They had breakfast together.
Da Lian Bao, because he woke up too early, got sleepy and went back to sleep.
Lin Mei Mei, on the other hand, went to the inner house to secretly train with her sisters.
Only poor Li Xuan had to go to the Northern Town Guard as a child laborer.
So Li Bai Hu, the captain, made up his mind to immerse himself in the materials again and become a salary thief.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans.
Perhaps it was the Phoenix Egg, the former protagonist, who had come to disturb Li Xuan's peaceful life.
He had only spent a day in the library, and just as he was about to leave, someone came to report that there was a murder at an inn opposite the station, 20 miles from Shen Jing.
The sensitivity wasn't important; what mattered was that the victim was an undercover Jin Yi Wei!
Coincidentally, the New Year was approaching, and business was increasing.
All the other captains had assignments, even the flagships were gone.
Only Li Xuan could personally solve the problem.
Moreover, it was unknown if he was on some confidential mission and needed to keep it confidential. So the usual method of bringing everyone back to be interrogated couldn't be used.
He had to actually solve the case.
And he had to solve it under the guise of a messenger, concealing his Jin Yi Wei identity.
Li Xuan: Ah, this is so annoying! (Monkey King edition)
He had a few of his horsemen change into civilian clothes, and he went home to change clothes as well. After giving Xiang Ling and Qing Wen a few instructions, Li Xuan took his men to the scene of the crime.
He listened to the case information along the way.
As the saying goes, every 10 miles there is an inn, and every 60 miles there is a station, and there are only more stations, not less.
Therefore, in the Great Qian, if you follow the station road, you will find a station every 30 miles at most, and every 20 miles at least.
The case happened to be in front of the nearest station outside the South Gate.
This morning, the innkeeper was delivering hot water to a guest when he passed by a certain room. The door was open, so he naturally took a look inside.
This one look scared the living daylights out of him.
He shouted, "My god!", and threw the basin of hot water he was carrying.
The sound of crashing porcelain echoed far and wide, attracting everyone's attention.
Everyone saw a headless corpse lying in the open room!
"After reporting it to the authorities and examining the deceased's identity, it was found that the identity documents were fake. The messenger, fearing that he might be an undercover agent, reported it to the Jin Yi Wei."
"Further investigation revealed that it was the Jin Yi Wei's usual method of counterfeiting. After further investigation, it was found that the deceased was a Jin Yi Wei captain from Yan Zhou, named Lian Fei Yu."
Listening to the horsemen's report, Li Xuan asked, "Have you detained everyone in the inn?"
"They were prohibited from leaving the moment the body was found. No one has been missing since last night."
Listening to the horsemen's report, Li Xuan nodded.
The murderer had to be among these people.
If there were really any high-flying assassins, then there was nothing he could do.
However, since the deceased was a Jin Yi Wei who was acting undercover, the focus was not on finding the murderer, but on finding the reason why the deceased was acting undercover.
The most likely possibility was that he was carrying something.
Such as intelligence, or a token, or evidence.
Without a word, they soon arrived at the inn where the incident occurred.
One of his men lifted the curtain, and a horseman went in first to take a look. After confirming that everything was normal, he invited Li Xuan in.
But as soon as Li Xuan entered, he frowned.
Seeing the crowded inn, he turned to the horseman who was familiar with intelligence and asked:
"Is this inn usually this crowded?"
"I see there are scholars, even juren (provincial scholars) and officials escorting prisoners. They should all be able to stay at the station across the street."
The horseman explained in a low voice, "Captain, because next year is the Qiu Wei (autumn examination) and then the Chun Wei (spring examination), the number of students coming to the capital to take the exam is inevitably increasing, and the station is not big enough to accommodate them."
As soon as he said this, Li Xuan understood.
The imperial examination was different from the college entrance exam.
The Palace Examination was not included, but the Hui Shi, also known as Chun Wei, was a unified examination in the capital.
But the Xiang Shi, also known as Qiu Wei, and the exams before Qiu Wei, were all regional (provincial) exams.
The court would allocate the number of passes according to the population and level of education in each province, usually ranging from dozens to over a hundred.
It must be known that the average passing rate for juren was only 3%!
That's why in places like Jiangnan, where the literary heritage was flourishing, the students were exceptionally good. If the students from the north took the Qiu Wei in the south, they might not even rank among the average.
In addition to the regular regional (provincial) quotas, some academies also had quotas, with the National Academy having the most.
So some people, in order to get a good exam location, would try to "transfer their academic records" and register with the National Academy.
Of course, the southern students looked down on this shameless idea. They would rather die than give up!
Besides the "passing quota" like the "admission quota", there were also factors such as the long journey and acclimation to the unfamiliar environment.
Those who arrived early could adapt sooner, while those who arrived late might not even find a place to rent, or even an inn to stay at.
As for being late, hmph, that was suicide.
Young man, try again in three years!
Having figured out the key, Li Xuan walked in and sat down at the table where the yamen catchers were sitting.
Without him having to say anything, a horseman introduced him, "This is the official from Shenjing, who is specifically responsible for this case. You will recount the case in detail."
"If you miss a single detail, be careful of your heads!"
As he said this, the horseman also showed the waist badge of the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen.
It gave Li Xuan the feeling that the Jin Yi Wei were arrogant, just like S.H.I.E.L.D., and could use whatever identity they wanted.
"We have met the official! We dare not! We dare not!"
"This morning..."
The catchers told basically nothing useful.
They hadn't even found the deceased's missing head.
The case didn't seem to have been investigated; it was basically still fresh.
As they were asking questions, someone walked in, lifting the curtain.
Seeing that it was a scholar in a Confucian gown, those who were about to scold him for letting in the cold air when he lifted the curtain closed their mouths again.
It also let Li Xuan understand why people had been looking at him like that when he came in.
They knew that they couldn't afford to offend scholars.
They also knew that they couldn't afford to offend Li Xuan and his men, who were carrying swords!
Of course, now that they saw how respectful the catchers were to Li Xuan and his men, they didn't know who they were.
"Go to the crime scene, lead the way."
Li Xuan had heard enough and decided to change locations.
The catcher replied obsequiously, "Yes, official, please follow me!"
As Li Xuan and his men followed the catcher upstairs, everyone in the inn broke the silence and started to whisper among themselves.
"You say this new official is so handsome, with a noble look on his face. He must be a young master from a duke or marquis's house. Can he solve the case?"
"What are you thinking? Don't you see that he has several people with him? Those are not only his guards, but also help him solve cases. Otherwise, how could this young master have fun?"
"Let's just solve it quickly. We've been here for two days already."
"I think this case wasn't done by a human. It must have been done by a ghost. How else could we not find the head!"
…