Nongmen Shenjue

After finding out the cause of Li Daxing's death, he simply stayed in the city for two more days.

Now it is not yet time for the yamen to release the yamen, the yamen is still working, sitting on the south street of the city, you will see yamen servants with knives.These are all officials of the Guining County Government, and they are the witnesses in the Li Daxing case on Chengnan Street.

Since it is determined that people were poisoned to death, the first thing to do is to investigate the source of arsenic.In addition to being used as medicine, arsenic is usually used to poison rats. Although ordinary people can buy this dangerous poison, whenever they buy it, there will be a record. Arsenic poisons people.

On the ninth day of the lunar new year, news spread that the source of the arsenic had been found out, and the buyer was Zheng Jiaxiang, one of the six people arrested.

Zheng Jiaxiang is the highest seniority among the six, and several of them are headed by him.

In addition, Lao Sun's son Xiao Sun also confirmed through identification that the person who entered the backyard of their house under the pretext of going to the toilet was one of the six people, and it was Zheng Feng, the youngest of the six people.The glutinous rice rolls of the shop are made at the entrance of the store facing the street, but the fillings are prepared in advance and placed in the back kitchen.The implication is that Zheng Feng has entered the backyard, and has the opportunity to avoid poisoning people's eyes and ears.

In addition, there was a man who witnessed Li Daxing trying to blackmail a man surnamed Zheng failed, and two witnesses who partnered with Li Daxing to take revenge on a man surnamed Zheng, forming a complete chain, confirming that this case was revenge poisoning and murder.

Guining County has always been procrastinating in handling cases. The local people know that the county magistrate only cares about money. If there is money, the major incidents are reduced to minor ones, and life lawsuits are nothing.Now that a bastard like Li Daxing died, the county government acted extremely quickly, and the case was settled within half a month.

Anyone who has a glimpse of the inside story knows something is wrong, but who dares to meddle in other people's business?Even outside is also secretive.

This is not only the magistrate of Guining County, but also the deterrence of Fourth Master Li.

Everyone knew that Li Daxing had a relationship with Fourth Master Li, and now that the county government is actively working, those who didn't know thought it was because of Fourth Master Li's help.

The county government has reached a conclusion and immediately reported the case.

How could the magistrate of Yueliang state not know about this case?But speaking of it, even though this Zhizhou is a superior official, his seniority is not as deep as that of Xi Yong, especially in Yueliang Prefecture, where the Zhizhou is quite afraid of Xi Yong.Being able to occupy this place for eleven or twelve years, Xi Yong has long been connected with local forces, and if Zhizhou is not careful, he will suffer a big fall.

What's more, Xuejia Village was involved...

It is better to know one thing more than one thing less.However, Zhizhou didn't deal with Xi Yong after all, and he was jealous, but he couldn't make the other party go too smoothly, so he suppressed the case.Even if someone inquires, Zhizhou can be said to be busy with official duties at the end of the year, and the situation is a major fatal case, so we must be cautious, and we can only wait until the end of the year to rest in the next year.

The case has to be reported layer by layer, approved layer by layer, and finally sent to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for final trial.

Yueliang Prefecture is Zhili Prefecture, which is under the jurisdiction of the province.Therefore, Zhizhou has to report to the governor of a province above. After passing the governor, he can go to the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Punishment will give the emperor Zhubi the imperial approval.

Officials in a locality are mostly from different factions between superiors and subordinates, which is conducive to checks and balances.

Xi Yong may not be clear, but in the final analysis, he is just a county magistrate, and he can't do anything outside Yueliang Prefecture.What's more, the favor fee he got was not worth his extra effort, he just settled the case at the county government office.With Xuejia Village involved, the officials above would at best suppress and drag the case back for a retrial. I'm afraid no one would dare.

These details and contests are meaningless to the common people. They only know the result of the trial by the county government. They only know that the six members of the Zheng family have been determined as murderers and are being held in prison, waiting to be beheaded.

Outsiders are just discussing, but the Zheng family in Huangpo Village undoubtedly experienced thunder and earth shattering.

Even Mu Qingyan found this difficult.

He can investigate the truth, but Yueliang Prefecture is a special place, where the governor does not act, the county magistrate is corrupt, and even the local power Siye Li makes money to clear the way... The truth of the case is not important at all, even if everyone knows it, so what?If you want to report to Yushitai, the word "Xuejia Village" is enough to make all the officials stay away.

Looking at it, it is impossible to get through on the bright side.

In the final analysis, not only are others tabooing about "Xuejia Village", but Mu Qingyan also has a lot of worries.

How to do this matter depends on Wen Jixue.

On the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, the two left Zhoucheng for Guining County.

Although the weather has been gloomy and the wind is howling, there is no rain or snow, and the road is dry, making it much easier to walk.It was not too fast to walk all the way, and it was dark and arrived in Guining County.Guining County has mountains and rivers. Although the area of ​​the county is not large, it is a land of fish and rice and is quite rich.

When the county town appeared in sight, Wen Jixue did not drive in, but turned to the left road.

"Go to Changliu Town first."

It takes two hours to get to Changliu Town from the county seat. It is reasonable to say that it is already late at this time and has already arrived in the county seat, so we can rest for a night.But Mu Qingyan didn't object, after all, Wen Jixue's mood was different from his.

Changliu Town is not big, there is a river to the east of the town, the embankment is full of willow trees, and there are green hills in the distance, it is a good place with beautiful mountains and clear waters.

Wen Jixue entered from the main street in the middle of the town, saw a Changliu Inn, and stopped the car.

It is cold in winter, and it is night, basically all the houses are closed, even the shops are closed.The inn is no exception, the door is closed, but there is a little fire from the crack in the door.

Wen Jixue stepped forward and knocked on the door.

"Come, come, come!" Someone inside quickly responded, and opened the door, a warm feeling greeted him, it turned out that there was a brazier in the main room, and two guests were drinking with two kinds of side dishes.The shop owner was not there, and the waiter was supporting him. He was rubbing his eyes when he opened the door, showing that he had fallen asleep just now.

"There is a carriage, you can park it in the backyard." The man said and opened the side door, leading the carriage to the backyard.The cart went directly into the shed, and the horse was tied in the shed, and some water and fodder were obtained.

"I want an upper room and some hot meals." Wen Jixue said, throwing a piece of silver.

The clerk took it with both hands, and responded with a smile: "Okay! The two guests come with me. Although our Changliu Town is a small place, our inn is not very impressive, but the room is definitely spacious and comfortable. If you don't mind the trouble, I will I will give you a small stove with a pot of hot water on it, so you can use water at any time. The inn also has a good charcoal fire, although the price is more expensive, it is absolutely easy to use, and there is no smoke."

This is also recommended because of his two generous shots.

"Just arrange it according to your comfort." Wen Jixue is not short of money.

As soon as the clerk led the two of them in through the small door, he saw the host coming towards him, and hurriedly told the two guests about their stay.

The innkeeper looked at the middle-aged man in his forties, he was white and clean, with a kind smile.

"It turns out to be a distinguished guest!" The innkeeper smiled very enthusiastically: "You two, if you want to say that the best place to live in my inn is the single-family building in the backyard, with a small courtyard, it is very clean and comfortable. That was originally I lived in my home, but there were so many people that I couldn’t live there, and it was vacant, and ordinary guests came, so I couldn’t bear to let them live.”

"The price is negotiable." Wen Jixue motioned for the other party to lead the way.

"Guests are welcome, please!" The innkeeper greeted him while waving his hand at the clerk: "Okay, you can go to rest too, the first two guests have gone back to their rooms to sleep."

Seeing this, the guy took it for granted and went to sleep.

To go to the small courtyard behind, you have to pass through an atrium.

The gate of the small courtyard was ajar, but it was locked, but it had already been opened, and the innkeeper pushed the door open and entered.

When Mu Qingyan saw him, he glanced at the man and his heart skipped a beat.

Sure enough, when the three of them entered, the innkeeper changed his attitude as a businessman, and greeted Wen Jixue seriously: "My subordinate Liu Yi, I have seen you." After a slight pause, he said to Mu Qingyan: "I have seen you, Mr. Mu."

Mu Qingyan smiled, but did not speak.

Earlier, Wen Jixue said that there were already arrangements in Yueliang State, not only in the state city, but also in Changliu Town.Now it seems that the establishment of the stronghold is this inn.Changliu Town is just a small place. If you want to set up a stronghold here without arousing suspicion, you can only use local people. If outsiders come here, it will be really conspicuous.Just now I heard Liu Yi's voice, although he spoke Mandarin, he did have an obvious local accent.

Naturally, Wen Jixue would not ignore such details, otherwise the inn would not be stable until now.

"Have you heard about the six members of the Zheng family in Huangpo Village?" Wen Jixue asked.

"Yes, this matter has been spread all over the world. The subordinates have also investigated it, and it is undoubtedly an unjust case. The county magistrate Xi Yong took 500 taels of silver from Fourth Master Li of Yueliangzhou City, plus a tiger skin, and took care of him. This case is not a secret in the yamen, and it has happened in the past, but this time it involves the Zheng family, which is from Xuejia Village, so it is more sensitive."

"How are the six members of the Zheng family?"

"It is said that there was a verbal collision during the arrest, and he was beaten by the yamen on the grounds of resisting arrest. Money, at most, I will give some things, but even so, they will be exploited. Later in court, six people refused to plead guilty, so Xi Yong used torture. He interrogated Zheng Jiaxiang, but Zheng Jiaxiang refused to admit, so he ordered the servants to beat the younger generation of Zheng's family. One was injured, but he didn't get a proper medical treatment and recuperation, so he fell down firmly, and he almost died of breath.

Zheng Jiaxiang couldn't bear it, so he admitted that he poisoned others and had nothing to do with others.But that Xi Yong had bad intentions, not only looking for a scapegoat, but also deliberately involving the six Zheng family members.After a lot of coercion and temptation, I finally got all the witnesses and material evidence. I heard that the case has been reported to Zhizhou. "

Liu Yi has been in Changliu Town for many years, and secretly cared about the Zheng family. After all, he came from the Xue family village, and he never slandered the Xue family because of being implicated.Without those secret cares, how could the Zheng family settle down in Huangpo Village smoothly.

After the Xue family incident, not to mention the people of Xuejia Village, even Changliu Town and even Yueliang Prefecture were affected to varying degrees.

One prospers all, one loses all.

At the beginning, the Xue family was honored and favored, and as the hometown of General Xue, it seemed that several "General Xue Temples" were built overnight, and the incense was flourishing.The Xue family collapsed, and it seemed that overnight, all the ancestral halls were destroyed, and beggars did not dare to live here at will.