Touring the Ming Dynasty

Guo Wei said solemnly: "Sacrificing to heaven and earth, burning yellow paper, drinking blood wine... This is probably some cult ritual. No wonder those fishermen thought it was haunted."

Duan Fei didn't think of cults, so he collected himself and said, "Look again and see what else is there. If it's a cult ritual, there should be some special markers."

The two searched again, and even got a hoe to dig the ground for a foot. They successively found bowls and chopsticks, wine glasses, incense stems, straw ropes and other things. The broken porcelain pieces just pieced together four large sea bowls, but there was no murder weapon at the scene. Know if it was thrown into the lake.

"It seems that there are at least four murderers. They sacrificed to heaven and earth here, and Lu Lan is a blood sacrifice..." Duan Fei felt a little heavy in his heart. To say that this is extremely cruel, the ferocity of these four murderers aroused strong anger in Duan Fei's heart, and he was determined to capture them as quickly as possible!

The two found a sack and packed up all the evidence. As soon as they walked out of Long Island, they saw Shi Bin running up panting, and shouted to them: "Brother Fei, the arrester Yan told you to go back to the yamen quickly, that one Lu Da has been captured..."

On the way back to the yamen, Duan Fei found out what happened. It turned out that Lu Da suddenly returned to the Lu family for some reason. Mrs. Lu, who had just returned from the yamen, ordered someone to beat him up, and then tied him up and carried him to the county. Ya, Xu Dianshi, as if he had found a treasure, immediately invited Mr. Min to sit in the hall and interrogate Lu Da.

Duan Fei rushed back to the county government office as fast as he could, and when he came to the courtroom, he saw a strong man in commoner clothes being tortured with a stick. His ankles were clamped between three wooden sticks and ropes were wrapped around him. , two yamen guards stood on each side, holding ropes, and pulled towards him as hard as a tug of war. This seemingly simple thing was so powerful that Lu Da's feet were dripping with blood, and he passed out after screaming like ghosts and wolves. .

"The splint was actually moved. It seems that Mr. Xu intends to torture him to extract a confession." Yan Catcher said in a low voice.

"I don't know what proof?" Duan Fei doubted.

Yan Butou said anxiously: "No matter what the evidence is, Lu Da cannot be allowed to continue to be tortured. Once he can't bear it and pleads guilty, it will be difficult to reverse the case!"

In the hall, Mr. Xu was pleading for orders from Mr. Min to wake up Lu Da and then execute the punishment. Chief Yan took the opportunity to go forward with Duan Fei and others, and reported to Mr. Min: "My lord, we found it on the isolated island in the lake in the northeast corner of the county. Went to the murder scene, and found incense paper candles, wine cups and straw ropes, etc. We suspect that there are four murderers in total. This is not an ordinary murder case, and it may be the work of gangs! Duan Fei, present the evidence to the adults for review , please be clear, my lord!"

A sack of evidence was presented, Master Min stared at it for a while before nodding his head and said: "Bring the straw rope to me for comparison, Master Xu, look..."

Xu Dianshi had already thought of a countermeasure, and he stepped forward and said angrily: "Master Min, yesterday I suspected that it was a gang murder at the scene, but was denied by Yan Butou and Duan Fei at that time, and now they say it was a gang murder. My lord, this is obviously the forged evidence they saw that I had caught the murderer, in order to grab credit and confuse the public. Please be aware, my lord!

Yan Butou retorted: "Master Xu, it's a bit inappropriate for you to say that. These evidences all have their origins. If you don't believe Master Min, you can send someone to investigate. It is also Master Min's permission for us to investigate the case in two ways. Everyone benefits from solving the case, why did Master Xu say that we are taking credit? From my point of view, you are rushing to punish Lu Da in order to grab credit!"

Xu Yu snorted coldly, and said: "Catcher Yan, I asked Mr. Min to punish Lu Da with real evidence. There is a fist mark on Lu Lan's chest. I have checked it and it matches Lu Da's fist. Lu Lan When he was caught, he had a huge amount of stolen money on him, and he also admitted that he quarreled with the boss, injured the boss and then fled with the money, the evidence is conclusive, who else is not the murderer Lu Da!"

Duan Fei frowned, cupped his fists and said, "My lord, where did Lu Da admit that he injured Lu Lan?"

Xu Yu's face moved slightly, and he said displeasedly: "He said he was outside the city, that's why he was severely punished. Naturally, this kind of evildoer will try his best to deny it after killing someone. Duan Fei, you did it." After a few days of arrest, it is not as simple as you think to solve the case. You can catch the murderer with a dead pig? It is fantastic. Don’t forget that you still have suspicions that have not been cleared. If the murderer is not Lu Da, could it be you? "

Lord Dian Shi's mocking tone was extremely obvious, Duan Fei's face couldn't help changing, Shi Bin couldn't help but chimed in and said, "My lord, it's easy to prove Lu Da's story, just ask the soldiers on duty that evening in the north of the city, and you will know that Lu Lan is a When people enter the city, they enter the city with Lu Da.”

Master Xu yelled angrily: "Shut up, you don't have a place to talk here! After such a long time, who still remembers so much, it's useless to ask."

Yan Butou said: "That's not necessarily the case, Mr. Min, I suggest that Lu Da be temporarily detained pending retrial, and I will immediately send someone to the guard to find Niu Baihu to inquire."

Duan Fei stepped forward and said: "I don't think so, Lu Da is an idiot? I don't think so, he dared to come back after robbing money and killing people? Unless he is crazy, Mrs. Lu, you tied Lu Da here, I ask Are you, Lu Da crazy? How did he come back? And why did he come back?"

Mrs. Lu had been kneeling in the hall for a while, and she saw that Mr. Min did not stop her, so she replied: "When the housekeeper told me that Lu Da was back, I thought I heard it wrong, but after seeing it was really him, I believed it was true." Yes, at that time he was unkempt and unkempt, not much better than a beggar, and he was carrying a package... which contained a lot of silver taels."

"When Lu Da saw me, he cried and said that he knew his mistake. It was his disobedience that killed the master. I was furious for a while, so I ordered someone to beat him up, and then sent him here. Now think about it. ...Maybe my husband really didn't kill him... He was a servant brought up by my husband since he was a child. Even if he was obsessed with money for a while, he would not kill him after stealing the money. Besides, he brought back the money without a penny... "

Mrs. Lu was a bit hesitant to speak, but everyone understood. Master Xu snorted and said stubbornly: "That's not necessarily true. Maybe he was obsessed with ghosts that day, and there was a wind of horns, and he completely forgot after killing someone."

County Magistrate Min twirled his beard, looked at his deputy, then at Duan Fei and Yan Butou, squinted his eyes and thought for a while, and said: "Everyone's words have some truth, human life is at stake, we still need to be careful to verify it." Yes, Captain Yan, you should send someone to the guard to check with Niu Baihu, and put Lu Da in prison for now, and leave the court!"

Everyone sent the county magistrate off respectfully, Master Xu looked at Duan Fei and Yan Butou and snorted, then walked away, Duan Fei smiled wryly, and said: "Master Xu has a deep prejudice against me."

Yan Butou curled his lips and said, "Leave him alone, he wasn't the one who was beaten on the board, the real ability is to solve the case, what should we do now?"

Duan Fei said: "Do you have any new clues?"

Yan Butou said: "No, this Lu Lan is really as his wife said, he is a good old man. He would rather lose himself in business than have grudges with others. In this way, there are more people who are willing to do business with him. When he got up, his servants also said that Lu Lan was good, and some even burst into tears while talking."

Duan Fei sighed, and said: "In this way, those murderers deserve to die even more. Lu Lan died so badly. He was treated as a sacrifice with his throat cut and drank blood... Before that, he was tortured three times and six holes... These The murderer deserves to be killed!"

"Is it really a cult..." Chief Yan's eyes were full of worry. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, religions have been strictly controlled. Among them, the White Lotus Sect, the Maitreya Sect, and various sects derived from it have continued to rebel. The principle of not letting go of wrong killings is that once there are traces of a cult, bloody killings often follow.

"I don't think Nineteen is." Duan Fei said with certainty: "Master Yan, don't worry."

Yan Butou sighed, and said: "It's too late, you have to be careful about that Xu Yu, if this is really a cult case, if you can't solve the case in time, I'm afraid you and I will die without a place to die."

"Why did your lord say that?" Duan Fei asked in surprise.

Yan Butou grimaced and said: "Xu Yu may be from Dongchang. Dongchang has spies in every yamen, and the price of firewood, rice, oil and salt is reported on weekdays, not to mention that it involves a cult that will rebel... as long as he reports it in the report... Mentioning that we are related to a cult, we will have to shed our skins even if we don’t die, Master Min will not be able to protect himself.”

Dongchang... This is a word that even the Chinese in the 21st century are familiar with. Dongchang represents bloody storms and endless injustice. Hearing that Xu Yu might be from Dongchang, Duan Fei was terrified.