The Golden Age Chapter 66: The mystery under the rockery

The street behind the Qian’s mansion, but seven or eight households, but they are all big households with names and surnames in Suzhou City.

One of the mansions covers a large area, and the blue tiles and white walls are full of the charm of Jiangnan.

At this moment, the mansion was already surrounded by officers and soldiers, and even archers were deployed.

When Qin Xiao arrived here, when he first entered the sea, several officers and soldiers stood in front of the front door of the mansion, holding torches, and illuminating the door as bright as daylight.

Pan Weixing did not personally come forward. Ma Xingguo was ordered to come. Just after getting off the horse, Suzhou prefect Liang Jiangyuan had already greeted him and said, "Master Chang Shi, the assassin has been found."

Ma Xingguo's face is ugly, but Qin Xiao is calm and composed.

I got a report in the Assassin's Mansion and found the trace of the assassin. Ma Xingguo immediately brought people there, and Qin Xiao and Chen Xi also came.

Qin Xiao's trip to the south of the Yangtze River, apparently was to patrol the south of the Yangtze River, and he was involved in a major case involving the assassination of the governor's history.

"Liu Commander made it to block the nearby streets, and some soldiers found a proper whereabouts." Liang Jiangyuan explained: "The man came here. After Commander Liu came over, he found bloodstains, intermittently, and finally found this place. At the house, blood stains were found under the backyard wall of the mansion, and there was also a trace of blood on the wall. It is certain that someone has turned into the courtyard from the backyard."

Ma Xingguo's face was stern and said: "This is Dong Yuan's residence."

"Exactly." Liang Jiangyuan said: "The assassin should have rushed into the Dong's house. The lower officials immediately mobilized manpower to surround the area and prevent the assassin from having a chance to escape."

"Where is Liu Hongju?"

"Liu Tongling is leading people to search in the house." Liang Jiangyuan respectfully said: "My lord, don't worry, we have enough manpower. Even if we dig three feet of ground, we can dig out the assassin."

Ma Xingguo's face was slightly relaxed, and he moved into the house. Qin Xiao and Chen Xi looked at each other and followed in.

Suddenly a shout came from behind, and someone yelled: "Everyone, be careful, there is chaos here."

Ma Xingguo's expression froze, and he quickened his pace, almost running to the backyard. Qin Xiao's expression also sank. When he reached the back garden, he saw a group of people gathered around, all with big swords in their hands. It was all on guard, waiting for Ma Xingguo to get close to the past, and all the talents let go.

Qin Xiao also saw clearly at this time that these soldiers were surrounding a rockery. There was an opening in the rockery. Someone said: "My lord, Commander Liu went down to check for himself. There is something wrong with it. Brothers have gone down."

Ma Xingguo entered sideways through the crevice of the rockery, and then went down the entrance of the cave. Qin Xiao glanced at Chen Xi, and Chen Xi nodded slightly. Qin Xiao followed Ma Xingguo and went down the entrance of the cave.

The entrance of this cave was obviously artificially built. It must have been covered up before. There are stone steps down to the bottom floor. Under the fire, I discovered that it turned out to be a secret room that was not too empty, and my eyes were everywhere. , I only saw two corpses lying on the ground. Liu Hongju was sitting on the side, exposing his left shoulder, but his shoulder was bloody. A soldier was squatting on the side to treat his wounds.

When Ma Xingguo came down, Liu Hongju pushed the soldier away, stood up and said, "My lord, the assassin has been found." After speaking, he raised his finger to a corpse on the ground.

Two corpses, one of them in night clothes, covered their nose and mouth, lying on the ground, there was an obvious stab wound on the back of the spine. The whole person was motionless, apparently already dead.

The other corpse was face up, with a cut on the neck with a knife. It turned out to be Dong Yuan.

When Qin Xiao saw Dong Yuan for the last time, the Master Dong invited Qin Xiao to take time to drink tea in the past two days, but he didn't want to have a corpse at this moment.

He furrowed his brows, but Ma Xingguo had already asked in a deep voice, "What happened?" He looked at Liu Hongju: "How did you get hurt?"

"We went into the house to search, and when we searched in the back garden, General Bei saw that Dong Yuan's expression was a bit unnatural." Liu Hongju explained: "Bei Jiang found a few drops of blood on the edge of the rockery. I felt that there was something wrong with the rockery, so I checked the rockery and found an entrance, and he just pried it open. General Bei was worried about what's in it, so he asked Dong Yuan to lead the way. When he entered it, he found the corpse on the ground, the assassin. Has been stabbed to death from behind...!"

Ma Xingguo glanced at the assassin’s corpse and saw the wound on his back. He listened to Liu Hongju continuing: "When the general was inspecting the corpse, Dong Yuan suddenly attacked from the side. Fortunately, the general dodged in time, but Still stabbed in the shoulder by him, humblely seeking self-defense, slashed over with a knife, but... but cut him with a single knife."

Qin Xiao frowned and said: "Dong Yuan attacked you?"

"Exactly." Liu Hongju stared at Dong Yuan's corpse, remaining angry: "This person is really cruel, if the humble general is slow to react, I am afraid he will die in his hands."

Qin Xiao inspected the two corpses and looked at Liu Hongju: "Why does Commander Liu conclude that this man in black is an assassin?"

"The assassin was injured in his right leg when he ran away." Liu Hongju moved over and pointed to the thigh of the man in black and said: "Look at this place, your lord, he was injured by Chen Shaojian. General Bei just checked. Chen Shaojin’s blow was very powerful. The assassin’s thigh was severely injured. Fortunately, his thigh was injured and blood stains were left when he escaped. Otherwise, the humble general would really not be able to track it here."

Qin Xiao nodded slightly, looked around with the light of the fire, and found that some boxes were piled up in the corner, and they were all locked.

"It seems that the assassin was instigated by Dong Yuan, and Dong Yuan was the real murderer who intended to assassinate Lord Assassin." Ma Xingguo sneered, "This assassin must have been killed by Dong Yuan."

Qin Xiao couldn't help asking: "Why can you see it?"

"Of course, not everyone can enter the secret room under the rockery." Ma Xingguo analyzed: "The assassin died here before the leader Liu came in, which means that the assassin was immediately hidden by Dong Yuan after entering the Dong family mansion. Here. But Dong Yuan was worried that after the assassin was arrested, he would confess something that shouldn’t be said, so he simply killed him with a single knife. Just now at the Qian’s house, we have all seen that this assassin’s skill is real and he wants to kill him. It's not easy. This assassin must be very familiar with Dong Yuan, and even trust Dong Yuan very much. He didn't expect that Dong Yuan would suddenly be ruthless against her, fatally wounding in the back. It can be seen that Dong Yuan attacked unexpectedly from behind."

Liu Hongju was annoyed and said: "General Bei didn't expect Dong Yuan to be so cruel and attacked from the side."

Ma Xingguo instructed the soldiers: "Go and call the housekeeper of Dong's house."

The soldier took the order out, and Ma Xingguo walked to the side of the boxes and said: "The secret room has been repaired under the rockery. Dong Yuan stored these boxes here. There must be some shameful things inside."

"My lord, let's open the box and we will know it at a glance." Liu Hongju walked over and said: "The humble general really can't figure it out. Lord Shishi and their Dong family have no hatred. Why did Dong Yuan arrange for an assassin to assassinate the adult? No clues can be found in these boxes." Xiang Ma Xing Guodao: "My lord, shall we pry open the boxes?"

"Wait a minute." Ma Xingguo shook his head: "Wait for Dong's housekeeper to come over."

The housekeeper of Dong's house was in his early fifties, and seemed to be very shrewd. He was taken to the secret room and saw the corpse on the ground. He was so scared that his face became pale.

"

Are you the housekeeper of Dong's house? "Ma Xingguo looked at the housekeeper coldly.

"The villain Cao Xiu is the steward of the Dong family." The old steward did not dare to approach the corpse, and fell to the ground far away.

"The secret room under the rockery, do you know?"

"The villain knows." Steward Cao replied, "Master built this many years ago. He invited outsiders to come and build it. Afterwards, he gave them a sum of money to prevent them from publicizing it. The master usually does it. Do not let other people in the family come to the back garden, and often live alone in the back garden."

"Do you know this person?" Liu Hongju turned the man in black over and tore off the black scarf from his face. He was a man in his thirties.

Steward Cao took a look, shook his head and said: "I have never seen it before."

"Cao Xiu, you have to know that Dong Yuan is involved in the case, and it is a very big case." Ma Xingguo said coldly: "If the officer asks you now, you must answer truthfully. I can't stop you."

"The villain never dared to lie in the slightest." Cao Xiu's forehead was placed on the ground: "The adult asks questions, the villain answers honestly."

Ma Xingguo stared at Cao Xiu, and asked in a deep voice: "Do you really know this person?"

"The villain really doesn't know him, I have never seen him before."

"What are these boxes?"

Cao Xiu looked up, glanced at the boxes, and said: "They are all antique calligraphy and paintings. The master likes to collect antique calligraphy and paintings. When he encounters very expensive ones, he will put them into the box here."

"Only antique calligraphy and painting?"

"This...!" Cao Xiu hesitated for a while before saying: "The villain is not completely sure. The villain has only seen the master take the precious antiques into the rockery, whether there are other things in it, The villain is not sure."

"Where is the key?"

"The villain doesn't know." Cao Xiu hurriedly said: "Since the underground chamber was built, even the wife has not come in, and the villain has not come down once, only the master enters and exits. The key...and the villain. I don’t know where the master is. Maybe...maybe in the study."

Liu Hongju was a little impatient and said: "My lord, don't worry about the key, you can pry open the box with a knife." He told the soldier, "Come on, pry open all these boxes and look inside. What the **** is it."

Ma Xingguo didn’t stop it. The soldier took it and just arrived. He used to pry open all the boxes. Then some soldiers approached with a torch. As Cao Xiu said, almost all the boxes were filled with antique calligraphy and painting. Qin Xiao saw in his eyes, knowing that everything in it was expensive, and a few boxes would definitely be worth a lot of money. This Dong family is not among the seven surnames in Jiangnan, but it is already wealthy. , It seems that the Jiangnan family is indeed the most financially powerful force in Datang.

"Look for it and see if there are other things in it." Ma Xingguo said, "Be careful of these antique calligraphy and paintings. They are stolen goods. All of them will be collected and stored in the warehouse. Don't damage them."

Several soldiers carefully took out the antique calligraphy and painting from the box, put them on the ground, and soon heard a soldier say: "My lord, there are two letters here." Take out the two letters, turn around, and present them with both hands. Ma Xingguo.

Ma Xingguo looked at it and found that both letters had been opened and read. What thought, looked at Qin Xiao, Qin Xiao already smiled and said: "It is about the assassination case. Naturally, I am looking for clues. Read and see what's written in it."

Ma Xinguo took out the letter paper from the envelope and shook it. After unfolding it, he took a close look at it with the flames of fire, and soon his complexion became serious, and he sneered: "This is really unreasonable. The Dong family is going to rebel. Up!"