Chapter 201: Calling the shots

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 saw that the situation was hopeless and decided to sacrifice his brother-in-law to the gods. He cried, "Thank you, sir. I listened to Shi You's slander and was blinded by lard for a while. I beg you to give me a chance!"

Without waiting for Shi You to argue, 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 are also the Shi family's stewards and servants..."

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 so shocked that he stammered and was unable to utter a word for a long time.

He knew clearly that if he couldn't free himself from this responsibility, he would have to keep this black hat forever.

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

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

In the light, Xie Zhao had an indifferent expression, and there seemed to be fire burning in his eyes.

Magistrate Cao's pupils shrank, and he made up his mind 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 the destruction of 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 put his hands on the ground, trying to stop himself from shaking: "Thank you, sir. Ruyang is building and expanding the official road. Pingcheng Prefect Liu has given a deadline. As the parent official of Ruyang, I dare not disobey Liu. It is really a helpless move."

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

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

Magistrate Cao is a subordinate of Lord Liu, which means he is equivalent to Prime Minister Wei.

"Cao Lian, you are about to die, and you still dare to use a mere prefect 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 been the county magistrate of Ruyang for more than ten years. The people have lived in fear and have never had a good day. You have exploited the people, extorted their wealth, and killed them. All your crimes are well documented. You deserve to die. 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 precious sword in his hand, veins bulging on the back of his hand, his eyebrows and eyes looked even more profound under the light, 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 then his head fell to the ground.

Xie Zhao looked down at him, his light-colored robe not stained with a single stain of dirty 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 was trembling and unable to utter a word.

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

After checking, Jiang Yuzhu confirmed: "It is consistent with the blurry flesh and blood left between Miss Xu's fingers."

Cao Lian lost his head, but Xie Zhao did nothing else.

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

The onlookers were shocked by the scene before them and were too stunned to speak.

After they realized what was happening, everyone cheered and said, "The dog official is dead. Thank you, sir, for being so noble and upright and standing up for us, the people!"

The women in the village cried, "With Lord Xie here, 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 arrived at Ruyang government office overnight and began to rectify the situation based on clues provided by the people.

Nine out of ten of the 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 were imprisoned for no reason because they 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 common ornaments in Cao's mansion!"

"You don't know that the bed that Magistrate Cao sleeps on has legs 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 more wealth over the years than a second-rank official in Beijing.

County 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 once again fall into dire straits.

"Madam, most of the people who come to the gate of the government office to file a complaint against the government officials are here because of murder cases."

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

Some poor and miserable people have had their relatives tortured into confessions and died unjustly, and their graves are now overgrown with grass.

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

Now these girls have been abused and they cannot survive even if they are rescued, so they are trying to commit suicide.

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'll temporarily place him in the back house of the government office, waiting for relatives to come and pick him 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 full of pity as she explained, "Madam, most of them are girls from ordinary families. Their families are not wealthy. Not only do they have parents, but they also have brothers and sisters-in-law. Once they are taken back, there will be one more mouth to feed, and they can only eat and drink at their parents' home..."

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.