Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

Chapter 645 The murderer has been caught?
While Beishan County was busy with spring planting, the Ministry of Justice officials dispatched from the capital finally arrived in Liangzhou.

The visitor was an acquaintance, Feng Zhong'an, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

After Feng Zhong'an arrived, the case progressed rapidly. All the clues were verified, and in just three days, Feng Zhong'an returned to the capital with the case files and all the evidence.

He moved so fast that Meng Changqing suspected he knew the inside story beforehand.

On March 25th, Zhou Xing led his men out to purchase goods. When he returned, he told her that a high-ranking official from the capital had arrived in Liangzhou Prefecture. They were arranged to wait at an inn, but they did not see Sun Xiang. Instead, they were received by officials from Liangzhou Prefecture at the inn.

While Meng Changqing was still guessing how Feng Zhong'an would investigate the case, Zou Yan, who was guarding the checkpoint, sent back a message saying that the gates of Yangmen County had been opened and news had come from inside that the cause of Lord Mao's death had been determined and that passage could be resumed in various places.

"Has the murderer been caught?" Meng Changqing asked Zou Yan at that moment.

Zou Yan said, "They didn't say anything, and they didn't give us a chance to ask. The person who delivered the message just left after saying those two sentences."

"Okay, you can rest for a while before going back."

After Zou Yan left, Meng Changqing immediately washed his hands and instructed Xi Dong to put the seeds they would be using later into the jar to germinate.

She herself hurried back to the county government office, changed her clothes, and grabbed Xi Bei as they set off.

If Chu Mufeng hadn't been squatting on the wall, Meng Changqing would have almost forgotten to bring him along.

The three of them rode swiftly to Liangzhou City.

Not long after entering the city gate, they encountered Li Ting leading two groups of yamen runners coming from the opposite direction.

Meng Changqing quickly called out to him, "Officer Li, where are you from?"

"Lord Meng." Li Ting recognized the person on horseback and walked over with a smile. "You came so quickly. I just returned from seeing someone off, and you've already arrived."

"Did Vice Minister Feng just leave?" Meng Changqing asked.

"Yes. Just as Lord Feng said the case had been solved, the Prefect sent someone to deliver a message to you, saying that the continuous closure of the city gates had caused you a lot of trouble." Li Ting said, "Sir, please go to the government office first. Prefect Sun knows you are coming today."

"Okay, I'll head over first." When Meng Changqing arrived in Liangzhou Prefecture, Sun Xiang had just finished his work.

The two sat around the table, and without Meng Changqing saying a word, Sun Xiang knew what he wanted to ask.

"The murderer who killed Lord Mao and his advisor has been found." Sun Xiang paused deliberately. "Guess who it is?"

Meng Changqing found it strange as soon as he heard the words "found out".

Normally, shouldn't the goal be to catch the murderer?

Meng Changqing smiled and cupped his hands, "Please tell me frankly, Your Excellency, I have been thinking about this for more than ten days, but I just can't figure out who wants to kill Lord Mao."

Sun Xiang smiled, but his smile was strange. "It's something you wouldn't expect."

According to Vice Minister Feng's investigation, the murderers of Lord Mao were bandits entrenched in the Yanglin Town area.

Meng Changqing was stunned for a while before asking in confusion, "Bandits?"

Sun Xiang picked up the teacup in front of him and slowly took a sip of tea.

Meng Changqing then asked, "Yangmen County has been cracking down on bandits for several years, so how come there are still bandits?"

“They said the sweeping wasn’t thorough enough.” Sun Xiang frowned. “Minister Feng’s investigation revealed that Lord Mao was secretly colluding with bandits. The so-called bandit sweeping was just for show. Lord Mao was killed this time because of a dispute with the thieves over the spoils.”

Meng Changqing wanted to laugh. He believed the collusion between officials and bandits, but how could anyone believe that the bandits killed their backers for some benefit?

Bandits have brains too.

"Lord Meng, do you believe it?" Sun Xiang asked.

"Believe my ass!" Meng Changqing suppressed the words that almost escaped his lips and asked, "Does Vice Minister Feng have concrete evidence?"

"Indeed, the correspondence between Lord Mao and the bandits was found in the Yangmen County government office, which matched the correspondence that the yamen runners found in the bandit dens around Yanglin County."