Little Detective of the Tang Dynasty: What to do if you are beheaded at the beginning?

Di Renjie thought about it on the way back to the Dali Temple, and suddenly he had an idea.

"The people who can know the birth dates of Niu Ma's family are either people around them, neighbors, or relatives. Or they are people in the government who have the ability to check the household registration form."

Because most people will carefully keep the paper household registration book, after the murder of the boy and girl, the Luozhou government searched Niu Ma's home.

The clerks found that the paper household registration book of Niu Ma's family was stored inside the wardrobe, and it was even covered with dust, which meant that it had not been moved for a long time.

It can basically be ruled out that someone sneaked into his house to look at the birth dates.

Di Renjie felt that the two cases were definitely related. The murderer could not have killed people without hatred and resentment at random. He must have his purpose.

He told Ouyang Yu his thoughts.

At this time, Ouyang Yu was silent for a while and spoke slowly.

"Is there a possibility that the murderer killed people for sacrifice?"

"Human sacrifice?"

Ouyang Yu nodded heavily.

He had read a lot of books since he was a child, and he read everything and remembered everything he read. He once read about it in an ancient book.

The culture of human sacrifice was prevalent in the Shang Dynasty. The "She, Shi, Tan, Kan" related to "earth" represented different forms of sacrificial activities.

"She" represented praying for a good harvest, "Shi" represented fertility worship, "Tan" represented sacrificing to the sun, and "Kan" represented sacrificing to the moon.

The people of the Shang Dynasty worshipped ghosts and gods very much and believed that gods were everywhere. People of that era did not have any "moral" concepts. They did whatever the gods asked them to do and sacrificed whatever the gods liked to eat.

Going out, building a house, moving to a new house, getting married, fighting, etc., no matter how big or small, must be divined and consulted with ghosts and gods in advance.

For example, "烄刑" means burning people alive.

"Mao Xing" means cutting open a person's stomach, splitting him in half and hanging him up.

"Ce Xing" means, as the name implies, splitting a person and stringing him up.

"Fu Xing" means hollowing out a person's internal organs.

"Fa Xing" means chopping off the head.

"Shen Xing" means drowning in water.

"Dan Xing" means beating someone to death.

......

But what exactly did the murderer do with the human sacrifice? Also, must human sacrifice strictly follow the five elements of Na Yin?

Ouyang Yu shook his head and said he didn't know.

Weird, it's really too weird!

Since he couldn't figure it out, he simply gave up thinking about it. Di Renjie immediately arranged for the clerk to investigate the interpersonal relationships of Niu Ma's family, whether they had ever made enemies with anyone, or had conflicts with anyone, etc.

A few days later, the reply was that Niu Ma was honest and kind, never made enemies with others, and he had a good reputation in Yihe Village.

As for his relatives, his close relatives were in Cangzhou, and his distant relatives were in Youzhou. His lineage, starting from Aweng, continued to cross the river to Luozhou.

So, if it wasn't a neighbor or a relative, who could be the murderer?

Di Renjie believed Ouyang Yu's words more and more, and he began to agree that the murderer was performing human sacrifices in this series of murders.

He asked Lu Jingzhao Yin to investigate whether anyone had entered the library where the household registration form of Yihe Village was stored in the past year.

The answer is no!

No one had ever checked it in this year.

Household registration is generally counted once a year and a half, and it is not time for the count yet.

Of course, it is also possible that it was checked during the last household count, when the population was added or deleted.

However, with so many people's birth dates, even if Di Renjie deduced each person's Na Yin one by one, it would take a lot of time.

There were many officials who participated in changing the household registration form, and each of them was suspected, but there was no evidence.

Moreover, Niu Ma had settled in Luozhou thirty years ago, and there were no changes to the dozens of pages of his family information.

"Is there a possibility? Niu Ma once met someone and accidentally revealed the birth dates of his entire family to others?"

Di Renjie never believed that a person could be so magical that he could tell a person's Na Yin and five elements at a glance.

There is no way such a god exists in this world.

He was more inclined to believe that Niu Ma took the initiative to reveal it, for example, he once passed by a fortune-telling stall and paid someone to tell his fortune.

"Oh, the fortune-telling stall!"

Di Renjie returned to the Luozhou government office again, and he found the city magistrate.

The Tang Dynasty set up the City Office and the Price Stabilization Office to manage the market. The "Six Codes of the Tang Dynasty" records: "The city magistrates of the capital and the capital are in charge of the transactions of all ethnic groups."

The functions of the City Office and the Price Stabilization Office are similar to the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau in later generations.

"(Officials such as the mayor) shall use their own department or department to verify and sign the contract for the sale of slaves, cattle and horses...if there is any discrepancy in the sale..."

From this we can see that anyone who sets up a stall in the city mustThe city office is registered, and the city magistrate is responsible for resolving market disputes and other tasks.

There are a total of 20 city magistrates in Luoyang City. Lu Yang simply called all the city magistrates back and was too lazy to notify them one by one.

"Excuse me, are there any fortune-telling stalls in the cities under your jurisdiction?"

The city magistrates of East and West City said no, but the city magistrate of South City lowered his head and hesitated for a while, and finally said: "Yes, a member of a martial arts sect named Fazhengmen once set up a stall at the end of the city."

"Fazhengmen?"

"Yes, didn't a new law that martial arts sects must be registered some time ago? They Fazhengmen did not register, so the left and right street messengers of the Jinwu Guard drove them all out of Luoyang City."

"Just drive them away, no arrest?"

The city magistrate of South City was stunned: "Is there any arrest in the new law?"

Di Renjie's expression froze, as if there really was no, because he was responsible for formulating the new law.

He spent seven days studying with Shouzheng day and night. The two discussed many details and finally submitted it to the Ministry of Justice, and then handed it to the saint for review.

Li Zhi approved it quickly and promulgated the new law the next day.

When Di Renjie formulated the new law, he thought that he would use courtesy before force. After warning once, if it was found that a certain underworld organization had not been registered with the court, it would be arrested and brought to justice.

But now it seems that the Fazhengmen is a big suspect.

It's a pity that they were let go.

Di Renjie was full of regret. How could he find that group of people in such a huge crowd?

He thought about it and handed Niu Ma's portrait to the Nanshi City Magistrate, asking him if he had seen this person?

The six Nanshi City Magistrates shook their heads and said they had no impression.

Di Renjie did not give up. He handed the portrait to them and asked them to identify it for their subordinates.

......

That day, Li Ji suddenly came to Baixi Hall and he found Song Zhen.

"Your Majesty said that he hopes you can compose a new military song for the Tang army."

The Tang Dynasty actually had a military song, which was said to be composed by Li Shimin, the Heavenly Khan.

In 620 AD, Li Shimin, who was then the King of Qin, defeated the rebel Liu Wuzhou, and the soldiers filled the old song with new lyrics to sing praises for Li Shimin.

"According to the law, I resigned from the head of state and went to fight against the rebels. We all sang "Pozhen Music" and enjoyed the peace."

When he ascended the throne in the first year of Zhenguan, he looked back on the years of military service and had something in mind.

On the third day of the first lunar month in 627 AD, Li Shimin held a banquet for all his ministers and played "Qin Wang Pozhen Music". The song was officially performed in the hall of the Tang Dynasty for the first time.

Then, it gradually developed into the military song of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Zhi, why did he suddenly ask Song Zhen to compose a military song?

......