The evidence is conclusive and Liu Yanchang cannot deny it.

Hu Pingtao made a decision: "In this case, let's go back to the police station to deal with it!"

…

Five cartons of cigarettes, plus 80 boxes of loose cigarettes, were worth over 10,000 yuan.

In the interrogation room, Hu Pingtao asked: "Where did you get these fake cigarettes from?"

Liu Yanchang hunched over, timidly replied in a low voice: "...I bought it over there on Xijiao Road."

Hu Pingtao asked: "Let me explain clearly, where is Xijiao Road? Who did you buy it from?"

Liu Yanchang replied: "There is a small amusement park facing the street at the small square on Xijiao Road, at the intersection, next to the south-facing traffic light. I rode there last week, and the light happened to be red, and a man came over and asked me

, Do you want a cigarette?”

Hu Pingtao narrowed his eyes: "I usually wait for traffic lights when commuting to get off work, but why haven't I encountered anyone selling cigarettes to me on the roadside? Liu Yanchang, let me remind you: you are suspected of fraud, and the case value is quite large. You Don't take chances and think that our police can't do anything to you.

How about it? I can give you a legal education class. If the case value reaches 3,000, the case will be filed. This is not a small case where you can be arrested and detained for a few days and then released... To put it bluntly, just based on your performance today

For what you have done, if a case is filed, you will have to stay in jail for at least several years."

Hearing this, Liu Yanchang suddenly raised his head and said "Ah" in shock.

Hu Pingtao said coldly: "Do you think I'm lying to you?"

Liu Yanchang's whole body was shaking like chaff: "No... no... I don't know why he came to me... Wait, I remembered it. I happened to be smoking when I was riding my bike that day. He might have looked at my hand.

I was holding a cigarette butt, so I came here to ask."

Hu Pingtao looked at him: "Tell me the contact information of that person."

Liu Yanchang probably figured it out. He spoke significantly faster and pronounced clearly: "I really don't know! The man just said that if he wanted to buy cigarettes, he would go to that intersection to find him. If he wasn't there, he would go to the small amusement park next to him.

Wait here. Anyway, after 12 noon and around 5 pm, he is basically there."

Looking at his frightened expression, Hu Pingtao continued to ask: "Did you buy these "Dazhongjiu" from him? How much does a pack cost?"

Liu Yanchang nodded quickly and replied: "Yes. When I bought it for the first time, he gave me 20 yuan a pack. At that time, I felt something was wrong. This authentic store sold 100 yuan a box, and the price difference was too big.

I smoked one, and the scent was very weak, and it didn’t have any refreshing effect.”

Hu Pingtao sneered: "Since you know they are fake cigarettes, why do you still go to him to buy them?"

Liu Yanchang lowered his head: "The packaging of this cigarette is no different from the real one. I thought to myself, no one can see it at 20 yuan a pack, so I can just find a way to go to the store and replace it with the real one. As I go, I

I'll make a profit. Even if I can't sell it for 100 yuan a box, I'll give a discount and sell it to others for 80 yuan a box, and there will be a price difference of dozens of yuan."

Hu Pingtao was angry and amused when he heard this: "You have such a brain, it would be a pity not to do business... You understand, this is fraud and it is illegal!"

Liu Yanchang's forehead drooped, his face full of decadence.

…

The small square on Xijiao Road was not under the jurisdiction of the Eryuan Road Police Station. According to regulations, Hu Pingtao handed the case over to the police station in the jurisdiction.

At around four o'clock in the afternoon, I received a call from the 110 command center: Someone called the police on Jinping Road.

Similar calls come every day, but this time the command center added an extra sentence: This is an alarm from the district greening management center.

On the way to the scene of the incident, Wang Gui kept muttering: "What could happen to the greening department?"

Hu Pingtao was also confused by this.

Arriving at the scene quickly.

Two urban management officers in dark uniforms were already waiting there.

"Hello, my name is Wu Chaoping, and I am from the Greening Management Center of the District Urban Management Bureau." The middle-aged man in the lead was very enthusiastic. He took the initiative to hold Hu Pingtao's hand and introduced the other person standing next to him: "This is me.

Colleague Wang Wei.”

Hu Pingtao nodded and asked with interest: "Since you are from the Greening Department, why are you wearing the urban management uniform?"

Wu Chaoping explained with a smile: "Our unit used to be under the management of the Urban Construction Bureau, but last year's organizational reform put us under the jurisdiction of the District Urban Management Bureau."

"So that's it!" Hu Pingtao suddenly realized, and then asked: "You called the police, what happened?"

Wu Chaoping pulled him to the roadside and pointed to the nearest street tree: "Look, this tree is no longer good."

This is a camphor tree over two meters high. There are very few leaves on the branches, and the remaining leaves are yellow in color and curled as if they have lost water.

The main trunk of the tree is supported by several wooden poles, forming a stable structure. The soil at the roots of the tree is very moist. It has obviously been watered recently, and it has not been covered with turf or planted with ground cover plants.

"This tree seems to be newly planted, right?" Hu Pingtao has some experience in this. He has a college classmate who is now working as a designer for a greening company.

Wu Chaoping nodded: "Yes. The previous street tree on this road was Ficus microphylla. Although it is an evergreen species, it is not cold-tolerant. The winter before last saw a cold wave that had not been seen in decades. It snowed twice, and the road was piled up.

The small-leaf figs in the city have been extensively frozen to death, and the ones that have managed to survive until now are no longer good. According to the city's requirements, we are replacing the street trees in the area."

Wang Wei interjected from the side: "The street trees currently planted are mainly native tree species. For example, Yunnan Phoebe and Yunnan Pu. But trees like Yunnan Pu will lose their leaves in autumn, and the above requirements are evergreen tree species, because we

The provincial capital has a pleasant climate! So Dianpu’s plan was rejected and was not considered.”

Hu Pingtao looked at the tree in front of him and asked curiously: "This tree is camphor, not Dianrunnan!"

Wu Chaoping explained: "Phoebe yunnanensis is indeed evergreen and is a native tree species, so it is very suitable for street trees. However, yunnanaphoea grows slowly, and the time from the seedling stage to the mature stage is too long. According to the regulations of our greening department: the standard of street trees must not be lower than

The diameter at breast height is eight centimeters. We usually plant trees from outside nurseries. The quantity of Phoebe yunnanensis is small and we can’t get enough, so we can only use camphor.”

Hu Pingtao suddenly realized: "So that's it."

The so-called "diameter at breast height" refers to the diameter of a tree starting from the ground and reaching a position similar to an adult's chest, that is, one and a half meters above the ground.

Wu Chaoping took Hu Pingtao to the street, pointed to the intersection in the distance, and said seriously: "We started replacing the street trees on this street the year before last. It is now the third year. Here, over there

, and over there, the whole street is covered with camphor trees, with a total of more than 1,500 trees planted, all of which are large trees with a diameter at breast height of more than eight centimeters."

Following his guidance, Hu Pingtao immediately saw the difference - not to mention the distance, even the street trees across the road were growing well, lush, with shiny leaves, revealing a pleasant green color. But

Looking back at the trees around me, the leaves are withered and the branches are thin, like an old man who is decaying and may reach the end of his life at any time.

He subconsciously asked: "Why are the trees here growing so poorly?"

Wu Chaoping explained: "It's not that the growth is poor, it's that these trees are failing and are almost dead."

"From the first intersection over there, to here, and here... just this section, there are a total of fourteen camphor trees, and they are all gone."

Hu Pingtao was a little puzzled. Based on his own experience and logic, he asked doubtfully: "As far as I know, it takes time for trees to survive from transplanting. The eight-centimeter camphor tree is already a big tree. When transplanting, it seems to take

With a ball of earth, you want to behead your head or something?"

Wu Chaoping smiled unexpectedly: "I didn't see it! You are still an expert. Yes, there is a complete set of operating procedures for transplanting large trees: first cut off the roots in advance, and then dig around the roots to form a complete soil ball.

.During transportation, the soil balls at the roots should be tied up with straw ropes, just like eggs are tied up with ropes, and they must not be damaged.

When the transplanted trees are transported to the planting site, most of the leaves must be removed, 80% or even 90%, because the leaves will produce transpiration and consume the water in the trunk. The newly transplanted trees have damaged roots and their ability to absorb water is reduced.

It can only rely on the water in the body to maintain its decline, so avoid consuming it if there are fewer leaves."

Wang Wei said next to him: "If the trees lose too much water during the transplanting process, they will have to be given "dialysis injections" depending on the situation. Now some trees still have IV bags hanging on them, which is the same reason."

Hu Pingtao smiled and said: "It's like separated by mountains."

Wu Chaoping continued to introduce the situation: "As for this period, we have been changing trees since the year before last."

"The first inspection was in September of the year before last. At that time, the street tree transplantation project on the entire street was completed...well, it ended in June. September was a routine inspection, mainly to check the survival rate. After all, big trees were transplanted

There are still risks. As long as the survival rate remains above 90%, the standard is met. At that time, we looked at all the trees along the line one by one and found no problems, including the ones on this stretch of road. So from that month

From the beginning, we arranged for workers to replant shrubs along the tree pond."

He pointed to the spot under the tree on the road opposite: "The second month after the first inspection was the National Day. The district arranged to plant brightly colored grass and flowers. In order to celebrate the National Day, this is done every year. So we and the workers were busy

It took more than two weeks to plant all the tree ponds on this road. But after the National Day, during the normal inspection, I found that the street trees in this section had no leaves, and the situation did not look very good."

"They were all planted in the same batch, and the problem can be seen from the appearance. At first we thought it was a drought and there was not enough water, so we arranged for people to water it. But later we found that it was useless, and the condition of the trees still did not improve.

Wait until December, we..."

"Wait!" Hu Pingtao interrupted him and asked puzzledly: "From June to December, there is a difference of half a year. This period of time is too long!"

Wang Wei explained: "Plants are different from people. Think about it, the average life span of a person is only a few decades, but it is very common for a tree to live for centuries or even thousands of years. So this

From root cutting to transplanting, a tree has a dormant period. Sometimes it can recover in one or two months, sometimes it can last for half a year or even more than a year. It depends on the tree species, weather, soil, environment... In short, it is very complicated.

, there are many uncertainties.”

Wu Chaoping continued: "We felt very strange at that time, because logically it shouldn't be the case! There is no difference in watering in the same area, the same tree species, so why do the street trees in this section not grow well?"

"Later, we carefully inspected these fourteen camphor trees and found that they were vandalized."

As he spoke, Wu Chaoping walked to the tree, squatted down, pushed aside the messy shrubs, and pointed to the root of the tree: "Look, it's right here."

Hu Pingtao clearly saw that a circular incision had been cut around the tree trunk almost flush with the ground.

The width is about two centimeters, the wooden layer has been soaked with sewage, the color is black, and there are even signs of rot on the surface.

Hu Pingtao frowned and said, "The cambium layer of this tree has been destroyed."

Wu Chaoping and Wang Wei looked at him in surprise.

"I didn't see it! You are really an expert!" Wu Chaoping praised: "As the old saying goes: people are afraid of being sad, and trees are afraid of peeling off their bark. This is the truth. Trees absorb water mainly through their roots. Water enters the tree body and flows to the tree body.
To be continued...