In the fifth year of Taihe, October is the first moment.

Chang'an, Wannian County, Xuanyangfang, Wannian County.

Xuanyangfang, where Wannian County Ya is located, is located in the west side of the East City, is the northern foot of Leyouyuan, the terrain here is gentle, the feng shui is excellent, adjacent to the prosperous Qixiamen Street second only to Zhuque Street, the north is connected to Pingkang, and the imperial city palace wall is diagonally looking, the west side is separated by a square, and the golden spire of the Recommending Blessing Temple is clearly visible.

Today's sun is shining brightly, and the sky is high and cloudy, which indicates good weather all day. At the right time, the East Market opened, and Xuanyangfang was already lively, and people were in a good mood.

However, Lu Xing, the commander of Wannian County, may not think so.

Lu Xing was now sitting anxiously on the chair of the county ya's inner hall, and the county lieutenant He Yu and several county government clerks were standing on both sides in a daze.

Lu Xing took a sip of the teacup, and the tea soup spilled out of the trembling revealed the nervousness in his heart. Lu Xing held a silk scroll and looked at it, this silk scroll scroll is made of Lingnan sandalwood, coated with wax all over, decorated with double victory purple lines, and the two ends of the scroll are bound by gold wire.

In the Tang Dynasty, only one type of silk scroll will have such a system - the Holy Decree.

"Duke Lu," the county lieutenant He Yu arched his hand from the side, "what did the holy decree say?" ”

Lu Xing had already memorized the words of the holy decree, and he was tired and handed the silk scroll to He Li, "See for yourself......

He Li hurriedly took it with both hands and read it out loud, and the scribes around him also listened tremblingly

“…… If you hear that in the capital recently, there are frequent thieves. If it is recorded that after three days, the situation has not slowed down, Wannian County, it is really difficult to prevent and control, and it is necessary to fake the military division, and sway the gods to arrest and investigate. There are all the military envoys to inspect the informed, if it is really a murderer and a robber, the crime is clear, regardless of the amount of stolen goods, when they hear the report to the company, they will pay Jingzhao Mansion to kill. The rest will be sent to the Division, so that the people will be sentenced for their crimes...... There are military towns in other counties, and they are also allowed to be divided here. Chin this! ”

After He Li finished reading, his heart couldn't help but sink. And several scribes didn't notice anything different at first, and their faces were still ignorant.

"Captain He, the holy decree says that the forbidden army will help catch the thief in three days?" A thief captain carefully clasped his hands and asked, "Is that possible to collect the bad people in the county?" "In order to strictly prevent thieves, a large number of bad people in Wannian County are scattered in the county's jurisdiction, and the manpower is already stretched, and it has even affected the ordinary public security of the county.

"Ridiculous!" He Li couldn't help but scold, and lowered his voice a little, "What the holy decree says, where can I just look at what is written on the surface?" ”

"After three days, if no one can be handed over, if the forbidden army intervenes, this matter will not only be a thief......" Lu Xing pinched the top edge of the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes, and explained, "This matter is that we are not effective in catching thieves and disturbing the Holy Seat!" No one in this room has any good fruit to eat! ”

When the scribes heard this, they were all shocked.

Lu Xing stroked the silverfish bag hanging from his waist in his hand, knowing that he was probably not far from taking off the scarlet robe silverfish. Although he didn't have much hope, he also asked a few people present, "Does the thief have a clue?" ”

"Uh...... Returning to Lu Gong, "a small official replied with his hand" The man seemed to have drilled into the cracks in the ground, without the slightest progress. ”

He Yu hurriedly asked, "What about Chang'an County?" They don't have any clues? ”

The little official shook his head again and again. The main activities of this thief are in the jurisdiction of Wannian County, but there are occasional thefts in Chang'an County, and the methods are similar, but I don't know if it was the same or the same group of people.

Lu Xing waved his hand abruptly, and when He Li saw this, he hurriedly dismissed the scribes, so that they could cheer up, strictly guard their posts, and continue to search for clues about the thieves from the vast number of reports and cases. The officials had been spinning for nearly two days, but they did not dare to make a mistake in front of their superiors, and after they had given the salute, they retreated like a tide and returned to the front hall.

"But I'm scared to death," after the scribes left, Lu Xing held his forehead impatiently, and his forehead was already covered with fine sweat in winter, "Before, Jingzhao Mansion came to put pressure on us, ordering us to solve the case within ten days and catch the thief...... Now there are only three days left, and today there is a holy decree to urge, what a thief, how can there be no clue at all?! ”

He Yu just lowered his head and was silent.

This case can be called the largest serial theft case in Chang'an City in the fifth year of Taihe, the thief seems to be alone, elusive, extremely skillful, but the target is irregular, from the official and noble, down to the servants and maids of the noble mansion, and the common people, all have been recruited.

The unscrupulous people sent out by Wannian County have been stalking everywhere to no avail, and the prefecture and county have earlier reminded citizens to avoid gathering and going out, so as not to give thieves a chance to take advantage of it. Helplessly, the people of the city turned a deaf ear, which made it extremely difficult to investigate the case and lock up the suspect. Moreover, there are all kinds of rumors and rumors in the market, which are more and more outrageous, and the government has repeatedly banned them.

Lu Xing was originally the newly appointed Wannian County Commander this year, and at the beginning of the year, he never expected that the end of the year would be in such a situation, with troubles one after another. Recalling the high spirits when he took office, Lu Xing actually felt like a world away.

Lu Xing clasped the desk with his knuckles, "...... Yesterday afternoon, there was another fire case in the jurisdiction of Chang'an County, and the ruined ancestral hall was burned to the ground, and we were asked to assist in the investigation. Last night, another death row prisoner in the county prison committed suicide, and he will be escorted to Dongshi for execution this afternoon. He also knew that complaining here would not solve anything, so he rested his elbow on the long case, put his fingertips against his forehead, and said no more.

He Yu pondered for a long time, and arched his hand from the side and said, "Lu Gong, He has a ...... word"

"Speak!"

He Yu leaned closer to "Everything is important, and if there is a severity, there will be a priority and urgency......"

Lu Xing glanced at He Yu and motioned for him to continue.

"According to He, this fire case and the county prisoner's suicide case can be put aside for the time being......" He Li seriously analyzed, "You see, the fire case is from Chang'an County, even if we can't find clues, the blame can't be blamed on us." This death row inmate is also dead anyway, and although his suicide is negligent in our management, in the final analysis, it is a minor demerit, and it is not even a crime. ”

"You mean the priority is to catch the thief?"

"Lu Gong is wise!" He Yu gave a thumbs up: "That's how I can explain to Jingzhao Mansion." ”

Lu Xing pursed his lips, glanced at him and said, "You said it lightly, we haven't even seen the face of the thief, and the notices posted all over the city are all nonsense." How do you explain it? ”

He Yu smiled evilly, bowed forward and said, "This is why the lowly post mentioned the self-committed death row prisoner...... Anyway, it's a mistake of negligent management on the left and right, are you afraid of one less prisoner? ”

Lu Xing's breath stagnated, and his eyes unconsciously widened, "What do you mean?" ”

"Jingzhao Mansion just wants to explain to the top, they don't care if they are dead or alive...... In that case, why don't we steal the beams and change the pillars? After He Yu finished speaking, the tips of his four fingers made two strokes at the carotid artery in his neck.

Lu Xing gasped in shock, shook his head again and again, his eyes involuntarily glanced at the door of the inner hall, and said in a low voice, "No, no!" Never! ”

“…… This is a reckless disregard for human life, contrary to the way of being an official, and I, Lu, will never be able to set this precedent! ”

Listening to Shangguan's words, He Li seemed to be smiling, although he only lived in the seventh grade, but he had been in this Wannian County for more than ten years, and the dark box operations and dark sides he had seen were afraid to make Lu Xing, who had just served Yinscarf, dumbfounded.

"Lu Gong, this matter is urgent. If we can't hand over the people again, if things get bigger even a little bit, and the soldiers are forbidden, then the careers of both of us will be over! ”

He Li really didn't understand how this group of newcomers were all so fake, judging from his experience, it was only a matter of time before Lu Xing would accept his proposal sooner or later.

Lu Xing was about to argue, but when he saw a messenger waiting in the front yard suddenly rushing into the retreat room, he hurriedly stopped.

"Report to the county order, someone asks to see! It's a thorn ......."

Lu Xing took over the name thorn, and saw that it was engraved with five seal characters of "Jingzhao Zhang Yijun".

Who's this? Lu Xing frowned, handed the thorn back to Tongchuan, and said with some impatience in his tone, "I'm busy now, tell them to wait in the side hall." ”

However, Tong Chuan did not retreat, and still knelt on one knee.

Seeing this, He Yu asked, "What's the matter?" What else? ”

The messenger muttered, "The man said...... In any case, I want to see you now. ”

"Presumptuous!" He Yu scolded, his eyes did not forget to glance at Lu Xing, and found that Lu Xing was also displeased, so he said with confidence, "Lu Cheng is handling official business, who does he think he is?" How dare you be so rude! Take He to see him quickly, and you have to teach them a good lesson! ”

"Uh......" Tongchuan didn't know what to say, he wanted to remind him a little, but in order to prevent the official from spreading his anger on himself, he had to bow his hand and sing "Oh", got up and led the way, and went straight to the direction of the county government gate.

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