Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 596 Closing the Net
At the entrance of Wazi Lane, there is a family.

There are white walls and black tiles, a camphor tree at the door, and gurgling water under the camphor tree.

On a bluestone slab over the stream sat a thin man with a straw hat on his head.

In front of him were two baskets, one filled with mulberries and the other with loquats.

He looks like just an ordinary vendor selling fresh fruits here.

A man walked over and saw the purple mulberries. He squatted down, picked up one and put it in his mouth. He nodded with satisfaction and asked, "Not bad, how much is it?"

The vendor grinned and said, "Three cents a handful, pack it yourself."

As he spoke, he took out a lotus leaf, washed it in the clear stream beside him, and handed it to the passerby.

Passersby rolled up the lotus leaves into a funnel shape and picked mulberries from it.

The mulberries are ripe and will rot if you grab them in large handfuls. So you can only pick a few at a time and be very careful.

The man picked up mulberries and said, "The government has discovered your identities..."

The peddler's body stiffened and his hand subconsciously reached under the bluestone slab over the stream, where a knife was hidden.

The pedestrian continued to pick mulberries nonchalantly, whispering, "In at most one stick of incense, they will surround this place, leave immediately!"

After saying this, the pedestrian stood up and walked away leisurely, not caring how many mulberries he had picked.

The vendor stared at his back with wide eyes and asked in a deep voice, "Who are you?"

The passerby did not answer. He picked up a mulberry, put it into his mouth, and slowly walked into the crowd.

The vendor thought for a moment, stood up, and hurried into the yard, not caring about the two baskets of fruit on the ground.

It seemed that he was setting up a stall in front of someone else's door to sell fresh fruits, but in fact he was a member of the group of Jin State secret spies who spread the fake society.

He pretended to be a peddler at the door just to keep watch.

Now a passerby suddenly revealed the news to them. Since this person could reveal their true identities, he was probably not fake.

Could it be that... he is a secret spy planted by "Xue Fu Tu" in the State of Song?
I heard that He Qiqi and his gang had received a warning from their own people before being arrested, but unfortunately they were unable to escape in time.

The peddler went in and immediately reported the matter to their leader, Gong Jinquan.

Gong Jinquan's face turned cold, and he said, "One stick of incense? Everyone, go back to the tile house immediately. If there are really officials coming, disperse immediately, quickly!"

A moment later, the secret spies of the Jin Dynasty who were hiding here walked out from the front door and the back door one after another and quickly blended into the crowd.

This is a very lively place with many tourists. There are teahouses and wine shops everywhere, so it is easy to hide.

After about an incense stick of time, a large number of constables arrived.

They quickly blocked the front and back doors, dispersed the people around, then broke open the front door and rushed in.

On a two-story teahouse across the street, Gong Jinquan watched coldly. When he saw that the police had indeed surrounded their rented residence, he quickly turned around and left the teahouse.

However, they thought they had retreated in time, but they didn't know that some people had quietly followed behind several leaders.

He was a spy from the "Tongzhou Society", a scout trained by Old Man Song.

……

Liu Yiguan personally led people to raid the hiding place of the Jin Dynasty's secret spies, but only seized 70,000 to 80,000 strings of counterfeit banknotes, while the Jin Dynasty's secret spies escaped from the hiding place before them.

When they broke into the house, the tea inside was still hot and there were unfinished cups of tea on the table. It was obvious that the secret agents had escaped just one step ahead of him.

With a gloomy face, Liu Yiguan led his men back to the Lin'an government office. As soon as he arrived at the door of the office, he saw Mr. Fan and Mr. Wang standing on the left and right of the door, like two generals.

Fan Jiang said sarcastically: "Spies lurking in enemy countries must be very cautious. How can they not have eyes and ears to keep watch in their hiding places?

They left with such fanfare, were they afraid that people wouldn't know someone was going to catch them? How stupid! "

"You know nothing!"

Young Master Wang laughed and scolded: "He's been a husband all his life, and he's handled more cases than you've eaten. How could he be careless? It's not that we are incompetent, but that the Golden Spy is too cunning."

Fan Jiang said: "He~tui! Stop flattering yourself. Incompetence is incompetence. Why are you looking for excuses?"

If we follow the idea of ​​Wang Tongpan and paralyze those Golden Spies under the pretext of clearing illegal buildings, how could we fail? "

Young Master Wang twisted his mouth and said, "That's true. He boasted so much that he fooled me. If I look closely, a waste is a waste. No matter what, he is still a waste!"

Liu Yiguan suddenly stopped and looked at them with a grim face.

Mr. Fan and Mr. Wang had their bellies sticking out and looked like scoundrels.

Liu Yiguan sneered and said, "I went to arrest someone today, but the thief escaped ahead of time. Someone must have tipped him off."

Liu Yiguan pointed at Fan Jiang and Wang Yeran and said, "These two people are very suspicious. Arrest them and interrogate them thoroughly."

His men were already upset because of their failure, and were ridiculed by the two men. They were already furious. Upon hearing what was said, they immediately rushed forward and arrested the two men without saying a word.

Liu Yiguan strode towards his detention room and told a judge beside him, "Lock them up for a night without food or water, to teach them a lesson for their bad mouths!"

The judge agreed, stepped outside, and told a squad leader, "Take those two bastards from the North Hall and put them in the cell. Make sure they can't stand or sit. Give them a good beating, and then let them go tomorrow."

The squad leader understood what he meant and immediately found a few yamen runners and ordered them, "Aren't those two bastards in the North Hall unruly? Give them a try, remember not to leave any obvious injuries, and release them tomorrow."

When Liu Yiguan returned to the signing room, he sat down with a gloomy face and did not say a word for a long time.

Today we came back empty-handed after arresting the Jin Kingdom's secret spy. This is not only a shame, but also a loss of an opportunity to prove that Yang Yuan was the mastermind behind the production and distribution of fake coupons.

Directly interrogate Yang Yuan?

Prime Minister Tang had ordered that he and his people should not be tortured. There were too many people watching them, both in the court and the country. If they gave someone a chance to talk, they would be in a passive position.

But how could he confess without being tortured?

At this time, a clerk was looking in the doorway. Liu Yiguan said unhappily, "Come in!"

The clerk came in hurriedly and said cautiously: "Liu Jianzhou, there are several official letters that need your signature."

Liu Yiguan waved his hand with a gloomy face, and the clerk hurriedly handed over several official documents.

Liu Yiguan took over a few official documents and glanced at them. They were all related to judicial matters that he had submitted to Prefect Qiao, who had approved them and stamped them with the prefect's seal.

The official in charge of the Song Dynasty could not cover everything with one hand. Many government decrees needed to be signed by him and his dedicated assistant officials before they could take effect.

However, the matter needs to be reported to him first. After he, the official in charge, signs and agrees, the assistant official in charge can add his signature. This is also a kind of etiquette to distinguish between superiors and subordinates.

These official documents were the disposal plans determined by Liu Yiguan and reported to Qiao Zhen, so he naturally didn't need to read them any further.

Liu Yiguan opened the seal box, took out the official seal of the Tongpan, and stamped it behind Qiao Zhen's seal.

"Um……"

Liu Yiguan was just stamping an official letter and hadn't yet picked up the seal when he suddenly had an idea and immediately turned back to the first page of the document.

This is a verdict against Yang Leifeng, the supervisor of the "Xingzai Huiziwu".

After Qiao Zhen and he use their seals respectively, it will take effect immediately.

Liu Yiguan sentenced Yang Leifeng to confiscation of his property and exile him to Danzhou.

Liu Yiguan thought for a moment, then turned to the pile of unprinted verdicts at the back, which were about the verdicts on Li Qiaoer, Xu Hongcheng and others.

The evidence of these people's guilt and crimes are clear, and they can be sentenced now.

As for He Qiqi and others, they were direct spies of the Jin Dynasty, and the fake clubs they created had not all been recovered, and the Jin Dynasty secret spies responsible for spreading the fake clubs had not been caught, so they were not included in this verdict.

Liu Yiguan put down the file and waved his hand. The clerk bowed and quietly left.

Liu Yiguan stood up and paced slowly in the signing room.

Since he entered the officialdom, he has really taken one step at a time, working his way up from a small county lieutenant to becoming the highest judicial official in the Song Dynasty's temporary capital.

As a local judicial official, he had reached the end of his career. If he wanted to go further, he could only become a Beijing official and enter the Three Judicial Departments.

This is just like Qi Tongwei who was willing to do anything to get the opportunity to become a deputy minister. If he succeeded, it would mean the beginning of another higher and longer-term political career. If he failed, his life would be over.

Therefore, Liu Yiguan changed his previous calmness and reserved attitude and clung to Tang Situi, a man with a bright future and the prospect of becoming a prime minister.

His token of surrender was to overthrow the radical figure Yang Yuan.

Now, he has offended his superiors and colleagues, and has also imprisoned Yang Yuan, a new upstart in the court.

If this case is left unresolved, he will not only fail to make any further progress, but he will also lose everything he has now.

The best outcome for him was to be "exiled" to a poor and remote place, and then retire and return home.

His fate will be worse than that of Yan Ding, the Tongpan Zizai, who went to the Imperial College and became an idle official.

Thinking of this, Liu Yiguan shuddered.

He has no way out!

Liu Yiguan returned to the case and sat down slowly. He picked up Yang Leifeng's verdict, picked up the pen, heavily crossed out the seal he had put there, and then wrote a line of small words: "There are new clues, and we need to re-investigate!"

Any new clues?
not at all.

But Liu Yiguan had no way out. Without any clues, he had to create some clues.

……

Zhao Ning'er was a well-behaved and sensible child. In fact, most people in the royal family of the Song Dynasty were like this, and there were very few who were arrogant and domineering.

Because the Song Dynasty learned from history, it has always been strict with the royal family.

During the Zhou Dynasty, the princes were enfeoffed, but the dynasty was eventually destroyed by the princes.

After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, it was felt that the feudal system had problems, so the county system was set up.

But when the Qin Emperor II died, the Han Dynasty saw that the feudal system had problems and the county system had even more problems, so he set up counties and feudal system, and finally came up with a system where only people with the surname Liu could be king.

As a result, the only problem is that Liu can become king, and later generations will continue to patch it.

The ancients learned from history step by step. By the Song Dynasty, the constraints and management of the royal family were more rigorous than in previous dynasties.

The titles of most princes and grandchildren of the emperor decreased from generation to generation, and the titles of kings of different surnames ended in one generation.

The chief of the Zongzheng Temple, which managed the princes of the royal family, was not even a member of the Zhao family, but an official from a scholar-official background.

Moreover, the princes of the Song Dynasty could not lead troops to fight and serve as commanders like the princes of the Han and Tang dynasties, nor could they serve as provincial governors or important officials of the imperial court.

Of course, there are exceptions. For example, Zhao Ruyu, the prime minister of the later Song Dynasty, was impeached by Han Tuozhou because he was a descendant of Emperor Taizong of Song.

Although Zhao Ruyu was only the eighth-generation grandson of Emperor Taizong of Song, and his father was only the military commander of Jiangxi and had long lost his title, people's impeachment was justified.

There was also an exception in Zhao Yuan's generation, that was Zhao Yu.

However, the prince is young, and if a backup candidate for regent is needed, Zhao Qu must be the one.

Furthermore, Zhao Yuan's throne was handed over to him by Zhao Qu, so it is unreasonable to say that you were trying to prevent him from rebelling.

So the court officials acquiesced to this, thinking it would only be a matter of one generation.

The well-behaved Zhao Ning'er knew that her identity as a princess would at most make others a little afraid of her and prevent her uncle from suffering in prison.

However, if she wants to clear her uncle's name and release him from prison, she can only rely on her uncle, the Regent Prince of Jin.

Therefore, while she was living in Prince Jin's Mansion for a long time, she would often pester her uncle and beg him to rescue her uncle.

"I know you're in a hurry, but don't worry yet."

Zhao Yu touched his niece's head and said, "Your uncle has put himself in the game. It is not up to your uncle to decide when to let him out. We have to wait for your uncle to nod. Hey, how old are you? What do you mean by putting yourself in the game? Your uncle is saying..."

"Ning'er knows."

Zhao Ning'er's eyes were sparkling, and her originally pointed chin was now noticeably rounder, making her even cuter.

"In the story that my uncle told Ning'er, it was Sister Gu Wan who got involved in the game and tricked Green Tea into revealing her true colors."

Zhao Yu was stunned: "What is the true face of green tea? Can it turn into black tea or oolong tea?"

"Hey, you don't understand."

Zhao Ning'er only heard the words "put yourself in the game", and then thought of the story her uncle-in-law told her, and she immediately became full of confidence.

It turns out that the brother-in-law wants to slap the green tea girl in the face!

look forward to!
……

Liu Yiguan brought a thick stack of files to Tang Situi's desk.

Liu Yiguan's eyes were bloodshot, his beard was messy, and his complexion was very bad.

In recent days, he has been running around, working day and night, and even working overtime to interrogate prisoners, skillfully inducing them to change their confessions. He has exhausted all his energy and spent a huge amount of effort.

However, now that an impeccable chain of evidence has finally been formed, officials from the three judicial departments can be summoned to publicly try Yang Yuan. Liu Yiguan is very excited.

Tang Situi carefully read the files submitted by Liu Yiguan.

Although Yang Yuan's current position is far from his, the power of this new court upstart should not be underestimated.

Without absolute certainty, he did not dare to launch a general attack easily.

Once he makes a move, he will completely break the banner raised by the radicals, and then step on it to completely crush the radicals.

By the time the official returned from Chengdu, the overall situation had been decided and the dust had settled.

Jin Dynasty spy Kou Heiyi is a good friend of Yang Che and is also very close to Yang Yuan.

The two men also went on a diplomatic mission to the Northern Kingdom together. Although one played the good cop and the other the bad cop, and they seemed to be at odds with each other, their actions could be said to be in perfect harmony.

After being bribed by the Jin people with a large sum of money, Yang Leifeng, who was in charge of Jiaozi affairs, deliberately set a fire in exchange for the real engravings.

But he didn't know to whom it was delivered.

He just hid the engraving as agreed and waited for the contact person to come and pick it up.

Before the fire broke out, Kou Heiyi had used an excuse to enter the Huiziwu.

When the fire was extinguished, Yang Yuan entered Huiziwu, accompanied by Zhang Mi, then the Tongpan of Lin'an Prefecture.

After Zhang Mi left, Yang Yuan came back and joined Huiziwu again, bringing with him a servant from the military patrol shop.

His reason was to teach fire-fighting knowledge to officials in association.

However, Liu Yiguan sent people to investigate all the military patrol shops near Huiziwu, and found that no one had been transferred to Huiziwu by Yang Yuan. However, Yang Yuan had borrowed a set of military uniforms from a military patrol shop.

Xu Hongcheng was originally a minor official in the Seal-Checking Office of the Xuanzhiyuan of the Privy Council. After Yang Yuan caused a big disturbance in the Xuanzhiyuan and forced Zhang Mi to be demoted with him, Xu Hongcheng, who had been bribed by the Jin spies, was promoted to the head of the Seal-Checking Office.

When the Jisufang and Quezifang sent people to Xiaoshan to arrest the people from He Qiqi Printing and Dyeing Workshop, Yang Yuan, who was then the Assistant Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, actually volunteered to go to Xiaoshan. It was under his pursuit that the Jin spy in black clothes successfully escaped.

The Jin spy in black had entered Huiziwu before and after the fire and the replacement of the copper plates. This key clue was also discovered by Zhang Mi, the Tongpan in charge of Huiziwu management at the time, during the subsequent investigation.

In addition, Zhang Mi communicated with Liu Yiguan about the matter, and Liu Yiguan, who was in charge of judicial affairs in Lin'an, investigated it.

When Liu Yiguan was conducting a secret investigation on Kou Heiyi, Kou Heiyi's identity was exposed by Yang Yuan and he fled from Lin'an City.

"Yang Yuan sacrificed his pawns to save his king?"

When Tang Situi saw this, he narrowed his eyes slightly and said to Liu Yiguan.

Liu Yiguan bowed and said, "I dare not speculate rashly. Before Kou Heiyi was arrested, I am afraid that this matter has been difficult to prove. I will only list the facts clearly. The three judicial departments are fair and just, and they should have a fair judgment based on facts."

Tang Shitui thought for a moment and said, "Where did Yang Yuan's secret business of large amounts of wealth come from and go? Is there anyone else involved behind the scenes?"

Liu Yiguan said, "I found the dates of payment of several accounts and investigated all the ship departure information within three days before and after that date at the three major ferry crossings in Lin'an, namely Zhejiang Ferry, Longshan Ferry, and Yushan Ferry, as well as nine smaller ferry crossings, namely Tou Ferry, Zhoujia Ferry, Sima Ferry, Xiaojia Ferry, Bianjia Ferry, Mujia Ferry, and Shijia Ferry."

"How is the result?"

Liu Yiguan smiled slightly and said, "There are no clues."

Tang Shitui frowned immediately.

Liu Yiguan said mysteriously, "Mr. Tang, the lack of clues is the biggest clue. With so much wealth and goods in a place with a network of rivers and lakes in the south of the Yangtze River, it is impossible to transport them with a car. They must have used boats, but there is no information about these boats at any ferry port. Isn't that strange?"

Tang Situi said: "I understand what you mean. But there is no evidence, that is, there is no evidence..."

Liu Yiguan said: "Of course there is real evidence."

Liu Yiguan pointed to the thick files that Tang Situi was flipping through and said, "Mr. Tang, the supervisors of the three major ferries, Zhejiang, Longshan, and Yuxing, are not officials sent by Lin'an Prefecture, but envoys sent by the Privy Council to supervise and inspect the ferries. They are also guarded by soldiers specially sent by the Privy Council. Lin'an Prefecture cannot interfere.

For this reason, I took a different approach and investigated the accounts of the three major ferries, especially the Longshan Ferry where Wang Liansheng worked. They gathered porters every day to move goods for merchants, collected remuneration, and then distributed it to the porters, so of course they had accounts.

As a result, in the accounts of that day, it was found that there were records of the number of boxes and cages carrying large amounts of goods, but in the records of the ships that Longshan Ferry provided that day, there were no corresponding ships at all! "

When Tang Shitui heard this, his eyes became fierce.

Then he looked at Liu Yiguan again, his eyes full of admiration.

This classmate is worthy of being a man who has worked in the judicial field for most of his life. His thinking is so meticulous and he can be cultivated as my right-hand man in the future.

In the Song Dynasty, people from all walks of life liked to form associations. Drama performers could form the "Fei Lu Society", song singers the "E Yun Society", sumo wrestlers the "Jiao Di Society", storytellers the "Xiong Bian Society", and those who loved charity the "Fang Sheng Society"...

During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a scholar named Wang Jingliang who was extremely bored. So he formed a society with several other idle officials and scholars in his neighborhood. They named it "Pig Mouth Society" and gave officials and literati indecent nicknames.

Unfortunately, not every official and scholar could tolerate such jokes. Later, the powerful official Lu Huiqing, who was nicknamed "Zhu Zui Society", found a crime and arrested Wang Jingliang, and the "Zhu Zui Society" was disbanded.

Some of these societies are loose, some are tight, and the Wharf Group is one of the most tightly managed.

If you are a porter who makes money by moving goods, you will never find a job at the dock unless you join the dock group.

The people from the dock tour group will beat you half to death and throw you out of the dock.

Therefore, the port group lines have in fact monopolized the port handling business.

This Liu Yiguan really has some abilities. The ferry supervisor and inspector of Longshan Ferry are envoys sent by the Privy Council, and they cannot be detained for interrogation.

After checking the accounts, no flaws were found.

Someone else might have been at a loss, but Liu Yiguan was able to find a new way and identify the flaws in the counting records of goods transported by non-governmental organizations such as the Wharf Group.

Liu Yiguan pointed to the file and said, "I have recorded it in detail, and I have carefully questioned the leader of the group who was in charge of the transportation at that time. He said that the appearance and even the accent of the boatmen were not from China."

Tang Shitui slowly closed the file, closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then slowly said, "Is there anyone else behind Yang Yuan? It is still unknown."

Liu Yiguan said: "It is impossible for Yang Yuan to be able to get through so many connections alone. There must be someone behind him, at least... there must be his accomplices in the Privy Council."

Tang Shitui opened his eyes and said word by word: "Yang Cunzhong? Hehe..."

Liu Yiguan said: "But if we don't interrogate Yang Yuan, we won't be able to find out who is hiding behind him!"

Tang Si Tui said, "Three days later, the Dali Temple, the Imperial City Bureau and your Lin'an Prefecture will hold a joint trial!"

Liu Yiguan said excitedly: "Mr. Tang, all the files and evidence are complete. I can hold a trial tomorrow."

Tang Situi glanced at him and said calmly, "Three days later. If they want to jump out, we have to give them some time to let them jump out!"

Liu Yiguan suddenly realized what was going on and said with shame, "I understand. I will spread the word and will try Yang Yuan in three days!"

"In three days, Yang Yuan will be tried."

Baili Bing was eating bird's nest, looking around, and said with a smile: "Although it is not a joint trial by the three judicial departments, it is a joint trial by the Dali Temple, the Imperial City Department, and the Lin'an Prefecture. With such a scene, anyone with a discerning eye can see that they are going to punish him."

Yue Zangfeng said: "The security of the prison is too strict. When he is released from prison and brought to court for questioning, this is the best opportunity to kidnap him."

Baili Bing narrowed her eyes slightly, pondered for a moment, and said coquettishly: "If we wait for the three courts to hold a joint trial and sentence Yang Yuan to death, then we can rob him. This will be the best time!"

Zou Yi objected, "Miss Bing, this is inappropriate. Once this person is convicted, he will be transferred to Dali Prison. Lin'an Prison will send personnel to transfer him, and Dali Prison will send personnel to receive him. The escort personnel from both sides will be gathered together, which is too many. If we fail..."

Baili Bing frowned and said, "That's true. But I always feel that it's a bit unsatisfactory that the Song people kidnapped him before they convicted him."

Suddenly, Baili Bing raised her eyebrows and said with a sweet smile, "I got it. I'll add some more evidence to prove his guilt. He will never be able to go back!"

(End of this chapter)