"Captain Yu, this man is still alive." A soldier who was squatting on the ground checking reported loudly.
The guy who was kicked in the side and back by Zhang Shixun woke up and groaned in pain.
Yu Dutou walked up to the guy and squatted down. "Who are you? Tell me the truth."
The guy's throat gurgled a few times and he spat a mouthful of saliva mixed with blood on the headman's face.
Yu Dutou was furious and raised his right hand to slap the guy in the face. The guy spat out blood from the corner of his mouth, but laughed.
Yu Dutou stood up, wiped his face, and ordered his men, "Tie this man up tightly and take him back to the host for thorough interrogation."
"Where are the two dead ones?" asked a soldier.
"Leave two people here and wait for the idiots from Kaifeng Prefecture to arrive, then hand them over."
Military patrol stations were spread throughout the capital. Their main function was fire prevention, which was similar to the fire brigades of later generations. However, they also had to patrol at night to maintain public order, which was similar to some of the functions of police stations in later generations.
In order to prevent the soldiers of the military patrol station from abusing their power and oppressing the people, the imperial court stipulated that except for pursuing criminals in progress, the soldiers of the military patrol station had no right to arrest or detain people.
The soldiers in the military patrol station did hard work and received the lowest pay. They were at the bottom of the army and had basically no chance of promotion unless they made great contributions.
In times of peace, where is the opportunity to achieve great merit?
It's too difficult.
Yu Dutou certainly didn't want to miss the opportunity today.
The two deaths were the credit of Gao Yanei, and no one could take it away. As for the remaining living one, since Gao Yanei didn't care, Yu Dutou would of course seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As long as he could hand over the living Wuyou Cave thief, it would be a credit.
Just as he was about to lead the thief away with high spirits, someone shouted to stop him: "Don't worry! Don't worry!"
Everyone looked at the person who spoke, only to see a large man standing outside the circle, followed by a group of people holding rulers and swords.
Zhang Shixun smiled when he saw the man. It turned out to be Wang Meng, the judge of the Right Army Patrol Court. He had seen him in the Lotus Pavilion.
"Old Wang, you're late. Why weren't you here when I was fighting the thieves?" Gao Yanei walked over and said dissatisfiedly, "Look at your posture, it's obvious that you're here to steal the credit."
"Oh! It's Yanei who's here." Wang Meng grinned and bowed to him, smiling broadly. "Yanei, you're wrong. Catching thieves and maintaining the security of the capital is my job. As for taking credit for something, I, Wang, disdain it. Don't worry, as long as it's Yanei's contribution, I won't hide anything and will report it truthfully. Don't worry."
Wang Meng looked at the men lying on the ground and asked, "Did you and your followers kill all these people?"
"Of course!" Gao Yanei puffed out his chest proudly.
Wang Meng gave a thumbs up: "As expected of a military family member, I admire you!"
Gao Yanei felt relaxed after hearing his flattery and laughed heartily, "There's no need to say how much I admire you. You two families should just sort out the matter at hand and don't let this get you into trouble."
Yu Dutou came over and clasped his fists at Wang Meng, saying, "Judge Wang, this area is under the jurisdiction of our military station, and I was here first. Please move aside and let me take the thief back to the owner."
Wang Meng's eyes widened, and he angrily said, "This is also the jurisdiction of our Military Patrol Department. Your duty at the military shop is to prevent fire and theft. Why are you intervening in such matters?"
Yu Dutou refused to give in and argued, "I am the head of the military shop. If something like this happens in my area, of course I have to intervene."
"I am the judge of the Right Army Inspection Court. I am more senior than you. You must obey me."
"So what if I'm a higher-ranking official? I belong to the wing army, and you belong to the imperial guards. We're not subordinate to each other, and you have no control over me."
"You dare!"
"I dare!"
The two glared at each other, neither showing any sign of weakness.
Gao Yanei was overjoyed. He walked around them with his hands behind his back and said with a grin, "I have an idea for you two. Why don't you just have a fight? Whoever wins will take this thief away."
The two ignored him and remained there in a stalemate for a moment.
Suddenly, with a "whoosh", a cold arrow shot out from the darkness and hit the thief's chest. The arrow head and the arrow shaft were embedded in his chest, leaving only the tail outside.
"How dare you, you villain!" Wang Meng roared and ran towards the direction from which the arrow came, with Yu Dutou following closely behind him.
Everyone shouted and rushed to catch the man.
Only Zhang Shixun and Gao Yanei were left at the scene.
Zhang Shixun squatted down and felt the thief's pulse, and found that he was already dead.
"It's so scary that he dared to kill people to silence them in front of so many people." Gao Yanei followed Zhang Shixun closely, looking around fearfully, fearing that another arrow would be shot from the darkness.
To be cautious, Zhang Shixun checked the other thieves on the ground and confirmed that they were all dead. Then he stood up and said, "Yanei, let Wang Meng and the others take care of things here. Let's go back."
"Okay!" Gao Yanei was still in shock and wanted to leave here immediately.
As expected, Wang Meng and his group failed to catch the murderer and returned cursing.
"Damn it, bad luck!" Wang Meng spat on the ground and turned to the captain, "The guy's dead, are you still going to fight with me?"
Gao Yanei didn't want to stay here with them, "Old Wang, you clean up your mess, I'm going home too."
Wang Meng waved his hands dejectedly: "Go on, Yanei. I'll do the rest of the dirty work."
Gao Yanei didn't want to stay here for a moment, so he turned around and left.
After taking a few steps, Wang Meng came up from behind and said, "Yanei, wait a minute."
"What's wrong?" Gao Yanei stopped.
"When I report to the military commander later, will I report according to what Yanei just said?"
"Well! Just report the truth." Gao Yanei said impatiently.
"Alright! Gao Yanei encountered the Wuyou Cave thieves and fought hard to kill three of them. Is that the case?"
"Yes! That's true, no exaggeration." Gao Yanei nodded with satisfaction. Wang Meng is a very insightful person.
Wang Meng bowed and said with a smile, "Alright! You can go now. I may need to go through some formalities later and put my fingerprints on the official documents, so I'm sure I'll have to trouble you again."
"No problem, just come find me when the time comes."
Zhang Shixun and the other man walked back to the front of the Xuande Tower. Although it was almost midnight, the Imperial Street in front of the Xuande Tower was still bustling with people. From the restaurants along the street, the sounds of stringed instruments, singing and dancing could be heard faintly, mixed with the sounds of hawking along the street, making the festive atmosphere even more intense.
Gao Yanei finally calmed down when he reached here. He said to Zhang Shixun with lingering fear, "What happened just now was really frightening."
"Haha!" Zhang Shixun forced a laugh. After all, it was his first time killing someone, and it was also his first time. He was not as calm as he looked on the outside.
After all, it's murder.
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