Chapter Eighty-Three: Unmasking the Mastermind

  Since he almost got shot last time, Han Ankang knew that the other party had repeatedly tried to assassinate Park Jeong-tae, and even if he failed to assassinate him, he would definitely think of other ways. At this time, neither he nor Park Jeong-tae were in a state of strict protection. It was not easy for the other party to make a move, and the only way they could make another move was to think of a way with the medicine.

  Now he saw that the medicinal materials, those few roots and the prescription, had been replaced with a rare and highly toxic plant called "Poison Arrow Tongue Grass", which was very similar in appearance to the original "White Flower Snake Tongue Grass" that was supposed to clear heat, relieve toxicity, dispel pain and resolve lumps. He knew that there were only a few doctors who could identify Poison Arrow Tongue Grass, let alone ordinary people being unable to obtain it.

  Dusongxuecao is a kind of poisonous grass that grows in the dark and humid snake dens where venomous snakes reside, absorbing the venom from the snakes. Once it is processed into herbal medicine, its appearance is very similar to that of White Flower Snake Tongue Grass. Only after Dusongxuecao has been made into medicinal material does its color become slightly darker than that of White Flower Snake Tongue Grass; even experienced old pharmacists may not be able to tell them apart.

  Having inherited the medical tradition of Taoist medicine, Han Ankang's ability to identify medicinal herbs was naturally not comparable to that of ordinary old pharmacists. Therefore, just by taking a glance, Han Ankang recognized that these few stalks of grass used as medicine were not the White Flower Snake Tongue Grass in his prescription, but rather the poisonous Arrowhead Tongue Grass that ordinary herbalists could not obtain.

  In addition, Han Ankang also knew from the traditional Chinese medicine that when this poisonous grass is made into a medicinal herb, it requires an extremely experienced old pharmacist to do so. If ordinary people are not aware of its toxicity and really process it as an ordinary medicinal herb, the juice splashing onto wounds or mouths can be enough to kill someone instantly.

  Han An-gang soon realized that the other side had launched a third assassination attempt against Park Chung-hee. He called for Pak Pal-yong, the manager of the Blue House who was in charge of delivering medicine to him, and had him come here during this time.

  When Pak Bang-jung arrived, he immediately realized that the herbs placed separately by Han Ahn-kang were problematic. He hastily asked, "Han Doctor, what's this?"

  Han Ankang nodded and said, "Not bad, what I was worried about has happened. Fortunately, it was me who personally checked the medicinal materials we bought, otherwise these medicines would have been added to the soup as ordinary herbs, and even if Lao Yezi had come back to life, he wouldn't have been saved. Let's secretly control both the buyers and sellers of medicine! As for the reason, I'll do an experiment for you and you'll understand."

  After finishing, let Pu Fangzheng find a small white mouse used in the laboratory. Han Ankang slightly tore off a piece of poisonous arrow tongue grass and applied it to the mouse's mouth. Before it was fully inserted, the lively little mouse quickly convulsed for a few seconds and soon stopped convulsing, dead as can be.

  What poisonous grass!

  In Han An-kang's interpretation, the poisonous Arrowhead Tongue Grass is not something that ordinary people can obtain. The biggest problem may lie with the buyer and seller of the medicine. Someone may have found out that his prescription contained White Flower Snake Tongue Grass, so they intentionally took out these poisonous Arrowhead Tongue Grass and secretly sold them to Park's buyer.

  If Han Ankang can't distinguish this poisonous grass, then the other party will kill two birds with one stone, poisoning Park Jeong-tae and framing Han Ankang at the same time. After all, he was the one who prescribed the medicine and brewed it. Now that Park Jeong-tae is poisoned to death, Han Ankang can't escape suspicion, so the person who devised this poisonous plan has a truly ruthless heart!

  After listening to Han Kang's analysis, Park Bang-jae also felt that the murderer was indeed extremely arrogant, and if one plan didn't work, he would come up with another to kill his father. He really disregarded the signboard of the Park family, the number one military and political family in South Korea!

  After thanking Han Ankang, Park Fangzheng first reported the situation to his father. After listening to the situation, Park Zhengtai said calmly: "It's okay, you can't get angry anymore, it will only make those guys laugh secretly. The top priority is to conduct an investigation according to Master Han's instructions. A fox will always show its tail eventually."

  Don't let anger cloud your mind, letting the other party lead you by the nose. With a little more patience, there will be gains. When facing such a ruthless person, you must not move unless necessary, and if you do, you must make sure the other party is finished off, in order to eliminate future troubles, understand?

  Having received his father's instructions, Park Bang-ja also felt that the fire had dissipated a lot and quickly mobilized the secret department. The owner of the pharmacy and all the employees who sold medicine were investigated one by one. As for the traitors around him, they were also being carefully screened.

  Until the hospital staff and security guards had checked everything and found no problems, his father's simple sentence "the darkest place is under the light" made Pu Fangzheng focus on the hospital's sentry and even the cleaning workers. As a result, after a thorough investigation, he really caught one who revealed Han Ankang's whereabouts that night.

  Along this clue, Park Fangzheng soon arrested two more people, a doctor and a nurse who sold the situation of Park Zhengtai to the manipulator behind the scenes for money. The case finally had a breakthrough here. What surprised Park Fangzheng was that from beginning to end, the three people had never seen the murderer, and each time they contacted the murderer through a mobile phone.

  After the murderer receives the message and confirms it, a large sum of money will be transferred to their account. For the sake of money, there are still people in South Korea who are not afraid of Park's power!

  The investigation of the pharmacy also made rapid progress, and it was a salesperson who sold medicinal materials who was threatened by someone over the phone to sell this poisonous arrow grass to Park's family, or else he would kill his wife and son. It was out of such fear that the salesperson plucked up the courage to sell this problematic medicine to Park's family who came to buy medicine.

  The other party communicated from start to finish through phone calls and never showed up in person. When tracing the accounts that made the payments, they were all empty accounts. As for the store employees, it was found that the people who kidnapped his wife and children were actually a group of local rascals who were paid by others to do the kidnapping.

  From the information revealed by these people, Park Bang-jae finally locked in on several men wearing duck-billed caps, who knew their bodies but not their faces. In the end, it was through the military's physical identification system that a secret investigation was conducted in the areas where these men had passed through.

  Finally locked in the first suspect, when the military reviewed his file, it was discovered that his identity was actually a Korean-Chinese. Not a South Korean at all, but the country he immigrated to is Japan, which has recently been tense with South Korea. I wonder if this could be a plot by Japan to assassinate Park in order to strike back at their tough stance on issues related to Japan?

  Regardless of whether or not, after locking in the first suspect, Park's family couldn't sit still. The secret department was dispatched again, bursting in and quickly bringing back a Korean man who was about to commit suicide for secret interrogation at the military department. However, the situation described by the man made Park's family feel that this matter was getting more complicated as they investigated further.

  This man was just an intermediary responsible for carrying out the assassination of Park Chung-hee, only responsible for executing the tasks entrusted by his superiors and contacting the lower-level personnel who actually carried out the operation. Also, it was all for money that they joined this assassination targeting the Park family, and they were all ordered that once exposed, in order to avoid being tortured by the Park family, it's better to choose a quick suicide.

  Another accomplice who doesn't know what's going on for the sake of money! This behind-the-scenes manipulator is really not simple!

  However, catching the other party is not entirely useless. From this Korean compatriot's remittance account, the military still went through the banking system to see which company transferred money into that empty account. It turned out to be a Japanese-funded enterprise in Korea. This means that from the current investigation situation, all clues seem to point to Japan.

  So is this despicable assassination the handiwork of Japan? Are they not afraid of the consequences of enraging the Park family, a military and political household in South Korea?

  With this thread of confusion, Pu Fang Zheng did not rush, but instead let the military department's special agents start investigating this Japanese-funded enterprise. At the same time, those few criminal suspects who had appeared also continued to increase their physical identification, until they were all caught and interrogated one by one.

  After seeing all the clues pointing to that Japanese-funded company, Park Fangzheng dispatched military computer experts through the government's name of tax investigation and investigated all the accounts of this company.

  Finally, among these accounts, a rival family suspected by him was found to have financial ties with the company. Moreover, if the Park family is an independent faction, then the other side is a pro-Japanese faction in South Korea. Such a meticulous arrangement would be impossible for their family to accomplish on their own, but it seems possible with the support of Japan.

  The Pak family, who had been quietly investigating, quickly locked onto the rival family as their target and, under Pak Chung-tae's direct orders, adopted a strategy of "startling the snake by hitting the grass". They began to purge the military and political spheres of the opposing family's loyalists. The rival family, realizing that their plan had been discovered, did not disappoint Pak Chung-tae's expectations and began secretly arranging for some core members of their family to withdraw.

  This self-inflicted behavior undoubtedly confirmed Park's speculation, and eventually, under Park Chung-hee's personal order, a member of the opponent's family who held an important position in the South Korean military was secretly arrested for treason. After interrogation, it was found that the opponent had indeed reached a secret agreement with Japan and made plans to eliminate the current anti-Japanese families in South Korea.

  In their grand plan, assassinating Park Chung-hee was just the first step. The second step would be that after eliminating these families of South Korea's top households, this pro-Japanese military and political family would seize power with the support of capital and backing from the Japanese government.

  Once the time is ripe, it will also make the party representing their faction become the ruling party of South Korea. In the end, let South Korea become a pro-Japanese government, this vicious and bold plan is indeed meticulous!