On October 28, the sixth year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, Mu Tianyan, the prefect of Xinghua Mansion (Putian) in Fujian, felt that something would definitely happen today from the time he got up, and it would definitely not be a good thing, let alone a trivial matter, because from the moment he got up, Mu Zhifu's right eyelid with a strong sixth sense began to skip non-stop. The left eye jumps wealth, the right eye jumps disaster, Mu Tianyan Mu prefect is convinced of this statement.

Mu Tianyan's worry and nervousness were not the reason, just yesterday afternoon, Mu Tianyan suddenly received a report from the people, saying that at the junction of Putian and Fengting, a large number of corpses were found, lying everywhere, and it was roughly estimated that there were at least hundreds. What's even worse is that the place where these corpses appeared was not dead, but they appeared in Putian less than two miles away from the boundary of Quanzhou Mansion - you said that if this appeared in Quanzhou Mansion less than two miles away from the Putian Mansion border, how good would it be for our quite famous Mu Tianyan Mu Governor's Mansion?

More than 100 lives are not a joke, no matter how much they secretly call it unlucky, Mu Tianyan had to send Cheng Qipeng, the commander of Putian County, and Zhang An, the general manager of Qian, out to let them go to the scene of the murder to investigate the situation, but because the distance is too far, there is no return yet. But it's still the same sentence, because the right eyelid keeps jumping, Mu Tianyan Mu Da Prefect always feels that this matter must not be so simple, and something big must happen. So much so that when he got up and went to the government to take charge of official business, Mu Tianyan immediately couldn't wait to ask Wu Ying, the general soldier of Xinghua, who came to discuss the matter: "General Wu, how is it?" Yesterday's Fengting murder incident, did it pay off? ”

"Not so fast." Wu Ying replied casually: "Fengting is sixty or seventy miles away from Fucheng, and the road is not easy to walk at night, unless it is a fast horse going back and forth, otherwise there may be news in return overnight?" ”

"Really?" Mu Zhifu regretted a little, and said regretfully: "Why didn't I explain a word yesterday, let Lord Cheng and them go to the scene to investigate the situation, and report back to us immediately?" Now, with Cheng Qipeng's procrastination, it would be great to have a report today. ”

"Lord Futai doesn't have to worry, and it's probably not a big deal." Wu Ying and Mu Tianyan got along quite well, seeing that Mu Tianyan was worried, Wu Ying couldn't help but comfort casually: "More than a hundred lives, it's not small, but it's not big to say it's big, since the seventeenth year of Shunzhi moved to the forbidden sea, just in our Xinghua Mansion, didn't kill thousands of people who crossed the border that year?" And Taiwan's Zheng Rebellion, who didn't disturb the coastal area and caused hundreds of lives that year? Murder cases have become an old habit! In my opinion, there is a good chance that these people were the unlucky caravan that was robbed by bandits, or by the landing of Taiwan's Zheng Rebellion army. ”

"If only it were that simple." Mu Tianyan sighed, pointed to his right eyelid, and said with a sad face: "See it?" My right eyelid has been jumping, the last time I jumped like this, my father died in the morning and in the afternoon, which caused me to worry about Ding for three years and missed the test for three years. ”

"Lord Futai is too careful." Wu Ying laughed and said with a grin: "My right eyelid doesn't jump often, what happened?" ”

"My lord, my lord, something is wrong!" The sound of slapping the face came, and then, Cheng Qipeng, the county commander who was sent by Mu Tianyan to investigate the situation yesterday evening, and Zhang An, the general manager of Qian, rushed in with a roll, covered with dust and sweat, and as soon as he entered the door, he knelt down in front of Mu Tianyan, howling and saying: "My lord, it's not good, something is wrong!" When I went to the scene of the murder, I saw that the people who died were all from the Pingnan Palace! ”

"What's even worse is that I heard that this team is escorting Xiao Gege of Pingnan Wangfu into Beijing to celebrate the birthday of the Empress Dowager Lafayette, and Xiao Gege's whereabouts are unknown!"

"What?" The teacup in Mu Tianyan's hand slammed to the ground, and his soul was so scattered that he forgot how to stand up.

"What? Are you from the Pingnan Palace?! Wu Ying, the general soldier of Xinghua who was still arrogant just now, was also dumbfounded, and there was such a scene in front of him - his own red top, as well as Mu Tianyan's red top, Cheng Qipeng and Zhang An's red top, all grew wings together, and flew up one by one, flying farther and farther......

"Idiot!" Wu Ying jumped three feet high, pointed at Zhang An and roared: "This kind of thing happened, are you in a hurry to come back and report it?" Why didn't you move all those corpses to the boundary of Quanzhou Mansion overnight? ――You don't usually do much of this kind of thing? ”

"That's what the last general thought at the beginning." Zhang An replied with a sad face: "But the Quanzhou Mansion also received the news, and the Hui'an County Order sent a large group of officials to monitor us under the pretext of helping us investigate the case, just to prevent us from coming to this trick!" Now that Hui'an is under martial law, under the pretext of arresting the murderer, many troops were transferred to guard the edge of the palace boundary, and it was clear that he wanted to tell the court and tell the prince that Pingnan Wang Xiaogege was in our Putian! ”

"Damn, these slippery bastards!" Wu Ying almost didn't cry.

"What are you doing?" Mu Tianyan finally came back to his senses, jumped up and roared: "Prepare the horse, prepare the fastest horse, go to the scene immediately, go, go together!" Also, send someone to report to the prince of Jingnan! Governor Zu! No, it's too slow to send people, with carrier pigeons, carrier pigeons-! ”

led a large group of soldiers to rush to the scene without hesitation, the time was already after noon, and after taking a closer look at the scene of the murder, poor Mu Tianyan Mu Da prefect almost didn't fall off his horse. On the grass in a radius, there are bloody corpses of people and horses everywhere, as well as luggage packages scattered all over the place, and there is even a banner that is stained with blood and breaks and falls to the ground - the flag of Pingnan Palace!

"It's over, it's over, I'm an official, it's the end." Mu Tianyan burst into tears, "The team of the Pingnan Royal Mansion has such a big thing in my territory, and Xiao Gege is missing, I, the official, am completely at the end!" Whether you can save your head is also a big question. ”

"Lord Yufutai." The Putian County Cheng who commanded the clean-up of the scene did not have long eyes, Mu Zhifu was already sad like this, and he also came to report the casualties, "One hundred and ninety-eight corpses were found at the scene, including six female corpses, judging from the color of the clothes, it should be the personal maid of Xiaogege of Pingnan Wangfu, and within five miles, we found fourteen more corpses, and more than twenty corpses were found five miles away, so it is certain that the number of dead will definitely exceed the current number, but no corpses have been found yet." ”

"Did you find Little Gege?" Mu Tianyan asked with a sad face, "Are there any survivors?" ”

"I haven't found out where little Gege is." The county man shook his head and said: "Two seriously injured people were found, but they only said that there was Xiao Gege in this team, and there was also a county commander from Qujing, Yunnan Province, who was accompanied by a group of black-clothed people, and then they were seriously injured and died. In addition, a government service team leader came from Hui'an to negotiate with us, saying that Li Tianzhi, the guard general of this team, fled to them with thirty or forty wounded soldiers, and the Hui'an county order said that the incident happened in Putian, so he did not dare to ask General Li for their confession, but only arranged for Lang Zhong to treat their injuries, and asked us to send someone to pick up General Li and them as soon as possible, so that we could investigate the case. ”

"! If you want to put all the responsibility on the side of Lao Tzu, just say it! Mu Tianyan was anxious, and yelled: "Tell them, just say that since the survivors have fled to Hui'an, their Hui'an County and Quanzhou Mansion are the yamen who are subject to the case!" If you want to clean up, you have to check it together, and everyone will die together! ”

"Huh?" roared here, Mu Zhifu suddenly realized that something was wrong again-why did his left eyelid jump again? Isn't the right eye jumping for disaster, and the left eye jumping for wealth?

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency! Little Gege has found it! Sure enough, at this moment, another official rushed to the horse, and shouted happily from afar: "Lord Futai, great joy! Little Gege, she found it! A few monks from Shaolin Temple sent her to our Putian Mansion Yamen! There was also an accompanying official and a servant who were also alive and were also sent back to the yamen with Xiao Gege! ”

"Amitabha, Buddha bless!" Mu Tianyan jumped three feet high again, so excited that he almost didn't shed tears, and said in his heart that as long as Xiao Gege was fine, at least things would not be so bad that he was going to lose his head.

"Mufutai, Mufutai!" At this moment, a middle-aged man suddenly jumped out of the crowd of Hui'an officials, bowed to Mu Tianyan and said: "Xiaguan Hui'an County Ling Luo Nai, I have seen Xinghua Futai Mu Daren, just now Xia Guan was in the crowd, I heard Fu Tai Lord say that Hui'an County, which asked Xia Guan, to cooperate in handling the case, Xia Guan did not dare to disobey the order, so he came to listen to the order. ”

"Holy!" Mu Tianyan's nose was almost crooked, and he couldn't help but yell: "I said Lord Luo, you're too slippery, aren't you?" When you heard that Xiao Gege's whereabouts were unknown, you desperately shirked your responsibility, and when you heard that Xiao Gege had found it, you desperately came to grab the credit! Do you want to take all the good things in this world alone? ”

After that, Mu Tianyan got on the horse and turned around and left, ordering: "Cheng Zhixian, Zhang Qianzong, you continue to lead the troops to search to see if there are any survivors and corpses, Wu Zongbing, you and I go back to Xiao Gege to say goodbye." As for Lord Luo, then please ask him to cool down! ”

"Mufutai, Mufutai, don't worry, Xiao Gege's team is at the junction of our county and your mansion, and now that she has found it, the lower official should go and kowtow to her to say goodbye! Mufutai, please wait for the next official-! ”

………………

Throwing off the dead skin and faceless Luo Nai, poor Mu Tianyan Mufutai hit the horse and drove back, all the way non-stop almost tired the horse to death, Mu Tianyan and the others finally rushed back to Xinghua Mansion City, and rushed straight into the city to learn that in front of the government yamen, Mu Tianyan and the others didn't even have time to catch their breath, and immediately even rolled and climbed off the horse, stumbling into the prefect's yamen, and before the people entered the hall, they had already shouted, "Where is Xiao Gege?" Over there? Xiaguan Mu Tianyan (Wu Ying), please say hello to Xiao Gege! ”

"My lord, little Gege has already rested." A master greeted him and said respectfully: "Xiao Gege seems to have been very frightened, after the masters of Shaolin Temple sent it back, Xiao Gege has been stupid and silent, not talking or laughing, the little one borrowed two maids from the old lady, and has invited her to the room to rest." ”

"Well done." Mu Tianyan was overjoyed, and said: "But there are too few maids, go and call all the maids around my yellow-faced woman, and all of them will be transferred to serve Xiao Gege!" ”

"Yes, the student will arrange it." The master agreed, and said: "There is one more thing, Lord Lu Yifeng of Qujing County, Yunnan, who accompanied Xiao Gege into Beijing, and one of his servants who was seriously injured, were also sent back by the masters of Shaolin Temple. Listening to the masters, Xiao Gege was taken by this Lord Lu and fled into the Shaolin Temple, and he must know the inside story of the attack on Xiao Gege and his party. ”

"Great!" Mu Tianyan was overjoyed, and said in his heart that if he could successfully find out the truth about the assassination of Xiao Gege's team and get the murderer, not only would his life be saved, but this official hat might also be saved.

Overjoyed, Mu Tianyan hurriedly asked his master to lead the way, and quickly came to the room where Lu Yifeng's master and servant were located, but when he opened the door, Mu Tianyan was almost hit in the nose by a teacup, only to see a white and fat man shrinking in the corner, holding a tea bowl lid in his hand, trembling with fear on his face, and kept yelling, "Don't come here!" Stay back! I'm an official of the court, you can't kill me! Can't kill me! ”

"What's going on?" Mu Tianyan asked his master in confusion.

"That's how it was when it arrived." Master replied with a wry smile: "This Lord Lu seems to have been very frightened, and when he was sent over, everyone he saw said that someone was going to kill him. Listening to the masters of the Shaolin Temple, he was also like this in the temple, Xiao Gege was so frightened that he didn't speak at all, and in the end it was his seriously injured servant who told them their identities, and the masters of the Shaolin Temple sent them back. ”

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me! Lu Fatzi suddenly screamed like a pig again, and kept smashing teacups and bowls at Mu Tianyan and others, "Please, don't kill me!" I've just become an official, and I don't have any money! I don't know anything, I don't know anything! ”

"Master Lu, don't be afraid, don't be afraid!" Mu Tianyan had no choice but to hide from Lu Fatzi's teacup while sweating profusely: "My name is Mu Tianyan, I am the prefect of Xinghua Mansion in Fujian, the magistrate here, I won't kill you, you calm down." ”

"Mu Tianyan?! The magistrate here? Fat Lu seemed to have regained his senses a little, and there was some confusion on his face.

"Yes, I'm the magistrate here, the prefect of Xinghua." Mu Tianyan smiled and nodded.

"Prefect?!" Fat Lu suddenly screamed, and then ran out, shouting, "Ghost! The devil has come to get me! ”

"Lord Lu, what's wrong with you? Calm down! Mu Tianyan was completely speechless, so he had to shout: "Quick, hold down Lord Lu." ”

Several officials behind Mu Tianyan agreed, and hurriedly stepped forward to stop Lu Fatzi, never thinking that Lu Fatzi would pounce on his knees and fall down, kowtow desperately to Mu Tianyan, and cry: "Fu Futai, we say that there is no injustice in the past, and there is no enmity in the near future, and when we were in Chaozhou Mansion, we didn't offend you with our humble duties!" I don't dare to stop you if you want to kill Xiao Gege, and now that you are a ghost, don't come to me, please spare your life! ”

"Fu Futai? Teochew Mansion? Don't you dare to stop killing Xiao Gege? Don't come to you when you're a ghost? Although Mu Tianyan is famous for his love of sycophants, it can be seen from the name, but he is very shrewd and meticulous, hearing these crazy words shouted by Lu Fatzi, Mu Tianyan couldn't help but turn pale, and vaguely guessed something.

"Fu Futai, Master Fu, Uncle Fu!" Lu Fatzi's crying and screaming became louder and louder, and he kowtowed desperately to Mu Tianyan, "The person who killed you is not me, you know the person who killed you, I don't know it!" I don't know anything, I'm old and young, you can spare me! ”

"What the hell is going on? What the hell is this fat guy talking about? The more Wu Ying, the chief soldier next to him, became more and more confused, and hurriedly stepped forward to hold down Lu Fatzi, and said: "Lord Lu, you don't have to be afraid, I am Wu Ying, the chief soldier of Xinghua Mansion, with me, no one dares to kill you, you calm down, say something slowly!" ”

"General Wu Bing, Wu Junmen, help!" Lu Fatzi howled and cried like a pig, hugged Wu Ying's thigh again, and cried: "Wu Junmen, you are the master of Qingtian, you have to call the shots for me, Fu Futai said that he wanted to kill me, and the people who killed Fu Futai also wanted to kill me, I didn't!" Wu Junmen, I have an eighty-year-old lady and a child who has just reached the full moon, you must save me! Help me! ”

"You calm down, calm down for Lao Tzu!" Wu Ying was sweating profusely, and she really couldn't figure out what was going on.

"Wu Junmen, I'm afraid something big is going to happen this time, it's bigger than we thought!" Mu Tianyan, whose right eyelid jumped up again, trembled all over, and ordered with his teeth knocked: "Quick, go to Lang Zhong to heal Lord Lu and Xiao Gege." Also, Wu Junmen, the army in your hand also has to be moved, go to the section of the road from Fengting to Shaolin Temple to look carefully, I don't know, the body of Fu Honglie, the prefect of Chaozhou, is also in that area! ”

"Fu Honglie's corpse?" Wu Ying was startled and exclaimed, "How is it possible? Fu Honglie is the prefect of Chaozhou, how could he be in Putian? Still dead in Putian? ”

"How do I know? I hope I'm wrong. Mu Tianyan said with a pale face: "But didn't you hear what Lu Yifeng said just now?" Fu Honglie planned to kill him and Xiao Gege, but was killed by another group of people, if this is true, then the matter is unimaginable. ”

………………

In the next night, Mu Tianyan didn't know how he spent it, Lang Zhong came to check and said that Lu Fatzi and Shang Wanyan were both greatly frightened and needed to recuperate slowly, Lu Fatzi's servant Xiao Erlang was conscious, but his body was too weak to speak clearly, and he couldn't ask what was going on. And in the early morning of the next day, the sergeants sent by Wu Ying came to report that they had found eight more bodies in the mountain stream next to the mountain path leading from Fengting to Shaolin Temple, but they couldn't confirm their identities, and they didn't know if there was Fu Honglie, the prefect of Chaozhou, who Lu Fatzi said in his crazy words.

Fortunately, Mu Tianyan had seen Fu Honglie before, and this matter was so big, Mu Tianyan didn't dare to take it lightly, so he had to let the sergeant transport the eight corpses to the Chaozhou capital city, and personally led a large group of Putian local officials to identify the corpses.

"My lord, the eight corpses have been put away." Cheng Qipeng pointed to the eight corpses sent by one word, and said respectfully: "The lower official also asked the officials to scrub their faces clean, please identify them." ”

Mu Tianyan nodded, forcibly endured his nausea and fear, stepped forward, and carefully identified the eight corpses. Fortunately, the weather has been cold recently, the decomposition of the corpse is not serious, and the face is clearly visible. But because of this, when Mu Tianyan walked in front of a disemboweled, he immediately trembled all over, and screamed with a blank face: "It's Fu Honglie!" It's really Fu Honglie! ”

"Is it really Fu Futai?" Several civil and military officials next to him were also dumbfounded.

"Yang Guotai!" Wu Ying also screamed like a pig, pointed to a corpse and shouted: "Mufutai, this corpse is Yang Guotai, the general of Chaozhou!" Why did he die in our Xinghua?! ”

"Chaozhou Mansion Counselor Yang Guotai?" Mu Tianyan turned around for a while - the prefect and the general of Chaozhou Prefecture all died in his own place, and this is another crime that can lead to his dismissal from office! Frightened, Mu Tianyan screamed like a pig, "Quick, carry out the bodies of Master Fu and General Yang and put them in coffins!" Wait, autopsy first and see if there are any clues that can solve the case! ”

The servants and the officials acted according to the order, and hurriedly carried out the bodies of Fu Honglie and Yang Guotai, and carried them to the morgue to examine the bodies, and if they wanted to conduct an autopsy, they had to strip Fu Honglie and Yang Guotai naked. ”

"Bring it!" Mu Tianyan came to his senses, and hurriedly snatched the underwear stained with black dirty blood, and saw that there was a large patch sewn on the inside of the flesh on the back of the underwear, the patch did not open, and he pinched it with his hand, and there was really something hidden between the patch and the underwear, like a few sheets of paper stacked together, and like a letter.

"Lord Futai, it should be a letter, open it and take a look." Wu Ying hurriedly said.

At the critical moment, Mu Tianyan's always slippery and cautious nature saved his life, shook his head and whispered: "No, none of us can read this letter!" Think about it, Fu Honglie, as the prefect of Chaozhou, the Dingnan Palace, quietly came to our Xinghua, and died inexplicably in our Xinghua, do we dare to read the letters he hid on his body? If there's something in there that shouldn't be seen, do we want to die? ”

"It makes sense, Lord Futai." Wu Ying and the others nodded together, and Cheng Qipeng asked tremblingly: "Then Lord Futai, what should we do with this letter?" ”

"Wait and hand it over to the prince of Jingnan or the ancestor governor." Mu Tianyan whispered: "As long as we haven't seen it and handed it over to them directly, then there are really things in it that shouldn't be seen, and there are tall ones when the sky falls." ”

"That's right." Wu Ying, Cheng Qipeng and others echoed one after another, all agreeing with Mu Tianyan's cautious approach.

"Report!" Said Cao Ying, Cao Ying arrived. At this moment, a servant hurriedly came and said to Mu Tianyan: "Lord Yufutai, the prince of Jingnan learned that Wang Gege of Pingnan was attacked in Xinghua Mansion, and personally led the governor of Fujian, Lord Zu Zepuzu, the governor Liu Bingzheng, Lord Liu, the chief soldier Kong Yuanzhang, Kong Junmen, and the admiral Shi Lang Shijunmen, and immediately went to the north city gate, please go to meet the Lord Futai!" ”

"What a big formation!" Mu Tianyan gasped, and said in his heart: "It's miserable, so many big people have come in one breath, this time eighty percent of people are going to be unlucky, I hope it won't be me." ”

Muttering, the eyelids of Mu Zhifu's left and right eyes jumped together.

Note: Mu Tianyan's appearance in this book is indeed a coincidence, and it is by no means a pure wolf who is lazy and indiscriminate, "Qing History" Volume 12: "Mu Tianyan, a native of Jingning, Gansu." In the twelfth year of Shunzhi, he was awarded the magistrate of Qiantang County, Zhejiang, and moved to Nanning Prefecture, Guangxi. In the sixth year of Emperor Kangxi, Emperor Shengzuren moved to the prefect of Xinghua Prefecture in Fujian. ”