Six years later, early autumn.

Shicheng.

As a must-pass road to the south from Douchuan Pass, since the fall of Douchuan Pass, Shicheng has become the front line against Donghao's invasion.

Even so, the stone city is still bustling and lively.

In the early morning, as soon as the city gate was opened, all kinds of people waiting outside the city gate were waiting in line to enter.

Those who chop wood, traders, and vegetables... set up stalls on the main street of Shicheng City, waiting for today's customers.

The sudden burst of screams broke the order of the street, which shocked everyone to stand up and look around.

"Not good, no good, no, nobody's dead!" Someone ran out of the alley and raised his hands and shouted in panic.

Soon, the constable from Shicheng Yamen arrived.

"Hello, Lord He!"

"Prince He, you are here!"

Everyone looked at the young officials walking in the front and greeted each of them attentively.

"Hello, you are here to sell vegetables again? The wild vegetables look quite fresh today, so just send them to my house. My grandmother likes this bite!"

"Uncle Huang, I'm in good spirits. I'm so happy to watch the fun?"

County Magistrate He has a well-proportioned figure, fair complexion, thick moustaches on his lips, and quite majestic. However, when he greets these people, he has a friendly face and will make jokes from time to time, which will cause laughter from the people around him.

However, when he walked to the entrance of the alley, the expression on his face became serious.

Behind him, the constables stopped the people who were following and refused to enter the alley. Only the middle-aged man who found the dead came to the scene with County Magistrate He and the head of the constable.

The stone city is not big. The alley next to the main street is deep and dark, and there is a dark ditch at the end of the alley.

The dark ditch is full of stagnant water, and over time it becomes a place for discarding garbage. It emits a pungent stench regardless of winter or summer, so that few people usually come to it.

The deceased lay on the trash slope piled up into hills on the edge of the trench.

"It's Lai Zi Six." The head of the constable recognized the identity of the deceased at a glance, and his eyebrows were furrowed tightly, "It's another one."

County Magistrate He also became serious, "Is he a thief?"

The head of the detective team nodded "Yes."

Laizi Liu is a native of Shicheng, and is not a good thing. He is idle and steals the crowd and people hate it.

"But he was timid, and he just secretly made some small money and didn't dare to commit big things, so he was caught a few times occasionally and released them."

The head of the detective team looked very dark, "This is the fifth one."

Although Shicheng often faces Donghao's army, perhaps because of this, the people in the city are very united and rarely have any major cases of murder and robbery.

However, over the past month, the situation has been a little wrong. Several thieves have died in succession, and the fifth one is Lai Zi Six.

Not long after, the coroner completed the initial inspection and stood up to report to County Magistrate He, "Sir, the deceased should have been killed after being tortured."

The same injuries and causes of death as the four previous deceased were the torture.

County Magistrate He bent down, not caring about the surrounding stench and stains on Lai Ziliu's body. He carefully checked the traces on the body and nodded to agree with the coroner's conclusion.

He personally searched for various traces on the scene, and only after he confirmed that there was no leftovers, he asked someone to come and took the body back to the county government.

"Send someone to investigate Lai Ziliu's whereabouts these days to see if he has made a grudge with anyone." County Magistrate He ordered the head of the constable team while walking, "At the same time, you should pay attention to see if he has any abnormal actions these days."

Along the way, there were people who were greeted by County Magistrate He, some were small vendors on the street, some were staff wearing exquisite clothes, and some were strong men with rebellious faces. However, when they saw County Magistrate He, everyone had the same expression - respect and closeness.

In the seat by the window on the second floor of the restaurant on the street, two drinkers saw all these scenes.

"This County Magistrate He looks very popular with the people." The fat drinker picked up a peanut and threw it into his mouth, saying while refusing.

The drinker sitting opposite him was young and handsome, elegant and graceful, with gentle smiles on the corners of his mouth, "That's natural."

"This county magistrate He Zhao and He led them to guard the city more than once and saved the lives of their elders and young people. How could they not be grateful?"

The fat drinker poured him a glass of wine, "What should Lord Lu investigate him? No one reported him for corruption and bribery, nor any information that he bullied the people and colluded with Dong Hao, what are we doing here?"

Lord Lu chuckled softly, "I'm just here to see the Shicheng and see what this city looks like under the governance of County Magistrate He."

"After all, this is the frontier position to deal with Dong Hao, so you must not relax."

The fat drinker snorted coldly, "The nobles and men in the court usually take credit for their merits, but when they heard that they were going to be the county magistrate of Yong County, they all shrank their heads back, for fear of losing their lives!"

"Only you, sir, have the courage and ability to take over as the position of the county magistrate of Yong County."

"But this Shicheng County has not been able to choose anyone who dares to be the county magistrate yet. They are really a bunch of cowards!"

The smile on the corner of Lord Lu's mouth was also a little cold, "Of course they dare not come. Everyone knows that three of the magistrates of Shicheng County have died in battle in just a few years."

The fat drinker said, "Why didn't you just take this County Magistrate He? All three County Magistrates were dead. Every time he rushed up to the city wall and led the soldiers to kill the enemy. Isn't this contribution enough?"

Lord Lu sighed and didn't say anything more.

Of course, the contributions of He Zhao and County Magistrate He was enough, but in the Bei'an court, because of the voluntary massacre of King Li in Shangjing, he was very afraid of these officials who were promoted to the border military merits.
Chapter completed!