Just when Li You thought his first day in office was uneventful and was slowly chatting with Mr. Zhang, a soldier rushed outside the hall and reported: "Dozens of gangsters in the town are fighting with people from the county."
After listening to this, Li You couldn't understand why people from Fucheng and county towns started fighting in this town? Zhang Shiying said next to him: "It must be because of the raw silk trade."
Speaking of this, Li You immediately understood what was going on. It turned out that the economic situation in South Zhili was not very good in the past two years, and the output of mulberry leaves was much less. This affected the output of silk and raw silk, and caused a chain reaction in the entire Suzhou Prefecture.
There is a shortage of raw materials in the silk weaving industry.
As mentioned earlier, Xishui Town is a large market. Large quantities of raw silk goods from the west and north banks of Taihu Lake are often trafficked and sold here. There are also many silk loom manufacturers in Xujiang County, and they can snap up these raw silks by taking advantage of the convenient location in the same county.
, so there is not a shortage of raw materials. But there are thousands of machine operators and tens of thousands of machine workers in the city. The shortage of raw materials is severe. They are looking for raw silk everywhere. Seeing that there is often a large amount of raw silk coming in and out of Xishui Town, I went to buy it but couldn't get it.
People in this county are very jealous.
Not long ago, five or six powerful large machinery companies in Fucheng jointly hired dozens of gangsters, and sent dozens of mechanics from each company to form a team of 100 people. They went to the Xishui Town market to fight, taking advantage of the opportunity.
Jiang County was caught off guard and spent two days snapping up countless boats of raw silk to transport back to the city. Now, most likely, they had tasted the benefits and repeated their old tricks.
Li You said to Zhang Shiying: "As a new official, something happened to me when I took office. Let's go and have a look. I will have a drink with my brother in the evening."
Master Zhang said indifferently: "These unscrupulous people are fighting each other just to grab some raw silk. It is not a crime. Dear brother, there is no need to make a fuss about it."
Li You smiled and left. When a new official takes office, he just needs to make a name for himself. Is there any better target than outsiders with no local roots? A few rogues, even from Fucheng.
How big of a background can it really be? By the way, let everyone in Xishui know that I have taken office.
Today, in order to welcome Mr. Li, the acting inspector, to take office, none of the fifteen teams of the inspection department went out to patrol. At that moment, the bamboo whistle was blown, and when all the soldiers were assembled, Li You assigned errands to each team. After all, he is from this town.
He was very familiar with the geography of Xishui Town. He ordered two teams to block the dock, two teams to block the land exit of the town, four teams to block the Silk Industry and Tooth Shop, and two streets where inns were concentrated.
Lane intersection.
When Li You led the remaining seven teams to the alley of Siye Yahang in the town, he saw several groups of people fighting in the distance. The shopkeepers of the Yahang next to him were still watching the fun, but when the officers and soldiers came, everyone stopped.
Coaxed to disperse.
Li Daidai's inspection order ordered seven teams to be divided into several groups to conduct door-to-door searches on these two streets and nearby areas. Anyone who spoke with a Fucheng accent would be taken to the Tutu Temple at the entrance of the alley for inspection. The resisters were allowed to use bows and arrows, and were forced to use weapons.
It doesn’t matter whether the thief lives or dies.
Suddenly, the two streets were abuzz with excitement. Even the brother Li Zuo who ran the inn was also affected. He ran over and saw that his brother was in charge. He stood in the distance and shouted to Li You: "Young man, you are crazy."
!My own inn is also making trouble!" Li You just pretended not to hear.
More than a hundred people were taken here and there one after another. Li You personally came forward and apologized to all serious businessmen who had road signs or tax receipts as proof. They all were sent back with gifts. Seeing this, those people
The official was so kind and did not blackmail randomly. He was flattered and did not care about himself. He still felt that Li You was honest and fair. This all met Li You's intention.
As for the rest of the real gangsters in the city, they all thought that their superiors had taken care of the local officials, and they estimated that nothing would happen to them in the end. In this mentality, they did not resist, and they were arrested dozens of them casually.
Later, some clever people realized that something was wrong, so they ran away in hiding.
In this way, fifty-six people were finally captured, a number that was rarely seen in Fucheng. The so-called gangsters are some professional thugs that have emerged in Suzhou over the years. They often use people's money to gather people to cause trouble, and the government will roar as soon as they come.
They scattered and escaped pursuit by relying on their familiarity with the terrain and streets. This time they were hired to Xishui Town, and were told by their employer that they had already dealt with the local government. In addition, they were not familiar with the local area and it was difficult to escape. Otherwise, how could Li You have been caught so easily?
many.
Li You then set off fireworks, gathered his troops and returned to the camp. He also tied more than fifty people into several bunches and paraded through the city. The onlookers in the county gave Li You warm applause and high praise for his approach of only arresting people from Fucheng.
.
After returning to the government office, regardless of whether there was enough room in the cell, under the threat of spears and strong bows, all fifty-six people were crammed into the cell, and several openings were made to avoid the tragedy of suffocating the prisoners.
These scoundrels were rubbing shoulders and being pressed against each other's backs, unable to move. One of them, Mr. Rabbit, was really happy.
After that, Inspector Li sat firmly in the side hall and drank tea and chatted with a clerk named Guan, asking him some stories about his company. He knew that these scoundrels would not dare to go out to cause trouble if they had no support, so he waited here.
When the people behind the scenes show up, it depends on the situation whether they are showing favors or not.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for a servant to report that a man claiming to be the inspector of the government office wanted to see him, and Li You called him in.
Not long after, a middle-aged man wearing a long coat with arrow sleeves, a dull complexion and a few moustaches walked into the house and shouted to Li You: "You are such a ignorant little official. Who can be sure?"
You arrest someone and you won’t let them go!”
It turned out that since Li You had not formally served in the imperial court, he could not wear the ninth-grade official robe and could only continue to wear the official uniform. It would not be surprising to treat people he didn't know as a minor official.
Seeing the man's loud tone, Li You asked, "Who is coming?"
The man said proudly: "I am Mr. Hong, the patrol officer of the government office." This identity should be similar to the chief arrester in the government office. If he dares to be called an official in spoken language, he is indeed qualified to look down on the small officials in the small places below.
.
"Since you are called an official, what rank are you in?" Li You asked curiously.
"Even if I have no rank, so what?" Inspector Hong said coldly: "You, a mere petty official, dare to question me?"
Li You smiled kindly and continued to ask: "Does this official have any relatives or friends who are serving as officials in the government offices, vassal offices, tribunals, procuratorates, and military departments?"
Inspector Hong said impatiently: "No, no, why are you so verbose! If you don't release me quickly, you can't afford it!"
"Then I'm relieved." After Li You nodded slightly, he suddenly waved his hand and threw the tea cup to the ground, shouting at the door: "Soldiers outside come in! Capture this madman!"
"You are so brave if you dare to touch me! I want to talk to your patrol inspector!" Inspector Hong roared as he was pinned to the ground.
The soldiers found a pair of wooden waistbands from Patrolman Hong. Li You took them, looked through them and examined them: "Oh, they're not fake."
No matter how stupid Inspector Hong was, he could see that this Li You was no ordinary clerk, so he couldn't help but ask: "Who are you?"
Inspector Li Youbi Hong said even more proudly: "I am the deputy inspector of the West Water Inspection Department and the temporary acting director of the West Water Inspection Department, Mr. Li."
Inspector Hong, who was not very well-educated, was puzzled by the list of names. The clerk next to him came up and explained considerately: "This means that we are the official of our department at the moment."
Patrolman Hong immediately lay down on the ground and shouted, "The flood has washed away the Dragon King Temple. It turns out it is a family."
"Thieves are so presumptuous! Who is in the same family as a cheap servant like you!" Li You scolded.
"Master Liu and I know each other, and Master Liu knows all these things!" Inspector Hong defended himself for fear that Li You would not believe him. He knew the rules of military succession, and quickly guessed that Li and Inspector Liu in front of him must be
They had a close relationship, so they brought up Inspector Liu's name.
Li You was very surprised when he heard this. Could it be that his father-in-law deliberately condoned this matter after he was taken care of? No wonder Hong was so confident when he came in that he let him go. He didn't know how many benefits his father-in-law received privately before betraying his favor.
ask.
Secretary Guan whispered in Li You's ear: "The old inspector did say not to care about such things."