When Meng Zimo brought Niu Zhi to the gate of the county governor's office, it was already dark. Fortunately, there were two lanterns hanging under the porch, so he could see clearly.
Several officials were already whispering outside the county governor's house, and Meng Zimo could tell at a glance that these people were the officials of the criminal cao.
The Six Cao Cao of Zhen County and the Duwei Mansion are nominally subordinate to the County Sheriff's Mansion, but everyone knows that the Lord Sheriff of the County Sheriff's Mansion really does not have much power in his hands.
The reason why the governor's office was established in Zhenjun was actually to make Zhenjun still belong to the territory controlled by the Tang Dynasty, at least in name, and half of the six governors under it were in name only.
Hu Cao was nominally responsible for the taxation, but in fact the taxes of Zhen County were collected by people sent by the Zhenhou Mansion. Hu Cao could not even collect a tael of silver, but instead had to send people from time to time to help the Zhenhou Mansion calculate the accounts.
, as for the four Cao Cao of soldiers, rituals, workers, and officials, they are even more useless.
Among the six Cao Cao, the only one with real power is Xing Cao.
However, as we all know, Lu Siyuan, the criminal cao officer, was directly recommended to the court by the Zhenhou Mansion. This person was originally from the Xiling family. Although the Zhenhou Mansion pretended not to directly use people from the Zhen family, the Lu family was also quite powerful in Zhen County.
The aristocratic family members are directly attached to the Zhenhou Mansion. The Xingcao controlled by Lu Siyuan is equivalent to the Zhenhou Mansion's own territory.
Meng Zimo saw a sneer on his lips when he saw the prison officer whispering in front of the county governor's house.
When Xing Cao's people saw Meng Zimo coming with a few people, they naturally recognized them as people from the Duwei Mansion. None of them had a good face. If it had been earlier, they might have deliberately provoked a few words, but now
The Duwei Mansion has Han Yunong in charge, and Han Yunong is quite famous in Zhen County. The Zhenhou Mansion is a bit afraid of it, and the people who punish Cao naturally do not dare to provoke the Duwei Mansion easily.
Meng Zimo stepped forward and saw the gate of the county governor's mansion open. Four guards with swords lined up in front of the mansion. They cupped their hands and said, "Meng Zimo of the governor's mansion has been ordered to bring the jailer Niu Zhi to answer the question."
The guards of the County Sheriff's Mansion had obviously received the order a long time ago. When they heard Niu Zhi's name, they immediately moved out of the way. Just as Meng Zimo was about to step forward, a guard stretched out his hand to stop him: "Niu Zhi, go in, you wait outside."
Meng Zimo did not argue and turned around and nodded to Niu Zhi.
Niu Zhi felt uneasy and did not dare to look directly at the guards. After entering the house, someone led him directly through the front yard to the main hall.
The lights in the main hall of the county governor's mansion were brightly lit. Niu Zhi walked outside the main hall door. The man leading the way had already reported: "Your Majesty, the jailer Niu Zhi is here!"
"Let him in!" A voice came from the hall.
When Niu Zhi saw the man leading the way making a gesture to him, he hurriedly raised his hands and half-hunched his body into the hall. From a distance, he saw the adult in the official seat leaning on the chair. He knew that he could only sit in that position.
It was the county governor Du Hongsheng. He took a few steps forward and knelt on the ground: "Little man Niu Zhi, pay my respects to the county governor."
"Niu Zhi, let me ask you, why did Qin Xiao leave his post without permission?" The voice came not from the front, but from his left head. This made Niu Zhi turn his head and look over, only to see an official.
As he stared at himself with a cold look on his face, he recognized that it was Cao Cao Cao Lu Siyuan.
Before Niu Zhi could answer, he heard Han Yunong's voice coming from his right: "Mr. Lu, the county magistrate is here to preside over this case. Please be patient."
Han Yunong has a very high reputation in the Duwei Mansion. One of the reasons is that he is particularly protective of his shortcomings.
When Niu Zhi saw Han Yunong at the side, he immediately calmed down. He saw Lu Hong and Qin Xiao standing under Han Yunong, and thought that he must be careful with every word he said here.
County Governor Du Hongsheng coughed and then asked: "Niu Zhi, I want to ask you, did Qin Xiao leave Jiazi Prison early yesterday morning?"
"Replying to your lord, that is indeed the case." Niu Zhi replied respectfully.
Du Hongsheng nodded and said, "Then where did he go?"
"He went out of the city to chase Lu Baotou."
"Why are you chasing Lu Baotou?"
Niu Zhidao: "Captain Lu took prisoner Wen Budao away from Jiazi Prison yesterday. Although he signed it, he forgot to take the custody document with him when he left." He glanced at Qin Xiao before continuing.
Said: "Without the custody documents, even if Lu Captou escorted the prisoner to Fenggan Mansion, he could not prove that the one escorting him was Wen Budao and could not hand over the prisoner. Qin Xiao was worried that Lu Captou's trip would be in vain, so he took the documents and chased after him.
.”
"Is that true?" Du Hongsheng said solemnly.
Niu Zhi kowtowed to the ground: "The villain dare not lie."
Lu Siyuan sneered and said: "Sir, what this person said cannot be trusted. It must be that people in the Duwei Mansion colluded with each other in private, so they made up lies."
"Lord Lu, you are a prison officer. You should understand that you cannot slander someone without evidence." Han Yunong said calmly: "If you feel that what Niu Zhi said is untrue, you must provide evidence."
Just as Lu Siyuan was about to speak, footsteps were heard outside. Everyone followed the sound and saw Zhen Yujiang, the young master of the Zhen family dressed in brocade clothes, striding into the hall surrounded by several people.
Everyone present was surprised.
Lu Siyuan's face immediately showed joy, and he was the first to greet him, cupping his hands and saying, "Young Master!"
Du Hongsheng also stood up and walked down the hall and handed over his arms.
Zhen Yujiang has no official status, but his father is Marquis Changxin, who is the ruler of Zhen County. Logically speaking, Du Hongsheng, as the governor of Zhen County, does not have to salute Zhen Yujiang, but he is obviously very afraid of the Zhen family and does not dare to
I lost my courtesy towards Zhen Yujiang.
"Master Du, continue the case." Zhen Yujiang said with a smile: "I heard about this case, so I came here to see what was going on."
Han Yunong did not show any pretense towards Zhen Yujiang, and said: "Young Master, this case involves the Duwei Mansion and the Criminal Cao, and has nothing to do with the Zhenhou Mansion, so...!"
"Captain Han is wrong." Staff officer Lang Shenshui stood up from behind Zhen Yujiang, took a deed from his arms, held it up and shook it: "This is the land deed of the Golden Gou Gambling House. In fact, it was two years ago.
Months ago, Qiao Leshan had already pledged the Golden Gou Casino to the Hou Mansion."
Everyone was shocked.
"Don't get me wrong, it's not that the Hou Mansion wants a gambling house." Lang Shenshui said with a smile: "In order to facilitate the circulation of silver for the people, the Hou Mansion opened a bank in the city many years ago. Qiao Leshan was in urgent need of a sum of silver at that time and used a gold hook.
The gambling house is used as a mortgage, so the Jingou Gambling House is now actually owned by the Hou Mansion." He glanced at Han Yunong before continuing: "I heard that this case involves Qiao Leshan, and the Hou is worried about the money Qiao Leshan borrowed.
I couldn’t repay the money, so I came here to find out what was going on.”
Lu Hong couldn't help but said: "We have just returned to the city, and we have just briefly explained to the county governor what happened last night. How did the Marquis know that Qiao Leshan was involved so quickly?"
"The Zhenhou Mansion was entrusted by the saint to guard the people of Zhen County." Lang Shenshui sneered: "Early this morning, someone found a lot of corpses near the inn, and some people recognized that one of the corpses was Jin Gou.
Qiao Leshan in the gambling house, of course someone immediately reported such a horrific murder to the Hou Mansion."
Qin Xiao sneered inwardly, knowing that Lang Shenshui's excuse was nonsense.
Although Jingou Gambling House is well-known in Turtle City, not many people really know Qiao Leshan.
There were several corpses near the inn. It was not surprising that someone saw them, but it was really incredible that someone could recognize Qiao Leshan.
He knew Qiao Leshan's actions last night, and the Zhenhou Mansion must have known it very well beforehand. However, since Qiao Leshan had not come back to report the results, the Zhenhou Mansion would naturally send people to find out what was going on.
Although it takes a day to walk from Turtle City to the post station, it is much faster if you ride on horseback.
When returning from the inn, he, Lu Hong and others also returned on foot. If the other party sent someone to ride back and forth, Zhen Yujiang would naturally get the news in advance.
"Come here, show me your young master's seat!" Du Hongsheng ordered the yamen to bring a big chair and asked Zhen Yujiang to sit down. Then he said: "Young Master, yesterday the Duwei Mansion sent someone to escort the prisoner Wen Budao to Fenggan Mansion.
, but they met a bandit on the way and kidnapped the prisoner."
"Kidnap prisoners?" Zhen Yujiang asked calmly: "Master Du, I don't quite understand this."
Du Hongsheng said to Lu Hong: "Lu Hong, please tell the young master personally what the situation is."
Lu Hong cupped his hands and said: "Young Master, we arrived at the inn last night. We were tired from the journey, so we drank some wine. After everyone went to bed, I guarded the prisoners alone. In the middle of the night, Qiao Leshan suddenly broke into the inn with his men."
"What did they do when they broke into the inn?"
"Qiao Leshan wants to press Wen Budao about the whereabouts of a sum of money." Lu Hong's face did not change: "Wen Budao was stubborn and did not give in."
"You are the officer escorting the prisoners, so you just let Qiao Leshan do whatever he wants?" Lang Shenshui said solemnly: "How can you prove that Qiao Leshan wants to force Wen Budao to question?"
"Because I am also a participant." Lu Hong said calmly: "Qiao Leshan found me in private a few days ago and asked me to work with him to find out the whereabouts of the money from Wen Budao. Once successful, he would be given
I gave him a sum of money, but I was confused for a moment and agreed to him."
Han Yunong obviously just learned about this situation, and his face changed slightly.
Du Hongsheng was also a little surprised and said in a deep voice: "You have a private agreement with Qiao Leshan?"
"Exactly." Lu Hong said: "The salary in the Duwei Mansion is meager, and my family is living in poverty. So when Qiao Leshan promised a large sum of money, I became greedy and agreed to join him in questioning Wen Budao. We planned in advance.
No matter whether Wen Budao informed the whereabouts of the silver or not, we will kill people and silence them. Then I will make up an excuse, saying that bandits attacked and killed Wen Budao, and then this matter can be covered up."
Zhen Yujiang smiled at the corner of his mouth: "Then if you say that Wen Budao was kidnapped by bandits, it is naturally false."
"This is exactly what we didn't expect." Lu Hong sighed: "We pressed for a long time, but Wen Budao never explained, so Qiao Leshan became murderous. At that time, we heard the sound of horse hoofbeats and immediately
We guessed that bandits might be out, so Qiao Leshan and I took Wen Budao hostage and escaped from the inn."
"No." Lang Shenshui said immediately: "As far as I know, the woodshed of the post station was burned down. Why?"
Qin Xiao took a step forward, raised his hand and said, "I burned it."