Although Li Zhiyun replaced the soldiers guarding the granary with new troops and blocked possible loopholes, he was still worried. As the saying goes, if you are not afraid of thieves stealing, you are afraid of thieves weighing you down. If the people sent by Song Jingang are not arrested, the danger will not be eliminated. They are like a ticking time bomb that could explode at any time. Passive defense is never the best way, because people will relax sometimes, and the soldiers guarding the granary are no exception. Besides, you can only be a thief for a thousand days, but there is no one who can guard against thieves for a thousand days. Therefore, we must take the initiative and catch those guys in one fell swoop, so that the scourge can be eliminated once and for all.
Li Zhiyun told his two subordinate officials what he thought, and then said: "Now, the most critical issue is to find these people." Cai Hu said: "Why don't we search house to house and arrest anyone who is a stranger?" Interrogation." Li Zhiyun shook his head and said: "With more than 10,000 households, how long will the search last? Besides, it will make too much noise, mobilize troops, waste people and money, and make it easier for the enemy to fish in troubled waters."
Zhang Zheng pondered for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, do you think this is okay? We can go to the county government officials. They are all local snakes. If they have any faces, they will not escape their eyes." Li Zhiyun's eyes lit up after hearing this. He hurriedly said: "This method is good, why did I forget it?" He patted his head and said, "This is called taking the mass line." Cai Hu didn't understand, and said: "What line?" Li Zhiyun happily asked He slapped the back of his head and said with a smile, "You don't understand even if I tell you."
Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu to the county government office, found Lieutenant Ma County, and said that he wanted to find out some information from his government officials. Lieutenant Ma County immediately summoned all the government servants to the lobby. There were forty or fifty people in total, filling the whole room.
Li Zhiyun sat on the main seat and said: "Everyone, let's get straight to the point and tell you what you have to say. I came to you today to inquire about some situations. To be honest, Song Jingang has sent people to Baibi City. People are the bane, we must dig them out as soon as possible. In recent days, have you encountered any strangers who behave suspiciously? Or, have you encountered some strange things? "
Li Zhiyun didn't ask them to name all the strangers, because there were tens of thousands of residents in Baibi City, and it was impossible for the government officials to know all of them. In addition, with the nearby villagers entering the city and the business travelers coming and going, if they were strangers, they would be suspicious. That can end up being too much trouble, and finding the real spy becomes like looking for a needle in a haystack.
The government officials listened and whispered to each other, but no one spoke. Lieutenant Ma County, who was sitting next to Li Zhiyun, kept urging everyone to tell everyone what they knew. Under Ma County Lieutenant's repeated urging, several government officials revealed the persons they suspected, and Li Zhiyun asked Zhang Zhengdu to record them one by one.
At this time, a thin government servant in his thirties said, "I wonder if women count?" Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "Of course it counts, you tell me." The government servant cleared his throat and said, "Is that so? One thing. Yesterday morning, I was returning home from my errand at the Yamen. When I was passing by Liulin Street, I saw a woman coming out of Xu Sige's house in the granary to empty the toilet." Upon hearing this, Captain Ma frowned and said, "The woman is emptying the toilet. What’s so weird about the toilet?”
"No," the yamen servant explained, "Xu Sige didn't have a wife before. Last month he came to the yamen to report that his home had been robbed. I went to his home and he said he hadn't married yet."
"Maybe he just married recently?"
"Maybe. However, I have never seen that woman before, and she is quite unfamiliar. Didn't King Chu say that he was looking for a stranger? I told him so."
"You said it very well." Li Zhiyun said approvingly, "You just said that Xu Sige is working as an errand in the granary?"
The officer nodded. Li Zhiyun turned to Zhang Zheng and said, "This woman should be paid special attention to." Next, the government officials successively named some suspicious strangers, a total of more than a dozen.
After leaving the county government, Li Zhiyun said to Zhang Zheng: "You will immediately transfer some people from the New Army to monitor all these dozen people and see if you can find any useful clues." Zhang Zheng hurriedly clasped his fists and said he obeyed the order.
Li Zhiyun divided the labor. Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu were responsible for finding the people sent by Song Jingang, while he and Scarface were responsible for guarding the granary. For convenience, all four people moved to the military camp in the city.
Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu also divided their work. They divided the dozen or so subjects under surveillance into two groups, and each person was responsible for one group.
That evening, Zhang Zheng came to Liulin Street and walked into a room. This is a surveillance point, and you can see Xu Youwei's yard from the window. After he entered, there was only one person in the room. According to regulations, there must be two people at the surveillance point at the same time. Zhang Zheng frowned and said, "Wang Wu, where has Xiao Lu gone?"
"He had a stomachache and went to the latrine."
Zhang Zheng nodded and asked, "Did you find anything?" Wang Wudao said, "Yes, this afternoon, the woman went to the house opposite."
"Is she going to visit?"
"have no idea."
"How long was she there?"
"It takes about half a stick of incense."
Zhang Zheng thought for a moment and walked to the window. Wang Wu showed him with his finger: "Here, it's the courtyard opposite." As the two of them were talking, the door of the courtyard opened and a man walked out. The man turned around and closed the door, then turned and walked along the alley toward the street.
Zhang Zheng said to Wang Wu: "You stay here, I will follow this man." After Zhang Zheng said this, he left the house, about seven or eight feet away from the man, and followed him closely. After the man exited the alley, he turned right and walked along the street. Along the way, he did not look back to observe, so Zhang Zheng followed easily.
After walking more than two miles, the man turned into an alley. Zhang Zheng looked up and saw a large shop next to the street. The plaque on the door said: Dongsheng Trading Company. Zhang Zheng memorized it silently and followed the man into the alley. The alley is not long. After exiting the alley, what appears in front of you is a house. This house is very large, covering an area of three or four acres, and there are many houses in the yard. The man knocked on the courtyard door, walked in, and then closed the door.
Zhang was waiting for a cup of tea outside, but the man hadn't come out yet. He walked half a circle around the house and found a big tree with lush branches and leaves beside the wall. He jumped onto the wall, hid among the branches and leaves and looked into the courtyard. Below was the back garden of the house, and there was no one there. He jumped down, ran to the side of the main room, leaned to a window, pierced the window paper with his fingers, and peered inside. There was no one in the house, and there were many items piled on the floor. He pushed open the window sash and climbed in.
This room is quite large, with more than a dozen wooden boxes placed on the floor. He took out the dagger from his arms and pried open a wooden box, only to see that it was filled with flint. He pried open another wooden box, which contained sulfur, and a third wooden box, which contained rosin. Apparently these flammable materials were used to burn down the granaries. It seems that this is the den of thieves.
Just as Zhang Zheng put away the dagger, the door of the room was suddenly pushed open, and two burly men broke in. Zhang Zheng was caught off guard and it was too late to hide. When the two men saw him, they screamed that there was a thief, drew their sabers and rushed towards him. Zhang Zheng hurriedly drew his sword to resist. After a while, two or three more people rushed into the house. The opponent had a large number of people. Zhang Zheng did not dare to fight, so he retreated to the window, jumped out, and then ran to the courtyard wall. He pulled onions on dry land, tapped one foot on the top of the wall, and then crossed the wall. And passed by, landing outside the house.
Zhang Zhenggang breathed a sigh of relief, and someone jumped out from the courtyard wall, landing more than ten feet away from him. This man is of medium height and has a strong build. He wears tight black clothes and looks like a knight in black.
The knight in black held a steel sword in his hand and stared at him fiercely. He smiled and said, "Let's see where you are going to run." After saying that, he thrust his sword forward, and Zhang Zheng hurriedly swung his sword to block it. The two of them were going back and forth, fighting each other, and after a few moves, Zhang Zheng was secretly shocked: This person's swordsmanship is not inferior to his, and he even has the upper hand. He didn't dare to be careless and quickly braced himself.
At this time, more than a dozen people ran out from the gate of the house and surrounded them. Zhang Zheng glanced with his eyes and saw that several exits around him had been guarded by these people. It was impossible to escape from the ground. He could only use his special skills to escape from the roof. Thinking of this, Zhang Zheng pretended to be defeated, retreated to a corner, and jumped onto the roof.
The houses in this area are all connected. Zhang Zheng stepped on the tiles on the roof and ran quickly. The knight in black also jumped onto the roof, chasing after him. At this moment, it was already dark. The two were chasing and fighting on the roof. The steel swords touched and sparks flashed out. Zhang Zheng tried his best to get rid of the opponent's entanglement, fighting and running.
The knight in black drew his sword very quickly. Zhang Zheng was not careful and was stabbed in the left blade. After he was injured, he gradually fell into decline. At this time, the knight in black used a deadly sword move, and the steel sword went straight to his heart. Zhang Zhengxin made a horizontal move, neither dodging or blocking with his sword, but used the sharp sword in his hand to strike straight at the opponent's throat. This is a fight to the death. If the other party doesn't dodge, the two of them will die together.
The knight in black was secretly startled and hurriedly sheathed his sword to dodge. Unexpectedly, his foot missed and he fell down the room. Zhang Zheng saw the opportunity, turned around and ran away. After running a hundred or so steps, he jumped off the roof and landed in the yard of a house. At this moment, Zhang Zheng was dizzy and his limbs were weak due to excessive bleeding. He had just taken a few steps when he fell to the ground and fainted.
After the knight in black got up from the ground, he picked up the lost sword and jumped onto the roof again, only to find that Zhang Zheng had disappeared. At this moment, Pan Furu led a dozen people and chased after him holding torches. As soon as the knight in black saw him, he jumped down from the roof. Pan Furu saw him and asked hurriedly: "Where is the person?" The knight in black shook his head and said: "He is gone."
"We must catch him and never let him go back to report the news!"
"Don't worry, he was seriously injured and couldn't escape. He might be hiding in the yard of a nearby house."
A strong man holding a torch next to him said, "Then we will search house to house." When Pan Furu heard this, he shook his head and said, "No, it will make too much noise and it will alert the government."
"What should we do?"
Pan Furu pondered for a moment and said: "Send people to guard every alley and never allow him to escape from this area."
