The bear child of the Red Chamber, Jia Cong

From the third day after Jarvis led the troops to Zhangzhou, the soldiers were granted holidays in rotation.Go shopping in the market, watch the bustle, do some work for the people in the market, and talk about elegance with the literati.When you come across someone who is inquiring about the government of Taiwan, just tell them: there is a lot of wasteland, and there is only a shortage of people.If some people say that they don't know how to farm the land, the soldiers will tell them that there are still many workshops that lack people to work.Besides, if you don't know how to farm, you can learn, and someone can teach you.Although Tan Mo knew that they sincerely wanted to lure the people under his rule to cross the sea, on the one hand, he had no way to deal with them, and on the other hand, he also wanted to flatter them, so he ignored them.

That night, Tan Mo ate wine with a few of his staff and Qing Ke, and they sang a little song to the starry sky, and everyone cheered in unison.After a while, he became anxious and called a singer to help him go to the toilet.Someone in the room heard the diva shouting and a plop, but there was no other sound. They thought she had offended Tan Mo and was kicked by the master.It is common for Tan Mo to kick and beat singers and dancers, and it is not surprising that they are knocked out and killed, so no one cares.

After a long time, the kitchen refiller came over with a food box. Seeing a figure on the ground, he said, "But which gentleman is drunk?" Shouting, "Someone is coming—the master has been assassinated—" everyone in the room rushed out in shock.

Mr. Li was the first to run over, grabbed the lantern and looked at it, and said, "Master has returned to the west."Mr. Li simply took out the candles in the lantern and took a close look at him for a while, and said, "One move to seal the throat, very neat, he is a practicing family." Then he asked about the singer just now.

Only then did everyone think of her, and they found her after searching around.Several people rushed forward to carry the diva into the room and shook her awake. It took her a long time to recover.Ask her again.It turned out that she helped Tan Mo out of the house and just made a detour when she suddenly saw a black shadow on the tree, so she looked up.The black shadow suddenly jumped down and kicked her away.She just yelled and passed out, and she didn't know what happened next.

A clearer shouted: "Hurry up and search the whole house!"

Mr. Li waved his hand and said: "After such a long time, the assassin must have left early." Nai ordered Dong Ming, an old official in the punishment room, to come quickly.

Invite Dong Ming to come for a while, and check at night by candlelight.Immediately, he found a piece of paper under Tan Mo's sleeve, with a strange figure drawn on it.He didn't see what it was, so he rolled up his sleeves.Looking around again, he said: "The assassin uses a sword, and the sword is extremely sharp, so it must be a sword. There is a strand of black silk hooked on the tree branch, probably wearing night clothes. The silk is silk, which shows that the assassin is rich. " Walked around again, pointing to the first footprints under three or four trees and said, "The assassin's height is at least eight feet." Then he ordered someone to fetch a ladder, and he wanted to go up to the roof to have a look.

There are several strings of footprints on the roof, all left by the same pair of shoes.Dong Ming got off the roof and said to everyone: "The assassin stepped on it three times." He also ordered his dog to be brought.The dog ran barking along the footprints under the tree until it reached the base of the west wall of the Tan Mansion.Dong Ming said: "The assassin took the fastest route, and he didn't make any detours. It can be seen that he knows where the master held a banquet today."

He led the dog out of the wall to look for it again.After a while, the dog found the scent and ran away.After running for half a day, he finally barked at a yard.The servants of the Tan family who came after them changed their faces, and two of them "thumped" and fell to the ground, muttering: "Could it be a ghost?"

There is no one in this family anymore.The old woman in their family is a good tailor. She made clothes for one of Tan Mo's aunts last year.Because the old man fell ill, he asked his daughter to come to Tan's house to deliver goods, but happened to bump into Tan Mo.The girl was only 14 years old, and she was not born well. Somehow, Tan Mo took a liking to her, so she left the girl behind.A girl from a small family is spoiled and spoiled, how can she resist Tan Mo, who is like a tiger and wolf?However, he fell ill within half a month.The old couple heard that their daughter was detained by him and forced to be his aunt, but refused to agree, and came to the house every day to make trouble.Tan Mo is just new for a while, so why put that girl in his eyes?Hearing the distress of the old couple crying once, he ordered the girl to be strangled to death and returned the body to them.After the old couple buried their daughters, they both hanged themselves from the beams, and the neighbors helped them bury them.

Dong Ming also knew about this family, and as a subordinate official, there was nothing he could do.Nai ordered people to break down the door.The door was unlocked, and it opened with a push—everyone was shocked!There was candlelight in the house.After the old couple died, someone on the street spread the word that they saw the old woman open the door when they passed by the door of this house in the middle of the night.This place became a haunted house, and several neighbors moved.Some people who followed were scared to run away.Dong Ming is not afraid of ghosts and gods, and walks ahead with the dog.But I saw that the main room was clean, it was obvious that someone had cleaned it.A pair of white candles stood on the desk, and a lot of ashes were piled up in the ash basin on the ground, which was still warm.Dong Ming took a candle casually, inspected the ash basin carefully for half a day, and said: "Some are paper money, some are silk ashes, and they are all burned very clean. It is rare to burn paper and clothes so clean." Then he probed his nose. After sucking it, "It turned out that sesame oil was poured." He walked around the yard with the dog for half a day, and the dog could no longer smell the traces of the assassin.

Mr. Li stepped forward and asked, "Master Dong, do you have any clues?"

Dong Mingdao: "The assassin is a tall man, he is used to flying over eaves and walls, he is good at using swords, he behaves cautiously, and he has been a burglar before."

Mr. Li asked: "How do you see it?"

Dong Ming said, "Expert."

Mr. Li nodded: "I'm afraid it's the relatives and friends of this family who took revenge for them."

Dong Mingdao: "If they are relatives, they must be relatives from other places. If they are friends, they must have left Zhangzhou for a long time and only found out about it recently. Their family is poor. Since assassins can afford silk, most of them are not relatives."

Mr. Li said: "Since I am a tailor myself, it is also possible to leave some noble people's clothes and corners to make clothes for important relatives."

Dong Mingdao: "How many corners of nobleman's clothing are black? Even if you can put together a piece of clothing, you can't put together a black night clothes."

Mr. Li felt that it was reasonable, and he went around the house for a long time, and said: "The late student can't see any traces. I will check it carefully at dawn." Everyone dispersed.

In the early morning of the next day, Jarvis led the soldiers out for exercise and had breakfast, and returned to the camp of the Chinese Army, where he told his brothers what had happened last night in detail.Everyone clapped their hands and applauded, but asked him why he burned his night clothes.He said: "We are used to using dogs at home, how can we not be on guard? The night clothes were soaked in spices that can confuse dogs' noses. I heard that Zhangzhou prison also used dogs without permission. I'm afraid they will be aware of it."

A brother said: "So what if you realize it? We are still afraid that he will fail."

Jarvis said: "We have to leave in a few days. If people know that we killed Tan Mo, the rest of the officials and successors will have nothing to worry about after we leave. If there is revenge, they will have some points fear."

Lin Daiyu nodded: "That's right. Ghosts and gods are invisible, but they can restrain the wicked."

Jarvis continued: "I already guessed that there must be someone watching this place in Fujian. At first I thought it would be the King of Wu, but I didn't expect it to be the King of Jin." He said, "I saw Li Qizhi at Tan Mo's banquet. "

Lin Daiyu thought for a while: "This person seems to be the nephew of King Jin."

"That's right." Jarvis said, "In the early years, I made friends with him for a while in Beijing, and then they cut off contact with my elder brother. Yes, I always thought that I must be in the state of Jin, but I didn’t want to be sent to Fujian, and I was still working as an aide under Tan Mo. Isn’t it the same as when Bai Lingyi ordered Ding Chu to go to the state of Lu?”

Lin Daiyu thought about it: "Why not send Huang Wengang under him? Huang Wengang is the governor."

Jarvis sneered and said, "Although Huang Wengang isn't clean, he still has a bit of a literati attitude; how can he compare with Tan Mo's unscrupulousness?"

Daiyu said: "I'm afraid there are other reasons, we must try to find out."

Just as he was talking, a soldier shouted outside: "Report!" It turned out that someone from the Tan residence had come to report the funeral.Everyone pretended to be shocked, and Jarvis immediately changed into plain clothes and went to express condolences.

Li Qizhi naturally refused to let him see him, so he found an excuse to avoid it.Tan Mo's eldest son presided over the funeral inside, and there were many related and irrelevant cries.Jarvis said some polite words to the Tan family uncle and was about to leave when a person appeared beside him and bowed to him: "General Jia, do you still remember the little official?"

Jarvis took a closer look, and found that it was the clear-eyed executioner whom he had seen a few days ago, and hurriedly saluted: "Master Dong."

Dong Mingdao: "The little official has long admired the names of the three Jias in the Rongguo Mansion. I heard that General Jia has a wide range of records. Today there is one thing left by an assassin. Can you ask General Jia to help you see if you can recognize it?"

Jarvis hurriedly said, "Please take a look."

Dong Ming then took a handkerchief from his sleeve, with a small piece of paper wrapped inside.The piece of paper was square, about the size of a walnut cake, with a strange picture on it.Jarvis blurted out, "SHIELD!"

Dong Ming hurriedly asked, "What is SHIELD?"

Jarvis said: "It's an organization in the green forest. It makes a living by buying and selling news. I heard that their news is very accurate, and all the princes have asked them to do business."

Dong Ming asked, "Did the Rongguo Mansion do it too?"

"I did it." Jarvis said, "It's very expensive. In the early years, I only did news business, and later I was also a bodyguard and rescued people. A few years ago, I heard that I occasionally did murder, but I don't know if it's true or not. I think it's mostly fake. "

Dong Ming asked, "Why is it fake?"

Jarvis said: "Killing people is different from saving people. They will offend people. Since they only want to sell news, why kill people?"

"What if the guest pays a lot?"

"Master Dong doesn't know...they have already made enough money from selling news."

Dong Ming nodded, and said again: "This paper is not our Zhangzhou paper."

Jarvis said: "I can't see the paper. This picture doesn't look like a painting, but it looks like it was printed with a mold."

"It should be carved out of the pattern to cover it, and the rouge commonly used by women is used."

Jarvis asked, "Could it be that the assassin is a woman?"

Dong Ming said: "The assassin must be a man, similar in stature to General Jia."

Jarvis said: "Then he has probably married a wife."

Dong Ming said with a smile: "Not necessarily. He probably used the makeup box of Hualou girl." Jarvis looked at each other, and he said, "This rouge smells too strong, and the rouge of ordinary women is rarely so strong. .”

Jarvis asked, "Or her boyfriend?" Anyway, the stack of S.H.I.E.L.D. papers were all prepared by Zhou Camellia.

Dong Ming said: "It's not guaranteed." But he changed the subject, "Forgive me for taking the liberty, may I ask if someone under the general's command has stayed in the flower building overnight?" Jarvis frowned.Dong Ming hurriedly bowed and said, "Your army has only arrived in Zhangzhou for a few days, and Mr. Tan was assassinated. The servants have found out that the assassin is probably related to Mr. Tan's family of enemies. It's just that there is no one in the family of the enemy, unless it is his family. New relatives and friends. That family is quite poor, and most of their relatives and friends are also poor. In the past few years, there have been many people who have crossed the sea from Fujian to Taiwan to open up wasteland, and they are not guaranteed..."

Jarvis said: "It is strictly forbidden in our army to go to flower houses. If Mr. Dong doesn't believe you, you can go to various flower houses in Zhangzhou to look for them."

"What if it is found out?"

Jarvis said: "If it is found out, he will be expelled from the military. It's just that he can't be given to Mr. Dong, and he has to be taken back to the Taiwan government."

Dong Ming was stunned: "General Jia, kill for life."

Jarvis sneered and said, "You and I know exactly how Mr. Tan is an official. It must be that the deceased enemy died unusually."

Dong Ming nodded: "It is true that the whole family died because of Mr. Tan."

Jarvis said: "Therefore, the assassin's killing of Mr. Tan was regarded as revenge. If it was really done by the soldiers of the last general, the last general fired him because he violated military regulations and stayed overnight in the flower house, not because he took revenge."

Dong Ming frowned: "General Jia, Lord Tan is the magistrate of a state after all, how can he die without knowing why?"

Jarvis said: "It has nothing to do with the general. As the general of an army, if he doesn't protect the soldiers, can we expect them to fight the enemy for me? Master Dong, we are soldiers."

Dong Ming was slightly stunned, and said helplessly, "It's good to know the result."

So he left Tan's house and went to discuss with Li Qizhi.It's not that the two have a good friendship, in fact, there is no one to discuss except him.

Hearing this, Li Qizhi hurriedly asked for the piece of paper to look at, and said, "It really looks like a picture of SHIELD. Why didn't you show it to me last night?"

"forget."

Li Qizhi thought about it for a while and said: "If the assassin is in Jarvis's army... the green forest thieves from S.H.I.E.L.D. who specialize in snooping news sneaked into the barracks and wandered through the flower building, even ordinary soldiers would not be able to detect it. "

Dong Ming said, "I'm going to check various flower houses right now."

Li Qizhi smiled and said: "It's not necessary. Whoever he is, the spies who heard that the people under his family were incomplete and sneaked into SHIELD would not be at ease. Now that Jarvis knows, he will investigate it himself. If you can’t find it out, that good fortune teller Lin Junshi can always find it out.”

Dong Ming waved his hand and said, "I can't trust them." So he took the piece of paper and went to various flower houses, paper workshops, and rouge shops to check.

They made a big fuss last night, and the neighbors of the dead tailor's family were already alarmed.All kinds of rumors suddenly spread all over the street, all saying that it was the revenge of the evil spirits.

Seeing Tan Mo's first seven, Jarvis came to worship again.After worshiping, he took his leave and went out. He was about to mount his horse in front of the Tan Mansion when Dong Minglai flashed by and gave him a deep salute: "General Jia."

Jarvis hurriedly replied: "Master Dong."

Dong Ming stared at him and said, "I dare to ask, what is the grievance between General Jia and Mr. Tan?"

Jarvis froze.

Dong Ming said: "The assassin who assassinated Mr. Tan was General Jia."