Chapter 1978
Chapter 1978
Chapter 1978
Yangyue Village has been very turbulent recently. First, a group of foreign grain merchants came and raised the local grain purchase price to a historical high, which made many grain growers in other villages move on hearing the news.Then the officers and soldiers surrounded the village in the middle of the night to catch the bandits, and fired a burst of muskets, and then searched from house to house, causing panic in the whole village.
Although the officers and soldiers withdrew within two days of staying in Yangyue Village, they used cloth strips and notice boards to encircle the scenic spot of "Yantang Yangyue" outside the village, and left guards to prohibit the nearby people from entering the village. enter.There are rumors that the officers and soldiers fought fiercely with the bandits there that night. It is said that hundreds of bandits were killed at that time. The water in the pond was stained red with blood. It took a trip to take away all the corpses of the bandits.
However, the villager Feng Agui knew that these rumors were not true. Obviously, the gunfire that night only rang out for a short moment, and even one shot would not be enough to kill a hundred people.As for the rumors about carts dragging corpses, they were completely unreliable. He didn't even see a few carriages going there the next day.Looking at the appearance of those soldiers on duty, there is no sense of tension as if they are facing a big enemy.The most important thing is that Danzhou has not heard of gangsters haunting this place for several years. The place is obviously peaceful, so it is impossible for a gang of hundreds of people to appear suddenly.
In Feng Agui's view, most of them were a few Jiangyang thieves who wanted to come to Haihan to make a fortune. They didn't know what crime they did in Danzhou and angered the government, so they sent troops to the countryside to round up them.Now those who should be killed are killed, those who should be arrested are arrested, and this matter should be considered over.
But soon people from the government came to him and asked him about the details of his contact with the group of grain merchants.Feng Agui didn't know until this time that the target of the officers and soldiers was the group of grain merchants.He was a little flustered at the moment, not because he was worried that the government would suspect that he was in collusion with the gangsters, but because he was afraid that the government would recover the money that the gangsters gave him as a deposit for buying grain.
Fortunately, the investigators didn't seem to be interested in how much money Feng Agui had collected from Xue Zheng and his gang. They didn't even ask about the detailed amount, and didn't ask Feng Agui to hand over the money voluntarily. Finally, they made a small fortune.
But Yangyue Village hadn't been quiet for a few days, and the government sent people again, this time asking the whole village to work together to dig soil in the area outside the village that hadn't been lifted to find evidence.And the water in the pond on that side must be drained with a water truck to confirm whether there are weapons and other items discarded by the bandits at the bottom of the pond.
As the only strong laborer in the family, Feng Agui naturally couldn't escape this kind of temporary recruitment, but he wanted to take the opportunity to see where the bandits were hiding that day and the various weapons that were said to be buried in the forest by these bandits before surrendering.
Yangyue village and several nearby villages dispatched a total of about [-] civilians to participate in the excavation work of the incident site.
The area that was temporarily forbidden to enter was about one square kilometer. It was indeed a time-consuming and labor-intensive task to find a few carefully buried things in it.However, considering that the military also briefly sorted out the area the next day and found no obvious excavation traces, it should mean that Xue Zheng and his group did not bury things too deep, or directly It sank to the bottom of the pond—the latter is certainly the most likely.
Feng Agui was assigned to the pond group, and the water channel flowing into the pond had temporarily laid wooden stakes in the water, and then filled it with sandbags.Four waterwheels transferred from nearby places were set up by the pond one after another, and then the waterwheels were driven by manpower to continuously pump out the water in the pond.
The pond didn't look too big or too deep, but it took a full half a day before the edge area finally bottomed out.However, the government didn't seem to intend to suspend work because it was getting dark, so they lit a fire around the pond and continued to pump water.Fortunately, there were enough folks mobilized, and each group only needed to drive the waterwheel with all their strength for a while before they could take a rest. Although Feng Agui was tired all day, he could still hold on.
After about an hour or so after dark, the water in the pond began to bottom out slowly, and the water truck on the shore could no longer pump up the accumulated water in the middle, and countless fish and shrimps at the bottom of the pond rushed to the center of the pond desperately. Move, stir up not a small splash.The foreman directing the construction asked people to bring the prepared wooden boards, spread them from the edge of the pond to the center of the pond, and then sent people to step on the wooden boards and start dragging them back and forth in the mud at the bottom of the pond with a long-handled grapple. Try this method To salvage something that may have been sunk at the bottom of the pond.
Due to the limited lighting conditions and the interference of a large number of fish and shrimp in the pond bottom water, it is difficult to observe the condition of the bottom of the pond clearly only by vision, and it is more necessary to feel to judge whether something is hooked on the bottom of the pond.But after only trying for a while, this method could not be used due to too much interference.After a few foremen discussed briefly, they had to ask someone to bring the fishing net again, trying to clean up the fish and shrimp at the bottom of the pond first.
Feng Agui was born and raised in Yangyue Village. This is the first time in decades that he saw the water in this pond drained. He knew that there were still many big fish in this pond. This time he finally saw their true colors. .
However, it is not easy to catch fish in the middle of the night, and it is quite strenuous to fight fish and shrimp in this mud pond.After tossing and tossing until midnight, the fish and shrimp in the pond were almost cleaned up. The villagers got hundreds of catties of aquatic products because of this.
Feng Agui also got a big bucket of fish and shrimp, and asked his family to take it back first, thinking that after all this whole day, it was finally worthwhile, and at the end of the day, he could get some meat to eat.However, he got a sum of money from Xue Zheng earlier, and the government didn't chase the money away, so he didn't have any complaints about being conscripted to do hard labor today.And he really wanted to see what the government was trying to find in this pond by going to great lengths to drain it.
In fact, this day's search work was not only carried out in the pond. Hundreds of people in the surrounding woods have also been trying to find the theoretical burial point, but it has not gone smoothly. At that time, everyone's attention was on the side of the pond, whether there was the target they were looking for hidden under the stagnant water that was less than two feet deep in the center of the pond.
"I caught something!" After an unknown amount of time, someone yelled in the pond, which immediately awakened everyone from their sleepiness.
The clump hooked by the grapple was quickly dragged away from the stagnant water. Feng Agui stood by the edge of the pond, watching the clump of black lacquered objects being slowly dragged to the shore, and then several peasants jumped into the pond In the middle, step in the mud and lift this thing to the bank.Feng Agui saw that they had a lot of effort when they lifted it up, and it seemed that the weight was not light.
Several people who looked like officers came over quickly, ignoring the mud on it, they reached out to take the thing together, immediately put it on the ground and began to clean it, and a few soldiers beside them held up torches to illuminate them.Feng Agui happened to be standing next to them, seeing that the soldiers didn't chase him away, he continued to watch the excitement with peace of mind.
It turned out that the thing was wrapped in a long gown, after it was untied, all the people around who could clearly see what was inside took a long breath - what flickered under the light of the fire was a bunch of metal sharp weapons, There are knives and swords, and some weapons that Feng Agui doesn't recognize at all.
"It should be this thing!" One of the officers made a judgment, and then asked people to put these things away on a door panel and carried them away.
But the search work was not over yet, and the salvage of the bottom of the pond continued until dawn, and nothing else was found, so the leading officer finally ordered the operation to be terminated.However, the pond will still be closed for a few days until the bottom of the pond dries up naturally, and another inspection will be conducted to confirm that there is nothing missing from the search.
The salvaged weapons were placed in front of Zhang Qianzhi at noon that day, which is undoubtedly extremely important evidence for the attack under investigation.Prior to this, they had found weapons from the three people captured outside Danzhou City and Yangyue Village at the beginning of the operation, and also found weapons on the four people who were shot and killed by the Haihan Army during the breakout, but Xue Zheng only Admitting that these people were accompanying bodyguards, he claimed to be an ordinary grain merchant.
Of course, Zhang Qianzhi would not believe such a confession, especially the body shot to death in the pond, which showed that Xue Zheng and others had carried some kind of musket.Now the missing musket was placed in front of Zhang Qianzhi together with other weapons found last night.
Although Zhang Qianzhi was not a weapon expert, he could tell at a glance that it was a flintlock pistol that was only one foot long, and it was not a standard weapon that was installed in the army by Haihan.He even found a small pliers tool among the pile, which was used to make lead bullet molds, which are no longer used in the flintlock guns that Haihan now has in the army, regardless of length. A ready-made projectile.
"Old Wang, what do you think?" Zhang Qianzhi asked Wang Baisuo who had just rushed back from Yangyue Village for advice.
Wang Baisuo spent the night in Yangyue Village last night, and personally escorted these things back to Danzhou City early this morning, his eyes were bloodshot at this time.However, perhaps because of the significance of this harvest, Wang Baisuo's mental state was very excited, and he didn't look too tired from staying up late.
"I discussed it with people from the Military Intelligence Bureau at the scene. This gun is definitely not made in our country. Look at the fire sickle cover, gunpowder pool, hammer, and the bullet-making pliers for making lead bullets. They are not made in our country. And most importantly, look at the handle of the gun..." Wang Baisuo pointed to the abstract pattern on the handle and said: "There is no such purely decorative pattern on the muskets produced in our country."
Zhang Qianzhi didn't go to get the gun, but picked up the bullet pliers first and said, "The bullet we found on the corpse before, now we can find the standard reference object."
Wang Baisuo said: "We only found this gun at the scene, so we must be right. But when this group of people came to our country to attack the son of Joseon, they only prepared such a gun. I always feel that something is wrong."
Zhang Qianzhi said slowly: "They can spend a lot of money to find someone to buy information, but their weapons are mainly cold weapons. If they are willing to spend money, they can obviously have a musket in each hand. You mean this?"
"Yes, yes, you are right!" Wang Baisuo nodded and said, "Isn't this strange? Even the price on the black market is completely within the acceptable range for them."
"Old Wang, is it really strange? I think there are two reasons." Zhang Qianzhi analyzed: "First, they are not confident enough about the purchase channel. Once they are exposed in the purchase process, their tasks will not be able to continue. Go ahead. Second, they have not received special training in the use of muskets before, and there is too little preparation time after receiving this errand, and they cannot get familiar with this weapon through a lot of shooting practice. For a person who does not know how to use muskets To a man, it is no different than a poker, and it is better to continue to use the weapons they are good at. Only one gun was found, because only one of them can use a musket."
Wang Baisuo scratched his head and said, "It seems that what you said makes sense."
For Xue Zheng and his group, their disadvantages in terms of weapons meant that their action methods were destined to be relatively simple. They could only try to get close before launching an attack. To break through the peripheral security deployed by Hai Han for Li Luo, it was up to them. Multiple people are actually quite difficult.If they could use muskets, the actions they could take would be richer, and the pressure on Haihan's security would be even greater.
But Zhang Qianzhi's focus at this time is actually not on this. The second search of Yantang Yangyue was an order sent by the Sanya headquarters. Send it back to Sanya for inspection.Although the telegram was vague, Zhang Qianzhi felt that the higher authorities paid so much attention to the existence of this gun, rather than Xue Zheng and other arrested suspects, that it was most likely that Sanya had discovered some more important clues.
Zhang Qianzhi was very curious about what clues would have led He Xi to make such a choice, but the investigation work on the Danzhou side had not yet ended, and he could not be distracted to care about the progress on the Sanya side for the time being.The interrogation of Xue Zheng and others has not made any decent progress for several days, and Zhang Qianzhi's patience is being worn away bit by bit.However, the weapons found this time may shock the psychological defense of Xue Zheng and others again.
"Old Wang, you stayed up all night and traveled back and forth for dozens of miles. Go back, take a shower and sleep, and recharge your energy before you come to the yamen to work." Zhang Qianzhi sympathized with Wang Baisuo's fatigue, so he persuaded him to go back and rest.After examining these weapons again, he took the pistol and interrogated Xue Zheng again, hoping to use this new evidence to make him speak.
However, Zhang Qianzhi didn't have much hope for this. After all, this guy was extremely stubborn, and it was difficult to obtain valuable information from him through interrogation.Zhang Qianzhi is already considering transporting this group of people back to Sanya to see if his boss can pry their mouths open.
(End of this chapter)
Yangyue Village has been very turbulent recently. First, a group of foreign grain merchants came and raised the local grain purchase price to a historical high, which made many grain growers in other villages move on hearing the news.Then the officers and soldiers surrounded the village in the middle of the night to catch the bandits, and fired a burst of muskets, and then searched from house to house, causing panic in the whole village.
Although the officers and soldiers withdrew within two days of staying in Yangyue Village, they used cloth strips and notice boards to encircle the scenic spot of "Yantang Yangyue" outside the village, and left guards to prohibit the nearby people from entering the village. enter.There are rumors that the officers and soldiers fought fiercely with the bandits there that night. It is said that hundreds of bandits were killed at that time. The water in the pond was stained red with blood. It took a trip to take away all the corpses of the bandits.
However, the villager Feng Agui knew that these rumors were not true. Obviously, the gunfire that night only rang out for a short moment, and even one shot would not be enough to kill a hundred people.As for the rumors about carts dragging corpses, they were completely unreliable. He didn't even see a few carriages going there the next day.Looking at the appearance of those soldiers on duty, there is no sense of tension as if they are facing a big enemy.The most important thing is that Danzhou has not heard of gangsters haunting this place for several years. The place is obviously peaceful, so it is impossible for a gang of hundreds of people to appear suddenly.
In Feng Agui's view, most of them were a few Jiangyang thieves who wanted to come to Haihan to make a fortune. They didn't know what crime they did in Danzhou and angered the government, so they sent troops to the countryside to round up them.Now those who should be killed are killed, those who should be arrested are arrested, and this matter should be considered over.
But soon people from the government came to him and asked him about the details of his contact with the group of grain merchants.Feng Agui didn't know until this time that the target of the officers and soldiers was the group of grain merchants.He was a little flustered at the moment, not because he was worried that the government would suspect that he was in collusion with the gangsters, but because he was afraid that the government would recover the money that the gangsters gave him as a deposit for buying grain.
Fortunately, the investigators didn't seem to be interested in how much money Feng Agui had collected from Xue Zheng and his gang. They didn't even ask about the detailed amount, and didn't ask Feng Agui to hand over the money voluntarily. Finally, they made a small fortune.
But Yangyue Village hadn't been quiet for a few days, and the government sent people again, this time asking the whole village to work together to dig soil in the area outside the village that hadn't been lifted to find evidence.And the water in the pond on that side must be drained with a water truck to confirm whether there are weapons and other items discarded by the bandits at the bottom of the pond.
As the only strong laborer in the family, Feng Agui naturally couldn't escape this kind of temporary recruitment, but he wanted to take the opportunity to see where the bandits were hiding that day and the various weapons that were said to be buried in the forest by these bandits before surrendering.
Yangyue village and several nearby villages dispatched a total of about [-] civilians to participate in the excavation work of the incident site.
The area that was temporarily forbidden to enter was about one square kilometer. It was indeed a time-consuming and labor-intensive task to find a few carefully buried things in it.However, considering that the military also briefly sorted out the area the next day and found no obvious excavation traces, it should mean that Xue Zheng and his group did not bury things too deep, or directly It sank to the bottom of the pond—the latter is certainly the most likely.
Feng Agui was assigned to the pond group, and the water channel flowing into the pond had temporarily laid wooden stakes in the water, and then filled it with sandbags.Four waterwheels transferred from nearby places were set up by the pond one after another, and then the waterwheels were driven by manpower to continuously pump out the water in the pond.
The pond didn't look too big or too deep, but it took a full half a day before the edge area finally bottomed out.However, the government didn't seem to intend to suspend work because it was getting dark, so they lit a fire around the pond and continued to pump water.Fortunately, there were enough folks mobilized, and each group only needed to drive the waterwheel with all their strength for a while before they could take a rest. Although Feng Agui was tired all day, he could still hold on.
After about an hour or so after dark, the water in the pond began to bottom out slowly, and the water truck on the shore could no longer pump up the accumulated water in the middle, and countless fish and shrimps at the bottom of the pond rushed to the center of the pond desperately. Move, stir up not a small splash.The foreman directing the construction asked people to bring the prepared wooden boards, spread them from the edge of the pond to the center of the pond, and then sent people to step on the wooden boards and start dragging them back and forth in the mud at the bottom of the pond with a long-handled grapple. Try this method To salvage something that may have been sunk at the bottom of the pond.
Due to the limited lighting conditions and the interference of a large number of fish and shrimp in the pond bottom water, it is difficult to observe the condition of the bottom of the pond clearly only by vision, and it is more necessary to feel to judge whether something is hooked on the bottom of the pond.But after only trying for a while, this method could not be used due to too much interference.After a few foremen discussed briefly, they had to ask someone to bring the fishing net again, trying to clean up the fish and shrimp at the bottom of the pond first.
Feng Agui was born and raised in Yangyue Village. This is the first time in decades that he saw the water in this pond drained. He knew that there were still many big fish in this pond. This time he finally saw their true colors. .
However, it is not easy to catch fish in the middle of the night, and it is quite strenuous to fight fish and shrimp in this mud pond.After tossing and tossing until midnight, the fish and shrimp in the pond were almost cleaned up. The villagers got hundreds of catties of aquatic products because of this.
Feng Agui also got a big bucket of fish and shrimp, and asked his family to take it back first, thinking that after all this whole day, it was finally worthwhile, and at the end of the day, he could get some meat to eat.However, he got a sum of money from Xue Zheng earlier, and the government didn't chase the money away, so he didn't have any complaints about being conscripted to do hard labor today.And he really wanted to see what the government was trying to find in this pond by going to great lengths to drain it.
In fact, this day's search work was not only carried out in the pond. Hundreds of people in the surrounding woods have also been trying to find the theoretical burial point, but it has not gone smoothly. At that time, everyone's attention was on the side of the pond, whether there was the target they were looking for hidden under the stagnant water that was less than two feet deep in the center of the pond.
"I caught something!" After an unknown amount of time, someone yelled in the pond, which immediately awakened everyone from their sleepiness.
The clump hooked by the grapple was quickly dragged away from the stagnant water. Feng Agui stood by the edge of the pond, watching the clump of black lacquered objects being slowly dragged to the shore, and then several peasants jumped into the pond In the middle, step in the mud and lift this thing to the bank.Feng Agui saw that they had a lot of effort when they lifted it up, and it seemed that the weight was not light.
Several people who looked like officers came over quickly, ignoring the mud on it, they reached out to take the thing together, immediately put it on the ground and began to clean it, and a few soldiers beside them held up torches to illuminate them.Feng Agui happened to be standing next to them, seeing that the soldiers didn't chase him away, he continued to watch the excitement with peace of mind.
It turned out that the thing was wrapped in a long gown, after it was untied, all the people around who could clearly see what was inside took a long breath - what flickered under the light of the fire was a bunch of metal sharp weapons, There are knives and swords, and some weapons that Feng Agui doesn't recognize at all.
"It should be this thing!" One of the officers made a judgment, and then asked people to put these things away on a door panel and carried them away.
But the search work was not over yet, and the salvage of the bottom of the pond continued until dawn, and nothing else was found, so the leading officer finally ordered the operation to be terminated.However, the pond will still be closed for a few days until the bottom of the pond dries up naturally, and another inspection will be conducted to confirm that there is nothing missing from the search.
The salvaged weapons were placed in front of Zhang Qianzhi at noon that day, which is undoubtedly extremely important evidence for the attack under investigation.Prior to this, they had found weapons from the three people captured outside Danzhou City and Yangyue Village at the beginning of the operation, and also found weapons on the four people who were shot and killed by the Haihan Army during the breakout, but Xue Zheng only Admitting that these people were accompanying bodyguards, he claimed to be an ordinary grain merchant.
Of course, Zhang Qianzhi would not believe such a confession, especially the body shot to death in the pond, which showed that Xue Zheng and others had carried some kind of musket.Now the missing musket was placed in front of Zhang Qianzhi together with other weapons found last night.
Although Zhang Qianzhi was not a weapon expert, he could tell at a glance that it was a flintlock pistol that was only one foot long, and it was not a standard weapon that was installed in the army by Haihan.He even found a small pliers tool among the pile, which was used to make lead bullet molds, which are no longer used in the flintlock guns that Haihan now has in the army, regardless of length. A ready-made projectile.
"Old Wang, what do you think?" Zhang Qianzhi asked Wang Baisuo who had just rushed back from Yangyue Village for advice.
Wang Baisuo spent the night in Yangyue Village last night, and personally escorted these things back to Danzhou City early this morning, his eyes were bloodshot at this time.However, perhaps because of the significance of this harvest, Wang Baisuo's mental state was very excited, and he didn't look too tired from staying up late.
"I discussed it with people from the Military Intelligence Bureau at the scene. This gun is definitely not made in our country. Look at the fire sickle cover, gunpowder pool, hammer, and the bullet-making pliers for making lead bullets. They are not made in our country. And most importantly, look at the handle of the gun..." Wang Baisuo pointed to the abstract pattern on the handle and said: "There is no such purely decorative pattern on the muskets produced in our country."
Zhang Qianzhi didn't go to get the gun, but picked up the bullet pliers first and said, "The bullet we found on the corpse before, now we can find the standard reference object."
Wang Baisuo said: "We only found this gun at the scene, so we must be right. But when this group of people came to our country to attack the son of Joseon, they only prepared such a gun. I always feel that something is wrong."
Zhang Qianzhi said slowly: "They can spend a lot of money to find someone to buy information, but their weapons are mainly cold weapons. If they are willing to spend money, they can obviously have a musket in each hand. You mean this?"
"Yes, yes, you are right!" Wang Baisuo nodded and said, "Isn't this strange? Even the price on the black market is completely within the acceptable range for them."
"Old Wang, is it really strange? I think there are two reasons." Zhang Qianzhi analyzed: "First, they are not confident enough about the purchase channel. Once they are exposed in the purchase process, their tasks will not be able to continue. Go ahead. Second, they have not received special training in the use of muskets before, and there is too little preparation time after receiving this errand, and they cannot get familiar with this weapon through a lot of shooting practice. For a person who does not know how to use muskets To a man, it is no different than a poker, and it is better to continue to use the weapons they are good at. Only one gun was found, because only one of them can use a musket."
Wang Baisuo scratched his head and said, "It seems that what you said makes sense."
For Xue Zheng and his group, their disadvantages in terms of weapons meant that their action methods were destined to be relatively simple. They could only try to get close before launching an attack. To break through the peripheral security deployed by Hai Han for Li Luo, it was up to them. Multiple people are actually quite difficult.If they could use muskets, the actions they could take would be richer, and the pressure on Haihan's security would be even greater.
But Zhang Qianzhi's focus at this time is actually not on this. The second search of Yantang Yangyue was an order sent by the Sanya headquarters. Send it back to Sanya for inspection.Although the telegram was vague, Zhang Qianzhi felt that the higher authorities paid so much attention to the existence of this gun, rather than Xue Zheng and other arrested suspects, that it was most likely that Sanya had discovered some more important clues.
Zhang Qianzhi was very curious about what clues would have led He Xi to make such a choice, but the investigation work on the Danzhou side had not yet ended, and he could not be distracted to care about the progress on the Sanya side for the time being.The interrogation of Xue Zheng and others has not made any decent progress for several days, and Zhang Qianzhi's patience is being worn away bit by bit.However, the weapons found this time may shock the psychological defense of Xue Zheng and others again.
"Old Wang, you stayed up all night and traveled back and forth for dozens of miles. Go back, take a shower and sleep, and recharge your energy before you come to the yamen to work." Zhang Qianzhi sympathized with Wang Baisuo's fatigue, so he persuaded him to go back and rest.After examining these weapons again, he took the pistol and interrogated Xue Zheng again, hoping to use this new evidence to make him speak.
However, Zhang Qianzhi didn't have much hope for this. After all, this guy was extremely stubborn, and it was difficult to obtain valuable information from him through interrogation.Zhang Qianzhi is already considering transporting this group of people back to Sanya to see if his boss can pry their mouths open.
(End of this chapter)