Chapter 254: Seizing People
"stop!"
A loud shout was heard.
Zhou Chunyu and a few others surrounded them with swords in hand.
He looked at the unconscious Chu Huai and bowed to the commander: "Sir, this man is a guest of the Mu Mansion, please let him go."
The commander smiled disdainfully and didn't take Zhou Chunyu seriously at all.
"Manager Zhou, he sneaked in from outside and was caught by me. I will have my subordinates send him to Kaifeng Prefecture right away."
Zhou Chunyu's tone hardened: "I said, he is a guest of the Mu Mansion, please let him go!"
The commander's smile gradually faded: "He is not a guest of the Mu Mansion, but a concubine who escaped. His master is looking for him."
Seeing that he had revealed his true colors, Zhou Chunyu laughed, "So you are one of the Crown Prince Jiang's men. Could it be that the fire today was set to take Chu Ta away?"
Even though the words were made so clear, the leader of the Submarine Fire Team remained calm.
He sneered, "Butler Zhou, you can't eat or talk carelessly. This man is called Chu Huai. He is not only a concubine of Crown Prince Jiang, but also the criminal who assassinated Crown Prince Jiang today. It was by chance that the fire broke out in the Duke of Yong's mansion, so Crown Prince Jiang asked me to find him and return him."
"What a joke! Your Excellency is from the Fire Squad. How could he be entrusted with the task of finding a runaway concubine? Besides, Chu Huai is a candidate who has made it onto the government's list. He showed off his poetry and prose skills in the Jinming Lake competition today. Madam specially invited him here because she saw his talent.
Prince Jiang told the adults that he was a favorite, but is there any official document to prove it? ”
The commander frowned.
Zhou Chunyu continued, "Could it be that the lord closed the gate of the Mu Mansion and prevented the people from approaching, not to set fire to the mansion, but to prepare to rob people?"
The commander wanted to say something when he suddenly found that there were more than a dozen people behind him. The fire-submersible soldiers guarding the gate had been knocked down by the Mu family and the gate had been taken over.
The black-clothed man holding Chu Huai looked gloomy and raised his hand to show a token: "How dare you! I am the captain of the Imperial Guard Tianwu Army."
Zhou Chunyu sneered, "This is even more strange. The commander of the Tianwu Army is not allowed to send troops without the emperor's order. What's the purpose of you, a lieutenant, breaking into the Duke of Yong's mansion?"
Just as the man in black was about to speak, Zhou Chunyu exclaimed again.
"I see. The Tianwu Army was originally under the command of the Yuan family. Now that they have just been purged, the captain is eager to join the Jiang family. How do you know that this boat is reliable?"
The man in black's face darkened.
The commander drew his sword.
Zhou Chunyu showed no fear at all, and stepped forward with his sword in hand: "No matter if you are from the Tianwu Army or the Diwu Army, anyone who dares to trespass into the Mu Mansion will be killed without mercy!"
The man in black picked up Chu Huai and grabbed his neck: "You want him? Then I'll give you a corpse!"
Zhou Chunyu sneered: "This is the Yongguogong Mansion!"
Before he could finish his words, the man in black screamed, his hands loosened, his arms became as soft as noodles, and a short crossbow was deeply inserted into his shoulder blade.
It penetrated the acupoints so accurately that both arms lost all strength.
Someone pressed down on his shoulders and in the blink of an eye he was tied up.
The commander was shocked: "You..."
Just as he opened his mouth, he was suddenly pushed from behind. He lost his balance and fell face first onto the bluestone slabs.
"How dare you... woooo."
Two sturdy guards quickly tied up the man and lifted him up.
Zhou Chunyu raised his hand and patted his face, smiling and said, "You are so brave. You dared to set fire to the Duke of Yong's mansion, kill people, rob people, and sneak into the Duke's study. I counted on my fingers, and you two are going to die."
Suddenly his smile faded, and he waved his hand: "Put them all in."
Zhou Chunyu instructed the people around him: "Go find Zhao Dutou, the firefighter who is fighting the fire at the fire scene."
After a while, a man with a black face and burnt hair ran over. Seeing Zhou Chunyu, he politely bowed and said, "Manager Zhou, are you looking for me?"
Zhou Chunyu recognized him and took a look. He saw that his robe had several holes burned in it, and it seemed that his skin was also injured.
He stepped forward and patted his shoulder affectionately: "Captain Zhao, thank you for your hard work."
He looked at the guards beside him.
The guard handed over a purse containing fifty taels of silver ingots.
Zhao Dutou grinned happily, showing a row of white teeth: "Thank you, Manager Zhou."
Zhou Chunyu smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I will give each of you a reward later. Just register it."
Zhao Dutou held the purse in his hands, his eyes widened: "So this is for me alone?"
Zhou Chunyu nodded: "Yes. Each of you brothers will be rewarded with two taels of silver."
Zhao Dutou opened his mouth in surprise and couldn't close it for a long time.
"I wonder how the fire is being put out?"
Zhao Dutou quickly moved his mouth and said, "It has been basically put out. The people from the Mu Mansion have been deployed, so it will be quick."
Zhou Chunyu nodded: "Did you find anything unusual?"
Zhao Dutou nodded: "The fire was set on purpose."
He approached Zhou Chunyu and whispered, "It must be Namu'an. He piled up dry firewood under the wall separating the courtyard from the main courtyard and poured kerosene on it. This guy is an ungrateful person. It's a pity that Duke Yong treated him like his own son when he was alive."
Zhou Chunyu naturally thought of it.
"but……"
Zhao Dutou frowned, looked around, and approached him and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "If Mu An set the fire himself, there is no reason for him to block his own door with dry firewood and pour kerosene on it. I feel that it is not that simple."
Zhou Chunyu felt relieved after hearing this.
"Well, I'm afraid the matter will have to be reported to Kaifeng Prefecture. Let our Madam make the decision. By then, we'll need Zhao Dutou to issue an official document for the investigation."
"The commander of the survey will issue the document, and I will report it to him truthfully."
Zhou Chunyu smiled meaningfully: "Captain Zhao has been a captain for more than ten years, right? He has never been promoted. If you do a good job in writing documents, the madam and the old lady will remember your kindness to the emperor."
Zhao Du was stunned for a long time before he reacted.
His eyes flickered, and he looked around: "Hey, where is the commander? Hasn't he been watching the gate? And where is Liu Dutou going?"
He didn't dare tell others that he and Liu Dutou had discovered a stranger sneaking into the Duke's Mansion. It would be a big trouble if the Duke's Mansion blamed them.
"I don't know. But I only saw you, Captain Zhao, leading the fire-fighting soldiers to put out the fire."
Zhao Dutou was also a smart man, and he seemed to understand something after hearing this.
It’s not that he didn’t want to be promoted, but he had no background and had to work hard to climb to the position of head of the department.
But they couldn't get any more angry. The people above them were all children of high-ranking officials. None of them worked, and they were the only ones working for them.
The little leaders had been dissatisfied for a long time, but they had to endure it for the sake of a job.
Zhou Chunyu patted his shoulder and said, "Please continue to clean up the mess. I'll go see the old lady and the lady."
Zhao Dutou nodded tacitly.
Soon, after the fire-snatching soldiers extinguished the last trace of flame, Zhao Dutou and the Mu family's attendants carefully checked the surroundings and then withdrew their troops and left.
Zhou Zhilan personally brought people to wait at the gate, and asked each person to give two taels of silver and register their name.
The submariners were overjoyed.
Two taels of silver is their salary for half a year.
Normally, they relied on rewards from the owners of the houses where the fire had broken out to make up for the loss, but it was always no more than one or two taels of silver, and no one would give two taels of silver at once.
The wife of Duke Yong is really generous.
As soon as they left, Zhou Zhilan immediately ordered people to close the door.
Several people were imprisoned in three rooms in the small courtyard in the west corner of the back hood. Each of them had a tongue clamp stuffed in his mouth to prevent him from committing suicide or speaking. His hands and feet were tied tightly and he could not move.
There were more than a dozen guards guarding it.
Mu Junyan helped Gu Huan out of the secret room. She was shocked to see blood everywhere.
"this……"
Mu Junyan comforted her: "It's okay, it's all resolved."
Gu Huan nodded with a pale face: "It's really too rampant."
Mu Junyan smiled and said, "Maybe they are even more rampant. The best is yet to come, let's wait and see."
Gu Huan held her chest and asked nervously, "Is mother safe?"
"Don't worry, it's safe. We need to deal with Mu An's problem today. Let's go to Xuanyun Hall. Mother is already waiting there."
Gu Huan nodded: "It needs to be resolved."
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