It took nearly half an hour to hear movement from the entrance of the cave. After a while, Erhu jumped out of the cave, followed closely by two of Ding Yan's men.
"Sir, the exit of the secret passage here is in an abandoned courtyard in the south of the city. The conditions inside are the same as the secret passage discovered in Zhang's house. There are also several forked passages in it. I am sure that this secret passage must be related to this abduction. related to the woman's case.
Ding Yan took the torch and stepped forward to look at the mud on the cave wall. He saw that the bottom of the cave entrance was covered with thick moss. It would not have taken several months to form such a secret passage. It is estimated that this secret passage had been in Dali Temple for several months. Years ago, no one from Dali Temple discovered it.
"Master Ding, I don't know if I should say something or not."
"Miss Su, please speak."
"There must be an insider in Dali Temple, and his position must be high, otherwise this secret passage cannot be hidden for so long."
Of course Ding Yan knew the truth, so he was even more angry. He had a feeling in his heart that the people behind this case seemed to be very familiar with the government's investigation methods, such as the secret passage entrance to Zhang's house. If it weren't for Su Yu and her Dog, no matter whether it was the Kyoto Prefecture, Dali Temple or the Ministry of Punishments, they could not find the entrance to the secret passage. It seemed to be to prevent them. It seemed that the person behind the scenes should have a high official position in the court.
"I hope Mr. Yu and Miss Su won't tell others about what I saw here."
"This is Mr. Ding's matter, so naturally we won't tell anyone."
"Thank you."
"Master Ding is busy here, so let's go to the Kyoto government office first."
After seeing the two of them off, Ding Yan's face had darkened when he turned back.
"From now on, you two will take turns guarding this place every day. I want to see who it is? Also, send two of you trustworthy people to take turns watching Lao Wang in the garden. He has been taking care of it for so many years. If the garden can’t find this secret passage, there must be something wrong with it.”
Once the entrance was covered, a few people actually discovered that the grass above grew slightly different from the surrounding ones.
"Yes, sir."
It's already afternoon, and it gets dark very early in winter. When Yu Zheng and Su Yu go to the Kyoto government office, Jiang Fu Yin is sitting boredly in the back hall. Twenty-nine is not needed today. He came on duty, but he thought about what happened yesterday. Even if the emperor didn't let him come, he didn't dare to go back. Although the case was handed over to Dali Temple yesterday, it was still unknown whether it would come to him in the future. .
"Sir, Master Yu and Miss Su are here."
"Please."
The emperor asked Yu Zheng and Su Yu to cooperate with Dali Temple to handle the case. Jiang Fuyin also heard a little bit about this matter. Although he did not understand what the emperor meant, in line with the official rule of preferring friendship to offending, Jiang Fuyin quickly asked someone to invite the two of them. Come in.
"Master Yu, Miss Su, why are you here?"
"Master Jiang, I and Miss Su are currently helping to investigate the case at Dali Temple. There are some places that I would like to come to the government office to investigate, and I hope that Master Jiang can make it easier."
Yu Zheng said as he handed over Ding Yan's handwriting. Jiang Fuyin opened it and saw that it was indeed the handwriting of the Minister of Dali Temple. He had nothing else to say. He had said good things and the procedures were complete, so he could only cooperate.
"What do you two want to check?"
"Master Jiang must have a file on the missing woman here. We want to check if there are many missing women cases connected together like this one before these women?"
It was Su Yu who asked the question, and Jiang Fuyin didn't feel helpless at all.
"This is easy to handle. I will take you to the office of the government office, but I also know a little about this matter."
Jiang Fuyin has been in this position for five years, and he still has some impressions of some things.
"It seems to have happened two years ago. Many people came to report that their daughter was missing. She was about fourteen to sixteen or seventeen years old. I sent my men to check, but they kept checking. If you don’t have a clue, the matter will be settled in the end.”
Jiang Fuyin said to the two of them while leading them towards the filing room.
"Your Excellency, you still remember how long it has been since anyone came to report the disappearance of the previous batch of women."
"I don't remember this clearly, but the missing persons in previous years have been recorded, and the dates are marked on them. Miss Su can take a look at them later."
Soon the three of them arrived at the file room of the Kyoto government office. There was a small room next to it. Old Liu, the gatekeeper, saw Mr. Fu Yin coming and quickly came out of the small room.
"grown ups."
"This is Old Liu, the guard of our government office. You can tell him what you are looking for and he will help you get it."
After Jiang Fuyin finished speaking to the two of them, he turned to Lao Liu.
"These two are adults from Dali Temple. You can do whatever they say."
"Yes, sir."
"Could you please help me find the files on the missing woman from the Kyoto government office two years ago?"
"Masters, please wait a moment. I'll go look for you now."
Jiang Fuyin did not leave at this time, but followed the two of them and sat in the small room next to them.
"Master Yu, I wonder if there is any progress in this case?"
This case was handed over to Dali Temple from Jiang Fuyin. It was not surprising to the two that he would be concerned about this case.
"We already have some clues, but Dali Temple is still investigating, so I can't tell you the specific details of the case."
Jiang Fuyin didn't ask any more questions after hearing this, he understood.
Without leaving the others waiting for too long, Old Liu Tou soon entered the room holding a thick stack of files.
"Sir, these are the files of missing women from the 10th year of Taiping to the 13th year of Taiping. There are 213 files in total."
Looking at the well-preserved files on the table in front of him, Su Yu raised his head and glanced at Old Liu. Although the old man looked unattractive, he was very attentive. The files from a few years ago were all well preserved.
"Then let's get started."
Su Yu took the top file and Yu Zheng took the bottom one. They opened it and checked it and put it aside. When Jiang Fuyin saw it, he didn't want to disturb him anymore. He gave Old Liu a few words and left.
There were more than 200 files. Su Yu and Yu Zheng each spent more than an hour reading more than 100 files. By the time they finished reading, it was already dark. Old Liu Tou was waiting respectfully, so that his lord could deliver it in person. Come on, the two of them must have a lot of background, and he must take good care of them.
After reading it, Su Yu went over what he had just seen in his mind and wrote a few lines on the paper. There was Old Liu Tou next to him, and this was not the place to talk. Su Yu signaled Yu Zheng to leave.
Old Liu Tou sent the two of them away respectfully, and then sorted out the files that the two of them had read before and put them back.
"I just read more than a hundred files. Did you find that the missing women all have one thing in common?"
"you say."
"Except for a few very old ones, most of them are between the ages of fourteen and seventeen. If I remember correctly, most of the missing women's families are not wealthy."
To put it bluntly, they can barely make a living. In that case, after someone loses their daughter and reports it to the government, the government officials cannot find them and they have to admit it. There is no other way to find someone else.
"I thought the same thing as you."
