It was dark inside the house, and there was a roar of wind outside.
The whining wind was also mixed with the howling of wild animals, adding a bit of eerieness.
Brother Jiu took the medicine and his eyelids were heavy, but his mind was very clear. He warned himself not to think about it, but the head without facial features was still clearly engraved in his mind.
His breathing became rapid, and he was worried about Shu Shu. He raised his arms vigorously and put them on Shu Shu's waist.
Shu Shu opened his eyes and looked at the top of the tent, figuring out the timeline.
There were a total of two transition points in the relationship between Kangxi and the prince in history.
One time was in the 29th year of Kangxi's reign, on the eve of the Ulan-Butong War, Kangxi was seriously ill, and the prince personally went to the army to visit him, but the meeting was unrelated.
Once in the 42nd year of Kangxi's reign, Suo'etu came to trial, and the prince lost his biggest helper, Suo'etu.
Twenty-nine years has long passed.
As for the forty-two years, there is no such thing.
Soetu stepped down four years early, which is not a bad thing for the prince, as the conflict between father and son has not yet been brought to light.
Longkodo also took his last breaths, and the fourth elder brother seemed to have lost his biggest support.
Does anyone else have a chance?
While she was thinking about it, Brother Jiu's arm was already on her waist, and he pulled her into his arms vigorously.
Seeing that Brother Ninth Brother was not breathing properly, Shu Shu also hugged him back and patted Brother Ninth Brother on the back.
It is better to be timid, this is a reverence for life.
With their status, they are below a few people but above tens of thousands of people. It would not be a good thing if they lose their respect for life.
Brother Jiu felt his arms soften, and the familiar scent of magnolia lingered around his nose.
His fear and anxiety subsided, and in his mind was a little girl with no hair, who looked like a niguru, her arms were like lotus joints, she was dressed in red, and her eyes were wandering around.
Huh?
It seemed like he was riding a black horse galloping...
It's not a horse, it's a black bear, a small black bear, as big as a big dog...
Brother Jiu was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth for a while. He felt so cute and wanted to pinch her chubby face...
*
"Da da da da..."
At midnight, the sound of horse hooves was very clear and could be heard far away.
As we got closer, we heard the sound of wheels coming inside again.
Cao Shun's lips were chapped, so he licked them, turned over and dismounted.
The sound of drums could be heard in the distance, it was the fourth watch.
Outside Anding Gate, there are barracks on both sides, which were expanded from the Dingque House of the Eight Banners in the past few years.
Someone with a bright mind rented out the house next to the official road, and a small businessman took over and opened a noodle shop as a resting place for people outside the city gate.
Cao Shun and his entourage rode over and entered the noodle shop.
There was a one-and-a-half-room front room with five or six tables. Cao Shun came in with two long followers, ten guards, and two coachmen, and the room was full.
The boss and waiter was a middle-aged man in his forties. When he saw this, he hurriedly said: "Do you guys want to eat noodles? The store has braised noodles and soup noodles, as well as side dishes of pork head, braised pork intestines, dried tofu, and soybeans...
…”
Cao Shun glanced at everyone. He was on the road today. He ate a few bites of fried rice while feeding the horses at the inn, and he was already very hungry.
"Everyone has a bowl of braised noodles and a bowl of soup noodles. Each table will have a portion of the food you bring..."
The boss responded, immediately wiped the table, asked everyone to sit down, and went to the kitchen to place his order.
Cao Shun brought a chief to sit with him. His two chiefs and two coachmen sat at the door of the shop, so that they could keep an eye on the carriages and horses outside.
The remaining nine guards sat at three tables.
Although everyone did not have fast horses galloping and had to match the speed of the carriage, they were still more tired than the fast horses because the riding time was too long...
*
At the moment of Yinzheng, the city gate opened.
Cao Shun ordered the guards to stay outside and guard the carriage. He took two long followers and entered the city alone.
There is no way around this.
As long as it's just a bear carcass, there's no problem, but if there are carcasses, you'll have to ask for permission before you can enter the city.
Otherwise, according to regulations, if soldiers and civilians in the inner city died outside, their remains would not be allowed into the city, and they would have to be mourned outside the city.
Except for the meritorious service of getting the emperor's favor and allowing the coffin to be returned to the city.
As soon as he entered the city, there were people waiting with lanterns in front of him.
It's Erhe who is here.
Cao Shun had a cautious and appropriate temperament. Erhe guessed that he would wait outside the city gate waiting to enter the city, so he waited here.
"The emperor has to listen to the government in the morning and meet with the officials who turned out the signs yesterday. I guess he won't have time until after Ji Chu..."
The two of them rode towards the imperial city, Erhe talking to Cao Shun.
Cao Shun was a little nervous. He had met Shengjia before, but he was in Jiangnan at that time, following his uncle, and the emperor seemed warm to him.
Now I have become a mourning bird, which is very unpleasant.
Erhe took Cao Shun into the imperial city and went directly to the Xihua Gate. He met the guard commander on duty and asked him to pass the message to Qianqing Palace.
This is the manpower sent back by Ninth Elder Brother. Speculations about Ninth Elder Brother are becoming popular.
The ginseng leader went directly to Qianqing Palace without any delay.
The news came to Liang Jiugong.
Shengjia was already preparing to listen to the government, and Liang Jiugong had no chance to report.
When Kangxi came back from listening to politics at Qianqing Gate, sat down to have tea, and prepared to pass on the officials to the meeting, Liang Jiugong had time to talk about Erhe and Cao Shun waiting for him outside Xihua Gate.
Kangxi did not respond, but was silent for a while and said: "It is said that Zhao Chang..."
After half a cup of tea, Zhao Chang came over.
Kangxi wrote a handwritten edict, stamped it, and handed it to Zhao Changdao: "The carriage escorted by Cao Shun is allowed to enter the city, and it will be sent directly to the back hall of Jingshan, and it will be sent to the Secretary of Shenxing Wu for inspection."
Zhao Chang bowed in agreement, retreated, and headed towards Xihua Gate.
Kangxi sat on the kang and looked at the officials he was going to meet this morning. There were two officials named Tong, one to meet his Majesty and the other to say goodbye.
Both of them were from the Zhenglan Banner of the Han Army and were relatives of Orundai.
Kangxi had no expression on his face, put down the list in his hand, and motioned for the successor of Liang Jiugong to come in.
Most of the people I met were those who had been promoted to the fifth rank or above in the capital for the first time, while the ones I resigned were those who were posted to the local government and were close to the people.
Because of the surname Tong, Kangxi paid close attention to the two men and found that one was a doctor in the Ministry of Household Affairs and the other was a magistrate of Jiangnan, both of whom were in good positions.
He was noncommittal and showed no emotion. He asked a few questions according to his position, switching between Mandarin and Chinese.
There was no one who was too timid and looked good, so he gave a few words of encouragement and told her to kneel down.
But after looking at a circle of people, his eyes fell on the list.
He doesn't have Lao Hutu yet. The Tong family is considered a common surname and is spread across the Eight Banners. Not all of them are members of the two Cheng'en Gongfus.
However, among the children surnamed Tong who have filled the vacancies in recent years, there are still more Xianghuangqi and Zhenglanqi, which are the close relatives of Chengen Gong.
Kangxi was happy to see this situation happen in his early years, and he also caused it.
For now, he felt he could stop.
He and Shu Shu wanted to go together, feeling that if Longkodo really died violently, it would probably be due to "internal fighting."
This "within" range is not very large, and may be smaller than imagined.
The killing of flesh and blood is even more chilling and chilling.
*
Outside Xihua Gate, Erhe and Cao Shun waited for Zhao Chang.
Since the emperor's order was given, the two of them had nothing to say. They took Zhao Chang back to the Anding Gate and successfully brought the two carriages into the inner city.
The City Gate School on duty had no chance to open the carriage curtain.
Such a mysterious thing was sent back to the capital overnight, and someone from the imperial court came to pick it up...
Are he hiding two stunning beauties?
The matter involves the imperial court, so no one dares to discuss it blatantly, but they must whisper...
Zhao Chang and his entourage walked through Di'anmen and drove the carriage directly to the back hall of Jingshan.
This is the place where concubines in the palace stay when they are seriously ill and die. It is empty on weekdays, with only some old eunuchs on duty.
The Secretary of Shenxing will work for the next two afternoons. He has already heard the message and is waiting here.
It's cold now, and it's about to freeze, so neither the bear carcass nor the remains of the carcass have decayed.
But there weren't many things that could be checked. They included a head with all the features gnawed away, a section of the upper torso, a calf bone with all the skin and flesh gnawed away, and an arm bone.
Wu Zuo looked carefully, starting with the torso which was the best place to distinguish. Judging from the superficial injuries, they were indeed the marks of whipping.
There are levels of caning: twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, eighty, ninety, and one hundred.
In fact, there are very few cases of more than fifty lashes, because most of them are quasi-redemption.
According to Wu Zuo's inspection, with such dense scars and the appearance of not yet fully healed, the flogging would be over fifty and the time would be no more than ten years.
Therefore, as long as you check the eight banner yamen in Gyeonggi Province, you can count the number of people who have been whipped within ten days.
Because there was a complete calf bone, Wu Zuo also estimated the height of the deceased. He was not short, and was probably between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 5 inches.
The bones have grown, are very dense, and have no honeycomb holes. They are young and strong bones, aged around 20 to 50 years old.
Next, look at the hair. The scalp is clean and not greasy. It looks clean. The family is in good condition and it is convenient to bathe.
If you are really embarrassed, it is inconvenient to take a bath in winter, and your hair will become greasy.
Then carefully look at the position of the facial features, determine the position of the brow bone, and have a simple drawing with eyes closed.
After checking the bones inch by inch, there were abnormal cracks on the back of the skull, as if it had been hit with a blunt instrument.
Then check the remaining leg bones and arm bones.
The leg bones looked smooth and smooth, but there were fractures on the arm bones that had not yet fully healed. They had been injured during his lifetime.
There were two people working in the afternoon, a father and son. The older one was checking and talking, while the younger one took a notebook and recorded it.
Erhe and Cao Shun stood next to Zhao Chang and witnessed the incident with their own eyes.
Neither of them spoke, they just looked at each other, feeling uneasy.
Now that things have happened, they are really worried that this is not Longkodo.
If that were the case, their ninth master would act in a fuss and appear to be unsteady when things happen.
Instead of Jiuye misjudgment, they still hope that this is Longkodo.
It’s just that the current evidence is not solid yet.
The inferred image has two or three points of resemblance if it looks like Longkodo; if it doesn't look like Longkodo, it can really be distinguished.
As for the good family background, we cannot be certain that this is Longkodo.
Baqi is a die-hard farmer and loves to save face, so taking a bath this winter is nothing unusual.
The two of them had never heard of the arm injury. They just felt that if Longko was injured, the emperor would probably take pity on him and not force him to leave the capital at this time.
But if there are no other missing persons, Longkodo is more likely.
Because the bannermen are not allowed to leave the camp at will.
Jingqi is no exception.
When the room was quiet, Wu Zuo had already cut a piece of flesh remaining on the skull and neck to see how the blood coagulated inside.
This can estimate the time of death.
"More than three days..."
Lao Wuzuo explained the basis for identification, one by one, and asked his son to record it.
Zhao Chang looked at Erhe.
Erhe thought about it carefully and said: "According to what Yi Cheng said, the Tong family arrived at Miyun Station on the first day of the Lunar New Year and left at noon on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. The record at the Gubeikou checkpoint matches this. It was at noon on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.
When they came out of the customs at the beginning of the car, there were fifteen people in total, including one woman, one boy, and fifteen young men..."
Just as he was talking, there was movement at the door.
Everyone looked at the door. Kangxi came in wearing regular clothes, surrounded by several eunuchs and guards...