No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 21 Ink Ingot
The two men who came were one fat and one thin. They were the two guards from the Imperial City Bureau who had followed him yesterday and surrounded Wang Anshi's gate.

Come again?

But when the two saw Su Ze, they immediately put on smiles, and the fat commander was holding a big blue carp in his hand. It didn't look like he was here to cause trouble?

These two men are from the Imperial City Bureau, and the fat one is a captain.

The so-called Dutou, according to the Song Dynasty military system, "every 500 people form a command, and there are five Du, each with 100 people, commanding a battalion."

The chief officer of a city was called a dutou.

The Imperial City Division was a secret agency, but nominally it was a military agency under the Palace Front Division.

If Pang Dutou were placed in a local position, he would be the police chief in charge of a county in later generations, so his rank is actually not low.

Although in this capital city where people in red robes are everywhere and people in green robes are as numerous as dogs, small officials cannot even come to the stage.

Moreover, the Imperial City Bureau is a secret agency and may not have that many people. The title of Fat Captain is probably just a position, not the actual commander of a hundred people.

But as the saying goes, it is easier to deal with the King of Hell than with the little devils. Moreover, both of them are from a secret agency like the Imperial City Bureau. If they really intend to cause trouble for Su Ze, who has no official position, then his life will be really difficult.

But the two of them wanted to arrest him yesterday, so Su Ze naturally did not look happy.

The fat captain was smiling, and he said to his men:

"Mr. Su must be hungry, why don't you go buy some food!"

The thin military leader was about to leave, and Su Ze said:
"The people around here are all Su's neighbors, don't scare them."

The fat captain was able to be the captain of a hundred people, so his mind was naturally flexible. He immediately said:
"Did you hear that? You have to buy it! You have to pay for it!"

Hearing this, the thin military leader immediately responded and left.

Well, so you guys usually don’t pay when you buy things.

"Mr. Su, can you please come in and talk?"

Su Ze thought about it and pushed open the gate and led Fatty into the house.

Yanzhixue heard the noise outside the door and jumped onto the beam again. Pangdutou thought it was just an ordinary white raccoon and didn't say much.

Seeing that Su Ze's house was simple, the fat captain thought to himself that Su Ze was indeed a poor scholar, so things would be easier.

Although Su Ze's tone was cold, as a servant of the Imperial City Bureau, Fat Captain had seen many scholars and knew their tempers, so he followed Su Ze's lead and humbled himself. He put down the green fish in his hand and took out an ink stick from his arms.

"Mr. Su, this is the ink stick passed down from my family."

As soon as this ink stick was taken out, it gave off bursts of medicinal fragrance. Su Ze knew at a glance that it was a top-quality ink stick.

Showing courtesy for nothing is either cheating or stealing.

However, Su Ze was very pleased with the other party's humble attitude. He softened his tone and asked:

"Captain Li, you're arrogant at first but respectful later. What brings you here today?"

This Li Dutou squeezed out a smile that was uglier than crying and said to Su Ze:

"Mr. Su, you know that even though our superiors ordered the case of the demonic book to be dropped, Governor Li has asked us to investigate it secretly. If we don't finish this case, we won't be able to report to our superiors!"

"Mr. Su, I was blind and misunderstood you. Li Jiedu said that you are a great talent who will be ranked among the two governments in the future. We are stupid and can't think of a way to solve the case. We can only ask you for help."

The information revealed by Li Dutou's two sentences made Su Ze think deeply.

The Imperial City Bureau withdrew the case openly and sent people to investigate secretly. This was within Su Ze's expectations.

Li Baohe continued to ask Li Dutou to investigate, fearing that he also blamed him for wrongly accusing Su Ze before and deliberately tormenting him.

But Su Ze thought about it and decided to agree to help Li Dutou continue investigating the case. The reason was very simple. He was framed right after crossing over! This tone was really unbearable!
However, Su Ze was originally a commoner and had no way to conduct an investigation.

Now that Li Dutou has come to him, with the support of the Imperial City Bureau, Su Ze can find the real culprit who framed him.

But it was not so easy to agree. Su Ze pretended to be reserved at first, and Li Dutou flattered him again before he said:

"I know that Mr. Su will be tested by the Ministry of Rites soon. This job of finding someone won't bother you. As long as you help organize the clues and help us brothers find the omissions, you will naturally be rewarded after the case is completed."

Captain Li also secretly groaned. He had spent a lot of money on this case, but the case of the evil book was of great importance. If he just arrested someone to report to the police, he would be in danger of losing his job as the head of the Imperial City Bureau.

Li Dutou picked up the ink stick again, raised it above his head and said:
"My ancestor was Li Tinggui, a famous ink maker from the Southern Tang Dynasty. This ink stick was made by him personally. Please accept it."

"It would be best if this case could be investigated. If not, consider it as an apology for disturbing Mr. Su yesterday."

Lee Jung-gyu ink?

Su Ze indeed saw the inscription on the ink stick.

Li Tinggui was a famous ink maker in the Southern Tang Dynasty. He was deeply loved by Li Yu, the last emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty. His ink has the characteristics of being light when picked up, clear when ground, fragrant when smelled, as hard as jade, grinding silently, as red as lacquer, and lasting for thousands of years.

In the past, Emperor Li Yu ordered Li Tinggui to make a large amount of imperial ink, but he did not enjoy it in the end, and all of it became the treasure of the Song Dynasty royal family.

【The spirit of cultural context has been detected! 】

The voice of the guiding boy sounded in Su Ze's mind. Does this ink stick also have the aura of cultural heritage?

That’s right, high-end pens, ink, paper and inkstones can also be considered works of art, so it’s not surprising that they contain the spirit of cultural heritage.

At this time, the thin military leader had already returned to the house with breakfast. Su Ze said:

"I'm also somewhat interested in this case."

Hearing Su Ze's agreement, the fat and thin one said quickly:
"Thank you, Mr. Su!"

Su Ze said:

"First, tell me why you found me."

The fat and thin men looked at each other, and it was the fat one who spoke first:
"We tracked down the demonic books sold on the market and traced them to a Black Seal Shop located in the basement of Caoshifang."

Su Ze pondered:

"So it was the owner of the Black Seal Shop who pointed out Su?"

Fatty shook his head and said:
"That's not the case. The owner of the Black Seal Shop doesn't know who is behind this."

Su Ze became interested and asked:

"Then how did his book get printed?"

Fat Head said:
"According to the owner of the Black Seal Shop, someone left the original manuscript of the Demonic Book and a letter in front of his shop, telling him that he could get rich by privately printing the Demonic Book. That's why he was so greedy and did such a wicked thing."

"Then how did you track me down?"

The fat captain said with some embarrassment, "It's that letter again. It was written on the special stationery used by Changqing Tower. Then we went to Changqing Tower to inquire. We found out that Mr. Su had recently attended a banquet at Changqing Tower and asked the store for stationery."

Su Ze looked at his desk and saw a few pieces of snow-white paper pressed under a paperweight.

So that's how it is. When Su Ze thought about how his original self was so useless that he even tried to take advantage of the shop's stationery, and finally got into such trouble, he couldn't help but sigh that it was no wonder he was so cowardly.

However, from this point of view, tracing it back to me may not be a long-planned conspiracy, but may just be a coincidence.

However, the case of the evil book is indeed complicated.

(End of this chapter)