Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Uncle Fang's home was in Lane 19, while Ma San's shop was at the other end of Lane 1 facing the street. The two lanes were separated by nearly a mile. At this distance, the underground passage involved two to three hundred households.

When Chen Shao arrived, Lane 19, Lane 18, and Lane 17 were all crowded with people, all trying to squeeze in, shouting loudly. Chen Shao walked closer and was about to see what they were squeezing for, when someone with sharp eyes turned around and saw her, and immediately shouted "Master Chen is here", and the crowd immediately turned around and rushed towards her, and in just a moment, they surrounded her in three layers.

With the strenuous efforts of the Yulin Guards, the people no longer crowded forward, but the chattering sound could not be stopped.

Chen Shao listened carefully for a while before he understood that they were asking about the underground passage and where they would move to after people could no longer live here.

Fu Jiu shouted for silence several times, but the crowd still wouldn't quiet down. Fu Jiu jumped on the carriage and shouted again, but it was still useless.

"Don't shout yet." Chen Shao stopped him, "Let them make a fuss for a while first."

After a full cup of tea, the chattering sound gradually died down. Fu Jiu seized the opportunity, jumped back into the carriage, and called out for silence a few times at the right time. Only then did the crowd slowly quiet down.

Chen Shao also got on the carriage. After scanning everyone, he spoke calmly as possible, "I believe everyone already knows that Ma San is the remnant of the Zhu and Gu families. The underground passage that runs through Uncle Fang's house to Ma San's shop was dug by Ma San after he gained Uncle Fang's trust. It was a arsenal for storing the weapons of the Zhu and Gu families' rebellion. When they were digging, they only considered how to make it easier to walk, and did not consider whether everyone on the ground was safe. So after discovering the underground passage this morning, I arranged for people to check for hidden dangers from house to house."

Seeing that everyone started to talk again, Chen Shao raised his hands and pressed them down, then continued, "Everyone, please listen to me first. I know everyone is concerned about where to move to since Shipailou can no longer be lived in. Because it happened suddenly, I really can't arrange for everyone to go somewhere else."

After a pause, he continued, "Now, regarding the question of where to move after we can no longer live here, I have two suggestions: First, if you have relatives or friends, you can temporarily live with them; second, everyone should work together to build some straw huts around to temporarily live in for a while. As for the wood and cattails for the huts, I will arrange for people to purchase them from various villages and towns as soon as possible. After the purchase comes back, I will also arrange for people to guide you in building them. Of course, everything is temporary. Once the hidden dangers are eliminated, you can still move back home to live."

After another pause, he continued, "I will arrange for people to check. All the families checked will be deemed unfit for living. Those not checked can continue to live there. Now, you can go back and discuss what to do. When your families are checked, you will be registered together. I will purchase enough wood and cattails according to the registration results."

After the noisy crowd dispersed, Chen Shao got off the carriage. After signaling the Yulin Guards to follow Wang Cong to identify people in the alleys, he asked Li Tianliu who had returned with him, "How is the investigation going?"

"You've already seen it, haven't you?" Li Tianliu said. "As soon as I told the truth to a few households in the passage, people gathered around us. The news spread from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred. By the time we wanted to get away, it was already blocked."

Chen Shao joked: "So, I arrived just in time."

Li Tianliu glanced at Wang Cong who was walking towards the alley, and then at Bao Chengle who was standing next to the carriage: "Any new clues?"

"I don't know if it counts." Chen Shao said, and told him about Han Zihou's situation. After that, he said, "Liu Dangjia doesn't know when he will be back, so he asked Wang Dangjia to come over to recognize him first."

Li Tianliu looked at Wang Cong again, and then looked at the noisy crowd. There were too many people, and it was hard to tell who was who. Without knowing Han Zihou, it was almost impossible to find him out just by the vague "smell" of the same kind.

Retracting his gaze, Li Tianliu asked: "If you can't find the person..."

"If you can't find anyone," Chen Shao took over his words, "then quickly deal with the affairs of Hongyuan County and go to Yunnan County."

Seeing that she had made up her mind, Li Tianliu didn't say anything more and turned to talking about the underground passage. "The situation is more serious than we imagined. As for the few families we have visited, they said that in the past one or two years, they did feel a little scared when walking around in the house. Two families have clearly ordered their children not to run around in the house since October last year, and the adults are also very careful when walking. However, they did not suspect that the underground was dug out, but just thought that the house was old and there was a risk of collapse. Chan Yi and I also walked around these families' homes twice. If our footsteps were a little heavier, we could basically hear the echo of the tunnel. If you want them to move out temporarily, and then arrange for someone to fill the underground passage, and then let them move back, it's best to first ask them where they threw the soil they dug out in the first place."

Chen Shao waved to Bao Chengle.

Bao Chengle came over quickly.

Chen Shao asked: "Tell me, how did you dig the cellar, how did you dig the passage, how long did it take to dig these, how did you transport the excavated soil out, and where did you transport it to?"

There were a lot of questions, Bao Chengle read them silently before answering them one by one: "In the beginning, we dug Ma Sanjia first, and then dug from Ma Sanjia to Fang Shujia bit by bit. Lord Luo arranged more than 30 people to come and dig together. It took more than two years to dig out the current one. As for the excavated soil, most of it was pulled to Shiweibi outside the city by donkey carts or ox carts, and a small part was dumped into the Wei River."

Li Tianliu was curious: "Uncle Fang's house is not close to Ma San's shop, why did he go to such a long way and dig the cellar here?"

Bao Chengle forced a smile and said, "In the entire Shipailou, only Uncle Fang is a widower, and his location is the most convenient."

Li Tianliu glanced in the direction of Uncle Fang's house and didn't ask any other questions.

Chen Shao instructed him, "Continue to check and register all the families involved in the passage."

Li Tianliu responded with "I know" and was about to turn around when he heard a loud bang and a cloud of dust and screams coming from the direction of Alley 3 and Alley 5.

"The ground collapsed!" When Li Tianliu said this, he was already ten feet away.

Chen Shao's face turned serious and he hurriedly ran towards Alley 3 and Alley 5.