In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

With the autumn examination approaching, the number of Confucian scholars in Bianliang has obviously increased, and scholars in long gowns can be seen everywhere on the streets.

Various restaurants, brothels, theaters, and teahouses are also quite lively. Groups of scholars gather together, either reciting poems or commenting on the country, making Bianliang full of literati atmosphere.

Since the Song Dynasty has examination halls in various states, the scholars who come here are basically people from Bianliang and the surrounding Jingji Road. They have come to Bianliang many times in the past, and they are familiar with the roads and go wherever they should go. Their figures can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys.

At this moment, Zhao Jun is walking outside the East Temple on the cross street. He has walked all over the inner city of Bianliang.

He has been to the Great Liao Embassy on Chongmingmen Inner Street and witnessed the arrogance of the Great Liao people. He has also been to the East Street and seen the prosperous scene at the gate of Xiangguo Temple.

There are many beautiful girls in the night market. The smell of food outside Fanlou is fragrant. Standing on Tianhan Bridge, you can see Xuande Tower at the gate of the palace, the various government offices and mansions in the streets and alleys, and the scallion-white jade hands stretched out by the brothels are swaying in the spring breeze by the Bian River.

The smell in the air here is full of sweetness and intoxicating.

Only Zhao Jun occasionally looks at the huge drainage hole on the shore and is a little absent-minded when passing the Bianhe Bridge.

Bianliang has a well-connected waterway, connecting six or seven large rivers such as the Yellow River, Bianhe River, and Caihe River. Once the rainy season comes, it is easy to burst into floods and submerge the entire city, so an extremely developed underground drainage system is needed.

Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, sewers have been built here. Now, after the Song Dynasty set the capital in Bianliang, after a hundred years of repairs on the original thousand-year foundation, the waterway system below has been crisscrossed and dense like a network.

It is said that about five or six feet below the city of Bianliang, it has evolved into an underground city, where the ghost market, ghost building, and worry-free cave are hidden.

It rained a few days ago, and many corpses were washed out from the underground drainage pipes, and they were all taken away by people from Kaifeng Prefecture. Zhao Jun happened to be in the outer city at that time, and saw with his own eyes several mutilated children's bodies lined up on the shore.

Parents who lost their children came to hear the news. Some recognized their children and cried their hearts out. Some saw that there were no children of their own, and their faces showed complex luck. There were more bodies that no one claimed, and the onlookers looked at them with sympathy.

Bianliang is too big, and there are tens of millions of people living in the outer city. Losing dozens or hundreds of children has never been a big deal.

Not only children, but also adults, especially young women.

According to statistics from Kaifeng Prefecture, in recent years, there have been more than 100 families who have reported the case, and only a handful of them have been found. More are like stones thrown into the sea, disappearing without a trace.

This made Zhao Jun sigh.

The upper city of Bianliang is prosperous, and the underground city is also prosperous. They all have a bright future.

Zhao Jun found a teahouse opposite the East Temple where people were bustling. In addition to himself, there were only five people around him, including Di Qing, who protected him. Not long after he entered, some people came in one after another, and soon the teahouse, which was originally not crowded, was about to be full.

The window seat on the second floor was a popular place and had been occupied long ago. There were still five days before the Spring Examination. The teahouse was basically full of candidates, chatting together, talking about poetry and songs, and criticizing the current situation.

People from the government came and went downstairs from time to time, and soldiers patrolled the streets, making the already bustling flow of people even more crowded.

"What's going on these two days? In the past, during the imperial examinations, the Kaifeng government would indeed send additional personnel to patrol the streets to maintain order. But basically no troops were sent. Why are there so many soldiers wandering around the streets now?"

"You don't know, these are the soldiers of the Imperial City Division."

"Don't the soldiers of the Imperial City Division only stand guard outside the palace? Why are they all running to the streets?"

"Now the soldiers standing guard outside the palace have been replaced by people from the Palace Front Division. The soldiers of the Imperial City Division are all patrolling the streets. Anyone who dares to make trouble in the city has been arrested and taken to the Imperial City Division office."

"What's going on? The Imperial City Division is in turmoil? When did they have the power to arrest people? Aren't they afraid of impeachment by the censors and the censors?"

Several scholars sitting next to me saw the soldiers coming and going outside the window, and some people who didn't understand the situation asked.

The Imperial City Division has more than 5,000 people in Bianliang, of which at least 3,000 are soldiers in the open, and there are about 2,000 spies, distributed in the streets and alleys, investigating all incoming and outgoing intelligence.

Because the Imperial City Division is essentially a military unit, according to the Song Dynasty Law, the order of Bianliang City belongs to Kaifeng Prefecture. The soldiers of the Imperial City Division only have the power to protect the palace, and do not have the power to search, collect evidence, arrest, and judge. It can be said that they have almost no power.

Even if the secret agents provoke Kaifeng Prefecture when collecting intelligence, they may be arrested by the people of Kaifeng Prefecture. The detectives are like rats crossing the street, and they have always been afraid of being seen in the light. Therefore, seeing this blatant behavior, it is confusing?

"You may not know this, but the government has ordered that since the day before yesterday, the Imperial City Division has the power to arrest people directly without going through the Dali Temple and Kaifeng Prefecture, and no trial is required for arresting people. Therefore, all the soldiers of the Imperial City Division are now deployed to patrol various markets."

"The Imperial City Division actually has such great power?"

"It is said that the Imperial City Division now has a new chief, surnamed Zhao, and there are rumors that he is a member of the royal family."

"Can a member of the royal family be in charge of the Imperial City Division? Isn't it said that they are not allowed to serve as officials or generals in the army? How can they have the power of the military like the Imperial City Division?"

"Who knows? Maybe this person is not a member of the royal family, but just happens to be surnamed Zhao."

"But it sounds like a good thing. When I was in Bianliang, a large number of scholars poured into the city every year for the autumn and spring examinations. Kaifeng Prefecture was short of manpower and cases happened everywhere. Now it seems that it is not bad to have the Imperial City Department to maintain order."

"The scholars from the capital and the capital come to Bianliang to take the exam. There are only a few thousand of them at most. It won't cause much trouble. What order can these people maintain? I am afraid that they will arrest people at will and cause unjust cases everywhere."

As everyone was talking, a scholar suddenly caught a glimpse of a young man surrounded by servants sitting on the chair next to him. Judging from his dress, he seemed to be a scholar who came to take the exam.

Because the guards around Zhao Jun were all equipped with knives, it was easy to think of a certain yamen. With the intention of making friends with the powerful, someone stood up and walked over, bowed to Zhao Jun and said, "Is this brother also here to take the exam?"

"I guess so."

Zhao Jun smiled and said nothing.

He came to see the actions of the Imperial City Division today. It would not be right if he did nothing right after taking office, so he planned to take the initiative to find out the internal traitors and challenge the authority of Kaifeng Prefecture.

When Fan Zhongyan was in Kaifeng Prefecture, the people below him were relatively restrained. Many evil people like Han Yuan were even driven away by him and replaced by several upright people.

As a result, only a few months later, the Kaifeng Prefecture became dark and corrupt again. The newly appointed Kaifeng Prefecture Governor Zhang Yi was transferred after only one month in office. The later Ding Du was a philologist. Although he was honest and upright, he was a rigid old Confucian and was easily deceived by the people below.

Therefore, under his confused governance, the officials below Kaifeng Prefecture continued to manipulate, especially the system of the prefectural court. At that time, if you wanted to go to Kaifeng Prefecture to file a complaint, you had to register and queue up at the gate of the prefectural court, and even after registering, you could not immediately open the court, but had to wait for notification.

Basically, if you don't give money to the officials in charge of the court, you will have to wait for the court to open the trial. Moreover, once it involves the Kaifeng Prefecture's partiality and perversion of the law, or involves people related to them, it is impossible to see the prefect in court in this life.

Therefore, under such circumstances, the common people are still registering and queuing outside when they encounter unjust cases, while the Kaifeng prefect in the government office still thinks that the world is peaceful, reading books, drinking, and having fun every day, and it is very comfortable.

"Brother, why don't you come and sit with us."

The scholar invited.

Zhao Jun shook his head: "You sit down, I have something to do later."

"Then I won't bother you."

The scholar left tactfully, but before leaving, he still said: "The Imperial City Division has been patrolling everywhere recently, brother, you should be careful with them."

"Yeah."

Zhao Jun didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he nodded in agreement.

After a while, a man came upstairs quickly and whispered a few words to Zhao Jun's ear. Zhao Jun nodded and left.

Watching him leave, the scholar over there couldn't help but say with envy: "I wonder which family he belongs to."

"These yamen are not people we can make friends with, and you are really brave. Fortunately, that person seems to have a good temper. If you meet some yamen with bad tempers, you will be beaten if you rush over."

"So that's how it is. Thank you, Brother Li, for clearing up my doubts. It seems that we should avoid these yamen in the future."

The person behind whispered.

Zhao Jun couldn't hear what they were saying at this time. He went downstairs and went directly to Nantang Street.

Nantang Street was a bit chaotic at this time. The soldiers of the Imperial City Division encountered something on the street. An old woman was sewing for a living on the street. Suddenly, she saw a woman on the street. She screamed that it was her daughter-in-law, and went up to pull her.

As a result, two strong men followed the woman and beat the old woman, which alarmed the soldiers of the Imperial City Division, and they went up to arrest them. Unexpectedly, the yamen runners of Kaifeng Prefecture also came over, and the two sides were in a stalemate.

When Zhao Jun came over, he saw that two teams of soldiers from the Imperial City Department had already arrived, and the yamen runners of Kaifeng Prefecture also called their friends and blew whistles, and twenty or thirty of them came.

The middle of the street was already empty, and countless heads popped out from the buildings on both sides. There were crowds of people watching the excitement, and most of the stall owners had already run away.

The soldiers controlled the old woman, the woman, and the two strong men, and the yamen runners of Kaifeng Prefecture were ordering them to hand over the people.

"What's going on?"

At this time, several sedan chair bearers carried a sedan chair to the scene, and a middle-aged man in green official uniform came down and watched everything majestically.

Seeing the officials arrive, the soldiers of the Imperial City Department looked at each other and were all a little afraid.

After all, they were of low status before, unlike the Kaifeng Prefecture patrol inspectors, clerks, heads of the line, yamen runners, etc., who had the support of civil officials, so they did not dare to act rashly.

Soon, a yamen runner told the man about the matter, and the official shouted: "Since there is a case, it should be handled by Kaifeng Prefecture. Who are you, the Imperial City Division? Get out of here."

"Who are you asking to get out?"

Zhao Jun stepped out of the crowd and looked at the man coldly.

He knew him.

The information showed that the man's name was Liao Yu, a judicial officer of Kaifeng Prefecture, a seventh-rank official, and he had done a lot of corrupt and illegal things.

Liao Yu narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhao Jun. After looking him up and down, he scolded: "Who are you? The government is handling a case, and all outsiders must leave."

"My name is Zhao Jun, and I am now the Imperial City Division. From today on, we will handle cases that Kaifeng Prefecture cannot handle, and we will arrest people that Kaifeng Prefecture cannot arrest. Do you have any questions?"

Zhao Jun glanced at the opposite side and suddenly noticed a familiar face in the crowd. He was furious at that time. That person was the government official with a Chinese character who let the traffickers go.

Liao Yu frowned.

Unlike ordinary people, they have many channels to become officials and naturally have many sources of information.

They naturally know a lot about what happened in the Imperial City Division in the past few days.

Nowadays, the officials have greatly increased the authority of the Imperial City Department. There are rumors that the officials can't stand the chaos everywhere in Bianliang City, so they decided to take action.

Therefore, in the past few days, the superiors had also sent greetings, telling them to keep a low profile so as not to be caught by the Imperial City Division.

However, the Imperial City Secretary stretched his hand too far and actually sent soldiers to patrol the streets and snatched away the cases that belonged to them. It was clear that they wanted to seize the power of Kaifeng Mansion to handle cases.

Originally, this was nothing. Anyway, there were so many cases in Kaifeng Prefecture every day. It was a good thing to have someone to help them share the burden. The problem was that many of the cases in Kaifeng Prefecture were committed by their own people. If they were found out by people from the Imperial City Division, wouldn't they? Also going to suffer?

Thinking of this, Liao Yu asked in a low voice: "Do you know these people?"

Shaking his head left and right: "I don't know."

It seemed that it had nothing to do with him, so Liao Yu looked at the old woman and said, "Where are you from?"

The old woman said: "I am from Zhongmou."

"Since you said this person is your daughter-in-law, are you willing to go to Kaifeng Mansion to file a case?"

Liao Yu asked.

Zhao Jun said: "If you don't want to go to Kaifeng Mansion, our Imperial City Division will make the decision for you. From today on, the people in Kaifeng Mansion will also be under the control of the Imperial City Division. Anyone who blocks it will be killed without mercy!"

The old woman quickly complained: "After my son died, this woman took away all the family money. When I reported it to the official in Zhongmou, no one paid attention. When I came to Kaifeng Prefecture to report to the official because I had no money, no one accepted it. Anyway, I only have one life, so I am willing to go to the Imperial City Division."

Unexpectedly, before the old woman finished speaking, the woman shouted loudly: "I have nothing to do with her, I don't know her."

"Since it doesn't matter, I will naturally find out. What are you afraid of?"

Zhao Jun drank and said: "Seal her mouth, gag the mouths of those two people, and take them back to the Imperial City Government Office."

"yes."

When the soldiers around heard Chisi's words, they became emboldened, arrested the man, and left.

Liao Yu didn't stop him either.

This matter has nothing to do with him. As for protecting the face of Kaifeng Mansion, that is Ding Du's business. As long as it does not involve his corruption and perversion of the law, he really doesn't want to have a direct conflict with the Imperial City Division.

After all, Zhao Zhen had issued a death order a few days ago. Even if the Kaifeng Mansion met with the Imperial City Division, he would automatically be lowered to a lower level. The Imperial City Division had a higher level of power.

Soon Liao Yu led the people away, and others booed when they saw this anticlimactic scene.

When Liao Yu's sedan left the scene and returned to Kaifeng Mansion Office, a confidant came up to him and said to him: "Joining the army, if we just leave like this, will we lose the reputation of Kaifeng Mansion?"

"hehe."

Liao Yu smiled and said: "Now the Imperial City Division has the support of officials. Once it gets the power, it will inspect the whole city immediately. It is very powerful and should not confront them head-on."

"That's true. I just saw them bringing out the crossbows of the Forbidden Army. They don't want to kill people in the street."

The confidant thought of the cold light flashing at the end of the opponent's bow and crossbow, and couldn't help feeling frightened.

Liao Yu shook his head and said: "Zhao Jun's arrogance is just because he has an official behind him. Let him be arrogant for a while, and tell the people below not to argue with people from the Imperial City Division when they see them, unless they are Involve one of our own, otherwise the case will be left to them.”

"ah?"

A confidant asked in surprise: "Will this make the people of Kaifeng Mansion only know about the Imperial City Division and forget about the government office?"

"You."

Liao Yu glanced at his confidant. If the confidant hadn't been his brother-in-law, he would have wanted to slap him hard and ask him why he was so stupid.

At the same time, Nantang Street has returned to its former bustle.

Zhao Jun watched the backs of them leaving, his eyes fixed on the government official with the Chinese character in the crowd.

The other party didn't seem to recognize him, and there was nothing strange on his face. Maybe it was too dark that day, and the other party didn't take the few out-of-town thieves and troops to heart.

"Zhi Si is really a powerful man, he can even scare away the Kaifeng government office."

On the way back, Shi Yu was in high spirits and said to Zhao Jun: "In the future, won't the Imperial City Secretary be able to walk sideways in Tokyo?"

"hehe."

Zhao Jun smiled and said nothing.

The other party's retreat was indeed not what he expected.

Because now that the Imperial City Division has the power of arrest and trial, it conflicts with the power of the Kaifeng government.

Zhao Jun deliberately sent people out just to cause a conflict with Kaifeng Mansion.

Only by taking the initiative can you catch the opponent's handle.

Unexpectedly, the other party didn't seem to accept the move at all, and just let him take the person away, which was unexpected.

But if you think about it carefully, there are only two reasons.

First, Zhao Jun and Lu Yijian had a big quarrel, which made Lu Yijian and others afraid, so he told the people below that Kaifeng Mansion and the Imperial City Department should try not to conflict, lest Zhao Jun actually kill people.

The second is that the other party may be brewing some conspiracy, such as deliberately conniving with the Imperial City Division and letting the Imperial City Division run rampant in Bianliang. Once the Imperial City Division gets into trouble and arrests the wrong person and tries the wrong case, I'm afraid they will incite public resentment. Immediately, countless impeachment memorials flew to Zhao Zhen's desk.

That's why Kaifeng Mansion temporarily avoided the Imperial City Division, and Liao Yu left with his people.

Although Zhao Jun had never been in the officialdom, he had never eaten pork, but he had seen pigs run. Having seen so many ancient conspiracies, he could naturally guess a little bit.

Therefore, he was not happy about this victory, but he had a higher opinion of Kaifeng Prefecture. The other party seemed to have other intentions.