Tang Dynasty detective

Chapter 238
After bringing back the bones from the swamp, Tao Ruozhu immediately found Kang Xu and pointed out that the bones were most likely the Minister of Rites.

Kang Xu was skeptical about this conclusion, but Tao Ruozhu was eloquent.

His evidence was the half long gown wrapped around the body. According to him, this long gown was worn by Cui Huan before he disappeared.

Kang Xu still remained skeptical. After all, the body had been severely decomposed, and it had already changed beyond recognition. It would be a bit arbitrary to make an assertion based on only half a long gown.

But Tao Ruozhu firmly believed in this, because the height and physique of the corpse were very similar to Cui Huan.

Although Kang Xu was deeply suspicious of this, he couldn't produce conclusive evidence that the body might not be Cui Huan.

After all, he had never met Cui Huan himself, but Tao Ruozhu and others were very familiar with Cui Huan.

After returning from the swamp, Tao Ruozhu was devastated, and his expression was extremely tense. After explaining the identity of the corpse to Kang Xuyan, he immediately decided to write a letter and report the news to the court.

Kang Xu didn't stop him, the Minister of Rites died in Zhengyang, this matter is no small matter, the court will definitely only ask Li Canghai.

Although Li Canghai is now in a coma and this has nothing to do with him, Li Canghai, who was disguised by Kang Xu, is still in charge of Zhengyang County.

After the investigation by the imperial court, Li Canghai could hardly escape the blame, and all the people who followed Li Canghai could hardly escape the responsibility.

After thinking about it, Kang Xu felt that the most important thing right now was to find out the real cause of death of the deceased. If the corpse was really Cui Huan, finding out the cause of Cui Huan's death as soon as possible might be able to save the crime.If the corpse was not Cui Huan, the murder case would still fall on his shoulders.

"Xiao Wu, did you find out the cause of death?" Kang Xu collected his thoughts and asked Xiao Wu who bowed his head for the autopsy.

Xiao Wu carefully examined the bones, without raising his head, he said: "From the bones, there is no obvious trauma, and the cause of death cannot be judged yet."

"What about the time of death?" Kang Xu asked.

"The corpse is in a half-decomposed state, and the swamp is a place where flies gather. In addition, the weather has been hot and humid recently, and the decay speed of the corpse has accelerated. The death time should not be less than three days." Xiao Wu looked up at the pensive Kang Xu, He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but he was a little hesitant.

Kang Xu caught a glimpse of his expression and couldn't help being curious, "Just say what you have to say."

Xiao Wu hesitated for a moment, pointed to the skeleton on the previous case, and said, "Brother Kang, the time of death of this corpse coincides with the time of Master Shangshu's disappearance. If this corpse is really Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, what should we do?"

Kang Xu had some headaches, he rubbed his temples, and muttered: "If the corpse is really the Minister of Rites, we must hurry up to find the murderer, and give the court an explanation no matter what."

"However, the decay of this corpse is too serious, and it is difficult to find out the real cause of death!" Xiao Wu looked at the half-decomposed corpse in front of him, feeling a little discouraged.

Kang Xu patted him on the shoulder and couldn't help laughing.

After all, Xiao Wu is a fledgling. Although he is quite talented in the way of autopsy, he lacks experience after all. It is no problem for him to examine intact corpses, but when faced with half-decomposed bones, he has added a lot invisibly. pressure.

"Xiao Wu, you can do it. If you can't, let's examine it separately." Kang Xu encouraged Xiao Wu, and said casually: "Since the carrion can't be tested, why not remove the carrion and start with the bones?"

Kang Xu's words gave Xiao Wu a feeling of enlightenment.

The corpse was badly decomposed, and it was devoured by insects and ants. It had already changed beyond recognition. It was impossible to find clues from the surface of the corpse.But the bones are different. Since the deceased died not long ago, the bones have not been damaged, and the cause of death may be found from them.

Thinking of this, Xiao Wu immediately pulled out the boning knife, flipped his hands, and quickly picked off the carrion hanging from the bones.

"Brother Kang, how can you be sure that he didn't stumble into the swamp and die by accident?" Xiao Wu asked while picking carrion.

"Do you remember when we found the corpse? The corpse was lying on its back at the edge of the swamp, but only its legs fell into the swamp. If the deceased had fallen into the swamp accidentally, he would have crawled on the ground, grabbed the surrounding bushes and struggled to climb up. It is not in a supine position as we have seen."

Kang Xu folded his hands on his chest, the smell of rotting flesh made him a little uncomfortable, after spit a few times, he continued: "Besides, there are many bushes around the corpse, you can grab them with your hand, but those bushes are all natural. Withered, and there is no trace of human scratching, so I conclude that this person did not die accidentally, but was murdered to death."

"Murder and throw away the corpse?" Xiao Wu was stunned.

"That's right. When we found the body, I observed the scene. Apart from yours and mine, there were two other rows of footprints." Kang Xu said after thinking about it.

At this time, Xiao Wu had already removed all the carrion from the bones, and he said in surprise, "There are still two rows of footprints? Could it be that there were two murderers?"

"The two rows of footprints are about half a finger deep, and they are about ten feet apart from each other. The toes are facing each other, and the bones are just two feet in front of the two rows of footprints. What does that mean?" Kang Xu asked to himself.

"I see, there are two people carrying the corpse to throw it away!" Xiao Wu said as if he had suddenly realized.

Kang Xu smiled slightly, nodded and said: "Yes, you can think of this, it seems that you have learned a lot from the adults!"

Xiao Wu's face turned red immediately, and he said, "So, there are two murderers?"

"Whether those two people are the murderers or not is still too early to tell, but one thing is certain, the swamp is definitely not the scene of the murder."

Xiao Wu nodded, and he quickly figured out the key point.

From the tea shed path to the swamp, there are bushes and thorns all around. If the murderer killed in the forest, there is no need to transfer the body to the swamp.

What's more, after discovering the body, they immediately ordered people to search around, but no blood was found, which is enough to show that the swamp was just a place where the body was dumped, not a murder scene.

"Brother Kang, I think you are becoming more and more like an adult." Xiao Wu stared at Kang Xu, and praised him intentionally or not.

Kang Xu smiled slightly and said, "Okay, knowing these things won't help much. If you want to know the cause of the death of the deceased, you have to focus on you!"

"Don't worry, this matter is on me." Xiao Wu patted his chest, and then carefully observed the bones.

Afraid of disturbing him, Kang Xu quietly left the main hall, ran outside the Yizhuang, and sat down on the steps.

Chang Feng and the others did not find any clues about Cui Huan in the city, and now they encountered a murder case, which made the county government, which was already short of manpower, even more nervous.

All the servants in the county government were divided into three groups, one group was responsible for guarding Lu Jitong, the other group was responsible for continuing to search for clues about Cui Huan in the city, and the remaining group was sent by Kang Xu to investigate the unknown corpse.

(End of this chapter)