Yunxi and Wang Xi said a few more words, then went to the backyard and came to the house where they rested at noon these days.
But as soon as he walked in, he saw Xiyi and Li Shaer waiting here, and he couldn't help but asked strangely: "Why didn't you two go to take a nap?" Usually they had already fallen asleep at this time.
"Your Majesty, Guard Song suddenly wanted to see you just now. Apparently there are some clues about the birth-cutting case. Although this case sounds scary, I and Sister Li still want to know the progress and when the case will be solved.
, let the person who committed the crime receive the punishment he deserves." Xiyi said.
Xiyi's words and deeds are a bit suspected of "harem interference", but no matter who is involved in such a case, they must be very curious about it. Yunxi doesn't care much, but still hesitates before saying: "There are indeed some clues about this case. It's already
I have caught the person responsible for such a big case, but the content is too sensational, so I won’t tell you anymore.”
He knew that what Song Qingshu said to him must be an "abridged version". He didn't say the most frightening part, but just described the outline of the matter; but even if it was such an "abridged version", Yunxi felt that Xiyi listened to it.
She would definitely be scared, so she was unwilling to tell her. As for Li Shaer, although Yunxi felt that she was even braver than him, he was unwilling to tell her.
But Xiyi kept pestering her, so Yunxi had no choice but to talk about it briefly.
After hearing this, Xiyi was really scared and threw herself into Yunxi's arms. Although Li Shaer on the other side was also a little scared, her eyes kept turning as if she was thinking about something.
After Xiyi finally recovered and was sent back to the room by the serving maid to rest, Li Shaer said to Yunxi: "Your Majesty, I was a little curious the day before yesterday: Your Majesty is in Guangzhou City. Anyone with a discerning eye will know that he is in Guangzhou City at this time.
The harvesting and cutting activities nearby must be a hundred times more dangerous than usual. Even if they are halfway done, they will immediately stop and go elsewhere; but they are still doing this outside Guangzhou. So I thought it might be,
I came here for Your Majesty."
"I just heard from Your Majesty that this case of harvesting and harvesting is very likely to be related to the art of witchcraft, so it is almost certain that it is directed at Your Majesty."
"You're right, I guess it's for me." Yunxi waited for her to finish speaking and said.
"Your Majesty, now..."
"I have ordered the Yamen here to conduct a strict investigation. Most of the people caught now are just some gangsters. They may not know the real culprit behind the scenes. If the beggar named Mei who escaped could be caught at that time, maybe
Fortunately, there are some clues; but since he has run away, I am afraid that the leaders who handled the case will know something. But they do not know who the leaders are, and it may be difficult to find out."
Yunxi said.
Li Sha'er understood what he meant. In such a case, regardless of the principal and accomplices, they would all be executed in Lingchi. This meant that no matter who tried to persuade them, it would be meaningless. No matter how tortured they were, they might not be able to get them to confess.
.
"Your Majesty, for something like this, something directed at Your Majesty, there must be a local aristocratic family or powerful man behind it," Li Sha'er said.
"I also know," Yunxi said: "This kind of thing is impossible without the protection of local powerful people. Most of them are people who have almost lost their livelihood because of my reforms."
"But there are many such people - my reforms have touched many people, and it is possible for many people. Especially since Guangzhou is the seat of Guangdong Province, and Guangdong has always had strong clan power, I have no way to verify them one by one."
"Also, I have another doubt. Although taking someone's money is like killing one's parents, witchcraft cases have always involved killing the whole family. Can these aristocratic families be willing to go out and handle such a big case?"
The second point is what Yunxi is most puzzled about. It is true that his reforms have touched the interests of many people, but it does not leave no way out at all, and it is impossible to leave no way out at all; besides, he has suspended the work since he came to Guangzhou City. The reform has given these people room to breathe, let alone act like this.
"Are they from Annan?" Li Sha'er suddenly thought of these people who were still at war with the Ming Dynasty: "If His Majesty is in Guangzhou..., the war with Annan is very likely to stop, and they will escape from the country's subjugation. come out."
"Annan people," Yunxi pondered: "It's not impossible. But can Annan people have such a big influence in Guangzhou City?"
Yunxi also had some doubts about this. Although people from Annan and Guangdong and Guangxi looked the same, it was easy to sneak into the Ming Dynasty. Thirty years ago, the world was in chaos. It was not unreasonable to send a few people to establish a powerful family. Possibly. But this is almost meaningless in this era: according to the practice of the Central Plains dynasty, they generally will not take the initiative to attack the surrounding foreign countries, especially those in the south. The only purpose of maintaining such a family is to make money from the Ming Dynasty, but it is still You have to worry about the person in charge of the family rebelling, which may not be cost-effective.
"There may be Annan people, but they cannot be the leaders. There must be aristocratic families in the area to help."
The two of them talked for a while and stopped discussing going back to the house to rest.
That night and the next night, Yunxi had nightmares for two consecutive nights, probably because he heard Song Qingshu talk about the raw material cutting case. Even if the imperial doctor prescribed a prescription to calm the nerves, the incense in the house was changed. I put some soothing incense on it, but it didn't have much effect.
Like him, Xiyi also had nightmares for two consecutive nights; only Li Shaer, although she fell asleep very late that night, did not have nightmares, and the second night was completely normal.
On the morning of October 20th, the third day, Yunxi got up with a groggy head. Although he had constant nightmares at night for the past two days, he could no longer fall asleep at a certain time every morning. He prefers to get up and move around while lying in bed.
What's more, there was still a report today about this major case of witchcraft and harvesting, and he could only stand up to listen.
"Your Majesty, a total of more than 30 relatively complete corpses have been found. At least 30 people were killed by them. There are also many fragmentary bones that are not part of these 30 corpses. Even the most experienced ones I can't tell for sure."
"Half of the corpses are women, and half of the corpses are children. Judging from the size, there are people of all ages; among them, there are even children over three years old."
"Most of the corpses found were mutilated. After being viewed by real people from Youdaoxing in Guangzhou, they determined that they were used to perform some evil magic. However, this evil magic was very unfamiliar and they could not recognize what it was used for."
"All the houses and boats of the households outside Zhenhai Gate have been searched. There are no items related to the case, and no one is suspected. However, for the sake of safety, they are still not allowed to go to sea."
"..." Qian Minglin introduced.
Yunxi listened carefully to what he said, feeling a little uncomfortable. Fortunately, he had not had breakfast in the morning and had nothing else to do.
"Does the prisoner have a confession?" Yunxi asked. Although the chances of asking for a confession were very small, and Qian Minglin would definitely take the initiative to tell if there was a valuable confession, he still asked.
"The prisoner cannot bear the torture and has already made a confession. But the confession is not many and of little use." Qian Minglin said: "These people are just minions, they are only responsible for harvesting, cutting and cutting and don't know anything else. The police of the Ming Dynasty are also
I'm very unfamiliar with this, and during the interrogation I couldn't tell whether their confessions were true or false, and I didn't know what to ask other than asking, 'Who is the mastermind behind the scenes?'"
Qian Minglin was very troubled by this. In order to solve the case as soon as possible, he gave an order as early as the day he caught them: as long as they were not killed, he could do anything. But the result was not satisfactory. Sometimes the criminal police could feel that the prisoner was lying.
, but I don’t know where he lied.
The thing that comes out now is: the people arrested have been in the business of collecting and cutting raw materials for generations. They roam along the Pearl River, waiting for opportunities to abduct women and children, and then collect and cut raw materials in secret places; or they kill them and then use their flesh and bones.
They would refine mysterious medicines that were said to be able to inflict severe punishments, eliminate pregnancy, and cure diseases such as flower and willow diseases, or use various tools to mutilate people and sell them to beggars for huge profits. However, after Yunxi banned beggars and refugees from moving around the city
, the latter kind of 'business' has been greatly reduced.
From the confessions, it can be known that this kind of 'buying and selling' is done by each household alone. Although they will pass messages to each other, there is no organization and generally no partnership. The gathering here is also because of the professional
One of them recruited someone, saying that someone wanted to "do a big job" and the reward would be generous. When they got here, they realized that things were not simple, but the leader was possessed of evil spirits, so they didn't dare to disobey, so they had no choice but to get started.
"...The name of the person who summoned them is Ning Cai, and he is not the real mastermind behind the scenes, but since he summoned them, he must know something. However, this person has a very strict reputation, and the criminal police have used the most severe punishment, but they still
No questions asked."
"No useful confessions were obtained from the captured beggars and homeless people. Naturally, these people were not as tight-lipped as those people. Most of them shouted 'confession' as soon as they were sentenced. But they couldn't say anything useful.
."
"Continue to interrogate, especially the captured beggars and homeless people. Mainly ask them about the whereabouts of the beggar named Mei in the past few days and where he has been. We must also continue to search for this person." Yun He also felt that he could learn from these things.
It may be too small to obtain useful confessions from those who had their bodies mutilated, so the order focused on beggars and homeless people.
"There are still corpses with neat faces. We have issued a notice for people inside and outside Guangzhou to identify the corpses. But be careful not to leak the case." The case is still confidential, and all police interrogating the case are prohibited from going home.
, so the people in the city knew that a major case had occurred, but they didn't know what it was.