Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Zhang Boshan shook his head: "That's what I said, but if something really happened, how could Mr. Chen let me go?"

Bao Chengle laughed and said, "Your Excellency said earlier that besides the Second Master, he was the only one left in the Duke of Chen's Mansion. If he really died, wouldn't the Second Master fall down with him, considering his condition? Once he fell down, there would be no one left in the Duke's Mansion, so who would come to accuse you of a crime?"

Zhang Boshan laughed too, but after laughing, he still said cautiously: "Forget it, let's talk about the future later. You ask people to guard those business houses, and wait for Manager Shen and his men to return again, and then quickly ask what happened. In addition, you prepare another 5,000 taels of silver, and find a way to send it to Fu Jiu or Chan Yi in two days."

Bao Chengle said: "My Lord wants to bribe him..."

"I don't know how many years they have followed you, how can they be interested in a mere five thousand taels?" Zhang Boshan said, "I just want to be grateful to you, so that next time you criticize me, they can say a few good words for me for the sake of the silver."

Bao Chengle said: "Even so, they are just two servants. Isn't five thousand taels of silver too much?"

"It's not much, so how can we make them short of money?" Zhang Boshan said as a matter of course, "After they leave, we can find some ways to make money back from the merchants in the county town."

Bao Chengle looked at his greedy face, curled his lips slightly and said, "Your Excellency is very thoughtful."

Zhang Boshan waved his hand and said, "Stop talking nonsense. Let's go and visit the villages, or you will suffer in the future."

the other side.

Although it was still early, it was obviously not enough to go to Xiaochang Village and back. Remembering that he had only checked Ma Dali yesterday, and had not checked Pi Ziyun, Diao An, Gao Qiang, Zhao Liu and Xiong San, Chen Shao could not help but call Fu Jiu in and ordered: "Send someone to Fulai Commercial Bank to see if Zhao Qiang is still there. If he is, ask him to come over."

While inviting Zhao Qiang, Chen Shao looked up and accidentally saw Tao A-mei's body sheet on the corner of the table. When he took it and looked at it, he saw that the body sheet only simply recorded Tao A-mei's injuries, cause of death, and time of death. There was no mention of the scene of the body dumping, the description of the murderer, etc. He frowned and asked Chan Yi, "Who sent Tao A-mei's body sheet?"

Chan Yi replied, "Xu the coroner had someone bring it here this morning when the young master was still asleep."

Chen Shao had a very good impression of Xu Guang. When he heard that it was written by him, he immediately ordered: "Send someone to invite him over."

Chan Yi called out to Fu Jiu.

Fu Jiu quickly brought Xu Guang over.

"No need for all these empty formalities." After putting an end to his politeness, Chen Shao asked directly, "Why is your inference about the murderer and the scene where Tao A-mei's body was found not written on the corpse form?"

Xu Guang said calmly: "The status of a coroner is lowly. Apart from examining the corpse, I dare not overstep my authority."

Chen Shao was stunned for a moment, then sighed, clenched his fist and hit his forehead, saying, "I was rude."

She forgot that this was ancient times.

Xu Guang bowed his hands and said he dared not.

Chen Shao paused for a moment and looked at him. "You have been to the scene of the eight cases in the 13th year of Yuanhe with Lord Li. Do you still remember the details of the scene? You don't need to remember all of them, even one or two will be fine."

Xu Guang looked up at the row of case files hanging on the wall, and somehow he suddenly thought of Li Baozhong. Although Li Baozhong did not find the murderer when he was in office, he worked day and night without sleep. He wrote down all these case files himself. Unfortunately... After a while, Xu Guang came back to his senses and said, "I can only vaguely remember some of them."

Chen Shao said: "Starting tomorrow, you will come with me to investigate cases."

Xu Guang agreed.

After he left, Chen Shao thought for a moment and wrote a letter to Chen Zhao, mainly asking about Li Baozhong's whereabouts. In a major case like Hongyuan County, if the murderer cannot be found for a long time, either all officials in the government will be punished, or the incumbent officials will not be promoted until the murderer is found.

Ding Lisheng was not punished, which proves that Li Baozhong was not punished either, but Li Baozhong is no longer in office... there must be something fishy.

She didn't know where to start investigating the treacherous officials and rebels, but now that she knew about this strange thing, she might as well start from there. Maybe there would be some gains. Even if there were none, it wouldn't be a big deal.

He put down his pen, handed the letter to Chanyi, and asked her to seal it and then give it to Li Tianliu.

Chan Yi did as she was told and happened to see a yamen runner leading Shopkeeper Shen and others over. She couldn't help but step into the room first and said, "Shopkeeper Shen and others are here."

Chen Shao: "Let them in."

Looking at the piles of rosters that Manager Shen and others brought into the house, Chen Shao couldn't help laughing: I forgot that they are all old businesses, and there are countless associates coming and going.

Picking up a roster of Fenglong Trading Company, Chen Shao flipped through a few pages and found that the age, height, place of origin, current residence, whether they stayed or left, and even where they went were all recorded in great detail. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "Find out the roster of the clerks who are still employed and give them to me."

Manager Shen and others found it. Chen Shao took one and flipped through a few pages before putting it back and saying, "Which ones are the guys who received the goods in Hongyuan County? Point them out and leave a mark."

Shopkeepers Shen, Tian, ​​and Xu came forward, took the pen from Fu Jiu, and sketched out the person.

There are a total of nineteen people in the three trading companies, including four from Fulai Trading Company, ten from Rongfa Trading Company, and five from Fenglong Trading Company.

Shopkeeper Tian explained: "Silkworm cocoons need to be cultivated artificially. Because of our company, there are more families cultivating silkworm cocoons in Hongyuan County than in other places. Even though there are ten people, it is often not enough. It's just that they all want to make more money, so they hold on and refuse to hand it over to others."

After asking Chan Yi to copy down the information of the nineteen people, Chen Shao asked, "Are these people in the company now?"

Shopkeeper Shen said, "There are only one or two here, the others are all wandering around the streets."

Shopkeeper Xu nodded, "The same goes for Fulai Commercial Bank."

Only Shopkeeper Tian said, "The ten people outlined are all in the village that I am responsible for."

Chen Shao asked Shopkeepers Shen and Xu, "Do they need to report their whereabouts to you when they go around the streets?"

"Rongfa Company should need it," said Shopkeeper Shen, "but our two companies don't."

Shopkeeper Tian explained: "The company needs to accurately grasp the growth of the mulberry silkworms in the farmers' homes so that they can prepare for any eventuality. Therefore, the cocoon collectors need to report to the company every three days. One clerk is responsible for several or even a dozen villages. If there are no accidents, three days is just enough to inspect each village. Therefore, the company stipulates that unless there is something serious, they cannot leave the village they are responsible for at will. If there is something, they must tell the company in advance and can leave only after the company's permission."

Chen Shao couldn't help but look at him twice more before asking Shopkeeper Shen and Shopkeeper Xu, "Do you know where to find them?"

They both nodded and said yes.

Chen Shao said: "Then please find a way to get them back before dark, and then bring them to the prefectural governor's mansion."

After the two agreed, Chen Shao said to Shopkeeper Tian: "I will ask two people to follow you in a while. You take them to find these ten people. I want to know their specific movements at a specific time."

Shopkeeper Tian nodded in agreement.

After asking the three of them to wait outside, Chen Shao told Chan Yi: "Go and invite Li Tianliu over."