Chapter 321: Looking for a Gun (Part 2)
It would take some time to transport the body from the yamen to the warehouse, so Sun Shaozong started to investigate the crime scene first.
This No. 1 warehouse is about 80 feet [25.5 meters] long from east to west and about 35 feet [11 meters] wide from north to south. The main door faces due east, and there are two air vents with mesh iron bars on the south wall.
On the left side of the gate was a desk, on which were placed writing brushes, inkstones, and three booklets with wooden covers.
Sun Shaozong flipped through them casually and found that one of them was a record of Du Ning's daily inventory checks, and the other recorded the time and purpose of other people entering and leaving the warehouse.
The last booklet records some important things to do.
For example, the page of March 27th recorded Zhu Shan's important instruction on "carrying out artillery maintenance in advance" - that's right, this warehouse had always been used to store trial artillery before the arrival of new muskets, and there are still several "big" cannons placed at the innermost part of the warehouse.
As for the right side of the gate, there are four specially made lanterns hanging and some slogans such as "fire prevention and theft prevention" posted.
Sun Shaozong picked up a lantern and looked at it carefully. He found that it was made of a double layer of copper mesh. Even if the candle inside fell off the base, it would not burn the things outside because of the barrier of these two layers of copper mesh.
"Which lantern did Durning use last night?"
"It's this one!"
Zhu Shan hurriedly took out another lantern from under the desk and placed it in front of Sun Shaozong with both hands.
Sun Shaozong was not in a hurry to pick it up, but turned to look at the four hooks on the wall, frowned and said, "People are dead here, and you even replaced the lanterns?"
"No way."
Zhu Shan smiled helplessly and said, "Rules are the most important thing in our gunpowder bureau. According to the regulations drawn up by the higher-ups, if anything in an important warehouse is damaged , it must be replaced with a new one immediately. Otherwise, it would be considered dereliction of duty."
It is estimated that this system was originally established by Prince Yizhong.
Sun Shaozong took the lantern and found that only the copper net on the outside was slightly deformed, but the inside was basically intact.
After observing carefully for a while and asking about Du Ning's height, he lifted the lantern in front to a height of about 1.2 meters, then released his hand and let it fall freely.
Bang~
The lantern hit the bluestone floor, rolled only a circle and a half, and then came to a shaky stop.
Sun Shaozong picked it up and took a look. He saw that although the lantern was also slightly deformed, it was much less damaged than Du Ning's.
So he raised it twenty centimeters and tried again.
Then add 30 centimeters to the height...
Then, swing it a little harder...
Only after the four lanterns on the wall were all smashed to pieces did Sun Shaozong leisurely begin the next step of the investigation under Zhu Shan's puzzled gaze.
About fifteen feet away from the gate, there were two rows of long tables placed against the wall, with countless wooden racks nailed on them. A total of two hundred and eighteen Megatron-style muskets were neatly placed on these racks.
That is, at the beginning of the long table on the left, two empty shelves are particularly eye-catching.
Equally eye-catching was the dark brown bloodstain on the ground.
Sun Shaozong first carefully observed the messy marks near the empty shelf, then squatted on the ground and searched for a long time, circling the marks suspected to be caused by the collision of the lanterns one by one with a cinnabar pen.
"Sir, the body has been brought here."
At this time, Jia Shanyao and Lu Yuan led four Dragon Guards and hurriedly carried in a corpse. It was naturally the body of Du Ning, the deputy director of the Gunpowder Bureau.
"Reposition the body as you found it yesterday."
Sun Shaozong, however, didn't even look at it. He gave a casual order and then, as if slowing down his movements, he checked the gun rack on the long table inch by inch.
Seeing how meticulous he was, Lu Yuan naturally did not dare to mess around. He and Zhu Shan checked and filled in the gaps together, and it was only with great difficulty that they restored the body to its appearance at the time of the crime.
But seeing that Sun Shaozong had not yet finished the 'slow motion', they did not dare to go up and disturb him.
After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Sun Shaozong came over with a serious face. He was not in a hurry to check the body, but asked first: "Are there any repair tools in this warehouse? For example, hammers, axes, etc.?"
"That has not happened."
Zhu Shan immediately shook his head and said, "Only Lord Du comes in and out here on weekdays. Even if something is broken, he doesn't need to do it himself - we have plenty of craftsmen in our gunpowder bureau."
After saying that, Zhu Shan asked with some doubt: "My Lord, did you find anything suspicious? Otherwise, why did you suddenly ask about this?"
Sun Shaozong did not answer his question, but asked: "You said before that even Du Ning, who is in charge of the warehouse, has to be searched when entering and leaving on weekdays - is this search once when entering and once when leaving, or only when leaving the warehouse?"
"this……"
Zhu Shan and Lu Yuan exchanged glances, and then hesitantly said, "According to the regulations, of course, you have to check when you enter and when you leave, but generally only your belongings are checked when you enter, and you are searched carefully when you leave."
Sun Shaozong immediately asked again: "That is to say, if he brings some things in close to his body, no one will find out?"
"This... should be it."
Zhu Shan hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.
"Someone come!"
Sun Shaozong immediately gave an order, saying, "Look carefully for me and see if there is anything in this warehouse that shouldn't be there!"
Jia Shanyao and the four Dragon Guards responded quickly, and then called a team of people from outside. According to Sun Shaozong's instructions, they launched a carpet search.
Sun Shaozong himself was not idle either. He squatted in front of the corpse and examined it carefully.
Du Ning was about 40 years old, very thin, but with a round face. In addition, there were obvious dark circles around his eyes, and he must not have been sleeping well recently.
The corpse was lying on its back with its head to the south and its feet to the north. There was only about half a meter between its feet and the gun rack on the south side.
The fatal wound was a bloody hole the size of a copper coin on the heart - as for the murder weapon, it was naturally the bayonet that was sent along with the body.
By the way, there was a separate bayonet holder on the gun rack, but the third gun rack only had muskets without bayonets - obviously, the murderer stole two complete muskets, including bayonets.
Both of the deceased's hands were irregularly bent, and there were calluses and blisters at the base of the thumb from recent friction - the blisters had begun to subside, and it was estimated that he had not been subjected to the same friction in the past one or two days.
In addition, the cuffs of the deceased's hands were stained with a lot of splattered blood.
