The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 121 Revealed! The deepest secret hidden by Yao Guang, which has deceived the entire world!

In the Ma Qingfeng family massacre case, the person implicitly believed to be behind it all has always been Li Shimin.

Even if it wasn't Li Shimin himself who took action, it was his will that drove his subordinates to do so.

This is why, after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, some of Li Jiancheng's former subordinates were unwilling to submit to Li Shimin.

It wasn't that they were unwilling to acknowledge the fact that the victors are the ones who bear the brunt of history, but rather that the memory of the horrific massacre of Ma Qingfeng's family made them worry that they might become the next Ma Qingfeng.

Even when Li Shimin was still the Prince of Qin and was still constrained by Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng, he did such inhumane things. Now that he is the emperor, if he is dissatisfied with them but does not want to tarnish his reputation by dealing with them openly, what difficulty would it be to create another Ma Qingfeng family massacre case?

After all, back then, he had to worry about being investigated. Now, who would dare to investigate Li Shimin, who is the emperor?

If Li Shimin was only dissatisfied with them personally, he might demote them on the surface, or at most kill one person. But if the case of Ma Qingfeng's family massacre were to repeat itself, then the bloodline would be cut off and the whole family would perish!

Under these circumstances, how could they dare to gamble?

This matter has become an open secret in everyone's mind, and therefore, even those who are not Li Jiancheng's former subordinates are afraid of Li Shimin's ruthless methods.

When Liu Shuyi learned about this from the original owner's memories, he didn't feel there was anything wrong with it. After all, which emperor didn't come out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood? Whose hands are clean and have not a drop of blood on them?
However, at this very moment, he suddenly learned from An Qingxi's words that this case, which everyone had tacitly agreed upon, actually had a twist, and then things would be completely different.

If I am not mistaken, the massacre of Ma Qingfeng's family was orchestrated by Fushenglou and Yaoguang.

Li Shimin essentially took the blame for them for more than two years!
Furthermore, no matter how Li Shimin explained this, no one would believe him. He even suspected that people like Du Ruhui and Fang Xuanling believed that Li Shimin had secretly plotted this.

During the intense struggle for the throne, Li Jiancheng's confidant died tragically, and Li Shimin's confidant was replaced. Anyone who thinks about it would believe that this was Li Shimin's doing.

This is truly a case of "no matter how hard you try, you can't clear your name."

Liu Shuyi estimated that Li Shimin must have been furious, grinding his teeth in hatred. As the emperor of the mighty Tang Dynasty, he was forced to take the blame for a murderer who had committed countless crimes, and he couldn't even prove his innocence...

It's really frustrating to think about.

But precisely because of this, if he could solve the case, capture Yao Guang, and clear Li Shimin's name, the merit would probably exceed his imagination.

Not to mention, if the truth of this case can be revealed and the misunderstanding between the former subordinates of Prince Xi and Li Shimin can be resolved, it may also speed up Li Shimin's efforts to win over the former subordinates of Prince Xi and make Hebei Province more stable.

In that case, it would be more than just a single achievement!

Perhaps, this one case could directly secure his victory in the battle of doctors!

Thinking of these things, even someone as composed as him couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.

At the same time, they gained a deeper understanding of Yao Guang's insidious and ruthless nature.

With just one case, Yao Guang created an irreconcilable conflict between Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng's faction.

This further emboldened Li Jiancheng to attack Li Shimin without any scruples.

However, according to Fushenglou's goals, Yaoguang probably only wanted to increase the conflict between Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng, make their struggle more intense, thereby causing internal turmoil in the Tang Dynasty and giving them more time to accumulate the strength to overthrow the Tang and restore the Sui Dynasty.

But Yao Guang probably never imagined that Li Shimin would be so decisive, launching the Xuanwu Gate Incident when the situation turned against him, and becoming emperor in one fell swoop.

However, the case of Ma Qingfeng's family being wiped out still had an impact on Li Shimin, to the point that Hebei Province is still unstable to this day.

"call……"

Liu Shuyi let out a soft breath. He had figured out the ins and outs of the Ma Qingfeng family massacre case. The next step was to find clues and evidence to bring Yao Guang to justice!

He looked at Gu Wen and said, "If I remember correctly, when the Ma Qingfeng family massacre occurred, the first yamen to receive the report was your Wannian County Yamen, is that right?"

Gu Wen was surprised that Liu Shuyi actually cared about the unsolved case from two years ago. Did Liu Shuyi not know that the case was related to His Majesty? Was he trying to get himself killed by making His Majesty's crimes clear?

Gu Wen felt a tightness in his chest, fearing that he would be implicated.

He swallowed hard and said, "Yes, it was I who led the men to the Ma residence at the first opportunity."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but say, "Master Liu, although this case is an unsolved mystery, everyone understands what happened. If you want to investigate cases and gain merit, there are many other unsolved cases to investigate. I don't think this case is suitable for you to investigate."

He felt he had made his point clear, but Liu Shuyi seemed not to have caught on to his unspoken meaning. He simply said, "Then tell me what you saw after you arrived at the Ma residence."

“Master Liu, don’t you understand what I mean?” Gu Wen couldn’t help but speak again.

Liu Shuyi glanced at him calmly and said, "I think you didn't understand what I meant. I asked you to tell me the details of the case, not to decide for me what I should do."

This is already a very clear warning.

Gu Wen's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this, and he immediately lowered his head instinctively.

He thought Liu Shuyi had gone mad!

Knowing full well that His Majesty was the person behind the massacre of Ma Qingfeng's family, he still dared to investigate!
Given Liu Shuyi's abilities, if he were to actually uncover something, would His Majesty really be forced to confess?

What is Liu Shuyi thinking? After investigating so many cases, does he really think he's some kind of upright official, completely representing justice? Does he dare to investigate any kind of truth?

What a fool! No wonder he has lived such a miserable life all these years. After Liu Wenjing died, instead of groveling to Pei Sikong, he insisted on his so-called dignity and deliberately opposed Pei Sikong... If Liu Shuyi had been smarter and had bowed to Pei Sikong earlier, perhaps this dispute over the position of physician would not have happened, and he would have become a fifth-rank physician long ago.

Gu Wen's mind raced, but since Liu Shuyi had just reprimanded him, he dared not openly disobey Liu Shuyi.

In the end, he could only come up with one solution.

That is to let everyone see that he was forced by Liu Shuyi, that he had no intention of investigating the case at all, and that he wanted everyone to know that he had nothing to do with the case and was just doing his job.

In that case, when Liu Shuyi was killed by Li Shimin, he shouldn't have been implicated.

Moreover, he could secretly send messages to Qian Wenqing, letting them know what foolish things Liu Shuyi was doing. Perhaps if they helped Liu Shuyi a little, it would make Liu Shuyi die even faster.

Having figured this out, Gu Wen felt much more at ease. He adopted a forced, official demeanor and deliberately distanced himself from Liu Shuyi, saying, "The Wannian County government has the case files. I will go and retrieve them for you, Assistant Minister."

As he spoke, he quickly went into the archives and began searching through a shelf.

Seeing Gu Wen's unwilling expression, Liu Shuyi narrowed his eyes. With his abilities, how could he not see through Gu Wen's thoughts?

However, he didn't care, as long as Gu Wen gave him what he needed.

As for Gu Wen's deliberate aloofness, as if he were afraid of being involved in my investigation... I just hope that when the truth of the case comes out in the end, and His Majesty rewards those who have contributed, he won't regret it and slap his thigh in regret.

"found it."

Before long, Gu Wen picked up a file and quickly returned.

He handed the file to Liu Shuyi and said, "Liu Yuanwailang, this is the file you need."

Liu Shuyi took the dossier, opened it, and said, "I would like to ask County Lieutenant Gu to tell me about the situation when you first arrived at the Ma residence."

Gu Wen first looked troubled, then said in a businesslike manner, "What I saw is all in the files..."

"Ok?"

Liu Shuyi glanced at him with his deep eyes.

"However, may I repeat it again..."

Gu Wen's heart tightened, fearing that Liu Shuyi might kill him before he died. He said, "I remember it was the sixth day of the third month of the ninth year of Wude. I had just arrived at the yamen to report for duty when someone came to report that something had happened at the residence of Ma Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel."

"Upon hearing this news, I was startled and dared not hesitate. I immediately led my men to the Ma residence."

"When I arrived at the Ma residence, I found the gates wide open and the entire residence quiet and silent, as if no one was there at all."

"Your humble servant immediately ordered men to search the area, and then..."

He looked at Liu Shuyi, a look of solemnity and panic appearing on his face. Just recalling the scene at that time, he could not calm down.

"Then, I discovered that everyone in the Ma household was dead."

"Their throats were all slit, and their corpses were piled up together, forming a tower of corpses. Blood flowed from their necks, forming a huge pool of blood beneath the tower, resembling a lake."

"Everyone's faces were turned outwards, and they stretched their hands out as if pleading for help from their superiors..."

"But strangely, they all wore peaceful smiles on their faces, as if death was something they had longed for."

Listening to Gu Wen's story, Zhao Feng and Lu Yangyuan felt their scalps tingle and goosebumps rise.

Although Zhao Feng had heard his father mention the Ma Qingfeng family massacre case, his father didn't know much about it. Most of it was just hearsay and rumors, and his father didn't know the specifics of the case.

Only now, upon hearing this, do I realize how strange this case is.

Not to mention Lu Yangyuan, whose status was low and who could not possibly know the details of a case of this caliber.

As Liu Shuyi listened to Gu Wen's account, he quickly scanned the case file.

He then nodded slightly, indicating that the case had indeed had a significant impact on Gu Wen, making his memory still very clear even after two years.

He said, "The case file records that the person who discovered the strangeness at the Ma residence was a vegetable farmer who frequently delivered vegetables to the Ma residence. Have you investigated the identity and whereabouts of this vegetable farmer?"

Gu Wen nodded: "Of course we have investigated. This person is just an ordinary vegetable farmer who delivers vegetables to many mansions all year round. His identity is not a problem. On the night of the incident, the vegetable farmer was busy in the village preparing vegetables for delivery the next day. Many people in the village can testify to this. His whereabouts are also not a problem."

"Furthermore, I have inquired about the time he left the village and calculated the time he came to the Wannian County government office to report the case. Basically, it was the time when he arrived at the Ma residence, discovered the anomaly, and came to the government office to report the case without any delay."

Liu Shuyi nodded slightly. It seemed the vegetable farmer had indeed only been delivering vegetables when he noticed the Ma residence's door was unlocked. Out of curiosity, he went inside and discovered the crime scene. He looked back at the case file and asked, "What did you do after that? What did you discover?"

Gu Wen looked on with a look of reminiscence and said, "After that, we immediately sealed off the Ma residence and sent someone to report to the county magistrate at the first opportunity. The fact that an official appointed by the imperial court had his entire family wiped out was beyond my ability to handle."

"While waiting for the county magistrate to report to the Emperor Emeritus, I carefully inspected the scene."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuyi raised his head and looked at Gu Wen.

Although a case file can record the general circumstances of a case, due to the need for brevity in written text and the subjective judgment of the writer, the record in the case file may lack certain details.

Therefore, he preferred to hear firsthand accounts from the participants rather than relying on case files.

Even if Gu Wen didn't notice any problem with the details at the time, as long as he saw them and pointed them out, it could be of great help to him.

Gu Wen originally wanted to skip over his own on-site inspection results and let Liu Shuyi read the case file himself, but when he met Liu Shuyi's deep, dark eyes, he subconsciously straightened his back and had a bad feeling that he would be in big trouble if he didn't explain in detail.

This made him dare not be negligent any longer, and he hurriedly said, "The corpses of the Ma family are all piled up in the main hall. Some of them are only wearing their inner clothes, while others are wearing their outer clothes. Apart from the fatal wound in their throats, none of them have any other wounds on their bodies."

"Only one fatal wound, no other injuries?"

Hearing Gu Wen's words, Zhao Feng frowned: "How did the murderer do that?"

"The Ma family, including the master and servants, number thirty-five. Even if the murderer is highly skilled, it's impossible for him to kill everyone in one blow, right?"

"Moreover, if others discover that the murderer has committed the crime, they will either fight with him or turn around and run away. In this situation, it is not an easy thing for the murderer to cleanly and neatly slit the throat without causing other wounds."

Gu Wen glanced at Zhao Feng, who was deep in thought, and sneered inwardly, "Another guy looking for death."

At this time, instead of quickly distancing himself from Liu Shuyi and trying to escape the case, he actually took the initiative to analyze it. Is he not afraid of being implicated by Liu Shuyi and being sentenced to death by His Majesty together?
Although he had already decided that Liu Shuyi and Zhao Feng were doomed, he dared not show any unusual expression on his face. When Zhao Feng asked, he said in an official manner, "These things are all recorded in the files."

"Later, the coroner came to examine the bodies and found that they had not resisted at all before they died, and had completely allowed the murderer to kill them. Then the coroner examined the leftover food in the kitchen of the Ma family and found the ingredients of a sleeping drug in it."

"Drugs?" Zhao Feng suddenly realized. "So they were drugged and then murdered?"

"Yes." Gu Wen glanced at Liu Shuyi furtively: "This is the conclusion reached by the three departments after taking over the investigation."

Liu Shuyi glanced at Gu Wen. Gu Wen was really afraid of being associated with him in any way, and he explained the source of his answer in such detail.

"However, the three departments investigated for a long time but could not find out who had administered the drug..." Gu Wen added.

Zhao Feng frowned: "The only people who can put drugs in food are either kitchen staff or thieves who have infiltrated the kitchen."

Gu Wen shrugged: "The people in the kitchen are all dead too. Their bodies are piled up with the others. As for sneaking into the kitchen..."

He shook his head: "To be honest, it wasn't easy. As a senior official in the Ministry of Personnel, Ma Qingfeng was not a minor official. In times of turmoil, in order to ensure his own safety, he spent a lot of money to hire ten retired soldiers as bodyguards."

“These guards keep watch over the front and back gates of the Ma residence constantly, and they also patrol at irregular times at night. It is very difficult to sneak into the Ma residence without their knowledge.”

Turbulent times?

Zhao Feng understood Gu Wen's meaning after just one thought.

At that time, under His Majesty's eastern and western campaigns, the Tang Dynasty had resolved most of its external enemies and was much more stable than when the Tang Dynasty was first established.

There is no possibility of unrest within the imperial capital, Chang'an.

Therefore, Gu Wen's so-called "turbulent times" was actually a euphemism. What he really meant was that the struggle between His Majesty the Prince of Qin and Crown Prince Li Jiancheng had reached a fever pitch, and Ma Qingfeng, as Li Jiancheng's confidant, was worried about danger, which is why he was so cautious.

And what they want to guard against is undoubtedly the current emperor.

"Not to mention that the kitchen is always staffed from the time the food is prepared in the morning until the time they rest at night. It is already difficult for a thief to sneak into the Ma residence, let alone to poison someone in the kitchen where there are always people around."

Gu Wen continued, "Therefore, the three departments believe that the possibility of thieves infiltrating is not high."

Lu Yangyuan asked, puzzled, "Couldn't the thieves have sneaked in at night? Wasn't the kitchen empty then?"

Gu Wen glanced disdainfully at the foolish brute and said, "What's the use of sneaking in at night? How could he know what the Ma family would eat the next day? Not to mention that if he wants to make his move the next night, what if he sneaks in the night before and puts something in the food, and the people at the Ma family eat it in the morning or at noon? Wouldn't his purpose be exposed then?"

Lu Yangyuan felt that Gu Wen's gaze was very irritating, but what Gu Wen said made a lot of sense, and he couldn't refute it.

After thinking for a long time, he said, "Since it wasn't done by someone in the kitchen, nor was it a thief from outside who broke in, what conclusion did you ultimately reach? How did the murderer poison the food?"

Gu Wen shook his head: "We haven't found anything either..."

"Nothing was found?"

Lu Yangyuan immediately returned Gu Wen's disdainful look, and said sarcastically, "I thought you had found out the murderer because you were so confident just now. It turns out you haven't even figured out how the murderer poisoned the body."

"you……"

Gu Wen glared and said angrily, "It wasn't just me; the Three Departments couldn't find out either."

At the same time, he thought to himself, "This was done by His Majesty. If it couldn't be found out then, who would dare to find out after His Majesty ascended the throne? Only you guys are courting death by still wanting to investigate this case."

Liu Shuyi ignored their heated exchange and, while looking at the case file, asked, "Was there anything else unusual about the scene at the time?"

"special?"

Gu Wen thought for a moment and said, "Aside from the tower of corpses and the large pool of blood, there's nothing else special about it."

"The murderer didn't put much effort into the arrangement; he simply threw the tables and chairs outside to make the main hall spacious enough for him to pile up the corpses."

Didn't you put any effort into decorating?
Piling up the corpses with great effort is hardly considered a lot of work.
Liu Shuyi gently stroked the jade pendant with his fingertips and said, "Can we find out why the murderer piled up these corpses?"

Gu Wendao said, "It's probably to make it more impactful, right? Scattered corpses are obviously more shocking than piled up like a mountain of corpses."

"Should?" Liu Shuyi raised an eyebrow.

Gu Wen originally thought there was nothing wrong with what he said, and everyone thought so at the time. But for some reason, when he saw Liu Shuyi's dark eyes, his original confidence suddenly turned into a little guilty.

“Maybe…” he said. “That’s what everyone thinks.”

Liu Shuyi sighed: "In other words, not only have you failed to find out how the murderer poisoned the bodies, you also have no definitive answer as to why the murderer treated these corpses in such a special way?"

Hearing that soft sigh, Gu Wen felt his once straight back involuntarily bend.

It's as if we, like others, have wasted so much time and energy, yet accomplished absolutely nothing.

Seeing Gu Wen's embarrassed expression, Liu Shuyi shook his head. He had originally thought the case file would at least offer some help, but...

Compared to the murder case, it provides even less useful information.

He closed the case file, looked at Gu Wen again, and said, "Tell me about Hu Hebing. You said he has some connections in this case. What connections?"

Since this case was committed by Yao Guang, and Hu Hebing and Wei Ji are inextricably linked to it, then we should try to find a way to break the deadlock from the opposite perspective.

On the surface, only Hu Hebing is related to this case, and Hu Hebing has problems. In other words, his testimony is definitely problematic, and his presence at the location of the case is also highly suspicious.

Gu Wen didn't understand why Liu Shuyi would target Hu Hebing, an ordinary Jinwu Street Envoy, but Liu Shuyi's pressure on him was too strong, so he didn't dare to ask. He could only say, "Street Envoy Hu was in charge of the night patrol of Qinrenfang that night. Around midnight, he led a group of people past the Ma residence."

"When they passed by the Ma residence, they saw that one of the lanterns in front of the Ma residence had been extinguished, and servants came out of the Ma residence and replaced it with a new lantern."

"At that time, there was nothing unusual in the Ma residence, so the three departments determined that the Ma family was wiped out after midnight."

After midnight?

Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed intensely, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

It turned out to be the case.

Hu Hebing's mission was, in fact, time!

They said they were passing by the Ma residence when someone came out to change lanterns...

Liu Shuyi felt that changing the lanterns was a pretense; the real purpose was to confirm with Hu Hebing and his group that nothing unexpected had happened at the Ma residence at that time!
In other words, Hu Hebing's role was to provide accurate timing for the investigation by the three departments.

The time he gave was after midnight, when the accident occurred at the Ma residence.

Let's look at the problems that Hu Hebing himself has...

It can then be confirmed that... by the time they passed in front of the Ma family mansion, the entire Ma family had probably already been wiped out.

The servant who came out of the Ma residence is probably the murderer, or one of the murderers!

In other words, the Ma family was actually wiped out not after midnight, but before midnight!

Whether it's the Three Judicial Offices or Gu Wen, they're trying to find the real culprit and useful clues based on a completely wrong timeline... How is that possible!
No wonder so many people investigated and found nothing!

No wonder everyone's attention was drawn to Li Shimin.

Who would have thought that Yaoguang only used Hu Hebing, a mere Jinwu Street Envoy, to keep everyone in the dark!

And now...

He himself had discovered this most crucial secret!
(End of this chapter)