Qin Official

On the 11th day of the twelfth lunar month, during the pounding time (17:00-19:00), outside Huyang Pavilion, Mr. Hei was giving instructions to Ji Ying and Yuliang.

"You must remember that there is no room for failure on this trip. You cannot let this person escape. If you encounter a carriage or horse along the way, immediately show me my two-foot slip to requisition it! When you arrive in the county, first go to the county prime minister's office and knock on the door. Find The officer on duty at night will explain clearly the cause and effect of this matter! And request the officer to send someone to Chaoyangli immediately! Can you do it?"

"Brother Heifu, don't worry, I know the seriousness of the matter!"

Ji Ying rarely calmed down and solemnly handed over his hands. Then, together with Yu Liang, another pavilion soldier, he escorted the public servant Quji, whose hands were tied with ropes, and walked north along the road.

Heifu watched the three people go away, thoughtfully.

He never expected that at noon today, in front of Chaoyangli Gate, the seemingly honest and simple-minded Lijianmen, who was holding rice in a pottery bowl, would actually have something to do with a major tomb robbery case by a gang!

This is self-inflicted theft!

But Qu Ji only heard from those tomb robbers that he went to the prison gate there at night. How did the prison gate collude with the tomb robbers? Was it to provide assistance and transfer stolen goods for them, or to personally participate in the tomb robbery? But the words are unclear.

With this kind of ambiguous testimony alone, Heifu couldn't immediately go to Chaoyangli to arrest someone. Moreover, if he moved the prison door, he might scare away all the unknown tomb robbers, which would not be a good idea.

That's why he asked Ji Ying and Yuliang to escort him to the county overnight. Heifu was worried when he went to the countryside, but all the local officials had some old acquaintances in the countryside, and they were still jailers and magistrates in the county. Officials are more reliable.

The begging robber Dongmen Bao came over at this time and asked: "Hei Fu, the person who submitted the letter has been taken away, what should we do? Are we waiting for the order from the county?"

"It will take two hours to get to the county seat. The magistrate will send someone over, at least early tomorrow morning. We can't wait."

"What should we do?"

Heifu said: "Qu Ji also said that he heard from the thieves that day that the tomb was very large and difficult to excavate. It had been dug for several days. Originally, it could be dug around the festival day and the burial objects inside could be taken out. Unexpectedly, it rained and snowed continuously, so we had to stop. Now that the weather is sunny and the snow outside is about to melt, it’s time for them to continue... They don’t dare to do this in broad daylight, so they can only dig secretly at night.”

"What the pavilion chief means...we are going to go to the cemetery overnight to hunt down the tomb robbers?"

Li Xian also cheered up. If such a major case could be solved, it would be a great achievement!

"Yes, time waits for no one. Although Quji has not been exposed, today we are going to arrest people. The prison gate there may be alert and will definitely inform the tomb robbers. In this way, the tomb robbers have two choices. One is to be cautious. , stop digging holes; the second is to dig all night long, dig out the funerary objects inside and sell them for money..."

Xiao Tao said: "If... if they are brave, timid... and stop digging, wouldn't it be..."

Heifu smiled: "Those who are thieves are either forced to do anything or are brave and crazy. I hope they choose to take risks. We will try our luck... Dongmen Bao, Li Xian, Xiao Tao!"

He became serious and called out several people's names, and the three of them immediately agreed!

"Follow me to the pavilion, choose weapons, go there immediately, and get everyone's stolen goods as soon as you come, and then follow the clues to find out the crimes of Chaoyanglili Prison Gate!"

…

The period from 19 o'clock to 21 o'clock, among the twelve hours of the Qin State, is called "the entry of cattle and sheep". As the name suggests, when the sky darkens, the birds return to their nests, and the cattle and sheep grazing outside are also driven in. within the circle.

The gate of the prison in Chaoyangli is called "Bo Wu". At this time every day, he would stand by the inner gate, smiling and watching the residents who had gone out to herd, fish and hunt come back one by one. After counting the number of people entering and leaving, he would Close the door slowly.

Once the cattle and sheep have passed through, the inner gate will no longer be opened, and no one is allowed in or out, not even Li Zheng and Tian Dian.

Except for one person.

That is the prison gate himself.

The moon quietly climbed up the willow branches. When the night got darker, the firewood in the morning sun darkened. After most of the residents dragged their tired bodies to sleep on the couch, the already closed inner door slowly opened. Slowly opened a crack...

The doorman of the inner prison walked out of the inner door, holding his sleeves up in the cold wind, walking around impatiently, as if waiting for someone.

After about half a moment, a figure finally crept over along the inner wall and coughed lightly.

Boyu saw him and said angrily: "Why are you here now?"

"Haha, don't blame me. We had some wine and wasted some time."

But I saw that this man was about thirty years old, with a red face and a short beard. He was wearing a short coat with sleeves, but outside he was wearing a deep left-cut coat that was obviously worn by the dead...

Bo Wu's eyes widened and he scolded in a low voice: "Chang, you guys dare to wear things that are taken out from your hair holes! What should I do if someone sees me?"

"What's this?"

The red-faced thief didn't take it seriously. He raised his hand and let the wide sleeves of his dark clothes sway slightly in the night wind. He said proudly: "It would be better to let a dead man who doesn't know the cold and heat lie in a coffin wearing this good thing. Let us poor people who have no clothes and no clothes borrow them for use, but it is a pity that many of them are rotten. Otherwise, I should bring a silk clothes to Bo Wu..."

"Stop talking nonsense." Bo Wu looked around and continued: "I asked you to come here tonight to tell you that the tomb can no longer be dug!"

Chang's face immediately darkened and he asked, "Why can't I dig it out?"

"Just listen to me."

Chang didn't listen anymore, and sneered: "Bo Wu, Boyu, you were the one who contacted us first, saying that there seemed to be tombs in the wilderness between Chaoyangli and Xiaoqingli, and there were no fields on the left or right, so you could Hair point.”

"Not only that, you also used your position to provide us with tools, hide the excavated artifacts, and slowly send them to neighboring counties to sell them for money. Now, the few surrounding small tombs have been hollowed out, but the gold obtained Not much, only the innermost tomb is left, and it is about to be dug up so that we can all get rich, but you regret it?"

"It's not a regret." Bo Wu quickly explained: "Didn't the Huyang Pavilion even have the pavilion chief and Qiu Pi vacant before? Seeing that there was no one to take care of it, I asked you to take the opportunity to get the acupuncture points, but it is different now. Did you know that Huyang Pavilion has a new pavilion director?"

"So what if the pavilion chief comes?"

His face showed disdain: "We have also dug graves in Xinshi County. Along the way, we encountered countless pavilions. But as long as we stay up day and night and hide in the wormwood, those pavilion leaders can do nothing. We wait!"

"This pavilion chief is different." Boyu said: "He just caught three thieves nearby with his bare hands a month ago. He is very capable. Today he suddenly came to Chaoyangli to patrol, scaring me half to death. Fortunately, he only took A gentleman who lost his money in the county town..."

"Someone claimed that when Gongshi Quji was serving in the county town, he picked up the money that fell on the ground and needed to take him back to the pavilion for questioning." This was the crime that Heifu claimed to everyone in Chaoyang when he took him away, although at that time he did not know the tricks of the prison gate.

Because in the Qin State, the law stipulates that it is against the law to pick up money and not pay it to the public. So except for Qu Ji's wife who cried and said that her husband would never do such a thing, everyone inside didn't have much doubt...

The inner prison gate also thought that no one knew about his affairs.

The two continued to discuss by the door, but could not reach a consensus. Bo Wu was cautious and felt that he could no longer take risks, so he stopped first. Chang thought, however, that a group of them had worked hard day and night for so long, and they were about to be done. How could they give up now?

During this period, someone's dog suddenly barked, which startled Bogu. Unable to convince him, he could only take a step back and said:

"Then tonight you take advantage of the snow to melt away, quickly dig the tomb, take out the valuable objects in the tomb, then seal the tomb, keep my share, and then leave quickly! There is that black man Don't stay here any longer!"

"Everything is just as Bo Wu said."

Finally, before leaving, Boyu pointed at the flowing dark clothes on his body and said with disgust: "Don't come to see me wearing this in the future. I advise you to wear less and be careful..."

"What are you careful about? Are you haunted by evil spirits? Does Boyu believe in ghosts and gods now?"

But Chang is not afraid. He is a habitual tomb robber. He has robbed countless tombs. The noble man who used to be a high-ranking nobleman is now just a skeleton. Will God punish him and ghosts punish him? where?

He smiled contemptuously a few times, took a bag of food given to him by Bo Wu, carried three new iron shovels, and walked slowly towards the direction of the rising moon...

…

At the same time, everyone in Huyang Pavilion has packed up and is ready to go...