Tengxian County Government Office, southwest corner.
There was an unsettling musty smell in the air, and the eerie breath of death floated in the coldness.
Suddenly.
The light of the lantern drove away the darkness, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.
"Wuzuo, Gu Juren is here."
Class leader Chen Sanxiu shouted.
Wu Zuo walked out of the darkness, holding a candle that might be extinguished at any time with his palm.
Following Wu Zuo into the inner room, there was a white cloth covering a corpse on a wooden platform. Wu Zuo looked at Gu Zhengchen who was silent and lifted the white cloth.
Chen Sanxiu and Zuo Zuo looked at Gu Zhengchen, expecting him to faint from shock, but Gu Zhengchen just looked at him sadly, showing no fear at all.
Gu Zhengchen looked at the skeleton in front of him and couldn't imagine that this was "his" father.
In my memory, the Gu family's ancestral home was Hongdong, Shanxi. Later, they were forced to move to Kaifeng, Henan because they offended a wealthy family.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there was war and chaos. Gu Yan and the Gu family took their young Gu Zhengchen and Gu Qingqing to hide in Tibet. It was not until two years before the founding of the Ming Dynasty that they came out of the mountains and took root in Teng County, Jining Prefecture.
In the first year of Hongwu, Gu Yan and other people from Teng County were recruited to transport food and wages for Xu Da's army.
Later, there was news of death.
At that time, it was the critical period of the Ming Dynasty's war against the Yuan Dynasty. It was normal for people to die and be thrown into the wild. No one would go to great lengths to send a corpse back to its place of origin.
Mother Gu cried secretly for half a month and made a tomb with one of her father's clothes, under the largest mulberry tree in the field.
More than five years have passed, and the Gu family believes that Gu Yan is gone. But now, people from the county government came to Gu Zhengchen and said: We found your father, he died again.
Gu Zhengchen looked at the bones in front of him and asked sadly: "Has the cause of death been found out?"
Wu Zuo pointed to the skull with several cracks and explained.
Gu Zhengchen clenched his fists and asked with a ferocious expression, "Where is the County Lord?"
Chen Sanxiu said quickly: "Zhongtang."
Gu Zhengchen pulled up the white cloth, turned around and left. Under the leadership of Chen Sanxiu, he entered the county government hall.
Li Yi was looking through the roster, and when he saw Gu Zhengchen arriving, he spoke first: "I will definitely get to the bottom of this matter and bring justice to the Gu family."
Gu Zhengchen said bluntly: "Does the county have any clues or directions?"
Li Yi raised his head and stared at the roster, waved his hand, pointed at the name on the roster and said, "This is the clue."
Gu Zhengchen stepped forward and saw the word "Gu Yan". This name was written at the end of the checked list. Judging from the handwriting, it was similar to the other names on it, but after a closer look, it could be seen that it was not written by one person.
"People from the county government!"
Gu Zhengchen gnashed his teeth.
Li Yi sighed: "Now it seems that at least people from the county government participated."
Gu Zhengchen did not doubt Li Yi. He came to Teng County last year, that is, in February of the fifth year of Hongwu, and the case occurred in the first or second year of Hongwu.
Li Yi looked at the thoughtful Gu Zhengchen and asked, "I want to know, has your father, Gu Yan, ever had any grudges, disputes, or quarrels with anyone?"
Gu Zhengchen sat down and looked at Li Yi: "There are as many as four cracks in the skull, which shows that it was definitely not an accidental injury, but more like a vendetta. The Gu family moved to Teng County. If there was a dispute..."
Seeing that Gu Zhengchen seemed to be thinking of something, with murderous intent on his face, Li Yi stood up and asked, "What did you think of?"
Gu Zhengchen grabbed the tea bowl on the table, his breathing became violent and heavy.
Click!
The tea bowl was broken, and tea and blood immediately flowed out.
Li Yi felt a little sorry for Tao Lai's flimsy tea cup and looked at Gu Zhengchen solemnly.
Gu Zhengchen gritted his teeth and shouted: "Wang Fugui!"
Li Yi was shocked, was it really the Wang family?
Yan Bin found a clean handkerchief and bandaged the injury on Gu Zhengchen's hand. Gu Zhengchen said to Li Yi: "In March of the first year of Hongwu, Wang Fugui claimed that the Gu family's ten acres of land belonged to the Wang family's ancestors and wanted to take it back. My father did not allow it. , and there was a dispute with him. Soon, my father was drafted to transport food and wages. The Wang family came to ask for land many times, but my mother refused. "
"After the second year of Hongwu, the Wang family never came to make trouble at home. Until the fifth year of Hongwu's election, the Wang family came to apologize and sponsored me to go to Beijing to take the exam forty thousand yuan! Now that I think about it, the Wang family has always harbored evil intentions!"
Li Yi frowned.
According to the edict issued by Zhu Yuanzhang in the first year of Hongwu, farmers who cultivated wasteland in various places became their own owners and were exempted from taxes and servitude for three years. If the original owners returned to their hometowns, local officials would allocate and cultivate the nearby wasteland.
Even if what Gu Lan is reclaiming is the land belonging to Wang Fugui's ancestors, the Wang family cannot ask for it.
Using the land deeds of the Yuan Dynasty to snatch the fields of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Fugui, what are you thinking...
From this point of view, Wang Fugui has long been hating Gu Lan and harboring a grudge. In this way, the motive for the murder was established.
The remaining problem is to find evidence that Wang Fugui's family killed Gu Lan!
Li Yi looked at Master Yan Bin: "Tell him everything about today's investigation."
Yan Bin was a little surprised. Gu Zhengchen was not a member of the yamen. He was only questioned and was not qualified to participate in the investigation and analysis, let alone know all the contents of the files.
But unfortunately, the magistrate ordered so.
Yan Bin looked deeply at Li Yi and understood that the county magistrate wanted to use this murder case to once again see Gu Zhengchen's ability and see if he had the wisdom and ability to solve such a difficult problem.
If local officials do not have this ability, they will be other people's dolls when they take office and will be controlled by the officials.
Yan Bin couldn't show Gu Zhengchen the file, but he could read it. After Yan Bin finished reading, he added the rabbit wearing an official hat.
Li Yi looked at Gu Zhengchen seriously: "I know you are sad, but you need to calm down at this time. If you are the county magistrate, what should you do next?"
Gu Zhengchen looked at Li Yi and said solemnly: "The only people who can add my father's name to the dead list to avoid the Gu family's investigation are the four or five people in the county government. Judging from the handwriting, the other party is good at imitating. If he didn't kill my father himself, he must have collected money to do things. This is enough for the county magistrate to find out who tampered with the roster."
Li Yi nodded slightly: "I can find him, but this is not ironclad evidence."
Gu Zhengchen lowered his head and pondered, then stood up and said, "The rabbit wears an official hat and is hiding by the pond. It is very likely that someone saw something. If you find him, you can find witnesses."
Yan Bin said helplessly: "This kind of painting satirizes the government. It can be classified as a demon calligraphy painting. If caught, it will be a death penalty. Who dares to admit it? What's more, we don't know who painted it at all. If we want to find this person, it will be difficult to log in." sky."
Gu Zhengchen looked at Li Yi: "I can find this person, but I need the county magistrate to promise me something."
Li Yi raised his eyebrows: "What's the matter?"
Gu Zhengchen pointed to the hat on Li Yi's head.
Li Yi understood immediately: "Do you want to wipe off the official hat on that painting? This will protect the person who painted it from death. Well, not many people know about this matter, so you can handle it as you wish."
Gu Zhengchen walked towards the door, suddenly stopped, turned around and asked coldly: "If it is confirmed that the real murderer is Wang Fugui, will he die alone, or will the entire Wang family die?"
