"KIA——" Xian
In the early morning, a standard Japanese scream woke many passengers from their sleep.
At the same time, it also kicked off a suspenseful drama.
This place, called "Chuanpengzhuang", is a hot spring hotel located in Xiaguan.
Yesterday afternoon, Shuangxie and Keijiro came here together. The three of them ate, bathed, drank and talked leisurely here, and stayed for one night.
They originally planned to leave this morning, but unexpectedly, a murder case occurred in the hotel this early in the morning.
Of course, it wouldn't be a big deal if the person who died was just an ordinary guest with a low status; wouldn't it be just a civilian who died? Wouldn’t it be over if your store disposes of the body on its own? Do you still need to report it to the official and expect someone from the government to help you track down the murderer?
In this age of war and chaos, all the famous names are busy fighting wars and grabbing territory. How can they have so much thought to take care of the public security in every corner of their territory? Xian
I keep a certain place in order today, but tomorrow this place may not be mine, so what’s the point?
Only a few forces with a very stable territory like the Shimazu clan have the leisure to deal with public security issues. In the case of the Mori clan, it would be "selective management."
When you see this, some people may ask, isn’t it meaningless to say that most places are managed well? So why should we still "selectively manage" rather than "just ignore"?
Because... if you really dare to ignore it completely, with the rampant banditry at that time, they can make your land "abandoned" in a very short time and turn it into a dead land where no residents dare to live.
Moreover, this type of banditry is almost impossible to eradicate before the end of the war - samurai who have lost their lords, deserters on the battlefield, and people who are forced to have no other way out, etc., may all join the ranks of bandits at any time and engage in murder and robbery. activities.
For the vast majority of people, the honor of warriors, human dignity, and compassion for others... are all vulnerable to the pressure of survival.
Only those who have eaten enough and sit in front of the computer typing on the keyboard will discuss what is right and kind; people who have been deprived of everything by the war and have been hungry for several days will not push you too hard. If you had held a rice ball and refused to give it to him, he would have picked up the knife on the ground and grabbed it. Xian
When dealing with the growing number of bandits, the daimyo generally follow the principle of "kill a small amount and gather a large amount": if they are small in size and have a small number of people, they will be slaughtered if they are caught; if they are large in scale and have a large number of people, they will be recruited.
Ninety-nine percent of the bandits are willing to be incorporated, because they don't want to "rebel" originally, they just want "food"; after being included, those who are more capable or have some samurai class background will , they will be transferred away and join the main combat force or become a lower-level staff member. Other miscellaneous fish... will become similar to the soldiers and ashigaru in the previous two chapters.
Let’s get back to the topic, so why is this current case so “troublesome”? And why is it “necessary to take care of” it?
It's very simple, just because the person who died this time was not an ordinary person, but someone with a good background.
This man's name is Takeda Kuranosuke. He is in his early forties and is a famous wealthy businessman in the southern area of Hiroshima. His family is one of the "money bags" of the Mori family.
If even he dies in an unknown way, then the other merchants on the Mouri clan's territory will definitely have an idea: You samurai gentlemen collect so much tax from us on weekdays, but if something happens, you can't protect them. We have no money and no life, and we can’t catch the real culprit and bring him to justice... So what’s the cost of my money?
Therefore, no matter what, there must be an explanation for this case. Xian
As a result, the investigation of the case started intensively early in the morning.
The person investigating the case was no one else, but a samurai general named Kumagai Hirotada who had a banquet with Takeda last night.
Kumagai and Takeda would meet here to eat, drink and have fun. It was considered a kind of official entertainment. Kumagai came to establish a good relationship with the Takeda boss on behalf of the Mori clan. After the two of them negotiated some cooperation matters that colluded with government and businessmen, they started eating and drinking. , drank until he was almost vomiting, and then they went back to their rooms to rest.
Unexpectedly, early the next morning, when several hotel maids went to clean the hot spring, they found Takeda's body on the edge of the pool, which triggered the screaming scene at the beginning.
About three minutes later, Xiong Gu staggered to the scene despite being hungover. At this time, more than a dozen people came to watch the excitement. Xiong Gu pushed through the crowd and walked to the front, where he saw Takeda's body at a glance.
The corpse was lying on the ground with its face sideways, and its expressionless face was full of surprise. There was a huge, ferocious wound on the lower part of the back of its head. It was unknown whether it was caused by a blunt instrument or a sharp blade. Anyway, the power of this blow was It was so big that it directly shattered a large piece of his skull, causing a large amount of blood to flow out from the shattered and collapsed "brain hole" and spread all over the ground. Some blood also slowly flowed along the wet ground not far away. In the hot spring pool.
Since Takeda was only wearing a loincloth when he died, it is easy to see that the blow to the back of the head was the only fatal injury on his body, and it was most likely that he was shot by someone just after taking a hot spring bath. Attack from behind and kill with one blow. Xian
Xiong Gu stared at the bloodless half of the corpse's face for about ten seconds. During this process, most of his remaining sleepiness and hangover had disappeared, and shock and panic were taking turns to attack his brain.
But he was also a warrior general after all. It didn't take long for him to calm down. After weighing the pros and cons and thinking about the priorities of the situation, he revealed his identity and began to control the chaotic situation at the scene.
Soon, Xiong Gu issued an order to several of his accompanying subordinates who had arrived at the scene one after another, asking them to divide their troops into two groups. One group was to seal all the entrances and exits of the hotel, and the other group was to go to the nearby military base to request reinforcements.
During the Warring States Period in Japan, Kyoto had the "Procuratorial and Non-Violating Bureau", which was so powerful that it basically took care of all grass-roots public prosecutorial, legal and civil affairs matters in Kyoto, leaving many other related functional departments empty.
But this...is not Kyoto.
In the territory of princes where public security management is relatively chaotic, many local cases are handled incidentally by the local garrison.
As for the murder of the Takeda boss, even if the military should not be responsible for it, Kumagai would take the initiative to take over, because he had already settled the account clearly before giving the order: since the matter has been revealed today, he will If someone else comes to investigate, it's okay if they find out. If they don't find out... the other party will probably put all the blame on him in order to make a deal, or at least give him the whole "lack of protection" If he is charged with a crime, where can he go to argue with him? Xian
Thinking further, I don’t know how long this corpse has been lying here. Although it is winter now, the hot spring pool is filled with warm water vapor. It is difficult to judge the time of death through rigor mortis and blood coagulation... Who knows, did Takeda just die early in the morning, or was he lying there since early in the morning? Maybe the murderer ran away long before the blockade, so can he still be chased back?
Therefore, Kumagai might as well take the responsibility for the investigation on his own initiative. On the surface, he can say something nice like, "I will take responsibility for my failure to protect Mr. Takeda." And secretly, he can do something to get rid of the blame. Anyway, What he needs is not the "truth", what he needs is just an "explanation".
After seeing this, I believe everyone understands - no matter who the real murderer is today, or whether the real murderer is still in this "Kawapeng Manor", Kumagaya will definitely catch those people who are still in the hotel. One as a murderer.
Of course, he couldn't just pick someone who seemed easy to bully and slam the shit basin over his head right away. It would be too obvious.
As mentioned before, Takeda Kuranosuke is a reputable person. If you, Kumagai, can't even produce any decent evidence, or if you finally pull out a person who was maimed or mute to close the case, your colleagues and Your superiors will definitely have opinions on you.
That’s not to say that you can’t frame someone up, but when you frame someone up, you have to do things carefully so that everyone can tacitly let you pass.
If you make a mess and hastily communicate, it will either make people think that you are incompetent and can't even do a superficial job, or it will make people think that you have a perfunctory attitude and disrespect for your superiors. Xian
Kumagai was thirty-five years old and had been in office for many years. He would not make such stupid mistakes. Therefore, shortly after the reinforcements arrived, he continued to take full command. All guests of Chuanpengzhuang and hotel staff launched an investigation.
It's just that this investigation... is also detailed. Judging from the state of the wound on the back of Takeda's head, this is definitely not the work of an ordinary person. This murderer either knows martial arts or has amazing arm strength, so he is not qualified to commit the crime. , they can be eliminated through a brief screening. Those who have the ability to commit crimes should be questioned intensively.
…………
Chenshi, a certain guest room.
"Please state your name."
"My name is Miyamoto Musashi."
"Oh?" Xiong Gu looked at the man in front of him who looked about thirty years old and had a rough face. His eyes couldn't help but linger on the two swords, one long and one short, beside him for a while. "Is it possible that you were the one who was there that year?" The one who single-handedly defeated more than seventy Yoshioka-ryu people in Ichijoji Temple..." Xian
"As you said..." Musashi knelt down and answered calmly, "I'm just a swordsman passing through here."
"Is that so..." Xiong Gu muttered softly, and then asked, "Then where are you going, sir?"
"Today Japan is going to Ganliu Island to duel with a young swordsman known as a genius." Musashi said, "But because you suddenly blocked the hotel, you can only wait in this room."
"Well..." Kumagai was a little annoyed at Musashi's neither humble nor overbearing attitude and slightly thorny words, but he couldn't find any reason for the attack.
"Then I'm afraid you will have to wait for a while." Two seconds later, Kumagai deliberately said something slightly provocative. The tone probably meant, "Your duel has nothing to do with me, and I'm not in a hurry at all." ".
But after he finished speaking, he observed Musashi's expression and found that the other party was still unmoved, so he could only quickly continue to ask questions, lest he would be embarrassed if the words lingered for a long time: "So, may I ask, sir, since midnight last night? , where were you from the time before someone discovered the body this morning?”
"I fell asleep at midnight and woke up in the morning when I heard screaming." Musashi replied. Xian
"Can anyone testify for you?" Xiong Gu asked again.
"No." Musashi replied.
"Then did you encounter anything unusual or unusual people yesterday?" Xiong Gu said.
He originally thought that Musashi would give a quick and brief denial in that calm tone.
Unexpectedly... Faced with this question, Musashi was silent for a few seconds before he said, "Yes, one of the three people living in the room in the west courtyard is very weird."
Hearing this, Xiong Gu suddenly remembered something: "Is it... that young man with a sky-high bun and a loud voice?"
Kumagai asked this question because when he went to the hot spring pool yesterday evening, he passed by Keijiro in the place where he was changing clothes, and the latter's appearance was indeed easy to remember. Xian
"No..." Miyamoto Musashi said, "I also have the impression that the young man you mentioned is a strange person named Keijiro, but the strange person I am talking about is not him, but the one who traveled with him. One of the two."
"Oh? Who is that?" Kumagai became more and more curious about the person who could make even the famous swordsman Musashi feel weird, even weirder than Qin Qi Zhi.
"I don't know his name either." Musashi replied, "I only know that his neck is shorter than ordinary people. Of course, this is not anything particularly weird. The strange thing about him is...since yesterday afternoon, Until before I went to bed...every time I went to the toilet, no matter how big or small, I would always encounter him squatting in the pit, which made me wonder if he had been squatting there all day."
"Well..." This time it was Kumagai's turn to be silent.
The rooms Kumagai and Takeda lived in were considered VIP rooms in the hotel, and their toilets were separate from those of other guests, so he neither knew about this nor how to comment on it...
…………
Twenty minutes later, another room. Xian
"Please tell me your name." Kumagai began to ask the second person he thought was capable of committing the crime.
"My name is Tokumaru." He is also a strong man in his thirties, whose appearance is somewhat similar to Hong Kong actor Lai Lai. "The second generation inheritor of the 'water flow' boxing technique."
"Your accent is very special." Kumagai didn't ask much about the name of the school "Liu Shui". After all, there were too many martial arts schools in Japan at that time, and the naming routines were also various. Those who opened dojos to recruit disciples wanted to control their own. The martial arts is called whatever style it is.
"I have gone to Ryukyu to practice boxing since I was a child, and I am used to talking like this." Tokumaru replied.
"I see." Xiong Gu said, "Then, could you please tell me where you were between midnight last night and this morning?"
"I have been practicing boxing in my room since childhood. I practiced until I was exhausted before falling asleep. I don't know the time when I fell asleep, but it was still dark at the time." Tokumaru replied.
"You must have been sweating profusely after practicing Hansu Boxing. There is a hot spring nearby, so why didn't you go and take a shower before going to sleep?" Xiong Gu was quite keen, and he immediately caught the suspicion in the other party's words. Xian
"Since I've trained to exhaustion, how can I still have the energy to go out to the hot springs?" Tokumaru's expression remained unchanged.
At this time, the two of them were kneeling on the tatami in the room and talking. The bedding that Tokumaru slept on last night was just one meter away from him. It was just covered, not folded.
"If you don't believe it..." When Tokumaru said this, he leaned slightly to the left, stretched out his hand, and lifted up his quilt.
Kumagai followed his movements and cast his gaze, and saw that the inside of Tokumaru's quilt and the bedding underneath were all wet.
"You can send someone to check..." Tokumaru said, "This bedding is completely soaked with my sweat, not a drop of hot spring water."
Seeing this, Kumagai looked at Tokumaru for about five seconds, and then chuckled: "Oh... no need, I believe you."
In fact, in the first two seconds, Kumagai almost said to the subordinates behind him, "Come forward and check." But starting from the third second, the bed that Tokumaru opened was filled with sweat from the night. The smell wafted over... Xiong Gu was sitting two meters away from the quilt, and he was still very smelly, so he knew that this was definitely not the smell that a person who had taken a bath could come from sleeping without a test. Xian
After that, Kumagai asked Tokumaru a few more questions despite the smell, but he didn't get any useful information. Seeing that he was done asking questions, Kumagai quickly led his men out of this angry room.
Their next stop was the guest room in the west courtyard where three people lived...
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