After leaving Li Garden, Zhuge Nan asked: "Do you know where the crime occurred?"
The official shook his head: "I don't know, but the temple minister should know."
Zhugenan nodded and strode forward in one direction.
When the officer saw that the direction Zhuge Nan was walking was not leading to Dali Temple, he wondered, "Zhuge Shaoqing, why don't we go back to the temple office?"
"Let's go find Di Renjie first."
"What are you looking for Di Shaoqing for?" The official was a little surprised. In his impression, Zhuge Nan never shared his cases with others.
Zhuge Nan glared at him, and the officer scratched his head and did not dare to ask any more questions.
In the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, Zhang Jianzhi sat cross-legged on the ground, wearing a gray prison uniform, and said without raising his head: "Are you here to see my joke?"
Outside the fence, Di Renjie stood quietly.
"Brother Zhang, in your mind, is Mr. Di such a boring person?"
Zhang Jianzhi finally raised his head, sighed and said:
"Yes, you are not such a person. But these days, many people I didn't expect have come here. I find that my judgment of people is not as accurate as I thought."
"What are those people doing here?" Di Renjie raised his eyebrows.
"Under the current circumstances, do you think those who come to me have any other purpose?" Zhang Jianzhi asked rhetorically.
Di Renjie was silent for a while and said slowly: "They want to use you to dig out more members of King Pei's party so as to gain credit."
Zhang Jianzhi said nothing, seeming to acquiesce.
After a while, Di Renjie's eyes suddenly became sharp and he said one by one: "Are you involved in the conspiracy of Taishan Palace?"
Zhang Jianzhi met his gaze and said, "If I say I didn't participate, would you believe it?"
Zhang Jianzhi was stunned: "Why did you mention him?"
"He's already outside."
Zhang Jianzhi's eyes widened sharply. After a long while, he said in confusion: "Why is this? He was a direct participant in the stone tablet incident. Why was he not convicted?"
"Because his craftsmanship was favored by His Royal Highness the King of Zhou, His Highness begged His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Queen to allow him to develop gunpowder weapons outside and atone for his sins!"
Zhang Jianzhi took a deep breath and said, "Why are you telling me this?"
Di Renjie said leisurely: "A few days ago, His Royal Highness King Zhou called me to the palace."
Zhang Jianzhi listened quietly.
"His Highness told me that among all King Pei's followers, there are two people he wants to get the most."
Zhang Jianzhi clenched his five fingers and his heartbeat accelerated.
"The first one is Yang Wulian, and the second one is you!"
"He...he really likes me so much?" Zhang Jianzhi said in shock.
Di Renjie crossed his arms and said slowly: "His Royal Highness King Zhou is different from King Pei. He is a person who truly respects and loves the virtuous."
Zhang Jianzhi sighed and said: "Yes, the ending between you and me is the best proof."
"It's not the end yet."
Zhang Jianzhi stared at him and asked with some anxiety: "Could it be that His Royal Highness the King of Zhou also allows me to make meritorious deeds for my crimes?"
Di Renjie said slowly: "His Royal Highness is not sure whether you are involved in the stone tablet. Let me confirm this. As long as you are not involved, he will give you a chance."
Zhang Jianzhi stared at Di Renjie for a moment, gritted his teeth and said: "What is your conclusion?"
"Actually, in the past two days, whenever I get out of the government office, I will come to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment." Di Renjie raised the corners of his mouth, revealing a faint smile.
Zhang Jianzhi was startled, suddenly realized something, and laughed loudly: "Well, Di Renjie, you must have interrogated other people and confirmed that I was not involved in this matter before you came to me."
"Yes." Di Renjie admitted.
Zhang Jianzhi snorted and said, "I thought you would trust me more."
"I only believe in evidence."
Zhang Jianzhi touched his nose and said with a wry smile: "Yes, you are indeed a bit unhuman sometimes."
Di Renjie put down his hand and said, "You can wait patiently here for one more day, and I will go find His Highness tonight."
Zhang Jianzhi cupped his hands and said in a solemn tone: "Brother Di, please do everything."
As soon as Di Renjie left the prison of the Criminal Department, he saw Zhuge Nan running over in a hurry, grabbed his hand and said, "Come on, follow me back to Dali Temple."
Di Renjie did not move, frowning and said: "I have some personal matters to deal with now. If there is any urgent case, you can deal with it first."
Zhuge Nan said loudly: "This is a case assigned by His Royal Highness the King of Zhou personally. How dare you shirk it? And Nie Ziyun has already brought someone there."
Di Renjie asked doubtfully: "The case assigned by His Highness? Could it be that something happened in the palace?"
Zhuge Nan said angrily: "I only know that the case happened in the south of the city. The details are not clear. If you want to know, just follow me back to Dali Temple. My adoptive father should know."
Di Renjie nodded and suddenly looked at Zhuge Nan with strange eyes.
"According to your past temperament, no matter what case happens, you will never come to me. What is the situation now?"
Zhuge Nan said angrily: "I came here to find you with good intentions, but you are still here making sarcastic remarks. Forget it, will you come or not?"
After saying that, he turned around and strode back to Dali Temple.
After walking a few steps, I glanced back and saw Di Renjie following me. I smiled secretly and thought to myself, "I knew you would follow."
Since he followed Wu Chengsi on his trip to the south of the Yangtze River, he has learned a lot about the ways of the world.
Now in Dali Temple, Nie Ziyun and Yao Jian have a good relationship, and they have high qualifications and are very prestigious in Dali Temple.
In contrast, although Zhugenan was promoted to Shaoqing, his prestige was far inferior to the two.
The two men were both very dissatisfied with Zhuge Nan's promotion to Shaoqing, and secretly formed an alliance.
Zhuge Nan was worried that he was alone, so he thought of recruiting Di Renjie as an ally. If the two young ministers faced the two chengs, they would definitely win.
After the two returned to Dali Temple, they asked Zhuge Sanyuan for details of the case, and then went to Wang Datou's courtyard without stopping.
After entering the courtyard, I saw Dali Temple officials and soldiers everywhere.
The two found Nie Ziyun in the house and saw him squatting in front of a chair, observing the chair carefully.
After seeing Zhuge Nan and Di Renjie, he stood up, cupped his hands and said, "Zhuge Shaoqing, Di Shaoqing."
Zhuge Nan snorted and said, "You are quite fast. Where is Your Highness?"
"His Royal Highness King Zhou and His Highness the Princess have left."
Zhuge Nan was startled and said, "Her Royal Highness was here just now?"
"Yes." Nie Ziyun replied.
Zhugenan was silent for a moment and looked around.
Nie Ziyun said: "There are nine dead people in the room, six of them are members of Shijindan, and three of them are members of Zhuye Gang. I heard from His Highness that there was another injured person who was a subordinate of His Highness King Zhou, named Zhang."
The body has been taken away for treatment."
Zhuge Nan was surprised and said: "Zhang Gou?"
"Do you know the injured person?" Nie Ziyun's eyes lit up.
"I must have met him a few times when I went to Jianghuai with His Highness," Zhugenan replied lightly.
Nie Ziyun saw that Zhugenan didn't want to share information about this person, so he said, "Is there anything else you want to ask?"
Zhuge Nan hummed: "You don't need to tell me, I will investigate it myself."
Nie Ziyun said nothing more and walked towards the gate.
Zhuge Nan hurriedly asked: "Where are you going?"
Nie Ziyun said: "I already know almost everything about the situation here. I plan to go to the palace and report to His Highness King Zhou."
Zhuge Nan really wanted him to wait for him, and then go to report together, but he really couldn't say it, so he could only watch Nie Ziyun leave.
He immediately used his housekeeping skills and lay down on the ground to inspect every inch of land in detail. After the inspection, he asked the officials about the situation of each deceased person.
Di Renjie had done all this a long time ago, leaning against the courtyard wall with his eyes closed as if thinking about something.
Zhuge Nan came to him and said, "I've done the investigation here, but what about your side?"
Di Renjie opened his eyes: "I've also investigated it."
The two men immediately picked a fast horse each and galloped towards the palace.
The study in Prince Zhou's Mansion was very bright. When Zhugenan entered the study, he could even see the subtle expression on Nie Ziyun's face.
That's a disappointed look.
Zhuge Nan looked around and asked, "Why are you the only one, and where is His Highness?"
Nie Ziyun stood upright in the middle of the study, glanced at Di Renjie behind Zhuge Nan, and said:
"When I was just about to report the case to His Royal Highness King Zhou and His Royal Highness the Princess, Butler Wen suddenly entered the study and said that Miss Xu remembered something very important. They left and asked me to wait here."
Zhuge Nan smiled happily, walked slowly to a chair and sat down, smiling and saying: "So, you haven't reported the case to His Highness yet."
Nie Ziyun nodded expressionlessly.
Zhuge Nan said: "That's great. Let's report to His Highness later and see who finds the most clues!"
At this moment, Di Renjie and Nie Ziyun looked towards the door at the same time. Zhugenan was a moment slower than the two before he heard the footsteps and stood up hurriedly.
Soon, Wu Chengsi and Princess Taiping entered the study together. After seeing Zhuge Nan and Di Renjie, Wu Chengsi smiled and said, "Why are you here too?"
The three of them bowed and saluted them, and then Zhuge Nan said with a smile: "I heard that there was a case in the south of the city, so we went over to take a look and came to report to you."
"Thank you for your hard work." Wu Chengsi patted him on the shoulder, walked behind the desk and sat down, and said, "How was the on-site investigation? Did you find anything?"
Zhuge Nan rushed to speak and said: "We have carefully investigated and found that six of the nine dead people were from Shijintan Cloth Shop, one was the big shopkeeper Geng Liang, the other was the small shopkeeper Liao Quan, and the remaining four were from the nursing home.
"
"There are three other people from the Zhuye Gang. One is the gang leader, Boss Zhong, one is the hall leader, Wang Datou, and the other is Wang Datou's subordinate, Monkey."
"Find out who killed those people?"
The person who asked the question was Princess Taiping, who was sitting on the chair where Zhuge Nan was sitting just now.
Zhuge Nan glanced at Di Renjie and Nie Ziyun and said loudly: "Although I don't know who the murderer is yet, I have found out the general ins and outs."
Wu Chengsi leaned forward slightly, showing an expression of attentive listening.
Zhuge Nan continued:
"The situation should be like this. At the beginning, shopkeeper Geng Da from the Brocade Cloth Shop was interrogating Zhang Gou. Wang Datou and Monkey from the Zhuye Gang were also interrogated together. Monkey was tortured to death during the interrogation."
"Then the murderer suddenly came over, killed everyone, set a fire, and walked away."
Princess Taiping chuckled: "Is this your inference?"
Zhugenan's face turned red and he said anxiously: "I have another discovery! The murderer is not tall, he is probably shorter than me!"
Wu Chengsi asked: "How can we see it?"
"Boss Zhong from the Bamboo Leaf Gang fought with the murderer. I carefully looked at the direction of the knife in Boss Zhong's neck and found that it was slanted upwards and at a very steep angle, indicating that the murderer was much shorter than Boss Zhong."
Nie Ziyun suddenly said: "I also noticed the wound, and I agree with Zhuge Shaoqing's judgment."
Zhuge Nan turned to stare at him, only to hear Nie Ziyun change his subject.
"But I don't agree with what Zhuge Shaoqing said earlier. According to my judgment, it should be Zhang Gou and Wang Datou who came to the small courtyard, and then the people from Buzhuang and Boss Zhong came over."
"The one who led them was a monkey. He was already dying on the way here and died soon after."
"There were two murderers in total. The short man Zhuge Shaoqing mentioned killed five people from Buzhuang and Boss Zhong. The other one killed Wang Datou and Geng Liang and injured Zhang Gou."
Princess Taiping's bright eyes flashed slightly, and she said with a smile: "That's a good conclusion. What's your name?"
"Your Majesty, Nie Ziyun." Nie Ziyun replied respectfully.
Zhugenan glanced at Nie Ziyun and pouted. Although he was unhappy, the other party's analysis was indeed more reasonable and he had nothing to say.
Wu Chengsi said: "Di Shaoqing, what do you think?"
Di Renjie was silent for a while and said: "I basically agree with Nie Sicheng's inference, but there is one thing that I find strange."
"Which point?"
"According to my observation, there should be two more people who were with Zhang Gou and Wang Datou at that time."
Princess Taiping clapped her hands and smiled sweetly: "That's amazing. No wonder my second cousin likes you so much. You are right. There were two women in the house at that time. They hid in the hole in the wall and no one noticed."
Zhuge Nan was shocked. He also saw the hole in the wall of the house. He thought that the hole was left because the house was in disrepair for a long time.
"If they were hiding in the cave, why would others see them?" Nie Ziyun frowned.
Di Renjie explained: "The half-burned wooden cabinet must have been placed at the entrance of the cave to block the two of them."
Princess Taiping smiled and said, "You guessed it right again."
Nie Ziyun touched his chin and said, "So, those two girls heard the whole thing?"
Wu Chengsi nodded: "The general situation is similar to what you deduced..."
Then, she recounted Xu Wenqing's experience and what she heard in the cave to the three of them.
Zhugenan's face turned as red as a monkey's butt.
This case is like three people taking an exam. His Royal Highness the King of Zhou already knew the answer. The three of them came to answer the test, but he got the worst result.
Di Renjie suddenly said: "Your Highness, the short murderer must be hiding near Shunfeng Building. Have you sent someone to capture him?"
Princess Taiping smiled and said, "Second cousin sent someone there a long time ago."
Nie Ziyun muttered: "Geng Liang called one murderer "General Zhuang", and that general Zhuang called another murderer "Xu Xiaowei", and finally a "general" appeared to report to them. Could it be that they were soldiers?
Character?"
Wu Chengsi said: "I have ordered people to go to the army to investigate, but judging from their behavior, they don't feel like they are from the army."
At this moment, Feng Wu suddenly entered the study. When Wu Chengsi looked at her, he found that she had lowered her gaze and her face was a little ugly.
"Feng Wu, did something happen?" Wu Chengsi asked hurriedly.
"Although we caught the man, he was killed on the road." Feng Wu lowered her head and said.
Princess Taiping said displeased: "How do you do things? You can't even protect yourself!"
If Princess Taiping's own guards were reprimanded by her like this, they would have knelt on the ground and kowtowed to beg for mercy, but Feng Wu remained silent and seemed not to hear.
Princess Taiping was even more angry and wanted to scold Feng Wu, but she was Wu Chengsi's person after all.
He turned to look at Wu Chengsi, hoping that he would reprimand this guard who did not understand the rules.
Little did she know that for a later generation, Wu Chengsi, Feng Wu's frank style without class consciousness was more accustomed to him.
Wu Chengsi did not get angry and said slowly: "Feng Wu, please tell me slowly what happened."
Feng Wu nodded and said:
"At that time, we put him into a carriage and were about to escort him back, but we met a wedding party on the way."
"When we passed by those people, a large group of people suddenly poured out. They crowded in and shouted to steal the bride."
"There was too much crowd at the time, and we were dispersed by them. When I jumped on the carriage to check, the man had already been killed."
Di Renjie crossed his arms and said, "This is obviously someone's deliberate plan to kill people and silence them."
Seeing that everyone's attention was no longer on what had just happened, Zhuge Nan also raised his head and said carelessly: "Yes, it seems that someone is planning it deliberately. You are too careless."
Feng Wu looked at Zhugenan, and Zhugenan suddenly felt a huge pressure. The momentum she burst out at this moment actually made him feel like he was facing his adoptive father.
Fortunately, Feng Wu quickly looked away. Zhuge Nan wiped the sweat from his forehead and shut his mouth obediently.
Wu Chengsi was silent for a while and said: "I underestimated the other party, Feng Wu, what happened this time is not your fault, it's my poor arrangement."
Feng Wu nodded, seeming to agree with what he said.
No one could have imagined that underneath Wu Chengsi's serious expression at this moment, there was actually a hint of joy.
The empty state treasury actually had a great impact on Wu Chengsi. Although he looked relaxed, he was actually very anxious inside.
He needs to maintain the "Western Camp". Only with this camp can he have the opportunity to expand his influence in the army.
But without money, this camp would be in vain.
He must find out the real reason why the treasury was stolen as soon as possible and recover the stolen money!
The most suspected one at present is the Battle of Liaodong, and the Battle of Liaodong was related to Cai Yang, and another organization appeared behind Cai Yang.
Now that this organization has shown great strength, this has given him confidence.
He began to equate this powerful organization with those who stole the treasury.
"Your Highness, could you let me see the body?"
Wu Chengsi looked up and found that the speaker was Nie Ziyun. He nodded and said: "Feng Wu, bring the body in."
Feng Wu agreed, and the young man's body was quickly carried into the study.
Zhugenan actually lay next to the corpse, compared his height with him, and said with a smile on his face: "I'm not wrong, he is shorter than me."
Both Di Renjie and Nie Ziyun carefully inspected the body. Feng Wu suddenly came to Wu Chengsi, handed over a sleeping sheep jade plaque, and said, "This is what I found on him."
Wu Chengsi took it, looked at it twice, handed the jade token to Princess Taiping, then walked to the young man's side, silently looking at the body.
Nie Ziyun said: "There are several pinholes on his body. He must have been poisoned by poisonous needles."
Zhugenan nodded and said, "Well, in that case, anyone could shoot a poisonous needle at the carriage, so it's really hard to guard against it."
His words were intended to please Feng Wu. After saying this, he looked at Feng Wu, expecting her to respond, but Feng Wu ignored him at all.
If you want to get more from a corpse, you often need to dissect it.
It was impossible to do such a thing in the palace, so Wu Chengsi asked Nie Ziyun and Zhugenan to take away the body, leaving Di Renjie alone.
Wu Chengsi returned to the chair and sat down, and said leisurely: "Di Shaoqing, I want you to do something for me."
Di Renjie was slightly surprised. He thought Wu Chengsi kept him here to ask about Zhang Jianzhi.
"Your Highness, please give me your instructions."
Wu Chengsi said: "I hope you will investigate the weapons supervisor. Just say that someone reported anonymously to the weapons supervisor, saying that they embezzled military pay during the Liaodong War!"
Di Renjie was silent for a while and asked: "Your Highness, may I know the reason?"
Wu Chengsi tapped his fingers on the table and said, "Just do as I say first, and I will tell you when the time is right."
Di Renjie cupped his hands and said, "I understand."