Tang Dynasty detective

Chapter 420
At this time, the Yangzhou garrison stood on the pier, a man who looked like a general, was walking back and forth anxiously, and there were several corpses lying on the wooden plank road at the pier.

Seeing the guards leading Li Canghai approaching, the general hurried up and asked, "My lord, what should I call you?"

"General, this is Mr. Li from the capital. He heard that a corpse was found here, so he came here to check it out." The yamen servant said hurriedly.

Hearing that, the general hurriedly saluted Li Canghai: "The last commander of the Yangzhou garrison, Li Jinsheng, has met Master Li."

Li Canghai nodded slightly, and said: "There is no need to be too polite, first take me to the autopsy."

Li Jinsheng hurriedly led the two of them to the pier, pointed to several corpses and said, "My lord, these are the corpses, there are four in total, and they were fished out by the fishermen today."

Li Canghai nodded, and then squatted down with Xiao Wu to watch.

These four corpses were all men, all about five feet tall, and their bodies became swollen and white due to being soaked in water for a long time.

"My lord, these people all died of drowning, but at the same time they were covered with scars, and they should have had a fierce fight before they died." Xiao Wu inspected several corpses and said.

Li Canghai nodded and said, "That's right. These people's clothes are obviously different from those of Tang Dynasty. It can be concluded that they should be from Dongpu, and these people belong to two different camps."

"My lord, how do you know that they are not from the same group?" Li Jinsheng asked puzzled.

It is not uncommon to see that several corpses are from Dongying from the costumes.There are Japanese pirates invading Yangzhou from time to time, many people have seen the Japanese wearing them, and they all know that the clothes of the Japanese are different from those of the Tang Dynasty, but how did he know that these four corpses belonged to two camps?
Li Canghai pointed to one of the corpses and said: "Look at this corpse, although the clothes he wears are similar to those of the other three, but the fabrics are very elegant. Moreover, this person has golden chrysanthemums on his sleeves, this is the Dongying imperial family." If the official guessed correctly, he should be the Japanese royal guard escorting the envoys."

Li Jinsheng was very surprised, and hurriedly asked: "Are they members of the envoy?"

Li Canghai pointed at the corpse, shook his head and said, "It's not them, but him! Among the four corpses, he is the only one from the envoy, and the other three are the ones who came to kill him."

Xiao Wu stared at the corpses, looked carefully, then patted his head suddenly, and said, "I see! Your Excellency made the judgment based on the clothes they wore. The envoys represent the imperial family of Japan. Naturally, they would not be dressed so poorly. Although the clothes of these few people are similar, the materials are very different, so they are definitely not members of the envoys."

Li Canghai nodded approvingly, motioning for him to continue.

Xiao Wu thought for a while, and then said: "In addition, there are wounds on the corpse. These people have wounds on their bodies, but this person has more wounds than the other three. Judging from the situation of the wounds, at least Injured by more than three kinds of weapons. My lord must be based on the sequence to conclude that these four people are not accomplices, right?"

Li Canghai felt a little relieved, nodded and said, "Xiao Wu, your observation skills are really getting more and more accurate."

Xiao Wu chuckled, scratched his head, and said shyly, "It's all taught by adults."

Li Canghai smiled calmly, and said: "The way to solve a case is to reason from the subtleties, and then find the most reasonable guess, and then carefully verify it."

Li Jinsheng's face was a little ugly, his forehead was covered with sweat, and he couldn't escape being responsible for the envoy's accident.

"My lord, what should I do? I was ordered to welcome the envoys. Now that something happened to them, how will I explain to the court?" Li Jinsheng said with a bitter face, sweating profusely.

Li Canghai ignored him, but squatted in front of the corpse and searched carefully.

The corpse was covered with scars, and the clothes were scratched with countless wounds. It seemed that there was no other useful information other than his identity.

However, a hairpin stuck on the corpse's head caught Li Canghai's attention.

The hairpin is about one finger long, but the material is bamboo, it seems to be randomly folded from a bamboo branch, without any carving.

This Japanese guard is gorgeously dressed, how could he use bamboo branches as hairpins?

Thinking of this, Li Canghai reached out and pulled the bamboo hairpin out of the head of the corpse.

Holding it in his hand, Li Canghai immediately found that the inside of the bamboo hairpin was empty.

After pinching it hard, the bamboo hairpin split open, and Li Canghai found a note inside.

Several islands and a route are simply drawn on the note, which looks like a sea chart.

"My lord, this...seems to be a nautical chart. Could it be that the envoys really encountered an accident, and he came to report? Then who are these people chasing and killing him?" Xiao Wu looked at the note, wondering asked.

Li Canghai put away the note, and his expression became solemn in an instant.

Judging from the situation, it is very likely that the Dongying Mission was in trouble and was unable to move forward, so they had to stop at an island before sending someone to Yangzhou to report.

But unexpectedly, the person who reported the letter was hunted down all the way, and finally entered Yangzhou, where he died.

However, fortunately, this person was extra careful and stuffed the note into the bamboo hairpin, so Li Canghai discovered it.

"This matter is of great importance. I need to go back immediately to discuss with the prince, the county guard and others. General Li, you lead people to search along the canal to see if you can find other corpses." Li Canghai walked back and forth a few steps , ordered immediately.

Li Jinsheng cupped his fists and said hurriedly, "Don't worry, my lord, the general will definitely look for it carefully!"

Li Canghai nodded, and then took Xiao Wu back to Yangzhou City.

In the county guard's mansion, everyone sat in the main hall, each with solemn expressions.

Sheriff Yang Shicheng was even more on pins and needles, and kept wiping his forehead with his sleeve.

Seeing Li Canghai came back, everyone rushed to welcome him.

"Master Li, how is the situation?" Yang Shicheng was the first to go up to meet him, and asked impatiently.

Li Canghai glanced at the crowd, and said in a deep voice: "The situation is not very good, the envoys are probably in trouble."

"What?" Yang Shicheng felt his eyes darkened, his body was shaking, and he almost fell to the ground.

"Cang Hai, what's going on?" Li Tan asked with a slight frown.

Li Canghai explained his conjecture to everyone, then took out a note, and said, "The note on this note should be the place where the Japanese envoys stopped. In my opinion, we should go to sea immediately to meet them."

Li Tan looked at the note. There were only a few simple islands on the note, without any coordinates. How could he find out where the envoy was trapped?
"Cang Hai, what are your plans?" Li Tan asked in a deep voice.

After thinking about it, Li Canghai said: "Actually, on the way back, I have already made some plans. I will lead some people to go to sea to meet the envoys. However, this sea map is too vague, and we must find someone who is familiar with sea routes. .”

(End of this chapter)