About twenty-five days later, Tang Jianqiu, Qiao Yunsheng and others had already led their troops to Linyi County;

After receiving the news, the county magistrate of the place had already sent people to wait at the border gate.

At first, he was very patient, but after a long time, he inevitably became a little anxious, and it was not until he saw the large number of officers and soldiers walking towards this direction that he could be sure.

He waited for a long time, and at the moment when the army was about to approach, he immediately stepped forward to salute the arrival of the distinguished guest.

"You must be Master Joe, right? I have long heard that the adults are highly respected, always have a benevolent heart, and work diligently for the people, and today I see that this is indeed the case! I don't know who this adult is......"

Saying that, he looked at Tang Jianqiu who was sitting on horseback, and only felt a little strange.

Seeing this, Qiao Yunsheng introduced the people around him: "This is Tang Jianqiu, the pacification envoy in charge of the Beizhen Fu Division, who is here to assist the Si Kou." ”

Only then did the county order realize that he was a little abrupt, so he immediately changed his face and hurriedly bowed down to flatter: "It turns out that this is the legendary pacification envoy Tang, disrespectful and disrespectful!" ”

Tang Jianqiu naturally didn't take this little thing to heart, he waved his hand to show that he didn't need to be polite, "I heard that Lord Shangshu of the Criminal Department said that strange things often happen in Linyi County, and I bother you to lead the way for us." ”

"That's natural, I don't dare to work hard for two adults,

You guys don't hurry up and open the door! Don't you see the two adults here! ”

The county commander scolded loudly, how dare these officers and soldiers disobey? Immediately put on a flattering look, and didn't dare to slack off.

After the city gate was opened, the county commander hurriedly put on a smiling face and made a gesture of "please" to welcome, "Two adults, please!" ”

Tang Jianqiu and Qiao Yunsheng nodded, and then ordered the officers and soldiers behind them to follow.

A large number of men and horses entered the city under the command of the two, and the sound of horses' hooves stepping into the city resounded;

The sound of the breeze sweeping the fallen leaves is a little pleasant, but unfortunately there is no sound of children laughing, think about sitting in the shade of this tree with your family blowing the cool breeze and drinking tea, what a harmonious picture it will be?

To say that this Linyi County is a little different from other places, because of the Yin soldier murder incident caused panic, there are not many people coming and going, if there is no need, ordinary people will not think about going out.

Of course, there are so many idle people who come to join in the fun, just want to see one or two, but they don't dare to get too close, for fear of being punished by officers and soldiers;

So, under the leadership of the county order, Tang Jianqiu and Qiao Yunsheng stayed here temporarily, and the door was heavily guarded, leaving only the three of them sitting in the hall for questioning.

Qiao Yunsheng took a sip of the teacup, felt the mellow flavor in his mouth, and then covered the teacup with satisfaction.

"Hmm~ good tea!"

Qiao Yunsheng put down the teacup as he spoke, and his mood was much happier.

The county magistrate who was praised by Qiao Yunsheng also had a smile on his face, as if he had crossed a layer of light, but the excitement hidden in his eyebrows couldn't help but leak out;

"Lord Joe is really a man of temperament! Presumably, adults like to drink tea on weekdays, if Lord Qiao likes to go down to the officials, he will prepare some tea for adults. ”

The county order can't wait to tie up the cash cow of Zheng Erpin, if you can get Qiao Yunsheng's help in the future, it can be described as a soaring yellow and prosperous!

Qiao Yunsheng raised his head to the sky and laughed loudly when he heard this: "Hahaha! This tea should be drunk often, not too much, one person has its spirit, two people have its fun, and three people have its taste, but I don't know what Lord Tang has to say? ”

As he spoke, he put his eyes on Tang Jianqiu, and when Tang Jianqiu saw this, he immediately put down the teacup in his hand, and said very tactfully:

"It's just a rough person in the next session, and I don't understand the truth of this, so it's a shame to make adults laugh."

Qiao Yunsheng realized that this move was a bit abrupt, and immediately changed his words: "It's okay, now we should talk about business, but can we find out the identity of the deceased?" ”

The county commander's eyes were full of embarrassment, he was upset because of this matter, and now such a horrific murder case had happened in Linyi County under his rule, how could he not worry?

After thinking about it for a while, he still said truthfully: "Since the deceased's head was beheaded, it can only be seen from the physical characteristics, and the deceased is a man and a prime of life. ”

"Are there any other scars besides the decapitation?"

Tang Jianqiu wanted to find more detailed clues from it, if he was directly beheaded, it would definitely be a one-hit kill! In that case, it would prove that the murderer was very powerful.

However, the next words of the county order made Tang Jianqiu even more disappointed, "No, but I found an identity ultimatum from that person." ”

As he was talking, the county order hurriedly took out the identity ultimatum hidden in his sleeve and handed it to Tang Jianqiu with both hands.

Tang Jianqiu glanced at it roughly, and then handed it to Qiao Yunsheng, unexpectedly, a trace of incomprehension flashed in Qiao Yunsheng's eyes when he saw this identity ultimatum;

"Gu Xiaowei, a native of Linyi County, Shandong, was born in the tenth year of Wanli, and is a cloth cloth."

Seeing Qiao Yunsheng like this, he couldn't understand it even more, thinking that he had found something, he hurriedly asked, "My lord, but you can see it?" ”

"No, you can't see anything based on the identity ultimatum alone, and after seeing the corpse, you can check it in combination with the identity ultimatum." Qiao Yunsheng closed the identity ultimatum as he spoke;

"In that case, then the two lords will be invited over."

"Very good."

The county commander led Tang Jianqiu and Qiao Yunsheng and some officers and soldiers to immediately go to the place where Gu Xiaowei's body was placed.

Considering that too long time may cause the corpse to stink, the corpse is specially disposed of, so that it is not so easy to decompose, and the case will naturally be much easier;

Seeing this beheaded young Tang Jianqiu, he did not have the slightest fear, as if he was accustomed to it, but just watched quietly and circled around the corpse.

There are more or less hundreds of cases handled by the county order, but when he sees the corpse with his head cut off, he will inevitably be a little frightened, but he can't be as bold as Tang Jianqiu.

As if sensing the clues, Tang Jianqiu immediately stepped forward to check, and only then did he discover that something was wrong.

The deceased was the common man, not an official, so why was he killed? And what did he see during his lifetime?

Tang Jianqiu pondered for a moment, he pondered his chin and then expressed his opinion: "This person is indeed a civilian, the deceased has calluses on his hands that have been working all year round, which is completely different from those who practice martial arts.

Another point is that this person has shiny skin and does not look like an old man, but he has not reached the age of Zhishi, and the identity of the deceased is completely consistent with the identity ultimatum.

Let me ask you one thing, are all the dead civilians? Or are there civilians and soldiers? ”

Hearing what Tang Jianqiu said, the county order hurriedly responded: "If you return to your lordship, it is exactly." ”

"Isn't it suspicious that they're all civilians?"

Tang Jianqiu's words can be said to be very bloody, and it was this reminder that made the county order wake up like a dream.

"Ahh This ......"

The county order couldn't say why for a long time, you must know that he was worried about this case, and he didn't find a clue after investigating for so many days.

Now Tang Jianqiu and the others discovered this strangeness just by taking a look, which is really ashamed.

Tang Jianqiu also felt strange, he glanced around at the deceased, and then looked at the deceased's blood-clotted neck, his pupils contracted for a while, and then told Qiao Yunsheng what he had found:

"Lord Shangshu, with all due respect, the murderer is a person who committed the crime, this person has superb knife skills, and a fatal knife, even I, the person who holds the knife all the year round, can't help but sigh."

Tang Jianqiu couldn't be sure that he had a chance of winning against the murderer on the spot, this person was skilled in swordsmanship, not to mention more than 20 years of skills, if he really wanted to fight, he might not have a chance of winning.

"Let's not say that the murderer committed the crime for one person, how can you be so sure that it was a knife wound?"

Qiao Yunsheng is just a civil official, so naturally he can't be as thorough as Tang Jianqiu, he is a little curious, how did Tang Jianqiu see it?

Tang Jianqiu didn't seem to be in a hurry, and introduced the injuries on the deceased's body like a commonplace: "My lord, please see, there is only one wound in the deceased, and that is the neck that connects the head.

If the murderer is a person who likes to use light weapons, he can naturally kill with one blow, but the murder weapon will be left at the scene, judging from the performance of the county order, the murderer should be a thoughtful person.

In my Ming Dynasty, there were the most people who used knives as weapons, and how many weapons such as guns, sticks, and hammers were used to remove human heads the fastest? It is a sword,

Even if these can really take life in an instant, they will leave traces.

Please think about it, why should the other party cut off the head when he has already killed someone? What is his purpose? Now that the identity ultimatum does not match the identity of the deceased, why did the murderer come to a trick to change the tanuki for the prince? Is there something being covered? ”

Tang Jianqiu's soul test surprised the officers and soldiers who were patrolling, and at first they only cared about looking for clues, but ignored this crucial issue.

Hearing Tang Jianqiu's words, Qiao Yunsheng seemed to understand, he hesitated for a moment, and then boldly said his guess:

"This ...... Are you saying that the deceased was not Gu Xiaowei, or that the murderer wanted to take this opportunity to interfere with our train of thought and misjudge? ”

"Is it possible that all of this was directed and acted by the murderer?"

The prefectural order thought it was unlikely, but said it anyway;

"All of the above possibilities, but at the moment it's just speculation, are there suspicious traces at the scene?"

Tang Jianqiu asked again, saying that they had not been to the scene yet, so it was better to deduce favorable clues from the county order first;

"Shhh...... There was no suspicious trace at the scene, but my lord, do you think it could be a ghost? There was no fierce struggle on the spot.

The humble has asked the local people, and the strange thing is that they have not heard any movement, if it is not for the Yin soldiers to kill people, how can they quietly cut off people's heads without making a noise?

And the common denominator of the deceased was that they were close to the temple before their deaths, and how many people in this world can die together under various coincidences? This is definitely a dead case! ”

The county magistrate was heartbroken, and he no longer had any hope for this case, so he could only list it as a ghost;

Tang Jianqiu was also a little bored after hearing this, he thought for a moment, put his hands behind his back, and came to his own point of view after some calm analysis.

"I think we have entered a misunderstanding, that is, we have been struggling with who the murderer is, and the top priority is to start with the identity of the deceased.

Check the identities of all the deceased who were slaughtered by the murderer, except that they have all been to the temple to see if there is anything in common! ”

"Yes!"