Detective in the Red Chamber

"Sun Qianhu."

Lu Yuan scratched his head and said, "If he really committed suicide, where did those two guns go? Could it be that they grew legs and flew away?!"

"Is this..."

Just as Sun Shaozong was about to explain, Jia Shanyao approached cautiously, and said in a friendly voice, "My lord, I am humble and incompetent, and I really didn't find anything strange."

Didn't find anything strange?

Sun Shaozong was taken aback for a moment, then muttered to himself, "That's right, since this is a military factory, it shouldn't be too difficult to get a few tools that are easy to disassemble."

As he said that, he waved his hand from Jia Shanyao, and said, "Forget it, I was the one who didn't think well just now, let brother go out first."

Jia Shanyao was a little baffled, but he still obeyed the order and coaxed out all the dragon guards who had been transferred in.

After the warehouse was quiet, Sun Shaozong led everyone to the middle of the gun racks on the south side, pointed to some of the gun racks and said, "Take off the muskets and bayonets on them, and take a closer look at these racks. What's the difference between other shelves."

Jia Shanyao and Lu Yuan immediately stepped forward and swiftly took the musket off the shelf.

Jia Shanyao didn't feel anything was wrong, but Lu Yuan only picked up a musket, and then he said 'huh', and frowned, "Why are you so loose?"

"What's loose?"

Jia Shanyao was holding a musket suspiciously, looked it over and over several times, but didn't find anything loose.

"I said shelf!"

As Lu Yuan said, he stretched out his hand to grab the empty gun rack, and shook it vigorously, and saw the rack shake slightly.

"what?!"

Zhu Shan immediately realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly stepped forward to fiddle with another shelf, and then said firmly, "These shelves should have been reassembled and disassembled by someone, and it was done by a novice!"

"That's right!"

Lu Yuan nodded and said, "This gun frame has just been made, and it is absolutely impossible to be so loose - you must know that our Gunpowder Bureau is the military inspection department, and the requirements for craftsmanship are the strictest!"

But then he became puzzled again, wondering, "Who is this full of food, why dismantle this stuff if you have nothing to do?"

"Of course it's to create a blindfold!"

As Sun Shaozong said, he stepped forward and pointed to an inconspicuous mark on the table, and said, "Look carefully, there are seven or eight places on the table, which is exactly the same as the number of loose shelves. Almost the same."

The three hurriedly went up to search, and sure enough, they found many traces of scratches.

"It's glue! It should have been glued to the table with something like fish maw glue!"

After all, Zhu Shan had been a supervisor for several years, and he soon determined the origin of these traces.

"That's right!"

Sun Shaozong continued, "However, one of the shelves was not glued to it, but was hidden by Du Ning—until last night, it was wedged back on the table together with the other shelves!"

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and pointed to the gun rack opposite, and said, "On the other side, there are similar traces."

"So those two guns didn't disappear out of thin air last night, but were stolen long before last night!"

Chapter 323

This kind of blindfold method of expanding the distance to cover up the lack of individuals, although it seems worthless when put it bluntly, is still very deceptive in practical application.

Especially on this day, the Tianzihao warehouse was not well lit, and unless repeated inventory was carried out, it would be perfectly normal to be deceived in the past—it is actually a bit far-fetched to blame Luo Jing for "falsely responding to an errand".

only……

Who made him a member of Nanzhen Fusi's hundred households, and why did he worship Eunuch Xia as his godfather?

Sun Shaozong actually received Eunuch Dai's errand, if not this Luo Jing, who else could he use?

And now Zhu Shan only wanted to protect himself, so naturally he didn't intend to speak for Luo Jing.

After Lu Yuan said a few words, he cautiously inquired again, "According to the clues Sun Qianhu found, Du Ning was related to this gun theft case, so there should be no mistake—but the two guns are still there." How did it get out?"

"Yup!"

When Lu Yuan heard this, he hurriedly said, "There is a team of 12 officers and soldiers guarding the gate all the year round. If there is a problem with one or two of them, it may still be possible, but so many people will not be all his accomplices, right?!"

"That's exactly why he's going to play tricks!"

As Sun Shaozong said, he led everyone to the corpse, pointed to the calluses and blisters on Du Ning's hands, and said, "This mark was obviously worn out recently, but just moving a few wooden frames should not cause blisters on one's hands." Bar?"

Lu Yuan looked closely for a while, and said uncertainly, "This looks like the traces left by those new apprentices when they first started learning the craft."

"It's definitely not heavy work like swinging a sledgehammer!"

Zhu Shan added on the side, "If that's the case, there should be more calluses on the fingers, it's more like grinding and cutting cast iron parts..."

In the middle of the speech, Zhu Shan suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and blurted out excitedly, "I see, he used the effort of checking the library every day to dismantle the gun into parts and ship it out-it probably took a lot of time for this guy." For several days, no wonder you have to use blindfolds!"

"That's right!"

Sun Shaozong nodded and said, "I just discovered that those wooden frames that have been tampered with were re-fixed with some fresh sawdust, and the material of these sawdust is very similar to that of the gun stock."

As he spoke, he pointed to the transom and said, "In addition, there are traces of being rubbed by hard objects on the iron grille of the transom."

"If my prediction is correct, the disassembled parts should be thrown out through the gap of the transom first, and then Dunin's accomplices in the guards wait for an opportunity to transport them away!"

"In this way, you can avoid the risk of being seen by others as something strange during the body search."

At this time, naturally no one would doubt Sun Shaozong's reasoning ability, so Lu Yuan and Jia Shanyao both cheered up and pleaded with one voice to interrogate the officers and soldiers in charge of guarding the warehouse.

But Zhu Shan's face seemed a little cloudy and uncertain.

Sun Shaozong's heart sank, and he immediately asked, "What did Lord Zhu think of?"

"This……"

Zhu Shan swallowed hard, and said with a mournful face, "The afternoon before yesterday, Zhu Ning had submitted an official document to the Military Arms Supervision."

"what?!"

Everyone was shocked. If Du Ning took the opportunity of presenting the official document, he had already sent the gun out of the Gunpowder Bureau, and it would be very difficult to find it back!

Sun Shaozong said decisively, "Zhu Jianzheng, please immediately find out the officials and attendants who went out with Du Ning yesterday; Jia Shanyao, accompany Mr. Lu to interrogate the officers and soldiers guarding here, and find out where the parts were transported as soon as possible! "

His reaction was not unpleasant, but...

Two quarters of an hour later, according to Du Ning's officials and servants, after submitting the official documents, Du Ning acted alone for a while, and did not meet with the team again outside the south gate until evening.

As for where he has been during this period, he has no clue for the time being.

Half an hour later, according to the confession of the fellow guards, those parts were smuggled out five times, and all of them had been returned to Du Ning.

As for who Duning intends to hand over these parts to, it is temporarily unknown.

The only one who can give the answer may be Du Ning himself—and this is probably the biggest reason why he wants to commit suicide!

"My lord, what should we do now?"

After getting two bad news in a row, Jia Shanyao was like an eggplant beaten by frost, and he didn't see the happy spring breeze when he left the city.

"Go back to Beijing!"

Sun Shaozong said decisively, "Bring all the criminals and witnesses, and return to Beijing to continue the investigation!"

However, no matter how decisive he appeared on the surface, he was actually in a state of panic in his heart. If the two guns were still inside the city, it would be fine, but if they were already outside the boundaries of the capital...

Then it's really no different from 'finding a needle in a haystack'!

Following Sun Shaozong's order, more than 200 dragon guards were divided into half, and gathered outside the gate of the Gunpowder Bureau, preparing to follow Sun Shaozong back to Beijing.

As for the remaining half, under the command of Yang Licai, he temporarily took over Nanzhen Fusi and Shenjiying, and supported the internal and external defense of the Gunpowder Bureau—the big bosses at the top talked about face, but they actually cared most about it. Still lining!

If such a mobilizing teacher does not reap enough benefits, how can Eunuch Dai be satisfied in his heart even if he doesn't say anything?

It's just that although the fat of the Gunpowder Bureau has been brought to his mouth, if he can't find the two muskets, he may not be able to swallow it.

Seeing that the group of people and horses were all ready, Sun Shaozong got on his horse and was waiting for the order to set off, when suddenly several horsemen galloped up, all dressed as dragon guards on the left and right, the leader among them was a young eunuch.

And this little eunuch, Sun Shaozong looked familiar, as if he had seen Dai Quan several times before.

So Sun Shaozong hurriedly raised his voice and asked, "My father-in-law is here, dare to ask, but what instructions does Commander Dai have?"

The eunuch also obviously recognized Sun Shaozong, and while still urging the horse forward, he shouted at the top of his voice, "His Majesty ordered Sun Qianhu to take down Du Ning, the deputy supervisor of the Gunpowder Bureau immediately, without any delay!"

Sun Shaozong was taken aback when he heard the words, turned his head to look at the tied corpses on the bus, then slammed off his horse, went up to help the little eunuch rein in, and asked, "Did your majesty already know about this oral order? Is he the mastermind of the gun theft?"

The little lady was stunned when she listened, and then she smiled and said, "It turns out that my lord has found out the truth, and he really deserves the name of 'Divine Judgment'—but I don't know where Du Ning is now?"

"Here, that's the corpse lying on the car."

Sun Shaozong pointed casually, seeing the young eunuch's complexion suddenly changed, he hurriedly explained, "Last night he committed suicide in order to cover up the truth—Elder-in-law, how did Your Majesty know that he is the culprit in this case? "

These few words are not very easy to understand.

So the little eunuch was stunned for a long time, until Sun Shaozong asked him for the third time, then he stood on tiptoe and whispered in Sun Shaozong's ear, "Actually..."

After hearing this, Sun Shaozong was speechless for a while, then looked back at Du Ning's corpse, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly, this is really how clever the mechanism is, but in the end it only missed Qingqing's life!

To be honest, this Du Ning is indeed a remnant party, but it is not the remnant party of Prince Yizhong, but the remnant party of Goryeo!

Back then, Koryo and the Great Zhou were at war, and many spies who were proficient in the culture of the Han family were selected to sneak into the hinterland of the Great Zhou secretly, waiting for an opportunity to spy on information.

Later, when the Goryeo Kingdom was destroyed, these spies became rootless, and most of them gradually forgot their original mission and regarded themselves as ordinary people of Dazhou.

But there are also some people among them who have extended their loyalty to Korea to North Korea—Du Ning is one of them.

Last month, he happened to hear that the North Korean mission had arrived in the capital, and there were gossips. He heard that the North Korean country seemed to have a heart of disobedience, and Du Ning's "heart to serve the country" suddenly ignited.

So he secretly bought a guard who owed a large amount of gambling debts, smuggled out the two muskets, and took the opportunity of presenting official documents to quietly send them to the North Korean mission.

He even directed a suicide farce to make sure the matter wouldn't leak out!

however……

This Du Ning risked his life to reject the military weapon that he stole, but was handed over to the court by the North Korean ambassador in a blink of an eye!

Chapter 324 Medicated Bath

Stepping out of the palace in the afterglow of the setting sun, Sun Shaozong still had mixed feelings in his heart when he thought of the face of the North Korean envoy.

As a North Korean envoy, is it wrong to refuse to collude with the remnants of the previous dynasty?

As a tribute envoy of a foreign country, is it wrong to take the initiative to avoid fighting with the father of the suzerain country?

As for Du Ning's life and death...

Even if hundreds of remnants of the previous dynasty died, what does it have to do with him, the North Korean envoy? !

And what about the 'new musket'? Isn't it something that only useless people who can't draw a hard bow will use?Is it really worth it to exchange this thing for the favor of the suzerain country? !

Therefore, in the view of Li Enxian, the North Korean envoy, not only did he not do anything wrong, but he also made great contributions!

Especially after Guangde Emperor Longyan Dayue bestowed financial rewards, as well as a considerable number of bows and crossbow weapons, and allowed North Korea to continue to pay tribute by sea, Li Enxian felt that his trip had come to an end.

At that time, Sun Shaozong stood by, watching him so excited that he burst into tears and uttered incoherently, almost shouting "it is the greatest honor to be the dog of Da Zhou", and he really didn't know how to complain.

However, Li Enxian's short-sightedness cannot be blamed for this. After all, muskets in the early fifteenth century were weapons that were discriminated against. I am afraid that even Emperor Guangde may not know what kind of results those new muskets will bloom once they are deployed on a large scale. spark!

Among the people present, Sun Shaozong was probably the only one who knew what Li Enxian had missed.

And this kind of feeling that has witnessed history, but can't reveal it to others...

It's really frustrating!

Forget it~

It's not my turn to worry about the country's major affairs right now, so let's go home and see my son first, it's strange that I haven't seen him in the past few days.

Thinking in this way, Sun Shaozong untied the rein and was about to get on his horse, but suddenly he heard someone shout from the side, "Master Sun, have you finished your official duties?"

Sun Shaozong followed the prestige, but saw two servants from the Rongguo Mansion approaching with smiles on their faces.

"What are you doing here?"

Sun Shaozong wondered, "How is the condition of your second master Jiabao and second grandmother Lian? Has it ever improved?"

"This one……"

The leading servant laughed and said, "Originally, it was agreed that the exorcism would start at noon, but the masters made a lot of noise and couldn't prepare well, so they had to push the time until midnight."

Another domestic servant interjected, "Our second master was thinking, after all, the others still lacked some supernatural powers, so he specially sent us here to see if Mr. Sun can...hehe."

rely on ~