Chapter 459： Yuezu substitute

As soon as the guard heard this, he immediately brought the man to Wei Zhan.

Wei Zhan was sitting on a chair at the entrance of the county government office and asked, "Tell me, who are they?"

The ragged man clasped his fists and said, "Reporting to the officials, some of them are servants of Zhang Yuanwai from our township, and the other two are relatives of Zhang Yuanwai's son-in-law. I don't know the rest."

Wei Zhan looked at this person: "Where are you from? Why do you know them?"

The ragged man said with hatred: "Xiao Yuan was originally from the same hometown as Zhang Yuan Wai. Later, his family's land was taken away by Zhang Yuan Wai's family. My old father also died at the hands of Zhang Yuan Wai. Since then, Xiao Yuan has been begging in the county town to make a living, so he is very hostile to Zhang Yuan Wai. Everyone in Zhang Yuan’s family remembers it clearly.”

Wei Zhan was silent. When he looked up, he saw his wife coming surrounded by a group of people.

“Why are you here?” Wei Zhan stood up quickly and stood in front of his wife.

Yingbao looked at him and asked, "Why are you sitting outside?"

Wei Zhan smiled: "The county magistrate said he was ill, so I had to sit outside."

Ying Bao looked around and said, "In that case, let's set up a court outside the county government office and try the murder case in person!"

Having said that, we invite Song Changshi and other officials from the Princess’s Mansion.

Have someone bring a long table and place it at the gate of the county government office.

Dozens of guards lined up on both sides. Ying Bao and Wei Zhan were sitting at the desk. Behind them were the maids holding the fans, the chamberlains holding the canopy, and the honor guard.

A chamberlain screamed: "The princess is here to hear the case. If you have any grievances, you can submit a petition and the princess will make the decision for you. Today's trial of the assassination case has one witness. Who else do you have?" Do you know the assassin on the ground? Let’s talk back together.”

After a pause, when several living assassins were dragged over, two more people stood up and expressed their acquaintance with these people.

"I know them! These are tenant farmers of Zhang Yuanwai's family!" one person shouted: "They often follow Zhang Yuanwai to do evil things. God finally has an eye and wants to take them in!"

Another person said: "That's right! They are the thugs of Zhang Yuan's family. Anyone who dares to disobey will be harmed by them!"

Yingbao looked at Song Changshi: "Song Changshi, record all their oral confessions and put their fingerprints on them."

Song Changshi was speechless this time. He asked the boy to bring pen, ink, paper and inkstone and started writing by himself.

As the number of witnesses increases, Yingbao not only listens to their accusations against Zhang Yuanwai, but also guides them to describe who is close to Zhang Yuanwai's family and whether there is evidence of collusion with each other and joint crimes.

Therefore, several people stated that Zhang Yuan’s wife’s family was in the grain business, and he owned the largest grain store in the county. He used a big bucket to bring in grain and a small bucket to sell grain. If anyone else was slightly dissatisfied, he would send his servants to beat them.

Others say that Zhang Yuanwai had many concubines, and he often gave them to officials as concubines. One concubine was carried into the backyard of the county government six months ago.

No wonder!

Ying Bao and Wei Zhan looked at each other and then issued an order: arrest Zhang Yuanwai's family and bring them to justice.

The people who captured the prisoners this time were all the guards of the princess's palace. There were about 200 people in total, and they went straight to Zhang Yuanwai's house in the county town.

All the men in Zhang Yuan's family in the county seat were arrested, and the door of his house was also sealed.

On the second day, the guards went out of the city, arrested all the men of the Zhang family in the countryside, and threw them into the county jail.

At this time, the magistrate of Mei County showed up and explained to Wei Zhan that he was indeed ill and bedridden, and he did not mean not to show up.

The magistrate of Mei County raised his hand to Wei Zhan and said: "General, just hand over the Zhang family's case to the lower official. The lower official will definitely try it well."

Wei Zhan glanced at him lightly: "I have already reported the assassination case of Zhang Yuanwai to the imperial court. I believe the imperial court will send someone here soon, so I won't bother Magistrate Mei to intervene."

When the magistrate of Mei County heard this, his chrysanthemums tightened, and he immediately said: "How is that possible? The lower official is the parent officer of this county, and the general would be overstepping his authority." Wei Zhan snorted coldly: "Just you? Are you worthy of being the parent officer of Zhouhe County?" "

Immediately ordered the people around him: "Go to the inner courtyard of the county government office and arrest the criminals who are harboring them!"

If his guess was correct, Zhang Yuanwai, who had been nowhere to be found, should be hiding in the courtyard of the county government office at this moment.

"Yes!" The guards took the order and rushed into the inner courtyard of the county government office. Sure enough, they found two men and one woman.

Of the two men, one is in his fifties and has a gray beard. He is Zhang Yuanwai.

Another young man, about 20 years old, with a pale face and no beard, is Zhang Yuanwai's direct son.

As for the woman, she was the concubine that Zhang Yuanwai gave to Magistrate Mei as his concubine.

Mei County Magistrate saw that Wei Zhan suddenly let people break into the place where he lived to search for people. He knew that something was wrong and did not dare to say a word. He wished he could shrink himself into a quail that no one cares about.

Zhang Yuanwai was dragged out and slapped on the wall before being pulled over for questioning.

Wei Zhan sat behind the desk and was shocked: "Zhang Jin! Tell me honestly about the assassination you hired! Who ordered you? What is the purpose?"

Zhang Jin refused to speak at first, but later he was beaten with sticks and served with sticks, and he was beaten honestly.

Actually, three families of gentry participated in the last assassination. They all sent archers, a total of sixty or seventy people. As a result, they were scattered as soon as they met.

The gang felt guilty when they assassinated a high-ranking official for the first time. Seeing that the situation was not going well, many people fled and refused to look back despite Zhang Jin's son's calls, thus creating the current situation.

After listening to the confessions of Zhang Jin and others, Wei Zhan thought to himself: Yes, the county government prison can no longer hold it.

Even if you can’t fit it in, you have to install it, and no one should be missing.

At the end of the summer harvest, the assassination case of Zhang Jin and three wealthy gentry finally came to an end.

Several of the ringleaders were sentenced to be executed in prison, and the accomplices were sentenced to one hundred rods and exiled three thousand miles away. For those who participated, all their family property was confiscated, and family members over the age of three were sold into slavery.

This judgment was personally approved by the emperor, who treated it as a crime of treason. The punishment was so severe that it attracted the attention of the ministers.

In addition, the county magistrate of Zhouhe County was dismissed from his post and investigated, and was escorted to the capital to await trial.

Since then, the officials and gentry in Zhouhe County have been as silent as a chill, no longer daring to have any small thoughts.

 Ying Bao took the opportunity to convert the more than forty temporary servants into official ones, making them his right-hand men.

Time flies by like a fleeting horse, and two years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Nowadays, people in Zhouhe County are like Qinchuan County, with 20% of households growing mushrooms, and 60% of farmers have a high-efficiency loom at home.

Nearly all farmers in the county have planted varying amounts of cotton, sesame, pepper and other crops, and people's lives are getting better day by day.

Farmers who fled their fields have also returned one after another and returned to their hometowns.

  Xiaolang is now sixteen, a green young man. He works as a scribe in the county government, writing and copying every day. After his shift, he still returns to the princess's mansion to live.

Wu Jing is over three years old, and he looks like a tiger-headed man. He spends all day with Wei Fanzhi and Jiang Bao. The three of them are inseparable, even eating and sleeping together.

On this day, a group of people suddenly came outside the princess's mansion, headed by the eldest son of the Lu family and an official who passed the decree. (End of chapter)