That day and night, the moon was dark, the sky was high, and the wind was freezing.
Since most of the people were assigned to the county government and Shen Mansion, there was only one group of guards left to guard the place.
The lack of manpower and no shift change meant that these people had to stay here all night long. If they were really meticulously patrolling outside, they would probably be freezing.
In the cold wind, several guards' hands and feet were numb from the cold, so they had to huddle in the leeward corner.
Originally, they could hide in the hall to keep warm, but there were four stinking corpses lying in the hall. They would rather freeze outside than enter the house.
The cold wind was blowing more and more evil, and the guards believed that there would be no mistakes tonight in this terrible weather.
However, they thought wrongly. Several dark figures wearing night clothes had been waiting in the dark for a long time.
Seeing that the time was right, they sneaked into Yizhuang silently, walked around under the window, then opened the window and sneaked into the hall quietly.
There were four people in this group, and they all carried oil drums containing tung oil.
After entering the hall, several people immediately split up and tried to spray tung oil on the four corpses.
Unexpectedly, before they opened the cork of the oil drum, a big net suddenly fell from above their heads!
ah!!?
The four people were shocked, and one of them was covered by a big net on his head!
The other three reacted faster and rolled to both sides to avoid the big net.
Unexpectedly, before one of them got up, he was caught by several hooks.
As the hook tightened, there was a sound of flesh cracking on the man's body.
ah!
With a scream, the man was pulled into the darkness...
"No, there's an ambush!"
The remaining two men in black realized that the situation was not good and immediately retreated towards the window.
Just as they were about to break through the window and escape, several iron rods were stabbed in from outside the window!
Boom!
The iron rod stabbed the two of them, knocking them to the ground and both of them vomiting blood.
Immediately afterwards, a dozen people dressed as guards rushed out of the darkness and used a special steel fork to pin the two men to the ground.
It turned out that the guards knew that there was a sneak attack tonight and had been lying in wait here for a long time.
Seeing that the four men in black were successfully subdued, the guards thought they were done.
But he never expected that the one covered by the net would burst into flames and ignite the oil drum in his arms!
boom……
Tongues of fire spurted out instantly, and then exploded from the net. In an instant, the fire ignited, and the man was burned into a burning man!
But despite this, the man still pounced on one of the corpses resolutely.
"Quick! Stop him, stop him!"
The leader of the guards was shocked and hurriedly called to the guards to stop him.
But at this moment, a ball of flame burst into the sky again in the darkness. It turned out that the man in black who was caught by the hook also ignited the oil drum in his arms!
boom……
In an instant, the fire broke out and the guards panicked.
Taking advantage of this moment, the man in black used his last breath and finally threw himself on the body, causing the body to ignite as well.
Seeing the corpse set on fire, the man in black finally showed a look of relief and was about to die happily.
But he never expected that as the white cloth curled up from the heat, he was surprised to find that there was just a scarecrow under the white cloth, and there was no body at all...
ah……
The man in black let out a desperate howl, then curled up into a ball and could no longer move...
A quarter of an hour later, the fire was extinguished by the guards. The two men in black who set off the oil barrels were burned beyond recognition and were beyond recognition.
"Boss..."
At this moment, a guard reported to the leader, his tone full of regret.
The leader of the guards hurried over to check, only to discover that the two men in black who had been subdued by steel forks had no vital signs.
After lifting their masks, they saw that their faces were black, their lips were purple, and they were foaming at the mouth. They had obviously committed suicide by taking poison...
…
The next morning, the sun did not appear at the right time, but was obscured by dark clouds, and tiny white granular snowflakes floated in the sky.
"One, two, three, down!"
boom!
There was a loud noise in the courtyard of Xinye County Government, and a huge and heavy iron coffin fell into the center of the courtyard.
The county government compound, which was originally spacious enough, suddenly seemed small and depressing after placing such a dark iron coffin.
After the iron coffin was settled, the workers began to dismantle the scaffolding. However, due to their unskilled operation, it took them a long time to burn incense before finally removing all the tools.
After the workers left, more than 40 people including Xinye County government officials, constables, jailers, servants, and handymen were brought to the compound one after another and stood around the iron coffin.
At the same time, the guards from the Internal Guards Office, the Criminal Department, the Governor's Office, and the County Sheriff's Office, all armed with weapons, blocked and surrounded the entire county government office.
Looking at the county government hall, there were four corpses placed impressively, namely the Taoist priest in the iron coffin, the chief registrar Liu Zhang, and You Dalang and Chun Niang.
The body was covered with white cloth, which made the courtroom feel strange and solemn.
There are five people sitting on the seats on both sides of the court. On the left are the censor Chen Taiji, the governor Li Yan and the county governor Taimin.
On the right are the county magistrate Qiu Yongnian and the county prime minister Luo Wanwan.
Behind the five people stood civil servants at all levels, including Master Yao Jin, as well as a group of guards from the Internal Guard House.
And sitting in the main seat behind the public case was the person in charge of the iron coffin case, the leader of the Imperial Guard House - Cai Kun!
At this moment, Cai Kun was not as majestic and imposing as before. Instead, he was thoughtfully playing with the jade pendant from the Japanese people in the East China Sea, seeming to be thinking about something important.
Moreover, it can be seen from his sunken eyes that he must have stayed up all night last night and could not hide his fatigue.
"Sir..." At this time, a subordinate came to Cai Kun to report, "Everything is ready, we can start!"
"oh."
Cai Kun responded, immediately picked up the gavel on the public case, and slapped it hard.
Snapped!
There was a crisp sound, and the entire county government office suddenly became quiet.
Different from previous trial cases, a large number of people here are likely to be implicated because of the case, so people hold their breath and do not even dare to express their feelings.
There was a dead silence in the courtroom, which was extremely depressing.
"Should I call 'Shengtang'?" Cai Kun asked Qiu Yongnian.
"Yes, yes!" Qiu Yongnian nodded quickly.
"Okay," Cai Kun said loudly, facing everyone, "I want to make it clear to you in advance that the Iron Coffin case is very important, involves a lot, is complicated, and is quite sensitive.
"Therefore, we are going to have a special closed-door trial today. No matter what the final outcome of the trial is, everyone present must keep it a secret and must not tell it until death. Do you understand!?"
"Yes!" Everyone said yes.
"Okay!" Cai Kun nodded, "I announce that the trial of the iron coffin case has now officially begun, and it will be promoted to court! Bring the criminals!!!"
