Security Investigation Report

Tongji Bridge in Zhangjiawan City.

Clang!

Upon hearing the sound of gongs and horses' hooves, roadside vendors hurriedly packed up their stalls, and pedestrians moved into the shops on both sides.

The six imperial guards leading the way were dressed in orange-red robes and carried two flags, two plaques, and two gongs.

The light red double flags read "Zhang, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard" and "Zhang, Admiral of the Tongwan River Affairs and Arresting Officer".

The blue background with gold lettering on the double plaques signifies avoidance and silence, while the double gongs clang loudly.

Next came the imperial guards in full armor and the camp guards in full helmets and armor; the former held waist knives, and the latter held long spears.

Zhang Kun did not travel by sedan chair or carriage, but rode on horseback.

Accompanied by nearly a hundred imperial guards and soldiers, they crossed the Tongji Bridge and entered the Western Division of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the office for arresting officers.

Speaking of which, when Zhang Kun first served as a captain in the Jinyiwei Street Office, in charge of Xuanbei Ward, his power was far too small.

They were occupied by higher-level officials, such as the hundred-household and thousand-household officials, and could only be absentee managers.

After all, Zhang Kun's eunuch godfather only wanted to issue Zhang Kun an official seal so that he could manage the fat dungeons of Xuanbei Ward.

After that, Zhang Kun promoted the project of dredging the nine gates of the city moat, went south to recruit river workers, and established the River Workers' Camp.

After the Jin Yun ship was destroyed by fire and taken over by the imperial store, it went south and established the Nanjing Jin Yun ship.

These two experiences were less about being officials and more about using official positions as a front for starting businesses.

Now that Zhang Kun has become a commander of the arrest team, he can finally be considered an official, and he is in charge of maintaining public order in the area!

......

Inside the yamen (official residence) for the arrest of Zhang Kun, the inspectors and deputy inspectors of Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu were kneeling to welcome him.

Logically, the security of Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu should be the responsibility of these two patrol and inspection offices dispatched by Tongzhou.

However, how could a small ninth-rank patrol office with only a few dozen militiamen possibly govern Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu, each with a population of two to three hundred thousand?

Besides the patrol and inspection office, Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu also had the transport army.

Although the two military commanders did not attend in person, they sent their trusted confidants to show their support.

They each had one hundred transport soldiers and four hundred transport laborers under their command, mainly responsible for maintaining order on the canal.

They were already overwhelmed just by preventing thieves from attacking cargo ships and merchant ships, let alone intervening in the security on shore.

Therefore, the arresting officers dispatched by the Western Division of the Embroidered Uniform Guard became the main force in maintaining order in Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu.

In addition to the fifty elite guards, there were also one hundred spies recruited and seconded under the name of the Five Cities Garrison.

Zhang Kun's godfather, the eunuch, has a hundred guards who can provide support at any time.

In summary, Zhang Kun, as the head of the arrest team, could only directly mobilize 50 soldiers.

In addition, there were 200 guards and patrolmen, for a total of 250 people.

There are only 300 soldiers who can support Zhang Kun, plus 500 porters.

Fortunately, the dredging of the nine city gates by the river engineering camp is nearing completion, and they will soon be able to relocate to Zhangjiawan.

At that time, Zhang Kun will be able to directly mobilize 350 soldiers, in addition to 5000 river workers.

The total troop strength will increase to more than twenty times that of before!

After meeting the inspectors of Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu Patrol Offices, as well as the confidants of the transport army commander.

Zhang Kun then summoned the captains and officers of the Imperial Guard and had a brief conversation with them.

Because of his connection with the 19th Brother Zheng Anshi, these new subordinates were very friendly towards Zhang Kun.

Even without this connection, Zhang Kun, who controls the Jin Yun, is someone they must and are willing to curry favor with.

After all, the reward money Zhang Kun bestowed upon them upon meeting was equivalent to their annual salary!

......

Upon assuming office, Zhang Kun's first task was to ascertain the current state of public security in Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu.

With the assistance of his eunuch godfather and his adopted nineteenth brother Zheng Anshi, the investigation was much more efficient and progressed extremely quickly.

First, there's the rahu.

The Lahu people of Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu together number about two to three thousand.

The Lahu of that time mainly came from "middle-class" families, unlike in later generations, where many minors came from relatively poor backgrounds.

After all, there was no compulsory education, child labor was not prohibited, and there was little social welfare at the time; if you didn't work, you would starve to death.

These hooligans can be divided into two categories: one is simply idle and wandering around.

The harm is relatively minor; at most, it might involve harassing women, petty theft, fighting, or gambling.

Another type of person acts as a lackey for the powerful and influential, which is more harmful and often involves cases of extortion, fraud, and other scams.

The latter should be dealt with with caution, because one must consider the owner before beating the dog.

Even if the owner did not grant permission, they might feel they had lost face and want to retaliate.

Zhang Kun's idea is to increase the transparency of various information as much as possible to help those savvy out-of-town merchants.

As for those who are clueless and easily fooled by bluffing and empty threats, they'll be fooled sooner or later, if not here.

After all, in the capital city, which is dozens of miles away, there are many more of these kinds of bluffers, and their backers have more prestigious reputations.

Secondly, it's about printing.

Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu have dozens of wharves of various sizes, each employing tens of thousands of laborers with little technical skill who make a living from the wharves.

They are mainly divided into dozens of gangs based on their place of origin, and they often fight for territory among themselves.

In recent years, frequent disasters have led to an increasing number of disaster victims and the poor flocking to the docks, resulting in increasingly fierce competition.

Nowadays, dozens of people die every month, but it's not reported to the authorities.

To be honest, Zhang Kun didn't have much of a solution. They wanted to earn money to eat, but there were only so many jobs available.

The only thing we can do is try to create jobs and find ways to increase the number of livelihoods.

What's truly despicable are the high-ranking members of those gangs, who not only exploit the laborers but also lure them with large sums of money to engage in illicit activities.

For example, they act as thugs for shady businesses such as usury and gambling dens, and are hired to beat or even kill people.

Vandalizing shops that refuse to pay bribes, assisting gangs in monopolizing a certain industry, etc.

In fact, Zhang Kun had done something similar before, using violence to force the residents of Xuanbeifang to buy Feiduan's bean paper.

But Zhang Kun has now completed his initial capital accumulation and no longer behaves so blatantly.

The revenue from the Jin Yun and Li Min ships' trading in the Danbagu market will be used to subsidize the Feng Gu ship's profitable trading, thus stopping forced sales.

The reason why Fenggu was able to monopolize the entire Feiduan section of the South City was because the River Works Camp supplied a large amount of silt and competed with low prices.

By competing on low prices, Fengguhao further strengthened its monopoly on bean paper in the southern part of the city.

Most high-ranking members of gangs cannot do this; those who can have already retired from the criminal world and gone straight to the right path.

Finally, there are the thieves.

If the existence of labor-based cooperatives is to be considered, it at least serves a certain degree of mutual assistance among laborers.

The existence of thieves is purely due to the incompetence of the government, which is unable to eradicate them.

Of course, with only a few dozen soldiers and a few hundred able-bodied men available, it was impossible to completely wipe them out.

Moreover, with more and more disaster victims joining the thieves, even the most skilled cook can't make a meal without rice.

Unlike the laborers who participated in the fight, these guys are no longer worth saving; the only solution is to kill them all with knives!

The exact number of thieves active in the vicinity of Zhangjiawan and Hexiwu is difficult to determine.

We can only give a rough estimate, but it adds up to about two or three thousand people.

Once the river engineering camp moves here, I'll send you all to heaven one by one!

Zhang Kun closed the investigation report in his hand and thought to himself.