Fenghou

Chapter 977 Suspicion
Dingchan Temple is not far from the Shuai Mansion. It can only be regarded as a medium-sized temple among the many temples in Luoyang, but it also has the highest tower in Luoyang City, that is, it has the highest tower in Luoyang, a wooden pavilion with a height of five feet, called Langa Tower , built during the Yuanfeng period, has a history of nearly [-] years.

However, this tower has been requisitioned for military use and has become the military's Eagle Tower. The Eagle Tower generally uses the tallest building in the city to receive and send Eagle messages.

But there are no eagles in Luoyang, only a dozen carrier pigeons, and they keep in touch with Bianliang.

Before the third watch, Yu Shouzhong climbed into the wall of Dingchan Temple with a few of his men, and a black shadow greeted him.

"How is it?" Yu Shouzhong asked anxiously.

"It's all done, I put medicine in the drink, and I'm all asleep.

Hei Ying is Yu Shouzhong's subordinate, named Li Huiming, dressed up as a Toutuo, bought a second-hand certificate, and took the name of Zhiguang. Yesterday morning, he paid ten guan to place the order at Dingchan Temple, and spent a few more to take it. An errand of cooking for the defenders of Lengata.

"They didn't suspect you?"

Li Huiming sneered and said: "The monks in Dingchan Temple are all poor and crazy. As long as the money is given in place, you can be the abbot!"

"Take us to the tower!"

Li Huiming ran towards the tower with Yu Shouzhong, and soon came to the Langjia Tower courtyard. It was a large courtyard with several bungalows, which were warehouses, stables and kitchens. Soldiers cook.

Yu Shouzhong suddenly remembered something, and asked again: "I asked you to ask about Pigeon Slave, did you ask?"

Li Huiming hurriedly said: "I asked specifically this afternoon, and the pigeons are all here, a total of fourteen. They haven't sent a letter to Bianliang for five or six days, and they haven't received a letter from the pigeons. It is said that Wanyan Wushu is not in Bianliang. "

Li Huiming led everyone up the tower lightly. The second floor snored like thunder. A dozen soldiers lived here. At night, they drank the wine that Li Huiming bought for them. There was no poison, but it could make people fall asleep the next day. noon.

After a while, they came to the fifth floor. Li Huiming pointed to a door and whispered, "Two pigeon slaves live inside!"

Seeing that there was a lock on the door, Yu Shouzhong gave his subordinates a wink, and his subordinates understood, took out a Buddhist vajra lock prepared in advance, and locked the door behind him.

The pigeon coop is at the top attic, you can hear the pigeons cooing, and the two subordinates rushed up, and after a while, they heard 'thump!thump! 'The voice quickly quieted down.

The two men ran down, carrying a bunch of dead pigeons in their hands, nodded and said, "They're all killed!"

"let's go!"

With a wave of his hand, Yu Shouzhong left the Dingchan Temple with three of his subordinates.

Li Huiming plucked the dead body of the pigeon and then fled Dingchan Temple.

Early the next morning, someone found a dead body in the Caohe River, and immediately reported it to the officials. Zhou Huang, the county magistrate, brought a group of yamen servants to check it out. When the body was picked up, someone soon recognized the dead man as Meng Xiaodong, a craftsman who lived at home. Nearby, this person was addicted to alcohol, and he went to drink when he had money. It is estimated that he came back drunk last night and fell into the water.

Zhou Huang then asked Wu Zuo to do an autopsy. No injuries were found on the body, and there was no sign of strangulation. The deceased's face was bruised, swollen, his eyes were bloodshot, and his stomach was filled with water. These physical signs proved that he died of drowning.

Not long after, the yamen servants found the deceased's wife and children. Unexpectedly, the wife and children were indifferent and did not cry bitterly. They seemed not to care about Meng Xiaodong's death, nor did they want to file a complaint. Someone told the county magistrate that this Meng Xiaodong would go home and beat him up when he was drunk. His wife and children were often beaten and abused by him.

Since his family members did not want to file a complaint, Zhou Huang, the magistrate of the county, did not want to be troublesome, so he decided that Meng Xiaodong had accidentally slipped and drowned, and asked his family to collect his body.

Meng Xiaodong's wife gave him more than a dozen pennies and asked him to buy a thin-skinned coffin for Meng Xiaodong and send it to the mass grave in the corner of the west city for burial.

It was his son who knelt down in front of his father and began to cry after he left the magistrate.

Meng Xiaodong's wife and children said that there was certainly a reason for their abnormality. In the middle of last night, several vicious men came to the house and arrested Meng Xiaodong. At the same time, they threatened their mother and son severely, but finally gave two hundred taels of silver as a hush money.

Meng Xiaodong's wife and children took the money, and their life was settled. Even though they knew that Meng Xiaodong was killed, they didn't dare to worry about it.

Zhou Huang, the county magistrate, had just returned to the county government office, but he sent people here, ordering him to issue a notice throughout the city to arrest a Thutuo who practiced with hair. Those who have won will be rewarded with a thousand strings.

Zhou Huang wanted to go to the commander's mansion to inquire about the situation, but the soldier gave a wry smile and advised him, "The commander-in-chief is losing his temper, and he is very angry. Hurry up and issue a notice! Don't worry about it anymore."

"What the hell happened?"

"The homing pigeons are all dead. They were boiled in a pot and their hairs were not plucked. It was this Toutuo named Zhiguang who did it. He was in charge of cooking for the guard soldiers. Now he has run away."

Zhou Huang asked in surprise, "Could it be that he didn't know it was a carrier pigeon and thought it was a vegetable pigeon killed for cooking?"

"The humble official doesn't know anything. All I know is that the commander-in-chief is furious and wants to severely punish the monks of Dingchan Temple. The county lord should quickly issue a notice! The commander-in-chief is about to get angry again."

"I'll make arrangements!"

Zhou Huang quickly arranged for his men to issue a wanted notice, and he had already forgotten about Meng Xiaodong's death.

In Dingchan Temple, dozens of monks, including the abbot, were knocked down to the ground and beaten with sticks. A dozen guard soldiers and two pigeon slaves were also knocked down and beat hard, each with a hundred sticks. Even if you don't die, you will lose half your life.

Zhe Keqiu stood in front of the pigeon coop with a livid face, looking at the blood stains in the cage, he turned his head and asked Yang Dinghui, the recorder of the army, "Do you think this is the work of Song army spies?"

Yang Dinghui is not considered a staff adviser, but is only responsible for joining the army for the recorder who can handle paperwork. Gexin intelligence is within his jurisdiction.

Yang Dinghui said for a while, "I can't figure out what the other party is doing to destroy the pigeon letter. If it is the Song army spies, then they should destroy the grain and grass warehouse. Without food and grass, our city will not be able to defend. This is the key.

Moreover, none of the more than a dozen soldiers and two pigeon slaves were killed. This is not in line with the work style of the Song Army spies. It is incredible that this Toutuo actually plucked the pigeons and stewed them. This is more like venting anger. Therefore, according to the personal judgment of the humble staff, the possibility of venting anger and revenge is more likely. "

"Then what's his motive?"

Yang Dinghui sighed, "Commander, this is a Buddhist temple. The Langga Tower is the place where Buddhist scriptures are stored, but we use it as a pigeon letter tower. A group of soldiers eat meat, drink and play with women here every day, polluting the Buddhist gate, and a group of pigeons mess up the tower. How can these monks not be annoyed by the filth, the monks in Dingchan Temple are soft bones, which does not mean that other monasteries can bear it."

Next to him, Liang Qing, another member of the army, also said: "Yang Canjun's words are a little bit reasonable. The doors of the two pigeon slaves were locked by someone using a Buddhist diamond lock. If the spies of the Song army chopped them down one by one, how could they be so stupid?" Long-winded?

And just like Yang Canjun said, before they were exposed, they should attack the granary first, not the pigeon letter first, and the humble officials also thought it was the monks venting their anger. "

Zhe Keqiu felt a little disappointed in his heart. After all, these two were scholars. It was too simple to see the problem. They actually said that it was a monk venting his anger. How could this be a monk venting his anger? With a bit of camouflage, the two of them were fooled.

However, the disappointment was disappointment, and he still gave the two of them a little bit of face, instead of directly exposing their ignorance, he immediately ordered: "Send my order, the granary will strengthen the double defense, anyone who comes within fifty steps of the granary, All shoot to kill!"

The two soldiers looked at each other. It turned out that the commander did not believe his explanation. Yang Dinghui laughed dryly and said, "The commander arranged it in a timely manner. Regardless of whether it was the Song Army spies or not, we must strengthen the defense of the granary. Any chance."

Zhe Keqiu faintly smiled and said, "That's exactly what I mean!"

(End of this chapter)