Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely-Chapter 1270 - 419: Xiang Liang’s Prospects, the Dire Situation at Hongmen, and the Head-Cutting Schemer’s Big Heist_3
Not to mention the particularity of the Chief of Punishment position, according to Xia Chuan’s requirements for the Eight Departments’ directors, the minimum strength must be at least 20-maned, with the principle being that they would rather leave the position vacant than appoint someone below this strength.
No need to mention Xiang Liang. Within less than half a year, he could be promoted all the way to a Silver Order Prison Warden, which shows that his investigation skills are definitely not low. The problem is his 6-maned strength, which is indeed too weak.
This strength is not even suitable for a Vice Chief of Punishment, which is why Xia Chuan gave him a green light for two months at the Martial Arts Pavilion to quickly improve his strength.
Bai Shanning’s 17-maned strength is only barely fitting to be a Vice Chief of Punishment, and his strength is already considered top-notch among the Silver Order Prison Wardens.
Currently, in the entire Prison Warden system, there is only one Golden Order Prison Warden, and that is Hou Ming. Hou Ming has a 25-maned strength, which is certainly enough to be the Chief of Punishment.
But the problem is, there is only one Hou Ming!
So, this leads to a problem where appointing specialized prison talents to serve as regional Chief of Punishment is basically unattainable at this stage.
The only option is to settle for less, allowing those strong in power to be the Chief of Punishment first, with a group of prison wardens as their subordinates, assisting in handling cases; as for the Vice Chief of Punishment, many Silver Order Prison Wardens have come up to strength, so normal appointments can be made.
Hongmen currently appointing Zhao Bao as the Chief of Punishment clearly belongs to this situation.
According to the regulations of the Prison Department, a Chief of Punishment can normally be equipped with 3 Silver Order Prison Wardens and 30 Iron Order Prison Wardens; whereas a Vice Chief of Punishment is generally a Silver Order Prison Warden themselves, and can have 10 Iron Order Prison Wardens.
This means that Hongmen currently has 6 Silver Order Prison Wardens, 90 Iron Order Prison Wardens, with the total number almost reaching one hundred.
What concept is this?
Prison Wardens are not as common as cabbage; they are people specially trained by the Prison Department at great effort for case investigations and handling. In general, small outposts have at most 3 Iron Order Prison Wardens, while large outposts normally have 3 Silver Order and 30 Iron Order, totaling 33 wardens.
Previously, Hou Ming was able to transfer 20 Silver Order Prison Wardens to help in the Outer City North Fifth District, which was taking advantage of nearby resources. Most of that 20 were already responsible for various jurisdictions in the Outer City, so going to the North Fifth District was just a matter of taking a stroll.
In such situations, the number of unresolved cases in each outpost is basically a set number. Small outposts have at most about 20 cases, larger ones slightly more, roughly between 50 to 80; even the North Fifth District with its recently overwhelming pressure has only 78 unresolved cases.
Yet, Hongmen City, with so many prison wardens, has accumulated 239 unresolved cases!
Last night when Xiang Liang saw the Hongmen Scroll in the main hall of the Prison Department, he thought the high number of unresolved cases was due to a shortage of manpower. So hearing Bai Shanning say now that Hongmen City has over a hundred prison wardens, he was so surprised.
"You’ve been secluded for more than two months at the Martial Arts Pavilion, so not knowing is normal..."
Bai Shanning already knew how Xiang Liang improved his 5-maned strength and, thinking he had not really inquired much about the situation in Hongmen City, the two just left Xia City, entered the Direct Path, and headed towards the Xing River North Shore of the Southern Dynasty, he patiently explained the situation as their journey was long.
With Bai Shanning narrating the situation in Hongmen City, Xiang Liang’s expression became increasingly solemn.
Since the opening in July last year, people from the Great Xia including the Eight Towns have been flocking endlessly to Hongmen City. As of September 18 last year, when the Lords of the Six Towns jointly opposed Great Xia, the permanent population of Hongmen City had risen to over 150,000.
At that time, the pressure on public security in Hongmen City was already very large.
But unexpectedly, on September 18 last year, Xia Hong defeated Yang Zhun and strongly subdued the Six Towns, causing Hongmen City’s boom to climb to a new level.
Afterwards, people from all directions came almost daily, increasing Hongmen City’s permanent population day by day. By early this year, the permanent population had reached 200,000, counting the floating population was almost nearing 300,000.
What concept is this?
The Outer City North Fifth District of Great Xia, specifically used to settle outsiders, had a total population of just over 63,000, already keeping Hou Ming frantically busy, while Hongmen City’s population is above three times that.
Key is people coming to Xia City were mainly for observing and probing;
but those going to Hongmen City were without exception going for trade.
These people, whether entering or exiting the city, carried either money or goods, making it extremely tempting for criminal activities, paired with the unknown identities from all directions, it’s truly a case of relying on one’s own abilities.
Murders and robberies, roadside ambushes, vendettas, revenge, black-on-black conflicts, unsuccessful negotiations in trade... all such matters could be said to emerge endlessly.
At first, these incidents were concentrated outside the city, but as many people figured out the situation in Hongmen City and the Great Xia Government Office as well as the garrison, and considering those who came to reside permanently in Hongmen were becoming increasingly skilled, these incidents began to gradually surface inside the city.
Before September 18 last year, Hongmen City averaged 2 to 3 murder cases a day; after September 18, everyone knew that even the Lords of the Six Towns dared not mess in Hongmen City, yet the murder rate suddenly skyrocketed, increasing to 5 to 8 cases per day.
Bear in mind, this is daily!
Today is January 16, from September 18 to today, 117 days have passed, calculating by the lowest daily rate of 5 cases, this means, just in the past 117 days, Hongmen recorded nearly 600 murder cases.
