Chapter 34 The Temple of Jiuguan Emperor suddenly became haunted

The people living around the Guandi Temple are all poor people: some do small business, some help others, some pick up junk, some catch fish and shrimp, some beg for food, some do petty theft. A microcosm of the slums in Tianjin.During these two nights, the well-endowed Guandi Temple suddenly became haunted.When they got up early in the morning, people were in piles, discussing in panic. "Fifth Grandma, did you hear that last night? A woman cried most of the night by the river!" "I heard it, I heard it. My uncle was so courageous that he even ran out of the door to have a look. The ghost was tall and tall, with yellow hair draped over his shoulders, crying and complaining. My uncle came back and said that the female ghost was probably killed He didn't understand a word of the foreign language that the hacked foreign woman spoke."

"Fifth grandma, third aunt." A man missing an arm spoke, "Not just last night, the female ghost was also crying the night before. The crying time was shorter, and I could hear it clearly." "What's wrong with this!" Fifth Grandma sighed, "That foreign female ghost is still alive, and she will cry every night." "It's easy to deal with just crying, but I'm afraid she will find a substitute!" The man without an arm said to the third aunt, "It is said that when a ghost finds a substitute, he always finds someone who is similar to her. The female ghost is in her thirties. Find a woman in her thirties."

"Don't talk nonsense!" The third aunt was just in her thirties, and she was very scared. "She is a foreigner, so she can't find a Chinese as a substitute!" "If you can't find foreigners, you have to find Chinese people." The man without an arm said solemnly.The third aunt was even more frightened. "I don't think it was a good person who hacked these foreigners to death that day, but probably a villain with a trowel face." Fifth Grandma said in a low voice, pointing to the small shed in front of her. "I don't think he is a good person. A good person would not steal gold from foreigners." The third aunt agreed. "Hey, his fourth uncle, I heard that the yamen has issued a notice that a reward of fifty taels of silver will be given to one who informs! There were five people that day, why don't you go and collect the two hundred and fifty taels of silver and make a fortune!"

"Why don't I want to!" said the man with the missing arm, "Don't dare, the people from the Water and Fire Society found out, and the guy I ate with moved away. Besides, I don't know those five people." "Oh!" Grandma Fifth sighed. "To kill a foreigner is to kill a foreigner. It is wrong for a passing foreigner to be killed for no reason. No wonder she wants to cry. I don't know when she will cry. There will be no peace in the future." "Grandma, catch the murderer and avenge her, she will stop crying, and the place will be peaceful." A stranger interjected.

The fifth grandma looked back, and there was a white and clean middle-aged man standing behind him, with a big gourd hanging from his waist.The fifth grandma was overjoyed: "You are Mr. Langzhong! My grandson has had a stomachache for two days, and cried all night last night. He closed his eyes a little earlier. Please take a look." "Okay, you lead the way!" The doctor followed the fifth grandma for more than ten steps, and came to the door of a house made of broken bark. As soon as the fifth grandma opened the door, the little grandson on the bed burst into tears.The fifth grandma hurried to the bed, rubbed the child's belly, and said distressedly: "Be good, don't cry, grandma has invited a doctor for you, just take the medicine and you will be fine."

The doctor went to the bed, touched the child's stomach, touched his forehead, told him to stick out his tongue, and said with a smile: "Grandma, it's okay, the child has roundworms in his stomach. I have ready-made meatballs here, you Pour a bowl of water, coax the child to eat two pills, and it will be fine." As he spoke, he took out a paper bag from his cuff, and took out two white balls from the paper bag and handed it to Grandma Fifth.The fifth grandma coaxed the child to swallow it with water.Sure enough, the child stopped complaining of stomach pain.The fifth grandma gently rubbed the child's belly, and the child slowly fell asleep in the grandma's arms.

The doctor said: "I will give you four more pills, and you will give your child two pills at noon and evening, and each time two pills will kill all the worms in the stomach, and there will be no more stomachaches." The fifth grandma said gratefully: "Thank you very much, how much do you want?" As she spoke, she took out a black cloth bag from under the mat on the bed. "Grandma, this medicine is not worth a lot of money, so give it to you!" "How can this be done? You are such a good person!" Fifth Grandma was very moved. "Let me make you a bowl of tea!"

"Grandma, don't be busy, I'll just sit down and leave." Grandma Fifth picked up an unfinished shoe sole and sat by the door with the doctor. "Please go back to grandma, is it true that the female ghost crying you just said? It's scary." The doctor asked. "Why not?" Fifth Grandma said solemnly, "The foreigners who were beaten to death in the church were not wronged, those foreign devils deserved to die. These foreigners, to be honest, were wronged; when they died, the gold chains and rings on their bodies They were all robbed." "Grandma, what kind of people were those who beat the foreigners to death?" the doctor asked.

"They're all bastards, people in their teens and twenties, not from the neighborhood, and we haven't seen them before." The fifth grandma recalled while taking out the soles of the shoes. "Grandma, does anyone around here recognize them?" "I guess those few people are not good people. No decent person will recognize them. We have a few green skins here. Let's see if they know them." "What are the names of these green skins?" "I don't know what their names are. A nickname is Brick Face, and they live in the room in front." Fifth Grandma pointed to the front with the sole of her shoe. "There is another one named Er Ganzi who lives opposite the face of the trowel. There is another named Xiao Taisui who lives behind Er Ganzi's house. These three green skins are all associated with dishonest people, maybe they know about it."

The doctor and the fifth grandma talked some more gossips, told her not to miss the medicine for the little grandson, and then left. This doctor is Zhao Liewen, and he pretended to be the female ghost who sat by the river crying last night and the night before.He learned early today from the crowds of people discussing in three places that day that five young men killed three foreigners with knives and guns, and took away a gold watch, a gold necklace, and three rings. .People around Guandi Temple said that these people were not good people.He reported these situations to Zeng Guofan in detail.

"Send 30 soldiers tonight to arrest the trowel face, Er Ganzi, and Xiao Taisui, and I will interrogate them myself," Zeng Guofan instructed. In the middle of the night, the three Qingpis were all brought to the brightly lit Minglun Hall.Zeng Guofan, sitting under the portrait of the most holy teacher, opened his left eye and looked. One face was long and narrow, the other was tall and thin, and the other had a pointed and small head.It's all nonsense!Thinking to himself, he slammed the gavel and shouted, "Kneel down!" The three Qingpis were startled, their legs softened involuntarily, and they knelt down together. "It was revealed that the five gangsters who killed foreigners in the Guandi Temple last month were related to you, and you have done it in front of the Governor!" The three Qingpis were petrified.The trowel face moved his knees a step forward, and said with a mournful face: "My lord, I really don't know those people!" Little Tai Sui also kowtowed and said, "Young ones don't know." Er Ganzi lowered his head and remained silent.Seeing it, Zeng Guofan understood a little, and slapped the gavel again. "The governor made it clear to you that Xu Hanlong, the leader of the Water and Fire Society, has been arrested, and the Water and Fire Society has also been banned. Don't be afraid of the revenge of the Water and Fire Society. If you tell the truth and the murderer is caught, the Governor will reward you." "Master, tell me the younger one." Just as Zeng Guofan finished speaking, Er Ganzi began, "Of the five people, the younger one recognizes one, and his name is Tian Laoer." "where do you live?" "Hedong Tianjiazhuang." "Who is he?" "In his twenties, he works as a farmer at home, but he never grows crops, he only hangs around outside." "Are you right?" "It's not wrong. Tian Laoer was burned to ashes, and even the younger ones can recognize him." "Go down, I will reward you with five taels of silver first, and after you catch the murderer, you can come to the governor to receive the reward." Tian Laoer was caught.As soon as the gavel slapped, he was so frightened that he confessed them all.The gangsters, Xiang Wu, Zhang Guoshun, and Duan Qifa were all arrested and brought to justice. At the same time, some people came to the Confucian Temple to report for five taels of silver, so more than 30 people were arrested.None of these people admitted to killing foreigners, and there was nothing to serve as circumstantial evidence. Zeng Guofan was unable to settle their case.However, he is still satisfied, at least there are eight people in the group of Xu Hanlong, Liu Aizi, Feng Laizi, and Tian Laoer, who have all confessed and can be punished as murderers.He intends to deal with the case in this way: rebuild the church, bury the great cause, and behead the eight murderers.He reported this idea to the court.In order to prevent accidents, the imperial court was also secretly requested to transfer Li Hongzhang, who was in Shaanxi and Gansu, to lead troops to Zhili, and to move the 9,000 Ming troops stationed in Zhili eastward to Zhang Qiu. The memorial will come back soon.The Shangyu agreed with the deployment of Zhili troops, but was dissatisfied with the fact that he only killed eight people, and asked: "Foreigners killed nearly 20 people, and China only killed eight people. How to explain to other countries?"Strictly order him not to be a little leniency.Zeng Guofan was very embarrassed: although the foreigners said that nearly twenty people died, some died of random punches, and some died of fire. What about the punch?We can't kill all these 30 people! The decree had already embarrassed him enough, but unexpectedly, things that made him even more embarrassed came one after another.