Chapter 466: Isolated Office

Pei Ye considered himself gradually familiar with the case files of the prefecture office, but he was still amazed by the efficiency of the other two. The file room was vast, and there was no entry specifically written as "Taiping Cao Gang," but they only brought a few clerks, and within two or three hours, they had screened out dozens of case files.

The high officials of the Supreme Court were clearly different from his wild path. They had their own set of almost instinctive judgments. After Pei Ye tried to help, he withdrew and stopped interfering, choosing some missing persons and homicide cases to flip through.

However, after a busy afternoon, the entire file room was in an atmosphere of silence.

The Jingzhao Prefecture's records of this gang were completely superficial.

Pei Ye had never heard of the "Taiping Cao Gang." The Supreme Court was an office for judging cases and sentencing, and it was also not very familiar with this gang. But they were spread out in the hundred wards of Chang'an, and no matter what, they could not escape the records and inspections of the Jingzhao Prefecture.

However, now, these case files had either been tampered with, or...

"There is no record at all." Li Zhao closed the case file in his hand and let out a breath.

In the past two or three years, there were only seventy-eight cases involving the Taiping Cao Gang. They were either gang fights that did not hurt lives, petty theft, or industrial disputes—and in half of them, the Taiping Cao Gang was the victim.

Pei Ye now understood some aspects of this gang. Just as Xu Chuo said, it was truly the largest gang in the Divine Capital. Its industries involved dozens of types such as restaurants, gambling houses, escort agencies, and martial arts halls, and they were concentrated in prosperous areas such as Pingkang Ward in the East and West Cities.

There was no number for the gang members, but a rough estimate was nearly ten thousand, plus the loosely attached knights and ruffians, spreading among the hundred wards of Chang'an, with their tentacles everywhere.

In the face of such a powerful and solid force as the Forbidden Army, they were easily scattered and destroyed, but for investigators, this was a very difficult object to deal with.

"The Taiping Cao does not have a so-called 'General Headquarters'." Li Zhao said, "Their distribution is vast and mixed. There are hundreds of known industries in the Xicheng alone. We have no way to take action against such a range."

Yes, the scale of what the three words "Taiping Cao" referred to exceeded Pei Ye's expectations.

The Three Departments were established, meaning to investigate the Carp Pavilion human trafficking case.

Before this, the Southern Office had already issued a case file—the Carp Pavilion secretly abducted people, prepared to sell them privately to the powerful, and was caught by the Longwu Army before it could succeed.

This was the first time, and it had never happened before. The Taiping Cao Gang naturally did not know about it. As for the so-called "powerful," there was no trading fact, so it was naturally groundless. This was everything on the table now.

Di Jiu came to the Three Departments with a warrant of "If this case is not broken, I will not serve in this life."

They wanted to overturn this case file, reveal that the perverted playthings like "Human Brushes" were a mature business of the Taiping Cao Gang, that no one knew how many victims' bones were in the shadows, and no one knew how many times the deals with the powerful had been concluded.

Then they naturally had to produce evidence and find this fact.

However, now facing such a Taiping Cao Gang spread throughout the city, the settlement of this fact was really elusive. Perhaps there were clues in this restaurant, perhaps there was undeniable evidence in that gambling house... but these were all guesses.

They could not search one by one. The resistance aroused by that was too great. Not to mention that they were handling the case under the heavy pressure and isolation of the Southern Office, and could only get the most limited cooperation. Street envoys, patrol envoys, and the Jin Wu Guards did not necessarily get timely responses when they requested the Southern Office with solid evidence, let alone a city-wide search.

No one to use, that was exactly it.

So they had to find a thread first and set a precise target.

Di Jiu personally sat in the Jingzhao Prefecture for this matter. However, the former Jingzhao Prefecture had never investigated the Taiping Cao Gang. Where could they find a handle?

Now that things had started, the Cao Gang must also be shrinking their defenses everywhere. It was even harder to catch their horse's feet.

The intense sunlight at noon was cut into golden rhombuses by the window lattice, spilling on the table and the ground. Pei Ye held a teacup in one hand and put down the case file he had finished reading with the other, then fished out the next one. He looked down at it. This case file was very new, as if it were from the last month.

"But we have the people caught that night in our hands." Pei Ye said, "These people should be able to provide some clues."

"The people from the Carp Pavilion were first interrogated by the Longwu Army and have now been handed over to the Southern Office." Di Jiu said. This official sat in the depths where the sunlight could not reach, his face as heavy as the light. "The Longwu Army interrogated them and found they were working for the Taiping Cao Gang, but after the Southern Office took over, they overturned their confessions by saying they were tortured into confessing. As for the clues that can be traced back, only a few core members know, but their mouths are very tight. The Longwu Army didn't have time to interrogate them in one night, so they were all killed."

"There are also victims." Pei Ye said.

"Yes, these people are in our hands, but they were also deprived of their eyes and ears during the process and could not provide very valuable information." Di Jiu said in a low voice, "But I think we can still see some things. It hasn't been fully asked yet. You can go and take a look later."

Pei Ye nodded and looked down at the case file in his hand first.

【The Case of Liu Dao and Three Others Intercepting and Killing】

"On the 18th day of the 9th month of the Xin-Si year of Suolin, Zhang Mengyuan and his wife took their daughter to leave the capital and return home. The hooligans Liu Dao, Wang Dayou, Miao Fan, and Mao Hongchun coveted their wealth, intercepted them, committed murder, killed them all after seizing their wealth, threw the bodies of Zhang Mengyuan and his wife outside the city, and threw the body of their daughter Zhang Mingqin into the Longshou Canal.

Liu Dao and Wang Dayou confessed without reservation. The case is undoubted, and they are in prison waiting to be beheaded."

Pei Ye frowned. This case file was briefly special. It could be said that there was only a beginning and an end. The fate of Miao Fan and Mao Hongchun was not explained... Pei Ye subconsciously felt something strange. He closed the file and clenched it, stood up and said: "Okay, Minister Di, then I'll go to the place where the victims are placed first—do you have anything to explain?"

Di Jiu shook his head.

"Oh, I see you have been in a bad mood..." Pei Ye hesitated.

"Because there are too many unjust cases." Di Jiu said.

"..."

"I roughly checked two hundred and twenty-eight, of which at least twenty-one were wrongly judged, and those who were forced to judge with loopholes were several times that." Di Jiu lowered his head and was silent for a moment, then raised his head, "... Okay, you go. It has nothing to do with this case. We will check one by one and visit one by one here. We will always find the tail that the Taiping Cao cannot hide."

"Okay, Minister Di."

Pei Ye took this case file and turned to the back office.

Seeing these people who had been mutilated beyond recognition was still shocking. Pei Ye had seen heavier injuries and more miserable bodies. The bloody appearance of being gnawed by frost ghosts and having bones cut and viscera broken was equally eye-catching.

But even if they died at the mouth of frost ghosts or were gouged and beheaded by soul-takers... at this time, it did not make Pei Ye feel too angry.

Because no matter how dirty those evil deeds were, they had a purpose.

The Immortal Lord wanted to seize energy, and the Huan Death Pavilion wanted to collect sword souls. After all, they had their own goals that could not be tolerated by the world. They must have preferred to complete their plans quietly, but they had to kill to push forward.

But why did such mutilation happen before his eyes?

The two words "amusement" were like a thorn stuck in Pei Ye's ears, and he couldn't pull it out to this day.

Is there really such a group of people who are so bored that they treat others as pigs and dogs to play with?

Many people here had lost the ability to think or speak, but those young women were mostly sound. Pei Ye half-squatted down, came to a cowering woman, and said in a low voice: "Miss, where is your home?"

"No, no home, no home." The woman shook her head in panic, "This is my home, this is my home."

Pei Ye was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that she had not yet accepted the fact that she had been saved... or had lost the ability to believe in freedom.

He pursed his lips, stood up, and asked ten or so in a row without getting an effective answer, until a young girl whose eyes still hid fear was silent for a long time, gritted her teeth and answered him: "My home... is in Chongye Ward."

Pei Ye was stunned—is she a person from the Divine Capital?

But it was this stun that made the girl tremble and cower. Pei Ye immediately continued to ask: "How were you abducted by them?"

The girl trembled, stopped shaking, and her eyes had some spirit, but she lowered her head again: "... I don't know. They just broke into our house and said my father had committed some crime, and then they tied us up..."

"Where are your parents?"

"I don't know. After they tied us up, they separated us. They said they were going to put my parents in prison. My Lord, my Lord, please save my parents too! One of them is named Cheng Kequan, and one is named Li Jiayan..."

"Okay, I will look for them." Pei Ye comforted, "The two words 'put in prison' caught his attention. "You tell me first, were any of them wearing official uniforms?"

"... No... I don't know, but they seemed to show my father some waist token, and my father was very afraid... and didn't resist..."

Pei Ye frowned and nodded: "Okay, it's okay, you rest well—what's your name?"

"... Cheng, Cheng Xiaozhu."

"Okay, when I see your parents, I will inform them." Pei Ye passed a strand of true Qi into her and stood up.

He asked some people who could still answer in turn, and the information he got was the same. What surprised him was that most of them were people from the Divine Capital, or at least temporarily living in the Divine Capital.

It was indeed inconsistent with his imagination. These sixty-seven people were either talented scholars, sword-wielding knights, or beautiful women. All were outstanding people, not easy to get. The Taiping Cao should have locked on secretly and then suddenly committed evil, abducting people into dark prisons.

That was why Pei Ye checked the missing persons cases, but he found nothing.

This brought up two questions—where did their families go? Why didn't their families report to the officials when their daughters went missing?

Could the Jingzhao Prefecture suppress all of them?

And now when asked, several people told him that their parents were also caught in the same way... This did answer the above questions, but it also made Pei Ye have other doubts.

Now that he walked out of here, the daylight had reached the brightest afternoon. The air was still cold. Pei Ye took a deep breath, straight to his lungs. When he arrived at the file room, Li Zhao was waiting at the door with a sword, and Di Jiu was walking out with a robe on.

"The Lord said he wanted to go out and visit a few families." Li Zhao said, "How about Inspector Pei, any discoveries?"

Pei Ye explained briefly. Inside, Di Jiu walked out while tidying his sleeves: "The time has come, shall we go eat a bowl of noodles together?"

Pei Ye shook his head: "No, Minister Di, I'm just about to say goodbye. I have to go to the Imperial Academy in the afternoon. I'll take this case file."

He raised the case file in his hand.

Di Jiu was stunned: "... I see Inspector Pei is very young."

"Back to the Lord, I'll be eighteen soon."

A rare smile appeared on Di Jiu's face. He turned back to look at Li Zhao and pointed: "Look at you."

Li Zhao just smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Okay, then Inspector Pei, go ahead." Di Jiu looked the boy up and down, and suddenly said in a low voice, "Tell Tongjun for me, I don't want any favors for this case—there are many unjust cases in the Jingzhao Prefecture, and I, Di, will definitely rectify them one by one!"

"... Okay."

Pei Ye thought about the case and got on the carriage. Not long after closing his eyes to rest, the unique vitality of the Imperial Academy woke him up.

Getting off the carriage, it was still a bright afternoon. It was just before class. Men and women in scholar uniforms came and went. The weather was cold, and many people had added thick clothes.

Pei Ye then remembered that he didn't have winter clothes yet. Although he could not wear them, it was meaningless to always hold a body of true Qi like someone else... Just as he was thinking wildly, a group of people next to him looked at him curiously.

Pei Ye looked back, but was stunned, and smiled and nodded.

It was the few classmates he had met in class last time. In fact, they hadn't even exchanged names, but after all, they had met a few times.

Pei Ye also learned in the last class that the so-called 【Simen Academy】 was not all children of commoners. In addition to the "eight hundred outstanding children of commoners" mentioned by Fang Jidao, there were also "five hundred children of seventh-rank officials and above, and children of marquises, counts, and barons." It was an academy with a very mixed background.

Xu Chuo was listed as a "Doctor," but she could actually teach 【Imperial Academy】 or 【Taixue】, yet she came to the Simen Academy to teach herself.

The Imperial Academy's study period was set for three years. There were actually only two or three hundred people in the Simen Academy who were in the same year and class as Pei Ye. The people who came to Xu Chuo's class that day were from all subjects and years, and after being taken to the right place by Fang Jidao in the last lesson, Pei Ye found that those classmates were very familiar with each other.

No one noticed that there was one more person.

At this time, a freckled girl among the five or six people looked curiously at the carriage Pei Ye got off. Seeing Pei Ye looking back and greeting, she smiled and said: "So this classmate also has an extraordinary background."

Pei Ye was slightly stunned: "What do you mean?"

"You can take a carriage, but we can only work our feet. You say 'what do you mean'?" The female scholar hummed and smiled.

Pei Ye wanted to say that he took a carriage because he lived far away, but at this time, he did notice that there were not many carriages in front of the Imperial Academy.

Another more gentle one also looked with curious eyes and explained with a smile: "To take a carriage or ride a horse in front of the Imperial City, you must have a record."

The gaze shifted to the center: "Only classmate Lin occasionally takes his father's carriage here."

Pei Ye looked over. The young man among the five or six people nodded reservedly at him: "My father is Lin Daqin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. May I ask the surname of this classmate?"

Pei Ye was stunned—wasn't that the one who was sick at home in the Three Departments?

He looked him up and down, and didn't have a very good face: "No need for the surname Pei—your father shouldn't need a carriage these two days, classmate Lin can take it."

Lin Wenyuan's eyes widened, looking at him in astonishment.

Pei Ye didn't say much, took the case file and books from the carriage, and entered the classroom with them. ===== CHAPTER 467 =====