It was half past six in the evening, and it was still bright in August. Outside the Golden Flower Temple, officers newly trained by the Australians, or police officers in Newspeak, were surrounded on three levels, inside and outside, making it impossible for anyone to pass through. Outside Xiguan, several security chiefs and paijia from various Baojias also led "security activists" to keep watch outside to maintain order.
Several nearby street intersections were blocked by Juma, and everyone entering and exiting was questioned. If there were any suspicious ones, they were temporarily detained and Bao Changpai A, the principal of Baobao A, was called to come and claim them back.
The common people could only watch from a distance. There was a well-informed person who talked to the people around him and swore that the witchcraft case had been solved and that the Guandi Temple people were the culprits. The purpose of this city-wide manhunt was to capture the rightful owner and punish him with canonical punishment.
The operation to seize the Guandi Temple took a little longer than expected. The flower boys gathered in front did not resist. When they saw the police coming, they dispersed. They were arrested one by one at each street corner. Some people wanted to climb over the wall and jump into the river. Those who ran away were inevitably shot, and became a row of corpses covered with reed mats at the base of the temple wall. However, it took a lot of effort from the back house, and the police used tear gas to drive out the crying female servants inside.
Generally speaking, the action did not encounter much resistance, not even decent resistance. In the face of the iron fist of dictatorship, beggars are still very aware of current affairs.
The door of the Golden Flower Temple was open, and the steps were stained with blood - it was left after an ignorant person was stabbed with a bayonet.
All the Guandi temple residents in the temple were immediately cleared out and taken away. People coming in and out of the temple gate were police and national troops, who were conducting a comprehensive search under the command of the special search team of the Planning Institute.
There is a folding table propped up under a kapok tree at the corner of the street. This is the command seat of the elders. The key to combating local evil forces is that "the chief culprit must be punished." Gao Tianshi is dead and cannot enjoy the treatment of being tried and sentenced for "all his crimes". However, since his son is still the head of the Guangzhou General Regiment, he will naturally be labeled as the "chief culprit". He wore it.
Cui Hantang was wearing a Taoist robe with many magic weapons for subduing demons. He was fanning himself while watching the inspection process. As the two veterans leading the team at the Golden Flower Temple, in addition to serving as the team leader and deputy team leader respectively, Cui Taoist Master also has a special mission. According to the investigation of the witchcraft case, the Guandi Temple people are deeply involved, and it is likely that they are in their hometown. What secrets are hidden there? Ask him to be responsible for "palm-eye".
There is another reason that cannot be explained: the Guandi Temple people were deeply involved in the witchcraft case, so Taoist Cui was required to come to the scene to embolden the young police team - the naturalized people here in Guangzhou Prefecture are not as good as Lingao, and the feudal superstitions are so There is still a market for one set.
Sitting next to him drinking tea was the new "Prosecutor" Shen Ruiming. This was the first time he participated in such a manhunt, and everything seemed new to him.
It is said that they are "commanding", but actually Cui and Shen are only responsible for issuing orders and determining the general direction. The specific implementation is still the responsibility of senior naturalized police officers.
The work was gradually coming to an end. As the latest report came, both Cui and Chen showed disappointed expressions on their faces - this raid on Guandi Temple's lair was a failure!
Not only was Gao Lingxiang not captured, but his wife and children were also not captured. Only a few concubines were left behind.
Gao Tianshi has three sons and two daughters alive. The daughter is already married. The only person caught in Gao Tianshi's house was Gao Lingquan, Gao Tianshi's fourth son, a well-known local dandy. When the police rushed in, he was fooling around with one of Gao Tianshi's concubines. He was so frightened that he was reduced to a puddle of mud and could hardly do anything. Climb off the woman.
Although Gao Lingquan is well-known among local dandies and villains, he is not a key figure.
As for Gao Lingda, who has not yet been arrested, his presence is even weaker. His wife looked indifferent when talking about the man, as if she didn't care about the man's life or death at all.
Several confidants of the Gao family who were in charge of important affairs also disappeared without a trace.
Shen Ruiming had just arrived and had no intuitive understanding of the Guandi Temple people and horses, so he was somewhat confused about this result. But for Cui Hantang, who was directly involved in the witchcraft case, the result was disappointing.
During temporary interrogation of the arrested persons, they all said that they had just left two days ago. Gao Lingxiang's wife and children "went back to their parents' home" and ran away. As for Gao Lingxiang, he was still giving orders in the Jinhua Temple during the day yesterday. It was only this morning that he found that the room was empty.
From this point of view, Gundam Ling ran in a hurry and moved covertly, so that the hidden stakes monitoring them outside the temple were not discovered. He probably ran away because he got quite accurate information.
Cui Hantang murmured: "I think Mayor Liu is going to go crazy this time..."
Not a single important person was caught. Even Shen Ruiming, who didn't know much about the local situation, knew that there was a big problem: "I think someone leaked the secret."
"There is a spy!" Cui Hantang gritted his teeth.
"That's for sure!" Shen Ruiming nodded. He had read a lot of files on witchcraft cases and still remembered Han Yue's rebellion. It seemed that Han Yue was not the only traitor in the city government.
At this moment, more than a dozen women in filial piety were escorted from the temple, all of them with gloomy faces and sad expressions. Cui Hantang called to the policeman leading the team:
"Who are these people?"
"They are all Gao Tianshi's concubines," the policeman said.
"This Huazitou actually has more than a dozen little wives!" Shen Ruiming said in surprise.
"What does this mean? Gao Tianshi is the 'local magistrate'. What does it mean to have a few more wives?" Cui Hantang looked at these women carelessly, from middle-aged women in their forties to teenage girls, of all ages. All. Huan is fat and Yan is thin, each is different, but the same thing is that they all have a pair of small feet.
"This Gao Tianshi is such a waste!" Cui Hantang looked at the group of female prisoners who were gradually walking away. He felt it was a pity and patted his belly and said, "The new Taoism just needs female Taoists..."
Shen Ruiming stopped him: "Many of our judicial cadres don't have wives yet!"
"Damn it, I'm just saying it, don't be so impatient."
The two people were chatting, and the police came to report that the people inside had been cleaned up and asked the two chiefs to go in and inspect.
As soon as I entered the mountain gate, I saw that the temple was very large, but the house was collapsed and dilapidated, with the walls falling down and the house leaning. According to the standards of the Senate, it was considered a dangerous building. Within the mountain gate, the corridors and side halls on both sides of the corridor are inhabited by beggars. According to the survey, there are hundreds of beggars living here, and the messy environment can be imagined.
All the beggars here have just been taken in, and the rags, reed mats, and various broken pots and jars they left behind are still left everywhere inside and outside the room... A stench filled the air, and Cui Hantang thought that Liu San had almost died. I once told the city government that some temples and ancestral halls where beggars gather are likely to become important sources of infectious diseases in summer. He couldn't help but frown.
After passing through the second courtyard in front, the third entrance is much better. The main hall here is the "office" of the regiment leaders, and all public cases and torture instruments are available. The "imperial pole" that symbolizes the authority of the group leader is being carefully removed from its base by several policemen.
This "pole" aroused great interest among them. From the looks of it, the yellow cloth cover on the outside of the pole was rotten and easily broken. Many places were wrapped with yellow cloth. The opening at the top of the pole is covered with a seal and a seal. The seal is quite new, and it looks like it was replaced during the New Year when it was signed. The two of them didn't know the seal script and didn't bother to know what was written on it. They asked the soldiers to open the cloth cover and see what the "imperial dragon head pole" looked like.
Regarding this "imperial pole", the elders have all heard the legend about it. Why is this pole a gift from Zhu Yuanzhang? Why is it brought by a special messenger from Nanjing? It is made of red sandalwood hardwood with dragons carved all over it... and this The pole has always been spiritual. Whenever there is a crisis in Guangzhou, a spirit will appear... It is so miraculous that Cui Hantang wanted to see the true face of this thing.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the cloth cover was pulled open a little, the white stubble of the wood was exposed. Although the color was dim with age, the rough texture that had not been polished and painted was still very clear.
Judging from the wood grain, it is obviously not red sandalwood, or even hardwood. It should be ordinary wood such as pine and cypress.
When I pulled the cloth cover up again, I saw that there was still white stubble on it. Not to mention the carved dragon, there was not even a trace of paint on it. When you pull it to the top, where there is a dragon head in legend, there is no dragon head. It is just a piece of wood chopped randomly and fixed on it with nails.
"Is this the imperial pole?!" Shen Ruiming looked at the "pole" in front of him and was really surprised.
The elders don't really believe in the legend about the "imperial pole". Even if this happened at that time, it is unlikely that the pole has been preserved to this day. It was probably made later.
I didn't expect this thing to be so rough. According to Cui Hantang's words, it is "a fake without any sincerity." No wonder no one has ever seen the yellow cloth wrapping the pole opened.
"Damn it! Is this just a thick stick!" Cui Hantang shouted loudly, "Is this the heirloom of the Gao family?!"
The Gao family has held the position of leader in Guangzhou for more than 200 years, relying on the supreme authority of this "imperial pole". Not to mention whether this thing existed in history, using his family's financial resources to make a "real pole" "Same pole" is not difficult.
Just like this, a wooden pole that came from nowhere, was not even painted, and was wrapped in yellow cloth and became a symbol of the Gao family's authority - and it stayed in use for hundreds of years. A strong sense of absurdity surged into Shen Ruiming's heart.
"Chief, what should we do now?" Several policemen and soldiers also found it unbelievable. After a period of silence, a policeman asked cautiously.
"This thing is too thick and long to use as a stick," Cui Hantang touched his chin. "It is too thin and too short to build a house. I can see that it is of no use as a chopping wood..."
