Madam, protect me!

Chang'an.

Beicheng.

Li Nuo and Zhao Wu came to a dilapidated house. As soon as Zhao Wu opened the door, a dozen figures ran out of the house inside.

They were some children, the older ones were eleven or twelve years old, and the younger ones looked like they were only four or five years old.

Seeing Zhao Wu, these children immediately gathered around.

"Fifth brother!"

"Fifth brother, you are back!"

"Fifth brother, who is this eldest brother?"

…

Zhao Wu looked at these children, gently stroked the head of the oldest boy a few times, handed him a money bag, and said: "Xiao Hong, Fifth Brother has something to do and has to leave Chang'an for some time." , you are the oldest, these younger brothers and sisters will be taken care of by you, you guys can save some money..."

Fifth Brother was already very busy on weekdays, so the boy didn't think much about it and just asked: "Fifth Brother, where are you going?"

Zhao Wu did not answer the question. He looked at the children and asked, "You must be obedient these days when I am away. Do you still remember what Brother Wu said to you on weekdays?"

"Remember, you can't steal, you can't rob, you can't cheat!"

"You have to make money with your own hands!"

In the crowd, an older girl said: "Don't worry, Fifth Brother, Xiaolian and I can make more than ten cents a day by washing people's clothes!"

Another little boy also said: "I found a family where a lot of food was poured into the wooden barrel outside their back door every day, and sometimes there were complete chicken legs!"

"I found a job emptying buckets and I can earn twenty cents a day!"

…

The children gathered around Zhao Wu, chattering away, and Zhao Wu smiled and touched each of their heads.

After a while, he walked out of the courtyard, closed the door, and said to Li Nuo: "Sir, let's go."

Li Nuo asked: "You broke into the house to raise these children?"

He just noticed that although these children were wearing ordinary coarse clothes, they were all neat and clean. There were a few younger children who were chubby and must have eaten well on weekdays.

Zhao Wu looked back and said: "I was an orphan when I was a child. I often suffered from hunger and cold outside. When I saw them living on the streets, I always felt uncomfortable, so I brought them all back..."

He looked at Li Nuo and asked, "Sir, how will the government sentence someone like me?"

Li Nuo said: "Other stewards will be sentenced to three years' imprisonment plus three thousand miles of exile, plus fifty sticks."

After Zhao Wu heard this, his body trembled.

But he quickly returned to normal. Although the children were small, they had a place to shelter from the wind and rain. The older children could also make some money. Even if they had worse food than before, they would not starve to death. .

Li Nuo changed his voice and added: "However, because you have made great contributions in destroying the stolen door, you can be exempted from exile and the punishment of the rod. Although the three-year prison sentence is unavoidable, you now have a chance to atone for your merits. I know if you are willing to..."

…

Until he came to the Ministry of Punishment, Zhao Wu still felt like he was dreaming.

He pinched his arm hard again to make sure this was not a dream.

When he recruited Xiao Song to join the gang, he wanted to find a backer for himself.

Unexpectedly, the stolen door is no longer the stolen door, but the backer is still reliable.

Although he is still serving a three-year sentence, his sentence can be commuted by meritorious service, and he is expected to be released from prison in less than a year.

During this period, he could leave the prison every day and even take time to see his children.

The only difference from before is that you need to go back to jail at night.

But that's not a problem at all.

He had never slept anywhere, and a cell was better than sleeping on the street.

Li Nuo walked into the courtyard of the Criminal Department and saw Li Anning standing outside the government office.

Although Zhao Wu and Li Nuo have other uses, he is still a prisoner and needs to be sent to prison first.

Before Li Nuo could speak to Li Anning, Zhao Wu bowed down and said respectfully: "I've met Madam!"

Li Anning was stunned for a moment, then turned to look behind him.

Two figures came out of the government office.

Li Nuo raised his head with a look of surprise on his face.

He walked forward quickly and asked in surprise: "Madam, why are you here?"

Song Jiaren glanced at Zhao Wu, and when she looked at Li Nuo, she said softly: "I took Mu'er out for a walk. She said she wanted to come to the Ministry of Justice to find you, so I brought her here."

Song Muer was stunned for a moment, nodded repeatedly, and said, "Ah, yes, yes, I want to come here to find brother Li Nuo. I want to see what you are doing here during the day..."

Li Nuo took Mu'er and walked into the government office. He turned to Li Anning and said, "Well, this is a steward of the burglary. Send him to prison first. I will make up for his sentence later..."

Li Anning took Zhao Wu into the prison of the Ministry of Punishment. Zhao Wu asked curiously: "Girl, aren't you and Song...and Mr. Li a couple?"

Li Anning said lightly: "Didn't you hear him calling someone else's wife just now?"

Even though he heard it with his own ears, Zhao Wu still couldn't accept it.

In fact, he also secretly monitored their couple for several hours in those days.

What a sweet couple that was.

It looked like he wanted to find a woman to live with.

Unexpectedly, it was actually fake...

If this was all false, he didn't know what else was true in the world.

As for the woman he just called madam...

No, not at all.

Not as good as the 11/12 portrait of this girl.

Zhao Wu lowered his head and said with some regret: "I thought you were a real couple. After all, you look so well matched, but it turns out that's not the case. The girl just now doesn't look like her at all..."

Li Anning paused for a moment, then continued walking forward.

The jails of the Ministry of Punishment have been extremely noisy these days. Both the men's and women's prisons are full of prisoners, and there is not a single empty cell.

"It's Zhao Wu!"

"This bastard, if it weren't for him, how could we end up like this!"

"You finally came in!"

"Haha, Zhao, just wait!"

…

These days, the leader and stewards of the Thief Sect have learned the ins and outs of the matter.

The Pirate Gate was destroyed because Zhao Wu had a bad taste in 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 arrested, they were already gearing up and ready to greet him.

A cell door opened. Zhao Wu couldn't help but shudder as he looked at the dozen or so people in the cell who were glaring at him. At this time, Li Anning glanced at the cell leader next to him and said, "Let them go to the cell next to them." cell."

The dozen or so stewards who had broken into the door were moved to the cells next door.

More than thirty people were crammed into that small cell.

This cell was empty.

Zhao Wu had a cell to himself. Knowing that this was to take care of him, he immediately bowed down and blurted out: "Thank you, madam, thank you madam!"

Li Anning had already left, and stopped again. He pointed at Zhao Wu and said to the prison chief: "This man is still of great use. Take care of him."

The prison head lowered his head and said seriously: "Follow your orders!"

Watching Her Royal Highness the Princess leave, the cell leader looked at Zhao Wu in the cell, his eyes immediately changed, and he asked with a smile: "Brother, have you eaten?"

Zhao Wu touched his belly and shook his head.

The prison boss asked enthusiastically: "I brought food from home this morning. If you don't mind it, just take a few bites first. If you want to eat anything, let me know and I'll find a way..."

…

When Li Anning returned to the government office, Li Nuo was the only one here.

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 where you can hang out. Besides, he has important things to do and doesn't have time to accompany them.

Li Anning didn't say anything, walked to his seat and sat down.

There was another reason why Li Nuo didn't let his wife and Mu'er stay in the Criminal Department for a while.

He himself has no place in the Ministry of Justice.

This government office belonged to Li Anning, and Li Nuo could only be regarded as her secretary at best.

In the entire Criminal Department, the only place that belonged to him was the chair opposite Li Anning.

Li Nuo has already written Zhao Wu's verdict. Although he took this road out of his own control, the multiple thefts are a fact and it is impossible to directly exonerate him.

On the road just now, Li Nuo and Li Anning had discussed the specific procedures for the establishment of the Anti-Theft Department.

There are four divisions in the Ministry of Justice, namely, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Justice.

Although there is now an additional anti-theft department, to put it bluntly, it is because San Sheng made a small opening for him and Li Anning for his father's sake.

The Fourth Division is a formal department of the imperial court. Each division has one doctor of the fifth rank, one doctor of the sixth rank, a chief officer, an official, and several palm guards. These are all serious court officials who receive a salary from the court.

The Anti-Theft Department is a non-staff department.

The entire department does not have any official positions and no salary at all.

All the funds for the operation of the Anti-Theft Division have to be paid by Li Nuo and Li Anning themselves.

In fact, the imperial court did not take them seriously at all, and the so-called anti-theft department was just playing house for them.

But it is one thing that the court does not take it seriously. This is the result of the efforts of the two of them. Of course, Li Nuo himself must take it seriously.

The Anti-Theft Department is still in the trial stage now, and the scale does not need to be too large at the beginning. Li Nuo thinks that recruiting ten people will be enough first.

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 staff and reports directly to Li Nuo and Li Anning.

Regarding the candidate for the director, Li Nuo already had a choice in mind.

Zhao Wu is the manager of the thieves and has certain management experience. Compared with other thieves, Li Nuo has seen his character with his own eyes. No one is more suitable for this position than him.

But the Anti-Theft Department belongs to the two of them. This is a big matter and he needs to discuss it with Li Anning.

Li Nuo looked at Li Anning and said: "As for the director of the Anti-Theft Department, I have a candidate, the burglary supervisor you just brought to the prison. His name is Zhao Wu. After you left just now..."

Before Li Nuo could finish speaking, Li Anning nodded and said, "Okay."

Li Nuo was slightly stunned, he hadn't finished speaking yet.

After telling Li Anning what happened next, Li Anning said: "The first time I saw him, I felt that he was not a treacherous and evil person. This Zhao Wu's vision... has a good character, let's just him. ”

Since Li Anning had no objections, Li Nuo made the arrangement.

A moment later, in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment.

After hearing the news, all the senior officials of the Pirate Sect froze on the spot.

I thought that I would be exiled to the border soon, where my life or death would be uncertain, but I didn't expect that things would turn around.

Every thief caught will be exempted from one day of imprisonment and ten miles of exile. The one who catches the most thieves every month will be exempted from an additional ten days of imprisonment and a hundred miles of exile.

Calculating this, as long as we catch a few thieves every day, wouldn't it be possible not only to avoid exile, but also to be released from prison quickly?

They are not good at anything else, but catching thieves is their job.

A qualified housekeeper must have the ability to identify peers at a glance among a huge crowd of people.

However, in order to get a chance to reduce your sentence, you need to join the Anti-Theft Division first.

The Anti-Theft Department only has ten places.

The decision of who can join the Anti-Theft Division lies in Zhao Wu's hands.

The attitude of everyone who was gnashing their teeth at Zhao Wu just now suddenly changed 180 degrees.

"Fifth brother, fifth brother choose me!"

"Manager Zhao, for the sake of my previous care for you, choose me!"

"Manager Zhao, it's Director Zhao. Director Zhao chose me. I even treated you to dinner before!"

At this moment, no matter the former manager, the chief, or even several guardians, they were all trying their best to express themselves, trying to get the few places in the Anti-Theft Department.

Zhao Wu was sitting in a spacious single cell. When he saw the high-ranking leaders and guardians in the past, they were lying on the bars of the cell, waving to him constantly, with flattering faces on their faces, and he couldn't help but feel like he was dreaming. Same feeling.

I really didn’t expect that he, Zhao Wu, would be where he is today.

Looking back on the first half of his life, the most correct thing he did was probably to fall in love with Xiao Song at a glance among the crowd.

It seems that since then, his life path has suddenly become broader...

…

Chang'an, a bustling street somewhere.

Huang Er is very happy today.

He is very happy these days.

Those guys who stole the door were bullying and lawless. Where they were, other thieves were not allowed to appear.

Some time ago, I just stole an old man and two children in their territory, and they caught him and beat him severely. They also warned him that if he dares to steal here again next time, he will be interrupted. leg.

This place belongs to everyone, why can't he steal it when others steal it?

Is there still king's law under the emperor's feet? Is there still law?

If Huang Er hadn't been a thief himself, he would have wanted to report him to the official.

It's fine now.

Those guys who stole the door were caught by the government, and they can no longer be arrogant.

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 has gained a lot every day.

He walked struttingly down the street, his eyes constantly scanning the crowd.

Soon, he found a target.

A middle-aged woman came out of a medical clinic with a few bags of medicine in her hands.

She had a lost expression and was walking in a hurry. This kind of person is often very inattentive and is the best target to attack.

Bang!

Huang Er came towards me and bumped into the woman. The woman was knocked to the ground. Huang Er said angrily: "You don't have eyes when you walk!"

The woman stood up in a hurry and said, "I'm sorry, my child is sick. I'm in a hurry to go home and make medicine for him. I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

After apologizing, the woman hurriedly left.

Huang Er weighed a patched money bag in his hand, and was about to look for his next target when his wrist was suddenly grabbed tightly by someone. A man looked at him with disdain and angrily said, "You stole money from people who treat illnesses and save lives." , you are no longer human, you are a scumbag, you really disgrace us thieves!"

Huang Er wanted to resist, but was quickly pushed to the ground.

The woman had been called back. After getting her money bag back, she looked at the good man who helped her find the money bag and said gratefully: "Thank you, thank you. If this money is lost, I will really Don’t know what to do!”

The man said to the woman: "Auntie, when you go out, don't tie your money bag around your waist or carry it in your arms. You can sew a pocket with buttons on the inside of your coat or coat so that it's less likely to be stolen. …”

The woman kept saying: "I will sew when I get back, I will sew when I get back..."

The people watching applauded.

Everyone has had the experience of being stolen by thieves at one time or another. These are scumbags who are capable but always want to get something for nothing and harm others. It can be said that everyone wants to beat them up.

Some who had been robbed recently were so angry that they kicked the person several times.

Soon, Huang Er was taken away.

The same thing happened everywhere in Chang'an.

Some thieves active in Chang'an were still enjoying the carnival of having their doors knocked down, and they were committing unscrupulous thefts, when official officials suddenly appeared in front of them.

Ministry of Punishment.

It had been a long time since he had gone to the government office, and all the officials from the Ministry of Punishment had gone home. In a certain government office, Li Nuo was still busy.

Today is the first day of the Anti-Theft Department's opening, and it can be said to be a full harvest.

Including Zhao Wu, the director, the Anti-Theft Department, which only has 11 people, caught 78 thieves on the street in one day.

If it weren't for the lack of manpower, this number would easily exceed one hundred.

The existence of the burglary door is a huge deterrent to those petty thieves.

When the thieves' door was still there, they occupied the easiest places to steal in Chang'an. Those casual thieves did not dare to show up there, but it was difficult to steal in other places.

Now that the door for stealing is gone, these people have no restrictions, and they are completely unscrupulous, creating a scene of thieves dancing wildly.

From a factual perspective, the security of Chang'an has worsened since the stolen door was taken away.

This is certainly not what Li Nuo wants.

There are only ten people in the Anti-Theft Department, which is obviously not enough.

But even if there were ten people, Li Nuo would still be busy.

Every member of the Anti-Theft Department must figure out how many thieves they catch every day, how much punishment should be reduced, and how much time is left in prison after they go to the Yamen.

There are no other officials in the Anti-Theft Department, so Li Nuo can only do these things personally.

He glanced at Li Anning who was sleeping on the table. Of course, the princess could not count on these trivial matters.

After setting up files for these people, it was already getting dark outside.

The moment he put down his pen, Li Nuo realized that he had to recruit another clerk for the Anti-Theft Department to be responsible for these things.

Although there are many scribes in the Ministry of Justice, each scribe has his or her own job, and they are forced to work overtime. Although they dare not refuse openly, it is not certain whether they will scold him secretly.

the next day.

While peeling the orange, Li Anning looked at the woman who was transcribing the files of the Anti-Theft Department and praised: "What beautiful words..."

To write documents in the Anti-Theft Department, you must first be literate.

Not only do you need to be able to read, you also need to be able to write.

Meeting these two requirements seems simple, but is actually very difficult.

Even a woman from a big family cannot fully meet this condition.

Daxia's educational resources are extremely concentrated, and there is a tendency to continue to be concentrated and monopolized.

It is almost impossible for ordinary poor people to know many words.

Only wealthy families can afford to hire literate teachers for their children.

As early as yesterday when he was preparing to recruit documents for the Anti-Theft Department, Li Nuo had a suitable candidate in mind.

Gu Yanran was born in an official family and was a well-known talented girl. She was proficient in all kinds of music, chess, calligraphy and painting. She was only sixteen years old and had such good handwriting that even calligraphy was inferior to everyone.

With her talents, it would be a huge waste to do some sewing, starching and washing work.

The position of clerk in the anti-theft department was tailor-made for her.

He is Li Anning's secretary.

Gu Yanran was the secretary Li Nuo found for herself.

The Anti-Theft Division's trial run on the first day 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 Criminal Department for a year or even less than a year, they can see the light of day again and be reunited with their families. If they want, they can stay in the Anti-Theft Department and continue to use their talents.

During this process, Li Nuo was also paying attention to the changes in his life span.

In making these arrangements, his life span was not diminished.

Directly using money to atone for sins or using death-free gold medals is not recognized by the Code.

However, commuting the sentence through meritorious service does not affect the ruling already made by the code.

In this case, Li Nuo can safely expand the Anti-Theft Department.

The number of thieves who have been arrested, including senior officials, totals nearly 600.

If these people can change their ways and change from thieves to thieves-catchers, then soon there will be no more thieves in Chang'an.

The organizational structure before the robbery can continue to be used.

One director of the Anti-Theft Department, four deputy directors, sixteen regional directors, and sixty-four team leaders. Each team leader is assigned ten team members. They are still the same people, but the stolen door is no longer the same stolen door. .

Currently, everyone is still a prisoner.

You don't even need to pay them a salary.

If the owner of the stolen goods recovered by the Anti-Theft Department can be found, they will be returned to the owner. If the owner cannot be found, they will be turned over to the state treasury. At that time, they can apply to the court for part of the operating funds of the Anti-Theft Department and provide them with salaries.

This will not only maintain public security in Chang'an for a long time, but also create hundreds of jobs and solve the problem of placement of these criminals after they are released from prison.

Not only Changan can do this.

Various state capitals can also follow suit and set up similar anti-pocketing groups.

Members of the anti-theft departments in various places do not have to be thieves. The supervisors or team leaders of the anti-theft department of the Ministry of Criminal Justice can regularly go to various places to train some police officers and government officials...

When these thoughts came to Li Nuo's mind, the bottleneck of his body's cultivation seemed to be loosened.

Li Anning, who was concentrating on peeling oranges, suddenly turned to look at Li Nuo, with a look of surprise on his face.

He had clearly just hit a bottleneck, so why was he so close to breaking through?