My father ordered me to kill the emperor, but His Majesty bestowed a princess upon me instead.

The paper used for "clearing accounts overnight" was not made of good paper.

Ordinary Yong'an bamboo paper.

The ink was pine soot ink, which could be bought anywhere in the county town.

The handwriting was deliberately made neat and tidy.

No personal habits.

The paper edge has no end point.

There is no print.

There is no fragrance.

The continuous folding method only involves the most common two folds.

The person who wrote the paper knew this very well.

The more ordinary the remaining items are, the harder they are to trace.

But he still wrote down the time.

overnight.

Not tomorrow.

Not three days later.

This means that everything is ready.

Temporary intervention may not be enough.

My mother told me not to check who wrote the paper yet.

"Investigate the dead first."

I looked at her.

"Who will die?"

"Four people who are going to die on paper."

"We are all still alive."

"So we need to find out who has already taken care of our funeral arrangements."

This line of thinking is very similar to that of a mother.

If someone wants to kill four people, they can do so on a whim.

To make the deaths of four people look real, a lot of procedures had to be prepared in advance.

Dead body.

cause of death.

witness.

Obituary.

give obituary notice.

Seal the gate.

Successor.

Who will cry first?

The Imperial Clan Court had previously written announcements of the emperor's impending death.

This time, I won't just write one page.

I asked Lin Huan to investigate all the unusual documents Yong'an had issued in the past three days.

It's not just government offices that are being investigated.

They also investigated paper shops, coffin shops, foot inns, post stations, and book copying shops.

The news of the four deaths had to be spread overnight.

You can't just rely on a piece of paper stuck to the wall.

There must be at least a horse.

Half an hour later, the North Gate Post Station reported back first.

Tonight at midnight, reserve a horse for a 600-mile express route.

Sent to the capital.

The document has been sealed.

The sender was from Yong'an County Government.

Lin Huan's expression changed.

"The county government did not issue it."

"Where is the sealed box?"

"Post station".

"Why wasn't it tested?"

"I have an urgent appointment from the county magistrate."

Which county magistrate?

"Chen Ping."

There was no County Magistrate Chen Ping in Yong'an County.

At least not now.

However, there was one in the old files.

In the fourteenth year of Chengxi, he served for three months.

He subsequently died of illness.

Another dead man has come to Yong'an to serve as an official.

Simon also reported back.

One quarter past midnight.

Two horses were reserved for the Southwest Army's post stations.

Sending off Qingxia.

Sender:

Xu Sandao.

Xu Sandao stood in the old warehouse courtyard.

After hearing this, his face turned very pale.

"Where is my archery record?"

A courier delivered a document for rubbing.

The arrow is missing three arrows.

The True Story of Xu Sandao.

But the original copy of the document was always with him.

The notch on the rubbing is one fraction shallower than the original mark.

It's not a copy of Muji.

These are marks left from before.

There is a third seal at the south gate.

Sending them to Qingzhou and Qingfeng.

It was an urgent document from the Censorate.

The sender wrote to me.

Censor Shen An.

My mark is also on my body.

That letter used the old deputy seal of the Censorate.

The East Gate is the slowest.

No post horses were reserved.

But there was a night boat in Tongzhou.

The boatman had already received a deposit of ten taels.

He was to leave at 11:45 AM with an urgent report from the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs.

It was sent to various prefectures along the river.

Four letters were issued in one night.

Beijing.

southwest.

Jiangbei.

Counties and prefectures along the river.

Each went their own way.

Ah Liu listened.

"Young master."

"Um."

"Are they afraid that one letter won't be delivered?"

"no."

"Then why divide it into four parts?"

"Because the ways of dying are different in different places."

The mother nodded.

"Seize the documents first."

"Not issuing it."

Lin Huan immediately sent someone.

Bai Zhi, however, said:

"We can't just deduct points."

Why?

"If the post station discovers that the original letter has not been sent."

"Those who are prepared to believe will change their path."

"Let the horses go out as usual."

"Bring an empty box."

This is a good idea.

Everywhere, post horses and night boats were instructed to travel at their original times.

The sealed box is temporarily kept.

Replace it with waste paper of the same weight.

They secretly intercepted each other at the mutual post stations along the way.

This makes the sender believe that the message has already been sent.

Four sealed boxes were delivered to the old warehouse.

Three true seals.

A fake seal.

The wax on the box from the Imperial Clan Court is genuine.

The wax used in the county government office in the capital was also genuine wax taken from the old warehouse.

The sealing rope of the Southwest Military Post Station bore the old bloodstains of Xu Sandao.

The Censorate's mailbox used the duplicate seal that I had discarded before leaving the capital.

Each one managed to fool the first check.

Angelica dahurica was tested on the paper first.

The four sheets of paper are different.

In the capital, the Imperial Clan Court used white hemp paper.

In the southwest, the military used coarse mulberry paper.

In Jiangbei, bamboo paper from Yong'an County was used.

The imperial edicts were sent along the river on yellow paper.

The content is also different.

The first letter was sent to the capital.

Xiao Jingheng was assassinated in public by Shen Lie, the commander of the Southwest forces, at the old granary in Yong'an.

Shen An was ordered by his father to provide assistance.

Gu Qinghe tried to dissuade them but failed and died in the chaos of battle.

Shen Lie was later shot and killed by the Imperial Guards.

Princess Zhaoning has gone missing.

This letter must be sent to the capital.

The emperor was killed by the Shen family father and son.

The second letter was sent to the southwest.

Xiao Jingheng lured Shen Lie into Yong'an under the pretext of auditing accounts.

An ambush was set up during the banquet.

Shen Lie and Gu Qinghe are both dead.

Shen An was detained.

The emperor's refusal to submit the letter was due to coercion by the court.

The armies in the southwest should protect themselves.

This letter needs to be sent to the Southwest.

The father was tricked and killed.

I am a hostage.

Refusal to pay tribute is ineffective.

The third letter was sent to Jiangbei.

Shen Lie and Xiao Jingheng argued over the grain debt.

Both were seriously injured.

Gu Qinghe died due to a pre-existing illness.

Shen An was arrested and taken back to the capital by Princess Zhaoning for sealing up the grain storage.

The account books of the Yong'an old warehouse were destroyed in the chaos.

This is the most lenient.

There was no immediate call for anyone to rebel.

This led Jiangbei to believe that the debt had been settled.

The person is gone too.

The fourth letter was sent to the prefectures along the river.

Xiao Jingheng died of a pre-existing illness in Yong'an.

Shen Lie was suspected of treason and was executed on the spot.

Gu Qinghe committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

Shen An was killed as an accomplice in the regicide.

Princess Zhaoning was appointed regent by imperial decree.

After reading it, Xiao Lingyi's first words were:

"Fake."

I asked, "Which place?"

"I will not oversee the country."

"The others are fake too."

"This place is the most disgusting."

Four letters.

Four ways to die.

No two were exactly alike.

This is not an oversight.

It was intentional.

The capital city hates the southwest.

The Southwest hates the capital.

Jiangbei will be disappointed.

The prefectures and counties along the river must first acknowledge the Zhaoning Regent.

Simultaneous action was taken in four locations.

By the time the real news arrived, the troops had already been mobilized.

The city gates have been sealed.

The imperial edict has been drafted.

Mother said:

"They don't need the whole world to believe the same thing."

"Just believe what you are most willing to believe in first, in every situation."

The father looked at the second letter from the southwest.

"There are indeed some people in the military who believe it."

The emperor looked at the first letter.

"There are also people in the capital who are willing to believe that the Shen family father and son murdered the emperor."

Xiao Lingyi looked at the fourth letter.

"The imperial family members are more willing to believe that I will obtain the imperial edict."

I'm reading the third letter.

Jiangbei is the most prone to having its accounts ruined again.

Because they have been deceived too many times.

As soon as you hear that the old warehouse is in chaos and the original accounts have been destroyed.

Many people would think, "That's exactly right."

Officials always manage to hide things back.

Bai Zhi placed the four letters side by side.

"There is one similarity."

Not the deceased.

Not the murderer.

It is time.

All four letters contain the following:

The second quarter of the hour of Zi (11:45 PM).

The old granary in Yong'an resounded three times.

Then the incident occurred.

I asked Lin Huan:

"Does the old warehouse have a North Bell?"

"no."

Mother said:

"It used to be."

Everyone looked at her.

"The old warehouse was originally a central grain depot."

There is a flat-bottomed bell in North Point.

"It's not telling time."

"Each time, the main warehouse is sealed, the hidden gate is opened, and the large scale is adjusted."

"You have to knock three times."

Why was it demolished later?

"The fifteenth year of Chengxi."

"They say the bell tower is rotten."

"Where's Zhong?"

"The account is scrapped."

"I don't actually know."

Lin Huan immediately retrieved the old warehouse repair register.

The fifteenth year of Chengxi.

The North Bell Tower was demolished.

The bell body was melted down to make agricultural tools.

Repair personnel:

Du Heng.

It's Du Heng again.

Inspector:

Chen Ping.

It's still a dead person.

The mother looked towards the north side of the old warehouse.

That place is now a walled-off area.

Three grain debt plaques were piled up in front of the wall.

The emperor's.

Father's.

Her own.

"The clock wasn't disassembled."

"That's what my mother said."

"If it's demolished."

"The accounts will not be checked by Du Heng and Chen Ping together."

The father asked, "Where is the bell?"

"On the beam."

The mother had barely finished speaking.

A deep thud came from the north corner of the old warehouse.

when--

The bell really rang.

It's not very big.

But it was loud enough for everyone in the courtyard to hear.

Ah Liu is holding the lamp.

His face turned pale instantly.

"Young master."

"Um."

"Only the first tone."

I looked up at the high point of Beicang.

There is no bell on the beam.

It's not visible from below.

The mother said:

"Seal off the gate."

"Don't let anyone out."

"They didn't come to ring the bell."

"I came to take a look."

"After the first sound."

"Where will we check first?"