The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty (ENGLISH TRANSLATION)

CH 16

The instant Sui Zhou stepped into the suite, he saw Tang Fan giving him a honeyed smile.

Sui Zhou: “…”

Tang Fan got up to welcome him. “Guangchuan, I have something I’d like to trouble you to help me with. I heard that the Bastion Office holds files of records from over the years, is that correct?”

“It is.”

“Could you let me peruse them?”

Sui Zhou nodded, adding on, “The happenings of the Eastern Depot’s fire are starting to take shape.”

Tang Fan’s energy picked up. “How do you say that?”

“The task force leader on duty that day was Meng Qishan, a staff member transferred from the Brocade Guard. His family has been military for generations. Both his father and grandfather were once assigned to work under Count Yingcheng.”

Eunuchs were in charge of the Eastern Depot, but not everyone below them was necessarily a eunuch. A lot of them were even borrowed from the Brocade Guard, which was why Sui Zhou had relative ease when he wanted to find something out.

“Count Yingcheng?” Tang Fan mumbled to himself. “Count Yingcheng of the Sun family?”

His eyes suddenly brightened.

Sui Zhou nodded.

Unable to wait even a bit, Tang Fan grabbed his sleeve and pulled him outside. “Take me to the dossiers your Office has from the first year of Chenghua. I have a little idea!”

These dossiers were indeed more complete than the Prefecture’s; such was the advantage of a special-ops division. Many of Shuntian’s archives had been brought over here, and even some intact development processes, as well as some insider secrets, could be read.

At this moment, Tang Fan obviously didn’t have the inclination to go scouting for hidden divinations not related to this case. He directly sought out the files from the first year of Chenghua, then pulled them out and looked through them, explaining what he had found at the Feng home to Sui Zhou all the while.

“You suspect that the Feng family also had a connection to Count Yingcheng?”

Tang Fan nodded. “I have that notion, but I still need to find concrete evidence. Otherwise, it’ll be difficult for us to convict someone going off of the Eastern Depot’s fire alone!”

Sui Zhou spoke no drivel, merely lowering his head, pickup up a file, and starting to pore over it.

Tang Fan had originally been fatigued from staying up all night, but because Sui Zhou had come along with an additional important clue, he was now brimming with vigor. He looked through them at a rapid velocity, nearly reading ten lines with one glance as he speedily flipped pages.

In truth, the Emperor had actually ascended the year before the first year of Chenghua, but the Late Emperor’s reign title was still being used at the time, since the New Year needed to pass before it could be officially changed. Many things had still happened in that year, however.

Following the Tumu Stronghold Revolt, the Dynasty’s vital energy had been greatly injured, the capital army had been almost completely wiped out, and there had been no lack of natural disasters. Many long-established ills finally broke out; in that year alone, at least four local rebellions started up, and despite all of their ultimate annihilations, the Dynasty still had to waste manpower and resources on them. Not only had there been that, but the White Lotus Society also took the opportunity to incite revolts, confuse the commonfolk, and oppose the Dynasty while waving the banner of this being gods’ will…