Chapter Fifty-two: Capturing the Thief with Ease

  He met Huang Cishi and was surprised to see him come in person. Sun Ming had only known that Huang Cishi had been a frequent guest at the inn for the past two years, and he had thought it was because of his fondness for the food there. But now it seemed that he had been mistaken all along - Huang Cishi's visits were actually because of Er Lang. He hastily stepped forward to pay his respects: "Greetings, Your Excellency, greetings, Sir." Although he still didn't understand the details of what was going on, he felt a sense of relief wash over him.

  Huang Zhi's original name was Liang, and his courtesy name was Gongfu. When he heard Lin Ming come to report, he was also very angry, but in his heart, he still had some apprehensions, fearing that the people who came to seize him had a strong background, and naturally, he wasn't afraid of himself. After all, he was getting older, and after finishing this term as governor, it might be the end for him. However, he couldn't help but consider his children and grandchildren. But the matter of Wang Kuang presenting sweet potatoes also involved his own reputation in the future. If the sweet potatoes were successfully cultivated, he could gain a good reputation before retiring, which would pave the way for his children and grandchildren. Moreover, according to Lin Ming's meaning, the success of the sweet potatoes was almost certain. Furthermore, if the other party really had such a strong background, why would they wait until now to take action? It seemed that even with a strong background, it wouldn't be enough to intimidate him. So he gritted his teeth and decided: Let's do this!

  Sun Mingqian greeted him with a bow, but he waved his hand: "Where did so many polite words come from? I'm not a rare guest at the inn either. Let's skip these empty courtesies, Erlang, tell me clearly what's going on?"

  Wang Kuang repeated what Deng Xiaosan had just said, adding his own inferences. Huang Liang pondered for a moment, then beckoned Wang Ling to come forward: "Second Master, don't worry about this, I have a plan. You follow Deng Xiaosan to Yangzhou to rescue his father, and choose the men you need to go with him. Hurry up and come back quickly. The Liang brothers won't make a move for the time being after arriving in Jian'an. They'll need to find a place to settle down first, then investigate before taking action. There should be at least one day's time in between, plus the time it takes them to arrive, so two days' time is enough to prepare properly." Kidnapping ordinary people is a serious crime. If everything goes according to plan and the Liang brothers are caught red-handed, with both human and material evidence present, the Deng family will definitely not be able to shirk responsibility. And if this can lead to implicating that Yangzhou army officer, ha! I'll have earned another great merit, and my descendants' future will be bright.

  There is indeed a hidden story here. Huang Liang has a son who happens to be serving as a soldier in Yangzhou, and he is under the command of Ruo Wu, the military governor of Yangzhou. He knows that Ruo Wu and the governor of Yangzhou have had a grudge against each other for some time, but Ruo Wu had also made contributions in suppressing rebellions in previous years, so there was no clear evidence to bring him down. Now, if Huang Liang can successfully manipulate things and drag Ruo Wu into trouble, then the governor of Yangzhou will definitely owe him a favor, and it's likely that his son will get the position of military governor. So as soon as he heard that Deng's backer was only Ruo Wu, Huang Liang's mind began to stir with ideas.

  Wang Ling originally wanted to stay and deal with the Liang brothers, but upon hearing that he had to go to Yangzhou, he became anxious. Just as he was about to speak, Wang Kuang pulled him back and gave him a signal, and only then did he reluctantly obey. Wang Kuang whispered something in his ear again, and Wang Ling's expression changed from anger to joy. He grabbed Deng Xiaosan, led the four horses from the stable, and chose several yamen runners to return and prepare immediately. They were to meet up with him at the entrance of Wang Village. Wang Village was not on the Liang brothers' route to Jian'an, but rather a detour, so they didn't have to worry about running into them. Deng Xiaosan had been exhausted, but upon hearing that he was going back to save his father, he immediately perked up and became spirited. He was now a completely different person from the one who had been listless just moments before. He knew that since the Magistrate had intervened in this matter, it was basically settled. Moreover, this man was also the older brother of his benefactor, and he had just witnessed his bravery. He only hoped that things would turn out as his benefactor had said, and that the Deng family wouldn't harm his father for the time being to avoid raising suspicions.

  Huang Liang arranged for Wang Ling to go to Yangzhou, and then let Lin Ming arrange the rest of the things. He also instructed that if there was a need for support from the prefectural government, he should feel free to ask. With that, he returned to the yamen. Although he was the governor, this was after all a matter within the jurisdiction of Jian'an County, and he couldn't interfere too much himself. If Wang Ling weren't Wang Kuang's older brother, he wouldn't have even dared to send him to Yangzhou.

  Lin Ming saw that Wang Kuang was always calm and composed, with a confident air about him. If it were his own family's Lin Xuanmiao in this situation, he would probably have turned pale by now. He couldn't help but secretly admire: what a fearless young man, and only fifteen years old at that! If he can last another ten or eight years, he'll be just fine.

  At this moment, he forgot about the past when Wang Kuang often made him lose face and almost couldn't show his face. He had a mind to examine the school again. Touching his beard, which was thicker than in previous years, he asked Wang Kuang: "Second Brother is so calm, I'm afraid you have already thought of something?" In these two years, he has often heard Wang Kuang ask Lin Xuanmiao to repeat words like "eating black sesame, black beans, and black fungus" which are said to have the effect of rejuvenation. After eating for two years, his hair is indeed darker and thicker than before. Therefore, now he only has admiration for Wang Kuang in his heart. Sometimes, he even uses Wang Kuang as an example to scold Lin Xuanmiao, making Lin Xuanmiao say the most whenever he sees Wang Kuang: "Please don't be so charming, okay?"

  "Returning to the topic, it's actually quite simple to capture the Liang brothers." Wang Kuang had already made up his mind and saw Lin Ming asking, so he replied. Since he still needed to borrow the county government's manpower, he didn't keep secrets and explained his arrangements in detail.

  "Excellent, excellent!" Lin Ming heard Wang Kuang's plan and clapped his hands with a loud laugh: "In that case, there will be no mistakes at all. I'll assign a group of yamen runners to follow your instructions."

  The Li brothers were so depressed, they just dozed off by the side of the road, and their horses were led away, along with their luggage. Not a sound was made, it seems like this is the work of an expert. Fortunately, the other party didn't take their precious heads, otherwise, while they were sleeping, they could have been easily beheaded with just one knife. They patted their pockets and fortunately, the silver money they brought was still there, not lost. With no other choice, they had to take a detour to Longquan City to buy a few more horses. Along the way, the four brothers were blaming each other nonstop. They continued arguing until they arrived in Jian'an.

  Four brothers, apart from being greedy for sleep, were not very foolish. They first went to the Fuli Inn and stayed for a day, after inquiring about the location of Wang Kuang's small courtyard, they also learned that the alley outside Wang Kuang's small courtyard had a straight door leading directly to the outer street, so they retreated from their room and rented an empty yard nearby, preparing to take action at midnight.

  In the inn, Sun Er and Niu Wazi had already instructed them to go down and tell them about the characteristics of the Liang brothers as described by Deng Xiaosan, so every move of the Liang brothers was grasped by Wang Kuang at any time.

  At the third watch, it seemed that heaven also wanted to help the four brothers. A large patch of dark clouds covered the moon, and outside was pitch black. The Liang brothers had all changed their clothes, leaving one to watch the horses, while the other three sneaked to the door leading to Wang Kuang's courtyard, which they had inquired about the day before. They carefully used a sharp knife to pry open the door latch, and with a gentle push, the door creaked open without making a sound. The three were overjoyed, thinking that it would take some effort to open the door, but it turned out to be surprisingly easy (don't be fooled by scenes in movies where a small sharp knife can easily pry open a door latch - in reality, there is also a retaining bolt on the latch that prevents it from being pried open, unless the owner forgets to insert the bolt after closing the door). They had already prepared themselves to climb over the wall if they couldn't open the door. Now it seemed that the security measures of this rich inn were surprisingly weak, and this task was too easy.

  Left one to keep watch at the gate, the remaining two quietly made their way to the door of Wang Kuang's residence, which they had previously inquired about, and then opened the door in the same manner as before, proceeding to sneak into Wang Kuang's house.

  They had only taken two steps when their feet suddenly felt empty, and the two of them thought to themselves that something was wrong. They wanted to jump up, but their feet were already empty, with no place to push off from. By the time they managed to get a foothold, it was too late. A large net had been placed over their heads at some point, and now they found themselves under bright lights. Looking down, they saw that they were standing on the edge of a deep pit, more than half a person's height in depth. The two of them looked at each other in dismay, feeling regretful in their hearts. It turned out that the other side had been prepared all along, but who could have leaked the information? Before the two of them could even react from their confusion, the inn's servants had already rushed over, each holding a stick or rod, and started beating them mercilessly without saying a word. Gao San was particularly vicious in his beating, using a rolling pin to target their armpits while cursing loudly: "You dare to come and kidnap people? I'll make sure to cripple your arms!

  Next to him, Da Jian saw that the third child was about to get angry, so he hurriedly went forward and snatched the rolling pin away from him. He handed him a fire tongs instead: "Use this, use this, it's more effective for beating." He was afraid that the rolling pin would be stained with blood and they would have to change to a new one. Where could they find a new one as handy as the old one?

  At this time, the two men who were watching the wind outside the door and the one who was guarding the horses had already been taken down by the yamen runners. The crowd of little rascals was too big, and they were worried that they couldn't squeeze in to beat people up. Now, seeing two more coming, they swarmed around again, beating them up fiercely. The yamen runners didn't stop them either, but instead stood aside with their hands clasped together, laughing and joking, occasionally pointing out to the crowd which parts of the body were most painful to hit, and how to beat someone without killing them. The Liang brothers were beaten until they cried out in pain, while the other two had their hands and feet tied up, and were trapped under a net, unable to fight back, and could only curl up on the ground and roll around. At this time, the door opened, and Wang Kuang led Wang Ruo's hand, walking out with Lin Ming together. Lin Ming looked at the Liang brothers being beaten by the crowd and laughed loudly: "Second Master is indeed clever, capturing four thieves so easily, truly a young talent."

  "You're overpraising me. In fact, I only grasped the point that people are all lazy. If there's an easy way to do things, ordinary people won't go out of their way to look for trouble."

  Originally, all of this had been arranged by Wang Kuang. When the Liang brothers were staying at the inn, he guessed that they would definitely investigate clearly before checking out and finding another place to stay, otherwise it would be easy to track them down. Therefore, after waiting for the Liang brothers to check out, he arranged for people to dig a big hole in his own courtyard, using fine bamboo branches to cover it up and sprinkling floating soil on top, making it invisible at night. Then, he intentionally left the door bolts of the two doors unfastened, and even applied oil to the door hinges, so that when the Liang brothers saw that there was a convenient way out, the first door was safe, and if the second door opened easily, they would not be suspicious and would not jump over the wall to come in, stepping right into Wang Kuang's trap.

  Division

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