Everyone got out of the boat with a heavy heart, and followed Takeo Kameita to the beach where the body was found again.

The same two miserable white corpses, which had just been pushed to the shore by the waves when they were found, had now been dragged by the sailors to the open space above the high tide line.

Slightly different from the floating corpse just now, the hands of the two corpses were tied behind their backs with hemp rope, their heads were covered with black cloth covers, and the fatal wounds were in the chest and abdomen, and I don't know how many knives they were stabbed.

Because of the soaking in the water, the blood has long since dried up, and the skin and flesh at the white knife edge are rolled open, just like the hideous smile of death.

Qin Lin first took a closer look before tearing off the hood, the first corpse was unknown to people, and when he ripped off the hood of the second corpse, people immediately let out a dull and suppressed exclamation.

Although the facial muscles were twisted and deformed, showing a posture of struggling to call for help before death, and being soaked in the seawater and slightly swollen and deformed, it was still clearly recognized that this was Xie Jie, the deputy envoy of the canonization.

"Oh my God......" Liang Can and Wei Rong cried out in despair.

Before the boat was robbed and the boat was full of blood, they still held the last faint hope, that is, the canonized angel was still alive in the world, but now this last bit of hope has also been ruthlessly extinguished, and their mission to ask for the seal has been completely shattered.

They even had to consider whether the angel of the Ming Dynasty would be angry with the Ryukyus when the angel of the Ming Dynasty was killed on the way to Ryukyu.

Xie Jie's corpse eyes were wide open, as if he couldn't believe it until death came, and was soaked in seawater and turned into a pair of big dead fish eyes.

Qin Lin sighed, stretched out his hand and closed his eyes for him, feeling strange in his heart.

Although he didn't have a good impression of this arrogant civil official, he always had a relationship, and a few days ago he was sitting together and talking, and in the blink of an eye, he turned into a cold corpse, which inevitably made people feel a little embarrassed.

Shaking his head, Qin Lin put away his chaotic thoughts and ordered Lu Yuanzhi to examine Xie Jie's corpse.

The cause of death of these corpses was clear, there was no controversy, and the fat man quickly concluded:

Except for the fatal wounds in the chest and abdomen, Xie Jie had no other injuries on his body, indicating that he was tied up without resistance and then killed; The fatal wounds were indeed nine stab wounds in the chest and abdomen, and the knives were deep into the internal organs, and any one of them was enough to kill him; There was no seawater in his lungs, which proved that he was killed on the spot, and that he was thrown into the sea after his death, and came here with the wind and waves.

As for the time of death, it was about a day and a half, that is, between midnight the day before and dawn yesterday.

Qin Lin nodded, so far the key time points of the case have been connected: on the morning of August 25 (the day before yesterday), the boat was robbed in Zhoushan, and after about noon, the two Ryukyu envoys "escaped" by boat, and returned to the sea area where the crime occurred to check, and then fled back to Hangzhou to report the case; Between the night of the same day and the early morning of the 26th, the passengers and sailors on the sealed boat were killed and thrown into the sea near Daqushan Island; On the 26th, at dawn, the Wufeng maritime merchants on Daqushan Island found that a ship was stranded on the beach, and the inspection found that it was the sealed boat taken by the canonized angel, and the ship was stained with blood, and immediately sent the eight-oar fast boat back to Hangzhou to report to Jin Yingji.

Because the fortune ships of the Ryukyuan people were slower, and the eight boats of the Wufeng maritime merchants were faster, so although the departure time was about ten hours late, the two arrived in Hangzhou at the same time on the night of the 26th, and Qin Lin, Jin Yingji, Liu Tidao, and Li Sixian got the news almost at the same time, and the two sides had the conflict of last night, and finally rushed to Daqushan Island overnight.

After a whole night of sailing, today, the 27th, the officials arrived at Daqushan Island and found floating corpses in the sea and on the coast.

The examination of the cause of death of the corpse is simple and clear, and it seems that there is no way to make a breakthrough in this case from the examination of the corpse alone.

"Who knows how many sailors and passengers are on board?" Qin Lin asked the two Ryukyu envoys.

Liang Can thought for a while and replied, "Including the two angels and their retinue and guards, there are seventeen passengers, and there are thirty-nine sailors on board. ”

"If I'm not mistaken, new bodies will be found." Qin Lin looked at the sky and let out a long breath.

Jin Yingji immediately ordered Quan Zhengyin to dispatch ships to the water village to search for the corpses in the sea.

In the distance, the Shuizhai Fort sounded three cannons, large and small ships swarmed out, Fu boats, Guangzhou boats, centipede boats, and eight fast boats, looking at the sea in a fan, and after a while, a boat stopped and salvaged something from the sea with iron claws and hooks.

The officials on the shore were far away and could not see what they were fishing, but everyone knew it.

Liu Tidao's face became more and more ugly, he only learned from the Ryukyu envoy that the person in the Yingzhou governor's lawsuit had robbed the sealing boat, so he was full of confidence and wanted to bring down Jin Yingji and Qin Lin; I didn't expect that now there was a shocking case of angels being killed, and the whole ship was killed, the case happened in the waters of Zhejiang.

What's even more unfortunate is that Jin Yingji and Qin Lin still refuse to admit their guilt honestly, and prefer to chirp crooked quibbles.

"These military attachés who don't know a single word at sea and don't know a single word really don't know anything about etiquette, righteousness and shame", Liu Tidao sighed, it seems that Qin Lin and Jin Yingji took the initiative to admit the crime of framing him before he was satisfied, and it is called deep righteousness.

Wufeng maritime merchants dispatched a large number of ships to search the nearby sea like a comb, and soon the corpses floating in the sea were salvaged and transported to the shore.

There were forty-two bodies in total, and the rest were either fed to sharks or sunk to the bottom of the sea, presumably never to be found.

The Ryukyu envoys sadly discovered that Xiao Chongye was also among them in the canonization of the envoy Hu Kezuo, and there was no difference between the death and the deputy envoy Xie Jie.

"Haha, isn't this evidence that you killed the angel?" Liu Tidao said in a fierce voice: "These corpses are floating on the sea near Daqushan Island, and every time your sea boats come in and out, they have not found it until now, isn't it self-deception?" ”

Li Sixian's eyes lit up when he heard this, stroked his swarthy beard, and said in a loud voice: "Yes, yes, yes, I deliberately left it until this time to pick it up, just to put on a show for us!" Chief Jin and Chief Qin, you can hide it from others, but you can't hide it from Liu Xunji and the old man! ”

"Stupid!" Qin Lin scolded them without hesitation: "Didn't you order a special search, you were on the boat and kept your eyes on the sea water at any time?" It's the first time I've heard of such a monster! ”

Quan Zhengyin added: "Besides, our water village was built on the west side of Daqushan Island, which is sheltered from the wind and waves, but the corpse was found on the east, north, and south sides, and it is not on the waterway we commonly use at all. ”

"Sir Qin, maybe they will stare down into the sea at any time when they take the boat," Jin Yingji pursed her lips and smiled slyly: "The slave family heard that these officials were going to 'drift' when they transported some money and grain (the coastal officials of the Ming Dynasty were corrupt, pretending to be drifting when the water transport encountered wind and waves) Three or four percent, and they drifted a lot, maybe they really thought that there was silver floating in the sea!" ”

Li Sixian and Liu Tidao were fiercely ridiculed by Jin Yingji, but they couldn't refute it - they had indeed "drifted" a lot of silver, so their faces turned red and blue, and it was difficult to say a word after all.

(To be continued)