My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 308 Solving the Case in One Day

A day earlier, Su Ze's memorial was sent to the palace while the court officials were still arguing about it.

The Imperial Palace, Yikun Palace.

“Amitabha, Your Majesty’s actions will bring immeasurable merit.”

A dignified-looking monk was chanting a Buddhist prayer to Consort Li in the Yikun Palace.

Consort Li smiled broadly and clasped her hands together in response to a Buddhist chant.

Consort Li was a devout Buddhist from a young age, and after becoming a consort, she frequently summoned eminent monks to the palace to preach.

The monk before me is a renowned high monk of our time, named Monk Daguan.

When the monk Daguan traveled to the capital, Emperor Longqing heard about his deeds and invited him to the palace to preach.

After listening to the sermon, Consort Li begged the emperor to allow the monk Daguan to set up a Buddhist hall in the inner palace to preach to the concubines.

After listening to the monk Daguan preach, the Longqing Emperor immediately commented, "This monk truly deserves to be called a monk."

The fact that this major human trafficking case in Beijing was solved was related to the monk Daguan.

It turned out that after hearing the discussions in the previous dynasty, the monk Daguan, who abhorred the trafficking of young children more than anything else in his life, advised Consort Li to persuade the emperor to order a thorough investigation of the capital's security and the arrest of the sorcerer.

However, Consort Li was afraid of being accused of interfering in politics by the outer court, so she hesitated to tell the emperor about it.

So, while lecturing to Consort Li, the monk Daguan began to talk about folk sorcery.

The Venerable Master Daguan said:

"Your Majesty, there is a sorcerer in the capital region who is skilled in the art of 'flower-slapping.' With a single slap, this sorcerer can manipulate young children and women to follow him away."

Consort Li was terrified upon hearing this and immediately asked:

"How can we defend against such sorcery? I've never heard of it before!"

The Venerable Master Daguan said:

“Since the Empress resides in the palace, evil spirits cannot cause trouble. However, when evil spirits appear, the people of the capital suffer greatly.”

Concubine Li quickly said:
"The Crown Prince recently made a fuss about leaving the palace. Quickly inform the Eastern Palace that His Highness must not be allowed to leave the palace!"

As a mother, Consort Li's first thought was still her son.

The monk Daguan then said:
“The sorcerer and his magic are harming the world. If Your Highness can have a compassionate heart, you will have immeasurable merit.”

Consort Li immediately asked:
"Master, what does 'immeasurable merit' mean?"

The Venerable Master Daguan said:

"There is a saying about merit in this world. Accumulating merit can bring blessings to oneself and one's descendants in life, and can save one from the suffering of the six realms of reincarnation after death, allowing one to ascend to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss."

"The heart of benevolence is boundless, and the merits of the world are endless. How can one accumulate enough merits? This is where the concept of immeasurable merit comes in."

“Eating vegetarian food, chanting Buddhist scriptures, and reciting Buddhist mantras are all ways to accumulate merit.”

Consort Li then asked:

“What about building Buddhist temples and pagodas? How much merit do these bring?”

The Venerable Master Daguan said:

“These are all tangible things, and although they have merit, it is limited.”

Consort Li asked in confusion:

"Then what is immeasurable merit?"

The monk Daguan put his hands together and said:

"As the saying goes, 'Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda,' this is truly a meritorious deed."

"To strike down demons and monsters is to slay demons and eliminate evil, which is also a great merit."

Upon hearing this, Consort Li did not hesitate and took the monk Daguan's explanation to Emperor Longqing.

In fact, the emperor was not particularly interested in this kind of merit-based talk.

After all, the so-called merit is too vague and ethereal, relying entirely on the monk's words.

The Longqing Emperor was more enthusiastic about the Taoist concept of ascending to immortality, especially the art of external alchemy, hoping to refine an elixir to ascend to heaven in one step.

However, the sorcery of the monk Daguan aroused the emperor's suspicion.

All emperors detested "demons" the most.

"Demons" are things outside the control of the government. They can bewitch the people, and their sorcery is even more terrifying, causing panic among the populace.

The emperor also thought of Su Ze's memorial. If the security of the capital was not strictly enforced, it might really affect the "prosperous Longqing era" that had been built up with great difficulty.

When the time came, the emperor no longer hesitated; he had to deal a heavy blow to these sorcerers!

Thus, the emperor issued an edict, ordering a thorough investigation of human traffickers.

After the imperial decree was issued, the entire security apparatus of the capital began to operate at high speed.
-
On the 18th day of the first lunar month, at the newspaper office.

Since the Imperial Academy has not yet started its semester, Su Ze is currently working at the newspaper office.

Shen Yiguan rushed into the newspaper office and said:

"Brother Zilin, the case is solved!"

Su Ze was somewhat surprised. The emperor issued the decree on the seventeenth day of the first month, and the case was solved in just one day?
When did the security forces in the capital become so efficient?
Shen Yiguan said:
"As you reported, the Embroidered Uniform Guard's Major Crimes Division has intervened, and the Shuntian Prefecture has also posted a reward notice. The patrol battalion has received many leads."

"But these clues are too complicated and confusing, with some being true and some false, and the police force has no way to distinguish them in a short time."

"Isn't Brother Qingpu (Wang Renzhong) serving as the Imperial Inspector of the Outer Gate? He took Brother Qing's (Shen Zao) advice and asked Di Xu, the principal of the Ministry of Justice, to help solve the case."

"When Brother Yiqing was investigating the Chu Zong case in Wuchang, this Di Xu performed exceptionally well. Brother Qingpu invited this Chief Di, and sure enough, they found useful clues."

Su Ze also became interested; with more than fifty children missing at once, this case was indeed difficult to investigate.

In this day and age, there are no surveillance cameras, so how did Di Xu solve the case?
"This Chief Di is truly capable. He gathered the families of the missing children at the Zhenfu Division and inquired about the children's situation from them."

"After his investigation, he found that these were all middle-class families in the capital. The missing children all had one thing in common: they loved to play and make a fuss."

Su Ze asked in confusion, "What kind of characteristic is this?"

Shen Yiguan said, "Brother Zilin, you're a professional at submitting memorials, but when it comes to investigating cases, this Chief Di is the real professional."

"He discovered that these children were all playful and mischievous, but how did these traffickers know that?"

Dish then asked the neighbors who had lost their children, and they all complained that the children were too energetic and often played at night.

Su Ze asked doubtfully:
"Could it be one of the neighbors who did it?"

Shen Yiguan shook his head and said:
"How could that be? We're all neighbors, how could we make such a fuss over something so small?"

"Besides, the families who lost their children didn't live together."

"It can only be said that playful children are more likely to get lost, and these traffickers take advantage of this."

Su Ze nodded. Those reckless, wild kids who wouldn't listen to their parents during the lively Lantern Festival were indeed more likely to be abducted.

Targeting these types of children is indeed the easiest approach.

"Then Steward Di raised a question: how did these human traffickers know the characteristics of these children?"

Su Zeqi said:

"How did he reason it out?"

Shen Yiguan said:
"Brother Zilin, you use the word 'reasoning' very well. This Master Di started his thinking from here and finally came to the conclusion that only one profession could know the characteristics of these children." Su Ze thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out. He asked:

What profession allows someone to know about family matters?

Shen Yiguan said:
"Watchman".

"Because these children often play and make noise at night, the night watchmen know the commotion and know that these children love to play and make noise."

Goodness, Su Ze was convinced now. It's true that everyone has their own expertise.

"Steward Di began to investigate and found several suspicious watchmen. The Criminal Investigation Department of the Embroidered Uniform Guard immediately began to arrest them and quickly obtained clues."

“Before the New Year, a group of people bought this information from the night watchmen. The Criminal Division obtained a sketch of the suspect from the night watchmen.”

Having a sketch is a clue, but it's still a ways off from solving the case.

Shen Yiguan said again:

"The real challenge begins here. After obtaining the portrait, this Steward Di went to the almshouse."

The orphanage was a welfare institution in the capital that adopted orphans, but it was originally an institution that existed in name only.

After Su Ze started the newspaper, he found newspaper boys jobs for the children in the orphanage so that they could support themselves.

Su Ze arranged for students from the Imperial Academy to attend night school for the children at the Almshouse, enabling them to read and write. Naturally, he was very familiar with the Almshouse.

What are you going to the nursing home for?

Shen Yiguan said:
"This Master Di said that human traffickers usually disguise themselves as ordinary people, making them extremely difficult to identify, but there is a type of person who can spot them at a glance."

“Those are the children from the almshouse.”

Su Ze nodded repeatedly, Di Xu was right.

The children in the almshouse were all orphans who had to work as newspaper boys, selling newspapers together on the streets. They naturally had a set of street tricks, and if they couldn't identify human traffickers, they would have been kidnapped long ago.

"Sure enough, after receiving the portraits, Sun Mazi, the newsboy at the almshouse, recognized several of the people in them."

“Sun Mazi still remembers that these people often hung around a warehouse in the west of the city.”

"Upon receiving the news, the Imperial Guards and the patrol battalion immediately mobilized and raided the warehouse, successfully apprehending the human traffickers!"

"After the interrogation, these human traffickers, just as Master Di had predicted, had gotten information from the night watchman and staked out the area before the Lantern Festival began, disguising themselves as merchants to lure these children away."

"This time, the Major Crimes Division rescued forty-three abducted children and arrested more than thirty human traffickers. The people of the capital applauded the victory."

Shen Yiguan lowered his voice again and said:

"After the interrogation, it was revealed that this was not the first time these traffickers had committed crimes. They had been operating in the capital for two months, and had handled the trafficking of as many as a hundred children. However, these cases had been suppressed in the past."

Su Ze felt both relieved and furious. He felt relieved because these beasts had ruined countless families and were now finally brought to justice.

What's infuriating is that these people have been trying to overturn the verdict in the capital for so long. If it weren't for the chaos they caused during the Lantern Festival, who knows how much longer they would have continued to wreak havoc in the capital.

However, the fact that the case was solved so quickly and so many children were rescued is thanks to my timely letter and the stable operation of the system.

At this point, the system also popped up a settlement report.

The memorial entitled "Requesting Orders to Rectify Public Security in the Capital Region to Pacify the People and Strengthen the Foundation of the Nation" was passed, and the Emperor issued an edict to strictly investigate human trafficking in the capital.

The Imperial Guard's Major Crimes Division was mobilized, and with the assistance of Di Xu, a senior official in the Ministry of Justice, the case was solved in a single day.

[A human trafficking ring was apprehended, and the Shuntian Prefecture sentenced five ringleaders to death by a thousand cuts for the crime of harvesting and mutilating living people.]

The police force was mobilized again to conduct a focused crackdown on crime in the capital, improving public security.

The establishment of the new security system marked the beginning of the modern police system and increased the government's experience in maintaining order.

[National fortune +1.]

[Prestige +500.]

[Remaining Prestige: 1430.]

Such an action actually added one year to the dynasty's lifespan?

The lifespan of the Ming Dynasty is the lifespan of the Great Ming Dynasty, and it becomes increasingly difficult to increase it as time goes on.

Unfortunately, any system will eventually accumulate problems. The good policies that Su Ze is implementing today may become bad policies a hundred years from now.

However, if we follow this simulation, this case is indeed of profound significance.

Public security is indeed a very important issue.

Urban governance is a complex matter; it's a process where the righteous are always one step ahead of the wicked.

New crimes emerge in cities, and city administrators sometimes lag behind criminal organizations. However, with improvements in organizational structure and administrative capabilities, or the emergence of new technologies, city administrators are able to suppress criminals.

This is a spiral upward process.

Urban governance is also a complex matter. Managing a city with hundreds of thousands or even millions of people is much more difficult than managing a county.

As the largest city in the Ming Dynasty, the capital city's urban governance experience should naturally be applied to other cities.

Such progress in governance naturally stabilizes society and prolongs the lifespan of a nation.
-
The turmoil in the capital came and went quickly.

By the 23rd day of the first lunar month, the capital's attention had shifted.

At four o'clock in the morning, workers carried out the printed newspapers next to the newspaper printing press, and the waiting newsboys rushed forward and orderly divided up all the newspapers.

They stuffed the newspapers into their baskets, and then several newsboys gathered around the newsboy with a pockmarked face.

This newsboy was about fourteen or fifteen years old, and taller than the other newsboys around him.

One of the small newsboys held up a whale oil lamp to help him light the newspaper.

This newsboy was Sun Mazi. He sold newspapers faster than other newsboys because he could turn the contents of the newspapers into a newspaper-selling song and sing it while hawking his wares.

The other newsboys surrounded him, eager to memorize his newspaper-selling song.

After reading the newspaper, Sun Mazi began to sing:

"The head of the human traffickers deserves to be torn to pieces; he won't escape the execution by a thousand cuts!"

Fangshan Railway is now open! People are busy building bridges and paving roads!

Shandong is about to introduce a new commercial tax and hold examinations to recruit officials!

The academies welcome an inspector, who will now oversee the four major academies!
A military academy student? That's a good opportunity! Join the army in February!
The sea routes to Korea are turbulent; the ruthless Japanese pirates are robbing merchants again!

Those who could write were busy writing it down, while those who couldn't read tried their best to memorize it. However, Sun Mazi only said it once, and then he carried his newspaper basket and prepared to leave.

Just then, someone in the newspaper office suddenly waved to Sun Mazi.

Sun Mazi hesitated for a moment, then headed towards the newspaper office.

Upon seeing the person he was recruiting, he suddenly froze, and hurriedly tried to bow:
"Teacher."

The one waving was Su Ze. Because Su Ze had once taught newspaper boys at the almshouse, Sun Mazi always regarded him as a teacher.

Su Ze hasn't been to the almshouse for a long time now; the lectures are given by Su Ze's disciples at the Imperial Academy.

Hearing Sun Mazi call him his mentor made Su Ze very happy.

He beckoned Sun Mazi in and got straight to the point:

"You've made a great contribution in solving this major kidnapping case. I've asked the imperial court for a reward. What do you want?"

(End of this chapter)