Chapter 112 The Second Death
August 16, the tenth year of Guangde.
A sudden heavy rain in the second half of the night completely extinguished the officers' resentment for days - those who had previously complained that "the master just opens his mouth and the subordinates run themselves to pieces" now changed their tune and praised Sun Shaozong, saying that he was prepared for a rainy day and had foresight.
If Sun Shaozong had not applied to start construction earlier, the officers might not be able to make it in time even if they were to repair the building in the rain.
In comparison, not being able to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival in peace and tranquility is naturally not a big deal.
Little did they know that Sun Shaozong was also feeling lucky. He saw that the Imperial Examination Hall was too dilapidated and was afraid that it would be too late to renovate it, so he decided to start construction ahead of time. He never expected that he would hit the mark by accident and managed to avoid the heavy rain.
However, although the officers were relieved, he and Jia Yucun could not rest yet. They rushed to the Imperial Examination Hall in the rain early in the morning and led people to carefully check the conditions in the examination room to avoid any problems when the Ministry of Rites sent people to inspect it tomorrow.
Fortunately, the situation is still acceptable. Although some rooms leak, they are basically close to the wall cracks and will not affect normal use - after all, they are all made of thin wooden boards, so the requirements cannot be too high.
After the inspection, Sun Shaozong was discussing the order of day and night shifts with Jia Yucun in a makeshift thatched hut when he saw several yamen runners rushing over.
"My Lord Chancellor and Lord Magistrate, a floating bridge has been built in Hebei and the disaster victims have already started crossing the river this morning. The Prefect is asking you to return to the government office to discuss matters!"
Yes~
It's even more lively now.
Jia Yucun smiled bitterly and couldn't help twisting his beard and said, "Brother, now even I begin to doubt whether you can predict the future."
All the bridges on the Yongding River were destroyed by the flood. In addition, the water level had not receded, making it difficult for ordinary small boats to cross the river. As a result, the victims were trapped on the south bank and it was not Shuntian Prefecture's turn to worry about them.
But once these disaster victims crossed the river, Shuntian Prefecture had no choice but to send most of the officials to maintain order, lest these penniless "mud legs" affect the good life of the people in the capital.
In this case, if they wanted to repair the Imperial Examination Hall in the rain, it would be impossible to rely on Shuntian Prefecture alone. They would have to ask for help from above, and would be scolded for being "short-sighted" and "closing the fold after the horse has bolted".
That is why Jia Yucun said this.
Sun Shaozong smiled but was too lazy to explain anything.
The two men took their respective carriages back to the yamen, and Jia Yucun, the prefectural chancellor, was naturally one of the protagonists in the show.
As Sun Shaozong was the judge of criminal cases, he was also the inspector of the autumn examination. Dealing with the disaster victims had nothing to do with him.
So he just sat there in the rear hall, talking nothing at all, listening to everyone in the hall blaming each other and cursing the Hebei officials for being shameless for deliberately allowing the victims to cross the river.
It seemed that someone was about to accuse the disaster victims of refusing to starve to death and causing trouble for the court, but suddenly a minor official in a green robe was seen peeking out of the hall.
When the Daxing County Magistrate Wang Qian and the newly appointed County Magistrate Su Xingfang saw this, they hurriedly stood up, apologized, and hurried out of the inner hall.
Sun Shaozong didn't care about this at first, but after a while, Su Xingfang quietly came back and approached Sun Shaozong and said, "Sir Sun, County Magistrate Wang and I have something to ask you, what do you think..."
Sun Shaozong's heart moved, and he blurted out: "But the murderer who left the bloody words 'Shen Duan' killed someone again? "
Generally, these lunatics who actively provoke "law enforcement agencies" will often choose to commit crimes continuously before they achieve their goals.
Besides, apart from this case which was clearly targeting Sun Shaozong, there was no need for Daxing County to consult him on other matters.
Su Xingfang bowed slightly and praised: "Your Excellency is indeed worthy of your reputation. I would like to ask you about the case of the 'blood letter'. I hope you will be generous in your guidance."
Normally, such cases would be named after the bloody words, but in order to avoid mentioning the superior Sun Shaozong, everyone in Daxing County called it the "Bloody Word Case" and never mentioned the word
Since the other party was so polite, Sun Shaozong naturally would not refuse. Besides, he was already very interested in this case, but he just couldn't leave for the time being.
So he quickly stood up, apologized, and followed Su Xingfang out of the inner hall.
When he got outside, he saw Wang Qian, the magistrate of Daxing County, and the green-robed official who had peeked in earlier, talking in a corridor not far away - to be precise, Wang Qian was scolding the green-robed official.
Because it was raining heavily, Sun Shaozong did not hear clearly what he scolded. However, when he got closer and saw that he still had a sullen face, he guessed that this "son-in-law of the Zhen family" probably did not want him to get involved in the case.
As a deputy, he can bypass Wang Qian and take charge. It seems that Su Xingfang is not an ordinary person.
"Lord Sun."
"Wang County Magistrate."
Although they were both of the sixth rank and Wang Qian had much more power, Sun Shaozong was, after all, a superior official in the government office.
So after Wang Qian reluctantly bowed, he returned the bow and asked directly, "Who did the murderer kill this time?"
"Well..."
Wang Qian turned around and glared at the green-robed official, "Why don't you tell Lord Sun about the latest case!"
"Your humble servant Ding Renlu greets His Excellency the Tongpan."
The green-robed official also stepped forward to pay his respects, and then informed Sun Shaozong of the latest developments in the case in detail.
However, although the influx of disaster victims from Hebei into Shuntian Prefecture caused panic in the city, there were also many people who cheered for it - such as the city's human traffickers, brothels, and bachelors who could not afford to marry.
After all, after a major disaster, selling children is very common. For those who really can't get through the hard times, it is also common to sell their wives and daughters at a low price.
Chen Saner, a lame man from the east of the city, is one of these bachelors.
Therefore, after hearing the news, he hurriedly took out the copper coins from his home and prepared to go to the rice shop to buy some food to save - after all, for the victims, food is much more useful than copper coins, and it is also good for preserving value.
But Chen Saner hurried out of the house with the money in his pocket, and headed for the nearest rice shop in the rain. Unexpectedly, he encountered a dead body on the way!
At that time, Chen Saner was so frightened that he didn't even bother to buy rice. He hurried to Baozheng to report.
"The deceased was a scoundrel. He was quite famous in the area because he was strong and cruel."
"The cause of death was a sharp weapon piercing the heart. Judging from the shape of the wound, the murder weapon should be a single knife."
"At first, we didn't think of the 'bloody word' case, but when the coroner performed the autopsy, he found blood stains on the lining of the clothes, and could faintly make out two words."
"Although the handwriting is no longer legible after being soaked by rain, I think it is related to the 'blood letter' case."
When Sun Shaozong heard this, he suddenly asked, "When was that drunkard killed? On the evening of the ninth day, or on the morning of the tenth day?"
"Well... according to the coroner's analysis, he died around the hour of Chou, which should be the morning of the tenth day of the first lunar month." Ding Renlu said, and then said awkwardly: "As for the rascal who died this time, because he was soaked in rainwater for a long time, it is not possible to infer when he died for the time being."
"That being said, there shouldn't be anything wrong."
Sun Shaozong said in a deep voice: "Any lunatic who takes the initiative to provoke the government will often set some goals for himself, such as... killing one person every five days!"
"Since he wants to provoke the government, he will naturally leave a clear mark."
"And the marks on that scoundrel's body clearly showed that the murderer had written them at midnight, before the rain."
"So!"
Wang Qian's expression became more and more gloomy, and he said angrily: "Could it be that the fellow will continue to kill people on August 20th?!"
