The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 48: The South City Gang

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty. 《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 48: The South City Gang

Wang Zhi also lost his composure and stood up: "What's going on!"


The men were ashamed and said, "When we followed the little girl all the way to Tofu Chan Alleyway, there was a fight in front of the shop next to us, and the people gathered around to see it, but they distanced us from the little girl, and by the time we caught up with her, she was nowhere to be seen!"

Wang Zhi cursed: "Wasteful! Idiot! What's the use of raising you! Go and find them!"

Zhu Yong's youngest daughter and Geng's granddaughter were nowhere to be found, and he took one of Tang Fan's sisters with him.

But Tang Fan said, "Wait!"

He said of the Western Depot, "Can you still find the man who fought then?"

The Western Depot said, "Our people are there."

Tang Fan said, "Please bring those two back for questioning, in case it's not a coincidence, maybe it's a clue."

Then the Western Depot men didn't answer but looked at Wang Zhi first.

That's normal, their boss is Wang Zhi, not Tang Fan, why should they listen to an outsider?

The Western Depot is famous, but now they have screwed up a big mistake, and it's a big mistake if it was a case of shooting geese all the time, but now it's a case of being blinded by them.

Wang Zhi's face was unpleasant, Tang Fan's face was even more unpleasant.

The former was so bad that he couldn't talk to Tang Fan and the latter was so anxious that he couldn't talk to Wang Zhi and left the Xianyun Restaurant in a hurry.

But he didn't plan to look for A-Dong himself but went straight to the Five Cities Military Department.

This year, the Shuntian Prefecture and the Jinyiwei are in charge of the regular inspection, and Sui Zhou, who is in charge of the Jinyiwei, does not need to be there himself but is in charge of the Five Cities Military Department so that he can find someone at the first opportunity in case something happens to him.

Tang Fan knew this too, so he could find someone quickly.

After greeting the others, he told Sui Zhou about it.

Sui Zhou's face tensed up as soon as he heard about A-Dong being the bait.

He had just heard about the disappearance of Zhu Yong's daughter and Geng's grandson just before Tang Fan's arrival, but he wasn't responsible for it, so he was still inside the Five Cities Military Department. But now, when Tang Fan spoke about A-Dong, he couldn't help it.

"How long ago was this?" Sui Zhou asked.

"I came straight from the Xianwei, about half an hour ago." Tang Fan said.

Sui Zhou nodded his head and didn't say anything, and then took Xue Ling and the others out.

Tang Fan asked: "Where are you going now?"

On finding someone the Jinyiwei is naturally more professional than him.

Sui Zhou said: "Go to the city tower first."

Tang Fan's eyes lit up and he could see farther and clearer from the top of the city building.

The group took a shortcut and hurried to the city tower.

The Yongdingmen Tower was directly in the middle of the city's main road, and the low buildings were not enough to hide from the view, and the surrounding streets were clearly visible.

From tonight onwards, the entire capital will be working all night for the upcoming Lantern Festival, the biggest festival of the year, and the lanterns will last until the day after the Lantern Festival. The streets inside and outside are bustling with people, with laughter coming from underneath.

The people of the outer counties of the capital also took advantage of the festivals to visit the capital, which made the city far more populous than usual, and you could see people everywhere.

But underneath this flourishing scene of song and dance, there was also a dark current. These are the days when families are out and about, and when thieves who break in and steal, and traffickers who traffick in human beings, are most at home.

That's why every year after the Lantern Festival, there's a sharp increase in the number of lawsuits filed against the court.

A-Dong, a little girl, has been drowned in the hundreds of thousands of people, all the heads are high and low, and even a thousand eyes clairvoyant can't find her.




Tang Fan knew there was no use to hurry, so he calmed down and joined Sui Zhou to observe the people below.

Looking at things from up above and, many details were immediately apparent.

Those who were molesting their wives, those who were disguised as men, and those who were arguing with their companions, though they could not hear what they were saying from a distance, were able to spot it very quickly from a high place.

Sui Zhou and several they were watching from several places, and when they all felt their necks were stiff and sore for half an hour, they heard Xue Ling say, "Brother, look over there!"

And all the people looked where he was pointing, and there in front of a shop stood a child of four or five years old, sucking his fingers, looking at a vendor selling sugar gourds not far from him, there was a man who waved to him, and he came out by himself, and the elders who had brought him out, not knowing whether they were picking at the shop or not, did not notice the child being called away.

The child was three or four paces away from the sugar gourd vendor when a man suddenly appeared from the side of the road and took a sugar gourd to the child and holding his hand. The child was attracted to the sugar gourd and was soon led away by the man who gave the child the sugar.

The sugar gourd peddler, watching the scene, did not say a word, thinking that he was in cahoots with the peddler, but he was selling sugar gourds as a cover for his friends.

If Sui Zhou hadn't noticed that there would be another missing child in the capital tomorrow, he would have ordered X to go to the hospital.

At Sui Zhou's command, Xue Ling quickly took four of the Jinyiwei down the city tower and ran towards the place where he saw the child being abducted.

The so-called white road gangsters have their own way of doing business, there's not just one gang in the business, but there's also a way for the gangs to communicate with each other, just like the kidnapper they saw just now, who may not be in the same group as the kidnapper of Zhu Yong's daughter or A-Dong, but it's easier to catch one and find out the rest.

Xue Ling quickly caught the kidnapper along with the sugar gourd vendor.

On the other hand, the child's family, who had just found out that the child was missing, were running after him and were scared to tears seeing that their child was found.

Xue Ling and the others brought the two traffickers to Sui Zhou.

They're so used to this kind of business that their conscience is dark and they're so full of denial that they swear to God that the sugar gourd seller says he's just making a decent living and that the kidnapper says he's watching the kid get lonely and wants to take him to his parents so he won't get abducted, so they're there to complain.

Sui Zhou didn't bother them either, and asked, "Which one of you are you, is working under Mr. Lai, Mr. Six-Finger Lee or Mr. Ding, Ding Yimu?"

The two men blinked their eyes and said, "This Da-ren, what are you talking about, why can't we understand your issue?"

Another person also said, "Yeah Da-ren, we're really peaceful little people!"

Secret agencies like the Jinyiwei or the Western and Eastern Depots, though they are official, they are inextricably linked to the mafia, and some of them, in order to avoid confrontation with official people, would do more in their day-to-day work, and no problem will come to them as long if it didn't go too far.

But now, things have gotten a little too big for Sui Zhou to get away with, and even if someone else came, they'd still have to do their job.

Seeing that the two men refused to acknowledge the situation, he said to Xue Ling, "Take them back to the imperial prison, you know what to do."

Xue Ling nodded and smiled at the two again, "Keep them until they regret being born by their parents!"

The two men were terrified to death, and one of them cried out, "I confess, I confess! I'm one of the men at the Boss Lai!"

His side had just finished speaking when a faint voice came from not far away: "Don't believe it, he's Ding Yimu's target."

Accompanied by a voice, Wang Zhi walked over.

He looked at the man and grunted, "It's not easy, they've all been arrested and they still dare to lie, it's really hard to see the coffin and not shed a tear!" [1] Refuse something even with ample evidence

Wang Zhi said to Sui Zhou and Tang Fan, "Whether it's Six Fingers Li or Mr. Lai, those two men are now invited by me to the Western Depot. They didn't take any young children tonight.”

There are many rich people in this city, especially the rich and the rich... and the children here are very different from the common people who run away and sell themselves as slaves... and are the most popular targets of human traffickers.

Among them are two gangs that specialize in human trafficking in the mafia, the leaders of which are nicknamed "Lai" and "Li".

These two gangs do not only human trafficking but also other business, such as selling salt and iron tea, which is the main source of income for the gangs, otherwise, there would not be so many people to sell, the brothers would have starved to death.

Boss Lai and Six Fingers Li have been in the capital for many years, and of course, they don't represent all the mafia in the capital, but there are only three gangs in the capital that have been doing human trafficking for a long time, and these two gangs are the top gangsters.

These two gangs are the most powerful, and they know who to mess with, and who not to mess with, and they won't do anything as deadly as abducting and selling the families of officials, at most, to kill the children of merchants, or to abduct them and leave letters to their families to extort a large sum of money before returning them.

But apart from them, there's also the South City Gang.

Their leader is Ding Yimu, and this gang is much more powerful and more daring than the Boss Lai, and they are much less selective in their targeting, and they are only interested in children who are good-looking. If they were rich, they would extort money, if they didn't have any, they would sell them to the south and train them at the Qinlou Chou school, which was a great income.

Ding Yimu's reputation for charity and money is very strong, and the South City Gang is even more unscrupulous than Boss Lai and Sixth Finger Li because of Ding Yimu's ability to be a man.

But the South City Gang's business is run by the second leader, Deng Xiucai, who has a lot of lives under his belt, but because they are all black and black, they've been through thick and thin in the past, so the authorities have turned a blind eye to it.

And the South City gang sometimes abducted and sold children will also be sent to the palace by the people in the palace to receive them into the palace after purification as eunuchs, which shows the South City gang's great power.

This has to talk about several sources of eunuchs, either like Wang Zhi, who is a frontiersman, because of the failure of the rebellion, the clan was escorted to the capital, where children were sent to the palace as eunuchs, or like Huai En, who was originally an official family, but the family committed a crime and he was involved even with their young age, also sent to the palace as eunuchs, and of course, in order to enter the palace to gain wealth and castration voluntarily, for example, the former dynasty of the famous power eunuch Wang Zhen.

But note that not everyone can be like Wang Zhen after the palace has a way to enter the palace, many people are voluntarily moved from the palace after being blocked outside the palace gates and every year one of the Jinyiwei's work is to repatriate these people to their homeland.

It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. The palace is full of eunuchs and you can't get in just because you want to. The palace is just the first step. But if you can get the palace to take them in, that's what you can do.

Boss Lai and Six Fingers Li, unhappy with their business being robbed, had gone to the other side and failed to achieve their ambitions, and then the three families reached a peace agreement to divide up the capital, to keep each other safe, and to restore peace.

Wang Zhi took the news of the disappearance of Zhu Yong's daughter seriously but did not realize the seriousness of the situation, so he had someone come directly to his door and brought both Lai and Sixth Finger Li in for questioning, making both Lai and Sixth Finger Li cry and confess, saying that they knew it was the first day of the Lantern Festival and that the government would be investigating them, so they never allowed anyone under their command to do anything, let alone see Zhu Yong's daughter.

The remaining members of the Western Depot went to one of their most-frequented gambling houses but found no one at all. The Western Depot made a mess of the gambling house, closed it down, and no one from the Western Depot showed up, and all those arrested were unwitting minions.

Wang Zhi felt there's something wrong.

In this case, because time was short, he needed to solve the case as soon as possible, and he didn't have time to slowly deal with the South City Gang, so when he saw Tang Fan bringing A-Dong to the lantern fair, he thought of a way to get A-Dong to act as bait, hoping to find out who did it, but he didn't realize that A-Dong had disappeared as well.

If Wang Zhi had remained calm when he heard about the disappearance of Zhu Yong's daughter, A-Dong's disappearance would have made him uncomfortable.

Tang Fan left in the Xianyun Restaurant, and Eunuch Wang couldn't stand to be ashamed of himself, but after a moment of relaxation, he said the consequences of his disappearance in a stiff voice, as an explanation.

Like Mr. Lai. Although Tang Fan and Sui Zhou also knew some of the hidden forces of the South City Gang, they didn't know as much as Wang Zhi, because Wang Zhi himself had a lot of manpower at the Western Depot's disposal and the resources of the Western Depot were concentrated in his hands. It's actually an information asymmetry that has nothing to do with personal ability.

But when Tang Fan heard that, he asked, "Is there anything suspicious about that group of fighters?"




Wang Zhi knew what Tang Fan was asking about and that the Western Depot was tracking A-Dong when there was a fight in the middle of the street and the people were looking for him, so he lost him.

He shook his head: "No, I didn't check it. It's a coincidence and a coincidence."

Tang Fan was silent because A-Dong was lost by chance and coincidence, but if Wang Zhi hadn't asked A-Dong to be the bait, all this could have been avoided.

Of course, it's important to find Zhu Yong's daughter, but people are different from each other. If A-Dong hadn't disappeared, Tang Fan would have cared about this case, but he wouldn't have felt this way at all.

But it's no use talking about it now, the first thing we need to do is to get him back.

Sui Zhou said, "The South City Gang has been in the capital for two years, so they must have other businesses besides human trafficking."

Wang Zhi nodded his head, "Yes, that's what I came to tell you. I let A-Dong be the bait, and I thought I'd find them, but now even A-Dong is lost, and I have to make a big deal out of it."

Sui Zhou gets to the heart of the matter: "The fact that this gang was able to bribe a palace official to send young children to the palace isn't a bad background that would affect our investigation?"

Wang Zhi looked at him with a strange look on his face: "It's a little background, but you shouldn't ask me about this, you should go back and ask your Kommander."

Sui Zhou frowned.

Wang Zhi said, "But even if the South City Gang has an official background, it shouldn't have anything to do with this case, it's because some people under them have done something wrong, the forest is big and there are all kinds of birds.”

Tang Fan thinks that Wang Zhi's attitude this time is very strange and ambiguous, just like before, since he has already found out that it might be related to the South City Gang, then he can just go after the South City Gang directly, but because of the short time, he has to let A-Dong be the bait, as if he only wants to find out the kidnapper, but not the whole South City Gang.

If we take into account his answer to Sui Zhou's question, Tang Fan might think it's because South City Gang is in collusion with the Jinyiwei Commander Wan Tong, who is the brother of the Noble Consort Wan, that's why Wang Zhi wants to use the ratchet?

The fact that Wang Zhi, who has always been lawless, wants to put things to rest shows that the South City Gang is really not that powerful.

But to be able to send young children to the palace as eunuchs will only be Wan Tong, Wang Zhi is so secretive, could it be because the South City Gang has other background?

In a flash, many thoughts flashed through Tang Fan's mind.

He didn't have time to think before he heard Wang Zhi's cold voice: "But I guess that's why they're getting more and more scared, they're doing whatever they want because they have people in their official positions, and this thing is so big that it's been brought to the attention of the Emperor.”

The two men who were arrested just now, when Wang Zhi poured their bottom truth clean, not only looked pale but also scared.

Tang Fan said, "Although you are members of the South City Gang, Governor Wang just said that will only ask the chief of punishment to be lenient, and since the child you just abducted has been recovered, as long as you are willing to cooperate and tell the South City Gang where the child was hidden, you will not be charged. Not only that, but you'll be rewarded."

Neither of them spoke.

Tang Fan, though anxious, still had a calm expression on his face: "Since you won't be questioned, I can't think of any other reason why you shouldn't confess. When all the torture is done, it will be too late for you to regret it."

When he finished, Sui Zhou waved his hand, “Take them away, take them back to the Imperial Prison, play the lute first, and watch them again later. Then we'll keep an eye on them, and we won't worry about finding anyone else!"

Xue Ling said as she bared her white teeth at the two men, "Don't you know what it is to play the lute? I'll tell you, it's to use a sharp knife on your ribs to play the lute-like a pipa, but how the knife is sharpened, your flesh will be cut out and only bone will be left.

They cried, "Da-ren, it's not that we won't tell, but it's the rules of the gang. If the Second Master finds out what we've done, he'll skin us, and we won't live either."

Tang Fan asked, "That Deng Xiucai is in charge of human trafficking in your gang?"

One of them huffed, "Yes, it's always the second in charge. I heard we got some good stuff tonight, but we're not very high up in the gang and don't know much about it.”

Tang Fan said warmly, "You don't have to worry about reprisals, the government will help arrange a new identity for you and give you enough money to start over in the south, so you can rest assured."

Xue Ling gestured to take them away: "Tang Da-ren, why bother to talk to them? If they don't want to, they'll be willing to say anything when they've learned to play the lute!"

The two men finally gave in, softly and completely: "We say! We say it! We'll say anything!"

The South City Gang was also in the human trafficking business, but instead of selling illicit salt like the Lai and the Six Fingers, they set up restaurants, gamblings, and loan sharks.

It's not necessarily illegal to sell human beings, as in the Ming dynasty, when there were many natural and human calamities, and people could not survive, and it was normal to sell children and parents sell their children, which was also the source of slaves for many high-ranking families.

But as I said before, sometimes these traffickers would prey on the children of ordinary people for high profits, and then they would abduct them, and when they met rich people, they would either extort a high price or sell them to rich places in the south, like Yangzhou, to become courtesans.

If the South City Gang was in the business of human trafficking and youth business, it would be unnecessary to turn the poor innocent children into a treasure trove.

It's natural that such a practice is unconscionable, but it's been banned for generations, and there's no cure for it, just a matter of whether it's serious or not.

According to the information provided by the two men, Tang Fan, they found a youth house.




The author has something to say:



The Little Theatre:

Wang Zhi: I heard that many readers are dissatisfied with me for using A-Dong as bait, right?

Tang Fan: Yes.

Sui Zhou: Yes!

Xue Ling: Yes~(The author didn't type my name wrong today, so rare!)

Wang Zhi:... You guys are readers! (╰_╯)#




- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -



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