Chapter 518: night talk

Chapter 518 Night Talk

Since Zou Youlian climbed up to Hongxian Magistrate, he used his connections with Hongxian Magistrate to sell men serving as corvees. After Hong County Magistrate became an official and returned to his hometown, he was succeeded by Yan County Magistrate and Zhu County Magistrate. During the tenure of these three magistrates, Zou Youlian trafficked a total of 785 adult males.

 All the men were sold to the mines through Gao Tong. The price offered by the mine is high, and each man can be sold for up to ten taels of silver, which is more than seven thousand eight hundred taels.

 After Gao Tong took away 60%, Zou Youlian could still get three thousand taels of silver.

Xu County Magistrate laid out the evidence of the crime one by one and asked Master Yu to read it out in front of the court. But Zou Youlian was very tough and didn't say a word. All his children and grandchildren are dead, leaving him alone. There is no need to confess for others to be promoted.

Ming Shaoqing didn't need Zou Youlian to speak. As early as when he was in Fucheng, he asked his men to torture several heads of the water bandits' village.

The punishments in Dali Temple were similar to those in the army, and even more cruel. Several leaders in the water bandits' village couldn't bear it, so they told them all about their partnership with Zou Youlian to sell men serving as slave laborers over the years, and they took their fingerprints. His confession was placed on Magistrate Xu’s desk.

"The evidence of the crime in this case is conclusive. In order to show the majesty of the criminal law and to uphold the principles of the world, the punishment should be severe!" Magistrate Xu read a concise and concise document. In short, just for selling a male, Zou Youlian would be cut into pieces.

but…

“Zou Youlian still has a major case of colluding with water bandits and needs to be taken to Dali Temple in the capital for trial, so he will not be executed in Tianfu County.”

As soon as Magistrate Xu finished speaking, the victims who came to listen began to cry: "Sir, this beast Zou Youlian has killed hundreds of people in our Tianfu County. If such a heartless person doesn't kill him immediately and feed it to the dogs, , how can you be worthy of those who died!"

"Sir, my man died unjustly. We originally agreed that when he came back from the corvée service, we would build a new house in the spring of the next year. How could we have known that he would never come back? In order to raise a child, I was frugal. I didn’t dare to buy meat several times throughout the year. When my son grew up and earned money, my family built a new house and moved out of the old house that had fallen into the dirt.”

"Sir, this beast Zou Youlian has harmed countless people. Look at the people present. Every household has been harmed by him. If we don't chop him down in Tianfu County, how can we live up to the dead souls?"

Zou Youlian and Gao Tong sold people to the mines, and the work in the mines was life-threatening. Ming Shaoqing asked several copper and iron mines where people were sold from the confessions of several owners of the water bandit village. I sent people to these mines to inquire, but the news I got was that the people had already died of exhaustion.

The victims present there burst into tears thinking that their men, sons, and brothers had been killed like this. Some families were holding the coffin, crying and complaining about all the hardships to the empty coffin that only contained a set of clothes. Magistrate Xu had a headache from crying, and he hurried over to comfort them. He tried to comfort them with good words and bad words.

Ming Shaoqing stood up and said to the people present: "Zou Youlian's case has been brought to heaven. We in Chu use heavy codes. No matter where the execution place is, he will definitely die. And it is more comforting to be executed in the capital." The heroic spirits of the dead.”

When the victims heard this, they all said: "What Ming Shaoqing said is that the capital is where the emperor lives. If my men/sons/brothers knew that the person who harmed them was beheaded in the capital, he would be beheaded underground. I will be happy. This is because the emperor cares about them, but it is a happy event to honor our ancestors."

 County Magistrate Xu’s mouth twitched when he heard it. He talked for more than two-quarters of an hour. He kept talking to them to stop them from making a fuss. Ming Shaoqing just said a few words and they immediately became happy. Is it a happy event to honor the ancestors? Do you know how to use words?

While Magistrate Xu was slandering him, he heard an old woman say in a low voice: "Ming Shaoqing is really handsome, and his whole body is very elegant. He is much prettier than our county magistrate."

A middle-aged woman next to him answered: "That's natural. Our county magistrate is from a farmer's family, and has been picking manure and farming since he was a child. Ming Shaoqing is a child of a noble family, and he has been playing the piano and flute and writing poems since he was a child. Those who make gifts are doing things that are only done by gods. How can the county magistrate compare with Ming Shaoqing?"

Magistrate Xu: "..." What evil has he done? I want to hear what these two people have to say!

Xian Magistrate turned around and sat back under the high mirror, continuing to read the sentences of the other accomplices.

The old officials, village chiefs, and village chiefs of each town who participated in the case, as long as they were still alive, were all sentenced to death. Those who died had their property confiscated.

After hearing this, the old officials, village chiefs, village chiefs and their families were in tears and kowtowed to beg for mercy. However, they were dragged down by the county soldiers and government officials and thrown into prison.

After dragging all the accomplices away, County Magistrate Xu wiped the sweat from his forehead and talked about compensation: "The Holy Spirit is sympathetic to the loss of a man in your family and your life is not easy. I have issued a special order to compensate you for every loss. The family has twenty taels of silver."

.

After hearing this, the sufferers present immediately knelt down and shouted long live the mountain.

Because so many men were trafficked, nearly 800 of them, when each household came to receive money, they had to check their household registration and registration records. Magistrate Xu and others were busy until midnight before they paid the compensation. Things are done.

On the way, I also advised the poor people to go home first and come back tomorrow to get the money, but they refused, saying that it was too far to go to the county seat, so the county magistrate Xu and the others could only accept their fate and work.

　　After finishing the compensation, I had not slept for a few hours. At noon the next day, I had to be busy beheading the accomplices.

There were many accomplices in this execution, and they were all well-known officials, village chiefs, village chiefs and other figures. The shock effect was much better than when Wanli Fang was killed. Many of the officials in office were Renren Self-danger, I have done something bad, and I was woken up in the middle of the night.

After the case of trafficking in male slave laborers came to an end, Ming Shaoqing asked Zou Jiang: "I heard that when this person sued Zou Youlian, he used charges of corruption, perversion of the law, fraud in scientific examinations, abuse of power, etc..."

Before he finished speaking, Magistrate Xu knelt down with a frightened voice... The only crime he reported to the Fucheng Yamen was that Zou Youlian was selling good people, and the other charges, because they were perjury, Magistrate Xu dared not report any of them. , how did Ming Shaoqing know?

 It's over, it's over, County Magistrate Xu feels that he has buried his neck in the ground and is going to be reincarnated.

Ming Shaoqing saw that Magistrate Xu was so frightened and said with a smile: "Magistrate Xu, there is no need to be nervous. I have no other intention. I just want to see Zou Jiang."

"See, see Zou Jiang?" Magistrate Xu was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat: "Why do you want to see Zou Jiang? He is just an old man in his sixties, just a little clever. Your Excellency is busy with official duties, so there is no need to see him."

If Zou Jiang met Ming Shaoqing alone and let Ming Shaoqing know that he had committed perjury, then not only Zou Jiang would be finished, but Xu Chongfeng would also be finished.

Ming Shaoqing didn't say anything, just looked at County Magistrate Xu and smiled, and finally said: "Tonight, I am going to see Zou Jiang. Do you understand Magistrate Xu?" ’

 County Magistrate Xu, as a subordinate official who is many levels lower than Ming Shaoqing, dare not not do it. After nightfall, he took Zou Jiang to see Ming Shaoqing anxiously.

 (End of this chapter)