Yongqing County is a small county, but small counties in the Wutang era should not be underestimated. Even the closed prefectures and counties like Fangzhou have a large population. At dusk, Sun Li and his party fell into a large inn in the county town, and he immediately sent his subordinates to find the county magistrate with official documents.

The county magistrate of Yongqing County was named Han Xingli. He was about forty years old and from Jinzhou. He passed the imperial examination three years ago and became the county magistrate of Yongqing County. He was promoted to county magistrate at the beginning of the year.

In the past two days, he was worried about capturing the thief who stole the Luling Palace. The thief fled eastward and would sooner or later enter Yongqing County. Although it would be rewarded to catch the thief, if he escaped by the thief, it would be difficult for him to explain to the prince.

But Han Xingli never dreamed that just this afternoon, a murder occurred in Guishan Town, with three deaths and two injured. Two of the dead and two injured were officials in Fangzhou where Dali Temple handled the case in Fangzhou. What did the Dali Temple officials come to Yongqing County to do? The superiors did not say hello to themselves in advance. It was this act that violated official customs that made Han Xingli fall into an inexplicable panic.

Han Xingli led the county magistrate to the inn, but they unexpectedly found that the inn was covered with warriors in leather armor, which surprised Han Xingli and Zhang County magistrate. It was obvious that these warriors were not dressed as soldiers in Dali Temple, and they were wearing black robes and silver edges. They didn't know where the warriors were from?

The outfits of the inner guard soldiers are indeed different. Many people in the capital are not familiar with each other, let alone ordinary local prefectures and counties. They are the inner guard warriors led by Li Zhen. The time they arrived in Fangzhou was coincidental. Shortly after the officials of Dali Temple were ambushed, they also passed through Guishan Town.

Li Zhen had already seen the bloody case in the tea shed. From the clerk, he guessed that the person who was attacked must be from Dali Temple. Li Zhen led his men to chase him quickly. Just as Sun Ligang stayed in the inn, the inner guards also rushed to Yongqing County.

In the room, Li Zhen carefully looked at the bronze medal of the "Xingtang Association". He also heard about the Xingtang Association. When Emperor Ruizong Li Dan was deposed, he saw that Wu Zetian was about to usurp the throne, Li Jingye and his brother Li Jingyou were appointed as the director of the Tang Dynasty, the chief of Chang'an, the chief of Luo Binwang, the secretary of the Zhanshi Du Qiuren, the censor Wei Siwen and other officials plotted to uprising in Yangzhou and established the Xingtang Association. The main purpose was to overthrow the Wu family and restore Li Tang.

But the Xingtang Association had long disappeared with the uprising. For more than ten years, it has never been heard that there are still residual forces. Of course, even if there are residual forces, they may not be known to outsiders.

Although Li Zhen's first reaction was that someone had made a falsification and framed Li Dan, the officials who attacked Dali Temple were nothing more than to attract Wu Zetian's attention, Li Zhen also vaguely suspected that this matter might not be groundless. His master Luo Binwang has become a monk and has been obsessed with overthrowing the Wu family and restoring Li Tang for so many years, let alone other forces loyal to the Li family, and even the Li family royal family itself.

Shangguan Wan'er gave him a very simple task. It is best to find out the truth and help Li Xian get rid of this crisis, eliminate false accusations, and give Li Xian a cleansing, but if Li Xianzhen colludes with the anti-Wu Zetian forces, he may even fall into it himself.

He also recalled that Li Chongrun rushed back to Fangzhou overnight. Li Zhen suspected that the matter was not as simple as he thought. Someone falsely accused Li Xian, and there might be another mystery in it. So after thinking about it repeatedly, Li Zhen felt that he should not rush to take the sidelines in this matter and wait until the situation was completely figured out.

"Does Commander Li think this bronze medal is fake?" Sun Li asked cautiously.

"It's hard to say!"

Li Zhen placed the bronze medal on the table and sneered: "Often people will not easily lose such important identity certificates. They look like intentional frame-ups, but we cannot rush to conclusions based on our own imagination."

After a while, Sun Li whispered: "Have the commander heard a statement?"

"You know that I haven't been in Luoyang for long, and I don't know a lot of things. Just tell me what's the point?"

Sun Li stuttered: "About... Xingtang Association, it is said that this organization... still exists."

Li Zhen was immediately interested, and he hurriedly said, "You continue to say, what else?"

Sun Li thought for a while and said, "The last time I checked the case of the female corpse in the Broken Pond, I searched for a lot of files related to the royal family. Among them, there was a crime in Li Xiaoyi's case, hiding the remnants of the Li family of Xingtang Association. In the case of King Li Zhen of Yue, seven years ago, in the case of Li Zhen and the kings' anti-military oath, the Xingtang Association was mentioned many times in the anti-military oath, so many ministers in the court believed that the Xingtang Association had actually existed secretly."

This happened to Li Zhen's surprise. He felt that the situation was starting to become complicated. He paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. Where should he start?

Sun Li also realized the problem was serious, and he asked uneasily: "I have written a letter to the capital to report. Are you too anxious?"

He felt that he shouldn't have written a letter and reported in such haste. If he had known that Li Zhen would come later, he should have waited for a while and discussed it with Li Zhen before talking.

He hurriedly said: "However, I did not mention the bronze medal of Xingtang Association in the report. This matter is of great importance and I dare not report it easily."

"Brother Sun did a good job!"

Li Zhen smiled approvingly and said, "Actually, the officials of Dali Temple were attacked by an unknown murderer. Brother Sun should indeed report to the upper level in time, and he should also contact the local government and order them to investigate the murderer. This is a normal official investigation. As for the murderer's true identity, we will naturally investigate further and report to the upper level in secret."

Sun Li understood Li Zhen’s meaning a little. Li Zhen was telling him that Dali Temple is in the light and inner guards are in the dark.

At this moment, a subordinate reported at the door: "Qizi, local county magistrate and county magistrate asked for a meeting!"

Li Zhen immediately said: "Brother Sun, please see them! I'll avoid it first."

After pausing for a while, Li Zhen smiled and said, "You might as well recommend that they report to the state yamen immediately."

......

Soon, a Dali Temple warrior led the county magistrate Han Xingli and Zhang County Wei into the room. The county magistrate of Yongqing County was from the seventh rank, while the Dali Temple Chief was from the sixth rank, and the official rank was the first higher than that of the local officials. Han Xingli and Zhang County Wei stepped forward and bowed to salute, "The lower official will join the grandsima prime minister!"

"Please sit down, two county lords!"

Sun Li politely asked the two to sit down and asked his subordinates to serve them tea. Han Xingli had no intention of drinking tea. He hurriedly asked: "I heard that Sun Sicheng was attacked in Guishan Town. Can you tell the official about the specific situation?"

Sun Li nodded and explained in detail the attack on Guishan Town, and ordered his subordinates to present the crossbow arrows found on the scene. County Magistrate Zhang immediately stepped forward and carefully checked the military crossbow. Military crossbows were strictly prohibited from circulating among the people, and could only come from the army or local state soldiers. Moreover, the crossbows of each military crossbow were engraved with numbers, and their source could be found from the numbers.

County Magistrate Zhang's face immediately became a little unnatural. He whispered to Han and said, "This military crossbow is from Fangzhou Prefecture."

Han Xingli's face also changed secretly. There were about 1,000 local prefecture soldiers in Fangzhou, directly controlled by the prefecture yamen, and stationed in each county, responsible for the opening and closing of the city gates. There were also 200 garrisons in Yongqing County. If this crossbow was indeed from the prefecture army, it was very likely that it was garrisons in Yongqing County. Will it be implicated by this?

Han Xingli was pounding nervously, and then hurriedly said: "This military crossbow may have been deliberately discarded on the scene in order to frame it. Sun Sicheng must not directly use it as evidence."

"I understand this in my heart. I asked the county magistrate Han to come, just to ask the county magistrate if there has been any suspicious things in the county recently? For example, a group of people of unknown origin, or something major case has happened?" Sun Li stared at Han Xingli with sharp eyes.

Han Xingli's lips trembled and looked at Zhang County Magistrate again. Zhang County Magistrate nodded to him, meaning that he would not hide it, so as not to cause trouble. Han Xingli was right to think about it. That incident had already come. Sooner or later, the people from Dali Temple would know that if they deliberately concealed it, Sun Li would doubt it.

However, Han Xingli was a man in the officialdom after all. He knew that there were some things that he could not say directly. He hesitated for a moment and asked implicitly: "Don't you know if Sun Si Cheng came to Fangzhou, there is any major case?"

Sun Li smiled slightly, "I came for the case of destroying faces and limbs in Fangling last year. You two should still have an impression!"

The two of them suddenly realized that it was for the case. Last year, twenty young men's bodies were found in a abandoned house in Fangling County. Each of them had their faces destroyed and their limbs were cut off. The case caused a sensation in Fangzhou, but the Fangzhou government investigated for several months without any clues, and finally had to report it to the court. Unexpectedly, after more than half a year, Dali Temple began to verify the case.

Han Xingli hurriedly said: "There are no suspicious people recently, but there is indeed a case."

"Oh? What case?" Sun Li asked curiously.

"It was the Luling Royal Palace that was stolen by a lone thief. I heard that a lot of important property had been stolen. Fangzhou was assisting the palace in finding the thief. It is very likely that this person had entered Yongqing County."

"So that's it, then what other cases are there?"

"There's nothing else for the time being."

Sun Li nodded and said, "I have reported to Li Siqing for the ambush in Guishan Town. I am afraid that a court certificate will be issued soon. I suggest that County Magistrate Han should report to the upper party immediately. If possible, it is best to search for these bold murderers throughout Fangzhou."

Han Xingli wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "The officials will report to the prefecture office now. In addition, the Zhang County Magistrate will investigate suspicious people in the county and strive to obtain some clues."

The two of them immediately stood up and said goodbye. As soon as Han Xingli and Zhang County Wei left, Li Zhen walked out of the inner room and smiled and said, "I am quite interested in this palace theft case. Maybe this wanted thief is the person we are looking for."

Sun Li was still a little confused about the specific task he came to Fangzhou this time. He only knew that he would ask him to check whether King Luling was suspected of rebellion. How to check? Where to start? He knew nothing, so he could only pin his hopes on Li Zhen.

"What should we do next?"

Li Zhen smiled, "Brother Sun wants to investigate the case of destroying faces and limbs three years ago? I suggest Dali Temple continue to investigate this case, and I will take another action in the dark."

At this time, Sun Li hesitated to make another request of his own, "I'm afraid I'm short of manpower-"

Li Zhen thought for a while and said, "I have a lieutenant who leads more than a dozen brothers in Fangling. I can ask them to temporarily assist Dali Temple in handling the case."

.........

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Chapter completed!