Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

Chapter 539 Ordered to Catch the Thief
Late that night, Zheng Lin, the head of the new shop in Liangzhou Prefecture, was ordered to go to Beishan County to arrest thieves.

With official travel documents issued by the government office, they passed through checkpoints without any hindrance and arrived smoothly at the gate of Yangmen County.

After verifying the official documents, the guards at Yangmen County immediately opened the gate to let them pass. However, Zheng Lin did not expect that there would be another checkpoint waiting for them as soon as they passed through the gate.

"Halt!" a shout rang out. "Who goes there?"

Zheng Lin looked in the direction of the sound. In the darkness, the first thing he noticed was the reflection of the blade. The person holding the knife was a burly man. Upon closer inspection, he saw that there were more than a dozen people hidden in the darkness behind the burly man.

Zheng Lin felt a chill in his heart, but dared not show it on his face. He replied loudly, "I am a shopkeeper from Liangzhou Prefecture, ordered to arrest a thief." He gestured to the person next to him to bring over the official documents.

Zhou Xing took the official document and then asked Zou Yan to light a torch. He then held the document up to the torch and examined it closely.

He deliberately slowed down his movements.

Originally, there was only one group of people guarding this place, mainly to send out messages. Today, Li Ting and Sun Xiang escaped into Beishan County. Meng Changqing knew that Liu Dexiang would not let them go, so he specially sent more people to block them here.

Unless the person coming is holding an imperial edict, no official document will be of any use.

Zheng Lin and the others lost their patience and shouted, "Have you finished looking? I haven't even asked who you are! Who gave you the right to set up checkpoints here?"

Zhou Xing calmly returned the official document to Zheng Lin, "You were ordered to catch thieves, how come we didn't receive any information?"

Zheng Lin sneered, "The government office is catching thieves, why would they need to notify your remote, desolate county? The official documents have been verified, so get out of the way!"

After he said this, not only did no one object, but more and more knives were drawn, and several were even ready to fight.

Zheng Lin's horse took two steps back. "What do you mean? Are you planning a rebellion?!"

Zhou Xing laughed and said, "If your master becomes the emperor, then not obeying his will is considered rebellion?"

"Shut up!" Zheng Lin drew his knife, the tip pointing at Zhou Xing. "If you don't move aside, you'll lose your head."

Zhou Xing suppressed his smile and suddenly struck, hitting the other man's knife-wielding hand with his torch.

Zheng Lin felt a sharp pain in his right wrist, and the knife in his hand immediately fell to the ground. The horse, startled, struggled and neighed incessantly.

Zheng Lin lost control of the horse with one hand and fell off in a sorry state.

On the city wall, the guards of Yangmen County kept a close eye on the situation, but dared not act rashly. Seeing that the conflict between the two sides was escalating, they sent someone to the county government to ask Mao Chunfang for instructions.

Before Zheng Lin could get up, Zhou Xing shouted, "I've never seen anyone cross county borders to catch thieves in the middle of the night! You don't seem like government officials, you're just remnants of bandits!"

Zhou Xing and his group worked together seamlessly, as if this phrase was a pre-arranged code. As soon as Zhou Xing uttered it, the two groups of constables acted simultaneously, binding Zheng Lin and his entire gang. Clearly, the ropes used for binding them had been prepared beforehand.

"You bastards!" Zheng Lin cursed as he was pinned to the ground like a wild boar. "How dare you! If the prefect finds out, none of you will live!"

"Hey! You bandits are colluding with the prefect?" Zhou Xing stopped listening to his nonsense, tore off Zheng Lin's clothes, and stuffed them into his mouth.

After binding them securely, Zhou Xing personally escorted them into the prison.

Zheng Lin and his friends never imagined they would encounter something like this.

He was captured and imprisoned with almost no resistance.

Once inside the prison, Zheng Lin realized that the magistrate of this place was just as ruthless and audacious as his master.

After seeing the person off, Zhou Xing rode back to the city gate at full speed.

Who knows how many groups of people the government will send?
When Mao Chunfang arrived, the area outside the city wall was quiet, with only two yamen runners patrolling outside the earthen house.

"Where is he?" Mao Chunfang asked.

"They've all been captured," the guard leader replied.

"Where will we take them?"

"They should have gone to Beishan County. I don't know if it's for a night interrogation or what."

"Can the person who came clearly state their identity?" Mao Chunfang asked again.

"We heard it clearly from the wall. It was the head constable from the prefectural government. The yamen runners from Beishan County said they were imposters, actually remnants of mountain bandits, and they had them tied up immediately." The guard leader explained the situation and stepped aside.

Mao Chunfang stood against the wall for a long time, facing the night wind, unable to understand what Meng Changqing was up to. He was willing to offend the prefect for the sake of Sun Xiang.

But what should he do?

This Meng Changqing was none of his business, so his death was no loss; he was simply afraid of the power behind him.

If those people find out that he is helping Liu Dexiang deal with Meng Changqing, won't he only have one path to take in the future?

After thinking for a long time, Mao Chunfang said to the guards behind her, "I haven't been here tonight, and you haven't heard anything."