Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 45 Disguise
After going downstairs, Pei Nian was still thinking about the conversation just now.

The saying "The Southern Yamen is in charge of worldly affairs, while the Northern Yamen is in charge of unusual people" means that in recent times the Southern Yamen has been cleaning up the mess that the Northern Yamen had failed to handle.

For the first time, she realized the weakness of the Southern Yamen. Then, looking at the crowds of people walking in the North City, all of them were ordinary people, she was stunned for a moment. Recalling the pride she felt when she first entered the official career and became the youngest female police captain, she found it ridiculous.

After walking past Gu Jingnian, she turned around and asked, "What did Feng Niang talk to you about?"

"Replying to the police, she lost something and reported it to the police."

"anything else?"

"I asked about the circumstances of Liu Heng's death."

"Don't deal with her anymore in the future."

"Yes."

Gu Jingnian neither let Pei Nian know that "Liu Heng" was not dead, nor did he think that the dealings with Feng Niang could be stopped just because Pei Nian said so. The affairs of these strange people were under the jurisdiction of the Northern Yamen.

He was just wondering why he was not transferred directly to the Northern Yamen, but was placed under Pei Nian.

To test Huang Hu?
Soon, he had a vague idea of the answer.

That afternoon, Pei Nian summoned You Gui and his inspectors to the Jishitang, while Huang Hu and other captains were not there.

"Recently, the leeches outside the city have not been eradicated. I asked them to bring people to cooperate with the imperial army. Now there is a case that can only be handed over to you. After the case is closed, I will arrange for your injury and retirement."

"Thank you for the investigation." Yugui replied.

"We all know that the Wanchun Palace case is closely related to the Minister of Works Chao Juzhi, but a fire destroyed all the evidence. In addition, Chao Juzhi is a student of Prime Minister Zheng Kuangfu and has his protection. At present, the three courts can do nothing to him."

At this point, Pei Nian saw that his men had understood, so he said directly: "What you need to do is find evidence and bring Chao Juzhi to justice."

"Yes!"

Everyone took the order and retreated.

This is also a major bad habit of the Kaiping Division in handling cases. Even when Pei Nian was handling the case, he would first convict Chao Juzhi in his mind and then look for evidence, shooting the arrow first and then drawing the target.

Gu Jingnian didn't care whether it was a bad habit or not. He guessed in his heart that he was arranged to the Southern Court probably because of the Chao Ju case.

You Gui took the file, frowned, and looked down at it for a long time before he spoke after pondering for a while.

"All the evidence has been destroyed. We have to start over. We need someone to sneak into the Chao family. Luo Quan..."

Yugui was halfway through his words when he realized that Luo Quan was already dead.

He looked around the hall, his eyes swept past Ting Qiao Bing who had a broken arm, and found that there were fewer and fewer old faces, and there were several newcomers whose names he could not remember for a while.

"Captain, I'll go."

Gu Jingnian volunteered.

Since he couldn't avoid it, he might as well face it.

"Okay." You Gui nodded and said, "Tingqiao Bing, take Gu Jingnian and select a few people to disguise themselves and find out the truth about Chao Ju."

"Yes."

Tingqiao Bing then took Gu Jingnian away, talking as they walked.

"Don't think that I am now a patrol captain with a high rank. That's because I followed the right person. In the past two years, only the police were willing to promote low-ranking police officers to patrol inspectors... What I want to say is that Luo Quan and I used to monitor people personally. I am familiar with this business."

As they were talking, they arrived at the outer courtyard of the yamen. The environment was much worse. Servants were sitting in groups of three or four on the steps basking in the sun.

Tingqiao Bing turned his head to take a look, pointed twice and said, "Zhang Fan, Zhao Shi, come here."

Two young men of ordinary build and appearance stood up and followed them.

After passing through two more doors, they entered a small government office. Tingqiao Bing asked outside the door, "Is Yi Dianyin here?"

"come in."

Several people entered the government office, and a thin woman turned around.

"Yi Dianyin, this is the new inspector Gu Jingnian. He is handling a case and needs your help."

The woman then looked at Gu Jingnian and said, "Kaiping Si Dian Yin, Yi Yan."

Yi Yan has an ordinary appearance, with dry and yellow hair, pale face, some freckles and chapped cheeks, a weak temperament, and looks very inconspicuous.

She glanced at the four of them, raised her hand and said to Zhang Fan and Zhao Shi, "You sit down."

"Yes."

Tingqiao Bing whispered to Gu Jingnian, "We need to disguise them and send them to sneak into the Chao family. You can just receive intelligence at any time."

Yi Yan took out a box and opened it. Inside were all kinds of bottles and jars, from which strange liquids were poured out. However, it was not the cosmetics that Gu Jingnian thought it was, but... some kind of foreign matter.

He stirred out a viscous solution of the same color as the skin, dipped a fine brush in the solution and painted on Zhang Fan's face. After just a few strokes, although the shape of his face did not change much and his appearance was still ordinary, Zhang Fan seemed like a different person.

Yi Yan then changed Zhao Shi's appearance again, still using two or three strokes to change his appearance.

"Okay, just go change your clothes."

Tingqiao Bing nodded with satisfaction and instructed the two men, "Listen to Inspector Gu's instructions from now on." "Yes."

Half an hour later, Gu Jingnian was sitting in a teahouse across the street from Chao's mansion.

Tingqiao Bing was still dressed as a child, with a fake arm, and was led into the private room by his father's hand, calling "Brother" all the time. After carefully checking that no one was eavesdropping, he returned to normal.

He moved a stool and stood by the window. Looking out through the crack in the window, he could see the gate of Chao's mansion.

Zhang Fan and Zhao Shi dressed up as peddlers and were wandering around Chao's mansion.

"There are spies sent out by other inspectors on the long street. Can you recognize them?"

"The one selling dates." Gu Jingnian looked for a while and then said, "Also, the guy from the oil shop."

"Yes, more spies have gone to gather intelligence from Chao Juzhi's clansmen and friends. Even if he is a perfect egg, we will find a crack sooner or later."

Gu Jingnian asked, "Can Yi Dianyin disguise someone as someone else?"

"Yes." Tingqiao Bing said, "But you have to bring the person to her."

"When you were trying to find out about the Gu family, didn't you disguise yourself as a member of the Gu family?"

"How do you know? Three servants were replaced by our spies. Otherwise, how do you think the adultery between Gu Jiye and Zong E was discovered? But spies usually don't disguise themselves as family members. They are all bloodthirsty and don't have the elegance and grace to avoid alerting the enemy."

Tingqiao Bing knew that Gu Jingnong was a rookie at the time, and the reason he was waiting with him was to teach him how to be a spy. Therefore, he was generous in teaching him, pointing at Chao Mansion and explaining in detail.

"Don't be impatient. Detecting a case is like hunting. You have to be patient."

"As the saying goes, a thousand-mile dam can be breached by an ant hole. No matter how well Chao Juzhi hides, many things in his mansion can reveal clues. He has embezzled so much in Wanchun Palace. No matter how simple his behavior is, if you ask his tailor, you will know that he wears Xiangyun silk that costs tens of thousands of coins a piece when he goes to bed. Don't think he is still stable in the Ministry of Works. If you ask his cook, you will know that he has a poor appetite recently..."

"Also, the defense of Chao's mansion is also very particular. Remember, for such an important person, the guards in the mansion can only show you traps. The real killer moves must be hidden in the dark. You see, he has been riding in a sedan chair with eight bearers recently, but in fact, he dare not sit in the sedan chair. Whenever he goes out, he must send more than three groups of people to act as a decoy..."

"Sometimes, what's important is not finding evidence, but putting heavy pressure on him by the Kaiping Division. Under heavy pressure, he will become confused, and confusion will lead to mistakes. We must seize the opportunity to catch this mistake and pull out all the evidence of his guilt by the roots, like grasping a thread..."

Gu Jingnian had just started working as a spy and was learning very seriously.

Although the purpose of Kaiping Division's method was to "bring Chao Juzhi to justice", and what he wanted was to get the truth out of Chao Juzhi's mouth. The two are fundamentally different, but it is always right to learn more skills.

The time of surveillance was long and boring. Often after a long time, one would only see the sun's shadow move a distance over the Chao Mansion. Even if one could get various information, most of them were boring trivia, and it was tedious to filter out useful information from them.

As the days go by, sometimes Tingqiao Bing would talk about himself besides imparting his experience.

"We are orphans raised by the previous governor. You see, it's not uncommon for me to be abandoned. I was the third one picked up by the pavilion bridge outside the city. The Great Rui Dynasty wanted to unify Zhongzhou and reduce taxes to encourage people to have more children, but ordinary families can't afford to raise disabled people. I understand."

Gu Jingnian did not despise Tingqiao Bing's humble origins, and said, "We are almost the same. You are an adopted son, and I am an illegitimate child."

"Although we are adopted sons, the old governor treats us very well." Tingqiao Bing said, "Many of us have become police officers and investigators, but I just can't live up to expectations. I'm short and my fighting skills are too poor."

"Ok."

"But we are really similar, a bastard and a dwarf, hey."

Tingqiao Bing laughed.

The relationship between the two became closer.

After six days of surveillance, the progress was slow. Chao Juzhi was on guard. Although spies disguised themselves as servants and entered the mansion to inquire, they found nothing.

Gu Jingnian looked through all kinds of information about Chao Juzhi every day and knew the Chao family very well. Every time Tingqiao Bing asked him about the people who came in and out of the Chao Mansion, he could answer fluently.

On this day, a carriage stopped at the side door of Chao's mansion. A beautiful maid led the way and four servants carried the sedan chair out.

"Guess who's going out?"

Gu Jingnian had excellent eyesight and could tell that the person sitting on the sedan chair was a young man with a sallow complexion and a sickly body. He replied, "Chao Heng, the third son of Chao Juzhi."

"Do you know Chao Heng?"

"Twenty-three years old, courtesy name Zijun, studied at Chongjing Academy, was appointed as the chief clerk of Xiqu County, and married a woman named Liu. He fell seriously ill last year and has since resigned from his post to recuperate."

"Yes, what did he do today?"

"He goes to Xinglin Pavilion for consultation every seven days."

Tingqiao Bing said, "Yes, if Chao Juzhi wants to contact someone, he might use Chao Heng. I have made preparations in Xinglin Pavilion. I will leave now... You continue to watch."

Gu Jingnian watched Chao Heng being helped onto the carriage, and suddenly an idea came to him.

He grabbed Tingqiao Bing and said, "I look similar to Chao Heng. Can Yi Dianyin disguise me as Chao Heng?"

"It should be possible, but spies usually don't disguise themselves as members of the main family. It would be too easy to be exposed."

Gu Jingnian certainly knew all this, but his goal was different from that of other spies. He had no intention of achieving merit and getting promoted.

Whether the truth would be revealed, whether Chao Juzhi could be prosecuted, or whether the case might be ruined, these were not his concerns. He just wanted a chance to get close to Chao Juzhi and get clues about Liu Heng and Gu Beiming's connection with these things.

Even after asking, he wanted to kill people to silence them.

So, Gu Jingnian stared at Tingqiao Bing with a determined look and said, "You have to let me try. I was transferred to Kaiping Division for this case."

(End of this chapter)