Li Zhiyun walked out of the dormitory and told Magistrate Wang the situation in a low voice. It seemed that he was right in guessing that this Aunt Liu was the traitor. She took the initiative to work as a maid, peeped outside the building staff and opened the secret room, and then colluded with thieves to steal the gold, silver and jewelry from the Lou family. Unexpectedly, she was discovered by the Lou family and had to kill and silence her.
Now it seems that the flag with the word "Liang" left at the scene was just a cover-up, and this case was probably committed by a local acquaintance. The thief originally only wanted to steal, not kill. He only killed nine members of the Lou family as a last resort because he alarmed the owner. When Liu Gu saw so many people dead, she felt guilty, so she became a nun and set up an altar in a dark room to pay homage to the souls who died in vain in order to seek spiritual comfort.
Li Zhiyun walked over and clapped his hands to the master of the nunnery and said, "Master, Master Huijue's common name is Liu Gu. She was originally a maid of the building member's wife's family, and she was involved in the murder of the building member's family, so we have to take her with her. Go back to the county office." When the nunnery master heard this, he was horrified, clasped his hands together and said, "Amitabha."
Liu Gu stood there without saying a word, just looking at the many officials with a calm face. She wore a monk's hat and a gray sea green robe. Although the robe with a wide waist, wide sleeves, round collar and square placket was very baggy, it could not hide her soft waist. She looked as pretty as a spring peach. Pure and simple as a chrysanthemum in autumn.
It's true that you can't find anything without wearing iron shoes, and it doesn't take any effort to get it. Li Zhiyun did not expect that he would find such an important criminal so quickly. He was so lucky! As long as Liu Gu reveals the real culprit behind the scenes, they can capture the culprits and recover the stolen gold and silver. Magistrate Wang was also very excited. He waved his hand and said, "Take it away!" So the officials escorted Liu Gu out of the nunnery and went down the mountain back to Pizhou City.
After returning to the county government office, Magistrate Wang immediately went to court to inquire about the case, with Li Zhiyun assisting him. Liu Gu was led to the hall and knelt down. All the government officials stood on both sides of the hall with knives and sticks, shouting loudly to show their authority. County Magistrate Wang was shocked and said: "Gu Gu Liu, who ordered you to disguise yourself as a maid, enter the building's house, and find out where the treasure is? Who broke into the building late at night, cooperated with you inside and outside, killed people and robbed wealth? Hurry up! Hurry and recruit from the real situation!"
Liu Gu knelt on the ground, staring at Magistrate Wang with a pair of hateful eyes, saying nothing. Magistrate Wang asked her seven or eight times in a row, almost breaking the gavel, but she still didn't say a word. Magistrate Wang was furious, his face turned red, and he shouted: "It seems that you won't say anything unless I punish you. Come and get the hammer."
So, a yamen servant brought the 涶子. Torture is a kind of torture. The torture instrument is made by perforating a wooden stick and connecting it with a thread. The victim's hands and feet are placed in the middle of the stick, and the rope is tightened on both sides. Beating is mostly used on female prisoners, and can easily lead to the disability of both hands.
The officer put Liu Gu's finger in the middle of the stick, and then tightened the rope hard. Liu Gu's face was pale, and cold sweat broke out on her forehead. As the stick tightened, she screamed in pain and fainted. A yamen servant brought a bucket of cold water. After Liu Gu was splashed with cold water and woke up, she still refused to speak, so Magistrate Wang ordered the torture to continue. Doing this again and again made her feel worse than death.
Li Zhiyun watched with fear, and finally couldn't bear it anymore and stopped him: "County Magistrate Wang, stop the torture." Wang Guang was in a state of excitement, and when he heard his words, he turned around and looked at him in surprise: "Your Majesty, you..." Li Zhiyun His eyes were focused, and his eyes flickered. Wang Pang's lips moved a few times, and he did not dare to say anything more, so he could only wave to the yamen servant.
Li Zhiyun stopped Wang Guo from being tortured, not out of pity. He did not expect that such a beautiful woman would collude with the bandits, seek wealth and murder, and brutally kill nine members of the Lou family. Such a person does not deserve sympathy. He just felt that from the look in her eyes, this woman was determined to die and would fight to the end. A woman is weak and if she is killed by excessive torture, then the survivors who were finally caught will be gone. Furthermore, as a modern person, Li Zhiyun has a natural resistance to torture. Since Liu Gu secretly set up an altar to enshrine the nine members of the Lou family and worshiped every day, it at least showed that her conscience had not been completely extinguished. Maybe they could find another way to get her to talk.
In order not to embarrass Wang Guang too much, Li Zhiyun whispered: "Just torture is useless, she won't say it. However, people's hearts are like iron, and Wang's law is like a furnace. I believe that as long as we are patient, we will find a way to pry her open sooner or later." mouth. We don’t have to rush this matter for a while, let’s put her in jail first.”
Liu Gu was captured, the case made significant progress, and a stone in Li Zhiyun's heart finally fell to the ground. He felt like he was walking in a dark tunnel and finally saw a glimmer of light. The next step is how to get Liu Gu to speak. Is it moving with emotion and understanding with reason? Or find her weakness and break through her psychological defense? …
After Li Zhiyun returned to Chuwang Inn, he thought about it all night and finally came up with something. After breakfast the next day, he left the inn with Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu and headed to the county government office, preparing to go to the prison to interrogate Liu Gu.
They were walking on a street and saw a lot of pedestrians and cars and horses. A four-horse carriage with gold, silver and purple curtains came towards them. The carriage stopped next to it, and two people got out of the carriage. One was a thin Juniper, and the other man looked about fifty years old, five feet seven inches tall, neither fat nor thin, with a rectangular face and a bronze face. Skin, a pair of sword eyebrows, two tiger eyes, a high bridge of nose, thin lips, and a short beard under his chin. His appearance paired with the purple python official uniform makes him look quite imposing.
The two people walked towards them, and Jun Song smiled and held his hands in his arms and said: "Your Majesty, please stay a moment and let me introduce you to you." After saying that, he pointed to the man beside him and said, "This is Governor Zhao." The man walked up to Li Zhiyun, cupped his hands and said, "I am here to pay my respects to His Royal Highness the King of Chu, Zhao Changlin, the governor of Pizhou." Li Zhiyun quickly returned the greeting and said, "It turns out to be the governor of Zhao. I heard that you are out on patrol. Thank you for your hard work."
"Your Majesty, you're welcome. When I heard that Your Majesty was coming to Pizhou on the way, I immediately rushed back to the Yamen. Has Your Majesty settled down? Is there anything I need your help for?"
Li Zhiyun smiled and said: "My troops have already stayed at the inn, so Governor Zhao doesn't have to worry. I came to Pizhou this time just to do some personal business. I planned to go back home, but unexpectedly something happened in Loujiazhuang outside the city." In a tragedy, nine members of a family outside the building were killed. Naturally, I cannot stand by and watch such a shocking crime, so I stayed here to see if I could do my little bit to help the magistrate find the real culprit." Zhao Changlin listened. He cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty worked hard and took the lead to set an example. This official has a deep understanding. I will definitely urge my subordinates to solve the case as soon as possible and capture the culprit."
Li Zhiyun nodded and said: "Then I will help the governor of Zhao." Zhao Changlin glanced to the side and said: "This is not the place to talk. Can the prince move to the state capital so that the subordinates can listen to the prince's instructions in person? Li Zhiyun smiled and said: "I still have some things to do, so I will definitely pay you a visit someday."
"Well, I'm waiting for you to come."
Zhao Changlin and Du Song respectfully saluted Li Zhiyun and returned to the carriage. The carriage drove away, and Li Zhiyun continued walking towards the county government office with two subordinate officials.
The three of them came to the county government office, and as soon as they walked through the gate, they met the chief clerk. As soon as the chief clerk saw them, he shouted: "Your Majesty, it's not good, Aunt Liu is dead." When Li Zhiyun heard this, he felt as if Jiao Lei was hitting his head. He was startled and asked quickly: "How did you die?"
"It looks like he hanged himself."
Li Zhiyun calmed down, thought for a while, and said, "Where is Magistrate Wang?"
"He has gone to jail."
"Where is the prison? Take us there quickly."
The chief clerk led the way, leading Li Zhiyun and the others to the prison. The corridors of the cells were dimly lit, and there were guards holding lanterns in broad daylight. They walked to the door of a women's prison, and Li Zhiyun stepped in. This cell was quite spacious, and Liu Gu was lying on the dirt floor, with Magistrate Wang and several other people surrounding her. A man stood up from Liu Gu's body and said to Magistrate Wang: "He hanged himself to death. He has been dead for two or three hours." It seemed that he was a traitor and had just finished examining the body.
When County Magistrate Wang saw Li Zhiyun, he quickly raised his hands and said, "My lord, do you already know?" Li Zhiyun walked over and looked down at the body on the ground. A beam of light came in from the skylight of the cell, and it happened to shine on Aunt Liu's face. Her face was as white as paper, without a trace of blood, and her eyes were closed. Li Zhiyun couldn't help but secretly sigh, it's such a pity that the golden boudoir and the willow quality will be gone in a short period of time! He frowned, raised his head and said, "What's going on? How could a good person hang himself?" Magistrate Wang did not answer, but turned around and shouted loudly: "Where is the prison warden?" A thin man next to him quickly handed over his hand. : "The humble position is here."
"Tell the prince quickly, what is going on?"
The prison warden quickly nudged the female cell leader next to him with his elbow and said, "Say what you say." The female cell leader was fat and fleshy, with thick arms and a round waist, and a face full of flesh. She was obviously frightened and did not dare to look directly at Li Zhiyun. She only glanced out of the corner of her eyes and said tremblingly: "She was fine in the first half of the night, neither crying nor fussy. In the second half of the night, I just squinted for a while, and when I woke up, She just hung there, and when I put it down and touched it, she was dead."
"Where did she get the rope?" Li Zhiyun asked.
The prison warden quickly explained: "She tore her clothes into strips and tied them into ropes. The woman's body was light and her neck was thin, so even the strips strangled her to death."
Magistrate Wang was very angry and said sternly: "The jailer neglected his duty, and the staff is fifty heavy!" Upon hearing this, the two yamen guards nearby immediately stepped forward and grabbed the female jailer. Although she kept begging for mercy, Magistrate Wang still refused. Keep a straight face and don't let go. The government officials didn't care and dragged her away.
When the prison warden saw his subordinates being punished, he was so frightened that he shook his clothes and started fighting. Magistrate Wang stared at him and said, "You can't run away either. I'm going to report it to the governor and demote you to a deputy position and deduct your salary for half a year." The prison warden didn't dare to talk back, so he could only say: "Yes, yes."
After leaving the prison and returning to the county government hall, County Magistrate Wang asked Li Zhiyun to take a seat. Li Zhiyun waved his hand and sighed: "We finally caught an accomplice, but he died. Now the clue is broken again." Magistrate Wang said with some guilt: "This subordinate neglected his duty and failed to urge his subordinates to fulfill their responsibilities. ." Li Zhiyun waved his hand and said: "Now is not the time to hold people accountable. Let's see if there are any remedial measures." County Magistrate Wang understood, and quickly handed over his hands and said: "I will go and conduct an investigation now to see who is there. I had contact with that female prisoner." After saying that, he turned and walked away, leaving Li Zhiyun there. Li Zhiyun had nothing to do at the county government office, so he took Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu back to the inn.
