The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter [-] Suspicious clouds at the post station

It was already dark, and the winter night was cold and cold. Su Jin and others shivered when they came to the yard from the hot hall; Each took a cloak and put it on Su Jin and Yan Biyun.

Fu Bi sighed: "You are still lucky, brother, I can only suffer from the cold."

Su Jin hurriedly took off the cloak from his body and handed it to Fu Bi, "Brother wears it, I'll ask them to get it again."

Fu Bi smiled and snapped his fingers. A guard beside the campfire immediately stepped forward. Fu Bi said, "Go and get my cloak."

The soldier promised, trotting all the way, and after a while came out with a silver cloak, Fu Bi took it, laughed, shook off the cloak and put it on his body neatly, fastened the belt, the movement was done in one go, chic and easy, Su Jin blinked as he watched Eye.

Xiao Sui'er and Xiao Xian'er couldn't help covering their mouths and laughing, Fu Bi waved and said, "Let's go, what are you taking us to see?"

Su Jin thought to himself, this guy is quite smug, a middle-aged uncle in his 40s with a horse face, but he is wearing this brocade silver cloak, which is too cool.

Immediately, he led the two of them through the soldiers around the bonfire to the gate of the courtyard, and when they came to the gate of the post station, Su Jin patted the hardwood door with a thickness of seven or eight inches, and said softly: "Look, brother, there is a way for this gate Is damage rushing in?"

Fu Bi groped up and down to check and said, "Just kidding, this is a hardwood door. Nuo, look at the iron cross bars in the middle that lock the wood, which invisibly increases its strength several times. If you want to come in, you can't get in unless the door is opened from the inside." .”

Su Jin nodded and said: "That's it. Brother Fu's vision should not be wrong. Then brother can see where people can enter and leave the station without being known? Tang Jie was killed in this Niutou station, together with More than a dozen soldiers escorted were killed at the same time, such a method is probably impossible for ordinary bandits."

Fu Bi pondered and said: "Not only ordinary robbers, but also the legendary gentleman on Liangshang Fei Caoshangfei, who can't do it without knowing it. It is said that the corpse was found by the handyman in the post the next day. There is indeed a doubt here. .”

Yan Biyun interjected, "Could you enter the station from somewhere else? Although the wall is high, I'm afraid it's not without omissions."

Su Jin nodded and said: "Biyun is right, why don't we walk around the wall of this post station and check it out?"

Fu Bi said: "Young brother Su, do you want to learn from Mr. Bao to solve cases? It's new."

Su Jin smiled and said: "I'm Dong Shi's imitation. I have nothing to do. Now that I have just arrived at the first watch, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep when I go back to my room. If my brother is sleepy, I'll go back and rest. I'll go check it out myself."

Yan Biyun said: "The slave family will accompany you."

Su Jin smiled and said, "Of course you want to accompany me."

Fu Bi said: "That won't work, I'm not sleepy, what I mean is, why did my younger brother suddenly think of this question?"

Su Jin opened the door of the inn, stepped out and said, "I suspect..." The voice became so small that it was almost inaudible.

Fu Bi probed his ears, only to hear Su Jin say in an inaudible voice: "I suspect that there is an internal response in this station, surrounded by wilderness, and there are watchmen on stone towers, how can those people escape their eyes, even if they are It was dark and windy at the time of the incident, and the sentry might not be able to see the people who approached quietly, but how those people came in is definitely a mystery."

The three of them walked along the wall of the post station to check in the misty light cast by the new moon.

"Look at this wall, it's more than one foot five or six in height. The nut on the top of the wall should be something like thorns and poisonous thorns. Then look at the wall." Su Jin said while reaching out and stroked the wall. , when the thumb and index finger were twirling, the wall was greasy and greasy.

"This is a rammed earth wall, and the outside is painted with river mud. Who can climb such a wall?" Su Jin said.

Fu Bi reached out and touched the wall, felt it and shook his head: "That's true, this wall can't be passed without hooks and ropes. It's getting harder."

Su Jin said: "Let's turn around, even if there is something to grab the hook, there must be marks on the wall. If you step on the wall with your feet, the river mud can't stand the force." The outer layer of mud fell down, leaving an obvious groove, which also looked quite conspicuous.

The three of them walked around the post station for more than half an hour, but they didn't find any traces of someone's footsteps. Fu Bi stopped and said, "But, there must be an internal response in this post station. Don't say anything else. The person on duty must be suspected."

Su Jin shook his head and said, "I can't be sure. Maybe the group of people used other methods to enter. How can they enter the station without leaving any traces?"

Yan Biyun suddenly said: "Where's the ladder? Wouldn't it be silent to use a ladder to get in?"

Both Su Jin and Fu Bi suddenly said: "That's right, there is no trace of the bamboo ladder on the wall, and there is no movement."

Yan Biyun suddenly said again: "But even if you use a ladder, you can't escape the guards on the stone tower."

Su Jin said softly: "This is the crux of the problem. If it can be proved that someone used a ladder to enter the station that night, and there were soldiers watching the night on the stone tower that night, then it can be judged that either the soldiers did not do their duty, or the stone tower The soldiers on the ground are the internal response. The first thing to do is to find traces of the ladder to prove that someone really entered through the wall."

"What if no trace of the ladder can be found?" Fu Bi asked.

Su Jin said softly: "Then I can only suspect that the night watchman in the front yard that night responded internally, because only by opening the gate of the inn and letting people in, can Tang Jie be found and killed without a trace."

The three of them turned around and searched carefully. When they reached a wall in the northeast corner, Su Jin suddenly pulled Fu Bi who was walking in front. Fu Bi stopped quickly and said, "What's wrong?"

Su Jin squatted down, looked down at the base of the wall against the faint moonlight, and said with a light smile, "Sure enough!"

Yan Biyun and Fu Bi said in unison: "What?"

Su Jin pointed to the withered grass under the wall and said, "Look sideways, is there any difference in the grass over there?"

Following Su Jin's example, Fu Bi and Yan Biyun looked along the horizontal direction, and suddenly found that the withered grass under the wall was indeed somewhat unusual.

"Can you see what's coming?" Su Jin asked.

Yan Biyun said softly: "Although the grass under the north and south walls is withered and yellow, it grows in the same direction. The grass in the middle of the Zhang Xu area is swaying here and there, as if someone has stepped on it."

Su Jin squeezed her little hand and praised: "That's right, that's right."

Fu Bi said: "In other words, that group of people stayed and trampled here, so that's why?"

Su Jin said: "It can be roughly judged in this way, and it cannot be ruled out that it was caused by the trampling of wild animals or livestock. Let's see it."

Su Jin got up first, and walked closer to the overgrown and extremely irregular grass. Just now, he focused his attention on the wall and didn't notice such an abnormality. Now when he took a closer look, he found that it was indeed very conspicuous.

Su Jin bent down to inspect it carefully, and inspected it back and forth a foot away from the wall, and finally whispered: "Here it is."

Fu Bi and Yan Biyun hurried over to look. Su Jin slowly pushed aside the grass, and two obvious traces of the feet of the ladder appeared in front of his eyes. Due to the weight, the grass under the feet of the ladder was crushed into two round scars.

Fu Bi said happily: "Little brother Su really has the demeanor of Mr. Bao. You can discern these details with discerning eyes."

Su Jin smiled and said: "Master Bao said that things are not difficult to distinguish. It is rare that you have to know how to distinguish them. I am a small skill, how can I compare with Master Bao."

Fu Bi said: "But this matter should be settled."

Su Jin said: "Don't panic, help me find the same ladder foot marks again, I want to prove whether my deduction is correct."

Fu Bi said, "The same ladder footprint? You mean there are two ladders?"

Su Jin said: "No, it's just the same ladder for entering and exiting. After going up such a high wall, people can only stand on the top of the wall, then pull up the ladder, put it on the inside and then go down. After killing people, they can only come out." It must be the same method, the ladder footprints placed twice cannot be in the same position, so if I can find another trace, it will prove my inference.”

Fu Bi hurriedly pouted his buttocks and rummaged around, Yan Biyun also turned his head to examine carefully, Su Jin got up and looked at the top of the wall, observing the abnormal shape on the top of the wall, then heard Fu Bi whispered: "I found it, here Sure enough, there are traces, Su Xiaodi, you are really amazing."

Su Jin hurriedly went over to look, and it was indeed the case, but the two circular marks were relatively slight and not easy to find.

Su Jin breathed a sigh of relief, and it was almost certain that the person who killed Tang Jie entered from here. The only thing left to do was to ask the person on duty that night to find out whether it was an internal response.

"If I'm not wrong, there are also two traces inside, right?" Fu Bi was proud of his cleverness.

Su Jin chuckled, shook his head and said, "No, there is only one place."

Fu Bi was stunned and said, "Why?"

Yan Biyun laughed and said, "When a person goes down from the wall and comes up after killing someone, the ladder only needs to stop at one place, and there is no need to move at all. Naturally, there is only one trace."

Fu Bi suddenly realized, patted his forehead and scolded himself for being an idiot.

Su Jin said: "Now let's do an experiment."

Fu Bi said, "What experiment?"

Su Jin said: "Let's find a ladder to climb up the wall and see if the sentry guards on the stone tower can detect it."

Fu Bi said, "Okay, I'll get someone to bring the ladder."

Su Jindao: "At the same time, ask someone to guard the gate. Once the results of the test come out, report to Lord Yan immediately, arrest all the post station personnel, and ask about the situation that night, and they will definitely get something."

Fu Bi laughed and said: "Very good, let's help Mr. Bao solve this case by the way, it's a gift for him to take office."