Xiao Bazi held a letter in his hand and led Wu Kaidi into the living room quickly. As soon as he entered the door, he said to Li Rufeng: "Mr. Wu has brought a letter." After saying that, he presented the letter in his hand with both hands.
Wu Kaidi stepped out from behind Xiao Bazi, walked up to Li Rufeng, and said, "The letter was sent by Yinshi yesterday. It was shot into Leng's house by a headless arrow. The letter was written to me. Mr. Leng was very worried after something happened." I was running around inside and outside taking charge, so the thieves must have thought I was in charge, so they rushed over as soon as I got the letter."
Li Rufeng nodded and did not reply. He immediately opened the letter and read it silently.
The letter was not long, so Li Rufeng read it carefully. After reading it several times, he gently rubbed the letter paper with his hand, then put the letter paper under his nose and smelled it, before handing the letter to Liao Sanniang who was standing aside. .
Liao Sanniang took it and squeezed the letter paper. The texture of the letter paper was rough, and the letter only had a header. It was an anonymous white-headed letter, called a reminder letter. The letter was written with cinnabar, as red as blood, and it was eye-catching to read.
Liao Sanniang closed her eyes and read it carefully. She wrote in the letter: Brother Wu opened the door and kissed it. The servants were devastated by the war, were invaded by the tyrants, and the innocent people drained their blood to stuff jackals and tigers. They were in dire straits, could not bear the abuse, and were forced to become reckless. I have admired the Lord for a long time and loved charity. He had the beauty of giving generously to help those in need. Servants, etc. After hearing the news, I admired him and invited Leng Gong to stay in my humble place for a while. Xian Yanguan lent me a hundred thousand taels of fine silk to help Su Cheng. On the day when the silver was collected, I respectfully sent Leng Gong the completed jade to return it. Brother, you should think carefully, don't let the official pass, don't bring trouble to the Lord, and make Leng Gong suffer the humiliation of ax and saw. Don't hear about it. When and where the personal transaction will take place, please wait for later.
After Liao Sanniang read it carefully, she was quite surprised. She turned to Wu Kaidi and asked: "This letter is not written like a bandit. It is very polite between the lines, but it is ruthless in its actions, and it hurts people's lives. It's strange. Can you see it?" An archer?"
Wu Kaidi shook his head and said: "There were people squatting outside the door, but there were only lights hanging at the door. It was pitch black inside the alley. I didn't see anything. The arrows were shot directly into the courtyard from the surrounding roofs. , the arrowhead was wrapped in cotton cloth, and the arrow shaft was covered with a jade scarf ring for binding hair. It was made for Lingao and was inscribed by Ziminglou. It was worn by Master Leng when he traveled. The arrow shaft fell to the ground, and the patrol dog barked. The Huo family who was on duty at night came over to check, and that’s when they discovered it.”
Li Rufeng took the letter from Liao Sanniang, looked at it again, and said: "This writing is very powerful. It is not something that can be accomplished overnight. It is not something that a rough man can do. It looks like the handwriting of an old doctor who wrote the letter on his behalf."
After hearing this, Liao Sanniang frowned slightly and said: "There are many people who make a living by writing, and it is difficult to find out. For such secret things, most thieves are not willing to let others write for them. Among those thieves, there should be scholars. This word is not clear. There is no shaking or dragging, the end is neat, the pen is fluent, and the handwriting is not concealed. It is obvious that we are not afraid of us recognizing the handwriting and tracing it, which shows that it is not an acquaintance like us. Letter paper is common in the market, nothing special. Although cinnabar It’s expensive, but it doesn’t cost much to write. It’s enough to just take a little from anywhere, and it’s difficult to trace. I can’t tell many clues based on this letter alone.”
Li Rufeng walked a few steps in the hall, sat back on his chair, and said in a deep voice: "The letter has arrived. Let us wait for the future. We must find someone to contact us and ask for redemption."
Liao Sanniang's eyes flashed and she said: "Looking for a man, I'm afraid the delivery is not near the capital. Could the thief be from a nearby village? Among this group of thieves are Cuo Da who writes, archers who control strings, small people in the city, and horse runners. The knights, so well prepared, seem to be doing something big, which makes people feel a little more excited."
Li Rufeng touched the beard on his chin and said: "Now I can only make a blind guess. Normally, this kind of reminder letter will be delivered to home the next day. It took Leng Zhai nearly two days to receive it. I think the thief wants to pass the scarf back and forth. The ring was used as a sign, which delayed the journey. In addition, it took two days to wait and see the weather in Lengzhai."
Liao Sanniang nodded, turned to look at Wu Kaidi, and asked: "Mr. Wu, can you collect one hundred thousand silver redemptions enough?"
Wu Kaidi took a deep breath and said with a troubled face, "One hundred thousand silver is not a small amount. Although the store has been closed down now, there is no risk of a run. But the pure silver in the store is also limited. If you take away all Delong's living water, the family's wealth will probably be It's enough. It's just that without the authorization of the head office, I misappropriated it privately and cannot make money. I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain. This is one of the reasons; the other is that once the owner comes back and Delong reopens, tens of thousands of taels of silver will inevitably be needed for turnover."
Liao Sanniang lowered her head and pondered for a moment, then said: "According to the calculation of Australia and Song Dynasties, one hundred thousand silver should weigh 3,700 kilograms. It cannot be transported by non-heavy vehicles. It is very eye-catching. If the big vehicles are shipped, I am afraid that the government will be alerted and people will be shocked immediately. You know, something will happen."
Wu Kai said: "We can't hide this matter. Official Liu from Shuntian Prefecture comes to Delong every day and wishes he could live here. But if we want to redeem the person, Zhongfu Yin will not object. As long as the person comes back, When Delong reopens and the incident subsides, he is done with it. Shopkeeper Leng’s whereabouts have been unknown for a long time, which only increases the pressure on him.”
Li Rufeng said in a deep voice: "I understand. In this case, Shuntian Mansion doesn't need much, it's just a pass out of the city. This is not difficult, it's just about opening up the joints and spending more money so that the soldiers and horsemen and the gatekeepers can't Call Pancha Delong and Liansheng people. Do not make any noise, break them into pieces, and only select reliable people, whether they are cars, horses, or people. No matter how many, they will be taken out, piecemeal, and sent to the gathering outside the city. One hundred thousand taels is not much, but it can be done in three or two days, and it only takes a little effort. When the thieves killed the captives, they had already alerted the government. The so-called not to communicate with the officials meant that they were not allowed to pay for redemption or investigate the case. Government communication, but other things are not in the way."
Having said this, Li Rufeng paused for a moment, shaved his chin and sideburns, and said with a slight worry: "There is only one thing to worry about. In the case of kidnapping, the hostages are often killed and ransomed. At that time, most of them only collected corpses."
Liao Sanniang pondered for a moment, shook her head and said: "I'm afraid the bureau chief is overly worried, but that may not be the case here. The government system of Qiongzhou in the Song Dynasty is different from the world situation in the Ming Dynasty. The reason for the frequent kidnappings and hostage killings in Lingao is due to the excellent staff of the Political Security Bureau and the Police Department. Li, and has the skills of light, photography, and painting. Wanted pictures are published in the daily newspapers every day, and the police patrols search according to the signs. The bandit villages outside Lingao City have also been raided long ago, and in the city, household security guards and house numbers are everywhere. It is extremely difficult to store hostages outside the city or in the city. Every step of checking the quality, handing over the money, and redeeming the hostage requires taking great risks. There are Australian codes on the government bills and silver coins in Lingao. You can follow the traces and get the money. It’s also difficult to spend money. Qiongzhou is bordered by the sea on all four sides. If a crime occurs, you can only wander through the miasma and have nowhere to hide. Once you are caught and the crime is proven, you will immediately be hanged or shot, and there will be no mercy. Therefore, those who dare to capture people for ransom , are all extremely vicious people, who have difficulty hiding hostages. They are afraid of being exposed, so they often kill hostages, and there are only a few people who collude with each other, which is not a good situation. The Ming Dynasty is different. It is a little far away from the capital, and it is in the northern Zhili area of the capital. Within a short period of time, many thieves set up strongholds on the mountains and gathered together to make noise. These people were not afraid of the government's suppression. They dispersed when the soldiers came and gathered when the soldiers left. The elders in the countryside led and built bridges to conduct transactions in the strongholds. Gao Suo doesn't have to worry about hiding people, searches, etc., but he still abides by some rules. As long as the government doesn't get involved, people will be released after taking money from the village. When we hand over the redemption, we must inspect the person, and the money is stolen. Before I get it, I will never harm Master Leng easily."
Li Rufeng pondered for a long time, gritted his teeth and said: "Allocate funds, let's do it! Now the matter is clear, the thieves are just kidnapping people for money. The thieves kill the protons, but there are two situations. One is that the family members report to the officials, the officials are sent to investigate, and the officers and soldiers enter Suppression means killing hostages when they are cornered; secondly, there is no hope of ransom and they cannot get any money. They become angry and want to kill people. Nowadays, Mr. Leng’s safety is the most important thing. Don’t care too much about the amount of ransom money. The heavier it is, the more stable Mr. Leng is. Negotiating prices back and forth wastes time and only increases variables. We must not offend the thief at this time. No matter what, Mr. Wu and I share the responsibility for embezzling the money."
Wu Kaidi who was nearby couldn't help but was stunned when he heard this, and then his face turned pale. He didn't know why he suddenly had to share this fate with Li Rufeng. He wanted to open his mouth to tell the difference. A few words, but he didn't know where to start. He didn't object or agree. He babbled a few times and said nothing, like a dry and dying fish.
Liao Sanniang said: "There is another way to kill someone."
Li Rufeng was stunned and asked, "What else?"
Liao Sanniang said softly: "Unexpected changes."
Without waiting for Li Rufeng to ask, Liao Sanniang went on to say: "If Mr. Leng quarreled with words or tried to escape, the thief would be provoked to kill him; otherwise, if he met the gentleman on the way, or even just the thief was hesitant, it could lead to accidents. The change of life and death is just a thought. There is a big difference between kidnapping people for ransom and killing people and stealing goods. When the crime occurs, the person is dead and the goods are lost. It is a foregone conclusion. It only depends on how to capture them. When kidnapping people, we are always with the thieves. We are all moving together, the thieves are moving, and so are we. The Political Security Bureau said during training that the longer a case of a prisoner is delayed, the more dangerous it becomes. In Lingao, if the case cannot be solved or the person is redeemed within ten days, the hostage will be There is a 60% chance of death. There is no post office, telegraph, political security, or police station here in the capital. News is transmitted very slowly, and the rural control is weak. The cost may be doubled in time, but it is also crucial to catch the Ming Dynasty within 20 days. Nowadays, the war is in chaos, and everything is unpredictable."
Li Rufeng slapped his thigh and said loudly: "Since the moment it happened, this matter has been out of control. Don't think about the unexpected, just adapt to circumstances. We are weak in the capital and can't do much. Now there is news , is it better than us dragging around outside? Mr. Wu, you send an urgent letter to Lingao. The top priority is to allocate funds. We are anxious, and the thieves are also anxious. We are anxious for Master Leng to return home, and they are anxious to get money and escape."
After saying that, he said: "Let's go back to Helian Sheng immediately. There are Shuntian Mansion government officials protecting us outside here. I don't think anyone dares to come to the door to ask for votes. If the people who say the votes can't come to the door, this matter will be dangerous!"
After Li Rufeng finished speaking, he picked up Wu Youdi, who was standing still like a wooden man, and walked out.
