Sima Junru held the painting and frowned slightly: "So this person drank too much and let something slip, and Xue Lan painted this picture while he was asleep?"

"Yes, Xue Lan identified herself, but unexpectedly, when this person woke up the next day, he remembered that he had let something slip last night and decisively killed Xue Lan. There were signs of a struggle in the room. I have already arranged for people to block all the roads leading north."

Sima Junru and Han Lixian exchanged a glance, both seeing the same thing in each other's eyes.

We must capture Liu Yu!

We might be able to get a lot out of him.

Sima Junru said, "We must dig three feet into the ground to find this Liu Yu!"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

Does that Xue Lan have any family?

"He has a ten-year-old brother. I have already sent someone to find him. He will be assigned to the Imperial City Guard for training. He will be thinking about avenging his sister in the future."

Five days later, a male corpse was found in a snowdrift outside Youzhou City.

Sima Junru stood to one side, watching the coroner examine the body at the scene.

The body had been dead for three days and was covered in ice and snow, so it had not been discovered until today when a farmer went to the river to break the ice and accidentally found the body.

There were bloodstains in the snow, which were also covered by new snow. But once dug out, it could be found that the bloodstains were in a straight line, extending to a hundred meters away, then turning into shriveled blood before finally disappearing.

Where the bloodstains had turned stained with sap, there were faint hoof prints, but fortunately the snowfall had been very light in the past few days, so they were still visible.

The person who was killed was, of course, Liu Yu, whom Sima Junru was looking for.

Liu Yu's identity was top secret, and his conflict with Xue Lan did not spread, yet he was killed. This indicates that the Jin Kingdom had a systematic spy network in Youdu, constantly monitoring the spies below them.

Upon receiving confirmation of this, Sima Junshi was not shocked; on the contrary, he became excited.

Since the Jin state has a systematic spy network here, we can dig it all out and find out who the Jin spies are.

In this way, the Song Dynasty spies planted in the capital city also had a foothold.

P.S.: I just checked the date and was shocked to find that today is Christmas Eve. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas Eve in advance, and remember to take precautions tonight!