[English subtitles are available.]
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty
Episode 33
Among these twelve people,
except the guard of the Princess's Mansion,
the rest eleven were of two groups.
Five of them arrived first
and killed the guard.
The rest six men in black arrived later
and killed the first five.
Such a dog-eat-dog scene.
How do you know all these things?
These six men in black
all died from arrows shot from someone hiding in the carriage.
However, there were no arrow wounds
on the bodies of these five.
That is to say,
before someone shot the arrows,
these five people
had been killed by these six men in black.
There's one more evidence.
This is a scimitar the Northern barbarian tribes use.
That's right.
Although these five people were dressed as Han people,
their figures and facial features betrayed them.
Especially
they had totem tattoos unique in those tribes.
These five people all had strong peroneal tendons
which should be caused by long-term horseback riding.
It's beyond doubt that
they were from foreign tribes.
How do you know that these six people were together?
This is even simpler.
Han people's Po Knife.
Yes.
These six people all used a Po Knife
or a long sword.
The more critical evidence is
I observed the woven texture
of their black clothes.
They were cut and made from the same kind of cloth.
Can you find out the identity of these people?
Sorry, but I can't
even if I had clairvoyance.
The six bodies
didn't have any characteristic to follow up.
These people were strong.
They received long-term training of fighting.
These were not ordinary people.
There was one more thing.
Among these five people,
there should be two butchers.
How did you even know that?
Didn't you feel it?
There is a vibe of killing in here.
Vibe of killing?
When some kind of animals are about to die,
they will release a unique smell
as a signal of warning to other animals.
Only a butcher infiltrated
in this kind of smell for years
will have this smell lingering him.
This is the so-called vibe of killing.
This is incredible!
I was kidding.
It's actually simple to tell.
Look at these two people.
For both of them, their left hands have scars from different times
but their right hands don't have any scars.
Only a professional butcher
who uses his left hand to press the meat and the right hand to cut it
will have this kind of condition.
OK, let's go.
Next.
You can go.
Go.
Next, you.
You can go.
Go, go.
Hurry up.
This Wang Xian
is a retard.
Do you think he's still alive now?
Why would a prince's daughter marry a retard?
She didn't choose him herself.
His Majesty arranged the marriage for her.
The marriage of Princess Gu'an
might look like a happy event,
but in fact, His Majesty was trying to get back at her family.
Yes.
Because her father tried to usurp the throne but failed.
Really?
My nephew told me.
Of course it's true!
Starting and speaking rumors
to gossip about the royal family
will cost you your head.
We didn't!
Hurry up, let's go.
Sir.
The eight people who went to abduct Wang Xian yesterday
all died.
What is this?
What the hell is this?
I'm asking you!
What the hell is this?
I'm asking you a question!
I will ask you one last time.
What is this?
If you don't start answering,
I'll burn your scarf right now!
Answer me.
[The third day of the third lunar month in the eleventh year of the Chenghua reign]
-Officer. -What are these things?
Are there any prohibited items?
Just some ordinary ironware.
What is this drawing?
Prohibited weapon.
We'll confiscate it.
Officer,
this is just a kitchen ware!
You can come and get it in two days.
Ok.
See you.
Sir.
What is this?
Why are there texts on it?
A eunuch in the palace ordered this.
The texts around the pattern are some auspicious words.
Which eunuch?
Tell that Mr. Sun to come find me if he wants it.
Sir…
But…
Next place!
Why do you close the door?
Today our carriage shop is closed for stocktaking.
Why would a carriage shop need stocktaking?
Good for you.
I think you are the accomplice in last night's case.
Stop.
Mr. Xue.
There is an Oirat man who refuses to come with us.
Wuyun.
We are just trying to do our job.
Let me take my men to take a look.
I guarantee you nothing will happen to you.
Never mind this household. Let's go to the next one.
But..
There is no but.
I'll take the responsibility if anything goes wrong.
Aha, it was the Imperial Guards.
Could you guys stop?
Are there any news about my husband?
Not yet.
It's been 12 hours.
No news at all.
I still have some doubt about Mr. Wang's case
that I was hoping Your Highness could answer.
Sure.
Does he have any enemies?
He always holds himself aloof from the world.
You don't need to consider that.
Commander Wang.
Do you also think my husband is intellectually disabled?
There are some rumors on the street.
But he is an armament expert.
I believe he is a very smart person.
Commander Wang, please follow me.
What is your biggest wish?
His Majesty's
and Her Highness Noble Consort Wan's health.
The peace of our country
and the people's happiness.
You're a man of King and Country.
You focus on the big picture.
But my husband is different from you.
His biggest wish is flying.
Flying?
Yes.
Flying.
Fly freely in the sky.
You may think it's just a pipe dream.
But I think
this is the real ideal.
Even if people of the whole world
laugh at him saying he's a fool,
and sneer at him,
he has always adhered to his ideal.
He never compromises with reality.
This is the flying dream of my husband.
Can you understand that?
You realistic and worldly guys
made him gradually shut himself down
from the rest of the world.
But even so,
someone will definitely see his talent and value.
Unfortunately,
most people
just want to use him.
Sir,
Inside the carriage…
Sir,
Mr. Tang insisted on getting on the carriage.
He said Western Depot's carriage is perfect for taking a nap.
I couldn't stop him
and I dared not wake him up…
Did you sleep well?
Would you like me
to give you a Western Depot's carriage as a gift?
No. Thanks.
I fell asleep because you kept me waiting!
Did you wait all night?
This…
Whose handwriting is this?
This is Ding Man's signature.
Why?
You found he had a record of purchasing medicine?
No.
Then why did you ask?
I just think this handwriting looks familiar
but I can't remember where I saw it before.
Pull over.
Every spot with a black piece of Go
is the location of a butcher's shop in the capital.
We need to investigate these places one by one.
Sir.
There are three butcher's shops in this street.
Is it enough to just send two people?
Maybe I should add an extra one?
Two people are enough.
Got it.
Then two people it is.
You, you. You two go there.
Sir.
Most residents
of this street are Oirats.
How many people should we send?
It's up to you.
Um…Three?
Five?
Seven!
Nine people, divided into three units.
Leave one person at each intersection as guard.
One person enters the street to investigate.
The final person as support.
Okay, let's do that!
You are more experienced than me.
You should give commands.
You, take eight people
to the butcher's shop
in the Oirat residential area in the east of the city.
You take five people to the south.
You take four people to the north.
Xue Ling takes one to the west.
The rest of you guys come with me to the center of the city.
Everyone should wear plain clothes
and find butcher's shops where the two dead butchers might appear
with their portraits.
Especially search places where Oirats hang out such as the Iron Market.
Do you understand me?
Commander Wang.
This is an ordinary storehouse
which mainly stores iron and copper weapons
such as sword, spear, halberd, armor,
knife, dagger-axe, and axe.
What is this place?
That's a replacement office.
It's mainly responsible for recycling old weapons
and replacing them with new weapons.
This way, please.
Commander, this is the chariot storehouse
which mainly keeps chariots and horses used for battles.
This row of houses are all manufacturing workshops
where we research and manufacture new armaments.
Mr. Ma.
This is the research and development data of this month.
Commander, this way.
Commander Wang,
this is Mr. Feng,
head of the manufacturing workshops.
If my memory serves me right,
this is Wang Xian's office.
Yes.
Wang Xian usually works here.
This way, please.
Do you know
what exactly he's doing with his armament invention?
I am not very clear about it.
He doesn't communicate with people
and always locks himself in the room.
We don't know what he's doing.
So in the whole the Bureau of Provisions
no one knows what he's doing.
Commander, in my defense,
this person is really a weirdo.
There's one person who might know.
Who is it?
Sir, do you still remember
Wang Xian has an assistant?
Yes, I think so.
Find him now.
Yes.
Mr. Ma.
The core of the Bureau of Provisions is the manufacturing workshops.
You have to make more effort on it.
If you keep being so ignorant about your bureau,
I might need to invite all of you
to the Western Depot to have fun.
Yes…Thank you for the lesson.
I will pay attention to it.
This is that Zhang…
Sir, my name is Zhang Gongzhu.
Correct.
Zhang Gongzhu.
He is Wang Xian's assistant.
For what you want to know,
just ask him.
Have we met before?
Sir, you must got the wrong person.
Assisting in Mr. Wang's work occupies most part of my life.
I rarely go out.
The rest of you can leave.
Yes, sir.
Let's talk about what machine crossbow is now.
Sir, do you have any ideas about Oirat's Rangers?
The fierce Oirat's Rangers
are good at fighting on open plains.
The Ming Dynasty
doesn't have enough cavalry to fight against them.
And the rangers are extremely mobile,
especially in border areas.
Faced with their repeated harassment,
the Ming finds it particularly difficult to defend.
The only countermeasure is experienced archers.
But this is exactly an arm of services that we lack.
Just some archers.
Ming doesn't lack talents.
Just give soldiers proper training,
I can't see any difficulty in it.
No.
Commander Wang, do you know
how much it costs
to train an experienced archer?
It takes least five years
and more than one hundred taels of silver,
not counting the casualties.
If they're sent to the battlefield,
every casualty is a great loss.
Even so
the speed of our training of archers
is not as high as the growth rate of Oirat's Rangers.
After all, people on the prairie have an inherent advantage against us.
They're born horsemen.
Every one of them is a ranger.
If this situation continues,
the borders will fall.
Mr. Wang Xian's original intention
of starting to study the machine crossbow was to
reduce the demand of our soldiers on the battlefield
and reduce casualties
while maximizing the defense effect.
So you mean
he did it.
Indeed.
If the border garrison has the machine crossbow,
an ordinary soldier guarding the city
can equal to thirty elite archers.
In a certain period of time
it can fire a lot of arrows.
The attack range is large and dense
which can restrain the flexibility of the rangers.
Sir, please take a look.
Its research and development began two and a half years ago.
This was the first finished prototype
which can shoot seven arrows at once.
Look.
These are the updated ones.
Each can shoot fifteen,
twenty-one,
and thirty arrows at once.
That one we sent to the front
can shoot fifty arrows at once.
At the time we sent eight crossbows
which were tied together in fours.
This is the latest prototype he was researching
before they took him.
Seventy-two arrows can be shot in a single launch.
If these new machine crossbows
are sent to the frontier in large quantities…
Then Ming can use very little force
to secure the northern borders' defense
and cut off the foreign tribes' harassment on our borders.
Exactly.
How many people know this?
This was not announced yet.
Only a few
officials of the Ministry of War above the third rank know.
Even people of the Bureau of Provisions don't know it yet.
So I hope you can keep it secret for now.
Commander Wang.
I venture to ask you for a favor.
Please, bring Mr. Wang Xian back safely.
Don't worry.
I know his importance to our Ming.
Thank you, sir.
You stay here
to do a background check on all personnel of this bureau.
Janitors, servants.
Don't miss anyone.
Yes, sir.
Remember, keep it a secret.
Thank you for your time.
Let me see you out, sir.
It's OK.
Mr. Ma,
you should spend your time on your job.
Yes, sir.
How about the west of the city?
We didn't get anything.
How did it go?
We found a butcher's shop near the Iron Market.
There were more than ten witnesses
who had seen those two people appear in the shop.
It should be it.
Find a right location
to put the butcher's shop
under all-day secret surveillance.
If they see Wang Xian
or any suspicious situation,
report at any time.
Just do it.
Yes, sir!
I am so sleepy.
Wuyun.
Why are you in a daze?
What's going on?
Wuyun?
Mr. Tang.
You scared me.
When did you come back?
Why are you so absent-minded?
What happened?
Nothing.
Some imperial guards
came just now
saying they were searching for something.
And then a customer came
customizing a carriage.
Mr. Tang, take a seat.
I am working on the carriage.
Take a seat.
I think I found a lead
on Aras.
I believe we should
be able to find him soon.
Forget about finding him.
Why?
And don't mention the antidote again.
Why?
I have sent someone to check the background
of personnel on record of Bureau of the Provisions.
What did you get?
Most people
are very clean.
But a low ranking official in charge of miscellaneous affairs,
whose annual salary is just 15 taels of silver
suddenly became very generous recently
and even bought a house in the city.
I was planning to bring him back for questions…
What happened?
He got drunk and accidentally fell
into the moat and drowned.
The problem is I sent someone to investigate.
He never drunk alcohol.
They killed him so soon to silence him.
Sir,
after further secret inquiries,
we found the meat in this butcher's shop
is always much more expensive than other shops.
And it has poor business and reputation.
But still, it keeps running for more than four years.
I heard that they had a new owner two years ago.
The current owner
doesn't seem to care about the business at all.
Sometimes he would close the shop
right after noon.
Sir,
this is the drawing of the building where the butcher's shop was
left on file in the Ministry of Revenue.
The size on the drawing is different from what it looks like now.
I learned from the interviews that
there were people in the Oirat delegation
in and out near the butcher's shop.
It seems that
this butcher shop is their secret stronghold.
This is a matter of international relations.
You must act with caution.
No mistake is allowed.
Yes, sir.
Commander,
we divided into five units
to investigate all butcher's shops in the capital.
There was no gain in both western and central districts.
Get to the point!
Yes.
We finally narrowed it down to a butcher's shop in east of the city.
Meat sold by that shop
is always much more expensive than other shops'.
And its business
and word of mouth are both not good.
I heard there is a problem with the quality of the meat
but it still opens for more than four years so far.
By the way,
I also heard that it had a new owner two years ago…
You are such an idiot!
What nonsense are you talking about?
Hearsay?
Do you have to report any detail to me?
Do you want to tell me what they sell at the intersection?
Commander,
the stall at the intersection sells candied fruits.
You…
You, tell me what's going on.
Commander,
Under the deployment of Xiaoqi Xue,
we found an Oirat's secret stronghold.
Taking into account the fact that their delegation just entered the capital,
we suspected that Wang Xian's abduction was related to the Oirat people.
We have people stationed around the butcher's shop
to keep it under surveillance.
Don't act rashly
before you find a definite clue
Yes.
His majesty told us not to fall out with the Oirats.
I don't hope to distinguish ourselves,
but only not to make mistakes.
If we the Imperial Guards
are to be held responsible for any consequences,
our ending will be the same as this cricket.
Do you guys understand me?
Your horse bits are not the right size.
Are all of them like this?
Replace them
for bigger horse bits.
I have never seen you work so hard.
Aren't you people on the prairie always
lay back and take it easy?
Mr. Tang.
Qingge?
Why are you here?
Dora had an appointment with me
to make leather harness together here today.
Somehow
she forgot the appointment
and went out.
Why are you so languid?
Last night
Sui Zhou forced me to go to the Northern Administrative Court
to work as their consultant.
I stayed up all night.
What case was so important that made you stay up all night?
Princess Gu'an's husband was abducted.
I also heard about it.
Customers were talking about
the whole city is in state of siege
and they're looking for him everywhere.
Many things are still in the cloud now.
There were two different groups in the abduction of Wang Xian.
I don't know which one got him.
Mr. Tang.
If people are sleep-deprived,
they won't have energy to think deep.
Dora has been a little weird recently.
Her mind is somewhat unhinged.
And suddenly she said she didn't want to find Aras anymore.
I can't figure it out
what she's thinking.
If so,
the situation is not optimistic.
Such a situation
may be because Dora misses him so much
so she dwells on the past and can't let go.
You need to get her out of the past as soon as possible.
All kinds of small pendants, take a look!
It's a good bargain!
Ms. Dong, two bowls of noodles.
Sure.
Your name fits you.
Look at your brows.
You are frowning in a big "Chuan" character
just like your name.
You're the one to talk.
What happened to you?
It's complicated.
If you don't want to talk, then just listen to me.
How can you?
Noodles.
Why is his portion is much more than mine?
You should be glad I serve you.
In the group of people who attacked Wang Xian,
the group of five including two butchers were related to the Oirats.
I saw it coming.
What else did you find?
I found an Oirat secret stronghold.
Where is it?
Iron Market.
When?
Today.
Iron Market, secret stronghold,
Dora…
What are you mumbling about?
I still have something to do. Eat without me!
Father.
If you want to find Wang Xian,
just follow Tang Fan.
You can go.
Yes.
The staff in the bureau who died before were non-core workers like janitors.
Even if they wanted to,
they wouldn't be able to spy any important intel.
Not to know the fact that
the core member of armament research in the bureau is Wang Xian.
Anyway
there is a loophole in confidentiality.
We need to comb even people by His Majesty's side.
You go and
check rosters of all divisions and ministries who could have access to His Majesty.
Yes
I just
got a cold
so I don't want to infect His Majesty.
Sir, please take a good rest.
Your health is the priority.
Yes, Mr. Ding. Don't worry.
We will do our best to serve His Majesty.
Taking care of His Majesty
is a blessing, but it can also bring you troubles.
You must act very carefully.
Sir.
Go back to have a good rest.
We can take over from here.
While Mr. Ding is resting,
don't bother him with unimportant things.
Yes.
Come take a look!
Rice wine!
Take a look at my colorful umbrellas!
What happened to you?
There must be something bothering you by your look.
I told you I am fine.
Why are you full of questions?
Then tell me.
What does that have to do with you?
Why are you full of questions?
You're annoying.