Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 401 Dog bites dog

Lin Chong, Qin Ming and others led people to patrol the streets separately, and shouted: "County Magistrate Li Datian indulged Li Gongbi to molest women, beat and insult Liangshan County Captain. It has nothing to do with you ordinary people, just stay at home and don't come out to meddle in other people's affairs! Every grievance has its perpetrator, every debt has its creditor, Liangshan County will only hold the Li family father and son accountable."

Wang Tianba led his men to seize all the government warehouses and granaries and stationed troops to garrison them.

On the second day, in the county government office, Zhao Zhen, under the protection of Lu Fang and others, met the captured Li Datian and his son, as well as the county magistrate Qian Cheng, the chief clerk Ren Tinggui, and the clerk Qian Lao.

Shi Qian saw Li Gongbi hiding behind Li Datian and shivering, and sneered: "Yanei, what's wrong? Is it cold?"

Li Yanei, who was already frightened, fell to the ground after hearing this.

"Spare your life, spare your life..."

This caused all the heroes in the county government office to burst into laughter.

Li Datian rebuked: "Zhao Zhixian, you and I are both appointed officials of the imperial court. Attacking the county town for such a small matter is a rebellion. I will sue you."

Zhao Zhen sneered when he heard this, "Li Magistrate, you detained the county headman for no reason. He is a meritorious official who travels to Qingzhou to spy on the enemy. I think you want to rebel."

Li Datian said quickly, "Zhao Zhifu, Cheng Zhifu is the boss of Tong Shumi, and I am the boss of Cai Taishi. It's just a misunderstanding, why do we have to do this? I am willing to apologize, and I also ask Zhao Zhifu to withdraw the troops. How about pretending that what happened today never happened?"

Zhao Zhen said, "County Magistrate Li, I heard from the head of Shi Qian that he also revealed his identity that day. Your son-in-law was not as considerate of friendship as County Magistrate Li."

Li Datian leaned over and slapped Li Gongbi, cursing, "You beast, I neglected to discipline you, and that's how you developed your arrogant and domineering personality. Why don't you apologize to Shi Dutou?"

Li Gongbi was stunned. He didn't expect his father to beat him in front of so many people.

Seeing that Li Gongbi was so stupid, Li Datian kicked Li Gongbi on the butt.

Li Gongbi finally reacted and quickly apologized.

Wu Yong suddenly said, "Li Magistrate, why do you have to play this trick? When Hua Zongguan came, didn't you also send people to intercept him?"

Seeing that Zhao Zhen was unwilling to relent, Li Datian immediately changed his expression and said to Zhao Zhen, "Humph, you are just relying on being the son-in-law of Prefect Cheng. I am also an official appointed by the court, how dare you kill me? At most, I will quit this position as magistrate and move to another place."

Wu Yong said, "Hey, what's the matter, County Magistrate Li, you colluded with the Qingzhou bandits and killed the officials of the court, and you still want to be appointed to another position? Last night, County Magistrate Zhao heard the tip-off and sent someone to Dongping Prefecture to deliver the news that you colluded with the Qingzhou bandits. I think Prefect Cheng has already rushed it to the court five hundred miles away."

"Grandmaster Cai hates the Qingzhou bandits so much that I don't think he will protect you. I'm afraid your life will be in danger."

Li Datian's face changed drastically, and he said with all his might, "Grand Master is very wise, how can he believe one-sided words? These are all slanderous words, and you have no evidence. I will file a petition to defend myself."

Wu Yong smiled coldly, took a brocade box from Shi Qian, opened it, took out two jade pendants and showed them to the public, saying, "Li Magistrate, are these two jade pendants your favorite things?"

"Yes, this is a birthday gift from my son."

"Look, isn't this evidence? Yesterday, I found this pair of jade pendants in your bookstore. They must be your favorite things. Take a closer look, these two jade pendants are extraordinary. I'm afraid this pair of jade pendants was sent by the Qingzhou bandits to win you over, right?"

"Nonsense! How could I, a minor official from Yuncheng, befriend these people?"

"You haven't made friends with him, but what about the young master?" Wu Yong asked.

It turned out that since occupying Shouzhang County, Wu Yong had the intention of annexing the surrounding counties. After discussing with Zhao Zhen, he secretly took out six jade pendants and sent spies to spy around, looking for opportunities.

The two spies deliberately showed these two jade pendants to Li Gongbi, and Li Gongbi took advantage of his power to seize them. These jade pendants are not only made of good jade, but also carved by master craftsmen. Not only do they have good meanings, but they also have the words "Yuan Chang" engraved on them.

It was Liu Hui Niang who discovered this word. Cheng Wan'er asked several sisters to choose jewelry, and Liu Hui Niang, with her keen eyes, discovered the hidden mystery in it. She told Zhao Zhen about it, and that's how Wu Yong designed it.

Li Gongbi heard this and said hurriedly, "Father, I didn't know this was stolen goods. I just saw that the jade pendants with double cranes holding a ribbon and the jade pendants with the Five Cardinal Relationships were exquisite and I bought them as gifts for your birthday."

Looking at Li Gongbi who was limp on the ground, Li Datian suddenly said, "This is a frame-up."

Wu Yong said, "Li Magistrate, you should also know that the contents of this birthday gift have long been known to everyone. Among them are these two fine jade pendants, but you didn't take a closer look?"

"It must be a thief."

As he spoke, he shouted to the county magistrate Qian Cheng, the chief clerk Ren Tinggui, and the clerk Qian Lao who were standing beside him, "I'm afraid you are also accomplices."

After hearing this, the three men fell to the ground. Qian Cheng cried out in pain: "Sir, although we have seen the county magistrate bring these two jade pendants, we do not know the origins of them. This is a capital crime, how dare we follow him."

Wu Yong waved the feather fan in his hand and said, "If you are not an accomplice, how come you assisted Li Yanei in the search for Shi Dutou, and then led people to intercept Hua Zongguan?"

"Sir, since ancient times, people have been 'not afraid of officials, but afraid of being controlled.' We work under the magistrate, so we naturally take good care of Li Yanei. But we would never dare to collude with the Qingzhou bandits." Qian Cheng replied quickly.

Ren Tinggui and Qian Lao also quickly agreed, fearing that they would be implicated.

Li Datian pointed at the three people and cursed them as idiots.

Ren Tinggui said, "Sir, you are colluding with the Qingzhou bandits, why do you have to implicate us? The yamen usually makes trouble, commits violence, and makes trouble on the streets. We can cover up a little bit of bullying men and women, but we dare not commit such a crime as colluding with the Qingzhou bandits. If it weren't for County Magistrate Zhao who found out, we would have been implicated. Today we will write a letter to report it."

"Yes, we need to report it," echoed Qian Lao, a clerk.

Li Datian was furious when he heard the three men say this. He shouted, "You guys are not good people either. You have done a lot of things like extorting money and harming innocent people. Forcing many farmers to follow the bandits, aren't you also secretly helping the bandits?"

Qian Cheng said sarcastically, "When it comes to harming the people, we can't compare to you and your son together."

Qian Lao said, "That's right. Whenever someone sued the yamen, you ordered me to threaten the victim to shut up. If there were any stubborn people, I would fabricate charges against them and destroy the good people's families."

"Even worse, they deceived their colleagues. Take Meng Yulou's husband, Ximen Qing, for example. He married Pan and poisoned Wu Dutou's brother. Didn't your husband accept Ximen Qing's bribe and refuse to arrest Ximen Qing? Didn't you force a hero like Wu Dutou to kill the two and be exiled 2,000 miles away?"

Li Datian sneered: "Why, you didn't take the money?"

Zhao Zhen and the others laughed secretly as they watched several people quarreling with each other in the hall. A few clerks were writing furiously behind the screen.

By the time they realized something was wrong, it was too late. Most of their illegal deeds had been exposed.

After having several people sign and seal, Zhao Zhen sent the document, along with the two jade pendants, to Cheng Wanli in Dongping Prefecture.

All the county officials and runners who were implicated were thrown into jail.

Zhang Chuang, the militia commander, was cruel to innocent people and often sought bribes. After Hua Rong took over the county's imperial guards, he was also sent to prison.

While waiting for the imperial court to issue an order to deal with Li Tianda, the entire Yanggu County fell into Zhao Zhen's hands. During these days, Zhao Zhen settled the case, and many of the families who had been abused saw that Li's father and son were imprisoned and filed a lawsuit. Zhao Zhen had everyone sorted out and sent them to Dongping Prefecture.

(End of this chapter)