Chapter 1 Murder in the Southern Song Dynasty on the first day
Time: At the beginning of noon, the first moment (according to today's time, it should be 11:15 in the morning).
Location: At the end of the east side of the White Causeway of West Lake, in front of the gate of Cheng'an Temple.
Two tall chestnut horses stood side by side, anxiously waiting for the order of the knight on their backs.From time to time, the horse's front hooves struck the stone slabs on the ground, making a crisp and melodious sound.In the capital city not far away, tens of thousands of cooking smoke rose with the wind and gathered into a huge black cloud, almost covering the sky.It became difficult for the sunlight to pass through, and the sight in sight was temporarily dimmed.
The two knights on horseback are the current policemen with knives of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. The tall and strong one is named Zeng Yaowu, and the short and thin one is named Chang Yangwei.
Both of them were dressed in official uniforms, with the leading tokens of the Ministry of Punishment inserted obliquely between their belts.The tokens of the Ministry of Punishment are commonly known as the Five Beast Orders, which are the Dragon Head Order, the Tiger Head Order, the Lion Head Order, the Dog Head Order and the Pig Head Order. The Dragon Head Token will only be used when performing the most urgent official duties.Since they had the most urgent official duties, the two police officers stopped here, and their faces were full of complacency. Why?
Zeng Yaowu squinted at his companion, and raised his voice, "Old rules?"
Chang Yangwei shook his head and said: "No, no. In the early hours of yesterday, the bloodiest, most bizarre and most bizarre murder case in the capital city in more than a hundred years just happened. The Ministry of Criminal Justice was helpless. You and my brother were ordered by Mr. Bao to do this. , holding the token of the leader of the Ministry of Punishment, went to the Wuming Villa in Gushan to invite the Third Young Master Cao, and invited him out of the mountain to solve the case together. The business is urgent and we can’t play games. It’s important for us to hurry.”
Zeng Yaowu sneered and said: "Isn't it just a few people who died? The world is so big that one day thousands or eight hundred people will die. There is nothing to make a fuss about. You use official business as an excuse, is it because you are afraid of losing to me?"
Chang Yangwei couldn't be provoked, he snorted angrily, and said: "Okay, let's follow the old rules and see who is afraid of whom."
Zeng Yaowu said: "You and I set off from here at the same time, ride horses along the Bai Causeway, cross the Broken Bridge, Hongqiao, and Jindai Bridge, and end at the foot of Gushan Mountain. The first one wins, and the late one loses. "
Chang Yangwei interjected: "The loser is the host, and the winner is invited to the Yaori Building for three consecutive days of flower and wine."
The two stopped talking, each took out a piece of black cloth that had been prepared, and covered the eyes of the other's mount.The two horses suddenly plunged into the darkness, frightened, even more restless, their front hooves jumped up, their heads were raised and they neighed.
The two looked at each other on horseback and said "one, two, three" in unison.Before the three words were finished, the two of them pinched the horse's belly with both legs, and the whips in their hands fell at the same time.
The two horses are galloping forward like crazy. In their eyes, there is boundless darkness, and the darkness is the most likely to breed fear. Maybe the next step is a cliff, and if they fall, they will be smashed to pieces; or the next step may be empty, into the West Lake.The more he ran, the more this fear intensified.The manes of the two horses stood on end, their nostrils were wide open, and their mouths were wide open, desperately breathing in more air.The two knights on horseback were much more relaxed. This kind of trick was just a piece of cake for them. With their superb riding skills, they skillfully controlled the direction of the horses.
At this time, although the Baidi was not as crowded as before, there were still many tourists.Most of them are tourists from other places, and they don't have much to spend, so they can take a few mouthfuls of dry food with them, which is considered lunch.Besides, their minds were all on the beautiful scenery everywhere, who would be wary of two fast and blind horses coming out fiercely from behind?
The first person who was knocked into the air was a talented scholar who stood at the head of the broken bridge and recited impromptu poems facing a lake of spring water.Let me say a few more words about this scholar.
This scholar should have come early in the morning, and I still remember his poem that I didn't have time to finish singing:
At this point in the poem, the last word is still missing, but it stops abruptly.When he was hating the lack of horses, when he looked back by chance, he saw a horse galloping towards him, and there were two of them as soon as he came, so he couldn't help being overjoyed.
Hey, why doesn't this horse stop?Didn't you come to pick me up?Ouch, if you don't stop, it will be too late, stop, stop, this horse won't stop, I'm going to be hit by a ball.Turbulent and surging, sad and miserable.Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
Ever since, the scholar's body, who has read poetry and books, soared into the air like a paper kite, flipped more than two times in the air, and then fell back to the ground forcefully.During this period, he yelled out a word from the bottom of his heart - "Ah", and finally finished reciting the poem.In his busy schedule, he did not forget to rhyme the rhyme.
The two police officers urged their horses to gallop all the way, shouting in their mouths: "The criminal department handles the case, and idlers avoid it." Like a scythe across a wheat field, a strong wind blows through a reed, tourists dodge to both sides in panic.The Bai Causeway, which was originally peaceful and peaceful, suddenly became chaotic.Some were knocked to the ground, some were trampled by horseshoes, some were squeezed into the West Lake.The plopping sound stopped, and the screams suddenly broke out.
Since the West Lake was dredged in the fourth year of the Northern Song and Yuan Dynasties by Su Shi, who was the magistrate of Hangzhou at that time, it has undergone many renovations over the years.Therefore, even near the embankment, the water depth is more than one person.What's more, it was not long before February, which was the season when it was warm and cold, and the lake was icy cold, and the tragedy of the people who fell into the water can be imagined.The two police officers had no time to care about the panicked and innocent people around them. They used whips, horseshoes, and roars as weapons to open the way. Three days of flower wine.
Although Zeng Yaowu was slightly better at riding skills, he suffered a lot in terms of weight.At first the two strong horses were neck and neck.Just after Hongqiao, he was already half a length behind.When crossing the Kintai Bridge, he was already two lengths away.When he reached the finish line, Chang Yangwei had already tied his horse to a willow tree by the roadside, and was looking at him triumphantly with his hands crossed.
Angrily, Zeng Yaowu tied the horse to another willow tree, took off the black cloth covering the horse's eyes, and threw it back viciously at Chang Yangwei. Trembling all over, panting heavily, the stomach clinging to the ribs was like an old bellows, swelling and deflated.Its big eyes looked at its master docilely, as if begging for some water or hay.
However, what the master rewarded him was a fierce leather whip.The whip was being whipped on its eyes, and the sound was loud and crisp.When it opened its eyes again, not only blood gushed out of those huge and docile eye sockets, but tears also gushed out.
Zeng Yaowu cursed angrily: "God damn old bastard, dare to make me lose money."
The whip lashed at the horse again and again, and the horse screamed in a low voice, turning in circles in vain, trying to avoid the whip, but how could it dodge?
Chang Yangwei couldn't bear it, he took Zeng Yaowu's whip in his hand, and said: "Brother Zeng, if you can't afford to lose, just say a word, why bother to vent your anger on an animal."
Zeng Yaowu said angrily: "Who said I can't afford to lose. Isn't it just three days of flowers and wine? I will never blame you."
Chang Yangwei said: "That's a good thing, it's not early, we still have to do business."