Chapter 145

For the past few days, it has been raining continuously in Jin Ling, and the construction of the Great Mercy Temple has been stagnant for several days. Fortunately, before the rain, the construction progress had been smooth, so the delay of a few days is not a big problem.

Qin Keqing took a carriage to Ding'an Temple early in the morning to deliver laundry and food to Qin Ye, but when she arrived, she didn't see Jia Cong.

Ruizhu went to ask the old servant who cleaned the official residence, who said that someone came to deliver a message last night, and Young Master Cong took the maid back to the city early this morning.

Qin Keqing couldn't help but feel disappointed. She had heard her father say that Jia Cong had just been appointed by the Emperor as an Advisor to Prince Ning's temporary residence, and Prince Ning often sent personal guards to summon him to the city for discussions.

He was no longer staying in the temple all day as before. Sometimes she would find an excuse to visit her father, but she often couldn't see his shadow.

Today was also a coincidence; even her father, Qin Ye, was not in the temple.

Hearing from the old servant who cleaned, because of the rainy days in recent days, the construction of the Great Temple had also stopped. Early this morning, the construction official took many people to dig for purple clay in Shicao Wozi, twenty miles away.

Qin Keqing looked at the moist mountain forest and ancient temple after the rain outside, feeling a bit bleak in her heart.

At that time, on the official boat, she overheard the various evil deeds of Jia Rong and felt self-pity and sorrow, unwilling in every way.

But as a woman from an official family, raised since childhood with the laws and women's precepts, with heavy barriers of rules, could she really escape?

After a few days of rain, digging for the clay was very smooth, and before long, the dug-out purple clay filled half a carriage.

Suddenly, two craftsmen digging for clay on a gentle slope stared at the ground in terror and screamed, "Come quickly, murder! So many dead people!"

In Shicao Wozi, west of the suburbs of Jin Ling City, a kind of dense, fine, black-purple clay has been discovered in the past two years, which is most suitable for firing top-grade tube tiles.

Fortunately, it has not been discovered for long, and only some people in the industry who are proficient in construction skills know about it, so no one has come to dig this purple clay on a large scale yet.

Until she met that peerless young man on the official boat, whose poetry and literary fame were praised, and who was gentle, leisurely, and composed.

That gentle slope was more than a person's height, and its position was on the inner side of Shicao Wozi.

……

It's just that such brightness and happiness are ultimately illusory and easy to dissipate. One day he will go and never return, and even if they face each other at close range, they will be like strangers.

These craftsmen first dug the purple clay on the outer side of Shicao Wozi, and then they dug to this gentle slope on the inner side.

The craftsmen and laborers brought by Qin Ye each found a place to dig for the black-purple clay under the yellow soil.

Because of the heavy rain for several days, the soil soaked in water and turned into mud, and half of this gentle slope had collapsed.

When Qin Ye arrived, he saw the scene before him and gasped in horror.

Qin Ye was an expert in construction and naturally knew the wonderful use of the purple clay in Shicao Wozi.

She was not as good as the two maids beside him, who could accompany him closely without any concealment.

Because of the rainy days in recent days, the construction progress of the Great Mercy Temple was stagnant, so he stole some leisure in his busy schedule. Taking advantage of the slightly clearing weather in the morning, he took people to dig for purple clay.

Before learning that her marriage was filthy, perhaps she would not easily let her heart flutter, but upon suddenly hearing that the person she entrusted was absurd and inferior, in sorrow and despair, how could she still guard her heart?

Now digging for purple clay was also calculated by him for the construction period, because after the purple clay is dug, it cannot be used immediately. It needs to be sealed and fermented for dozens of days before it can enter the craftsman processes of molding, drying, and firing.

Because it had rained heavily for the previous few days, Shicao Wozi was muddy everywhere, and in many places, the surface yellow mud was even washed away, revealing the oily black-purple underneath, which saved effort in digging for purple clay.

The government did not send anyone to guard this place. This place is now a wild mountain nest, and very few people come here usually.

Qin Ye was shocked when he heard it and hurriedly took people over to check.

By the time the purple clay tube tiles could be used on the roof, it would be exactly two months later, just in time to catch up with the construction period for laying the tube tiles of the main hall of the temple.

He saw two dead heads exposed in the half-collapsed gentle slope, as well as several hands and legs mixed together randomly, as if several people were piled together, looking extremely creepy.

Qin Ye was just a civil official of the Ministry of Works; where had he seen such a scene? He suppressed the fear in his heart and called several bold craftsmen to dig the soil open a bit more.

He thought it was the heavy rain that washed away and collapsed an old grave, revealing the corpses.

As the saying goes, the dead are the most important. Since he saw it and he was an official, it was not good to ignore it. He wanted to dig out the corpses and bury them on the spot to avoid exposing the corpses in the wilderness.

But he didn't expect that the flesh and bones of the corpses exposed in the mud were intact; they had clearly not been dead for long.

As those craftsmen dug up more soil, the scene that appeared terrified everyone.

What was just exposed from the mud layer seemed to be only the corpses of two people, but when the entire mud layer was dug open, they saw a dense pile of corpses.

A rough look showed there were more than a dozen corpses, and it seemed there should be more corpses underground.

At this time, the mud layer covering the corpses was dug open, and a strong stench of rot spread out.

This terrifying scene full of death scared everyone present, and many people couldn't help but vomit.

At this point, even a fool could see that these people were not corpses revealed by the collapse of an old grave. With so many dead people piled together, it was clear they had died an unnatural death.

So many people died; something big happened, a heaven-shaking event!

Qin Ye was an official after all and was more composed than the others present. He steadied himself and said:

"Everyone retreat outside the stone nest, immediately call someone to report the case to Ying Tian Prefecture, and also call someone to the construction site to let Platoon Leader Liu bring some people over. Do not reveal the news to prevent accidents."

Shicao Wozi is more than an hour's journey from Ying Tian Prefecture in Jin Ling, and the round trip is two hours.

But it is only half an hour's journey from here to the Great Mercy Temple construction site.

For such a fierce event, Qin Ye could not leave immediately, and he couldn't wait for the people from Ying Tian Prefecture to come, so he thought of Liu Hai, who brought more than a hundred soldiers.

Since he was sent to guard the construction site and he was the chief official of the construction site, it was reasonable for him to bring soldiers over to guard, and he could also let go of his hands sooner.

……

Last night, Jia Cong was informed by Prince Ning's personal guards at Ding'an Temple to go to Ying Tian Prefecture with Yang Hongbin today to urge the yamen to arrest the suspects related to the Longtan Port case.

Jia Yuancun also saw the extraordinary aspects of this Jia family youth once again.

After listening to the explanation of the chief constable of the yamen on how to search for suspects in the sixty-three wards of Jin Ling.

This youth raised objections, believing that this way of searching for suspects not only wasted manpower but also had extremely low efficiency.

And on the map of Jin Ling City, he marked out twenty ward areas such as Xinglong Fang, Guangde Fang, Yongning Fang, and Fule Fang.

These places are all areas where noble mansions, garrison stations, government offices, and wealthy officials live.

He believed that the probability of suspects hiding in these places was not high, so manpower could be reduced in these places, and only general follow-up could be done.

Instead, a large number of people should be concentrated in the complex areas of the East and West Markets, as well as the wards where the poor gathered in the north of the city, and those places should be used as key areas for investigation.

He also talked about many ways to collect information and locate criminals through the leaders and night watchmen of each ward.

He even mentioned many ways to drive and use the city foxes, social rats, and bored idlers who mixed in various places.

Originally, in order to catch suspects, the yamen runners and soldiers of Ying Tian Prefecture almost went out in full force. Unfortunately, Jin Ling City was too big. Under the circumstances of taking care of everything, no matter how many people there were, it seemed stretched.

In the end, even the yamen runners guarding the labor prisoners at the Great Mercy Temple had to be transferred from Liuhe County to rotate.

After such combing and coordination by Jia Cong, not only was the pressure of stretched manpower suddenly reduced, but the order of priorities in handling affairs was clear, and the efficiency of searching for suspects was much higher than before.

Jia Yuancun and Yang Hongbin, who were present, saw his overall planning, which was meticulous, clear, experienced, and thoughtful, something even veteran officials of many years could hardly reach.

How much experience could such a youth have? Where did these refined and ingenious thoughts come from? Could it be that there really are people in the world with innate wisdom and heaven-sent talent, knowing things from birth?

Yang Hongbin had seen Jia Cong's various ingenious ideas before. Now seeing his meticulous planning, although he admired it, he was not surprised.

And Jia Yuancun originally only felt that this youth was somewhat extraordinary. Now seeing his meticulous planning, he was even more amazed. Such a person would surely be the pillar of the Jia clan in the future, and his desire to win him over and get close to him grew stronger.

At this time, a yamen runner came to report that Qin Ye, the construction official of the Great Mercy Temple, sent someone to report a case. Dozens of corpses were found in Shicao Wozi at the northern foot of Qixia Mountain. The matter was of great importance, and he requested the yamen to send people to the scene to investigate.

(End of chapter)