Chapter 92 The truth comes to light
The old Taoist looked at Deng Qianqiu calmly and said, "I am a person from the outside world, and I don't care about worldly affairs. Why do the officials suddenly want to bring me to this palace?"

Deng Qianqiu did not answer him, but looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, and then said: "Your Majesty, why don't you ask me why I arrested this man?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and looked very quiet.

Deng Qianqiu was a little embarrassed, so he could only continue angrily: "I actually treat this imperial case as a way to solve a problem."

Solve the problem?

Deng Qianqiu saw that Zhu Yuanzhang had a suspicious look on his face.

He said, "To solve the problem, we need to string all the clues together. Based on the known clues, I have roughly found the general appearance of this criminal. First of all... this person must understand medical principles. Not only must he understand, but he must also be very familiar with the study of bronze and stone. Even..."

Deng Qianqiu paused before continuing, "Judging from the way they poisoned the person, this person must be very familiar with the palace, and is extremely proficient in the palace's utensils."

Zhu Yuanzhang finally couldn't help but said, "These... Of course I know, is that all?"

Deng Qianqiu said: "To some extent, killing people with lead is not something that ordinary people would do. Only people who have lived in the palace for a long time can come to these conclusions. This is because only the palace has used bronze as a cauldron to cook food since the Shang and Zhou dynasties in order to show off their wealth. In ancient times, people often added a lot of lead to make bronze more plastic in order to make it more durable."

"Ordinary people mostly use clay pots as cooking utensils, which rarely come into contact with these harmful substances."

Deng Qianqiu's words are supported by evidence. In many unearthed tombs, the skeletons of royal family members or nobles were often found to have excessive levels of lead, but this was almost never found in ordinary people.

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's more serious expression, Deng Qianqiu said, "Over time, although people may not know the harm of lead, these lead-containing items have gradually been abandoned. It's just that... because some people have come into contact with lead, they gradually begin to understand its habits, and slowly, it has become a tool for some people to harm others."

"In fact, this method is kept secret, but based on this clue, my rough judgment is that this person has been in the palace for a long time and must be of noble status."

"Why must you be of noble status?" Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Deng Qianqiu.

Deng Qianqiu smiled: "It's very simple, because of Jin Si."

"Jin Si?" Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows, looking thoughtful.

Deng Qianqiu continued, "A servant like Jin Si is lucky enough to serve the prince. Logically, he should have a bright future. Moreover, he is very cautious. Logically, if he were an ordinary eunuch, how could he encourage and seduce him to do such a thing? This is a heinous crime. Even if he is dissatisfied, he would never take such a risk."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded, saying, "This makes sense. Even if it is true, we should do it first... I'm afraid it may not be possible to teach him to be so obedient."

She was also shocked and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty... What are you saying? I am loyal to you, and the sun and the sky can bear witness to that."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "Shut up and listen to Deng Qianqiu."

Deng Qianqiu said: "In fact, there is another possibility, that is, Jin Si was bewitched by his own relatives, but this does not make sense... Because Jin Si is a Korean, even if he still has family, after entering the Central Plains, I am afraid that he has already cut off contact with his family."

"I even suspected that Jin Si must have believed in something, but judging from his daily life, I couldn't find even the slightest trace of it. If he was really a so-called devout believer in gods, ghosts or monsters, it would be impossible that there would be no trace at all."

"Then, the only direction I can suspect is that... Jin Si must have been instructed by a person of noble status. He is a slave who has always served others. Over time, he has become dependent on his master and obeys his orders. This is common sense."

Deng Qianqiu spoke with such certainty because he believed that there really were people suffering from Stockholm syndrome in this world. Moreover, he had ruled out all other directions and this was his only direction.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said, "Go on."

Deng Qianqiu said, "But after I determined the direction, I found that I had reached a dead end. I found out that Jin Si was in the Palace of God before and rarely came into contact with the nobles in the palace. After that, he served the prince and it was even more impossible for him to be ordered by the prince. Even if there is a noble in the palace who ordered him, it doesn't make sense. I said that this person must have been born rich and had been in the palace for a long time. Only such a person can master many secrets in the palace and make people like Jin Si loyal to him."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him in amazement and asked, "Does being born rich and noble have to make him so devoted?"

Deng Qianqiu smiled and said, "Slaves like Jin Si are like this. They are born in a lowly family, so they worship the noble as gods and obey their orders. But the more such people are, the more they will abandon people of the same family, even if this person will..."

Deng Qianqiu was so frightened that he suddenly fell silent when he said this, "I am guilty of a thousand deaths."

Although the words were not complete, everyone who should understand understood. Zhu Yuanzhang was not angry, but said: "I am a commoner, my wife and children were also commoners. I have stated these in the imperial edict countless times. I conquered the world as a commoner. I am the only one in ancient and modern times. What is there to say!"

Deng Qianqiu complained in his heart that Liu Bang was actually half one.

Of course, he didn't dare to say anything, but he gave a thumbs up: "This is the wisdom of your majesty..."

Zhu Yuanzhang glared at him and said, "Keep talking, damn it."

The old Taoist looked a little ugly.

But at this time, no one paid attention to him.

Deng Qianqiu put away his smile and continued, "So I changed my mind. This Jin Si was a eunuch who was paid tribute to the Mongols by the Kingdom of Goryeo. He was sent to the pseudo-Yuan Dynasty's Dadu as a slave thirty years ago. Thirty years ago... who was he serving? So I went around the palace to inquire about this situation. In the end, I found out that this person had served as a eunuch in Dadu first and later in Nanjing."

Deng Qianqiu said, "I dare not neglect it. I hurriedly checked the archives and found out that there is indeed a pseudo-Yuan royal family stationed in Nanjing. This is the descendant of Bayan, who was given the title of the pseudo-Yuan Huai Wang and destroyed the Song Dynasty. His descendants not only have fiefs here, but are also given the title of the Imperial Censor of the Jiangnan Xingtai."

When Deng Qianqiu said this, Zhu Yuanzhang's face changed and he couldn't help but become more energetic.

The various kings, princes, generals and ministers of the pseudo-Yuan Dynasty not only had long names, but also had a confusing official system. Many people didn't even know the name of the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty.

But... this Bayan is very famous among the Han people. It was this man who conquered the Southern Song Dynasty and was later granted a fiefdom in the south.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but recall some past memories, and said, "When I attacked Nanjing, I also wanted to search for them, but... they had already fled. Could it be that... they didn't flee to the desert, but stayed here instead?"

Deng Qianqiu said: "Of course, this is just a guess. My humble guess is that Jin Si was sent from Dadu to Jiangnan and was granted the title of serving the King of Huai. He took care of the King of Huai's family for twenty years. Finally, when the Ming Dynasty was established, he, as a eunuch, had no way out and behaved suspiciously, so he was naturally arrested and sent to the palace."

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath and said, "You said it yourself, this is just a guess."

Deng Qianqiu showed a relaxed look and said, "It will be easy now that we have a clue. If it is really this person, then I can greatly narrow down the scope. First of all, they have lived in Jiangnan for generations and should be quite familiar with Jiangnan. Second, they need to contact Jin Si, so they must stay in Nanjing City."

Deng Qianqiu continued, "Not only that, for the convenience of communication, his location must be closer to the imperial city. Otherwise, if an accident occurs and communication cannot be timely, it will delay important matters."

As Deng Qianqiu spoke, he pulled out a thick map from his bosom, unfolded it, and said, "I have marked out a ten-li radius around the imperial city. This ten-li radius is where this person is most likely to live."

"Since he is determined to be within ten miles, we need to exclude him. He needs to plot something, so he must avoid people. Therefore, he has to find a quiet place. However, the quiet places around here are mostly the residences of many princes and ministers close to the imperial city. But I still exclude them because... most of the owners of these residences have names. If a new neighbor suddenly appears, people will inevitably inquire about who the owner is, what position he holds in the court, or what kind of business he does. Once people talk about it, it will inevitably arouse suspicion."

The more Zhu Yuanzhang listened, the more surprised he became. His eyes fell on the map, only to see that it had already been densely marked.

Deng Qianqiu said: "I finally set my sights on this Taoist temple! This Taoist temple was designated by the emperor during the Yuan Dynasty. After the war, it was in ruins and rarely visited on weekdays. Moreover, if I come here as a Taoist priest, I can conceal my identity well without arousing suspicion."

When the Taoist heard this, his expression remained calm, and he said calmly, "These words are just your lies. Can you easily convict someone based on these?"

Deng Qianqiu shook his head: "Of course it's impossible, but you forgot that since I suspected you, I would naturally have someone follow you, and that's how I discovered your biggest suspicion."

The Taoist's eyes flickered slightly, and he asked, "What's the doubt?"

Deng Qianqiu smiled and said, "There are two horses in this Taoist temple. They both have their manes cut. One of the foals in particular has its mane cut very neatly. As far as I know, this custom should not be shared by the Han people, right?"

The Taoist frowned and his expression changed slightly.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the Taoist with murderous intent in his eyes.

Deng Qianqiu sighed and said, "It is said that it is easy to change the country, but difficult to change one's nature. In your customs, horses are the most important material for you, so you cherish them very much, and even have a special festival to cut the manes of horses. Originally, these... ordinary people would not be able to notice them, but I am afraid you have neglected this point, so you usually regard yourselves as Taoists, but in fact, there are some habits that cannot be changed just by saying so."

(End of this chapter)