Miss Lei was kidnapped on the eighth day.
morning.
…
Di Jin got up, as usual, calm and unhurried.
However, the sound of hurried footsteps came. Di Xiangling came to the door and knocked: "Brother Six, are you going to the academy today?"
Di Jin replied: "Sister, I can no longer learn any useful knowledge for the imperial examination there. Now I will wait for my uncle's arrangement to enter Jinyang Academy."
"In that case, let's go investigate the case quickly. What are we waiting for?" Di Xiangling said excitedly. Now she really cares about this matter.
"Haste makes waste in everything, nothing can be rushed..."
Di Jin opened the door, took a toothbrush and green salt, and started brushing his teeth and washing his face.
After arriving in ancient times, in addition to protecting his eyes, he also paid more and more attention to dental hygiene to avoid dental diseases.
Not only for myself, but also for my sister.
Di Xiangling had no choice but to brush her teeth side by side with him, spitting foam.
After washing up and arriving at the dinner table, she said angrily: "Didn't you already have a clue when you came back last night? It's time to talk about it now!"
As Di Jin ate breakfast, his thoughts became clearer and clearer: "Although the evidence is not sufficient, at this stage we can only investigate the cases together and treat multiple kidnapping cases that occurred in one place in a short period of time as the work of the same group of thieves."
"In this way, it will be divided into two cases, one is the kidnapping case of the Lei family, and the other is the kidnapping case of the Wang family."
"We will ignore Lei Hu's side for the time being and fully investigate the Wang family's case half a year ago."
Di Xiangling already understood this person's idea of investigating the case, but he was a little embarrassed: "But the head of the Wang family insists on concealing it, how can we ask for the details?"
Di Jin said: "The Wang family husband who was kidnapped is the only son in the younger generation. If something like this happens, his sisters will definitely ask for help. Is there any way for my sister to contact these young ladies?"
"I never interact with those ladies from wealthy families..." Di Xiangling hesitated for a moment and replied in a low voice.
Di Jin saw the dilemma and changed his target: "Where are the servants?"
"It's easy! As long as you are not a domestic slave, you won't be so loyal!" Di Xiangling answered very readily this time, feeling relaxed that he didn't have to be forced to socialize.
What she said is true. Servants before the Song Dynasty were similar to slaves. They did not have independent households and were attached to the master's family. By the Song Dynasty, the relationship between slaves and the master's family changed from a personal dependence relationship to an employment relationship. .
The law even stipulates the number of years of employment, up to ten years, so slaves are also called "manpower" and "female servants". From the title alone, their status has been significantly improved. Due to the widespread application of the employment system, cities A relatively developed labor market also appeared in China, and merchant families often went there to select their servants.
Of course, the law is one thing, but the actual operation is another. There are many slaves in the households of wealthy households. At most, with a piece of deed, the court will not really check in detail whether the servants in the household exceed the limit. Ten years of employment...
The difference what Di Xiangling said is this. If they are hired, the information will be easy to get. If they are slaves born in the family and have been growing up in the Wang family for generations, it will be difficult to ask questions.
"Try it. The so-called investigation of a case is often based on reasoning and luck."
"Okay! Wait for my news!"
Di Xiangling left happily. This time Di Jin did not wait at home, but also went out and walked towards the city.
In his opinion, this case was not difficult.
The kidnappers' appetites were too big and they became more and more greedy. They even kidnapped people for ransom continuously in a prefecture and county. In addition to the Lei family and the Wang family, there must be other victims, and every increase in the number of major victims would be rewarded. Lots of new clues.
The kidnappers are most likely locals who are familiar with the situation and hope to continue living locally and will not leave their hometown for the time being.
"If it were in the city, where would it be hidden... Huh?"
While walking, Di Jin stopped and found a familiar person on the roadside not far away. It was Suo Huan, the young man who had previously competed with the butcher for money.
Di Jin walked forward and saw the young man with his head hanging down and a bruise on the side of his face. He seemed to have been beaten just now. He couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with you?"
The young man shrank back and said nothing.
Di Jin rolled his eyes and whispered: "The county captain is very concerned about you. I want to know, after the money was returned to the original owner, did the butcher make trouble for you later?"
The young man trembled all over, then he raised his head and said with a sad face: "Pan County Lieutenant... He is a good official, but I am useless. He failed to keep the money... and even implicated the benefactor who gave me the reward!"
Di Jinqi asked: "What happened? Who robbed you? Why didn't you report it to the official?"
Normally, this would be nonsense, but recently Pan Chengju led a group of government officials on patrol, which was a period of severe crackdown in the city.
At this juncture, someone is so arrogant?
The young man trembled: "Stop asking! Stop asking! This matter... let alone Yangqu County, even Bingzhou, no one dares to take care of it..."
"No one dares to care..." Di Jin's eyes moved slightly, he leaned into his ear and whispered: "Did Lei Hu's men do it?"
The young man became excited and fell silent.
This is tantamount to admission.
"Thunder Tiger's men may bully the market, but they won't plunder money at this time..." Di Jin thought for a while and then asked: "You just said that you have implicated the benefactor who gave the reward. Do you suspect that the lady of the Lei family was involved?" Is it related to the kidnapping case?"
The young man nodded and said sadly: "They say that the thief will spend the ransom money. The benefactor's generosity is related to the thief. He took the person and my money was also robbed..."
"Eight hundred coins is a lot for ordinary people."
Di Jin sighed.
Ancient coins cannot simply be compared with later renminbi, but purchasing power must be considered. Converting them into how much rice can be purchased is a more practical method.
Generally speaking, in the early period of the dynasty, the coins had not yet depreciated, and the price of rice was relatively cheap. For example, the average price during the Tiansheng years was basically 300 yuan per stone, and one stone cost more than 100 kilograms in later generations.
It can be seen from this that eight hundred pennies was a lot of money in this era. It could buy three hundred kilograms of rice, which was enough to feed a family for several months. That's why the butcher at that time was jealous and lied about the young man asking for the money. of.
As a result, the young man Suo Huan finally managed to save his money, but still suffered an unreasonable disaster.
Maybe Lei Laohu just wanted his beloved daughter back, but the people under his command were not honest and would naturally take advantage of her.
"The ancients were really rough in investigating crimes. If they pursue the murderer like this, more than one person will be implicated."
Di Jin was also helpless about this, patted the young man's arm, turned around and left without saying another word.
He had no money and was beaten for nothing. It was useless to say any words of comfort. It would be better to solve the case quickly and bring peace to Yang Qu.
Next, he walked around the city and finally arrived outside the Wang family's house.
Before she had time to observe, Di Xiangling came out of nowhere. She was dressed in men's clothes when she went out during the day. She was full of heroism. With her hands behind her back, she said leisurely: "I wonder why this husband is here?"
Di Jin cupped his hands and said with a smile: "I came here to catch the thief, and I hope that the famous Di Shiniang will take action, and she will be able to capture him easily!"
"Hmph!"
Di Xiangling smiled proudly, turned to the Wang family house, and his face calmed down: "After Wang Xiaolang was released, he was so frightened that he has not recovered yet. He often angered his servants, so that the servants around him complained. I’ve already asked..."
"Not surprisingly."
Di Jin thought of a later actor who was kidnapped when he became famous and narrowly escaped death. The plot was restored in a movie more than ten years later. The fear and despair that makes the sky and the earth unresponsive are something that no outsider can understand. of.
It was completely normal for the young man of the Wang family to be frightened half to death. He was currently more concerned about the specific details: "How many days have you been tied up?"
Di Xiangling said: "I don't know, Wang Xiaolangjun is confused. After he came back, his family asked him twice. Seeing that he looked crazy, they didn't dare to mention it."
"What are the characteristics of the kidnapper?"
"I don't know, he was pushed into the house with his head covered, and he didn't even see the appearance of the thief."
"The kidnapper's accent?"
"I don't know, the thief didn't say a word in front of him, how can he hear the accent?"
This was indeed frustrating, but Di Jin was not too disappointed and nodded: "I don't know what I asked, no wonder I came back alive."
Di Xiangling gave a key piece of information: "While he was being held, he heard a sound that seemed to be made by playing dice."
Di Jin's eyes suddenly lit up: "Are you sure?"
"Some servants were gambling, and the dice made a sound. Wang Xiaolang suddenly went crazy and shouted. From then on, the Wang family was banned from all kinds of gambling..."
Di Xiangling gave an example and said helplessly: "The head of the Wang family later wanted to find the thief through gambling houses, but there are eight gambling houses in the city, and there are so many people who are addicted to gambling. How can we find them? We have to give up!"
"According to this, Lei Hu's men were conducting a large-scale search and arrest in the city, but they were doing something wrong and helped us..."
Di Jin's eyes sharpened: "Let's go! Let's also go to the gambling house in the city to look for such a gambler. In recent years, he has been gambling and squandering money every once in a while, especially when he made a fortune four or five months ago, but this time But he suddenly disappeared for a few days, and he didn’t go to any gambling shop..."
