Chapter 721 Trap
Although they said they were going together, Su Xingfang was riding in a sedan chair while Sun Shaozong was riding in a horse-drawn carriage, so naturally they took care of their own things on the road.
So Sun Shaozong took some time out of his busy schedule, asked for the route map drawn by Huang Bin, and carefully examined it along the way.
Those two fake monks were really daring. They kept walking through densely populated areas along the way, and seemed not to be afraid of being recognized by acquaintances at all.
But if you think about it carefully, Monk Daoyan lives deep in the palace, and his disciples have always only been active in Daxing County. How many people in Wanping County would recognize them?
Not to mention that the master and disciple deliberately "defected" from Taoism to Buddhism.
Even Yang Hancai, his once "close" accomplice, had to look carefully for a long time before recognizing Daoyan's disciple, not to mention others.
but……
Since the master and disciple only walked on the main road, they would definitely not take the initiative to walk into the alleys unless there were any accidents.
What method did the murderer use to lure the two of them to a secluded place to commit the crime?
You have to know that these are two swindlers, and two swindlers who are on the run. It goes without saying that they are very vigilant.
If we follow the original inference that it was an act of revenge by one of the beggars, that would be even more unreasonable - the two of them held the lives of twenty-four beggars in their hands, and even if they were confident that they would not be noticed, they would definitely be wary of beggars.
If this was an internal conflict among accomplices, it might be explainable, but the black note and the act of sending the corpse to the Dali Temple for provocation were obviously not something that accomplices would do.
Strange, this is really strange!
Although the interrogation just now took a long time, the journey by car would only take a quarter of an hour - this was also considering Su Xingfang who was riding in a sedan chair .
Because Chen Jingde had been ordered to arrive at Anrenfang in advance, by the time Sun Shaozong and Su Xingfang got out of their cars and sedan chairs, some of the Dali Temple's runners had already begun searching house by house.
Su Xingfang saw this and hurriedly stepped forward to ask for orders: "Sun Shaoqing, I happen to have a dozen policemen with me, why not send them out to investigate as well?"
This time he went to the Dali Temple to report official business, and he brought all his support with him. Excluding the sedan bearers, there were nearly twenty people. In addition, this place was under the jurisdiction of Wanping County, so it was justified to send people to join the search.
So Sun Shaozong said "thank you" and nodded in agreement.
Su Xingfang immediately waved his hand, and more than a dozen Wanping County police officers, led by a middle-aged constable, joined the carpet search and interrogation.
This disturbing task was naturally supervised by Chen Jingde. As for Sun Shaozong and Su Xingfang, they temporarily requisitioned a tea shed on the roadside.
Seeing that everyone was seated one after another, Su Xingfang took out a hand warmer from his bosom, put it on the corner of the table and said self-deprecatingly: "In the past two years, I have been in charge of the government affairs of a county. I was afraid of failing the emperor's grace, so I got up early and went to bed late every day. I have just achieved some achievements, but who would have thought that my body is becoming less and less useful."
As he spoke, he picked up the teacup again, took a few sips while breathing out the hot steam. After the hot soup went down his throat, his face looked a little rosier.
Sun Shaozong's mind was mostly on the case. When he heard him talk like this, he noticed that his face was pale and he seemed to be lacking in energy and blood.
So he turned the teacup in his hand and advised with a smile: "It's good that Magistrate Su is diligent in government affairs, but he also needs to understand the principle of overdoing it - when you have some free time that day, why not learn some routines from me to keep fit."
"how?"
Su Xingfang's eyes lit up, and he said happily, "Master Sun, are you going to teach me martial arts? If I can learn a little bit of Master Sun's skills, I can go anywhere in the world!"
As he spoke, he seemed to have accidentally affected his heart and lungs, and he quickly covered his mouth and coughed a few times.
With this consumptive body, you still want to dominate the world?
Sun Shaozong said speechlessly: "It's just to strengthen the body. With Magistrate Su's physique, he should not expect to fight on the battlefield."
The two chatted for a few words and then unconsciously turned their attention to the case. As they were analyzing the situation, they suddenly saw Chen Jingde running towards them with his robe in hand.
Before I could get close, I heard him shouting, "Sir, sir! I have found the murder scene!"
A discovery so soon?
Sun Shaozong did not feel happy, but felt it was quite strange - which case related to the black post was not full of suspense?
But in this case, I found the clues easily.
Although he was suspicious, Sun Shaozong still called Su Xingfang to go forward and ordered Chen Jingde to lead the way, preparing to investigate before making a final conclusion.
The three men, along with several yamen runners, walked about two hundred steps and saw a number of yamen runners gathered at the entrance of a small alley. The leader was the middle-aged captain of the police from Daxing County.
"Hello, gentlemen!"
The middle-aged captain held the scabbard in his hand and then pointed to the depths of the alley and said excitedly, "I found an abandoned yard at the end of this alley. The door lock seemed to have been tampered with, so I pried open the door and went in to check. Sure enough, I found some residual bloodstains!"
It turned out that people from Daxing County found the clue.
Sun Shaozong glanced at Chen Jingde with disdain. This guy just made a report with great excitement. If you didn't know him, you would think that he had found it out himself.
Since it was his own men who found out, Su Xingfang felt proud, so he took the initiative to order: "What are you waiting for? Take us over to check it out!"
The middle-aged captain of the police gladly accepted the order.
He led the crowd into the alley with his shoulder tilted. When they were close to the end of the alley, they saw two yamen runners guarding in front of an open gate, chattering about something.
"My Lords, this is the place! Just now I..."
The middle-aged captain leaned sideways, pointed at the gate and was about to explain a few words when he suddenly heard a crisp "bang" sound, vaguely like the sound of a bowstring breaking.
There was another series of crisp sounds, and dozens of short arrows suddenly shot out from the mottled wall at the bottom of the alley!
“Get out of the way!”
In this hasty situation, only Sun Shaozong, who had experienced battles, responded in time.
He roared, and grabbed Su Xingfang and Chen Jingde on his left and right, and pressed them against the left wall.
The next second, screams filled the entire alley!
At least five or six yamen runners were hit by the short arrows, and the middle-aged captain of the police who led the way was the first to be hit, with more than ten short arrows hitting his body.
Seeing him fall to the ground, breathing out more than breathing in, and spitting out blood foam, it was obvious that he was not going to survive.
And thanks to his fat body, Sun Shaozong and others who hid behind him in time were all unharmed.
However, Sun Shaozong did not relax his vigilance. He pulled Chen Jingde and Su Xingfang back slowly.
"Thank you very much for saving my life!"
Chen Jingde recovered a little and immediately prostrated himself with gratitude.
But he had no idea that the reason Sun Shaozong had brought him along was actually to use him to fill in the gaps - if the middle-aged captain of the police failed to block the short arrows shot at him, he would be the meat shield.
Even now, when he was pulling him back, he was still thinking of using him to block the knife at the critical moment.
Of course, Sun Shaozong would never tell Chen Jingde the truth.
After the three men retreated about ten steps away, Su Xingfang finally came to his senses. However, his first action was not to thank Sun Shaozong for saving his life, but to desperately shake off Sun Shaozong's pull and rush towards the dying middle-aged captain of the police.
"Uncle! Uncle! Are you okay, uncle?"
It turned out that the middle-aged captain of the police was actually Su Xingfang's uncle!
