"Your Majesty, come and take a look." Zhang Zheng, who had been standing at the table, shouted.
Li Zhiyun walked over, and Zhang Zheng pointed to the table and said: "Although there is only an empty wine glass on the table, there are faint traces of soup stains on the table, indicating that when Sun Fen was drinking, there were dishes on the table, and then someone took them away. He left. That person wanted to create the illusion that Sun Fen committed suicide by taking poison, but because he left in a hurry, he did not clean the table." Li Zhiyun looked at it for a while, nodded and said, "You are right, and the poisoner is not the same. The relationship between Sun Fen and Sun Fen must be very close to make him feel defenseless."
It didn't take long, the guards came back one after another, and the entire house was searched, but no stolen goods were found. It seemed that the robbed gold and silver treasures were not hidden here, otherwise, this small house would not be able to withstand such a carpet-like search.
At this time, Magistrate Wang arrived with a group of government officials. As soon as he saw Li Zhiyun, he stepped forward and cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty." After Li Zhiyun returned the courtesy, he said, "County Magistrate Wang, do you know Sun Fen?"
"know."
"He is Aunt Liu's biological brother."
"Really?" Magistrate Wang was surprised when he heard this.
Li Zhiyun saw that Wu Zuo, brought by Magistrate Wang, was conducting an autopsy, so he walked over and asked, "What kind of poison did you take?" Wu Zuo took out a silver needle from a cotton bag, used the tip of the needle to pick some blood stains at the corner of Sun Fen's mouth, and said He looked at it in the light and said, "It's arsenic."
After Wu Zuo completed the autopsy, the body was carried away on a stretcher by the government officials. Li Zhiyun left the scene to Magistrate Wang and left with his people.
They walked to the street. Cai Hu approached Li Zhiyun on horseback and whispered: "Your Majesty, when I went to Yongshou County this time, I also inquired about such a thing." Then, he told what he had inquired about, and Li Zhiyun listened. After finishing, he was surprised: "Is there such a thing?"
Sun Fen died, and the clues to the case were lost again. Li Zhiyun felt that this case was more complicated than he originally imagined. It was obvious that he alone could not uncover the truth of the case. He had to work together to give full play to the collective wisdom.
After returning to King Chu Inn, Li Zhiyun divided the work. Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu took the lead in searching for clues. Every day at dinner, everyone gathered together to report on the investigation and analyze the case.
Sun Fen was poisoned, and it was done by an acquaintance. Therefore, we must first draw a rough outline of the suspects. During dinner, everyone sat around the dinner table. Cai Hu said: "Your Majesty, we investigated the people around Sun Fen. He is relatively withdrawn and has few friends. The only people who have a close relationship with him are a few soldiers from the state capital."
"Then let's start with a few people who joined the army and try to find the murderer."
"Okay," Cai Hu continued, "In addition, we also visited restaurants and restaurants across the city. No restaurant staff sent food or wine to Sun Fen's residence that day."
Zhang Zheng interrupted: "Could it be that the murderer cooked the dishes himself, or bought them from a restaurant and took them to Sun Fen's residence in a food box?" Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "If that's the case, then search It's like looking for a needle in a haystack and salt in the snow." After a moment of pause, he turned to Cai Hu and said, "Have you asked Sun Fen's neighbors? Did they see anyone entering his yard that day?" Cai Hu shook his head. , said: "I have asked, but no one has seen it."
At this time, Liu Hong, who was sitting opposite, said: "I think that since people are poisoned, they should investigate the source of the poison." Zhang Zheng smiled and said: "Master Liu, of course we don't care about this matter. Will be missed. Arsenic can only be bought in drug stores, and to buy arsenic not only requires a prescription from a doctor, but also an approval from the government. We checked the drug stores across the city and found a few people buying arsenic. , however, their procedures were complete and the uses of arsenic were clear, so there was no problem."
"What about outside the city? Have you checked it?" Liu Hong said, "As far as I know, there is a Zhushan Town fifteen miles away from Pizhou City. There is a large medicinal material market there, and there are more than a dozen medicine shops in the town. Home, you might as well go there and look for it.”
When Cai Hu heard this, he smiled and said: "Master Liu, you are quite familiar with this area of Pizhou." Liu Hong smiled and said: "Your Majesty asked me to take care of the business of Prince Chu's Mansion. In the past two years, I have traveled all over the world. Run, so I know more." Li Zhiyun said hurriedly: "Master Liu, thank you for your hard work!" Liu Hong waved his hand and said: "It's okay, I am willing to do more while my body is still strong. Li Zhiyun nodded, turned to Zhang Zheng and said, "Tomorrow, you will take someone to check the pharmacy in Zhushan Town."
"yes".
At Mao o'clock the next day, Zhang Zheng left Pizhou City on horseback with a guard and headed for Zhushan Town. During the fifteen-mile journey, the two of them worked hard and arrived in less than half an hour.
Zhushan Town is really not small. Judging from the number of houses, there should be thousands of households. There are several streets in the town, and they are very lively with people coming and going. The two started from the east end of the town and searched for a pharmacy along the street. When they encountered a pharmacy, they went in to inquire. If they encountered a customer buying arsenic, they recorded the buyer's situation and conducted an investigation later.
It took half a day to go through more than a dozen drug stores. Seeing that it was already noon, the guard said: "Let's find a place to make a sharp tip. After dinner, go back quickly." Zhang Zheng looked ahead and said: "This street We haven't finished walking yet." The guard glanced at it and said, "The houses in front are dilapidated and there are few pedestrians. There should be no shops."
"It's better to go over and take a look."
The guard had no choice but to follow Zhang Zheng forward. The two of them walked a hundred or so steps, and sure enough they saw a drug store on the side of the road. This shop has a small front and has been retracted into the inside, so it is not very eye-catching.
The two walked in and saw a shopkeeper standing behind the counter. Zhang Zheng got straight to the point: "Boss, has anyone bought arsenic recently?"
"Arsenic?" The shopkeeper shook his head, "No."
"Where are the account books? Let me take a look."
The shopkeeper stared at Zhang Zheng and said: "Who are you?" Zhang Zheng said: "We are official servants. There was a case of poisoning someone in the city. We are investigating the case." The shopkeeper looked suspiciously: "You have official documents. Letter?" Zhang Zheng took out the token from Prince Chu's Mansion from his pocket and showed it to him. The shopkeeper took one look at it, shook his head and said, "No, our place is under the jurisdiction of Xinping County, and we need an official document from the county government."
"Isn't the King of Chu greater than the county magistrate?"
"It's no use being big. It's better for the county magistrate to take charge now."
Zhang Zheng became angry when he heard this. He stepped forward and grabbed the shopkeeper by the collar, glaring and saying: "As long as you are in the territory of the Tang Dynasty, the King of Chu can control you! Go and get it quickly. If you delay the official business, I will kill you!" When the shopkeeper saw the unreasonable man coming, he had no choice but to say: "Okay, okay, I'll get it."
Zhang Zheng let go of his hand, and the shopkeeper turned around and brought in the account book. Zhang Zheng took it and opened it, and found that someone bought five qian of arsenic a few days ago, and the time was just the day before Sun Fen was killed. When I looked at the signature, it read: Lu Shanhai.
"Who is this Lu Shanhai?" Zhang Zheng asked with a frown.
"I don't know the villain either. According to the regulations, in addition to the doctor's prescription, when buying arsenic, you must also have an honest guarantee. But this man only had the doctor's prescription and no guarantee, but he showed his famous seal. Xiao When people saw that it was from the state capital, they had no choice but to sell it to him.”
"People from the state capital?" Zhang Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Shopkeeper, please come with us."
"Where to go?"
"Xinping County Government."
"No, the villain still has to do business."
Zhang Zheng drew out the Azure Dragon Sword with a "swish" sound, and placed the sharp blade on the shopkeeper's neck: "Are you going or not?"
"Go, go."
The shopkeeper called the waiter to stand in the shop for him, and then followed Zhang Zheng and others. Zhang Zheng and his guards didn't bother to have lunch, so they bought some sesame seed cakes on the roadside and took them with them. Zhang Zheng took the shopkeeper with him on horseback and hurried back to Pizhou City.
At Chuwang Inn, Li Zhiyun was practicing calligraphy in the room. Zhang Zhengfeng burst in and handed him a piece of paper and said, "Your Majesty, look at this painting." Li Zhiyun took it and took a look. The painting on the paper was a portrait of a man. man. He stared intently and finally recognized it. Isn't this Lu Sifang?
"This was drawn by the artist based on the description of the medicine shop owner."
Li Zhiyun understood as soon as he heard it and said hurriedly: "Gather the troops immediately and follow me to arrest Lu Sifang!" Zhang Zheng agreed, turned around and went out. Li Zhiyun walked to the clothes rack, took off his sword and tied it around his waist. When he walked into the yard, Zhang Zheng had already gathered his troops. Li Zhiyun mounted the stirrups, led everyone out of the inn, and went straight to the state government office.
Halfway through, Li Zhiyun suddenly stopped his mount. Zhang Zheng on the side asked in surprise: "Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Li Zhiyun frowned and said: "I always feel that this Lu Sifang may also be a chess piece, and there is another real mastermind behind the scenes. That person." Upon hearing this, Zhang Zheng nodded and said, "It's possible."
"We must hurry up and catch him alive before the other party silences him." After Li Zhiyun said this, he turned to Cai Hu on the other side and said, "Do you know where Lu Sifang lives?" Cai Hu nodded and said: "Yes, the prince asked us to investigate the state Several members of the government have joined the army, so I know their situation well."
"Go to Lu Sifang's residence first." Li Zhiyun ordered.
The reason why Li Zhiyun wanted to go to Lu Sifang's residence first was because he learned the lesson from the arrest of Sun Fen last time. He knew that his opponent was cunning and cunning, and he probably already knew that he had traced Lu Sifang's head. Therefore, he must seize time and catch this important criminal before the other party takes action.
Everyone turned their horses and headed straight for Lu Sifang's residence under the leadership of Cai Hu. When I arrived at the door of the house, I saw that the door was open. Everyone got off their horses and walked into the yard to take a look. The door to the main house was wide open. Zhang Zheng suddenly yelled something bad, drew out the Qinglong Sword, and rushed into the house with a single stride. He saw a black shadow flash, and a man jumped out of the window and escaped. Zhang Zheng also did a "fish leaping over the dragon's gate", leaping out of the window and chasing the assassin...
