When Zhu Jinsong was still gnawing on chicken wings at the home of Wang Liang, the chairman of the old Wangzhuang Farmers' Association, the child was brought over by Ke Zhiming.
Zhu Jinsong was very displeased.
It wasn’t that he disliked the child, but that he disliked Ke Zhiming, that tactless fool. Did I recognize this child? No, so what use is there in bringing him for me to see!
After being glared at by Zhu Jinsong, Ke Zhiming immediately carried the child to Wang Liang, the chairman of the Farmers' Association, and asked, "Brother, is this the child?"
Wang Liang, who had been eagerly awaiting Ke Zhiming's arrival, took a closer look and then exclaimed excitedly, "Yes, yes, yes! This is the one lost by Wang Er's family!"
Only then did Zhu Jinsong nod with a smile and say, "Then I'll trouble you, brother, to take this child back to Wang Er's family. Later, I have some matters I'd like to ask your advice on?"
Wang Liang nodded frantically in agreement. After carefully taking the child from Ke Zhiming's hands, he rushed out of the house.
A short while later, Wang Liang returned with a robust young man with an honest face.
As soon as he entered the room, the young man knelt down with a thud and kowtowed, saying, "This humble one, Wang Er, thanks the young master for his great kindness!"
After bowing heavily again, Wang Er continued, "If it weren't for the young master, my son would probably never have been found. The young master has not only saved my son, but also my entire family!"
Straightening up, Wang Er bowed heavily once more, "This humble one has nothing to repay you with but this lowly life, and wishes to follow the young master always, at your beck and call!"
Zhang Dequan, who had been standing beside Zhu Jinsong, immediately wanted to draw his sword and kill Wang Er. First, there was Xu Yaozong who wanted to snatch the position of imperial eunuch attendant from us, and now there's Wang Er. Why are these scoundrels so eager to compete with us! Damn it all!
Zhu Jinsong snorted and said, "You must take better care of your child from now on. I was able to help you find him this time, but you might not always run into me next time!"
Wang Er nodded in agreement. Seeing that Wang Er was about to start talking about following him and being a workhorse, Zhu Jinsong quickly stopped him, "Get up, stop kneeling there. Also, I didn't find your child for you to be my workhorse. You should hurry back and see to your child."
After the profusely grateful Wang Er left, Zhu Jinsong instructed Ke Zhiming, "Compile a list of all the children lost over the years, their characteristics, their ages, their zodiac signs, their birth dates and times, and get all of that compiled. Also, see where in the entire Fengyang area children have been lost, and whether there are similar situations in nearby prefectures."
Ke Zhiming immediately cupped his hands in assent and turned to leave. Wang Liang, the chairman of the Farmers' Association, was left stunned. After a long while, he hesitantly asked, "Does the young master suspect something is going on?"
Zhu Jinsong chuckled and retorted, "All the surrounding villages are losing children, and it happens every year or two. Do you think that's normal?"
Zhu Jinsong's question made Wang Liang hesitate.
If it were during the Qing Dynasty, it wouldn't be strange to lose a child every year or two, or even a few children a year. In any county or prefecture, ten or eight would be lost every year.
But the Ming Dynasty was different.
Kidnapping children was generally done by those who couldn't have sons and had to spend money to buy one to inherit the family line. However, this kind of transaction was based on low risk.
The Great Ming Laws clearly stipulated that kidnapping children was punishable by slow slicing and extermination of the family, similar to the crime of mutilating the living for sale. Those who bought children were also subject to the death penalty or exile. With such great risks, who would want to kidnap children?
More importantly, among the many counties and prefectures in the Ming Dynasty, why was it that Old Wangzhuang and the surrounding villages always lost children?
Therefore, the possibility of people buying and selling kidnapped children could be temporarily ruled out. The only remaining possibility was that someone was engaging in the practice of mutilating the living for sale, because mutilating the living for sale was different from kidnapping and trading!
Kidnapping and trading were purely for profit, while mutilating the living for sale, a part of it was to create deformed children to be beggars, and the other part was for sacrifices.
The thought of this possibility made Wang Liang gasp in disbelief.
As the head of the Old Wangzhuang Farmers' Association, Wang Liang often went to the rural associations for training and then returned to propagate the Great Ming Laws to the people of Old Wangzhuang, which included mutilating the living for sale.
It was precisely because of this that Wang Liang knew how cruel the four characters of mutilating the living for sale truly were.
(For details, please refer to the Yuan Dynasty's "Collected Statutes of the Great Yuan Sacred Governance and National Dynasty," Volume 41, "Ministry of Punishment Three: Various Evils: Immorality: Prohibition of Mutilation for Sacrificing to Ghosts," which describes the cruelty of mutilating the living for sale and also explains its purpose.)
Thinking of the lost children possibly being taken to be mutilated and used for heretical sacrifices, Wang Liang couldn't help but curse in hatred, gritting his teeth and saying, "If I ever catch these bastards, I'll flay them alive!"
After leaving Old Wangzhuang, Zhu Jinsong immediately took his men to Fengyang County and checked into an inn.
Ke Zhiming and Zhang Dequan stood before Zhu Jinsong, not daring to make a sound.
After a long silence, Zhu Jinsong tapped the table with his fingers and said, "Send people to investigate. The Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Eastern Depot, the local Farmers' Associations, the Clothing Guards, all of you go and investigate."
"How many mutilated children are still begging in the cities? Are there still any instances of child trafficking in various places? How many? Especially in Fengyang County, Fengyang Prefecture, and the entire Anhui Provincial Administration. Investigate all of it! Including the entire Jiangnan region, you must investigate thoroughly!"
However, after obtaining the case files compiled by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Heaven and Earth Society, Zhu Jinsong instinctively felt something was wrong.
Ke Zhiming reported the intelligence he had: "The local Clothing Guards and Farmers' Associations report that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have been instances of lost children in other places, including those who wandered off on their own or were kidnapped. Almost every place has related case files. The period from the first year of the Sheng Huang reign to the second year of the Zhi Huang reign had the most cases. After the third year of the Sheng Huang reign, as the government's crackdown intensified, this situation became less frequent."
"However, in the ninth year of the Sheng Huang reign, the number of cases of lost children in the Anhui Provincial Administration suddenly increased to fifty-five, with thirty-four cases occurring in Fengyang Prefecture, all of which were for young boys."
"In the tenth year of the Sheng Huang reign, the number of lost children in the Anhui Provincial Administration remained as high as fifty-two, with twenty-eight cases in Fengyang Prefecture, all of which were also young boys."
"However, according to reports from the Embroidered Uniform Guard in Anhui and several surrounding Provincial Administrations, no mutilated children begging in the towns and cities have been found."
"The Heaven and Earth Society also reported that there are no sects like the White Lotus Society or the Eight Trigrams Society in the Fengyang Prefecture area."
This was also where Zhu Jinsong felt something was amiss.
If the children weren't being taken for trafficking, and there were no sects engaging in heretical sacrifices, then where did these children go?
Even if they were sold to other places, there shouldn't be absolutely no clues, right?
A certain famous detective once said: Once you eliminate all the impossibilities, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
If it were just one or two isolated cases, then they could be explained by various reasons. But with dozens of similar cases happening every year, it could only mean that there was another hidden reason behind these cases.
Therefore, the only possibility was that these children had never left Fengyang Prefecture or even Fengyang County. And after ruling out sects like the Eight Trigrams Society or the White Lotus Society...
"Investigate!"
Zhu Jinsong ordered, "Let the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Heaven and Earth Society join forces to investigate. Target all the monasteries, Taoist temples, and nunneries in all of Fengyang. Notify the local authorities, start verifying the ordination certificates of all monks, Taoists, and nuns. Transfer personnel from the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment, and find out for me!"
"I want to know who has the audacity to mutilate so many lives!"
Under normal circumstances, as long as it did not escalate to a point where it incurred the wrath of heaven and aroused universal indignation, the emperor's will could essentially be regarded as the will of the nation.
When the entire Ming imperial court acted according to Zhu Jinsong's will, the power unleashed was extremely astonishing—
Investigators from the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, Embroidered Uniform Guard, and Eastern Depot were transferred to Fengyang Prefecture by an order. Fengyang Prefecture and its subordinate counties and prefectures joined forces with the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Heaven and Earth Society to conduct a comprehensive investigation of monasteries, Taoist temples, and nunneries, and to interrogate all monks, Taoists, and nuns in Fengyang Prefecture one by one.
It must be admitted that although the Ming Dynasty had begun to govern according to the Great Ming Laws, the habits formed over thousands of years still contained elements of rule by man.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard, in particular, was an organization with many privileges. Even if they could no longer arbitrarily arrest and interrogate people, and the imperial prisons had basically become a mere display, their formidable reputation accumulated over two hundred years was enough to instill fear, if not enough to stop children's nighttime crying.
Combined with the visits of the local Farmers' Associations to the common people, they began to verify who had passed through the villages before each child went missing and the recent activities of all monks, Taoists, and nuns in various places. The entire net was cast in an airtight manner, directly ensnaring those behind these cases.
All clues gradually pointed to two monks – almost every time before children went missing, people had encountered monks collecting alms, and almost every time it was two monks collecting alms.
Coincidentally, both of these monks had ordination marks on their heads.
As for more detailed clues, they were indeed difficult to find. But with the official summons issued by the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment, what further clues did the Embroidered Uniform Guard need?
Directly suspending the investigation of Taoist priests and nuns, all temples within Fengyang Prefecture were temporarily taken over and guarded by the local garrison. All monks with ordination marks on their heads were interrogated one by one.
The two villains who had kidnapped Wang Er's child and were eventually forced to abandon him on the road were naturally on the list of those to be interrogated.
The villain who had held Wang Er's child's legs trembled, and his gaze towards his senior brother was full of despair: "Senior brother, we're completely finished now. The Embroidered Uniform Guard, Dali Temple, Ministry of Punishment – can we still escape?"
The villain referred to as senior brother glanced at him and whispered, "Master has already told us how to respond. As long as you say what Master told you to say, there will be no problem in the end."
"You must remember that you are Master Wuzhi, you have an ordination certificate, you are a subject of the Great Ming. As long as you don't reveal any flaws, those hawk-nosed grandsons can at most imprison you; they won't torture you without reason."
Wuzhi nodded and looked at his senior brother with renewed worry, "What about you? And master? Neither of you have Ming household registration. Even though you have ordination certificates, those hawk-nosed grandsons might still torture you, right?"
The senior brother smiled faintly, "The Buddha is within me. Even if blades and axes are applied to my body, they cannot harm me in the slightest."
Wuzhi looked at his senior brother with admiration, "Senior brother's realm is indeed superior. This junior brother is far inferior to you."
The senior brother's face showed even more pride, "Of course. Otherwise, why would my Dharma name be Wuxin? Wuxin, meaning no heart, also means no body."