"Why do you ask this, sir?" Du Wanyuan looked at Liu Hong in surprise.
Liu Hong twirled his beard and said: "I just feel that Xu Tong's death is too strange, and I wonder if someone is deliberately plotting to kill him behind the scenes."
"Student, I don't think there is anything fishy." Du Wanyuan shook his head slightly, and then said, "Tiger Flag is just a business, and Liu Heng is just a white businessman. How dare he dare to murder an official of the imperial court."
Liu Hong nodded slightly and said, "What you said makes some sense. It may be that Xu Tong did too many evil things in Datong and suffered retribution."
Du Wanyuan secretly glanced at his master.
Originally, he thought that Xu Tong's accident was an accident, but now that his elders said it, he felt that it was too strange. Why did he drown while crossing the river? But if it was someone from the Tiger Character Banner who murdered Xu Tong, he would The first one didn’t believe it.
A dignified second-grade official would be questioned even if he returned to the capital. But before that, he was also a second-grade official. Liu Heng, the proprietor of the Tiger Flag, was just a white businessman. No matter how courageous he was, he would not dare to kill an official unless he He didn't want his life.
According to Ming Dynasty regulations, killing officials is equivalent to rebellion and must be executed consecutively.
He believed that Liu Heng, with a business name as big as Tiger Flag, would never do such a stupid thing as killing an official.
……………………
"Is this the river?"
The speaker was wearing brocade clothes, with an embroidered spring knife hanging from his waist, and spoke with a capital accent. At a glance, one could easily identify him as a brocade guard from the capital.
There are three other Jin Yiwei who are also dressed similarly.
"Sir, it's this river."
The person who answered was a head catcher wearing a police uniform, with a look of careful company on his face.
"Where is Mr. Xu's body? Have you found it?" Yuan Hong, a member of the Jinyiwei Bai family, asked.
Captain Zhou said with a grimace: "The agents in the yamen have been searching along the river bank for many days, but they have not found Mr. Xu's body. It is very likely that it was washed downstream along the current."
"Then go downstream and look for it. I will teach you this." Yuan Hong said with dissatisfaction.
Zhou Captou smiled bitterly and said: "This section of the river in this county has the most ferocious currents. The policemen and their officers searched both sides of the river bank, but they did not find the body of Mr. Xu."
"So it's possible that Mr. Xu's body drifted along the river to other counties?" Yuan Hong asked.
Zhou Datou thought for a while and said: "There is another possibility, which is to sink into the sand at the bottom of the river. However, with such a long river, it is hard to say where it will sink. It is possible unless the water is drained. turn up."
"You mean the body can't be found!" Yuan Hong frowned deeply.
Without a body, there is no way to conduct an autopsy, which cuts off a clue to the investigation.
Zhou Captou did not answer the call and acquiesced in Yuan Hong's statement.
Yuan Hong stood by the river and looked at the water in front of him.
A guard next to him said: "Sir, the current here is very fast. Even if the body did not sink to the bottom of the river, it may have been washed somewhere. It may not be easy to find the body."
Yuan Hong turned around and said to Zhou Datou on the side: "Which boat was Mr. Xu on when the accident happened?"
"It's a ferry." Zhou Datou said, "The ferry sank to the bottom of the river together with the gentleman, but the boat has been salvaged and is at the ferry in front."
"Take me over and have a look." Yuan Hong said.
Zhou Baotou led the way, and the group soon arrived at the ferry not far ahead.
On the shore of the ferry, there is a ferry with holes in the hull. The bottom of the boat is covered with a lot of gray-yellow sand, but it has been dried in the sun long ago.
"Sir, look, this is the boat." Zhou Tou pointed at the ferry on the shore.
Yuan Hong walked over and stood beside the ferry. He gestured for the holes in the boat with his hands. He then pinched a handful of sand on the bottom of the boat and rubbed it with his fingers.
Zhou Captou explained: "This ferry was salvaged from the place where Mr. Xu's accident happened, so it brought a lot of sediment from the river bottom with it."
"When you fished it out from the bottom of the river, there were still a lot of things on the boat, right?" Yuan Hong looked at Zhou Datou.
Zhou Captou hesitated for a moment and said, "There are indeed some heavy wooden boxes that were salvaged from the ship."
When the sunken ship was first fished out, as the head catcher, he was at the scene. In addition to the sunken ship, several boxes of gold and silver were fished out from the bottom of the river.
Most of the gold and silver fished out of the river had been taken away by the county boss and several leaders from the sixth house. The catchers and government officials below also received some benefits. He, the catcher, received more than a dozen taels of silver.
"Sir, do you think this fracture was broken by something heavy?" A guard in Jinyi gestured at the hole in the ship with his hand.
"It is not ruled out that someone deliberately broke the ship's planks." Yuan Hong reminded, and then said, "Captain Zhou, please call the boatman of this ferry. I have something to ask him."
When he heard that he was looking for the boatman of this boat, Zhou Captou said with a grimace: "The boatman of this ferry knew that the person who drowned was an adult, so he ran away without even daring to return home."
"Where is his family?" Yuan Hong said, "If we arrest his family, I won't let him come back if I don't believe it."
Zhou Captou smiled bitterly and said: "You don't know something, sir. The boatman is a widower. His wife died young and he has no children. He has always lived alone and lived here at the ferry most of the time."
Yuan Hong frowned deeply.
It is not easy to find such a carefree person. If he hides somewhere, it will be difficult even for them to find him.
Even if the boatman is Xu Tong's murderer, it will be difficult to catch him.
"In addition to the boatman who escaped, there were several fishermen who were also carrying people and luggage across the river. Would you like to interrogate those fishermen first?" Zhou Captou said.
Yuan Hong asked: "Has Mr. Zhou ever interrogated him?"
"The younger one did ask those fishermen about what happened that day." Zhou Datou said, "According to those fishermen, there were many wooden boxes with heavy objects on the ferry at that time, and the boat was already overwhelmed. But Mr. Xu had to forcefully carry the wooden boxes from the ferry onto the boat, which caused the ship's planks to break while crossing the river, eventually causing the ship to sink."
"Where are those wooden boxes?" Yuan Hong turned his head and looked at Mr. Zhou.
"This..." Captain Zhou hesitated for a moment before saying, "It has been taken to the county government as evidence."
"Such a ferry can break the ship's planks, which shows that the wooden box is very heavy. The wooden box contains either armor or gold and silver. Do you think my guess is correct?" Yuan Hong stared at it with amusement. Zhou arrests the head.
Zhou Captou said with an embarrassed look on his face: "Once the wooden box was fished out of the river, it was sent to the county government. Even the little one didn't know exactly what was in it."
Yuan Hong's face sank and he said: "The things in the boxes are all physical evidence. I want to take them back to Beijing. You go back and tell your county boss to give him a day to return those boxes to me and restore them to their original state."
After saying that, he turned around and drove away from the ferry.
The other three Jinyi guards followed closely and left together.
Standing on the edge of the ferry, Zhou Captou sighed and said, "It seems that I can't keep the money I just got. These royal guards have darker hearts than the county master."
A policeman on the side whispered: "Boss, the money you just got is not warm yet! Are you going to give it back like this?"
Zhou Captou glanced at the policeman who was speaking and said, "Then what do you want to do? Do you still want to get away from these Jin Yiwei?"
"I don't dare." The agent who spoke shook his head vigorously.
Don't mess with Jin Yiwei unless he is tired of living.
