Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2714 The Capital (72)

Xiaoqian arrived in the capital, spent some money, and quickly found out about Liu Xiaozhuan's affairs.

This Liu Xiaozhuan's errand in Nanyuan is once every five days, and he lives in the garden for five days, and it goes round and round.The day his body was found was not the day he was on business.This person is a bachelor, except for his sister and brother-in-law who look after him, he has no other relatives, and he is often away from home for ten days, so it is not surprising that he lives in neighbors.

Relying on his brother-in-law's influence, Liu Xiaozhuan enjoys a lot in Luocheng, and his friends in three rivers and five lakes will try to sell him.Therefore, he acted recklessly, and both decent people and friends in the world have a very bad impression of him.Naturally, I don't have many friends. I have a few wine and meat friends who hang out with him when they have money, and break up when they don't have money.

If he had any relatives other than his sister and brother-in-law, there was only a half-closed local prostitute by the Luocheng River, whose nickname was Jiu Lixiang, who was his old friend.Xiaoqian pretends to be a fan seeker and finds Jiulixiang.He lied that he was Liu Xiaozhuan's friend, and was entrusted by him before his death to send two taels of silver to his good friend.

Jiu Lixiang was skeptical, because Liu Xiaozhuan usually had no friends to speak of, and he had a lot of debts outside.How could such a loving and righteous friend suddenly appear?But even if she had money to take, she didn't bother to care about it.Xiaoqian immediately called for wine and food, and had a conversation with her over the wine. After drinking a few cups of yellow soup, Jiu Lixiang told all about Liu Xiaozhuan.

Most of these things don't make much sense.But Xiaoqian learned a few important things from her mouth.

The first is that Liu Xiaozhuan has been working in Nanyuan for half a year. In the first two months, he expressed his thoughts of not wanting to do it many times, and slipped out from time to time.Jiulixiang persuaded him several times.Unexpectedly, starting from September, he suddenly became full of energy. Not only did he go on time every time he was on duty, but he never slipped again.

Being so active is naturally because money is a magic power.Jiu Lixiang said that Liu Xiaozhuan was not a serious official errand, but just a helper.Naturally, there is no salary, and as for the embezzled money and "filial piety" that are intercepted every month, they can't get a few coins. In addition, the eunuchs who are housed in Nanyuan form gangs and form cliques, which is not easy to mess with.This is obviously not very attractive to Liu Xiaozhuan who has always been idle, eating, drinking, whoring and gambling.

But from September onwards, he suddenly became rich. Not only did he pay off all his debts, but he also gave Jiulixiang a ring and an earring.Give her one tael of silver every month for food and drink.

"The monthly money of one tael of silver can only be obtained by big shopkeepers in the inner city. The slaves also wondered where he got the money. I also asked him, and he only said that he was supported by a nobleman, and the current errands make money. too much."

"Oh, where does the nobleman come from to support him like this? Nanyuan is a cold yamen."

"Who says it's not. A few eunuchs in charge of Nanyuan often come to our place. The eunuchs are nothing more than that, and they put on a stinking air, saying that they are wearing flying fish clothes given by the emperor——I call you flying fish clothes and salted fish." When I mention money, I pick it up and search it." Jiu Lixiang complained, "So I don't believe it, the dead ghost said that he is not the eunuch in charge of Nanyuan, and when I asked him again, he refused to say more, only said that he was an eunuch. "

This is a very important clue. Since Liu Xiaozhuan is a eunuch, he must be related to the case of kidnapping Ningyun Yun.He was probably the one who instigated Liu Xiaozhuan and Wu Yanluo to co-operate in the robbery.

"The eunuchs working in Nanyuan are all 'black' eunuchs in the palace. They lost their power and sent them to this desolate garden, so they can't be regarded as noble people."

"Being powerful but not powerful, he didn't say it, and the slaves don't know, but the rich are really rich. Ever since he met such a nobleman, he always has a few taels of silver with him, eating, drinking and having fun everywhere, and I don't know where he's plugged into the dog hole! "

Jiu Lixiang's words were quite resentful, implying that Liu Xiaozhuan still has women outside.

This is not Xiaoqian's concern, what he cares most about is who Liu Xiaozhuan's nobleman is.He remembered that Qin Sanye had entrusted the eunuchs in the palace to arrange an errand for him in Nanyuan, so he asked who this person was and whether he had heard Liu Xiaozhun mention it.

Jiu Lixiang said that he had never heard him mention it, but only knew that he was a powerful eunuch in the palace.

"What's his last name?"

"I haven't heard him say it, but the third master is on good terms with the first eunuch surnamed Cao in the palace. The two have frequent contacts, and they probably left his door."

Speaking of this, Jiulixiang was already on the verge of Yushan's decline, water dripped from her drunken brows, and she said softly: "It's a beautiful day, what are you talking about, come on..."

Xiaoqian rested at Jiulixiang's place for a night, put down a tael of silver and left quietly the next day.He connected with Min Zhanlian and reported the information he had obtained.

"...In my opinion, it's better to focus on Nanyuan as the target of reconnaissance—this garden is very large, and there are few people. It can completely hide people."

Although Nanyuan is outside the city, it is very close to the capital.It is a royal garden, with a high status, and idlers are not allowed to enter it; but it has been abandoned for a long time and the management is lax, as long as there are acquaintances to guide the way, you can enter and exit freely.Even without acquaintances, there are many places where walls come down.Its interior area is vast, lakes and marshes are densely covered, and vegetation is lush, maintaining the original state.

Both Min Zhanlian and He Liansheng knew that this was a good place to collect tickets.But the problem is also big.The area of ​​altars, temples and gardens in the capital is not small, and the area of ​​Nanyuan is second to none. It has a circumference of 120 miles, which is much larger than the capital.Going inside to find someone without a clear clue is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.

"It's not that you don't know, this Nanyuan is huge. There are only a few of us, even including He Liansheng's people, it will take a month to go through Nanyuan without talking about it." Min Zhanlian frowned, " Nanyuan is a line, you go and check it out, and then see what else Qin Sanye can do—especially the eunuch Cao who introduced the errand to Liu Xiaozhuan, it is best to find out his background .”

Xiao Wu arrived in Tongzhou and started to investigate Liu Xiao's origin.But this person's background is quite mysterious. Although he travels around the capital, Tongzhou and Tianjin all year round, no one knows which master he is working for.This person has a very strict tone and never mentions anything about the master's family. He usually spends money generously and acts decisively.He maintains a good relationship with the officials, and although he has no "turf" and no "business", he is an "uncle" figure on the scene.Xiao Wu and his two subordinates worked hard for two or three days, but found nothing.

Seeing that the situation was difficult, Xiao Wu was afraid that if he continued to inquire, it would arouse Liu Wei's vigilance, so he asked his subordinates to stop inquiring, and only kept an eye on the woman's residence, always paying attention to her actions.

After two or three days, Xiao Wu noticed something strange.The activities of Liu Wei in Tongzhou are actually not mysterious. He just goes to four or five teahouses every day to meet and chat with different people.Although he couldn't hear what they said in detail, he could see that most of these people were local sticks in Tongzhou, and sometimes there were people from Tianjin.

Meeting people so frequently confirmed Min Zhanlian's guess to a certain extent.

In this way, the shopkeeper Leng may not be in the capital, maybe hidden in Tongzhou, Tianjin or even Zhangjiawan.Xiao Wu thought to himself.After all, it is no stranger to these people.This can explain why He Liansheng spent a lot of manpower and material resources in the capital but got nothing.

However, based on these alone, it is not certain that Liu Wei is a member of the kidnapping gang, because there are similar needs for other black businesses.

If it is an ordinary person, with his snitching skills, he can sneak into the outer house to find out.This mansion is his home for activities in the Tongzhou area, so there must be something important in store.However, this person was born in a factory guard and has been in the Jianghu for many years. His own visits and exits will inevitably leave traces, which will only arouse suspicion.And this is not the theft of gold and silver treasures or a specific item. It is inconvenient to search for clues in the house at night.

Just when the investigation in Tongzhou was deadlocked, a rather sudden news came from Luocheng: Qin Erlang was dead.

This Qin Erlang is exactly the brother of Luocheng's land tiger, Third Master Qin.It's just that this brother is doing a serious business, going back and forth between Zhangjiakou and Tongzhou every year, selling imported goods.Not a wealthy businessman, but a well-to-do family.

Doing foreign business involves dealing with the Mongols, local yamen, guarding officers and soldiers. Ever since the imperial court met with the Eastern Captives, foreign business has actually become "illegal", and the risk of trafficking is very high on the road, so Qin Erlang is not an ordinary businessman. Not only does he keep a group of thugs, but he also has kung fu.It can be regarded as a character in the northern Beijing area.

Such a well-known figure died inexplicably in the moat in the north of the capital city.When it was picked up, it was found that it had been strangled. The most frightening thing was that the tongue in Qin Erlang's mouth was actually cut off by a man.

With such a treatment, the meaning of warning is very obvious.The news immediately caught Li Rufeng's attention. The one who killed Qin Erlang must be a member of the kidnapper group.The reason is nothing more than that he came here specifically to report that he encountered condensation clouds on the road in Haidian, a suburb of Beijing.The kidnappers probably used this to intimidate all relevant insiders.

It's just that it was almost ten days ago that Qin Erlang came to report. The gangster wanted to kill people, why did he wait until now?Li Rufeng was quite confused. It was not a secret that Qin Erlang came to report the whereabouts of the shopkeeper Leng.Qin Erlang himself had no intention of concealing it.

Could it be that Qin Erlang has grasped some secrets, which caused his death?
The most strange thing is the Third Master Qin, the sitter of Luocheng, weeping bitterly in the mourning hall, vowing to catch the murderer and avenge his revenge, but he did nothing when he came back, he didn't even go to the teahouse, and stayed at home every day , It was said to the outside world that it was because of "excessive sadness and illness".

"Xiaoqian, you have to work hard on Third Master Qin now." Min Zhanlian said, "There must be something wrong with him!"

(End of this chapter)