Chapter 1171 Weird Fire
After nightfall, Tongsheng Wharf completely lost the hustle and bustle of the day. The workers who had been busy all day had gone home to rest. There were only a few people left behind in various warehouses on the whole wharf. The sailboat docked at the dock was also silent, as if the crew had already fallen asleep in the cabin early.
But at midnight, several carriages appeared on Tongsheng Pier like ghosts, and the crew and sailors of the Haihan fleet also appeared on the shore, quietly carrying the things on the carriages onto the ship, and then again A lot of things were moved from the ship and loaded into trucks for transportation. At the same time, several people in Warehouse C were opening the wine boxes that were brought in during the day one by one, opening the Sanya Special Wine, and pouring the kerosene inside throughout the warehouse.
At the second watch, flames suddenly burst into the sky along the Qiantang River. The warehouses on the shore and several sailboats on the river caught fire almost at the same time. The fire spread very quickly. When people from the surrounding areas began to come out to watch the excitement, the fire had already It's burning and it's hard to get close. A few miles away, at the top of Hangzhou City, the soldiers on duty had also seen the fire and immediately reported it to their superiors.
About half an hour later, a Ming army of several hundred people came out of Hangzhou and rushed to the site of the fire. However, this unit is not rushing to put out the fire, but to maintain order around the fire to prevent anyone from fishing in troubled waters and doing illegal things. At the same time, it is also to urge the surrounding people to evacuate as soon as possible to avoid causing greater casualties.
At this time, the fire was out of control. Although the fire site was on the edge of the Qiantang River, onlookers could not get close to the high-temperature fire scene. They could only watch the fire burn the warehouse and several ships parked on the shore to ashes.
The fire lasted until dawn, and was extinguished naturally until there was no more burn. Green smoke was rising from the broken walls, and corpses that had been burned until they were curled and carbonized were vaguely visible. At this time, the Hangzhou government office had sent dozens of government officials to cordon off the scene and prepare to investigate the cause of the fire. Since the bizarre inn fire outside Hangzhou last June, there has not been a fire of this magnitude in the nearby area. For local police officers, this will be another trouble that is difficult to deal with.
The head catcher leading the team is named Han Zhengshan. He is forty-one years old and can be said to be in his prime. He is also one of the four top catchers in Hangzhou Prefecture, specializing in solving criminal cases. He had received the notice at midnight last night, but because only the army could leave the city before dawn, he had to wait until dawn before leading the team to the fire scene like everyone else.
The first time he arrived at the scene, Han Zhengshan heard a very bad news: the three sailboats burned on the shore were all under the name of Haihan. The warehouse, which has been burned to ruins, is said to be filled with Haihan goods that arrived here yesterday, with a value of at least tens of thousands of taels of silver.
"Have the stewards and foremen of Tongsheng Pier been summoned to the scene?" Han Zhengshan asked.
Soon four men were brought to Han Zhengshan, including Gu Hui, who had contacted Haihan yesterday. It was almost early in the morning when someone came to wake him up at home. They said there was a fire at Tongsheng Pier and asked him to go over and take a look. But by the time Gu Hui arrived at the dock, the fire had almost been extinguished, and he could only stare in shock as the dock that was fine yesterday turned into what it is now.
Han Zhengshan quickly confirmed the ownership of the burned warehouse and sailing ship from the stewards and foremen. Just as he had heard from the gossip before, the ship and cargo belonged to the Haihan people, but this warehouse was said to be his own. His boss, Hangzhou Prefecture, decided to judge the property under Wang Yuan's name, which made him even more worried.
Not long after, the ship owner Lin De and some cargo owners also arrived from Hangzhou. Most of the goods shipped to Hangzhou have been sold and paid for, and they are just temporarily placed in the warehouse here to be picked up by the owners. Therefore, there are quite a few victims.
Lin De's face was livid, he cupped his fists towards Han Zhengshan and said: "Captain Han, I am the owner of these three ships. Yesterday I went to the city to meet friends. I was delayed for dinner and could not leave the city in time. I luckily escaped this disaster. However, there are still more than 20 crew members on the three ships. Please ask Mr. Han to determine their casualties as soon as possible. In addition, there is also money received yesterday on the ship, totaling more than 80,000 taels of silver. Please ask Mr. Han to check the silver quickly. Are you still on board? ”
Before Han Zhengshan could respond to him, a group of cargo owners came forward to complain, asking Han Zhengshan to find out the cause of the warehouse fire as soon as possible and identify the person responsible, so that they could recover some of their losses. It took Han Zhengshan a stick of incense to finally get these people to shut up and wait for him to check the fire situation first.
Han Zhengshan has been in this industry for twenty years and has seen quite a few fire cases. When he came to the dock and saw the scene, he already felt something was wrong. The two fire scenes were a warehouse and three sailboats docked at the dock. The straight-line distance between the two places was at least thirty or forty feet. Logically speaking, the fire should not break out at the same time. Moreover, there were more than 20 crew members on the ship, but not a single living person was found at the scene. Could it be that they were all burned to death in their sleep?
Han Zhengshan first checked the three sailboats that were said to have more people killed. Almost all the above-water parts of these three boats were burned to death. There were several small boats around that used poles to temporarily fix the floating hulls on the water. , otherwise it may have been washed away by the river. Several workers were directing the dock workers to carry the remains of the remaining hull to the shore and temporarily cover them with mats. When Han Zhengshan came over to check, he had already fished out five or six blackened corpses.
"How is the situation?" Han Zhengshan called a widower and asked.
The man lowered his voice and said: "Sir, I'm afraid there is some secret behind this! These people on the ship were not burned to death."
"How do you say this?" Han Zhengshan asked.
The man squatted down and uncovered the straw mat covering the corpses: "Sir, please see, it is currently found that these corpses have fatal injuries on their necks or hearts that were obviously caused by sharp objects. Although they were burned by fire, But it can still be clearly identified. Judging from the severity, these people were probably killed first and then burned to this point.”
Han Zhengshan also squatted down and carefully inspected the conditions of several corpses. It was indeed as the author said. The necks of two of the corpses were obviously cut in half by sharp blades, while the chests of the other corpses were also pierced with sharp weapons. It was absolutely clear that such wounds could never have been caused by fire. Han Zhengshan frowned and asked: "Did you find a large amount of silver on the ship?"
Wuzuo shook his head and said: "This has not been discovered yet. However, if there is really a large amount of silver on the ship, it is unlikely that all of it will be melted by the fire last night."
Although the melting point of silver is only around a thousand degrees, it requires a higher ambient temperature to reach the molten state. Han Zhengshan knew that the government had to use fluxes such as iron crucibles and borax to smelt and cast official silver. Although the unknown fire last night came quickly and violently, it was unlikely to burn away the more than 80,000 taels of silver claimed by Linde. There was no silver on the ship. Either Linde was lying, or the 80,000 taels of silver probably disappeared before the fire started.
But there were so many local merchants on the dock who had just completed the transaction with Linde yesterday. The 80,000 taels of silver were almost all the payment they gave to Linde, and the money and goods were paid in full. However, many people were present to witness the transaction process. Just like the fire last night, it cannot be faked. Considering the suspicious causes of death of these crew members, the latter possibility is relatively high.
However, there is currently insufficient evidence, and Han Zhengshan does not dare to make any judgments now. After inspecting the wreckage of these cargo ships, he returned to the dock to check the No. C warehouse where the fire broke out.
The detectives also found three corpses with suspicious causes of death in Warehouse C. However, they were burned beyond recognition after being exposed to fire, making them difficult to identify. Han Zhengshan called the steward and foreman of the dock to ask, and he said that the only people who stayed overnight in No. C warehouse were an old man who was a warehouse keeper and two guards hired by Haihan, which matched the number of corpses.
However, after completing the on-site investigation, Han Zhengshan discovered new doubts. The fire was originally ignited in the warehouse, and there were at least five or six fire points. It is difficult to explain the fire with ordinary lamp fires. Reason. Although Han Zhengshan didn't want to admit it, judging from the situation at the fire scene, 99% of the cases were intentional murder and then setting fire to cover up the tracks. It seemed that the method was very similar to the situation on the ship.
As the investigation progressed, the facts of the case gradually became clear in Han Zhengshan's mind. Haihan's monthly trade fleet that comes to Hangzhou may have been targeted for a long time. Last night, this group of people started in the middle of the night, killing everyone on the ship and in the warehouse, taking away their belongings, and then setting fire to the scene. Even if the thief left traces such as footprints and ruts when he entered and exited the scene, the crowd and Ming army who came to the fire scene in the middle of last night to watch had already destroyed these traces.
Han Zhengshan believed that it would take more than three or five people to complete such a big case in the middle of the night, including murder, smuggling, and arson all at once. Moreover, the personnel on duty at other warehouses on the pier did not hear any calls for help at night. When they discovered the fire, they came out to check, and the thieves who took action were long gone.
Since the thieves are most likely here for money, after the Haihan fleet arrived yesterday, the only people who knew the contents of the goods carried on the ship and the delivery status of the silver goods were probably the stewards on the dock and the merchants participating in the transaction. Han Zhengshan believed that it was very possible that one of them had colluded with the thieves inside and outside and provided these key information, which led to the tragedy at night.
However, the security of Hangzhou Prefecture has always been good, and Han Zhengshan has never heard of any gangs of criminal thieves operating in nearby prefectures. What's more, the Haihan people are said to be very powerful in force. When they first arrived in Zhejiang, they brought all the heroes outside Hangzhou Bay into submission. Wasn't Lin De, who ran errands for the Haihan people, one of the gang leaders on Liuheng Island in Ningbo Prefecture? ? Han Zhengshan really couldn't understand that someone dared to disturb the Tai Sui of Haihan.
When Han Zhengshan returned to the dock, he was stopped by the enthusiastic businessmen again. As the biggest sufferer, Linde obviously became the mouthpiece of this group of people and asked loudly: "Captain Han, you have seen it live, but what are your conclusions? How did these people on my ship die? Where are the belongings on the ship? ?”
Han Zhengshan opened his mouth, but did not answer immediately. He knew that since Shanghai Han was involved in this matter, it was no longer a simple arson case. In the past, Haihan goods did not dare to be so blatantly traded at the docks outside Hangzhou. It was only after the adults who were jumping up and down to oppose Haihan disappeared for no reason in June last year that Haihan goods gradually became public. trading. There are indeed many people who have benefited from it and are envious of it in the past few months, and there are still many voices in officialdom that oppose Haihan's entry into Zhejiang under the pretext of trade. At this time, so many people died in Haihan in Hangzhou and so much money was lost. If one detail is not handled well, it may turn into a big trouble.
If it were immediately announced publicly that this was a man-made arson case, it would likely affect the subsequent investigation work, and it would be difficult for Han Zhengshan to determine how Haihan would react to this. So he hesitated for a while, and finally responded in an official tone: "This case has yet to collect evidence before we can infer the case. Please be patient. Each family can first make their own statistics on the damage to property and personnel. In addition, in the near future, everyone Cargo owners, as well as the foreman of Tongsheng Terminal, are not allowed to leave the station at will in order to cooperate with the Yamen investigation. "
How could Lin De let him go? He shouted loudly at the front of the crowd: "There were many casualties among my men, and Capt. Han watched the scene for a long time without even telling the cause of death? I heard that when the fire broke out last night, it was clear that Is it possible that the people who want to put out the fire are isolated by the military? Can Chief Han explain what they want in public? "
Han Zhengshan thought to himself that I am just a spy, not a soldier. How can I be qualified to explain for the Ming army? Although he was not at the scene last night, he also knew the purpose of the Ming army rushing to the scene of the fire. However, these words were not appropriate for him to say, and the Ming army had to explain themselves. But after such a twist, the rhythm was completely thrown off by Linde.
Lin De said loudly: "I have asked someone to inquire just now. The people who were burned to death in the fire were all killed with weapons, not burned to death. Where did Hangzhou Prefecture come from so many well-trained thieves?" Silently killing dozens of people in the middle of the night, removing a large amount of property, and setting fire to destroy the bodies without leaving any traces?”
Although Linde did not name anyone in his words, those who heard him would involuntarily associate the "well-trained thieves" he mentioned with the Ming army mentioned earlier. Yes, apart from the Ming Army, who else is the most well-trained armed organization in Hangzhou?
Han Zhengshan's face changed color and he said: "How dare you! How dare you talk nonsense and confuse the public! Even if you are the victim, and the case is not yet clear, you cannot create rumors and slander irrelevant people!"
(End of chapter)