Xihua 9 years, spring.

The forces of all sides recuperated for about a year, and there was no incident.

Everyone is focused on domestic affairs, trying to make up for the difficulties caused by the war over the years.

At this moment, something big happened in Huaguo.

On this day, the court was discussing domestic affairs, and suddenly someone hurriedly came: "Report ——!! Xizhou emergency call!"

The discussion in the court stopped abruptly, and all eyes turned to the telegraph operator.

"Read!" Liu Yuanxiang looked at the telegraph operator and said loudly.

"Yes!" the telegraph operator was sweating profusely, wheezing constantly, apparently in a hurry. Trying to buffer it, he hurriedly read, "Xizhou assassin Shi Geng Zhi died violently, suspected of assassination! Local officials in Xizhou are investigating, and there is no conclusion at present!"

"What?!" Hearing this, including Ning Ze, the faces of the whole court changed.

Geng Zhi is a thorn in Xizhou, and he has always done a good job, and local affairs have been handled in an orderly manner. In Huaguo, where there is a shortage of talents, he can be regarded as a capable minister.

Originally, Ning Ze also planned to let him train for a year or two more, and transfer him to the Imperial City to take on more important positions.

Who would have thought that Geng Zhi would suddenly die violently?

"Are you sure you were assassinated?" asked Liu Yuanxiang hurriedly.

"That's what Xizhou said. The telegraph operator handed over the deciphered message.

The telegram arrived in Liu Yuanxiang's hand, and after taking a closer look, he couldn't help but sigh: "Geng Zhi is a capable minister, it's a pity!"

After that, the telegram was delivered to Ning Ze.

After Ning Ze saw it, he transferred it to Prime Minister Chu Xun.

"The minister heard that Geng Zhi was fair and honest, and had no enemies. Chu Xun touched his beard and said seriously, "Suddenly killed, and assassinated, it must have been done by the enemy party!"

"But Tang Niu, Lu Cong, and Ma Jian are all busy with internal affairs and have no time to take care of anything else, who will take the initiative to provoke us at such a time?" Liang Teng was puzzled.

Ning Ze closed his eyes and pondered, and then spoke: "No matter who it is, if you dare to assassinate our important ministers, you must pay the price! Just as the lonely musket army has formed, please allow Your Majesty to send troops to Xizhou to investigate the real culprit of the assassination of Geng Zhi, and take revenge!"

"That's right!" Liu Yuanxiang nodded, "This matter is related to the face of Huaguo, and the King of Danyang can mobilize domestic soldiers at will." ”

The latter sentence is actually the same whether to say it or not, Ning Ze has always been able to transfer any official and general at will, but on the surface, he needs Liu Yuanxiang's consent.

The assassination of the dignified assassin is not a trivial matter. This is a high-ranking figure, and even far more powerful than a high-ranking official.

Geng Zhi was killed, and the history of the Xizhou assassination must be made up, otherwise there will be problems in the management of a state.

Ning Ze proposed to let Zhang Yang make up for it, and no one objected to the Chinese martial arts.

Zhang Yang was originally an official of Qingshan County, but because of his meritorious service to Huaguo, he was promoted to Taishou. Later, he was transferred to Huajun as an official, and Hu Hua was demoted to replace the position of Taishou.

He is relatively familiar with Xizhou, and his ability is similar to Geng Zhi's, so he is still more suitable.

So Ning Ze led his troops to set off, taking the ghost-faced general Wang Wei, who had recovered his health, his righteous brother Du Wei, Ding Mu, his henchman Song Gao, and the new Xizhou assassin Zhang Yang, and marched towards Xizhou.

With the method of war, the first emperor accelerated, and the whole team rushed thousands of miles away as quickly as possible and came to the land of Xizhou.

As soon as he arrived in Qingshan County, Xizhou, Ning Ze asked the local officials to submit the autopsy report and all the investigation clues during this period and personally interrogate them.

After Geng Zhi's death, local officials had launched a detailed investigation, but they had collected a little information, but they could not find out the real culprit.

After Ning Ze got the information, he immediately checked it and personally went to the scene of the crime to investigate again.

Before leaving, he had already reminded local officials by telegram to protect the scene, to keep it under strict guard, and that no one should destroy the scene.

Zhang Yang arrived in Qingshan County and immediately started his work and handed over the Xizhou government affairs with local officials.

Wang Wei, Du Wei, Ding Mu, and Song Gao followed Ning Ze to investigate the murder of Geng Zhi.

When he arrived at the scene of the crime, in addition to the clues recorded by local officials during the investigation, Ning Ze also searched all the surrounding areas where no problems were found.

According to intelligence, the only thing at the scene of the crime that is conducive to finding the real culprit is a series of footprints. But the footprints disappeared when they reached the nearby river, and local officials traced them for a long time without finding anything. But they were sure that the footprints were left by the killers.

After Ning Ze's investigation, he came to a different conclusion.

Because it was mentioned in the investigation that Geng Zhi died of severe poison without any external injuries, he was poisoned and died.

Local officials thought that the murderer was ambushed nearby, so they suddenly appeared and poisoned Geng Zhi to death, then fled and jumped into the water to swim by the river.

Ning Ze felt that something was wrong, there were no traces of a fight at the scene, Geng Zhi's entourage also died of severe poison, it stands to reason that there was really an assassin ambush, it was impossible for Geng Zhi and his men not to resist, and it was impossible not to leave any traces of battle.

Moreover, the anti-espionage work in various states and counties in China is quite strict, and it is impossible for so many people to sneak into Xizhou at this moment to kill Geng Zhi and his men, but no one will find a trace.

It seems that the truth is different from the investigation results of local officials, and there is a problem with the direction of the investigation, so naturally the real culprit cannot be found!

Ning Ze summoned the local officials involved in the investigation and asked them to assist in restarting the investigation, asking them to find out if there were possible people around the day of the incident, or houses not far from the vicinity, and any local residents who were suspected of committing a crime or who might be witnesses should be carefully interrogated.

The local officials did not think about it in this regard, and had been focusing on the investigation of the footprints, and immediately took action after receiving Ning Ze's order.

The hard work paid off, and in a private house about three kilometers away from the scene of the crime, an old farmer who lived alone here provided very important information.

On that day, he was chopping wood in the mountains, and it seemed that he saw someone riding a horse coming from the west, and the direction he was walking was the area where Geng Zhi was killed. Look at the man's dress, like a messenger.

The so-called messenger is dedicated to delivering letters to people, and most of the time is for private services, sending letters or parcels to relatives and friends, and of course, there are also public services.

Ning Ze asked for the approximate time when the messenger appeared, and asked local officials to go to a nearby checkpoint to investigate.

China has implemented an ID card system, and remote prefectures and counties have also begun to implement it, but all entry and exit customs require ID cards or other temporary documents that can prove identity. The route that the messenger passed, there must have been a record. Just know who he is and where he's going, and you'll be able to find him.

If the messenger is a witness, or even a suspect, the case has made a huge progress.

After investigation, the final destination of this messenger was Ning'an County, Liangzhou, and he would deliver letters and packages in many counties and counties in Xizhou on the way, one of which was specially sent to Gengzhi, the assassin of Xizhou.

Upon learning of this, Ning Ze determined that the messenger had nothing to do with Geng Zhi's assassination, and immediately sent someone to inform Liangzhou by telegram, informing him of the messenger's name and characteristics, and searching for this person throughout the territory.

I thought it would take a lot of effort, but I didn't expect to receive a call back from Ning'an County that day, and the messenger had been found, and someone was sent to escort him to Qingshan County immediately.

When the messenger arrived in Ning'an County, and after sending away all the letters and parcels, he stayed at a small local inn, and the government found him at the first time, and he set off for Xizhou very cooperatively.

In this way, the messenger could not be the murderer, and from the call information of the officials of Ning'an County, it can be judged that he did not know about the death of the Xizhou assassin Shi Gengzhi and his men.

The messenger was sent to Qingshan County, where Ning Ze met him face to face and found that this person was not a foreign power, but a Chinese citizen, with a loyalty of 70 points.

Just by looking at the attributes, he knew that it was impossible for him to be bought by the enemy country, let alone assassinate Geng Zhi for the enemy country.

Ning Ze noticed an important point - when the messenger was asked, he replied that there happened to be a letter for Geng Zhi that day, which was exactly the same as the previous level record. However, there is no record of the letter from local officials investigating clues or the scene of the crime. No one mentions the letter, nor any envelopes nor letters in the trail of evidence.

According to the messenger, the letter was tightly wrapped and seemed to be thick, heavier than a normal letter. He thought there was at least one paper book inside. Or a lot of stationery.

Because it was given to Geng Zhi, the assassin of Xizhou, it was speculated at the time that it might be a local love letter, or something like an official document.

Where the letter went, the contents of the envelope and the letter were extremely important.

Ning Ze thought of this for the first time, even if he had a system, it was impossible for him to see the information of all officials in all states and counties across the country, especially local officials, unless they appeared near him, they would not know.

It's just that once you know that there is an inner ghost, no one can escape your eyes.

But there was another important matter, Ning Ze asked the messenger who was sending the letter.

The messenger replied, "The person who sent the letter is Mr. Cao Ping, a Hakka private school in Eagle Peak County." ”

Ning Ze immediately ordered and telegraphed to contact the Taishou of Eagle Peak County, and immediately controlled Cao Ping in the Hakka private school.

Soon got a call back from Eagle Peak County, Cao Ping of the Hakka private school went out to visit relatives some time ago, and his whereabouts are unknown. The government has sent troops to search everywhere.

In this way, there is indeed a problem with the sender.

What we have to do now is to catch this messenger Cao Ping, and find out the inner ghost on the side of Qingshan County.

It must have been the inner ghost who secretly destroyed the evidence, so that local officials could not find the envelopes and letters. And this envelope and letter are definitely related to the violent death of Geng Zhi, the assassin of Xizhou!

After receiving the order, Qingshan Taishou Hu Hua immediately summoned all the officials to gather at the Taishou Mansion, and went up to the county commander, the governor, and down to the sesame petty official, all of whom were notified.

As a result, on the same day, the thief Cao Pengshi asked for sick leave, saying that he was unwell and wanted to visit a local famous doctor.

Ning Ze immediately ordered someone to arrest the thief Cao, who would dare to disobey the order of the King of Danyang, knowing that it was my order, and still dare to ask for sick leave?

The thief Cao was quickly caught, and the man arrived at the East City Gate with his baggage, but was blocked.

Who goes to the doctor with a large bag and a small bag, there is obviously a problem!

Besides, the person was brought to Ning Ze, and Ning Ze could clearly see that he was in good health and did not have any pain through the function of the system.

Moreover, the force to which this guy belongs is not Huaguo, but Nancheng.

"Ma Jian!" Ning Ze narrowed his eyes.