When I arrived at the city gate, I saw that there were many more guards guarding the gate, and they were checking the pedestrians one by one. Shu Yan was very puzzled, he didn't know what was going on, so he also planned to follow the crowd to line up and enter the city in turn. The city gate official had sharp eyes, recognized Shu Yan, and hurriedly shouted: "Shu Juncheng wants to enter the city, and he has dodged away." ”

Shu Yan realized that there was a problem, and he didn't care about queuing up in order at this time, so he stepped forward and said, "When I went out of the city a few days ago, there was nothing, why are you doing this investigation today?" ”

The city gate official bowed down and said, "Jun Cheng still doesn't know, there is a group of thieves around Ruyin!" ”

"Thief?" Shu Yan subconsciously connected with the thieves he encountered at home, "What kind of thief, did you steal something?" ”

"If you steal something, you won't be so excited. It's a human life. ”

As soon as he heard about the murder, Shu Yan became even more nervous, and hurriedly asked, "What murder?" Tell me more about it. ”

"The little ones don't know the specific situation, they only know that it was the thieves who killed people, and the county ordered them to investigate suspicious people. Shu Cheng should go back to the office as soon as possible, and he will find out when he asks. ”

I couldn't ask a reason here, so Shu Yan hit his horse and returned to the county office. There was no one in the lobby, so I went straight to the back hall. When I entered the door, I saw that all the officials were there, all of them with slightly condensed faces, especially the thief Cao Shi Wu Qian, pacing back and forth, looking particularly uneasy. Shu Yan guessed that it was because of the murder, but he didn't see Biyu present.

When everyone saw Shu Yan coming, they all got up to greet each other.

"But is there a murder?" Shu Yan asked without waiting to sit down.

"Exactly." Wu Qian hurriedly replied.

"What's going on?"

"Yesterday morning, Chen Dalang, a wealthy family in the city, came to report that the night before, his family's silk shop was looted by strongmen and killed his father and a man. The specific situation is that at about three o'clock that night, he was sleeping, and suddenly heard an unusual noise from the silk shop run by his father next door, so he hurriedly got up and went to check next door with his brother Chen Erlang, and saw three masked gangsters armed with short knives breaking into the shop, so he shouted "There are thieves". The thieves panicked, and two of them brandished knives at their brother to threaten them, covering the other and hastily looting their belongings and fleeing. The two brothers, unarmed and unable to compete with the three gangsters, watched them run away. When they entered the shop, they found that their father and a fellow had been killed on the spot. ”

"Killing people and overselling goods, it's just lawless!" Shu Yan patted the case with his hand, hateful and anxious, "Can you find any useful clues?" ”

Wu Qian, as a thief Cao Shi, is specially responsible for catching thieves and thieves, and has many years of experience, and the most basic clues have certainly been understood: "There are three thieves, all of whom are dressed in black and masked, armed with short knives. Two tall and one short, athletic. And according to Chen Dalang, from the thief's short words, it was not a local accent. ”

Three gangsters, dressed in black and masked, armed with short knives, two tall and one short. These situations are very similar to the gangsters I met five days ago, are they the same people? It was not a local accent, which also confirmed his conjecture that this group of people was not ordinary local thieves.

"So, it should be thieves from other places who have come here to commit crimes?"

Seeing Shu Yan ask, Wu Qian showed an embarrassed and panicked look, and said in a hurry: "What Shu Cheng said is right...... This thief came all the way south from the neighboring Yeongcheon County......"

"From neighboring Yingchuan? How do you know this? Have you learned the whereabouts of the thieves so quickly? Shu Yan asked anxiously with a hint of surprise.

"Well, that's not it, it's because...... Shu Cheng see for himself. With that, Wu Qian took out three documents and handed them to Shu Yan.

Shu Yan took it and opened the first one, which was a letter of assistance written by Yingchuan Taishou to Ruyin Taishou. It reads: There are big thieves in Yingchuan, several stolen money and jewelry, and two murders. The thief Cao pursued with all his might, the thief was afraid, and he fled to your realm, hoping to be vigilant and assist in the investigation. Looking at that date, it was a month ago.

"I already received the investigation documents from the neighboring county a month ago, why didn't you say it earlier? What about their Yingchuan officials? ”

"This thief was difficult to catch for a while, and my county didn't guard too much at that time, so I sent them back."

"Such a big thing, it was hastily dismissed?" Shu Yan glared at him, and then looked at the two documents below.

These two documents are the county orders of the two counties under the jurisdiction of the county to the county Taishou, one is the county of Liyang and the other is the county of Xincai. If you don't look at it, at first glance, Shu Yan is simply angry, these two submissions are also about this gang of thieves. It turned out that after this gang of thieves fled from Yingchuan to Ruyin County, they had committed several crimes in Liyang and Xincai counties, among which tens of thousands of dollars were robbed in Liyang County, and a number of gold hairpins and jades were robbed; He also looted a lot of property in Xincai County and seriously injured one person.

Thieves are rampant, cunning and brave, although they have been rounded up several times, they are always able to get out of the way. The two counties could do nothing but report to Ruyin County. Look at the date, it was only ten days ago.

With a "snap", Shu Yan slammed the three documents on Wu Qian's body, pointed at his nose and asked: "A month ago, I already learned that the thieves entered my Ruyin territory from Yingchuan, and if the counties were ordered to strengthen their precautions at that time, it might be difficult for the thieves to succeed in Liyang and Xincai." And you even prevaricate and don't report it on the grounds that there is no one in charge! That's it, and the submissions from the two counties of Liyang and Xincai were received a few days before Shi Taishou and I arrived, if you report it in time, why did you have this murder case of the Chen family the day before yesterday? Why did you hide it? Why hide it and not report it? The more Shu Yan spoke, the more angry he became, and he was like thunder.

Through the formulation of food standards the day before yesterday, Wu Qian has already seen Shu Yan's power. Today, seeing Shu Yan's angry muscles exposed, he gritted his teeth and was even more afraid. At this moment, he had already realized his negligence, and he was indeed responsible for the occurrence of these cases, and he couldn't help but weaken his legs, and said in frustration: "I am indeed responsible for dereliction of duty and negligence. As for why he concealed it and didn't report it, it was because I saw that the literary Peng Yuzhen didn't make any mistakes, and was driven away by Shi Taishou for no reason, and I really couldn't figure out Shi Taishou's character, and I didn't know which thing or word would offend him, so I didn't dare to say more. Moreover, there have always been many cases of receiving letters of investigation from the National Association of Zuojin County, and most of them have no accidents, who knew that this gang of thieves would be so rampant, just stealing something, and actually killing people......"

On the day Biyu took office, Shu Yan wondered why Taishou had been absent for so long, and he hadn't piled up much official business that needed to be handled. Now I know that it turns out that these assistants are all at a loss because they saw Biyu's behavior in Yu Yu, and they didn't dare to report it.

Shu Yan originally out of respect for Biyu, and did not ask about government affairs before Biyu arrived, but at this time, such a thing happened, and he couldn't help but regret it. Seeing Wu Qian's sad appearance, he forgave him for a while, and it was useless to blame him.

Du Jian, the chief bookkeeper, also comforted: "This kind of thing happened, it was really unexpected, Shu Cheng came all the way, don't be impatient, rest first." ”

Shu Yan sat down, looked up, suddenly remembered Biyulai, and asked, "Why didn't Shi Taishou see him?" ”

"Since Jun Cheng left, in the five days, Shi Taishou has only come once yesterday - it is really because of the seriousness of the case that he has to come." Du Jian replied helplessly.

"Didn't you come today?"

"Didn't come. Yesterday, Shi Taishou had already instructed us to wait, and today he made an appointment with Zuo Gongzi, and Feng Gongzi from Runan Country made a special trip to visit. Shi Taishou said, he is not here, so let us obey Shu Cheng's arrangement. ”

Something so big happened, not presiding over it in the county, and still in the mood to make friends? Although Shu Yan knew Biyu's temperament very well, he still couldn't help but be angry, but he had no choice but to ask, "What measures have you taken?" ”

"Additional patrol officers have been dispatched at night and intensified inspections at various city gates, especially for men with foreign accents." Wu Qian replied.

Ruyin City is not big, and it cannot be compared with Luoyang. If there is a suspicious person hiding in the city, it is easy to find out. The thieves certainly wouldn't be so stupid, they must have slipped out of the city before martial law was imposed, and it was impossible for them to sit still. However, although such control measures cannot catch thieves, they will have a certain deterrent effect, which is better than nothing.

"This gang of thieves is uncertain and cunning, and they can not only find and plunder targets, but also have the ability to counter roundups."

"Oh? Why did Shu Cheng say this? ”

"If I didn't guess wrong, when I went out of the city with 60,000 yuan five days ago and came home, I was targeted by this group. They robbed my house that night, but they didn't let them succeed. ”

Du Jian was surprised when he heard this: "There is such a thing? However, this gang of thieves also has no eyes, how can they succeed when they meet Shu Cheng? ”

"I have already reported the case to Ruyin County through the township official. But since there was no damage, Ruyin County may not have reacted to the county at all. ”

"Yes, if you talk about thieves, you can't stop it. There are thefts every day, but they are just stealing hundreds of dollars, a few pieces of cloth, and it is not a big deal, how would you expect to kill someone? ”

"It's all careless!" Shu Yan glanced at Wu Qian, Sun Yi and the others, "I can say with certainty that even if such a major incident occurs, you have only strengthened control within Ruyin City, and as for the counties and townships below, some of them may not even know about the shadows, right?" ”

In the face of Shu Yan's questioning, Du Jian, Sun Yi, and Wu Qian bowed their heads and bowed their heads, but said: "It's the negligence of subordinates." ”

"All counties under the general order must pay attention to it, take strict precautions, and report cases in a timely manner, no matter how big or small. In addition, a wanted warrant was issued, and those who provided clues to the thieves were given five ...... "Shu Yan originally wanted to say a reward of 50,000 yuan, but thinking of the county's tight finances, he had to change it to 10,000 yuan.

When Shusa received the order, he immediately wrote a general order and distributed it.

Even if a number of measures are taken, they only serve to prevent the occurrence of subsequent cases, and do not necessarily mean that the thief will be caught. If you want to solve the case, you have to think of another way.

"You have been handling cases for many years, where do you think you should start with this case?" Shu Yan asked Wu Qiandao.

"This ......," Wu Qian thought for a while, "this gang of thieves were all masked when they committed crimes, and no one had seen their true faces, and no other evidence was left. All we know is that they are out-of-towners and that there are no less than three of them. If you want to catch them, you can only screen outsiders on a large scale. ”

"It's not a bad idea. We can tie up the four gates like pockets and catch turtles in an urn. Ruyin City is not big, and it will definitely be successful. But this is only if the thieves are still hiding in the city. What if the thieves leave the city? The people outside the city are scattered, there is no city to bind, there are trails everywhere, how can we investigate? It is difficult to find the thief in any house or in any mountain forest. Moreover, although the population of Ruyin is not large, it is accessible from north to south, with water and land transportation, and there are not a few foreign merchants who come and go. The thief is dressed as a merchant and you don't recognize him even if he stands in front of you. ”

"What Shu Cheng said is not unreasonable, but other than that, I really can't think of any other good way. I don't know what Shu Cheng's high opinion is? ”

Shu Yan pondered for a while, and said slowly: "In the case of theft, the stolen goods must be sold after the case is completed. Let's start with what was stolen. ”

"What does Shu Cheng mean to say, find the few pieces of cloth that Chen lost missing?"

"No, it's jewelry. Send people to secretly visit people in the market or in the pawnshops on the street who are trading in jewelry. ”

"Checking the jewelry deal?" Wu Qian was inexplicable, "What was robbed in Ruyin City was cloth, and the jewels were not lost?" ”

Shu Yan glared at him coldly: "If you are a thief, will you be stupid enough to put the stolen goods under the nose of the owner and sell them?" ”

Wu Qian was stunned: "Yes, the property stolen here will never be sold nearby." The cloth and silk stolen in Ruyin City should be sold in the next place, and the stolen goods in Ruyin City should be the jewelry stolen in Kuiyang County, Xincai County, and even Yingchuan County. ”

Shu Yan nodded and said, "It is impossible for this rogue to stay in a certain place for a long time. They must be anxious to sell some of the stolen goods so that they can flee to other places. I don't think there will be news in a few days. ”