Chapter 127: No Thief in the World
Chang'an.
North city.
Li Nuo and Zhao Wu came to a dilapidated house. As soon as Zhao Wu opened the door, more than a dozen figures ran out from the house inside.
They were children, the oldest were about eleven or twelve years old, and the youngest looked only four or five years old.
When they saw Zhao Wu, the children immediately surrounded him.
"Fifth brother!"
"Fifth brother, you're back!"
"Fifth brother, who is this big brother?"
…
Zhao Wu looked at the children, gently stroked the head of the oldest boy, handed him a purse, and said, "Xiao Hong, Fifth Brother has something to do and will leave Chang'an for some time. You are the oldest, so you will take care of these brothers and sisters. You should spend this money sparingly..."
The fifth brother was usually very busy, so the boy didn't think much about it and just asked, "Fifth brother, where are you going?"
Zhao Wu did not answer this question. He looked at the children and asked, "During the days when I was away, you must be obedient. Do you remember what Brother Wu said to you every day?"
"Remember, don't steal, don't rob, don't cheat!"
“You have to make money with your own hands!”
An older girl in the crowd said, "Don't worry, Fifth Brother. Xiaolian and I can earn more than ten cents a day by washing clothes for others!"
Another little boy also spoke up: "I found a family that puts a lot of food in the wooden barrel outside their back door every day, and sometimes there are whole chicken legs!"
"I found a job emptying toilets, and I can earn twenty cents a day!"
…
The children gathered around Zhao Wu, talking in a flurry. Zhao Wu smiled and touched each of their heads.
After a while, he walked out of the yard, closed the gate, and said to Li Nuo: "Sir, let's go."
Li Nuo asked, "Did you join the thieves' sect to raise these children?"
He just noticed that although these children were all wearing ordinary coarse cloth clothes, their clothes were very neat and clean. Some of the younger children were chubby and must have eaten well on weekdays.
Zhao Wu looked back and said, "I was an orphan when I was young. I often suffered from hunger and cold outside. Seeing them living on the streets, I always felt bad, so I brought them all back..."
He looked at Li Nuo and asked, "Sir, how will the government judge someone like me?"
Li Nuo said: "The other managers were sentenced to three years of imprisonment plus exile three thousand miles away, plus fifty canings."
After hearing this, Zhao Wu trembled.
But he soon returned to normal. Although the children were small, they had a shelter from the wind and rain. The older children could also earn some money. Even if their food was worse than before, they would not starve to death.
Li Nuo changed the subject and continued, "However, considering your great contribution in destroying the robbers' door, you can be exempted from exile and caning. Although you cannot avoid the three-year prison sentence, there is a chance to redeem yourself. I wonder if you are willing to..."
…
Even when he arrived at the Ministry of Justice, Zhao Wu still felt like he was dreaming.
He pinched his arm hard again to make sure this was not a dream.
He recruited Xiao Song into the gang in the hope of finding someone to back him up.
Unexpectedly, the thieves' door is no longer a thieves' door, but the backer is still reliable.
Although he still received a three-year prison sentence, he could reduce his sentence by making meritorious contributions, and he would probably be released from prison in less than a year.
During this period, he was able to leave the prison every day and even take time to see his children.
The only difference from before is that I have to go back to the prison at night.
But that's not a problem at all.
He had slept everywhere, and a cell was much better than sleeping on the streets.
Li Nuo walked into the courtyard of the Ministry of Justice and saw Li An Ning standing outside the yamen.
Zhao Wu Although Li Nuo has other uses, he is still a prisoner and needs to be sent to jail first.
Before Li Nuo could speak to Li An Ning, Zhao Wu bowed and said respectfully, "Meet the Madam!"
Li Anning was stunned for a moment, then turned and looked behind him.
Two figures walked out of the yamen.
Li Nuo raised his head, a look of surprise on his face.
He walked up quickly and asked in surprise, "Madam, why are you here?"
Song Jiaren glanced at Zhao Wu, then looked at Li Nuo and said softly, "I took Mu'er out for a walk. She said she wanted to come to the Ministry of Justice to see you, so I brought her here."
Song Muer was stunned for a moment, nodded repeatedly, and said: "Oh, yes, yes, yes, I want to come here to find Brother Li Nuo, I want to see what you do here during the day..."
Li Nuo led Mu'er into the government office, turned to Li An Ning and said, "Hey, this is a manager from the Thieves' Sect. Send him to jail first. I'll make up his sentence later..."
Li Anning took Zhao Wu into the prison of the Ministry of Justice. Zhao Wu asked curiously, "Miss, aren't you and Song... and Lord Li married?"
Li Anning said calmly: "Didn't you hear him call someone his wife just now?"
Even though he heard it with his own ears, Zhao Wu still couldn't accept it.
In fact, he had secretly monitored the couple for several hours during those days.
What a sweet couple they are.
After seeing this, he even wanted to find a woman to live with.
I didn't expect it to be fake...
If this was all fake, he didn't know what else was real in the world.
As for the woman he just called wife...
No, not at all.
Not even one-tenth as similar to this girl.
Zhao Wu lowered his head and said with some regret: "I thought you two were a real couple. After all, you look so well-matched. But it turns out you are not. The girl just now didn't look like one at all..."
Li Anning paused slightly, then continued walking forward.
The Ministry of Justice prison has been exceptionally noisy these past few days. Both the men's and women's prisons are full of prisoners, with not a single empty cell.
"It's Zhao Wu!"
"This bastard, if it weren't for him, how could we have fallen to this point!"
"You finally came in!"
"Haha, Mr. Zhao, just wait!"
…
These days, the chief and managers of the Thieves' Sect have already known the whole story.
The downfall of the thieves' family was due to Zhao Wu's poor choice of people.
They can't blame that adult.
He had no choice but to transfer all his resentment to Zhao Wu.
Seeing that Zhao Wu was finally caught, they were already rubbing their hands, ready to give him a good beating.
A cell door opened, and Zhao Wu looked at the dozen people in the cell who were glaring at him, and couldn't help but shudder. At this time, Li Anning glanced at the head of the cell next to him and said, "Let them go to the cell next door."
A dozen or so thieves who were in charge of the burglary were transferred to the cell next door.
More than thirty people were crammed into that small cell.
This cell was vacant.
Zhao Wu was alone in a cell, and knowing that this was a favor to him, he immediately bowed and blurted out, "Thank you, ma'am, thank you, ma'am!"
Li An Ning had already walked away, but he stopped again, pointed at Zhao Wu, and said to the prison boss: "This man is still very useful, you should take good care of him."
The prison boss lowered his head and said seriously: "Yes, sir!"
Watching Her Royal Highness the Princess leave, the jailer looked at Zhao Wu in the cell, his eyes changed immediately, and he asked with a smile: "Brother, have you eaten?"
Zhao Wu touched his stomach and shook his head.
The prison boss asked enthusiastically, "I brought some food from home this morning. If you don't mind, just eat a few bites first. If you want to eat anything else, let me know and I'll find a way..."
…
When Li An Ning returned to the yamen, Li Nuo was the only one there.
She looked around and asked, "Where are they?"
Li Nuo said: "I asked them to go back first."
The Ministry of Justice is not a place for fun, and he has important things to do and has no time to accompany them.
Li Anning didn't say anything and walked to his seat and sat down.
There was another reason why Li Nuo did not let his wife and Mu'er stay in the Ministry of Justice for a longer time.
He himself had no position in the Ministry of Justice.
This government office belongs to Li Anning, and Li Nuo can only be considered as her secretary at best.
In the entire Ministry of Justice, the only seat that belongs to him is the chair opposite Li Anning.
Li Nuo has already written the verdict for Zhao Wu. Although he had no choice but to take this path, it was a fact that he had committed theft many times, and it was impossible for him to be directly acquitted.
Just now on the road, Li Nuo and Li An Ning had already discussed the specific procedures for the establishment of the Anti-Theft Bureau.
The Ministry of Justice has four departments, namely the Ministry of Justice Department, the Capital Officials Department, the Bibu Department, and the Sima Department.
Although there is now an additional anti-theft department, to put it bluntly, the three provinces gave him and Li An Ning a small concession for the sake of his father.
The Four Departments were regular departments of the imperial court. Each department had one Langzhong of the fifth rank, one Yuanwailang of the sixth rank, and a number of Zhushi, Lingshi, and Zhanggu. All of them were formal officials appointed by the imperial court and received imperial salaries.
The Anti-Theft Bureau is a non-staff department.
The entire department has no official positions and no salaries.
All the funds for the operation of the Anti-Theft Bureau have to be paid out of Li Nuo and Li An Ning’s own pockets.
In fact, the imperial court did not take them seriously at all, and the so-called Anti-Theft Bureau was just a game for them to play.
But it is one thing that the court does not take it seriously. This is the result of the hard work of both of them, so Li Nuo himself must certainly take it seriously.
The Anti-Theft Bureau is still in the trial stage, so the scale does not need to be too large at the beginning. Li Nuo thinks recruiting ten people will be enough.
Among these ten people, there needs to be a manager, that is, the director of the Anti-Theft Department.
This director is responsible for managing his subordinates and reports directly to Li Nuo and Li Anning.
Li Nuo already has a choice in mind regarding the position of director.
Zhao Wu is the manager of the thieves' sect and has certain management experience. Compared with other thieves, his character is very good. Li Nuo has seen his own character and no one is more suitable for this position than him.
But the Anti-Theft Bureau belongs to both of them, and this is a big matter, so he needs to discuss it with Li An Ning.
Li Nuo looked at Li An Ning and said, "Regarding the position of Chief of the Anti-Theft Division, I have a candidate. It's the head of the Anti-Theft Division whom you took to the prison just now. His name is Zhao Wu. After you left just now..."
Before Li Nuo could finish, Li An Ning nodded and said, "Okay."
Li Nuo was slightly stunned, he hadn't finished speaking yet.
After telling Li An Ning what happened later, Li An Ning said: "When I first saw him, I felt that he was not a wicked person. This Zhao Wu has good vision... and good character. Let's choose him."
Since Li Anning had no objection, Li Nuo arranged it this way.
A moment later, in the prison of the Ministry of Justice.
When the top leaders of the Thieves' Sect heard the news, they were all stunned.
I thought I was going to be exiled to the border, where my life or death would be uncertain, but I didn't expect that things would turn out well.
For every thief caught, one day of prison sentence can be exempted and the offender can be exiled ten miles away. If one catches the most thieves each month, he can have an additional ten days of prison sentence exempted and the offender can be exiled one hundred miles away.
By this calculation, if I catch a few thieves every day, wouldn't I not only be able to avoid exile, but also be released from prison quickly?
They are not very good at other things, but catching thieves is their job.
A qualified manager of a thief's house must have the ability to identify his colleagues at a glance in a vast crowd of people.
However, in order to get a chance to reduce your sentence, you need to join the Anti-Theft Department first.
There are only ten vacancies in the Anti-Theft Division.
The decision of who can join the Anti-Theft Bureau lies in Zhao Wu's hands.
The people who were gritting their teeth at Zhao Wu just now immediately changed their attitude towards him 180 degrees.
"Fifth Brother, Fifth Brother chose me!"
"Manager Zhao, please choose me because I took care of you in the past!"
"What's Manager Zhao? It's Director Zhao. Director Zhao chose me. I even treated you to a meal before!"
At this moment, no matter whether it was the former manager or the chief, or even a few guardians, they all tried their best to show themselves, wanting to get the few spots in the Anti-Theft Bureau.
Zhao Wu sat in the spacious single cell and saw the high and mighty chiefs and guardians who used to be lying on the cell bars, waving at him continuously with flattering looks on their faces. He couldn't help but feel like he was dreaming.
I really didn't expect that Zhao Wu would be able to have this day.
Looking back on his first half of life, the best thing he did was probably to fall in love with Xiao Song at first sight in the crowd.
It seemed that since then, his life path suddenly became wider...
…
Chang'an, a busy street somewhere.
Huang Er is very happy today.
He has been very happy these days.
Those guys who rob people's houses are bullies and lawless. Where they are, other thieves are not allowed to appear.
Some time ago, he just stole an old man and two children from their territory, and was caught and beaten severely by them. They also warned him that if he dared to steal here again, they would break his legs.
This place belongs to everyone. Why can he not steal while others can?
Are there still royal laws and rules under the emperor's feet?
If he wasn’t a thief himself, Huang Er really wanted to report to the police.
It's ok now.
Those guys from the thieves' sect were caught by the government and could no longer act so arrogantly.
After so many years, the court finally did something good.
Without those overbearing guys, these days, Huang Er can steal wherever he wants and whoever he wants, and he reaps a lot every day.
He walked down the street with a swagger, his eyes constantly scanning the crowd.
Soon, he found a target.
A middle-aged woman came out of a clinic, carrying several packets of medicine.
She had a dazed look on her face and was in a hurry. People like her often have poor concentration and are the best target.
Bang!
Huang Er walked towards her and bumped into the woman, knocking her to the ground. Huang Er angrily said, "You don't have eyes when you walk!"
The woman stood up hurriedly and said, "I'm sorry, my child is sick, and I was in a hurry to go home and make medicine for him. I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
After apologizing, the woman left in a hurry.
Huang Er weighed a patched purse in his hand and was about to look for his next target when his wrist was suddenly grabbed by someone. A man looked at him with disdain and shouted angrily, "You stole the money used to treat illnesses. Are you still a human being? You are a scum and a scum. You really bring shame to us thieves!"
Huang Er wanted to resist, but was quickly pinned to the ground.
The woman had been called back. After getting her purse back, she looked at the kind man who helped her find it and said gratefully, "Thank you, thank you. If I had lost the money, I really don't know what I would do!"
The man said to the woman, "Auntie, when you go out, don't tie your purse around your waist or put it in your arms. You can sew a button pocket on the inside of your inner or outer clothes so that it won't be easily stolen..."
The woman kept saying, "I'll sew it when I get home, I'll sew it when I get home..."
The onlookers applauded.
Everyone has experienced being robbed by thieves to some extent. These scums who have hands and feet but always think about getting something for nothing and harm others are worthy of being condemned by everyone.
Some who had been robbed recently were so angry that they kicked the man a few times.
Soon, Huang Er was taken away.
The same thing happened everywhere in Chang'an.
Some petty thieves active in Chang'an were still enjoying the carnival of having their doors knocked down and stealing with impunity, when suddenly the police appeared in front of them.
Ministry of Justice.
It was already a long time since the court was closed, and the officials from the Ministry of Justice had all gone home. In a certain government office, Li Nuo was still busy.
Today is the first day of the Anti-Theft Bureau’s opening, and we have reaped a lot of rewards.
Including the director Zhao Wu, the anti-theft department had only eleven people, but they caught seventy-eight thieves red-handed on the streets in one day.
If it weren't for the shortage of manpower, this number would easily exceed one hundred.
The existence of the thief door is a huge deterrent to petty thieves.
When the Daomen were still in existence, the places in Chang'an where the easiest thefts were committed were occupied by them. Petty thieves did not dare to appear there, while it was difficult for them to steal in other places.
Now that the thieves’ door is gone, these people are no longer restricted and have become completely unscrupulous, resulting in a scene of rampant thieves.
From a factual point of view, after the thieves' gang was taken down, the public security in Chang'an actually got worse.
This is certainly not what Li Nuo wants.
There are only ten people in the Anti-Theft Bureau, which is obviously far from enough.
But even with ten people, Li Nuo is still busy.
Every member of the Anti-Theft Division should calculate how many thieves they catch every day, how much penalty they should have reduced, and how much prison term they have left after leaving the court.
There were no other officials in the Anti-Theft Bureau, so Li Nuo had to do these things himself.
He glanced at Li An Ning who was sleeping on the table. Of course, he couldn't rely on the princess to take care of such trivial matters.
After creating files for these people, it was already getting dark outside.
The moment he put down the pen, Li Nuo realized that he would have to recruit another clerk for the Anti-Theft Bureau to be responsible for these matters.
Although there are many clerks in the Ministry of Justice, each clerk has his own job to do. If they are forced to work overtime, although they dare not refuse openly, it is not certain whether they will curse him behind his back.
the next day.
While peeling an orange, Li Anning looked at the woman who was copying the files of the Anti-Theft Bureau and exclaimed: "What beautiful handwriting..."
To be a clerk in the Anti-Theft Bureau, one must first be able to read.
Not only do you have to recognize words, you also have to be able to write.
Meeting these two requirements seems simple, but it is actually very difficult.
Even a lady from a large family cannot fully meet this condition.
Daxia's educational resources are extremely concentrated, and there is a trend of continued concentration and monopoly.
It is almost impossible for ordinary poor people to know too many words.
Only wealthy families can afford to hire a literacy teacher for their children.
As early as yesterday when he was preparing to recruit a clerk for the Anti-Theft Bureau, Li Nuo had a suitable candidate in mind.
Gu Yanran was born into a family of officials. She was a well-known talented woman who was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. At the age of sixteen, she had a good handwriting, and even the calligraphers had to admit she was better.
With her talents, doing some sewing and laundry work would certainly be a huge waste.
The position of clerk in the Anti-Theft Department was tailor-made for her.
He is Li Anning's secretary.
Gu Yanran is the secretary that Li Nuo found for himself.
The first day of the trial run of the Anti-Theft Bureau was very successful. On the second day, Li Nuo asked Zhao Wu to select ten more people.
These people all have families in Chang'an. After working in the Ministry of Justice for a year, or even less than a year, they can see the light of day again and reunite with their families. If they wish, they can stay in the Anti-Theft Department to continue to display their talents.
During this process, Li Nuo was also paying attention to the changes in his lifespan.
In making these arrangements his life span was not diminished.
The law does not recognize the direct use of silver to redeem sins or the use of golden medals of immunity from death.
However, reducing the sentence by this method of meritorious service does not affect the rulings already made in the code.
In this way, Li Nuo can expand the Anti-Theft Department with confidence.
The number of thieves who have been arrested, including the top leaders, is nearly 600.
If these people can mend their ways and change from thieves to thieves catchers, then soon there will be no thieves in Chang'an anymore.
The previous organizational structure of Daomen can continue to be used.
There is a director of the Anti-Theft Department, four deputy directors, sixteen regional supervisors, and sixty-four team leaders. Each team leader has ten team members. The people are still the same people, but the thieves' door is no longer the same thieves' door.
At present, everyone is still a prisoner.
You don't even have to pay them a salary.
The stolen goods recovered by the Anti-Theft Bureau will be returned to the owner if the owner can be found. If not, they will be turned over to the national treasury. At that time, the court can be asked to apply for a portion of it as operating funds for the Anti-Theft Bureau and to pay their salaries.
This will not only maintain Chang'an's public security in the long term, but also create hundreds of jobs and solve the problem of placement of these criminals after they are released from prison.
Not only Chang'an can do this.
State and municipal governments can also follow suit and set up similar anti-theft teams.
The members of the local anti-theft departments do not necessarily have to be thieves. The supervisors or team leaders of the anti-theft departments of the Ministry of Justice can go to various places regularly to train some constables and yamen runners...
When these thoughts popped up in Li Nuo's mind, the bottleneck of his cultivation seemed to loosen.
Li Anning, who was concentrating on peeling an orange, suddenly turned to look at Li Nuo with a look of surprise on his face.
He had clearly just encountered a bottleneck, so how come he was about to break through?
(End of this chapter)
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