[The seventy-first year of the Great Qiankang Dynasty, March 13, Youshi, Chang'an City South Autumn Leaf Cottage]

At this moment, Xu Ke was sitting in the front hall of the Autumn Leaf Grass Hall, drinking the "Flower Rain Tea" that Zhao Yu made for him, waiting for his teacher Qiu Ming to return home.

In the past few days, the household department has been busy with official business, and it is the autumn ceremony until the unitary time, and it is still delayed, Xu Ke has to sit at the table alone, drinking tea, while thinking about the gains and losses of his actions today......

Early this morning, Xu Ke received information that his senior brother Zhao Wang Li Yi was going to convene everyone again in Tsing Yi Wei to hold a case analysis meeting. It was because he came to the council hall early to wait, and it was not until two o'clock in the morning that Li Yifang was late.

Unexpectedly, everyone discussed for a long time, and no one could convince the other party, and several high-ranking officials in the capital argued in the council hall for a long time, and in the end they could not form a unified opinion.

Later, Xu Ke saw that Li Yi, the king of Zhao, had ended the meeting in a hurry, and he wanted to step forward to offer advice to his senior brother, but unexpectedly, Li Yi ignored anyone in the hall and strode out by himself. Xu Ke saw that the expression on his senior brother's face was quite irritable, as if he was still a little sullen, so he didn't want to disturb him, so he had to watch Li Yi's back gradually move away.

After Li Yi left, there was no need for the high-ranking officials in the council hall to argue anymore, so several people walked and scattered, leaving only Xu Ke and Nangong silent, and they all stayed in place.

Nangong gestured silently, and the two left the council hall together and went straight to Nangong's thousand-household office.

After the two of them sat down in the thousands of official rooms, Nangong ordered someone to make a pot of good Huayu tea, then withdrew his subordinates and began to talk about this strange case in the capital with Xu Ke......

Nangong said silently: "Brother Xian, in the past ten days, people have died one after another in Chang'an City, and this case has caused a storm in the city, I heard that in the middle of the night last night, the emperor also summoned His Royal Highness King Zhao into the Daming Palace alone. Today, His Royal Highness King Zhao came down so late, if I guessed correctly, it must be that King Zhao and the emperor talked until the early hours of the morning before returning home. From this point of view, the emperor is also very worried about this case!"

Xu Ke said: "Eight died in ten days, plus the four who died before, twelve young and strong men have died mysteriously, and the death is so terrifying, I heard that the men in Chang'an City are too scared to go out at night." How can this panicked scene be worthy of the 'prosperous era of Kang Yuan' of our great cadres? The emperor and his old man are worried, and it is reasonable for him to be reasonable......

Nangong glanced silently in the direction of the gate of the official room, and said with a smile: "I said Brother Xian! When will you be able to change your old problem of being unobtrusive? Although the emperor has decreed that you will be sent to prison, but now, isn't the virtuous brother also blessed by misfortune, not only has he entered the Divine King Pavilion and become the disciple of the master of the White Old Pavilion, but he has also been promoted to the fourth rank, and has become the youngest Qianhu since the founding of the country?"

Xu Ke said disapprerovingly: "There are thousands of households in this Laoshizi, and the younger brother has never taken it to heart. The younger brother is just worried about this case, that cat demon is a trick in the world, the means are vicious, and he takes people's lives at will, there is no humanity at all, and his poison is not huge! I have been busy for half a month, but there is nothing! That cat demon will not be eliminated for a day, and I don't know how many people of Chang'an will suffer innocently in the future?!"

After a pause, Xu Ke asked again: "Brother Nangong, today His Royal Highness asked the hall about the strategy of catching demons, why didn't you say a word?"

Nangong sighed silently: "Ahem! Is it useful for me to speak? There is Shen Dudu sitting there, how can there be a place for me Nangong to speak!"

Xu Ke waved his hand and said: "Brother Nangong's words are wrong! The younger brother thinks that although Shen Huan is the governor of Tsing Yi Wei, he cannot have the final say! Since Tsing Yi Wei is with you and me, how can he be allowed to cover the sky with one hand? The imperial court should have appeased and sheltered these people, so how could they be arbitrarily arrested in the Tsing Yi Wei prison and subjected to hard labor on them? If this is the case, wouldn't my Tsing Yi Wei Yamen be even more hateful than those goblins?!"

Nangong was silent, but he just picked up the tea cup in front of him, took a sip of famous tea, and was silent.

Xu Ke saw that Nangong didn't answer, and then said eloquently: "Take another 10,000 steps back, even if the imperial court has no grain distribution and no silver to settle down, you can't arbitrarily fabricate charges against these homeless people and arrest them indiscriminately, right? If all those homeless people are arrested and put in the Tsing Yi Wei prison...... Brother Nangong also knows that in that hellish prison, how many days can those homeless people support themselves? The homeless people are all hard-working people! Born in this world, it is already extremely difficult, they have experienced hardships, they have no hope for this world, they just want to survive, and in the end, one by one, they will die tragically in prison?"

Nangong was silent and took another big sip of tea, but waved his hand at Xu Ke and sighed: "Brother Xian! Brother Fool thinks that in this matter, what Shen Dudu said is not unreasonable......

"What!" Hearing Nangong's words, Xu Ke was suddenly surprised, and he wondered: "Why did Brother Nangong say this? Do you also think that the lives of those homeless beggars are like pigs and dogs, and they don't deserve the slightest mercy?!"

Nangong said silently: "My disease-free virtuous brother, you only know one and don't know the other! My Chang'an City is the largest city in Shenzhou, and there are about 200,000 residents in the city, plus foreign envoys, business travelers, stationed soldiers, and the families of officers and soldiers, etc., the total population is not less than one million! Although there are more than 1,600 homeless beggars wandering in Chang'an City, for these million households, it is tantamount to a mere mortal. Brother, tell me, for mortals like me, is it the torso that matters, or the hairs?"

"This ......" Xu Ke said a little dazedly: "For mortals like us, it is naturally the torso that matters. However, why does Brother Nangong have such an analogy? Brother Fool really doesn't understand! What does this have to do with those Chang'an homeless people? Although the number of those homeless beggars is small, they are also living human lives, and in the eyes of Brother Nangong, how can they become innocculate hairs?

Nangong smiled silently: "Virtuous brother, in terms of eloquence, the foolish brother can't really talk about you." However, in terms of reasoning, the virtuous brother must also listen to the words of the foolish brother. If, according to what you say, you allow those homeless beggars to wander the streets, no matter how strict the curfew in Chang'an City is, no matter how dense the patrol of the forbidden army is, it will not be able to control those homeless people hiding in the corners. Now the monster is a disaster for Chang'an, and every night it will absorb the essence in the man's body and take people's lives. Those homeless men that my Great Cadre Forbidden Army and Tsing Yi guards can't find, but the monsters can be easily found. Then, it is inevitable that every night there will be homeless people who are squeezed out of essence by monsters and die violently on the streets. "Search for e-books

Nangong silently took another sip of tea, and then said:

"Brother Xian, there are more than a million people living in Chang'an City! Now, these people are living like frightened birds, and if they still hear that men die mysteriously on the streets every day, what will the people of Chang'an think if this goes on for a long time? No matter how much the government announces appeasement, can it offset their fear and panic? If we still can't find any trace of the monster, what will the people think of us? At that time, the voices of the common people who scold and resent, can drown out all of us! And how can the imperial court calm the voices of the people's resentment? I'm afraid...... In less than a month, we will all be punished by the emperor's decree, and it is small to lose our official position, and if we don't get it right, we will be sent to prison, and our lives will be worried, and even ...... Even His Royal Highness King Zhao will be affected!"

Listening to Nangong Buyu's "insightful opinion", Xu Ke couldn't help but bow his head and ponder for a moment, but he shook his head and said: "Brother Nangong's opinion, the foolish brother still doesn't dare to agree! This case brings together so many confidential yamen in the whole capital, and my senior brother is in charge himself, will he not be able to catch that cat demon in another month?"

Nangong was silent and smiled, glanced at Xu Ke a few times, and wanted to say something in his heart, but when he came to his mouth, he still changed his mouth, only to see him pick up the tea cup again, take a leisurely sip of tea, and said slowly:

"What if a month passes, the cat demon still can't be caught?"

Xu Ke couldn't help but pat the table in front of him, and said regretfully: "I knew this was the case, I really shouldn't have been merciful at the beginning, and I actually let go of the cat demon with my own hands!"

It turned out that Xu Ke had met the cat demon since the night of the third day of the third month of March, and he also informed Nangong of this encounter on the second day. At that time, Nangong was silent and didn't say much, but today the old things were brought up again, Nangong was silent and wanted to say, "Brother Xian, if you don't show mercy to the sword that day, the cat demon will be cut off by your legs, and how can you survive?"

Of course, Xu Ke also heard Nangong's unspoken voice, and after thinking about it, he was also remorseful in his heart. He really couldn't imagine that he couldn't bear it that night, and he didn't want to kill a weak woman. Who knew that not long after the incident, the cat demon not only did not repent, but actually committed crimes one after another, killing the lives of eight Chang'an men in a row! Moreover, according to Tsing Yiwei's investigation, those deceased were not Chang'an residents, and Jingzhao Mansion has not seen any Chang'an people come to claim the body of the deceased. Then, it is not difficult to deduce that most of the eight dead were those homeless beggars who wandered the streets of Chang'an.

Seeing Xu Ke so remorseful, Nangong waved his hand silently and comforted: "Brother Xian, don't talk about the past! It's just that the foolish brother listened to you, that cat demon was extremely light, and he could still fly away after his right leg was injured." Think about it, those ordinary wild cats in the world, when the night is dark, it is still difficult to catch, let alone that she is a cat demon who has practiced for more than a thousand years......! Brother Fool is worried that even if it takes another month, we may not be able to capture that cat demon!"

Xu Ke sighed: "Ahem...... Could it be that just because we have not been able to catch the evil demon for a long time, because we are afraid that the people of Chang'an will scold us for not handling the case effectively, and because we are worried that the court will punish and the emperor will blame, we should arrest all those innocent homeless people and put them in prison and leave them to fend for themselves?!"

Nangong glanced at Xu Ke again without saying anything, and said in his heart, aren't you talking nonsense? Just because you had the kindness of a woman in your heart that night, you wanted to "let the tiger return to the mountain", and now the situation has reached the point of getting out of control, and you regret it again and again...... Ahem! Brother Xian, what should I say about you as a brother! I knew why I had to do it today! If I had gone to the south of the city to patrol the night that night, where would there still be the life of the cat demon?!

Nangong was silent and had to explain patiently: "Those Chang'an refugees are homeless, unemployed, scattered in Chang'an City, stealing and picking up for a living, and often robbing the wealth of business travelers. Those people are lawless people! If according to what Shen Dudu said, arresting all the homeless beggars was originally done in accordance with the law, and the common people have nothing to say, even if they all die in prison, who will care?"

Xu Ke hurriedly said: "Brother Nangong, how could you follow Shen Huan's words? That's more than 1,600 living human lives, how can you be so careless about human lives?!"

Nangong said helplessly: "So...... According to Brother Xian, what should be done with these homeless people? Not to mention whether Jingzhao Mansion can find these many places to accommodate those homeless people. Now that my big cadres and household department have heard that they are stretched thin, and even the salaries of the hundred officials have been halved, do you really want the Son of Heaven to issue an edict to use the money and food saved from the mouths of the hundred officials to support those homeless beggars?"

Xu Ke heard Nangong's words, although he shook his head again and again in his heart, he couldn't find a reason to argue with Nangong.

"Those homeless beggars are lawless people, arresting them all was originally done in accordance with the law, the common people have nothing to say, even if they all die in prison, who will care?" Nangong was silent, and the words were like ice blades and snow swords, piercing people's hearts and lungs. Although in Nangong's mind, the life and death of these people are like ants and have nothing to do with the overall situation, but his words are also the key to solving the current problem.

If these homeless people are resettled and sheltered, the imperial court will have no money or food, and it will be difficult to carry them out; if these homeless people are allowed to be scattered in the corners of the streets and alleys, then these people will all become the "live targets" of the cat demons, and every night in Chang'an City, there will be men who die bizarrely and violently on the streets......

If you want to save the lives of these homeless beggars, the best way is naturally to catch the cat demon who is trying to bring disaster to the world as soon as possible. However, the cat demon is obviously in front of him, but Xu Ke himself has given up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and now it is too late to regret it!

This time, in addition to deep remorse, Xu Ke fell into a dilemma.

......

......

"Xu Gongzi, the tea is cold, right? Xiaoyu will refill another cup for you!"

Xu Ke was sitting in the autumn leaf grass hall, and was concentrating on it, but he heard a tactful girl's voice coming. Immediately, a graceful and pretty girl figure came into Xu Ke's eyes, and that person was Qiu Mingli's personal maid Zhao Yu.