The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 101 The whole story, leaving the inspection team completely bewildered!
"yes……"

The city's garrison commander was puzzled by Wang Gui's shock. He said, "Wan Langzhong and his entourage are currently staying at the governor's mansion. Yesterday at noon, I went to the governor's mansion to pay my respects to Governor Zhang and saw someone delivering medicine to Wan Langzhong. The rest of the special envoys were also strolling around the city. There was no indication that anything had happened to Wan Langzhong. Even now, I haven't heard any news about Wan Langzhong's accident."

"so……"

He looked at the crowd below the city with some hesitation and said, "This humble general is puzzled as to why you all say that something has happened to Master Wan. Is there some misunderstanding?"

The words of the defending general were like a bomb thrown into a lake.

In an instant, a tremendous wave of shock swept through the hearts of Wang Gui and the others!

It's almost 3 AM now, already the early hours of the second day.

They set off from Cuihua Mountain and, apart from necessary rest, did not stop in any way. It only took them eight hours to reach Shangzhou.

Eight hours earlier, when they set off, it was exactly noon yesterday.

They set off from Cuihua Mountain around noon. At the same time, the general guarding the city saw someone delivering medicine to Wanrong at the governor's mansion in Shangzhou. Everything seemed peaceful and serene, with no indication that anything had happened to Wanrong...

How can this be! ?
When they set off, Wan Rong had already been dead for six hours, and his body was frozen solid!

Was the Wanrong they saw at Cuihua Mountain a fake?

Or is there a problem somewhere?
Wang Gui couldn't help but look at Liu Shuyi: "Master, this..."

Liu Shuyi frowned slightly. His original prediction was either that Wan Rong had an accident in Shangzhou, which was already in chaos, or that Shangzhou was very peaceful and Wan Rong had an accident on his way to his next destination.

But he never expected it to turn out like this.

Wanrong is still in Shangzhou, and nothing unexpected has happened...

He carefully recalled the corpse on Cuihua Mountain, his memories from his previous life, and his observations of the corpse. He found nothing wrong; the person was definitely Wan Rong.

But if that person is Wan Rong, then who is the person in the governor's mansion of Shangzhou City?
Liu Shuyi's mind raced, but he said directly, "Open the city gates, let's go to the governor's mansion!"

There's no point in thinking about it too much; everything will become clear once we arrive at the governor's mansion.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Chumo immediately ordered the soldiers guarding the city to open the gate.

Because he possessed an identity token and a handwritten edict from Li Shimin specifically to Liu Shuyi, the city's garrison commander dared not disobey and immediately ordered the city gates to be opened.

After Liu Shuyi and his men entered the city, the generals also ran down from the city wall.

"This humble officer, Zheng Cao, Military Advisor, greets all my superiors."

Liu Shuyi glanced at Zheng Cao, who was over forty years old, with a robust physique, a full beard, and a rather honest appearance.

Without much small talk, Liu Shuyi got straight to the point, saying, "Take us to the governor's mansion."

Knowing that Liu Shuyi was the chief investigator personally appointed by His Majesty, Zheng Cao dared not delay and quickly said, "This way, Assistant Minister Liu..."

With that, he mounted his horse and led the way for Liu Shuyi and the others.

It was still early, and there were no pedestrians on the road, so everyone could ride their horses at full speed. Before long, they stopped in front of the government office, which was guarded by two menacing stone lions.

The governor's offices in the Tang Dynasty all had the same layout.

The front area served as the office space for state officials, while the back area was where the governor's family and relatives rested.

Zheng Cao quickly dismounted and said to the guards of the governor's mansion, "Quickly report to Governor Zhang that the imperial court has sent an official to investigate the case."

The constable was taken aback. He glanced at Liu Shuyi and his men, who were dressed in official robes, and then at the menacing black-armored Imperial Guards. He instinctively shrank back and, without hesitation, hurriedly said, "I will go and report to Governor Zhang right away."

Having said that, he took off running and rushed into the governor's office.

About fifteen minutes later, a series of hurried footsteps could be heard coming from inside the yamen.

As everyone looked over, they saw the yamen runner who had just left walking out quickly, followed by a middle-aged man whose clothes were somewhat disheveled.

The middle-aged man had a square face and a black mole at the corner of his right eye. At this moment, he was frowning, looking puzzled and confused, and hurriedly came to Liu Shuyi and the others.

"Prefect Zhang".

Before the middle-aged man could speak, Zheng Cao said directly, "This is Liu, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice. He has come to investigate the case on His Majesty's orders."

"Master Liu?"

Zhang Xu, the governor of Shangzhou, looked Liu Shuyi up and down and said with some surprise, "So you are the famous detective Liu Yuanwailang. It is true that seeing is believing. Liu Yuanwailang is indeed handsome and has an extraordinary demeanor."

Liu Shuyi never expected that his name would have spread here.

But this is good, it saves me the time of introducing myself.

He cupped his hands to Zhang Xu and said, "Greetings, Governor Zhang. I apologize for disturbing your rest so late at night."

Zhang Xu hurriedly shook his head: "Whether I rest or not is not as important as official business."

"I wonder which case you've come for, Assistant Minister Liu? Is there a problem with one of the cases I'm handling?"

Liu Shuyi said, "Prefect Zhang, there's no need to worry. I came not for any particular case you're handling, but rather for..."

He stared into Zhang Xu's eyes, took a deep breath, and said in a deep voice, "The death of Wan Langzhong!"

"What!?"

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, the usually composed Zhang Xu was first taken aback, then his eyes widened in surprise and astonishment.

"The death of Wan Langzhong!?"

Zhang Xu couldn't help but say, "Liu Yuanwailang, what... what are you talking about? Wan Langzhong has been staying at my prefectural residence. Could it be that he encountered an accident here? But no one told me!"

Seeing Zhang Xu's surprised expression, Liu Shuyi said, "Prefect Zhang, did you really see Doctor Wan with your own eyes these past two days?"

"This……"

Zhang Xu thought for a moment and said, "That's not true. Doctor Wan finished his inspection of Shangzhou the day before yesterday and was preparing to leave. However, he happened to catch a cold and was feeling unwell. So I persuaded him to stay and advised him to recover before setting off. There's no need to rush. There's no need to rush in these few days."

"Wan Langzhong heeded my advice and stayed at the governor's mansion to recuperate. He said he was afraid of catching a cold and spreading it to others, so he didn't need anyone to visit him. He said he would rest for two days and take some medicine and he would be fine."

"Furthermore, I've been busy with official duties these past two days and haven't even had a chance to leave my official residence, so I haven't had the chance to disturb Master Wan's rest..."

Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed, and he said, "So, Governor Zhang hasn't seen Doctor Wan even once in the past two days, is that right?"

"It's not that I've never seen him before. The day before yesterday morning, before Dr. Wan went to bed, I specially invited a doctor for him. After that, I haven't seen Dr. Wan again."

Zhang Xu said, "I know Wan Langzhong's temperament. He is the kind of person who means what he says. If he says he doesn't want to be disturbed, then if anyone goes to visit him at this time, it will probably not only not make him happy, but may even displease him."

Liu Shuyi squinted: "If that's the case... does that also mean that the others, even Censor Ding and Director Ren who came here with Wan Langzhong, didn't go to see Wan Langzhong?"

Zhang Xu frowned and thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I've been too busy these past two days. I only met with Imperial Censor Ding yesterday at noon, so I'm not sure if they visited Dr. Wan."

Liu Shuyi nodded slightly.

Zhang Xu couldn't help but ask, "Master Liu, has something really happened to Doctor Wan?"

"Whether something has happened or not, we'll know once we see it."

Liu Shuyi looked at Zhang Xu and said, "Please lead the way, Governor Zhang, we'll go to Master Wan's room."

Seeing this, Zhang Xu felt a little nervous. He took a deep breath and said without hesitation, "Alright! Please follow me."

With that, he turned around and walked towards the governor's office.

Liu Shuyi and the others quickly followed.

They passed through the front hall, around the office area, and through the gate separating the front and back courtyards, and entered the residence of Zhang Xu and his family.

As they walked, Zhang Xu explained, "Wan Langzhong and his group arrived in Shangzhou five days ago. I specially cleared out the western courtyard for Wan Langzhong and his group to stay in. Now, everyone in the special envoy delegation is staying here."

Liu Shuyi nodded and asked, "Are Wan Langzhong's rooms next to the others?"

"Yes, they are all next to each other. If Dr. Wan is sick or unwell, he can shout and the people next door will hear him."

As they spoke, the group entered the courtyard.

Then you'll see that this is a separate courtyard, quite large, with more than a dozen rooms.

Liu Shuyi's gaze swept across the rooms, all of which were dark and quiet, and their arrival had not disturbed anyone.

"I wonder which one is Wan Langzhong's room?" he asked.

Wan Rong pointed to the room in the very center directly in front of him and said, "This is the one."

Liu Shuyi immediately picked up a lantern and went to the front of the room.

Without pausing, he raised his hand and knocked on the door.

Boom boom boom!
A loud knocking sound echoed through the silent night.

"Wan Langzhong! Your humble servant, Liu Shuyi, is an Assistant Director of the Ministry of Justice. I have something to discuss with you!"

As he knocked on the door, Liu Shuyi spoke loudly.

He called and knocked for a long time, but there was no response from inside the room.

On the contrary, candlelight began to appear in the adjacent rooms.

Then came the creaking sound of the door opening.

Some people came out of the room.

When they saw Cheng Chumo and his men, who were dressed in black armor and looked menacing, they were all stunned.

Then his face was filled with confusion and bewilderment.

"General Cheng, what's going on here?"

"Du Sicheng, what happened?"

The special envoys were all from the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate, so they were familiar with Cheng Chumo and Du Gou.

Du Gou bowed to the group and said, "Director Ren, Censor Ding... We are here on His Majesty's orders to follow Assistant Minister Liu of the Ministry of Justice to investigate the case."

"Liu, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice?"

"Is that Liu Shuyi who rose to fame?"

When Ren Cheng and Ding Feng left Chang'an, Liu Shuyi had not yet traveled through time, so they were unfamiliar with him, but they had heard many rumors about him during this period.

Du Gou nodded: "Yes."

Ren Cheng glanced at Liu Shuyi, who was still knocking on the door, and frowned. He said, "If you're investigating a case, then investigate. Why are you bothering Doctor Wan like this? Don't you know that Doctor Wan is unwell and needs to rest?"

"rest?"

Liu Shuyi raised an eyebrow and said, "If Director Ren knew whose case we were here for, he probably wouldn't have said that."

"Whose case is it?" Ren Cheng paused for a moment, then asked instinctively.

Liu Shuyi pressed his hands against the door and pushed it open forcefully, saying at the same time, "The case of Wan Langzhong's murder!"

"What!?"

Ding Feng and Ren Cheng exclaimed in the same surprise as Zhang Xu had just made.

crunch--

At this moment, Liu Shuyi opened the door.

Unlike Zhang Xu, Liu Shuyi did not explain to them. Seeing the door being pushed open, he went straight into the room.

Seeing this, the others quickly followed.

Ren Cheng and Ding Feng watched as Du Gou and the others entered the room, their faces still showing surprise and bewilderment. They couldn't help but look at Zhang Xu and ask, "Prefect Zhang, they said that Wan Langzhong's death... what happened?"

Zhang Xu helplessly spread his hands: "I don't know either. Look, they've come to verify it..."

Before he finished speaking, a chorus of voices suddenly rose and fell from inside the room.

"nobody!"

"Wan Langzhong is indeed not here!"

"So, Master Wan wasn't sick at all, and he wasn't resting here at all; he secretly left long ago?"

Upon hearing these sounds, Ding Feng and the others were taken aback, then realized something, their expressions changed, and they quickly went into the room.

Passing through the outer room, we entered the crowded inner room.

Then they saw that the quilt on the bed in the inner room had been lifted. And under the quilt, there was nothing!
Wanrong was nowhere to be found.

"How...how could this be!?"

Ding Feng and the others were shocked. They had always thought that Wan Rong was resting here and never imagined that Wan Rong had already disappeared.

Ren Cheng couldn't help but look at Du Gou, then thought for a moment and turned to Liu Shuyi, saying, "Liu Yuanwailang, what exactly happened? Where is Wan Langzhong? You said he died, but where did he die? How did he die?"

Zhang Xu and the others stared intently at Liu Shuyi, their faces showing the same disbelief and confusion.

Liu Shuyi glanced at everyone, taking in their expressions, and then said, "Wan Langzhong died at Cuihua Mountain, and the time of death was approximately fourteen hours ago."

"Cuihua Mountain? Isn't that almost to Chang'an?"

"Fourteen hours ago? It's been more than a day!"

"This……"

Ding Feng and the others' pupils contracted violently.

They never imagined that Wan Rong had been dead for so long!

He died near Chang'an!
But they all believed that Vang Vieng had been resting here all along...

They couldn't understand why this was happening!
Liu Shuyi looked at them, not giving them much time to process what was happening, and said, "I heard from Military Advisor Zheng that someone brought medicine to Doctor Wan these past two days. I wonder who it was?"

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Zhang Xu immediately clapped his hands: "That's right! We followed Wan Langzhong's instructions and didn't bother him, but his medicine and food have been continuously delivered to him."

"Chen Wu!"

Ren Cheng turned around and looked at the man standing at the door, dressed in gray, with a pale and terrified face.

He said, "Chen Wu is Wan Langzhong's attendant. He has been bringing Wan Langzhong food and medicine these past two days. If Wan Langzhong has disappeared, he couldn't possibly not know!"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Chumo rushed out instantly, grabbed Chen Wu by the collar, and lifted him up.

His eyes widened in fury, his murderous aura palpable, and he said, "Chen Wu, did you collude with others to kill Wan Langzhong?"

"No…it wasn't me! I didn't!"

Chen Wu quickly shook his head.

He said with a panicked expression, "I... I didn't know the master would be in danger. If I had known, I would have told you long ago. Why would I hide it from you!"

"You still dare to say you don't know! I bet you won't shed a tear until you see the coffin!"

Cheng Chumo didn't believe Chen Wu's words at all, and with his left fist clenched, he was about to teach Chen Wu a lesson.

"General Cheng, don't act rashly!"

At this moment, Liu Shuyi stopped Cheng Chumo.

When Cheng Chumo saw Liu Shuyi speak, he forcefully threw Chen Wu to the ground and sneered, "Thank Liu Yuanwailang. If it weren't for Liu Yuanwailang, I would have sent you directly to see Wan Langzhong."

Chen Wu quickly kowtowed to Liu Shuyi in gratitude.

Liu Shuyi glanced at Cheng Chumo and saw that Cheng Chumo was secretly winking at him. He knew that Cheng Chumo was doing this on purpose.

If Cheng Chumo plays the bad cop and I play the good cop, I can easily control Chen Wu, this little follower, and make him feel grateful to me. Then my questioning will be much easier.

He nodded slightly to Cheng Chumo, then looked at Chen Wu kneeling before him and said, "I ask you questions, and you answer them. You are not allowed to lie, otherwise I may not be able to save you from General Cheng again."

Cheng Chumo cooperated by drawing his horizontal sword.

Chen Wu's face turned even paler, and he hurriedly said, "Please ask whatever you wish, Mr. Liu. I will answer all your questions to the best of my knowledge."

"very good."

Liu Shuyi asked, "When did you find out your master was missing?"

Upon hearing this, everyone stared intently at Chen Wu.

Then Chen Wu pursed his lips and said, "Let's begin."

"At the beginning?"

Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed: "Tell me in detail."

Chen Wu glanced fearfully at Cheng Chumo beside him and said, "Actually, the master did not catch a cold at all. The reason he said he was unwell was so as not to alert anyone to leave Shangzhou."

"The master knows that if no one delivers his medicine and meals regularly, it will arouse suspicion from others, so he specifically instructed me to cooperate with him."

"The master instructed me to deliver medicine and meals to him at fixed times and in fixed quantities every day. The medicine was to be thrown away, but the meals were to be eaten by me, in order to create the illusion that he was still here. If anyone asked, I was to say that the master was resting and did not want to be disturbed."

Upon hearing this, the censor Ding Feng exclaimed in disbelief, "Wan Langzhong deliberately feigned illness to deceive us in order to secretly leave Shangzhou... Why? Why would he do such a thing?"

Ren Cheng, the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, frowned deeply: "Why did he keep it from us? And why did he return to Chang'an?"

Zhang Xu nodded repeatedly. Although this matter had nothing to do with his prefectural office, he was equally curious.

Chen Wu shook his head: "I don't know either. Master didn't tell me any of this."

"As you all know, the master is a man of character. If the master is unwilling to talk about something, I dare not ask. This is all I know. I know nothing else."

Ding Feng and the others looked displeased, clearly dissatisfied with Chen Wu's answer.

Chen Wu looked at Liu Shuyi with a tense and panicked expression: "Master Liu, everything I have said is true. You must believe me."

Liu Shuyi gently stroked the jade pendant at his waist with his fingertips. He did not see any micro-expressions or micro-movements in Chen Wu that suggested he was lying, so Chen Wu was most likely not lying.

This corresponds exactly to my previous guess.

Wan Rong had no other injuries or signs of restraint on his body, indicating that he went to Cuihua Mountain voluntarily.

The fact that only Wan Rong's body was found on Cuihua Mountain, with no other corpses, indicates that Wan Rong was not accompanied by guards.

The fact that the inspection team hasn't reported anything since the incident occurred suggests that they may not have known about the incident in Wanrong.

This perfectly corresponds to Chen Wu's words: Wan Rong secretly left alone, even finding someone to help him, and kept it a secret from everyone...

Now that Wan Rong's movements have been determined, the next step is to find his motive!
Why did he hide it from others?
Why go to such lengths?

Since Wan Rong left alone and secretly, how did the murderer encounter him?

Furthermore, the murderer was very familiar with Wan Rong and had Wan Rong's deep trust... Wan Rong was even wary of the patrol team members and did not want them to know his whereabouts. What exactly was the murderer's identity that Wan Rong trusted so much?

Liu Shuyi's mind was racing, but he showed no sign of it on the surface.

He continued to ask, "What time did Wan Langzhong set off?"

Chen Wu hurriedly said, "After having the doctor examine the patient, Dr. Wan dismissed everyone and went back to rest. He left shortly afterward. The exact time..."

He thought about it carefully and said, "It's probably around Chen Shi (7-9 AM)."

"Chen Shi (7-9 AM)?"

Liu Shuyi estimated in his mind that, according to what the old man from Cuihua Mountain said, the divine light would appear after midnight, and before the divine light appeared, there would be a huge sound, and before the sound, there would be screams or howls.

Wan Rong was probably killed around that time, probably around midnight.

From Chenshi to Zishi, it is exactly eight hours, which is about the same time it took me to get here from Cuihua Mountain.

I'm already moving at full speed, and Wan Rongying should be too.

In other words, Wanrong was killed by the murderer shortly after leaving Shangzhou and arriving at Cuihua Mountain. He hardly stopped along the way except for necessary rest.

His haste to get there, and his encounter with the murderer... could not have been a coincidence.

If it were a chance encounter, who would follow him for no reason, traveling more than 200 miles overnight to the deep mountains and forests of Cuihua Mountain?
If the murderer really did this, Wanrong would probably suspect that the murderer had ulterior motives.

After all, this doesn't align with the normal behavioral logic of people.

Moreover, given how cautious Wan Rong is, even concealing his whereabouts from his colleagues, he probably wouldn't casually reveal his whereabouts and reasons to someone he just happened to meet.

If it weren't for a chance encounter...

A thought struck Liu Shuyi: Could it be that Wan Rong didn't leave alone at all, but instead made an appointment with the murderer to leave together?

If that's the case, it explains why the murderer was able to go to Cuihua Mountain with Wan Rong late at night, and why Wan Rong was completely unprepared for him.

Thinking of this, Liu Shuyi asked directly, "Do you know how your master left? Did he say who he wanted to meet or who he wanted to travel with?"

Chen Wu shook his head: "Master didn't say anything. When I heard Master say that he was going to leave alone without alerting anyone, I was very worried about his safety. I wanted to go with Master, or have Master take a few guards with him."

"But the master disagreed. He said that if he took me or a guard with him, it would mean that others would also know his whereabouts."

"Moreover, I don't know how you left the governor's office. You called me and the others away. By the time I delivered the medicine to your room, you were already gone."

Liu Shuyi narrowed his eyes.

From Wan Rong's arrangements, it can be seen that he is very cautious. Why is he so careful to guard against the other members of the inspection team?
Is it...

A guess suddenly popped into his head.

Wan Rong changed his mind after receiving important intelligence about the remnants of the Prince of Xi's faction through a letter to Du Ruhui.

Normally, upon receiving such intelligence, he should have immediately ordered it to be delivered to Chang'an by express courier, but he didn't. He chose to deliver the message himself, and even concealed it from his companions, leaving alone...

Does this mean that he believes some of his colleagues are untrustworthy?

In fact, the information he received came from someone in his industry!

Liu Shuyi immediately looked at Ding Feng and the others.

On the way here, he had already learned about the patrol team in detail.

The inspection team was led by Wan Rong, with Ren Cheng, the Director of the Court of Judicial Review, and Ding Feng, the Supervising Censor, assisting them. After them were the clerks from the three departments who were responsible for the actual work, as well as the guards and attendants who protected them, totaling fifty-five people.

Thirty-five guards and attendants, and twenty officials.

Now that Wan Rong is dead, the fact that he asked Chen Wu to cooperate with him shows that he trusts Chen Wu enough, so Chen Wu can be eliminated.

If his intelligence truly originated from someone in the team, then that person must be among the remaining fifty-three people.

Who is it?
His gaze swept over each of them, and he saw that their expressions were all of shock, surprise, disbelief, doubt, and confusion...

From their expressions, it was impossible to tell who was acting strangely.

How can I find this person?
Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered as he looked at Chen Wu again and asked, "Do you know when Wan Langzhong wrote the report letter to Minister Du, and when he sent the messenger to deliver it?"

Chen Wu said, "The night before you left, around 5 PM, I ground ink for you and you wrote a letter. After that, you handed the letter to me and told me to give it to the messenger immediately so that he could deliver it to Chang'an."

You Shi (5-7 PM)?

It was about seven hours after I left Vang Vieng.

The time between the letter reaching Du Ruhui's hands and Wan Rong's murder was six hours.

It seems that the messenger was slower than Wan Rong and himself, but that's normal. Wan Rong and he were traveling non-stop, and the letter Wan Rong had the messenger deliver was just a normal official document, not something urgent. So it's not a problem for the messenger to travel slower.

He had decided to travel to other states the day before, around 5 PM the previous evening, but then secretly left alone the following morning at 7 AM...

This means that he must have discovered the secrets of the remnants of the Prince of Xi during those seven hours that night, and may even have made contact with the murderer to plot their escape together...

No, he also had the experience of faking illness to get a doctor to visit him, at which point he had already changed his plans.

Thinking of this, Liu Shuyi asked directly, "When did Doctor Wan say he was sick? And how did he manage to hide it from the doctor who treated him?"

Zhang Xu thought for a moment and said, "It was around 4:45 AM. I was practicing my swordplay in the courtyard when Doctor Wan came over and said he was feeling unwell. So I immediately ordered someone to call the doctor over."

"As for how he managed to deceive the doctor..." Zhang Xu shook his head: "I don't know. At the time, the doctor clearly said that Dr. Wan had a cold and told us not to get close to him to avoid being infected. Therefore, when Dr. Wan told us not to visit him, we didn't suspect anything."

Ding Feng and the others nodded in agreement with Zhang Xu's words.

Liu Shuyi looked at Chen Wu: "You've been cooperating with Wan Langzhong all along, so you should know how Wan Langzhong managed to deceive the doctor, right?"

Chen Wu said, "Wan Langzhong did not hide it from the doctor. The doctor actually knew about Wan Langzhong's condition, but... we bribed the doctor and gave him some money to cooperate."

"I see."

Liu Shuyi understood everything.

At 6:45 AM, Wan Rong began his plan to steal.

His misfortune occurred between 5:00 PM and 4:45 AM the previous night, a period of six and a half hours.

In other words, as long as we know what happened to him during this period, the case can be solved!
(End of this chapter)