The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 32 Investigation
Now the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture is named Han Deren. He is a genuine Jinshi (imperial scholar) who started out as a county magistrate and worked hard for more than twenty years. Only this year did he receive the position of Shuntian Prefecture after he accepted his destiny.

He knew that there were many powerful people in the capital, and he could be blamed for anything. Since he took office, he had been working diligently and conscientiously, not daring to slack off for even a moment. If there was a case, he would first find out who was behind it and would never make a random judgment.

Now, hearing that the Xue family had come to report the case and had a letter from the Baoling Marquis Mansion in their hands, he immediately called his lawyer to inquire about the details.

"What is the origin of this Xue family? What is their background?"

His master had followed his master for many years and was already familiar with the situation in the capital. He immediately replied:
"So that the master can know that the Xue family is from the royal merchants, and the current Madam Xue is the legitimate daughter of the Wang family and a relative of the Rongguogong Jia family."

After hearing this, Prefect Han was shocked and asked hurriedly:

"What is the origin of this bandit? How dare he rob people in the vicinity of Jingzhao, and target such a wealthy person?"

The master shook his head and said:

"Time is running out now, and I haven't asked yet."

"Mr. Dong might as well take over the case first, have someone go to the scene to investigate, and do your part in advance."

"Chief Constable Jiang is mature and prudent, and knows the limits. We can let him lead the team in person."

"If we can catch any clues of the thief, we will capture him first."

"I will go out and find relevant people to find out whether this is a local tiger or a passing bandit."

"I will wait until I find out who is behind the thief before I decide whether to arrest him."

Upon hearing this, Prefect Han was overjoyed and said, "Very good!" He then issued an order, letting Chief Constable Jiang Dairong take charge of the case.

Jiang Dairong had received the news long ago, and knew that this job would definitely fall on him. He secretly groaned in his heart, but did not dare to shirk his responsibility. He had to pack up his things, call his men together, and go to see the victim who had reported the case.

"I am Jiang Dairong, the chief constable of Shuntian Prefecture. I am honored to meet Master Xue."

When Xue Pan saw Chief Constable Jiang coming over, he hurriedly grabbed him and dragged him out the door.

"Don't talk nonsense, hurry up and follow me to investigate the case. If you can recover the lost spices, the young master will give you a reward!"

Seeing that Young Master Xue was anxious, Jiang Dairong hurriedly followed him.

Everyone went out, rode horses and took cars, and a group of people followed them straight to the dock outside the door.

When they arrived at the dock, Zhan Ershisi called the guy who had delivered the letter earlier and asked him to explain the situation to Jiang Dairong again.

This guy is from Xue Zhong's shop and he is considered a confidant, but he knows nothing about the inside story of the case. Zhan Ershisi is not worried that he will let the cat out of the bag.

The clerk was now extremely anxious, and when he saw the person coming from the yamen, he hurriedly explained the situation in detail.

"A batch of spices arrived in Beijing yesterday. Many wealthy and powerful families had already placed orders for this batch of spices and had already received the deposits. It was extremely urgent, so yesterday afternoon, Shopkeeper Xue brought a few of his men to the dock to wait for the fleet to arrive."

"We were supposed to be back in the evening, but we haven't seen any sign of Shopkeeper Xue and his men since then."

"At first we thought the fleet was late, so Manager Xue spent the night at the dock. But he didn't come back this morning, and then I realized something was wrong."

"We sent someone to the dock to inquire, and found out that the fleet had already unloaded the cargo and left yesterday afternoon, and Shopkeeper Xue and his men were nowhere to be seen."

"We asked the people at the dock and learned that Manager Xue drove away after receiving the goods, but the people at the city gate did not see Manager Xue's convoy entering the city at all."

"I just realized something was wrong, and I quickly sent someone to Rongguo Mansion to deliver a letter to the young master."

After hearing this, Chief Constable Jiang assigned tasks to his men, asking them to go to various places to gather information.

Zhan Ershisi and Xue Pan did not say much, just watched coldly. They found a private room in the restaurant next door and used it as a temporary command center for Chief Inspector Jiang to watch how he investigated the case.

These yamen runners make their living from this. They are local bosses and have official status, so it is very convenient for them to do things and no one dares not to cooperate.

Not long after, this group of yamen runners returned one after another and summarized the information they had obtained from the investigation.

After Chief Constable Jiang collected all the clues, he had a rough idea in his mind, so he bowed to Xue Pan. "Master Xue, please sit down for a moment. I will take people to investigate along the way to see where these people and goods disappeared."

How is this possible?

What if you really catch me? Wouldn't that be troublesome?

Zhan Ershisi winked at Xue Pan, who understood and quickly jumped up, shouting:
"This is worth tens of thousands of taels of silver. How can I sit still?"

"I'll go with you now. The sooner we get the goods back, the better I can sleep tonight."

When Jiang Dairong heard this, a bitter look immediately appeared on his face.

He was most afraid of this kind of second-generation rich following him, who would give him orders and he dared not disobey them. But if he listened and failed to catch the thief, he would be blamed in the end.

Zhan Ershisi saw this and knew what he was worried about, so he spoke to comfort him:

"Chief Inspector Jiang, just focus on investigating you. We will not interfere."

"The reason why Master Xue insisted on following is mainly because he was worried that during the investigation, he would encounter some powerful people whom you cannot afford to offend."

"If you encounter such a situation, just leave it to us. We will take the lead for you and will never let your investigation be affected."

Jiang Dairong lowered his head and thought about it, and felt that what he said made sense.

This chief constable actually has a very low status and he cannot afford to offend any master.

If this Young Master Xue really took the lead, perhaps a lot of trouble could be saved, so he nodded and said:

"In that case, I would like to thank you two gentlemen."

"Please rest assured, I will do my best to find the missing person and recover the lost property as soon as possible."

Everyone went out and began to survey the road into the city.

Zhan Ershisi and his gang were old bandits with many years of experience in destroying traces. However, this place was in the suburbs of Beijing, and there were always people coming and going. There were often people collecting wood and traveling merchants on this road, which led to a large number of witnesses.

These detectives are all local bosses and know which people frequent which locations on this road.

So after spending a lot of time searching and questioning, Chief Inspector Jiang actually caught the thief.

The group followed the trail all the way to a certain mountain. Jiang Dairong pointed at the winding path on the mountain and said hesitantly:
"My two lords, I'm afraid the thief has gone up the mountain."

"But this mountain is empty, and most of the thieves are armed with weapons. We have too few people to search the mountain."

"Why not keep a close watch on the entrance and exit of this mountain, and then catch them in one fell swoop when they come down the mountain?"

"What do you two think?"

Not much!
If we really do it the way you said, wouldn't we really catch the person?
After Zhan Ershisi and Xue Pan exchanged a glance, their faces turned cold and they shouted in a deep voice:

"Since we already know where the thief is, why waste time?"

"I won't make it difficult for you. Since you are short-handed, you can use the manpower of my two families to help you!"

"My Zhan family will send 100 people, the Xue family will send 100 people, and your dozen detectives will be enough to catch these thieves in one fell swoop!"

After saying this, Zhan Ershisi did not allow him to refuse. He directly called over one of his men and asked him to go back and tell Wu Sihai to gather more people.

If everything goes well, that's it!

If this guy finds out the flaw, then they will just "die in misfortune" here!

Thanks to the apprentice "Book Friend 20201025193633199" for the reward of 100 coins!
Thanks to book friends "Taishang Weiming", "Yun Zhongjun and Mo Yubai" for the reward of 100 coins!
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(End of this chapter)