The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 114 Finally, I found you!
"What!?"

"You have a way!?"

Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, Du Gou's eyes widened suddenly, his face full of surprise.

Wan'er originally asked Liu Shuyi with a try-it-out mentality, but she didn't have much hope. After all, finding the relatives of these sixty victims out of three million people, and then finding the killer from the people these sixty victims' relatives had contact with, was more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack in her opinion!
But to everyone's surprise, Liu Shuyi nodded when asked.

Wan'er's eyes, which had been filled with worry, immediately lit up, and she asked impatiently, "What method?"

Du Gou also stared intently at him.

Meeting their gazes, Liu Shuyi didn't keep them in suspense and said, "During the construction of the Grand Canal in the Sui Dynasty, the construction speed of each section of the canal varied due to different geological conditions, the number of participants, and the weather temperature."

"This resulted in some canals being completed months ahead of schedule, while others were much slower. In order to speed up the construction of those slower canals, the Sui Dynasty could not change geological or weather factors, so it could only increase the number of people involved in the construction."

"Therefore, they would conscript laborers from even more distant places, and they would also conscript laborers from those who had already completed the construction of the canals, and send them to support other sections of the canals."

"The victims murdered by the serial killer were from different places such as Henan, Hebei, Huainan, and Jiangnan. According to our deduction, their relatives must have encountered the serial killer's relatives during the construction of the Grand Canal, and at that time, something happened that led to the death of the serial killer's relatives."

"And this is enough to prove one thing..."

Du Gou instinctively tightened his breathing, and Wan'er also nervously held her breath.

Then they heard Liu Shuyi say, "The relatives of these victims must have been conscripted again and transferred to the same canal for support. The deaths of the murderer's relatives must have happened in that canal during that period."

Upon hearing this, Du Gou's hand holding the water glass trembled involuntarily; his excitement nearly caused him to spill the water.

"That's right!"

“They live in completely different areas and shouldn’t have met during the construction of the Grand Canal. If they did, it could only mean they were conscripted a second or even third time…”

He looked at Liu Shuyi: "So, as long as we find the relatives of these victims, ask them where they were conscripted two or three times during the construction of the Grand Canal, and then compare their answers, the places where everyone's answers overlap will be the places where they met the relatives of the murderer?"

Liu Shuyi chuckled and nodded: "Minister Du is intelligent."

Du Gou smiled wryly and said, "What kind of intelligence do I have? If you hadn't reminded me, I wouldn't have thought of this at all."

Wan'er looked at Liu Shuyi with bright eyes. She had only heard others say how amazing and miraculous the young master was when investigating cases. Now, seeing him solve the problem that they thought was harder than climbing to heaven with just a few words, she could hardly hide the admiration and praise in her eyes.

Liu Shuyi continued, "I have another shortcut for determining where they will be conscripted."

"A shortcut?" The two looked at him immediately.

Liu Shuyi said, "Song Cheng!"

"Song Cheng?"

Du Gou's eyes flashed, then lit up: "Song Cheng's uncle was conscripted from Wanzhou, and Wanzhou wasn't initially included in the conscription area for the Grand Canal construction, so you mean..."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "That's right. Song Cheng's uncle was conscripted from Wanzhou, just as I said. The construction of the canal needs to be accelerated, so they started conscripting people from various places."

"When he was conscripted, it was the third year of the Daye era. The section of the canal they built was completed in the fifth year of the Daye era. The Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty was basically completed in the sixth year of the Daye era. In other words... Song Cheng's uncle probably finished the task of building the Grand Canal after completing that section of the canal in Weizhou."

"Therefore, there is a certain probability that they will meet in Weizhou."

Du Gou's expression flickered. After carefully considering Liu Shuyi's words, he suddenly stood up.

"The completion dates for each section of the Grand Canal are different. If it ends in the fifth year of the Daye era, then it's indeed not certain that they will continue to be transferred to other places, since other places are already in the final stages of completion..."

"In that case, it must be Weizhou!"

He looked directly at Liu Shuyi and said, "I will go to the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue to look for the scrolls and books left by the Sui Dynasty about the Grand Canal, and see if any records of the Weizhou section remain."

Du Gou came to help, but Liu Shuyi felt bad that he had to go through all this trouble. He said, "I'll have someone from the Ministry of Justice or the Chang'an County Government go. Vice Minister Du, you have to work tomorrow, and it's getting late. You should go back and rest as soon as possible."

Du Gou said, "If you send them, you'll have to spend time explaining what they're looking for, and they might not even understand. Besides, it's time to get off work now, and the officials from the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue who are on night duty at the yamen might not be willing to do such tiring work so late at night. They might just give them a perfunctory answer."

"Only if I go, given my status, will they not dare to be perfunctory, and only then can they find out as quickly as possible whether there are any records left."

"If the records are destroyed in the turmoil, you will have to think of other solutions as soon as possible. You are pressed for time and cannot afford to waste a single moment."

Listening to Du Gou's words, Liu Shuyi couldn't help but feel grateful for how lucky he was to have made a friend like Du Gou.

Without further hesitation, he said directly, "Okay, then thank you for your trouble."

Du Gou said, "Wait for my news."

With that, he turned to leave.

"Wait a moment."

Liu Shuyi suddenly called out to Du Gou. After thinking for a moment, he said, "If we can't find a specific list of people, we can try looking for the list of the dead."

“The number of dead people was much smaller than the list of laborers who participated in the construction. Moreover, the Sui Dynasty officials would record the dead people in detail to avoid any discrepancies in the final list and being punished.”

"These death lists will, barring any unforeseen circumstances, be recorded separately and directly compiled and submitted to the Ministry of Revenue of the Sui Dynasty for population reduction statistics. This list may not be included with the list of those who died during the construction of the Grand Canal. When Du Sicheng is searching, he may want to consider this aspect."

Du Gou hadn't expected that Liu Shuyi would have considered even such details in such a short time.

He looked at Liu Shuyi and said in a deep voice, "Wait for me."

Having said that, he didn't linger any longer and quickly left the room.

Watching Du Gou's departing figure, Liu Shuyi pondered for a moment, then returned to the table and opened the deceased's file.

Brush brush!
He flipped through the pages so quickly that Wan'er thought it was impossible for Liu Shuyi to finish reading everything on the page, but Liu Shuyi quickly pulled out some more pages.

"Master, what are you doing?"

Wan'er couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

Liu Shuyi quickly went through the information of the sixty deceased and finally took out three sheets of paper.

He said, "We cannot place all our hopes on the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue."

“I believe in Du Sicheng’s abilities, but if those files were destroyed in the war, then no matter how capable Du Sicheng is, he cannot create something out of nothing.”

"And with less than two days until the killer makes his move, we can't gamble everything on the fact that those files still exist..."

"Therefore, we need to find a second way."

A second path?

Wan'er's heart tightened: "Has the young master been found?"

Liu Shuyi nodded: "Since the killer's relatives died because of the victims' relatives, the victims' relatives are likely to remember his death."

"Therefore, we can directly find the relatives of these victims and ask them if, while in Weizhou, they caused someone's death due to mistake or other reasons. That way, we can find out who the killer's relatives are."

"However, we have limited time, and most of the victims killed by the serial killer are far from Chang'an. I searched through all the victims and could only find three in the end. They are not too far from Chang'an, but the roads are difficult to travel. I am not sure if I can bring them to Chang'an within two days. I can only try."

Wan'er pursed her lips. She knew that it was already extremely remarkable that Liu Shuyi could find two such paths in such a short time.

If there is enough time, the second route alone would be enough to find the killer!

Unfortunately, what they lack most is time.

She said, "Let's do our best. If Mo Xiaofan isn't destined to die, then we'll definitely be able to make it in time!"

Seeing the worry in Wan'er's eyes, which eventually turned into determination and resolve, Liu Shuyi wasted no time. He went straight to the door, handed the three pieces of paper to three officials, and ordered them to set off immediately to bring the relatives of these deceased who had participated in the construction of the Grand Canal to Chang'an as quickly as possible, at all costs.

After doing all this, Liu Shuyi breathed a sigh of relief.

He knew that he had done all he could at this moment.

Next, it will be a battle between time and fate.

…………

The next day, early in the morning.

dong dong dong.

Liu Shuyi and Wan'er were awakened by a knock on the door.

The two of them somehow fell asleep sitting up last night.

"Who is it?"

Wan'er rubbed her eyes and mumbled sleepily.

“Liu Yuanwailang, this is your humble servant.” Wang Gui’s voice came from outside the door.

Liu Shuyi quickly got up, opened the door, and saw Wang Gui standing in front of the door yawning.

Upon seeing Liu Shuyi, Wang Gui said, "Sir, we've found out the origin of the two large roosters used by the murderer."

Liu Shuyi perked up and stepped aside to let Wang Gui into the room.

He poured Wang Gui a glass of water and asked, "Tell me about it."

Wang Gui said, "Those two roosters belong to a family on the far west side of Yongpingfang."

"The westernmost part of Yongping Ward?"

Liu Shuyi narrowed his eyes: "It's not exactly close to the house where the serial killer is hiding."

"you do not say!"

Wang Gui said, "If it were nearby, we would have found it long ago and wouldn't have needed to ask each household. We only found this family this morning."

"You've worked hard. Sit down and let's talk."

Liu Shuyi brought a stool for Wang Gui, who didn't stand on ceremony with Liu Shuyi. After sitting down, Wang Gui continued, "According to this family, these two roosters were bought by someone who knocked on their door, not stolen."

"Buy it willingly?"

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered slightly, and he said, "So, they saw what the person who bought the rooster looked like?"

Wang Gui shook his head: "They said the person who bought the rooster was wearing a long black robe with his head covered by a hood. They could only see that the person had some stubble on his chin, but they couldn't see his face."

"The hood covers his face? That's quite cautious."

Liu Shuyi was not too disappointed. The fact that the murderer had not been caught by the court for five years was enough to show his caution and prudence. Such a person would not easily reveal his flaws and be discovered.

However, just because you can't see their faces doesn't mean you can't gain anything from it.

He said, "A black robe can conceal one's figure, and a hood can conceal one's face, but it cannot hide one's height. Have you asked them how tall this person is?"

Upon hearing this question, Wang Gui looked up at Liu Shuyi with admiration on his face and said, "That family said that the man in black robes was about seven feet one inch tall, which is exactly the same height that the official judged based on the footprints."

A look of surprise appeared in Wan'er's beautiful eyes.

Liu Shuyi nodded slightly, confirming that the footprint analysis method used in later generations was also very effective in the Tang Dynasty.

He continued, "And the voice? What are the characteristics of this person's voice?"

Wang Gui said, "They said this person's voice was strange, like he had pebbles in his mouth, and his speech was a little unclear." "Not very clear?"

Liu Shuyi stroked his chin: "I'm afraid his voice was also disguised."

Wang Gui sighed and nodded: "I think so too, so although we found out the source of the rooster, it was of no use."

Liu Shuyi wasn't as disappointed as Wang Gui. He thought for a moment and asked, "When did this person buy the rooster?"

"That family said it was around three to four quarters past 7 p.m."

"From the third quarter to the fourth quarter of the hour of Xu..."

A thoughtful look flashed across Liu Shuyi's eyes as he said, "The curfew was about to be imposed, and when it was close to curfew, the gates of the ward would already be guarded by military officers, preparing to close. Under such circumstances, it would be difficult for him to take Mo Xiaofan out of Yongping Ward."

"It seems that, just as I predicted, Mo Xiaofan may have been struggling or something else that held him back, preventing him from leaving Yongpingfang. He had no choice but to leave the skull symbol in Yongpingfang."

"He arrived at that household between 3:40 and 4:40 PM. Based on the distance from his hiding place to that household, it would take him about 15 minutes to walk. Therefore, it can be basically confirmed that he only completely subdued Mo Xiaofan before 3:40 PM."

"Otherwise, not to mention taking Mo Xiaofan out of Yongping Ward, he shouldn't have gone to buy a rooster during curfew. After all, once curfew starts, he would be at risk of being discovered by patrol officers if he walked around the ward. Moreover, once curfew starts, all the houses would close their doors, making it difficult for him to knock on people's doors."

Upon hearing this, Wang Gui and Wan'er both nodded in agreement with Liu Shuyi's words.

Liu Shuyi continued, "According to the killer's habits, his three-day countdown begins when he takes control of the victim. In other words, we can use the third quarter of the Xu hour as the time point for calculation."

"Now……"

He glanced out the window, and without him saying a word, Wang Gui said directly, "It's about three-quarters past Chen Shi now."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "The third quarter of Chen time is exactly six hours away from the third quarter of Xu time, so there are still eighteen hours before the murderer makes his move."

Hearing his words, Wang Gui felt a little heavy-hearted.

Previously, the exact time was uncertain, but because of the ambiguity, he could tell himself that there was still time and that things weren't in dire straits.

But now that he had a specific time, and as the time drew closer, he felt an immense sense of urgency. After all, it was like watching helplessly as the murderer's bloody knife slowly reached towards the innocent boy, Mo Xiaofan.

Wang Gui unconsciously tightened his grip on the water glass, making the veins on the back of his hand visibly bulge. He couldn't help but ask, "Sir, have you made any progress in your investigation of the case files?"

Liu Shuyi nodded: "There are some."

Wang Gui's eyes immediately lit up.

Before he could rejoice, Liu Shuyi's voice continued, "But whether it will be in time is still unknown..."

…………

Four hours later, at the third quarter of the Shen hour.

There are fourteen hours left before the killer makes his move.

Du Gou finally returned.

As soon as he entered the room, he said, “I went to the Ministry of Works first, but there were very few files left there, and they did not include the corresponding records for the Weizhou section of the Grand Canal. So I rushed to the Ministry of Revenue, but there were too many files there, and the files from the Sui Dynasty were all piled up in the warehouse and had not been looked at for a long time.”

"Fortunately, the people at the Ministry of Revenue were very cooperative. They immediately helped me move out all the files one by one, and then personally helped me search for them, and finally..."

Du Gou looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "We still haven't found the list of laborers who built the Grand Canal, but fortunately, you reminded us. I had them look for the list of the deceased, and I found this file!"

As he spoke, he handed the case file to Liu Shuyi.

Seeing that Du Gou had made a discovery, Wang Gui excitedly waved his arm. He quickly moved closer and looked down.

The file was filled with names, and each name was preceded by a location.

And behind each name is a simple cause of death or injury.

Liu Shuyi quickly located the location of Weizhou and looked down.

The death toll in Weizhou filled more than a dozen pages, and the final count was 1,800.

"So many casualties in just one area, Weizhou?" Wang Gui's eyes widened.

Du Gou was clearly aware of these things, and he sighed, "The people of the world are dying in battle! This is one of the reasons for the downfall of the Sui Dynasty."

Liu Shuyi had no time to lament the number of casualties; all his attention was focused on the causes of death.

If the killer's relatives died because of the relatives of these victims, and those victims were not imprisoned or punished for it, then the cause of death of the killer's relatives would certainly not be the obvious result of being killed in a fight.

It is unlikely to be the cause of death for most people who "die from exhaustion".

After all, the relatives of those victims were ordinary people, and during the arduous construction of the Grand Canal, everyone had the same workload. The supervisors arranged by the Sui Dynasty would be on duty with whips to oversee the work. They could not have had the opportunity to force the relatives of the murderer to do things for them, nor could the relatives of the murderer help so many people complete their tasks.

Therefore, the possibility of dying from exhaustion can also be ruled out.

The serial killer has already murdered sixty people in his quest for revenge, and he intends to continue... This suggests that the killer's family members died due to a collective cause.

What kind of collective reasons could this be?
Liu Shuyi quickly scanned the causes of death of these victims.

He died of illness, from overwork, was beaten to death by the foreman for slacking off, died in a fight with others, or was beheaded after being caught while trying to escape...

Of these causes of death, illness and exhaustion were the most common, accounting for 80%.

There are relatively few cases of death resulting from fighting, only a dozen or so.

Of the remaining 10%, one-tenth were beaten to death by the overseers.

One-tenth died after being caught while trying to escape.

Being beaten to death by the supervisor for slacking off is an isolated incident, just like dying from overwork—it's simply because they couldn't work anymore...

He tried to escape but was caught...

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered. If someone escaped and the others found out, they would be jealous that he could escape and live a life of ease while they were left to toil in the dark. They might report him to the authorities, leading to his arrest and tragic death...

If that's the case, then these whistleblowers are the enemy of this family.

Could that be the reason?

As Liu Shuyi pondered, he picked up a brush and circled the people who had escaped and been captured.

He kept turning the pages until he reached the last one. After circling the last person who was killed for trying to escape, he was about to organize the people he had chosen when his gaze suddenly stopped.

Because he discovered that behind the list of these laborers who died, there was another list of a small number of people.

This list is also a death list of people in Weizhou, but the people on this list are no longer laborers, but... government officials!
"The government's list of the dead?"

Liu Shuyi glanced at the list and saw that there were a total of eighty-nine names on it.

Their deaths were mainly due to two causes.

One was that the oppressed laborers rioted and killed him in the riot.

One reason was that he failed to complete the task on time and was punished by the Sui Dynasty for negligence.

In order to expedite the construction of the Grand Canal, Emperor Yang Guang not only oppressed ordinary people but also subjected local officials to extreme pressure. If anyone delayed the progress or failed to complete the assigned tasks, the court would not listen to their reasons and would execute them directly. In this way, he ensured that local officials dared not slack off. In order to complete the tasks, local officials would exploit the people and push forward the construction of the Grand Canal regardless of their lives.

Du Gou just said that the main reason why people across the country die in service is this.

As a result, local officials are ruthless and in order to save their own lives, they rarely care whether the people will die from overwork. Therefore, most of their deaths are caused by excessive exploitation, which leads to riots.

Of these 89 people, only five died because they failed to complete their assigned tasks.

Looking at the list, Liu Shuyi suddenly remembered something he had never been able to figure out before...

If the serial killer only wanted revenge on those who killed his family, he could have simply killed them and made them feel the same pain. Why did he have to provoke the imperial court?

His provocation of the imperial court not only increases the difficulty of his revenge, but also puts him at constant risk of being caught.

Under normal circumstances, shouldn't someone who wants revenge try their best to minimize obstacles?
Why would a serial killer deliberately create obstacles?
He had never been able to understand it.

but now……

Looking at the list of these officials who had died, he suddenly had a guess.

"What if the person who died was a Sui Dynasty official?"

"What if his family still remembers the good things about the Sui Dynasty?"

"The logic behind that murderer's provocation of the Tang Dynasty can be explained."

"If he really was an official, then his death was caused by a mass incident..."

Looking at the causes of death of these officials, Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed violently: "It couldn't have been a riot. If it were a riot, all the civilians involved would have been suppressed! It's impossible for them to have survived until now unharmed."

"And the failure to meet the task deadline... can be attributed to the laziness and clumsiness of these laborers, which led to the punishment of local officials because of them..."

"In the eyes of this official's family, he was innocent and was dragged down and died tragically because of these laborers..."

"This perfectly aligns with the killer's behavioral logic!"

"Could it really be these officials?"

"If they..."

Liu Shuyi quickly looked at their names.

Kang Chuzhi, Wang Feng, Niu Wei, Wu Qin, Du Ming.

—Du Ming!
—Du!

Liu Shuyi suddenly turned around, looked at Wang Gui, and asked, "Guo Zhengyi said last night that the wealthy merchant they went to, what is that merchant's surname?"

"what?"

Wang Gui was taken aback. Why did Liu Shuyi suddenly ask this question?

But he still subconsciously said, "His surname is Du."

杜！
It really is Du!

Is it a coincidence?

Liu Shuyi's eyes darted around as he said, "I asked you to investigate this wealthy businessman. Any results?"

Wang Gui shook his head: "I have already ordered people to investigate, but there is still no news—"

dong dong dong.

No sooner had he finished speaking than there was a knock on the door.

Just then, Zhao Feng's voice came from outside: "Sir, the yamen runners have brought news that the investigation into the wealthy merchant surnamed Du has yielded results."

(End of this chapter)