The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

In the lobby of the county government office, Fang Yun was stunned and said: "Bring Zhao Yong and Manager Zhao to the court!"

The official power is like the sea, forming invisible waves that spread in all directions.

All the officials immediately became energetic. Just now, Fang Yun called Zhao Yong for an interview, but problems had been discovered before and constituted evidence, so it was not an interview, but a trial.

Zhao Yong lost the energy he had just shown before, and was escorted to the hall by the guards timidly. Manager Zhao, wearing a light blue boy's robe, held his head high, neither arrogant nor humble, bowed to Fang and said: "Students have seen the county. Your Majesty."

Fang Yun nodded and said, "Manager Zhao, do you know this person?"

Manager Zhao glanced at Zhao Yong arrogantly, his eyes only stayed on him for a blink of an eye, and said: "I know this person, but due to the favor of the older generation, I have some contacts. However, this person is evil and has evil intentions. , I am extremely unhappy.”

Zhao Yong looked at Manager Zhao in disbelief. Just seven days ago, the two of them had a good time drinking and talking as brothers, but now their faces suddenly changed.

Fang Yun asked Zhao Yong again, "Do you know this person?"

Zhao Yong suppressed all his anger and said, "I know this person as an old acquaintance of Prince Qingyang."

"Do you two have any business dealings?" Fang Yun asked.

"No!" Manager Zhao suddenly answered first.

"Lord Qi, no." Zhao Yong's tone was extremely low.

Ao Huang's eyes rolled around and he immediately understood that although Zhao Yong was helping the young prince Zhao Qi make money, he could not leave any evidence. The young prince must have contacted Zhao Yong through Manager Zhao. As long as Manager Zhao insisted that he did not have a deep relationship with Zhao Yong, Zhao Yong could not provide sufficient evidence. After all, Manager Zhao could not write a receipt when collecting money.

Fang Yun said: "Zhao Yong, the silver coin you got is only one-twelfth. Where did the rest of the silver coin go?"

"I don't know, my subordinate." Zhao Yong said slowly.

Fang Yun sneered and said: "You have been the owner of the royal workshop for five years, and you have robbed nearly 20,000 silver, causing the actual loss of the workshop to exceed 50,000. According to the law, such a huge loss can already sentence you to exile! Not only that! In this way, your children and grandchildren will not be able to serve in the imperial court or the Holy Court!"

Zhao Yong's body trembled and he turned to look at Manager Zhao, with a look of pleading in his eyes.

Manager Zhao snorted coldly, flicked his sleeves, and did not look at Zhao Yong.

Fang Yun sighed: "Your four sons are not outstanding, but your grandsons are really impressive. One of them is at the top of the academy, and the other, who is only nine years old, ranked first in last year's childbirth examination." One hundred and seven, just one point away from entering the top 100 and becoming a Tongsheng. March is coming soon, and he will definitely be a Tongsheng this year. However, what do you think will happen if the whole family is raided before the Tongsheng exam?

Zhao Yong's eyes turned red and he almost knelt down. He looked at Fang Yun in despair and said: "Fang Xusheng, I beg you to be noble and please spare my grandson! All the blame lies with Xia Guan. No matter what, punish Xia Guan." , I will never resist.”

Fang Yun said: "However, Master Zhao has such a strict tone and does not want to cooperate with me at all. I can only judge the case fairly and impose punishment before the trial of Tong Sheng!"

Zhao Yong said hurriedly: "Sir, who doesn't have children and grandchildren? Whose heart is not grown from flesh? The lower official has already pleaded guilty, so why bother to ruin my grandson's imperial examination? My lord, I heard that you govern the county with benevolence and righteousness, please be merciful."

After hearing this, Ao Huang felt compassion. For the sake of Zhao Yong's grandson's imperial examination, it seemed better to postpone the trial.

The officials and servants inside and outside the lobby also looked at Fang Yun, thinking that Fang Yun should change the time of the verdict.

A sarcastic smile flashed across Fang Yun's face and he said: "When you sell cotton that cannot keep out the cold to the government army, why don't you think that they are also other people's children and grandchildren, and why don't you think that they will have children and grandchildren in the future! Oh, maybe it's frozen. , there will be no children or grandchildren! Why don’t you think about how many workers and farmers have earned your income in a year? Don’t they have children and grandchildren?”

Everyone present was stunned.

Ao Huang looked at Fang Yun in surprise, always feeling that Fang Yun seemed to have pointed out something. Many people always felt that the criminal was pitiful, and even sympathized with the criminal because of his life experience, but no one cared about the situation of the victim and his family.

Ao Huang suddenly realized that those who wanted criminals to look pitiful were twisted, and their behavior was also twisted, and Fang Yun's view was correct!

As a county magistrate, Fang Yun's words in court contained a different kind of power, including the people's support.

Zhao Yong was affected by Fang Yun's power and his will became weaker and weaker.

"Why, why don't you actually recruit me?" Fang Yun shouted, his official authority rising.

Zhao Yong's body trembled and he hurriedly looked at Manager Zhao and begged: "Manager Zhao, please help me. After all, my surname is Zhao, and we are the same family!"

Manager Zhao, however, was like a wild cat that had been burned by fire, loudly saying: "How do you deserve to be named Zhao? Our Zhao family is the royal family of Jingguo. You, a slave with a sharp head, how do you deserve to be named Zhao!"

Zhao Yong froze on the spot, with humiliation written all over his face.

Manager Zhao cupped his fists at Fang Yun and said: "Your Majesty, this person is talking nonsense and nonsense. He is afraid that he is insane. We have such a person in the Qingyang Palace, and we cannot absolve ourselves of the blame. We are willing to compensate you with some money." , as an apology for our unclear understanding of people in the palace.”

"You..." Zhao Yong suddenly realized after hearing this, that the little prince was afraid of getting angry, so he decisively cut off all relations with Zhao Yong.

"Zhao Tongsheng, don't talk nonsense to avoid making mistakes!" Manager Zhao looked at Zhao Yong and said coldly.

Zhao Yong's eyes instantly turned red. He was proud to be given the surname Zhao. He worked like a cow and a horse for the young prince. He usually used all means to protect the Qingyang Palace. He took all the blame himself. He only hoped that the young prince would stand up at this time and help him delay for a few days. However, he was abandoned by the young prince as an abandoned child.

Manager Zhao looked at Zhao Yong calmly, not hiding the threat in his eyes.

If Zhao Yong pleaded guilty now, he would not be able to be an official within three generations at most. He could still participate in the imperial examination, but if he offended the Qingyang Palace, the consequences would be a hundred times more serious.

Zhao Yong suddenly smiled sadly and said, "What you said is that I am just a dog of the Zhao family. How can I be surnamed Zhao? How can I be surnamed Zhao? I will bear this crime alone, but from now on, our family will no longer be surnamed Zhao, but Mu again! The criminal Mu Yong pleads guilty and accepts the punishment!"

After that, Mu Yong knelt down to Fang Yun, bowed his head and said nothing.

Fang Yun said, "Mu Yong, have you thought it through?"

"I have thought it through, please show mercy, sir!"

Fang Yun did not speak immediately. This time, "showing mercy" was not to postpone the trial, but to hope that Fang Yun would make a judgment immediately, let him take responsibility for the crime, and avoid dragging his family into retaliation by the Qingyang Palace.

"Then confess!" Fang Yun said.

Afterwards, Mu Yong confessed, and told how he had used his status as a workshop owner to harm the public and benefit himself over the years. There were countless ways, which were shocking, and even Ao Huang was very annoyed when he heard it. The large workshop where Mu Yong worked could earn 6,000 to 7,000 taels of silver every year, but after Mu Yong took over, it lost 2,000 to 3,000 taels every year, which was actually equivalent to the workshop losing tens of thousands of taels of silver, but Mu Yong and the little prince only got 2,000 to 3,000 taels of silver a year.

For every tael of silver that Mu Yong and the little prince got, Jingguo lost 4 taels of silver. The disaster was so great that it was difficult to estimate.