Xu Rui smiled bitterly, rubbed his temples and said, "Let's talk about good news first, there is too much bad news, and it is a while to be able to hide." ”

Li Kuang nodded and said, "The good news is that I have found out some inside stories from Tang Jiuguang's finances and the child theft case as you ordered. ”

"Oh?"

Xu Rui was overjoyed in his heart, and hurriedly said, "Tell me quickly." ”

Li Kuang said: "First of all, Tang Jiuguang has not always been financially tight, he has spent a lot of money in the theater over the years, and several theater troupes rely on him to support him, with an annual expenditure of about 100,000 taels.

In addition, he also has three girls in Chanjuan Pavilion for a long time, two of which are top brands, and each of them has more than 10,000 taels per month.

However, since about half a year ago, his finances have indeed had some problems, and the drama he raised and the two top girls have been abandoned, and he has been selling his property until the day of the crime. ”

"Even the drama and the girl have spent a lot of money, so his family's monthly expenses should be at least around seventy or eighty thousand taels, this is all the emperor of the mountain, where did he get so much money for a small household servant?"

Xu Rui rubbed his chin and asked puzzledly.

Li Kuang said: "His father has been a household department for more than 20 years, and he has a lot of relationships.

Since high school, he has also been serving in the household department, from the head of the household department to the squire, before and after, it has been more than 30 years, and he knows the household department well, plus he belongs to the prince's party, and officials everywhere have to give him a little thin noodles.

Since thirteen years ago, he has been using these connections to evade taxes, smuggling leather goods, silk, porcelain, wood, etc., and I estimate that he has made a profit of more than one million taels a year. ”

"A million taels!"

Xu Rui frowned and said: "Such a large industry must have formed a chain of interests, and the required network is by no means something that a small household servant can open up, I guess he is probably an agent of the princelings to make dark money."

If this is the case, then two problems arise: first, since the money belongs to the prince, even if he can control a part of it, it will not be enough to support such a luxurious life.

Second, what happened half a year ago, why did it suddenly break his life, and what happened after that, causing him to be killed? ”

Li Kuang said: "Another piece of news may be able to answer these questions, I have checked the internal files of Jinyiwei, and the earliest child in Changxing City was lost thirteen years ago, which happened to coincide with the time of Tang Jiuguang's great prosperity.

In addition, half a year ago, Changxing City was panicked because of the loss of many children, and Changxing Mansion investigated twice and twice to no avail.

Not to mention, since then, the number of cases of children lost has indeed dropped sharply, and at the same time, Tang Jiuguang's Jiangnan Commercial Road was suddenly closed at the same time.

Jiangnan Business Road is the largest business road in his business, and its profit accounts for at least half of all businesses, which means that his income has dropped sharply by at least hundreds of thousands of taels in the past six months.

What's more interesting is that there was a serial murder case in Changxing City before, and the deceased were all wealthy businessmen, and the time happened to be half a year ago. ”

Xu Rui nodded, and then remembered the small flower painted on the wall of the secret room, and muttered: "Tang Jiuguang, he is really related to the case of the loss of the child, it seems that this matter is not just to make money, and does the serial murder case have anything to do with him?" ”

Just thinking about it, Li Kuang said again: "Actually, it may not be too difficult to find out about this matter, because Tang Jiuguang's business is mostly transported by water, since it is smuggling, then the river yamen must not be able to get around, and Wan Guilong, who has been the governor of the river for 18 years, must be an insider." ”

Xu Rui nodded and said: "Yes, the goods in and out of Changxing City will be subject to the strict inspection of the river yamen, whether Tang Jiuguang pulls goods into Changxing City for sale, or sells in other places and directly pulls silver into the city, he can't bypass this person, have you checked it?" ”

Li Kuang sighed: "Go, but this is the bad news I want to say, Wan Guilong is dead." ”

"Dead?!"

Xu Rui's eyes froze: "When did you die?" ”

Li Kuang said: "About half an hour ago, just when I had just arrived at the river yamen, it looked like an accident, and the 'Haoran Righteousness' plaque hanging above the high seat in the main hall suddenly fell and just hit his head. ”

"Hiss......"

Xu Rui gasped and sneered: "It's the first time I've heard of the official who was stoned to death by the plaque in the main hall, if he doesn't die sooner or later, he died at this time, does anyone know that you are checking him?" ”

Li Kuang pondered for a moment with a solemn expression, and shook his head: "Probably not, we have been very careful, and it stands to reason that no one should know that I am also secretly investigating this matter." ”

Xu Rui nodded slightly: "I can't believe it, if the mastermind behind the scenes really knows that you are investigating him, then these people are too powerful...... Wait......"

Xu Rui suddenly recalled a detail and exclaimed: "You just said that Tang Jiuguang had three girls in Chanjuan Pavilion before, and two of them were top brands?" ”

Li Kuang nodded.

Xu Rui asked again: "Later, after his financial difficulties, the two top cards of the entanglement stopped?" ”

Li Kuang nodded again.

"And what about the girl who isn't the number one?"

"This ......"

Li Kuang was slightly stunned, these clues were also relayed through several layers of informants, and he didn't notice this detail before, but at this time, Xu Rui realized that there was indeed some problem.

"I'll check it out now."

Li Kuang said in a deep voice.

"Not busy."

Xu Rui shook his head and leaned into Li Kuang's ear and whispered a few words.

Li Kuanghu looked at him suspiciously, and said bottomlessly: "Is this really possible?" What if that weren't the case? ”

Xu Rui sighed: "I can't bear the child to catch the wolf, there is no harm in trying." ”

Li Kuang nodded: "Okay, I'll do it now." ”

As he spoke, he took a few steps back, dodged into the darkness, and disappeared in an instant.

"This guy ......"

Xu Rui looked at this scene and laughed dumbly, once upon a time, he was a staunch scientist, and the so-called martial arts or physical skills were just some ninth-rate things in his opinion, but after seeing so many masters, he actually began to envy these high-ranking guys.

Not long after Li Kuang left, a team of messengers hurriedly came over, saying that King Yu invited Xu Rui to the main hall of the Tang Mansion to discuss important matters.

In the main hall, Lu Shangshu sat on the side with a sinking face, Yuwang was pacing back and forth in the field anxiously, and Liu Haofei sat at the bottom with a cloudy face.

"Brother Xu, are you here? Come and sit. ”

Seeing Xu Rui enter the door, King Yu's face looked a little better, and he hurriedly asked him to sit on his side.

"What's going on?"

Xu Rui asked.

King Yu looked at Lu Hua, then at Liu Haofei, sighed and said, "Wan Guilong, the governor of the river, is dead. ”

"What?!"

Although Xu Rui had already guessed that Wan Guilong's death would be transmitted to the Criminal Department as soon as possible, he still pretended to be surprised.

Sure enough, the three of them did not suspect when they saw this, King Yu sighed, made a gesture of invitation to Liu Haofei, and said, "Let Lord Liu tell you the specific situation." ”

Liu Haofei arched his hand towards Xu Rui and began to introduce the situation.

It turned out that Liu Haofei had not been idle these days, and he also thought of investigating the case from Tang Jiuguang's finances, so he naturally discovered his large-scale business, and then also set his sights on Wan Guilong, the governor of the river.

According to the plan, he was going to go to Wan Guilong early this morning to inquire, but today was a big uprising, and he and Wan Guilong were going to attend the court meeting, so he put the matter aside for the time being, and explained that his subordinates were ambushed outside the river yamen early, and when Wan Guilong returned to the yamen, he would be controlled first, so as not to cause trouble.

However, after all calculations, he didn't expect that Wan Guilong would be crushed to death by the plaque on his head as soon as he returned to the yamen.

None of the people present are idiots, naturally no one would believe that the plaque that someone wipes and maintains every day will fall down and kill a second-class member of the imperial court, not to mention that his martial arts are not weak, even if there is an accident, he should be able to avoid it in time.

Everyone thought it was a murder, but the problem was that the clue that was finally found was completely interrupted, and the mastermind behind the scenes obviously knew the direction of Liu Haofei's investigation well, and did not give him the slightest chance at all.

The situation seems to be becoming more and more unfavorable for the "task force".

The atmosphere at the scene was very solemn, for some reason Xu Rui didn't speak rashly, Yuwang asked three times, Xu Rui didn't say why, and said again and again that he would investigate.

Disappointed, King Yu and Lu Shangshu did not delay any longer, and immediately rushed back to the Criminal Department to preside over the investigation of Wan Guilong, and only Xu Rui and Liu Haofei were left in the main hall of the Tang Mansion.

Xu Rui sighed, and was about to leave with the two adults, but Liu Haofei suddenly stopped him.

"Lord Xu, please stay."

"Hey, is there anything else to do with Lord Liu?"

Xu Rui paused and looked at him suspiciously.

Liu Haofei showed a look of struggle on his face, as if he was fighting between heaven and man in his heart, hesitated for a long time, looked around a few times, and saw that there was indeed no one around, so he gritted his teeth and said: "That's it, this official is willing to believe you once, there is something I want to tell you." ”

Xu Rui was stunned: "Lord Liu said so solemnly, what is the matter?" ”

Liu Haofei took a deep breath and said, "There is a mole in the criminal department. ”

Xu Rui's pupils shrank, although he had long been aware of the existence of a traitor, but he was still slightly startled when he heard it from Liu Haofei's mouth.

"Lord Liu, this matter has a lot to stake, you can't talk nonsense out of thin air."

Liu Haofei laughed when he heard this: "Lord Xu, this official has entered the Criminal Department since the title of the gold list, and has been exclusively involved in criminal cases for decades, don't you still understand the truth that you can't stand without a certificate?"

Last time we were investigating the case in the Tang Mansion, all the officers outside the door left their posts, and the only witness was killed, which already made the official suspicious. ”

Xu Rui was puzzled: "Since the adults have evidence, why don't you tell King Yu or Lu Shangshu directly, but tell me such a nobody?" ”

Liu Haofei said miserably: "It's not that I don't say it, I really can't say it."

The matter of the official's investigation of Wan Guilong was only mentioned to King Yu and Lu Shangshu, and in addition, only a few of the official's henchmen knew, but those henchmen did not participate in the investigation of the Tang Mansion, and they did not know our every move in the Tang Mansion yesterday. ”

"In other words, the traitor can only be one of King Yu and Lu Shangshu, or both!"

Xu Rui's face sank like water, and he answered coldly.