Bury the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 253 surfaced
When Zhu Jinsong was still eating chicken wings at the home of Wang Liang, the president of Laowangzhuang Farmers Association, the child was carried by Ke Zhiming.

Zhu Jinsong was disgusted.

It's not that I despise children, but I despise Ke Zhiming, a blind idiot-do I recognize this child?I don't know him, what's the use of showing him to me!

After being glared at by Zhu Jinsong, Ke Zhiming immediately carried the child in front of Wang Liang, the chairman of the peasant association, and asked, "Brother, is this kid?"

Wang Liang, who had been waiting eagerly when Ke Zhiming entered the room, took a closer look, and then shouted excitedly: "Yes, yes, yes! This is the one lost by Wang Er's family!"

Then Zhu Jinsong nodded with a smile and said, "Then, brother Lao, take this child to the Wang family. Later, do we have something else we want to ask my brother for advice?"

Wang Liang nodded frantically in response, carefully took the child from Ke Zhiming's hands, and ran out of the house in a hurry.

Not long after, Wang Liang came back with a young man with a simple and honest appearance.

As soon as he entered the room, the young man knelt down on the ground with a plop, kowtowed and said: "Little Wang Er, thank you for your kindness!"

After kowtowing heavily again, Wang Er went on to pay homage: "If it wasn't for the young master, I'm afraid that the young son would never be found again. The young master not only saved the young son, but also saved the young family!"

After straightening up, Wang Er bowed heavily again: "There is no reward for a villain, but this humble life, I wish to stay with you forever, and let me drive you!"

Zhang Dequan, who had been standing beside Zhu Jinsong, suddenly wanted to hack Wang Er to death with a knife - there was Xu Yaozong who wanted to compete with our family for the post of eunuch, and now there is another Wang Er, why are these bastards so willing? Grab it with us!He is his mother!
However, Zhu Jinsong snorted and said, "You have to take good care of the child in the future. We can help you find it this time, but you may not be able to meet us next time!"

Wang Er hurriedly nodded in response, seeing that Wang Er was about to talk about being a cow and a horse again, Zhu Jinsong hurriedly stopped him and said, "Get up, don't just kneel there, and, we will help you!" Finding the child is not for you to be a cow or a horse for us, so you should hurry back and look after the child."

After the thankful Wang Er left, Zhu Jinsong gave instructions to Ke Zhiming: "Count up the children who have been lost over the years, what characteristics each have, how old they are, what zodiac sign, birth date and so on. Let us figure it out, and in addition, look at the phenomenon of children being lost in the entire Fengyang area, and see if the same situation exists in the nearby state capitals."

Ke Zhiming immediately bowed his hand and then turned to leave. The remaining chairman of the peasant association, Wang Liang, was stunned. After a while, he asked tentatively, "Master, do you suspect that there is something going on here?"

Zhu Jinsong laughed, and asked back: "All the nearby villages lose their children, and they lose their children every one or two years. Do you think this is normal?"

When asked by Zhu Jinsong, Wang Liang hesitated.

If it was in the Qing Dynasty, let alone losing a child every one or two years, it would not be surprising to lose a few children a year. In any prefecture or county, ten or eight children should not be lost in any given year.

But Daming is different.

Kidnapping a child is basically a matter of not being able to give birth to a son, so one has to spend money to buy one to inherit the incense, but this kind of business is based on the premise that the risk is not high.

The "Law of the Ming Dynasty Criminal Law" clearly stipulates that the crime of abducting a child is similar to that of harvesting a child, killing the family directly, and buying a child is also subject to the death penalty or exile. Such a big risk, who Willing to abduct children?

More importantly, there are so many states and counties in Daming, but Laowangzhuang and nearby Zhuangzi always lose their children?
Therefore, for the time being, the possibility of someone buying and selling children is ruled out. The only possibility left is that someone is doing the picking and cutting of children, because picking and cutting children is not the same as buying and selling children!
The purpose of abduction and business is purely to make money, and part of the purpose of cutting and cutting is to create some deformed children as beggars, while the other part is for sacrifice.

Thinking of this possibility, Wang Liang couldn't help but gasp.

As the leader of Laowangzhuang Farmers' Association, Wang Liang often went to the township farmers' association to study, and after returning, he preached some Great Ming laws to the people of Laowangzhuang, including harvesting and cutting.

It is precisely because of this that Wang Liang knows how cruel there is behind the four words "caisheng, cut off and cut off".

(For details, please refer to the "Dayuan Shengzheng Guochao Statutes" Volume [-] "Punishment Three All Evils Immorality Prohibition of Harvesting Lives to Sacrifice Ghosts" in the Yuan Dynasty, which describes the cruelty of harvesting raw lives and cutting them up. The purpose of harvesting and cutting is clearly stated)

Thinking of the possibility that those lost children might be taken to be cut up and then used for adultery, Wang Liang couldn't help but secretly hate, and said through gritted teeth: "Don't let me catch these bastards, otherwise, I'll die." Cut them!"

After Zhu Jinsong left Laowangzhuang, he took people directly to Fengyang County, and then found an inn to live in.

Ke Zhiming and Zhang Dequan stood in front of Zhu Jinsong, but they didn't even dare to vent their anger.

After a long silence, Zhu Jinsong knocked on the table with his fingers, and said: "Send someone to investigate, Jinyiwei, Dongchang, local farmers' associations, police uniforms, let me investigate."

"How many cut-off children are still begging in each city, and whether there is still a phenomenon of buying and selling children in various places, how many, especially Fengyang County, Fengyang Mansion, and the entire Anhui Chief Commissioner, let me check! Including the whole of Jiangnan, we must check it out!"

But after getting the files compiled by Jinyiwei and Tiandihui, Zhu Jinsong instinctively felt that something was wrong.

Ke Zhiming reported the information in his hand: "All local police guards and peasant associations have reported that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have been no cases of missing children in other places, including those who have lost themselves or been abducted by others. Almost everywhere There are some related dossiers, among them, the most from the first year of the Holy Emperor to the second year of the Holy Emperor, and after the third year of the Holy Emperor, as the government cracked down harder and harder, this situation became less and less.

"However, in the ninth year of the Holy Emperor, the number of cases of missing children from Anhui Chief Envoy suddenly increased to 55, of which 34 cases occurred in Fengyang Mansion, and all of them were boys."

"In the ten years of the Holy Emperor, there were still 52 cases of missing children from the Anhui chief envoy, 28 of which occurred in Fengyang Prefecture, and they were also boys."

"However, according to reports from Jin Yiwei of several chief envoys in Anhui and nearby areas, there are no children begging who have been cut up and begged in towns and cities in various places."

"And the Tiandihui also reported that there are no sects similar to the White Lotus Sect and the Eight Diagrams Sect found in Fengyang Mansion."

This is also where Zhu Jinsong feels something is wrong.

They didn't take children to be abducted and trafficked, and there were no religious sects engaged in any kind of prostitution, so where did these children go?
Even if it was sold to other places, it is impossible that there are no clues at all, right?

A famous detective once said: After eliminating all possibilities, the rest, no matter how unacceptable, can only be facts.

If there are only one or two cases, then various reasons can be used to explain them, but dozens of similar cases occur every year, which can only show that there are other secrets behind these cases.

Therefore, the only possibility is that these children never left Fengyang Mansion or even Fengyang County at all, and after excluding sects like Bagua Sect or White Lotus Sect...

"check!"

Zhu Jinsong ordered: "Let Jinyiwei and Tiandihui jointly investigate, target all the temples, Taoist temples, and nunneries in Fengyang, notify the local government, and start checking the certificates of all monks, Taoists, and nuns. From Dali Temple, The Ministry of Punishment sent people over to check it out for me!"

"I want to know who has the guts to take so many lives!"

Under normal circumstances, as long as it is not tossed to the point of wrath, the will of the emperor can basically be regarded as the will of a country.

When the entire Ming court acted because of Zhu Jinsong's will, the burst of power was astonishing——

The Ministry of Criminal Justice and the investigators from Dali Temple, Jinyiwei, and Dongchang were transferred to Fengyang Prefecture by a single order. Fengyang Prefecture and the following counties also joined forces with Jinyiwei and Tiandihui to start a comprehensive inventory of temples, Taoist temples, and nunneries. He also questioned the monks, Taoists, and nuns in Fengyang mansion one by one.

It has to be admitted that although the Ming Dynasty began to pay attention to governing the country according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, the habits developed over thousands of years still contain elements of the rule of man.

Especially Jinyiwei, this institution itself has many privileges. Even if it can no longer arrest people at will and interrogate them, the prison is basically a decoration, but the reputation accumulated over 200 years, not to mention it can stop children crying at night, at least It can also be frightening.

In conjunction with the visits of the farmers' associations in various places, we began to verify who passed by the village before each child was lost, and the recent activity routes of all monks, Taoists, and nuns in various places. The entire network has been airtight and directly covered. to the people behind these cases.

All the clues gradually pointed to the two monks—almost every time before the child was lost, someone met the begging monk, and almost every time it was two begging monks.

What's more coincidental is that these two monks have ring scars on their heads.

As for more detailed clues, it's really not easy to find, but after getting the driving sticker jointly issued by Dali Temple and the Ministry of Criminal Justice, what clues does Jin Yiwei need?
All the temples in Fengyang Prefecture were temporarily taken over by the local garrison, and all the monks with ring scars on their heads were interrogated one by one.

The two thieves who abducted the children of Wang Er's family before and had to abandon them on the road were naturally also on the list of interrogators.

The thief, who was holding the child of the second Wang's family, had his legs trembling. He looked at his senior brother with despair in his eyes: "Senior brother, it's all over now. Jinyiwei, Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Punishment, can we escape?"

The thief known as Senior Brother glanced at him, and said in a low voice: "Master, the old man has already explained everything about how to deal with it before. As long as you follow what Master explained, there will definitely be no problem in the end."

"You have to remember that you are a ignorant mage, you have a degree, and you are from Ming Dynasty. As long as you don't show your feet, those grandchildren of Eagle Claw will at best imprison you. They will not use torture casually."

Wuzhi hummed, and looked at his senior brother full of worry: "What about you? And Master, the two of you don't have the household registration of Daming. Although there is a certificate, those Yingclaw grandsons may not be able to torture you, right? ?”

The brother smiled and said: "My Buddha is in my heart, even if the knife and the ax are on me, it can't hurt me at all."

Looking at the senior brother with ignorance and admiration: "The realm of the senior brother is still higher, and the junior brother is far inferior to you."

The brother's face was even more smug: "That is, otherwise, how could my dharma name be Wuxin? Wuxin has no body."

(End of this chapter)