I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 10: Unraveling the Mystery or Cutting the Gordian Knot

After Zhao Zicheng finished explaining things to Yang Zhi, he packed up and went out, riding his horse straight to Yingfeng Bureau.

It is not easy to enter the Yingfeng Bureau, especially since Zhao Zicheng does not have a formal official position.

But his current attire was far more luxurious than it had been a few days ago. He had stayed at the Murong family's for two days, and in gratitude for his help, they had provided him with the finest food, clothing, and daily necessities. Giving money as a thank you directly was too vulgar, so he performed the duties of courtesy in other ways.

Zhao Zicheng had thrown away his old clothes made of coarse gauze long ago and changed into the finest Suzhou embroidery, accessorized with several ancient jade rings, hung a sword around his waist, and rode a fine and majestic horse.

In addition, he was handsome and tall, and his demeanor also had a noble and calm demeanor, so when he took out his badge and waved it, the doormen and yamen runners of Yingfeng Bureau did not dare to stop him.

People were still discussing when such a mysterious and elegant young man appeared in Suzhou City.

Some veteran officials would lament, recounting their encounter thirty years ago with a renowned young man in Gusu City, a man of unparalleled elegance, a noble air in his every move, and skilled in martial arts, only to vanish into thin air for unknown reasons. The mysterious young man who had reappeared today was, in fact, even more remarkable than he had been then.

After meeting Zhu Zhen, Zhu Zhen was slightly shocked when he saw Zhao Zicheng's new look.

I didn't expect that this royal family member who was wearing shabby and old clothes a few days ago would change his appearance so quickly.

Zhu Zhen was a favorite of the emperor and had met many royal relatives.

He subconsciously compared Zhao Zicheng with the princes he had met, and suddenly found that it seemed that the adult princes of His Majesty were not as elegant and graceful as this one, a down-and-out branch who had been living in the countryside and had been away from the central government for five or six generations.

The feeling of being confident but not boastful, proud but not arrogant, is hard to describe in words.

"What do you want to report this time?" Zhu Zhen also put down his airs and spoke in a very kind tone.

Zhao Zicheng bowed and said, "I heard that you are searching for the lost Taoist scriptures of Huang Zhizhou. I think that while you should investigate, you should also notify Huang Zhizhou immediately and have him print another batch of ready-made books sent to you. Since he already has the engravings, it won't be a big deal to print an extra batch."

Zhu Zhen frowned and said, "Although adding more seals is not a big deal, it would not sound good if it were to get out. If Mr. Huang knew that these things were lost, and he told His Majesty about it in the future, His Majesty would think that I was not capable of doing my job.

The problem is that Fujian is mountainous and the roads are difficult to navigate. A round trip, plus printing and stocking, would take at least a month, further delaying the re-shipment. I had originally planned to re-ship this batch of flowers and stones in two weeks, but I can't keep Your Majesty waiting any longer."

After Zhu Jie salvaged the rockery, he wanted to re-ship it as soon as possible. However, when he inspected it, he found that the rockery had been damaged during the sinking process and was afraid that the emperor would be displeased.

So they had to ask the craftsmen of Yingfeng Bureau to make the cross section look old, so that they could tell the emperor that "this stone originally had this shape."

Originally, after the craftsman's evaluation, the aging process would take about half a month. And when Huang Shang printed another batch of books, he would have to wait another half a month.

Zhu Zhen didn't want to wait any longer, fearing that the emperor would question him if he waited too long.

But Zhao Zicheng repeated to him what he had just analyzed with Yang Zhi, emphasizing that the thief might not need all the scriptures, but only part of them, and the remaining scriptures might have been destroyed, so it would be better to find Huang Shang as soon as possible to get some more insurance.

As for the investigation of the Zoroastrian bandits, we can proceed with it in parallel. Good things come late, so at worst, we can report on the bandit elimination along with the transportation of the flower and stone embankment and the Taoist canon. The emperor would probably be relieved to know that the Yingfeng Bureau had taken advantage of the transportation to eliminate some bandits.

After listening to it, Zhu Jie felt that it made sense and accepted Zhao Zicheng's opinion in its entirety.

"I didn't expect you to be so quick-witted and able to see the big picture from the smallest details. You also have such a rare sense of the overall situation. Everything will be as you say. If the investigation requires any cooperation, you can dispatch them. If we need to arrest the Zoroastrian bandits and the Yingfeng Bureau is short of officers, we can mobilize the Xiang army. You can also dispatch Dong Chao's soldiers."

Since Zhu Zhen agreed to handle Zhao Zicheng's case together, he naturally had to give him greater authority. There was nothing to say about it.

……

After Zhao Zicheng obtained greater authority, he quickly bypassed Gusu County and Suzhou Prefecture, and only relied on Yingfeng Bureau, Yang Zhi, and the Xiang Army to investigate.

He was very efficient and decisive in his work, and he was able to handle a lot of things in just one afternoon.

He first found a group of professional and technical personnel and clerks from the Yingfeng Bureau, sorted out the situation, and adjusted the direction of his efforts.

The major booksellers in Gusu City were first surveyed, and they all said that no suspicious large-scale book transactions had been discovered recently.

The patrolling officers and soldiers guarding the city gates have not noticed that a large number of books have left the city recently. During the Song Dynasty, commercial taxes in commercial centers like Suzhou were still strictly checked.

All goods entering or leaving the city, regardless of their contents, had to be reported to the government. Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Mingzhou all had Maritime Customs Offices, and their commercial tax systems were particularly comprehensive, unlike any other region.

At the same time, Zhao Zicheng asked someone to find several tribute books of the same type as Huang Shang Taoist Scripture and conducted some experiments.

Later he discovered that the books that Huang Shang presented as tribute to the emperor were all printed on Fujian bamboo paper, which was tougher and more difficult to burn than ordinary printing paper. In order to prevent fire, alum was added during the papermaking process.

The ink used for printing is not ordinary water-based ink, but rosin is added to it, so that the handwriting is more durable. However, it has an extremely pungent smell when burned, which is easy to expose. Readers in rural areas in later generations who have used rosin to remove the hair from pig heads should all know how obvious the smell is when that thing is heated, and it can be smelled from several courtyards away.

In a nutshell, burning this kind of book specially commissioned for the emperor is not only extremely difficult, but also very easy to be exposed.

Afterwards, Zhao Zicheng asked Yang Zhi to send people to find out how the people in Gusu City dealt with their "kitchen waste" to see if there were any additional loopholes. He then discovered:
During the Northern Song Dynasty, Suzhou was already one of the most prosperous cities in China, its management level second only to a few other top metropolises, such as Bianjing. All of the city's residents' garbage was dumped in designated areas, where it was eventually collected and removed by government officials, who would use the compost suitable for fertilizing the fields.

This also applies to garbage left behind by people burning firewood and charcoal for cooking. If there's a particularly pungent odor or signs of large-scale burning of rosin, it's easy to leave traces.

After this round of investigation, Zhao Zicheng basically made a judgment: Although the people who got the scriptures might burn the unwanted scriptures, the probability of this happening is very small.

Because those thieves may not think that hiding things at home is dangerous. It is even more risky to burn them or transport them out of the city and throw them away.

Even if the thieves were unskilled and tried to burn a small number of books, once they found that these imperial books were particularly difficult to light and had a pungent smell when lit, they would most likely stop and then store the rest in a cellar until the storm died down.

So as long as these books can be found, the case can be solved. They are the most crucial physical evidence.

"So, these books must still be hidden by the thieves, left at home, and most of them have not yet been disposed of. They certainly didn't expect the authorities to be so sensitive, so they felt it was safer to continue hiding them rather than having to dispose of them.

As long as we find the suspect, conduct a surprise search, and seize the stolen goods, everything will be solved."

Zhao Zicheng finally came to this conclusion and told Yang Zhi about it.

Yang Zhi agreed deeply, and his admiration for Mr. Zhao's meticulousness deepened. At the same time, he quickly realized that the most crucial issue remained unresolved. "Unfortunately, simply confirming that the Daozang remains intact isn't enough, is it? Where should we search, and who are the suspects? The biggest question remains."

You know the physical evidence is there, but what can you do if there is no suspect?
Zhao Zicheng was also exhausted after working for most of the day, so he simply patted Yang Zhi on the shoulder and said, "Eat one bite at a time. We've only spent half a day and have come to this conclusion, which is already very good progress. I'll slowly sort out who the suspects are and where to search. Don't worry."

……

After saying this, Zhao Zicheng saw that it was completely dark, so he and Yang Zhi went their separate ways.

He was already satisfied with what he had gained on the first day.

Zhao Zicheng then put on his sword and rode his horse, slowly returning to the Murong family's manor.

He has regarded this place as his home lately, and no one would object if he stayed here for a few more days while he was working on the case.

The maid of Murong family had prepared a warm feast as instructed by the young lady, which could be eaten at any time.

Several dishes can be kept warm on the stove without having to worry about overcooking.

As soon as Zhao Zicheng arrives, the food can be served immediately.

When Murong Yan heard that he was back, she didn't even have time to change her clothes. She just came out dressed as a woman to sit with him for a while. She also wanted to check on the case and see if Brother Zhao had been harassed by the government.

Zhao Zicheng repeated the analysis he had given Yang Zhi. He then said he was not in a hurry and would slowly investigate the suspects over the next few days. Once he was sure, he would conduct a surprise raid to see if he could catch the suspects red-handed.

Murong Yan was worried that he wouldn't handle the situation well and would be targeted by Zhu Zhen, so she was quite concerned: "You still don't have any suspects? Is it like looking for a needle in a haystack? It's too difficult to find one?"

Zhao Zi said that he had indeed not yet suspected anyone, but on the way back from saying goodbye to Yang Zhi and riding back, he had been daydreaming about everything and his thoughts were very divergent.

So along the way, a strange idea came to his mind.

He remembered that after he finished reading "Water Margin" in his previous life, he was curious about Fang La's deeds. Since he taught history, he also looked for relevant historical materials in "Continued Zizhi Tongjian" and "The Story of the Xuanhe Period of the Great Song Dynasty".

So although Zhao Zicheng didn't know what small-time officials and grassroots civil and military officials were under Fang La, the higher the level of the people, the more familiar Zhao Zicheng was with them.

Because the higher-ranking the thief is, the more likely he is to be recorded in history books.

Zhao Zicheng vaguely remembered from those historical books that after Fang La occupied six states and fifty-two counties including Hangzhou, his prestige grew so much that Zoroastrians in the surrounding areas such as Jiangsu, Huzhou and southern Zhejiang also responded, or waited for Fang La's army to arrive and agreed to open the gates and surrender the city as an internal supporter.

"The Remaining Stories of the Xuanhe Period of the Great Song Dynasty" said, "In Suzhou and Hu, there were Taihu thieves Shi Sheng and Lu Xing who were his accomplices and surrendered the city from within", which is why Fang La's corruption later spread so widely.

Because in history, Fang La's own army could not fight high-tech wars such as sieges, and it was difficult to break through the Song army's strong city.

The key to a peasant army breaking through a strong city has always been to rely on traitors. This was true for Fang La, and even more so for Zhang Xianzhong in the late Ming Dynasty.

Now Zhao Zi said that although he has only taken over the case for half a day, he has not found the suspect yet.

But since he knew the answer directly from the history book, even if people like Shi Sheng and Lu Xing were not suspects in this case, it would be a good idea to try to find out if they had committed any other crimes or colluded with the bandits.

Then, suppressing these future "Fang La's accomplices" will also be beneficial for maintaining his base in the Su and Xiu areas and fighting against Fang La in the future.

However, there were certainly problems with doing so. Zhao Zicheng's conscience prevented him from making such a decision lightly: These people might not be evil now. If he arbitrarily implicated innocent people, those who had not yet rebelled, wouldn't that be a false accusation? Or even forcing innocent people to join the rebels prematurely?

He went to search and confiscate the property before finding any evidence. What's the difference between him and Zhu Zhen?
I want to save the people of the world from the slaughter of the barbarians, so I must act uprightly and stand the test of history.

Therefore, the thought that just came to his mind was denied by Zhao Zicheng as soon as it arose.

A gentleman has things he does and things he doesn't do. One should have principles in life.

However, at this moment, being so concerned about Murong Yan, Zhao Zicheng thought of another thing: why not take advantage of the fact that the Murong family has settled in Gusu for decades and is very familiar with the underworld around Gusu, and pretend to ask if they know people in the underworld like "Shi Sheng, Lu Xing"?

If Murong Yan knew and could roughly tell the other party's identity, he could investigate it first.

If the other party has already committed some obvious misdeeds, it makes sense for you to focus on keeping a close eye on those people.

Thinking of this, Zhao Zicheng sorted out his words, cleared his throat, and asked in a fake tone:
"Although there is no evidence yet, we do have some clues. Today we apprehended a sailor from the ship that sank that day. He confessed that he was instructed by a wealthy man named Shi and a wealthy man named Lu to work for Duan Ming.

"My dear sister, you've been in Gusu for many years. Have you ever heard of any wealthy businessman named Shi, or any powerful person, or someone known as Shisheng in the underworld? Anyway, I don't have any further clues. I only know his surname is Shi, and I just said it casually."

The so-called "confession pried out from the mouths of captured sailors" was, of course, a fabrication by Zhao Zicheng, an excuse to fool Murong Yan.

His actual source of information, of course, was the history books he had read in his previous life.

Murong Yan had no doubts. She thought for a while, then asked her maid to find Deng Yue and ask him a few questions. Then she came back to report to Zhao Zicheng:
"There is indeed a powerful family in this county. Like us, they own a farm west of the city. Their owner's surname is Shi and his given name is Sheng. Officially, they're the leader of a group of fishermen, but in reality, they also make a small fortune by smuggling salt by sea. However, a few years ago, they defected to Zhu Jie and helped him apprehend other wealthy fugitives who had moved their wealth. Zhu Jie saw that he was useful, so he turned a blind eye."

After hearing this, Zhao Zicheng almost spit out his wine.

He also thought that the "Shi Sheng" written in "The Remaining Stories of the Xuanhe Period of the Great Song Dynasty" was a respectful title, and should be a scholar or gentleman with the surname Shi from Suzhou.

Who knew the other party would be so straightforward and just give his surname as Shi and his name as Sheng.

If I had known this earlier, I should have asked Murong Yan if she had heard of this person.

Since the other party has become Zhu Zhen's lackey, Zhao Zi said that he would not feel so much psychological burden if he investigated the other party.

As for the man surnamed Lu, Murong Yan and Deng Yue also expressed unfamiliarity. Zhao Zicheng pondered the possibility that the "Taihu thief Lu Xing" mentioned in historical records wasn't from this county. After all, Taihu Lake is so vast, with so many counties surrounding it. It's also possible that he hadn't yet committed any crimes, so it wasn't surprising that they weren't aware of him.

Tomorrow we will focus on investigating the man surnamed Shi. Regardless of whether he is the perpetrator of this case or not, it will always be good if we can find out a future accomplice of Fang La.

(End of this chapter)