Volume 2: Female Corpse in Monk's Clothes Chapter 117 Night Trial
An hour later, the captured Taoists of Chongtian Temple knelt on the platform in front of Chenyuan Hall.
According to Ju Ran's calculations, in the battle of Chongtian Temple, a total of fifteen people were killed on the spot, nine were seriously injured and were treated, and forty-three were captured alive.
These forty-three people are now all tied up and kneeling on this platform.
According to the confessions of the Taoists, there were a total of ninety-seven Taoists in Chongtian Temple, which means that nearly thirty Taoists took advantage of the situation to escape.
In fact, the guards and constables in the marquis' mansion, including Xu Zun and others, were no more than forty people.
After this battle, the guards and constables of the Marquis' Mansion were also injured, and now there are only about thirty of them present.
However, the detectives have already sent people to Shangyuan City to deliver the letter at full speed, and soon more officials and even soldiers will arrive.
Logically speaking, Xingchuan County is under the jurisdiction of Wude County, and this case should first be reported to the Wude County Government and the Xingchuan County Government.
But after repeated consideration, Xu Zun decided not to communicate with these two places.
Because, for a Taoist temple as huge as Chongtian Temple to have such a sin, it must be related to the county and prefecture governments.
Therefore, it is best not to let them intervene until the matter is clarified.
Besides, the Governor Li Yan is still in Shangyuan City, Xu Zun is the Chief Justice of Tangzhou, and with the strong backing of the Changping Marquisate, I don't think they would dare to act rashly.
However, Xu Zun knew that the longer the night, the more dreams one would have, so after discussing with Ju Ran, Wei Beihui and others, he decided to interrogate these bad people at night and get to the bottom of the matter as soon as possible.
In order to prevent collusion, the interrogation cannot be conducted in public.
Therefore, Xu Zun, Ju Ran and Zhao Yu, three people with interrogation experience, were divided into three groups, and they selected places to interrogate the criminals in batches.
As you can imagine, the order of interrogation is naturally from high to low, with those with higher status in the temple being interrogated first.
The first criminal Xu Zun was assigned was a Taoist priest who was about thirty years old and had a scar on his face.
According to his own account, this man was named Xu Jinhu and was a master of Chongtian Temple.
"In our Taoist temple, the most powerful person is the temple master...oh..."
One of Xu Jinhu's legs was injured by Wei Beihui's iron claw. Although it had been bandaged, it was still bleeding.
Because of this, this person must be interrogated quickly, otherwise it will be too late to interrogate him.
"The second is the dean, who is also the deputy abbot," Xu Jinhu confessed, "and the next are us, the altar masters . There are six altar masters in this temple.
"Under the altar are the disciples. The disciples are divided into levels according to the order in which they enter the temple. They do corresponding work according to their level, and so on..."
"Who is the deputy abbot?" Xu Zun asked, "Where is he?"
"His name is Luo Yu, I...oh...I didn't see him..."
"What is this so-called training room you have?" Xu Zun went straight to the point.
"This..." Xu Jinhu replied, "is a place for us to have fun. Those...those women were bought by the abbot and the dean..."
"Bought it?" Xu Zun asked, "Do you want to be severely punished? Someone, come and chop off his toes first while his thigh is injured. This shouldn't be too painful, right?"
As soon as Xu Zun finished speaking, a constable came in with a knife in hand.
"My lord... my lord, please spare my life," Xu Jinhu was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he quickly crawled on the ground to beg for mercy, "I dare not tell lies! My lord, you can see clearly that what happened in the training room is something that people of our level have no way of knowing..."
"What?" Xu Zun called the constable and shouted, "You are really stubborn. As the head of the altar, how could you not know?"
The constable quickly took out his sword, which was stained blood.
"My Lord, my Lord, if I tell even a single lie, you can chop off my head!" Xu Jinhu said, "I know I am guilty, and I know it is wrong to touch those women in the training room, but... but I can't help myself!
"My Lord, I have been in the monastery for five years, and I only know how to eat, drink and enjoy myself like others. I have been the head of the monastery for less than a month. If you don't believe me, you can ask other people. I really didn't lie!"
By the end of his speech, Xu Jinhu was so scared that he started crying.
oh?
Suddenly, Xu Zun felt something was wrong!
Only then did he remember that no matter whether they were the Taoists killed by them or those captured alive, there was not a single elderly person in the entire Taoist temple!
The leader in front of him was only thirty years old, but he was almost the oldest one. The others all looked to be in their twenties, and some even eighteen or nineteen!
Isn't this right?
As a Taoist temple, it is impossible that all the Taoists are so young. There is definitely something wrong with this Chongtian Temple!
So Xu Zun made a stop gesture to the knife-wielding constable and asked Xu Jinhu, "Do you know Taoist Master Xu Tianyou?"
"Yes, of course I know that," Xu Jinhu said, "Master Xu was the former abbot of Chongtian Temple, but when I came here, he had already passed away!"
"Who is the current abbot Yu Yangzi?"
"It is said that he is the junior fellow apprentice of Xu Tianshi," Xu Jinhu replied, "After Xu Tianshi passed away, Master Yuyang took over the Taoist temple. All the important affairs of the Taoist temple were presided over by him and the abbot Luo Yu, and we just followed their orders...
"But I swear, the only wrong thing we did was to have fun in the training room. As for how those women came, I really don't know!
"Sir, sir," Xu Jinhu said, "these current altar masters are just like me, they were all newly promoted!
"I think if you want to know about those women, you might as well find our predecessors. Those old masters have followed the master for many years, so they must know more about the inside story!"
oh?
After hearing what Xu Jinhu said, Xu Zun suddenly remembered that there was indeed an older person in the Chongtian Temple, and that was the temple master Yu Yangzi!
This man has gray hair on his temples and is at least forty-five years old.
It’s a pity that this person is already dead!
"Let me ask you again," Xu Zun asked again, "Where are you from? Why did you join Chongtian Temple? What do you do in the temple every day? And...what problems do you think there are in the temple? Tell me all of them!
"If everything you said is true, I may spare your life! But if..."
"Sir, sir!" Xu Jinhu said anxiously, "There are so many people outside, how dare I lie?
"I am from Qinzhou," he pointed to the scar on his face, "because I was sued for intentional injury, I fled to Tangzhou.
"I joined Chongtian Temple by chance. It was the abbot Luo Yu who saw me wandering around in Wude City and recruited me into the temple!
“After entering the temple, I followed the brothers in chanting sutras and practicing martial arts every day, and I lived a comfortable life.
"If there is any problem in the temple..." He thought for a moment and said, "Except for the training room, it seems that the temple is not very popular. But the temple is rich. They bought more than a dozen of the top-quality Yuzhao lion horses at once!"
oh……
Hearing this, Xu Zun gradually narrowed his eyes and a shadow arose in his heart.
Unexpectedly, the secrets are more than he imagined...
