Infrastructure masters in the red building

On this day, the Wuyuan County Government opened a public trial for Liu Shihan, the head of the Liu family, Liu Shilin, the former magistrate of the Liu family, and Liu Minghua, the current magistrate of the Liu family.

There were quite a few people in the county who went to listen. After all, the Liu family is everyone, and they have controlled the county's money and food for many years-it is a rare thing that the current county lord has the courage to dare to touch the Liu family.

In addition to watching the lively ordinary people, there are also many big grain farmers in the county.They had no doubts about the Liu family before, thinking that after the banditry had passed and the punishments imposed on Mr. Yuan and Mr. Jia, Wuyuan County would be able to return to the past. Pay that little tax.

But at the beginning of the public trial, the county lord personally read the laws and explained to the people why the methods of "flying", "hiding the fields" and "guiding sending" violated the laws of the country and how they should be punished.

As soon as Yuan Hua read this decree, the county government knelt down in front of him.A lot of grain households kept saying: "Master Qingtian, I didn't know it was so serious. It was Liu Shilin/Liu Minghua who lied to us. Please learn from me!"

These grain households naturally knew that such methods violated the laws and regulations of the country, but the subordinate staff never told them how high the cost of breaking the law and how serious the consequences were.Now once they hear it clearly, everyone is terrified.

Yuan Hua put on the attitude of a parent official: "At first, I saw that there were so many people who violated the law and evaded grain, tax and corvee, and the county was really heartbroken. Now I know that the cunning officials in the county government are controlling the place, deceiving the top and the bottom, and deceiving you. Wait for this violation of discipline and receive benefits from it."

As soon as Master Yuan mentioned this, the grain households woke up one after another, followed Master Yuan's words, and accused the Liu family together of how much benefit they had received from themselves at that time.

In addition to these large grain households, there are also a group of people who attended the public trial outside the county government office, who took advantage of the "Zhangtian" and snatched Yintian, or received fields from exempt households such as Juzi and Shengyuan. The peasant households were very proud when they heard the explanation from the county lord. I am proud that I pay grain according to the law, and I am no more proud than those who sneak away from grain and tax.

Let's see that the mood of the public is almost the same. At this time, Master Li came to the hall and read the testimony of the county magistrate Liu Minghua.In the testimony, Liu Shihan, the patriarch of the Liu family, and Liu Shilin, the money and food clerk of the previous generation of the Liu family, held resentment, cursed the county magistrate, and spread rumors in the county, saying that the banditry was caused by the county magistrate Yuan Hua.

The food households suddenly realized: what the Liu family said was just a rumor, and there was no basis for it.

Unexpectedly, there will be more news later, Master Li continued to read Liu Minghua's confession, and read that Liu's family planned to set fire to the county government office, destroyed the newly made fish scale book after Zhang Tian in the county government office, and burned all the records of the land deed, forcing the county government to Zun announced that all newly issued land deeds are invalid, and the ownership of all land is based on the fish scale book compiled by the Liu family before and after Zhangtian.

While Master Li was reading, Liu Shihan and Liu Shilin, who were kneeling in the lobby, turned their heads to look at Liu Minghua.If eyes can really turn into knives, then Liu Minghua's body would already be riddled with holes.

But Liu Minghua was also very wronged in his heart - he didn't confess what he said, but the people from the county government investigated it first and asked him to confess. He... what else can he say?

The big grain households have heard about the promise of the Liu family for a long time, and now they heard that this kind of promise was based on the heinous crime of burning the county government. I'm begging for love.

"Master County, this is all the Liu family talking about themselves, it has nothing to do with us!"

"That's right, we grassroots have never known such rebellious thoughts behind the Liu family, and we would never dare to join forces with the Liu family..."

The Liu family's plan to burn the county government not only frightened the big grain households, but also angered another group of people—the ones who benefited from the process of land redistribution, acquired new fields, and promised Those farmers who will hand over grain and taxes according to the law.

As the saying goes, cutting off one's wealth is like killing one's parents.The Liu family wants to bring everything back to the past. While safeguarding the interests of large grain households, it also cuts off the income of these small grain households.

All the people in the hall blushed and cursed loudly.Some people even rushed into the lobby of Wuyuan County without paying attention to the yamen servants in the hall, grabbed Liu Shihan, Liu Shilin and the others, and tore them apart.

When the yamen servants expelled these villagers who rushed into the court, Liu Shihan, Liu Shilin and others had been torn to pieces with disheveled hair, each of them looked like a shaggy ghost.The dignity of the head of the Liu family and elders in the past has long since disappeared.

Yuan Hua immediately slapped the gavel: "About this matter, what else do you have to say?"

Liu Shihan was torn apart and frightened, so he couldn't speak a word at the moment; but Liu Shilin, who had been in court for a long time and had seen such scenes, withstood the pressure and hissed: "Master County, is it now, Is it a crime to speak?"

Yuan Hua choked suddenly.

Liu Shilin continued: "The villain Xiao thought about the silver in the bank next door, did he commit the crime of stealing and robbery? Xiao thought about the girl next door, whether it was the same as committing the crime of coercion for sex. Her crime? Master Yuan, please point out, where is this article written in the court regulations?"

Yuan Hua and Li Youwei, the master of punishment, took a look, and they both felt a little tricky.

The county accused Liu Shihan and Liu Shilin of "conspiring" to set fire to the county government. There are already confessions and witnesses.But Liu Shilin did not call this "Xiao Xiang", that is, he just thought about it and did not commit the crime at all. If he can be convicted in this way, there will be many people in the world who can go to prison.

However, the idlers outside the county government office couldn't understand this, and a group of people just yelled out: "Listen quickly, Liu Shilin is already old, and still misses the big girl next door to Liu's house—any of you go and let me know, Don't let this old pervert succeed!"

When Liu Shilin heard this, he couldn't help but twitched the corners of his mouth, and raised his eyes to look directly at Yuan Hua, which meant: Look, the people under your rule are all such fools.You are a smart person, why do you want to have trouble with smart people.

Yuan Hua immediately stared back hard, as if to say: It is because there are too many "smart people" like you in this world, so someone has to come forward to uphold the justice of heaven, and this kind of occasion and this kind of public trial happen.

Liu Shilin's bun was torn apart, and now he was kneeling in the hall unkempt, but he was still smiling lazily, with the pleasure of "what can you do to me" written all over his face.If Yuan Hua hadn't known it in his heart, he might have been driven crazy by this guy's smile.

At this time, Master Li came over and asked Yuan County Magistrate for instructions: "Do you want to declare that person...that person to go to court?"

County Magistrate Yuan nodded and looked at Liu Shilin with pity.

So Master Li announced loudly: "The witness, Liu Lixing, is on the court!"

When Liu Shilin heard this name, his whole body was shocked, and his face immediately turned white into a sheet of paper.Immediately, hatred appeared in his eyes: that kid, that young man who betrayed his family, if the Liu family does not end well, then he will certainly not end well...

Hearing this name, the villagers who knew more or less about the inside story of the Liu family were stirred up for a moment.In other words, the difference between Liu Lixing's generation and Liu Shihan's and Liu Shilin's is unknown. Now the Liu family is... having internal strife, are their own people testifying against their own people?

If this is the case, wouldn't this Liu Lixing be guilty of committing crimes against the superiors, as a junior, to testify against the elders and the family, if this kind of thing can be allowed to happen, what is the morality?

While speaking, Liu Lixing went to the hall to pay respects to the county lord, and after kneeling down, he took out a booklet from his arms, handed it to Master Li, and said: "Xiaomin Liu Lixing, today I am presenting this booklet to Liu Lian ten years ago. The fish scale book hidden in the family, as evidence in court."

Ten years ago, the Wuyuan county government had a fire. In that fire, the archives and fish scale books stored in the county government were burned.Everyone rumored that the Liu family still kept a copy, but no one had any proof.

Now this book of fish scales was presented to the hall by Liu Lixing.

So everyone started to associate.

This Liu Shilin said just now that he conspired to set fire to the county government office and destroy the fish scale books and land deeds left in the county government office.

But in a blink of an eye, the Liu family's own people came out as witnesses, and produced the fish scale book that the Liu family had hidden in their hands after the county government fire ten years ago.

Immediately everyone began to associate: Who said that Liu Shilin was just thinking about it?

Over there, Master Li took the fish scale album, took it for inspection in a fake manner, and then said to the county venerable Yuan Hua in "surprise", "Oh, my lord, this is really the fish scale album that was burned in the county ten years ago. A copy of it, with the seal of the county on it."

Everyone was in an uproar, and immediately everyone could be the county lord and decide the case: "Ten years ago, ten years ago, the Liu family must have set fire to the county government!"

"Otherwise, who else? Didn't you leave a copy in your own hands?"

At this moment, Liu Lixing suddenly bowed down to pay homage to County Magistrate Yuan, and said loudly, "Xiao Min only hopes that the Lord will be lenient to the Liu family.Not everyone in the Liu family has plans.There were only a few participants in what happened back then, so please learn from me! "

Yuan Hua nodded and said, "Of course. The duty of this county is to commit crimes to the guilty, and we must not involve the innocent."

Only then did Liu Lixing get up, and with the permission of the county lord, he stood at the side of the hall.

Liu Shilin knelt on the ground, gritted his teeth, and suddenly spat at the great-nephew and said, "Don't think that you will end up well—you were there all the time when you were in Zhangtian, and if you commit a crime, you won't be the first to escape."

Suddenly someone said in the hall: "Look, this elder of the Liu family doesn't want to protect his own children—"

"Of course at this time, didn't you see that the younger brother of the Liu family killed his relatives righteously and came forward to report on his own clan elder?"

"It's human nature for the old and young people of this race to want to report their crimes."

Liu Lixing, on the other hand, was expressionless, standing aside, looking at his great-uncle indifferently - he was not a tainted witness at all, he had been involved with the "Dicui Pavilion" since the first day he entered the Wuyuan county government office. relationship.Everything that the Liu family did was actually gathered to the "Dicui Pavilion" bit by bit through him.

His initial thought was that he didn't want the Liu family to hurt his mother and younger sister.

But on the day the Liu family forcibly married his younger sister to the Zhao family, the "Liu" in Liu Lixing's surname no longer had anything to do with the "Liu" surname of Liu Shihan and Liu Shilin.

At that time, Master Yuan Hua presented a lot of "witnesses" to the court, and asked clearly about the case of "killing the county government by fire" ten years ago.

No one expected the direction of this public trial. Many people were waiting to see the county magistrate trial the Liu family's crime of "collaborating with bandits". The evidence of the crime of taking advantage of the situation to make money is solid.

In the end, Master Yuan asked the members of the Liu family loudly, "Is there anything else you want to say?"

The only response to him was silence, and the angry voices of many small grain households outside the county government.

"If you know something that can solve the county's problems, or come forward to report other people who have solid evidence of crimes, the county's students Liu Shilin and Liu Minghua, who have worked in the county for many years, may be lenient to you. , take it lightly."

Yuan Hua walked up to San Liu and said softly.

The three Lius were all kneeling upright, Liu Shihan lowered his head, Liu Shilin put on a sullen face, and Liu Minghua's eyes wandered and kept slipping towards the two uncles.

However, Liu Shihan and Liu Shilin kept silent, and it was useless for Liu Minghua to speak up himself.

Yuan Hua sighed, shook his head, and said, "It seems that the three of you are determined and won't do anything else?"

Liu Shihan closed his eyes and sighed, while Liu Shilin said: "The grassroots don't understand what the county lord said."

Yuan Hua nodded and said, "This county understands."

He raised his head, called a few yamen servants, and said, "The evidence is convincing, let the criminals be put in jail first."

The yamen servants easily lifted Liu Shihan and Liu Shilin from the ground. At this time, the two elders of the Liu family were looking out.Among them, Liu Shilin caught someone's eyes, exchanged a glance, and then showed a begging look.

Immediately, Sanliu was taken into custody.

In front of the Wuyuan County Yamen, it was Zhao Siqiang, the patriarch of the Zhao family, who had exchanged a glance with Liu Shilin earlier.The marriage of the two families failed, and Zhao Siqiang was also very resentful, but seeing that the elders of the Liu family knew that they had committed a felony, but they still insisted on refusing to recruit the Zhao family. Come on, don't let the Liu family suffer too much when the city is broken.

As soon as Zhao Siqiang lowered his head, he squeezed out from the crowd.He knew very well that the Liu family was desperately trying to protect the Zhao family.

But it doesn't necessarily mean that the Zhao family will repay the Liu family—anyway, the two elders of the Liu family will die in the execution ground if they don't die in prison.Even if the request of the two dead people is agreed, it will not bring any benefits to the Zhao family.

Zhao Siqiang couldn't help being proud, he didn't care whether he needed to protect the Liu family or not, but from now on, everything was as usual - the secrets of the Zhao family were still well hidden.

The public trial was held vigorously in the county, but it was only about the previous messes of the Liu family, and had nothing to do with the gangsters.

Just before the Liu family and the Zhao family broke up a marriage and tore their faces, no one would doubt the relationship between the Liu family and the Zhao family.

Thinking of this, Zhao Siqiang became more and more satisfied.

Under the city of Wuyuan County, the bandit's first wave of offensive receded. Seeing that everyone began to relax their vigilance, the people outside the city were moving the emergency food that had been moved into the county to the outside of the city. Those villages were burned and destroyed. Has begun to rebuild their homes in a hurry.

Everyone thought that the banditry had been completely eliminated under the leadership of "Master Jia" and "Master Yuan".

It was this opportunity that Zhao Siqiang was waiting for.

At the beginning, the elders of the Liu family were right: Jia Fang could not stay in the south, and Yuan Hua could not stay.

In the ten southern states, the interests of so many people are enough to make them put all their eggs in one basket and never give up until they achieve their goals.

Zhao Siqiang knew in his heart: no one can stop this matter, not even the Zhao family.Besides, what is his Zhao family?Maybe it can only be regarded as a small pawn on this huge chessboard. When the battle situation is together, he can only stand out and charge forward. He has never been involuntary.

At this time, Tonghuan Sanliu had also fled to the vicinity of Yong'an Prefecture and joined the brigade.He was terrified.

"You haven't seen it before. A faint blue flame rushed into the air, followed by a loud 'bang'—my ears were almost deaf."

Although the bandits started the uprising under the banner of Tonghuan Sanliu, in fact Tonghuan Sanliu was just a small figure among the bandits, and no one believed even what he said.

"Is it the sound of firing cannons during the Chinese New Year?" a companion asked.

Tonghuan Sanliu hissed "blindly" immediately, and said, "It's the thunder that rang next to your ear. Thanks to the fact that I was far away at the time, dozens of brothers nearby were blown to nothing. But That's pretty good, but the worst thing is that those who were half burned, but they didn't die, they couldn't die, they couldn't live, they couldn't even talk, they could only look at others, begging for a good time—"

"Bronze ring three six!" Suddenly someone shouted angrily, "You brat, don't shake the morale of the army."

"800 people went to Taoyuan Village, but only four or five hundred came back. You say I have shaken the morale of the army?" Tonghuan Sanliu thought, he is obviously a bandit, what is the morale of the army?

"Tonghuan Sanliu, go outside the tent to get the ten army sticks!" The superior stared at him with a mocking smile, "Do you really consider yourself number one?"

So poor Tonghuan Sanliu had no choice but to go out of the tent, suffered ten army sticks, and limped back, only to find that his dinner had been snatched away by others, and he could only starve all night.

"I won't dare to talk about Taoyuan Village anymore." Tonghuan mumbled.

"No one believed you before, but you still said, in my opinion, you are a cheap person!" The companion choked on him, and went to sleep by himself.

Tonghuan Sanliu was very depressed, he could only endure the hunger, and closed his eyes desperately.As soon as he closed his eyes, the place of Taoyuan Village appeared in his mind, it was really a strange place, everything was unusual.

Tonghuan Sanliu recalled those extraordinary things bit by bit, and he seemed not so hungry anymore, but the village of Taoyuan Village was more deeply imprinted in his heart.

The next day, the bandits gathered. There were about four to five thousand bandits gathered together. The population was already comparable to a cottage. In addition, they had all kinds of good equipment, and their strength was already comparable to a pair of official troops.

At this time, they received an order from above: turn around and go to Wuyuan County.

Tonghuan Sanliu was taken aback: This is... another shot back, he... he might see Taoyuan Village again?