Let Lao Zhu see it?
Gu Zhengchen stood up and bowed deeply to Li Yi, who was very thoughtful: "Thank you, Lord County."
Li Yi laughed loudly, patted Gu Zhengchen's shoulder slowly three times, and walked away with a gun.
"Master, is he the county magistrate?"
Gu Cheng was shocked.
Seeing Li Yi taking small steps in the distance, Gu Zhengchen suddenly understood. He dropped the cattail leaf fan in his hand, raised his hand and slapped his forehead with hatred: "Li Shanmei, you old fox!"
"master……"
"Sir, how old are you? He took away our family's loot and didn't give us any money!"
"But he is the county magistrate."
"What's wrong with the county magistrate? Why are you taking our things for free! Damn it, does the county government have any sheep that can be easily held?"
Gu Cheng fainted...
Gu Qingqing brought the mulberries and stretched out her little purple-black hands: "Brother, try it."
Gu Zhengchen took the mulberry and tasted it twice, with a smile on his lips.
Li Yi, the county magistrate, used Luo Zi to spread the word and told him that he had been recommended to the court.
As for Li Yi patting himself on the shoulder three times before leaving, that was not to tell him to climb over the wall to find him in the middle of the night, but to say that if things went well, he would only have three months to stay in Teng County.
Three months?
Gu Zhengchen looked at his sister, and then at his mother who was picking mulberries in the distance, with a trace of reluctance in his eyes.
According to the official regulations of the Ming Dynasty, when local officials take office, they can bring their wives and servants, but they cannot bring their parents, brothers and sisters.
If he leaves, how will his mother and sister be accommodated?
County government.
Li Yi arranged for Sun Ang, the chief secretary, to convene the elders of Teng County from all over the country, take out the plunder for demonstration, and ordered all localities to actively build the plunder and harvest wheat as soon as possible.
The elder didn't dare to offend the county magistrate, so he had to pretend to agree, and went back to find someone to make one or two plunderers to try. The result was that the blacksmith shop was clanging all night long...
At dusk, just when Li Yigang wanted to go back to the back hall to rest, Chen Sanxiu, the leader of the Zaoli team, ran over and shouted with a panicked look on his face: "Your Majesty, it's not good, there is a murder."
"Homicide?"
Li Yi's face became serious and asked: "Where and when did it happen?"
Chen Sanxiu said quickly: "There is a pond 200 steps north of the government office. It is unknown when it happened. Someone was swimming in the pond and found the bones."
"Bones?"
Li Yi passed the news to his master, the county magistrate, and Wu Zuo, and walked to the pond with Chen Sanxiu and other officials.
The pond is not big, and it can only take sixty steps per week. The water at the edge is half a foot deep, and at the deepest point, it is only ten feet deep.
In the southeast corner, there is a wooden boat tied to the washing stone with a thumb-long hemp rope.
To the west of the pond is Wang Fugui's white wall, and to the east is the ancestral home of Liu Yuan's wife.
"Who found the bones?"
Li Yi asked sternly.
A middle-aged man who was shirtless and still wet came out, knelt down and said, "Master County Lord, I am a little citizen, the weather is really too hot on Tuesday, I just want to take a bath..."
Li Yi's face darkened: "Let's get down to business!"
Tuesday shuddered: "I just dived, and found a body sunk at the bottom of the pond, with rocks weighing it down..."
Li Yi frowned and looked at the class leader Chen Sanxiu.
Chen Sanxiu understood and took people down to the pond. Because the view was not good underwater, it took nearly half an hour to clean up the body before lifting the body out of the water and bringing it to the shore.
The torch was lit, and Li Yi covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, enduring the stench.
Wu Zuo stepped forward to inspect.
The flesh on the body had completely rotted away, the bones in the chest were broken in many places, and the coarse clothes on the body were also in tatters.
Wu Zuo kept looking through the bones and found a wooden sign from the neck of the corpse. He cleaned it and gave it to Li Yi: "County Lord, this man's skull had many cracks. He was probably killed by a blunt object first, and then his body was buried in the pond and died. It’s difficult to estimate the time, it may have been several years.”
"Gu Yan!"
Li Yi took the wooden sign and looked at the words on it, his expression suddenly changed.
Master Yan Bin shuddered and stepped forward to take a look. No, it was the word "Gu Yan" above the wooden sign!
The name of the county magistrate Jin Dache always seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was.
Li Yi's Adam's apple twitched and he looked at the golden cart solemnly: "In the first year of Hongwu, the imperial court sent troops to the north to recruit people to transport food and wages for the army. More than 3,000 people in Teng County served as corvees and went north. After the army conquered Dadu, , in addition to the 300 people who stayed as servants, more than 2,400 people came back, and more than 200 people died due to various reasons. If I remember correctly, among these 200 people, Gu Yan's name is included!"
Jin Dache suddenly remembered that Gu Yan was none other than the father of Gu Zhengchen and Gu Juren from Dayan Village!
"W-what on earth is going on?"
The golden cart is horrifying.
How could a dead person come back alive, only to be beaten to death and sunk in this pond? !
Li Yi looked gloomy and ordered Jin Dache: "Take the corpse back to the Yamen for careful inspection! In addition, ask the chief clerk and Dian Shi to bring out the list of the corvee entries and exits for that year. I want to check it myself!"
Yan Bin came close to Li Yi and whispered: "Your Majesty, if Gu Que's name is on the dead list..."
Li Yi clenched his fist and gritted his teeth and said, "That means someone added a name on purpose!"
"Not many people can do this."
Yan Bin reminded.
How could Li Yi not know this? There are only a few people in the entire county government who have access to these rosters. But based on this alone, it is impossible to determine who killed Gu Yan. If the other party insists that it was negligence, it cannot be proven guilty.
"Someone must have seen Gu Yan, he's around here!"
Li Yi looked around the pond and the surrounding streets.
Yan Bin was worried: "Five or six years have passed, and it is not easy to investigate. Besides, in the first year of Hongwu, Teng County was not stable, and there were many bandits."
Li Yi snorted and pointed to the pond: "It can't be the bandits who roam around. Bandits kill people and steal money. But in an instant, how can they sink people into the pond and find rocks to suppress them? ? The person who killed Gu Lan must be someone who had a grudge against Gu Lan! Squad leader, go and invite Gu Zhengchen, don’t disturb the Gu family."
Chen Sanxiu agreed and left in a hurry.
Li Yi walked along the pond holding a torch, stopped and looked inside the pond, and asked: "If you want to sink the body into the middle of the pond, you need a boat. Whose boat does this boat belong to?"
Yan Bin quickly sent someone to inquire.
It didn't take long for the official to report back: "The wooden boat belongs to Wang Fugui's family."
"Wang family?"
Li Yi stared at Yan Bin.
Yan Bin looked at Wang's walled courtyard and whispered to Li Yi: "Your Majesty, this is not a coincidence."
Li Yi said nothing and continued walking. He walked into a dilapidated alleyway, suddenly stopped, took two steps back, and shined the torch on the wall.
On the white wall, there is a vivid rabbit painted. What is strange is that this rabbit actually wears an official hat on its head.
Yan Bin frowned: "Who is so bold and dares to ridicule the government!"
Li Yi stared at the rabbit, pondered for a long time, and then said: "The rabbit wears a hat. This is a word 'injustice'. Maybe someone saw something but didn't dare to speak out, so they are shouting injustice here!"
