Chen Xiaomu looked at Zhuo Yihe and said with a smile: "Master Zhuo, no wonder Master Jia praised you for your shrewdness and ability in front of me before. You solved several murder cases in a row just after entering the new capital. Such skill! It's really unmatched!"
Zhuo Yihe quickly raised his hands and said, "Master Chen, you are so complimentary. In fact, the credit should go to you! How can you dare to take credit for your work in such a lowly position?"
Chen Xiaomu stopped, turned his face to Zhuo Yihe, and said very unhappily: "Master Zhuo, you have gone too far, right? It is said that whose credit is his, I am not the one who is greedy for credit. I don't know. What does Mr. Zhuo mean by saying this?"
Zhuo Yihe smiled bitterly: "Master Chen, why don't you let Zhang Heiniu tell you the process of solving the case?"
Chen Xiaomu seemed to realize something and asked doubtfully: "Could these murders be related to the shopkeeper named Chai who escaped from Risheng Qianzhuang?"
Zhuo Yihe nodded: "Yes, that's exactly it."
Chen Xiaomu suddenly became interested: "Oh, tell me quickly!"
Next, through Zhuo Yihe's narration, Chen Xiaomu learned that Zhuo Yihe entered Xinjing City just after noon today. After contacting his friend Jia Gui, the two came to Xinjing Mansion Office together to find him. Chen Xiaomu was going through the handover procedures, but when he asked this question, he learned that Chen Xiaomu had not come back since he took people to Risheng Money Manor in the morning. Originally, Jia Gui was planning to accompany him to Risheng Money Manor to find Chen Xiaomu, but it happened that this The chief minister of Dali Temple where he worked at that time sent someone to come back to discuss an urgent matter with him. However, Jia Gui had no choice but to appoint an entourage beside him to lead Zhuo Yihe to Risheng Qianzhuang.
Later, Zhuo Yihe, accompanied by Jia Gui's entourage, came to Risheng Qianzhuang. They happened to meet Ye Duzheng. Zhang Heiniu and others came to the end of the search at the bank. After learning that Zhuo Yihe was the new general judge of the government, everyone They were all surprised. If he hadn't immediately shown the imperial edict to Ye Duzheng, they would have almost arrested him as a liar.
However, after finding out Zhuo Yihe's true identity, everyone was very polite to him. After all, this was his new boss. From now on, everyone would work under him. How could they not fawn over him if they had this opportunity? Not only did he tell him in detail that Chen Xiaomu led people to chase the escort car in the morning, he also led him to inspect the property seized from the bank boss Chai Yugui and his son, as well as the residence of his driver.
As the shopkeeper of a large bank, Chai Yugui also owns one of the largest silk and satin shops in Xinjing City. It is not unusual for a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry, calligraphy, paintings, antiques, etc. to be taken from his residence. What is strange is that , a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry were also taken from the coachman's residence. The amount seemed to be no less than what Chai Yugui had taken from his residence! Even the government officials who ransacked the house were filled with emotion. He even praised Chai Yu for his generosity and drove him a car, so he could make a fortune.
But at this moment, Zhuo Yihe's heart moved. He remembered that Jia Gui had mentioned in his letter to him the recent cases of murder and robbery in Xinjing City, especially when he picked up a golden brick. At that time, after discovering a faint mark with the word "Chen" on the back of the gold brick, I became more certain that Chai Yugui and the coachman were related to the recent robberies in Xinjing City, because Jia Gui said in his letter that in these robberies Among the financial murder cases, one of them occurred in a bank, and the owner of this bank happened to be Shen. According to the bank's verification at that time, a total of 850 taels of gold were robbed.
Although Zhuo Yihe had not officially taken office yet, when he encountered this opportunity to solve the case, as a shrewd and capable official, Zhuo Yihe could not easily let it go. He immediately discussed with his master Ye Duzheng and sent an official to bring these victims to the bank to identify the evidence. .
Sure enough, several victims who came to Risheng Qianzhuang after hearing the news identified that the gold and silver jewelry taken from Chai Yugui's coachman's residence were almost all owned by these families.
After listening to Zhuo Yihe's narration, Chen Xiaomu couldn't help but sigh and said with a wry smile: "Unfortunately, the case has been solved, but the murderer has escaped! They cannot be brought to justice for the time being."
At this time, Zhang Heiniu helped an old man from the crowd, who was almost as thin as dry wood and with white beard and hair, to come to Chen Xiaomu and murmured: "Master Tongpan, this old man said he is Wu Ziniu!"
"Wu Ziniu?" This name was very unfamiliar to Chen Xiaomu. He was confused for a moment and looked at Zhang Heiniu, waiting for him to continue. Unexpectedly, the black boy actually stopped talking.
When he heard the name Wu Ziniu, although Chen Xiaomu didn't know it, everyone around him was startled as if they had seen a ghost. They all retreated and stood far away from the old man. Only Zhang Heiniu was still stupid. Hehe supported the old man.
Seeing this, Chen Xiaomu could only murmur in his heart, and turned to ask Zhuo Yihe: "Master Zhuo, do you know this old man?"
Zhuo Yihe nodded, shook his head, and said hesitantly: "I know, I know, but I'm afraid it's not the same person!"
At this time, the old man spoke, his voice was low and hoarse. He cupped his hands towards Zhuo Yihe and said, "Is this Wu Ziniu who you are talking about who died twenty years ago?"
Zhuo Yihe nodded slightly: "Exactly."
"Alas!" The old man sighed and said sadly, "Sir, this old man is none other than Wu Ziniu who died twenty years ago!"
As soon as these words came out, Zhuo Yihe took a deep breath. However, he had been an official for many years and had already developed a calm and steady attitude. He said calmly: "Oh! This is strange. He has been dead for more than 20 years. People can be resurrected once, do you think that the officials in the government are all stupid pigs?"
"This...!" The old man was speechless for a moment when he was asked, and his body began to shake slightly.
Seeing this, Chen Xiaomu quickly spoke to comfort him: "Since the old man said so, there must be a reason. If the old man is willing, you can come and listen to me and Mr. Zhuo."
With the help of Zhang Heiniu, the old man finally stabilized his body and recounted the past. It turned out that he was not from the Zheng State, but a member of the Dongshan State from a country smaller than the Zheng State. Because of his superb sword-making skills, At that time, he was highly respected by officials and people from all over the world. Nine out of ten famous swords that can be named in the world today were made by him. When it was at its peak, many people even replaced the name of Dongshan Kingdom with Wu Ziniu's name. The country called him Wu Ziniu, and Wu Ziniu himself was well received by the court at home. The emperor of Dongshan State not only named him the national great craftsman, but also married his daughter into the palace and made him a queen, and made his grandson Dongshan. The crown prince also named his granddaughter Princess Anyi, and she was truly unparalleled for a while!
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. A few years later, the Qi State suddenly launched a war of annihilation against the Dongshan State. With the huge size of the Qi State at the time, it simply crushed the Dongshan State. It only took less than three days. After destroying this small neighboring country, the emperor, queen, prince and other royal family members of Dongshan Kingdom were all killed by the Qi army overnight. Only the little princess An Yi escaped from Kyoto with the help of the maid who usually accompanied her. Come to the Wu Ziniu Sword Forging Factory located in Wufeng Mountain near Kyoto.
At this time, Wu Ziniu was leading two apprentices to complete the final work on the two swords. Things happened so suddenly that Wu Ziniu was stunned when he heard the shocking news. Fortunately, the two apprentices and the palace maid were present, and several people hurriedly supported him. He sat down to discuss the next steps.
Wu Ziniu was known as the sword madman. He only dealt with swords all day long and never paid much attention to matters other than sword making. It was as if he was born just for making swords. Because of this, he moved the sword making place outside the city. He went to the Wufeng Mountain in order to stay away from the right and wrong in the court, but he didn't expect that this distance made him completely ignorant of the disaster that was happening to the country.
Holding back his grief at the moment, Wu Ziniu first gave a sum of money to the palace maid and asked her to go home. Then he agreed with his two apprentices that in order to escape the pursuit of the Qi people, Wu Ziniu would take his young granddaughter and escape anonymously to the palace. A country that is not easy to attract people's attention went into hiding, while two apprentices stayed and set fire to the sword forging place, and then went out to spread rumors that Wu Ziniu was burned to death in the sword forging place due to the fire caused by the sword forging. .
After listening to Wu Ziniu's narration, Zhuo Yihe's expression softened a lot, but he still asked: "You said you are Wu Ziniu, it's just your one-sided statement. Is there any other evidence?"
Wu Ziniu nodded repeatedly: "Yes, of course!" As he spoke, he took out a stick that was more than a foot long and wrapped in layers of rags from his sleeve and handed it over: "Please take a look, sir. This is Back then, the Emperor of Qi sent someone to entrust me with a heavy sum of money to cast one of the two daggers. At that time, the Emperor of Qi named it Feng Zhan, but later the old man changed it to Zhan Qi!"
"Oh, you actually forged swords for Emperor Qi?" Chen Xiaomu said in surprise.
"Sir, you misunderstood!" Wu Ziniu said bitterly: "These two swords were from Qi State. Ten days before the war against Dongshan State, the Emperor of Qi sent people to find the old man. He was willing to pay 20,000 taels of silver and 30,000 taels of silver respectively. Ask the old man to forge a long sword and a short sword for him. The long sword will be named Qiuhong and the short sword will be named Fengzhan."
Chen Xiaomu took the dagger handed over by Wu Ziniu full of curiosity, peeled off the layers of rags wrapped on it, and a completely black dagger suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. However, the dagger had not yet been attached to the hilt, but was just being held. The area was wrapped in several thick layers of rags.
Chen Xiaomu waved his sword in the air and couldn't help but laugh at himself: "It's a pity that no matter how good the sword is, it will be useless in the hands of a layman like me!"
Unexpectedly, when Wu Ziniu heard this, he hurriedly raised his hands and said, "Master Chen, I just want to offer this sword to you to repay your kindness!"
Chen Xiaomu smiled and said: "Old man, this is your old baby. I can't accept it at will. Besides, the old man and I have never met each other, and where does this great kindness come from? If there is something wrong with me, just say it. As long as It can be done, and I will never shirk the responsibility."
As soon as these words came out, Wu Ziniu waved his hands repeatedly: "Mr. Chen, please don't be too worried. I have nothing to ask for at the moment. The great kindness you mentioned was that yesterday you helped my granddaughter Yao Sanniang to cleanse herself of the unfair guilt." injustice!"
Hearing this, Chen Xiaomu couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart. He didn't expect that even the miserable Yao Sanniang was a princess before. This was the third princess he had met in just over a month since he traveled across time! It seems that I am really unfortunate enough to have traveled through troubled times.
Thinking of this, Chen Xiaomu handed back the dagger in his hand: "Old man, it is my duty to clear Yao Sanniang's name. This sword cannot be taken away."
Wu Ziniu knelt down with a plop and said stubbornly: "Master Chen, if you don't accept this sword, I will not get up even if I kneel to death in front of the Yamen."
Chen Xiaomu quickly handed the dagger to Zhou Huanhuan who was following behind him, then stretched out his hands to help Wu Ziniu up, but Wu Ziniu lay on the ground, refusing to get up. Chen Xiaomu had no choice but to greet Zhang, who was still standing stupidly. Hei Niu came to help him, but Wu Ziniu immediately said that even if he helped him up now, he would still kneel down after they left! He could not give up until Chen Xiaomu put away his sword. "
