The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 53: The Sad End of the Ninth Madam and The Spring Springsword

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 53: The Sad End of the Ninth Madam and The Spring Springsword

Two enemies, one who wants you dead and one who wants to use you, how would you choose?


If the Ninth Madam is dead, the next person Deng Xiucai will kill is Tang Fan.

That's why Tang Fan not only can't let the Ninth Madam die, but also wanted to go looking for her guards and bring her people here to help her, this woman and Deng Xiucai are not on the same page, and not as tough as him, but a lot more questionable.

The noise of the fight between Deng Xiucai and the Ninth Madam has alarmed many people, and they are at a loss as they watch the two leaders fight, they rush to the entrance of the cellar and immediately block the entrance.

Tang Fan rushed out not far and saw the guards who were following the Ninth Madam. The second-in-command is fighting, the second-in-command wants to kill her!”

The Ninth Madam just wanted to seduce Tang Fan, but she also wanted to tell him some secrets, naturally, she had to send her bodyguards away. Yelling her name as A-Han instead of the Ninth Madam was also to let the guard know that his relationship with the Ninth Madam was already extraordinary.

As expected, the guard turned pale at the sound of it: "Where are they!”

There was no need for Tang Fan to say anything, the guards had already heard the sound of weapons clashing not far away.

He scurried forward without saying a word, Tang Fan nagging after him, "Brother, you have to save A-Han, A-Han can't be hurt!”

The guard naturally couldn't care less about him and rushed straight in through the crowd.

Tang Fan wasn't far away, but he could hear Deng Xiucai's sudden shout: "What are you waiting for! Shoulder to shoulder, we have to kill this woman, we can't let her report back to the sect headquarters!”

The Ninth Madam squealed: "How dare you!”

There was no lack of panting in the tone of her voice, which could be seen as her gradually losing ground.

This is an ironclad attempt to kill someone!

Tang Fan’s face changed color slightly, so he couldn't care about anything else and ran outside.

In this case, no one was paying attention to Tang Fan's whereabouts.

By the time the two groups of people got into the scuffle, Tang Fan had already ducked into the cellar where the food was piled up around the corner, and by the time many of them had run away, he was already in the cellar. When he joined the scuffle, he came out of the cellar where he was hiding, and ran ahead, hoping to find the exit from here.

This is the opposite direction from where he went to go through A-Dong's hiding place, Tang Fan is convinced that Deng Xiucai is cunning, surely there would not be just one entrance and exit, otherwise, it would be like a turtle in a jar if someone blocked it. [1] Turtle in a jar is a moniker no cul-de-sac or no way out or being trapped in a situation where the way forward and sideways is blocked.

This little underground labyrinth isn't really that big, since there are only a few cellars, mainly because of the winding roads that connect them, it's very convoluted and confusing.

After going round and round for half a day, avoiding roads that might be guarded, Tang finally found a road that looked like... Where the exit is, because there's a ramp-up there, and two men are guarding it.

Now Deng Xiucai summoned his men to kill the Ninth Madam, but these two are still here, that means they're guarding the position which must be important and must be one of the entrances and exits.

He's alone in the den of thieves, he can't get the children out by himself, and otherwise, he probably wouldn't have gotten out. If he gets killed, the children will suffer too.

So as much as he wanted to run to A-Dong and get them out of there right away, his senses still told him not to.

A-Dong and the others are the money-makers commodities of Deng Xiucai, he won't harm them easily, or else he wouldn't risk universal condemnation for them. The court is against him. But Tang Fan is different, he is of no use to Deng Xiucai and will be a burden to him on his way out.

So the best way is for him to save himself first, take advantage of the chaos to escape, and then go and bring back help and direct them to Deng Xiucai so this way he can also save A-Dong and the others by catching them all.

But he's implicitly pessimistic that the civil unrest may soon be over, that Deng Xiucai had the Ninth Madam outnumbered, and that the Ninth Madam is no match for him in violence.

That's because the Ninth Madam is too proud of herself. She thinks that Deng Xiucai won't dare to do anything to her because she's the top clergy in the White Lotus Sect and the general envoy to the South City Gang from the Sect, so she is severely lacking against Deng Xiucai in every way.

Who knew that Deng Xiucai has been suppressing his hate for a long time, he has the intention to kill and silence her. Solve it, then blame her death on the government official, and no one will ever know he did it.

Of course, Tang Fan wasn't worried about the Ninth Madam, this woman seemed easy to talk to, and was ready to return the children to Tang Fan, but that was only because she wants to go against Deng Xiucai, not because she's some kind of good person.

However, if the Ninth Madam is dead and Sui Zhou and the others haven't arrived yet, he'll be in a very dangerous situation.

Tang Fan can't move forward when the exit is so close, but he can only hide in the dark, helpless. The situation is really anxious and frustrating.




Even Tang Fan's wits are at a loss for a solution.

At that moment, a scurry of footsteps was heard from far and near.

Tang Fan didn't have time to think. He ducked into a nearby recessed shadow.

But there were several men running to the two men guarding the exit at the other end of the tunnel, and one of the latter asked, "What's going on!”

The other said, "The Ninth Madam is dead, and the Second Boss has us ready to retreat!”

The man was taken aback: "the Ninth Madam is dead? How did she die?”

The other party laughed and scolded: "Hey you kid was also bewitched by that woman's beauty, just caring about this!" and lowered his voice, "She was killed by the Second Boss, along with two of her men, you said that the woman is always finding trouble with the Second Boss, if Second Boss doesn't want to put up with her for so long, so he had to kill her!”

The person who asked the question is aware of the relationship between the Ninth Madam and the White Lotus Sect, and was busy saying: "But isn't she the envoy from the Sect? Is it proper to just kill her?”

The other said, "Forget about it, we have to pay them silver money every year, but they just sit back and enjoy it without doing anything, the Second Boss has long wanted to break up with them, anyway, this time there are government officials to get involved when the time comes he will just push the death of that b.itch to the government official, who... And no suspicion will land on our heads!”

The man had some brains, and hesitated on hearing the words, "Then won't we be wanted by both the Sect and the government?”

The other party explained impatiently: "Cut the crap, the Second Boss said, the cottage over there to meet the people arrived, quickly pack up, take advantage of the officials They're not here yet. Get ready to retreat! One of you who's guarding the exit should stay behind so that the enemy won't shoot us from behind! Also, the kid that Luo the Cripple kidnapped has escaped, have you seen him?”

The man said, "No, we're guarding here, we don't dare leave for half a moment, not a ghost has been seen!"

The other party said, "It was a bit chaotic just now to take care of that bitch, but it just so happened that the people outside were here again, and another exit appeared! The Second and Third Boss both suspect that the kid ran away in the chaos, anyway, if you see him later, we'll kill him as well!”

Tang Fan thought to himself, "Why is there a Third Boss," but then it dawned on him that when he went to see Deng Xiucai just now, there was no one but the Ninth Madam, there's another old man sitting there, probably the Third Boss they are talking about.

As Deng Xiucai killed the Ninth Madam and prepared to retreat, Tang Fan's treatment changed from "Must be killed" to "Kill him on first sight", but he didn't take the slightest pleasure in it.

Because if Deng Xiucai escapes into the mountains, it's like the dragon returning to the sea, and then it will be hard to find the trace! [1] dragon return to the sea means untraceable

I saw the two men promise, and then the sound of footsteps went away again.

And the two men whispered.

One asked, "The Second Boss of the family wants us to stay behind, so when is the right time for us to leave, we can't wait until everyone has left to leave? We can't wait until everyone's run out?"

The other said, "Let's wait a little longer if we leave too soon, the Second Boss will blame us if he sees us.”

The companion from earlier said, "Is that kid the Second Boss talked about the one we are still going to be looking for?”

The other party said: "What are you looking for, silly, it's important to run away, after we go to the mountain with the Second Boss, the government can't find us, why worry about leakage? What secret!”

Tang Fan didn't have the heart to listen to those two people anymore, he was anxious that they might be taken away by Deng Xiucai, so he followed the original path again to return back with care.

At this time, Deng Xiucai had killed the Ninth Madam and her two men and was retreating with his men through another exit. Being held back by a bunch of kids, it took quite a while just to get them out of the cellar.

A-Dong remembered Tang Fan's advice, knowing that these bad guys won't kill them easily, so she deliberately dawdles, slowed down, and fell down on purpose. On the ground, sobbing that she couldn't walk, the bandit had no choice, just lifted her back collar and brought her forward.

Those people were leaving one after another, and Tang Fan, who was following far behind, could hear them saying that a carriage was coming to meet them, so he became more anxious. When they were out of the hole, he ran out and hid behind a big rock.

Half an hour ago, if he had been able to leave this place, he would have hurried to get help, but now Tang Fan was only thinking about not letting them just run away, otherwise it will be even harder to find A-Dong and the others later.

He shouted, "Stop!" and came out from behind the big rock again.

In the open field, such a loud shout is like a thunderstorm, the gang was shocked, and Deng Xiucai immediately turned around.

When he saw Tang Fan, he was stunned, then smiled: "I thought you had run away, I was going to let you live, but you jumped again! Come out, you're really lighting the toilet, looking for death!”

Tang Fan dusted off his sleeves and calmly said, "I did escape first, and then I contacted the Jinyiwei and the Western Depot, they are at Five Mile and will be here soon!”

His words caused a slight commotion, hearing that the government officials were about to arrive, and the South City Gang all looked slightly perplexed.

Tang Fan naturally couldn't wait for Deng Xiucai to reassure the people, and immediately grabbed his lead and said, "Second Boss, to be honest, I don't want to force you to. There's no way out, but since you killed the Ninth Madam and broke with White Lotus, there's no turning back. If you're not dead, you're in a terrible situation. Even if you flee to the mountains, the imperial army will annihilate you in no time! Then why don't we shake hands and make peace? If you hand over those children, I'll intercede for you with Commander Wang and the Northern Administrative Court Secretary, and all your brothers and men will have a way to live, why not?”

Deng Xiucai sneered: "You speak lightly, it's a pity you're not the emperor, or I would have believed you. He can't wait to push me out to take the blame, so he won't let us off the hook just because you're begging for our pardon! I'd rather die on a pile of gold and silver than be a slave to someone else!”

Tang Fan arched his hands and said: "Second Boss, I respect you as a man, can we have a discussion, you can leave those children here and there is no harm in leaving, When the Jinyiwei and the Western Depot come, I'll stop them from catching up with you, so we'll each take a step back from an unfortunate situation. How about that?”

His expression is really too calm, one man facing the South City gang of more than twenty people, face showing no fear, talking freely, invariably made those South City and the old man, who looked like the Third Boss, even said to Deng Xiucai, "Second Boss, he's right. Now that we've fallen out with White Lotus, we'd better not make too much trouble with the government, or we'll be fighting enemies on both sides."

Deng Xiucai raised his hand, stopping the other party from continuing, his eyes had been staring at Tang Fan, at this moment he said coldly: "Even if it was me taking your word for it, you don't even have reinforcements, and you dare to bluff your way out of it!”

Tang Fan's face didn't change, and he raised his eyebrows, "How can you tell?”

Deng Xiucai's face showed a sardonic smile: "Because when you were captured, I had already personally searched you and found everything, so what did you use to inform the government people! You almost fooled me by pretending to be someone else! Kill him now!”

Tang Fan said so much bluffing nonsense, it was to stall for time, but didn't expect to be discovered so quickly. The two strong men of the South City Gang came towards him with steel swords in their strides, and said sternly: "Stop! Reinforcements are right behind you!”

Deng Xiucai was unmoved: "Don't do it yet!”




He thought Tang Fan was a dead man, and as he said that, he turned over his horse, while another carriage with children was already moving forward...

Tang Fan wasn't paying attention, those two sharp steel knives were already in front of him, and he couldn't dodge them.

He has tried his best to stall for time, but Sui Zhou and the others didn't show up yet.

Tang Fan was so helpless that he couldn't outrun them, so he closed his eyes and was killed. He closed his eyes and was expecting the end to have his neck cut off.

After a few breaths of time, the steel blade that should have been cut on top of his head didn't arrive until late, and the expected pain didn't come, but there was a cracking sound in his ears! He could not help but open his eyes, and found that the situation before him had already changed drastically!

The two men who were about to slay him fell, one with an Embroidered Springsword in his vest, the other with a feathered arrow in his head.

And several other arrows landed either on horses or on men.

Once a horse was wounded and frightened, and the man was tossed to the ground with a neigh.

Deng Xiucai was frightened and angry, and at once shouted to the crowd: "Abandon camp and scatter!"

But obviously, he was already half a step late, and from the front of the mountains four silhouettes sprang down, swooping towards them here, a closer look is the Sui Zhou team of four people!

Sui Zhou's hand was empty, so it's easy to see that it was he who shot out his embroidered sword to finish off one of the men who wanted to kill Tang Fan!

Tang Fan shouted "Here's the sword" and pulled the Embroidered Springsword out of the man's back, not caring about being splashed with blood and he threw the Springsword thrown towards Sui Zhou!

The latter, with a beautiful leap, caught the sword firmly in mid-air and slashed another bandit with his backhand stroke.

Deng Xiucai's men are not weak either, especially his henchmen, not to mention their skills, at best, it would only cost Deng Xiucai a few men who are weak, and the fight with government forces didn’t make them panic so much.

The one who really turned the situation around was Wang Zhi's men and horses!

Those arrows were also shot from the Western Depot's thugs.

But Wang Zhi led a large group of people from far and near, first shooting arrows to make a stand, and then joined the battle, instantly making Sui Zhou and the others as if they had divine help! , completely overwhelming Deng Xiucai and the others in numbers.

It was only a matter of time before the two sides could tell who the winner was and who the loser was.

But Tang Fan was so anxious that he ran to the carriage with the children while Deng Xiucai and the others were busy fightings, fearing that he might be a little late, those children will be taken hostage by the desperate South Side gang.

But the carriage curtain was lifted, and A-Dong, who should have been tied up, was crouching inside and looking out. The children were clutching her by the end of her garments with fearful expressions.

The only reason they can move freely is just Tang Fan left the role of porcelain tiles ropes cutting to A-Dong, the little A-Dong took advantage of the chaos to untie themselves after that, the rest of the boys were untied too.

This undoubtedly saved a lot of time. Tang Fan was delighted, ran to the side of the carriage, and took A-Dong and the other children one by one, and then let A-Dong go to the carriage. Take them to the side and hide them behind a big rock and tell them not to come out until the bad guys are killed.

While he was earnestly advising, coldly Sui Zhou shouted, "Runqing get out of the way!”

Tang Fan turned back sharply and saw Deng Xiucai running towards him with a bloodstained steel sword, his face was crazy and twisted, and his face showed murderous intent. It was a sudden reversal of fortune that brought him to his knees, and he wanted to take the children as hostages.

Although the change was only momentary, Deng Xiucai seemed crazy, but his mind was clear.

He knows it's useless to take Tang Fan as a hostage. He's just a minor official. He may be given up at any time, if he wanted to get the hostages, we'd better get the daughters of those two officials. They are the real targets of the government's relentless pursuit, only by taking them away and holding on to them, he’ll be safe.

Do you think Tang Fan doesn't know what he's thinking? Once Zhu Yong's daughter is in Deng Xiucai's hands, no one will be able to stop him! So he didn't even think about it, instead of dodging to the side, he pounced towards Deng Xiucai!

This action seems a bit silly to an uninvolved observer because Tang Fan himself has no kung fu skills at all, he's a completely ordinary person, and he doesn't have any weapon in his hand, so he doesn't have the strength to fight Deng Xiucai, his pounce is like hitting a stone with an egg.

But that's what he did, in a flash, without any pretense or hypocritical affectation, just a subconscious act.

From Tang Fan's point of view, he didn't feel that he was superior to those children because he was an official of the court, but because he was a Prefect Magistrate, he was even more... He should be the parent whose first goal is to protect the people. [1] Magistrate were considered to be the parent of counties and prefectures o that why he think himself as a parent

LOL what a Fool!

A Big Fool!

A Great of all fools!

Naturally, Wang Zhi also saw the scene, he was far away, it was impossible to stop Deng Xiucai's knife from slashing at Tang Fan, so he could only stand by and watch... Watch, while cursing out.

Sui Zhou was closer and he still should have been too late, but he still wanted to put up a fight, so he didn't yell at him like Eunuch Wang did! He was quick as lightning and stabbed at Deng Xiucai with all his might with the Embroidered Springsword in his hand.

However, no one expected that just as Deng Xiucai was about to slash at Tang Fan, the latter would suddenly bring something from his bosom splatting it on Deng Xiucai.

Those things were dark, and there were several pieces that at first glance looked like dark weapons, very sharp, with something painted on them.

Could it be a poisoned secret weapon?

Deng Xiucai was so shocked that he waved his long sword in his hand, protecting his body from the attack.

He heard a few clanking sounds, all those things were knocked away, some broken into a few pieces, and splashed on the ground.

Deng Xiucai was so angry!

What's a hidden weapon? It's just a few broken porcelain bowls!

The place that looks like it's been quenched with poison, is the texture of the blue flowers on the bowl porcelain!

At that moment, he wanted to cut Tang Fan into pieces!

It is said that rapid changes on the battlefield, Tang Fan threw the porcelain tiles to buy a few short breaths of time, Sui Zhou has arrived!

The Embroidered Springsword arrived with a thunderous momentum, and the murderous aura of the blade surged towards Deng Xiucai!

He had to turn back, gritting his teeth and clash against Sui Zhou.

The opportunity is fleeting. Tang Fan interrupted, and Deng Xiucai missed the chance to take the child hostage.




In a moment, the Jinyiweis followed, as did the Western Depot Pupils.

We all know that Deng Xiucai is the leader of this trip. If we catch him, it'll be a great achievement.

The others had been restrained one after another, and the empty men swarmed up and surrounded Deng Xiucai.

The latter's failure was inevitable, but only sooner or later.

Tang Fan escaped from the sword and saved his life, finally, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief, after being frightened, his body went limp and sat down on the ground.

"Brother, are you alright!" A-Dong came running to help him.

"Nothing." Tang Fan said wearily.

"Brother, you're bleeding!" A-Dong pointed to his neck.

Tang Fan stiffened, there really is a thin line of blood, it is estimated that just when Deng Xiucai hit the porcelain tiles flying, he was inadvertently splattered and cut by one of them.

A-Dong took out a handkerchief from her bosom and handed it to him, it was the prize that Tang Fan won in the lantern festival. There's a bunch of stuff in her arms, three of them just for the handkerchiefs, so she is not using them for nothing.

Tang Fan casually covered his neck with a handkerchief, touching her head: "You go take care of those brothers and sisters, don't let them run around.”

A-Dong promised and turned to leave again.

At this point, a sneer comes out from behind Tang Fan: "What a mess!”

He didn't have to turn his head to know who the other man was: "Why didn't Commander Wang go to help, but instead came to cool off here?”

Wang Zhi said: "The situation is already decided if this case can be solved, I have contributed to it, there is no need to go on the field myself!”

Tang Fan said: "Didn't you go after them from that official road, and how did you get here in time?”

Wang Zhi said: "At that time, after you went to the path, I went back to the official post to find horses, and separated two groups of people, letting them follow the two paths. We chased after you on the main road and came back for you, but we had to go back and forth to find the horses print, which took a lot of time, otherwise will not have to wait up until now, the gang the Jinyiwei are really useless, if you change to the Western Depot and we follow that path, let alone would we caught the thieves in the cave early it would be like beating the clowns of the jumping beams!”

Tang Fan sighed, but with a relieved expression: "Who can you blame for that? You didn't believe me when I told you to go this way, so you wasted a lot of time for nothing! We caught a South City gang member, but he was stabbed, lost two fingers, and dared to lie! I'm afraid we don't have enough men, so we'll have to chase them up the hill. You guys made it in time, so it's a good thing the bandits are exhausted. Or my life will be lost here too!”

He added: "Deng Xiucai and the others came out of the cellar because the South City Gang has a fortress on the mountain ahead, where they can go. When we get them back, we'll have to find out where they are and uproot the entire fort. I'm sure there's more than just Deng Xiucai's men. There must be other forces in the city. As a request of help, Commander Wang lets get rid of them all in one sweeping annihilation.”

Wang Zhi frowned, obviously unwilling to meddle, in his view, finding these children, the mission is considered complete.

Tang Fan turned his head just in time to see the change in his expression, and knew what he was thinking, so he slowly said, "South City Gang, and White Lotus Demons... There is a connection.”

Wang Zhi looked impressed: "Is this true?”

Tang Fan nodded, "I heard it myself in the cellar, the South City Gang is just a gang under the White Lotus Sect, which is also a money-grubbing group for the White Lotus Sect. It's just that Deng Xiucai didn't want to be ordered around, so he fought with the envoy of the White Lotus Sect in the cellar and killed her. After you've captured Deng Xiucai, search his body. There must be a token of the White Lotus Sect on him.”

The demon Taoist Li Zilong once terrorized the palace, but investigations later proved he was connected to the White Lotus Sect. It's officially out in the open and one has to look at it.

It's a pity that the Jinyiwei and the Eastern and Western Depots have been investigating secretly for the past two years, but there's been no progress. Wang Zhi and the others can't find any clues, so they'll just have to catch some fish and shrimp to get by.

Now that the relationship between the South City Gang and the White Lotus Sect has been revealed, there's no need for Tang Fan to mention. The powers that be, Wang Zhi and the others will naturally investigate this line.

While they were talking, Deng Xiucai was outnumbered and finally caught.

Not counting those who were killed by arrows, there are seven survivors of the South City Gang, including the Second and Third leaders.

What's more, the children, including Zhu Yong's daughter and Minister Geng's grandson, were fine, just a little frightened.

Everyone's been through the night, and even though they've accomplished a lot, they're not celebrating anything. They're all exhausted.

This is true for people with kung fu, not to mention ordinary people like Tang Fan, he was in a real-life or death situation!... he almost got to sell his life for a living.

The carriage that Deng Xiucai and the others were going to use to take the children away was still being used to carry A-Dong and the others but in a different direction.

And Tang Da-ren, who's all bruised and exhausted, is too lazy to ride a horse alone, lest he dozes off midway and falls off, directly. So he had to share the same horse with Sui Zhou.

Everyone was tired, and the horses weren't moving very fast, plus the road was uneven and bumpy, and Tang Fan sat behind Sui Zhou, on this rhythm, he fell asleep and slobbered all over his back.




Commander Sui Qianhu looked to the heavens without words.

The author has something to say:

Author Meow: Please describe Tang Da-ren in one sentence.

Everyone [in unison]: Take the money to buy cabbages, and have the heart to sell them!

Look, I'm not lying, this chapter solves the case, and honest big eyes don't lie.




- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -



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