I was compiling the daily records during the Wanli reign

Chapter 317 A Father with an Upright Face! A Nationwide Manhunt for the Murderer, Shen Nian Returns to the Capital

September 19th, the thirteenth day since Shen Yaoshan was stabbed.

Afternoon, in the back hall of the Cangzhou prefectural government office.

Prefect Jia Jin of Hejian Prefecture was extremely anxious because he still had not found any clues.

At present, he had to report the progress to the Embroidered Uniform Guard who was stationed in Cangzhou to supervise the matter every other day, and then the Embroidered Uniform Guard would report the progress to the capital.

Jia Jin clearly sensed that the imperial court attached great importance to this matter, and the common people were also spontaneously hunting down the criminals because of the good deeds of Yaodong Trading Company, and the scale of the operation was growing larger and larger.

If this case remains unsolved due to the prolonged search for the murderer, his career will be over.

Currently, he is almost certain that there was a mastermind behind the murder, and the mastermind is most likely Shen Nian's political enemy or someone who has a grudge against Shen Nian.

The person who instigated this must be extremely wealthy and powerful, and have already planned their escape route.

If these three assassins had failed in their assassination attempt and had left Hejian Prefecture directly, fleeing south and hiding in some remote and impoverished area, they would have been extremely difficult to find.

Just then, there was a new development in the pursuit of the murderer.

A criminal judge who had come to Cangzhou with him strode in.

"Your Excellency, there's progress! New progress!"

"A merchant from Daming Prefecture who was doing business in Cangzhou saw the portrait of the murderer and said that the murderer's name was Ma Hanyong, 34 years old, from Weixian County, Daming Prefecture. He was a soldier in Huailai Guard of Xuanfu. He became a deserter at the end of the fifth year of Wanli and his whereabouts were unknown!"

After saying this, the judge handed the merchant's confession to Jia Jin.

After reading it, Jia Jin was excited. He first steadied his official hat and then said, "Quickly draft two official documents, one to Wei County in Daming Prefecture and the other to Huailai Guard in Xuanfu. Have them confirm the identity of the murderer based on the portrait. After confirming it, ask if anyone knows who his companions are."

"Furthermore, please summon Sun Kun, a centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. I wish to inform him of this news!"

Jia Jin breathed a sigh of relief. With this intelligence, he no longer needed to worry about being dismissed by the court for failing to perform his duties.

No sooner had he finished speaking than Sun Kun, a centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, walked in from outside.

Jia Jin quickly picked up the merchant's confession and said excitedly, "Sir, I have some breaking news. Someone has identified the murderer as Ma Hanyong, a native of Wei County, Daming Prefecture."

Jia Jin puffed out his chest, looking like he wanted to hear praise.

Sun Kun glanced at the confession but did not take it.

"They were soldiers from the Huailai Guard in Xuanfu who deserted at the end of the fifth year of the Wanli reign, right?"

"Sir, how...how did you know?"

"I also know his other two accomplices, one named Zhao Dazhu and the other named Shi San, both of whom are deserters from Huailaiwei. I have already sent people to Huailaiwei to confirm their identities and have drawn portraits of the other two!"

"The people of Cangzhou are far more capable than your bunch of constables!"

"Currently, the imperial court has expanded the manhunt to the entire Beizhili region. I will also be following the leads and will no longer stay in Cangzhou. Prefect Jia, after I leave, I hope you will work even harder to catch the murderer. Otherwise, if the murderer is still hiding in Hejian Prefecture in the end, you should know what will happen to you!"

"understand!"

Jia Jin quickly clasped his hands in greeting, his forehead covered in beads of sweat.

Actually, his abilities were not bad, and his arrangements were not too bad either. During this period, almost all the local ruffians and thieves in the Cangzhou area were in the state prison.

The people were so diligent that they quickly found out the names and identities of the three men.

It can be described as walking big data.

The people of Hejian Prefecture, Baoding Prefecture, Zhengding Prefecture, Shunde Prefecture, Guangping Prefecture, and even Shuntian Prefecture, especially the merchants associated with Yaodong Trading Company, spontaneously organized their partners to search for the person. They not only offered high rewards but also formed special teams to begin scouting some mountain forests and wilderness areas.

Any stranger or adult male traveling in a group of three will be questioned.

Currently, at least tens of thousands of people are searching for the perpetrator.

This made Ma Hanyong, Zhao Dazhu, and Shi San famous figures throughout Beizhili.

Once the portraits of the other two are drawn, the difficulty of finding these three people will be further reduced.

……

September 20th, afternoon.

Shen Yaoshan and Gu Dongxing were escorted directly to the Shen residence in the capital by Shi Qing and other Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards).

Emperor Wanli ordered Feng Bao to take the imperial physician to visit the Shen residence, and Shen Shixing also visited the two on behalf of the cabinet.

That's why they receive such treatment.

Shen Nian's status as a Grand Secretary was secondary; the main reason was the outstanding contributions of the two to the trade in northern China during the Ming Dynasty.

……

After completing his escort mission, Shi Qing immediately left the capital.

Emperor Wanli never expected that the assassination of Shen Yaoshan would alarm the entire population of Beizhili.

This matter had a terrible impact, and the murderer had to be caught quickly. So, Emperor Wanli sent Shi Qing again, and once the murderer was caught, the Embroidered Uniform Guard would be responsible for interrogating them.

……

That day, night fell.

In a dilapidated and low-lying City God Temple, about seven hundred paces from the official road within the territory of Shuntian Prefecture.

Three men dressed in gray clothes and covered in dust sat back to back, all eating cold steamed buns.

These three people are none other than...

These were the three murderers who were being hunted by the entire population of Beizhili: Ma Hanyong, Zhao Dazhu, and Shi San.

All three were military households, but they deserted because they could not stand life in the military camp.

Because they were unregistered residents and had some martial arts skills, they worked as thugs, debt collectors, and casino managers in the Shuntian Prefecture. All three were gamblers, and the money they earned was far from enough to live on.

One night in late July, in the outskirts of Beijing.

Just as they were being chased by a group of people for gambling, and finally escaped by relying on their own martial arts skills, they encountered a man sitting in a carriage.

The man, sitting inside the carriage, accurately called out their names through the window, stated their hometowns, and even knew they were deserters.

Clearly, they had been investigated beforehand.

The man then told them that they could get three thousand taels of silver if they could kill a merchant.

The three were overjoyed. They couldn't get close to the official, but they were confident they could kill a merchant.

Three thousand taels of silver was too tempting for them.

When the three men learned that this man was the father of Shen Nian, the newly appointed cabinet minister, they immediately hesitated!
The risks are too great, and the imperial court's pursuit is too intense.

However, the man in the carriage immediately raised the price to five thousand taels and took out a bag of gold beans worth five hundred taels of silver as a deposit.

When the three men saw the large bag of glittering gold beans, their minds went completely blank, and they couldn't help but nod and agree to the task.

The man in the carriage told them that the deadline was the last day of September.

If they dare to run away with the money, he has countless ways to find the three of them, and after completing the task, he will deliver the remaining commission to them.

……

"Brother, we've really stirred up a hornet's nest this time! Your portrait is already hanging all over Beizhili, and once our names are mentioned, it probably won't be long before our portraits are also hung up. At that point, we won't dare to show our faces either. Where...where should we escape to?"

The one being called "Big Brother" is none other than Ma Hanyong, currently the unluckiest guy.

Ma Hanyong looked helpless, never expecting to have created such a huge problem.

The three of them could only hide during the day and travel at night. They dared not enter the city, walk on the main road, or light a fire. For the past five days, they had been drinking river water and eating cold steamed buns.

Although they had a bag of gold beans, they dared not spend them, because it seemed that all the people were after them.

Even some local thugs looked down on them and shouted that they would catch them.

Once the portraits of the other two are published, the three of them will probably only be able to drink river water and eat tree bark.

Ma Hanyong also heard that some people who had received favors from Yaodong Trading Company had gone to his hometown, claiming they wanted to dig up his family's ancestral graves.

Of the three, Ma Hanyong was the smartest.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Let's go back to the outskirts of the capital, immediately. I'm going to go to the place where that man parked his carriage and make him discover me. You guys find a place to hide in the outskirts of the capital!"

"Go back to the outskirts of Beijing? Brother, too many people there know us. Going back would be suicide."

"Brother, are you trying to get money from that man in the carriage? But... but we haven't completed our mission. What if he kills us?"

Ma Hanyong shook his head.

“The most dangerous place is the safest place. Although we haven’t seen the man’s face in the carriage, we’ve heard his voice. His voice is his weakness. I’m going to ask him for three more bags… no… five bags of gold beans, and then we’ll escape to the sea. I don’t believe that a portrait can be pasted on the sea!”

"The timid starve, the bold thrive; want to give it a try?"

"Let's give it our all!" The two nodded in unison.

……

September 24th, near noon.

After traveling on the canal for more than twenty days, Shen Nian finally arrived in the capital.

The moment Shen Nian arrived in the capital, the young Wanli Emperor sent someone to inform her that her father had been stabbed and told her to go straight home and not to report any official business that day.

Shen Nian immediately rushed to the Shen residence.

……

The front hall of the Shen residence.

When Shen Nian saw Shen Yaoshan and Gu Dongxing, both of them were dressed in exquisite cloth clothes, one holding a folding fan and the other holding two walnuts.

Shen Yaoshan, in particular, was radiant and looked no more than uninjured.

"Your son greets Father and Father-in-law!" Shen Nian bowed to the two of them.

"Get up quickly!" Shen Yaoshan said.

Shen Nian walked up to Shen Yaoshan, looked him up and down, and said, "Father, didn't you hurt your left arm? How can you still wave a folding fan? And it's not hot now."

Shen Nian was completely bewildered by her father's appearance.

Shen Yaoshan straightened his chest and said, "Son, I am fine. Don't let the fact that I was stabbed by villains make you afraid to offend anyone in your future reforms. Those petty people can't hurt your father!"

Hearing this, Shen Nian was both amused and exasperated. He immediately cooperated with Shen Yaoshan, cupping his hands and saying, "Your son will remember your teachings, Father!"

If the young Wanli Emperor had heard Shen Yaoshan say these words, he would surely have presented him with a large calligraphy scroll inscribed with "Great Righteousness for the Public Good."

Old-fashioned Confucian businessmen like Shen Yaoshan are driven by a deep sense of national and familial duty.

At this moment, Shen's mother came over.

"Alright! I've reasoned with my son enough. Put the fan down now. The wound has just scabbed over; if it reopens, it'll be even harder to heal!"

Instantly, Shen Yaoshan's imposing aura vanished. After putting down his fan, Shen Nian quickly went over to help him up.

Shen Nian checked the wound and was relieved to find that it was nothing serious.

As Shen Yaoshan said, if the mastermind behind this underhanded scheme wanted to threaten Shen Nian so that he would no longer "make things difficult for the officials," Shen Nian would absolutely not compromise.

(End of this chapter)