" The imperial envoy from the capital has disappeared along with the sedan chair," the bailiff continued to report. Then, he carefully guessed," He might have encountered…an accident."”
"I want to see her dead or alive." Magistrate Zhang felt that since the missing imperial envoy had not been found, he could not be sure if he had been killed or if he had escaped somewhere.
"Oh right, there are robbers in East County.”Magistrate Zhang thought for a moment and continued to ask. He felt that only those who were domineering and desperate bandits could boldly rob the government's carriages.
"Milord. There was indeed a group of bandits there before, but…" The constable scratched his head, his face full of confusion." The bandits there all disappeared a year ago.”
"Disappeared?" Magistrate Zhang was confused. What did he mean by all of them disappeared? Could it be that the bandits felt that they couldn't rob anything in East County, so they changed their hideout? But if that was really the case, why would he suddenly come out and commit a crime now?
"No, I heard that they were all killed overnight.”The constable could guess from Magistrate Zhang's expression that he might have thought wrongly, so he explained.
"Go get Qi Lu and Ye Meng.”After hearing that they were killed overnight, Magistrate Zhang felt that the matter was not as simple as it seemed. He asked the constable to call Ye Meng and the others.
The constable didn't know why they were called over. However, since Magistrate Zhang had given the order, he did not think much and quickly ran out to look for those two people.
At this moment, Ye Meng was watering her plants, and Qi Lu had just returned from his patrol. The moment the young constable saw them, he hurried the two of them to Magistrate Zhang's house.
"Is there something urgent that Milord is looking for us for?”Ye Meng put down the long pot in her hand, untied the quilt, rolled up her sleeves and skirt, and asked as she wiped her face.
"Yes, I am. What's the hurry?" Qi Lu put down his sword and poured himself a cup of tea in the pavilion. They looked at the young constable with puzzled eyes. Both of them were a little unflustered.
"I don't know either, but can't you just go?”The constable hurriedly said.
Only then did the two of them put away their things and went to Magistrate Zhang's study.
At this moment, Magistrate Zhang was waiting for them while studying a map in his hand. The area drawn on it was the location of East County.
"Sir, were you looking for us?" Ye Meng and Qi Lu entered the room and asked, only to find Magistrate Zhang sitting in front of the table and studying something seriously.
"This is a map?" Ye Meng came forward and asked when she saw the soft cloth in Magistrate Zhang's hand was covered with lines and words.
"You guys are here." Magistrate Zhang, who was startled by her sudden question, sat up straight and put down the map in his hand.
"May I know why Sir is looking for us?”Ye Meng looked at him? Finally, there was a reaction. He took a step back and asked.
"It's like this." Magistrate Zhang indicated that the others could leave for the time being. He continued," I just received a report early in the morning. It said that an imperial envoy from the capital was kidnapped when he passed by Ningzhou. His life and death are unknown. His whereabouts are unknown."”
"Where did he encounter the tribulation?" Ye Meng asked, but she seemed to be thinking.
"East County." Magistrate Zhang sighed and said. This incident was definitely not a simple kidnapping case. There was no need to talk about the strangeness. Just the identity of the person involved was enough to not be ignored.
Since he was the imperial envoy, he was naturally the person who was personally appointed by the Emperor to carry out important tasks. He represented the Emperor himself. In other words, no matter what the result was, no matter if the imperial envoy was injured or not, as long as this matter happened in Ningzhou, it would be under the jurisdiction of Magistrate Zhang.
He had to bear all the blame. Therefore, he was also worried to the point of having a headache. He only hoped that he could find the imperial envoy as soon as possible and safely send him out of Ningzhou.
This way, his guilt would be lessened. Now that this incident had happened, at the very least, he would be charged with incompetent management and allowing the robbers to run amok. One had to know that if anything were to happen to the imperial envoy, then he would no longer be the magistrate of Ningzhou. He might not even be able to keep his head.
"East County? Wasn't it the most barren and unstable area in Ningzhou Province?”Qi Lu was surprised. Ever since he took up his post, every time he arranged for patrols, constables would complain to him that they were unwilling to patrol the streets of East County.
The reason was that the streets there were too shabby. Other than a few relatively wealthy houses, there were not even a few decent stone slabs in other places. The people there did not rely on the government and had a strong personality. Every time they went, they would encounter some quarrels and fights from time to time. They could not stop them at all.
Swindling and swindling was a common occurrence. Even if they had sent people over previously, it was still useless. However, it had indeed been much quieter in the past year. However, there were some terrifying rumors. The constables naturally did not believe in these ghosts and gods, but every household there would turn off the lights and sleep on time at night. They were even unwilling to come out at night.
Although this was a lot more peaceful, it was still a little strange. Therefore, many constables were unwilling to go there and provoke the people on their side.
"Why? Is that place very bad?”Ye Meng saw the surprise on Qi Lu's face, and she could not believe it. It was the same expression she had when she was in school and her friend was assigned the most difficult and dirty task by the teacher.
"Not very bad." Qi Lu turned his head slowly and said word by word," It's simply super bad. Although the place had the word 'county', it was not a county. In fact, it was just a suburb outside Ningzhou City.”
"If that's the case, why didn't the imperial envoy choose the right path to enter Ningzhou City?”Ye Meng asked. She believed that under normal circumstances, the imperial envoy would have checked the route in advance. Moreover, during the journey, there were also a few scouts among their troops. When they found that there were no problems in front, the people behind them would continue to move forward.
Moreover, from what she knew, unless they were incognito, most ministers would not enter the city on purpose. They would even send someone to inform the local highest-ranking officer in advance and then swagger around to enjoy a warm reception.
Magistrate Zhang lowered his head and thought for a while after hearing her words. He seemed to be looking for a more reasonable explanation. After a long time, he said," The imperial envoy was going to Suizhou. However, he passed by Ningzhou. Perhaps he took the risk to take the road to East County in order to get to Suizhou as soon as possible.”
Taking risks? Ye Meng was curious about this imperial envoy. Although the path was short, it was difficult and dangerous. Moreover, it might not be faster than taking the main road in the city.
If there was really something important, shouldn't he choose a more reliable and safe direction?
Could it be that this imperial envoy actually had another purpose or reason for choosing this path?
"So, did Milord call us here because he wants us to be in charge of this matter?”Ye Meng still had many questions in her mind. Thinking of the reason why the adults called her over, she asked. Although it was a question, his tone was firm.
"Hmm, not bad." Magistrate Zhang lowered his eyes and nodded." Ye Meng, I'm aware of your abilities. As for Qi Lu's kung fu, he's naturally the best in the government office, so I think it's the most appropriate to send you two to investigate this matter."”
"But Milord, is it just the two of us?”Qi Lu noticed Magistrate Zhang's action of avoiding the others and asked curiously.
"For the time being, only the two of you will go." Magistrate Zhang nodded again." It's best not to alert the enemy.”
However, the imperial envoy had been accompanied by so many guards, but they had met with an accident. This meant that the enemy's numbers and offensive power were definitely more than he had imagined. Therefore, no matter how many people he transferred from the government office, it would be useless. On the contrary, it would alert the enemy. It might even be more detrimental to the imperial envoy's current situation. At that time, the situation would be even more troublesome.
Therefore, what he wanted was to use his wits to win when the other party was not paying attention, and then send someone to clean up the mess.
"I understand." Ye Meng looked at Magistrate Zhang's serious expression and guessed the reason why he only sent the two of them. It was just that she and Qi Lu had to be even more careful with this case.
"Where's Qi Lu?" Magistrate Zhang nodded at Ye Meng, then turned to Qi Lu with a questioning look.
"I know." Qi Lu felt a little uncomfortable under his stare. He looked at Ye Meng and saw that she didn't have any other expression, so he could only follow her example and nod, indicating that he was willing to accept the order.
"Very good, then you can go and prepare.”Magistrate Zhang walked down and patted Qi Lu's shoulder. His wide sleeves fell down and swept across Qi Lu's hand that was holding the sword. He smiled and said," I'll wait for your good news. If you have any questions or need any help, I'll do my best to satisfy them."”
"Yes." The two of them answered at the same time. He turned around and was about to leave.
"Wait a minute." Magistrate Zhang suddenly stopped them, as if he had remembered something." I forgot to tell you something.”
"What is it?" Ye Meng asked.
"Forget it. You guys go to the morgue and take a look at the corpses of the guards and some scattered weapons and flags.”Magistrate Zhang was about to speak, but he suddenly felt that he did not know where to start, or how to explain clearly. After thinking about it, he could only let the two of them see for themselves.
"We know." Although Ye Meng felt that it was strange and thought that Magistrate Zhang was trying to be mysterious, she still nodded to show that she understood. Actually, even if he didn't say anything, she would have gone to see the corpse herself. It was just that Magistrate Zhang had specially mentioned it. There must be something strange or worth looking at on the corpse.
This way, he was even more interested in taking a look. In the end, Magistrate Zhang gave a few more simple instructions before the two of them left.
At this time, the sun had gradually risen to the highest point in the sky. The warm light shone on his body and made him feel a little hot. The weather was getting hotter and hotter recently. It was still a little hot to wear thin clothes.
The two of them walked back to the courtyard. The fragrance of flowers in the garden was strong. The butterfly on the side lazily rested on the tip of the flower. After a long time, it spread its wings and flew to another flower, stopping again.
"Why didn't you report the case on West Street just now?”Qi Lu asked. Although he knew that Ye Meng had said that she would give Boss Shen three days to turn herself in, he thought that she would at least inform Magistrate Zhang about such a big case.
However, Ye Meng didn't seem to have any intention of mentioning that matter. He didn't know what she was thinking, so he didn't say anything.
However, he couldn't help but ask now.
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