Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 162

Chapter 162 All Clues Are Broken
Returning from Tongzhou to the county government, it was already late, and it was almost time to let go of the government. However, Lu Zhen still called Zeng Guang and Yue Liqiu over and asked them about the progress of the case.

Before he sent Chu Yunrong and her two daughters away early in the morning, he had already instructed his two subordinates to follow two different lines to investigate this seemingly simple murder case, but in fact, there was something fishy about it. Zeng Guang was sent to inquire about the information from the Shun Tian Manor to see how many valuable clues he could get from there. Although Shuntian Prefecture was the superior yamen of Daxing County, the civil servants and servants in the yamen still had some friendship and were able to communicate with each other.

As for Yue Liqiu, Lu Zhen stayed in the county government to carefully search through the case files related to the case-although most of the files had already been sent to Shuntian Prefecture along with the case, there would still be some left in the county government. To find out the truth of this case, the first-hand records belonging to the county government were still quite critical.

Yue Li Qiu arrived in front of Lu Zhen first. He also held a stack of documents in his hand and handed it over when he met them. “Sir, this is all the records left in our county warehouse regarding the murder case.” Right now, he was in the county government’s main book, so it was naturally very convenient for him to bring these out.

Lu Zhen reached out to take it, but he wasn’t in a hurry to open it. Instead, he put the stack of documents on the table and asked the subordinate in front of him, “What did you see from it?”

Yue Li Qiu looked at Lu Zhen thoughtfully before frowning, “This case was quite strange to me at that time. I didn’t think about it before, but now I realized that there was actually no suffering master who came to interrogate me. This is too unreasonable.”

Lu Zhen said, “Are you saying that no relatives or friends of the deceased came to the county government to cry?”

“Exactly. In the past, I have also come into contact with many cases of human lives. Regardless of whether it is death from a fight or accidental death, as long as someone enters my county government, there will always be family and friends who will come crying and complaining, asking the county government to return justice to them. However, no one had come to the county government for this case. Even the Spring Gathering House had only sent a shopkeeper to identify the corpse. One must know that the deceased Feng Changchun was actually attacked and killed by someone, “Yue Li Qiu said truthfully.

After pausing for a moment, he continued, “Actually, Xiaoguan was wary of this suspicion at that time. However, the case was quickly handed over to Shuntian Prefecture and was no longer related to my county government. Only then did he forget about it. But thinking about it now, there must be something fishy about it.”

Lu Zhen nodded, “Someone should have stopped Feng Changchun’s relatives and friends from coming to the yamen to expand the matter. But who has the ability to do all this? And what is his purpose?”

Yue Li Qiu did not answer Lu Zhen’s two questions. He could not answer them and continued, “In addition, according to the coroner’s autopsy records, although Feng Changchun was killed several times, the fatal saber was in his throat. Furthermore … based on Lao Zhao’s many years of experience, the saber on his throat was the first of his saber.” In other words, he was killed by someone who cut his throat with a single knife, and the wounds on his body were simply concealed. By the way, Lao Zhao is my county government’s coroner for many years. He is an expert in examining corpses and has never seen him before. ”

Lu Zhen nodded to show that he understood, but the doubt on his face became even heavier. It was obvious that the murderer was a middle-aged veteran. However, it was hard to say whether the additional sabers were meant to conceal their anger or to vent their anger. The water in this case was indeed deep enough. Just the case itself, there were already many mysteries hidden within it.

“So the murderer should be Feng Changchun’s enemy, not the so-called robbery and murder case?” Lu Zhen came to this conclusion after deep thought.

“It shouldn’t be wrong, but when we made this judgment, the case was no longer a matter for the county government. All of this was written into the file, but the file we sent back didn’t mention it.”

“Someone removed these doubts so that people could treat this case as an ordinary robbery and murder case. It would be much easier to seal it up.” Lu Zhen pondered for a moment and speculated, “Oh right, have you investigated why he appeared in the alley of bitter water where the corpse was? There are dilapidated courtyards and a Guandi Temple, mostly where beggars live. Why would a wealthy businessman of some status appear there late at night? Even during the day, I’m afraid he wouldn’t go there on purpose.”

“This … but I don’t know. Xiaoguan has also asked the relevant people, but none of them can give an answer.” Yue Liqiu shook his head and said.

“It really is a mystery.” Lu Zhen gently patted the documents on the table and exhaled. He felt that he didn’t even need to look at the files left behind by the county government anymore, because there would definitely be no more harvests here. At this moment, Zeng Guang had already rushed over.

Seeing him arrive, Lu Zhen smiled and said, “I’ve worked hard for county magistrate Zeng. How is it? Did you get anything in Shuntian Prefecture?”

Zeng Guang’s face was filled with doubt, “My lord, the pushers of the Shun Tian Manor had interacted with Xiaoguan before, but this time, he refused to say anything.”

“Oh? He won’t reveal anything about this case?” Lu Zhen blinked and asked.

‘”Yes, he only said that this case was half a year ago, and he had long forgotten all about it. He even intentionally or unintentionally mentioned that it would be better to let it pass. If he were to uncover it, he would probably have even more trouble.”

Looking at Zeng Guang’s worried expression, Lu Zhen unconsciously smiled bitterly, “He said that we want to investigate this case, isn’t it the responsibility assigned by the Ministry of Justice?” After a pause, he said, “Alright, there’s no need to say anything like that. You can’t get such advice after going to Shun Tian Manor for so long, right?”

Zeng Guang smiled and said, “Of course, it’s impossible for me to return empty-handed. So, I met with a few of the better servants in private and asked them about the details of this case. As far as they can remember, this case was kept in the yamen for three days before being sent to the Ministry of Justice for sealing. There weren’t many people sent out to investigate.”

“There is such a thing? Who made this decision?” Lu Zhen asked curiously.

“It’s that pusher, Wang Qi. Normally, he is the one who decides all the major and minor cases in the Shuntian Prefecture. Naturally, this case is no exception.”

“A pusher is actually so lazy about a human life case. I’m afraid that no one can trust him if he says that there’s no one to direct him.” Lu Zhen’s words were very reasonable. Unlike the magistrate’s office, the responsibility of pushing an official was only to solve a case. If a murder case that appeared within his jurisdiction could not be solved, he was afraid that he would have to bear too much of a responsibility.

Only when he was also instructed not to investigate deeply, and the people behind him had enough strength to protect him, or even give him enough benefits, did he dare to settle such a large case hastily.

From the fact that the relatives and friends of the deceased did not come to the yamen to beg for help, to the disappearance of some clues that existed, to the negative attitude of the Shuntian Prefecture yamen, all sorts of strange things showed that there were people behind this case who were trying their best to dilute it. They did not wish for the case to be pursued any further.

With just this ability to cover the sky with one hand, one could see just how much energy this person hiding behind the scenes possessed. However, Lu Zhen was unable to guess whether the other party was even more involved in this case, or whether this person was the culprit who killed Feng Changchun.

Something’s wrong! Lu Zhen suddenly shook his head. The person behind this obstruction should not be the murderer. Otherwise, with his ability, Feng Changchun would have died silently. He would not have died on the streets.

Then what was his purpose in doing so? To protect the murderer? Or do you have other intentions?

After thinking for a moment, Lu Zhen couldn’t figure out why, so he could only gently shake his head. Seeing that he was no longer deep in thought, Zeng Guang continued, “Your Excellency, there is another matter that is quite strange.”

“What is it?” When Lu Zhen saw his gloomy expression, his heart suddenly tightened. He seemed to have forgotten a key point.

“The witness found by the county government is the beggar who stayed at the Guandi Temple at night …”

Lu Zhen hurriedly asked, “How is he?” An ominous feeling assaulted his heart.

After a moment of hesitation, Zeng Guang said, “He was sent to Shuntian Prefecture by the county government as a witness to the case. However, that night, he suddenly died of a sudden illness in Shuntian Prefecture’s cell.”

Lu Zhen’s eyes lit up and he almost blurted out with a casual remark. At the same time, he felt a chill run down his spine. In order to cover up the truth, these fellows actually killed an innocent person!

The high-sounding statement of the Shuntian Prefecture was naturally that this beggar was already sick, but who would believe such a coincidence?

However, because he was just a beggar who lived on the streets and had no one to rely on, even if he died, no one would complain about him, and no one would even interfere. If it weren’t for Zeng Guang’s inquiries, he wouldn’t have even received this news!

This was the current prosperous world. In the eyes of those great figures, these grass-dwellers were nothing more than ants. They could be sacrificed at any time, and they could be killed with a single finger!

After hearing all of this, Yue Li Qiu bitterly smiled and said, “Master, it seems that almost all clues to this case have been broken. Even if we don’t care about the forces behind this, I’m afraid we don’t know where to start.”

That’s right. The case file is only a brief summary. There is practically no physical evidence. The corpse is no longer in the hands of the yamen. The only witness that could be asked for something had already died a few months ago. Not to mention that there were still people who didn’t want to be investigated for such a headless case, even if they didn’t ask, it would be very difficult to find a breakthrough.

However, Lu Zhen laughed, “The more they do, the more guilty these people are. As long as we find a clue, this shadow will be exposed! Whether it’s for ourselves or for the two people who died in vain, I, Lu Zhen, will find out the truth!”

When he said this, his expression was extremely solemn, and there was even a flash of light in his eyes, causing the hearts of the two subordinates in front of him to palpitate …