After Li Zhiyun put away the letter, he stood up and followed Liu Yinglian out of the guest room. The two came to the courtyard, but saw that the bright moon was in the sky, and the silver light was sprinkled all over the courtyard. There was a pavilion in the southeast corner of the courtyard, and Li Zhiyun pointed with his hand: "Let's go and sit in the pavilion." ”

The two came to the pavilion and sat down next to each other. Li Zhiyun smelled the faint fragrance emanating from Liu Yinglian's body, so he sniffled and said, "What perfume did you wear?" Liu Yinglian was puzzled: "What is perfume?" ”

"It's water mixed with spices."

"That's what you're talking about, right?" Liu Yinglian said, took off a sachet from her body and handed it to him.

Li Zhiyun took it, put it under his nose and smelled it, and sure enough, it smelled strange. He took the sachet in his hand and said, "What's in here?" ”

"There are sandalwood, cloves, and herbs," Liu Yinglian said, "and borneol, mint, snow lotus, and pearl powder." ”

"There are so many good things, no wonder they smell so good."

While the two were talking, Li Zhiyun suddenly saw Zhang Zheng walking into the courtyard. Zhang Zheng walked to the middle of the courtyard and stood there looking around, as if looking for something. Li Zhiyun and Liu Yinglian were sitting in the shadow of the pavilion, so he didn't see them.

Li Zhiyun handed the sachet back to Liu Yinglian, stood up and walked out of the pavilion, and said, "Zhang Zheng, what are you looking for?" Zhang Zheng saw him and hurriedly said, "Lord Wang, I'm looking for you." Huang Changshi came and said he wanted to see you. ”

"Oh, what's the matter with him?"

"He didn't say it."

When Li Zhiyun saw Liu Yinglian coming out of the pavilion, he said that he had something to do, and asked her to go back to her room first, and then returned to the guest room with Zhang Zheng. His room is an ensuite, with the outside being the living room and the inside being the bedroom. Huang Renjie was standing in the living room waiting anxiously, and as soon as he saw Li Zhiyun, he hurriedly said: "Lord Wang, it's not good, something happened, there was a homicide in Changda's mansion." ”

"What?" When Li Zhiyun heard this, he was taken aback, "What the hell is going on?" ”

"The lower officials don't know." Huang Renjie said, "The lower official got the report and felt that this matter was very important, so he came to the prince and asked the prince to go to the scene to inspect it together." ”

Li Zhiyun listened, thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay, let's go over." ”

Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng, Cai Hu and more than a dozen guards and left the post station with Huang Renjie. They made their way through the streets in the darkness to the door of a mansion. There are several lanterns hanging on the gatehouse, and in front of the door are full of guards with swords and swords, and the black armor on their bodies reflects the red light of the lanterns, giving people a very oppressive feeling.

Huang Renjie stepped forward to explain his intentions, and after a doorman went in to report, after a while, Chang Da came out, hugged his fists and said: "Lord Wang, Huang Changshi, are you here?" After Li Zhiyun returned the salute, he said: "General Chang, I heard that there was a murder in your house, what happened?" ”

"Lord Wang, you come with me." Chang Da said this and led everyone into the mansion.

Li Zhiyun asked the guards to stay in the front yard, and only took Zhang Zheng, Cai Hu and Huang Renjie together, and followed Chang Da to the back house. Changfu is a three-courtyard house, the front row is the hall and the side hall, through the middle courtyard, is the back house, and the back is the garden.

Chang Da led the group into a room, pointed to the ground with his hand, and said, "Look." Li Zhiyun looked down and saw a corpse lying sideways on the ground, judging from the clothes, it should be a maid. She had apparently been stabbed to death by a sharp object such as a sword, and was curled up there, with a large pool of blood running from the ground next to her.

Li Zhiyun squatted next to the corpse, inspected the wound on his chest, then stood up and asked, "Is it still someone else injured?" Chang Da said: "No." Don't hide it from the prince, the family of the last general is not here, they are all in their hometown. ”

Li Zhiyun listened and said, "When did this happen?" Chang Da shook his head and said, "The last general doesn't know, the last general usually goes home during the unitary time, but he came back late today." After the last general came out of the barracks, he met an old acquaintance on the street who he hadn't seen for many years, and he had a few drinks with him in the restaurant, and when he returned home, it was almost the second watch. The last general was about to go back to the house to rest, but when he opened the door, he found the corpse, and hurriedly asked people to notify Huang Changshi. ”

Li Zhiyun looked around, this room was quite spacious, and the furnishings inside were also luxurious, with a large yellow wood carved bed against the wall, and the bed was covered with a pink gauze tent. Obviously, this is Changda's bedroom.

Li Zhiyun searched around, but did not find any useful physical evidence. He turned around, looked at Chang Dadao, and said, "General Chang, the murderer should have come in from outside." But how did he sneak into your house? Did you come in over the wall? Chang Da hurriedly said: "The general will not be able to understand this matter. I'm not afraid of the prince's jokes, the last general was assassinated a few years ago, so he attaches great importance to his own defense. The mansion of the last general can be described as heavily guarded. Lord, please come with me. ”

Chang Da took Li Zhiyun and others out for a spin. Li Zhiyun found that the entire mansion was surrounded by a wall more than a foot high. On the inside of the wall, at intervals not too long, a guard walked back and forth and patrolled. So, if an outsider wants to climb over the fence without being detected, it is almost impossible.

When Li Zhiyun came just now, he found that there were more than a dozen guards at the gate alone, and such a tight defense could be described as solid. Since the murderer didn't come in from the outside, could it be done by someone inside? However, he inquired with Changda, and although the mansion was large, he was the only one who lived in it, except for the butler and a few servants, the others were the guards. Therefore, the possibility of an insider committing a murder is also very small.

When they passed by the back garden, Li Zhiyun found a row of houses near the wall, so he pointed with his hand and said, "General Chang, what are those houses for?" ”

"Oh, that's the stables and hay sheds."

Li Zhiyun led the way. Everyone went into the stable and saw that there were several horses tied to it, munching quietly on the side of the trough. Li Zhiyun took everyone around the stable, but didn't find anything, so he walked out and came to the hay shed next to him.

The hay shed was large, with a pile of hay in the left corner and a lot of wheat straw scattered on the ground, probably from someone holding it. In the corner on the right side of the wall is a large pile of sacks, presumably containing bran and soybean meal for the horses.

Li Zhiyun walked up to the hay pile and asked Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu to remove the wheat straw. The two of them said "obey", bent down and began to get busy, Chang Da and Huang Renjie also rolled up their sleeves to help.

Li Zhiyun stood by and watched, and after everyone removed the forage, they didn't find anything. Then, he asked everyone to remove the sacks, which was really not too troublesome, and Fan Zheng didn't need him to work. Although everyone didn't know what he was going to do, they all obeyed the order without saying a word.

When all the sacks had been removed, a plank of wood appeared on the ground, three feet long and three feet wide. After Zhang Zheng lifted the plank, he found a hole. When everyone saw it, they were all amazed. The entrance to the cave was deep, and it was black, as if it were a tunnel. Li Zhiyun frowned, turned his head and said, "General Chang, do you know this tunnel?" Chang Da shook his head blankly and said, "I don't know." ”

Li Zhiyun decided to go down and find out, and asked Chang Da to find two lanterns. Changda called the butler and told him to go and get the lantern. It didn't take much effort, but the lantern was brought, and everyone followed one by one down the tunnel.

Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu carried lanterns to explore the way in front, and Li Duyun, Chang Da and Huang Renjie followed behind. Although the tunnel is narrow, it can be passed by bending down. The tunnel is more than a foot underground, first a downhill and then a flat road.

Everyone walked about ten zhang away and came to the exit of the tunnel. Li Zhiyun climbed out and looked around, there were several houses standing in the dark, and from the shape of the houses, they looked like temples. In the moonlight, the houses look dilapidated. It seems that this is an abandoned ruined temple, and the exit to the tunnel is in the courtyard of this ruined temple. He had to admire the people who dug tunnels and found a good place. The area around the Tsuneda Mansion is densely populated with houses, and no matter where you dig a tunnel, it is almost impossible not to be discovered. Only this broken temple is the most secret, once the temple door is closed, no matter what you do inside, you can do it without anyone knowing, and the ghost is not aware of it.

Li Zhiyun walked around the temple and found that the main hall and the side hall were full of sacks. He ordered Zhang Zheng to cut open a sack with his sword, and found that it was full of sand. Obviously, the people who dug the tunnels were afraid that they would be found by carrying the sand away, so they packed it in sacks and piled it up in the temple.

Li Zhiyun turned around and found Chang Da standing next to the tunnel, staring at the entrance of the cave in a daze. He walked over and stood beside Chang Da and said, "Now it's clear that the murderer sneaked into your mansion through this tunnel, and besides, the target of his assassination is likely to be you." ”

Chang Da, of course, knows that he is not a fool. The murderer dug a tunnel with so much effort, it could not be for a maid. The hay shed was only a dozen steps away from his bedroom, and the killer broke into his bedroom tonight to try to assassinate him, only to find him away. As it happened, the maid came in at this time, and the murderer, in order to prevent her from alarming others by screaming, stepped forward and stabbed her to death with a sword, and then fled through the tunnel. Thinking of this, Chang Da gritted his teeth: "Which bastard did this?" If you are caught by Lao Tzu, you have to peel his skin! ”