CHAPTER XXXVI

The Furong Inn has been blown up beyond recognition, and some wooden doors and windows have also been burned down due to the fire. Right now, it's a mess, and it looks more and more bleak.

Fortunately, there were many soldiers who came to save people, and the ruins of the inn were cleaned up early the next morning. And Cui Husheng also dug three feet into the ground according to the instructions of King Jing'an, and found that there were not only hidden passages here, but most of them had been blown up by gunpowder.

Almost at the same time, Wei Yan also led people to dig deep under the osmanthus tree in the backyard, only to hear the sound of the shovel and the urn colliding one after another, and then saw that there were dozens of wine urns sealed by mud buried under the osmanthus tree.

In addition, what is even more terrifying is that near the urn, there are countless white bones buried.

Rao is Wei Yan, who commands the palace guards, and has killed countless people on his hands, and he feels a little frightened when he sees those scenes. Not to mention that Cui Husheng was such a civil servant, when he saw such a terrifying burial pit, he was immediately frightened and scattered, and he fell to the ground and couldn't stand up for a long time.

Just when the atmosphere was solemn and many government soldiers were frightened and didn't dare to look directly, they saw Xu Chu walking out of the crowd without saying a word. She glanced at Xiao Qinglang and Xiao Mingzhu, who were following closely behind her, paused slightly, turned her head and said, "County Lord, give me the toolbox." ”

She had good intentions, after all, according to Wei Guang's reply, the scene in front was extremely fierce, with countless dead bodies, and most of them were white bones. Ordinary people are going to be scared to the point of urine, let alone a pampered and noble county lord.

Which Xiao Mingzhu turned to one side, his hands were stubbornly guarding the toolbox he was carrying, even though his legs and feet were already weak, he said stubbornly: "Sister Xu, since you can go and see, then I can too, I'll help you help." ”

was in the weird Furong Inn before, and it was because of her that Sister Xu was in distress. And now that Sister Xu has just woken up for less than a night, even the doctor said that she is still weak and can't work, and Sister Xu has a straight temperament and has to help the third uncle perform an autopsy. So how can she rest assured?

The third uncle is also yes, so he doesn't know how to persuade him, just knowing that he has solved the case, he should have never married the princess!

Xiao Mingzhu cheered herself up in her heart, and walked to Xu Chu's side with her head held high.

Seeing this, the corners of Xu Chu's mouth were slightly hooked, he shook his head slightly, glanced at Xiao Qinglang, who did not express his position, and let Xiao Mingzhu follow him.

Originally, Xiao Mingzhu had done a good job of psychological construction, but when she saw so many white bones that she couldn't tell which one was which, she couldn't help but shudder, her teeth chattered up and down and moved to Xu Chu's side, and she asked tremblingly, "Sister Xu...... I heard the play say that the autopsy should ward off evil spirits......"

Xu Chu paused, saw Xiao Mingzhu's face turned blue, as if he was frightened, and sighed in his heart. It is indeed a habit to conduct an autopsy, to burn atractylodes and soaphorn in shillings, and to conduct a corpse. One is to get rid of bad luck and ward off evil spirits. The second is to disinfect and drive away the smell of corpses.

But Xu Chu knew that this method was mostly psychological comfort. In contrast, it is not as useful as gloves and masks, and it is even better to boil some exorcism soup at the end. On the contrary, it will affect the judgment of the scene environment and the body of the deceased in this era when there are no precision instruments.

It's like Zhao Xiuer's case that day, if you really have ginger slices in your mouth, burn atractylodes soap, and apply sesame oil under your nose. Then she would definitely not be able to discover the inexplicable incense on Zhao Xiuer's body, let alone speculate on the situation at the time of the crime in turn.

It is also for this reason that, generally speaking, if it were not for the encounter with a rotten corpse that was difficult to approach, otherwise Xu Chu would not easily burn Atractylodes soaphorn and other things.

However, seeing Xiao Mingzhu's face full of trepidation, she still softened her heart.

She hesitated slightly, then took out a small bag from the toolbox, handed one over, and said: "If the county lord takes a piece first, the ginger slices can ward off evil spirits and drive away filth, and after returning to the city, I will make Sanshen soup for the county lord to take." That's much more useful than the method in the play. ”

Xiao Mingzhu nodded again and again when she heard this, hugged the toolbox and followed Xu Chu into the burial pit.

In late autumn, the cold was already deep, and the corpses in the burying pit that had begun to decay but could still see their faces clearly in the white bones and wine urns exuded bursts of dead air, making the people around them shiver.

And Xu Chu took the self-made mask and gloves without changing his face in the cold gasp, and then squatted down to carefully pick up the corpses from the dirt.

Because most of the corpses are only white bones, and they are mixed and staggered, it takes a lot of effort to reassemble them. As the movements of her hands accelerated, Xiao Qinglang, Wei Yan, Wei Guang and others also began to help.

When all the bones were cleared, it was truly terrifying, and the white flowers glowed faintly white in the sun. According to Xu Chu's view, there are hundreds of corpses here......

According to the bone age and wear and tear of the bones and joints she checked when she sorted it out, the ages of the deceased here ranged from young children to old age. There are men and women, and there are no specific characteristics.

"Strange ......" Xu Chu put a few words of the child's corpse on one side with some confusion, frowning and looking at the extremely messy white bones on the other side. Why is it that there are many traces of rotten clothes on the bones of these children, but there is no cover on the bones of those adults? Could it be that those adults were buried naked?

She pondered deeply, and always felt that it would be extremely incredible if the thief killed so many people silently. And just as she looked down at the white bones carefully, she saw a pair of thick-soled black satin and gold-threaded official boots suddenly appear in her eyes, followed by a noble and elegant brocade robe, and a pair of slender but powerful hands with distinct bones.

"This cloth...... It seems to be used by good people when they are buried. Xiao Qinglang picked up a piece of fabric with his fingers, looked at Xu Chu with a little groan, and then the two of them said in unison, "Mass grave!" ”

If those bombed-up tunnels really lead to mass graves, or even a strange place hidden under the mass graves, what about the bones that should have been placed in the mass graves?

"Wei Guang, let Cui Husheng come over, and then send someone to call Li Zheng from the nearest local village to answer." Xiao Qinglang glanced at Xu Chu, and saw that her eyes were staring at him with a good look, and he couldn't help but have some ripples in his heart.

Sure enough, he still likes to see her so vivid, instead of the delicate appearance of yesterday's drowsy and waking up.

Cui Husheng, as a fellow intellectual, naturally did not dare to leave easily before Xiao Qinglang spoke. Now if he wants to see the prince summoning him forward, even if he is unwilling in his heart, and he is afraid of those terrible bones, he has to step forward.

"Xiaguan has seen the prince." Most of the people around this area are guarded by people brought by King Jing'an, and even if there are some government soldiers, most of them are brave people. The group saw that Master Cui's face was pale, and even women like Xu Chu and the county lord couldn't bear to look at them directly.

In the early years, it was mentioned that local officials should have the same medical skills and the ability to perform autopsies. In order to prevent favoritism, officials need to personally inspect every serious homicide case to ensure that it is correct.

But with the change of dynasties and the alternation of imperial power, this decree became an ornament. Wenchen will avoid talking about it and turn a blind eye. Most of the generals are not proficient in the law, so naturally there is no way to mention it.

In this way, many officials disliked filth and evil spirits, and hastily sent an autopsy to conclude the case.

When Xiao Qinglang thought of this, he unconsciously glanced at Xu Chu again. It is not easy to break the old and create the new, but if there is no change in this, when will the matter of the world's injustices be over?

"Get up, you were a county official in Yunzhou more than 20 years ago, and now you are a state official. And I ask thee, when was this place deserted? ”

"Back to the prince, according to the county chronicles, this was a relatively wealthy village and town twenty years ago. Later, there were rumors that the place was haunted, and it gradually became abandoned, and the mass grave behind it became a place for the yamen to dispose of the corpses of nameless people and the corpses of some wandering beggars. ”

For this point, even though Cui Husheng did not work here back then, he has also heard of it. It's just that he doesn't know much about it, and he can only guess a thing or two based on the county records and rumors.

There are a lot of dead bodies here, naturally not only from Yunzhou City, there are even some refugees and fugitives, and some are handled by nearby places. Whether it is the death of the unknown, or the body of no one to collect, or even the body of some court prisoners after being beheaded, will be pulled here for burial.

said it was buried, but in fact, most of them were wrapped in broken mats and lost.

In the future, more and more places will follow suit, and the left and right will be nothing more than a deserted and haunted place, inaccessible to people, where it is better to dispose of corpses than to find a place to accumulate bones on your own turf.

Gradually, this place has become a real thing, not only famous for its hauntings, but also a place of resentment in the storyteller's mouth.

Xu Chu was not very familiar with this place, and he had heard a few words from the mouthman of the yamen morgue. At that time, she had also looked through the gazetteers, but she did not find any marks on the gazetteers, so she had only thought that this place was just a rumor.

When Xiao Qinglang was questioning, Xu Chu carefully examined the bones, but found that those white bones without any rags on their bodies, whether they could be spliced into human shapes or not, there were some strange traces on them.

As if it had been rubbed or cut by something, it was not cut apart. Only traces of the rowers remained......

Xu Chu repeatedly examined the pile of bones, his brows furrowed, and finally began to rummage through the white bones. According to the bone age and the degree of wear, put the similar ones together.

"Sister Xu, what are you doing here?" Xiao Mingzhu squatted down as if she didn't understand, wanting to take a hand but was a little scared.

"Skeletons." Xu Chu's words were concise, rummaging left and right, and the terrifying white bones were like ordinary things in her hands, "Normally, the bones of adults will have two hundred and six bones, which are divided into skull, torso and limb bones. Among them, there are twenty-nine skulls, fifty-one trunk bones, and one hundred and twenty-six limb bones......"