Chapter 1061: Assassinated Again

With children, Wang Yan left more time at home.

Anyway, everyone is familiar with the work process, and if they can't hold on, they will come to find him, Inspector Wang, for the first time. So he only goes for half a day in the morning, and returns home at noon to see the children, and also comforts Shulan.

When he was taking care of the children, all the members of the Inspection Institute, who had completely operated at high speed, under the wise and martial leadership of Inspector Wang, completed the feat of cleaning up medium-sized criminal gangs in Bianjing City without fear of hardship.

From the criminal gangs in the city, the downstream criminal industry chain was pulled out, and a case of selling military equipment in the army was pulled out, as well as other real estate processing, human trafficking and other businesses. Most of them are various intermediary businesses in Bianjing City. Wang Yan has done this for two months, basically breaking up the human trafficking business.

At the same time, it is not limited to the city, because Wang Yan's principle is to expand the scope of the strike, and he has to peel off a layer of skin if he touches the edge. In the seventeen counties of Kaifeng Prefecture, the big households in the capital, local officials, and local criminal gangs pulled out are countless.

After all, no matter how many criminal gangs there are in the city, they are ultimately a minority. In a big city with a population of one million, there are about 10,000 professional criminals engaged in illegal criminal activities, which is about the same. The remaining small hooligans have one or two thousand, which is considered to be in line with the social structure, and Bianjing people can't afford more.

Criminal gangs in the capital are easy to strike, and they are not hard bones. Following the orders of Inspector Wang, quick arrest, quick trial, and heavy sentencing, there is no time for the people in the yamen to grind. The work process of the interrogation group led by He San is to beat a person with a whip dipped in cold

If they didn't confess, then apply some harsh methods: burn the skin, pull out fingernails, or put a brick under them. If they still didn't confess, then the famous Third Brother He would have to use a knife to slice their flesh.

A group of professional hooligans who usually called each other brothers and talked about loyalty didn't have such tough bones. Except for the truly insane, the vast majority were bullies who were timid and petty. Correspondingly, the vast majority of people had already confessed everything by the time they were dragged in and received the first beating that symbolized the greeting from the Patrol Court. But the beatings they deserved would not be a single bit less.

As for the counties outside Bianjing City, it would be much more laborious. Firstly, because of the distance, and secondly, because of the obstruction encountered when handling cases in other places. But fortunately, the patrolmen went out with evidence, not looking for evidence after they got there.

Wang Yan was very tough; whoever obstructed him, he would arrest them. After arresting them, he would find faults, substantiate the criminal evidence, and deal with them. Therefore, although local matters were troublesome and Wang Yan had offended all the local county magistrates, things were handled quite smoothly. Anything not involving high levels was swept through by him in the past two months.

It was certainly impossible to clean them out completely; after all, legs grew on people themselves, and the movement on Wang Yan's side was not small. Many people estimated in their hearts whether they would also be targeted and had long ago packed their valuables and run away with their people.

Wang Yan had no way to deal with this kind of thing; his manpower was limited, and it was impossible to precisely control everyone. The Great Song didn't have the internet, and the wanted posters issued didn't have much use. These people were also bandits outside; it was difficult to survive in the locality.

Because of the limitations of transportation and economic conditions at this time, regionalism was very strong. In a village or a county, without major changes, people's surrounding lives could basically be said to be unchanging. Although household registration wasn't a problem, life was a problem. The useless wanted posters were useful at this time. It wasn't that they wanted to go into the mountains, but they had to.

If they didn't go into the mountains, they could only go to neighboring countries, and once they got there, it was a different situation. Unless it was a last resort, no one was willing to take such a risk; nine out of ten would still have to go into the mountains.

Wang Yan didn't force the issue with these escaped hooligan leaders. Once expelled, they would never be able to return.

Because the Patrol Court he led had completely shattered the black industry they had accumulated for many years, and also shattered their network of connections. Most importantly, he had brought up the status of the Patrol Court; even if it would decay after he left office, it would be enough to suppress the hooligans. The hooligan leaders of the past no longer had a place in Bianjing City. It was just that they might have avoided a few beatings and saved themselves from being sent to the Northwest to die.

These were not troubles; the real trouble was that as Wang Yan's actions expanded, more inside information became known to people. There was also an agency that wanted to intervene and share the money: the Supreme Court.

This was the proper highest criminal justice institution. Wang Yan had arrested many officials, all of whom eventually had to be reviewed by the Supreme Court and re-examined by the Ministry of Justice. However, they discovered that they had done all the dirty and tiring work, but the homes had all been raided by the Patrol Court. The treatment of the lowest-level minor officials and patrolmen in the Patrol Court was better than that of some officials, so they were naturally unbalanced. Therefore, they submitted a report to Zhao Zhen, accusing Wang Yan of overstepping his authority.

Wang Yan had naturally overstepped his authority; he didn't have the qualifications to deal with officials, but he could act in accordance with the urgency of the situation. He said it was urgent, so it was urgent. He naturally knew the meaning of the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice; they wanted to share, or monopolize, the family wealth of those officials, and they also wanted to improve their own treatment.

Regarding their money-grabbing behavior, Wang Yan was happy; there was no doubt that this was a good thing. The fundamental significance of this matter lay in the fact that the people of the Supreme Court realized the benefits of dealing with officials and big families; they could both increase their work performance and make money.

But happy as he was, Wang Yan did not intend to forgive those who dared to challenge him. So when he learned that they had reported him to Zhao Zhen, he returned the favor, directly sending people to arrest people in the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice, acting very arrogantly.

Why did someone previously use the Sheng family's usury matter to make trouble, wanting to dismiss his position as Patrol Commissioner, only for it to end up with nothing?

Zhao Zhen's silent support was certainly one of the reasons. The main reason was that Wang Yan's house raids truly made money, and also that Wang Yan had begun to clean up "redundant officials and redundant personnel." Some of the positions of the officials he arrested were filled, and some were abolished along the way. Wang Yan arrested many people who had no power but had official titles; they were all kinds of hereditary appointments, all from powerful and wealthy families. Of course, Wang Yan only targeted individuals and did not expand the scope of the strike.

With this back and forth, he both increased revenue and reduced expenditure. Zhao Zhen was naturally happy to see this happen; he also understood that Wang Yan was absolutely a loyal minister of the Great Song, all for the sake of his Zhao Song dynasty.

But Zhao Zhen's influence was not that great. Since he shared the world with the scholar-officials, the emperor's power was restricted to a considerable extent, and Zhao Zhen was far from being able to make all the decisions himself. Therefore, Zhao Zhen's tacit approval was a reason, but it was not the main reason.

It was still when they were held accountable in the Secretariat last time, when Wang Yan gave that Zhou Kongmu a ruthless blow on the spot; that was the main reason. Or rather, why Wang Yan dared to fire at the important ministers of the country was the reason why Wang Yan could arrest people on a large scale and expand the scope of the strike.

He dared to directly report Zhou Kongmu, which meant that he had evidence of other important ministers in his hands. If Wang Yan really laid everything out, there would be no room for relaxation.

This was not something that could be ended by everyone pretending nothing happened since everyone had faults, and just killing Wang Yan. Because the evidence Wang Yan held was the truth, was "correct," and was a total negation of the officials' standing in the world.

Do you not see that on the second day after Wang Yan annexed the Right Court, Zhou Kongmu personally tied up his son and sent him to the Supreme Court, and then asked Zhao Zhen for punishment and resigned from his post. Zhao Zhen, mindful of their relationship, sent him out to be a county magistrate, and he would only continue to be a county magistrate in various places from then on. Decades of effort were wasted in an instant. If his physical condition was not good, he would basically die on the road of his travels.

Wang Yan's own standing was quite upright; if one really wanted to investigate, it was just doing business under a shell. The Sheng family was also quite stable; otherwise, the previous wave of attacks would not have only mentioned usury.

Therefore, even if Wang Yan acted a bit too aggressively, he was not afraid of being held accountable afterward. Because he was aggressive, but not too aggressive.

That is to say, he arrested the Vice Minister of the Supreme Court (the second-in-command) and many minor officials below him, as well as the Minister of Justice (the first-in-command), a Vice Minister (the second/third-in-command), several department directors, assistant department directors, and other officials, all at once.

After all, he was arresting hooligan criminal gangs, and what was involved were all hooligan criminal events. The Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice were the proper counterpart agencies, and the evidence he held of various officials protecting each other and officials and merchants colluding could be said to be the most in these two agencies.

However, after arresting the people, Wang Yan directly submitted an official document to the Secretariat, requesting the Secretariat to handle this matter. At the same time, he wrote to Zhao Zhen, actively requesting punishment, and actively requesting that the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Justice participate in the activities of arresting, interrogating, and raiding the homes of officials—that is, the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court would supervise, the Patrol Court would execute, and the money would be divided among the three parties, with the Ministry of Justice getting the most and the Patrol Court the least.

Wang Yan's set of combination punches not only formally began the involvement and strike activities against high-level officials but also cleaned up the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court along the way. Moreover, it could be classified as mutual attrition; after all, it was the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court that took the initiative to find trouble, not Wang Yan who fired rashly.

In fact, if it didn't reach them, many people were satisfied with Wang Yan, because Wang Yan was truly a sharp knife. In less than half a year in office, working from dawn to dusk, his work attitude was beyond reproach, and his work results were even more shocking.

Including officials, the Patrol Court arrested tens of thousands of people, implicated more than twenty thousand people, and raided fields, shops, various silks and satins, various calligraphy and paintings, treasures, gold, silver, copper, etc., with a total value exceeding ten million guan. This was a frightening number, equivalent to the cash the Great Song could collect in two years.

The increasingly professional house-raiding team worked day and night, and dozens of accountants in the Patrol Court calculated together, and they still haven't finished calculating yet.

If you want to say who in the Great Song is the best at making money, among all the officials from top to bottom, Wang Yan is definitely the first, and no one is unconvinced.

But if they thought that this money was their own, or even their family's, then the vast number of officials would not be very comfortable...

Sitting at the end of the Secretariat again, it had been more than three months since the last time he came to the inner palace and the Secretariat to be held accountable.

"I heard that Minister Wang added another son the day before yesterday?"

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty; both mother and child are safe."

Shulan successfully gave birth, and Wang Yan named his second son, who was destined to be unlucky for a lifetime, Wenxia...

Zhao Zhen, who was in the seat of honor, nodded and smiled with great relief: "Very good, very good. Minister Wang's parents died early, and you were all alone; now you can be considered to have branched out. I bestow a pair of jade pendants to add some joy to Minister Wang's family."

"It also adds good fortune; thank you for the reward, Your Majesty." Wang Yan stood up and bowed to express his thanks.

After he sat down again, Pang Ji cleared his throat and spoke: "Summoning Patrol Commissioner Wang here today is to discuss the reform of the Patrol Court. Patrol Commissioner Wang's reform plan for the Patrol Court has been submitted for more than three months. During this time, the positions of Patrol Commissioner and Signatory Official of the Right Court have been vacant, and you have concurrently held the affairs of the Right Court. Your achievements are obvious to all. His Majesty and we are here to see how you lead the affairs of the two courts, and also to carefully discuss the pros and cons of merging the courts.

Now it seems that the benefits of merging the courts outweigh the disadvantages. Therefore, summoning you here today is to have you carefully explain how to reform it. And how to arrange the patrol guards and the imperial guards..."

Pang Ji used to be a reformer, but like Han Qi, Fu Bi, and others, he tended to be conservative afterward. But they were not really conservatives; they just didn't dare to seek major breakthroughs and couldn't accomplish anything major.

As for Wang Yan, Pang Ji and most of the people in the Secretariat actually didn't like him. Because Wang Yan's work style was fierce and wild, like a storm, rather than the spring breeze and rain praised by the scholar-officials.

Everyone knew that Wang Yan was a firm reformer. But Wang Yan had never said that he wanted to reform, yet everything he did was reforming. Not to mention Hangzhou, just letting him be a patrol commissioner, he was solving financial problems, solving problems of redundant personnel and redundant expenses, while also striking a large number of big families and opening up a certain degree of upward mobility. In half a year, the atmosphere in Bianjing had undergone a huge change.

They all admitted that Wang Yan was a good knife, but the knife was aimed at them, and they couldn't stand it. After all, someone who could even strike at half the officials of the Ministry of Justice in a crackdown on black forces would never be liked by anyone.

But little did they know, this was already Wang Yan's method of spring breeze and rain; otherwise, everyone sitting in the Secretariat would have had their heads chopped off by him.

After all, for the vested interests, perhaps only kneeling down and calling them daddy would not be a storm...

Wang Yan naturally knew his situation, and even more clearly understood the intention of the Secretariat summoning him today.

In fact, the purpose was very simple: to convey a message to him, to let him do a good job in the reform of the Patrol Court, and that the crackdown could come to an end. They hoped that Wang Yan would stop here and find something else to do. Or rather, if Wang Yan didn't stop, they would help Wang Yan stop.

This was something Wang Yan couldn't stop; after all, these were all leaders, and their power was greater. He had to listen to the dispatch; he couldn't not listen. This also showed that in this struggle, the conservatives had won again.

It wasn't that he didn't have teammates; he even arrested the reformers...

Wang Yan didn't care about the subtle warnings of these people, but stood in the Secretariat, talking endlessly about the reform plan for the Patrol Court.

It was basically that, just a bit more detailed. For example, regarding the total staffing, Wang Yan's opinion was that the East, West, South, and North offices each had more than five hundred, and the general office had more than five hundred. As for the placement of the imperial guards in the patrol shops, those who had not committed crimes or had bad records could be retained and incorporated into the Patrol Court on the spot. Establish a Patrol Fire Division and a Cleaning Division, each with more than five hundred staff, responsible for fire and hygiene in the city, and also assisting other departments in carrying out their work.

In Bianjing City, there were already specialized personnel responsible for hygiene and cleaning in the city, and Wang Yan took them over by the way for unified management.

That is to say, the future Patrol Court would be responsible for all kinds of messy things, a super-large agency integrating the functions of police, criminal police, armed police, prison police, fire police, urban management, and environmental sanitation.

Regarding Wang Yan's reorganization proposal, Zhao Zhen and the Secretariat basically accepted it in its entirety; the only dissatisfaction was that they still wanted to compress the staffing. But this was impossible; after all, in a big city with a population of one million, having only two thousand regular staff to maintain public order was not comprehensive. Relatively speaking, the current manpower was already less than before.

But there still had to be a large number of helpers, otherwise, it would be impossible to do a good job in the whole city.

"The discussion is settled; this matter will be fully handled by Patrol Commissioner Wang. The Vice Patrol Commissioner and the other Signatory Officials will be arranged to take office in a few days. What does Patrol Commissioner Wang think?"

"This official obeys the order."

"Good. Since this matter is settled, I will return to the palace. Minister Wang, come and examine me again."

"This official obeys the decree."

Wang Yan bowed to the leaders of the Secretariat and left with Zhao Zhen.

They were all smart people; Zhao Zhen naturally believed that Wang Yan had understood the spirit of the leadership, so he really just let Wang Yan examine his body, said some encouraging words, and let Wang Yan leave.

Whether Zhao Zhen was lustful or urgently wanted a son, in short, he did not follow Wang Yan's medical advice. Wang Yan was indeed well-intentioned, but unfortunately, Zhao Zhen couldn't control himself...

He had truly done his best and was sincere enough.

As for Zhao Zhen not supporting him in continuing to expand upward, Wang Yan didn't care much; after all, he had never relied on Zhao Zhen. His own foundation was his ability to do things, his ability to solve problems, and his ability to make money, not being protected by any faction. Although he did have some supporters, they were clearly not enough.

Wang Yan wandered out of the Jingcheng, taking Little Dongliang with him, still walking as leisurely as ever.

After turning off the Imperial Street, he took a road toward the Patrol Court office; this was a street he had specifically chosen because it was relatively lively. On both sides were two or three-story small buildings, tea houses, wine shops, etc., and there were many pedestrians coming and going.

Just after entering the street, he had only walked a few steps. Wang Yan's originally slow pace slowed down even more.

Little Dongliang, who was looking around, stopped hurriedly and asked, not understanding why: "Master?"

Wang Yan's eyes scanned the space in front of him carelessly, and he said faintly: "Fire the signal arrow, blow the whistle."

"Hmm? Is someone plotting something?" Although he was asking, Little Dongliang's hands were faster than his brain. While he was opening his mouth, his eyes were also scanning rapidly, and at the same time, he took out an exquisite small crossbow from his back waist and pulled the trigger straight toward the sky.

The specially made hollow crossbow bolt was triggered and flew rapidly toward the sky. The speed drove the air to flow through the specially made structure at the arrowhead, and a sharp sound immediately spread out.

Little Dongliang also grabbed the long whistle hanging around his neck and blew it with all his might; the whistle was equally sharp and equally penetrating.

Following Little Dongliang's actions, the lively street experienced a short period of silence, and then it became chaotic in an instant. People hurriedly ran into the shops on both sides or hid by the roadside, clearing a large open space.

It was also when the crowd was in chaos that Wang Yan kicked Little Dongliang away with a light kick, and he himself dodged left and right.

When his movements stopped, only a scattering of arrows could be seen on the ground, with a few arrows stuck in the cracks of the stone slabs, the tails vibrating with a buzzing sound...