Chapter 507: Yujiang County

Chapter 507 Yujiang County

County Magistrate Xu's eyes widened when he heard this, and he immediately said to County Captain Jiang: "You must arrest these two people and torture them quickly. You must ask Zou Hai about his fake household registration."

"Yes." Jiang County Lieutenant responded and immediately asked Luo Wu to arrest Li Shuli and Chi Shuli.

The two scribes' home was in an alley not far from the county government office. Luo Wu led his people straight to the two scribes' homes, and easily escorted the two scribes to the county government office.

On the way, Shuli Li and Shuli Chi asked in panic: "Luo Yamen, why did the county magistrate ask us to go to the county government? We are all good officials who work impartially, not cruel officials who wait for exploitation. The county magistrate wants us to go to the county government." It’s clear.”

Ever since Zou Xian Cheng was imprisoned, they, Zou Xian Cheng’s close scribes, have been confined at home by the county magistrate and cannot go anywhere.

They were very worried and wanted to exchange news, but there were government officials guarding the door of their homes, so their news could not be sent out at all. Even the food, meat and vegetables purchased at home had to be purchased by the government officials on their behalf.

Luo Wu's face had lost its youthful youthfulness and became resolute. When he heard this, he said without squinting: "Luo is just a small yamen servant. If the two scribes have any questions, they will meet the county officials later." Sir, just ask yourself."

This is so true that Secretary Li and Secretary Chi wanted to strangle him to death on the spot.

After a cup of tea, Luo Wu took Li Shuli and Chi Shuli to the county government execution room.

Li Shuli and Chi Shuli almost fainted from fright, jumped up and said: "Luo Wu, didn't you say that the county magistrate summoned us? Why did you bring us to the torture chamber? What do you want to do?"

The accompanying government officials had already dragged the two clerks, Li and Chi, into the execution room door. Luo Wu slammed the execution room door, turned around and said, "The magistrate has said that you two will be tortured. We are just following orders."

"Use, torture! The county magistrate wants to torture us?" Clerk Chi was so frightened that his feet weakened, but he pretended to be tough and said: "We are county officials, and we get the salary from the court. You can't torture us casually. , this is against the criminal law!”

Luo Wu smiled and said to the two of them: "Li Shuli, Chi Shuli, are you not sure whether you have violated the criminal laws of Dachu?"

After saying that, he said to Bantou Jiang, who had been waiting in the execution room for a long time: "Uncle Jiang, the people are here, you can carry out the execution."

Jiang Bantou nodded and said nothing nonsense. He directly asked the Yamen servants to tie the two scribes to the torture rack and began to torture them.

The punishments in the county government execution room are not comparable to those in the army. They are just minor punishments such as pinching hands, using a soldering iron, and whipping with salt water whips. However, Secretary Li and Secretary Chi are literati and have been pampered for decades. They simply cannot bear this kind of punishment. He was afraid that he would die in the execution room, but within half an hour he couldn't hold on any longer, and he cried out: "We'll do it, we'll do it, don't do it..."

 If the fighting continues, their lives will be lost.

However, Li Shuli and Chi Shuli are quite smart. They asked: "We want to see County Magistrate Xu...if we can't see him...we won't say anything until we die!"

Luo Wu sneered at this and refused to die. He couldn't bear the punishments in the execution room even after using them several times. It was obvious that they were two people who were afraid of death, pretending that they would rather die than surrender.

 But he still got up and went to call Magistrate Xu and County Captain Jiang.

Also came Zou Jiang, Jiang Qi, Yang Bantou and several brothers from the Qin family.

There was a strange smell in the execution room. Magistrate Xu covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief and said, "I just want to ask you, do you recognize Zou Hai, the steward of the Zou family? Do you know that Zou Youlian has handled household registration for him? Yes, he did. Which ones are they?" He then said: "You are well aware of what Zou Youlian committed. As an accomplice to the crimes committed by the nine clans, you yourself will not be able to recover. But as long as you answer honestly, your family members may be exempted from the crime. .”

People in the world are afraid of death, and they are even more afraid of the death of their entire family. The two scribes both have sons, and they are both smart people. They know that they are in trouble, so they have to leave a son for their family no matter what.

Secretary Li was timid. He burst into tears when he heard these words and begged County Magistrate Xu: "Sir, please leave a heir to my family. My Li family has been passed down for two generations. My son cannot be convicted." .”

Magistrate Xu said angrily: "Why are you howling? I don't have time to listen to you cry. Please tell me clearly about Zou Hai's household registration, so that your son can be exempted from guilt."

Li Shuli nodded hurriedly: "Yes, yes, I'll just say it's a humble job."

 But they have handled so many household registrations that they cannot explain directly. They can only look at the thirty-four household registrations.

Fortunately, both of them have good memories. After checking the thirty-four household registrations registered by the Prime Minister of Zou County several times, they finally pulled out three household registrations.

"It seems that these are the three cards. At that time, Zou Xiancheng said that there were several slaves in the family who wanted to be released and new household registrations should be obtained for them. But everyone knows that this kind of rhetoric is just an excuse." The two scribes said. Having been in this business for a long time, I know some things. Many officials and wealthy people like to use this trick to hide some of their family wealth.

 County Magistrate Xu got the three household registrations and saw that one of them belonged to the Kang family of Zhongzhou. He was overjoyed: "The Kang family of Zhongzhou is here. These three household registrations must be correct."

But the remaining two are a bit far away, and one of them is even in Jiangnan. Now I’m looking for it, and I don’t know if I can catch anyone.

 But we must send people to arrest him no matter what, we cannot let Zou Hai escape.

"Jiang County Lieutenant, without further ado, please quickly lead people to arrest Zou Hai according to the address on the household registration." County Magistrate Xu said excitedly: "Don't worry, I will write to Magistrate Liang and General Guo, and they will Help us, this matter of arresting people will not be hindered."

Zou Jiang did not speak, but frowned and stared at Secretary Chi... When Secretary Li confessed, he noticed with sharp eyes that Secretary Chi seemed to have something wrong, as if he had something to say but was afraid to say it.

Qin Sanlang also noticed it. He took out the knife, pointed it at Clerk Chi's neck, and asked in a deep voice: "What else do you know? Tell me!"

Secretary Chi trembled with fright and said subconsciously: "I, I, I said, Tong Laosan of the Tong family in the county once spent money to ask me to apply for a new household registration. He got it in Baihe Town. I saw that the household registration was done by him. It was the Tong family’s hometown, and the money given was high, so I went to the cashier... But a few days later, I saw Tong Laosan drinking with a man in Futai Building, and they seemed to be talking about household registration. At that time I kept an eye on it and asked a few beggars to follow the man, but they found that the man entered the Zou house through the back door of the Zou house!"

“Now that I think about it, that man should be Zou Hai.”

After hearing this, County Magistrate Xu was overjoyed and immediately said to Master Tian: "Hurry up and check the register to see where the owner of this household registration has moved to."

Definitely no longer in Baihe Town, Tianfu County.

Master Tian and Master Yu hurriedly led the scribes to search for the household registration booklet of Baihe Town, and found it in less than an hour.

"The head of the household is Sun Dazhu. He is fifty years old. He lost his wife. He has a son named Sun Tianxi. Three years after settling in Baihe Town, the family moved to Yujiang County and their household registration was transferred there." Master Yu said while holding the book.

 (End of this chapter)