Chapter 45 Chapter 22

There was a noisy voice in Shengming temple, and the yamen servants carrying the red lanterns of "Puyang Zhengtang" rushed back and forth.Di Gong went to the big bell hall and saw Hong Canjun and Qiao Tai instructing the servants to hang the big bronze bell in the hall.Hong Canjun is in good spirits, and Di Gong is very relieved. When Hong joined the army, Qiao Tai was very surprised to see Di Gong suddenly appearing in front of the big bronze bell, and hurriedly asked Duan about it.Di Gong then told them in detail how he and Ma Rong captured Lin Fan and how they broke through the secret of the iron gate.In the end, he ordered Qiao Tai to say: "At this moment, take a few soldiers and rush to Lin Fan's farm quickly, and arrest all the farmers there, and don't miss any of them."

Qiao Tai excitedly agreed, ordered more than a dozen nimble hands, bid farewell to Di Gong, and Hong Liang hurried to the north gate. The big bronze bell was already hanging in the air, and Duke Di lowered his head to see that the bones of the corpse under the bronze bell were broken and scattered in a mess. ——When they struggled desperately under the bronze bell, they forgot to take care of the corpse.Di Gong ordered the leader of the yamen: "You clean up the pile of bones properly, and sift the dust on the ground carefully. Even if it is a small thing, you have to bring it to the yamen to have a look at it. After this matter, Leave four people here to guard here, and the rest will go over there to search Lin Fan's mansion." ""

Di Gong and Hong Canjun left Shengming Temple, took sedan chairs and went back to the prefectural office first.After an hour, the sky dawned. Di Gong washed up in a hurry, brewed a cup of fragrant tea and was sipping it, Qiao Tai and Ma Rong went to the Neiya study to report. Ma Rong said that he had taken Lin Fan, the chief manager, the housekeeper and a house slave to the state prison. Qiao Tai said, he detained all the people on Lin Fan's farm, and temporarily handed them over to the local Lijia for supervision, and only took the owner of a boat outside the farm into prison.He said that he saw some rough-headed peasants in the farm, but the captain turned the rudder in an attempt to escape with the boat.

After a while, the leader of the yamen servant went into the study to report that Liang Kefa's body had been stored in a wooden box, and the dust under the bronze bell was carefully sifted, but nothing was found.After that, they searched Lin's house inside and out, and carefully looked at the underground waterway used for smuggling. Duke Di nodded and said, "Now go to Banyue Street and invite Mrs. Liang to the yamen." The leader of the yamen servant promised to step down.Di Gong also ordered the old scribe to send Lin Fan's case file and a book of brokerage to the study.

After a long while, the old scribe moved Lin Fan's case files and all the land deeds, written receipts, ticket slips, and account books found in the Lin house into the study.According to the report, he has checked the certificate and house plan when Lin Fan bought the house from a broker named Ma two years ago.At that time, there was only a wall between the house and Shengming Temple, and there was no tunnel to pass through, and there was no big iron gate.Soon Shengming Temple was closed down by the government, Mr. Feng, and Lin Fan dug the tunnel secretly, and built the big iron gate, thinking that he was a rabbit's den.I just don't know why this waterway can be dug out within two years.

Di Gongdao: "This is not only a cunning rabbit's den to hide from Mrs. Liang's eyes and ears, but also facilitates his smuggling of salt in Puyang. The salt boats in the underground waterway can go straight out of the north water gate and connect with the smuggling boats outside his farm." The old scribe resigned, and Tao Gan accompanied the forerunner sent by Captain Li Hutou into the inner yamen.The first officer handed over a letter to Duke Di, Duke Di opened it up and saw that the bandits in Linpu had been wiped out, and Li Hutou headed back to the army town of Puyang.Di Gong had a satisfied smile on his face.He told the official first: "You go back to Junzhen first. When Li Duwei returns to Puyang, I will personally come to Yuanmen to reward the three armies."

The first officer bid farewell and left.Di Gong and Tao Gan didn't exchange a few words, the clerk on duty came to report: Mrs. Liang has arrived at the yamen, and she is waiting in the outer hall. Di Gong ordered Mrs. Liang to be sent to the study immediately. Mrs. Liang was dressed very neatly and walked into the study with a restless expression.After meeting Di Gong, he respectfully said Wanfu, and saluted to his left and right followers. Di Gong let him sit down and ordered tea.One side opened his mouth and said: "Mrs. Liang, the evidence of Lin Fan's murder has been found! This is a crime he committed in Puyang, and this hall has to ask."

Mrs. Liang was shocked: "Did you find Liang Kefa's body?" Di Gongdao: "Whether the body is Liang Kefa or not, it cannot be identified. All we found was a set of bones." Mrs. Liang hurriedly said: "Is there any trace of breaking and joining under the left shoulder of the corpse?" Di Gong was surprised: "Sure enough, there are traces of breaking and rejoining, but the joint is very bad, almost half an inch off." Madam Liang immediately burst into tears, beating her chest and weeping, "Poor child! Sure enough, I was plotted against by that thief! When Lin Fan learned that we had arrived in Puyang, he had this evil idea."

Hong Canjun hurriedly handed over a cup of hot tea, Madam Liang took a sip, then slowly recovered and sat down. Di Gongdao: "Mrs. Liang, your 20-year grievance will soon be cleared. Even if your grandson is dead, he will not come back. I just want to ask, when you and Liang Kefa were in your family's farm How did he escape with his life from the hands of the bandits." Mrs. Liang heard the words, touched the old pain, and turned to think about the pain, her expression was dazed, her whole body trembled, and her eyes shot out horror. "Ah! . . . It was terrible! I dare not think about it any more. Sir, if you..." She swayed, her eyes closed, her heart beating wildly.Di Gong hurriedly signaled Hong Liang to take her out of the study and go to the Liangxuan in the outer hall for a moment of peace.

Tao Gan was half suspicious, and couldn't help asking: "My lord, what does the section about how Mrs. Liang and Liang Ke escaped from the farm when the bandits attacked have anything to do with this case?" Di Gongdao: "There are a few details in this section that I am still puzzled about, but let's not discuss it for now. Tao Gan, do you think it is appropriate for us to accuse Lin Fan of this crime?" Tao Gan said: "In my opinion, sue him for murdering Liang Kefa. This murder is the most serious crime, and with the evidence of the bones, he can sue Lin Fan in one fell swoop; there is no need to entangle the smuggling of salt and stealing the bronze bell to assassinate the master. Wait for other episodes."

Staff Officer Hong, Qiao Tai, and Ma Rong all nodded their heads, but Mr. Di didn't answer.He raised his thick eyebrows, remained silent, and said for a while, "It seems that Lin Fan has wiped out all the evidence of the crime of smuggling salt. We can't get his stolen goods, so it's hard to imagine his smuggling crime. I think it's the most ready-made." The pleading is 'attempting to kill the imperial court official', this one charge alone is enough to kill him according to the criminal code, it is very simple." Tao Gan asked: "Isn't the case of Liang Kefa's murder almost revealed? What can he deny? It is also a clear text of the criminal code that murder is regarded as death." Di Gong shook his head slowly: "Lin Fan will never easily admit that he killed Liang Kefa. We couldn't prove what happened two years ago, and we couldn't convince him. And at that time, there were Taoists in Shengming Temple, and those Taoists It was also because of many crimes that he was banned by Feng Xianggong. Lin Fan can quibble that since Liang Kefa died under the big bronze bell of Shengming Temple, how could he know that he was not killed by a Taoist? What's more, there are Shen Ba and his gang outside Shengming Temple who are not doing business properly and stealing chickens Rascal of a dog." Ma Rong interjected impatiently: "Why bother to sue him for a long time? You just need to trap him with a stick. In a short time, he smuggled salt, killed Liang Kefa, and even set a bronze bell to plot against us last night. All in one mind. Recruited, why so many twists and turns?" Di Gongdao: "No way. This Lin Fan is an old man. I saw that he is weak and old. How can he stand up to the severe punishment? If he can't endure it and dies under the hall, how to deal with it? Sentences can only move the burly manager, that is an extremely ferocious jackal. Ma Rong, now you and Hong Liang and Tao Gan go to the Lin residence to search carefully, and try to find one or two new criminal evidences. You won’t be afraid of his sophistry or denial in the lobby.” Ma Rong was ordered to leave the inner office with Hong Liang and Tao Gan, and ordered the servants to go to Lin's house without asking.Suddenly the jailer walked into the study in a state of exasperation and reported: "Master, it's not good, the head of the Lin residence wiped his neck in the prison." Di Gong was startled: "What's going on? Tell me quickly!" The jailer stammered and said: "The chief manager asked the little forbidden son about Lin Yu's news as soon as he was put in the prison. The little forbidden man said that Lin Fan had been captured alive, and the master was waiting to be promoted to the court for trial. He listened He secretly wiped his neck, but who knows that there is a thin-edged knife hidden in his silk shoes and clean socks." Di Gong sighed and said: "The rest of the criminals must be taken care of, and search them all with me, so as not to follow the example of the chief executive. ——When I hold a trial here, all the witnesses are turned into corpses, what's the matter? " The warden took orders, bid farewell to Duke Di and hurried back to the prison without mentioning it. As soon as the prison guard left, the old scribe walked into the study with several dilapidated scrolls of mountains and rivers in his arms, and reported: "My lord, I have already looked up the humble post, but the waterway in the Lin house turned out to be ancient. Fan just did some dredging work." He opened one of the scrolls and pointed to an ancient dungeon in the northwest of Puyang to show Di Gong. After seeing it, Mr. Di couldn't help nodding his head frequently. ——Lin Fan is dredging that underground waterway to traffic in illegal salt! Qiao Tai said: "Master, why don't you sue him for selling illegal salt? I don't understand why the master is unwilling to pursue Lin Fan over Liang Kefa's death." Di Gong glanced at Qiao Tai and said, "Qiao Tai, he may have seen my heart. Now I have a strange idea, even I can't quite believe it. Whether this idea is right or wrong, at this moment It's urgent, I'll talk to you later when I have some free time."