Chapter 655: Silencing
“Second brother!”
Just after the Youshi [five o'clock in the afternoon], Liu Xianglian pulled back the curtain and entered the inner room. Seeing Sun Shaozong leaning back in a high-back chair, seemingly resting with his eyes closed, he could not help but remind him, "It's time to adjourn the court. Do you think we should..."
It seems that he will find it difficult to adapt to the identity of a legal advisor for a while - as a staff member, how can he be so impatient to urge his boss to leave as soon as it is time to get off work?
But this is not a big problem, let him figure it out slowly.
Sun Shaozong stood up slowly, took out half a page of proposal from under the paperweight, stuffed it into Liu Xianglian's hand, and then walked out.
Liu Xianglian glanced at it in surprise and saw that what was written on the paper seemed to be a classification standard - gang fights involving more than ten people were gradually classified and refined based on urban and rural areas, number of people, and consequences.
"Second brother, wait for me!"
Liu Xianglian was a little surprised. He hurried out of the door and walked side by side with Sun Shaozong along the stone road.
He shook the proposal in his hand and asked curiously, "When we dealt with Yang Zhiming this afternoon, I thought you were going to use his past experience as a target, but why did you come up with such a proposal now?"
"Yang Zhiming's example?"
Sun Shaozong snorted and said, "Which of the precedents he spewed out is not linked to the Metropolitan Censorate and the Ministry of Justice? If this killing stick is really used, it will hit the Metropolitan Censorate and the Ministry of Justice in just a few strokes!"
"Not to mention that I'm new here, even if I've established myself, this lawsuit would be very difficult to win - especially since I, your brother, have a bad background and I'm afraid I won't be favored by those honest people in the Censorate."
When Liu Xianglian heard this, his face turned pale: "So, doesn't that Yang have evil intentions?!"
"Whether he did it intentionally or unintentionally, it is still unclear for now - so I just punished him a little. As for whether this person can be used, we will see later."
Sun Shaozong said, pointing at the petition in Liu Xianglian's hand: "Don't think too much. Starting from tomorrow, work with Zuo Si Zheng Tang Weishan to sort out all the cases of armed fights involving more than ten people in the past three years."
Liu Xianglian became more curious as he listened to his serious words, and even asked what the use of organizing these things was.
Sun Shaozong refused to say anything, just said "You will understand when the time comes", and then went out of the east corner gate.
This is not because Sun Shaozong is being mysterious. The truth is that he himself has not yet figured out what to do specifically. He just has some vague and immature ideas.
According to the results of Sun Shaozong's investigation this afternoon, the Dali Temple has been at the bottom of the three judicial departments and has almost become a vassal of the Censorate, a situation that has continued for two or three decades.
It would probably not be easy to completely reverse this downward trend in a short period of time - especially since Sun Shaozong is only the second-in-command.
Therefore, instead of competing for power with the Censorate and even the Ministry of Justice within the old framework, it is better to find another way - first take over the powers that the three judicial departments should have assumed but did not assume, or did not assume enough, and then use this as a foundation to gradually expand their influence.
Of course, Sun Shaozong still needs to think carefully about what to do specifically. After all, he comes from a criminal investigation background, and there is a procuratorate between him and the court system.
Since I'm not very familiar with this business, I have to work harder and think of everything I can think of, so as to avoid making a fool of myself and losing my reputation.
Let’s get back to the story.
Sun Shaozong went out of the east corner gate and was about to call Zhang Cheng to drive the carriage over, but suddenly he saw a few people sitting on the tea stall opposite, led by Qiu Yunfei and Wang Zhen.
Sun Shaozong immediately strode over, and without waiting for everyone to stand up to greet him, he asked in a deep voice: "Did he show his head but was not held down? Or did something else go wrong?"
It's no wonder that Sun Shaozong asked this question right away. Several people looked dejected, and even Liu Xianglian could see that things were not going well.
Wang Zhen was the most anxious, so he didn't care about the hierarchy and rushed to say, "Sir, the squad leader surnamed Wei and Captain Wang are both dead!"
Murder to silence someone?
That's fast enough!
It seems that the mastermind behind this had already planned to kill people to silence them, otherwise he would never have done it so quickly and efficiently.
Sun Shaozong tapped Qiu Yunfei with his chin: "Tell me in detail what is going on."
Qiu Yunfei hurriedly told the whole story in detail.
However, while he was openly putting pressure on Daxing County, a dozen Dragon Guards borrowed from the Gunpowder Bureau began to monitor Wei Shougen and Wang Baochang who had surfaced.
The reason why people from the Gunpowder Bureau were seconded was mainly because they were worried that the officials from the government office would be recognized - besides, in terms of efficiency and confidentiality, the Dragon Guards were still better.
In the afternoon, as soon as Wei Shougen walked out of the county government gate, he was spotted by the Dragon Guards, who followed him all the way to a remote courtyard near the west city.
The leading general flag bearer was just about to set up observation points in front and behind to prevent Wei Shougen from escaping, but suddenly he heard him screaming inside.
The general did not dare to delay and quickly ordered his men to climb over the wall and quietly investigate what was going on.
When he got to the window, he found Wei Shougen lying dead on the spot.
Afterwards, several Dragon Guards cordoned off the scene and reported to Wang Zhen.
At this point, Wang Zhen quickly interrupted and said, "I got the news and immediately sent a message to Chief Wang, asking them to arrest him to avoid any more accidents. But it was too late. Chief Wang also met with an unexpected death. The way he died was similar to that of Captain Wei. They both went into a remote house and died screaming."
Qiu Yunfei continued, "I got the news from Guard Wang, so I sent Governor Qi and Zhao Wuwei to investigate the two scenes. I also thought that my second brother would be leaving soon, so I simply brought Guard Wang over to report."
Listen to the two of them talk about the whole thing.
Sun Shaozong pondered for a long while before saying, "Although the mastermind behind the incident has not been found, since someone has died, it is only natural for Shuntian Prefecture to intervene."
"Besides, two lives were taken in just a few hours. Even if it was premeditated, there would inevitably be some clues left behind - so the current situation is actually not too bad."
At this point, he immediately ordered: "Yun Fei, go to the county government office immediately and investigate who Wei Bantou had contacted in the county government office before his death. As for the job of investigating the scene, leave it to me!"
In just over an hour, the news of Qiu Yunfei's pressure was unlikely to spread widely.
Therefore, it was not Wei Shougen who took the initiative to reveal the information to the mastermind behind the scenes, but the mastermind behind the scenes was also hiding in the county government.
When Qiu Yunfei heard what Sun Shaozong said, he immediately understood, nodded in agreement, rolled onto the carriage like a ball, and hurried to the Daxing County Government Office.
The remaining Liu Xianglian, Wang Zhen, and two Dragon Guards from the Gunpowder Bureau, led by Sun Shaozong, rushed to the nearby West Gate - the scene of Wei Shougen's unexpected death.
