The world is running as usual.

April 10, April 11...... On April 12, not long after entering the side courtyard of Yunzhong Mansion, Mandu Daru met Gao Servant Hu and his party who came out in a hurry. The two teams confronted each other slightly, and the tall servant who did not seem to have slept well bowed and retreated to the side of the road, and only after Mandu Daru and the others had passed, did the other party go towards the outside of the yamen, and there seemed to be a beard cake for breakfast in his sleeve.

"What's going on over there?"

went to the public house allocated to the patrols inside, and waved away some people, Mandu Daru spoke to a few henchmen around him: "It doesn't look good." ”

"I'm scolded, I haven't finished eating the cake in my sleeve, so I'm in a hurry to go out." The one who answered the call was Mandu Dalu's old comrade-in-arms when he was in the army, nicknamed "Old Knife", tall, pockmarked face, good at torture and observation, obviously, he also saw the clues in the sleeves of the tall servant tiger.

"In the past two days, I heard that there was almost a fight above, and the son who was lost, his father was not a fuel-efficient lamp, and he was running around. Last night, King Liang also took the opportunity to fight with the big handsome, and it is estimated that the prefect was also scolded here. The old man was scolded, can Gao Fuhu be better. ”

There were well-informed catchers around who talked about it, and some people said with a smile: "Fortunately, it's okay here." ”

There is a reason why there is nothing to do here, Wan Yan Xiyin greeted Yunzhong Mansion when he was promoted to Mandu Dalu, and his most important task at the moment is to arrest the Black Flag spy and ensure the progress of the May competition, so the matter of Xungui's disappearance will not fall here for a while.

Mandu Daru thought for a moment: "Hasn't there been any progress yet?" Did we find anything here? If it's a general ticket kidnapping, someone should ask for it now. ”

"The strange thing is that there is no requirement, in fact, according to the current situation in the clouds, who is really rich, who dares to touch the head at this time. I'm afraid that the water in the middle is deep, maybe it is possible for the people in the east to do it themselves. A big living person, strolling through an antique shop, followed by guards outside, suddenly disappeared. It's a ghostly thing everywhere......"

"If it's a black flag, it's possible to ......"

"Probably yes, but ...... Grab a few nobles and let the two sides quarrel a few more? At the risk of exposing yourself? How much ...... benefits can be?"

Everyone discussed, and Mandu Daru said: "It's hard to say now, continue to investigate." He can't catch people, and we do, which is also a good thing. ”

April 12 passed peacefully, followed by April 13. The things in the yamen are trivial and trivial, and the recourse for things like black flags and clowns has been continuing, and he knows that sooner or later there will be results, but for now he can only accumulate like this.

On the afternoon of the thirteenth day, he suddenly received a summons from the Ceres Mansion, and Mandu Daru hurried there, and Xi Yin met him in his study, and asked him a little about his work, and then moved on to another topic.

"Have you heard of Yan Linqi?"

"Humble Duty Knows ......"

"Do you think it's possible that Black Flag did it?"

"I feel humiliated...... There is indeed ...... Definitely possible...... In fact, he has been secretly pursuing clues about this matter in the past few days......" Mandu Daru replied cautiously.

Xi Yin nodded: "Check this matter more." Then he waved his hand, "You go back." ”

Mandu Daru understood, and after leaving, he mobilized his subordinates and began to investigate the case in the hands of Gao Fuhu with all his might. His investigation at this time was a little late, and most of the first-hand information was concentrated in the hands of Gao Fuhu, and he was not good at asking Gao Fuhu for it, but he just asked people to inquire secretly.

On the night of April 14, when the two groups met again on the road to the side courtyard of the Yamen, Gao Fuhu hesitated slightly, and then retreated to the side of the road and bowed his hand, this time with a much more crisp action. Mandu Daru walked over with his chin raised, and only when the figure of Gao Fuhu and his party disappeared at the end of the corridor did Mandu Daru, who had been moving forward, turn around and frown slightly.

"There's something wrong with Lao Gao." The old knife on the side also approached and whispered.

The two gangs have always had a grudge, two days in advance, Gao Fuhu ran to finish Yan Linqi's case, and was scolded by the prefect so that he didn't have time to eat breakfast, and after seeing Mandu Dalu, he reluctantly gave way. Although the light was dim tonight, the other party seemed to give way as he had done two days ago, but the complexion on his face was obviously a little different.

Solved the case so quickly?

But why not preach it?

Isn't the boss still arguing?

Mandu Daru was puzzled, and after a while, he arranged for manpower, on the one hand, he began to check on Gao Fuhu, and on the other hand, he began to go to Yan Linqi's father to observe and investigate, to see if the little nobleman who was tied up had come back.

On April 15, there was news feedback. Wan Yan Linqi did not come back, but in the prison in the north of the city where Gao Servant Tiger was currently located, additional guards had been dispatched, and it was likely that someone had been arrested.

The huge Yunzhong Mansion, the cell is not only one on the side of the government, the small prison in the north of the city, there have not been many people in the past, and later most of them acquiesced to being a stronghold and private prison used by the general arrest near the north gate. Mandu Daru hesitated for a moment, thinking of Xi Yin's meeting two days ago, and immediately ordered the men and horses to go towards the north gate.

Thick white clouds are rising in the sky of the city, and the sun is like a sharp sword, shining through the cracks in the clouds, and the streets are full of pedestrians. At this time, the knife that fell towards Xifu had already pierced into the heart of Yunzhong.

In the afternoon, when he arrived near the cell at the north gate of Yunzhong Mansion, Mandu Daru saw that several groups of private soldiers from the palace had surrounded the vicinity.

"Something's wrong...... there seemed to be countless ants crawling behind his head, and Mandu Daru instructed his subordinates, "Go and inform Ceres, something is going to happen......

*****************

After noon on April 15, Wan Yanchang arrived at the courtyard with the prison in the north of Yunzhong City, and after entering the slightly more spacious hall, he saw Zong Bi and the other two Jurchen princes, and then two more princes arrived here together.

"It's not good to set up a private court in a sticky place." He was so skeptical.

Zong Bi replied: "If you don't take a look at the big case in private, it won't be tried." ”

Wan Yan Chang arrived in the clouds on the eighth day of the first month, and on the ninth day of the first month, he knew about the kidnapping of Wan Yan Linqi, a junior, and since then, Zong Bi has continued to make trouble with this matter - this is not surprising, since he arrived in the clouds in March, between Zong Bi and Zong Han and others, there are tense confrontations and conflicts every day, this time after all, it is for the power of the West Mansion, and Wan Yan Chang does not reject such an inch of land to fight.

From the afternoon of the ninth to the fifteenth day of the first month, but in just six days, Zong Bi said that the case had been solved, and the whole thing would even play a decisive role in this East-West dispute.

The old file brought up by the official was about half a foot high, and at the top was a few newly left confessions, as well as some blood-stained knives, guns, tokens and other things as evidence, and I don't know where they were all obtained, and then they were brought with them four prisoners and the rescued Xiaoxungui Wanyan Linqi.

The interrogation began in front of the six Jurchen princes.

The whole thing is not complicated.

One of the four prisoners was a member of the Black Flag Army, together with a woman in the Ceres Mansion, kidnapped Wan Yan Linqi on the afternoon of the ninth day of the first month, and when the chief arrester Gao Fuhu found them, the woman in the Ceres Mansion took advantage of the chaos to escape, and the member of the Black Flag Army was arrested, and after being tortured for half a day, the member of the Black Flag Army confessed a series of shocking revelations:

For more than ten years, Chen Wenjun, the "Han Lady" in the Cereals Mansion, relied on her identity to convey important information to the south for a long time.

After the fall of the Central Plains, this "Han Lady" not only transmitted countless important information to the south, but also directly or indirectly helped a large number of anti-Jin righteous soldiers and Black Flag members to get out of danger in the Jin country. It was the important news she conveyed that clarified the reality of the Jurchen's Fourth Southern Expedition for the Black Flag Army in the south. The confession said that if it were not for the assistance of these news, it would probably be several times more difficult for the Huaxia Army to win the Southwest War.

According to the Black Flag member's confession, Gao Fuhu then came up with a large amount of evidence he had kept about the transmission of messages, arranging the escape of Hannu or captives. Later, three underworld figures who had been involved in the crime who had no time to escape were arrested, which further proved the authenticity of all this information. There are even some clues that vaguely point to Wanyan Xiyin, the god of Ceres, who has always been interested in Sinology......

Wan Yanchang and the rest of the people flipped through these confessions and evidence, and the clues were pieced together in the words and words. After a long time, Wan Yanchang put down the file, slapped his palm on the table, and stood up.

"It's such a coincidence, and after being arrested, the evidence is ready one by one. In these confessions, none of the important figures of the Black Flag and the Wu Dynasty were missing, and these three thugs were left to corroborate these things...... What kind of idea are you playing! ”

He approached the black flag member of the four prisoners, who was kneeling on the ground, half covered in blood and emaciated, his hands hanging on the ground, and when he got closer, he could see that the nails of his ten fingers were gone, and the flesh and blood were blurred. Wan Yanchang raised his foot and stepped on his right hand, and the man screamed, fell to the ground convulsing and wailing, and the blood and saliva in his mouth were flowing out.

"Ahh......h

The sound of wailing echoed throughout the room.

The prisoner of the black flag did not answer, but Wanyan Zongbi in the rear stood up: "-Uncle, is this important?" ”

Wan Yanchang looked back at Zong Bi, and then at the eyes of the other four, and after a while, he also sighed slightly.

“…… It doesn't matter anymore. ”

He let go of his feet and walked outside, where there were white clouds in the sky. The Black Flag captive on the ground was lying in a pool of blood, and his right hand, which had had all its nails removed, began to bleed again, and he just lay down, staring out, and screaming a few more times in his mouth, bleeding and saliva. The three prisoners next to him were all well-known bandits in the clouds, and their eyes hated him, but looking at him twitching on the ground, no one dared to really approach him.

"Ah......hh Hey, hey, hey......"

He seemed to have lost his normality, and after the pain, he laughed a few creepy times.

*****************

Mandu Daru didn't know exactly what was happening, and he spent the whole afternoon and evening running around.

After discovering that the guards outside the prison were unusual, he knew that the matter was out of his control, and hurriedly instructed someone to inform Ceres. However, the people sent over came to report soon after, and the god of Ceres was not in the mansion, and even in the mansion, there were many officials who visited every day, and some small catchers could not cut the queue to report the matter at all.

In the evening, he recognized Zong Bi's figure in the crowd that came out over there, and quickly turned his head and walked towards the Ceres Mansion in person. As the night wore on, he waited here until he was close to Zi before Hee-Yin's car appeared on the road outside. Mandu Daru didn't care about etiquette at this time, and rushed directly to the car and asked for a meeting loudly.

The convoy stopped, and Wanyan Xiyin lifted the curtain over there and asked Mandu Daru to come and speak, and Mandu Daru reported to him what he had seen in the afternoon. The old man in the carriage had a serious and indifferent expression, and it was only after Mandu Daru finished speaking that he looked at him slowly and with a somewhat complicated expression for a moment.

"I see." He said, "Go back." ”

“……”

Mandu Daru was slightly stunned, but then the car set off, and he saluted and retreated.

It was late at night, and Mandu Daru returned to the government office with questions and met with two companions who had not yet dispersed. One of them told him that in the afternoon a relative of his family had come and asked him to go to his cousin's house immediately, as if something had happened to him. Mandu Daru was still in the mood to pay attention to his distant relatives at this time, waved his hand to put the matter behind, and then gritted his teeth and took out the night clothes he had used before from the yamen.

The group of three drove to the north of the city again, changed their clothes near the prison, and climbed into it through the side of the courtyard wall. The three of them used to be scouts in the army, and now they are public people, and they are familiar with infiltrating along the way. When they arrived in the prison, they knocked out the two people who were guarding them at night, and then went to the innermost part of the prison where the prisoners had been basically emptied.

The innermost cell was also the most important, and as they probed down the corridor, there were still lights inside, and the two jailers moved a table and sat there eating and chatting, and Mandu Daru quickly charged forward, knocking one of them unconscious before he could react, while pointing his blade at the other's neck.

The comrade-in-arms Lao Dao also came over and restrained the jailer.

It was only then that Mandu Daru had time to look around at the surrounding cells. There were four prisoners in the innermost section, all of whom were guarded separately, and he even knew one of the prisoners in the cell on the left who had been tortured by forced confessions. Frowning at the moment, he searched for the key and approached the past.

"Mountain dog, what's going on? How did you get in? ”

The man, nicknamed the Mountain Dog, was an intelligence dealer in the past, and the two even had some personal relationships. At this time, although Mandu Daru was still wearing a mask, the other party listened to the voice, looked carefully, and rushed towards this side, and was about to grab Du Daru's clothes through the railing of the cell, his voice was hoarse and hurried.

"Something's going to happen, it's going to be an accident, all of us are in the shadows, the brute of the black flag ......"

"Black Flag's what?" Mandu Daru grabbed his opponent's hand with a backhand.

The mountain dog pointed to the innermost cell, where the half-bloodied prisoner was different from the other three, and he had no curiosity about the sight of someone rushing in, but sat quietly on the straw, leaning against the wall behind him, staring at a small window in the inner wall, watching the starlight seeping in from there.

He still seemed to be humming softly.

"That guy is a Black Flag ...... Hit the mark...... The East and West are going to fight, and they can't wait for the competition......"

"What nonsense are you talking about, how can you fight."

"He took Mrs. Han out, the evidence is conclusive, he can't run away, and Ceres' god can't run away...... He took Mrs. Han out......"

Mandu Daru listened to the other party's voice, and suddenly there seemed to be a little quiet around him, and the words "He took Mrs. Han out" echoed in his mind, and it was precipitating towards reality, and something was churning in his stomach, as if he was going to vomit out. He remembered the look in Yan Xiyin's eyes on the street not long ago, and then he let go of the hand of the "mountain dog", walked quickly to the cell over there, took out the key, and was about to open the room where the black flag prisoner was, he was going to kill the other party with a knife!

The lock was opened, and there was a soft, "click" sound, and he heard something humming from the young man in the cell, followed by another sound from behind.

"—it's useless to kill him, my lord."

On the other side of the cell, people came one after another, led by Gao Servant Hu, one or two with crossbows in their hands. Mandu Daru took two steps and pointed his long knife at the captive's head, and he heard what seemed to be a hum in his throat......

“…… Shore lived. ”

Turning his head, Gao Fuhu stretched out his hands and walked over: "I have already passed the scene in front of the six princes!" The evidence is as high as a mountain! Come, my lord, you are the inspector of the capital personally promoted by Lord Ceres, and now you will kill him with a knife and kill the witnesses for Lord Ceres! ”

Mandu Daru hesitated for a moment, the two comrades-in-arms outside had already made a defensive gesture, and Gao Fuhu didn't care, and walked straight into the cell.

Mandu Daru held his sword against the black flag captive, and his eyes were fixed on Gao Servant Tiger: "This beast is really ...... Biting Ceres? ”

Gao Fuhu smiled: "If it weren't for him, we really wouldn't know, it turned out that it was because of the god of grains that our Western Route Army lost so much news, and so many people died in the southwest." ”

"Do you know that without Ceres, I have a golden ......"

Mandu Daru gritted his teeth and paused word by word, but before he finished speaking, the black flag captive who was held against him with a knife seemed to slowly raise his head, and a hoarse voice came out of his mouth: "Mandu, Du, Da, Lu? ”

Mandu Daru turned his head to look at him, the face of the prisoner of the Chinese army sitting on the ground was blue and purple, the flesh and blood on his hands were blurred, his clothes seemed to have been tortured, and between the messy hair, only the tired eyes could reflect some light. He looked at him quietly, and then said hoarsely, "You killed Lu Mingfang, right?" ”

“…… It's Lao Tzu, how's that? ”

"I've been wondering how I can get revenge on you." The words of the captives of the Huaxia Army were flat and straightforward, and here he turned his head away, and continued to look at the starlight through the small window above, "Later, I investigated, you have a son......"

"Son......" Mandu Daru frowned, and the high servant Hu on the side heard the captive's voice at the moment, and seemed to be slightly surprised, looking at the other party, and then at Mandu Daru: "He doesn't have a son......"

"Retired from the army, became a head catcher, for the sake of merit and advancement, offended many people, did not dare to have children, in fact, gave birth to a sent to your distant cousin to raise, said that it was the widow of a comrade-in-arms, you rarely go to see it, now eleven years old, looks a little like you......"

His eyes looked at Mandu Daru again: "You are busy with work, let's see him more after you go out, I have arranged it for you, the matter of Lu Mingfang, we have cleared ...... two"

Such calm words made Mandu Daru and Gao Servant Tiger slightly stunned, and Mandu Daru suddenly remembered what his companion in the yamen had told him about his distant cousin coming over in the middle of the night...... I heard the sound of laughter faintly.

"Hey, hey, hey...... Hey, hey......, hey, he......y, he You see, you look at his eyes, hahahahahahahaha......ha Daru, hahahaha...... Look at him, everyone, is he going to cry......"

The "Xiao Gao" in his mouth is naturally Gao Fuhu, at this time, he seems to be a child who has found an interesting toy, and he can't help but reach out to grab Gao Fuhu's trouser leg regardless of whether the tip of the knife is against his head. Mandu Daru's hand trembled, and Gao Fuhu pounced on him, snatched the knife from his hand, and the two fought several times in the cell, and the prisoner of the Huaxia army did not care about the sword and sword, and still sat on the ground and laughed.

"Hahahaha, Mandu Daru, your son's eyes look like yours...... Kill him, kill him, go out and see your son, I don't know if he still has eyes when it's late, hahahahahahahaha, you guys fight it-"

Gao Fuhu snatched Mandu Daru's knife and kicked the Huaxia captive with a strange laugh into the corner. His body curled up in a ball, as if he were whirring on the ground, and humming an eerie melody in his laughter.

"Hey, hey, a big river...... Wavy wide ...... Mandu Daru ...... Ahem, I can't get ashore, he...... A big river......"

This may be the last thing that makes him happy. Starlight shone in through the tiny window, and the lights flickered in the cell, casting the figures of the crowd on the gloomy walls, and the tall servant tiger was stunned for a moment in such an eerie atmosphere, but after all, he was still in the way between the prisoner and Mandu Daru. Mandu Daru seemed to be frozen for a while, and then he slowly removed the black mask from his face, his gaze swept over everyone, and walked straight out of the cell.

They infiltrated in private, and the group of hunters were originally going to catch them, but at this moment, everyone knew about Mandu Daru's son, and they couldn't help but look at each other, and Gao Fuhu was embarrassed for a while, and finally waved his hand to get out of the way. When Mandu Daru's figure was far away, he waved his hand and said in a low voice: "The festival mourns and changes......

"Hahahahahaha-" beside him, the crazy laughter burst out: "Festival mourning, hahahahaha, Xiao Gao, you are too good at talking hahahahahaha, festival mourning is changing hahahahaha, you see I like you-don't fight...... cough cough cough cough ......"

The unbridled laughter reached Mandu Daru's ears far away, and the veins on his forehead burst out, and he was about to use his sword to kill him desperately, but at last he gave up. He hurried out of the cell and headed for his cousin's house......