"You're threatening us?" The middle-aged Jew seemed to hear an extremely funny joke, "With the current manpower of your patrol, even if you add those forces that turn against you or are secretly controlled by you, how many people can you muster, do you know how many people the Jewish gang has, if necessary, we can even turn all the 30,000 Jews living here into our people, what capital do you have to threaten us?" ”

"The threat I mentioned is not from us," Zhang Heng said, "I believe that during this time, some of you have also heard a little rumor, our young emperor His Majesty has just returned from the battlefield and ascended to the throne, he is eager to do something that can win the praise and support of the people, holding a gladiatorial performance is only the first step, and then he intends to shift his attention to the issue of public security, Your Majesty He has noticed the extralegal state of the southeast city city for a long time, and expressed concern for the imperial people living here, no matter what you think, In the eyes of Your Majesty, you are all subjects of the Empire after all, and the situation here does affect the surrounding areas, otherwise why do you think I would join the patrol here. ”

Zhang Heng paused here, and then continued, "My arrival is only the first step, if I fail to improve the security environment here, then a thousand Praetorian Guards will be stationed to take over the security and defense work here, and then you will have to face the spears and short swords of the Praetorian Guards, so are you sure you want to drive me away?" ”

As soon as Zhang Heng's words came out, there was an uproar.

All the big and small forces didn't expect that this incident would be involved with the Praetorian Guard, especially when they heard that the newly appointed Emperor His Majesty was ready to make a move on the southeast city, everyone's heart was tight, they could bully the patrol team that asked for money and no money and no one before, but if the opponent was replaced by the Praetorian Guard, and it was a Praetorian Guard of a thousand people, at least all the small and medium-sized forces would not be able to eat and walk around.

As for the top forces like the Jewish Gang, they can indeed mobilize 30,000 Jews, but not to mention whether these civilians can beat the Praetorian Guard, and even if they do, do they want to rebel? Although they were all criminals and engaged in criminal activities in the city of Rome, they were only to make money and beg for food, and they had no treason intentions, and the Spartacus gang was a living example.

What's more, now that Rome is at its peak of national power, and the war with the Germans has ended, a group of veterans who have been in battle for a long time have returned to Rome, and it is no problem to defeat the Germans, and it is no problem to suppress a civilian uprising.

However, everyone is also skeptical about this matter, the problem of law and order in the southeast city has existed since the first Jews settled in Rome, which is much longer than the history of the Jewish gang, but the successive emperors have not been able to solve it, not because they are unable to solve it, but because it is a laborious and unpleasant matter.

Although the southeast city is a stubborn part of the Roman city, but it also provides a steady stream of cheap labor for the Roman city, and sometimes their labor price is even cheaper than that of slaves, after all, when the slave dies, the master is equivalent to the loss of a property, and no one cares about the death of the civilians here, such as cleaning the sewers, and the labor of unloading and dredging on the Tiber River is basically from the southeast city.

Many of them are the business of criminal forces such as the Jewish gang, and the criminals here are wiped out, not to mention whether it can be done or how many people are left, it is estimated that the cost of labor in Rome will rise after that, which is a situation that all merchants and nobles with property do not want to see.

That's why this issue has been put on hold, but now that Commodus has just come to power, most people still can't figure out the temper of the young emperor, and no one knows what he is thinking, whether he will suddenly have a head convulsion and want to do something to the southeast city.

They were already very clear about Zhang Heng's investigation during this time, knowing that he was indeed a person that Commodus valued more, and it was quite strange that he would be assigned to the patrol team here, if Commodus wanted to deal with the crime problem in the southeast city, it would be able to explain the reason why Zhang Heng came here.

A thousand Praetorian Guards? If there were really a thousand Praetorian Guards stationed here in the future, everyone's business would not be affected, but a question of whether they could continue to do it, so all the forces in the tavern turned their heads and ears after hearing the news of the explosion.

Seeing this, the middle-aged Jew coughed lightly and asked everyone to silence, before shaking his head and saying, "You want to bluff us with this kind of news, you can't help but think it's too simple, we haven't seen any storms for so many years, but this place always belongs to us." ”

"You know very well whether you are chasing after the wind and shadows," Zhang Heng responded calmly, "I believe that you also have a little relationship with the Senate, and it seems that you have not spent less money, this is the main reason why the southeast city has maintained the status quo, in this case, your people must have passed the news to you." ”

"It's not even a proposal, it's just the whimsy of His Majesty the Emperor a few days ago, how could the Senate pass such a ridiculous thing. Eighty percent of you just made gestures to bluff people, didn't you go to Clinder's house after being invited? That's what came after that...... middle-aged Jew said angrily, but as soon as he blurted it out, he realized he had lost his words.

Because he was tantamount to helping to stone hammer Zhang Heng's previous threat, sure enough, after he said this, everyone in the tavern showed varying degrees of worry on their faces.

Although they have been very uncomfortable recently, they are of course more reluctant to see the Praetorian Guards stationed than to let Zhang Heng lead the patrol team around, because it will be devastating to the power environment here.

Although the stalemate was in the end, the young emperor probably couldn't get anything good, and he would re-realize that if he wanted cheap labor, he needed to return this place to the local forces here, but how many of them were still there at that time?

Even if it's just a possibility, it's worrying.

This is the significance of Zhang Heng's visit to Klinde some time ago, he proposed a plan to Klinde that benefits both sides, Zhang Heng was engaged in wind and rain in the southeast city before, and it was only a matter of time before the three major forces led by the Jewish gang targeted him, and Zhang Heng's solution to the problem was also very simple, that is, to create external pressure and divert contradictions.

The reason why it is difficult for the patrol to become big in the southeast urban area seems to be that there is a lack of people and money, and there are big forces that cannot be provoked, but in essence, it is because the interests of the patrol team and all the forces in the southeast urban area are inconsistent, which is the fundamental reason why the patrol team is not allowed in the southeast urban area.

If this problem is not solved, the patrol team will not be able to expand, so Zhang Heng needs Klinder's help to create a news that a thousand Praetorian Guards will be stationed in the southeast city, and Zhang Heng doesn't mind giving a part of the credit to Clinde, or even attributed most of the credit to Clinde, anyway, he just completed his first job of a test nature perfectly, and returned to Commod's side smoothly.

And Clinder got a political achievement from this matter in vain, and worked with Zhang Heng to solve the long-standing security problem in the southeast city, of course, he can also choose to stand by and stab his potential competitors, but as Clinder said, he believes that people like Zhang Heng will not be the only one who has this solution, Zhang Heng knows that there is also a political force behind the Balance Blade, if Klinder doesn't plan to help him, he can also go to the priestess of the Balance Blade, But in this case, he is afraid that he will have to pay some price, it is better to take what he needs and be comfortable with Clinde.

Zhang Heng looked at the middle-aged Jew, "It's not up to you to call the shots about this matter, why don't you invite Mr. Lockyd and other big people to come down and talk to me, or maybe I take someone up to the second floor?" ”