Tang Dynasty: The seventh rank of official residence, and you will be given the Ten Thousand People

Chapter 114 I have to bear the thorn to apologize!
Tan Yue put down his tea cup and said to Fan Zhonghua: "Master Taishan, it's not that my son-in-law is unwilling to help with this, but the crime committed by Dawang Village is too great."

"President Fang repeatedly stressed that taxes should be paid according to the amount, but this group of unscrupulous people went against the trend and committed the crime."

"Magistrate Zhang said that no one can go home unless he pays the fine of five hundred coppers!"

"You said that if my son-in-law goes to plead for mercy now, isn't he expecting to be scolded?"

"Human lives are at stake. Dawang Village still relies on these hunters to feed them. Can't you think of a way?" Fan Zhonghua glanced at Tie Quan who was squatting at the door and sounded helpless.

In the past, my son-in-law would rush to help at meetings, but his whole person has changed since he became the county lieutenant. Asking him to do something requires a lot of trouble.

Sure enough, Tan Yue showed a hint of pride.

"There is one trick. Magistrate Zhang likes antiques. Doesn't Tie Quan's family have a copybook of Wang Xizhi? Take it out and offer it to him to ensure that the person can be redeemed."

Hearing that he wanted his own treasure, Tie Quan immediately stood up and said anxiously.

"Er Mao, the copybook was handed down from my ancestors. If I hand it over to the government, I can't explain it to my ancestors!"

Tan Yue slammed the table: "Is the heirloom or human life more important?"

"Also, please stop calling me Ermao from now on. Is that what you can call me Ermao?"

"What is my identity, and what is your identity? Don't you have any idea in your mind?"

Seeing Tie Quan blushing at being scolded by his son-in-law, Fan Zhonghua sighed.

"Tie Quan, don't worry about the family heirloom. Let's redeem Dad and Zhuzhu first."

"I know Brother Fan, I will go home to pick up the family heirloom tomorrow."

Seeing that Tie Quan was willing to take out the family heirloom, Fan Zhonghua stood up and put on his cotton robe and said.

"While Magistrate Zhang is still awake, let's go and redeem Uncle Tie and the others as soon as possible, so as not to suffer in prison."

Unexpectedly, Tan Yue laughed dryly and rubbed his fingers.

"Master Taishan, if you work with County Magistrate Zhang, you will inevitably be punished. Do you think my son-in-law will also be given his share..."

Tan Yue did not say any more words, but the meaning was self-evident.

It was obviously not the first time that Fan Zhonghua snorted coldly upon hearing this.

"Don't worry, I won't miss your share when I go back!"

"Okay, my son-in-law will take you to see Magistrate Zhang right now."

Tan Yue put on his clothes and the group of people rode a carriage to the county government office.

Since the distance was not far, it took the carriage less than half a quarter of an hour to reach the Changping County Government Office.

What is surprising is that there are many officials holding torches standing at the gate of the county government office.

Seeing Tan Yue coming, one of the catchers surnamed Li came up to him and said.

"I have met Tan County Lieutenant in my humble position."

"Third brother, what's going on? Why are there so many people guarding you at night?" Tan Yue glanced at the heavily guarded door and frowned.

Capt. Li glanced around and lowered his voice.

"I just received a letter from the governor's office. In order to frighten the unruly people and enforce the law, our county has been specifically ordered to kill the villagers of Dawang Village!"

"They should be on their way as soon as midnight arrives."

As soon as these words came out, before Tan Yue felt anything, Tie Quan collapsed on the ground and said with a pale face: "It's over, my father is going to be beheaded!"

"What should I do? He just killed two game animals..."

Seeing this scene, Fan Zhonghua couldn't bear to help him up.

"Don't be impatient. Let Tan Yue go to Magistrate Zhang to beg for mercy later. Things may turn around."

After speaking, he looked at his son-in-law: "You are the captain of Changping County, and it is up to you to save people."

"Brother-in-law, let's give it a try." Tan Yue said with a wry smile. In fact, he didn't have any hope in his heart.

If the case was limited to Changping County, he might be able to get the person out, but the execution order was issued by the governor's office. Unless special circumstances occurred, no one could save the villagers of Dawang Village.

"It seems that all my hard work has been in vain." Tan Yue thought to himself.

...Changping County Government Office, study room.

Magistrate Zhang was sitting in front of the writing desk, wearing plain clothes, holding a cinnabar red pen and looking at the names on the list.

There were a total of nine people on it, all of whom were villagers from Dawang Village, including a little girl who was only six years old.

"You are a bunch of low-spirited people who are unwilling to make you lose money and eliminate misfortune."

"Now that I'm done, I've spent my money and my life!" Magistrate Zhang snorted coldly, dipping his brush into cinnabar ink and preparing to execute the prisoner.

There is an unwritten rule in official executions. Those who are made public will usually wait until the autumn.

And some of the shady ones are killed at three o'clock in the evening to prevent changes.

So the moment he received the order from the governor's office, he changed into plain clothes and planned to solve the trouble overnight.

Rather than extorting money, he was more afraid of offending Fang Qian, the local emperor who covered the sky with his hands.

Just when the brush was about to fall on Cheng Xiaonan's name, the door suddenly opened and a jailer walked in quickly.

"To report to the Ming Mansion, the little girl from Dawang Village asked me to give this sign to you."

"Said that as long as you read the sign, you will definitely let them out."

"Humph, you really don't have the brains to even believe a little girl's words."

"Is there any brand in the world that works better than the orders from the governor's office?"

"Bring it to me and have a look." Magistrate Zhang picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"Follow your orders!"

The jailer opened the bag as instructed and took out half a silver fish charm.

Under the candlelight, the fish charm exudes a dazzling silver light.

Clap!

The tea cup fell to the ground and broke into pieces. Magistrate Zhang stood up suddenly, staring at the fish charm with his eyes.

In the Tang Dynasty, fish charms were a symbol of status, and only people of seventh grade or above were qualified to wear copper fish charms.

The silver fish charm in front of me is even rarer than the copper fish charm.

Generally, the people who wear it are the feudal officials and the six chief officials.

Now that it appears in the hands of a little girl, doesn't it mean that there is a high-ranking imperial official of at least fifth grade behind her?

When he thought that he almost killed a relative of a feudal official, Magistrate Zhang suddenly broke out in a cold sweat on his forehead.

"Mingfu, do you want the prisoner to be taken out and chopped?"

Magistrate Zhang looked back at the jailer, slapped him in the face and yelled.

"Why don't you chop me off? Why don't you take me to the prison to get that little aunt out!"

"It's all my fault, you petty officials, that I almost wronged good people!"

Although he didn't know how the little girl got the silver fish charm, his intuition told him that if he didn't get the little aunt out.

It is very likely that his life will not be saved.

This was the first time that the jailer saw Magistrate Zhang getting so angry. He was so frightened that he ran away for fear of delaying the important event.

The two rode fast horses all the way to the prison. Magistrate Zhang went straight to the prison without saying a word. Before entering the door, he suddenly stopped and took off his official uniform.

"Go and get me a bundle of wattle sticks. I want to apologize to Miss Cheng Xiaonan in person."

"Mingfu, are you going to plead guilty to a cunning man?" the jailer asked with wide eyes in disbelief.

"Trickster?" Magistrate Zhang smiled coldly: "Have you ever seen a trickster whose relative is a high-ranking official of fifth rank or above?"

"That's called a noble relative!"

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and get ready. If you're a little late, I'll skin you!"

(End of this chapter)