Tibet

At dawn, a group of cavalry wearing black and yellow armor rushed into Penglai County, Dengzhou.

The common people in Dengzhou had never seen cavalry in such armor, and they all looked at them curiously. The cavalry rushed to the gate of the state government, dismounted, and a soldier ran up the steps, raised a black brass plate, and shouted sternly at the gatekeeper. Said: "Internal guards, come from the capital to handle the case!"

The soldier was startled and stammered: "Please wait a moment, I'll report it right away!"

The Internal Security Bureau is equivalent to the FBI and the National Security Agency in the United States. They specialize in investigating major cases and have great power, especially illicit salt and coinage. Once they are discovered, they will basically kill everyone in the family and kill a mountain of corpses. Sea of ​​Blood, although they do not have the power to suspend local officials, once they find out that the government and salt traders are colluding, or that officials' sons have committed major illegal crimes, they will ruthlessly arrest non-officials and report them to the censor, who will immediately supervise the censor. coming.

Therefore, there are no local officials who are not afraid of internal guards. Of course, some local officials themselves are not clean. If they are honest and upright, there is nothing to be afraid of.

It was not government time for the government office yet, and only Sima Wang Zeng arrived early on duty. When he heard that the inner guards were coming, he was startled and rushed out to greet him.

"Sima Wang Zengzheng of Xia Dengzhou welcomes the internal guards to come to Dengzhou to handle the case!"

The leading internal guard general was Liu Wutong. He had been guarding Li Dai and his wife for a long time. Now he was transferred to the internal guard and was granted the title of Zhonglang General. He was appointed as the investigator for the first time and led fifty of his subordinates to Laizhou and Dengzhou to handle the case.

They stayed at a post station to rest and change horses, and rushed for half a month before arriving at the Shandong Peninsula. They were divided into two groups. Lieutenant General Zhang Wen led 20 people to Laizhou, while Liu Wutong personally led 30 people to Dengzhou.

Liu Wutong was also older, not as sharp as the younger generals, and was more tactful and polite in his words and deeds.

Liu Wutong took out the silver medal and showed it, and said to Wang Zengzheng politely: "I am Liu Wutong, the general of the inner guard, and I have been ordered to come to Dengzhou to investigate the crime. Please Wang Sima, please settle us down first, and we will discuss it in detail later!"

When Wang Zengzheng heard that the crime was committed under investigation, he felt a little relieved and said quickly: "That's it! That's it! You have been working hard all the way, I will arrange for you to go to the post house to rest!"

He quickly called one of his men, took out the VIP card, and arranged for his men to take the inner guard and his party to a VIP station not far away for accommodation and rest.

When Wang Zengzheng saw that all the internal guards had left, he quickly sent soldiers to inform the governor and chief historian.

Not long after, Sun Yuan, the governor of Dengzhou, and Li Chaoyang, the chief minister, hurried to the state government office, and the three of them negotiated in the government office first.

"The leader of the other party is the Internal Guard Zhonglang General. He has a silver medal and his status is not low. He said he is here to handle a detailed crime. He should be here to investigate spies by sea."

Sun Yuan, the governor, nodded. Dengzhou is a special place. Sea envoys from various countries in the northeast all landed here, such as Japan's envoys to the Tang Dynasty and Silla's envoys to the Tang Dynasty. They all landed in Dengzhou and then headed to Chang'an.

So it's not surprising that the inner guards came here to check for spies. It should have nothing to do with them. The three of them breathed a sigh of relief. After all, they were ruthless inner guards and they were under great pressure.

Chief Shi Li Chaoyang pondered for a moment and said: "In one month's time, the regent's coronation ceremony will be held. I guess they are here for this matter. They may not have a target, it is just a routine investigation!"

Sun Yuan, the governor, shook his head and said, "Without a goal, we wouldn't have traveled so far. There must be a goal. Nine times out of ten, it's related to Liaodong, and maybe it's related to Japan's Silla."

Wang Zengzheng hurriedly asked: "Could the Bohai envoy who landed last time be related to them?"

Sun Yuan still shook his head, "Probably not. Since they are coming to Datang openly, there is no need for the internal guards to come to Dengzhou. They are here for lurkers."

At this time, the soldier reported at the door: "The commander of the inner guard is here!"

The three of them were shocked that they were acting so resolutely and came as soon as they settled down.

Sun Yuan quickly said to Wang Zengzheng: "Wang Sima, you are solely responsible for the reception. If you have any needs, please tell me directly."

Although Wang Zengzheng was reluctant, he had no choice but to do so. This was his duty, so he had no choice but to agree, get up and go out to greet him.

Wang Zengzheng led Liu Wutong and two of his men to the back hall. They sat down respectively as guest and host. Wang Zengzheng asked the tea boy to serve tea.

Liu Wutong pondered for a while and said: "The first day of the first lunar month is the enthronement ceremony of the regent. Because the Tang Dynasty is on the eve of war with Liaodong, the internal guards are worried that enemy countries will send assassins to destroy the ceremony and assassinate the regent. Since the land route is blocked, the assassins cannot get through. , then there is only sea route, and Dengzhou will bear the brunt. I am here to check whether any suspects have landed. "

Wang Zengzheng nodded, "The enthronement of the Regent is indeed very important. It is related to the stability of the Tang Dynasty. Our Dengzhou and county governments will fully cooperate. In addition, I would like to remind General Liu that landing overseas does not necessarily come to Dengzhou. There is also Laizhou, usually 30-70, Dengzhou 70%, Laizhou 30%. I think the internal guards are keeping an eye on Dengzhou, and the other party understands, and maybe they secretly go to Laizhou. "

Liu Wutong smiled slightly and said, "Wang Sima, don't worry, my deputy is leading twenty men to handle the case in Laizhou, and I am responsible for Dengzhou."

"I can rest assured that!"

Wang Zengzheng thought for a while and said: "There are mainly four categories of foreigners who come to Dengzhou. One is official envoys, such as the envoys from Silla and Japan to the Tang Dynasty, and the previous envoys from the Bohai Kingdom;

The second category is businessmen. This category has the largest number of people and happens almost every day. They will pay taxes and register at the Municipal Shipping Department and get a pass to lead to the mainland;

The third category is foreign fishermen. This group is the most difficult to control. They do not deal with the government. They park their boats in a hidden place, sneak ashore, go to the market to sell seafood, and then buy some goods to go back. They come and go at night, their whereabouts are erratic, and there are so many people that the government can't control them. As long as they don't cause trouble, they just turn a blind eye.

The fourth category is stowaways. They are the same as the third category, but their goals are basically to go to Luoyang and Chang'an, and they are usually supported by Dengzhou locals. "

Liu Wutong was confused. It was difficult to investigate just a businessman. He had seen the previous assassination files, and they basically pretended to be businessmen. Especially there were too many foreigners in Chang'an. Once they were disguised, they had entered the country legally and there was no way to investigate them. .

Now there are so many smuggled fishermen and stowaways whose whereabouts are uncertain. How can we check them?

Liu Wutong pondered for a moment and said: "I brought thirty men to Dengzhou. I plan to divide them into two groups. One group will investigate the merchants, and the other will investigate the foreign fishermen and stowaways. To investigate the merchants, we will go directly to the Municipal Shipping Department and investigate the foreigners. The fishermen and stowaways will have to ask Wang Sima for help."

Wang Zengzheng nodded, "I'll take the general to find the county government! County officials are not as good as county managers. The state government still doesn't understand the specific details, but the county government should know better than us. They deal with them directly."

"Then I'll trouble Wang Sima!"

Wang Zengzheng immediately took Liu Wutong to the Penglai County Government Office. It was already morning, and the County Government Office had also begun a busy day.

The magistrate of Penglai County is called Zhou Ji. He was born in Ming Jingke in the second year of Zhide. He is about thirty years old and seems to be quite smart and capable.

He already knew that the inner guards were coming to Penglai County. He was feeling uneasy when he suddenly heard that Sima Zhou was accompanying the inner guards. He was so frightened that he hurriedly went out to greet them.

The three of them came to the inner hall. Wang Zengzheng introduced the situation to Magistrate Zhou, and then left the hot things to him. They sat aside and drank tea. Although he could not walk away, he was quite calm and relaxed.

Magistrate Zhou thought for a while and said to Liu Wutong: "There are still ways. Although the government does not know about foreign fishermen and stowaways, some people know that local fishermen know them very well because there are interests involved."

"What kind of benefits?" Liu Wutong asked.

Magistrate Zhou smiled bitterly and said: "They are not just here to sell fish. Selling fish and sea vegetables is just a cover. They are actually smuggling goods. For example, Silla's paper is famous. There is a 20% tax when leaving Silla. A 10% tax is levied. If it is smuggling, 30% of the tax will be evaded.

Not only taxes, private workshops are half cheaper than government-run workshops. Of course, there are other goods. These foreign fishermen dare not go ashore, so they sell them to local fishermen at low prices. The local fishermen in turn sell them to land-based merchants. Because the price is cheap, the merchants benefit. However, they all knew it was smuggling and confiscated it. In the past, the Municipal Shipping Department also checked, but there were too many, like ants. The Municipal Shipping Department only had a few ships and ten or twenty people, and they would throw them away when encountering strong people. lives, and now there is basically no investigation. "

Liu Wutong was not here to inspect taxes. He was not interested in smuggling and only cared about suspicious criminals.

He asked Magistrate Zhou: "If I want to investigate the assassin, where should I start?"

Magistrate Zhou nodded and said: "I just said there is a way, which means investigating the fishermen. As long as it is clear that we are not investigating smuggling and smuggling, but assassins, I believe the fishermen will help."

"Then how to investigate?"

"I will take the general to the dock now and summon the bow of the ship for a lecture!"

Liu Wutong smiled at Wang Zengzheng and said, "With Magistrate Zhou accompanying me, I won't bother Wang Sima."

Wang Zengzheng got what he wanted, so he stood up quickly and said: "If there is a place where the state government is needed, just ask and state soldiers are needed, and we will dispatch them immediately."

"I understand, thank you Wang Sima!"

Just as Wang Zeng was leaving, Magistrate Zhou called the county lieutenant, the chief of the police, and more than a dozen policemen, and a group of people led the inner guards toward the dock.