Nongmen Shenjue

Zhou Hong took office in Fenglin County at the beginning of the year. He was not clean and honest, but he was also diligent and fair.Although Fenglin is a county, because of its prosperous location and large population, it belongs to a first-class county at the county level. If it weren't for the strength of the teacher, he would not have been able to get the post of Fenglin county magistrate.

He intends to make some political achievements during his tenure and pay attention to people's livelihood, but he didn't know that there were frequent cases in the county in the short time he took office.

Last night, I sorted out the files and discussed the case with the county magistrate, and I didn't sleep until the third watch.

How do you know that the yamen master came to report early in the morning, and someone reported missing.

Zhou Hong's face was ugly: "Master Hao, who is missing? A businessman from other places?"

Fenglin has well-developed water transportation, and there are a lot of businessmen traveling from south to north, and the population is mobile, so it is easy to breed various cases.

Master Hao said: "Dong Weng is not a businessman from other places. Ge Dafu, the master of the Ge family in the county, came to the yamen this morning to report the case, saying that the son of a family friend of his family was missing."

"The son of a family friend? Why did he come to report the crime?" Zhou Hong was puzzled.

"Dong Weng didn't know that Mr. Ge's family friend's son was surnamed Sun, and Sun Maozhe was a boy born in this county. His grandfather died early, and there was only a widowed mother in the family. Ge Dafu took care of the Sun family a lot because of the friendship between the two families. This time Sun Maozhe's disappearance also involves Miss Ge's family."

Before Ge Dafu made his fortune in the early years, the Ge and Sun families lived next to each other, and their grandfathers all studied poetry and books and wanted to take the imperial examination.Later, seeing that the imperial examination was not easy, when Ge Dafu's father came, he abandoned his studies and started a business, and opened a shop to do business.Ge Dafu ran into a business and got rich, and chose another place to build a big house, but the two families have never stopped communicating. Even after his grandfather passed away, Sun Maozhe was still a frequent visitor to Ge's family.

When it came to Sun Maozhe's disappearance, no one noticed it at first, and it was when Sun's mother went to Ge's house to inquire that Ge Dafu was shocked.

"Ge Dafu said that Sun Maozhe went to Meixiang Temple four days ago, but he didn't go home that day. The next day, his mother came to Ge's house to inquire, and Ge Dafu sent people to search for it. After three days of searching, there was no news. He was really anxious. Just report it."

Zhou Hong thought to himself: Miss Ge's family is involved?Four days ago, Meixiang Temple...

Suddenly realized: "Miss Ge's family also went to Meixiang Temple four days ago?"

Master Hao smiled knowing each other: "Dong Weng is very aware of the details, and the internal affairs are mostly like this, so it is not easy for Master Ge to speak frankly."

It's all for Zhou Hong's surprise, he doesn't have time to gossip right now: "Why are you missing all the time!"

Master Hao thought more, and analyzed: "Dong Weng, could it be done by the same people? These two people have quite a lot in common."

"Indeed, although one of them is a foreigner, they are both in their twenties, and they are all scholars. This Sun Maozhe is even a child!" Zhou Hong was impatient: "Could it be another 'flower picker'?"

"Master!" A servant came running from outside the hall, "Master, there is a word from the yamen servant that the villagers of Dali Village outside the city have come to report the case, saying that a male corpse was dug up in the woods."

"What?!" Zhou Hong jumped up suddenly, and the successive cases made him dizzy: "Prepare the sedan chair! Take the servant with you as a yamen servant, and go to investigate the scene with me."

As soon as the county magistrate left, the Ge family received the news.

Since the visit to Meixiang Temple a few days ago, Ms. Ge was forbidden to go out, and there was no news at first.She was worried about Sun Maozhe, didn't think about food and drink, and because she was suspicious of Li Liangji, she was suffering from the current situation and cried every night.The maid Qing'e couldn't bear to see it, after all, she got the news from the cook who was familiar with her in the kitchen, but it was not good news.

——Sun Maozhe is missing?

Thinking of the situation that day, Ms. Ge was very worried.

Fortunately, I learned that Mr. Ge had reported to the official, and I was slightly comforted, but I didn't know that it was not a morning, but I heard that someone found a male corpse.

"Brother Sun." Miss Ge was already worried about eating too much, but when she heard the bad news, she suddenly fainted.

Before the county magistrate set off, he also sent a message to the two families who had reported missing to identify the bodies.

The bearer trotted all the way carrying the sedan chair. Zhou Hong was impatient, and frequently lifted the curtain of the sedan chair to look around, and finally saw a village.That is Dali Village, three or four miles away from the county seat, surrounded by large flat fields, and very close to Meixiang Temple, so life is not bad.The forest that the informant mentioned was at the foot of Meixiangsi Mountain. The forest here was shallow, and the villagers went in to dig wild vegetables for firewood.

At the edge of the woods, Zhou Hong got off the sedan chair.

The yamen servants stepped forward first, surrounded the surrounding area, and also isolated the villagers who watched the excitement.

The village is leading the village elders and the informant to wait at the same place, when they saw the county magistrate, they hurriedly kowtowed and said, "The grassroots pay homage to the county magistrate."

"Please get up, old man." Zhou Hong hurriedly ordered the yamen servant to help him: "The case is important, and no courtesy is required. Whoever reported the case must state the case again."

Li was busy pushing the people beside him: "Tell me again how you found the dead body."

The man hurriedly said: "Reporting to the county magistrate, I originally went into the mountains to collect firewood this morning, and I wanted to try to hunt some wild animals by the way, so I brought my old dog with me. Unexpectedly, after a certain distance into the forest, the dog started He kept digging the ground, and I was curious, so I dug it up, and when I found the dead man, I hurried to inform Lizheng, who later asked me to report to the police.”

At this time, the yamen servant has completely dug up the body, and Wu Zuo is examining it.

"Young master!" Suddenly someone squeezed in from behind the yamen servant, threw himself beside the dead body and cried loudly: "This, this is my young master, who killed my young master? Young master!"

This person was the servant who made the report a few days ago, needless to say, the deceased was his master Liu Yun.

The housekeeper of the Ge family who also came to identify the corpse was relieved, but fortunately it was not Sun Maozhe.

Zhou Hong, the county magistrate, is in charge of the people's livelihood and government affairs of a county. He is assisted by the county magistrate, and there is also a county lieutenant who is responsible for judicial arrest, trial of cases, and collection of taxes.However, the former county magistrate and county lieutenant were all close friends of the previous county magistrate, and they were taken away together before leaving office. Zhou Hong got a temporary transfer order, and the county magistrate was filled by one of his staff, but the post of county magistrate is still being searched for.

Cases happened frequently, and he felt that this matter had to be dealt with quickly.

After a while, Wu came over to report: "My lord, after a preliminary inspection, this person died six days ago. He died of poisoning, suspected to be arsenic. There was no external injury on the body of the deceased, and his clothes were neatly dressed, indicating that he was unprepared before death. For those who died, the deceased had all the money, so it can be seen that he was not seeking money, and the possibility of vendetta is very high."

"Captain Cai, what do you think?" Zhou Hong asked.

Cai Butou said: "Since the deceased was drinking with someone unsuspectingly, he should be an acquaintance. He is also a foreigner and has simple local connections. As long as he investigates the people he came into contact with in Fenglin County one by one, he will definitely gain something."

Zhou Hong snorted coldly: "Then you checked for a few days, did you get anything?"

Cai Butou was dumbfounded.

The dead Liu Yun is said to have traveled all over the world, and disappeared the next day after arriving in Fenglin County. Judging from the time of death, he should have been killed on the day he disappeared.In just a day or two, Liu Yun didn't want to make enemies with the locals so quickly. If it was an old enemy, then he happened to meet in Fenglin County?

Liu Yun traveled around and wanted to write a travelogue. According to the usual practice, he won't stay in Fenglin for long.According to the servants, Liu Yun has a bright and cheerful nature, has a wide range of friends, is kind to others, and has never had any enemies with others.

On the day of his disappearance, Liu Yun said he was going to drink tea in a tea house. About half an hour later, the servant went to look for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

Asked about the tea house, said that Liu Yun came in and left without drinking tea, as if he had greeted someone, but he was alone when he left.

Liu Yun has been missing since then, and his body was found today.

Zhou Hong frowned. If there was any connection between the two disappearances, it would be the location.Liu Yun's body appeared here, very close to Meixiang Temple, and the last place where Sun Maozhe appeared was at Meixiang Temple.However, it is difficult to determine whether the two are related.

Cai Butou said again: "My lord, Liu Yun was buried after his death. If you want to transport the body, you must use a horse-drawn carriage. Maybe you can gain something by following this clue."

It stands to reason that the villagers of the nearby Dali Village should have seen the carriage coming to the woods.Cai Butou didn't dare to speak out, because he had to pass through Dali Village to go to Meixiang Temple, and Meixiang Temple was very popular, so there were always many horse-drawn carriages passing by every day, and the horse-drawn carriages throwing corpses mixed among them. people found out.

Cai Butou has experienced many cases. The previous county magistrates were not so serious and sealed the files if they could not be found out. Therefore, many old files have accumulated in the yamen.

"Quickly go and check!" Zhou Hong waved his hands again and again, with a bad tone.

Catcher Cai led the people there immediately.

One of them didn't move. He ran to Zhou Hong and said in a low voice: "My lord, there is no one who is good at investigating cases in the Yamen. After a long time, even if there are clues, they will be buried."

Zhou Hong restrained his anger towards this person, sighed and said: "I have written to the teacher, asking him to help recommend a capable county lieutenant."

"Far water can't quench near thirst. I recommend someone to adults." It was Chen Shiliu who spoke.

"That young man surnamed Mu?" Mr. Chen's family is on the ground in Fenglin County, how can Zhou Hong not care?Therefore, he always pays attention to him, so he naturally knows who he is in contact with.

"Since your lord knows, you know that he is capable, why not invite him to investigate."

Zhou Hong couldn't help laughing: "Come on, let's treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor."

Although Zhou Hong had heard about Mu Qingyan, he didn't take it too seriously, so he didn't expect much.