There is an ice cellar in the side room of the concierge, which was originally used by envoys from various countries to cool off the heat and refrigerate food. In June and July, however, it was rainy and the weather was unusually cool, and the ice cellar was not so useful, except for someone who wanted to drink two glasses of cold wine once in a while.

Originally, I thought that the ice cellar would be useless this year, and I didn't want to make the best use of it later, so the body of Xiao Jie, the Liao envoy, was temporarily stored here.

After entering the ice cellar, a chill permeated the surroundings, and it seemed to be a little cold in the autumn rainy season. Lin Zhao just gave up, and Wang Yan coughed a few times in a row, and his health has not been very good. Lin Zhao vaguely remembered that Wang Yan seemed to have died young, could it be that there was a root cause of illness from this meeting......

"If Brother Yuan Ze is unwell, wait outside first!" Seeing this, Lin Zhao persuaded him, and Wang Yan was silent for a moment, then turned around and went out.

Between the ice cubes, Xiao Jie's body is still lifelike. Lin Zhao stepped forward to stand next to him, and saw a huge wound on Xiao Jie's neck, the flesh and blood were blurred, and it seemed that someone had pierced the neck and injured the major arteries......

"Where's the murder weapon!" Lin Zhao asked casually, and immediately a magistrate from Kaifeng Mansion presented a wooden box with a dagger wrapped in white cloth, and explained: "This thing is the murder weapon, which pierced the neck of the Liao envoy from back to front, ruptured the throat, and lost too much blood...... It's a fatal wound......"

Lin Zhao stretched out his hand to pick up the dagger, and looked closely, it was a very ordinary dagger, and one could be made casually in the blacksmith shop on the streets of Bianjing. However, it is extremely sharp, and with a slight force, it can pierce the human body......

The blades and wooden handles were stained with blood, and it seemed that the evidence was well preserved. At a cursory glance, there seemed to be nothing to be found, but when he looked carefully for the second time, Lin Zhao noticed that there seemed to be slight friction on the end of the wooden handle......

"Anything else?" Lin Zhao asked.

"There seem to be signs of poisoning...... "The Kaifeng Mansion replied in a low voice, and there was still a lot of confusion and doubt in his words......

"It seems?" Lin Zhao was very dissatisfied with this unserious attitude towards handling the case, and at the same time there were many doubts in his heart? How can there still be signs of poisoning? Could it be that the cause of death is complicated?

But the man shouted: "From some signs, it looks like poisoning, but I can't find any evidence of poisoning, let alone the source of the poison......

"The skin is blue, and the nails are slightly blue, it seems that it is indeed caused by poisoning!" Lin Zhao probably deduced that this was indeed the case! Then he picked up a burst of silver needles and pierced them into the corpse, and sure enough, the tip was slightly blackened, which further verified the conjecture.

Lin Zhao guessed that the servants of Kaifeng Mansion did not dare to check out that the cause of death was poisoning. If this is the case, the Khitans will be even more determined to send people to poison and poison the envoys of the Liao State, and it will be even more difficult to explain clearly. Honglu Temple may not want to take on such a responsibility, and in the absence of a reasonable explanation, it is reasonable to be passive and slack off, avoiding the important and light......

"But this is impossible, we have verified all the food at the banquet, and it is absolutely non-toxic......" Chai Xiao hurriedly defended when he heard this, if the cause of death was related to Honglu Temple, he really didn't know how to justify. Once the Liao State has to give an explanation, it is entirely possible for the Great Song Dynasty to introduce a scapegoat in order to calm things down.

Especially with such a sensitive identity as their Chai family, if they are accused of holding a grudge against Zhao and Song for seizing the throne in the past and intentionally provoking revenge in the Song-Liao War, it will be over, and the few surviving descendants of the Chai family may face annihilation. Due to his special background, Chai Xiao was pessimistic for a while, and he thought of it far, far away......

Lin Zhao said: "There may be many surnames for poisoning, maybe he was poisoned alone before, and he only found it at the banquet?" ”

"There have been people accompanying the Liao delegation in Honglu Temple for a few days, Xiao Jie is fine, and there has been no problem at the banquet that night, and I don't know why...... By the way, a few days ago, Lord Xiao seemed to have a cold, but it was personally diagnosed and treated by the imperial doctor in the palace, and there would be no problems with the medicinal materials......"

Lin Zhao said: "Regardless of this poisoning problem, judging from the current situation, the most direct cause of death is a knife wound in the neck." Let's go, let's go to the scene of the crime to have a look...... "There is still a priority to solve the case, start with the end point first, a little eyebrow, and then analyze layer by layer."

Chai Xiao took a few people to the room where Xiao Jie lived in the concierge, which was the scene of the crime...... While walking, Chai Xiao explained: "After the dinner, the old man and Deputy Envoy Yelu sent Xiao Jie back to the room together!" "This time, the Liao delegation that came to pay homage to his birthday took Xiao Jie as the main envoy and Yelu Zhen as the deputy envoy.

Soon they came to a room with a seal on the door and a few soldiers standing guard. Chai Xiao said: "At that time, the old man did not leave in time, because Xiao Jie seemed to be in a very bad mood during the banquet, and the old man had doubts......

Unexpectedly, a moment later, I suddenly heard a scream in the house, followed by the sound of a copper basin falling to the ground. "Something's wrong!" Deputy Envoy Yeluzhi was the first to react and ran over first, and then the old man and several officers and soldiers of Song Liao rushed over together, broke down the door, and found that Xiao Jie had fallen in a pool of blood and was out of breath......"

The door opened, and Chai Rong pointed to the layout of the room and explained it one by one: "Xiao Jie fell here at that time...... It looks like he had just washed up and was stabbed when he turned around...... When it fell, it hit the basin ......"

Lin Zhao saw that the scene was well protected, and Kaifeng Mansion finally did a good thing.

Behind a screen, next to the wooden frame, the copper basin still fell to the ground, and the bright red blood stains were still clearly visible on the blue bricks and carpets on the ground...... It was raining hesitantly, the evaporation was weak, and there were many traces of blood and water on the ground...... The carpet is still a little wet......

Lin Zhao's gaze was then attracted by the half-hidden window lattice, and asked, "What was the situation of this window at that time?" ”

Chai Xiao cried and laughed: "The problem is here, except for this window, everything else is closed, and it is impossible for the murderer to come in...... The Khitans insisted that the murderer was committed from this window...... But outside the window is the outer wall, which was guarded by more than 10 forbidden soldiers of my Great Song Dynasty at that time, and it is absolutely guaranteed that even the flies will not be able to fly......

But the Khitans didn't believe it, and accused us of shielding the murderer in the Great Song Dynasty, and even the murderer was sent by the imperial court...... It is precisely because of this that the Khitan people have left a solid ......"

"Is it possible to shoot from a flying knife from a distance?" Lin Zhao pondered all the possibilities.

"No!" Chai Xiao vetoed, outside the concierge courtyard was a wide road, and in front of it was an open space, and there were no tall buildings. To the extent possible, it is impossible for a throwing knife to be fired through a window over the top of the exterior wall.

"What about suicide?" Wang Yan then asked, this is probably the result he wants to see the most!

The magistrate of Kaifeng Mansion shook his head and said, "No, judging from the position and depth of the dagger's penetration, his own arm can't make that kind of action...... It couldn't be ......."

Lin Zhao couldn't help but wonder, according to Chai Xiao, if this window was absolutely safe, he and Ye Luzhen were standing not far from the door, and there was no one else in the room, then this case could almost be reduced to a closed room murder case, and it was impossible to commit a crime.

So how did Xiao Jie die mysteriously?