had been standing in the corridor and watching coldly, stood up, and the two blocked the corridor side by side, with a cold look on their faces, but the murderous aura in their eyes made the two officials take two or three steps back, and the two looked at Zhang Tang in horror, not knowing what to do.

Zhang Tang frowned, arched his hand and said: "The subordinate is performing official duties, and I hope that the handsome will be convenient......

"Don't you want to take away the witnesses, I am also a witness in this case, if I don't go to the county office with you, the national law is majestic, I'm afraid it doesn't conform to the rules and regulations of the court......"

While speaking, Li Wenge, who had already changed into a purple official robe and a goldfish bag at his waist, walked out of the room slowly with his hands behind his back.

Yiniang was stunned for a moment, and seemed to be quite surprised, she turned around and said: "Yiniang violated the law of the country, and was punished, so I didn't dare to bother the adults to protect her!" ”

Li Wenge smiled faintly, but did not answer her, and his two eyes looked at Zhang Tang calmly.

Zhang Tang glanced at him, gritted his teeth, and said with a dry smile: "In this way, it is annoying to the marshal, please go downstairs, and the subordinate will lead the marshal to the county office!" ”

As he spoke, he glanced at the two officials, and the two of them retreated profusely in a sweat.

Zhang Tang looked back upstairs at this time. Another arch of his hand said: "Please also ask the marshal to drive downstairs on the festival-"

Li Wenge smiled: "Don't worry about Zhang Mingfu, it's okay to wait......"

Zhang Tang was stunned for a moment, and blurted out, "What are you waiting for?" ”

Li Wenge glanced at him, raised his head and said slowly: "Waiting for the full honor guard of this commander......"

……

"Report, the first phase of the Sixth Tao Pavilion of the Eighth Route Army has been assembled, please give a lecture to the superintendent, the cadet team is positive, and the deputy lieutenant Jing Hai is Xu!"

Jing Hai's loud voice echoed in the playground of the Liutao Pavilion camp. The veteran was straight. Arms drooping. The palms are close to the pants, the eyes are not squinting, and he is a heroic soldier.

Wei Xun nodded with satisfaction, but said in his mouth: "Remember, the next report is only allowed to call the prison army, not the adult, and I only have one adult in the Eighth Route Army." It's General Li, except for the general, there is no second adult in the army! ”

He deliberately raised his voice so that the thirty-seven cadets standing below could hear it clearly.

"Yes—please supervise the military training!"

Jing Hai said again.

Wei Xun slowly walked up to the wooden platform, turned around and faced the cadets, straightened his chest, raised his right arm and made a flat-chested salute, and the thirty-eight people in the audience saluted him at the same time. Wei Xun lowered his arm. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He calmed down and slowly began to speak: "...... I know, you bunnies. There are so many people who take me as an adult...... It's no wonder that the dignified Zhiguo Lieutenant, the imperial court is a seven-rank martial artist, and he is taken outside to get a county order...... Locally, the county Ming Mansion is

The 'adult' of the old Li Shu of a county, so you take Lao Tzu as an adult, but I want to tell you now that the land is, a year and a half ago, I Wei Xun was still a small army commander in the left camp of the Zhangwu Army, don't say adults, Lao Tzu *** doesn't even have a salary, the military salary is the same as that of the big head soldiers, the above deducts our old Wei's salary, and our Lao Wei deducts the food of the brothers below, layer by layer, scraping layer by layer, no way, everyone has to eat, right? ”

The students listened quietly, no one spoke, not even coughing and moving.

“…… At that time, life was hard, and people were extraordinarily cowardly, a small army commander, in charge of two soldiers, whoever saw us could crush us, those big gentry in Yanzhou City were fucking able to bully Lao Tzu, to be honest, Lao Wei was thinking at the time, his mother's being this fucking bear soldier was not as comfortable as Lao Tzu in the city back then. At that time, the brothers of the C team of the left battalion all thought so, Shen Zhiguo was a good man, and he was the only one among the brothers at that time who wanted to fight and kill the enemy and make meritorious achievements. Lao Tzu didn't think about it, Lao Tzu was thinking about how to mess around, and now I feel blushing when I think about it! ”

The cadets showed some smiles on their faces, the words of this supervising army were very different from those sour teachers who taught them military discipline and military rules, they originally thought that the high-ranking Yan'an Regiment Supervisor was even more of a scholar with a mouth like a crepe, who would have expected that he would be a ruffian with foul language.

“…… In the past year or so, Lao Tzu has opened his eyes, followed our family, and won the battle with money for promotion, how much effort is this? Lao Tzu put on this official skin, and his subordinates are in charge of thousands of people, if this is in the imperial court, the size is also a general and colonel, our Eighth Route Army does not engage in so many useless officials, Shen Tongzhi and Lao Tzu are just captains of Zhiguo, and they still lead thousands of soldiers and horses to show off their might, and those generals in the court are incomparable! ”

"In my spare time, my lord told us that after a while, there will be more soldiers and horses, and we will still be generals from the old and rough places with mud legs, guerrilla generals, guerrilla generals, generals, Don't look at you rabbit cubs are still student soldiers, as soon as today's lecture is over, all of you are deputy lieutenants of Accompaniment, from the ninth rank of the martial arts, not only eat food, but also get a salary, all *** are court officials......"

"I know, there are a few of you who are from a lot higher than our old Wei, and the ancestors are all big people......" Wei Xun glanced at a few children of the family in the team, and his mouth was full of indifference, "To say, our old Wei Qiding really doesn't want to see you like this, pampered to eat to open your mouth, hanging the book bag may be able to come a few words, but on the battlefield there is no other ability than to fart!" We don't want any of these soldiers, let alone officers......"

“…… However, the three-month training was honestly uncomfortable, and you can also see the training in the recruit camp, to be honest, it is not as hard as you. There is no way, whoever makes them soldiers, you are officers, they are soldiers, you are generals. The requirements for you must be stricter, and when you go to the battlefield in the future, those soldiers will at most die if they make a mistake, and if you people make mistakes, they will take your brothers with you. Therefore, your training must be stricter, and when you joined the team, it was full of 100 people, but now there are only 37 left, and more than half of them have withdrawn halfway. I don't think it's a pity, to be honest, they ran away, it's their luck, it's also the luck of this army, if these cowards go to war, it will be a great misfortune for the brothers! ”

"Anyone who stays and survives is a good man of his mother, so as soon as our old Wei comes up, I will salute you first!" Wei Xun said with a smile.

"I have signed your official documents one by one, and I will send them to you in a moment, whether you are from a hard background or a good background, as long as you enter this army, as long as you prove that you are a good man, I will recognize you as a good man, and the second lieutenant is just the beginning. As long as you are willing to shed blood, sweat and sacrifice your life on the battlefield, no matter how big the official is, you have to do it, and no matter how high the lord is, you can also be sealed, follow our family, as long as you don't have bad intentions, no one can suffer! Money, land, officials, everyone has a share in these things, and the generals of our Eighth Route Army will be in you rabbit cubs......"

“…… Military regulations and military discipline, the supervisors and secretaries have already talked about it when they gave you a lesson, and I will not repeat it. Today I only tell you one sentence, the Yan'an Regiment and the Xiangbing Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, all the promotion and delegation of officers are in the hands of our old Wei, and the military punishment is also under my control. As long as you work hard to make meritorious contributions, as long as you are loyal to adults, promotions and rewards, you rabbit cubs are also indispensable; Sneaky and slippery, cowardly before the battle, Lao Tzu can send you to go to the toilet to pick up dung with a word; Those who have escaped from the battle, defected to the enemy, or played tricks on the misdeeds of the adults against our Eighth Route Army, the sword of the Warlord Section is for you——"

"Loyal to Li Shu, loyal to the court, loyal to your lord-"

Jing Hai took the lead and shouted.

"Loyal to Li Shu, loyal to the court, loyal to your lord-"

Thirty-seven cadet soldiers raised their arms and shouted.

Wei Xun sneered: "Are you loyal to Li Shu and the imperial court, our old Wei can turn a blind eye to it, if you dare to be disloyal to the adult, there is one Lao Tzu who cuts one, and two Lao Tzu who cut a pair." Cutting people on the battlefield is your kung fu skills, but cutting people behind the battle is Lao Tzu's duty! ”

As he spoke, he stood upright, saluted with a flat chest, and shouted at the top of his voice: "I am willing to die for General Li-"

"I am willing to die for General Li—" The majestic slogan echoed over the playground.