Chapter 514 Motivation?
Seeing that the local dog Ah Huang chased the fourth prisoner all the way to the west wall and was still barking at him, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but understand something.
Then he called Lin Delu to his side and whispered a few words into his ear.
Lin Delu nodded and bowed in response, then ran into the east courtyard, stepping on the water on the ground, one step deep and one step shallow.
After a long while, the fifth prisoner finally arrived. The way he appeared was even more peculiar. He spread his legs, shook his shoulders, and moved forward step by step. His expression looked as if he had been constipated for several days.
Uh~
It seems like what I said was the opposite, because when this person got closer, the smell of the cycle of grains came to his face - it was obvious that this person was not constipated, but was "unobstructed".
Seeing that everyone except Ah Huang, the local dog that had just been brought back, covered their faces to greet him, the prisoner's expression became even more distorted. He finally moved in front of everyone and seemed to be swearing in dialect like the others before him, but suddenly he shouted: "Fuck you! Grandpa will fight you to the death!"
Before he finished speaking, he pounced at Po with his teeth bared, obviously intending to take hostages!
"Baoer!"
"Abao!"
The Qian Laonian couple screamed in fear and wanted to rush over to protect their son, but it was too late.
And Po is just an ordinary nine-year-old boy. How can he react when faced with such danger?
Just as the claws covered in oil and mud were about to pinch Po's neck, a big hand suddenly got in front and blocked Po's eyes.
What does this mean?
Do you want to save others or help yourself?
The prisoner was feeling puzzled when he suddenly felt a huge force attacking his lower abdomen. Not only was the force of his forward lunge offset instantly, but his body was also shot back like an arrow. He had no time to react at all and died on the stone steps more than two meters away!
Seeing the red, white, and yellow blooming all over the ground under the corpse, a typical example of yellow and violence, Sun Shaozong simply covered Abao's eyes and pushed him to the stunned Qian Laonian and his wife, admonishing them: "Cover it tightly, don't let the children see it."
Although Qian Laonian still had a dazed look on his face, he skillfully took his son in his arms and held him tightly in his arms.
At this time, Lin Delu heard something was wrong and rushed over from the east wing with a few yamen runners. Seeing that the prisoner was already dead, he covered his nose and spat at him, cursing viciously: "You ignorant fool, you actually want to rob the prison. Come on, wrap the body of this fellow with straw mats and send it to the mass grave outside the city!"
After cursing, he stepped forward again and said with a smile, "Sir, do you want to charge this fellow with the crime of intending to kill officials and rebel, and let his family suffer as well?"
Although in the final analysis, it was because the test assigned by Sun Shaozong was too humiliating that forced the prisoner to take the risk.
However, prisoners have basically no human rights. Not to mention that Sun Shaozong was investigating a case, even if he was humiliating them innocently, it would not be considered a crime.
Instead, this prisoner took a desperate risk and attempted to attack an imperial official, committing a crime of treason. If taken seriously, even his family could be implicated.
However, Sun Shaozong still had some bottom line, and shook his head and said, "Forget it, just bury this guy properly, and don't implicate innocent people."
"Your Excellency is truly righteous!"
Lin Delu tilted his shoulder and gave a thumbs-up, then asked cautiously, "Do you want to let this young man take a look at the last prisoner?"
Sun Shaozong looked at A Bao hiding in Qian Laonian's arms, then looked at Ah Huang who was barking at the corpse, and shook his head and said, "No need."
As he spoke, he fished out a purse from his sleeve, picked up a gold ingot weighing about two taels, stuffed it into Qian Laonian's hand, and said with a smile, "Just now, I was careless and let Abao get scared. Take this money back and buy him some snacks. It will be my apology to the child ."
"No, no, no, how dare I accept this, how dare I accept this?!"
Qian Laonian seemed to be burned and tried to push him away desperately, but how could he overcome Sun Shaozong's incredible strength?
In the end, he had no choice but to thank the emperor profusely and left this creepy place with the gold, his wife, his son, and his local dog Ah Huang.
After watching the three people and the dog go away, Lin Delu turned around and saw Sun Shaozong looking as if he had gained something. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Sir, have you found any clues about the disappearance of Mrs. Wang?"
Sun Shaozong nodded, but just as Lin Delu was about to listen to his long speech, he ordered: "I am going to the Northern Pacification Office now. You stay in the Criminal Law Office. If Zhao Wuwei finds anything again, send someone to report immediately."
Having said that, Sun Shaozong walked out of the Criminal Law Division without looking back, went to the stable in the front yard and ordered Zhang Cheng to harness the carriage, then rode non-stop to the Northern Pacification Division.
The reason why he was so anxious was naturally because of the information revealed in the test just now.
Those prisoners who were walking on the catwalk were specially selected by Zhou Da at the request of Sun Shaozong. They basically covered the accents of various northern provinces. Although A Bao did not imitate them very well, he was basically certain that the two men in bamboo hats spoke with northern accents. Otherwise, the southern dialects, which varied in pronunciation from one place to another, would not be something that the Shuntian Prefecture prison could gather together.
The purpose of doing this is, of course, to allow Abao to identify the accent that is similar to that of the suspect.
As for the various seemingly humiliating methods used on the suspects, they were intended to test the local dog Ah Huang to find out what smell stimulated him and made him chase after them and bark non-stop.
The final test results showed that Ah Huang became agitated and barked twice, both times because of the smell of blood on the prisoners - the fourth prisoner had knife wounds from resisting arrest, and the fifth prisoner was kicked to the ground by Sun Shaozong.
In contrast, the smell of food, the smell of dog meat, and the smell of feces did not cause Ah Huang to show an extreme reaction.
The prisoner No. 3 chosen by Abao spoke the Guanzhong Qinqiang dialect.
Although the second prisoner from Shaanxi who was temporarily transferred to the scene did not make his debut due to an accident, but looking at A Bao's previous performance, the possibility of mishearing the accent should be small.
As a result, three pieces of information surfaced: coming from the northwest, hiding their heads and showing their tails, and smelling of blood [most likely due to unhealed injuries].
This kind of character made Sun Shaozong think of the remnants of the White Lotus at the first time - when they broke out that day, all the White Lotus members who escaped were injured, and they came from the northwest, and were forced by the Northern Pacification Office to hide their heads and tails, and dared not show their true faces!
In this kind of situation where it is better to kill someone by mistake than let him go, there are three coincidences, which are enough to support Sun Shaozong's suspicion!
That's why he decided to rush to the Northern Pacification Office to communicate with Lu Hui first.
However, Sun Shaozong still didn't have much idea about the White Lotus' motive for attacking Wang. He could only roughly infer that it was related to the White Lotus Saint - considering Wang's occupation, perhaps she had delivered a baby for the Saint?
No conversation along the way.
But when they arrived at the Northern Pacification Office, they saw several officers guarding outside the eight-character gate, trembling under the angry glare of the Dragon Guard Lieutenant.
Seeing Sun Shaozong getting off the carriage, the guarding officer stopped looking angry and came forward to greet him, saying, "Your Highness, I am honored to meet you."
Sun Shaozong pointed at the officers with his chin and asked in confusion, "They seem to be officers from the Ministry of Justice, right? Why are they blocking the entrance of our Northern Pacification Office?"
"Your Excellency does not know that it is really ..."
After the lieutenant explained with gnashing teeth, Sun Shaozong finally realized that this matter was actually related to the remnants of the White Lotus.
It turned out that after the failure of the operation, although Emperor Guangde did not punish Lu Hui, he waved his hand and included the prisoners detained by the Northern Pacification Office in the scope of the Ministry of Justice's autumn execution.
And today is the day when Xu Liang, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, comes to inspect the prisons of the Northern Pacification Division.
This was considered a great shame and humiliation by the Northern Pacification Office. As a prestigious secret service agency, when they wanted to execute a criminal, how could the Ministry of Justice ever intervene?!
Therefore, these few unofficial servants in the Ministry of Justice who were not formally employed would be deliberately harassed or even turned away.
"So, the governor is entertaining Minister Xu right now?"
But when Sun Shaozong heard that Xu Liang was leading the team, he felt troubled. Ever since they had worked together to stage a big drama in the Prince's Mansion, he had become friends with Xu Liang. If he went in, he would be caught between Xu Liang and Lu Hui, and he would be in a dilemma.
"How can our pacification master have the time for that?"
Who knew that just as he was struggling, the guard pulled out his chest and said proudly: "The master didn't even meet the Xu, and only arranged for Captain Chen to be in charge of the contact!"
Tsk~
A fourth-rank military officer dared to turn down a third-rank assistant minister. I guess only the Dragon Guards would have the guts to do that!
However, this made it easier for Sun Shaozong to act.
So he hurried to the backyard, told the captain guarding the gate that he had something important to report, and was let in directly.
After entering the room, he saw Lu Hui practicing martial arts with three of his followers. The steel knife in his hand flew up and down, suppressing the three followers who were using long and short weapons, leaving them without any chance to fight back.
Although those three followers were definitely acting, Lu Hui's martial arts skills were indeed extraordinary, and he was probably not inferior to his elder brother who was a fierce general in the army.
Seeing Sun Shaozong coming in from outside, Lu Hui made a feint and jumped out of the circle, saying generously: "Captain Sun, you came at the right time. I have heard that you are an outstanding martial artist, but I have never seen it with my own eyes. How about we have a sparring match?"
Hehe~
Although Lu Hui's skills are one in a million, he is still far behind Sun Shaozong who has used cheats.
In order to avoid accidentally hurting Lu Hui's face, Sun Shaozong decisively revealed his purpose: "If the governor is interested, I should accompany you. However, when I was investigating the case just now, I accidentally got some clues. It is very likely related to the remnants of the White Lotus?"
Lu Hui's eyes lit up, and he casually stuck the steel knife into the rack. He waved his hand to dismiss the three followers, and then asked Sun Shaozong what was going on.
After Sun Shaozong told him all about his findings and the inferences he made based on these clues, Lu Hui paced back and forth and pondered for a while, then suddenly shouted, "Come here, bring me all the information about the Shuntianfu house arrest after the Heavenly Dog swallowed the sun!"
After the captain outside the gate took the order and left, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but ask suspiciously, "Sir, are you wondering whether the White Lotus Sect kidnapped Wang because of what happened that day in the house arrest?"
Lu Hui nodded and said, " According to the investigation of the Shaanxi Qianhu Office, the current leader of the White Lotus Sect is constrained by several elders in the sect because he has not received the blessing of the Saint. If he has clues pointing to the Wang family, why would he wait until today to take action?"
indeed.
If the remnants of the White Lotus Sect had a way to find the legendary next Saint, they would not have waited for seventeen years in vain.
And judging from the fact that Wang has disappeared without a trace, it is unlikely that she is the White Lotus's accomplice in the capital.
but……
Everything that happened in the house arrest on the day when the Tengu swallowed the sun, it seems that it has nothing to do with the White Lotus Saint, right?
After all, the slut gave birth to a baby boy, not a baby girl!
Facing Sun Shaozong's doubts, Lu Hui just shook his head and said, "I am just suspicious. I hope to find some clues from the subsequent news and rumors."
While they were talking, the captain guarding the gate had already turned back, holding a book three feet high in his arms, which he carefully piled on the desk, then bowed and retreated without saying a word.
Sun Shaozong looked at the mountain of books, his face calm, but he couldn't help but say MMP in his heart.
There were so many records, which showed how much the Northern Pacification Office valued this matter, but I was totally unaware of it...
To put it in a positive way, the Northern Pacification Office was well-disciplined; to put it in a negative way, Lu Hui did not trust him as much as he seemed.
Lu Hui divided the booklets into two and pushed one half in front of Sun Shaozong, saying, "After all, it was written by the Southern Pacification Division, so the people below will naturally investigate it more carefully."
This can be considered a reluctant explanation to Sun Shaozong.
Sun Shaozong also smiled and said, "I want to see what our spies from the Northern Pacification Office have found out."
As he spoke, he picked up a book and opened it to read carefully line by line.
However, most of the news were hearsay, which sounded so fantastic that they were even more ridiculous than Wang's green face, fangs, and Buddha's light protecting her body.
this……
Can it also be considered an investigative report?
Sun Shaozong flipped through the book again in silence, and when he saw the author's comments, he finally understood.
This book records all kinds of rumors in the capital city - the author himself does not believe them, and only collects this information to judge the public opinion of the people in the capital city.
However, there was really nothing useful to learn from these news, so Sun Shaozong patiently flipped through them briefly and then casually opened the next book.
This book actually contains a lot of content. Not only does it provide a relatively detailed description of what happened on that day, but it also includes an appendix of the opinions of the officials and servants of Shuntian Prefecture on the matter.
only……
Some of this information may only be known by people inside the Criminal Law Department.
It seems that my initial suspicion was correct - Zhao Wuwei should be the spy arranged by the Northern Pacification Office in Shuntian Prefecture, or one of the spies!
