Remember our website, wish you a pleasant reading! Don't forget to promote us more.

The world continues to turn as usual.

April 10th, April 11th... April 12th. Shortly after entering the side courtyard of the Yun Prefecture government office, Mandu Dalu encountered Gao Puhu and his group, who were hurrying out. The two groups confronted each other briefly. Gao Puhu, who looked like he hadn't slept well, bowed and stepped aside. After Mandu Dalu and his men passed, Gao's group scurried out of the yamen, his sleeves seemingly concealing a sesame cake, his breakfast.

"How's things with Lao Gao?"

After entering the public office assigned to the constables, Mandu Dalu waved away some people and spoke to his confidants: "He doesn't look too good."

"He probably got scolded. He was in such a hurry to leave that he hadn't even finished his cake," replied Mandu Dalu's old comrade-in-arms from his army days, nicknamed "Old Knife." He was tall, pockmarked, and skilled in both interrogation and observation. He had clearly noticed the cake in Gao Puhu's sleeve.

"These past two days, I heard they almost fought upstairs. The missing young master's father is no pushover. He's been running around everywhere. Last night, Liang Wang even took the opportunity to make things difficult for the Great Commander. I guess the Prefect was scolded too. If the Prefect got scolded, how could Gao Puhu have an easy time?"

A well-informed constable spoke up, and someone else laughed, "Good thing we're not involved."

There was a reason why they weren't involved. When Wanyan Xiyin promoted Mandu Dalu, he had already spoken to the Yun family. Right now, Mandu Dalu's most important task was to capture Black Flag spies and ensure the success of the martial arts tournament in May. Therefore, the matter of the missing nobleman didn't fall on them, for the time being.

Mandu Dalu thought for a moment: "Is there still no progress? Have we found anything? If it were a regular kidnapping, we should have received demands by now."

"The strange thing is the lack of demands. Actually, given Yun's current situation, who would dare risk trouble for money at this time? I'm afraid this is a deep water, maybe even the Dongbians did it themselves. A grown man, browsing antique shops, with bodyguards outside, suddenly vanishes. This whole thing smells fishy..."

"If it were the Black Flag, it's also possible..."

"It's possible, but... kidnap some nobles to make the two sides argue more? Risk exposing themselves? What good would that do...?"

After some discussion, Mandu Dalu said, "It's hard to say now. Keep investigating. If he can't catch the person, we will. That would be a great achievement."

April 12th passed peacefully, followed by April 13th. The affairs of the yamen were trivial and scattered. The pursuit of matters related to the Black Flag and the clowns continued. He knew that results would eventually appear, but for now, he could only accumulate information.

On the afternoon of the 13th, he suddenly received a summons from the Gushen Palace. Mandu Dalu hurried over, and Xiyin met him in the study. He asked briefly about his work, then shifted to another topic.

"Have you heard about Wanyan Linqi's matter?"

"Yes, sir..."

"Do you think it's possible the Black Flag did it?"

"Sir, I think... there is... a certain possibility... I have actually been secretly pursuing clues to this matter these past few days..." Mandu Dalu answered cautiously.

Xiyin nodded. "Investigate this matter more thoroughly." Then he waved his hand. "You may leave."

Mandu Dalu understood and, after leaving, mobilized his men to investigate the case in Gao Puhu's hands with all their might. His investigation was slightly delayed; most of the firsthand information was in Gao Puhu's hands, and he couldn't ask Gao Puhu directly. He could only have people inquire discreetly.

On the night of April 14th, the two groups met again on the road in the side courtyard of the yamen. Gao Puhu hesitated slightly, then stepped aside and bowed. This time his movements were much more decisive. Mandu Dalu walked past with his chin raised. After Gao Puhu's group disappeared into the corridor, Mandu Dalu, who had been walking forward, turned back and frowned slightly.

"Lao Gao has a problem," Old Knife, who was beside him, leaned closer and said in a low voice.

The two groups had long-standing grudges. A couple of days ago, Gao Puhu had been running around for Wanyan Linqi's case and had been scolded by the Prefect so badly that he hadn't even had time to finish his breakfast. When he saw Mandu Dalu, he reluctantly stepped aside. Tonight, although the light was dim, he seemed to be yielding the way as before, but the color of his face was clearly different.

Did he solve the case so quickly?

But why not publicize it?

Wasn't the court still arguing and bickering?

Mandu Dalu was suspicious. After a moment, he arranged for people to investigate Gao Puhu. On the other hand, he sent some people to the father of Wanyan Linqi's to observe and investigate to see if the kidnapped young noble had returned.

On April 15th, news came back. Wanyan Linqi had not returned, but the prison in the north of the city where Gao Puhu was currently located had increased its guards. He had probably caught someone.

The vast Yun Prefecture had more than just one prison near the yamen. The small prison in the north of the city had never been used much in the past. Later, it was mostly tacitly allowed to be used as a stronghold and private prison by the chief constable near the North Gate. Mandu Dalu hesitated for a moment, thinking of Xiyin's meeting with him two days ago. He immediately gathered his men and headed towards the North Gate.

The city sky was surging with thick white clouds, and sunlight, like a sharp sword, shot straight down from the gaps in the clouds. The streets were bustling with people coming and going, everything as usual. At this moment, the knife aimed at the West Palace had already pierced the heart of Yun.

In the afternoon, when Mandu Dalu arrived near the prison with its attached courtyard outside the North Gate of Yun Prefecture, he saw several squads of the Wang Family's private soldiers had already surrounded the area. Although they had not displayed any formal insignia, many passersby who knew which way the wind was blowing had already detoured.

"Something's wrong..." It felt like countless ants were crawling on the back of his head. Mandu Dalu instructed his men, "Go notify the Gushen, something's about to happen..."

*****************

After noon on April 15th, Wanyan Chang arrived at this courtyard with a prison outside the North Gate of Yun City. After entering a slightly larger hall, he saw Zong Bi and the other two Jurchen princes. Then two more princes arrived together.

"Zhanhan's place, holding court privately, isn't that inappropriate?" he questioned.

Zong Bi replied, "It's a big case. If we don't look at it privately, we can't try it."

Wanyan Chang arrived in Yun on the 8th. On the 9th, he learned that the younger Wanyan Linqi had been kidnapped. Since then, Zong Bi had been constantly making things difficult over this matter - this was not surprising. Since arriving in Yun in March, Zong Bi and Zong Han had been engaged in tense standoffs and conflicts every day. After all, they had come this time to divide the power of the West Palace. Wanyan Chang did not reject this inch-by-inch struggle.

From the afternoon of the 9th to the 15th, only a few days had passed. Zong Bi's side said that the case had already been solved and that the whole thing would even play a decisive role in this East-West dispute. Wanyan Chang was suspicious, but he could guess that the whole thing had probably affected the highest levels of Yun.

The old files brought up by the yamen runner were about half a foot high. At the top were several newly taken confessions, as well as some bloody knives, guns, tokens and other things as evidence. It was unknown where they had all come from. Afterwards, four prisoners and the rescued young noble Wanyan Linqi were brought up.

The trial began in front of the Jurchen princes.

The whole thing wasn't complicated.

One of the four prisoners, a member of the Black Flag Army, colluded with a woman from the Gushen Palace to kidnap Wanyan Linqi on the afternoon of the 9th. When Chief Constable Gao Puhu found them, the woman from the Gushen Palace escaped in the confusion, while the Black Flag Army member was caught. After being severely tortured for half a day, this Black Flag Army member confessed a series of shocking inside stories:

Over the past ten years, Chen Jun, the "Han Madam" of the Gushen Palace, had relied on her status to pass important information from the Jin Kingdom to the South for a long time. She first colluded with the Military Intelligence Division of the Wu Dynasty, and later, while cooperating with the Wu Dynasty, she also formed an alliance with the Huaxia Army.

After the original territory was lost, this "Han Madam" not only passed countless important intelligence to the South, but also directly or indirectly helped a large number of anti-Jin righteous people and Black Flag members escape danger in the Jin Kingdom. It was the important news she passed that helped the Black Flag Army in the South to find out the truth of the Jin Dynasty's fourth southern invasion. The confession stated that without the help of this information, the Huaxia Army would probably have had to struggle several times harder to win the Southwest War.

According to the confession of this Black Flag member, Gao Puhu also uncovered a large amount of evidence he had preserved regarding the transmission of information and the arrangement for Han slaves or prisoners to escape. He then captured three underworld figures who had been involved and who had not had time to escape, further corroborating the authenticity of all this information. Some of the clues even faintly pointed to the Gushen, Wanyan Xiyin, who had always admired Han learning...

Wanyan Chang and the others flipped through these confessions and evidence. One clue after another pieced together to form a net of words and stories. After a long time, Wanyan Chang put down the file, slammed his hand on the table, and stood up.

"It just so happens that the evidence was all prepared after being caught. None of the important figures from the Black Flag and the Wu Dynasty appear in these confessions, leaving only these three ruffians to corroborate these things... What kind of scheme are you playing!"

He approached the Black Flag member of the four prisoners. The man kneeling on the ground was covered in blood and thin. His hands hung on the ground. Only up close could he see that the nails of all ten fingers had been removed, and his flesh was a bloody mess. Wanyan Chang raised his foot and stepped on his right hand. The man screamed and fell to the ground, convulsing and wailing. Blood and saliva were flowing from his mouth.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

The sound of crying echoed throughout the room.

The Black Flag prisoner did not answer, but Wanyan Zong Bi stood up: "Uncle, is that important?"

Wanyan Chang looked back at Zong Bi, then looked at the eyes of the other four. After a moment, he sighed slightly.

"...It's not important anymore."

He released his foot and walked outside. Outside, the sky was filled with leisurely white clouds. The Black Flag prisoner lying in the pool of blood. His right hand, which had had all its fingernails ripped off, began to bleed again. He was just lying there, looking outside, and crying a few more times with blood and saliva flowing from his mouth. The three prisoners next to him were all well-known thugs in Yun, their eyes were full of hatred for him, but no one dared to approach him, seeing him twitching on the ground.

"Ah ah ah... hehehehe..."

He seemed to have lost his mind. After the pain, he laughed a few times, which made people's hair stand on end.

*****************

Mandu Dalu still did not know what had happened. All afternoon and evening, he was constantly running around outside.

After discovering that the guards outside the prison were unusual, he knew that things had gotten out of his control. He quickly sent people to notify the Gushen. However, the people he sent over returned shortly after and reported that the Gushen was not at the palace. Even if he was at the palace, many officials visited every day, and some small constables simply could not cut in line to report the matter.

In the evening, he recognized Zong Bi's figure in the crowd coming out from over there. He quickly turned his head and went to the Gushen Palace himself. As time gradually entered night, he waited here until nearly midnight before Xiyin's carriage appeared on the road outside. Mandu Dalu no longer cared about etiquette at this time and rushed directly to the carriage, loudly asking to see him.

The convoy stopped, and Wanyan Xiyin opened the curtain on that side and motioned for Mandu Dalu to come over and talk. Mandu Dalu reported what he had seen in the afternoon. The old man in the carriage had a serious and cold expression. After Mandu Dalu finished speaking, he slowly, with a somewhat complicated expression, looked at him for a moment.

"I know," he said, "You go back."

"..."

Mandu Dalu was slightly stunned, but then the carriage started and he bowed and stepped aside.

It was now late at night. Mandu Dalu returned to the yamen with questions and met with two companions who had not yet dispersed. One of them told him that a relative from his family had come in the afternoon and asked him to go to his cousin's house immediately, because something seemed to have happened to someone. Mandu Dalu no longer had the mood to care about distant relatives at this time. He waved his hand and threw the matter to the back of his mind. Then he gritted his teeth and took out the night clothes he had used before from the yamen.

The group of three drove to the north of the city again, changed their clothes near the prison, and climbed over the wall from one side of the courtyard. The three of them had all served as scouts in the army, and now they were all public servants, so they were skilled in sneaking in. When they arrived at the prison, they knocked out the two people guarding the night and went to the innermost part of the prison, which had been basically emptied of prisoners.

The innermost prison was also the most important. They investigated along the corridor. There were still lights inside, and two jailers were sitting there eating and chatting. Mandu Dalu quickly charged in, knocking one of them unconscious before he could react, and pointing the blade at the other's neck at the same time.

His comrade-in-arms Old Knife also came over immediately and subdued the jailer.

At this point, Mandu Dalu had time to look around the surrounding prison cells. There were a total of four prisoners locked up in the innermost part, all of whom were kept separate. He even recognized one of the prisoners in the left prison who had been tortured. He frowned, searched for the key, and approached.

"Shan Gou, what's going on? How did you get in here?"

The man nicknamed Shan Gou was an information peddler in the past, and there was even some private friendship between the two. At this time, although Mandu Dalu was still wearing a mask, the other party listened to the voice, looked carefully, and rushed towards him quickly. He grabbed Mandu Dalu's clothes through the bars of the prison, his voice low and urgent.

"Something's going to happen, something's going to happen, we've all been tricked, that Black Flag beast..."

"Black Flag what?" Mandu Dalu grabbed the other person's hand.

Shan Gou pointed to the innermost prison. The prisoner in the prison with half his body covered in blood was different from the other three. He had no curiosity about the scene of someone rushing in. He just sat quietly on the straw, leaning against the wall behind him, looking at a small window on the wall on the side, watching the starlight that seeped in from there.

He seemed to be humming something softly.

"That guy is from the Black Flag... it's a plan... the East and West Palaces are going to fight, there won't be a martial arts tournament..."

"What nonsense are you talking about? How could they fight?"

"He exposed the Han Madam, the evidence is solid, she can't escape, the Gushen can't escape either... he exposed the Han Madam..."

Mandu Dalu listened to the other person's voice, and the surroundings suddenly seemed to quiet down a little. The sentence "He exposed the Han Madam" echoed in his mind, settling down into reality. Something was churning in his stomach, as if he was about to vomit. He remembered Wanyan Xiyin's eyes on the street not long ago. Then he let go of "Shan Gou's" hand and quickly walked towards the prison cell. He took out the key and was about to open the room where the Black Flag prisoner was! He wanted to end the other person with one strike!

The lock was opened, softly, with a "click" sound. He heard what the young man in the prison was humming, and then there was a sound from behind.

"—Killing him is useless, sir."

People were coming over one after another on the prison side, led by Gao Puhu. One by one, they all had crossbows in their hands. Mandu Dalu took two steps and pointed his long knife at the prisoner's head. He heard the other person seemed to hum something in his throat...

"...Live on the shore."

Turning his head, Gao Puhu walked over with his arms open: "The scene has already passed in front of the princes! The evidence is as high as a mountain! Come, sir, you are the Patrol Inspector promoted by Lord Gushen himself. Now kill him with one strike and kill the witness for Lord Gushen!"

Mandu Dalu hesitated for a moment. The two comrades outside had already assumed a defensive posture. Gao Puhu didn't care and walked straight into the prison.

Mandu Dalu held the knife against the Black Flag prisoner, his eyes fixed on Gao Puhu: "This beast really... bit the Gushen?"

Gao Puhu smiled: "If it weren't for him, we really wouldn't know that it was because of the Gushen that we lost so much news in the West Route Army and that so many people died in the Southwest."

"Do you know that without the Gushen, my Great Jin..."

Mandu Dalu gritted his teeth, one word at a time, but before he could finish speaking, the Black Flag prisoner who was being held by his knife seemed to slowly raise his head and said in a hoarse voice: "Man, Du, Da, Lu?"

Mandu Dalu turned his head to look at him. The face of this Huaxia Army prisoner sitting on the ground was bruised and swollen, his hands were a bloody mess, and he seemed to have been tortured in his clothes. In the messy hair, only the tired eyes could reflect a little light. He quietly looked at him, and then said hoarsely: "You killed Lu Mingfang, right?"

"...It was me, so what?"

"I've been thinking about how to take revenge on you." The Huaxia Army prisoner's words were straightforward. Here, he turned his head away and continued to look at the starlight coming in from the small window above, "Later I investigated, you have a son..."

"Son..." Mandu Dalu frowned. Gao Puhu, who was next to him, seemed a little surprised when he heard the prisoner's voice at the moment. He looked at the other party, then at Mandu Dalu: "He doesn't have a son..."

"He retired from the army and became a constable. He offended many people in order to gain merit and advance, so he didn't dare to have children. In fact, he had one and sent it to your distant cousin's house to raise. He said it was the posthumous child of a comrade-in-arms. You rarely go to see him. Now he's eleven years old and he really looks a bit like you..."

His eyes looked at Mandu Dalu again, "You're busy with work, so go see him more after you get out. I've arranged everything for you. Lu Mingfang's matter, we're even..."

These words were calm, which made both Mandu Dalu and Gao Puhu stunned slightly. Mandu Dalu suddenly remembered what his companion in the yamen had told him about his distant cousin coming over at midnight... He heard laughter echoing softly in his ears.

"Hehehehe... hehehehehehehehehehe..." The Huaxia Army prisoner, with the tip of the knife against his forehead, looked at Mandu Dalu and gradually began to laugh. The laughter changed from low to high, making the gloomy prison seem like a ghost realm. He only heard him laughing: "Hehehehehahahahaha... Look, look at his eyes, hahahahahahaha, Xiao Gao, Xiao Gao, have you seen it, Mandu, haha... Dalu, hahahaha... Look at him, everyone, look quickly, is he about to cry..."

The "Xiao Gao" in his mouth was naturally Gao Puhu, who was now like a child who had discovered an interesting toy. He ignored whether the tip of the knife was against his head and couldn't help but reach out to grab Gao Puhu's trouser leg. Mandu Dalu trembled in his hand, and Gao Puhu pounced over, snatched the knife from his hand. The two exchanged blows a few times in the prison cell. The Huaxia Army prisoner ignored the flashing knives and swords and was still laughing on the ground.

"Hahahahaha, Mandu Dalu, your son's eyes are so much like yours... Beat him to death, kill him, hurry out and see your son, if you're late, I don't know if he'll still have eyes, hahahahahahaha, fight, you guys fight——"

Gao Puhu took Mandu Dalu's knife and kicked the Huaxia Army prisoner, whose laughter was strange and eerie, into the corner. His body curled up into a ball, and he was still panting and laughing on the ground, his laughter still humming an incomparably strange melody.

"Huhuhehehehe, a big river... wide waves... Mandu Dalu... cough cough, can't get ashore, hehehehehehehehehe... a big river..."

This was perhaps the last thing that made him happy. Starlight shone in from the tiny window, the lights in the prison cell flickered, projecting the shadows of everyone on the gloomy walls. Gao Puhu was stunned for a moment in this strange atmosphere, and finally stood between the prisoner and Mandu Dalu. Mandu Dalu seemed to freeze for a while, then he slowly peeled off the black mask from his face, glanced at everyone, and walked straight out of the prison cell.

They had sneaked in privately, and a group of constables were originally going to arrest them, but at this moment, everyone knew about Mandu Dalu's son, and they couldn't help but look at each other. Gao Puhu was embarrassed for a while, and finally waved his hand and told people to get out of the way. After Mandu Dalu's figure walked away, he waved his hand and said in a low voice: "My condolences..."

"Hahahahahaha——" His side, the mad laughter burst out: "My condolences, hahahahaha, Xiao Gao you're so good at talking hahahahaha, my condolences hahahahaha, look, I like you—— don't hit... cough cough cough cough..."

This unbridled laughter spread far into Mandu Dalu's ears. The veins on his forehead popped out, and he was about to grab his knife and kill his way back regardless, but he finally gave up. He hurriedly left the prison and hurried to the place where his cousin lived...

[Hint]: If you think this article is good, please recommend it to more friends! Sharing is also a kind of enjoyment.