Xuanyuan Jue

Chapter 124 Li Daitao stiff (4)
After being reminded by King Su, Feng Shen suddenly remembered, "By the way, I once saw coir raincoats, water supports and other things in the secret road, and suspected that the 'water ghost' in the moat was related to this group of gangsters."

"There's no need to doubt it," King Su said firmly, "It's their trick!"

Feng Shen said: "I also ask the prince to make it clear."

King Su nodded, and said: "You must have seen that weird ancient well, right? Because there are two corpses of Xun soldiers sealed in the well, the corpses must be fished out before the team goes down the well. A few soldiers broke through the ice and dived underwater, unintentionally, they found another secret passage dug into the stone wall at the bottom of the well!"

Feng Shenqi asked, "Is there another one?"

"Yes," King Su continued, "the secret path is hidden under the water, just opposite to the one above the water. And the iron chain connected to the belly of the iron turtle leads into the underwater secret path." !"

Feng Shen frowned, "The secret path is underwater...it's unreasonable."

"The king was also puzzled at the time." King Su said again, "This man is not a fish, how can he pass through the secret passage filled with well water? But when he saw the water behind him, the king suddenly reacted..."

Feng Shen's heart brightened, "They dug that secret passage to sneak around!"

"Exactly!" Su Wang continued: "After thinking through this layer, I sent someone to sneak into the underwater secret passage to investigate. I want to see where the secret passage is connected to. No, the man came back just now Report, it is said that it has reached the moat!"

After the two sorted it out, the truth of the "water ghost attacking people" slowly began to become clear:
On the east side of Chongwenmen, it is adjacent to Water Transport Wharf.In order to avoid the tax customs, the villains must have transported private goods on their backs. They first dived through the moat, and then passed through the underwater secret passage, secretly turning into the city.

During the transfer, it is inevitable that a passerby will spy on you.In order to be safe, the villains will kill people to silence them.After murdering the passers-by, the gangsters spread out again, pretending that it was the water ghost who took his life.As a result, the rumor of water ghosts became more and more fierce.Gradually, people didn't dare to get close to the moat, which made it much easier for the bad guys to do that kind of thing again.

And that long iron chain traverses the entire underwater secret passage.It is inconvenient to open your eyes and see things when you are submerged in the water, but with the iron chain as a guide, you can reach it steadily.Moreover, holding the chain body by hand can also increase the swimming speed. For the bad guys, it is tantamount to killing two birds with one stone.

The two were talking, and another soldier came to report.It is said that the inside and outside of the courtyard have been searched. In addition to seizing a large amount of bootleg alcohol and gunpowder, a pit with corpses was also dug in the backyard.

King Su's face darkened, and he beckoned: "Go, go and see!"

Feng Shen heard the words, hurriedly followed.

Several flaming torches brightly illuminate the backyard.Several soldiers covered their noses while carrying the corpse from the dug earth pit.Most of the remains have rotted into bones, and there is only one corpse, which can barely be identified as a girl.

The child's corpse was blurry, and the flesh on his body was black and half rotten.But Feng Shen guessed the girl's identity with just one glance.Because on the left foot of the child's corpse, there was a small embroidered shoe with a red cloth nail head.

"My lord," Feng Shen said heartbrokenly, "This little girl... probably is the daughter of the Caohu family..."

"No wonder no corpses were found in the moat, so they were all secretly dragged here!" Looking at the piles of corpses, King Su was filled with resentment: "What is the origin of these bastards who killed thousands of knives?"

Feng Shen said: "They are the leftovers from the sticky pole!"

"The sticky pole?" Su Wang was stunned, and asked, "Feng Shen, I heard that before you entered the Shuntian Mansion, you had fought against the remnants of the sticky stick?"

"That's true," Feng Shen nodded, "The sticky remnants are not only ruthless, but also act erratically, with all kinds of bizarre methods, which can be described as unimaginable. Take this as an example, just the one who turned into ice in midsummer The strange phenomenon... makes me very puzzled..."

"Are you talking about the well?" Su Wang said, "Hmph, what a coincidence! This king happens to know their tricks well. If they are exposed, it's just a trick!"

Feng Shenfan was a little surprised to see Su Wang Anzhi Ruosu. "My lord, could it be that you are familiar with it?"

"That's right," King Su asked back, "Feng Shen, do you know that there is a custom of 'giving ice' in court?"

"I've heard a little bit about it in a lowly position," Feng Shen said with a nod, "I heard that this is a continuation of the old system of the previous dynasty. Every winter, the court stores ice in the deep cellar, and it is stored until the next summer, when it is taken out, and given to the princes and important officials to cool off the heat."

"That's the thing." Su Wang waved his hand, "But the method you mentioned is already in the old emperor's calendar. Now it is not to store ice, but to make ice!"

Feng Shenda wondered: "Ice making?"

"Yes, it's ice-making," Su Wang said, "the treasurer of the Guangchu Division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs used to coat the palace of the king. He told the king about this method of ice-making. In fact, it is also It's simple, just add an object to the water, wait for a while, and the ice will be ready."

Feng Shen asked: "I don't know what it is?"

"Saltpeter!" Su Wang said again, "This saltpeter will dissolve in water, no matter the cold or heat, it can reduce the water temperature suddenly. If you add enough amount, even in midsummer, it can turn water into ice!"

"It's so!" Feng Shenmao suddenly realized, "In that secret passage, I have seen a few empty bamboo baskets, I think they are used to hold saltpeter."

"Yes", Su Wang said, "It's just that this king can't figure it out. Those gangsters have kept a lot of saltpeter just to play tricks?"

"I'm afraid not," Feng Shen shook his head. "If that's the case, it's a big deal. They store nitrate, and they probably want to mix it with sulfur and charcoal, and roast it into gunpowder!"

"The remnants of these daring gangsters!" Faintly, King Su felt that the situation was becoming more and more serious, "But the mining, transportation and sales of saltpeter depend on the official guidance of the imperial court... Where did they buy these promises? Oh, Ben The king heard that nitrate can be used as medicine...could it be collected from various medicine shops?"

"Your Majesty doesn't know something," Feng Shen said with a wry smile, "Except for the official nitrate mines, the folks also have local methods for smelting nitrate."

King Su was stunned and said, "There is also an indigenous method?"

"That's right," Feng Shen said, "this nitrate and salt have the same mother, and it can be said to be everywhere in the tidal and alkaline land. Like the two walls of the secret passage in the underground well, this thing is separated out. It only needs to be used from the wall. Scraped, poured with water and decocted, then placed in a side vessel. After a day and night, saltpeter can be formed. The one that condenses in the vessel is called "glauber's salt", and the one with crystal long tooth-like shape is called "horse tooth salt". .If you want to purify it, you need to mix it with radish and boil it together to make a 'pot nitrate'. The finely tuned gunpowder with pot nitrate is quite powerful!"

After hearing this, King Su frowned. "So deliberate here... It seems that they have a lot of plans!"

While speaking, the sound of footsteps came one after another. It turned out that it was the officers and soldiers who were going to pursue and suppress them, and they turned back one after another.

As soon as he saw King Su, the general who was in the lead knelt down on his knees. "The last general is incompetent and failed to capture the fugitive... Please punish the prince!"

"What?" King Su's face changed, "You nearly a hundred soldiers went after you, but you didn't catch a single one?"

"Damn it," the general kowtowed again and again, "I'll tell you the truth, I searched everything within a few miles...but...but I didn't find any trace of the villain..."

"Go and search again!" King Su shouted, "Dig three feet into the ground, and you have to catch those thugs! I don't believe it anymore, can they grow wings and fly?"

"Yes," the general hurriedly got up, "the last general will pass the order..."

"Wait a minute, general!" Feng Shen called the general, turned around and rushed to the king, "My lord, according to my humble position, even if I go to search again, I'm afraid I will return without success."

"Oh?" King Su frowned, "Why?"

Feng Shendao: "After the criminals flee, they will be broken up to prevent the officers and soldiers from chasing them. Right now, they are afraid that they have sneaked into the city and hid in the market. But there are more than ten million gates in the capital? Even if the five battalions are mobilized to patrol, there is no way to find them. !"

"It's true," Su Wang sighed, "Oh! This king is really... a little helpless!"

"My lord, don't worry," Feng Shen said, "I feel that there is a place where I may be able to find the whereabouts of those gangsters."

King Su's spirit lifted, "Where is it?"

Feng Shen said: "The Zeng family's old house outside the front gate!"

King Su asked again: "The Zeng family's old house? What is that place?"

"My lord", Feng Shen said with a bow, "All the reasons for this are explained in detail on the road of humble occupation. At this moment, it is urgent to go to Zeng's residence to have a look!"

(End of this chapter)