History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

She started by saying the most crucial point: "We haven't found Gong Ai's mother."

"The criminals who were exiled with Lady Gong, as well as the post station officials who escorted them, have all disappeared. We believe it was caused by bandits."

"Finding the culprit of this murder among the refugees passing through the counties is beyond our capabilities, as there are no records of refugees at any of the post stations."

"What the young woman is holding is a notice posted at several post stations in Yingzhou. We have verified with the post station officials that the wanted fugitive in the document is the same person, named Gao Cong, who is nearly fifty years old and registered in Pingzhou Prefecture. This thief is skilled in riding and archery and held an important position in the court before being dismissed from office and exiled. Unfortunately, the post station officials and we do not know Gao's specific official position and rank."

"The post station official also told us that because they didn't know which direction the bandit Gao had fled in, the wanted notice issued by Pingzhou only extended south to Yingzhou. Judging from the timeline, if the bandit Gao wanted to escape to Luoyang, he might be able to run into Lady Gong and her party."

“We split into two groups to investigate. One group went as far as the northern border of Yingzhou, while the other group followed the trails left by Gong Ai’s exiled entourage. They eventually determined that it was a wild forest located at the junction of Ding, Ji, and Yingzhou. If Gong Xiaoniangzi was murdered, that should be where she was killed.”

“We searched the forest carefully for two days and found a lot of remains that had been scattered by wild animals. Besides human remains, most of them were monkey carcasses. Our companions who came back from the direction of Yingzhou also found wild monkey carcasses in the woods along the way.”

"After we met, we came up with four leads."

"First, the murderer was skilled with a bow and arrow. When we found part of the body, there were arrows scattered around."

"Secondly, there were no traces of digging and burying the body in the forest, which means that the murderer was traveling very fast and did not need to bury the body. By the time someone discovered the murder and reported it to the authorities, the murderer would have already been far away."

"The reason why the body wasn't buried could also be because there were few perpetrators. We asked the locals, and they said it hadn't rained during that period, yet there was no feces in the forest that had been used recently. This leads us to the third clue: Gong Ai and her group met their demise shortly after entering the forest to rest."

"Fourth, the bodies of the victims had their hair cut off by sharp objects, and the monkey carcasses were also in a terrible state, clearly plucked before being eaten by wild animals. We do not know why the murderer did this, but the thief must be extremely vicious!"

During the process of listening, Wei Yao finished reading the wanted notice in her hand. On the last piece of paper was the pattern of a red rope that she had drawn.

She bowed to the Qihu warriors and said, "Thank you all for your hard work. If there is anything I can do to help you in the future, I will do my best."

After everyone had left, Wei Yao nestled in her mother's arms like a child, sadly murmuring, "My disciples are all very good, Mother, they are all so promising. Gong Ai is only six years old. She was half-threatened and half-tricked into making a mistake. Being exiled so far away is already a severe punishment. Why does misfortune always seem to target the unfortunate?"

She questioned the loopholes in the court's policies: "Why does the government allow refugees to roam freely? Is there no way to resettle them? Or do they never even consider resettling them? Just now, Iron Warrior said that so many people died in that wild forest. They were able to find out, but the government can't?"

"To put it bluntly, that place is at the junction of three prefectures, and the county governments of all three prefectures want to shirk their responsibilities. So no one cares about the life or death of my disciple, no one cares about the lives of ordinary minor officials, and no one cares about how many criminals have died!"

"Outsiders may disregard my disciples, but I cannot."

"If I were to give up on avenging this grudge because it is difficult to do so, how could I be worthy of being a teacher? Who in the world would still remember that there was once a little girl named Gong Ai?"

Zhao Zhi gently patted her daughter's back and comforted her, "Your mother is here. Your mother will definitely find a way to avenge Gong Ai."

Wei Yin took out paper and pen and drew the route from Pingzhou to Sizhou.

The first step to revenge is to find the killer.

After drawing the picture, Wei Yin pointed out the border of the three prefectures where Gong Ai disappeared to his wife and daughter, and then analyzed it step by step: "The bandits chose this place to kill people, so they must know that the surrounding county offices would first pass the buck to each other in case of murder, and then investigate when they couldn't pass the buck." "The post station officials who escorted Gong Ai's party were also killed. This is not something that ordinary bandits or refugees would dare to do. So in the eyes of the killers, the post station officials are also regarded as grass."

"The murderer was definitely not a villain who had been living in this place for a long time. Iron Warrior said that the murderer was too lazy to bury the body, which is one reason for this judgment. Another point is that the military governor of these three prefectures is now the Prince of Pengcheng. How could the people of the prefectures dare to commit such a serious crime and kill a post station official when the Prince of Pengcheng has just taken office? This is clearly a provocation against the authority of this prince."

The Prince of Pengcheng was forced to relinquish his military power and leave the capital, but even a tiger in its most wretched state is still a king of beasts!
By carefully analyzing the clues, Wei Yin further deduced: "The villain was passing through the border area of ​​three prefectures. His sudden appearance must have come from somewhere and gone somewhere. His skill in archery, his disregard for the post station officials, and the timing of his appearance... these three points perfectly match the proclamation order to arrest Gao Cong."

"If the murderer was Gao Cong, where did he go after coming from Pingzhou? If he fled because he was afraid of Pingzhou's remoteness and poverty, then fleeing to Hengzhou, where the old capital is located, would be the best choice. However, he passed through You and Ying provinces and entered the area bordering Jizhou, which shows that he was not content to be a commoner and his purpose was to sneak back to the capital to wait for an opportunity to return to officialdom."

Wei Yao's thoughts gradually became clearer as she followed her father's speculation.

She had been pondering why Changsun Wuzhuo left Pingzhou some time ago, and one of the reasons she speculated was to capture fugitives. In addition, Zong Yin had said that the powerful figure Zong Yin envied had been exiled to Pingzhou and then secretly fled back to Luoyang. He envied that the other person had "no crime" and was even more successful.

He committed no crime at all?
Wei Yao thought that what Zong Yin meant when he said that was probably not just the crime of fleeing! It could also refer to other crimes committed on the way back!

Wei Yao no longer hesitated and decisively said, "Even if Gao Cong wasn't the one who harmed Gong Ai, this thief should still be arrested. Judging by his speed, he's probably already in Sizhou or even Luoyang. Allowing him to live even a day longer is a sin; we must capture him as soon as possible and hand him over to the Court of Justice..."

No, we can't hand it over to the Court of Justice!!

If Gao Cong is the formidable figure Zong Yin mentioned, then he must have the means to escape punishment, or even use the Court of Justice as a stepping stone to directly enter the central government.

According to the deductions of Wei Yao's family, Gao Cong did indeed come to Luoyang.

The intercalary eighth month.

The third grade.

Gao Cong traveled through wind and rain, enduring hardships, but because what he saw and heard along the way was exactly as he had expected, he felt increasingly at ease.

Upon arriving in Luoyang, Gao Cong felt uneasy. In addition, the divination he performed for himself every day showed bad luck, as did the divination he performed for the noble person he wanted to find. So Gao Cong decided to be patient for the time being and did not act according to the original plan.

He was alert and cautious, spending the night in the desolate wilderness. Fortunately, his homemade cloak was thick and could be used as both a blanket and a mattress.

When daylight came, he lightly buried his cloak with loose soil, then drank mutton soup outside the gates of Guangmo City, listening to the merchants and passersby chat.

One diner remarked, "There are so many strange things in the capital. The soldiers guarding the city gates are actually female warriors. We've never even heard of such a thing back home."

Hu Shang: "They are from the Mulan Camp, and they often train at the training ground over there."

Diner: "I noticed that the checks on carriages and horses entering the city aren't very strict, and pedestrians are even less so. Aren't they afraid of refugees sneaking into the city?" (End of Chapter)