After the city gate was opened, Zhang Yuobo, a participant in the Jiangning Left Guard, received news and personally led a cavalry team to rush to the mouth of the Jin River. Yang Pu followed with the pursuit cavalry of the Inspector's Office. After roughly inspecting the scene, the murderer retreated to the southwest corner of the poplar forest and hid his tracks. The poplar forest used to be a village, but it didn't enter the village, and there was a straight carriage road leading directly to the East Huamen official road. Until the East Huamen official road, some spider silk and horse hoof prints could still be found, but after chasing to the outside of the East Huamen, all traces disappeared.

  Thirty-six icy corpses lay between the fields, covered with white cloth. Their family members sat beside them on the ground, either sobbing or wailing. Lin ordered Qian Xiao Wu to lead a team to Quyang Town and Miling County to purchase coffins. The people lying on the ground were of all ages, men and women, old and young. As they approached the Jin River estuary, he was filled with joy, and he couldn't bear the thought of simply wrapping the dead in straw mats for burial.

  The more humble the life, the more precious it is to Lin Xie. He sat on the ridge between the fields, at the head of this row of corpses, with his waist knife laid across his chest.

  "The villain's methods are very slick and hard to investigate..." Zhang Yubo also disregarded his image and sat down beside Lin.

  Lin tied his eyes to gaze at the distant sky's white clouds, and after a moment said: "As for who was targeted by last night's events, it is still uncertain for the time being, indeed difficult to investigate. If it was targeted at Lord Gu, I'm afraid the Jiangning Fu Bingma Si will not be able to intervene."

  Zhang Yubo nodded, he had examined the scene and the wounds on the deceased. The killer last night was no ordinary person. He saw Yang Pu walking from a distance, couldn't be too unimpressive, so he stood up with Lin Xie.

  "Lord Zhang, Lord Lin..." Yang Pu gave a courtesy to Zhang Yubo and Lin Xie. As the seventh-rank Left Aide of the Imperial Guard, Zhang Yubo was superior in rank to Yang Pu, who held only an eighth-rank military position, so it was natural for him to show deference to Zhang. The court of Dai Viet had always emphasized civil over military, with high-ranking military officers receiving some respect but lower-ranking ones being looked down upon; therefore, it was also proper for him to show courtesy to Lin Xie, a ninth-rank Judicial Officer.

  However, Yang Pu's relationship with Gu Wu Chen was extraordinary. Zhang Yu Bo didn't dare to be arrogant in front of him and replied to Lin Fu: "Governor Yang is being polite."

  "After inspecting the scene, without further evidence, this case can only be entrusted to Lord Zhang for a thorough investigation," Yang Pu said, "I'll go back and report the situation to Lord Gu, does Lord Lin want to come with me into the city?"

  "I'll stay here for the time being to settle things," Lin said, "You can inform Master Gu about the details, and if he wants to see me, just send a horseman out of the city to notify me."

  Lin Xuan knew that Yang Pu also suspected that the brutal act of the killer yesterday was aimed at Gu Wu Chen, so he hurried back to ask for instructions from Gu Wu Chen. Before Gu Wu Chen made a decision, the jurisdiction of the murder case belonged to the Jiangning Prefecture's Military and Martial Arts Department. Whether it was Zhang Yu Bo or Yang Pu, Lin Xuan trusted them at least in the investigation of the murder case. However, just because Zhang Yu Bo and Yang Pu temporarily couldn't find any clues didn't mean that Lin Xuan was left with nothing to do.

  Last night when the bandits raided the camp, there were three people hiding in the poplar forest directing everything. Cao Zikang and Wu Qi led their men to quietly capture them, and Lin Xuan had already arranged for Ge Cunxin and Ge Cunxiong to hide them on a boat and transfer them elsewhere. Meanwhile, Wu Qi took his men to follow the bandits from last night and has not returned to report yet, perhaps they have already found out where those people are hiding.

  Lin Moujue's mouth curled up in a cold smile: Yesterday, the assassin's plan was detailed and their movements were swift, but these assassins never expected that Cao Zikang, Wu Qi, Ge Cunxin, Ge Cunxiong and others would hide among these refugees.

  Cao Zikang, Wu Qi, Ge Cunxin, Ge Cunxiong and others are people who cannot be exposed to the light of day. Not only can they not let those violent thugs and enemies know of their existence, but also cannot let Zhang Yubo, Yang Pu, Gu Wuchen know of their existence. Zhang Yubo and Yang Pu could not find any clues, and Lin Fu was silent.

  Yang Pu left first and did not go to the prison island outside the city to meet his son, but hurried back to the city to report to Gu Wu Chen. Zhang Yu Bo kept the case of Jiangning Prefecture and the county in the suburbs had such a serious murder case, he also wanted to report to Wang Xue Shan, the prefect of Jiangning Prefecture, at this time he could not confirm whether the case would be under the jurisdiction of Jiangning Prefecture or taken over by the Provincial Governor's Office.

  Yang Pu and Zhang Yubo left, and the Wei Ling County magistrate finally arrived late. Lin Xie was too lazy to respond, saying that things were busy on the prison island, and pushed Lin Jingzhong out. He and Zhou Pu took a boat and left the Jin Chuan River mouth, returning to the Jin Chuan Prison Island.

  The boat arrived at Jin Chuan Island, and Lin Xie arranged for the sailors on this boat to be from Chang Shan Island. He had the guards go ashore, and he and Zhou Pu took a detour around the northwest corner of Jin Chuan Prison Island by boat. There was a dense forest here, with some shrubs already growing into the river water. They pushed the boat deep inside, where a ship was hidden. Cao Zi'ang and brothers Ge Cunxin and Ge Cunxiong were hiding in the cabin, and only now did they stick their heads out to welcome Lin Xie and Zhou Pu aboard.

  In the corner of the cabin, three men were tied up with five flowers. They all had scars on their bodies and seemed to have been interrogated by Cao Zikang. At this time, they had rags stuffed in their mouths to prevent them from shouting. When they saw Lin Xie walk in, the young man in his early thirties looked surprised and frightened. They didn't know that the people who caught them were Cao Zikang and others, but when they saw Lin Xie walk in, they realized that Cao Zikang and others were actually Lin Xie's men. They thought they had seen through Lin Xie and the Ji Yun Society, so they planned to attack last night, but they didn't expect Lin Xie to counterattack and even capture them. How could this not make them feel surprised and frightened?

  "So you're the leader!" Lin Xie bypassed the young man in the middle and pulled out a ragged sock from the mouth of the man with a scar on his left cheek, asking, "Who gave the order to deal with me so ruthlessly?"

  "Hey, who do you think you are?" The scar-faced man puckered up to spit in Lin Xie's face, but before he could, Lin Xie punched him under the chin. As the man's tongue stretched out of his mouth to spit, his upper and lower teeth clashed together, biting down on the tip of his tongue so hard that it bled profusely, preventing him from spitting in Lin Xie's face after all.

  "Are you really that arrogant, thinking I won't kill you?" Lin Xuan's face was cold and stern as he stared at the scar-faced man, his voice icy. "There are thirty-six innocent corpses on the opposite shore, and you think I won't kill you?" Lin Xuan grabbed the man's hair, pulled out his knife and made a swift slash at his neck, then quickly stuffed the torn cloth into the severed artery to prevent blood from splashing everywhere.

  The other two never thought that Lin would walk in and say only two sentences before drawing his knife to kill, the method of killing was so clean and efficient, even the scar-faced man did not think he would die like this, all he heard was the sound of blood gushing onto the tattered socks, and saw the large amount of hot blood instantly soak through the tattered socks and drip down.

  The man with the scar on his face finally stopped spraying blood from his neck artery, and Lin let go of his hand, throwing the corpse into a corner. He tossed aside the bloody rag that had been stuffed in the young man's mouth. His hands and wrists were stained with fresh blood, but he calmly took the rag to wipe them clean before turning to the young man and saying, "Now it's your turn to talk..."

  "Mr. Lin... Mr. Lin... Mr. Lin..." The young man's tongue was tied, and after saying "Mr. Lin" for half a day, he couldn't say another word. Lin Xuan smelled a strong urine odor, looked down, and saw that the kid had already wet his pants.

  Lin Jie threw the cloth sock that had been used to wipe his hands to one side, walked into the cabin, and left the interrogation to Zhou Pu and Cao Zikang. He squatted at the bow of the boat, stretching his hand into the water to wash off the bloodstains on his wrist.

  After a moment, Cao Zikang, Zhou Pu and Ge brothers walked out and said: "Last night was the knife guest raised by Quyang Town's Qu family..."

  "Quyang Qu's family?" Lin Xuan looked up at Cao Zikang with a puzzled expression.

  The city of Jiangning has a population of 1.5 million households, with a thriving market economy that relies heavily on external supplies to the point where it is hard for ordinary people to imagine, with just rice and grain alone requiring an annual import of over 400 million catties from outside, and other commodities are also astronomical figures, which has also promoted the rapid rise of surrounding towns. In addition to the ten counties in the suburbs, there are also twenty-four satellite towns that have reached a level of prosperity far beyond that of ordinary county towns, one of which is Quyang Town. The Qu family is a well-known wealthy family in Quyang Town, and more than 70% of the land rental rights on both sides of the Jin River are controlled by the Qu family's rental stack, including the land that Lin Xie is about to requisition for building a warehouse dock. Apart from this, neither Lin Xie nor Jiyun Society has any further dealings with the Qu family, and it is possible that many of the materials purchased by Lin Mengde from Quyang Town came from the Qu family's hands. With just this little grudge, the Qu family would resort to such evil means, do they really not understand that behind Jiyun Society or Jinjiang Prison Island stands Gu Wudang?

  "That young man is Qu Wu Yang's only son, who was sent here yesterday to gain experience... He doesn't know why the Qu family wants to deal with us so viciously. They think that if Ji Yun She sets up shop at the river mouth, it will encroach on their interests in this area, so he brought people over to teach us a lesson!" Cao Zi Ang said.

  "The lesson, in their mouths, is indeed a light and casual remark." Lin You had an unspeakable sorrow and indignation.

  "What to do with him? He is willing to pay 20,000 taels of silver as ransom!" Cao Zi'ang asked, "Qu Wu Yang would also be more than happy to pay 20,000 taels of silver for his only son."

  "Twenty thousand taels of silver, it's not a small amount," Lin Xie squatted at the bow of the boat, turned his head to look at Cao Zi'ang, Zhou Pu, Ge Cunxin and Ge Cunxiong standing behind him, and said, "If someone else spent twenty thousand taels of silver to buy your heads from me, what would you want me to do?"

  Ge Cunxiong wanted to say that the government's reward for his two brothers was only 200 taels of silver, but seeing Lin Xie's face was particularly serious, he could also feel his emotions, so he didn't dare to make jokes anymore.

  Lin Tie said, "There are thirty-six corpses lying on the shore, old and young, male and female. They were all workers I recruited. I want to give them an explanation - kill them, kill them cleanly, then go check who is behind Qu's family?"

  ***************

  P.S: No coding during the day, catching up with two updates in the deep night, seeking red tickets and collections!