Yang Wenchang returned home from the government with a sad face, changed out of his official uniform, and sat alone in the study in a daze.

Today's case of Sun Dianchen's murder really worries him. The dignified three-rank military general of the imperial court was killed by a powerful ghost in front of everyone, such a strange case really made him helpless and unable to investigate.

If he writes the matter of the murder of the ghost into a file and submits it, not to mention how the hundred officials will discuss it, because this case involves a military general of the third grade, and the emperor has always favored the king of Han, he will definitely inquire about this matter. After checking for a long time, in the end, the murderer turned out to be an invisible and untouchable ghost, once the emperor was angry and lost his official affairs, I am afraid that his head will not be guaranteed.

Thinking of this, Yang Wenchang felt depressed in his heart, lamenting that he had a bad year and was unlucky, and he would encounter such a case. He picked up the flask on the table and poured himself a drink, borrowing wine to drown his sorrows.

At this time, a domestic servant walked into the study and reported: "Master, someone is asking to see you." ”

Yang Wenchang was upset at the moment, waved his hand and said, "Who is it?"

The servant hesitated for a moment, but still said: "But this person is your nephew, Lord Yang Puyang." ”

Yang Wenchang was stunned for a moment: "Nephew?"

Only then did he remember that he had such a nephew in the Jingshi. Yang Pu's father, Yang Wenxian, is his brother in his hometown, honest and honest, and an ordinary scholar. But he gave birth to Yang Pu, a prodigy who is known as a genius, and in terms of generation, he is indeed his nephew.

Yang Pu has been very smart since he was a child, and he was proficient in poetry before he was ten years old, and he often made amazing witty remarks. It is said that once his father, Yang Wenxian, was arrested and imprisoned in the county government jail because of a case. The family was panicked, and there was no choice but for him to go to the county government alone to plead with the county official.

The county magistrate saw that although he was young, he was not timid, and he replied fluently, remembering that he was called a prodigy in the local area, so on a whim, he came up with a couplet to ask him to come right: four mouths with the same picture, and the inner mouth is under the control of the outer mouth.

This is a split character couplet (the traditional Chinese picture contains four words), the wonderful thing is that it not only illustrates the relationship between the four mouths inside and outside the picture, but also implies that I am the lord of a county, and everything here is up to me.

Who would have thought that Yang Pu didn't want to open his mouth: five people with the same umbrella, and the villain was all covered by adults. This is better than the upper link, he dismantled the umbrella word (there are five characters in the traditional umbrella character), which not only explained that the structure of the umbrella word is an adult character covering four small characters, but also cleverly flattered the county official.

The magistrate was very happy to hear this, admired his wit and talent, and concluded that his future was limitless, so he released his father.

Later, when Yang Pu was in the second year of Jianwen, he was a high school jinshi and was appointed as the editor of Hanlin. Later, after the Battle of Jingyan, Zhu Di ascended the throne and became the emperor, heard about his talent, and cherished it very much, after the edict last year to set Zhu Gaochi as the crown prince, he appointed Yang Pu as the prince's horse wash, and assisted the prince's literary and scientific cultivation and political affairs.

I heard that Yang Pu is cautious and honest, never clings to the powerful, and is also humble and polite to others, even if he speaks politely to his subordinates. In the past few years in Beijing, except for the annual festival to send greetings and congratulatory gifts, in fact, he has not met Yang Wenchang, his uncle, a few times, so it is no wonder that Yang Wenchang did not think of him for a while.

Although Yang Wenchang secretly wondered in his heart how this nephew could come to visit at this time, he was now a popular person beside the prince, so he still got up quickly, and while instructing the servants to invite Yang Pu in, he tidied up his clothes and prepared to greet him.

After a while, a young scribe in his early thirties strode into the study. Dressed in a simple cloth robe, with white skin, and a neatly trimmed short beard, he looks energetic and restrained, which is Yang Pu and Yang Hongji.

As soon as Yang Pu entered the door, he gave Yang Wenchang a long salute: "I haven't come to the door to ask for peace for many years, begging for forgiveness, and my uncle has always been okay?"

Yang Wenchang hurriedly helped him up: "Nephew Hongjixian, everything is fine, please take a seat." ”

The two sat down separately, the greeting was over, Yang Pu's eyes swept away, and he saw the wine utensils that Yang Wenchang had poured himself on the table just now, and smiled slightly: "Uncle is still worried about the murder of Sun Dianchen, the commander of Tiance Guard, today?"

Yang Wenchang was stunned: "The virtuous nephew also knows about this?"

Yang Pu said: "How big is the Beijing Division, and Sun Dianchen is the new commander of the Han King's Protector Army, how famous the Han King is, in less than half a day, this Beijing Division has been spread. However, the nephew does not know much about the details, and the uncle is willing to tell him, or he can share his worries. ”

Yang Wenchang muttered secretly in his heart, it seems that this virtuous nephew suddenly came to visit today for this matter. Originally, such an important case should not be discussed by outsiders, one is that Yang Wenchang is really suffering from the lack of investigation direction and is helpless, and the other is that Yang Pu, as a close minister of the prince, suddenly came to inquire about the case, presumably because the prince wanted to understand the case, but it was inconvenient to come forward, so he sent him to investigate. If this is the case, the prince's intentions, Yang Wenchang, will never dare to rebel.

So he let out a long sigh and told Yang Pu everything he had seen and heard in Sun Dianchen's mansion today.

Yang Pu was also speechless for a long time after hearing this, no wonder, it is indeed difficult to believe that such a thing as ghost killing is indeed unbelievable.

Yang Wenchang could only sigh: "Uncle is really unlucky, such a strange murder case, people will never encounter it once in their lives, but I have encountered it one after another, it seems that this time I will lose my official position, and I will lose my head at worst." ”

Yang Pu had been thinking about the case told by Yang Wenchang, and suddenly heard him say this, and he was stunned: "Uncle is saying that you have encountered such a strange case?"

Yang Wenchang nodded: "Yes, just the month before last, Zhao Si, a landlord in the suburbs of Beijing, was killed by the tenants' ghost in the middle of the night because he took back the land and forced the tenants to die. Last month, the little second Qian Jia in the restaurant in the city has always been disobedient and unfilial, drinking every night, causing the old mother at home to be taken care of and fell to death in the back alley. A few days later, the old mother returned to her soul and forced the rebel son to hang himself in full view of everyone at home. ”

He sighed, "There is one murder every month, and this is the third case. With such a strange case, how can I arrest the murderer and how can I write a case file?"

Yang Pu asked, "Are there any eyewitnesses to these two cases?"

Yang Wenchang said: "Exactly, Zhao Si's wife and concubine were beside him when he died, and Qian Jia hanged himself in front of his relatives and friends, all in full view. ”

Yang Pu frowned thoughtfully: "Zhao Si, Qian Jia, Sun Dianchen?"

Suddenly, he was shocked: "There is a murder case every month, and the deceased's surname is Zhao Qiansun, could it be related?"

Yang Wenchang was only shocked: "Hundreds of family names? Could it be that according to this law, there will be a person surnamed Li who will die next month?"

Then he lamented: "Uncle, as Jing Zhaoyin, if strange cases continue to happen like this in my rule, my life will be suspended." ”

Yang Pu looked at his depressed appearance and smiled slightly: "Uncle doesn't have to be so discouraged, I have a plan, or I can avoid trouble." ”

Yang Wenchang listened to it like a man in the water grasping a life-saving straw: "Virtuous nephew save me, save me!"

Yang Pu said in a deep voice: "Uncle just mentioned that the commander of Jinyiwei also made Ye Zhiqiu intervene in this case?"

Yang Wenchang nodded and said, "Exactly." ”

Yang Pu said: "According to my uncle, he was rude and forcibly intervened in the case at first, but after coming out of the hall at the scene of the crime, he was much more polite, and said that there was no emperor's decree, so he could only assist in the investigation of the case from the side." Uncle thought about it, Jin Yiwei intervened in the prison, how could he have necessary the emperor's holy decree? Besides, his attitude was pretentious and respectful, why not?"

Yang Wenchang was quite skeptical about this section, but he never thought about it, and after Yang Pu's little thought, he suddenly realized: "It must be that he found some clues in the hall and saw what was behind this case, and he didn't want to intervene to cause trouble, so he didn't want to take over the case." ”

Yang Pu nodded and said, "Since he has seen the clues, my uncle might as well go to the court to complain about the illness and ask for the guilt, and recommend Ye Zhiqiu to take over the case." The one who died was a third-grade military attaché, and he was the commander of the Tiance Guard who was newly given to the King of Han by the emperor, so Ye Zhiqiu wanted to intervene in this case in the first place. The emperor will definitely attach importance to such a serious case, and nine times out of ten he will be invited by his uncle. Wouldn't my uncle have avoided this disaster?"

Yang Wenchang was overjoyed when he heard this, and thanked his nephew deeply. When he bowed his head, he didn't see the meaningful smile on the corner of Yang Pu's mouth.