Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 31: Land Measurement and One Whip Law

A quarter of an hour later, Haiyue and Nayan returned to the side courtyard of the government office.

The lights inside were out, but there was still some stirring.

Obviously the person lay down, but tossed and turned and couldn't sleep.

Na Yan made a gesture, indicating that they should go in directly, while Hai Yue shook her head and waited patiently.

Sure enough, not long after, someone stood up and walked out.

'It's him! What a chance!'

'Take it!'

Haiyue nodded, and the swallow flashed out.

Soon, the servant boy Sun Bin was dragged over like a little chicken. He looked at the two people standing quietly in the darkness with horror: "What...what are you doing? This is the Qiongzhou government office!"

Na Yan's expression was already filled with anger at being framed, and now it became even more ferocious. He simply reached out and grabbed his neck. "You were crying on purpose just now, but you didn't expect that we would find out that you poisoned Xiang Ang, right?"

“Poison…what…poison…”

"How dare you quibble!"

“Mmm…Mmmmm!”

Seeing Sun Bin rolling his eyes due to being pinched, Hai Yue held down his forearm and said, "That's enough!"

Na Yan flung his hand, and the frail servant fell to the ground, coughing violently: "Cough cough cough!"

Hai Yue had no intention of playing coy, and her voice was very cold: "Among the three of you, Min Ziyong will be responsible for making plans, Xiang Ang will be responsible for personal protection, and you will be responsible for food and daily life. Xiang Ang was on the boat this time, and halfway through the journey, he felt dizzy, nauseous and vomited, and then his limbs became weak. It looked like a sign of seasickness, but in fact, you drugged him!"

Sun Bin shook his head repeatedly: "No... no..."

Hai Yue said, "You were the one who handled the food and drugged Xiang Ang! You were in the same room with Inspector Wu last night, but you didn't notice anything unusual! Tell me! Who ordered you to do this?"

Sun Bin said, "My father served the master... and now his legs are not so convenient... so I am following the master... How could I harm him..."

"A house slave?"

Haiyue was not surprised.

In ancient times, book boys were the closest confidants. Generally speaking, they were either born into the family as slaves, whose ancestors and parents had been slaves in the family and were loyal to the family, or they were illegitimate children of the same clan, with blood ties and the same prosperity for the family. There was also a kind of handsome and gentle type, who could meet other needs.

Sun Bin looked ordinary, and he didn't share the same surname as Wu Lin. He certainly looked more like a house slave, but there was no absolute loyalty in the world. Hai Yue continued, "Anyone who dared to go against the Inspector General was incredibly audacious. These people wanted to bribe you, and they would naturally offer huge sums of money. Am I right?"

Sun Bin spoke haltingly, "Master...ever since he came to Guangdong to farm...he has been subjected to threats and inducements from all sides...he has sternly rejected them all...he even told us...'If a person is upright, he will act without being told; if a person is not upright, he will not obey even if he is told.'...Although I am just a servant...I understand the principles of a sage...I will never be seduced by these thieves!"

'Du Tian? '

Hai Yue was shocked: "That's right! Land measurement and the one-whip method, how could I have forgotten about this!"

This year is the ninth year of the Jiajing reign, and the court is carrying out two major events.

The first was to implement the method of pre-purchase of grain for relief, and the second was Gui E's memorial "Ren Min Kao", advocating the implementation of measures such as the "One Whip Law" to measure and survey the land.

In fact, last year, officials such as Gui E, Guo Honghua, Tang Neng, and Jian Xiao successively petitioned to verify the land area. Among them, Huo Tao, one of the "Three Elders of Nanhai", was ordered to compile the "Collected Statutes" and bluntly stated, "From the Hongwu period to the Hongzhi period, the total land area in the country has been reduced by more than half, and Huguang, Henan, and Guangdong have lost the most. If it is not allocated to the royal palace, it will be deceived and concealed by cunning people. Guangdong has no vassal state, so it is either deceived and concealed or abandoned to bandits..."

The 24-year-old Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houzhao agreed with this and advocated reform.

This reform, later known as the "Jiajing New Deal", also laid the foundation and set an example for the later "Zhang Juzheng Reform" and had a far-reaching impact.

The reason why Haiyue didn't feel anything was because Hainan was really isolated overseas, and many of the court's policies were basically the last round when they were implemented here. In comparison, other inland counties and cities in Guangdong Province had already initially implemented land measurement.

"If the inspector general Wu Lin was sent down from the central government to the local government because of this government order, then he would have a fundamental conflict of interest with the local government, and there would be many enemies who would want to abduct him..."

"No!" Thinking of this, Haiyue immediately took out the paper and unfolded it for the servant to read: "Do you know how the Tang family of Qiongshan made their fortune?"

Sun Bin shook his head blankly.

Hai Yue sneered, "They rely on annexing land. Your master came down here to survey the land, and now he's in trouble, and you're going to the Tang family for help? You're like a mouse playing matchmaker for a cat, walking into a trap!"

The corners of Na Yan's mouth immediately curved up, and Sun Bin's expression changed. He was shocked at first, and then his expression turned ugly: "Mr. Min... Could it be Mr. Min..."

Haiyue immediately asked, "Do you suspect him too?"

Sun Binshun took a deep breath and said slowly, "Mr. Min was originally hired as a legal advisor after the master arrived in Guangdong. He's said to be the grandson of Min Zhuangyi and comes from an extraordinary family! But it's really strange that a true son of a noble family wouldn't take the imperial examinations to become a legal advisor! Before we boarded the ship, I even saw him whispering to the master, as if they were arguing!"

"Min Zhuangyi... is that Min Gui, the former Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, who pacified the region and put down rebellions?"

Hai Yue thought for a moment and thought it was strange for someone with this background to be working as a staff member. She said in a deep voice, "So, you are accusing Min Ziyong of kidnapping Inspector Wu?"

"No...Mr. Min is a very good person...Master usually relies on him quite a lot...I...don't know..."

Sun Bin shrank back, his voice lowered and he became hesitant again.

Haiyue asked a few more questions, and seeing that he couldn't say anything new, she nodded at Yan.

"I'll go and capture Min Ziyong!"

Na Yan turned and left.

The interrogation of the strongman Xiang Ang and the servant Sun Bin was not over yet, but we did learn a lot from them.

Now there is only Min Ziyong left. After bringing him in for interrogation, and then letting the three suspects confront each other, more clues will surely be unearthed.

'By the middle of the dynasty, correcting current ills meant battling against a complex web of interest groups. Compared to Zhang Juzheng's consistent implementation of new laws over a period of ten years, the Jiajing New Deal was implemented only a few times!'

"Wu Lin's disappearance may be related to local rebellion. Under the pretext of the Li people, who often rebelled, they killed the inspector who was inspecting the area. If the court really investigates, the worst that can happen is that another Li rebellion will be provoked!"

"If that's the case, it's going to be troublesome. The murderer has no reason to leave anyone alive..."

Hai Yue was silently pondering the motive behind the case when she suddenly heard hurried footsteps. She turned around and saw Yan Fei rushing towards her, his face filled with unprecedented shock and anger. "Min Ziyong is gone! Another totem has been left on the wall!"

"what?"

Haiyue's expression also changed. She reached out and pressed Sun Bin's neck, hid the sleeping servant in the bushes nearby, and then followed the swallow and ran towards the side courtyard.

The two men quickly rushed into the house. The candles inside were extinguished and there was no one there. However, in the moonlight, they could see at a glance the new double snake patterns on the wall.

"That's unreasonable!"

That Yan was furious: "He actually committed a crime right under my nose, and even left this totem to blame me, the Li people. I must find this murderer and skin him, drain his blood, and feed him to the snakes!!"

"This smell... is it ink? The third blood totem was left on the wall of this government office using ink?"

Hai Yue leaned over to the wall and sniffed carefully, her eyes flickering with thought: "Three blood totems, three different materials?"

Na Yan didn't care about that. She gritted her teeth and said, "The murderer must not have gone far. It's not convenient to take someone with you. You and I will search separately. We must stop him!"

"No!"

Hai Yue pondered for a moment, her eyes lighting up: "The appearance of this third blood totem has made me understand a lot of things, but there are still some mysteries that have not been revealed. It seems that I still have to go back to that place..."

"Where?"

"Haikou Puyiguan, the scene of the missing person case!"

(End of this chapter)