Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

Another half an hour passed before Wang Xun came forward.

Meng Changqing heard in the study, "Zhou Xing, is Lord Meng in the study?"

"Master Wang!" Zhou Xing greeted him happily, "Yes, yes, Master, you were just about to send me to find you."

When Wang Xun entered the room, Meng Changqing stood up and poured him a cup of tea. "Please sit down. Thank you for your hard work for two days. Did you have a smooth trip? Did you find out any news?"

"If you ask me, the person has been dead for several months, what is there to investigate?" Wang Xun started complaining to Meng Changqing.

Meng Changqing thanked him again and again. Although Wang Xun had a bad temper, he calmed down quickly and was coaxed into calm by Meng Changqing. He then talked about the news about Song Xiyu and his grandson Xiao.

"I went to the capitals of Liangzhou and Hongzhou, but it's been so long that even if there's something hidden inside, it's hard to get it out now." Wang Xun said, "According to the local county government, the two men must have just arrived in their county when they encountered the bandits on the Xilin Road section.

When the coroner performed the autopsy, the bodies were still fresh and it was obvious that they had died from knife wounds. Apart from the clothes they were wearing, they had no other belongings.

However, because of the wounds on their bodies, it was clear that they had been tried in some government office.

The people at the county government said that they reported the matter to the prefecture government at that time. I saw that the county government had archived the information. But when I asked the Hongzhou prefecture government, the prefecture government said that they had no record of receiving the report from the county government and said that the person in charge accidentally lost it.

I asked them who had lost it, and the government office gave me an even more ridiculous answer, saying that the person had long been gone and could not be found.

When Wang Xun said this, he was laughed at by those people again.

Meng Changqing was not a god. After hearing these words, he didn't know who the problem was. He could only accept the information in general and then analyze it step by step.

"Is there a bandit problem in the local county government?" Meng Changqing asked.

"I asked the same question." Wang Xun took a sip of tea and continued, "They said that they cracked down on the robbers several times last year, and the situation had improved a lot. But for some reason, the number of robbers increased again this autumn."

Meng Changqing knew that robbery was a very useful excuse, and he could pin the blame on them no matter what happened.

But on second thought, those two men were traveling with injuries, and if there were really robbers in the area, they would easily be targeted.

It is unclear what the facts are at this point.

Perhaps Lord Wei knew that this matter could not be explained or investigated clearly, so he did not say anything.

But why did Sun Xiang tell her about this?
After further analysis, there are only two possibilities: someone wants to make a fuss about this incident, Sun Xiang knows it, and he reminds her out of kindness; or there is someone else behind Sun Xiang, digging a trap for her to jump into.

Leaving aside the source of the information and just looking at the fact that the two people were hacked to death on the road, the worst frame-up against her would be to forge evidence to prove that she was the one who killed them, in order to alienate her from her personal soldiers, or to accuse her of excessive punishment and disregard for human life.

The point is, who would do such a thing?
Meng Changqing thought about it, but couldn't make sense of it for a while, but he still smiled and sent Wang Xun away.

After Wang Xun left, Bafang came in to clean up the used teacups on the small round table.

"Young master, don't drink your tea yet. Laicai has cooked pear soup, which should be ready by now." Meng Changqing sat on the stool without moving. He seemed not to hear what Bafang said, and even his eyes were fixed on one place.

"Young Master?" Bafang went over and pushed her.

Meng Changqing frowned, but soon took a breath, relaxed his expression, turned to Bafang and said, "I don't want tea anymore. Bring me the soup when it's ready."

"Hey."

After Bafang left, Meng Changqing kept repeating to herself, the same as she had thought before, since she had heard something, she couldn't just pretend she hadn't heard it. She had investigated the matter and found nothing, but it didn't end there.

Since she couldn't investigate further, she had to show her attitude.

He immediately spread out the paper and started writing.

When Bafang came back with the pear soup, Meng Changqing had just finished writing two letters and was sealing them.

When Bafang saw it, he asked, "Why is there no address on this envelope?"

"I was just about to trouble you to go to the data room and get the list of the personal soldiers. Also, go to the cash box in the back office and take out forty taels. Remember not to take silver, but two twenty-tael silver notes."

No one in the group understood this series of events. "Do you have such small-denomination silver bills in your cash box?"

Meng Changqing thought about it and thought that maybe he didn't have any. "You or Lai Cai should have some. Come to me and get a fifty note. I'll give you two twenty notes in exchange."

When Bafang heard that he could make a profit from the price difference, he immediately went out happily to prepare.

Not long after, he returned with the banknotes and the list.

Everyone saw that the address Meng Changqing had inquired about was actually the home address of Song Xiyu and his grandson Xiao.

Obviously, the letters and banknotes were prepared for their family members.

"When did you become so generous? Those two people made a mistake and were driven away. Even if they died on the way back home, it is not our turn to provide compensation." Bafang said, "You wrote a letter and gave them money. You really gave them enough face. If you don't know, you would think they died in the line of duty."

"Do you know what's written in the letter?" Meng Changqing asked him.

Bafang: "You haven't shown it to me, how should I know?"

"I have already written in the letter about their mistakes and told them that they have been expelled from the barracks." Meng Changqing picked up a pen and wrote down the address. "There is nothing nice in the letter. It is only to tell their families why they died and where they are buried now."

Meng Changqing pointed at the letter and said, "This is a warning." He then looked at the banknote on the table and said, "This is a kindness I showed you."

"Take this letter to the post house and have them mail it to the address. As for the two silver notes, give them to Fang He and have him exchange them for silver at the bank and personally deliver them to the two families according to the address." (End of this chapter)