No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 70: Leak of Secrets and Demon Case

Needless to say, these two unlucky guys must have been assigned by their superiors to investigate some difficult case. They were desperate, so they came to Su Ze again.

When Li Dutou heard Su Zesong's words, he immediately stood up and said:
"I said Mr. Su could predict the future!"

Li Dutou said with a bitter face:
"Thanks to the protection of Mr. Su, we were lucky enough to get through last time. Jiedushi Li even promoted us. Now I am the commander of the marriage affairs."

Su Ze knew that the Imperial City Bureau was nominally a military agency. Except for a small number of senior civil servants, the rest were military officers.

Above the military chief and the captain is the personal commander, who is a middle-level officer in charge of 500 people.

Above them are the personal commanders, who are middle and senior military officers in charge of a thousand people.

Going up further, you will become a military officer and a military general, that is, an official with a rank.

Of course, this does not mean that Commander Li has 500 men under his command. The ranks of military officers in the Song Dynasty are the same as the official ranks of civil officials. They all represent the treatment they enjoy, which is what later generations called "ranks". What specific tasks they do still depends on their "dispatches".

It is likely that these two people have been promoted and their salaries have increased, but they are still doing the same things as before.

Commander Li continued:
"A few days ago, the Jiedushi summoned the two of us again and asked us to follow Bao Yushi from the Jianyuan to investigate the Privy Council's demon case and the leak of secrets."

As expected, these two people were probably already on Li Yonghe's radar screen, and whenever there were any difficult cases, they would be asked to handle them.

"Wait, isn't this a demon case? What is a leak case?"

Commander Li tried to signal with his eyes, and his thin commander came to the door to guard. Then he said:
"Prince Su, you are aware that the court has appointed Lord Fu as the escort to welcome the Liao envoys to the court, right?"

Su Ze nodded. Fu Bi received the envoy from the Liao Kingdom in Chanzhou after the New Year, and he would be going to Beijing soon.

Commander Li said:
"Originally, everything went smoothly along the way. But a few days ago, Lord Fu suddenly sent a fast horse to the capital to report to the emperor that there was a traitor within the Privy Council who was leaking secrets. That's why the emperor ordered Li Jiedu to conduct a thorough investigation."

"So the emperor suspects that the Privy Council case and the leak case are related, and wants you to investigate them together?"

Commander Li nodded repeatedly, and Su Ze asked:

"Then how did Lord Fu know that someone in the Privy Council had leaked the secrets?"

Commander Li touched his head and said:

"Mr. Fu submitted a secret document, and the government would never show it to us. I don't know why Mr. Fu said that, but since the government has ordered a thorough investigation, someone must have leaked the information."

Su Ze spread his hands and said:
"You don't even have a suspicion, how can we investigate this? Please go back!"

Seeing Su Ze was about to see him off, Commander Li immediately said:

"Mr. Su! Mr. Su, wait a minute. Imperial Censor Bao has found some clues."

"Imperial Censor Bao? Is that the Bao Zheng from last time?"

Speaking of Bao Zheng, Commander Li was full of admiration. He said:

"In my life, apart from Mr. Su, I have never seen an official as capable of investigating cases as Censor Bao!"

Isn't that right? Later generations made TV series out of it.

Commander Li said:
"Censor Bao ordered us to lurk outside the Privy Council. Sure enough, five days ago, we discovered a man in black climbing over the Privy Council wall in the middle of the night."

"Has that man been caught?"

Commander Li scratched his head and said:
"If we had caught him, we wouldn't have come to Lord Su for help. It's because I lost the thief and caused Censor Bao to be reprimanded, so I want to ask Lord Su to come and make up for my crime."

Su Ze looked at Commander Li. Although their first meeting was not very pleasant, as an officer of the Imperial City Division, he was indeed a loyal and honest man, grateful and repaying favors, and understanding the ways of the world. The last time he overthrew Lu Yijian, he also did some things under the banner of the Imperial City Division. Su Ze asked:

"So where did you lose him? Do you know the direction the thief fled in?"

Commander Li immediately said:
"Of course, of course! I can confirm it! The thief escaped into Daxiangguo Temple!"

Daxiangguo Temple?

Yes, Daxiangguo Temple is not far from the Privy Council, and because Daxiangguo Temple covers a huge area and has many monks’ rooms, it is also the most complicated place in the entire Nan Ya area.

But these bald donkeys are not easy to deal with.

You should know that Daxiangguo Temple is a temple designated by the royal family. Emperor Zhenzong once wrote its name on it personally. The entire temple has 10,000 monks and numerous properties.

If it were any other place, even an ordinary government office, Commander Li would have already brought people in to search.

However, when he came across the Daxiangguo Temple, he did not dare to rush in, and eventually lost the thief's trail.

"Daxiangguo Temple, this matter is indeed difficult to handle."

Commander Li's face was also wrinkled, and it was obvious that this case was really tormenting him.

Su Ze asked again:
"What about the demon case?"

Commander Li said:
"The demon started happening about twenty days ago. Since New Year's Day, due to the Liao Kingdom incident, the Privy Council has required all officials to stay locked up inside the compound to prevent leaks. They also have to rotate officials day and night to prevent delays in military intelligence at the border. The clerk on duty that day was named Cai Yong, and he was in charge of delivering reports."

Tangli are the clerks working in the two most important institutions, the Zhengshitang and the Privy Council.

Because of the lessons learned from the interference of officials in state affairs during the Five Dynasties period, Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty implemented a strict system for clerks, requiring them to take special examinations before they could take the positions. Clerks in some key positions were even required to be Jinshi.

Although the position of a hall clerk sounds low, he is a "seventh-rank official in the prime minister's doorman" and has considerable power.

"While patrolling the Mingtang, the court official Cai Yong was frightened unconscious by a monster that escaped from the hall. His companion, the chief officer Xu Lijun, escaped and reported to the Privy Councilor Wen Yanbo, the official on duty that night. The scholar immediately sealed off the Privy Council, but failed to capture the monster."

Su Ze frowned and said:

"That means this monster was seen with the eyes of multiple people. Did the clerk Cai Yong, the head of the Privy Council Xu Lijun, and the Privy Councilor Wen Yanbo, who was on duty, all see it with their own eyes?"

Commander Li immediately nodded and said:
"That's right! In fact, it wasn't just them. Many of the clerks on duty saw it. When the Imperial City Bureau went to investigate, many people said they saw a glowing bald head flying into the air. Thinking about it now gives me chills!"

Su Ze asked again:
"Then can the head of the man in black that you lost that day fly out?"

Commander Li immediately shook his head and said:
"Of course not. If he could fly, why would he have run that day? I chased him for a long way!"

There has been no progress in the leak case, and people are in panic over the demon incident. No wonder the Imperial City Bureau is under tremendous pressure.

Su Ze said:

"Did you know that before the demonic incident at the Privy Council, there was also a Flying Head Barbarian incident in Jixiang Lane?"

Commander Li said, "There seems to be a legend in the market."

Su Ze said:

"Since the Privy Council can't investigate further, why not go to Jixiang Lane and investigate? Come back to me after you've investigated thoroughly."

(End of this chapter)