Cheng Ran looked at the entire five corpses in front of him and was deeply shocked.

The five corpses were all women's corpses, showing varying degrees of decay, and some of them had already revealed their bones.

In the same way, the limbs of the corpse were tied with stones.

And only one of them was still wearing a dress, and the rest were defenseless - with Zhang Qiuchi's previous example, many of the men present spontaneously took off their coats and covered their bodies for the corpse.

Cheng Ran's face was solemn and heavy.

The deceased were all women, and their bodies were all sunk here, and it was no accident.

And nine times out of ten...... These women were desecrated and insulted during their lifetimes.

Then, the murderer must be a repeat offender.

And it is very likely that they will continue to commit murder.

Thinking of this, Cheng Ran's sense of crisis doubled, and he didn't dare to slack off for a moment, so he immediately ordered the officials to continue to search and dig deep in the river, and secretly instructed his subordinates to summon nearby farmers to go to the government for questioning.

In accordance with the rules, Zhang Qiuchi and others were summoned to ask about the specific process.

After all, this is a section of the river where water and weeds are abundant, and it is all silt, even if you pass by to get water, you will not choose here.

And from the riverbank, before the river is nearly dry, the angle between the bank and the river surface is extremely steep, and it is obvious that no one will approach it easily on weekdays.

Come to think of it, this is also one of the reasons why the murderer chose to dump his body here.

A group of people were afraid that they would be suspicious, and they talked about what happened, and they all pointed out the cause on the spot, and they would go down to the river because they were hired by Zhang Qiuchi.

Cheng Ran looked at Zhang Qiuchi.

Zhang Qiuchi did not deny it and truthfully told the facts.

Cheng Ran's eyes moved slightly when he heard this.

For the sake of a pearl, such men were hired, and even if they could not find it, each of them would receive a tael of silver......

It's rare to see such a generous one.

In the process of handling cases, any "rare" can be regarded as abnormal.

Although the effect of this "anomaly" may only be to bring these murders to light.

But out of prudence, he still wanted to confirm—

"I don't know your surname? Where do you live? Cheng Ran asked with a scrutinizing look.

Zhang Qiuchi replied calmly: "The villain's surname is Zhang, and he lives in Yongfang, Beijing. ”

Cheng Ran was surprised to hear it.

"Little Yongfang Zhang's family?" He couldn't help but ask: "Zhang Luan, the prisoner of the country, who are you?" ”

"It's the villain's father."

Cheng Ran showed a sudden look.

No wonder he was so generous, it turned out to be the child of Zhang Jiansheng's family, who had a good character and a lot of money, and claimed to be able to help the injured old man without scruples......

Then, the girl sitting in the carriage who lost the pearls on her embroidered shoes was supposed to be the daughter of Supervisor Zhang.

He later inquired that Zhang Jiansheng's wife, Song, was the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Jiangnan.

Cheng Ran nodded, and there was no doubt in his heart.

Such a person, with one or two pieces of silver per person, can be regarded as low-key......

Well, he didn't have anything else to ask.

"My lord, another corpse has been found!"

The voice of the official came to my ears.

The corpse had sunk deep into the mud at the bottom of the river, leaving only a pair of bones.

After stepping forward to inspect it, he said to Cheng Ran: "My lord, it is also a female corpse." ”

Cheng Ran's eyes sank.

"Dig a ditch nearby to drain the river...... Keep digging deeper. ”

"Yes."

An hour passed.

Two hours passed.

It was already dark, and torches began to light along the river.

Even though the servants continued to disperse, there were more and more onlookers and people in the vicinity.

"My lord, there should be no more." A servant stepped forward to pray.

They had drained the nearby river and turned it over completely.

It had been half an hour since the last corpse was dug up.

Cheng Ran, who had been standing on the shore and watching, asked in a deep tone, "How many corpses are there?" ”

"Lord Hui, plus the five bodies found by the people before, there are as many as twenty-one corpses in total." The official paused and added: "After examination, all of them are female corpses, and two of them are not yet ten years old. ”

Cheng Ran clenched his fists when he heard this, and his eyes were red.

It's just a beast!

He must personally find out the murderer and sentence him to a Ling Chi sentence!

"Bring all these corpses back to the yamen, leave ten people, and continue to expand the scope of searching."

Although this place was already downstream, he could not bear to see any of the corpses that could continue to be buried deep in the bottom of the river.

The officials should be lowered.

Cheng Ran first rushed back to the government with a group of officials to deal with the matter.

"Second sister, let's go back too." In front of the carriage, Zhang Qiuchi said softly.

"Okay."

In the car, Zhang Meishou, who had not spoken for a long time, had a low voice at this time.

Twenty-one corpses.

Twenty-one living human lives.

In the previous life, when these corpses were revealed to the world, they had already turned into white bones, and she remembered that there were nearly eighty corpses in total.

At that time, the culprit Ning Tong had been beheaded for public display, and everyone scolded him for dying too early and giving him too light a sentence.

From the moment of view, it was nine years later, after Zhu Youzhu ascended the throne.

Therefore, in the past nine years, nearly fifty or sixty more women have lost their lives, not including those who were dumped elsewhere and those who committed suicide due to humiliation.

This incident has always been etched in her memory.

It's just that, before that, she was powerless to change.

In the previous life, when Liu Yiqing was still a lifter, he insisted on finding out the truth about the daughter of Liu Jimi's shopkeeper who was forced to die, so he was retaliated against, so he missed the imperial examination the following year.

Later, when he entered the court as an official, he once again investigated Ning Tong, but he was still openly suppressed and slandered, and he was belittled.

Not to mention those fierce people who risked their lives because they were enemies of Ning Tong.

Because of this, she knows very well that if there is no possibility of completely defeating the other party in one fell swoop, she must not act rashly, otherwise it will not only be difficult to succeed, but also will cause countless crises.

Fortunately, under this mistake, she waited for this opportunity.

This time, first of all, Ning Tong had a scandal in Dayongchang Temple, which not only had a sharp drop in reputation, but also had something to do with the worship of heaven.

Even the emperor, in order to calm the discussion of the outside world, must suspend him.

At present, such a sensational event has been made, and after the truth is found out, and then a little incitement is made, it will be extremely difficult for Ning Tong to save his life.

Last night, Zhu Youzhu said in the back mountain that this time he killed three birds with one stone.

At the moment, it seems that it is four gains.

She was a little too anxious and directly revealed the matter, but because the time had come, she really didn't want to wait for a moment.

Every time we wait, there may be another innocent person who will suffer.

She knows that her abilities are limited, and she cares very much about self-preservation, and she has secretly prevented Mr. Liu from getting involved in this matter - but whenever there is an opportunity to change the tragedy, even if it is only a part, she will do her best to do it, and do it immediately.

Therefore, in this life, under such a favorable situation, Ning Tong's beast, it is better to die as soon as possible and obediently.

The news of the discovery of more than 20 corpses in Wushui River soon spread throughout the capital and beyond.

In the East Palace, Zhu Youzhu had already listened to Qing Yu's announcement.