At the beginning, I became a county magistrate with greed of 500 million. The empress asked me to be

"Master Xia, that is Songshan Island!"

Looking at the island that appeared in sight, Chen Jingzhong immediately reported.

Immediately afterwards, the shapes of warships began to emerge outside Songshan Island.

Xia Yun took a look.

As far as the eye can see, the total number of warships of all sizes is about forty or fifty.

"Speed ​​up the sailing!"

As they were about to arrive at Songshan Island, a cold look once again appeared in Xia Yun's eyes.

But judging from the weather at this time.

The waters near Songshan Island don't look like a storm has just occurred.

How could the twelve grain ships have sunk without any storm?

It can't be that all twelve ships ran aground?

Half the time for burning incense has passed.

The warship carrying Xia Yun and his group finally arrived at Songshan Island.

The warships that blocked the waters of Songshan Island took the initiative to open a path.

"Your Excellency, I am Zhang Wenhe, the commander of the First Battalion of the Zhejiang Navy. This is the place where the twelve grain transport ships sank. Please give me your instructions!"

After the warship stopped, someone on the other nearest warship immediately put up a wooden board and quickly came to Xia Yun.

"How's the salvage going?"

Xia Yun asked without changing his expression.

"Your Excellency, there is an undercurrent beneath the waters of Songshan Island. I have sent people to salvage for half an hour, but only found a dozen bodies, some shipwrecks, and some food."

When Xia Yun heard this, a line gradually formed between his eyebrows.

There is an undercurrent under the waters of Songshan Island, which means that once the grain ship sinks, it will be completely washed into the ocean within half a day.

In this way, they would never find any trace of the grain ship again.

Judging from the surface alone, this matter does not seem to have any flaws no matter how you look at it.

But who is this Xia Yun?

If he was so naive, he would have been tricked by those guys on the second day after arriving in Hangzhou.

"Bring over the bodies that were salvaged."

After thinking for a while, Xia Yun issued the first order.

Soon, more than twenty soldiers carried the body salvaged from the bottom of the sea to Xia Yun.

A foul smell appeared in the air.

There were more than a dozen bodies in total, and most of them had become unrecognizable after being soaked in sea water and pulled by undercurrents.

The few intact bodies were swollen beyond recognition.

Xia Yun immediately gave Xu Wan'er a look.

During the three years in Dai County, Xu Wan'er not only served as a legal advisor, but also learned the skills of a coroner.

Xu Wan'er took out a cloth bag containing silver needles from her backpack, then walked forward and squatted next to a corpse.

The skin on the corpse's face had been completely washed away by the sea water, revealing an extremely bloody appearance.

If it were an ordinary woman, she would probably vomit out the leftover food she had yesterday after seeing this scene.

Xu Wan'er took her time, took out a two-inch long silver needle from the cloth bag, and inserted it into the chest of the corpse.

This is the silver needle method of testing poison.

For a corpse like this that falls into the sea, its mouth and stomach have been washed by sea water countless times. Even if someone has poisoned it, it would be difficult to detect.

Only the esophagus area where the chest is located can maintain toxicity to the greatest extent.

The silver needle remained inserted into the corpse for about dozens of breaths.

In the end, Xu Wan'er pulled out the silver needle cleanly and neatly.

The expressions of everyone present suddenly changed.

The silver needle turned black?

how can that be!

On this warship, every soldier who saw the silver needle in Xu Wan'er's hand showed an expression of astonishment on his face.

They had not found anything abnormal when they had tested for poison before.

When Xia Yun saw the silver needle turning black, instead of showing any panic on his face, a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.

as predicted.

The sinking of these twelve grain ships is not that simple!

He even had sufficient reason to boldly speculate that someone must be plotting to murder him behind the scenes!

After examining the first corpse, Xu Wan'er took out new silver needles and examined the remaining dozen or so corpses.

And the final result was, without exception, that all the silver needles turned black.

Only then did Xu Wan'er put away the silver needle and returned to Xia Yun's side.

"The poison these people were poisoned with is not an ordinary poison. If we use ordinary silver needles, it will be difficult to detect the abnormality."

"Thanks to you, sir, for making these special silver needles in Dai County, we were able to find out the clues."

There was a hint of flattery in Xu Wan'er's voice.

"Do you know what the poison is?"

Xia Yun asked.

The silver needles in Xu Wan'er's hands were indeed made when he was in Dai County.

Silver needles are soaked in a variety of chemicals, so they can react with many chemical poisons.

Xu Wan'er shook her head.

"There is insufficient equipment and space on the warship. We need to bring these bodies back to Hangzhou to find out the type of poison."

Xu Wan'er told the truth directly.

Xia Yun thought for a moment after hearing this.

"General Zhang, leave 20 warships here to continue salvaging the wreckage, and send another 20 warships to block the entire Hangzhou Canal Transport Port. No ship is allowed to approach Hangzhou without the personal order of this government!"

Xia Yun issued two more orders in succession.

"Yes, my lord!"

Zhang Wenhe responded immediately.

Xia Yun then shifted his attention to Chen Jingzhong.

"General Chen, please send someone to inform the Governor-General to order martial law throughout Zhejiang Province and arrest all people with suspicious identities!"

Xia Yun continued to give orders.

"I will obey my orders."

Chen Jingzhong clasped his hands together and accepted the order. As soon as the last decree was passed down, a warship immediately broke away from the main force and headed towards the governor's military camp.

……

eight pm.

Under the escort of seven or eight warships, Xia Yun and his party returned to the Hangzhou Caoyun Wharf.

However, before they could get off the boat, Xia Yun and others saw at a glance that the canal dock was already filled with a large crowd of people.

When the warship approached, Xia Yun and others could see it clearly.

It turned out that the huge crowd was actually a large group of Zhejiang officials headed by Zhejiang Governor Chen Hanzhi.

As these people waited anxiously, half a quarter of an hour passed, the warship docked, and Xia Yun and his party returned to land.

"Master Xia, something terrible has happened!"

Originally, Xia Yun was still thinking about how to greet Chen Hanzhi, but unexpectedly, Chen Hanzhi took the initiative to walk forward and spoke with a serious and anxious look on his face.

"Why is Lord Chen so panicked?"

Although Xia Yun's tone was inquiring, his heart was extremely calm.

As a second-rank governor, Chen Hanzhi did not need to treat himself in this way.

This is obviously a weasel paying a New Year's visit to a chicken, with no good intentions.

"Master Xia, half an hour ago, a group of Japanese pirates disguised as refugees entered the city and broke into the prefectural government office. They rescued Zhang Yuandao, the magistrate of Huai'an County, who was imprisoned in the dungeon! The other prisoners imprisoned in the dungeon are all missing."