Zhang Ping nodded, "You can't be wrong, we have been dealing with him."
"Eat first, then talk after you finish eating!"
Everyone lowered their heads to eat. After a while, Zhang Ping couldn't help but ask: "Brother, where should we start?"
Li Ye wiped the greasy hands with a handkerchief, took another sip of milk wine, and said calmly: "Any case requires witnesses and physical evidence, and the key to this case is to prove that the murderer is someone else, and
To prove it, we need to find the bodies of the deceased and examine their wounds to confirm how they died? Of course there are other ways, but these are not done by us, but by the investigation team. What we have to do
It’s about protecting evidence and protecting witnesses.”
"Will Yang Jian destroy the evidence?"
Li Ye nodded, "Definitely. I estimate that not only them, but also Zhang Jun will take action, especially Zhang Jun. This is his best opportunity and he will never let it go. We must be prepared for a conflict."
.”
"Then where should we go first?"
Li Ye said calmly: "Go to the county government office, I want to know the details of the case!"
After coming out of the restaurant, Li Ye also saw a large group of war horses tied diagonally opposite the door of the restaurant, which should be the horses of Yang Jian and others.
Li Ye immediately asked Wang Chenghua to stay and follow Yang Jian and his party.
He himself led everyone into the city, and soon arrived at the Heyang County Government Office.
The county magistrate Li Yu has been dismissed and taken away, and the county magistrate is currently acting as the county magistrate. The county magistrate's surname is Zou. He is about 30 years old. He was a Jinshi and seems to be quite shrewd.
Li Ye showed the emperor's gold medal. Zou Xiancheng did not dare to neglect and quickly invited Li Ye to the inner hall.
This is the advantage of this gold medal. Although Li Ye is not a member of the investigation team, as long as he has this gold medal and his title of censor, he also has the power to investigate this case.
This is just like how he handled the Maitreya case in Yunyang County. Zheng Ang made a big fuss about his lack of authority. In the end, Li Ye took out the gold medal and Zheng Ang was completely defeated.
Zou Xiancheng took out a thick bag of files with the word "confidential" printed on it.
"The causes and consequences of this case are all here. This pest disaster caused heavy losses to the autumn crops in Heyang County. If the imperial court had issued a decree on tax reduction and exemption earlier, this tragedy might not have happened."
Li Ye carefully read through the contents of the file, and he quickly discovered the tricky parts of it. All kinds of data and records were very detailed, but the key points were briefly mentioned. For example, the most important conflict only had a few sentences.
'The county magistrate Li Yu led thirty-two catchers to intercept the petition procession and met at Qiligou. The two sides clashed and suffered heavy casualties. Sixty-four people died and 141 were injured. The whole county was in mourning.'
As for what weapons to use, how to kill the opponent, the casualties of the catcher, and other details, they are not mentioned at all.
"Excuse me, Mr. Zou County, where are these arrests?"
Zou Xiancheng shook his head, "Most of them left, killed people in this county, and found it difficult to stay in this county. They all went to make a living in other places."
It was impossible to make a living, so it was true that he had to go out to avoid disaster temporarily. Li Ye suddenly remembered that Magistrate Chang of Huayin County mentioned several insiders, who were probably the policemen who had taken refuge in Huayin County.
"Where are the dead buried?"
Zou Xiancheng still shook his head, "The bodies are all taken home by each individual, and the county government does not ask about the burial situation."
This is correct. The county government will definitely not care about the burial situation of farmers, let alone centralized burials. However, Li Ye discovered a new problem. There was no list of casualties in the file.
Li Ye frowned and asked: "Excuse me, Zou County Cheng, where is the list of casualties?"
"I have to ask County Magistrate Li about this. There should be an inventory, but when I took over this file, I didn't see the inventory. However, there is a list of money and food subsidies. I wonder if it can be replaced?"
Zou Xiancheng took out two pages of paper. There were densely packed names on them. Next to them was the money and food subsidies. There were also fingerprints on the names for receiving the money and food. One was for the deceased and the other was for the injured. But without exception, there was no residential address.
In other words, the list of residents has been taken away, or hidden by the county magistrate in front of me.
Li Ye had no choice but to ask Zou Xiancheng to arrange for his subordinates to make a copy of the list, and he took the copy away.
There is no Gaosheng Inn in Heyang County, so Li Ye and his party stayed at another larger Pingan Inn.
At this time, Wang Chenghua came back to report, "To inform the governor, the warriors from Qingshan Tower are staying at the Anyuan Inn in the east of the city. They have booked the entire inn."
"Have they been to the county government office?" Li Ye asked.
Wang Chenghua shook his head, "I don't know about that. If the governor needs it, I can monitor them in my humble position!"
Surveillance was necessary, so Li Ye immediately sent Wang Chenghua and another clever subordinate to Anyuan Inn to monitor Qingshan Tower.
At this time, a subordinate reported at the door, "Captain, an outsider has come to see you. He said his name is Chen Huan."
Li Ye was refreshed. Isn't Chen Huan Li Yu's confidant?
He quickly said: "Invite him in quickly!"
After a while, a man was brought into the room. He was a scholar. He was wearing a plain scarf and his temples were slightly gray, but he looked to be only thirty-five or sixteen years old.
He bowed and said: "Young man Chen Huan, please see Thirty-eighth Lang!"
Li Ye was stunned for a moment, "Are you from the Li family?"
Chen Huansheng nodded, "I am a staff member of the Prime Minister. I have been with the Prime Minister for more than ten years. The Prime Minister sent me to follow the eldest grandson to serve in Heyang. When Thirty-eighth Lang was naturalized, I was responsible for the master of ceremonies!"
Li Ye felt ashamed and said: "Sir, it turns out that he is an old man, but I have no impression of him at all."
Li Ye asked Chen Huan to sit down, and Chen Huan immediately asked: "How is the eldest son doing now?"
"He was imprisoned in Qianniuwei. This time Long Yan was furious and wanted to kill him. I followed Gao Lishi's path, and the emperor agreed to investigate. But I guess it was lucky to be able to change the sentence to exile in the end."
Chen Huan sighed, "No matter how hard I tried to persuade him, he refused to listen. He insisted on listening to Zou Ju's suggestion and hiding the matter. Can he hide it?"
"Zou County Cheng?"
Chen Huan nodded, "This man is very powerful. After Li Yu took office, Zou Ju pretended to be a disciple of Li Xiangguo and tried every means to win over Li Yu. For a period of time, the two of them drank together almost every day and talked heart-to-heart.
Li Yu has great trust in him when it comes to world affairs. I advised him to be careful about the depth of officialdom, but he also scolded me for being narrow-minded. What happened? Something happened to the young master, and Zou Ju became the acting county magistrate as he wished."
"Does this county magistrate have a backing in the court?"
"There should be, but I don't know who it is? He never mentioned it. I asked other county officials and they didn't know, so I said he has a deep city."
Li Ye smiled and asked: "Sir, are you still working as a field clerk in the county government?"
Chen Huan smiled bitterly, "How is that possible? On the day Mr. Li was dismissed, I was also dismissed, and then I hid. I knew Zou Ju would not let me go."
"Sir, just follow me first! I just need someone by my side."
Chen Huan nodded, "It is my honor to serve Sanshibalang!"
Li Ye took out two lists and said to Chen Huan: "I went to the county government today. I wanted a list of the dead, but Zou County Cheng said he didn't know where Li Yu had put it. He probably kept it secretly. He only had these two pieces of money and food.
The list of subsidies, but unfortunately there is no address of the deceased on it."
Chen Huan smiled slightly and said: "Actually, this is enough, no inventory is needed!"
"Why?"
"The deceased are concentrated in four villages. If you go to the village with a list to check, everyone on the list can be found quickly."
Li Ye slapped the table, stood up and said, "I didn't even think that I should get the original copy!"
"It's the same as this copy!"
Li Ye shook his head and said: "It's different. The original is an official document. It has the seal of the county magistrate, Li Yu's signature, and the fingerprints of his family members. It cannot be faked. It is the best evidence. The copy does not prove its authenticity."
"That makes sense. General, hurry up and get it back before others take it away."
Li Ye asked Zhang Ping to arrange for Chen Huan to stay at the inn, and he immediately led several of his men on horseback to the county government office.
After rushing into the county government office, Li Ye found Zou County Magistrate again and said unceremoniously: "Can you please show me the file again, Magistrate Magistrate?"
The Prime Minister of Zouxian County ordered someone to fetch the file. Li Ye poured out the information and flipped through it for a long time. All the other information was there, not one missing, but the two lists of money and food subsidies were missing.