Chapter 423: The Dispute Over Merit

He Yuzhu flashed his figure, easily dodging Sun Daoyan's five poison needles.

Seeing him dodge with such composure, Sun Daoyan immediately threw out another ten poison needles.

He Yuzhu performed a backflip, and the poison needles grazed past him.

Sun Daoyan had fired hidden weapons twice without hitting his mark; suddenly anxious, he drew a dagger and lunged fiercely at He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu dodged to the side while simultaneously raising his leg to deliver a flying kick.

"Bang!" Sun Daoyan was kicked over ten meters away, crashing heavily to the ground.

He struggled, wanting to get back up, but He Yuzhu stepped forward quickly and stomped on his arms, breaking them.

A tragic howl pierced the night sky.

Sun Suzhen, standing to the side, saw how ruthless the person before her was and did not resist, instead allowing He Yuzhu to put handcuffs on her.

When He Yuzhu escorted the two bandit leaders out of the temple, Tian Dan shed tears of excitement; the hardship of over a hundred days and nights had not been in vain, and it temporarily eased her worry about the main force.

Lin Wanning did not follow the two of them but quietly returned to the car.

As she walked, Tian Dan said, "After you escort them over, just leave immediately. I'm afraid someone will say something unpleasant to provoke you, and your foul temper will flare up again."

"That works too!" He Yuzhu nodded and said.

Arriving in front of the gate of No. 43 Courtyard, both of them were startled by the scene before their eyes.

Four comrades had already stopped breathing; their corpses were blue in the face, clearly having died from poisoning.

There were also over a dozen people who had sustained serious injuries and were being treated by medical personnel; due to the pain, they let out loud cries from time to time.

He Yuzhu shook his head, handed the two bandits over to several police officers, and without saying much more, walked off into the distance.

Tian Dan stared fixedly at Zhou Hao, finding him more disagreeable the more she looked at him, and ordered loudly, "Hurry up and send the wounded to the hospital! Treating them here will only lead to more sacrifices!"

Only then did everyone scramble to lift the wounded onto the vehicles.

Watching the medical staff take the injured away, Tian Dan could no longer suppress her anger and raged, "Zhou Hao, how were you commanding? The casualties exceed half of the total number!"

Seeing He Yuzhu return with an old woman in tow, Zhou Hao realized he had captured Sun Suzhen and was instantly furious. He roared somewhat hysterically, "Section Chief Tian, you went too far this time! Since you knew there was a tunnel, why didn't you say so earlier? If you had told me, I would have just blown the door and charged in; we wouldn't have had so many people die!"

Seeing that this kid had no ability himself yet immediately started shifting the blame, Tian Dan could no longer hold back. She stepped forward and slapped Zhou Hao across the face: "Cut the crap! You are a complete and utter coward. How the hell would I know there was a tunnel? This time, it was clearly your poor command, yet you want to pin the blame on me!"

"If you didn't know there was a tunnel, why did you capture Sun Suzhen so quickly?" Zhou Hao said, clutching his reddened cheek.

"You spent a month reflecting, and you're a team leader the moment you get back? I know you think you're very capable. I let you lead the team this time because I wanted you to earn some merit so I could quickly move you to a new position!" Tian Dan said sarcastically.

"I became a team leader through my own efforts; don't think I used my family's connections!" Zhou Hao was still arguing stubbornly.

"Then why didn't you lead the charge this time?" Tian Dan said.

Zhou Hao was instantly rendered speechless.

"I'll tell you the truth: the tunnel was discovered by He Yuzhu, and he was the one who captured them. If you're so capable, go capture one yourself and see!" Tian Dan said loudly.

"I don't believe that He Yuzhu could find a tunnel just by walking around the courtyard!" Zhou Hao said, unconvinced.

Tian Dan interrupted him, her tone mocking: "Just because you don't believe it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. When we were capturing enemy agents at Xishan, He Yuzhu climbed up a cliff face alone and blew up over a hundred people by himself. Do you have that ability? He shot down over thirty United States planes on the Korean War battlefield; do you have that ability?"

Zhou Hao opened his mouth, but finally said nothing more.

Tian Dan did not continue to argue with Zhou Hao but instead directed the clearing of the spoils from these three courtyards. It must be said, this Huagong Trading Company had quite a deep foundation; they confiscated a total of forty Big Yellow Fish, one hundred Small Yellow Fish, over seventy million in cash, over twenty thousand catties of rice, and over thirty thousand catties of other grains.

It took nearly two days for the Police Bureau to transport everything away from these three courtyards. These items were enough to feed the Police Bureau for half a year.

This operation mobilized over seven hundred military and police personnel to carry out arrests at thirteen I-Kuan-Tao dens. Knowing they would not escape severe legal punishment once arrested, these people resisted with particular intensity, causing the military and police to pay a heavy price—over twenty sacrificed and over sixty wounded.

Due to the capture of the Matriarch Sun Suzhen, Zhou Hao's previous recklessness and questioning were shelved by his superiors.

After days of interrogation, many leaders confessed, and in the following half-month, based on their testimonies, over a hundred core members were captured in various places around the capital suburbs.

With this, the organizational network of the I-Kuan-Tao in the capital region was basically eradicated, and the I-Kuan-Tao turmoil that had spread for some time was finally gradually quelled.

In the Deputy Bureau Chief's office, Zhou Hao complained, "Uncle Zuo, Tian Dan went too far this time. She knew there was a tunnel at No. 43 Courtyard but didn't tell me, which caused me to lose so many men..."

"Xiao Zhou, don't go around saying things like that. I have also looked into the situation; the tunnel was discovered by Comrade He Yuzhu..."

"I don't believe it!" Zhou Hao argued.

"It's your first time leading a team on a mission, so it's inevitable there would be oversights. Being able to achieve today's results is already not bad... but you must learn from the experience and not always look for objective excuses..." Deputy Bureau Chief Zuo said patiently.

"Uncle Zuo, I understand. I will definitely perform well in the future!" Zhou Hao said.

Several days later, Tian Dan was invited to the Deputy Bureau Chief's office.

Deputy Bureau Chief Zuo personally poured her a cup of tea and said with a smile, "Comrade Tian Dan, you deserve great credit for wiping out the I-Kuan-Tao followers this time. If you hadn't led the team to uncover those thirteen dens, we wouldn't have been able to achieve such great results."

Tian Dan immediately interrupted: "Deputy Bureau Chief Zuo, I dare not claim this credit. In fact, all the clues were uncovered by Comrade He Yuzhu after three months of investigation."

Naturally, Tian Dan could not say Lin Wanning's name, so she gave the credit to He Yuzhu; after all, he had spent a lot of money on it. Moreover, it was he who had turned Lin Wanning.

"I certainly know Comrade Xiao He's ability, but he is not a person within our system, after all. Many comrades have already reported that when searching No. 43 Courtyard, you deliberately arranged for him to go to the temple to capture Sun Suzhen, giving the top credit to him... Of course, I personally don't believe this claim, but the people below have grievances, and the organization cannot completely ignore them. Therefore, the Bureau did not approve your application for a Special Class Merit for him. After discussion, it was decided to grant your First Division a Collective First Class Merit, and we will not report merit for individuals separately..."

Tian Dan nodded and did not argue further—she had already anticipated this result; her insistence on applying before was just to have a clear conscience.

Deputy Bureau Chief Zuo continued, "In this operation, Comrade Zhou Hao performed very bravely, decisively implementing the demolition at a critical moment and avoiding greater casualties. As for those sacrificed comrades, it was caused by the fact that the bandit's poison needles were coated with a deadly toxin, which was an accident. After research by the Bureau, it was decided to promote him to Deputy Department Chief of the First Division, concurrently serving as the captain of the First Brigade."

"I disagree." Tian Dan's voice sank. "Four comrades were sacrificed and six were wounded or disabled; this was all caused by his poor command. This is simply stepping on the comrades'..."

Deputy Bureau Chief Zuo slapped the table: "Tian Dan! I know you have opinions about Zhou Hao, but looking at this operation alone, his command was not flawed. Those were a group of fierce bandits; if you were the one commanding, could you guarantee there would be no casualties?"

Tian Dan sneered: "What is the point of saying these things now? If you really must compare, why not look at the casualty figures from when He Yuzhu led teams on similar missions in the past—that would be clear at a glance."