Volume 1 Zhangqiao Iron Coffin Chapter 48: Earth-shattering (Part 2)
Indeed, without the aid of scientific instruments, it is difficult to determine the age of an adult's old injury.
Xu Zun had indeed overlooked this point before.
However, in the overall situation, this is no longer important.
So he suggested skipping it and moving on to the next topic.
But this made the people at the scene confused and furious.
"How can this be possible?" Governor Li Yan muttered, "It's not rigorous at all. Is this Taoist priest an assassin? There has to be an explanation, right?"
In Lord Li's mind, the question of whether the Taoist priest is an assassin is very important and concerns the fate of the entire state.
But he forgot one thing. Even if the Taoist priest was not an assassin, they would still be implicated with the jade pendant.
"Xu Zun," Cai Kun was also a little anxious, "You have been talking for a long time, is there any point? Tell me quickly, why did those people burn the Taoist's body?"
"Yes," Li Yan continued, "If the Taoist priest is not an assassin, then who is he?"
"Okay, then I'll lay my cards on the table! You better sit tight!" Xu Zun pointed at the Taoist's body and said in a loud voice, "Actually, you all know this man!
"His ancestral home is Nangeng, Shangzhou. He is a successful Jinshi Hanlin, and the magistrate of Xinye County - Qiu Yongnian!!!"
Bang!
Cai Kun lost his grip and the teacup fell to the ground and shattered.
Wow...
The officials were speechless and stunned.
The reactions of the other people in the yard varied. Some were confused, some didn't hear clearly, some were shocked and surprised, and some were trembling as if struck by lightning...
"What?" Cai Kun jumped up from his seat in surprise and asked, "Xu Zun, what did you just say? Who is this Taoist priest?"
"I say," Xu Zun pointed at the Taoist's body and repeated his words, "This person is the real Qiu Yongnian!"
"That……"
Cai Kun looked aside in confusion.
"ah!!?"
Qiu Yongnian, who was standing by, was suddenly startled. His legs went limp and he sat down on the chair.
“Ouch…”
County Magistrate Luo Baiwan was startled. He looked at Qiu Yongnian, then at the Taoist's body on the ground. He involuntarily moved his chair back a few steps until the back of the chair leaned against the guard.
"How...how could that be?"
At the same time, even Shen Tiande, who was handcuffed, was full of surprise. He had never expected Xu Zun to say such earth-shattering words.
Not only him, but also the servants of the Shen Mansion, Shen Qian next to him, and even Huo Anu who was helping Xu Zun, all opened their eyes wide with a look of disbelief.
"Xu...Xu Zun..." Qiu Yongnian realized that he had lost his composure, and then stood up and shouted angrily, "You are simply the most ridiculous person in the world. It's fine that you framed me, but now...now you actually...actually do this?"
Qiu Yongnian was so angry that he couldn't find any suitable words to rebuke Xu Zun.
"Xu Zun," the governor Li Yan asked hurriedly, "what do you mean? Why did the Taoist priest suddenly become Qiu Yongnian again?
"If the Taoist priest is Qiu Yongnian," he pointed at the county magistrate Qiu Yongnian, "then who is he?"
"No, that's not the point," Chen Taiji asked, "Xu Zun, you must have a basis for saying this, right?"
"Yes!" Cai Kun echoed, "Xu Zun, you can't just try to attract attention and be mysterious. If you don't have any real evidence, then I can't help you!"
"Evidence? Of course there is!"
Xu Zun smiled confidently and gestured to Huo Anu. Huo Anu immediately took out a piece of white paper from his arms and handed it to Cai Kun.
But there were four and a half characters written on the white paper, namely: "女", "方", "纸", "非", and there was a radical "亻" at the end.
"Oh?" Cai Kun displayed these four and a half words in front of everyone and asked, "Xu Zun, what does this mean?"
"Sir," Xu Zun replied, "When we heard that there was a Taoist living in the Changsheng Temple in Qijiawu, we went to check it out.
"But we didn't expect that the enemy had already taken a step ahead of us and burned down the Changsheng Temple. The detectives only found a jade pendant.
"But I found a wall full of texts from the ruins of Changsheng Temple..."
Next, Xu Zun recounted all of his and Huo Anu's discoveries and speculations at Changsheng Temple that night.
"Isn't this too outrageous?" After listening, the governor Li Yan quickly found the problem, "According to your speculation, the Taoist priest should be imprisoned in the secret room of Changsheng Temple, but according to the witnesses, someone has seen the Taoist priest living in the temple.
"How can an imprisoned person be seen by outsiders?"
"This is simple," Xu Zun replied, "The murderer sent people to pretend to be Taoist priests to guard the imprisoned Qiu Yongnian, creating the illusion that there are Taoist priests living in Changsheng Temple..."
Seeing that most people were stunned, Xu Zun simply said again:
"Okay, then I'll tell you a story," he pointed at the Taoist's corpse, "A year ago, before Qiu Yongnian, a successful candidate in the imperial examination, went to Xinye County to take up his post, he was suddenly kidnapped by criminals and imprisoned in the Changsheng Temple in Qijiawu.
"This gang of villains is not simple. They selected a man who looks similar to Qiu Yongnian and asked him to pretend to be the county magistrate and take office in Xinye County.
“At the same time, they also imitated the cruel methods of the Ministry of Justice and tortured the real Qiu Yongnian!
"First, it is to prepare for today's iron coffin case; second, it is to let the real Qiu Yongnian tell everything about him, so that the fake Qiu Yongnian can better pass for the real one.
"When they imprisoned him, they also made the guards wear Taoist robes and rags, and deliberately walked around to be seen by people, creating the illusion that there was a Taoist living in Changsheng Temple, so that after the iron coffin case was discovered, they could lead the clues to the Taoist temple.
"So, the witnesses actually saw the guards, not the prisoners.
"This is... an extremely sophisticated and cruel conspiracy," Xu Zun said, "When the time is right, they will kill the real Qiu Yongnian, dress him in a Taoist robe, and put him in an iron coffin.
"Next, when the iron coffin case happened, they burned down the Taoist temple and left the jade pendant at the scene, waiting for us to investigate!
"In this way, all the clues are connected together, allowing us to naturally believe that this real Qiu Yongnian is the Japanese assassin who assassinated the empress dowager!"
"ah?"
This reasoning once again surprised everyone.
"Then... that's my previous question," Li Yan asked, "Why didn't they just put the jade pendant directly on the body? Wouldn't it be safer to put it on the body?"
"Wrong!" Xu Zun replied, "Master Li, this question is actually a bit redundant.
"Think about it, the murderer's ultimate goal is to frame Mr. Shen! If Mr. Shen really did the iron coffin case, would he have put the jade pendant on the corpse?"
"Oh..." Li Yan nodded, finally understanding.
"But if the jade pendant is found in the ruins of Changsheng Temple, then the meaning will be different. People will think that it is Lord Shen who is harboring the assassin, and Lord Shen will be unable to defend himself or herself.
"The same logic applies," Xu Zun said, "some people might think that since the murderer's ultimate goal is to frame Mr. Shen, why not just write a letter of denunciation?
"Why did you kill You Dalang and his wife first, frame me for murdering merchants, and then write a letter of denunciation? Isn't this unnecessary?
"But if you think about it carefully, it is actually very necessary to do so!" Xu Zun pointed at Cai Kun and Chen Taiji and said, "After all, Cai Geling and Chen Yushi are very observant and are not ordinary people!
"If you are so dishonest in framing someone, how can you escape the eyes of these two?
"But if they use the charge that I killed merchants and embezzled their property to bring up the Iron Coffin Case, then the effect will be completely different, right?"
oh……
Everyone nodded repeatedly and finally understood what Xu Zun meant.
After all, Shen Tiande is an important official in the court and still has influence in the current court. If the letter of exposure directly points to Shen Tiande, it will appear too fake and arouse suspicion.
"Now, everyone understands," Xu Zun pointed at the fake Qiu Yongnian, "why he sent people to sneak into the charity cemetery and burn the Taoist's body, right?
"Once he guided us to connect the corpse with the Japanese assassin, the corpse had already achieved its purpose.
"He didn't want anyone to recognize that this person wasn't a Japanese assassin, so he fell for our trick. He was worried that the fictitious East Palace guard we created would recognize him, so..."
"Stop! Stop!" Unexpectedly, Xu Zun was interrupted by Cai Kun before he finished speaking. Cai Kun held up the white paper and asked anxiously, "Don't talk about these useless things first. What do these words mean?
"What on earth do you think that the deceased is Qiu Yongnian?!"
