King of Song

Chapter 37 Bizarre Death
There is an ice cellar in the side room of the Concierge Court, which was originally used by envoys from various countries to cool off the heat and keep food cold.In June and July, however, it was rainy and the weather was exceptionally cool. The use of the ice cellar was not so great, except for those who wanted to drink a couple of glasses of iced wine once in a while.

Originally thought that the ice cellar would be useless this year, but he didn't want it to be used to its full potential later, so Liao envoy Xiao Jie's body was temporarily stored here.

After entering the ice cellar, a coolness permeated the surroundings, and it seemed a little cold in the season of continuous autumn rain.Lin Zhao was okay, but Wang Yu coughed several times in a row, and his health has not been very good.Lin Zhao vaguely remembered that Wang Yu seemed to have died young, so maybe there was a root cause of the disease from then on...

"Brother Yuanze, if you are unwell, wait outside first!" Seeing this, Lin Zhao tried to persuade him, and Wang Yu was silent for a moment, then turned and went out.

Among the ice cubes, Xiao Jie's body was still vivid.Lin Zhao stepped forward and stood beside him, and saw a huge wound on Xiao Jie's neck, bloody and bloody, it seemed that someone pierced through the neck and injured the main artery...

"Where's the murder weapon?" Lin Zhao asked casually, and an official from the Kaifeng government immediately presented a wooden box with a white cloth wrapped in a dagger, and explained: "This thing is the murder weapon. The neck and larynx ruptured, combined with excessive blood loss...it was a fatal injury..."

Lin Zhao reached out to pick up the dagger and observed it carefully. It was a very ordinary dagger, and one could be forged at any blacksmith shop on the streets of Bianjing.However, it has been polished extremely sharply, with a light force, it can pierce through the human body...

The sharp blade and the wooden handle were covered with blood, and it seemed that the evidence was well preserved.At first glance, there seemed to be nothing to be found, but when he looked carefully for the second time, Lin Zhaocai noticed that there seemed to be a slight friction at the end of the wooden handle...

"Is there anything else?" Lin Zhao asked.

"It seems that there are still signs of poisoning..." The Kaifeng government official who followed him replied in a low voice, and there was still a lot of confusion and doubts in his words...

"It seems?" Lin Zhao was very dissatisfied with this careless approach to handling the case, and at the same time, he was full of doubts?How could there be signs of poisoning?Is it possible that the cause of death is complicated?
But the author called Qu and said: "From some signs, it looks like poisoning, but there is no evidence of poisoning, let alone the source of the toxin..."

"The skin is blue, and the nails are also slightly blue. It seems that it is indeed caused by poisoning!" Lin Zhao probably deduces that this is indeed the case!Then he picked up a burst of silver needles and stabbed them into the corpse. Sure enough, the tip turned slightly black, further verifying the conjecture.

Lin Zhao speculated that perhaps the officials of Kaifeng Mansion did not dare to check that the cause of death was poisoning.If so, the Khitan people would have insisted even more that they sent someone to poison the envoy of the Liao Kingdom, and it would be even more difficult to explain clearly.Honglu Temple may not want to take on such a responsibility. Without a reasonable explanation, it is reasonable to be passive and sabotage, avoiding the important and taking the light...

"But it's impossible. We have verified all the food at the banquet, and it is absolutely non-toxic..." Chai Xiao hurriedly defended himself. If the cause of death is related to Honglu Temple, he really doesn't know how to defend up.Once the Liao Kingdom insists on an explanation, it is entirely possible for the Song court to introduce a scapegoat in order to calm things down.

Especially with such a sensitive identity of the Chai family, if they were accused of having a grudge against Zhao Song's seizure of the throne in the past and intentionally provoking the Song Liao war for revenge, it would be over. The few surviving descendants of the Chai family would be May face catastrophe.Due to his special background, Chai Xiao pessimistically associates far, far away...

Lin Zhaodao: "There are many possibilities of being poisoned. Maybe he was poisoned alone before and only discovered it at the banquet?"

"In the past few days, people from Honglu Temple have been accompanying the Liao Kingdom mission. Xiao Jie was fine, and there was no problem at the banquet that night. I don't know why...By the way, Mr. Xiao seemed to have a cold a few days ago, but it was The Imperial Physician in the palace will diagnose and treat it personally, and the medicinal materials will not cause any problems..."

Lin Zhaodao: "Leave aside the problem of poisoning, judging from the current situation, the most direct cause of death is the knife wound on the neck. Let's go, let's go to the scene of the crime..." To solve the case, there must be a distinction between primary and secondary. , Start with the end point first, and then analyze it layer by layer.

Chai Xiao took several people to the room where Xiao Jie lived in the Concierge Courtyard, where the crime scene was...While walking, Chai Xiao explained: "After the dinner that day, the old man and Deputy Envoy Yelu sent Xiao Jie back Room!" This time, the Liao Kingdom's mission came to pay homage to the birthday with Xiao Jie as the principal envoy and Yelvzhi as the deputy envoy.

Soon they came to a room with a seal on the door and several soldiers standing guard.Chai Xiao said: "At that time, the old man didn't leave in time, because Xiao Jie seemed to be in a bad mood during the dinner, and the old man was suspicious, Yeluzhi talked to the old man when he saw this...

Unexpectedly, after a while, a scream was suddenly heard in the room, followed by the sound of a copper basin falling to the ground. "Something went wrong!" Assistant Envoy Yeluzhi was the first to react and ran over, and then the old man rushed over with several officers and soldiers from Song and Liao, broke through the door, and found Xiao Jie lying in a pool of blood, breathless... "

The door opened, and Chai Rong pointed to the layout of the room and explained one by one: "Xiao Jie fell here at the time... It looked like he had just finished washing, and was stabbed when he turned around... When he fell, he hit him. basin……"

Lin Zhao saw that the scene was well protected, and the Kaifeng Mansion finally did a good thing.

Behind a screen, next to the wooden frame, the copper basin still fell to the ground. On the blue bricks and carpets on the ground, the bright red bloodstains were still clearly visible... Hesitating for days of rainy days, the evaporation was weak, and there were still many traces of blood on the ground... The carpet is still a little wet...

Lin Zhao's gaze was attracted by the half-closed window lattice, and he asked, "What was the condition of the window at that time?"

Chai Xiao couldn't laugh or cry: "The problem lies here. Except for this window, other places are closed, and the murderer cannot come in... The Khitan people insisted that the murderer committed the crime through this window... But outside the window is At that time, the outer wall was guarded by more than a dozen imperial guards from the Song Dynasty, and it was absolutely guaranteed that even flies would not be able to fly away...

But the Khitan people didn't believe it, and accused us of Song for shielding the murderer, even the murderer was sent by the court... It is precisely because of this that the Khitan people left an excuse..."

"Is it possible that he was shot with a flying knife from a distance?" Lin Zhao considered all the possibilities.

"No!" Chai Xiao categorically vetoed it. There was a wide road outside the concierge courtyard, and there was an open space in front of it, with no tall buildings.To the extent possible, it is impossible for a throwing knife to shoot through a window over the top of the outer wall.

"What about suicide?" Wang Yu then asked, this is probably the most desired result!
The official of Kaifeng Mansion shook his head and said: "No, judging from the position and depth of the dagger's penetration, his own arm can't make that kind of movement...impossible..."

Lin Zhao couldn't help wondering. According to Chai Xiao, if the window is absolutely safe, he and Yelvzhi are standing not far from the door, and there is no one else in the room, then this case can be attributed to a murder case in a secret room. It is impossible. crime.

Then how did Xiao Jie die strangely?
(End of this chapter)