Jiapingguan Chronicle

“That’s right. That year was an unlucky one. Things started off badly from the beginning of the year, and the whole year was filled with natural disasters and man-made calamities.” Chu Han sighed, took a sip of tea, and continued, “On the sixteenth day of the first month of that year, after the court session resumed, the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Jingzhao Prefecture received a lot of complaints on almost the same day. They all said that their children were missing and they couldn’t find them no matter how hard they looked.”

"At that time, everyone thought someone was causing trouble. How could so many children have gone missing all at once? Even when Xijing was in chaos, it wasn't this chaotic. Moreover, these children all went missing while watching the lanterns."

"While they were watching the lanterns?" Shen Cha frowned. "Wasn't that the night before? Their child had been missing all night, and they only went to the authorities the next day?"

"I searched my own home all night, but I couldn't find it anywhere, so I went to the government office," Chu Han sighed. "And..."

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with these kids?"

"No." Chu Han shook his head gently. "There are not only children from ordinary people, but also children from merchant and official families. These children's families have more connections than the government, so they must have found their way here first."

“They must be worried that the child has been kidnapped by their enemies. If they report it to the authorities in advance, the child might really never come back, right?” Shen Cha sighed. “That’s only natural.”

“Yes!” Xia Chen nodded. “More than a dozen children went missing that one night, more than all the children who went missing in the past ten years combined. The Jingzhao Prefecture, the Ministry of Justice, and the Dali Temple investigated for nearly half a month before they finally caught this child trafficking organization that had been traveling all over the Great Xia Dynasty, even to Linhuang Prefecture and Yiqing Prefecture. After they caught them, they discovered that they had already abducted nearly a hundred children. Fortunately, they had records of where these children went, and the government officials searched for them according to their records and safely returned them to their homes.”

"Is it sleep?"

"No." Chu Han shook his head gently. "To be precise, it's a very peripheral organization of Mian, the kind that can be abandoned at any time if something goes wrong, so it won't affect Mian herself at all."

"I understand." Shen Cha nodded. "So, back then, Mian wasn't exposed, and no one investigated the case further, right?"

"Yes!" Chu Han nodded to Shen Cha. "At that time, your grandfather was seriously ill, and the late emperor, as the crown prince, was overwhelmed with worries every day. Although the number of missing children was relatively large, since all the children have been found safe and sound, and apart from being lethargic, there were no other problems, after observing them for a while, these children were quite normal. They were still climbing on the roofs and causing trouble as usual, unaffected by the incident. So, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and no one pursued the matter further. In addition, after eliminating this group, there were no similar cases for more than a year."

"Never been released?"

“That’s right!” Chu Han nodded, a cold smile on his face. “The late emperor ordered that these people should not be executed in the autumn. After the trial, they should be taken to the South Market and beheaded in public.”

“That time it was a complete sweep, we arrested more than thirty people, men and women, young and old, the oldest was over fifty and the youngest was ten or so. We didn’t let any of them go and took them all to Nanshi.” Xia Chen sighed, “This was to make an example of them, to show those who had such thoughts that if they dared to do such a thing, no matter how old they were, they would get what they deserved.”

"Indeed, the deaths of these people should temporarily stop them, but," Shen Cha sneered, "it should only be temporary, right?"

"That's right, it's only temporary. At least for the next year or so, nothing like that will happen."

Chu Han and Xia Chen exchanged a glance, and both sighed in unison, their expressions grim. The others didn't ask, because they all knew that the entire Great Xia Dynasty had undergone earth-shattering changes in the following year or so. The late emperor had ascended the throne from regent crown prince to emperor, and another person had been added to the imperial mausoleum.

"When did you commit the crime again?" Shen Cha took a sip of water to hide her emotions and looked at Chu Han. "Was it after the late emperor ascended the throne?"

“Yes, the third year of the late emperor’s reign, which was the year you encountered it.” He looked at Shen Cha, then at Xiao Fengqi and Qi Zhifeng, “the year you encountered it.”

"If I remember correctly, the children who were abducted that time all came from families of officials, and there were accomplices in their families. It was a coordinated effort from the inside out, and the targets were very clear, right?"

“Yes!” Chu Han nodded. “Moreover, it involves the Liao and Jin dynasties. The circumstances and methods of the crimes are almost identical. Therefore, the late emperor took it very seriously. In addition, the person who took Xiao Cha away earlier has been arrested and confirmed to be acting under someone else’s orders. He also admitted that it was the same organization that carried out the large-scale human trafficking a few years ago. So…” He sighed softly and said, “He specially sent me to Xijing City with an urgent message.”

"Was your great-uncle not in Xijing at that time?"

"No, I'm investigating another case, but compared to that, sleep is more important."

"I've been wondering before, why did this case have to be handled by my great-uncle? Is it because he has experience?"

"You were right, I do have some experience." Chu Han snapped his fingers. "I was kidnapped when I was a child, around seven or eight years old, and then..."

"Self-rescue not only saved themselves, but also the children who were locked up together." Shen Cha looked at Chu Han and laughed, "And that's not all, you tricked the human traffickers into turning themselves in, right?"

“Xiao Cha understands me best!” Chu Han nodded with a smile. “That’s why I know their weaknesses and how to deal with them. Moreover, this case is very serious. The late emperor always said that if he had come to me more than two years ago, they would not have been able to commit the crime again.”

“That’s true.” Xia Chen nodded. “If you had intervened back then, you probably would have investigated it more thoroughly.”

“That’s for sure.” Chu Han didn’t mince words. “So, this time, I led a special team composed of personnel from the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Liao-Jin special envoy. We selected many elites to investigate cases of missing children in various places. What we found was quite shocking. However, the fact that there were no cases in Xijing City in the past two years did not mean that similar cases had not occurred in other places. Moreover, many clues pointed directly to one or more powerful families in Jiangnan as the masterminds behind so many abduction cases. But at that time, we did not know which family it was. At this time, the Little Prince sent us information through various channels, helping us narrow down the scope of the powerful families.”

"Suzhou, Wuzhou, Yangzhou?"

“Yes!” Chu Han nodded slightly. “The scope has narrowed down a lot. Although there are quite a few aristocratic families in these places, at least there is a certain range.” He looked at Xiao Fengqi and said, “The Liao and Jin envoys also learned some information. They obtained clues that can basically prove the range of Liao and Jin nobles who are colluding with the aristocratic families, so they went back to arrest them directly.”

(End of this chapter)