Xie Zhao's men arrived and instantly subdued the men brought by County Magistrate Cao, and the situation was brought under control.

With the help of the people of Zhaijia Village, the arrogant County Magistrate Cao, seeing that the situation was hopeless, decided to sacrifice his brother-in-law to the heavens and cried, "Thank you, sir. I listened to Shi You's slander and was blinded by greed. I beg you to give me a chance!"

Without waiting for Shi You to argue, County Magistrate Cao could not wait to reveal the truth: Shi You was the real murderer of Miss Xu!

"It's not just Shi You, there's also the Shi family steward and servants..."

County Magistrate Cao was only interested in making money and had no interest in beautiful women, so he did not participate in it.

Xie Zhao glanced at Manager Cao and asked with some interest, "How do you explain this scene tonight?"

"Thank you, sir. It's a misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding!"

Magistrate Cao was shocked and stammered for a long time without being able to utter a word.

He was clear-headed and knew that if he couldn't free himself, he would be in trouble forever.

Xie Zhao was an imperial envoy who passed through Ruyang to transport food and fodder.

As long as County Magistrate Cao could get away with it with some words, bring out the scapegoat, say a few nice words, and bribe him with some money, there might be a chance to turn things around.

In the light, Xie Zhao looked indifferent, with a fire burning in his eyes.

Magistrate Cao's pupils shrank, and he was determined to resist to the end. So he lied with his eyes open and said, "I came to Zhaijia Village to discuss compensation with the villagers."

Magistrate Cao completely denied destroying the body and tried to make amends for himself in many ways.

The villagers watched this scene coldly and couldn't help feeling ironic.

Magistrate Cao, who used to be arrogant and always wanted to punish people, was like a pug wagging its tail in front of Lord Xie, and behaved in an ugly manner.

In the dark night, the torches around formed fire dragons.

Xie Zhao's expression flickered, his inky eyes showed no ripples, as if an invisible black net was heavily covering County Magistrate Cao.

"Thank you, sir. Your humble servant..."

Magistrate Cao crawled on the ground, as if trapped, unable to struggle at all, and didn't understand why he was so frightened.

Despite this, County Magistrate Cao placed his hands on the ground, trying to calm his trembling. "Thank you, sir. Ruyang needs to build and expand the official road. Pingcheng Prefect Liu has given a deadline. As the father and mother of Ruyang, I dare not disobey you. This is a helpless move."

"What was said before was to scare the people of Zhaijia Village into moving out quickly. Compensation will be given as usual."

It was heard that Pingcheng Prefect Liu and Chief Minister Wei were classmates and had connections in the capital, so County Magistrate Cao deliberately brought this up to tell Xie Zhao not to act rashly.

Magistrate Cao is a subordinate of Lord Liu, and in a disguised sense is equivalent to the Prime Minister of Wei.

"Cao Lian, you are about to die, yet you still dare to use a mere prefecture chief to pressure me?"

Xie Zhao was well aware of the fact that officials in the officialdom formed cliques and protected each other.

Unexpectedly, in Ruyang, I was secretly threatened by a small official.

"Cao Lian, you have served as the magistrate of Ruyang for over a decade. The people have lived in fear, never having a single day of peace. You have exploited the people, plundered their wealth, and disregarded their lives. All of your crimes are well-documented. You deserve death. Have I wronged you?"

At the end of his speech, Xie Zhao's voice turned cold, and his eyes were filled with murderous intent.

"Liang An, please give me the Imperial Sword!"

The imperial sword has arrived, and the traitors and corrupt officials will be punished according to the law, as if the emperor himself is here!

Xie Zhao held a sword in his hand, with veins bulging on the back of his hand. His eyebrows and eyes were even more vivid under the light, and his eyes revealed absolute indifference and murderous intent.

Magistrate Cao's blood seemed to freeze, and his soul trembled: "Xie Zhao, you can't kill me!"

Magistrate Cao rolled on the ground and was about to do a somersault, but before he could finish the second half of his sentence, there was a flash of silver light and his head fell to the ground.

Xie Zhao looked down at him, his light-colored robe not stained with a single stain of blood.

When Shi You saw this scene, he was so scared that he wet his pants, his upper lip touched his lower lip, and he trembled and couldn't say a word.

Liang An grabbed Shi You and stripped off his underwear, revealing the obvious scratches on his back.

After Jiang Yuzhu examined it, she confirmed, "It's the same as the blurry flesh and blood left between Miss Xu's fingers."

Cao Lian lost his head, but Xie Zhao did not take any other action.

Jiang Yuzhu had a vague understanding that Shi You was not an official and would not use the imperial sword.

The onlookers were shocked by the scene before them and were so shocked that they were speechless.

After they reacted, everyone cheered and said, "The dog official is dead. Thank you, sir, for your noble character and standing up for us, the people!"

The women in the village cried, "Thanks to Master Xie, Miss Xu would not have died in vain. Her injustice has been redressed!"

After killing Cao Lian, there were still a lot of troubles to follow.

Xie Zhao went to Ruyang government office overnight and began to rectify the situation based on the clues provided by the people.

Nine out of ten yamen runners left behind by Magistrate Cao were his lackeys, and had committed many evil deeds.

All the evil yamen runners were thrown into the jail, and a group of poor people who had been imprisoned for no reason because they had offended County Magistrate Cao were released from the jail.

Among them were merchants and ordinary people. They all knelt for a long time, just wanting to express their gratitude to Lord Xie in this way.

Hongli and several maids followed a group of people to Cao's mansion to search the property, which opened their eyes.

"Madam, corals are rare in the capital, but they are just ordinary ornaments in Cao's mansion!"

"You don't know that the legs of the bed Magistrate Cao sleeps on are made of solid gold!"

Several maids were amazed, and even Jiang Yuzhu was a little bit unbelievable. She casually flipped through the account book of Fuguilou and saw that a mere county magistrate had amassed wealth over the years that even exceeded that of a second-rank official in Beijing.

Magistrate Cao was beheaded, and the people of Ruyang spread the news.

While everyone was happy, they were also deeply worried.

There was a county magistrate named Cao. They had become like frightened birds, fearing that another bad official would come and the people of Ruyang would fall into dire straits again.

"Madam, most of the people who come to the yamen to file lawsuits are here because of murder."

After Hong Jin found out the whole story, she felt very uncomfortable.

Some poor and pitiful people have had their relatives tortured into confessing and unjustly dying, and their graves are now overgrown with weeds.

"Shi You relied on Magistrate Cao as his backer and abducted more than a dozen girls from good families from the backyard."

Now these girls have been raped and cannot survive even if they are rescued, so they are seeking death.

It can be said that the crimes committed by County Magistrate Cao and his minions are too numerous to list.

Jiang Yuzhu frowned in thought, then asked, "Where are those girls?"

"I'm temporarily staying in the backyard of the government office, waiting for my relatives to come and pick me up."

It had been two hours, the news had already spread, and only a few people came to pick them up.

Hong Jin's face was filled with pity as she explained, "Madam, most of them are from ordinary families. Their families aren't wealthy. They have parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, and others to support. Once they're taken back, there will be one more mouth to feed, and they'll have to eat and drink at their parents' house..."

When there are many family members, they are not united in spirit.

When the mother's family picks someone up, they have to consider the livelihood of the whole family.

Although kind-hearted people would sympathize with the suffering woman, they still couldn't help but talk behind her back.