Tang Dynasty detective

Chapter 775 Exploring Feilong Cliff

"My lord, the magistrate of this county has arrived." Lu Jitong walked into the ancestral hall and said to Li Canghai.

Li Canghai nodded, and then walked out.

Let’s say that the county magistrate came to the ancestral hall in a hurry and saw Li Canghai and others standing in front of the ancestral hall. He was panicked and knelt down without saying a word: “Jiuyuan county magistrate Zhou Chang visited your lord, and your lord came to this county. Welcome from far away, and hope for forgiveness!"

"There is no need to be polite in your county, please start." Li Canghai said lightly.

Zhou Chang stood up and saluted him respectfully: "My lord, it is really a blessing for this county that you have come to this county. Please move your lord to the county office, so that the subordinate officials can do the best for the landlord."

Li Canghai waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about your county. I just passed by here this time, but I don't want to encounter a murder case. After the murder case is found out, I will leave. However, I am somewhat dissatisfied with your county's actions. , as a county magistrate, how can you be so contemptuous of the hardships of the people? Just cancel the household registration and send people away. If this is a murder case, isn't your county condoning the murderer by doing this?"

Zhou Chang broke out in a cold sweat immediately, he hurriedly bowed his head and saluted: "My lord taught me that it was the lower officials who were negligent, and the lower officials were convicted."

Li Canghai saw that Zhou Chang was not confused, so he nodded and said, "The body of the deceased is now stored in the Yizhuang. Gui County should send people to guard it as soon as possible, and don't let people destroy the body."

Zhou Chang nodded in agreement, and asked cautiously, "I wonder what your lord thinks about this case?"

Li Canghai thought for a moment, then said: "This case seems ordinary, but it is actually bizarre. The truth remains to be determined after investigation. I decided to go to the scene of the crime to have a look, and I will leave it to Gui County. "

After a pause, Li Canghai said: "Also, the identity of this official must not be revealed to others."

"Your Majesty, please remember your lord's instruction." Zhou Chang said respectfully.

Li Canghai nodded, and asked Zhou Chang to investigate the situation of the deceased carefully, and then went to the mountain behind the ancestral hall with Lu Jitong.

Feilong Cliff is located in the back mountain, and there is only one road leading to the top of the cliff.

The two climbed up the rugged steps, and it took about half an hour to reach the top of Feilong Cliff.

The top of Feilongya is an open platform, on which there is a pile of burnt bonfires, and large and small lanterns hanging around.

"My lord, why did you come here?" Lu Jitong looked around and asked in confusion.

In his opinion, there are no useful clues here. Instead of wasting time here, it is better to investigate the circumstances of the deceased.

Li Canghai glanced around and said, "This is the scene of the first crime, and there must be many traces left. As long as you search carefully, you will definitely gain something."

"But my lord, what are we looking for?" Lu Jitong asked in bewilderment.

"Everything!" Li Canghai said in a deep voice.

Lu Jitong nodded, then walked to the right and searched carefully.

The two moved separately, with Lu Jitong looking to the right, and Li Canghai looking to the left.

The platform was about ten feet wide, and apart from a bonfire in the middle, there were ten wooden stakes around it.

Lanterns were hung on the wooden stakes, and the huge lanterns were fixed on the wooden stakes, so the cold wind could not move them.

Among the ten wooden stakes, except for one lantern that was burned, the other lanterns were all intact.

Li Canghai was very curious about what kind of material the lampshade was made of so that it could resist the wind, so he walked to one of the stakes and took the lampshade off.

Holding the lampshade in his hand and looking it over several times, Li Canghai found that the material used to paste the lampshade was not ordinary paper, but a very strong material.

Li Canghai stretched out his hand and flicked on the lampshade a few times, and the lampshade suddenly made a slight muffled sound, as if it had been flicked on the leather.

"What kind of material is this lantern made of? How can it withstand the cold wind on such a high cliff?" Li Canghai said to himself.

Lu Jitong, who was looking for clues nearby, came over and said, "Your Excellency, you don't know. This lampshade is made of animal skin, which is not only extremely tough, but also extremely windproof."

"Oh? Animal skin?" Li Canghai asked in surprise.

Lu Jitong nodded and said, "To be precise, it's the tendons in the animal hide. The craftsman separates the animal hides, carefully peels off the tendons, and then soaks them and dries them in the sun to make them."

Li Canghai snorted, and said, "How do you know this?"

Lu Jitong scratched his head and said: "The humble family used to have this industry, and I saw the production process when I was a child."

"Since the windproof effect is so good, how could those two lampshades be burned?" Li Canghai weighed the lampshade in his hand, and said with his eyes fixed on the two wooden stakes near the cliff.

Lu Jitong shook his head and said, "I don't know about this. Maybe it's because of being close to the wind?"

Li Canghai glanced at the other lampshades, then at the two burnt lampshades, thought for a while and walked over.

When he came to the burnt lampshade, Li Canghai looked carefully.

This wooden stake is not high, only one person tall, and the place where the lantern hangs is level with the shoulders.

The lantern is held in the middle by two upper and lower wooden boards. The upper board can move up and down, and the lampshade can be removed by moving the board.

And the wooden board below not only plays the role of supporting the lampshade, but also serves as a place for candles to be placed.

Most of the lampshade in front of me was burned away, only the side near the stake remained.

Li Canghai carefully inspected the remaining half of the lampshade, and inadvertently found a thin thread hanging from the wooden stake where the lampshade was close to.

He picked up the thin thread with his fingers and looked carefully, and found that the thin thread was actually made of cotton thread, and it still felt a little slippery in his hand.

Putting down the cotton thread, Li Canghai picked up the half of the candle and looked at it.

This candle is about as thick as a child's arm, no more than half a finger high, and there are many wax torches flowing around it.

Li Canghai didn't pay attention to the candle at first, but when he was about to put the candle down again, he suddenly found lines on the candle.

"Why are there lines on this candle?" Li Canghai was a little puzzled.

Thinking of this, he immediately walked to the other wooden posts, took out the lampshades, and carefully compared the candles.

After comparison, Li Canghai found that except for the two candles whose lampshade was burnt, the other candles had no lines.

"Don't these two candles have special meanings?" Li Canghai said to himself looking at the two almost identical candles with similar burning speed.

At this moment, Lu Jitong suddenly called out.

"My lord, come and see, there is a wooden house here!"

Li Canghai took off the candle, the lampshade, and the cotton thread found on the two wooden stakes, carefully put them into the cloth bag, and then walked towards Lu Jitong.

(End of this chapter)