After Niu Decao was taken away, the officials all looked at Wang Xingben with strange eyes. However, Wang Xingben was unwilling to admit defeat, and shouted: "I admit that I gave Niu Decao money, but as he said, I did this because I was afraid that my boss would investigate my poor handling of the case, which is at most a crime of dereliction of duty." As for the falsification of the scene, the testimony of buying Niu Da and the killing of Niu Da, it is all nonsense! ”

Li Zhiyun sneered and said, "You really don't cry when you don't see the coffin, and after a while, this king will make you completely confess." ”

Li Zhiyun turned to face the officials and continued: "When I checked the file of the disappearance of the scholar's wife, I found that the case file was extremely simple, with only one page on it, on which were written the eyewitness testimony of Niu Da and the words 'looking for Wusan'. At that time, I thought that every case involving human life should not be closed so sloppily and rashly, and even if it is a lie, the file should be made solid. He is so sloppy and sloppy, isn't he afraid that when his boss reviews it in the future, he will see through it at a glance? There is only one possibility, and that is that this person is waiting for something, and after this happens, no one will pursue the case anymore. So, what is it exactly? I remembered the poem left by Zhou Shen again. I've always had a gut feeling that there must be some kind of clue hidden in that poem, but I haven't found the key to cracking it yet. ”

"In order to find out the truth about Zhou Shen's murder, I asked all the officials in the county government who were close to Zhou Shen to talk. In a conversation with Master Hong, he inadvertently said that he borrowed a copy of Zhou Shen's "Zhou Yi Yishu". I thought at the time, Zhou Shen likes to study the Book of Changes, could the key to that poem be hidden in the Book of Changes? So, I asked Master Hong to bring the book. Zhou Shen disappeared on the night of the fourth day of the first lunar month, I found the fourth hexagram of the Book of Changes, the words of the four hexagrams are Yang Yao Yin Yang Yang Yin Yao, if the Yang Yao is 1, the Yin Yao is 2, you will get a set of numbers: 122212. Then take out the first word of the first sentence of the poem, take out the second word of the second sentence, and so on, and get a sentence: There is a mystery in the back mountain. Obviously, this is the clue that Zhou Shen hides in the poem. ”

"So, I sent Sima Zhang Zheng to the back mountain of Yinhua Mountain. Zhang Zheng was in the backyard of Puning Zen Temple and found a treasury with weapons and flags. Li Zhiyun said that, and gestured to a few soldiers next to him, and those soldiers displayed flags with "Mahayana Buddha Kingdom", "Mahayana Emperor" and "Dharma Propagation". When the officials saw it, they immediately talked about it.

Li Zhiyun continued: "Later, I heard that Xu County was going to hold a fasting party, and I sent Zhang Zheng to disguise himself as a wandering monk and enter a monastery in Yinhua Mountain. Zhang Zheng learned from the mouth of a drunken monk that Gao Tansheng planned to take advantage of the fasting meeting to lead 5,000 monks to coerce the believers to launch a rebellion, kill the county commander and all officials, and then attack the barracks, and then occupy the county seat of Xia County, establish the Mahayana Buddhist state, proclaim himself the Mahayana emperor, set up the nun Jingyi as the evil queen, and changed the era name to "Hongfa". After learning of Gao Tansheng's conspiracy, the king sent General Yuwen overnight to transfer 10,000 soldiers to neighboring prefectures and counties with the token of the governor's mansion. Everyone saw what happened with their own eyes. ”

When Li Zhiyun said this, the officials whispered. Xu Tiecheng knelt down and saluted: "Thanks to the wisdom of King Chu, he dealt with it properly. Otherwise, we and other Xia County officials will all die in the hands of these bald donkeys! When all the officials heard this, they all knelt down and thanked them.

Li Zhiyun hurriedly asked everyone to get up, and then said, "Let's talk about Zhou Shen's murder." The matter is already very clear, Zhou Shen inadvertently discovered Gao Tansheng's plot and wanted to go to the county government to report to his boss. However, he didn't know if there was an accomplice of Gao Tansheng in the county office, so as a precaution, he wrote that poem and left home to go to the county office. I checked the value record of that night, and it was Wang Xingben who was on duty that night. ”

"Nonsense, Zhou Shen never went to the county office that night." Wang Xingben also wanted to deny it.

Li Zhiyun looked at him and said, "However, a nearby resident saw him enter the county office. County Lieutenant Wang, do you want to check his testimony? When Wang Xingben heard this, he stopped squeaking.

After Zhou Shen entered the county office, he reported the situation to Wang Xingben. In order to stabilize Zhou Shen, Wang Xingben asked him to go home and wait for news. After Zhou Shen left, Wang Xingben went to the county government's firewood room and took an axe, followed Zhou Shen, and killed him in Seven Feet Alley. At that time, due to his hurry, Wang Xingben only cleaned up the blood stains on the ground, and forgot to remove the blood stains splashed on the wall. ”

In order to deal with Zhou Shen's corpse, Wang Xingben set up a donkey cart, put the corpse on it, covered it with firewood, and then drove the donkey cart out of the east gate. This was witnessed by the guards at the East Gate. ”

So, a soldier was called in. After giving a salute, he said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the villain is the guard of the East Gate, and he is on duty at the East Gate on the night of the fourth day of the first month of this month. At the third watch that night, the villain saw County Lieutenant Wang driving a car out of the city gate, saying that he was going to send firewood to his uncle's house. Because it was an acquaintance, the villain did not check. ”

After the guards testified and went out, Li Zhiyun continued: "After Wang Xingben transported Zhou Shen's body out of the city, he buried it on a hill next to the official road, and the axe used in the murder was discarded by him in a nearby mountain stream. He said as he picked up an axe from the desk, "This is the one that General Wang led his soldiers to find, and after being identified by Master Hong, it is the one that was lost in the firewood room of the county government." ”

When Li Zhiyun said this, Xu Tiecheng arched his hand and said: "King Chu, you said that Wang Xingben and Gao Tansheng colluded to rebel, is there any evidence?" Li Zhiyun looked at Wang Xingben and said, "There is a secret room in Wang County's house, which is arranged into a Buddhist hall, and there are some things hidden in it, and Wang Countywei himself knows best. When Wang Xingben heard this, he had to lower his head.

At this time, Yu Wenxin walked in from outside the lobby, came to Li Zhiyun, and arched his hand: "King Qichu, the monks' rebellion has been quelled, and Gao Tansheng and his dead friends have all been captured!" ”

"Okay, put them in prison immediately and keep them under strict guard!"

After Yu Wenxin left, Zhang Zheng came over again and whispered a few words in his ear. Li Zhiyun nodded, and said to Xu Tiecheng: "Xu County Order, my lords, please move outside the hall with this king." ”

The officials followed Li Zhiyun out of the herald hall, only to see three women coming in the direction of the barracks gate, led by several sergeants. Li Zhiyun said loudly: "Ladies and gentlemen, these three women were rescued from the temple on the mountain by Zhang Zheng!" ”

Xu Tiecheng took a closer look, wasn't one of them the Yahuan Xiaoxiang who accompanied his wife to the mountain to enter the incense? He hurriedly took a few steps and greeted him. When Xiaoxiang saw him, she hurriedly ran over and knelt in front of him, crying and shouting master. Xu Tiecheng helped her up and said anxiously: "Tell me quickly, what happened?" Xiaoxiang wiped away the tears on her face: "Master, that day I accompanied my wife to Longxing Temple to burn incense." After we burned the incense, we were about to go down the mountain, when a monk came up to my wife and said that my wife's devotion had touched the Buddha, and the Buddha had made a decree and asked her to go to the apse to receive the decree. The lady believed it and went with him. When we came to the apse, suddenly a couple of monks rushed up and arrested us and put us in a dark room......"

"And then?"

"Later... Later, every night, a monk with a round head and a big face came... Come and insult Madame......"

Xu Tiecheng's eyes widened and he roared, "What about Madame? Xiaocui cried: "Madame doesn't want to live with dirt, and she died without food a few months ago......"

Although he had a hunch, Xu Tiecheng still shouted as if he had been struck by lightning: "Madam——! Then he fainted, and the whole person collapsed to the ground. When Li Zhiyun saw it, he hurriedly ordered someone to carry him into the lobby for treatment.

Of the three women who were rescued, the other two were the scholar's lady and her maid. Someone had already told the scholar, and the scholar hurriedly ran over, and when he saw the lady, he hurriedly ran forward. The husband and wife hugged their heads and cried, and the people around them were all sighing......

After quelling Gao Tansheng's rebellion, Li Zhiyun and Yu Wenxin were about to leave Xia County and go to the next state and county to inspect. The next morning, when they walked out of the city gate, they saw Ding Guoyi, Hong Zhushu and several other county officials waiting by the official road. Ding Guoyi took the lead and walked over and said, "His Royal Highness the King of Chu, Xu Xianling has already inquired about his wife's burial place, and he went to pay his respects early in the morning." He entrusted his subordinates to see off the king of Chu and the generals on his behalf. ”

Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "How is Wang Xingben?" Did he plead guilty? ”

"Not yet. Sooner or later, though, he would confess his guilt. Ding Guoyi paused for a moment and said, "I knew that he was very obsessed with the teachings of Buddhism, but I never expected that he would be bewitched by Gao Tansheng and fall into such a deep trap, what a pity!" ”

Li Zhiyun also sighed and said, "This is also his own fault...... Well, let's leave it at that. As he spoke, he was about to mount his horse, when he saw a fast horse running from inside the city gate, and a puff of smoke and dust rolled up. Hurry up to the horse, the herald dismounts and kneels and bows: "Inform the king of Chu, Jinyang sent a messenger, saying that Liu Wuzhou's army has gone south to attack and annex the state, and the king of Qi asks the king of Chu to return to Jinyang quickly." ”

When Li Zhiyun heard this, his face became solemn, and he said loudly: "Okay, let's go back to Jinyang quickly!" He arched his hand with Ding Guoyi, Hong Zhubo and others, turned around and stepped on the horse, and led a group of people and horses to leave in a hurry......