Luoyang West Market is adjacent to Houzaimen Street in the east, the south wall of Waiguo City in the south, and Guangli Street in the north.
The West Market, which was originally crowded with people, has now been directly taken over by Dali Temple.
Even though this place is related to the livelihood of countless traders, the people from Dali Temple still forcefully take over everything.
Arrogant and unreasonable.
Whether it was the vendors here or the civilians who came to buy and sell, they were all driven into the houses, and the entire street was completely closed off.
In the northwest of West City, at the entrance of a drugstore called Su's Pharmacy, an unidentified body lay on its side on the stone steps.
A closer look revealed that the entire body had been completely burned to a crisp by the flames.
Li Xuan jumped off the horse, glanced quickly, and immediately determined that the death of the deceased was almost the same as that of a group of mage from Tiangong Temple.
Everything was burned from the inside out by the flames, and was completely burned to char. This could be judged from the different burning degrees of the body parts.
The police officers and gangsters from Dali Temple have already started a simple inspection.
…
"There are three cities in Luoyang, the South City, the West City, and the North City." Dai Xing stood beside Li Xuan and glanced around: "For foreigners coming from Chang'an, their first stop will be in the West City. Some ordinary goods are sold in the West City. It will be distributed here, and then the really precious goods will be transferred to the South City and the North City.
Most of the people in Nanshi are merchants from the south. Most of the people in the south are rich and can sell at higher prices.
The North Market is close to the Imperial City, and most of the people entering and leaving are distinguished. It is also an ideal place to sell goods, and there are some things that only they can pay at a starting price. "
"So where did this deceased come from, Chang'an, the south, or the local area?" Li Xuan pointed to the medicine basket next to the scorched corpse. There were many herbs in the medicine basket, and whispered: "He came from nearby. Did you come down from the mountain?"
Luoyang is located among mountains, with Mang Mountain to the north, Song Mountain to the east, Laoshan Mountain to the west, Funiu Mountain, Xiong'er Mountain, Waifang Mountain and other mountains to the south, the Yellow River to the north, and the Wangwu Mountain and Taihang Mountain to the north of the Yellow River. wait.
A herbal collector collected herbs from nearby mountains and went straight to the West Market. Unexpectedly, he was murdered.
…
"According to the pharmacy clerk, the deceased's name was Zhou Pu. He came from Nanzhou and was a medicine seller. He left the city and entered Luoyang at Chenshi today. He came to the medicine shop to sell medicine."
The policeman from Dali Temple stood aside and said quickly,
"Nanzhou, why do drug dealers from Nanzhou come to Luoyang to sell medicine, and they are also single-person drug dealers?" Li Xuan felt that things were getting weirder.
Nanzhou, formerly Nanchuan County, belongs to Bazhou.
In the second year of Wude's reign, he purchased land in Nanzhou and governed Nanchuan County.
There are many mountains and rivers in the territory, and it is famous for its specialty oranges.
Bazhou is on the side of Yizhou. From Yizhou, the Yangtze River flows downstream, and it also passes through Nanzhou.
A drug dealer from Nanzhou traveled thousands of miles and was directly killed when he arrived in Luoyang. Why was this?
"Go and ask, what kind of medicine did the deceased sell here?" Dai Xing nodded towards the previous police officer, who immediately entered the drug store.
How could an ordinary drug dealer be directly poisoned with powerful poison?
The purpose could only be for the drug he was carrying, a drug imported from Nanzhou.
"Herbal medicines in baskets are very old, and they can be sold at a good price after traveling long distances to Luoyang. However, even if these things are not in Nanzhou, they can be found in other places, especially the nearby mountainous Luoyang. Transported here It also requires a lot of effort to keep it properly, which is even more costly.”
Li Xuan narrowed her eyes slightly: "If you really have the time, why not sell the things in Chengdu?"
"Unless someone has paid a large price for a certain medicinal material, the others are just incidental." Dai Xing followed Li Xuan's analysis.
Li Xuan nodded, stood on one side of the corpse, and said while gesticulating: "Looking at the direction of the corpse, it should be facing outwards. He was killed just after he came out of the medicine shop. This is because someone didn't want him to leave alive. here!"
"The question is, how could such a Nanzhou drug dealer die in such a similar manner to a group of mages?" Dai Xing frowned tightly.
"Perhaps this medicinal materials merchant from Nanzhou is already acquainted with a group of mages?" Li Xuan took a deep breath.
Although the death of the Nanzhou drug dealer revealed a trace of the entire case, the word "drug dealer" vaguely made Li Xuan realize that it seemed to point to a specific patient.
As for who this particular patient is, we can't just say.
Perhaps a group of mages were killed just to kill him, and the rumors involving the prince were just a cover-up.
"What do you mean by the prince, a group of magicians are also experts in medicine?" The corners of Dai Xing's mouth twitched involuntarily.
Today, the entire Tang Dynasty has an extremely strong medical atmosphere.
From Emperor Taizong Li Shimin to the current emperor Gaozong Li Zhi, they all suffered from severe wind diseases. Doctors from all walks of life often came to Luoyang to diagnose diseases, and even the medical sage Sun Simiao appeared from time to time.
There are countless famous Taoist doctors, including Li Xuan's teacher Wei Xuanzang and the old master of Longhu Mountain.
This is true for Taoism, and the same is true for Buddhism.
"Dai Shaoqing still remembers that we all feel that Tiangong Temple is not the permanent residence of Master Yixing. If he lives elsewhere, then everything will make sense!" Li Xuan spoke softly, and there was only one person standing beside him. Dai Xing could barely hear clearly.
"Other place, other place...hiss?" Dai Xing chewed on these two words, not knowing what he thought of, and his face suddenly changed slightly.
"People from the Zongxuan Department must know about it." Dai Xing gritted his teeth. He was eager to get angry, but the Zongxuan Department still had important clues hidden.
Dai Xing immediately called his detectives over: "You go there immediately... No, we need to interrogate the people in the drug store in more detail. Ask who on earth often comes here to buy medicine... Forget it, I'll go by myself. Bar!"
Dai Xing suddenly realized that this information was very sensitive. Now was not the time to go to Zongxuan Office. At least he had to wait until these cases were settled.
He glanced at Li Xuan, who nodded slightly, and Dai Xing walked into the pharmacy himself.
Li Xuan put her hands behind her back and followed Dai Xing slowly into the drug store.
This is a very typical and ordinary large drug store, selling medicine on the first floor and treating diseases on the second floor.
In normal times, there are definitely not a few patients and family members coming and going.
Only large pharmacies like this would spend a lot of money to collect drugs from Nanzhou.
Although the Tang Dynasty is rich in the world today, few people go to the deep mountains and old forests.
In these places, there are quite a few precious medicinal materials that are more than hundreds of years old, so there are quite a few medicinal collectors who make a living by collecting medicinal herbs.
It's just that this business is very dangerous. The deeper you go into the mountains and forests, the fewer people can come out alive in the end.
But the closer one can get out of the deep mountains and old forests, the greater the real harvest will be, and the same is true for the old medicine man in front of him.
Li Xuan could almost conclude that what caused his death this time was probably the thing he took out from the deep mountains and old forests.
"My dear officials, the shopkeeper went out to the outpatient clinic this morning and hasn't come back yet!" The waiter at the drug store looked helpless.
Even though there was a death case at the door, and the boss was not around, the people from Dali Temple refused to let the customers of the medicine shop leave, and asked them one by one.
It was as if the murderer was among them.
"The shopkeeper isn't here?" Dai Xing frowned and looked at his catcher: "Xu Tu, why didn't you report such a big thing before?"
"Lang Jun, isn't it too late?" Xu Tu's face was full of a wry smile. He turned slightly sideways. In the entire medicine shop, countless police officers from Dali Temple were busy searching everything in the medicine shop. There was no time at all. Comprehensive reporting.
"You..." Dai Xing was about to accuse him, but at this moment, Li Xuan reached out and held him down, looking out the door: "Don't you think he's back?"
At this moment, when I turned around at the drug store, a gray-covered carriage slowly stopped.
The car curtain opened, and a tall, bald, middle-aged man with a long beard and a protruding belly was helped out by a pretty girl in her mid-20s wearing a purple skirt. ,,
