Tang Dynasty detective

Chapter 387: The Hard Bone

"Oh? Xuan'er, what do you know?" Li Canghai asked in surprise.

Xue Xuan thought for a while and said, "Tang Ao stole the 'Shadowless Needle' eight years ago and became a traitor of the Tang Sect. Afterwards, he committed numerous bloody crimes in the rivers and lakes. He has long been tolerated by all sects. Four years ago, he suddenly Since then, the 'Shadowless Needle' has disappeared from the rivers and lakes. However, it is said that in order to avoid being chased and killed by the rivers and lakes, Tang Ao took refuge in a powerful minister and became his assassin."

Li Canghai frowned, and asked, "Do you know who the powerful minister is?"

Xue Xuan hesitated for a while, and slowly spit out three words: "Yang Guozhong."

"Yang Guozhong? I should have guessed it was him a long time ago." Li Canghai said solemnly to himself.

"Yang Guozhong gathered a group of killers, specially used to deal with court officials who opposed him. Over the years, many courtiers have died for various reasons. In fact, it was his killers who did it." Xue Xuan paused, her brows furrowed slightly, Then he said: "There is a legend in the world that there is a killer organization called 'Yan Luo', which was established by Yang Guozhong. Among this organization, there are four people who are most trusted by Yang Guozhong, and they are called 'Spirits and Monsters'. They are strong in martial arts, and their movements are strange. Said to be Yang Guozhong's real confidant. By the way, the one who assassinated Usumish this time is one of them."

"So that's how it is." Li Canghai asked with a frown, "Yang Guozhong persecuted Zhongliang so much, did His Majesty never ask?"

Xue Xuan sighed, and said: "It is well known that the Holy Majesty is addicted to wine and sex. This court has long been decided by Yang Guozhong. Many loyal ministers were killed by him, or were demoted to other places, and the rest of the officials are also everyone. How could the Holy Majesty know about self-defense and self-defense?”

After a short pause, Xue Xuan looked at Li Canghai worriedly and said, "Canghai, now that you are an official in the court, and you have offended Yang Guozhong, you must not take it lightly!"

Di Qing also nodded, and said very seriously: "Sister Xue is right, they all say that Yang Guozhong is a first-class treacherous minister, who harms Zhongliang and deceives the saints, he is simply a bastard! Cang Hai, you must be careful! It is."

Li Canghai's heart warmed up, he smiled slightly at the two of them and said, "Don't worry, Yang Guozhong's prestige will not last long, within three years, he will definitely suffer retribution."

"How do you know that he will be punished within three years?" Di Qing blinked her eyes, seeing that Li Canghai didn't take her own safety seriously, she pouted her lips immediately.

Li Canghai touched his nose, and said meaningfully: "Good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil. It's not that we don't want to be rewarded, it's not time yet!"

Di Qing spit out a bubble of saliva, rolled her eyes at him, and said, "How can you be like my master, who only talks about mysterious and mysterious things? Are you going to become a Taoist priest?"

Li Canghai reached out and flicked her forehead lightly, and said with a smile, "If I really want to become a Taoist priest, would you be willing?"

Di Qing's pretty face turned red, and she said Jiaozha, "If you dare to become a Taoist priest, I'll demolish that Taoist temple, hmph."

Li Canghai suddenly burst out laughing.

Seeing the two laughing and arguing, Xue Xuan's eyes showed some complexities. She shook her head lightly and said softly, "Cang Hai, since you know that Tang Ao is working for Yang Guozhong, what are your plans?"

Li Canghai thought for a moment, then pondered: "The reason why Yang Guozhong sent Tang Ao to kill Feng Shisanniang and others was to kill people and silence them. This actually proved that he had colluded with 'Nilin Xuanwu'. Above the hall, I once pointed out Yang Guozhong's collusion with the rebels, but was pushed back by the Holy Majesty. From the words of the Holy Majesty, it can be seen that he still trusts Yang Guozhong very much. Besides, we did not have Yang Guozhong instructing Tang Tang Ao was not captured by the direct evidence of Ao's killing and silence, and he hastily reported the matter to the Holy Majesty, I am afraid that he will be charged with framing the courtiers."

Xue Xuan and Di Qing nodded at the same time, feeling that what he said was reasonable, so they asked, "Then what should we do?"

Li Canghai sighed, and said helplessly: "Right now, the only thing we can do is not to oppose Yang Guozhong for the time being, and make plans after the 'Nilin Xuanwu' matter is over."

Di Qing wrinkled her nose, curled her lips and said, "Wouldn't it be cheaper for him?"

Li Canghai said with a smile: "Yang Guozhong is old and cunning. Want to deal with him, how can it happen overnight? We can just take advantage of this opportunity to collect evidence in secret. As long as we find conclusive evidence, won't it be easy to bring him down?"

Di Qing felt that what he said was very reasonable, but she was annoyed that she let Yang Guozhong go so easily, so she clenched her fist and punched the air for a while, before suddenly asking: "Cang Hai, you go to check the case, is there any evidence?" What discovery?"

"It's not just a discovery, it's a big discovery." Li Canghai narrowed his eyes and said.

"What discovery? Tell me, tell me~!" Di Qing was very excited, as if she couldn't wait to know what he found out.

Li Canghai thought for a while, and told the two of his findings without reservation.

After listening, the two fell into silence.

After a while, Xue Xuan said: "According to what you said, is it true that General Qin was wronged for collaborating with the enemy and treason?"

Li Canghai shook his head and said, "Whether Qin Fu was wronged or not is still unknown. After all, it has been 14 years. However, one thing is certain, there must be something else hidden in this case."

Di Qing blinked her eyes a few times and said, "Cang Hai, don't you want to investigate this case?"

Li Canghai snapped his fingers and said with a smile, "You still know me well, this case has aroused my interest."

Di Qing wrinkled her delicate nose, and said, "But you still have to investigate 'Ni Lin Xuan Wu', and now you're going to investigate the case from 14 years ago, wouldn't it be a bit incompetent?"

Li Canghai shook his head and said meaningfully: "I'm not worried about this. If my guess is correct, these two cases may be investigated together."

"You mean, 'Ni Lin Xuan Wu' might be related to Qin Fu's collusion with the enemy and treason case?" Di Qing ran her fingers through her hair on her shoulders, and said doubtfully, "How is this possible! The two cases were separated by 14 years , how could it be related?"

"All of this is just speculation now. Whether it is related or not needs to be investigated again." Li Canghai said.

Xue Xuanxiu frowned slightly, she thought for a while, and said, "Cang Hai, after all, 14 years have passed since this case, how are you going to investigate?"

Xue Xuan felt that this was simply impossible. The case 14 years ago, not to mention the age, had already turned into dry bones. No one knew what happened back then, let alone extracting relevant evidence.

After all, Li Canghai is just a mortal, not a god, how could he find out the old case from 14 years ago?
"The most difficult thing now is that there is no record of the trial that year, and there is no way to know the circumstances of the trial. If we can know the trial process, we may be able to find some clues." Li Canghai pondered.

Di Qing blinked her eyes, and suddenly smiled and said: "Cang Hai, you are really smart all your life, and you were confused for a while! Luoyang Mansion doesn't have a closing statement, but your Dali Temple has one! Although I am not an official of the court, I also know that the Third Division will After the trial, the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Officials, and the Yushitai all have to affix their seals for confirmation, and the closing statements of all three parties will be kept for reference."

Xue Xuan shook her head, frowned and said: "If the case statement of Luoyang Mansion is stolen, it means that someone does not want to keep the case statement. Since the other party can steal Luoyang's case statement, it must be able to steal the case statement of the third division."

Li Canghai nodded, and said: "Xuan'er is right. I'm afraid there is no case statement in the third division office." The case record, so the question is, facing such an important case, why didn't they record the case? First, it is illogical, and second, they can't explain it to the Holy One. Unless, there is something hidden in it, so that they can't or dare not record."

Xue Xuan and Di Qing nodded at the same time, feeling that this assumption makes sense.

Li Canghai paused for a moment, then continued: "Assuming that there are indeed case notes in the joint trial of the three divisions, but the case notes disappeared for no reason, there are only two possible reasons. First, the case notes were destroyed by the order of the Holy Spirit, so the Luoyang Mansion together with None of the three yamen left any case notes. Second, the case notes were stolen, and the thieves did not want the case notes to be discovered, so they stole all the case notes, which one do you think it will be?"

Di Qing tilted her head, thought for a while and said, "I think it's the second possibility. Some people don't want the case to survive."

Li Canghai nodded and said, "That's right, the reason why the Holy Majesty ordered the three divisions to interrogate the case is to find out whether Qin Fu was really collaborating with the enemy and treason. Case text. It can be seen that no matter which of these two hypotheses explains a problem, there is something strange in the case text!"

"Could it be that, as you said, this is an unjust case?" Xue Xuan said in disbelief after hearing Li Canghai's analysis.

With his hands behind his back, Li Canghai walked back and forth a few steps, going through all the guesses in his mind.

According to normal procedures, after the joint trial of the three divisions is over, the closing statement should be submitted to the emperor, and after the emperor's imperial review, the prisoner should be dealt with.

In fact, the emperor did deal with Qin Fu, that is to say, the case was indeed presented to the emperor, but this is even more unreasonable.

Since the emperor already knew the whole case, what's the point of stealing the case?As long as the emperor ordered that no one should mention this matter, then no one would dare to say even if one had the courage to steal the case, wouldn't it be superfluous to steal the case?
Li Canghai pondered carefully, his footsteps stopped suddenly, as if he had figured out the key point.Unless the case in the hands of the emperor is different from the case in the Sanfa Division, in order to prevent the emperor from seeing the real case, someone stole the case!
If this is the case, then the emperor may not have seen the real case statement, and naturally he would not know the truth of the case.

Being able to cover the sky with one hand and deceive the saints, it can be seen that the person who stole the case is absolutely unusual.

"Cang Hai, what's the matter with you?" Seeing that his face was a little dignified, Di Qing immediately asked with concern.

"I'm fine, I just found a hard bone." Li Canghai said with a slight frown.

"A hard nut to crack?" Di Qing was at a loss, unable to understand the deep meaning of his words.

Xue Xuan thought for a while, and said: "Cang Hai, although there is no case statement, you can go to the Minister of Rites. Master Cui has been an official in the court for decades, and he should have heard about the events of the year. Instead of guessing here, it is better to directly Go ask for advice, maybe you will gain something."

After thinking for a while, Li Canghai nodded and said, "You're right. I'll go ask Master Cui for advice tomorrow."

After making a decision, the three of them said some more words, and then returned to their rooms.

The next day, after hastily eating breakfast and changing the wound medicine under the threat of Di Qing, Li Canghai hurriedly went to find Cui Huan.

In the official post prepared for court officials in the Xinggong Bieyuan, Li Canghai came to Cui Huan's room and found that Gao Luochuan, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, was also there, which immediately surprised him a little.

"Master Gao, are you here too?" Li Canghai asked in surprise.

Gao Luochuan stood up, bowed slightly to Li Canghai, and said respectfully, "I'm here to discuss something with Master Cui. If Master Li has something important to discuss, then I'll take my leave first."

Li Canghai smiled and said: "Master Gao, you don't have to be polite, I have nothing important to do, but I want to ask Master Cui for some things. By the way, Master Gao, how is the matter going?"

Gao Luochuan stroked his beard, and said excitedly: "According to Master Li, a few people who were closely related to the rebels were beheaded, and they were indeed much more honest. In addition, the Holy Grace was merciful, and those who confessed their crimes were not held accountable. I am grateful that I not only confessed my responsibility for the crimes I committed, but also captured many remnants of traitors."

Li Canghai nodded, and pondered: "Although this matter is over, Mr. Gao must not take it lightly. 'Nilin Xuanwu' will never be destroyed so easily. If I guessed correctly, the hall on the list should be Is the building empty?"

"Judging from the pond newspapers sent by the states, this is indeed the case. Only ten of the more than [-] halls of the rebels have been wiped out, and the rest of the halls have already been informed and fled. Many of them are attached to those officials. I wanted to use his power as a cover, but I didn't want those officials to abandon their secrets and turn to the bright, instead they caught many of them." Gao Luochuan said.

"It's up to Mr. Lao Gao to wipe out the remnants of the rebels." Li Canghai nodded and said.

Gao Luochuan bowed to him and said: "Master Li is serious, this is an old man's job. If Master Li hadn't helped me this time, how could I have found out the officials who colluded with the traitor so quickly? Master Li At such a young age, he has the demeanor of Duke Di, which is really admirable!"

Li Canghai hurriedly followed and bowed back, saying: "Master Gao is being polite, Canghai is really ashamed!"

"Okay, stop being polite to each other, sit down!" Cui Huan said with a smile.

After the three of them sat down, Cui Huan poured a cup of tea for each of them, and asked, "Master Li came to see the old man, what is the reason?"

Li Canghai took a sip from the teacup and said, "Canghai came here this time because he wanted to ask Master Cui about something."

(End of this chapter)