This suspicion is not unfounded, according to the Qing dynasty case files kept by the police department, most kidnapping cases involved thieves sending undercover agents to infiltrate the victim's home, gathering information on their financial situation and movements, waiting for an opportune moment to strike.

  Chen Zikun fits these elements, he is a newcomer to the Yao family, according to the servants, this person was hired by Miss Yao as a driver, but his monthly salary is as high as 200 yuan, which is almost comparable to that of a university professor. Moreover, he doesn't have to work all day, and Miss Yao even paid for him to install a telephone, only calling him over when there's something going on.

  This man, Wu Bingxiang had seen him at the railway police station before. He was very tall and handsome, and he even helped Miss Yao block the police's beating, which led to the dismissal of the entire railway police station. So Wu Bingxiang had a deep impression of him. Usually, such a handsome young man would use various means to get close to rich girls and do all sorts of bad things, so Chen Zikun became even more suspicious.

  Someone made a simple investigation and got even more astonishing news, this Chen Zikun had only arrived in Beijing a few months ago, not long after, he committed many crimes, once gathered crowds to fight at Tianqiao, held hostages at the Majia Mansion, robbed civilians, privately fought at Taoranting, was good at fighting fiercely, and caused trouble that couldn't be settled.

  What's most unbelievable is that not long ago, this penniless guy actually opened a car factory and now has twenty foreign cars and dozens of workers under him. What kind of car factory is this? It's clearly a bandit's hideout in the city!

  In the Xiangshan kidnapping case, Chen Zikun's behavior was also extremely suspicious. He put on an act in front of Ah Fu and the bandits. If I'm not mistaken, he must have joined forces with the bandits by now.

  In conclusion, the truth is that Chen Zikun is a bandit and was sent to infiltrate and gather information. All their efforts were aimed at kidnapping Miss Yao to obtain a huge ransom.

  Wu Bingxiang immediately ordered the dispatch of elite personnel to monitor the Ziguangche Factory, with a large armed police force on standby, ready to destroy this bandit lair at any moment.

  ……

  The land under heaven has always been a place of great virtue, and such major cases as kidnapping are rarely seen. Moreover, the victim is the daughter of the Deputy Minister of Transportation, which makes this case even more extraordinary.

  Yao Qizhen was a big shot in the Communications Clique, and his energy was quite astonishing when it was mobilized. His old friend, Finance Minister Cao Rulin, was the first to know about it, followed by Xu Shuzheng, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, Li Changtai, the Commander-in-Chief of the Infantry, Ma Jizeng, the Commander of the Gendarmerie, and Duan Zhigui, the Commander of the Beijing Garrison. The entire military and police circles in Beijing were shocked by this move.

  Premier Qian Nengxun also made a phone call to urge the military and police departments to do their best, to catch the murderer as soon as possible, and to rescue the hostages. After coordination, the case was solved by the detective experts from the Metropolitan Police Department and the Gendarmerie Headquarters. If necessary, the Beijing Garrison Command and the Gendarmerie Command were on standby to deploy troops.

  The Ministry of Communications' own armed Road Protection Army was naturally responsible, and a reinforced company was dispatched to surround Yao Gongyuan's residence. If it hadn't been for Vice Minister Yao's timely intervention, they would have even set up sandbags and mounted heavy machine guns.

  Yao Cizhang himself had four burly bodyguards added to his side, who escorted him back to the mansion. As soon as they entered the living room, he saw Police Chief Wu Bingxiang and several unfamiliar old men sitting there, all in their fifties and sixties, with unimpressive appearances but sharp eyes. Wu Bingxiang introduced them: "Director Yao, these are all top detectives from the police department, who have been handling big cases since the Qing dynasty. With them here, you can rest assured."

  "Thank you all." Yao Zicong shook hands with the old detectives one by one, and waved his hand. The servant presented a tray, which was full of wrapped silver dollars.

  "It's just a small token, please accept it with a smile."

  "We don't get paid for nothing!" The first old patrolman bluntly refused.

  Yao Cizhang was somewhat unable to get down, Wu Bingxiang mediated: "Wait for your daughter to come back and thank her later, now we analyze the case, Old Li, you first speak."

  Old Li was the old catcher with a stiff attitude just now. His big name is Li Sansi, nearly seventy years old, and his spirit is very sharp. It is said that several major kidnapping cases in Beijing during the Guangxu period were solved by him, and he was called "Old Immortal" by people in the government office. Although he is old, whenever a big case occurs, the police department will ask him to come out of retirement.

  "Let's go upstairs and talk." Yao Zicong politely invited them to the room upstairs, while asking the butler to guard the stairs and not allow anyone to disturb them.

  "Abducting an unmarried woman, known as 'flower ticket' in the trade, also called 'fast ticket', must be redeemed on the same day, if it's past nightfall, one can only worry about losing their chastity. Generally, once engaged, the husband's family wouldn't want her anymore." Li San said with a stream of words.

  Yao Cizhang's face looked a bit unsightly, his own daughter was a new faction person, naturally wouldn't care about old rules and bad habits, but spending a night in the bandit's lair was something that couldn't be allowed to happen no matter what.

  "So we must crack the case as soon as possible. The bandit's identity is already clear. The leader, whose real name is Wei Sanpao, is known as the 'River North Great Hero' and is from Langfang. He has been roaming around Beijing and Tianjin for many years with a large gang of dozens of people, armed with guns and horses. However, they usually only appear in remote rural areas and rarely commit crimes in the suburbs of Beijing. Moreover, not many people knew about Miss Yao's itinerary, so Director Wu's conclusion is very reasonable. There must be an insider, and it's likely that there are more than one."

  Another old catcher interrupted: "We have interrogated all the servants in the mansion and will definitely catch the thief and his accomplices."

  Yao Cizhang said: "I don't care about any internal ghosts or not, what's most important now is to rescue my daughter."

  Li San thought: "Don't be impatient, listen to me slowly, the thief asked for a ransom of 500,000 yuan, it's clear that they are not very familiar with Yao Zilong's financial situation, which means that this insider is not close to the Yao family, at least not a family member, so we have..."

  "I just want to know what to do." Yao Cizhang was very impatient and interrupted Li Sansi's words again.

  As a parent, this feeling can be understood. Li San smiled and said: "To put it simply, we will work together, both literary and martial arts are prepared. For safety's sake, first give money to rescue people, while tracking the thief's whereabouts. Once Miss Yao is safe, immediately catch the thief and recover the huge sum of money. What you need to do now is to send someone to hang a red lantern on the door, wait for the thief to call again."

  "But I really can't come up with that much cash."

  Li Sansi said: "I don't care if you can or cannot come up with 500,000 yuan, just make the thief believe that you can come up with that much."

  Yao Cizhang paced back and forth in the room, his mind racing quickly, as an elite person, a brilliant idea soon came up.

  "We have it, a batch of gold bars, cash, plus US dollars, British pounds, and a large number of German marks and French francs, as much as you want!"

  Wu Bingxiang nodded and said: "Good plan."

  After the European war, the German mark and French franc depreciated sharply. The banknotes with huge face value were actually worthless, similar to waste paper. Ordinary people rarely came into contact with silver dollars, let alone foreign currency. These thieves roamed the countryside of Hebei Province, probably a group of local rascals who cheated them with marks and francs, which should not be a big problem.

  Yao Cizhang made a phone call, ordering people to go to the Bank of Communications to raise devalued foreign currency. He then opened the safe at home, took out twenty gold bars and three thousand yuan, added some jewelry, and put them in a box that looked dazzling and tempting.

  A servant hung a red lantern outside the mansion. It was strange to hang a red lantern in the middle of the day, and passersby couldn't help but take a second look.

  Yao Cizhang paced back and forth anxiously, when suddenly the phone rang. Li Sansi picked up the receiver of the extension phone and signaled Yao Cizhang to answer it.

  "Hello." Yao Zicong picked up the receiver and asked.

  "Yao Cizhang, you're not being loyal, inviting so many thugs to your doorstep, do you still want your daughter?" The same ambiguous voice echoed in his ear.

  "Where is my daughter? I want to talk to her." Yao Cizhang said as required by the police.

  "Is the money ready?" The other party didn't respond and instead asked a question back.

  Yao Cizhang looked at Li Sansi, who nodded in response.

  "The red lanterns have been hung out, didn't you see?"

  "You're ready so soon? The Yao family is indeed a wealthy and influential one."

  "It's almost enough, it's almost good, the number 500,000 is too big, I've taken out all the gold bars at home, and there are many foreign banknotes, two large suitcases, how can I give them to you?" Yao Cichang said.

  "You personally bring it on the train, take the 2:30 blue steel express to Tianjin and I will naturally send someone to receive it, but you must hurry, if it's delayed until nightfall it won't be good."

  I want to talk to my daughter.

  The other party hung up the phone directly.

  Yao Cizhang held the silent receiver and continued to shout loudly into it.

  Wu Bingxiang came over and took the receiver from Yao Cizhang's hand, hung up, shook it again, and picked it up: "Telephone bureau, I am Wu Bingxiang. What number just connected to Yao Gongguan?"

  The police department had already arranged for personnel at the telephone bureau, and there were only a few hundred telephones in all of Beijing, relying on manual switching by operators, making it very convenient to trace the origin of phone calls.

  The news came quickly, and the call was actually a long-distance call transferred from Tianjin Telephone Bureau!

  Time was of the essence, so Wu Bingxiang immediately arranged for two capable detectives to help Yao Cizhang carry a large suitcase and rush to the train station by car. At the same time, he urgently dispatched more than 50 plainclothes police officers armed with pistols and daggers to arrive at the train station in the shortest possible time, while also sending an urgent telegram to the Tianjin Police Department to dispatch personnel to assist.

  The railway between Beijing and Tianjin is very convenient, with several trains running back and forth every day. These passenger cars are imported from the United States, luxurious and spacious, with a blue paint job, so they are called Blue Steel Express.

  The buses are divided into three classes. The first-class carriages are specially prepared for government officials and foreigners, the second-class carriages are for ordinary employees, students, businessmen and other social backbone, and the third-class carriages are reserved for the general public.

  Yao Cizhang naturally had to sit in the first-class carriage, while those plainclothes detectives didn't have this treatment, scattered in second and third-class carriages, strictly protecting Yao Cizhang's safety.

  When the train passed through Fengtai, a servant in his early teens carried a tea tray into the first-class carriage and said loudly: "Which guest's surname is Yao?"

  The plainclothesmen immediately put down the newspapers in their hands and stared at this young man. Facing so many sharp eyes, the servant was already completely unscrupulous.

  Yao Cizhang slowly said: "My surname is Yao, what's your business."

  He handed me a note: "Someone asked me to give this to you."

  Yao Cizhang took the note and saw that it had a crooked line of writing on it: "Go to the red-tiled house, quickly throw the ransom money out the window, don't delay."

  What a cunning thief! The timing of the calculation was extremely precise, and there was no time for Yao Cilang and others to think. In the blink of an eye, I saw a red-topped house in the distance, standing by the railway, probably the home of workers guarding the railroad crossing.

  Yao Cizhang made a swift decision and ordered loudly: "Quickly throw out the trunk!"

  Two large trunks were thrown out of the car window, and the train was still speeding along. The plainclothes police officers stuck their heads out of the window and saw several fast horses rushing over from a distance. The riders quickly bent down to pick up the trunks and put them on the horseback, then shouted loudly and galloped away.

  The plainclothesmen looked at each other in dismay, none of them having the courage to jump off and chase after him.

  The old god detective Li Sansi was also stunned, the other's route and the bandits of the Qing Dynasty were completely different, and they actually used advanced things like telephones and trains. His own set of detective skills was completely outdated and couldn't keep up with the other's thinking.