xymnovel Chapter 256 Fleeing
Chapter 256 Fleeing
Chapter 256 Fleeing (Bonus Chapter 1 for Alliance Leader Yu Yuan Chu Yu)
It was nearly midnight, and the weather was freezing cold.
Before I knew it, fine snowflakes began to fall from the sky again, sprinkling onto the earth little by little.
The makeshift dock on the banks of the Qinhuai River was deserted.
Amidst the howling north wind, the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly arose.
Shortly after, three or four fully armed men rushed onto the dock.
Someone from Liu Jia and Liu Yi's boat poked their head out. Upon seeing the newcomers, they didn't say anything, but simply nodded and took out the plank, placing it between the stone bank and the deck.
One by one, people boarded the ship and took refuge inside the cabin until there was not a single person left on the dock.
But the ship did not leave; instead, it waited quietly.
The snow fell heavier and heavier, swirling and covering the entire earth.
Shao Shuyi stood at the bow of the boat, waiting quietly.
At the end of midnight, a group of dark figures finally appeared at the end of the street.
Shao Shuyi stepped forward, took one of the crew members' hands, and helped him onto the boat. At the same time, he handed him a pot of warm wine and said, "You've worked hard. Have a couple of sips to warm yourself up."
The guy was somewhat touched.
Shao Shuyi patted him on the shoulder and urged him to go into the cabin to rest.
Then came the second, the third —
Li Fu and Cheng Ji were among the last to board the ship.
"Brother Shao, only one person was injured; everyone else has returned," Li Fu said softly as they boarded the ship.
"Where is the injury?"
"While searching the riverbank, someone pretended to be dead, but then suddenly attacked. A soldier was caught off guard and injured his leg, and had to be carried back."
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"Alright. Go inside and warm up. We can talk on the way." Shao Shuyi gave Li Fu a gentle push, then put away the gangplank and ordered the boat to set sail.
The two boats, one after the other, slowly left the dock and sailed down the Qinhuai River, disappearing into the swirling snow.
Long after they left, when it was almost dawn, the first batch of officials arrived.
The team was led by Liu Zhong, another judge specializing in criminal cases—Jiqing Road was the upper route, and there were two judges in total.
At Chenshi (7-9 AM), Jiqing Road Darughachi Tuohuan Tie'er and General Manager Zhangtahai Timur arrived together.
These two brothers took office together in the first year of the Zhizheng era. Yu Wan served as the second in his first term. He thought it was good to continue serving as an official in Jinling, but he never expected such a thing to happen. In the dead of winter, cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
Before long, the officials from the Imperial Censorate of Jiangnan Circuits also arrived.
Led by Imperial Censor Tuohuan and Vice Censor Dong Shoujian, the group also included Attendant Censor Shaban, Censor Fan Zhijing, Suo Yuandai, Supervisor Guo Runeng, Supervising Censor Tuohuan, Atianmengbububusabaltu (Arslan Buha), Zhao Yan, and others. In short, everyone who could be notified in the rush came over.
Everyone looked grim, especially Ludarukhachi Tuohuanteer.
He was the garrison commander and seal-holder of Jiqing Road. Although he did not usually handle affairs, he was responsible for supervising local officials, the army, and the people. How could he not take responsibility if something went wrong?
Even if he spent money to bribe officials, the best outcome would be demotion, and the worst outcome would be dismissal. However, there was a high possibility that he would be imprisoned and convicted, and others might not dare to accept his money.
"How many people attended the banquet last night? Have you found out? How many more died?" After barely suppressing her anger, Tuohuan Tie'er came to Judge Liu Zhong and asked sternly.
Liu Zhong was startled and bowed, saying, "The bodies of Magistrate Luo and Judge Zhou have been found on the riverbank."
The coroner's examination revealed that Luo Gong had wounds on his neck and back, while Zhou Gong had been struck by fire.
Governor Liu Bozhen died from an arrow wound, and Nantai County official Sanasuding died from drowning after being stabbed by a bird. He also had a wound on his neck, which may have been a later fatal blow.
The censor, Sengnu, had an arrow wound in his arm and a stab wound in his heart, while Magistrate Wang was nowhere to be found.
"Just these six people?" Tuohuan Tie'er asked, veins throbbing on his forehead.
"Just these six."
"Where are their servants and guards?"
"It is said that we will spend the night on the pleasure boat. The servants have left and agreed to pick us up at noon today."
"Where is Zhu Chen?"
"He's dead, his head has been cut off."
"How do we know that it is Zhu Chen?"
"We searched a house near Fenghuangtai and found two people. One of them was Zhu Mao'er, a confidant of Zhu Chen. We asked him to come and identify them."
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"Why cut off the head?"
Liu Zhong thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps the bandits couldn't be completely sure if it was Zhu Chen, so they cut off his head and handed it over to the bandit leader for verification."
After a moment of silence, Tuohuan Tie'er asked, "How many people survived last night?"
"Not counting Zhu Mao and the second class, there were only four people: two boatmen, one servant on the pleasure boat, and one servant."
"Has it been reviewed?"
"Under review."
"Lead the way, I'll go take a look." Tuohuan Tie'er waved his hand and gave the order.
Zhang Ji, the magistrate of Jiangning County, rented a shop near the stone steps and brought the six survivors from the previous night over for personal interrogation.
Upon seeing Darughachi Tuohuan Tie'er arrive with a large group of people, he immediately stood up and bowed.
"Did you get any results?" Tuohuan Tie'er asked, glancing at the group.
Zhang Ji took two steps closer and whispered, "Someone saw Zhu Mantun kill Magistrate Wang Hao last night."
Who is Zhu Mantun?
"Zhu Mancang and Zhu Mantun are both cousins of Zhu Chen, as is this Zhu Mao'er."
"Why did he kill Wang Hao?" Tuohuan Tie'er's face turned even uglier.
"Zhu Mantun steered his small boat close to the pleasure boat and rescued Magistrate Wang Hao. Later, for reasons unknown, he actually killed Wang Hao with a single blow and threw his body into the water. He thought he had done it discreetly, but little did he know that someone on the pleasure boat had seen it."
"Where are the people from Zhu Mantun?"
"He later rescued several people on the pleasure boat, all of whom were Zhu's followers, and then sailed away, disappearing without a trace."
"Then why don't you send someone to arrest him?" Tuohuan Tie'er said angrily.
Zhang Ji, looking dejected, replied, "Jiangning County has already ordered the patrol office to set up checkpoints and conduct searches. A clerk also led men to the Zhu residence, but the gates were tightly shut, and there was no response. It is said..."
"What do you mean?"
"It is said that there are hundreds of outlaws in the Zhu residence, our county—our county—"
Tuohuan Tie'er realized that a place like Zhu Chen's residence was impregnable, not to mention Jiangning County, even the combined forces of the officials and constables of Jiqing Road couldn't breach it; they had to ask the garrison troops for help.
The "Yidu New Army Ten Thousand Household Office" was stationed to guard Jiqing Road. It had ten thousand-household offices under its jurisdiction, which were distributed in various important water and land routes.
To gather people together, troops need to be mobilized from various garrisons, some far away and some nearby; this is not something that can be done in a short time.
Furthermore, the Yidu New Army's Wanhu Prefecture had only 7,000 men at its peak, but now, decades later, the number of deserters has increased daily, and it would be good if 5,000 remained. They also had to defend the entire Jiqing Road, two prefectures, and three counties. How many soldiers could possibly come in such a short time?
Although Tuohuan Tie'er was furious, he still had basic rationality. He didn't want the attack on the Zhu residence to backfire and cause chaos among the hundred or so desperados, leading to the fall of the vast city of Jinling. If that happened, he would have no chance to turn the tide.
So he paused for a moment, summoned a follower, whispered something to him, and instructed him to take the token to the Darughachi and Wanhu of the Yidu New Army and ask how many men they could mobilize.
After finishing his task, he sighed and asked, "What is the background of the murderer from last night? Any leads?"
Zhang Ji cupped his hands and said, "Reporting to your Excellency, according to the interrogation, last night the bandits used two boats and had weapons such as bows, muskets, knives and spears. They launched a sudden attack and killed six people (actually seven) at the stone steps outside the gate. They killed countless people when they attacked the painted boat."
On the south bank of the Qinhuai River, they killed eight more people swiftly and methodically, leaving without hesitation after the killings.
"I'm asking you about their origins," Tuohuan Tie'er raised her voice and said.
Zhang Ji was silent for a moment, then said, "It doesn't seem like the methods of bandits."
Tuohuan Tie'er fell silent upon hearing this.
Standing beside Tuohuan Tie'er, Lu Jing, Niu Mingshan, said, "Sir, the world is in chaos these days. There may be some ruthless people who use military law to train servants. I heard that there are deserters in Zhu Chen's mansion. Last night, they also used firearms and bows. If we conclude from this that the thief is a soldier, it would be biased."
Tuohuan Tie'er frowned deeply.
He felt that Niu Mingshan made sense; the world is changing, and we can no longer view the present with old perspectives.
Is a fire weapon something an ordinary person could obtain? It's probably stolen and sold within the military.
Foot bows and hunting bows are two completely different things.
While it is true that civilians possessed bows, these were mostly hunting bows, far inferior to the foot bows used by the military. Of course, this is now questionable, as it is not uncommon for unscrupulous individuals to spend large sums of money to have others jointly craft superior foot bows.
After much thought, Tuohuan Tie'er felt completely lost and had no clue what to do.
"Where did the thieves go? Did they leave the city, or are they still hiding in Jinling?" Tuohuan Tie'er asked Niu Mingshan.
Niu Mingshan thought for a moment and said, "The thieves have boats, so they probably left the city last night, but we don't know if they have any accomplices in the city."
Tuohuan Tie'er slowly nodded, deciding that once the Yidu New Army arrived, he would immediately launch a city-wide search, turning the city upside down. Before that, he could only set up checkpoints and checkpoints to prevent any suspicious persons from slipping out.
But he also knew in his heart that this was just an act of venting his anger. The thief was so capable that he shouldn't have left any loose ends for him to catch.
Just then, Cai Maozheng, the clerk of the Southern Terrace, hurriedly arrived, found Tuohuan Tie'er, and whispered in her ear, "Sir, my doctor requests your presence for a moment; there is important matter to discuss."
"What is it?" Tuohuan Tie'er asked.
Cai Maozheng hesitated for a moment, then whispered in his ear, "Let's discuss how to handle the aftermath."
Tuohuan Tie'er's heart skipped a beat, knowing that trouble was brewing and that she might be severely manipulated by the people from Nantai.
He straightened his clothes, told Zhang Ji to "interrogate carefully," and then left with a heavy heart.
But Nanjing on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month was destined to be anything but peaceful.
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