"Those monsters are nothing." Sun Jinyong didn't care about Wu Neng's reminder, "In front of a well-organized army, a few demon beasts can't make any waves. What I'm curious about is that the mastermind behind the scenes can do the things that control the villagers without knowing it, why did he deliberately make the uninhabited village incident, isn't this deliberately trying to attract the attention of the government? ”

"If Lord Sun is willing to completely believe that this matter was done by the Lu Clan, the matter of the Uninhabited Village is actually very simple." Shi Cheng explained, "The corpse poison of the Lu clan itself does not make people become half-corpses, what really makes people corpse is the product of corpse poison and blood reactions. Therefore, when ordinary people are poisoned by corpses, it takes a short interval for people to turn into half-corpses. During this period of time, just in case, it is natural that people who have been poisoned by corpses cannot be put in the village, and they will definitely be hidden in one place first, and then released after the successful corpse transformation, so that people can see an empty village than let people see the corpses in one place. ”

Tie Mian, who had not spoken all this time, suddenly said: "Have you ever thought about such a question, the three uninhabited village cases that we know of at the moment have all been discovered by witnesses, will there be many similar cases that have not yet been discovered?" ”

As soon as these words came out, the room was terrifyingly quiet, and after a while, Sun Jinyong said slowly: "What Tie Mian said is right, the plan to enter the uninhabited village must be more thorough." ”

"Lord Sun, Shi Cheng has an unknown matter, why these three known uninhabited village incidents were all discovered by pedestrians, haven't the patrolling officials found any clues?"

"The time when the four uninhabited village cases were discovered happened to avoid the time when the officials were inspecting, and the official offices of the cities on Xieyang Road had limited manpower, so it was impossible to go out to inspect every day." Sun Jinyong's tone revealed a hint of powerlessness.

"Sure enough, there are ghosts in the official mansion." Shi Cheng pondered for a moment and asked, "Isn't your country going to send additional people to support in order to solve this case as soon as possible?" ”

Sun Jinyong didn't answer this question directly, but asked Shi Cheng thoughtlessly, "Shi Cheng, I think you are also a good person, I don't know if you can guess why Wang Cheng uncharacteristically sent me such a military attache to be a military attaché?" ”

Shi Cheng lowered his head, and gradually, his face became more and more ugly.

Sun Jinyong walked to the window, pushed it open, took a hard breath, and said tiredly: "The deeper this case goes, the more I can feel how deep the water is. All I could do was try to find a suitable truth. The top priority now is to filter the city guards first, find the real culprit of the poisoning as soon as possible, and maybe find out some clues along the way. ”

At this moment, a guard hurriedly ran in, "My lord, something happened in Gao Yan's house!" ”

"What?!" All four people in the room looked up in surprise.

……

Sun Jinyong quickly rushed to Gao Yan's Mansion, because the identities of Shi Cheng and the three were still relatively sensitive, in the end, Wu Neng and Tie Mian were sent back to the inn by several guards, and only Shi Cheng followed Sun Jinyong to Gaofu.

The people from the government quickly took over the scene, and many of the people who came to investigate were Gao Yan's subordinates.

The county magistrate looked at Sun Jinyong's somewhat terrifying face, and cautiously reported: "My lord, judging from the traces at the scene and the condition of the corpse, Lord Gao and Mr. Guo should have died after the third watch last night, and the murderer was obviously a martial arts master, and it should have been before Lord Gao and Mr. Guo reacted, and they instantly cut off their heads with a sword." After succeeding, it should have gone out through the window. ”

Sun Jinyong stared at the corpse in front of him and said softly, "Guo Ren...... Gao Yan's most effective staff actually came to Gao Mansion at night. ”

Shi Cheng, who was not far from the "Third Watch ......", fell into deep thought in his heart, and recalled in his mind the messenger that was crushed before the escape of Youhe last night, "At that time, looking at the height of the moon, it seems that it should be after the third watch. ”

Sun Jinyong didn't know what Shi Cheng was thinking, he glanced at Nuan Ge, and said to Zhao Ping and Lu Qian, who were guarding the door: "Ah Ping, you go with me to see Gao Yan's relatives and subordinates, Shi Cheng, you should also go with me." Lu Qian, you take some people and carefully search for Gao Yan's relics. The murderer of Gao Yan must be someone who has close contacts with Gao Yan, and from his relics, you may be able to find clues related to the murderer! ”

Lu Qian took the order and left, and Sun Jinyong, Zhao Ping and Shi Cheng got off the small building and went to the main hall of the Gao Mansion, where the relatives and several main subordinates of the Gao Yan Mansion were waiting.

Mrs. Gao, who was sitting next to her son, had already cried into a tearful person, and her mental state was also very unstable. Zhao Ping was originally very disgusted with this woman, but at this moment, he couldn't help but feel some sympathy in his heart. As soon as Mrs. Gao saw Sun Jinyong, she actually knelt down, crying and shouting: "Lord Sun, please avenge my master!" ”

"Get up and speak." Sun Jinyong glanced at everyone present, Gao Yan's other family members and relatives had fear and grief on their faces, and some seemed to be thinking about the way out in the future, but only his wife was washed with tears, and even Gao Yan's sister-in-law Gao Yu's face was only a little sad.

With a slight sigh in his heart, Sun Jinyong asked, "Do you know who entered the warm pavilion with your master last night?" ”

A middle-aged man in a robe, a little rich, stood up and arched his hand and said, "My lord, the grass people are Gao Su, the chief butler under the master. Last night, about the second watch, the lord and Mr. Guo returned to the house, and followed Mr. An, who was waiting in the side hall, into the warm pavilion. ”

"Mr. An? What is his name, who is he, and where is he in the hall now? ”

"He's not here now." Gao Su replied, "I don't know what his name is. That Mr. An seemed to be a stranger whom the old man had met a year ago, he rarely came to the mansion in person, every time he came, it was at night, and he was always dressed in a black robe, so that people could not see his face. Only the master and Mr. Guo seem to know him very well, but the master never said anything related to Mr. An in front of me. ”

"What about the others, does anyone know about this Mr. An?"

After receiving a negative answer, Sun Jinyong frowned and asked Mrs. Gao, "Mrs. Gao, don't you also know anything about this Mr. An?" You're the tall man's pillow. ”

Mrs. Gao wiped her tears and said, "My lord has never liked to tell us about the things he encountered outside the house, and every time he chats with me, he only talks about homely things. ”

Sun Jinyong was a little helpless, and then asked everyone: "Before and after the third watch last night, did any of you hear any movement in the warm pavilion, or any suspicious people in the house." ”

Everyone still shook their heads, and Sun Jinyong asked with some confusion: "Then what about the subordinates who served in the small building, they didn't find anything?" ”

Gao Su replied: "My lord, in order to prevent someone from eavesdropping, every time the master wants to have a secret conversation with the guests in the warm pavilion, he will let all the subordinates leave, and the master will return to the house by himself after talking with the guests." The people on duty at night in the mansion had already been questioned by Lord Zhao, and they didn't find anything abnormal. ”

Sun Jinyong looked at Zhao Ping, and Zhao Ping nodded.

There were really no clues to be found in Gao Yan's house, so everyone planned to go to the City Lord's Mansion and investigate from Gao Yan's subordinates, while Lu Qian's subordinates were divided into two teams, one team continued to search Gao Yan's relics in Gao Mansion, and the other team went to Guo Ren's house to search.

However, the results of the investigation in the Castle Lord's Mansion still disappointed everyone, and Gao Yan found no valuable clues in the items and official documents placed in the Castle Lord's Mansion, and most of the officials in the Mansion could not provide valuable information. Only an old official named Shi Wen provided some valuable clues to Sun Jinyong. According to Sven, it seems that a year ago, Gao Yan had a relationship with the person named Mr. An, and at the beginning, Gao Yan even often went out to meet Mr. An during duty time, as for where they met, Sven was not clear.

Just when Shi Cheng and Sun Jinyong were at a loss, a guard found the City Lord's Mansion and reported to Sun Jinyong: "My lord, Commander Lu found something hidden in the dark compartment in Gao Yan's house, which seems to be a diary, has been sent to the Qincha Mansion, waiting for your lordship to come and see. ”

"Oh?" Sun Jinyong and Shi Cheng glanced at each other, "Let's go, let's go back to the Qincha Mansion to have a look." ”

When everyone returned to the Qincha Mansion, Lu Qian was already waiting there, and when he saw Sun Jinyong coming, he hurriedly walked over from the desk with a pile of files, saluted, and said: "My lord, I was incompetent, I only found this diary in Gao Yan's home, and no suspicious clues have been found in Guo Ren's home. ”

Sun Jinyong glanced at the book in Lu Qian's hand, and the expression on his face was very dissatisfied, "What's the matter, Guo Ren won't mention it for the time being, isn't there any manuscript written by himself in the study of Gao Yan?" ”

Lu Qian replied in embarrassment: "My lord, I can't find any manuscripts written by himself in Gao Yan's study, only books and official documents. The brethren checked it, and there was nothing marked or entrapped in it. If it weren't for the good fortune of the humble position, I'm afraid we wouldn't even be able to find this book. ”

"How is it possible that a civil servant does not keep some manuscripts written by himself at home?" Sun Jinyong asked solemnly, "What do the people in his family say, could it be that the murderer sneaked into Gao Yan's study but was not discovered by anyone?" ”

"This ...... My lord, no one noticed anything unusual last night, could it be that someone got it away in advance, or that the person who stole the manuscript was extremely high-handed? ”

"You go down first, no matter what, those relatives and servants of the Gao Mansion still have to be interrogated, it is best to use some isolated interrogation methods, so as not to have internal ghosts to collude with confessions, Guo Ren's relatives and friends also have to investigate and interrogate to see if they find anything abnormal. Let me take a look at this book first, Ah Ping, there are a lot of people in Gaofu, and it takes a lot of effort to review, you can bring some people to help Lu Qian. ”

Lu Qian and Zhao Ping were ordered to retreat, Shi Cheng looked at the backs of the two of them, and asked, "Master Sun, I don't know if you can watch it together?" ”

After getting Sun Jinyong's consent, Shi Cheng walked next to Sun Jinyong, and as Sun Jinyong flipped through it, the contents of the book were also displayed in front of the two of them page by page.

The contents of the book are indeed similar to those of the diary, and the vassal states of Wei use the same era name as the Wei state, so when Shi Cheng saw the beginning of the first diary, it is not difficult to see that the date of the beginning of the diary is about a year ago.

At the beginning, I remember that the chapters were all trivial matters in life and officialdom, and after turning over more than 30 diaries, Shi Cheng and Sun Jinyong saw the chapters they wanted to read.

"On the twenty-eighth day of May in the fourteenth year of Jian'an, it was cloudy:

Today, I asked someone to buy some tea from the Dawei business, and it tasted very beautiful, but unfortunately the use in the house was limited, and the rest was left to Ah Qin. ”

"On the twenty-ninth day of May in the fourteenth year of Jian'an, yin:

How can the guests from Wangcheng be so strange, wrapped in black robes, but they can't shirk it, and listen to what he says tomorrow. ”

Seeing this, Shi Cheng knew that it was Mr. An who appeared, and hurriedly cheered up and looked down.

"On May 30, the fourteenth year of Jian'an, it was sunny:

How could this man surnamed Ann make such a request! I asked myself, as a disciple of a sage, how could I do such a degrading thing! However, this person is a person sent by Liu Jiqing, what should I do? ”

"Liu Jiqing?" Sun Jinyong exclaimed: "Hubu Zuo Shilang, how could it be him?" He actually had something to do with that Mr. An. ”

It's no wonder that Sun Jinyong was surprised, even Shi Cheng was shocked when he heard the identity of Liu Jiqing's household servant, but he still suppressed the shock in his heart and continued to look down.

"On the first day of June in the fourteenth year of Jian'an, it was sunny:

Alas, I think that I have long been targeted by them, and my colleagues in the house and the people in my family probably have their people, and my secrets have long been in their hands, like a fish in a net, and cannot be escaped. Introducing some big pharmacists to me is it a temptation to take advantage of them, and to give them both grace and power? ”

The following diary tells how Gao Yan cooperated with those people to plan and create the Xieyang Dao case, and it can be seen from the diary that Gao Yan seemed to be an upright but extremely old-fashioned official a year ago, and he seemed to be extremely afraid of "them" in the diary, and under the influence and instruction of "them", the devil in his heart was gradually born.

The following diaries are basically about some trivial daily trivialities and intrigues in the officialdom, and occasionally some are about how Gao Yan planned with those people. Shi Cheng had been seeing the diary of the fourteenth year of Jian'an, that is, on the twenty-third day of October last year, and finally saw the beginning of the Xieyang Dao case.