When more than sixty Northern Navy cavalry arrived at the ruined temple, it was just past Sichu, that is, a little after nine in the morning. The deputy company commander who led the team found a mountain col to hide the large group of people, and then sent a few soldiers
Go to the ruined temple to scout.
In less than half an hour, a soldier came back and reported that the beggars were still there. The deputy company commander left a few people to look after the horses, and then set off with the others. When he arrived at the gate of the ruined temple, he divided his men into two groups and asked them to
One platoon guarded the exits of the backyard, and he led the other platoon directly to the entrance of the backyard. After a while, when he learned from the walkie-talkie that everyone was in place, he raised his hand and fired a shot into the sky.
"boom!"
The sound of gunshots echoed in the small yard, and the snow on the tree branches was shaken and scattered. The beggars in the house were startled. They thought to themselves that it was Chinese New Year, who came to set off firecrackers in this broken temple?
?
"Everyone inside, listen! You are surrounded! I will shoot you dozens of times if you don't come out! Everyone comes out with their hands on their heads! Anyone who dares to resist will be shot without mercy!"
Hearing the sound, several beggars rushed to the window and looked out through the gap in the straw curtain. Unexpectedly, when they saw this, they were all frightened and trembled. One guy was so frightened that he peed.
A fishy smell began to float in the room.
The beggar on the kang's face suddenly changed, and he also moved to the window to look outside. He saw at least twenty people in white cloaks standing or squatting in the yard, all holding "muskets."
There is actually a sharp "dagger" under his mouth.
The beggar's head was buzzing, his ears were ringing, and his whole body was paralyzed. This was not an official official, but a Beihai soldier who made the Qing court frightened!
It is said that the sudden departure of the theater troupe and the villagers of Chuiliu Village certainly aroused his alarm, but after thinking about it carefully, he did not take it too seriously. The reason why he thought so was mainly because of the traditional "New Year seal" of the Qing Dynasty government.
system.
The sealing system of the Qing Dynasty was inherited from the Ming Dynasty. The Qintian Supervisory Committee determined the sealing date of the next year in the previous year and explained it in the "Shi Xian Shu" promulgated to the world. Almost starting from the early Kangxi period, the sealing time was determined in
The 19th, 20th, and 21st of the twelfth lunar month fall on the three days of the twelfth lunar month, and the printing office will not open until the twentieth of the first lunar month of the coming year.
Although military affairs, disasters and homicide cases must be dealt with during the seal period, the local officials are not allowed to delay, but for homicide cases, someone must first report to the official to provide evidence; as for ordinary petty theft cases, no one cares at all.
We have to wait until the printing is released.
The beggar head thought that the previous case was done flawlessly, and he also thought that today is the New Year's Eve. Even if the new dynasty government investigates the case, if anything happens, it will be after the New Year, and the official will not go out of the city for dozens of miles to visit this ruined temple.
Come on. After discussing with his men, he decided to wait until the snow stopped before taking the money from the robbery and running away.
How could he know the problem, because the four counties had just been conquered a few months ago, and the closer the New Year was, the more the local military control committees did not dare to take it lightly; and the system of Beihai Town was completely different from that of Daiqing, and there had never been a rule to seal the New Year!
"Boss, what should we do?"
The beggar head rolled his eyes rapidly and whispered to several of his men: "Howl!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a group of beggars in the house began to shout: "My lord, you are wronged! We are just a bunch of flowers, using this ruined temple to hide from the wind and snow for a few days..."
"Sir, please do it! We have never done anything illegal!"
Taking advantage of this moment, the beggar head quickly opened a corner of the earthen kang, took a few bundles handed over by his men, stuffed them all in, then covered them with kang bricks, sprinkled some soil on them, and then used broken
After the mat was covered, I picked up a pile of hay to cover it, and finally put my own tattered bedding on top. This earthen kang had no fire because the flue was blocked, so it was perfect for hiding things.
"Bang!" The Beihai navy outside didn't talk nonsense at all. He fired another shot into the sky, and then began to count: "Ten, nine, eight..."
At this time, the beggars in the room were frightened, and those who were begging for mercy did not dare to say anything anymore. The beggars were helpless. There were dozens of "muskets" outside, and there were no windows on the west side of the west wing where they were.
, there was no chance of escaping by jumping out of the window. He rolled his eyes quickly, and whispered urgently to everyone in the room: "Be strict with your mouth! They don't have any evidence, so they don't dare to do anything to us. As long as they can survive it, they will be fine in a few days."
Can come out!"
After hearing this, all the beggars nodded hurriedly.
When the beggar saw this, he shouted in a hoarse voice: "Master! Let's come out! Come out!"
The Beihai navy outside waited for a while and saw that the straw curtain finally moved. The first thing that stretched out was a hand, followed by a guy in ragged clothes holding a pair of broken cotton shoes.
At this time, the soldier closest to the door took two steps to the right, pointed to the open space behind him and shouted: "Hold your head with both hands! Squat there!"
As soon as the beggar tremblingly walked over and squatted down, two Beihai navy pounced on him, pulled one arm back from his ribs, passed the other arm behind his neck, and then used a black plastic
The handcuffs were put on both wrists, and the "Su Qin Back Sword Style" was performed. The beggar screamed in pain and fell to the ground. After that, other beggars also filed out, all following the first one.
They were handcuffed in the same posture.
All the beggars were shocked at this moment. You must know that this method of tying people is usually used by old policemen in the yamen, and is specially used to lock up those big thieves and felons. After ordinary prisoners are tied up like this, as long as the rope is tied firmly
, it is difficult for the prisoner to break free; and another advantage of tying people up in this way is that the arms are controlled, so even if they escape, they cannot run fast.
"Go and bring those two detectives in." The deputy company commander who led the team waited until all the beggars were tied up, and then asked his men to go outside and call for help.
Not long after, two guys wearing casual cotton-padded jackets, felt hats, and iron rulers on their waists walked into the yard. When they saw the beggars staggering around, one of them had a smile on his face.
He smiled. Don’t mention it, the method of binding people was his idea!
It shows that the "quick catchers" group in the Qing Dynasty were actually two types of people, called "catchers" and "kuaishou."
, catchers and white catchers, among which white catchers are temporary workers; although Kuaishou sometimes assists in catching thieves, their main responsibility is to collect grain. Although the two are often collectively referred to as catchers, they are by no means the same thing.
.
Since there are currently no people in the Ninghai Prefecture Military Control Commission who are good at catching robbers and solving crimes, after receiving the checkpoint report last night, they temporarily recruited two people who had been police officers from the city. The older of the two is called Cao Guifu, and the third one is Cao Guifu.
He is in his early teens and used to be a head catcher; the other person is Guo Yu, who is only 19 this year and used to be a catcher.
Cao Guifu is well-known in Ninghai Prefecture. He is good at catching thieves. By observing people's movements, he can often find flaws that are difficult for ordinary people to find. Guo Yu is a fool who just inherited his father's position and used money.
He became a trapper at a young age.
Despite the low social status of the policemen in the Qing Dynasty, with only six taels of wages for work and food a year, they were still a rare and lucrative profession; and many leaders of secret sects were from the police group, such as Lin Shuangwen, and others before
The Bagua sect who was interrogated by Xu Funan taught the first text.
In a place like Dengzhou Prefecture, where maritime trade is developed, not to mention the despicable activities of stealing furniture and sharing the wealth with thieves, just from the default monthly fees and bad rules, a trapper can get hundreds of taels every year.
In silver, the head catcher and the chief catcher can get thousands of taels.
Cao Guifu and Guo Yu had a pretty good reputation among the police. Of course, they took the money they deserved, but they did not do anything unscrupulous; such as bullying men and women, and sharing the stolen goods with thieves.
The two of them had been hiding at home since the Northern Navy captured Ninghai Prefecture, fearing that the adults of the new dynasty would use them as rafts and confiscate their homes. When the people from the Military Control Commission came to their door last night, the two of them were half panicked and half scared.
He happily agreed.
Although Cao Guifu has made a lot of money in recent years, he is used to being nodded and bowed by others, and he is really uncomfortable being a commoner; Guo Yu is young and has just taken over his father's position. He has not made much money yet and has no errands.
Already.
Although it was very hard to travel in the wind and snow on New Year's Eve, both of them felt that they were selected by the masters of the Military Control Commission, and that they were lucky enough to be able to eat official meals and wear official clothes again.
As for whether the imperial court would fight back, the two of them were not worried about this; the merchants who traveled to and from Ninghai Prefecture had already heard about how the Beihai navy pressed the imperial army to the ground and rubbed it.
At this moment, the deputy company commander said to the two of them: "I'll leave it to you to search for evidence and interrogate criminals."
"I will do my best to handle my errands, sir. Please rest assured."
Cao Guifu and Guo Yu knew that there was no rule of kneeling in the Beihai Navy, so they bowed and then looked at the group of beggars on the ground. Guo Yu was young and had no knowledge of the criminal group "Laogua Thieves", so
Just looking at them with wide eyes. Cao Guifu was different. He narrowed his eyes like an eagle and looked at these people one by one, and finally set his eyes on the beggar head.
He stared at the other person from head to toe twice, then moved closer, squatted down and stared at the other person's face carefully for a while, and suddenly grinned.
"Yang Kui, I have been looking for you for so many years, but I didn't expect to meet you here today!"
Because of the tied posture, it was very difficult to raise the beggar's head. When Cao Guifu looked at him just now, he kept his head down and did not dare to look up. When he heard the other party calling his name, he was suddenly shocked. He tilted his head
He glanced at him, lowered his head and pretended to be pitiful and said: "This official, did you admit the wrong person? My surname is not Yang, my surname is Li. Everyone I know calls me Li Erling."
Cao Guifu chuckled and said: "Stop pretending, Master Nen's name is Zhu Shengwu, and there is a senior brother named Wu Sanmao. Seven years ago, Master Nen and his apprentice came to Dengzhou Prefecture to commit crimes. I also brought a few brothers with me to serve the government.
I was ordered to arrest them and chased them all the way to Laizhou Prefecture, but it was a pity that Nen escaped. Three years ago, Zhu Shengwu and Wu Sanmao were caught committing a crime in Qingzhou and both got the stolen goods. Why did Nen escape?"
The more the beggar heard, the more frightened he became, but he still had a pitiful look on his face, saying in his heart that as long as he doesn't admit it and can't find any evidence, let's see what you can do to me!
"My lord, I'm just a flower child. I lead a bunch of brothers everywhere to beg for food. You can't do anything wrong to us!"
When the other beggars heard this, they also cried out that they were wronged. Several Beijun soldiers nearby shouted angrily and tried to hit him with their rifle butts, and then the beggars stopped talking.
Cao Guifu knew that people like Yang Kui would never be able to escape death if they were caught, so as long as they couldn't find any evidence, they would not admit it even if they were beaten to death. So he turned around and entered the west wing, and Guo Yu followed him.
As soon as the straw curtain was opened, a smell of sweat, feet, and odor assaulted his nostrils. The fuming Guo Yu hurriedly covered his mouth and nose with his sleeves, while Cao Guifu just wrinkled his nose and casually removed the straw curtain hanging on the door.
It was torn off.
With the flow of air, the smell in the house became much lighter. Cao and Guo took out the iron rulers on their waists and searched everywhere in the house. They first dug through the bedding and weeds on the ground for a long time, even
Use an iron ruler to pry open the joints of the bricks, and carefully check whether there are any traces of digging in the soil below.
After searching all the houses in the south, they went to the north house. They also searched the firewood pile and haystack, but unfortunately found nothing. Only then did Cao Guifu turn his attention to the earthen kang.
Guo Yu was so tired that he was sweating now. He jumped on the kang and tapped the empty space with an iron ruler a few times. After tearing away the bedding, he punched the hay a few times with the iron ruler and found nothing.
Just as he was about to get off the kang, Cao Guifu suddenly stopped him.
"Uncle Cao, what's wrong?"
"Xiao Guo, please move that pile of grass away."
Guo Yu had no choice but to turn around and move the grass away, revealing the broken mat underneath. Cao Guifu's eyes lit up, he got on the kang, tore open the mat, and pulled it a few times with an iron ruler...
..
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Cao and Guo entered the house and started writhing. Taking advantage of this time, the deputy company commander asked his men to escort all the beggars to the open space outside the temple gate. After waiting for a long time,
The deputy company commander and a group of soldiers were a little impatient, and were about to ask someone to go in and ask. Suddenly, there was a noise from the gap in the courtyard wall, and there was also the sound of running. Only one person was heard shouting breathlessly: "The stolen goods have been found."
!”
After hearing this, the faces of the beggars changed dramatically, and the beggar leader also secretly complained in his heart. At this time, they saw Cao Guo and two soldiers accompanying them walking out carrying several bulging bundles, which looked quite heavy.
When I put the things on the ground and opened them, I found that in addition to some silver, there were more than a dozen slings of copper coins, jade pendants, rings, clothing belts, etc., a lot of miscellaneous things.
Cao Guifu sneered and said: "Yang Kui! The stolen goods are here, but you still don't admit guilt!"
Guo Yu also shouted: "Speak quickly! Where did Nen bury the bodies?"
Although Yang Kui, the head beggar, looked a little depressed, he still put on a pitiful expression and said: "What an injustice! These things were picked up by villains, and no one else knows about them."
Cao Guifu said: "You said you picked up so much money? Where did you pick it up? Let's tell you the same thing."
Yang Kui lowered his head and rolled his eyes wildly, saying: "These baggage were picked up by the villain and his brothers on the road. After waiting for a whole day and no one came, they lived in this temple. The villain makes people come every day.
Go to the post road and see if there are any passers-by."
When the deputy company commander heard this, he was so angry that he really couldn't shed tears until he saw the coffin. Then he said to his soldiers: "Take these guys back!"
At dusk, more than 60 soldiers from the Northern Navy on horseback escorted more than a dozen named Hanako into Ninghai Prefecture City. At this time, every house in the city began to set off firecrackers and cook New Year's Eve dinner. The air was filled with the smell of the New Year, and people immediately