General Lu was still busy with the reorganization of the new army, so Commissioner Zhang was sent to supervise the Chengjiaji incident.
In fact, Lu Ming personally met with the two commanders of the security regiments, appeased them, and inspected their important officers. He left the rest of the trivial matters to his substitute Qing'e.
Lu Ming now likes the feeling of having a substitute more and more. People have limited time in their lives. Having a puppet substitute to help him deal with trivial chores allows him to do more important things in this limited time.
However, despite this, Lu Ming was busy in Heishan for several days before returning to Nanping and rushing to Chengjiaji without stopping.
The Chengjiaji bloodbath had happened for more than a week. When Lu Ming arrived at Chengjiaji, the campaign to purify the environment in Chengjiaji was in full swing.
The so-called border cleansing movement means to eliminate all hostile elements and banditry in the territory.
A large number of secret agents from the Bureau of Secrets had already entered Chengjiaji and were the main force in the movement to purify the territory.
Chengjiaji originally had a population of 70,000 to 80,000. Because of the war, many people fled and those who had some property ran away. Those who remained were tenant farmers, craftsmen, small business owners, etc., but they accounted for the majority of the original population.
There are new immigrants pouring in now, so the streets are inevitably a bit chaotic. After the bloody incident, a curfew was imposed.
The Cheng family's ancestral home is surrounded by high walls and a large courtyard. On both sides of the bluestone steps, there is a ferocious stone lion.
Originally this ancestral home had not been moved. It was only after the bloody incident that the Bureau of Secrets took it over. Today, the front yard is the temporary residence of the Sujing Office.
Lu Ming also moved into the back house here.
The underground secret room in the front yard was turned into a dungeon and interrogation room.
In more than a week, the Sujing Office has arrested hundreds of people.
Most of them were detained in temporary concentration camps, and the important elements were locked up in the dungeons here.
…
In the east wing of the back house, Lu Ming was looking through the list and information of the arrested suspects.
Almost everyone in the town who had any connection with the Cheng family was arrested and investigated.
Including the farrier who often repaired the hooves of the Cheng family's cattle and horses, they were all temporarily imprisoned in the concentration camp.
Lu Ming could only sigh as he watched. If he had to implement the policy of detaining innocent suspects for a maximum of 48 hours, it would be too inconsistent with the reality here. It would make the law a castle in the air, and he would be unable to find the enemy and maintain local peace.
However, basic human rights still need to be respected, and I have issued strict orders before launching the campaign to clear the border.
But in fact, this kind of movement can easily expand, which is why I have to keep an eye on it personally.
It is impossible to think that the files downloaded from above can be executed in the same way as those downloaded from below.
The phone on the table rang, and Lu Ming picked it up. On the other end of the line came Jin Fuchuan's rough voice, which at this moment was a little excited after being bloodthirsty. "Commissioner, the interrogation revealed that Cheng Quezi was the mastermind. The people he called were all former guards of the Cheng family who stayed behind and did not run away. However, after committing the crime, several of them ran away. The others are on the list of detained persons."
Lu Ming nodded. It was like looking for fish in a tree to use detectives to solve this kind of bloody case. After all, the scene had been almost destroyed.
On the contrary, catching suspects and interrogating them is the most efficient way.
The murder case of this kind of incident is actually very simple.
Cheng Guizi is a loyal servant of the Cheng family who stayed behind to look after the Cheng family mansion. He usually gives people a creepy look.
After committing the murder, he did not run away. It is not that he thought he would not be caught, but the master ordered him to stay and look after the house, so he had to do his job conscientiously and would never run away. I am afraid that he was not convinced and felt aggrieved, so he made the decision to gather everyone to do the murder. To say that he is loyal is to flatter him. In fact, he has formed very distorted values after being used to being a slave.
Sure enough, Jin Buchuan continued, "This old guy is very stubborn. He has always said that he did it himself. He didn't have a radio station to contact Wanzhou, and there was no organization. He just found loyal servants who were as disgusted as he was for those who robbed his master's land to do it! Commissioner, he has fainted now, but I guarantee he won't die. I'll find a doctor first and continue tomorrow!"
"Maybe he's telling the truth!" Lu Ming pondered and said, "We'll interrogate the key targets tomorrow. Don't use torture, just scare them. If there's nothing wrong, release them and go home."
"Okay!" Jin Buchuan had long felt that the new master had a different working style from the previous Chen Rongfu, and he stood at attention on the other end of the microphone.
Lu Ming looked at Granny Tuolong standing next to him, "You've been here for a few days, have you found anything?"
After the bloody eucalyptus incident, Grandma Tuolong came as soon as possible. For the past ten days or so, she has been patrolling the town every night.
Granny Tuolong nodded and said, "There was a ticking sound from the Tao family rice shop one night."
Granny Tuolong has extremely sensitive ears. In a small town like Chengjiaji, where there are no tall buildings, she patrols the rooftops of each courtyard every night. In this particular environment, her ears may be more useful than a telecommunications monitoring vehicle.
Lu Ming nodded: "Tao's Rice Shop..."
He rummaged through the messy documents on the table and quickly took out the registration form for Tao's Rice Shop.
The Tao family members have all left, and the only ones left to look after the store are a couple, who say they are distant relatives of Boss Tao and are in charge of looking after the store.
These are probably the undercover intelligence personnel left behind in Wanzhou Road. They will not easily expose themselves by doing anything like assassination.
In this strategically located town, Cheng Dasui must leave his own intelligence team to gather information here.
"Should we tell Jin Buchuan?" asked Grandma Tuolong.
Lu Ming waved his hand, "Keep it for now, don't alert the enemy."
Grandma Tuolong nodded in agreement.
Lu Ming thought for a moment, "Sun Chonggu will also come to join in the fun tomorrow. I am the spy chief who stirs up blood and gore here, and he is naturally here to win over people's hearts and be a pacification official. In terms of authority, he is the inspector of two regions. No matter where Chengjiaji belongs to, it is within his jurisdiction."
"What does the master mean?" Grandma Tuolong's eyes flashed.
Lu Ming coughed, and it was like he was talking to a blind man. There was no one around to talk to, and chatting with this grandma who only knew how to fight and kill, the conversation immediately went astray.
"What I mean is, let's see what he is up to!" Lu Ming smiled, "Grandma Long, Xiao Guo and Xiao Guo didn't come with us, and no one is here to prepare a midnight snack. Should we go out and eat something delicious? Well, it's curfew, let's go see what the plainclothes officers on duty are eating and try some."
Granny Tuolong's orange-peel zombie face became a little sluggish, and she whispered, "Master, let me go see what Cheng is doing and ask her to make some sugar water..."
It seems that although she usually looks gloomy and has no emotions, she still doesn't like to eat with her owner. It's too restrained and she can't enjoy the meal. Moreover, normal people can't appreciate the food she likes, so she doesn't want to be seen by outsiders.
Lu Ming nodded: "Okay, go and see if she's rested."
Cheng was from Chengjiaji and was one of Chen Rongfu's young and beautiful concubines.
Originally, Lu Ming suspected that she was an intelligence officer sent by Cheng Dasui to Chen Rongfu, and also a bridge between Chen Rongfu and Cheng Dasui.
In this era when warlords were everywhere, it was common for many local officials to have their feet on several boats, not to mention the heads of spies.
Therefore, more than ten days ago, when Grandma Tuolong came, Lu Ming asked her to bring Cheng with her, saying that as a local, she was more familiar with the situation and could help the Sujing Office. On the surface, Cheng was also appointed as a clerk in the Sujing Office.
But through Grandma Tuolong's secret observation and testing over the past few days, she found that Cheng really had nothing to do with intelligence personnel.
If Granny Tuolong was deceived, then the Cheng family must have been very powerful to be controlled by a local warlord.