"Sir, another corpse was found on East Street. Like the corpses found before, it had its throat cut." A police officer came to the head of the Criminal Department to report.
People died every day in the capital, some from starvation and some from illness. In winter, it was normal for more than a dozen corpses to appear in one night.
Usually, when a corpse is found on the street, there will be a special person to deal with it, and it is usually sent to a hastily buried outside the city.
However, many of these corpses were accidental deaths, and they were all dressed like beggars on the street who had no money to eat. No one would care about such people even if they died.
However, several corpses with wounds were found on the street, and it was obvious at a glance that they had been murdered. Such corpses needed to be handed over to the Wucheng Soldiers and Horses Division, who would then hand them over to the Ministry of Punishment.
The head of the Criminal Department frowned when he heard that another person had been killed.
Five corpses have been discovered in the past few days alone, and the case has not been solved so far. Not even a single clue has been found, not even the victim.
For this reason, he was reprimanded by his superior when he was on duty yesterday.
"Has the master of suffering been found?" asked the head of the Criminal Department.
The officer shook his head and then said: "The identity of the deceased has been determined. He is a coolie working for a horse and carriage company. He has no father or mother at home, no wife or children, and even his residence is someone else's yard."
"Another unsolved case." The face of the head of the Criminal Department turned ugly.
There is no perpetrator, and there is no direction to investigate the case. Even if you guess that such a case is probably caused by a vendetta, if you want to find the murderer, you will undoubtedly find a needle in a haystack.
"The body has been brought back to the Yamen. Sir, do you want to take a look?" The officer saw that the face of the chief in front of him was full of displeasure, and he became cautious when speaking.
The head of the Criminal Department said with an irritated look: "Let the policeman do the autopsy as soon as possible and send the results over after the work is done. I won't be able to pass."
Normally, such a murder case might not happen once every ten days and a half. Now, for three consecutive days, six murdered bodies have been found.
"Young man, I'll take my leave first." The officer bowed and saluted.
The head of the Criminal Department waved his hand impatiently.
There have been so many cases in the area under his jurisdiction. For him, if he cannot find the murderer, this year's assessment will only be lower. Not to mention promotion, it will be difficult to even keep his current job.
"Come here!" the head of the Criminal Department shouted outside.
A servant with a knife came in, bowed and said, "What are your orders, sir?"
"Call all the officers in the Yamen who have nothing to do and follow me to East Street. I will go door to door to check. I don't believe that the murderer can be found." The head of the Criminal Department became cruel.
The officer went outside to deliver the order.
After a short time, dozens of officers came out of the Yamen and walked towards East Street in a mighty manner.
Several poor people died in the capital, but no one took it seriously to the high officials and nobles in the capital. Even in the homes of some nobles, several servants or servants died every year due to various reasons. It's a maid.
A murder case like this would not alarm the adults in the court at all. Even the Ministry of Punishment itself would only ask a few questions and urge the officials below to solve the case quickly, that's all.
"Excuse me, fella, I'm looking for your shopkeeper Luo." Outside a cloth shop, a coolie in shorts was talking to the shop assistant with a smile.
The waiter looked the coolie up and down, stood on the steps and said condescendingly: "Go, go, go, you are a poor coolie and you want to see our shopkeeper, go and do what you have to do!"
When the coolie said his clothes were dirty, the waiter didn't think that such a person would know their shopkeeper, so he immediately kicked him out.
The coolie's eyes turned slightly cold, and the smile on his face remained unchanged as he said: "I really know your shopkeeper. If you don't believe me, just call shopkeeper Luo. If a man named Xu comes to see him, he will definitely come out to see me."
"Do you really know our shopkeeper?" The clerk said hesitantly when the coolie in front of him said so surely.
The coolie nodded and said, "I really know Shopkeeper Luo. I talked to Shopkeeper Luo not long ago."
"Okay, you wait here, I'll go find our shopkeeper." The boy finally decided to call his shopkeeper on behalf of the coolie in front of him.
"Thank you." The coolie bowed his hand to the man.
When the clerk returned to the cloth shop, the coolie took two steps forward, came to the base of the wall, squatted down against the base of the wall, and looked around.
Not long after, the clerk came out of the cloth shop and said to the coolie squatting at the wall: "I didn't expect you really know our shopkeeper. Come in, our shopkeeper has agreed to meet you."
The coolie hurriedly stood up from the ground, patted the dirt on his body, and followed the clerk into the cloth shop.
The cloth shop is divided into two courtyards, front and back.
In the front is the cloth shop, and in the back is the cloth shop's warehouse and residence.
The boy led the coolie into the backyard and went straight to the main house opposite the cloth shop.
"Shopkeeper, I've brought it here." The waiter said respectfully to the shopkeeper sitting in the room.
Shopkeeper Luo glanced at the coolie next to the clerk and said, "Okay, you go back to work!"
The man bowed and left.
"It's better here, there are people to serve you, and there are delicious food and drinks." The coolie took two steps forward, sat down on the seat next to him, reached out and grabbed a snack on the table and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Why are you here?" Luo Zhongwang looked at the coolie in front of him, his face a little ugly.
The visitors were just like him, they were all spies arranged by Li Yongfang to the capital. In private, they had never contacted each other. Even if they all knew each other, they would often pretend not to know each other.
The last time the other party stopped him was the only time the two of them stayed alone for such a long time.
Xu Jinshui grabbed the teapot, put it to his mouth, and poured the water from the spout into his mouth. He didn't stop until all the snacks in his mouth were swallowed.
Putting down the teapot, he said: "The opportunity has come, it's time for us to take action."
"What do you mean?" Luo Zhongwang raised his eyebrows.
Xu Jinshui said: "You don't know about people being killed on East Street these days, do you? That shouldn't be the case. You're open for business and you haven't heard of it?"
"What's new about the fact that no one will die in the capital one day?" Luo Zhongwang said disapprovingly.
After hearing this, Xu Jinshui looked at Luo Zhongwang and said, "It seems that you have had too many good times and have no vigilance anymore. Do you know who those people have been killed in the past few days?" ?”
"Who?" Luo Zhongwang asked deliberately.
Xu Jinshui said: "They are all from Liaodong. Who do you think they are?"
"You mean they are too..." Midway through his words, Luo Zhongwang hurriedly stopped and his expression suddenly changed.
Xu Jinshui picked up a piece of snacks on the table, took a bite, and sprayed the snack dregs in his mouth and said: "Those people who were killed were all coolies working in the East Street. I went to see them specially, and they were all from Liaodong."
