A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 916: Jing'an Earl's Trouble

Mr. Zhou was also a well-known philanthropist in the western part of the capital. His family had been engaged in silk and cloth business for generations. He had five sons and one daughter, but he favored his youngest daughter.

"Sir, as you know, there have been many refugees in and around Kyoto recently. I wanted to do some good deeds and accumulate some merit. I took out some of my family's surplus wealth to buy food and set up a porridge stall near the west city gate to provide relief to the victims.

My daughter is kindhearted. These past two days, she has been personally taking the servants to the porridge shed to distribute porridge and help the people. Just this morning, on her way to distribute porridge, she was suddenly kidnapped by a group of bandits.

The bandits also left a letter, telling me to ask you for help immediately, saying that only you can help rescue my daughter. If you don't help, my daughter will be killed by them."

Upon hearing this, Lu Cheng immediately guessed that this must be a tactic used by the Jing'an Marquis' Mansion, with the purpose of luring him out of the city.

In fact, ever since Lu Cheng had made enemies with the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion, he had been on guard. Whether it was Qingwen and Xiangling at home or Daiyu at the Rongguo Mansion, there were people secretly protecting them. Even the Tao family, which caused the "young marquis' exile", had someone watching them.

As for the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion, personnel were also arranged there.

However, Lu Cheng has recently focused on the relocation and resettlement of refugees in the south. He also did not expect that the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion would be so despicable as to attack ordinary people at will and want to take this opportunity to use "moral kidnapping" to force Lu Cheng to leave the city.

To be honest, even if Lu Cheng didn't do it himself, no one would be able to find fault with it. At most, it would affect his reputation.

After all, normally a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. If you know the danger and still take the risk, it will appear to be a bit reckless and impulsive.

But then again, since he knew that the other party was coming for him, Lu Cheng couldn't let a little girl take the blame for him.

"Take me to the place where your daughter was kidnapped first. Maybe we can find some useful clues. Captain Li, bring a group of yamen runners and follow me."

As soon as Lu Cheng walked out of the government office, a servant from the government office rushed over and handed a letter to Lu Cheng: "Master, this is a letter sent from Jinan Prefecture. Please take a look."

Lu Cheng took the letter with an ink spot on the upper right corner, walked aside, opened it and took a look. Sure enough, he saw the news that the steward of the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion had gone to West City early in the morning.

The letter with ink spots on the envelope is the letter from Xuanwu Hall reporting news to Lu Cheng.

After reading the letter, Lu Cheng calmly put it away and told the servant: "You can go back first, there is nothing else."

The letter arrived somewhat late, as the information was delivered after the incident. It seemed that the intelligence personnel in Kyoto City had become somewhat complacent.

Of course, Lu Cheng also lived a comfortable life for several years, and everything went too smoothly, so he was careless for a moment and allowed his enemy, Jing'an Earl, to survive until now.

Afterwards, Lu Cheng led his men and followed Zhou Yuanwai to the crime scene in the west of the city. After a simple investigation of the scene, they quickly found the route the kidnappers took to leave.

Following the route all the way, we turned two alleys and finally arrived at the gate of a dilapidated courtyard.

Captain Li stepped forward and kicked open the gate, only to find the yard empty with only a few scattered footprints left in the snow.

Captain Li led his men directly into several rooms inside. The rooms were also empty, with only some traces of campfires and a piece of paper nailed to the wall.

Captain Li took the paper down and handed it to Lu Cheng: "Sir, please look, this group of kidnappers seems to be coming for you."

Lu Cheng looked down and saw the words written on the paper: "Lu Cheng, the magistrate of Shuntian Prefecture, I heard that you are good at solving cases and have a keen eye for detail, but this leader doesn't believe it. We are waiting for you ten miles west of the city. Now we will give you half an hour to see if you can find us. If you haven't found us after half an hour, we will have to be rude to this little girl.

During this period, you are not allowed to notify the Jinyiwei and Wucheng Bingmasi. Otherwise, we will kill them immediately. Of course, Lord Lu doesn’t have to come, but he will be known as a person who didn’t help…”

Because it had just snowed heavily, the snow inside and outside Kyoto was very deep. There were people clearing the snow inside the city, but no one cared about the snow outside the city. Once you left the city, you couldn't ride a horse.

Walking in the snow outside the city, even if you are physically fit, you can only walk about ten miles in half an hour.

The terrain to the west of Kyoto City is open, and there is a forest ten miles to the west. Because it is exactly ten miles away from Kyoto City, it is called Shilipo.

Based on this calculation, the gang of bandits is very likely in the forest on Shili Slope. However, this still requires tracking down the trail.

At this time, Mr. Zhou also saw the paper. After reading the contents, he looked up at Lu Cheng again. Mr. Zhou didn't know how to start for a moment.

Obviously, this was a trap set for Lu Cheng. If he begged Lu Cheng to save his daughter, Lu Cheng would be taking a risk. But if Lu Cheng didn't take action, his precious daughter would be gone.

Captain Li immediately said, "Sir, since you know this is a trap, you must not fall for it."

Mr. Zhou couldn't help but speak: "Sir, my daughter has always admired good officials like you who serve the people. That's why she wants to do more good things for the people. But if you take the risk for her, then..." He didn't know how to start the next sentence.

Lu Cheng said directly: "I will go there myself."

Captain Li tried to dissuade him again: "Sir, it would be dangerous to leave the city at this time. It would be better for me to return to the government office first, gather some people, and leave the city with you."

"We are running out of time. Captain Li, you must return to the yamen immediately to gather some men and rush to Shilipo in the west of the city. I will go ahead and track down the gang of criminals."

"My lord, this matter is too dangerous. Please think twice before you act."

"Since this group of people have prepared a dangerous place for me, I will go and try it myself."

"Sir, I will go with you. Xiao Wu, Xiao Jiu, you two should return to the government office immediately to gather manpower."

However, this incident also served as a reminder to Lu Cheng that since the Earl of Jing'an came to him so impatiently, he could not keep him for the New Year.

Then, Lu Cheng turned around and headed out of the city. Captain Li also immediately followed Lu Cheng with a few people.

Mr. Zhou knew that he could not help much, so he just knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times in the direction where Lu Cheng left.

When passing by the west city gate, Lu Cheng noticed that there were two pairs of eyes watching him in the dark.

After Lu Cheng led a few constables out of the city, a carrier pigeon soon flew out of the city and headed towards Shilipu in the west of the city.

However, shortly after the carrier pigeon flew out of the city, a golden eagle suddenly flew out from the nearby forest and swooped straight towards the carrier pigeon.

Soon, the carrier pigeon became food in the mouth of the golden eagle.

After leaving the city, Lu Cheng carefully checked the traces left in the snow and confirmed that a small group of people had indeed left the snow, and the little girl from the Zhou family should have been taken away by them.

After checking these traces, Lu Cheng quickened his pace, and Captain Li and others soon could not catch up.

"Captain Li, I will go ahead and you will follow."