The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 206 The Third Mission of the Prince of Xi's Illegitimate Son! Liu Shuyi's Deduction!
"What!?"

As soon as Liu Shuyi finished speaking, Lu Yangyuan, Zhao Feng, and the others felt their heads buzz and their eyes widened instantly.

Cheng Chumo, who had already sat down, jumped up abruptly. He stared at Liu Shuyi with his large, round eyes, and said in disbelief, "Does Doctor Liu mean that..."

Lu Yangyuan swallowed hard, shocked. "Chu Xiong wasn't the one who dug up the corpse! He was framed?"

Du Gou and Changsun Chong exchanged a glance, their expressions both showing surprise and doubt.

Seeing the surprised looks on everyone's faces, Liu Shuyi smiled and said, "Didn't you all notice that when I was pointing out Chu Xiong just now, although I said a lot that he was the one who dug up the corpse and made a lot of deductions, in fact, I didn't produce a single piece of evidence to prove my deductions?"

"This……"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately recalled what had just happened in the main hall of the governor's mansion.

"Huh? It seems that Doctor Liu really hasn't produced any evidence," Cheng Chumo said.

Lu Yangyuan frowned and said, "Although Doctor Liu did not produce any evidence, his reasoning was reasonable and logical. Moreover, Chu Xiong's expression at the time was also very unusual, and he did not directly refute Doctor Liu's reasoning. No matter how you look at it, he is the one who dug up the corpse."

Everyone else nodded in agreement with Lu Yangyuan's words.

If Liu Shuyi hadn't reminded them, they really wouldn't have realized that Liu Shuyi lacked evidence.

Liu Shuyi sat down, took a sip of the water Du Ying gave him, and said, "Chu Xiong's expression is unusual because of my question, which was carefully prepared for him. When he tries to refute it, he will find that no matter what he says, no one will believe him, which will be very disadvantageous for him."

"He was caught in a dilemma, neither agreeing nor disagreeing... Faced with this unexpected event and losing his composure, how could he possibly offer a convincing rebuttal?"

"Therefore, his acquiescence was not genuine; he had fallen into my trap and had no choice but to acquiesce!"

"So that's how it is!" Lu Yangyuan felt that Liu Shuyi's image was becoming increasingly imposing and terrifying.

Originally, he thought that Liu Langzhong's greatest strength was in solving cases, but now he realized that solving cases was just one manifestation of Liu Langzhong's terrifying wisdom.

Others may be good at solving cases because they have a talent for it, but Doctor Liu is good at it simply because he has only ever done that so far and hasn’t had the opportunity to demonstrate his abilities in other areas.

During this trip to Xingzhou, for various reasons, Liu Langfang finally revealed some of his true abilities.

"You even fooled me..."

Changsun Chong gripped his folding fan tightly, his eyes darting towards Liu Shuyi.

I thought I knew Liu Shuyi's abilities, but now I realize that what I thought I knew was only the tip of the iceberg, and I was being presumptuous.

"Chu Xiong's hostility towards us is too great, and his ambition is too obvious..."

Liu Shuyi said, "Our investigation into the murder of Jiang Rui has resolved the danger to the imperial court and Hebei Province. This is a good thing for us and the officials of various prefectures and counties, but for Chu Xiong, it is a bad thing that hinders his enormous ambitions."

“He must hate us to the core. Under such circumstances, he might not be able to resist the urge to kill us.”

Zhao Feng was startled and said, "We've already solved the case, what reason does he have to attack us?"

Liu Shuyi smiled and shook his head: "Master Zhao, you are too concerned with rules and reason. To a traitor like Chu Xiong, we have ruined his plans and are his obstacles. Why should he bother with rules and reason with us?"

"As long as he doesn't attack us in court in front of everyone, he can lie and say we died at the hands of an assassin or some other accident... Anyway, on his turf, the truth is just a matter of his word."

"Moreover, if we die here, the court will certainly not believe that our deaths are unrelated to the former subordinates of Prince Xi. Instead, they will think that the former subordinates of Prince Xi have stopped hiding and are going to declare war on the court directly... Under such circumstances, the former subordinates of Prince Xi will feel the crisis and have no choice but to band together and attack. His goal can still be achieved."

Changsun Chong then said, "The officials in other prefectures and counties are not fools. They can't possibly not know that we were killed by Chu Xiong. They will also know that they were tricked by Chu Xiong."

"So what?"

Liu Shuyi said calmly, "The die is cast, and the imperial army is about to attack. Under these circumstances, do you expect them to fight amongst themselves? Not to mention that Xingzhou still has some troops. If they attack Chuxiong, they will not only lose this fighting force, but also suffer more losses as a result of this battle. If you were a former subordinate of the Prince of Xi, what would you, the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, do in this situation?"

Changsun Chong frowned, then nodded and said, "I will suppress my displeasure and focus on uniting against external threats first. We can settle other matters later."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "As long as Chuxiong doesn't take action openly, he's giving face to the officials of other prefectures and counties. Although they know this, with a formidable enemy at hand, they won't directly turn against each other in order to stabilize the situation."

“But if he takes action openly, it will be different. It will be an open declaration to everyone that he is plotting against others. In this situation, even if it leads to internal losses, others will have to deal with him for the sake of their own prestige and face. This is why, when Chu Xiong finally lost his temper and ordered his men to attack us in court, officials from other prefectures and counties took the initiative to stop him.”

"Because they know very well that if Chu Xiong doesn't want to become the target of everyone's criticism, he must not let the leaders of other prefectures and counties know that he has taken such action openly. So the people sent by these prefectures and counties will naturally have to be silenced."

Lu Yangyuan and Cheng Chumo nodded like chickens pecking at rice, looking as if they had learned something.

"Even if Chu Xiong can suppress his anger and murderous intent and not attack us, he is an extremely ambitious man who will eventually rebel and cause chaos if he takes over Xingzhou from Jiang Rui."

Liu Shuyi continued, "Not to mention their exploitation of the people, causing widespread suffering. In a few more years, I fear the people will be left starving, with corpses strewn everywhere, and less than one in ten surviving..."

"Therefore, for both public and private reasons, I cannot allow Chu Xiong to continue sitting in his current position."

Everyone knew Chu Xiong, and considering what had happened in court, they strongly agreed with Liu Shuyi's decision.

Changsun Chong said, "Since we have traveled a long way to get here, we will naturally resolve as many problems as we can."

Even Du Gou, who has always been very principled, nodded and said, "It's better to deal with Chu Xiong now than to let him actually take action and cause more people to die tragically."

Liu Shuyi smiled and nodded: "However, Chu Xiong is not a real corpse digger after all, so I can only use some tricks. Fortunately, in order to achieve his goal, he did a lot of obstruction to my investigation and also showed me his malice without any disguise... That's how I seized the opportunity to guide others to think that this was a manifestation of Chu Xiong's motives. Otherwise, it would have been really difficult to pin the blame on him."

Snapped!
Changsun Chong unfolded his folding fan and waved it gracefully, saying, "This is what you call reaping what you sow!"

“That’s right, he brought this on himself!” Cheng Chumo nodded in agreement, then hesitated for a moment before turning to Changsun Chong and saying, “I’ve been curious for a long time, Changsun Chong, aren’t you cold fanning yourself in this freezing weather?”

Changsun Chong's elegant movements suddenly stopped, and the composed expression on his face also froze.

But soon he continued fanning himself and said calmly, "It's normal that you don't understand the affairs of scholars."

Cheng Chumo scratched his head: "Scholars are really strange. Are they more resistant to the cold than us warriors?"

Changsun Chong's eyelids twitched violently a few times. Afraid that Cheng Chumo would ask such an awkward question again, he quickly changed the subject and asked Liu Shuyi, "This Minister Zhang... is he capable?"

Liu Shuyi gently swirled his water glass and said, “Zhang Bu was indeed in the same boat as Chu Xiong and the others before, but it is rare that he was able to uphold certain principles while on the boat. At the same time, you have seen the situation of the prefectural government. It is really hard to find someone who can take on important responsibilities. In this sensitive period, we cannot directly arrange for someone from the imperial court to take over Xingzhou. So, we have to choose the tallest among the short, and he is the most suitable.”

"Chu Xiong doesn't completely trust him. With Jiang Rui sidelining him, Chu Xiong still wants to exert his power in the criminal justice system, so he will definitely suppress Zhang Bu because of this... From this point of view, Zhang Bu also has an opportunity to win him over."

"I repay evil with kindness and support him in every way. As long as he's not ungrateful, he'll always remember my kindness. At the same time, I also take good care of the yamen runners in the governor's mansion and even take the initiative to improve their treatment. I think I have a good image in their hearts..."

Liu Shuyi looked at everyone and smiled, "If we manage things well in the future, perhaps Xingzhou, which was originally on the front line against the imperial court, can be used by us and become an inside agent that we can trust."

Upon hearing this, Du Gou and the others' eyes lit up.

Cheng Chumo exclaimed excitedly, "If that's really the case, then we've not only resolved the crisis in Xingzhou, but we've also brought in an inside agent for the imperial court! We've truly made a great contribution!"

Even the composed Du Gou and the intelligent Changsun Chong were somewhat surprised at this moment.

Liu Shuyi smiled and said, "I can only say that there is such an opportunity. As for what happens next, we'll have to take it one step at a time."

Cheng Chumo said, "Liu Langzhong is resourceful and has created miracles many times, so there's definitely no problem."

Zhao Feng and Lu Yangyuan both nodded emphatically.

Liu Shuyi chuckled and shook his head, surprised that these guys believed in him more than he did.

"If Chu Xiong wasn't the one who dug up the corpses, then who was the real one?" Du Gou couldn't help but ask.

Upon hearing this, everyone else looked at Liu Shuyi, including Qingqing, who also looked over curiously. She was also eager to know who was secretly watching her when she took revenge, and who was trying to use her and make her take the blame after she left.

Liu Shuyi put down his water glass and said, "This matter is actually not difficult to deduce."

"Although I placed all the blame on Chu Xiong, I did not lie about the motives of the corpse digger." "The corpse digger cleaned up Jiang Rui's body, concealed his own existence, and made others believe that Jiang Rui's miserable appearance was the work of the murderer... The purpose was to lead Chu Xiong and others to suspect that the imperial court was behind this, thereby forcing the former subordinates of the Prince of Xi to unite and directly rebel for survival."

"But he also knew that a stone lion and Jiang Rui's miserable state alone could not directly convince Chu Xiong and other county officials to commit treason. So he had Feng Dao, the blacksmith, chosen in advance to be the scapegoat."

"Therefore, taking advantage of Feng Dao's inattention, he hid the forged letter and identity token in Feng Dao's room, and secretly stole Feng Dao's unfinished sword, using it to cut open Jiang Rui's abdomen..."

Liu Shuyi looked at everyone and said, "Actually, when I heard about Jiang Rui's death, I felt strange. The stone lion was enough to represent the imperial court. It was standing on Jiang Rui's corpse, which was already symbolic enough. Why did they have to cut Jiang Rui open and pull out his intestines?"

"After Director Zhang took out that knife, I finally understood that the real purpose of the person who dug up the body was to make everyone believe that the murder weapon was that knife, and then use the knife as irrefutable evidence to confirm Feng Dao's guilt."

Zhao Feng pondered and said, "That knife is very special. It can't be bought on the market at all. Only blacksmith shops have it. It can be said to be unique in the world. Using this knife as evidence, it will indeed leave Feng Dao speechless."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "Once we confirm Feng Dao's identity as the murderer, and find the so-called secret letter and token in Feng Dao's room... then no one can deny that the court killed Jiang Rui. Even if the officials of other prefectures and counties are unwilling to take action, they will have no choice but to do so if they feel threatened by the court."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Liu Shuyi's words.

"besides……"

Liu Shuyi continued, "The person who dug up the corpses had this plan, and could have started guiding Zhang's investigation much earlier, but he didn't make a move until we were about to arrive."

"This should also be part of his plan. He knows that with Jiang Rui, the governor, dying tragically, the court will definitely send people here to inquire and investigate... Therefore, by taking action at this moment, he can eliminate the people from the court directly in Xingzhou."

"If the special envoy sent by the imperial court is killed, the imperial court will be furious, and the former subordinates of the Prince of Xi in other prefectures and counties will also be coerced... Under such circumstances, the former subordinates of the Prince of Xi, who might not have wanted to take action and wanted to wait and see, will have no other choice but to be forced to participate in the rebellion!"

"Therefore, Hebei Province will inevitably descend into chaos, whether it wants to or not!"

hiss……

Hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Lu Yangyuan and Zhao Feng couldn't help but gasp.

Cheng Chumo also felt a chill run down his spine.

They originally thought that the grave digger's scheme was a last-minute act of deception, knowing that they were about to arrive and fearing that things might change.

However, the corpse excavator had already anticipated the court's actions the moment he began excavating the corpse, and devised a plan to kill two birds with one stone against these special envoys and former subordinates of the Prince of Xi!
This person, like the chess player, had already set up the chessboard and was waiting for the pieces to automatically enter the board.

If Liu Shuyi hadn't jumped off the chessboard and become another player, using various methods to respond, they really couldn't imagine what the consequences would have been!
Liu Shuyi looked around at everyone: "The only people who are so eager to have the former subordinates of Prince Xi rebel and fight against the court are those from two other factions, besides the former subordinates of Prince Xi."

Du Gou's eyes flickered, and he said, "Floating Life Pavilion, and the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi!?"

"Yes."

Liu Shuyi said, "One of the Seven Stars of Fusheng Tower, Kaiyang Anqing West, once tried to use the death of Ma Fuyuan, the governor of Yizhou, to provoke a war between the court and the former subordinates of the Prince of Xi... It can be seen that one of the goals of Fusheng Tower is to cause chaos between the court and Hebei Province."

"As for the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi, there is no need to say more. He has been hiding in Hebei Province for some time, but he does not dare to show his face directly. This shows that he is not confident in taking down the Prince of Xi's old subordinates. Once he shows his face, he may be taken over by one of the Prince of Xi's old subordinates, just like Cao Cao did with the emperor to command the princes."

"Therefore, he can only appear as the sole bloodline of the Prince of Xi when all the former subordinates of the Prince of Xi unite to fight against the imperial court. By then, the great war has already begun, and the former subordinates of the Prince of Xi need a banner to unite their hearts. They also have their own interests to contend with each other. In this way, the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi will have the opportunity to control this force."

Cheng Chumo rarely showed a thoughtful expression. He stroked his chin and said, "Was it the work of Fusheng Tower, or the work of the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi?"

"No difference."

Liu Shuyi said, "General Cheng, don't forget who spread the news about the existence of the Prince of Xi's illegitimate son through General Wan..."

Cheng Chumo's eyes widened: "It's Zhang Xu, the governor of Shangzhou! And Zhang Xu is also a member of Fusheng Tower!"

"So, they're in cahoots!?"

Liu Shuyi narrowed his eyes: "Either the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi is a forgery by Fusheng Tower, or the two sides have common interests and goals and are temporarily allied..."

"In either case, they can be temporarily regarded as the same force."

He then looked at Qingqing and said, "The illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi sent someone to use Miss Qingqing to secretly communicate with Jiang Rui... He contacted Jiang Rui three times and asked Jiang Rui to do two things for him, but he still refused to meet Jiang Rui. This shows that he still has doubts and is wary of Jiang Rui."

“Under these circumstances, the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi would likely have someone secretly watching Jiang Rui. Therefore… when Jiang Rui left Chunxiang Pavilion that night under unusual circumstances, the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi’s people would definitely have followed him in secret.”

"They just didn't expect that Jiang Rui would be killed by you... For the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi, this was an accident, but he reacted extremely quickly and soon came up with a plan on how to turn the accident into a two-birds-with-one-stone scheme!"

Qingqing shivered involuntarily as she listened to Liu Shuyi's words.

She never imagined that she, an ordinary courtesan, would be involved in such a terrifying matter that directly concerned the safety of Hebei Province.

Fortunately, she met Liu Shuyi; otherwise, as a weak woman, if she had been caught up in such a great tide, she probably wouldn't have been left with even a trace.

Liu Shuyi asked Qingqing, "Miss Qingqing, what is the third thing that the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi asked Jiang Rui to do?"

Qingqing took a deep breath and said, "Let that corrupt official Jiang Rui kill Chu Xiong with his own hands!"

"What!? You killed Chu Xiong with your own hands!?" Lu Yangyuan and the others were shocked.

Du Gou and Changsun Chong both frowned. Clearly, they had never expected that the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi would have Jiang Rui kill Chu Xiong.

"Does the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi have a grudge against Chu Xiong?" Lu Yangyuan couldn't help but ask.

Liu Shuyi pondered for a moment and said, "There may not be any enmity."

"If there was no enmity, then why kill Chu Xiong?" Lu Yangyuan asked, puzzled.

Everyone else looked at Liu Shuyi with suspicion.

Liu Shuyi pondered, "If nothing unexpected happens, we should be able to better control Jiang Rui..."

He said to the crowd, "Think about what that illegitimate Prince Xi made Jiang Rui do..."

"First, he should be asking Jiang Rui for a large amount of money. Everyone knows how greedy Jiang Rui is, so if Jiang Rui can really take out so much money to offer to the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi, regardless of whether he is truly loyal, at least on the surface, he has shown his sincerity."

"Having passed the first test of resisting his own greed, the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi gave him a second test. He ordered Jiang Rui to release the prisoners, thus touching Jiang Rui's authority. He wanted to see if Jiang Rui was willing to carry out his orders accurately."

"At the same time, the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi must also be aware of the situation in the Xingzhou officialdom and know that Jiang Rui has usurped the power of Chu Xiong... Therefore, he made Jiang Rui release the prisoners without cause, also with the intention of causing a dispute between the two."

"If Jiang Rui really does as he says, the conflict between the two will inevitably become real, and they will no longer be able to maintain a superficial peace..."

"And then, he gave Jiang Rui his third task!"

Everyone's hearts tightened instantly, and they subconsciously held their breath, just as Liu Shuyi said, "He made Jiang Rui kill Chu Xiong, and he even killed Chu Xiong with his own hands!"

"Think about it, everyone. Jiang Rui and Chu Xiong just had such a big argument that everyone in the prefectural government knew about it. As a result, Chu Xiong died not long after. Who will the people in the prefectural government and other prefectures and counties suspect?"

Du Gou's eyes widened: "Of course it's Jiang Rui! Just like when Jiang Rui died tragically, we suspected Chu Xiong first!"

Liu Shuyi nodded: "Once Chu Xiong is dead, Jiang Rui is the prime suspect! And the reason why the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi had Jiang Rui do it himself was to obtain evidence... In this way, the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi will have the evidence that Jiang Rui killed Chu Xiong!"

"Chu Xiong is no nobody. As the Prefect of Xingzhou, he is also an important member of the old guard of the Prince of Xi... Therefore, if Jiang Rui were to kill Chu Xiong without cause and the other old guard of the Prince of Xi were to find out, the trouble would be immense! With the Prince of Xi's illegitimate son holding this leverage, how could Jiang Rui dare to betray him so easily?"

Lu Yangyuan got goosebumps from listening to this.

He couldn't help but say, "This illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi is too cunning! Three tests, each linked to the next! He made Jiang Rui fall into his hands without him even realizing it!"

Changsun Chong's dark eyes flashed with a sharp light as he nodded and said, "He is indeed a very capable person. If Jiang Rui passes all three tests, even if Jiang Rui has his own thoughts, he will find it difficult to escape the clutches of the illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi. This illegitimate son of the Prince of Xi will then truly control Xingzhou!"

Liu Shuyi's eyes were deep as he looked out into the dark night: "If this person is not dealt with quickly, he will become a disaster sooner or later."

As he spoke, he looked at Zhao Feng and asked, "Is there any news from the pawnshop? Have they found out where those three people are?"

(End of this chapter)