The straight man who wears bright clothes is also afraid of messing with him

On the third day of November in the 12th year of Hongwu, Cao Meng, the personal guard of the King of Yan, was found dead in the Fulai Inn in the east of the city. Zhao Cheng, who was also a soldier of the Yanshan Guard, was also killed.

Under Shen Qing's demonstration, Cui Miao explained that Cao Meng was not the murderer of Zhao Cheng, and everyone couldn't help but wondered, following Cui Miao's thinking and imagining.

Zhu Di nodded thoughtfully, and said, "If Zhao Cheng wasn't killed by Cao Meng, that letter would be very problematic."

"My lord is wise." Cui Miao took advantage of the opportunity to flatter her, and said, "Biao Fang just searched around the room, but he couldn't find any pen, ink, paper or inkstone. Without paper and pen, where did this letter come from?" ? This is obviously written by someone in advance and brought to the room, that is to say, there is a third person in this room."

Xu An frowned and retorted: "Impossible! When the crime happened, the door and windows were fastened. If there is a third person, it is impossible to escape so many eyes."

"My lord, I will answer your question later." Cui Miao paused for a while, and then said: "Everyone, at the very beginning, we ruled out the fact that Cao Meng committed suicide, except for the distance between the round stool and the corpse. And this rope. If you commit suicide, even if you struggle, only the rope that goes around the beam will have scratches. Please see, more than half of this rope has friction marks, and there is only one kind of trace that causes such marks. It may be that the murderer wrapped the rope around the beam in advance, wrapped one end around Cao Meng's neck, held the other end tightly with both hands, and dropped Cao Meng onto the beam bit by bit."

Following Cui Miao's train of thought, Xue Lu speculated and said: "Cao Meng has always been brave, how could he not struggle when someone grabbed his neck? Could it be..."

Cui Miao sighed and said regretfully: "That's right, as Xue Baihu thought, the cup of water mixed with Mongolian sweat medicine was for Cao Meng to drink, if not, with Cao Meng's bravery, how could he let others succeed. For some reason, Cao Meng woke up when he was hanged, but it was too late and he had to be hanged alive."

Zhu Di's face darkened, and he said angrily, "It's really audacious to kill two of my king's personal guards one after another!"

Everyone hurriedly bowed and said, "My lord, calm down!"

"Cui Miao, this king orders you to find out the murderer, but I want to ask what his intentions are!" Zhu Di's eyes were sharp, like a knife, and it hurt people.

Cui Miao bowed and said: "Go back to the prince, the murderer who killed Cao Meng has been found."

Zhu Di's eyes flashed brightly, and he asked, "Oh? Who is it?"

"Back to the prince, it was Zhao Cheng who was also killed."

"What? It's Zhao Cheng? Don't they know each other well?"

"What's going on? How come the more you listen, the more confused you become?" The people around began to whisper.

Zhu Di looked at Cui Miao, and said lightly, "Cui Miao, are you sure?"

Cui Miao said firmly: "Going back to the prince, it's almost the same."

"Okay, I'll just see how 'eight or nine is inseparable from ten'."

Cui Miao looked at Wansan, and said in a warm voice, "Please check whether the tea in the teapot and the other cup of tea is mixed with sweat medicine."

Wan San obeyed his orders, tested the remaining tea, and said in a matter-of-fact manner, "My lord, the tea in the teapot and teacup has not been mixed with sweat medicine."

"This means that only Cao Meng's cup of tea is faulty, right?"

Wan San pondered for a while, then nodded and said, "Yes, my lord, it should be that the murderer poured the medicine into the cup while no one was paying attention."

"The two are acquainted with each other, and they are not on guard against each other. It's easy to do something." Cui Miao came to Zhao Cheng's body, held his right hand, and said, "Look, everyone, there are scratches and strangulation marks on Zhao Cheng's right hand." Although the scars are not very deep, they can still be easily identified, and there are tiny hairy things in the strangle marks, which can be seen clearly if you look closely. This is what the hemp rope got into his flesh due to friction. In summary According to the above, I dare to conclude that it was Zhao Cheng who killed Cao Meng."

"So that's the case! I didn't expect this sergeant who looks like a little girl to be so powerful. It's amazing!"

"Yes, yes. It's true that the real person doesn't show his face!" Everyone started discussing again.

Appreciation appeared in Zhu Di's eyes, and he asked, "The murderer who killed Cao Meng has been found, what about Zhao Cheng? Do you know who killed him?"

Cui Miao replied honestly: "Your Majesty, forgive me. I haven't found the answer yet, and further inquiries and investigations are needed."

Zhu Di seemed to be interested, and said: "Who do you want to ask and how to ask, you decide, but today I have to give an explanation to the king, understand?"

Cui Miao felt as if she had eaten Coptis chinensis, that suffering, if he had known this, he would not have interfered.No matter how reluctant he was, Cui Miao had to grit his teeth and agree. No way, this is imperial power. "Yes, my lord, I will do my best under the bid!"

Zhu Di raised his eyebrows and said, "It's not about doing your best, it's about having to, otherwise you will bear the consequences!"

"Yes, I obey! However, I need Master Xu's cooperation." Cui Miao was so remorseful that her intestines turned green, and she swore in her heart that she would never meddle in other people's affairs in the future.

Zhu Di looked at Xu An, and Xu An quickly responded, "Your official must cooperate."

The matter has come to this point, it is useless to regret it, it is simply over.

Cui Miao said bluntly: "Master Xu, I would like to ask who was the first to find the corpse, can you let him come?"

Xu An ordered his men to call for someone, and Cui Miao then asked, "Master Xu, did you seal off the inn in time after the incident?"

Although Cui Miao's tone was respectful and did not exceed the rules, Xu An still didn't want to see him. After all, it was Cui Miao who made him lose face in front of King Yan.However, due to Zhu Di's pressure, Xu An couldn't make things difficult for Cui Miao, so he had no choice but to say expressionlessly: "After I arrived at the inn, I immediately sealed off the place, but it's not clear whether anyone left before the blockade."

"Then please ask Mr. Xu to call the innkeeper too."

Not long after, the servants of the yamen brought the man over, and it was the innkeeper and waiter who found the body. Because the blood flowed from the cracks in the floor to the first floor, the guests downstairs went to find the shopkeeper, and the shopkeeper brought them up. Looking upstairs, no one responded after knocking on the door for a long time. The shopkeeper was afraid of accidents, so he asked the waiter to break open the door, only to find out that the customer in the shop had been killed.

The two of them knelt down at the door, saluted and said: "Xiaomin Wang Shan and Wang Er will see the prince and all the adults."

Seeing that Zhu Di didn't respond, Wang Yan said knowingly: "Get up. What does Mr. Cui ask, and what do you answer, you don't allow half a lie, do you understand?"

The two hurriedly responded, promising to know what to say and not daring to hide anything.

Cui Miao came in front of the two of them, and said in a gentle voice, "You don't need to be nervous, as long as you tell the truth, the prince is kind and will not send innocent people down for no reason."

The shopkeeper Wang Shan quickly responded: "Yes, sir, what you said is true. The prince is kind, and the little people will know everything without saying anything."

Cui Miao nodded and asked, "When did the guests in this room check in, and how many people were there when they checked in?"

Wang Shan thought for a while and said: "Mr. Hui, these two guests checked in at You hour last night. The uncle surnamed Zhao opened the room first, and Uncle Cao arrived later, but the two came at about the same time. feet. There are only the two of them staying here, no one else."

"Who prepared the tea in this room?"

The waiter in the shop, Wang Er, quickly replied: "Mr. Hui, Uncle Zhao ordered it. A pot of good Biluochun. After soaking the small one, I brought it in."

"When you delivered the tea, did Cao Meng come?"

"No, I met Uncle Cao at the stairs after delivering the tea."

"Has anyone asked you about the news of the two?"

Wang Shan and Wang Er looked at each other, shook their heads and said: "No. Since the two uncles entered the room, they only had tea once, and the younger ones have never seen each other since then."

"How did you find out about the murder?"

"This morning, the guest downstairs in this room came to find the little one, saying that the 'tick-tick-tick' water was leaking upstairs, which made him sleep badly last night. The little one hurried over to check, but he didn't know that the dripping was not water. It's blood! The little one felt something was wrong, so he called the little two to go upstairs to check, but no one answered the door after calling for a long time, so he had no choice but to open the door, and then, saw this scene, scared everyone Scared to death!"

"When you smashed the door, were there many people watching?"

"Quite a few. It's past time when the villain called the door. Many guests are awake, and even those who didn't wake up were woken up."

"After knocking open the door, can you confirm that there is no one else in the room except for the two dead?"

"I'm sure, although this room is not small, there is nothing blocking it. Is there anyone who can see it clearly at a glance?"

"Have you ever entered the room after the door was knocked open?"

"When he slammed into the door, Xiao Er didn't have the strength to grasp it. He fell in as soon as the door opened, and was stained with blood. He was so scared that he couldn't get up, so the villain had to come to help him, so the villain came in."

"You stand at the door and look at the house. You can't see everything. There is at least one place that you can't see." Cui Miao turned around and came to the door, closed the door, stood by the wall next to the door, and said, "If the murderer hides Here, you may see it standing at the door?"

Both of them shook their heads and said honestly, "No."

"Normal people will panic when they discover a murder case. Naturally, there are also people with good intentions who come to watch. When the two of you entered the door, did other guests follow in?"

"Yes, there were a few of them, but I drove them out."

"If the murderer sneaks into them at this time, can you tell them apart?"

The two shook their heads again and said, "Mr. Hui, I can't tell the difference."

Cui Miao turned to look at Xu An, saluted and said, "This is the answer to the question asked by Mr. Cai."

Xu An choked, although he didn't want to admit it, the possibility of the murderer getting away like this was indeed very high.

Cui Miao looked at Wang Shan and Wang Shan again, and asked, "After the incident, has anyone checked out?"

"No! After the incident, the villain knew the importance of the matter, so he asked people to guard the door of the inn, and no one was allowed to go out. Although there were noisy guests, the villain knew the seriousness, so no one has checked out so far."