After Li Zhiyun put away the letter, he stood up and followed Liu Yinglian out of the guest room. The two came to the courtyard, and saw the bright moon in the sky, and the silver light filled the entire courtyard like a veil. There was a pavilion in the southeast corner of the yard. Li Zhiyun pointed with his hand and said, "Let's go sit in the pavilion."
The two came to the pavilion and sat down next to each other. Li Zhiyun smelled the faint fragrance emanating from Liu Yinglian, so he sniffed and said, "What perfume are you wearing?" Liu Yinglian asked in confusion, "What is perfume?"
"It's water mixed with spices."
"Is this what you're talking about?" Liu Yinglian said, taking off a sachet from her body and handing it to him.
Li Zhiyun took it, put it under his nose and smelled it, and it was indeed fragrant. He held the sachet in his hand and said, "What's in it?"
"There are sandalwood, clove, and sapodilla," Liu Yinglian said, "and borneol, mint, snow lotus, and pearl powder."
"There are so many good things, no wonder it smells so good."
While the two were talking, Li Zhiyun suddenly saw Zhang Zheng walking into the yard. Zhang Zheng walked to the center of the yard and stood there looking around, as if looking for something. Li Zhiyun and Liu Yinglian were sitting in the shadow of the pavilion, so he didn't see them.
Li Zhiyun handed the sachet back to Liu Yinglian, stood up and walked out of the pavilion, saying: "Zhang Zheng, what are you looking for?" Zhang Zheng saw him and said quickly: "Your Majesty, I am looking for you. Huang Changshi is here and said want to see you."
"Oh, what's wrong with him?"
"He didn't say."
When Li Zhiyun saw Liu Yinglian coming out of the pavilion, he said he had something to do and asked her to go back to her room first, and then returned to the guest room with Zhang Zheng. His guest room is a suite, with the outside room being the living room and the inside room being the bedroom. Huang Renjie was standing in the living room waiting anxiously. When he saw Li Zhiyun, he quickly said: "My lord, it's bad, something happened. There was a murder in Chang Da's house."
"What?" Li Zhiyun was surprised when he heard this, "What's going on?"
"The official didn't know," Huang Renjie said. "The official received the report and felt that the matter was important, so he came to see the prince and asked the prince to go to the scene to inspect the matter."
After hearing this, Li Zhiyun thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay, let's go there right now."
Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng, Cai Hu and a dozen guards and left the inn with Huang Renjie. They walked through several streets in the dark and came to the door of a mansion. There were several lanterns hanging on the gatehouse, and the door was full of doormen armed with swords. Their black armor reflected the red light of the lanterns, giving people a very depressing feeling.
Huang Renjie stepped forward and explained his purpose. After a guard came in to report, Chang Da came out and said with fists in his hands: "Your Majesty, Huang Changshi, are you here?" Li Zhiyun returned the courtesy and said, "General Chang, listen. It is said that a murder occurred in your house, what happened?"
"Prince, come with me." Chang Da said and led everyone into the mansion.
Li Zhiyun asked the guards to stay in the front yard, and followed Chang Da to the back house with Zhang Zheng, Cai Hu and Huang Renjie. Changfu is a house with three courtyards. The front row is the main hall and side halls, passing through the middle courtyard is the back house, and the back is the garden.
Chang Da led everyone into a room, pointed to the ground with his hand and said, "Look." Li Zhiyun lowered his head and saw a body lying sideways on the ground. Judging from the clothes, it should be a maid. She had obviously been stabbed to death with a sharp object such as a sword. She was curled up there with a large pool of blood on the ground next to her.
Li Zhiyun squatted next to the corpse, inspected the wound on his chest, then stood up and asked, "Are others injured?" Chang Da said, "No. To be honest with you, the general's family members are not here, they are all in their hometown." .”
After hearing this, Li Zhiyun asked: "When did this happen?" Chang Da shook his head and said: "I don't know, General. I usually go home at the Youshi time, but I came back late today. General General's military camp After coming out, I met an old acquaintance on the street that I hadn't seen for many years, and I had a few drinks with him in a restaurant. It was almost the second watch when I got home. I was about to go back to the house to rest, and when I opened the door, I found this person. There was a corpse, so someone immediately notified Huang Changshi."
Li Zhiyun looked around. This room was quite spacious, and the furnishings inside were also very luxurious. There was a large yellow wood carved bed placed against the wall, and the bed was covered with a pink gauze curtain. Obviously, this is Changda's bedroom.
Li Zhiyun searched around and found no murder weapon or other useful evidence. He turned around, looked at Chang Da and said: "General Chang, the murderer should have come in from outside. But how did he sneak into your house? Did he climb over the wall?" Chang Da said quickly: "This matter will never end. I am also puzzled by the explanation. I am not afraid of the prince’s jokes. The general has been assassinated a few years ago, so he pays special attention to his own defense. The general’s mansion is very well guarded. Prince, please come with me.”
Chang Da took Li Zhiyun and others out for a spin. Li Zhiyun discovered that the entire mansion was surrounded by a wall more than one foot high. On the inside of the wall, at intervals that are not too long, there is a guard walking back and forth and patrolling. Therefore, it is almost impossible for outsiders to climb over the wall without being discovered.
When Li Zhiyun came just now, he found that there were more than a dozen guards at the door alone. Such a tight defense could be said to be completely impregnable. Since the murderer did not come in from the outside, could it be the work of an insider? However, he asked Chang Da about it and found out that although the mansion was very large, he was the only one living there. Apart from the housekeeper and a few servants, the others were the guards. Therefore, the possibility of insiders committing crimes is also very small.
When they passed by the back garden, Li Zhiyun noticed a row of houses near the wall. He pointed with his hand and said, "General Chang, what are those houses used for?"
"Oh, those are the stables and hayloft."
Li Zhiyun took the lead and walked over. Everyone walked into the stable and took a look. Several horses were tied up inside and were quietly chewing bran beside the trough. Li Zhiyun took everyone around the stable and found nothing, so he walked out and went to the hay shed next to it.
This hay shed is very large. The corner on the left is full of hay. There are also many wheat straws scattered on the ground, which may have been dropped when someone picked up the straw. There is a pile of sacks piled in the corner on the right, probably containing bran and soybean meal for horses.
Li Zhiyun walked to the hay pile and asked Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu to move all the wheat straw away. The two said "obey orders" and bent down to get busy. Chang Da and Huang Renjie also rolled up their sleeves to help.
Li Zhiyun stood aside and watched. After everyone removed the fodder, they found nothing. Then, he asked everyone to move the sacks away. It was really not troublesome, and Fanzheng didn't need him to do the work. Although everyone didn't know what he was going to do, they all obeyed the order without saying a word.
After all the sacks were moved away, a wooden board appeared on the ground, three feet long and three feet wide. After Zhang Zheng lifted up the wooden board, he discovered a hole. When everyone saw it, they were all shocked. The entrance to the cave was very deep, and it was dark inside, like a tunnel. Li Zhiyun frowned and turned around and said, "General Chang, do you know this tunnel?" Chang Da shook his head blankly and said, "Wei General never knows."
Li Zhiyun decided to go down to find out what was going on and asked Chang Da to find two lanterns. Chang Da called the housekeeper and asked him to get a lantern. It didn't take long, the lanterns were brought, and everyone followed them down the tunnel one by one.
Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu were exploring the way ahead with lanterns, and Li Duyun, Chang Da and Huang Renjie followed behind. Although the tunnel is very narrow, you can pass it by bending down. The tunnel goes more than a foot deep into the ground. First there is a downhill slope, and then there is a flat road.
Everyone walked about ten feet away and came to the exit of the tunnel. Li Zhiyun climbed out and looked around. There were several houses standing in the darkness. Judging from the shape of the houses, they looked like temples. Under the moonlight, these houses looked very dilapidated. It seems that this place is an abandoned ruined temple, and the tunnel exit is in the courtyard of this ruined temple. He had to admire the tunnel digger for finding a good place. Changda's mansion is surrounded by densely populated residential areas. No matter where you dig a tunnel, it is almost impossible to avoid being discovered. Only this ruined temple is the most secretive. Once the temple door is closed, no matter what is done inside, it can be done without anyone noticing.
Li Zhiyun walked around the temple and found that the main hall and side halls were filled with sacks. He ordered Zhang Zheng to open a sack with his sword and found that it was full of sand. Apparently, the people who dug the tunnel were afraid of being discovered by transporting the sand away, so they packed it in sacks and piled it in the temple.
Li Zhiyun turned around and found Chang Da standing next to the tunnel, staring at the entrance in a daze. He walked over and stood beside Chang Da and said, "Now it is clear that the murderer sneaked into your mansion through this tunnel, and the person he wants to assassinate is probably you."
Of course Chang Da knew it, he was not a fool. The murderer couldn't have gone to such great lengths to dig a tunnel for a maid. The hay shed was only a dozen steps away from his bedroom. The murderer broke into his bedroom tonight and tried to assassinate him, but found that he was not there. By chance, the maid came in at this time. In order to prevent her shouting from alerting others, the murderer stepped forward and stabbed her to death with lightning speed, and then escaped through the tunnel. Thinking of this, Chang Da gritted his teeth and said: "Which bastard did this? If I catch you, I will have to skin him!"
