Daqing Criminal Division

This night, Jiangning Mansion, where all the houses outside had already lit their lamps, was about to get dark, but a sudden heavy rain fell instead.

"rustle--"

The sound of raindrops hitting the roofs of the houses was very loud.

At this moment, big drops of rain are splashing on the road and the canal, and there is a mass of sultry heat revealed from the ground in the air. This scene makes people also accumulate nameless restlessness in their hearts.

Because of the case record about the deceased Zhang Santong brought back from the governor's mansion by the yamen servant who was sent out during the day, everyone in the government was completely plunged into a sleepless night.

At night, when the torrential rain was still falling, a row of lights were lit outside the door to illuminate the government office in the inner hall.

During the day, the soldiers were divided into two groups, Zha Keshan, Sima Zhun, Fucha Erji and Duan Xiao, who were each looking for clues, finally met.

Each of the four occupies a corner.

It seems that they are all sitting in different postures, but they are obviously busy with the matter at hand.

In the inner hall, on the entire white wall, hung a map of Jinling that Sima Zhun had just reacquired. On it, several suspicious points that may have hidden identities of the gang were circled with a vermilion pen.

These small red circles are the special marks specially drawn by Duan Xiao according to the location of the fishing boat wharf from southern Anhui to Jiangning in the past month provided by Sima Zhun.

On the improvised table behind him were scattered a large number of customs clearance documents registered by some common people when the wharf docked recently.

Only by waiting for the small yamen servants to continue to search one by one, can we find out whether a group of people pretending to be melon farmers in southern Anhui and carrying a large amount of fire salt have sneaked into the Jiangning mansion unknowingly.

As for the table next to it, there are some uniform meals delivered to the government servants who are handling the case just now, including rice, meat, vegetables, fish and so on.

But the case is not over yet, none of them are in the mood to eat.

So these public meals are afraid that they have to be put aside and become cold.

Previously, no one would have imagined that behind the death of such a junior, there was such a big case in the 13th year of Sejong that shocked the entire capital and caused countless high officials to fall.

——The pig man case.

The name of this famous strange case, just said it, shocked everyone in the Jiangning Mansion who were waiting for the news.

Although Jiangning is now far away from the capital, but in the past four or five years, most of the prefectures and counties have heard of this big case that spread to the whole country, so much so that it was also named in the files.

What is the hostage-taking incident by the pigman bomb in Shuntianfu?

This question may only be answered by those who have experienced the bizarre case of the Shuntian Mansion that caused the city gates to be closed early.

The so-called bombing and hostage-taking incident.

In the 13th year of King Sejong, a group of unknown people used local methods to make various bombs in various places, hijacked hostages in the downtown area, blew up carriage buildings along the street, and finally threatened the government for ransom. A group of criminals who fled.

For things like gunpowder, the original invention dates back hundreds of years.

But if we talk about things like bombs and fire thorns, it was only in the past 100 years that they began to appear more often in civilian and local wars.

It is said that there was a Jiangxi governor named Zeng Mian in the previous dynasty. He was ordered to resist Mongolia at that time. During the war, he invented a kind of "Zeng's mine".

This kind of landmine belongs to the side-mounted slow gun, with a round surface like a bucket, and the hidden ingenuity.

The fire wire hidden inside can only explode once or twice. After the surface is decorated with five-color ribbons, the enemy cannot find it at all. Once it is fired, it can explode immediately. This is why this time bomb is so powerful.

For so many years, such bombs have been produced in small quantities among the people, and the imperial court has also explicitly prohibited private collection.

But in that year alone, this group of criminals, who were called pigmen at the time, successively used this self-made side-mounted slow gun to blow up at least three or four downtowns including Suncheon at that time, including one In the place of the official residence, it also caused countless casualties of the people.

Speaking of the pig man, it doesn't actually refer to the person whose appearance and identity have any relationship with the pig, but refers to the government's collective name for these five mysterious criminals who committed crimes with gangs as the center.

Because the case hadn't been solved for many years, all the investigators on the government's side were shelved one after another because they had no clue.

At that time, people from all walks of life were involved in the investigation of the case, including identifying the scene, collecting physical evidence, drawing portraits, and collecting many clues, but in the end the only clue that Shuntianfu could grasp was related to their identities.

——These five people were probably born in the Year of the Hai.

This clue comes from the beginning. Whenever they appeared and collaborated with others to commit crimes, they had the number of gods written on their bodies, and they wore a pig face mask to cover their faces.

But this group of people is obviously five people, but the number of heavenly stems in them is only missing one character A.

As we all know, among all the zodiac years, there is no Jiahai year.

The year of Jiazi is based on ten celestial stems and twelve earthly branches. There are only five celestial stems that match the year of Hai, namely Yi, Ding, Ji, Xin, and Gui.

This group of villains with mysterious identities and completely unknown status usually appear as five people.

In addition to the homemade bombs they left behind at the scene of the crime, the slow guns were placed on the side, and they happened to carry five heavenly stems on their bodies, which just matched the fact that they were born in the year of Hai.

Therefore, the Shuntian Mansion at that time suspected that the successive civil bomb hijacking cases in Shuntian were composed of five criminals who were all born in the Year of the Hai and should be exactly 12 years younger than each other. It was named—the pigman case.

Compared with the other three people who were busy because the pig man case was related to this matter, Duan Xiao, who was staring out the window expressionlessly, was also thinking about the same thing.

Ordinary people can't see anything, just feel that he looks the same today as before.

But ever since the yamen servant brought back the news that Zhang Santong was probably one of the main culprits in the pig-man case at that time, he has been a little inexplicably silent.

The big dog days suddenly began to rain heavily.

Accompanied by a huge shocking sound, it poured over the lakeside pavilions of the entire Jiangning Mansion, and a large layer of water vapor accumulated and enveloped the city.

In this wet fog, the cruise ships and carriages on the street had to rest early.

The porters and shopkeepers also returned home early with their pennies on their backs, and even with the skyline facing the main city, today there was a hazy yellow sunset that could be seen even though it was blocked by the tower.

The sun comes out even when it rains heavily.

——There is a folk saying called a day in the rain.

In the past, it was said that it was a sign that an abnormal celestial phenomenon was about to occur. Although this was a groundless statement, it was inexplicably disturbing and disturbing.

He is a little upset at the moment.

Not only that, but also a kind of upset that has been rare for many years.

Because Duan Xiao is always very calm.

It's like the wind will not easily cause any ripples, only the real big wind and waves will evoke the rivers and rivers that consciously bring about turbulent resistance, and there is a feeling that no one can easily touch his depth.

Because of this, it was a little strange that he was so obviously inattentive for the first time.

But when a person was facing Duan Xiao outside the window, and his eyes fell on the watery ground on the steps of the door, he opened several umbrellas that he had just rushed all the way back, but it also reminded him of some past events.

Although it has been four or five years since the last case of 'that incident' happened, as a Beijing official with a bright future, he is a member of Nanshufang.

But Duan Xiao was once very involved in this case.

One of the big reasons why he hasn't returned to the capital for so many years is that he has been looking for the five murderers in the "pig man case" back then.

Therefore, the impact caused by the case at that time was about to affect the entire capital at that time, and even his official career was directly related to the case.

It is also because these five people not only killed and blew up many places, but also a large amount of gold and silver looted at the beginning were tributes paid in a certain year and some confidential letters from the imperial court.

Sejong was furious and punished all the officials involved in the case, and the Six Departments therefore introduced various measures to assist the public security in the capital at that time, but they still failed to solve the case.

Duan Xiao was one of those who were ordered in danger.

Because he is an important minister of the emperor, and because he may be the only person in the world who can understand the strangeness of this case.

He was still young at the time, but he was already a rare person at that age who held a high position.

Although he was born as a scholar in the Imperial Palace, he was also a civil servant in the Shenzouyuan gang in his early years, but because Sejong felt that he was decisive, resourceful, and good at handling cases, he has been in charge of filing cases in the Six Departments since then.

It's a pity that Duan Xiao didn't solve the case in the end because of the emperor's grace.

This was not only because Sejong was ill at that time, and the current situation in the court was already unstable, but also because the follow-up investigation of the case also proved that it was not an ordinary robbery, and many suspicions of Suncheon were involved behind the scenes.

And the 'red scar' that still remains on his face, which has been deliberately acting ugly, originally came from the scene of the bombing that happened in Sejong's 13th year.

He especially remembered that the sky outside at that time was as dark as it was outside.

Under the city of Jingzhaoyin, countless officers and soldiers rode into the city to try to protect the civilians, but they couldn't stop the strange 'bombs' that exploded on the ground and under the houses one after another.

The official residence suffered catastrophe and the private house was destroyed.

Duan Xiao, who was riding an official horse, braved the flames and night to chase the group of eccentrics who were about to leave all the way to the bottom of the city gate, but was knocked off the horse by the explosion that had already spread to the ground at that time.

His face was badly scratched by debris from the blast.

The man also fell under the dead horse at once, covered in blood.

It was also at that moment that Duan Xiao, whose whole body was in severe pain from a broken bone, saw that among the five people who had already left, there was a person whom he had never seen through, leaning over in the fire and looking back at the dark wall. feet on his head.

The strength and ruthlessness of that kick that kicked him on the head, which brought a strong sense of shame, was once still fresh in Duan Xiao's memory.

He and this group of people hiding in the dark have never known each other before.

However, 'they' knew him well, and even the leader with an old man's voice had such a conversation with him.

【"...You, who are you guys?"】

With his eyes closed tightly, he couldn't see everything in front of him clearly. Duan Xiao, whose temples were bruised and purple from the kick, asked coldly, his mouth full of blood.

【"It doesn't matter who we are."】

The hunchbacked old man who was dressed as a pig in the bombing case in that night, spoke like this.

【"But I have admired your name for a long time, Yanzhou Duan Yuheng, not only that...Master Duan, I have also heard many 'interesting' stories about you."】

【"You think you have gotten rid of the past things on your own, but you don't want to go around and get stuck in the end. It's only because you are too persistent. If you don't care about these 'truths' like everyone else, none of this will matter. It will be like this tonight..."]

【"However, Duan Yuheng, I hope to remember this sentence I told you today."】

【"Life in this world is not in your eyes, you are smarter than ordinary people, and also cold-blooded than ordinary people, the longer time passes, the more indifferent you will feel about life."】

【"In the beginning, you will feel that killing others is not a particularly cruel thing. People are like cattle and sheep, and you have no fluctuations. Slowly, you will also like the feeling of killing a person."】

【"Just like your father, who on the surface looks like a great Confucian, but is also a cannibal in the true sense. You have inherited all the flesh and blood in his body, so you are naturally an out-and-out natural monster. "]

【"You are just deceiving yourself again and again now, continue to be an ordinary person, an ordinary person whose true thoughts in your heart cannot be discovered by others, but you are a born criminal in your bones."】

【"One day, you will become the next murderer who commits impossible crimes against ordinary people. Sooner or later, people like you will...become a heinous criminal like me, who kills without blinking an eye."】

【"This is your...destination that you will never turn back in this life."】

After saying this, this one of the five pigs who seemed to have some understanding of him, 'Ji Zhu' walked away.

At the same time, Duan Yuheng, who was once invincible in the 13th year of Sejong, also fell into the tongue of others because of his actions in arresting this group of people.

Not only was he framed by someone in the court, but he also lost power once, so he had to rely on the power of others, and finally used the golden cicada's method of escaping his shell to temporarily escape from the court.

"Your Majesty, Duan Yuheng is self-willed. In order to solve the case, he disregarded the lives of others. He arbitrarily ordered the city gate leader to open the city to search and implicate the innocent people of Shuntian. He should be executed for the crime—" If you are really cruel, I am afraid that if you continue to be an official, you will bring disaster to the people—"

On that day, Duan Xiao still vividly remembered the countless courtiers who participated in his performance in the court hall, and Sejong's first public reprimand from Long Yan's anger.

Ever since he became an official at a young age, Sejong, who had always been indifferent, has always praised him more than criticized him. Not only did he appreciate him more, but even the road to the imperial court was smoother than ordinary people's lifetimes combined.

But in the case of the pigman in Shuntian Mansion, he originally shouldered such a great responsibility to protect Shuntian.

In the end, not only was the case not solved smoothly, but he also caused hundreds of people to be killed and injured in his hands, and the Shuntian Mansion suffered heavy losses. Anyone would have to say something, and the myth of Duan Yuheng's invincibility was shattered.

That day, the memorial that was thrown on his head and body from above the dragon chair.

And even if he was alone in the hall, he could hear the angry scolding clearly, and Duan Xiao, who knelt on the cold ground expressionlessly, remembered every word.

Since he was a teenager, he has gained a reputation that he will surely accomplish some extraordinary achievements in the future.

Ordinary people say that a person like Duan Yuheng has never lost in his life, and even he himself has been determined that he will never lose to anyone or anything in his life.

But in the end, he was still defeated.

Not only that, but the defeat was unclear.

But now, Duan Xiao pulled himself out again, outsiders recalled everything that year, and there are three reasons why this case has become an unsolved case:

First, as we all know, the so-called pigman case involved five perpetrators who were all 12 years apart in age.

The 13th year of Sejong was the year of Yimao, which is also the year of the rabbit.

So during this year, according to the figures they exposed when committing crimes, the youngest criminal among them should also be 20 years old, while the oldest one is already 68 years old.

Although the pig case does not always have five people appearing on time, but more of a division of labor between each pig, but what is the origin of the oldest criminal? No one knows now.

Second, Duan Xiao, who ordered the city gate to open the city gate to lure the murderers, but was impeached afterwards, was almost going to catch one of the murderers with his own hands that night.

Although no one believed him from the beginning to the end.

But afterwards, why the plan he originally set up was leaked ahead of time, how did the "Jizhu" know his life experience, and who was behind the scenes to cause countless deaths and injuries in Shuntian Mansion afterwards, but he has not yet come up with an answer.

Thirdly, why Wang Tianxiaohui, one of the criminal suspects who had been locked in after the incident, disappeared mysteriously. Who rescued him from the prison in Shuntian Mansion at the last moment without anyone noticing?

Based on the current situation, the real age of 'Zhang Santong' is exactly 24 years old this year, which is in line with the government's speculation at the beginning of the case.

So after the big case that year, the youngest "pig man" Wang Tianxiao among the five pigs really escaped from birth.

All these doubts caused Duan Xiao, who was imprisoned in the Ministry of Internal Affairs at that time, to find one of his friends, Dahasu, who was then Zhang Jing of the Military Aircraft Department, secretly asked Sejong again, and reported the doubts.

It was also the last gamble for this strange case that made him lose for the first time in his life, so that he could give up his identity as Duan Yuheng and escape from birth, and only then did the Jiangning Mansion case be traced again today.

Today, the Skynet is restored, sparse but not leaky.

For the past four years, he has been hiding his name in the world and among the people, just trying to find out the truth behind the three doubts in the case.

Unexpectedly, this time in the Jiangning Mansion, he actually met one of the suspects in the pig man case again.

Among the five, Wang Tianxiao, the 'pig man' born in the year of Guihai, died.

Then there should be four pigmen in this world.

However, why did he escape from the capital all the way to Jiangning mansion incognito?And why did he finally become a waiter in the shop? Will all this be related to the previous pig man case?

Is the group of mysterious "Southern Anhui people" in this case the same four people from back then?

Duan Xiao is still unable to make a conclusion about all of this.

But to talk about the various truths hidden in it, people can't help but fall into a kind of coldness and deep thinking from the bottom of their hearts.

Right now, taking the time out of memory and returning to the Jiangning mansion again, it has been four or five years since this old case happened.

Duan Xiao, who suppressed Cai's inner emotions, stood alone with his hands behind his back, with the other hand resting on the frame and standing by the window, discussing the case with everyone.

On the side, Fuchaerzi was sitting and looking at a stack of files, while Zakshan was helping to copy and check the customs clearance documents.

Opposite the three of them, Sima Zhun, who was a local official in Jiangning, was pressing a corner of the scroll with one hand and holding an oil lamp on his forehead sweating to verify the authenticity.

'The water in Meixiang Inn is deep, and the waiter in the shop also fell into the water'.

Previously, no one thought that a secret phrase in Liu Cen's distress letter would actually verify the whereabouts of the stolen famous painting and corpse, but today Fuchaerji followed this clue and found the most cracked case along the way. One of the key physical evidence.

Afterwards, he explained to everyone present the reason why the three of them at the Meixiang Inn said that they saw Zhang Santong who had come back to life.

It turns out that everything has to go back to when the head watermelon case happened——

"...That night, it was the same as the clues you got at the beginning. The head of 'Zhang Santong' was indeed thrown all over the city with a bunch of watermelons, but it should be in Meixiang when the gang killed him at first. In the inn, the old shopkeeper and the others went to bed early that night."

Staring at the famous painting on the table, Fucharzi's side face looked a little different from usual, with a different kind of calmness and transparency whenever he spoke to talk about business.

His pair of black eyes, at this moment, did not look like a wax-billed bird that was always lazy and decadent and restrained in a cage at the beginning.

Kind of like an eagle.

It is still the kind of wise and calm Costin who spreads his wings and soars in the air.

"But they didn't know that on the water tank on the fourth floor that we demolished afterwards, another half of the body was thrown into it."

"The corpse is Zhang Santong who was beheaded by those 'melon sellers'."

"..."

"It's just that the corpse was discarded and stuffed into the water tank, and the legs were tied upside down with hemp rope and placed in it instead of the original bucket, because the old shopkeeper told the people in the store not to go to Yexiang for a month. Only on that night, Xiao Mazi once touched the fire rope hanging in each floor when he felt sick to his stomach.

Who would have thought that this pull would cause the headless corpse to fall out of the water tank hanging upside down. "

"Because Zeng Ming, Ah Kuan and the old shopkeeper lived on different floors, they were able to see the 'floating' Zhang Santong together when the rope was pulled down."

"Afterwards, the body was thrown back to the water tank on the fourth floor by the fire rope in the building with the help of the upstairs and downstairs, and was soaked in the rainwater in the water tank for a long time, so that the people in the inn never found it." Zhang Santong's body has never left the Meixiang Inn."

In broad daylight, Fucha Erji, who had climbed stairs and searched for corpses to find these things, sat in the yamen holding hands and told the truth, but he made it all clear.

He hasn't had time to change into clean clothes yet.

But Fucharji didn't care about these things at first, even if he was unkempt, he came to the government first. Fortunately, the others were similar, and the four of them were all busy and sweaty, so they didn't dislike each other.

In this way, he has already solved the murder method of the murderer in the other half of the corpse and the watermelon head case.

But since then, there are still two questions, that is, how did the stolen painting get into the water tank on the fourth floor of Meixiang Inn, and where is Liu Cen now?

Now, Sima Zhun himself is the only person present who can help them verify the authenticity of the "Qing Yuan Ben Qing Ming Shang He Tu", and then find a way to find Liu Cen.

Because it has been around for many years, this famous painting has been hung in the Jiangning Inspectorate.

The Jiangning government office was ordered to take care of this painting, so Sima Zhun, the head of the police, knows exactly what is mysterious about this painting and how to find it if it is lost.

It's strange to say that Sima Zhun, the chief police officer of Jiangning Mansion, turned pale the first time he opened the picture scroll, and then inadvertently noticed something.

"No, why does this painting seem to have been altered by...someone?"

"It has been changed, what does that mean?"

Seeing this, Duan Xiao also asked a question.

"Me neither, I don't know very well, but you see, here, what the pole-pulling boatman under the Hongqiao holds is no longer a thin pole, but a watermelon. The season of this painting is not now, It’s impossible for a watermelon to appear, it’s obviously been altered by someone, and this painting has been hanging in the Inspectorate for a long time, so I have an impression..."

Because of his ugly face, Sima Zhun firmly believed that the painting had been altered by the person who stole it, and accurately stated the changes in the painting.

As a result, they didn't leave in the middle of the night, so they had to stay here to find out what parts of the recovered "Qingyuan Riverside Picture at Qingming Festival" had been changed by the person who stole the painting.

Moreover, changing the thin pole in the hand of the punting boatman to 'watermelon', no matter how you look at it, it looks like it was done by the criminal who stole the painting.

Combined with the fact that they carry a large amount of fire nitrate, and they are related to the pigman case, why these 'watermelon' marks' are made on this famous painting used as a map of Jinling is a bit creepy.

"'Watermelon', no, doesn't it just refer to those 'things' made of fire nitrate?"

Zha Keshan's blurred expression made everyone fall silent.

And in the next seven or eight full hours from the daytime.

Seeing that under the light of the candle in Sima Zhun's hand, the surface of the picture scroll spread out on the table and soaked in the water tank of Meixiang Inn for many days was a little wrinkled, but fortunately it was wrapped with a layer of oil paper, which made The famous painting of the city defense map was not completely destroyed.

It's just that compared to the way it was hung in the Inspectorate before it was stolen, it was marked with 'marks' that were not there before.

Also under such circumstances, the other three who had been waiting for the news all night heard that Sima Zhun, who seemed too tired to stand up, suddenly sat down, then dropped the pen in his hand and covered his forehead exhaustedly. He said,

"How many places have been changed on this painting, I have found them all based on my memory."

"How many changes are there in total?"

Fucharzi asked.

"Twelve places."

When Sima Zhun said this, he couldn't believe it, but he still closed his eyes every word with a pale face, and said slowly as if he had been catastrophe,

"A total of twelve places have been changed on this painting, and now there are twelve 'watermelons' in total."

"And all of them are set up around the city of tax and bank payment this time, the Riyue Shengpiao Account, and the Jiangning Mansion. I don't know if these 'watermelons' are the fire nitrate you guessed."

"But if there are no accidents, I guess, these are the real purpose of these 'Wannan people' who pretended to be melon sellers and came all the way to Jiangning Mansion."

The author has something to say: This chapter makes up for yesterday's.

A friend gets married once in a lifetime, but I'm finally done with my work. My little post... I really haven't given up. Everyone is afraid of taking medicine. After that, I will update it on time when I come back from get off work every day, Jiumi.Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated the nutrient solution~

Thanks to the little angel who cast [Mine]: Mao Mao 1;

Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:

Mao Mao 10 bottles; at this time, a sand sculpture netizen Lu 5 bottles; Lin carbon plate does not need carbon bowl 1 bottle;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!