The morning light shines through the mist in the forest, giving people a fresh and lazy feeling. This small oasis located at the westernmost tip of the Gobi Desert, close to the border town of Mashha in the Broken Leaf Country, has always been a necessary place for caravans from the east to the west.

Li Jiangyao jumped off the horse, and immediately smelled a pungent smell of blood, and his whole nerves couldn't help but tense.

Du Jian, a scout veteran who walked in front of him, took out the long knife at his waist and ran out, and the seven scouts around him also showed their weapons, while protecting Li Jiangyao, they chased Du Jian forward and searched for it.

With little effort, the team bypassed a hulin and joined up with the men and horses who had arrived here earlier. A Wu Commander pointed not far away and said in a deep voice: "Li Tou'er, you're here, look over there!" ”

Li Jiangyao followed the direction of his finger and looked fixedly, almost screaming in shock. I saw that dozens of steps away, there were more than 20 corpses suspended in the air, and the scene was very strange and terrifying.

"What's going on?!" Du Jian snorted. Rao is a veteran like him who is accustomed to seeing the world, and he can't help but be a little surprised.

Wu Chang: "The first to report the news was the merchant group of Shule Kingdom. When they passed through here yesterday, they wanted to rest, but they didn't expect to encounter this scene, and several fainted on the spot. ”

Li Jiangyao struggled to control his emotions and asked, "Who did those Shule businessmen report the case to?" ”

"They couldn't find the official's house, so they went to Mashha nearby." Chief Wu replied: "The steward of the town came to take a look, and knew that this was a great disaster, so he didn't even go to the local government office in Shule, but directly lit a beacon fire and beckoned us to come over." ”

Li Jiangyao listened to the report of his subordinates and walked towards the hanging corpse. It wasn't until he got closer that he finally saw that the corpses were not suspended in thin air, but had been hung from a tree with a very thin rope.

Blood was splattered from the corpses and everywhere on the ground.

"Look at the costumes, it should be our Shengtang's caravan." Du Jian circled around the corpse twice, muttering to himself: "Grandma, do evil!" ”

In fact, there is no need for him to say, Li Jiangyao has already seen it at this moment, these twenty or so Saint Tang merchants were all cut throats, hung on a tree and slowly bled to death. If it hadn't been discovered in time, it might have turned into a dried corpse after many years.

He frowned, "How many cases are these?" ”

Du Jian inserted the waist knife back into the sheath and hummed, "The fifth is up!" However, this time he came up with a new trick and hung the corpses in the air! ”

Fifth! In less than a month's effort, five murders occurred in the western part of the Ghost Desert in a row in the attack on the Shengtang caravan, and counting this time, the number of victims increased to one hundred and seventy-seven.

Li Jiangyao's heart couldn't help but sink: such a cruel method was definitely not done by ordinary sand thieves and horse bandits.

The reason for this is very simple, anyone who eats the bowl of rice in business will understand a little bit of the truth of "killing chickens and taking eggs, and fishing with all their might". As long as they do not encounter fierce resistance, neither sand thieves nor horse bandits are willing to hurt people easily.

If no one dares to go out to do business if there is often a lot of trouble, then don't the bandits also have to starve to death?

Therefore, such a deliberate murder in front of you, and at the same time putting on a perverted scene, must not be for money.

One more point. The wounds on the corpse were obviously made by sharp weapons in a crisp and neat way, and most of those who had the ability to do this were veterans who were used to the battlefield.

Only veterans, who are not afraid of blood, but also skilled.

What's more, most of the traders who have the courage to take the trade route of Western Xinjiang have also practiced one and a half moves, and they are by no means powerless. And the dead in front of them, as well as the surrounding environment, did not show any traces of a fight.

This shows that as soon as the murderer came up, he easily restrained them, and could only obediently stretch his neck and wait for death.

A name gradually rose in Li Jiangyao's heart: Turkic.

Although there was no reliable evidence, his intuition told him that the five tragic cases that were specifically aimed at the merchants of Shengtang were most likely a conspiracy by the Turks.

Are they really coming?

"Li Tou'er, what should I do next?" Wu Chang asked.

Li Jiangyao looked around again: "Let's put down the corpses first, temporarily transport them to Mashha, and let the place be properly buried." Everything that can prove their identity is something, whatever it is, all of them are put together and sent to Anzai. Finding their families as soon as possible is probably the only thing that can be done for them right now. ”

Du Jian: "The murderer is not investigated?" ”

"Of course you have to check," Li Jiangyao looked at him: "But tell me first, how should I check?" ”

Du Jian was speechless for a while, blinking his eyes: "No, I don't have a clue." ”

Li Jiangyao smiled: "Of course I don't have a clue. You are a good hand at fighting, but you are an amateur in investigating and solving cases. Lord Duwei had already reported to Deputy Du Hu Zhang before, and asked him to coordinate Liangzhou to send the masters of the six doors to help. ”

Du Jian: "Oh, that's it. Six doors are responsible for arresting bandits, and they are naturally better at it than my old Du. With them, we don't have to worry about it anymore. ”

Li Jiangyao shook his head gently: "I'm not the same as you think. If you guess correctly, there are no problems with six doors in these five cases. ”

"Why is that?" Du Jian was a little puzzled.

"Let's not talk about it so much," Li Jiangyao waved his hand: "Let me ask you, the team traveling to and from the Western Xinjiang trade route is very large, is there a special office to manage them?" ”

Du Jian: "Yes, the Western Xinjiang Municipal Bureau." There are two imperial courts stationed in the Yamen in Western Xinjiang, one is the envoy group under the Ministry of Rites, and the other is the official city office under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Households. They were responsible for determining the trading prices of bulk commodities, investigating and prosecuting all kinds of criminals who deceived and dominated the market, and also issued customs clearance documents to and from the western Xinjiang to the caravans of the merchant groups in Shengtang. ”

Li Jiangyao's eyes lit up: "Where is the official city office located?" ”

"It's also in Anxi," Du Jian replied, "but I've heard that in some places where business is developed, there are also officials sent by the government and city bureaus. The closest thing here...... Oh yes, Kawada Castle! ”

Li Jiangyao secretly calculated in his heart that Hetian was only seventy miles away from Mashha, and it would take half a day to get there. So he hurriedly ordered Du Jian to leave three or four people here to guard the body, and the whole team set off with him and rushed to Hetian.

More than a dozen war horses galloped all the way on the Gobi Desert, and the sun was just turning west, and Li Jiangyao and others came to Hetian, an important commercial and trade town in the country of Broken Leaves. As soon as he entered the city, Du Jian knew the way and led everyone straight to the city guard mansion to inquire if the official city minister stationed here by Shengtang was not there.

In the blink of an eye, a young man wearing the official uniform of the Holy Tang Dynasty walked out of it, and intervened from afar: "Oh, I don't know that the Pegasus hero is coming, and the lower officials are not welcome, forgive the sins." Inside, please. ”

Li Jiangyao listened to his polite words that were nondescript, neither like an official nor like a businessman, and couldn't help but laugh: "How do you know that we are Pegasus scouts?" ”

"This is simple," the young man pointed to Du Jian's shoulder: "Nan Jinhua has always been the divine flower of Western Xinjiang, and in the entire Zhenjiang Metropolitan Protectorate, only the Pegasus Scout Battalion uses this as a mark, so the lower officials recognize it." ”

Li Jiangyao nodded: "I see...... Haven't asked yet? ”

The young man hurriedly said: "Oh, the next lawsuit Situ Wushou, was originally the foreman of the largest restaurant in Hetian City, 'Three Cups' Drunk', and last year, the chief Shi of the official and municipal bureau came to inspect, thinking that a member should be set up here to coordinate and supervise all the affairs of the business groups, so he drove the duck to the shelves and forced me to take this class." ”

Li Jiangyao sneered again when he heard this: "No wonder, no wonder, Master Situ is wearing a crown and belt in court clothes, but he has not changed his past demeanor, which is admirable." ”

Situ Wushou smiled bitterly: "Don't be sarcastic, sir." The work of this official city bureau is really not easy to do. Come on, come on, please, let's go into the house to drink tea and talk. ”

Li Jiangyao ordered his subordinates to stay where they were, and only took Du Jian to follow Situ Wushou into the city guard mansion. This was originally the official office of the Broken Leaf Country, and a small courtyard was specially set aside and lent to the Shengtang Official City Bureau.

The three of them came all the way to the room, Situ Wushou ordered the servant to serve tea, and then turned his head and asked, "The lower official has not yet asked for the honorific titles of the two adults." ”

Before Li Jiangyao could speak, Du Jian next to him hurriedly said loudly: "This is Li Jiangyao and Master Li, the junior colonel of the Pegasus Scout Battalion of the Jiangdu Protectorate of Shengtang Town!" Still not polite? ”

In fact, the position of this small school belongs to the same level as the Jiupin official of the official city bureau, but I don't know if Situ Wushou can't figure out the rank here at all, or Du Jian's big voice is really scary, as soon as his words fell, Situ Wushou stood up obediently and gave Li Jiangyao a big salute to see Shangguan.

Li Jiangyao was secretly amused, and he didn't deliberately correct him, but only waved his hand: "Don't see outside, sit down, I have something to ask you." ”

Situ Wushou only had half of his butt next to the chair, and said respectfully: "Master Li, if you have any advice, please give me instructions." ”

Li Jiangyao: "The caravans coming and going here, I mean the caravans of Shengtang, usually come to you to register?" ”

Situ Wushou was slightly stunned: "That's not necessary." As long as they get the customs clearance documents issued by the official city bureau in Anxi, they will be unimpeded in the entire ghost desert of western Xinjiang, and there is no need to come here to register. Unless...... Unless they encounter any difficulties, or lose their documents, they will go to the lower officials for help. ”

Li Jiangyao nodded silently, and then asked, "Which way the caravan usually goes, is it all planned before?" ”

Situ Wushou: "Generally speaking, there are two main roads in the territory of the Broken Leaf Country, both of which can cross the ghost desert and connect the east and west. However, for the sake of safety, the caravan's plan was often kept secret to prevent anyone from fornicating with horse bandits and robbing money halfway. A few years ago, the bandits were serious, and the merchants were miserable, and the country of Broken Leaves had specially mobilized troops and horses, and set up sentry posts on the two main roads, and since then I have rarely heard of the caravan being robbed. ”

"Is the oasis over there in the town of Mashha the main way you say?" Li Jiangyao suddenly asked.

Situ Wushou thought for a while: "Mashha...... Mashha ...... Oh, you're talking about there, that's the way of the Lord, of course! After walking more than ten miles to the west, you will be out of the ghost desert of Western Xinjiang. ”

After speaking, he hesitated for a moment and asked tentatively, "My lord, are you here for those four murders?" ”

Li Jiangyao nodded: "It's not four, but five." ”

"Something happened again?!" Situ Wushou closed his mouth in surprise: "!" Or is it our Saint Tang's caravan? ”

"You know something, tell me." Li Jiangyao said lightly.

Situ Wushou straightened up and lowered his voice: "My lord, there must be a ghost here!" And if you can't run, it's Manny Khan's ghost! ”

Li Jiangyao: "Mani Khan? Who is he? ”

Situ Wushou subconsciously looked around: "Mani Khan is one of the four major overseers of the Broken Leaf Kingdom, and Hetian is his fief. This guy has always hated our Shengtang, one thing on the surface, one thing behind the back, and a typical smile hides a knife. The most important thing is that Xia Guan accidentally discovered that Mani Khan actually had Turkic blood! ”

As soon as he heard the word "Turkic", Li Jiangyao couldn't help but feel a move in his heart: "Since Mani Khan is the overseer of the Broken Leaf Country, it is equivalent to the royal family of our Shengtang, if he really has Turkic blood, he will definitely try his best to hide it, how do you know?" ”

"I heard from Tillian." Situ Wushou: "Tilian is a dancer from Qiuzi, the top brand of the drunken restaurant with three cups, I used to take care of her very much, and the two are like brothers and sisters." Once, Tillian was recruited by Mani Khan to sleep in the palace, and when she was drunk, Mani Khan himself told her that she was half Turkic. Moreover, he also accidentally told a big conspiracy! ”