Lu Ming

"Grandpa, don't shoot, don't shoot, it's me, it's me, old Bian of the county government!"

"Old Bian? What are you doing here?"

"This...by the county order, come to invite Master Xiong to drink tea and appreciate Fengyue!"

Chapter 397

After staying in the county yamen all night anxiously, the magistrate came to the county magistrate, and on the next morning, he waited for Bian Butou, who returned to the yamen for his order.

As everyone expected, Butou Bian failed to summon Master Xiong back.However, Catcher Bian was able to do business this trip, because he brought a subordinate sent by Xiong Dao to deal with the interrogation.

Now that the person is here, let's hurry up and ask questions. The helpless Lai Xianzun now just wants to let this farce pass quickly-every day the farce drags on, his prestige will be weakened.

You must know that Lai Xianzun was not idle last night.Whether it was the friends he invited in private to inquire about the inside story, or the various "friends" who came to the door "confidantly" to work for the county priest, he dealt with seven or eight of them.Therefore, Lai Xianzun has now thoroughly figured out the beginning and end of this farce, and because of this, he hates the Xu family who dragged him into the water more and more.

Since this case involved a lot of shady people and big bosses, the county government deliberately closed the front door today and adopted a less influential "closed door trial" method.

However, although the closed-door trial method can isolate some people watching the excitement, it cannot isolate some people who have been waiting in the hall early in the morning.

This group of people is full of stomachs, wearing silk and satin. They are either the second steward of a certain mansion or the third steward of a certain house. They all carry their master's name cards in their arms, and they are arrogant. of.

These people came with accomplices from the prosecution and support from the defense. In the end, the Yamen had no choice but to start a trial with the participation of privileged onlookers.

Amid the classic bass chorus of "Mighty... Wu...", the Laixian Zun, who was wearing a seventh-rank civil official uniform and embroidered with a Xizhi on his patch, walked away from the back hall step by step. come out.

After the sound of a gavel, everyone was silent, and then Lai Xianzun followed the routine, opened his mouth and asked both the prosecution and the defense under the public case: "Who is under the hall?"

A middle-aged man with big ears, a pointed belly, a brocade robe, and an emerald green ring first bowed down to salute, and then returned: "Reporting to the county lord, Xu Zhong, the housekeeper of the Xu family."

At this point, the prosecutor's representative, Steward Xu, straightened his back, and glanced at the person beside him with the eyes of a bumpkin.

The defense representative standing next to him is a military academy wearing a brass bucket hat, a big red fat jacket with double breasts, and iron boots.

This military academy is tall and fat, with big arms and round waist, face like the bottom of a pot, full of beards, fleshy face, full of military ruffian taste.

Feeling the disdainful look from Butler Xu beside him, the military academy immediately took out a black lacquered wooden plaque from his arms, and then shouted in a loud Hokkien accent: "A certain house is the front office of General Cao of Nan'ao. The personal soldiers took Chief Yan Tiexia, and met Taizun."

Here came the county magistrate to listen to the prosecution and the defense. After the two parties only reported their family names, they hummed and planned to follow the process mechanically to the next step.

However, before he could open his mouth, something happened in the hall.Butler Xu pointed at the military academy and yelled, "You bastard Qiu Ba, why don't you kneel down and salute when you see the magistrate?"

"Hahaha!" Yan Tiexia first laughed twice when he heard the sound, and then while holding the official badge in his hand, he raised his head and said: "This school is a dignified seventh-rank general, an official ordered by the court, what is the law of the Ming Dynasty?" One said, Qipin wants to pay homage to Qipin?"

At this moment, Lai Xianzun's stomach was filled with sour water, and his mouth was full of bitterness - he wished he could drag this stupid butler Xu down and beat him to death with a stick.

Yes, after 200 years of unremitting efforts by the civil service system of the Ming Dynasty, the military officer's "forced style" was finally suppressed little by little.In the late Ming Dynasty, military officers of the same rank were completely speechless in front of civil officials, and became de facto subordinates.Not to mention the seventh rank, there are thousands of households in the fifth and sixth rank guards who rely on hereditary yin officials, and they will also take the initiative to bow down in front of the real power seventh rank hall.

However, unspoken rules are unspoken rules after all, no matter how they are usually implemented, this kind of thing cannot be brought to the table after all.Even the emperor himself pretended to be confused at most, and it was impossible to express his support publicly.

You must know that at the beginning Zhu Baba was nothing more than stipulating that subordinates should bow down to their superiors, but he never stipulated that military officers of the same rank should kneel down to civil servants.

So this is why the county magistrate hates Xu's family: the general soldier behind Xiong Dao is clearly going to make trouble, and even sent out the military academy, but at this time the Xu family has repeatedly pushed himself to the fore. He wanted to be arrested, and today he was talking about kneeling... At this juncture, which county magistrate would dare to make Qiu Ba kneel down?

You don't have to use a sledgehammer to kill a chicken, but you must use a sledgehammer to kill a cow.

The current situation is: the Xu family does not want to pay the price of a sledgehammer, but has repeatedly tried to use the privilege of a scholar-bureaucrat to get Xiong Dao.However, privileges are used to deal with small people, and now we have to deal with a powerful general who holds military horses. The small knife of the county magistrate is not qualified at all... No, he was kicked out as soon as he made a move. The bird is a Qipin county magistrate.

Seeing the embarrassing Lai County Magistrate saying nothing, the junior Yan Tiexia walked around the hall with a disdainful face, and then yelled loudly: "I'll just say it, who in this Daming Court would dare Fulfilling the laws of the Ming Dynasty? Is there any law of the king?"

After pointing at Sang and scolding Huai, he seemed to be a man of the army, but Yan Tiexia, who was quick to talk, circled around Butler Xu the next moment: "I said, my lord, I don't know how high your official residence is?"

Steward Xu has been used to arrogance for half his life, how could he notice the danger today.He pointed his halberd and shouted loudly: "Bastard, I am the second housekeeper of the Xu family. You are a big sesame seed, Qiu Baguan, and you don't even inquire about it. Can you provoke the Xu family?"

"It turned out to be a white body." The next moment, Yan Tiexia's face shook with a smile that was not a smile, then grabbed the two fingers of Butler Xu, and twisted them down hard.

In the hall, housekeeper Xu screamed and fell to his knees at Yan Tiexia's feet.

Yan Tiexia held onto those two fingers, and shouted loudly at the county magistrate: "A white body, roaring in the court, insulting officials of the seventh rank, dare to ask Taizun, what crime should such a person deserve?"

Lai Xianzun has been numb by the endless repertoires of these two people.

Just now, seeing the faces of these two people who don't care about their family at all, a certain person has completely recognized the situation and planned to do business - only by doing business can he let this farce have a reputation for himself. Only by minimizing the blows can the people behind the eyeliner outside the hall be able to pick no mistakes.

So Lai Xianzun patted the gavel and said expressionlessly: "Young schoolboy, just let Steward Xu go."

Immediately afterwards he said: "Xu Zhong is white, but roaring in the courtroom, he has no eyes on the superiors, first write down the twenty killing sticks, and settle the settlement after the case is over."

When Yan Tiexia heard this, he nodded in satisfaction, and let go of Butler Xu's finger: "The Taizun is really Qingtian."

Butler Xu, who was sitting on the ground and clutching his right hand, immediately showed an expression of disbelief when he heard the verdict, and even forgot the sharp pain in his fingers for a while.

He opened his mouth, first glanced at the expressionless county magistrate, then turned his head to look at the row of puppet-like government servants who did not move. It's too late to be silent - the basic skill of a butler is to observe words and emotions. By this time, if he still can't see the situation clearly, he is not worthy of being the second butler.

……

After a lively foreplay, seeing the scene quiet down, Lai Xianzun coughed and finally started the formal trial.

"Today, Mrs. Xu sued merchant Xiong Dao for setting fire and assaulting people. Where is your principal, Xiong Dao, in that small school?"

At this time, Yan Tiexia put his arms on his chest, his legs straddled, his eyes turned up, and he said to the beam above his head: "Master Xiong went to Fuzhou to visit his elder Xiong Fujun a few days ago, and he is no longer in Jiading. False accusation!"

The county magistrate rolled his eyelids when he heard this.It doesn't matter if Xiong Dao is in Jiading or not, anyway, everyone knows that Xiong Dao will not show up in court, so his questioning just now is just a procedure.

Unexpectedly, this question blew up another Xiong Wencan, the elder of Xiong Dao's family!

Xiong Wencan recommended Cao Pirates, which was reported by the imperial court, so Xiong Dao, whom Cao Pirates sent to manage the private port, is actually a member of Xiong Wencan's clan... This is very logical, isn't it the Ming Dynasty version of an exchange of benefits?

Fang Wei, who wanted to understand the whole story in an instant, really had an MMP to say at this time: the Xu family of the dog day killed Lao Tzu, and this helped me offend another Fengjiang!

After coughing again, the county magistrate's attitude became a little gentler: "Mr. Yan, the pleadings told you to burn down four mulberry gardens in the neighboring village the night before yesterday. Is there such a thing?"

"There is absolutely no such thing!" President Yan cupped his hands and bowed to the hall at this moment: "Tai Zun, the Xu family has no proof and no evidence, and just opened their mouths to insult people's innocence, please be the master."

After the county venerable heard this, he turned his head to look at Butler Xu who had already got up from the ground - he should show any evidence now.

The Xu family has a fart proof.

They originally planned to play with power and influence, but ended up fighting with each other. When Steward Xu found out that he had to be reasonable in the court, he was caught off guard: "Your private port is next to Zhuangzi, so it's not your fault. Let it go, and who is it?"

Yan Tiexia had no choice but to face the county magistrate and spread his hands, showing an awkward yet polite smile: "I don't want to see a suspected neighbor stealing an axe today. My lord, I have heard that this evil gentry of the Xu family is used to framing and framing and robbing the property of good people. "Seeing you today, the rumors are indeed true."

At this moment, Lai Xianzun looked helpless: "Then Xu Zhong, I will ask you again, is there any evidence?"

Butler Xu stuttered, thinking about it, he could only use a tactic of delaying the attack: "This... I think someone must have seen the thief set the fire that night, and I will find out when I go back and check."

"So, let's wait until we find the evidence."

When the county magistrate said this, he patted the gavel, and took advantage of the situation to put the case of arson on hold indefinitely.

The next thing the county lord asked about was the case of beating the people: "...injured many tenants of the Xu family, is there such a thing?"

"My lord, there is indeed such a thing."

Yan Tiexia laughed and nodded in recognition.

Chapter 398 Consecutive Strikes

Yan Tiexia generously admitted the fact of the fight: "A few days ago, the two families fought for water, and they started a fight. After the incident, each had casualties, that's all."

When the county magistrate heard this, he knew it was another mess.

In the Middle Ages, productivity was backward, and farmers did not have the ability to drill wells and repair water conservancy projects, so the villagers valued that little running water very much.

Under such circumstances, fighting for water has almost become a daily routine for farmers.Under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, there were almost every month, every day, every day of rural fighting for this reason.

Generally speaking, if the people don't raise officials and don't investigate, the government has no way to deal with this kind of muddled matter, and it's up to the villagers themselves.The few who go to the government can only fight with each other—the peasants in the two townships who fight in gangs, who is right and who is wrong?

This kind of thing is also unresolved in later generations.

In order to fight for some water in the reservoir during the drought, there were also incidents of villagers fighting and killing people.And what about the government?The government can only mediate, appease, call the village head to hold a coordination meeting, and discuss the amount of pension for the family of the deceased...or what?Both sides are dead, who is right and who is wrong?Everyone in a township is accomplices, should they all be arrested?

So when the county magistrate heard this, he relaxed and looked in the direction of Butler Xu.

Butler Xu naturally wouldn't sit still and wait for death: "Reporting to the county, these soldiers deliberately provoked troubles a few days ago. They first cut off the river and then poisoned the villagers. All the tenants in the whole village were murdered by them. Now every household in Xujiazhuang is injured. The screams, women and children are crying and howling, the appearance is horrible, I also ask the county to punish these soldiers for the crime of torturing the villagers."

After the prosecution finished its statement, it was the defense's turn again.

Tiexia Yan called out Zhuang Tianqu: "My lord, as the saying goes, if you kill one thousand enemies, you will lose eight hundred. In the battle a few days ago, the smoke from the mulberry garden was everywhere, and my brothers were also brought down a lot. In addition, all men, women and children in Xuzhuang were like crazy tigers that day, fearless of death, armed with hoes and shovels, brothers were injured, young and old, and a few brothers were dying..."

Yan Tiexia said this, with tears in his tiger's eyes, as if he was going to the Fengbo Pavilion.

"You bastard, you're talking nonsense!" At this moment, Steward Xu was covering his fingers, jumping to his feet and yelling: "You gang of Qiuba designed to ambush the villagers, knocked down all the villagers without losing any soldiers, and even repaired the sticks, it's really inappropriate Son of man!"

"More!" Steward Xu thought of another thing when he scolded here: "Private harbors don't cultivate land, so what do you think Broken River is doing!?"

Yan Tiexia called out to Zhuang Tianqu again: "Nowadays, prices are so high that a load of brown rice costs one tael of silver. If you don't open some fields to store water and grow food, you can't survive!"

Following Yan Tiexia's yelling, all the eyes were rolled up in the hall - if the private port with its golden mountains and silver waters is too poor to afford rice, why did everyone come to the county government today?

But it's different in court.What the court pays attention to is accusation, debate and proof. No matter how outrageous the argument or claim is, it must be refuted by proof one by one according to the rules.

Ehsan, the later London rich man, raped the girl in his mansion, and then during the court debate, he said the famous sentence "I didn't sexually assault her, I just slipped in accidentally".

What about the aftermath? After 30 minutes of lawyers' arguments, discussions, and proofs, the court finally declared Ehsan not guilty.

In other words, the judge believed that his part had indeed slipped in by accident.

……

There are tricks every year, and there is no difference between ancient and modern times.

Back to the Jiading County Government in the 17th century.The current situation is that unless Steward Xu shows the income account of private Hong Kong to prove that this group of Qiu Ba can live well without farming, otherwise it is useless to "frame" the opponent as a rich man by relying on hearsay rumors .

In fact, Steward Xu had done too many things like this in the first half of his life.The same court, the same prosecution and defense, except that it was Steward Xu who usually sold out badly.And his opponents are some self-cultivated farmers and small landlords who are about to be embezzled by the Xu family.

After changing a strong opponent today, Steward Xu found it extremely unsuitable that once he left the official support, or in other words, the government only needs to remain neutral, then others can also turn black and white in front of him and point fingers at others... At this moment, Steward Xu , Finally felt the grief and helplessness of those owner farmers.

After complaining about the soaring prices and the suffering of not being able to afford food and rice, Tiexia Yan justly refuted Steward Xu's false accusation of "one soldier is not lost".

Here Yan Tiexia said openly: The county government can organize "enthusiasts from all walks of life" to set up a research group to go to the port warehouse to see those poor old beggars with broken bones... Wrong, it is his own soldiers .

There are not three or five hundred of these people, but there must be one or two hundred. It can be seen that the two sides fought that day, and everyone suffered a loss. There is no such thing as who took advantage.

In addition, if it really doesn't work, he can also organize all the "wounded" to come to the county government for injury examination on crutches, so as to set the record straight.

When Lai Xianzun heard this, he knew that some people had already prepared for the aftermath.

In this way, the logical line of "villagers fighting with weapons - each with injuries - each going home to lick their wounds" is opened up.

……

After discovering that Steward Xu could not provide any new valid evidence, the magistrate Lai, who had been on pins and needles for a long time, quickly sounded the last gavel to close the farce: "Restrain the members of the people, and no more incidents will occur."

In this way, the county magistrate got up and prepared to leave... He had already lost a lot today, and he didn't want to stay in the hall for another second.

However, there is always no shortage of things that do not know current affairs.Just when everyone turned around and was about to break up and go home, Butler Xu, who was hit by the huge gap, was still relentless, behaving in class, making a lot of noise, intending to drag the game into overtime.

A county magistrate who had endured it to the limit finally broke out: "Come here, take this dog down and beat him twenty...five boards!"

"Respect!"

The fact that the housekeeper of Xu's house had received 25 boards at the county government spread at the level of "people with a heart" at lightning speed that day.

Although the yamen servants were afraid of offending the Xu family and thus did not actually fight, but the fact of hitting the board itself meant that the Xu family was defeated and beaten in the face in the first round of confrontation, which made many "wishful people" who heard the news fall into Deep in thought.

And Master Xu Jin, who was sitting in the study listening to the report, also felt the difficulty of the enemy for the first time.Ignoring the butler who was kneeling on the ground complaining, Xu Jin put her hands behind her back and walked to the porch. After thinking for a while, she sighed softly: "It seems that we have to think long and hard."

In fact, what happened today was originally expected by Xu Jin.

……

The day before yesterday, when Xu Jin said about buying shares, it was tantamount to a showdown.From that moment on, Xu Jin seemed calm on the surface, but in fact he and his allies were paying close attention to the port's movements - it was a high probability event that such a large amount of wealth was involved, causing a strong rebound from the other party.

What Xu Jin didn't expect was that Xiong Dao organized people to burn the mulberry garden as soon as he received the news (late that night), and planned the incident of cutting off the water and fighting with weapons early the next morning.

The counterattack came so fiercely, Xu Jin never expected it.Especially the poisonous smoke from the other party, which can wipe out hundreds of tenants without injuring a single person. This latest information immediately stopped the ready-to-go "Land Deed Alliance".

The counterattack also indirectly contributed to the temporary change of the alliance's mind, from a thunderous blow to a slow plan - sending people to the county government to report, using the county government to test the opponent, is the Xu family's response and response after being caught off guard. Probing... the price to pay is to completely offend Lai County Magistrate.

However, the price is still a bit heavy after all.Judging from the butler's action of hitting the board, the Jiading county government, at least Jiading Zhengtang himself, has realized that his family has been used as cannon fodder, so he has completely turned against the Land Deed Alliance.If the Xu family makes any moves in the future, Jiading County will definitely not show up again. Maybe if Xiongdao's side benefits enough, Jiading County may secretly help.

At the same time, the result of the costly trial was also very bad: another sister Lin fell from the sky...Xiong Wencan.

So after Xu Jin stood in the porch and meditated for a long time, he finally felt the difficulty of his opponent.He even got a premonition from the incident of burning mulberry that night: Xiongdao has been gathering momentum all along, waiting for him to make a move.

"It's better to take the enemy lightly." After expressing this emotion, Xu Jin immediately returned to the study, summoned a group of people and started assigning tasks one by one.

Article [-]: Order people to report to the rest of the alliance, and see who can get in touch with Xiong Wencan, and then send people to Fujian to discuss and communicate as quickly as possible.

Article [-]: Order the housekeeper to bring food, rice, doctor and money to Zhuangzi to condolences, and announce to the tenants: The rent of the whole village last year and this year is free.

The Xu family's burned manor will undoubtedly become the frontier battlefield for the two sides to see each other in the next stage.So when Xu Jin realized it, she hurriedly sent someone to appease her.Otherwise, once those tenants who have lost their livelihood start to flee or quit their tenants, or worse, they are instigated to rebel, it will definitely make the Xu family even more passive.

Article [-]: Xu Jin ordered people to go to various households in the alliance to inform that there will be a tea party in the house tomorrow, and all masters are invited to come and enjoy tea.