The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 50: The Haunted Deserted Village That Isn't Actually

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 50: The Haunted Deserted Village That Isn't Actually

Sui Zhou, who was walking in front of them, interrupted their bickering and asked, "I've brought a limited number of men here tonight, and they're coming down with me now. May I ask Eunuch Wang, is there someone from the Western Depot guarding the building outside?"


Wang Zhi's voice was very calm in this dark passage where he could only move forward by bending over: "I don't need you to worry about that. I had the Qing Building surveyed when I came down and they couldn't turn over any wind and waves. "

Sui Zhou let go of his worry and stopped talking, and concentrated on exploring the road ahead. There was no other sound in the stifling tunnel except for the sound of breathing and footsteps.

They walked in a hurry for about half an hour, and the air here was so thin that it was completely isolated from the ground, and as the journey grew longer and longer, their breathing was inevitably duller and duller, and even the candles in their hands were so weak that they could hardly be counted as bright or extinguished.

Tang Fan is not as strong as the others, and this sensation is more obvious than the others, but in order not to fall behind and become a burden, he gritted his teeth and didn't say a word before his feet hit a rock, and he stumbled forward, but his clothes were tugged on his back in time, and his shoulders were held by a hand, pulling his body back from the fate of being knocked down by a dog and eat shit, and he didn't have to look back to know it was Wang Zhi.

He didn't have to look back to know that it was Wang Zhi who gave him a helping hand, but he didn't want to violate his education, so he said, "Thank you very much! "

There was a laugh from behind, followed by Eunuch Wang's sarcastic words: "If you don't want to say thank you, don't be forced. You civil servants are just dying to lose respect and suffer. If I had known that I '''d give you a kick in the ass and let you knock down the people in front of you, it would be a spectacular sight! "

See, Eunuch Wang's mouth is so mean, it’s no use saying thank you, Tang Fan was so pissed off that he didn't care about him and didn't say anything back, and he just went on his way.

Wang Zhi saw that he couldn't take advantage of the victory and was bored, so he just shrugged and called off his troops.

The secret passageway was long, and the people were scared to death that they were going to be able to dig it, but if they went on like this, they'd be in the countryside by the time they left.

Everyone was tired and sore, especially Tang Fan, but a cold wind was blowing, so everyone was refreshed, knowing that they were not far from the exit, and quickened their pace.

As expected, after another quarter of an hour or so, Xue Ling whispered, "Here we are!”

He handed Sui Zhou the candle in his hand and jumped out of the cave in three strokes.

The others followed his example and climbed out one by one.




The wind outside was blowing like a blade, but everyone had been smothered under the tunnel for a long time and felt refreshed by the wind.

The moon is still bright tonight, Tang Fan looked around and saw that they were in a forest, and the entrance to the cave was right under a slope with rocks and trees on the side. If they hadn't just come out of the long and boring tunnel, it would be hard to believe that the entrance to the cave would lead directly to the storeroom of a youth house in the capital.

Tang Fan was not the only one who felt an instant sense of disbelief.

A few moments later, Sui Zhou said, "The capital on the way back, they must have left the forest and headed for the front. They think they've built a secret passage, leaving the capital with a bunch of children, and they'll have to rest and make a sharp start by then. "

The men, of course, had no objection and went out of the woods and up the official road.

The trouble was, they had no horses, and were traveling on their own feet, and they couldn't have gone any faster, but fortunately they had only been walking for a quarter of an hour or so when they noticed it.

Ahead of them was a three-way intersection, two official roads, and one trail.

The three roads naturally lead in different directions.

Wang Zhi knew all about the capital, but when he left the capital, he was a bit blinded by the sight of it, and he frowned, "There are three roads, which one are they taking?”

Xue Ling said: "These two official roads, one leads to Shunyi. One leads to Huairou, the other to Changping and Xuanhua. The other is a small road that takes a big detour and ends in Tianjin Wei, but because of the detour and the fact that it's not far ahead, it passes a deserted village that almost perished because of the plague many years ago, and most of those who live have moved away, and it's still deserted, and few people take that road. "

Wang Zhi sighed, "Damn it, three ways, which way are we going to choose?”

Xue Ling also found it difficult even if they split into three groups to chase, but since there were no horses, they couldn't move fast enough, and the result was a waste of effort.

He said to Sui Zhou, "Brother, why don't we go back and get some horses and then split up and chase them? The Jinyiwei have wards all over the place, so they can keep a close eye on everyone."


But Sui Zhou didn't say anything and looked at Tang Fan who was crouched not far away studying the ruts.

Tang Fan was most anxious because A-Dong was also among the lost children. Sui Zhou, although he was usually a bit reserved, he also didn't want to see A-Dong being abducted by human traffickers and left behind.

But Wang Zhi is also very restless and more restless than Tang Fan and Sui Zhou.



Wang Zhi rushed back in a hurry and had his men watch Wansui Mountain for a few days and checked it again and found that there was nothing suspicious at all. It was the emperor's own suspicion, but he had no choice but to find an excuse to deal with the past.

In order to avoid the emperor's dissatisfaction, Wang Zhi had to solve the case and get Zhu Yong's daughter back, to show the emperor that the Western Depot is still useful, and to appease Zhu Yong who was on the front line.

If the Eastern Depot finds out that Shang Ming may jeopardize his life, the emperor will replace him as a supervisor so that Wang Zhi can concentrate on finding people, and he will be happy. Therefore, Eunuch Wang's time is very precious... and the longer I drag this case out, the worse it will be for him.

That's why he was so anxious at the moment.

He instructed his men in a harsh tone: "Go to the nearby post and get some horses!”

"Wait!” Tang Fan said, straightening up, he walked back and asked Xue Ling, "Did you just say that the path leads to a deserted village?”

Xue Ling: "Right.”

Tang Fan: "How far away is that deserted village, at least, to get to?”

Xue Ling said, "It's not far, it's about a quarter of an hour's walk.”

Tang Fan asked again, "Then out of the deserted village, is there still a resting village?”

Xue Ling shook his head, "No more, that deserted village was plagued by an epidemic, and then it was said that some passersby were encountered with ghosts there. After leaving the village, it was basically a deserted road, and there was a big detour to get to the Tianjin Wei, and many people who went to the Tianjin Wei would rather go to the Tong Zhou side than suffer from it in vain. "

Tang Fan nodded, "That's right then, just go to the deserted village and don't bother looking for horses.”

Xue Ling froze for a moment: "You mean those people will walk the deserted village? That's the way not even a dog would walk! "

The implication is a bit unbelievable.

Tang Fan pointed to the ground and said, "There's a freshly pressed wagon track here, and since there's so few people there, there's a freshly pressed wagon track here, obviously the other side has just left, and no one but the thieves would walk that way in the middle of the night in a deserted village?”

Xue Ling said, "These two tracks are too shallow, and the other two official roads have fresh ruts, and they're deeper, so how can we be sure they're heading in the direction of the village? Maybe they're trying to lead us to a different path and delay us. "

Tang Fan shook his head: "No, since what they're doing is illegal, they must be afraid of people finding out, especially since there are so many children in the carriage and the carriage makes a lot of noise when it's walking. I've just seen that the tracks on the two official roads have wood chips in them, only the one leading to the deserted village doesn't, and the tracks are irregular, which means that they probably have strips of cloth wrapped around the wheels to prevent wearing hence the tracks, and only the carriage that's actually carrying the children would need to take such trouble to hide its tracks. "

When people think about it, it seems that it's true.

Wang Zhi, being cautious, still didn't dare to put all his hopes on Tang Fan's judgment and said, "You go after them first, I'll take my men to find the horses and follow the other two roads separately, then I'll meet you later.”

Time was running out, and Tang Fan didn't say a word, so they went their separate ways Sui Zhou and Tang Fan chased after them in the direction of the deserted village first Wang Zhi told his men to turn around and find the horses, so they were going to split into two groups and take the other two roads.

That's why he was so anxious at the moment.

He instructed his men in a harsh tone: "Go to the nearby post and get some horses!”

"Wait!” Tang Fan said, straightening up, he walked back and asked Xue Ling, "Did you just say that the path leads to a deserted village?”

Xue Ling: "Right.”

Tang Fan: "How far away is that deserted village, at least, to get to?”

Xue Ling said, "It's not far, it's about a quarter of an hour's walk.”

Tang Fan asked again, "Then out of the deserted village, is there still a resting village?”




Xue Ling shook his head, "No more, that deserted village was plagued by an epidemic, and then it was said that some passersby were encountered with ghosts there. After leaving the village, it was basically a deserted road, and there was a big detour to get to the Tianjin Wei, and many people who went to the Tianjin Wei would rather go to the Tongzhou side than suffer from it in vain. "

Tang Fan nodded, "That's right then, just go to the deserted village and don't bother looking for horses.”

Xue Ling froze for a moment: "You mean those people will walk through the haunted village? That's the way not even a dog would walk! "

The implication is a bit unbelievable.

Tang Fan pointed to the ground and said, "There's a freshly pressed wagon track here, and since there's so few people there, there's a freshly pressed wagon track here, obviously the other side has just left, and no one but the thieves would walk that way in the middle of the night in a deserted village?”

Xue Ling said, "These two tracks are too shallow, and the other two official roads have fresh ruts, and they're deeper, so how can we be sure they're heading in the direction of the village? Maybe they're trying to lead us to a different path and delay us. "

Tang Fan shook his head: "No, since what they're doing is illegal, they must be afraid of people finding out, especially since there are so many children in the carriage and the carriage makes a lot of noise when it's walking. I've just seen that the tracks on the two official roads have wood chips in them, only the one leading to the deserted village doesn't, and the tracks are irregular, which means that they probably have strips of cloth wrapped around the wheels, and only the carriage that's actually carrying the children would need to take such trouble. "

When people think about it, it seems that it's true.

Wang Zhi, being cautious, still didn't dare to put all his hopes on Tang Fan's judgment and said, "You go after them first, I'll take my men to find the horses and follow the other two roads separately, then I'll meet you later.”

Time was running out, and Tang Fan didn't say a word, so they went their separate ways Sui Zhou and Tang Fan chased after them in the direction of the deserted village first Wang Zhi told his men to turn around and find their horses, so they were going to split into two groups and take the other two roads.

Just as Xue Ling had said, after a quarter of an hour or so, they saw a village not far in front of them, with the moonlight pouring down on it, reflecting the dry thatch on the roof.

Normally, a smoky village, even if every household was sleeping now, would have a different feeling to the onlookers, for example, a dog might bark twice a day, a pig in a pigsty might bark twice, and a child might cry sometimes, but no matter how old and dilapidated they were, they would not be able to see what they were.

But whether it's the dilapidated windows or the dilapidated houses with their roofs half gone, the message to Tang Fan is that the village in front of them is indeed a deserted village.

But what struck the crowd as odd was not that it had been deserted for so long, but that there was still light inside the houses.

The faint candlelight shone through the dilapidated windows and swayed as if someone was reading from a lamp at night and sewing under the light.

What was it like in the middle of the night in a ghostly deserted village with many houses lit by candlelight?

Xue Ling, who had been in the Northern Administrative Court for many years, had developed an iron guts, and at first sight of the eerie sight, his scalp was instantly frozen, his back was densely covered with goosebumps, and his hair stood out in a chill.

He whispered, "The village has no name, and people call it Xu Family Village because most of the people who lived here were surnamed Xu, and then a lot of people died in the plague, and the few people who were left alive moved out in the night, and then the government came and burned the bodies for two days and two nights, and they couldn't even put up a grave for them, and then they tried to burn the village down, but it rained three times in a row, and the legend is that the people who died from the plague wouldn't let anyone burn the village down, and the government didn't dare to do it again, so it was completely deserted, and no one would choose this road because it was creepy. "

One of the Jinyiwei, who was following Sui Zhou, asked anxiously: “Could there really be any ghosts?”

Sui Zhou said in a hushed voice, "This place has been deserted for a long time, giving some people a chance to play tricks on them. If those people go this way, maybe this is the trap they set up to make us suspicious, so be careful not to get ambushed instead. "

Tang Fan said: "You see, not every one of these houses is lit by candlelight.”

Sui Zhou nodded: "First, check the rooms that aren't bright, and don't scatter.”

This is when a leader's character can be demonstrated.

In Sui Zhou's place, there are people who can command his men, saying, "Go and see what's going on" or something like that.

But Sui Zhou said, "You follow me."

It's not for nothing that an officer who is willing to take the lead will be loved by his subordinates, and it's not for nothing that Sui Zhou can eat in the Northern Administrative Court.

There were only four or five rooms that weren't lit by candlelight... so we all disarmed and went through them one by one.

Because of the strange scenes in front of us, everyone was on guard, holding the knife in their hands and tensing their bodies to the point that every time they kicked open a room, they were staring at it with their eyes in fear that some kind of beast would come out from inside.

It's not necessary for Tang Fan to be at the back, but it's a bit redundant to be at the end of the group.

By now, everyone's eyes had adjusted to the darkness in the countryside, and they could not see anything at all. When Sui Zhou kicked open the door, they found nothing but crude furniture. Some people's beds were lit up with a couple of quilts, and the brittle quilts that had already been put in the bed broke apart at the tip of their knives.

Checking the fifth room without the candlelight in order, everyone was not as nervous as they had been just now, although they were still on guard, but they had finally relaxed a little bit.

"Brother, there's a carriage parked behind the house! “ One of the Jinyiwei was in charge of keeping watch outside the house, and he came from the back of the house and hastily reported that the carriage was parked behind the house.

Sui Zhou, they went around the back and saw that there was a carriage parked between the backyard of the house and the mountain wall.

On closer inspection, it was as Tang Fan had said before, with a thick layer of cloth wrapped around the four wheels.

It's quite possible that the men have fled here.




But now the wagon is still there and the men are gone, and a few adults say they're all South City Gang men who might be good at kung fu and would be able to escape, but the question is, where can these men hide with a bunch of kids in tow?

That's when they heard Tang Fan behind them shouting, "There's someone there!”

Tang Fan didn't come with them to look at the carriage but stood at the door of the room to look at the details, he was the one who could easily spot the movement outside.

Sui Zhou reacted very quickly from the time Tang Fan spoke, to the time he turned around, to the time he saw Tang Fan's position and locked the other party's position, it was only a few seconds.

In the moonlight, a black shadow came out from a room without a candlelight, moving fast, almost running for all his life, but if Tang Fan went after him, he wouldn't be able to catch him.

Unfortunately, Tang Fan couldn't catch up with him, so someone else could.

He was faster, Sui Zhou was faster than him!

Sui Zhou ran out of the way, and he was in the form of a rabbit, and he had no time and threw his Spring Sword directly at him.

He heard a scream echoing through the wilderness and landed on the ground with a stab in his shoulder!

Xue Ling and the others chased after him and pinned him to the ground and pulled the embroidered Spring Sword out of his shoulder blade.

Xue Ling grabbed his lapel and said, "Tell me, where are your accomplices and those children?”

The man groaned, "I... I don't know... "

Seeing that he was still hard of heart, Xue Ling broke off the tail finger bone of his right hand with a single push.

"Ah!!! “ The man's whole face was twisted in pain, and his eyes were filled with fear.

"Say it or not?” Xue Ling didn't have much patience with him and broke his ring finger again.

"I'll talk! I'll talk! "The man was crying. “ They took the children and fled up the hill! "

Xue Ling gushed, "You're lying! Why did they abandon the carriage and go up the hill instead! "

"No! I'm not lying! "A gurgling, bleeding shoulder and two broken fingers, the man cried out in pain, much like the Madam of the Brothel who had her nails pulled out before, and no matter how hard the bones were, the Jinyiwei had to give in to submission. “ The wagon broke down because it was carrying too many people, and the front wheel split and fell apart, so they had to stop here and run for the hills! They couldn't have gone far with the children. Now you go after them and you can catch up! "

Xue Ling asked again, "Then why are you the only one here?”

The man was panting: "They, they told me to stay here and light those houses so they could scare the hell out of you and delay you for a while... "

Sui Zhou gave a wink to Xue Ling, who understood and struck the hilt of the sword directly at the back of the man's head, and the man fainted.

Sui Zhou said to Tang Fan, "This man can't die yet, you bandage him up and we'll go up the mountain to find someone, you stay here.”

Tang Fan nodded and didn't say a word: "Okay, I'll take care of this, you guys go ahead!”

He doesn't know kung fu, and he can't run fast enough to get up the mountain. Tang Fan knows he won't be able to help in case of a conflict, so he might as well stay here if Wang Zhi brings someone with him.

Sui Zhou and the others left in a hurry.

Tang Fan peeled off the man's coat and rolled it under his armpit and tied it tightly to stop the bleeding.



The deserted village quiet on a moonlit night, the cold breeze through the cavernous doors and windows, the sound of ghosts crying, lives up to the rumors that it is haunted, with a man lying unconscious next to him, Tang Fan, alone in the cold wind, gives the illusion that there is only one person left in the whole world.

At a time like this, with all the shadows in the buildings, the atmosphere is so pleasant that no one would believe that this place is not haunted.





It's strange that Tang Fan thinks about it, because the wind is so strong outside, the windows and doors are broken, and the candles should have been blown out long ago, but they're at least half lit up and haven't gone out with the wind, so the South City Gang, who were left behind to scare people, were very careful in setting up the place.

They were in a hurry to get here, but they were afraid that the longer it took, the more the bandits would escape, and once they were out of the capital, the more difficult it would be to find them again, so both Tang Fan and Sui Zhou had to make a decision in a very short time.

Tang Fan had nothing to do at the moment, so he had time to think about these details.

He picked the nearest house and pushed the door in.

The door opened at the sound of a cackle, and Tang Fan found the candlestick placed by the window with a wall in front of it, protected from the cold wind, and a white lampshade with a small board pressed against it, so that it would be difficult to extinguish the flame without the wind blowing in.

Tang Fan approached, picked up the board, and found it full of oil, and the wick was thicker than usual, which is why it didn't go out.

His heart thumped, and he immediately thought something was wrong!

The village had been deserted for years, but how could there be such a shiny new lamp oil and such a thick wick?

These men were intent on running away, so they chose this path. Even if they'd planned it, why would they even take the wick with them?

At this moment, there was a loud noise outside, so he didn't have time to think about it, turned around, and walked out, only to see that the South City Gang, who had been unconscious and wounded the moment before, was gone!

They've been set up!

Tang Fan's heart sank and he didn't think twice before he was hit in the back of the head and he fell forward unconscious.

It's just a matter of time before Xue Ling struck that man on the head and now it's his turn.

This was Tang Fan's last thought before he fell unconscious.











- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -



Prev: Chapter 49《Chapters Home 》Next: Chapter 51