Song Cheng pondered for a while and replied, "There are twelve bandits in that group, and the knives in their hands are the same style, and the shoes they wear are also the same. I was so nervous at the time, that's all the villain could see. ”

"Alright, sign the testimony."

Waiting for Song Cheng to sign, Lord Zhizhou said: "Don't stay too far away in the near future, and wait for the summons at any time." ”

Song Cheng said: "Yes." The villain is at the Renhe Pharmacy in the city, and he arrives as soon as he greets him. ”

Lord Zhizhou then ordered: "Take him down to paint a portrait." Once you're done, you can go back first. ”

"Yes." The official agreed, and immediately took Song Cheng out of the lobby to find a portrait.

Lord Zhizhou sat in the hall and did not immediately retreat, and after examining the evidence for a while, he said, "Liu Zhutou, you come to see this knife." ”

A catcher stepped forward and took the knife and looked left and right for a while before putting the knife down.

"How? Can you see the calendar? Lord Zhizhou looked at each other and asked.

Liu Zhutou thought for a while and replied: "Generally, after the knife is built, the blacksmith will leave his mark on the knife, and this knife has been on it before, but it has been deliberately worn and can no longer be seen clearly. Although I couldn't see what was written on the knife, this knife was of good quality, not made by an ordinary blacksmith, and if I guessed correctly, it should be the same as my knife, from a government-run workshop. ”

"The government-run workshop, those knives and weapons are all rationed to the army and officials, how can they fall into the hands of bandits." Lord Zhizhou muttered to himself.

Liu Zhutou said: "In the time of war, many military weapons were scattered among the people, and it was not impossible for them to be deliberately collected by bandits. I just heard from the informant that the knives used by the bandits were exactly the same, which is very suspicious. A group of bandits all use this kind of knife for more than a dozen, if they intend to collect it, this is simply impossible, there is no war in Nanjian Prefecture, and the knives of the officials are also numerous, one person and one handle, and they will not be lost at will. Moreover, this knife is also significantly different from the official saber, and there is a blood drain groove on the knife. ”

Zhizhou thought about it carefully, was suddenly startled, and asked in a low voice, "You mean this knife came from another place?" ”

Liu Zhutou nodded and said, "Exactly." There is no other explanation. ”

"Follow me." Lord Zhizhou got up and walked towards the back hall.

There are many people in the lobby, and it is better not to let too many people know about the speculation and conversation about the case, Liu Zhutou knows the reason and hurriedly follows.

After arriving at the inner hall, Lord Zhizhou took the others away and asked, "Can you be sure that this knife came from the barracks?" ”

Liu Zhutou said: "I have seen the knife in the barracks before, the style is almost exactly the same as this knife, their knife has words on it, and it is branded with the manufacturing workshop and the year of creation. ”

"In this way, the gang of bandits who have been entrenched in Nanjian Prefecture for many years is likely to be related to the military camp, right?" Lord Zhizhou's face was cloudy.

Liu Zhutou said: "If I heard correctly, the informant also said that the shoes worn by this gang of bandits are the same, which is also suspicious." It's nice to stop ten random people on the street, and it would be nice to have three or two shoes worn, and it doesn't make sense that a gang of bandits who rob merchants are so neatly dressed, unless they come from a place with uniform makeup. ”

"Or the barracks? You're saying the bandits came out of the barracks? Lord Zhizhou exclaimed.

Liu Zhutou hurriedly said: "This is just my guess, the same knife, the same shoes, I can't think of any other place in Nanjian Prefecture besides the military camp." Although those wealthy families also had people who took care of their homes and homes, their clothes and shoes were uniformly sewn, and their knives were also uniformly made, but their knife styles were different from those of sabers, and no blacksmith dared to copy the weapons of the imperial court without permission. ”

"So, there's no other way but the barracks?" Lord Zhizhou asked.

Although Liu Zhutou was very suspicious that they were from the military camp, he didn't dare to say it easily, so he could only reply: "After I take the knife to them for comparison, I can finally determine, and it is difficult to say what the accident is." ”

Zhizhou said: "This gang of bandits has finally reappeared, this time we must catch them and close the few cases they have done." Work hard, and after completing this case, you will be given half a month off. ”

"Yes." Liu Zhutou did not have the slightest excitement on his face, but was very dignified.

How can a case involving a military camp be so easy to handle, the forbidden military camp is not something that can be entered if he wants to, and it is difficult to say whether he can enter the military camp or not, let alone investigate the case, so he can only do his best.

After Liu Zhutou received the order, he quickly left the yamen with several brothers.

They can't enter the barracks, but they can first check whether the knife is the same as the forbidden saber, there are many places in the city where the forbidden saber can be found, at least four city gates.

As soon as he arrived at the north gate of the city, Liu Zhutou greeted with a smile from afar: "Brother Fang, you are on duty again today." ”

A soldier replied: "No, this has been on duty for half a month." ”

Liu Zhutou asked with great concern: "Didn't it change every ten days in the past?" What's wrong this time? ”

"Jingli is going to come to inspect our Divine Cavalry, and it is likely that they will not be able to be mobilized for a month, so they all have to guard the gate here." The soldier didn't think about it, and replied casually.

"That's really unlucky, if Brother Fang is a few days late or a few days earlier, he will avoid it." Liu Zhutou said regretfully.

"Who's to say it's not, it's really unlucky." The soldier complained, and then asked, "Are you going out of the city on an errand?" ”

Liu Zhutou said with a smile: "No, brother, I have something to ask Brother Fang for something, I wanted to invite Brother Fang to have a drink together in the evening, and I talked while eating, but the matter was more urgent, so I could only find it here in a hurry." ”

"Oh, what's the matter?" The soldier was in good spirits.

Liu Zhutou said: "That's the case, recently the yamen received a report from Shang Jia, saying that they met bandits on the way back to the city, this is a murder weapon left by the bandits they picked up, please Brother Fang to help see where it came from?" With that, he handed the knife over.

The soldier did not speak, but reached out and took the knife and looked at it a few times, then returned the knife, and then drew his own saber, and after a few careful glances, he whispered, "Strange, how can the knife left by the bandits be exactly like mine." ”

"Brother Fang is sure that this knife is exactly the same as your saber?" Liu Zhutou immediately asked.

The soldier was a little puzzled, but replied, "Except for the loss of the imprint on your knife, everything else is the same, not the slightest difference." ”

"Thank you, Brother Fang! Brother, I have left beforehand, and I will invite you to eat and drink another day. With that, he hurried away with the knife.

And the soldier was still looking at his saber repeatedly, and said to himself, "How can you be like a bandit?" ”

After confirming that the murder weapon was indeed the same as the forbidden army's saber, Liu Zhutou immediately returned to the yamen to report to Lord Zhizhou, and the specific way to do it was up to Lord Zhizhou to make an idea.

The case involves the forbidden army, and Lord Zhizhou does not dare to make any decisions easily, once something happens, although he is the lord of a state, he cannot bear the responsibility. After being silent for a long time, he instructed Liu Zhutou to secretly investigate the portrait of the bandits provided by the informant, and then go to the barracks for assistance when he found key clues.

Lord Zhizhou is reasonable, although it can be determined that this knife is a forbidden army saber, but there are so many forbidden troops in the world, although this gang of bandits has been committing crimes in Nanjian Prefecture, but it is not certain that they must be from Nanjian Prefecture.

The key is that the criminal department has repeatedly urged the criminal department to solve a major case like this, and the forbidden army is afraid of avoiding it, how can it be possible for the yamen to easily enter the place to investigate, so even if the arrest can smoothly enter the forbidden army garrison in the city, it is very likely that no valuable clues can be found.

Therefore, Liu Zhutou did not raise objections, and quickly took a number of portraits of bandits painted according to Song Cheng's words, and led the officials to visit the city extensively, taverns and teahouses, brothels in Qinglou, restaurants and gambling houses, and any place where people who could get rich overnight might go to consume.

Such a large-scale visit lasted for half a day, and the yamen quickly turned over the entire Jianpu City, but in the evening, everyone gathered in the yamen, and after the information was summarized, Liu Zhutou looked heavy, because they had not received any news about the bandits, which meant that this bandit leader had never appeared in Jianpu City.

Such a result, Liu Zhutou is really unacceptable, if no one has even seen him in Jianpu City, then how did the goods they grabbed before be exchanged for money? Did other bandits show up, or did there be another gang, or did they transport their goods to Jian'an County in the north to sell? In either case, it will be much more difficult to handle the case, and even the same as before, with nothing to be found.

There were no clues before, but now there is a portrait of the main culprit, if he can't find a breakthrough, I'm afraid that he will have to be removed if he doesn't do it for long, and the income from being a head catcher is not bad, without this income, the life of the whole family will not be easy.

Liu Zhutou thought a lot, but he couldn't figure it out, looking at the tired brothers, he could only wave them back to rest. As for what to do tomorrow, he still needs to think about it, but he really can't do it, so he can only scatter everyone and take the portrait to the north along the official road.

"Master, there was a homicide, and there are dead people in the city!"

As soon as the day dawned, Lord Zhizhou was awakened by the sound of drums, and then a maid came in to spread the word.

"Homicide?" Lord Zhizhou turned over and sat up, and he had to get out of bed before he had time to put on his clothes.

"Master, what are you anxious about? Even if it's a big thing, it's not in a hurry at this time, not to mention that everyone is dead, and you can save it if you go? The woman in the same bed was disheveled, then sat up and complained.

"Ignorance." Lord Zhizhou looked unkind and very anxious.

Although there was no displeasure on the woman's face after being reprimanded, she stopped speaking, and immediately got up to change the old man's clothes.

As soon as Lord Zhizhou arrived in the lobby, a group of officials were already standing neatly in the hall.

"Where's Liu Zhutou?"

"I've already called it, it should be there in a while." A servant replied.

"Where are the drum-beating men? Bring it to the church! ”