One car and several riders galloped along the official road in Jingzhou. Pedestrians evaded hastily, and smoke and dust billowed all the way.
Chu Suiliang had been riding in this bumpy carriage for almost two days. At this time, he only felt sore all over, dizzy and dizzy, but he still kept urging the driver to hurry up and rush to Jingzhou City as soon as possible.
Carrying a blood-related relationship on his body, Chu Suiliang has never felt so nervous. King Wu was assassinated, the emperor fell seriously ill, and there were rumors that Qin Mubai in Guanxi wanted to rebel. He knew all these things clearly. These three shocking events that could shake the foundation of the Tang Dynasty were all directly or indirectly related to Jingzhou.
Although Chu Suiliang knew that Changsun Wuji had the intention to separate him from the court at this critical moment and to give him the most difficult case in the world to deal with, which was somewhat malicious, Chu Suiliang had no time to think about it.
To find out the truth about the Jingzhou case, Wu Wang Li Kesheng wanted to see people dead and corpses, which is the most important thing at the moment.
After flying under the stars and the moon, changing horses many times and even losing two wheels, Chu Suiliang finally arrived at the city of Jingzhou. After getting out of the car, he could barely stand, but he didn't even bother to rest for a moment and take a sip of water. He went straight to the government office and summoned the governor and other local officials to inquire about the case.
Yin Yang also arrived.
The governor of Jingzhou, whose surname was Xu, was somewhat related to Li Ji (Li Ji's original name was Xu Shiji). He had been an official for seven years, and his rule had always been peaceful. Although he was not a capable minister or official, he at least had no faults and meritorious service. This time such a huge disaster happened under his jurisdiction. Governor Xu was so frightened that he almost hanged himself.
Chu Suiliang asked everyone about some information, which was no different from what was rumored by the outside world. It was simply that the King of Wu was attacked in the forest on the outskirts of Anding County. There were a total of eighteen people accompanying him, and only Yin Yang survived.
After hearing this, Chu Suiliang thought to himself for a long time. Seeing that all the officials were present, he dismissed the idle people and called Xu Governor and Yin Yang in private for further questioning.
Sure enough, this time Chu Suiliang heard many key doubts.
Governor Xu acted fairly securely, and implemented a strict information blockade on the investigation results of the crime location, so that Yin Yang and his officials were not aware of it. He reported to Chu Suiliang that after the assassination, the murderer set a fire in the forest to destroy the body and eliminate traces. Later, the state capital tried its best to put out the fire, and forty-three male corpses were found among the embers at the fire scene!
"Forty-three?!" Yin Yang was shocked on the spot, "We and the guards accompanying the King of Wu, including the generals, can only be seventeen, and together with the King of Wu, there are a total of eighteen riders. How can there be so many at the scene? A corpse?"
"What's even more shocking!" Governor Xu swallowed nervously and said with a trembling look on his face, "Among the forty-three corpses, twenty-seven have no heads!"
"Ah?" Chu Suiliang and Yin Yang screamed at the same time.
"How could this happen?" Yin Yang asked in shock, "You kill someone and cut off their head. What's the purpose?"
"After cutting off the heads, he set fire to the corpses to eliminate traces." Chu Suiliang was much calmer and said with a deep eyebrow, "Obviously, the person who did it did not want the identities of these twenty-seven people to be exposed!"
"Then why were the other sixteen people not beheaded?" Yin Yang asked again in surprise.
Governor Xu was trembling all over, and said tremblingly: "Bei, Beiji personally led the work to examine all the corpses. It was found that the sixteen corpses that had not been beheaded were all from Prince Wu's palace. Guards! Because they have palace access tokens on them!"
"But this kind?!" After saying this, Yin Yang took off his iron token from his waist.
"No, that's right! It's exactly this!" Governor Xu said with certainty after identifying it.
Chu Suiliang frowned and took the token, looked at it, and said: "It is made of iron and is difficult to be melted by fire. This just proves the identity of the sixteen deceased. In this way, except for General Yin, the others All sixteen of the bodyguards have been killed. Governor Xu, let me ask you, are there any identification items on the other twenty-seven corpses?"
"No." Governor Xu answered with certainty, "The corpses were all burned like coke, making it impossible to identify them."
Chu Suiliang nodded, "I think so. Since the murderer has cut off his head, he will not leave any other clues to prove his identity. According to this analysis, in the woods that day, except for King Wu and his party, at least There are two more troops!”
"That's right, the humble official thinks so too!" Governor Xu said, "The mantis stalks the cicada, but the oriole follows behind!"
Yin Yang was stunned for a moment, thought for a long time, and asked doubtfully: "That means that in addition to the group of people who assassinated King Wu, there was another group of people who appeared at the same time? Then what was their purpose?"
"We still don't know yet." Chu Suiliang's eyes flashed with a faint light, and he said calmly: "Prince Xu, please go down and rest first. I will ask you for questioning tomorrow."
Governor Xu accepted the promise and retired, leaving only Chu Suiliang and Yin Yang in the room.
"General Yin, I want to ask you why all the sixteen guards accompanying you were killed, but you were the only one who survived?" Chu Suiliang said directly.
Yin Yang's anger suddenly rose, his eyes widened and he said angrily: "Does Mr. Chu suspect that the last general is the murderer?!"
"That's not what I meant. Don't get me wrong." Chu Suiliang had a good temper. He raised his hand to signal Yin Yang to suppress his temper and said, "I also heard the report from Governor Xu, saying that you were knocked unconscious by the murderer and left on the side of the road. , so he survived. I am just curious, why did the murderer leave you alone? Is there another conspiracy? "
"This!..." Yin Yang was stunned for a moment and shook his head, "General, I really haven't thought about this issue carefully. But after the general finally broke through with his two brothers to protect King Wu, he encountered a mysterious The master intercepted and killed the general who was knocked unconscious by that person!"
"Oh? Tell me in detail!" Chu Suiliang perked up.
Yin Yang told Chu Suiliang in detail what happened that night. After hearing this, Chu Suiliang was very shocked and asked: "You mean, King Wu had a conversation with the murderer at that time, and guessed that the murderer was an old acquaintance of King Wu when he was an official in Xiangzhou?"
"That's right!" Yin Yang said with certainty, "But King Wu didn't guess who the person was. After a few words, the person was about to commit murder. The general was eager to protect him and drew his sword to fight with him. Thinking that the man was very cunning and ruthless, he knocked down the general with just one move. The general thought he was certain to die, but when he woke up, he discovered that he had fainted due to a sharp blow to the back of his head with the back of a knife. He is still suffering from hematoma. It’s not over yet, Mr. Chu, please take a look!”
After saying that, Yin Yang took off his tassel and loosened his hair. Sure enough, he saw that there was still a blister as big as an egg on the back of his head.
"Does that mean that after you fainted, you didn't know everything? When you woke up, you found yourself thrown on the side of the road, and the woods were filled with fire?" Chu Suiliang asked.
"Exactly."
Chu Suiliang nodded, stood up, clasped his hands behind his back, and paced, pondering: "So, it was easy to kill you with the murderer's methods, but why didn't he kill you? Did he intend to keep you alive so that you could survive?" Report the case to the government?”
"Then why did he do this?" Yin Yang was also confused.
Chu Suiliang's heart was beating loudly, and the look on his face became more and more nervous and anxious. He whispered: "Think about it, King Wu was assassinated. Wouldn't this huge event cause turmoil in the government and the public and make the world uneasy? Now I It is speculated that the murderer probably did not kill King Wu, but kidnapped him! There was a bigger conspiracy behind him than killing King Wu himself! "
"Ah? That means His Highness the King of Wu is still alive?!" Yin Yang was immediately overjoyed and knelt down to Chu Suiliang on the spot, "Ms. Chu, you must rescue His Highness the King of Wu!"
"General Yin, please get up." Chu Suiliang helped Yin Yang up, took a deep breath and sighed slowly, "Now these are just my guesses. The truth remains to be verified. General Yin, all of this You must keep everything secret from outsiders, never reveal a word, remember, remember!”
"Please remember this, general!"
At this time, Governor Xu actually left and came back again, asking for an audience outside. Chu Suiliang asked the guards outside the door to let him in. After entering the door, Governor Xu said anxiously: "My lord, please forgive me. I was so anxious and nervous just now that I forgot an important clue."
"Say it!"
Governor Xu hurriedly said: "After the incident that day, I led people to investigate the scene. Xu found many corpses and several horses running away not far away!"
"Yes!" Yin Yang said anxiously, "After General Mo woke up, he looked around for his colleagues and horses, but found nothing. It seems that the horses were frightened and fled in all directions during the fierce battle, or they were tied to a tree and were burned to death before they could escape!"
"That's right!" Governor Xu said, "We found eighteen burnt horse corpses at the scene. They must be the mounts of King Wu and his party. These horses were tied to trees and could not escape from being burned. Dead. But two other horses were found in the distance, but they were alive! These two horses have extraordinary saddles and bridles and are of good breed. They are definitely not horses for civilian use, but look like... "
"Lead the way forward and lead me to check it out personally!" Chu Suiliang ordered decisively.
Later, the three of them arrived at the back house of the Governor's Mansion and saw the two horses. Chu Suiliang stepped forward to inspect it personally, and also asked Yin Yang, who was familiar with the military, to inspect it together. After a while, Yin Yang said with certainty that they could not be military horses, because both horses were uncastrated stallions. Except for stallions, all male horses in the army must be castrated. However, these two excellent breeds of horses are expensive, and saddles, bridles and other items are not affordable for ordinary people. Based on this, it is inferred that it should be a private horse owned by a wealthy official.
"I was wondering, could this be the horse left behind by the murderers in their panic?" Governor Xu asked cautiously.
"It's possible..." Chu Suiliang responded casually, still carefully inspecting the horse's body. Finally, a special mark that was not very obvious was found on the neck of one of the horses!
Seeing this mark, Chu Suiliang stood stunned on the spot!
"What's wrong?" Governor Xu and Yin Yang asked at the same time.
"Look..." Chu Suiliang pointed to the mark on the horse's neck.
"Is it a brand? Many private horses from wealthy families are branded to prevent theft. Military horses and official horses must be branded at the same time." Yin Yang asked as he stepped forward and looked carefully at the brand. He was shocked on the spot. Said: "It's the word 'Wei'!!"
"That's right, it's Wei!" Chu Suiliang narrowed his eyes and looked downcast. He turned around and asked Yin Yang, "General Yin, what did you think of?!"
"As soon as the last general saw the word Wei, he immediately thought of Wei Xiaochen!" Yin Yang exclaimed in surprise, "When the King of Wu was an official in Xiangzhou and served as the governor, Wei Xiaochen was his assistant officer and served as the Sima of Xiangzhou. . But this man colluded with Du Chengyuan, the commander of the Guoyan Command in Xiangzhou, to cause trouble, and they were killed by the King of Wu and Marshal Qin at that time. They have all been killed! How could it be possible for the ghost to seek his life?”
"Don't talk nonsense, where are the ghosts!" Chu Suiliang took a deep breath, "This clue is very important. You two must not leak a word to the outside world! - Okay, you all go down. I am also tired. , need to rest.”
The two had to resign.
Chu Suiliang stood next to the horse, staring at the brand with a keen gaze, thinking to himself: Wei Xiaochen and Du Chengyuan are dead, but the Wei and Du family in Chang'an are still prosperous! The Xiangzhou water ghost case made King Wu and Qin Mubai famous. But from then on, the Chang'an Weidu family must have hated King Wu to death. In particular, the Wei family has deep roots and great power. In the harem there is Concubine Wei, the first of the four concubines, and in the court there is Wei Ting, the imperial censor...
"Wei Ting!!" Chu Suiliang was startled, "He is also in charge of the Wei Palace and has a close relationship with the Wei King! Moreover, didn't he have a daughter who married Qi King Li You? Back then, Li You was executed for his rebellion. His Because of this, his daughter was demoted to Lingnan, so Wei Ting was also somewhat implicated. Shangshu Zuocheng was demoted to the position of inspector. Later, he was reinstated due to the activities of the King of Wei, and the official was appointed as the censor to be responsible for supervision. Hundreds of officials, and was in charge of the prosecution and imprisonment of major cases... Wasn't it also the case that Li You's rebellion was suppressed by King Wu and Qin Mubai? "
Thinking of this, Chu Suiliang couldn't help but shudder!
"If this case is really related to Wei Ting, then the truth of the matter may be even more terrifying!" Chu Suiliang took a breath and said secretly, "He is both the confidant of King Wei and the enemy of King Wu. At this time There is indeed a reason and motive to assassinate the King of Wu. But... he is also the brother of Concubine Wei; Concubine Wei also has a prince! Since Concubine Yang's concubine can compete for the throne, how can Concubine Wei's son be the heir? cannot?!"
"The King of Wu returns to the capital, and the matter is related to the establishment of a heir. In this very sensitive period, I guess that the King of Wei will not risk the disapproval of the world to commit crimes. Because as long as the King of Wu makes a slight mistake, he will be the most suspected! King Wei Although he is sinister, he is not stupid!" Chu Suiliang thought to himself, "But if it is Wei Ting! ... On the surface, he is helping the King of Wei fight for the throne to eliminate his powerful enemy, but in fact, he is deliberately blaming the King of Wei. It is really killing two birds with one stone! If King Wei and King Wu both died because of this, the Wei family would not only have avenged the blood revenge of the year, but Concubine Wei's son, King Ji Li Shen, who was only more than ten years old, would not be a fisherman, and would have the opportunity to come to the fore. ? -If this is the case, won’t Wei Ting have the opportunity to dominate the government and even dominate Changsun Wuji?”
"Danger!!" Chu Suiliang's mind suddenly felt like a thunder!
"If this is the case - then Prince Jin is also in danger!"