Three Kingdoms

Among Maoling.

Inside the inn.

Sima Yi stood outside the door, listening to the intelligence report.

Zhang Cun's body was first discovered by the waiter at the inn.

"Little, little..." The waiter in the shop swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and seemed to be thoughtful, "I just saw Zhang Langjun's door ajar, thinking... I wanted to collect the night fragrance, but unexpectedly... see……"

The waiter of the inn is responsible for collecting the night fragrance from the guest room every morning, and then carries it to the fertilizer cart in the alley in the backyard. After washing the chamber pot and other things, it will be returned to the guest room again in the evening.

If you miss this time, or have a temporary stomach problem, of course there are temporary services available, but you just need an extra tip.

As the waiter said, he couldn't help but tremble, with a look of fear on his face, "I saw... Zhang Langjun lying on the ground..."

Sima Yi frowned slightly as he listened.

Upon hearing this, Sima Gang stood behind Sima Yi and whispered: "This man's surname is Wang, from Zuofeng Yi. He has been in this inn for many years. He is honest and hardworking and has done nothing illegal... He was on duty in the inn last night, and there are witnesses." 』

Sima Yi nodded, then stared at the waiter.

The waiter was a little flustered and his eyes wandered.

"you are lying! Sima Yi asked in a deep voice, "What are you hiding?" ! 』

The waiter's face suddenly turned pale.

The shopkeeper on the side also looked confused and cursed at the waiter: "Shangguan asked, why don't you tell the truth!" Do you want physical pain? idiot! If you have anything to say, say it! 』

Sima Yi cast a dull glance at the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper quickly apologized and didn't dare to say anything more.

Li Er, the inspector in charge of public security here, took a step forward and shouted with a dark face: "How brave!" How dare you deceive Shangguan! Someone is coming..."

Before Li Er could call someone to carry out the punishment, the waiter collapsed on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, "Little boy, little boy is wrong!" The little one talks about everything, says anything..."

Li Er, the leader of the inspection team, looked back at Sima Yi. When he saw Sima Yi nodded slightly, he shouted: "Tell me the truth!" But there is half a lie in the sentence, huh, be careful about your own life! Say it! 』

The waiter obviously lied.

Because the night incense is usually carried by the customer and placed at the door. Generally speaking, the waiter will not take the initiative to enter the room to collect the night incense. Unless the guest orders it and there is a tip or something, the waiter will enter the room to collect it, so the waiter said When he saw the ajar door, he went straight in, which was obviously unreasonable. But Sima Yi didn't think that the murderer was the waiter, so there was no need to spend more time on the waiter. Sima Yi just wanted to know what the waiter was hiding and whether there were any clues that could be used to track down the real murderer.

"The little one deserves to die, the little one deserves to die!" ” The waiter knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly, “I just saw that the door was ajar... I thought Mrs. Zhang escaped at night and didn’t pay the room fee, so I opened the door to check... and I saw... I really didn’t mean it. Deceiving the superior! really not! 』

Sima Yi narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the waiter, noncommittal.

Li Er glanced at Sima Yi's face and asked, "What did you see when you came in?" Have any items in the room been turned over? To put it in detail, if you have anything to hide, be careful of the pain in your flesh! 』

The waiter was trembling with fear and recounted what he had done.

Li Er grabbed some of the details and asked them several times, and then basically confirmed that the waiter was indeed not the murderer. The reason he lied before was mostly to cover up his illegal behavior of entering the guest room without permission. The traces in the room also proved that the waiter did not

Sima Yi nodded, and asked someone to take the waiter into custody first, and then looked into the house.

The inn house is not big.

Beds, tables, mats and shelves basically fill the entire house.

Zhang Cun's body was lying on the side of the table. In his hand, there were four words written in blood, "Hussar harms X". I don't know if the last word was because I ran out of energy or for some other reason. I just wrote the first two strokes and then stopped.

Sima Yi sneered because he couldn't find it.

Are you going to write "The hussar harmed me"?

What kind of person are you, and are you worthy of Qingqi's action?

Just ridiculous.

But the problem is that ordinary people don't care about this. Most of the time they just want to watch the fun.

As for what the truth is, their demands are not high.

In other words, sustained attention is not enough.

When the truth comes out, they often turn to another excitement.

The blood has basically solidified, and the smell of blood is very strong.

Sima Yi looked at those words and said, "Who else has come in?" 』

Li Er replied from the side: "In addition to the waiter, there is also the shopkeeper." In addition, there may be tenants in the surrounding areas... When I brought people here, there were already many people gathered here..."

Sima Yi nodded. As expected, this matter cannot be covered up at all, and many people will see these words.

Sima Yi turned his head and looked at the shelf on the side of the bed. The items seemed to have been turned over and were a bit messy.

There seem to be some trampling marks around the shelf...

Um?

Sima Yi suddenly frowned, where is his robe?

Sima Yi was a little excited.

At least it was a more challenging excitement for Sima Yi than trying those corrupt officials.

Trying those corrupt officials is so boring and unchallenging.

These corrupt officials seem to be all modeled after the same template. At the beginning, they claimed that they were innocent, and they were deceived, seduced, deceived, etc. by a certain relative, a certain subordinate, a certain tribe, etc. As a result, he finally embarked on a path of no return, and then in the process of repenting endlessly, he vaguely mentioned that he had done something when he was in office, or tried to offset his merits. , or said that the mistakes can be corrected, or redeemed with money, etc. Anyway, most of them are corrupt, the amount of money is different, the location is different, and the other methods, whether it is the method of corruption or the ugly appearance of being arrested, are almost the same. similar.

They were much more similar, which naturally made Sima Yi a little bored after going through a period of trial.

Now Sima Yi suddenly found some interest in trying cases...

"Where is this man's coat?" 』

Sima Yi suddenly pointed at the clothes hanger.

There were only one or two small clothes hanging on the hangers.

People in the Han Dynasty wore three layers of clothing: small clothes, middle clothes, and outer robes. But now Zhang Cun's body was covered only by his middle coat, and no outer robe was seen.

Li Er walked to the clothes rack in two hurried steps, looked down and looked carefully, and suddenly said: "There are marks here!" 』

There seemed to be some faint blood stains on the edge of the clothes hanger, which were not too obvious, and then went around to the back of the clothes hanger.

Li Er immediately pulled out his waist knife, turned the clothes hanger, and while checking the marks on the ground, followed the traces, and then reached the back window, "The thief went out from here!" 』

There were some bloody scratches on the windows.

Because the inn house is not new, the window sills and other items are also old, and the marks on the paint are not very obvious. Only veterans like Li Er who have been on the battlefield would be more sensitive to clues.

Sima Yi nodded and then gestured. Immediately, his guards and the inspection team brought by Li Er either climbed out of the window or walked out of the house and continued to trace the traces on the window. Not long after, they were on another There were sounds of scolding and fighting...

After a while, Li Er happily escorted one person outside the house and said, "Report to Dali Qing, the thief has been caught!" 』

So easy?

Sima Yi raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Woo...┭┮﹏┭┮" The thief was tied up with a rag in his mouth, and his limbs were tied together, like a sheep thrown on the floor.

"This was found in his house!" This is the robe of the dead! jade belt! Li Er obviously felt a little excited that he could catch the thief so quickly, "And this, the gold-painted fan!" It's all here! This is all physical evidence! 』

"Hmm..." Sima Yi looked at it, thought about it, and nodded, "Take it back to Dali Temple..."

Li Er happily took the thief away.

But Sima Yi still stayed where he was, looking at the window, then at the door, and then at the crowd of people watching the excitement outside the door, and then left.

After returning to Dali Temple and interrogating the captured thief, I realized that I had caught him wrong.

Strictly speaking, it's not wrong, but this guy is not a murderer, but a stealer...

When this guy arrived at Dali Temple, he collapsed on the ground and cried bitterly. He repeatedly emphasized that it was just his first time, and confessed in every possible way that he should not be obsessed with money. However, this did not get the slightest sympathy from Sima Yi and others. Let this guy first The thief took him into custody and put him in prison.

"Dali Qing...is this thief escaping a major crime with a small crime?" "Li Er was a little disappointed because he didn't catch the real thief, but he still held on to a little hope...

Sima Yi nodded slightly, "I can't say it's completely impossible..."

After a moment of silence, Li Er said with some anxiety, "I dare to ask Dali Qing... I don't know where the Husband is... what are the regulations?" 』

Before the development of fingerprint science, bloodstain theory, and related criminal investigation disciplines, the efficiency of solving such murder cases was extremely low.

Throughout the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, even the Qin Dynasty, and even the Han Dynasty, major events recorded in history books basically required witnesses, such as the strong order of Dong Xuan, Li Ying's execution of the law to kill Zhang Shuo, etc. , in fact, strictly speaking, they are all political cases, not simple murders.

As for most murder cases, even in the feudal dynasties of later generations, there were still only a few who could successfully break them. More than half of them were obtained through beating, and many of them were just hanging on the wall, leaving nothing to be done. At most, only 10 to 20% were based on real reasoning.

So Li Er was a little worried, because this "involved" the Hussar, so if the Hussar ordered it to be solved within a few days...

That's it.

Sima Yi glanced at Li Er and said, "What does Inspector Li have to say?" 』

"How dare you pretend to be a disciple..." Li Er quickly lowered his head and raised his hands and said, "I just want... if the hussar is chasing after me in a hurry, I can... I can report this thief first..."

Li Er glanced at Sima Yi's face.

Sima Yi had no expression on his face, "You mean... you think this is a murder of a thief?" 』

Li Er quickly waved his hand, "That's not what I meant, Xiao... I just said that if the hussar is eager, there is more or less an excuse... As for the rest, it all depends on Dali Qing's orders..."

Sima Yi was noncommittal and didn't say anything. He just lowered his head and looked through the records and related confessions again.

In many cases in the Han Dynasty, whether there was any oral confession was sometimes not as strict as in later generations. However, after all, Hussar was involved at the moment, so Sima Yi did not think it was a good idea to pass by Hu.

Li Er wiped the sweat from his head in embarrassment.

This matter...

It's obviously not simple.

If he had known this was the case, he should have pretended to be sick, no, maybe he should have given himself a knife...

But this involves hussars, can you just pretend? He is the inspection captain of Maoling, so this matter will always happen to him.

Damn it, why did you start it in Maoling? Can't we leave Maoling and then...

Forget it, it's useless to think about this, now we should catch this damn thief earlier!

Clues, which side has more clues?

The house where Zhang Cun died had only two entrances and exits, one door and one window.

There are only traces of this little thief on the window side, but on the door side...

Even if there are any traces, they have been wiped out by the people coming in and out. Even if you go back to investigate, you will probably not be able to find anything. While Li Er was thinking hard, footsteps sounded outside the Dali Temple. Ma Gang from the Youwen Division came again, bringing some latest information that the Youwen Division assisted in the investigation.

Information one: Zhang Cun has no enemies in Chang'an now.

The definition of "vengeance" is the kind of personal grudge that is worthy of killing Zhang Cun.

The only grudge may be that Zhang Cun is suspected of insulting Qiusi...

Is insult worth killing?

It was worth it in the Han Dynasty.

The concept of grudges in the Han Dynasty was very direct. Perhaps just by insulting other people's parents, they would be killed by their sons. Those in later generations who often have the mantra of grass and mud horses, in the Han Dynasty, and even in the feudal dynasty for a long period of time afterwards, I am afraid that they will not survive even one chapter. Moreover, the laws of the Han Dynasty and subsequent dynasties, because of the influence of Confucian loyalty and filial piety, often have a positive attitude towards killing people for blood relatives.

For example, in the Southern Qi Dynasty, Zhu Qianzhi's revenge was only caused by the fact that when Zhu Qianzhi from Qiantang was a child, his biological mother died and was buried next to a field. Then Zhu Youfang, a fellow tribesman, set fire to the field, and the flames burned Zhu Qianzhi's mother's grave. Burned……

This may not have been an intentional act, but it caused the two families to stage blood revenge.

Zhu Qian later came with a sharp knife and killed Zhu Youfang, saying that he was taking revenge for his mother's filial piety, and then surrendered to the county jail. When things got serious, the Emperor of Southern Qi greatly appreciated Zhu Qianzhi's act of revenge, but he was also afraid of the Zhu family's vendetta against each other, so he asked Zhu Qianzhi to surrender his army and follow General Cao Hu to Xiangyang. As a result, when Zhu Qianzhi was about to set off, Zhu Youfang's son Zhu Yun hid in the road waiting for an opportunity to assassinate Zhu Qianzhi.

When Zhu Qianzhi's brother Zhu Xuanzhi found out about this, he assassinated Zhu Yun...

There is no end to the retribution of injustice.

But at that time, the Emperor of Southern Qi made the first move and pardoned Zhu Qianzhi, so naturally he could not punish the people who followed him, and they were all pardoned.

Therefore, it can be roughly said that if it is for vendetta, then the only "vengeance" is that Zhang Cun once insulted the Hussar and put the responsibility for the Western Regions on the Hussar?

Information two: Zhang Cun's resume is very simple, even "clean" to a certain extent.

Heluo people, Zhang family's small clan.

My previous experience cannot be verified, but I later followed the refugees from Jingzhou to Chang'an and took part in the imperial examination, but my ranking was not high. Because the Western Regions needed officials, I lowered my standards and was selected to the Western Regions, but I did not hold any important positions. He didn't stay in the Western Regions for long, so he resigned and returned to Chang'an.

Then came the admonishment incident.

During this process, Zhang Cun did not trigger the alarm bell of Youwen Division.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that there is something lurking somewhere that Yuwenji has not noticed yet...

After all, Chang'an is now a very big city. Not to mention the main urban area, there are a lot of people in the surrounding tombs. In addition, there is frequent movement of people. Even with customs clearance, household registration control, and village registration, etc., Some loopholes still cannot be avoided. So from this aspect, Zhang Cun does not seem like a spy.

To take a step back, even if Zhang Cun was a spy, and he was executed by the hussar as shown in the handwriting left behind, then the person who did it should be the Youwen Division or the Inspection Department. Yes, and after Ma Gang asked around, no one had received relevant instructions, and no one said they had taken action against Zhang Cun.

So if it was a spy from other aspects, what was the purpose of attacking Zhang Cun?

Information three: No witnesses have been found in the inn and its surroundings.

Maoling is not a small place and has a large population. In addition, there are many people coming and going in the inn on weekdays. There are all kinds of food, drinks and accommodation. Naturally, I will not pay special attention to observing every one of the inn. People coming in and out. Moreover, the noise in the inn was usually very noisy. When Zhang Cun died, even if there was any noise, no one paid attention to it, so no relevant witnesses were found at all.

There were no witnesses, which meant that anyone could have killed Zhang Cun.

After all, Zhang Cun is just an ordinary Confucian scholar. It may be an exaggeration to say that he has no power to restrain a chicken, but it is indeed not too difficult to kill Zhang Cun. So there are too many people capable of killing him, so it's difficult to have an accurate suspect.

Ma Gang looked at Sima Yi with some embarrassment.

One of the reasons for the embarrassment is that this is the situation that Yuwensi can find in the shortest time, but it is obvious that these situations have no direct direction.

As for the second reason for embarrassment...

Sima Yi looked at the information at hand, then raised his eyes and fell on Ma Gang, "Director Kan's intention is already known." Please also reply to Director Kan, thank you for your hard work. 』

Ma Gang was stunned.

Could it be that Kan Ze said something extra in the intelligence?

No? Ma Gang himself also read the information sent to Sima Yi. There was nothing extra written in it?

So why did Sima Yi say this?

However, it was impossible for Ma Gang to ask Sima Yi in detail at that moment. He could only respond in confusion and then go back to Kan Ze to report back.

Sima Yi watched Ma Gang leave, smiled slightly, then turned to Li Er and said: "Captain Li, it's over." 』

"ha? ” Li Er’s eyes widened.