mtlumby2d Chapter 611 Catching a Big Fish
Chapter 611 Catching a Big Fish
Criminal police officers have their own standard procedures. Although Guan Xing is no longer a police officer, he has not lost his basic skills. After receiving the assignment, he immediately launched a city-wide search.
First, he ordered people to print reward notices, continuing to print them until the assassin was caught, striving to plaster the streets and alleys with the reward notices as soon as possible.
Mentioning this, Guan Xing couldn't help but sigh inwardly at his own foresight in having mastered movable type printing ahead of time. He had specifically developed movable type printing for printing school brochures, and who knew it would be needed again so soon.
Movable type printing is not difficult. According to Guan Xing's understanding, it is the same as a keyboard. First, make a keyboard as a base, then make some detachable keycaps and engrave all the commonly used characters on it. When printing is needed, remove the keycaps and arrange them.
That's the basic principle; the rest is just a matter of technological improvement.
Using this method, reward notices were printed at an extremely fast speed and quickly plastered all over the streets and alleys like products from an assembly line.
Secondly, a city-wide search is necessary, but the search must be conducted in a methodical manner. It cannot be like bandits entering a village and searching indiscriminately, which would not only disturb the residents but also easily miss inconspicuous places.
Therefore, Guan Xing divided Jiangling City into four major districts, and each district was further divided into countless sub-districts by street, cutting Jiangling City into countless small squares like a Go board. Residents in the small squares were temporarily not allowed to enter or leave. Each team was responsible for a small square, truly achieving a carpet-style, no-dead-angle investigation.
Not only that, he also dispatched dozens of patrol teams to patrol the streets, striving to have patrol soldiers on every street at all times, so that no matter where something unusual happens, the patrol soldiers can quickly arrive to provide support.
At Guan Xing's command, the city's troops were quickly mobilized, searching for the assassin and posting notices to inform all the city's residents of the capture.
The news caused a stir among the people, who frantically tried to recall if they had seen the stranger recently, and those who had immediately reported it to the patrolling soldiers nearby.
The assassination of Liu Shan and Guan Xing has truly stirred up public resentment. They dared to kill even the sons of His Majesty and the Grand General. These assassins are far too lawless.
Unlike the gentry, the common people held Liu Bei and Guan Yu in high esteem. "Your Majesty and the Generals love the people like your own children. They use their money to build houses for us first, while they themselves live in tents in the dead of winter. Have you ever seen an emperor and a general like this?"
His Majesty is over fifty years old when he finally had this precious son, and you beasts actually want to kill him? Is this something a human being would do?
And there's Marquis Shence, the champion of our time! How dare you?
The untimely death of Marquis Huo Qubing, the champion of the past, was a common regret for all the people of the Han Dynasty. Now that we have finally encountered such a talented young man, you actually want to kill him. How can you tolerate this?
The people, whose anger was stirred up, began to report the situation. Even those working in the mansions of the gentry spontaneously contacted their families outside the mansions and reported the situation of each gentry mansion. Then the officials and soldiers on patrol experienced what a workload was. They were all busy and had no time to rest, because every piece of information reported had to be investigated and verified. Under the pressure of Marquis Shence, no one dared to miss any report.
But verification requires running around. Before one report is even verified, another one comes in, forcing the staff to be constantly on the go, so busy that they don't even have time to drink water.
Although this approach was clumsy, it was extremely effective, and soon after it was implemented, some people couldn't sit still any longer.
In Guan Xing's urban planning, the south of the city is a commercial area, which is temporarily surrounded by many tents. Currently, the tents are mostly occupied by visiting merchants. In one of the tents, Zhang Jing, the clerk of the School Affairs Office, was pacing back and forth anxiously like an ant on a hot pan when suddenly the door was pushed open and his old partner Li Sheng rushed in. Zhang Jing hurriedly greeted him and asked, "How is it? Is there any possibility of leaving the city?"
Li Sheng shook his head, his face ashen, and said, "The officer in charge of the search is too experienced. He has set up an airtight operation in the city, leaving us no chance to take advantage of the chaos. Currently, two-thirds of our brothers who were hiding in various parts of the city have been arrested, and it's only a matter of time before the rest are all caught. Lao Zhang, it seems we're going to be in big trouble this time."
Zhang Jing's heart sank to the bottom. His face turned pale, and he said weakly, "Damn it, we've met our match."
Even a cunning rabbit has three burrows, let alone the School Affairs Office. The School Affairs Office always considers failure before victory and prepares multiple escape routes in advance. In the past, no matter what they did, they could always get out unscathed even if the mission failed. But this time, all their proud arrangements failed. The commander in charge of the search seemed to have the ability to predict the future and blocked all the escape routes they had prepared in advance.
Because, in common sense, when the government is searching for assassins, they usually chase after the assassins while flanking and surrounding a small area. Only after they can't find the assassin will they expand the search area or even seal off the city. This makes it very easy for the assassin to lead them by the nose.
But this time, the commander in charge of the manhunt was different. After being assassinated, he did not immediately pursue the assassin. Instead, he expanded the encirclement to its maximum extent and then gradually tightened it to compress the assassin's living space, leaving the assassin helpless as he watched himself being surrounded.
More importantly, the other party is too good at taking advantage of the people. The people are eager to report them, acting as if they are doing things for their own family. Where did they learn this from?
Li Sheng stamped his foot in frustration and cursed, "Damn it, this was my oversight. I shouldn't have tried to assassinate Liu Shan and Guan Xing."
The assassination was his suggestion; it was unplanned and a spur-of-the-moment decision. After all, who could have imagined that Liu Shan and Guan Xing would be parading in the streets? It would be a real shame to miss such a good opportunity, so he did it.
However, due to the suddenness of the event and insufficient preparation, they failed to react after the failure, resulting in the loss of the best opportunity to escape.
Zhang Jing sighed, "I gave my approval to this, it has nothing to do with you. There's no point in bringing it up now, it's too late to escape, it's more dangerous outside than here, you'll die even faster if you go out."
Li Sheng asked anxiously, "Then what should we do? Are we just going to accept our fate?"
Zhang Jing smiled bitterly and said, "Otherwise, earthenware pots are bound to break at the well, and generals are bound to die on the battlefield. I knew this would be the outcome from the first day I entered this line of work, but I didn't expect it to come so soon. Fortunately, I had already made arrangements for my family before I came. His Majesty will treat our family members well, so don't worry."
Just as he finished speaking, someone outside the tent suddenly shouted, "Is anyone inside? We are here on patrol. Please come out and cooperate with the inspection."
The other party spoke very politely, but it frightened Zhang Jing and Li Sheng so much that they held their breath and dared not breathe too loudly.
Is anyone inside...?
The questioning came again, this time accompanied by footsteps. Judging from the direction of the footsteps, the other party had already begun to surround the tent while asking the question. They should rush in when the third question came.
Zhang Jing sighed, "Let's go. Since we've lost, let's lose cleanly and save some dignity for ourselves."
After speaking, he stepped forward, opened the tent flap, and said to the search soldiers who were already lined up at the door in an offensive posture: "I am Zhang Jing, the Chief Clerk of the Imperial Secretariat of the Great Wei Dynasty, and also the mastermind behind the assassination of the Crown Prince and the Marquis of Shence. I want to see the officer in charge of this search."
Meeting the opposing commander at this time seems pointless, but not seeing him is really unacceptable; at least we need to know who we lost to.
"Holy crap, it's a big fish."
Upon hearing this, the squad leader was overjoyed. After ordering his men to restrain Zhang Jing, he waved his hand and declared with boundless pride, "Search..."