xymnovel Chapter 126 Investigation
Chapter 126 Investigation
When Chen Xuan, the clerk of the Yuxi Patrol Office, arrived at the scene, all he saw was a scene of utter chaos.
The ground was covered with messy footprints and bloodstains, and there was even a broken bamboo spear, but there was no corpse in sight, indicating that the area had been cleaned up.
He stopped the archers from acting rashly, told the rogue archers who had followed him to stay away and not disturb the scene, and then went in alone to examine the scene carefully.
He observed very carefully, sometimes squatting down to stare at the ground, sometimes walking around the footprints, and even calling over two people to simulate some actions.
Finally, his brows furrowed so deeply he almost formed a deep frown. He walked straight up to one of the men and demanded, "Didn't you say there were only a few people?" The man was so frightened he immediately knelt on the ground, protesting, "I definitely only saw three!"
Chen Xuan snorted coldly and said, "According to my investigation, there are clearly no fewer than ten thieves, and they are quite organized, arranged in formation. How could there only be three? Could it be that you're hiding something?"
"No, sir." The man's face turned pale, and he said hurriedly, "I only saw three outsiders buy five catties of salt from Hu Si, so I rushed to report to the authorities, thinking that I could get a share of the reward. I have not concealed anything."
Chen Xuan observed him for a long time, and after confirming that he didn't seem to be faking it, he moved on to another person: "How many people did you see?"
"Four," the man said tremblingly. "Four outsiders have been buying salt in the village. They were carrying equipment, and I dared not get too close, so I had no choice but to report them to the authorities."
There are rewards for reporting to the authorities.
Regarding the smuggling of salt, half of the offender's property would be confiscated by the authorities, and the other half would be given to the informant as a reward. Of course, this was only the legal provision, and it was impossible to implement in practice. However, there would be some reward, because the government had only a limited number of people and limited energy, and needed someone to provide clues.
The two whistleblowers were marginal figures in their respective villages, known for their laziness and bad reputation. Therefore, they didn't care what their neighbors thought of them and dared to report the whistleblower.
Chen Xuan was starting to believe them, so he asked, "You said you're from out of town, how did you tell?"
"I can understand most of what they say, but their accent is a bit strange."
"What accent do you have?"
I can't quite explain it.
"Is it from Gaoyou or Huai'an?"
"I don't know."
"You worthless bastard, you know nothing when I ask you anything, what use are you?" Chen Xuan kicked him to the ground and said angrily.
The man rolled on the ground, looking miserable and whimpering.
"My lord." An archer approached, handing over an arrow, saying, "I just found this in the reeds."
"Can you tell where it's from?" Chen Xuan asked after taking it and examining it carefully.
"There are no words on the arrow shaft, so we can't tell," the archer replied. "But there must be an archer among the thieves."
"Tell me something I don't know," Chen Xuan glared at him.
The archer gave an awkward smile and didn't dare say anything more.
Chen Xuan sighed.
Despite his imposing manner, he was actually extremely agitated inside.
There were "seven" salt smugglers in total, and they were still out-of-town salt smugglers who had never paid tribute to them. They sounded easy to bully, but suddenly their numbers doubled, and they also had bows and arrows. When they fought, they didn't rush in in a chaotic frenzy, but gathered together and at least formed a simple formation.
To put it bluntly, most of the archers in the patrol office just rush in and fight without much strategy. But these salt merchants are actually forming ranks. Isn't that terrifying?
Of course, in Chen Xuan's eyes, this might not be the most serious issue.
What worries him most is that the bandit leader has this awareness and this idea, and actively urges his subordinates to learn rudimentary military formations. This shows that he is intelligent and more difficult to deal with than some smuggled salt dealers who are cruel but only interested in fighting.
In addition, there is another possibility regarding today's events.
Chen Xuan thought about it carefully.
The local garrison in Tongzhou was the "Jiangyin Naval Ten Thousand Households," whose accents were indistinguishable from those of the locals, and they no longer spoke the Jiangyin dialect. Furthermore, it wasn't that he looked down on the Jiangyin navy; they were nearly extinct and mediocre, unable to defeat even sea pirates or river bandits. Outside of Tongzhou, Yangzhou had one crossbowman's corps, one artillery ten thousand households, one scout's officer, and one Han army thousand households—all troops directly under the command of the former Prince Zhennan, Tuohuan. Even after the Prince Zhennan's death, the troops remained, continuing to this day.
In addition to the troops directly under the command of the Prince of Zhennan, Yangzhou also had a naval 10,000-household office and a Mongol 1,000-household office.
Could it have been these people? Chen Xuan wasn't sure.
If it wasn't Yangzhou, could it be soldiers from Taizhou or some other place in Jiangnan who took the risk and committed theft in secret?
If it's the former, it's easier to handle; the latter is more difficult.
The Yangzhou Circuit couldn't handle this matter, so someone had to be sent to the provincial capital, Bianliang, to transfer a letter to Hangzhou, requesting the cooperation of the Jiangzhe Province in the investigation. But it was unclear whether anyone in Bianliang was in charge of this matter.
This is what Chen Xuan is most worried about.
Separated by a river and belonging to two different provinces, there are many inconveniences.
After letting out a silent sigh, he turned to look at the eight archers from the patrol office and more than ten strong men who had followed him, and said, "With something like this happening, no one can stand aside. Let's inquire along the way."
"Sir, should we inform Inspector Lü Si?" the archer who had spoken earlier reminded him.
"Of course I want to." Chen Xuan nodded, his face full of bitterness.
The thirty archers of Yuxi Patrol Office, apart from those left behind and those on official business, were all brought out in haste, but they encountered bandits along the way and were all wiped out.
Their strength has been greatly weakened, and they have no choice but to request the help of the Lüsi Patrol Office.
"You should go and inquire quickly, and do not act rashly. I will return to the prefecture first and report to Judge Lu," Chen Xuan said finally.
A wave crashed against the bow of the ship, scattering into countless fragments.
Inside the cabin, more than ten people were crammed together, having a meeting.
Undoubtedly, everyone's feelings were complicated, especially Wu Shangyuan, the Zhao brothers, Wei Erdi, and Jiang Sanbao, who hadn't been with the group for very long. They all had their heads down and looked preoccupied.
"Bang!" Wang Huadu slammed his fist on the cabin wall and cursed, "Why are you all mournful? Weren't you doing just fine during the battle? People who don't know the situation probably think we suffered a defeat and heavy casualties."
The casualties in the battle were indeed not great: Bian Sandou was killed in action, and Jiang Sanbao and Li Fu were injured—the two of them didn't even feel that they were injured during the battle, and only started to grimace after the adrenaline subsided.
Eleven enemy soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured.
Of course, all eleven of them were dead, their bodies dumped at sea. Shao Shuyi and his men would not leave any wounded or prisoners—the only prisoner was the patrol officer who was initially shot, and after interrogating him for information, he was immediately put to death.
They played quite well, so Wang Huadu was very puzzled. Who was he looking at with that long face?
Wu Heizi coughed and said, "Actually, it's nothing. Apart from those who go directly to the salt warehouse or the inspection station to get salt, which smuggler hasn't encountered soldiers? If you stand by the river often enough, how can you not get your shoes wet? It's nothing serious, just go back and get some sleep."
You know what, Wu Heizi's words did have some effect.
Then everyone thought about it again and realized that if salt smugglers encountered government soldiers, would they all just surrender? That seemed impossible.
Let alone salt smugglers, even ordinary thieves would resist arrest when confronted by government officials or archers.
Were there no casualties during this? Were none of the patrol inspectors killed?
Thinking about it this way, the tense atmosphere eased slightly.
"Well said." Shao Shuyi gave Wu Heizi an approving look, then glanced at everyone and said, "Actually, there's no need to worry so much. Keep your mouth shut when you get back, don't make a fuss, and observe the situation first. I don't believe that with the Yellow River breaching its banks repeatedly, Bianliang will have much time to care about this. Even if they do, it won't be easy for them to extend their reach to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Just exchanging official documents will take who knows how long, so relax."
These words improved the atmosphere considerably.
Yes, people who hire hitmen even know to use out-of-town assassins to make the investigation more difficult. The officials aren't that serious; they might just shelve the case after a while.
"Brother Shao, I made a mistake today," Liang Tai suddenly said. "I shouldn't have called you 'Brother Shao' in public. Although we were far away and no one should have heard it, I really shouldn't have called you that."
Shao Shuyi wasn't worried about that.
At that time, we were probably still fifty or sixty paces apart. The enemy was charging, and there was a lot of breathing, talking, footsteps, and the sound of weapons clashing. The battlefield noise was huge. Who could hear everything clearly?
However, Liang Tai's words made sense, so he asked, "Then how should we call out?"
"Don't shout it, or give it a nickname," Liang Tai said.
Shao Shuyi understood.
He had never been involved in organized crime before, and only now did he realize that nicknames or gangster names could have this effect.
"Tell me what other shortcomings there are, please tell me everything," Shao Shuyi said, looking at everyone.
"Brother Shao, I...I..." Wei Erdi raised his hand and said softly.
"Speak," Shao Shuyi smiled at him and said, "We're all brothers, so feel free to speak."
Wei Erdi's expression relaxed a bit, and he said, "I was a little nervous at the beginning of today's fight, and I was sweating profusely. When the sweat got into my eyes, it stung a bit. So I was thinking, could I think of a way to prevent the sweat from getting into my eyes?"
Upon hearing this, Shao Shuyi praised, "It is said that one person's plan is short-sighted, but many people's plans are long-sighted. This is indeed true. Second Brother's suggestion is quite good." After thinking for a moment, Shao Shuyi said, "I have heard that during the Tang Dynasty, warriors used to tie a strip of cloth on their foreheads when fighting. This was called a 'forehead band,' which was not only to prevent sweat from getting into their eyes, but also to prevent blood from getting into their eyes."
In the Tang Dynasty, the headbands worn by military men were typically red and very common. Later, the Japanese also had something similar called a "hachimaki," but it was white.
Many athletes also like to wear this thing on their foreheads; it's really practical and doesn't cost much.
"I've noted this down," Shao Shuyi said. "I'll give you twenty strings of cash when we get back; I can't let your idea go to waste."
"Thank you, Brother Shao," Wei Erdi said happily.
Wang Huadu glanced at him.
When Wei Erdi first met him, he was very humble, always wearing a fawning smile, like a dog wagging its tail and begging for mercy. Now, he is slowly becoming more confident.
"Is there anything else?" Shao Shuyi continued to ask.
"Let me say a few words," Wang Huadu exclaimed. "In today's battle, I was unable to contribute much from the rear and was extremely anxious. Shouldn't the formation be changed?" "It can't be changed," Liang Tai immediately objected. "This is how the army is arranged. If you don't believe me, ask Master Cheng."
Wang Huadu was displeased and turned to look at Cheng Ji.
Cheng Ji kept his head down, his face ashen as if his wife had run off with someone else. Hearing this, he said, "That's right. If we encounter a stronger enemy, it wouldn't be surprising if the first three or four rows were wiped out."
"So many people died?" Wang Huadu asked in astonishment, his mouth agape.
Cheng Ji finally raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, and said, "Tell me, when the infantry advances, if the enemy unleashes a volley of arrows and crossbow bolts, can the front ranks withstand it?"
Wang Huadu was speechless.
"I'm telling you, we can't hold out." Cheng Ji raised his voice and said, "The formation will become like it's been chewed by a dog, with gaps everywhere. That's when the people in the back will need to fill in."
"You've never seen it before," Wang Huadu said sullenly.
"You," Cheng Ji's eyes widened.
"Alright, alright. We're brothers, let's not hurt our feelings." Shao Shuyi patted Cheng Ji's shoulder gently and smiled.
Cheng Ji shrugged and subtly moved aside.
After a moment, he seemed to realize that this was not right, but there was nothing he could do to remedy it, so he could only lower his head and sulk to himself.
Shao Shuyi knew he was upset, but he didn't mind and continued to ask, "Is there anything else that needs improvement? Tell me everything."
"Brother Shao, it's time to equip Tie Niu with a suit of armor."
"Brother Shao, could we add two more men who can use muskets?"
"Brother Shao, can't we let everyone practice archery? Shooting a few arrows in battle before picking up swords and spears for close combat would be too advantageous."
"Brother Shao, could you find someone skilled with a gun to teach everyone? Right now, everyone's just aiming randomly for the chest and abdomen. What if the enemy is wearing armor and you can't pierce through their armor?"
"Brother Shao..."
Encouraged by Shao Shuyi, the group gradually opened up and offered their suggestions.
There are some things I've been holding back for a long time, and I'm only saying them today.
Some thoughts may only emerge after a short and intense battle.
In short, they are all very valuable, and after research and improvement, they will be able to enhance everyone's combat effectiveness.