Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 370
"KIA—"

In the early morning, a standard Japanese scream woke up many passengers from their sleep.

At the same time, it also opened the prelude to a suspenseful drama.

This place, named "Chuan Peng Zhuang", is a hot spring hotel located in Xiaguan.

Yesterday afternoon, Shuangxie and Keijiro came here together. The three of them ate, bathed, drank and talked leisurely here, and stayed for one night.

Originally, they planned to leave this morning, but they didn't expect that a murder case occurred in the hotel this early in the morning.

Of course, if it's just an ordinary guest of low status, it's not a big deal; isn't it just a commoner's death?Wouldn't it be over if your store disposes of the corpse by itself?Do you still have to report to the government and expect someone from the Yamen to help you track down the murderer?

In this turbulent year, all the big names are busy fighting for territory, how can they have so much thought to take care of the law and order in every corner of their territory?
If I manage a certain place well today, it might not be mine tomorrow, so what's the point?
Only a few forces with a very stable territory like Shimadzu have the leisure to deal with security issues. If it is changed to Mori's, that is "selective management".

Seeing this, some people may ask, isn’t it meaningless that most places are managed well?Then why do we still have to "selectively manage" instead of "just ignore"?

Because... If you really dare to ignore it completely, with the rampant banditry at that time, they can make your land "abandoned" in a short period of time, turning it into a dead place where no residents dare to live.

Moreover, it is almost impossible to eradicate this kind of banditry before the end of the war—those warriors who lost their lords, deserters on the battlefield, and ordinary people who were driven to nowhere, etc., may join the ranks of bandits at any time, committing murder and robbing deeds.

For the vast majority of people, the honor of a warrior, human dignity, compassion for others... are all vulnerable to the pressure of survival.

Only those who are full of food, sitting in front of the computer and typing on the keyboard will discuss what is right and kind; people who have lost everything by the war and have been hungry for several days will not push you too much. If he held a rice ball and didn't give it to him, he could have picked up the knife on the ground and grabbed it.

And daimyos usually follow the principle of "small kills and big harvests" to deal with these continuously breeding bandits: small-scale and small-numbered ones will be slaughtered when caught, and large-scale and large-numbered ones will be recruited.

90.00% of the bandits are willing to be recruited, because they didn't want to "rebel" at first, they just wanted "food"; Being transferred away, joining the main combat force or becoming a lower-level staff member, other miscellaneous fish...will become similar to those soldiers in the last two books.

Closer to home, why is this case "a matter" now?And why "have to manage"?
It's very simple, because it's not ordinary people who died this time, but someone with a background.

This person's name is Taketa Kuranosuke, he is in his early forties this year, and he is a well-known wealthy businessman in the southern part of Hiroshima; his family is one of the "money pockets" of the Mori family.

If he didn't even know why he died, then other merchants on the Maori land would definitely have an idea: together with you samurai lords who collect so much tax from us on weekdays, something really happened, and you can't protect us Our wealth and life, and we can't catch the real culprit and bring him to justice... Then I paid the money for loneliness?

Therefore, no matter what, there must be an explanation for this case.

As a result, the investigation of the case was carried out in full swing early in the morning.

The person who investigated the case was none other than a samurai general named Kumagai Hirochu who had a banquet with Takeda last night.

Kumagai will meet up here with Zhutian, eat, drink and have fun, which can be regarded as a kind of official entertainment. Kumagai is representing the official Mori family to establish a good relationship with the boss of Zhutian. , They drank until they almost vomited, and then went back to their rooms to rest.

Unexpectedly, in the early morning of the next day, when several hotel maids went to clean the hot spring, they found Takeda's body by the pool, which led to the screaming scene at the beginning.

About 3 minutes later, Kumagai came to the scene staggeringly with a hangover. At this time, more than a dozen people had gathered around to see the excitement. Kumagai pushed aside the crowd and walked to the front, and saw Takeda's body at a glance.

The corpse was lying on the ground with its face sideways. Surprise was written on the face of death, and there was a huge and hideous wound on the lower part of the back of the head. It was unknown whether it was made by a blunt instrument or a sharp knife. It was so big that it directly shattered a large piece of his skull, causing a large amount of blood to flow out from the broken and collapsed "brain hole", spreading all over the ground, and some blood slowly flowed not far along the wet ground In the hot spring pool.

Since Takeda was only wearing a loincloth when he died, it is easy to see that the blow to the back of the head was the only fatal injury on his body, and there is a high probability that he was taken out of the body just after soaking in the hot spring. A sneak attack from behind, a one-hit kill.

Kumagai stared blankly at the bloodless face on the other side of the corpse for about ten seconds. During this process, most of his remaining drowsiness and hangover had disappeared, and shock and panic were hitting his brain in turn.

But he is also a warrior general after all. It didn't take long for him to calm down. After weighing the pros and cons and thinking about the priorities of the situation, he revealed his identity and began to control the chaotic situation at the scene.

Soon, Kumagai issued an order to several accompanying subordinates who had come to the scene one after another, asking them to divide into two groups, one group to seal all the entrances and exits of the hotel, and the other group to go to the nearby military post to ask for reinforcements.

During the Warring States period in Japan, Kyoto had a "Secretary Office of Non-violation Inspection". Its power was extremely powerful, and it basically took care of all grassroots public security, law and civil affairs in Kyoto, and emptied many other related functional departments.

But here... is not Kyoto.

In the vassal territory where the security management is relatively chaotic, the cases in many places are handled incidentally by the local garrison.

As for Boss Zhutian’s murder, even if the military shouldn’t be in charge, Kumagai will take the initiative to take over, because he had already settled the accounts before he gave the order. If you ask someone else to investigate, it’s okay if you find out, but if you can’t find out...the other party will probably throw the blame on him in order to deal with business, at least give him the whole "poor protection" Where is he going to justify the crime?
Thinking about it further, I don’t know how long the corpse has been lying here. Although it is winter, the hot spring pool is filled with warm water vapor. It is difficult to judge the time of death based on the rigor and blood coagulation... Who knows if Zhutian just died in the early morning, or was he lying there in the early morning?Maybe the murderer ran out before the blockade, so he can still be chased back?
Therefore, Kumagai might as well take the responsibility for the investigation on his own initiative. On the surface, he can say such beautiful words as "I will be responsible for my fault of not protecting Mr. Takeda", but secretly he can do something to throw the blame out, anyway. What he needs is not any "truth", all he needs is an "explanation".

Seeing this, everyone must understand—no matter who the real culprit is today, and whether the real culprit is still in the "Chuanpanzhuang", Kumagai will definitely catch them from among the people who are still in the hotel. One as a murderer.

Of course, he couldn't immediately, right away... just randomly pick someone who looks bully and put a shit bowl on his head, it would be too obvious to do so.

As I said earlier, Takeda Kuranosuke is a man of distinction. If you, Kumagai, can't even produce any decent evidence, or finally pull out a person who was beaten into a maimed and dumb person to cover the case, your colleagues and Your superiors will definitely have a problem with you.

It's not that you can't be framed, it's just that when you frame, things must be done thoughtfully, so that everyone can tacitly let you pass.

If you mess around and pass errands hastily, it will either make people think that you are not capable enough to do a superficial job, or people will think that you are perfunctory and disrespectful to your superiors.

Kumagai is 35 years old and has been in office for many years. He would not make such low-level mistakes, so shortly after the reinforcements arrived, he continued to take full command. All the guests of Zhuang and the staff of the hotel launched an investigation.

It's just that this investigation... is also detailed. Judging from the state of the wound on the back of Zhutian's head, this is definitely not the work of ordinary people. The murderer either knows martial arts or has amazing arms, so he does not meet the conditions for committing the crime. , A general screening can rule it out, and those who have the ability to commit crimes should focus on inquiry.

…………

Chen Shi, a guest room.

"Please state your name."

"Under Miyamoto Musashi."

"Oh?" Kumagai looked at the man in front of him who looked about 30 years old and had a rough face, and his eyes couldn't help but linger on the two swords beside him, one long and one short, "Could it be that your Excellency was in a The one in Joji Temple who single-handedly defeated more than seventy Yoshioka-ryu..."

"As you said..." Musashi sat upright on his knees and replied calmly, "I'm just a swordsman passing through here."

"Is that so..." Xiong Gu muttered softly, and then asked again, "Then where are you going?"

"Today, I will go to Yanliu Island to fight a duel with a young swordsman called a genius." Musashi said, "But because your Excellency suddenly blocked the hotel, you can only wait in this room."

"Hmm..." Kumagai was a little annoyed by Musashi's neither humble nor overbearing attitude and his slightly barbed words, but he couldn't find any reason to attack.

"Then I'm afraid your Excellency will have to wait for a while." Two seconds later, Kumagai deliberately said such a slightly provocative sentence, which probably meant "Your duel has nothing to do with me, I am not in a hurry ".

But after he finished speaking, he observed Musashi's expression, but found that the other party was still unmoved, so he could only quickly continue to ask questions, so as not to be the one who was embarrassed after talking for a long time: "Then, may I ask your Excellency since the midnight of last night?" , where were you until this morning when the body was found?"

"I fell asleep when I was young, and I woke up when I heard screams in the morning." Musashi replied.

"Can someone testify for you?" Kumagai asked again.

"No." Musashi replied.

"Then did you meet any unusual things or people yesterday?" Xiong Gu asked.

He had thought that Musashi would still quickly give a brief denial in that calm tone.

Unexpectedly... Faced with this question, Musashi was silent for a few seconds before he said, "Yes, one of the three people living in the room in the west courtyard is very strange."

When Xiong Gu heard the words, he suddenly remembered something: "Is it...that young man with a bun in the sky and a loud voice?"

Kumagai asked this because when he went to the hot spring pool yesterday evening, he passed by Keijiro at the changing place, and the latter's appearance was indeed easy to remember.

"No..." Miyamoto Musashi said, "The young man you mentioned, I also have the impression that he is a strange person named Keijiro, but the strange person I am talking about is not him, but walking with him one of two."

"Oh? Who is that?" Kumagai became more and more curious, who could make this famous swordsman Musashi feel weird, even weirder than the strange man, who is the holy one.

"I don't know his name either." Musashi replied, "I only know that his neck is shorter than ordinary people's. Of course, it's not particularly weird. What's strange about him is... since yesterday afternoon, Until I go to bed...every time I go to the toilet, no matter how big or small, I can see him squatting in the pit, which makes me wonder if he has been squatting there all day."

"Hmm..." Now it was Kumagai's turn to be silent.

The rooms Kumagai and Taketa lived in were regarded as VIP rooms of the hotel, and their toilets were separate from those of other guests, so he neither knew about it nor how to comment on it...

…………

Two 10 minutes later, another room.

"Your Excellency, please state your name." Kumagai began to ask the second person he thought capable of committing murder.

"My name is Tokumaru." This is also a strong man in his 30s, whose appearance is somewhat similar to Hong Kong actor Li Ming, "the second generation inheritor of the 'Shui Liu' boxing."

"Your accent is very special." Kumagai didn't ask much about the name of the "water flow" school. After all, there were too many martial arts schools in Japan at that time, and the naming routines were also varied. Those who opened dojos and recruited disciples wanted to control their own. Wushu can be called whatever flow it is called.

"I have gone to Ryukyu to practice boxing since I was a child, and I am used to speaking like this." Tokumaru replied.

"I see." Xiong Gu said, "Then, could you please tell me where you were between midnight last night and this morning?"

"I have been practicing boxing in the room since Zishi, and I didn't fall asleep until I was exhausted. I don't know when I fell asleep, but it was not yet dawn at that time." Tokumaru replied.

"You practiced boxing for half a day, you must be sweating profusely, and there is a hot spring nearby, so you didn't go to wash before going to bed?" Xiong Gu was still very keen, and he immediately caught the suspicious point in the other party's words.

"Since I've practiced to the point of exhaustion, how can I still have the strength to go out to soak in the hot springs?" Tokumaru didn't change his face.

At this time, the two were kneeling and talking on the tatami mat in the room. The bedding that Tokumaru slept on last night was one meter away from his hand, and it was just covered, not folded.

"If you don't believe it..." When Tokumaru said this, he leaned slightly to the left, stretched out his hand, and lifted his own quilt.

Kumagai followed his movements and looked away, and it was obvious that the inside of Tokumaru's quilt, as well as the bedding under it, were all wet.

"You can send someone to check..." Tokumaru said, "This quilt is completely soaked with my sweat, not a drop of water from the hot spring."

Seeing this, Kumagai stared at Tokumaru for about five seconds, then chuckled lightly: "Oh...no need, I trust you."

In fact, in the first two seconds, Kumagai almost said "Go up and check" to the men behind him, but in the third second, the sweaty sweat in the bed that was lifted by Tokumaru The smell floated over... The place where Xionggu sat was two meters away from the quilt, and he was still suffocated enough, so he didn't need to test it to understand that it was definitely not the smell that people who have taken a bath can sleep out of.

After that, Kumagai asked Tokumaru a few more questions against the smell, but he didn't get any useful information. Seeing that the questions were almost done, Kumagai quickly led his men out of the angry room.

And their next stop was the guest room in the west courtyard where three people lived...

(End of this chapter)