Early the next morning, Xu Zhen came to the county office early.

Unexpectedly, he didn't see the county magistrate Song Zhili and the head catcher Cheng Xiao and others, but he saw the old county Cheng Chen Houlu, who he hadn't seen for a long time.

The county is equivalent to the deputy county magistrate and is the second-in-command of the yamen.

It's just that this Chen Xiancheng is old and sick, and he hasn't been to the county government for a long time.

In fact, Chen Houlu is only fifty-eight years old, but because he married too many concubines and overworked, this led to old age and frailty.

Now, Song Zhili invited him here, obviously to let him deal with the villagers' complaints, because Chen Xiancheng's biggest advantage is that he is good at making mud.

However, to Xu's surprise, the outside of the yamen was clean as usual, and there were no villagers who complained. As a result, Lao Xiancheng had nothing to do, and was strolling around the inner hall with a cup of tonic tea.

However, the more this is the case, the more Xu Zhen feels bad.

When things go wrong, there must be demons.

As expected, it didn't take long for two catchers to come back in a hurry.

Due to the absence of Song Zhili, the county commander, they reported the situation to Chen Houlu, the old county magistrate.

"It's bad, my lord," said one of the arresters, "the news that Li Laohan died in the Yamen prison is still spreading!" ”

Oh?

Xu Zhen and Chen Xiancheng expressed surprise at the same time, but Xu Zhen pretended to be because he knew that this was one of the murderer's plans.

"We went to Li Laohan's house today to investigate," added another catcher, "and found that many neighbors near Li Laohan's house had gone far away!"

Later, after side investigation, they found out that they already knew the news that Li Laohan died in the county jail. They knew that they couldn't come to our county government to file a complaint, so they ...... So ......"

"So what?" Chen Xiancheng was so anxious that he urged, "Say it quickly!" ”

"They'......," the arrester reported, "they should have gone to the county office to file a complaint!" ”

"Huh!? It's broken, it's broken......" Chen Xiancheng shook his hands like Parkinson, splashing a lot of tea leaves, and he said worriedly, "If we alarm the county government, we will all be implicated!"

"Oh," he asked anxiously at the officials, "what about the Song County Order?" Why haven't you come back yet? ”

"My lord," someone replied, "Song Xian Ling went out early in the morning, and we don't know when he will return." ”

Xu Zhen understood that Song Zhili must have gone to Qiu Batian for questioning.

"That'...... What about Cheng Catcher? Chen Xiancheng clapped his hands and said, "We have to quickly think of a way to see if we can stop people!" ”

"Your Excellency...... I'm afraid I can't stop it," said Kuai, "I heard that the news spread last night, and those people left overnight!" ”2

"Huh? Alas......" Chen Xiancheng sighed, and reluctantly put down the big tonic tea, "It's over, it's over, this time...... It's going to be a big fuss......"

Xu Zhen sighed no longer regardless of how the county man here, quietly turned around and left the inner hall and went to the southern prison of the county government.

In order to block the news, Li Laohan's body is still parked here, and Xu Zhen wants to check it himself to see if there are still clues on the corpse?

However, what he didn't expect was that Cheng Xiao, the head catcher, was also here, and was examining the body with him.

"Yes, it takes several hours after a person dies for these marks to appear," pretending to be a hunchbacked old man, who was pressing the corpse, signaling something to Cheng Xiao, "Look, there are obvious pinching marks here!" ”

Cheng Xiao approached the corpse's face, and sure enough, he saw that there were dark red pinch marks on the old man's cheeks.

Seeing these pinchmarks, Cheng Xiao's already frowning brows tightened even more.

It is obvious that the old man was forced to take poison, and someone pinched his mouth and forcibly made him swallow the poison!

In other words, his previous guess was correct, there must be ghosts in this southern prison!

In the Daxuan Dynasty, the Nanjian Prison in Yamen was similar to a detention center, where criminals awaiting trial were held, as well as plaintiffs and defendants in lawsuits.

Once convicted, the prisoners were transferred to the county government prison in Daguan City to serve their sentences.

As the so-called officials peel off the skin, the common people dare not easily go to the yamen to complain, so there are not many prisoners in this southern prison.

What's even more coincidental is that there was not a single prisoner yesterday, and there was only one Li Laohan in the huge South Prison Prison.

As a result, the suspect also became quite clear......

"Someone," Cheng Xiao shouted at his subordinates, "Take down the two jailers who were on duty last night, and serve the punishment!" ”

"Don't, Cheng Zhutou, Cheng Zhutou......" The two jailers were next to them, and when they heard this, they hurriedly gave Cheng Xiao, and one of them defended, "Really, really don't care about our business, we ...... We really didn't touch that old man! ”

"Yes," said the other, "there was only the old man in prison last night, and if we hadn't been mad, how would we have dared to kill him in prison?" ”

"Hmph, you said it lightly," Cheng Xiao stood up and said to the two jailers, "This person was obviously forced to take poison, if it weren't for you, wouldn't this Nanjian prison be a hell of a god?" ”

As he spoke, Cheng Xiao had already seen Xu Zhen, and immediately glanced at Xu Zhen angrily.

"Cheng Zhutou, listen to me," a jailer swallowed and said, "This old man is only a plaintiff and not a prisoner, so ...... Yesterday we didn't care about the two of us, eating or something, we were all in the hall outside, if someone went in, maybe ...... Maybe you haven't seen it yet......"

"Yes, yes," the other quickly chimed in, "I went to the latrine once, and the door was open, so ...... It should be that someone went in and killed someone while we weren't paying attention, Cheng Zhutou, you must be aware of it......"

"Alas," Cheng Xiao sighed and said, "They are all colleagues, I didn't intend to embarrass you, but can you be convincing when you say this?" The old man was locked in a cell, and if he didn't have the key, who could force him to take poison? ”

"This ......" The two of them were dumbfounded, not knowing how to explain it.

"So, I advise you," Cheng Xiao said coldly, "it's better to tell everything you know, so as not to be offended." ”

With that, he glanced at his subordinates, and several of his subordinates immediately took down the two jailers.

The two jailers were shocked and quickly fell to their knees, begging and confessing their innocence.

At this moment, Xu Zhen had already squeezed in front of the corpse and checked the corpse with the man.

He even lifted the old man's arm and sniffed closer......

Cheng Xiao narrowed his eyes when he saw this, as if he thought of something, and went straight to the outside of the prison.

"Xu Zhen," he shouted at Xu Zhen as he stood outside the cell and through the wooden bar, "come here!" ”

Well?

Xu Zhen didn't know why, but when he saw Cheng Xiao's cold eyes, he knew that nothing good was good.

When he caught his words, he had to listen, so he could only slowly walk to the prison fence and look at Cheng Xiao from the fence.

"A little further!" Cheng Xiao waved his hand at Xu Zhen.

As a result, as soon as Xu Zhen leaned in front of the prison post, Cheng Xiao's left hand reached into the gap in the prison bar and choked Xu Zhen's throat fiercely!

Cheng Xiao's hand strength was very strong, and he suddenly pinched Xu Zhen breathlessly.

"What do you say......" Cheng Xiao pinched Xu Zhen fiercely, but said to his colleagues casually, "If someone is like me, across the cell, can he forcibly poison that old man?" ”

After speaking, his right hand also reached into the gap, pretending to forcibly administer medicine to Xu Zhen, and reached out viciously to Xu Zhen's mouth.

At this time, Xu Zhen was out of breath, his face was flushed, and he tried to break Cheng Xiao's wrist with both hands, but he couldn't break it at all.

Cheng Xiao has kung fu, and his claws are like iron tongs.

He was obviously deliberately making it bad, if it was really to restore the facts of the case, he should have pinched Xu Zhen's cheek, instead of directly choking his neck.

In this way, Xu Zhen couldn't open his mouth at all, and Cheng Xiao's right hand reached out to Xu Zhen's mouth viciously, obviously wanting to humiliate Xu Zhen.

Xu Zhen was really angry, when he came out with the tricks he had learned in the police force, he suddenly grabbed Cheng Xiao's two fingers, and then broke them outward!

"Oh...... Ah......h

Cheng Xiao was in pain, and suddenly lost his strength and let go of his hand.

Xu Zhen hurriedly broke free and took two steps back. He can be regarded as merciful, if he is ruthless just now, Cheng Xiao's two fingers will inevitably be broken.

"You!?"

Cheng Xiao was about to have a seizure, but Xu Zhen grabbed the momentum and said to him:

"Cheng Zhutou, I don't think you need to try, it is absolutely impossible for the murderer to use this method to make the old man forcibly take poison, he must open the lock and enter the cell!"

……