Chapter 293 Case within a case
Chapter 293 Case within a case
After returning from the manor, Xiao Xia rested for nearly a month before his injuries were fully recovered.
His jurisdiction was transferred to Chang'an County and the old city. The public security here was obviously worse than that of Wannian County. Various cases emerged one after another, keeping Xiao Xia busy.
In the blink of an eye, it was late December.
Early that morning, Xiao Xia arrived at the military camp, and the first thing he did was to check the patrol records of major incidents last night.
In the past, patrol record management was chaotic, many things could be recorded or not, and many major incidents and minor incidents were mixed together and were easily overlooked.
Xiao Xia then carried out a reform, listing twelve situations as major events, which must be recorded separately and cannot be mixed with minor events.
There were only three major incidents last night. The first was that a petty thief attempted to climb over the wall of the imperial city to steal. Because all the officials had gone home at night, the officials on duty would sleep and would not actually stay up late to work, so the petty thief came up with this idea and climbed over the wall into the imperial city government office to steal.
Of course, they didn't dare to enter the palace because it was heavily guarded and they would be easily caught. There were almost no defenses in the imperial city offices.
Three thieves climbed over the city wall from the south side of Shunyi Gate and were discovered by patrolling soldiers of Wuhou Guard. One was caught and two escaped. People have been sent to the old city to arrest the other two.
Wuhou Guard also has the power to enforce the law for ordinary public security cases. The biggest difference between it and the county government and Dali Temple is that civil disputes are under the jurisdiction of the county government, while ordinary public security cases are under the jurisdiction of both the county government and Wuhou Guard. It depends on who discovers the case first. If the public security case is discovered by the patrol soldiers of Wuhou Guard, the jurisdiction belongs to Wuhou Guard.
If the common people discover it and report it to the county government, the jurisdiction will belong to the county government, regardless of whether it is a civil dispute or a public security case. If the county government feels that it cannot handle it, it can report it to the Jingzhao Prefecture, which will take over.
However, if a major criminal case such as murder occurs, the Wuhou Guard and the county government have no jurisdiction and the Dali Temple will take over. If the case involves the killing of an official, the Ministry of Justice will also intervene.
Two other major incidents were: one was that someone shot a training soldier with an arrow last night, injuring one soldier, but the assailant was not caught. This kind of thing happens frequently, usually in revenge against Wuhouwei.
The third major incident was that someone was trading contraband in the old city at night and seized 120 volumes of prophecies.
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "The contraband prophecy book is quite complicated, so we should not worry about it. We can just hand it over to the Dali Temple and let them deal with it."
Liu Wenjing nodded, "I understand!"
Xiao Xia pointed to the second assassination case and asked, "How is the injury of the soldier shot by the arrow?"
"He was shot in the thigh, but the injury is not serious. He will be fine after a few days of rest. Our people went to visit Yanshoufang to see if they can find any clues."
"Is it a cold arrow shot from Yanshoufang?"
Liu Wenjing nodded. "The soldiers were patrolling on the road east of Liren City and shot arrows from the wall of Yanshoufang. They only shot one arrow. It was very dark at that time and the murderer ran fast. The soldiers didn't even see the murderer's shadow."
Xiao Xia immediately said, "Soldiers must wear armor when patrolling at night. They cannot be lazy. This time, just treat it as an alarm. No need to investigate further. If there are more soldiers shot by arrows, we must report it to the Dali Temple and ask the Dali Temple to file a case for a thorough investigation."
Liu Wenjing took note of Xiao Xia's order.
At this time, a general came running to report, "General, there is news from the old city that we have made a major discovery while catching the escaped thief. It seems that a large number of prohibited weapons have been found!"
Xiao Xia was refreshed and immediately said, "Prepare the horses and go to the old city!"
The old Chang'an City currently has a population of more than 300,000. It is not only a gathering place for low-class people, but also a place where all kinds of people mix, such as wandering knights, thieves and various contraband dealers.
Various black market transactions still exist here, but because they are repeatedly banned, the imperial court is too lazy to intervene.
At night, a curfew was also imposed in the old Chang'an City, and five hundred Wuhou Guards patrolled the streets.
But the discovery of the prohibited weapons this time was an accident. Three thieves tried to climb over the wall to steal from the imperial city's government offices last night, but they were discovered. One of them was caught, and the other two escaped.
According to the interrogation results, before dawn, the soldiers of Wuhou Guard went to arrest the other two people, but they did not find them, but they found prohibited weapons where they lived.
Dou Dexuan pointed at three wooden boxes and said, "We found these under their beds. There are five boxes with 25 crossbows. One box was disassembled, but the other four boxes are intact."
Xiao Xia pulled out a military crossbow, a standard arm-drawn crossbow, a completely new weapon that had never been used. It was ranked number one among military contraband.
He looked at the crossbow carefully again and found slight chiseling marks on the back. There should have been a number on it, but it was chiseled off.
Xiao Xia looked at the box carefully again. There was no label on the box. It was actually a three-no product. However, the workmanship was very fine. It was obviously officially made and not one of those crude weapons that were illegally made privately.
Xiao Xia frowned, "Weren't the other two caught?"
Dou Dexuan shook his head. "When we arrived, the two of them had already run away." "Did the captured person explain the matter of the military crossbow?"
Dou Dexuan still shook his head, "He didn't explain. We discovered these crossbows by accident."
Xiao Xia looked around the room and asked, "Is this a rented house?"
"Yes!"
"Have you asked the landlord where those two people are going?"
"I have asked, and the landlord knows nothing about them. He doesn't even know what they look like. It's like this here. Money is more important than people. The landlord won't interfere."
Xiao Xia immediately ordered: "Continue to interrogate the captured people. I want to know where these crossbows came from."
The thief who was caught was from Shangdang County in Hedong. His name was Jiang Balang. He had a pointed face and a thin body. He was a habitual thief who had stolen from government warehouses in various places in Hedong many times.
Xiao Xia stood aside, watching coldly as the officials interrogated Jiang Balang.
"This is not mine. It belongs to the two of them. We are just a temporary couple. I also said last night that they are brothers. Their surname is Wang. I know their specific names. Let's call them Wang Da and Wang Er. They don't know my name or my origins either. We don't ask each other about anything. This is the rule of the underworld."
"Tell me everything you know about these five boxes of military crossbows."
"They also stole this from a warehouse near Chang'an the night before yesterday. They came back in the middle of the night and brought back these five boxes. They thought they were money or something, but when they opened them, they found they were crossbows. They were also very scared. We had planned to scout the area last night, but they were afraid that the crossbows would be leaked and they would be hunted down, so we changed our plan to steal directly without scouting the area."
"Did they steal the military crossbows from the black market merchants?"
Jiang Balang shook his head. "I don't know. I don't dare to ask more, for fear of getting into trouble."
"What else do you know about these brothers?"
"Except for knowing that they are experienced in stealing and are very skilled, I don't know anything else."
At this time, Xiao Xia suddenly asked: "How did you two team up?"
“Someone introduced me!”
"Who introduced you? Why did they introduce you? Why did you want to steal property from the government office?"
Xiao Xia asked three questions in one breath. He felt that this was the key. It was very likely that these three thieves were entrusted by someone.
Jiang Balang stammered, "It was arranged by Master Yu!"
The interrogator came forward and slapped him twice, cursing, "Why didn't you tell me this important news last night?"
Xiao Xia waved his hand and said, "Ask Mr. Yu about his situation in detail. He may know the whereabouts of those two people."
At this time, General Xue Lin winked at Xiao Xia, and Xiao Xia followed him out of the interrogation tent.
Xiao Xia asked, "Is there anything you want to tell me?"
Xue Lin whispered, "General, we all know this Mr. Yu. His name is Yu Kaiji. He is a big boss in Chang'an who does black market business. He has a daughter who works as a concubine in the Li family. She has always been protected by the Li family. In addition, it is difficult to catch him."
"Which Li family?" Xiao Xia asked.
"Li Bi family!"
Xiao Xia asked, "Can you find this Yu Kaiji?"
"Of course, we deal with him all the time!"
Xiao Xia immediately ordered: "Go find this Master Yu immediately and track down the source of the military crossbow!"
(End of this chapter)