late Qing Dynasty arrest

The horse's hooves stepped on the bluestone ground, splashing water, Li Guolou raised his voice, "Captain Gao Yao, can you see the traces of the thieves?"

Gao Yao Wuyun, who was walking ahead to clear the way, didn't look back, and waved: "Head, just follow. Five thieves, five horses, you can't go wrong." While speaking, the group of people had already arrived at Fucheng Gate in the west of the city, tense and rigorous The atmosphere permeates the city gate.

Chief Lan Ling, who was in charge of the city gate, led a row of gate guards to send a group of arresters out of the city respectfully. These gate guards would also be punished. It is also a great crime to let a thief out of a city.

Li Guolou and others walked out of the city gate in the rain, and the road would not be as good as in the city. The muddy loess road was full of wheel marks, human footprints, and animal footprints. I found the footprints left by the "Red Rabbit Rouge Beast" in the city, and the speed was slower than when I was in the city, but everyone didn't complain. They rode on the horses, ate dry food, drank a few sips of water, and walked westward. .

Time passed by, and the team led by Li Guolou was three or four hours behind the previous group of people sent by Prince Gong's Mansion. When it was two o'clock in the afternoon, there was not even the first team. Met, let alone five horse thieves.

The light rain came and went, and except for Gao Yao Wuyun, who led the team, no one said a word, and kept a strict formation. There were few pedestrians on the road, grass and willows could be seen everywhere, and a winding river accompanied him.Curious passers-by paid attention to these arresters, and some even waved hello to Li Guolou and others.

From the confidence when he set off in the morning to the boring pursuit, Li Guolou became less and less confident in this arrest operation.The thief who dared to steal Prince Gong's beloved horse was a daring thief, did he not expect someone to follow him?Attracting them to the western outskirts of the city, so far away, I don't know when it will end. What is the purpose of the wilderness?

If there were no four guards from Prince Gong's Mansion to follow them, Li Guolou would have been a hands-off shopkeeper a long time ago. There is little hope ahead, but now Li Guolou has only one way to go to the dark.Gritting his teeth stiffly, his Xiaoxiao is far away, the strong man never looks back, it seems that he doesn't know where to sleep tonight?

Gao Yao Wuyun jumped off the horse to check the horse's hoof prints and horse dung.If the weather is fine, she will touch the hot horse manure to estimate how far the horse thief is from their group?Now that the horse manure was wet, it was hard to see how far the five horse thieves were from them.

Li Guolou was patient and didn't lose his temper with his subordinates. He said dryly: "Gao Yao's arrest, what's so interesting, now I'm also a veteran stalker, and I'll go to the left. I can't go wrong."

Gao Yao said hesitantly: "Head, there is an inn on the right, we can continue on our way, the horses are dying! We need to feed the horses and rest for half an hour, otherwise these war horses will get sick from the rain and will not be able to run tomorrow Moved."

In Gao Yao Wuyun's words, he has no confidence in catching the horse thief today, so it's hard to say it clearly, so he can only find an excuse for the horse first.Gao Yao Wuyun is experienced in following horse thieves. This is the moment to test the perseverance of the catcher. He is lonely, lonely, hidden deep in his heart, sleeping in the wilderness, and living in filthy conditions.The four Manchu guards might not be able to adapt, and they didn't even have much sense of accomplishment. The criminals they caught were just horse thieves.

Li Guolou glanced at Chen Rong, the foreman of the guards at Prince Gong's Mansion, and saw that he was pretending to be deaf and dumb, so he didn't seem in a hurry.

"Hmm! Gao Yao is orderly and orderly, and I agree with her idea. Now I order, turn right, enter the inn to rest, and let the horses rest for half an hour." Li Guolou beckoned his men to enter the inn first , he set an example and was the last to enter the inn.

Li Guolou's war horse was taken care of by his servant Battelle, who sat in the lobby with four guards from Prince Gong's residence, drinking hot tea.Cursing about the weather, complaining in their hearts about doing thankless things, looking forward to the storm coming, it would be best if the horseshoe tracks on the ground would be washed away, and they could justifiably end their pursuit of the horse thieves.

"Hey, when will the rain stop?" "I don't know where the guard Huang's team is going?" "Bad boy, why are you looking for death for this dead horse thief?" "Donkey ball, If I catch the horse thieves, I will give them forty whips first."

A group of people used violent language to vent their inner dissatisfaction. The people in the inn kept a respectful distance from this group of angry arresters, and avoided this group of officials with dirty words on their lips.

Li Guolou raised his voice and said, "Boss, what's there to eat here?"

The shop owner inquired softly: "Master, after the meal time, is the leftover food at noon okay?"

"Oh boss, heat it up and bring it all up. We have a rice bucket here." Li Guolou had eaten dry food, and he ordered it for Battelle.

The big pot of leftovers and leftovers were brought to the table. Although everyone didn't have much appetite, what was served was hot food. No matter how unpalatable it was, a group of people could eat a few mouthfuls.As for the leftover meals, I saw Battelle take care of everything in one go, and wipe out half of the pot of leftovers and leftovers by himself.

Chen Rong, the foreman of the guards, was taken aback by Battelle's appetite, and said suspiciously: "Captain Li, this is really your servant, can you afford it?"

Li Guolou smiled and said: "Chief Chen, haven't you seen Battelle show his skills? He just ate a half full."

"Hey hey hey! I do the work of two people alone." Battelle boasted and boasted of his own achievements.

"Battelle, stop producing cows, and you don't farm, what kind of work have you done?" Gao Yao Wuyun exposed the lies of half of the fellow villagers.

"Feeding the horses, walking the horses, washing the mangers, and the stables in the mansion are all done by myself!" Battelle said proudly.

Gao Yao Wu Yun glanced and said: "Then tell me, how many horses are there in the head house?"

"Well;;;;;; The guests are here, and I will help too. The horses sleeping in the stable are counted as two now." Battelle told the truth helplessly, causing laughter in the lobby.

Li Guolou was also looking for something for Battelle to do, so he raised two horses at home.He likes to hire horses from the Maji dealership, and he doesn't have to worry about labor costs for one-stop service.With the unique simplicity of the Mongolians and the experience of being a slave, will Battelle cherish the hard-won life?Seeing the tall servant staring at the proprietress in floral dress, Li Guolou knew that after he returned home, he was going to find a big washerwoman for Battelle to be his wife.

More than half an hour later, when we left, the innkeeper didn't dare to come to ask for money, but asked the proprietress to come forward and gave me a 130% discount. A group of people only spent [-] copper coins for eating horse chews.

Li Guolou's thoughts changed three times a day, and he came up again after eating and drinking. He was full of energy and led the way. The wet and slippery mud floor was full of footprints. The footprints with special horseshoe prints stretched forward. He is the catcher. With a pair of sharp eyes, he is excited to be a scout member, walks side by side with Gao Yao Wuyun, is open-minded and eager to learn, asks questions, and secretly learns Gao Yao Wuyun's tracking technique.

"Head, it's so strange. Those horse thieves steal horses on rainy days. It should be when it rains heavily, or when the weather is clear, so that the pond will cover the footprints, or the grass will not leave footprints. Now it is raining lightly, Just left the horseshoe prints, even those who don't know the tracking technique can still see the horseshoe prints on the ground. I'm afraid those horse thieves will deliberately lead us astray, and the future is not good." Gao Yao Wuyun glanced at the big man behind him. The troops secretly spoke their minds.

Li Guolou nodded and said: "Hey, it's a big deal! The five horse thieves are veterans. How can we let us succeed and return empty-handed? If we don't get anything tomorrow, we will go back. Jin can write it up, let's see whose luck is better?"

A smart horse thief, by replacing the horseshoes, the fur color of the Red Rabbit Rouge Beast can be dyed to another color, and the brand mark on the horse's buttocks can also be changed. There will be no "Red Rabbit Rouge Beast" in the world.

"Head, I just want to be considerate of my subordinates." Gao Yao Wuyun snickered thieves, and hurried forward without any haste, expecting that the two groups of officers and soldiers who arrested the horse thief would find nothing.

A group of people left the avenue at the crossroads and walked towards the narrow path. The rain and mist drifted in the air. Li Guolou took out his pocket watch to check the time. It was already three o'clock in the afternoon. The gray, dark sky I don't know when the rain will stop?

Wearing a bamboo hat in this kind of light rain was troublesome, so Li Guolou took off the bamboo hat on his head, letting the mist drifting from the sky cover his face, and suddenly a figure jumped out on the slope by the river bank.

But not far away, a man stumbled and ran down the trail, half of his rain gear had been thrown off, the bamboo hat flew from his head, and was caught by the hanging string that fell around his neck, and then he held on tightly with the momentum of breaking away. Strangling the middle-aged man's neck, before he could let out a sigh of relief, the coir raincoat on his body had already been blown halfway, rolled over from the left shoulder to the right shoulder.

The man saw a group of officers and soldiers riding horses on the path, and shouted: "Officer, there is a corpse, just under the river bank over there, it's too scary."

Li Guolou's forehead burst into flames, there was a murder case, and what about the "Red Rabbit Rouge Beast Theft Case", the horsewhip pointed at the other party, and shouted: "I am a police officer from the Ministry of Criminal Justice, quickly take me to check. "

"Hey, I'll lead the way right now. My servants are still watching the corpse under the embankment. We are villagers from the Chen family here. The official looks very familiar." The middle-aged man had some impressions of Li Guolou, Did not dare to make a bold statement.

Li Guolou jumped off the horse and got a little closer to the middle-aged man. After a few glances, he recognized Bao Tong's accomplice when his mother Chen Luoshi sued her son Chen Zhonghe for "unfilial piety" in court. He smiled and said: " Oh! Is it Chen Yajun, the village official? We met in the courtroom, when I stood next to you, I yelled a few times without saying a word. Li Guolou, the official, and Zan Lilang of the Ministry of Punishment are in charge of criminal investigation."

Chen Yajun smirked a few times. Everyone had done poorly in the past, and sighed: "Has Chief Li been promoted? But I'm standing still. This time, a homicide happened in Chencun, and I'm in bad luck again." A weeping picture Face, the star of the mourning door came to the door, unable to hide, and walked towards the scene of the crime.

"Head! Are we;;;;;;;" Gao Yao Wuyun hesitated to speak, reminding Li Guolou that he was on official business.

Li Guolou waved his hand and said, "Human life is at stake, I'll go check it out first."

Speeding along the river bank, there is a small river under the bank of the slope. On the bank of the river, Chen Yajun's old servant is standing under a willow tree, guarding a female corpse.There were some men, women and children watching the excitement on the embankment, looking down at the female corpse at the scene of the crime. Curious villagers kept coming from afar, and people kept joining the ranks.

Li Guolou first ordered his men to disperse the crowd, and carefully walked down the slippery slope to the embankment.

The female corpse was soaked in the river, and was dragged up to the river bank by the old servant. The wet old servant said: Sir, this female corpse is not from our Chen village. "

Li Guolou nodded and said, "Thank you for your hard work, old man." After speaking, Li Guolou squatted on the ground and checked the corpse.

Turning over the body of the woman who was leaning over, the body was naked, with a distorted face, it looked no older than 30 years old, the hair was messy and cut short, and the face was not swollen, so it should not have been drowned.Looking at the abdomen of the female corpse, Li Guolou's expression changed drastically. There were three stab wounds on the chest and ribs, which had been sewn up with medical needles and threads. Craftsmanship, and people who understand Western medicine.

Li Guolou suddenly had an epiphany. In the unsolved criminal files of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, there are several cases of "abandoned corpses of prostitutes". Isn't it because the corpses were disembowelled by murderers?He also took out the case file and studied it carefully. He never expected that today he would run into the crime scene where the criminal committed the crime.

Li Guolou's eyes were on fire, and finally he got what he wanted. He had a chance to show his skills, and said in a low voice: "Liu Yu, bring me the tools for making it. I want to open the corpse and have a look." Then he said: "Gao Yao Baotou, hurry up to the trail to see if there are any traces left by the wheels. This kind of cart is roughly as wide as a horse-drawn cart from Maji Carriage. It is a carriage for people. It may be pulled by a horse or it may be Two horses are pulling, and two horses are most likely. It’s not an ox cart in the village, show me carefully. If there is one? Report to me immediately.”

"Zha!" The enthusiasm of the police came up, even Gao Yao Wuyun changed his fatigue and strode up the embankment energetically. This kind of murder is what the police should do.