The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 113 found! An unexpected commonality!
Two quarters of an hour later.

Li Shimin left the main hall.

The stars hung like jewels in the dark night sky, and the crescent moon emitted a faint light, like an eye of the heavens gazing at the emperor on earth through the clouds.

Li Shimin walked forward with his back to the crescent moon, the smile on his face gone, and a thoughtful look appearing in his deep eyes.

He was pondering his father's words.

His father solemnly explained to him the impact the murderer had had on the prestige of the Tang Dynasty, and ordered him to capture the murderer no matter what...

He wasn't particularly surprised by this.

After all, he had personally experienced that period and knew very well how his father went from not caring at the beginning to noticing this murderer, to seriously wanting to catch him, and finally to being furious.

He knew very well how ashamed and angry his father was about this murderer.

Therefore, he was not surprised that his father had specifically sought him out for this matter.

What he really cared about was how his father knew about the reappearance of the murderer.

Even he only found out around dusk.

The emperor has always lived deep within the palace, and the people who serve him were chosen by the emperor himself. They would never speak recklessly in front of him... Moreover, they have always been in the palace and have never had the opportunity to know what is happening outside.

So, how did Father Emperor find out about this?
Li Shimin's eyes flashed slightly, and he suddenly said to the eunuch behind him, "Send a message to Liu Shuyi, telling him to do everything in his power to investigate the case and not let the murderer escape!"

"at the same time……"

"He is instructed to send someone to the palace immediately if he makes any breakthroughs in any case."

"Furthermore, to prevent news of the murderer from spreading and causing panic among the people, he is instructed to strictly control information about the case, and no one other than those investigating the case is allowed to know anything about it."

The eunuch first nodded in agreement, then asked with concern, "What if Assistant Minister Liu sends a message late at night? Won't that disturb His Majesty's rest?"

Li Shimin said calmly, "If I am asleep, you can keep the news unless it is particularly important, and inform me as soon as I wake up."

The eunuch nodded in agreement once again.

Li Shimin raised his eyes to look at the bright and dazzling imperial star, his gaze growing deeper.

"Father, I hope you can enjoy your old age in peace, so I will take care of those who might bother you or disrupt your news..."

…………

Inside the inn in Yongpingfang.

Liu Shuyi saw off the eunuch who was conveying Li Shimin's oral edict.

A hint of doubt crossed his face; he found Li Shimin's sudden imperial edict strange.

Although the murderer's case was a major case, it shouldn't have warranted such attention from Li Shimin, right?
After all, even when he was investigating the Turkic spy case that was enough to shake the Tang Dynasty's plans, Li Shimin never told him to report immediately if he made any progress.

Moreover, Li Shimin specifically instructed him that news of this case must not be leaked.

If it were a case that could shake the foundation of the Tang Dynasty, then needless to say, it must not be easily revealed. But the case of the murderer... although the murderer has committed many crimes, in the end, it is just a normal murder case.

It doesn't involve any court officials, nor does it affect the stability of the Tang Dynasty...

Is such a case really worth keeping so secret?

Not to mention that several hours have passed since I started investigating this case. If Li Shimin really cared about it so much, why didn't he tell me sooner?
Liu Shuyi did not believe that Li Shimin had just learned about the murderer.

and so……

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered slightly. It was likely that Li Shimin had encountered something not long ago, and this sudden event had changed Li Shimin's attitude towards the case.

What could it be?

Liu Shuyi shook his head; he had no useful information and couldn't speculate.

However, this has nothing to do with me. What Li Shimin cares about must be the power struggle at a higher level. All I need to do is follow Li Shimin's orders and find the murderer.

Moreover, given Li Shimin's high level of attention to this case, once it is solved, the credit will be substantial.

In a crucial period of competition for doctors, this is actually a good thing.

Liu Shuyi gathered his thoughts and stopped thinking about these messy things. He turned around and looked at Du Gou and Wan'er, who were still carefully flipping through the files at the table, and said, "Have some water and take a break."

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Wan'er and Du Gou finally stopped.

Wan'er rubbed her forehead, leaned back, and looked dazed: "My eyes are about to go blurry. I probably haven't read as many words in my entire life as I have today."

Liu Shuyi chuckled and tapped Wan'er's forehead, saying, "Exaggeration, you've only been watching for a little over an hour."

"talent?"

Wan'er covered her fair forehead and said, "Young Master, do you know how long it has been since I last read a book since I started learning to read? I hate reading the most. I'd rather sweep the yard all day than read for an hour."

"If it weren't for rescuing that brat Mo Xiaofan, I wouldn't be torturing myself like this."

Liu Shuyi looked at Wan'er's aggrieved expression with some surprise.

Unexpectedly, Wan'er was a poor student who hated studying.

She can't even concentrate for an hour, and I don't know how she managed to learn to read when she was a child.

But wasn't her father a gambling addict? Didn't he almost sell her off? How did she manage to learn to read and write?

Was it someone in her family who could read and taught her?

Or was her father a good father when she was young, only becoming a gambler later?

Or...

What happened to her during the period between the disaster that befell her family and when she came to the Liu family that made her literate?

Wan'er had no idea that her casual remark had led Liu Shuyi to make so many assumptions. She picked up the kettle, quickly poured three cups of water, and then handed one of them to Liu Shuyi, saying, "Young Master, have some water."

Liu Shuyi smiled and took the water glass. He looked at Du Gou and saw that Du Gou had a serious expression and was deep in thought, as if he was summarizing what he had just read. He said, "Minister Du, have you made any discoveries?"

Upon hearing this, Wan'er also quickly looked at Du Gou.

Du Gou raised his head and said, "I have indeed made a discovery, but I don't know if it counts as something they have in common."

"Oh?"

Liu Shuyi raised an eyebrow and said directly, "Tell me about it."

Du Gou lowered his head and quickly searched through the files on the table. Soon, he took out two pieces of paper, pointed to one of them, and said, "This is information about a deceased person named Wang Ming."

"Wang Ming, 24 years old, from Xuzhou, Henan Province, ran a small jewelry shop in Xuzhou City. From birth to death, he never left Xuzhou. On June 18th of the third year of Wude, he was kidnapped by a murderer and dismembered three days later. His corpses were scattered all over the streets and alleys of Xuzhou."

“He had no connection with the other deceased, but…”

Du Gou changed the subject, saying, "His father, Wang Changhe, participated in the construction of the Grand Canal in the second year of the Daye era."

Grand Canal?
Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed.

Du Gou then pointed to another piece of paper and said, "This deceased woman was named Zhao Wen'er, twenty years old, from Mingzhou, Hebei Province. She was already married when she was killed. She was killed in the first month of the fourth year of Wude. Like the other deceased women, she had no contact with them and did not know them."

"But when I was sorting through her elders' information, I found that her grandfather was conscripted in the first year of the Daye era and also worked on the construction of the Grand Canal."

As he spoke, he looked up at Liu Shuyi and said, "Of the ten deceased I examined, only the elders of two of them had any common ground that they had worked on the construction of the Grand Canal. The others either had no records of their elders or the information was incomplete..." "But when Emperor Yang of Sui built the Grand Canal, from the first to the sixth year of the Daye era, he mobilized as many as three million farmers and soldiers. Most of the people in Henan, Hebei, Huainan, Huaibei and the counties south of the Yangtze River were conscripted. So it is probably inevitable that their elders participated in the construction of the Grand Canal, rather than a common ground."

Liu Shuyi understood Du Gou's hesitation.

After much difficulty, they finally found the elders of the two deceased, who had similar experiences.

However, when Yang Guang built the Grand Canal, he mobilized too many people. People from all those places probably had worked on the construction of the Grand Canal. Therefore, this experience was not unique, which made Du Gou very hesitant and unsure whether this could be considered a connection between the victims.

"Speaking of the Grand Canal..."

At this moment, Wan'er's voice rang out: "I also have an elder here who participated in the construction of the Grand Canal."

As she spoke, she quickly rummaged through the files she had been flipping through, and soon pulled out a piece of paper.

"This is the person."

"His name was Wu Gui, a native of Jiangnan. He was killed in May of the fourth year of the Wude era at the age of sixty-seven. He did not participate in the construction of the Grand Canal because he was lame in one leg and could not do heavy work."

"But his son was conscripted to build the Grand Canal in the third year of the Daye era."

Du Gou was taken aback: "Not an elder, but a junior?"

Wan'er hesitated for a moment, then said, "If you hadn't mentioned the Grand Canal, I wouldn't have thought of it at all. After all, the young master asked me to focus on the elders of these deceased..."

Du Gou looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "Do you think their common ground is their experience in building the Grand Canal?"

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered, and the corners of his mouth suddenly turned up as he smiled and said, "Even if you don't bring it up, I actually have to talk about the Grand Canal."

Du Gou's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "Could it be that you also have relatives of the deceased who participated in the construction of the Grand Canal?"

"Yes."

Liu Shuyi returned to his seat, picked up the paper he had placed separately on the left, and said, "I can review the files faster than you can. In the past hour, I have carefully studied the information of twenty people, and finally found that the relatives of four of them had experience in building the Grand Canal."

"However, as you said, Vice Minister Du, the construction of the Grand Canal involved more than three million people. In those areas, almost every family had someone involved. So whether this is a commonality among them, I'm not sure, until..."

He pulled out the top sheet of paper and said, "I saw the information about this deceased person."

Upon hearing this, Du Gou and Wan'er immediately leaned forward to look at the paper in Liu Shuyi's hand.

Liu Shuyi pushed the paper forward and placed it between the two of them, saying, "The deceased was named Song Cheng, a native of Wanzhou in Shannan Circuit. He lost his father at a young age and was raised by his uncle. In the third year of the Daye era, his uncle was transferred to Weizhou to participate in the construction of the Grand Canal."

"Wanzhou, Shannan Circuit..."

Upon hearing this, Du Gou immediately understood Liu Shuyi's meaning and hurriedly asked, "Song Cheng's ancestors all lived in Wanzhou? They never went anywhere else?"

"Yes!"

Liu Shuyi nodded: "The Song family has lived in Wanzhou for generations."

"When Song Cheng's uncle was conscripted, they were also in Wanzhou."

Du Gou's pupils suddenly dilated, his eyes flashing intensely: "Wanzhou is in Shannan Circuit, far from the area where the Grand Canal was being built. Even if the Grand Canal needed to conscript laborers, it wouldn't require drawing so many from Wanzhou..."

"Therefore, he is completely different from everyone else!"

"Others had experience building the Grand Canal, which could be said to be inevitable because they were in those areas. But Song Cheng's uncle was different; his involvement in building the Grand Canal was no longer inevitable."

"That is to say..."

Even the usually composed Du Gou couldn't help but get excited: "We've found it! We've really found the common thread among these dead!"

"Their elders, no... I should say their relatives, participated in the construction of the Grand Canal, and that's the connection between them!"

Upon hearing this, Wan'er's eyes lit up immediately.

Young Master has indeed found the connection between these victims. It won't be long before we find the killer and rescue Mo Xiaofan!
Liu Shuyi smiled and said, "Although we haven't looked at the information of some victims yet, we have found commonalities among seven victims, so we can basically confirm it."

Du Gou nodded emphatically, but then he frowned and said, "But why would the murderer choose the relatives of those who built the Grand Canal? Could it be that the construction of the Grand Canal damaged his interests, making him hate those who built it?"

"But if that's the case, why didn't he just target the people who built the Grand Canal, instead of killing their relatives?"

Wan'er's eyebrows furrowed slightly; she hadn't figured these things out either.

A normal person, if they were to kill out of revenge, would likely target those who had offended them.

But what kind of target did the killer choose?

Not only did they not participate in the construction of the Grand Canal, some of them were not even born when the Grand Canal was being built.

Those who actually built the Grand Canal are still alive and well.

She simply couldn't understand the logic behind this killer's actions.

Liu Shuyi took in the expressions of the two men and said slowly, "There is a kind of revenge called 'an eye for an eye.' Although this saying is not quite accurate here, I think the result is the same."

Du Gou said thoughtfully, "You mean to say..."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "The murderer wants those who inflicted pain on him to also personally experience the pain he suffered!"

Du Gou's pupils contracted: "You mean... this murderer had relatives who died tragically, and the people who caused the deaths of his relatives were the relatives of these victims who participated in the construction of the Grand Canal!"

"So, he wants to retaliate in kind, to make those who caused the deaths of his loved ones feel the same pain as his own family members who died tragically!"

Upon hearing this, Wan'er couldn't help but gasp.

This murderer... he's really ruthless!
A normal person who wants revenge would simply kill the person.

But the murderer wanted to inflict immense suffering on his victims, making them wish they were dead... Most of these victims were young people, and most of those who participated in the construction of the Grand Canal were their elders.

Therefore, killing these young people so cruelly is tantamount to the most heartbreaking and desperate thing in the world for their elders: white-haired people sending off black-haired people!

He had been doing this for five years, and now he was going to start all over again…

What kind of hatred must he have to be to keep going like this?
Wan'er took a deep breath and said, "In that case, the killer's relatives must have had contact with the relatives of these victims, and the accident must have occurred because of these people during the construction of the Grand Canal..."

"But when the Grand Canal was built, it employed a total of three million people. How many hundreds or thousands of people had contact with the relatives of these victims? How are we supposed to find the murderer?"

Du Gou frowned: "When the Sui Dynasty fell, many of the books and records about the construction of the Grand Canal were destroyed in the turmoil. There are not many books left that record the laborers who participated in the construction of the Grand Canal."

"Even among the remaining ones, there are tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of names, making it impossible to find anyone who has had contact with the relatives of these victims. It is like finding a needle in a haystack."

Wan'er's heart sank.

They finally found out the reason and motive behind the killer's choice of victims, but little did they know that an even greater challenge was yet to come.

Even if they knew the killer's name, which was in those books, finding him would be as difficult as climbing to the sky.

She couldn't help but look at the omnipotent young master in her heart and asked, "Young master, do you have a way to find the murderer among so many people?"

Du Gou felt that Wan'er was being unreasonable, as this was no longer within the scope of normal case investigation.

But to everyone's surprise, when Liu Shuyi heard Wan'er's words and saw her tightly pursed lips and expectant yet worried face, he nodded slightly.

He said, "There is a way."

　I had to go out during the day and only started writing in the evening. It was so hot and humid that I was sweating profusely and feeling a bit irritable, so I couldn't type quickly. That's all I can write for today. Please forgive me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)