The real place where the two adults were killed, Zhang Ji, the waiter of the middle book, and Cai Jin, the servant of the door, were killed, the inner garden of the palace, and the upper study!

Looking at the two pale corpses in front of him, a place name jumped out of Xie An's mind like lightning.

Because he has been with Liang Qiuwu and Changsun Xiangyu for a long time, Xie An has also learned some things about Da Zhou.

More than 30 years ago, when the current Son of Heaven Li Jichu was in power, the court was not a complete [three provinces, six departments, nine temples and twenty-four divisions] system, and most of its functions and powers were in the hands of the palace auxiliary political university scholars, whose first auxiliary bachelors were called [Zhongshu Ling], which was the predecessor of today's Hanlin Academy University Scholars [Zhongshu Ling].

At that time, in order to stabilize his imperial power, the Son of Heaven Li Ji reopened the old system, set up the post of prime minister, placed in the military aircraft of the upper study, and the position of prime minister was held by the confidant Yingong, and gradually set aside the right of the palace scholars, and after that, the palace was renamed the Hanlin Academy, and from then on, the Hanlin Academy was far away from the power center of the Great Zhou court.

In those years, the Prime Minister's subordinate and Shangshu Military Aircraft Department had great power, and almost all the large and small affairs in the country had to listen to the ruling of the Prime Minister's Military Aircraft Department, and then submitted to the Son of Heaven Li Ji, which directly led to Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province, and Shangshu Province [three provinces] in vain.

However, in recent years, as Prime Minister Yingong is getting older and older, and is about to abdicate to make way for Xian, the Son of Heaven Li Ji is worried that the next Prime Minister is not as loyal as Yingong, and it is very likely that he will empty the imperial power and steal the Li family of the Great Zhou.

First of all, the six departments of Shangshu Province were moved out of the military aircraft department of the upper study, and six separate government offices were added in the east and west of the city outside the palace, thus forming the system of the Shangshu Province under the name of [six departments, nine temples and twenty-four divisions], which made the power of the six Shangshu departments under the name of Shangshu Province greatly increased in recent years, but the Zhongshu Province and the Menxia Province failed to profit from it, and still stayed in the Shangshu Military Aircraft Office to handle official business. It is not as beautiful as the scenery of Shangshu Province.

Even, [Zhongshu Ling], which was originally a super position comparable to the prime minister, is still classified by Li Ji, the Son of Heaven, under the name of the Hanlin Academy, and no longer enters the center of power in the Great Zhou court.

It is precisely because of this that the Zhongshu Province under the name of the Military Aircraft Department has not set up [Order] so far, only [Langguan], also known as [Servant Shooting], and the Zhongshu Shilang Zhang Ji, who was killed on the night of the Shangyuan Festival a few days ago, is the Shangguan of this Zhongshu Province.

Compared to the Zhongshu Province that drafted the edict for the emperor. Menxia Province's experience is even more embarrassing, it is obviously the ministry that examines and verifies the edict, but compared with the six ministries of Shangshu Province that have become increasingly powerful in recent years, whether it is Zhongshu Province or Menxia Province, it seems dispensable. The beautiful name is called [the Son of Heaven's close minister], but in fact, he has no real name, and he wears the hat of a first-class official, but he has no power in his hands.

Why did the murderer assassinate Zhang Ji, the scholar and the servant Cai Jin, the two nominal ministers of the Son of Heaven, this is exactly what Xie An was puzzled about before.

But then again, although there is no real name, you can go to the study of the Military Aircraft Department under the name of the Zhongshu Province and the Menxia Province. It is still a vital ministry in the palace, which is understandable, since Prime Minister Yingong deliberately faded out of the center of power in the imperial court, all the holy decrees issued by the Great Zhou. All of them are from the military aircraft department of the upper study presided over by the Zhongshu Province and the Menxia Province, and even the jade seal of the Great Zhou Tianzi is locked in the secret vault here.

Every time the Son of Heaven Li Ji needs to use the Jade Seal of the Son of Heaven. It is necessary to have a key held by Zhang Ji, the waiter of the Chinese book, and Cai Jin, the waiter of the door, to open the secret vault. It is precisely because of this that although Zhang Ji, the squire of Zhongshu, and Cai Jin, the servant of his disciples, have very light powers, their status is quite high, after all, they hold the jade seal of the Great Zhou Tianzi.

What are the murderers of these two squires looking for in the upper study?

This is exactly what Xie An is thinking about right now.

Is it to steal the jade seal of the Great Zhou Emperor?

Xie An doesn't think so, after all, although the jade seal of the Son of Heaven is extremely noble, but in the final analysis, the reason why it is noble is only because it is the jade seal used by the Son of Heaven, which symbolizes the imperial power of the Li family of the Great Zhou.

Some people may say that some people are likely to steal the jade seal of the Son of Heaven and draft the edict privately, but in fact, this does not make sense, after all, every edict, Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province have backups, one edict and three copies, one draft edict drafted by Zhongshu Province, two copies of the official edict drafted by Menxia Province after review, and these two edicts, one is for the minister who received the edict, and one is locked in the treasury of the province of Xiaxia for backup.

In this way, the appearance of false edicts can be completely eliminated, so in addition to the Emperor of the Great Zhou, the rest of the people want to make private edicts, which is as difficult as ascending to the sky, even if there is a jade seal, I am afraid that it will not play a role.

Because of this, in Xie An's opinion, it is extremely unlikely that a thief will steal the jade seal of the Son of Heaven, so that the murderer who killed the two squires can only be that one when he is looking for the military plane in the upper study!

Edict!

The edict of Li Ji, the son of the Great Zhou Dynasty!

Some people may ask, Li Ji, the son of the Great Zhou Dynasty, is obviously still alive and well now, so why did he get any edict?

But in fact, the Son of Heaven in all dynasties will leave an edict before his death, and write the name of the prince who can take over the throne into the edict in advance, so that the left and right ministers are locked in the secret vault, and no one is allowed to read it privately, otherwise it will be a great crime to punish the nine clans.

Only under two specific circumstances can the secret vault be opened and the edict taken out, either the current Son of Heaven Li Ji has died, or he has changed his mind and intends to order another successor, so he takes out the old edict and destroys it, and then writes a new one.

And now, the physical condition of the Son of Heaven Li Ji is not very optimistic, and it is not ruled out that he has prepared the edict in advance, thinking about it this way, the murderer who killed the Zhongshu servant Zhang Ji and the subordinate servant Cai Jin is most likely looking for this edict, wondering which son the Son of Heaven Li Ji intends to succeed to the throne.

As soon as he thought of this, Xie An felt that his heart was a little empty, after all, except for the late eldest prince Li Yong and the Nine Emperor Princes who had just taken off the hat of Prince Anxian, the other seven princes could be the main messengers of this incident, and even the crown prince Li Wei, who now has great hopes of ascending the throne and inheriting the throne, is difficult to eliminate suspicion.

"Okay, okay, it's not early, I'll go eat first!" Clapping his hands, Xie An said to everyone in the room.

Xie An didn't tell everyone what he thought, after all, there are many people in the morgue in the Weiwei Temple Department at the moment, and more importantly, what is more. Guanglu Temple Qing Wenqin, that is the crown prince Li Wei's person, Xie An doesn't want to make extraneous branches.

When I look back, find an excuse, take Liang Qiu Wu, Xun Zheng and other people who can be trusted, go to the palace, and go to the study to see what is going on.

Seeing that Xie An planned to dismiss everyone, everyone in the house had no opinion, after all, it was close to noon at this time, although the case was important. But people still have to eat, don't they?

And just as Xie An was about to leave, he suddenly saw a familiar corpse.

This is a familiar face!

Under the puzzled gazes of everyone in the room, Xie An stopped next to the corpse and watched silently.

Yu He, the envoy of the right capital of the Imperial Historical Observatory......

Once. This Yu He is a gun in the hands of the crown prince Li Wei, as the right imperial doctor, he has repeatedly embarrassed Xie An, Li Shou and others according to the orders of the prince Li Wei, and even if Xie An and Li Shou quelled the Chang'an rebels and returned victorious, this person still did not let go. wanted to harm Xie An with a trumped-up crime, if it weren't for the help of Zuo Yushi Doctor Meng Rang and the eldest grandson's family at that time, how could Xie An be able to sit in the position of Shaoqing of the Great Prison Temple?

It's funny to think about it, the original political enemy, the crown prince Li Wei. Now it seems that he has become Xie An's ally, and he will jointly deal with Li Xian, the eighth prince who returned to Jijing, but it is the forces of Yushitai and the eldest grandson family who helped him Xie An in the past, but now they have almost become enemies and strangers.

Come to think of it. Xie Anxin secretly sighed.

Just when Xie An was about to take one last look at the imperial doctor who had been used as a gunman by the crown prince Li Wei, he suddenly noticed. The sleeve on the left hand side of Yu He's official uniform was ripped off and he was missing.

Hey?

What's going on?

A mystery surged in his heart, Xie An pointed to Yu He's corpse lying flat on the wooden board, frowned and said, "Who can tell this mansion, what happened to the sleeve of Lord Yu's left hand?" ”

Xun Zheng and Wen Qin glanced at Liang Qiu Wu strangely when they heard this, and before Xie An could react, a trace of displeasure flashed in Liang Qiu Wu's eyes, and he frowned and said, "Lord Shaoqing, didn't you hear General Ben's opinion on this yesterday?" ”

Oops, even [Lord Shaoqing] said it, it seems that his stupid daughter-in-law is really angry......

Xie An unconsciously shrank his head and smiled.

He vaguely remembered that Liang Qiu Wu seemed to have said something about this matter yesterday, but at that time, he was lamenting Yu He's death and didn't really hear it.

Even, at that time, he was still a little gloating, no wonder

, Who called Yu He to target him everywhere Xie An before? Now the retribution is coming.

Under the gaze of everyone in the room who wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh, Xie An looked at Liang Qiuwu with a smile and a flattering expression.

Fortunately, Liangqiu Dance is always a woman who follows the rules, and she will not lose Xie An's face in front of outsiders, although she is really a little unhappy with Xie An's absent-mindedness yesterday, but she still explained carefully, "Yesterday, as far as the scene of the crime is concerned, Lord Yu died outside the sedan chair, and when he died, he held a dagger in his hand, and there was no blood on the dagger......

"I see," Xie An nodded again and again as if flattering, and suddenly looked at Yu He's bare left hand, and asked suspiciously, "What's the matter with that sleeve?" ”

"This ......" Liang Qiuwu shook his head hesitantly, guessing, "Maybe he accidentally cut his sleeve by the other party during the fight......"

Having your sleeves cut off by the other party?

What assassin in the world is idle to go through the sleeve of his target?

Xie Anxin secretly felt funny, but he didn't show it on his face, there was only one reason, because Liang Qiuwu was his wife.

Under the puzzled gaze of everyone in the room, Xie An approached Yu He's body, squatted down, and carefully observed the edge of Yu He's broken sleeve.

He found that the upper part of the broken sleeve was quite neat, and there were faint two rows of tooth marks, but the lower half of the broken sleeve was quite rough, as if it had been torn off hard.

What made Xie An even more concerned was that there was a thin blood mark on Yu He's right arm, as if he had been injured by a dagger.

The severed sleeve, the dagger he held when he was dying, and the scars on his arms......

No way?

Xie An's eyes vaguely showed a bit of discoloration, and a possibility suddenly flashed in his mind.

Everyone in the room was too familiar with Xie An's expression, and seeing this, Liang Qiuwu hurriedly asked, "An, did you see something?" ”

Okay. Fang is [Lord Shaoqing], and now it is [An], do you want to become so fast?

Secretly buried in his heart, Xie An nodded, looked at Yu He's corpse and frowned, and said, "I think it's not for self-preservation, Lord Yu took out the dagger before he died, maybe it wasn't for self-preservation, his purpose." Maybe it's just to cut your own sleeves...... Ah, the sleeves missing from Lord Yu's official uniform may not have been left by the assassins, but caused by Lord Yu himself! -- What is the meaning of this move? ”

"Meaning? - Cut off your own sleeves? What does this mean? Everyone in the room looked at each other. Rao is Xun Zheng and Wen Qin are also puzzled, let alone the rest.

Under the attentive attention of everyone in the room, Xie An frowned and thought hard.

Broken sleeve ......

Broken sleeve ......

Broken sleeves?

Could it be that he killed Yu He, a man with the good of Longyang?

Evil!

Xie An felt a chill for no reason, then turned his head to look at Xun Zheng and hooked his finger at him.

Xun Zheng didn't know what to do, and walked to Xie An's side. Everyone in the room only saw Xie An whispering to him, and suddenly, Xun Zheng's expression became extremely strange, and after hesitating for a long time. Then he shook his head and said, "No...... As far as the old brother knows, no! ”

"That's ......" Xie An thought about it, and repeated the trick. Ear said a few words to Wen Qin.

Everyone in the room suddenly saw it again, and the expression on the face of Guanglu Temple Qing Wenqin also became extremely strange. As if he was uncomfortable, he loosened his muscles and bones, frowned and shook his head and said, "Among the people known in this house, there is none!" ”

"That's weird......" Looking at Yu He's body, Xie An muttered to himself.

Seeing this, Liang Qiuwu asked curiously, "An, what's wrong?" What do you see? ”

Under the strange looks of Xun Zheng and Wen Qin, Xie An looked at Liang Qiuwu and opened his mouth, then coughed, Gu Zuoyan said, "It's okay, it's just a little thing......

Liang Qiuwu was stunned, a little unswerving, although her brain was careless, this is just this, and the fools all know what Xie An, Xun Zheng, and Wen Qin are talking about in private.

Maybe it was because he noticed Liang Qiuwu's somewhat tasteful expression, Xie An secretly cried and laughed.

[Among the people you know, is there anyone who has a hobby of dragon yang?] ]

How can Xie An ask such a question to his wife Liang Qiuwu? Thinking about it, he could only pretend not to see it.

Thinking about Xun Zheng and Wen Qin's words in his mind, Xie An's head was running fast.

In his opinion, since Yu He had this abnormal behavior before he died, it is very likely that he left a clue before he died, what does this mean?

This shows that Yu He recognized the person who killed him!

If it was an assassin he didn't recognize, what clue did he leave behind?

Xie An originally thought that Yu He was pointing out the murderer who killed him, and he was a good person with Longyang, after all, when he mentioned broken sleeves, he first thought of broken sleeves, but Xun Zheng and Wen Qin's answers put an end to this possibility.

Xun is his own person, so naturally he won't hide anything, and looking at Wen Qin's expression, he doesn't look like he is lying, so to speak, Yu He cut off his sleeve with a knife, doesn't it mean that the murderer is a person who has a habit of breaking his sleeves?

Perhaps, this means something else......

Ahh......h

After thinking about it for a long time, I just wanted to get dizzy, but Xie An didn't come up with it.

Suddenly, his heart moved.

Just because he can't think of it doesn't mean that no one can think of it......

Isn't there a poor eldest grandson who is now confined to her home?

The world's first most talented woman, the eldest grandson Xiangyu!

Xie An always felt that there was no problem in the world that could be difficult to defeat that demonic woman!

Thinking of this, Xie An hooked his finger towards Liang Qiu Wu, and after Liang Qiu Wu approached happily, he whispered in her ear, "Wu, please go to the Eldest Sun Shilang's Mansion for me...... The clues left by Yu He, I guess I can't think of them, I have to rely on her! - It's not convenient for me to go to the eldest grandson's house now, but you shouldn't have any problem, after seeing her, tell her about this place, and ask her what the clues left by Yu He mean! ”

"Hmm!" Liang Qiuwu nodded.

So, everyone dispersed, Liang Qiuwu went straight to the eldest grandson Xiangyu to ask about this matter according to Xie An's instructions, and Xie An, Xun Zheng and Su Xin and other cadres went to find a place to eat, as for Wen Qin, he declined Xie An's invitation to invite him to the restaurant to eat, after all, he wanted to report every process of investigating the case to the prince Li Wei, who was locked up in Zongzheng Temple at this time.

Not to mention Xie An and Liang Qiuwu and his party, but also that Wen Qin came to Zongzheng Temple and told the crown prince Li Wei how Xie An dealt with those scholars outside Zhengyang Gate.

"Is that so?" Li Wei, the prince who was meditating in the wing room of Zongzheng Temple and cultivating himself, laughed when he heard this, patted his thigh and jokingly said, "The eighth child hit the wall this time!" - I hit my head and bleed! - Hanlin Academy, this time there is a big problem, do you guess, will those stubborn scholars go on a hunger strike in a fit of anger and starve to death outside Zhengyang Gate? ”

Wen Qin let out a bad breath when he heard this, and said mockingly, "That has nothing to do with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, it has nothing to do with the imperial court, it is those guys who are killing themselves!" ”

"Speak again!" Hearing this, Prince Li Wei laughed, and said with joy, "If you can fight with this prince for so long, how can Xie An be an easy person to deal with?" The eighth Hanlin Academy, this time it is a disgrace, happy! ――In vain, the prince gave the post of secretary of the criminal department to Na Xie An...... By the way, how did the murderer who killed Yu He check the ground? ”

Wen Qin hugged his fists when he heard this, and said, "His Royal Highness the Prince, according to Xie An's inference, the sleeves on the official robe were torn off by Yu He himself, and Xie An said that most of them can be traced back to the clues of the murderer!" With that, he told the crown prince Li Wei everything about Fang Cai.

Under Wen Qin's confused gaze, Prince Li Wei thought about it carefully, and then his face changed slightly, and he said in disbelief, "You mean, Yu He tore it off himself?" ”

"Yes!"

"This time, Xie An guessed wrong, it's not such a ridiculous thing as Long Yang's goodness!" Prince Li Wei stood up, paced back and forth in the dimly lit wing room for a few steps, and after taking a deep breath, he suddenly said in a deep voice, "Wen Qin, quickly call the fifth child to come to see me, I have something to ask him!" ”

"Right now?"

"Right now!" Prince Li Wei said without refuting it.

Taking a peek, Wen Qin unexpectedly found that the face of the crown prince Li Wei was gloomy and terrifying.