"Oh, you guys are really good at saving money. Everyone in your family is born in the Year of the Rat, right?"

Zhang Mingzhi laughed contemptuously and said, "Then why can't others save enough, but your family can?"

"That's because we manage our finances well and live frugally. We're more calculating than those poor people. So, is being rich illegal?"

Zhang Mingzhi ignored him and turned to the crowd, shouting, "Songpaxiong said his family saved their money, and that your inability to save is your own fault. Now, is there anyone who can tell me why the Songpa family has money and you don't?"

After a brief silence, the crowd below the stage was filled with anger, and countless people rolled up their sleeves and rushed to the stage. If the soldiers guarding the platform had not seen the danger and quickly stopped them, this makeshift platform would not have been able to withstand the turmoil of so many people.

"Come on, come up one by one."

For the next half day, Zhang Mingzhi broadened his horizons on the platform.

It goes without saying that basic operations such as putting the big bucket in and taking the small bucket out are common practice. Installing steel balls inside the scale bar of a large scale is also a common practice.

But setting fire to the farmers' crops and forcing them to sell their land was already a huge challenge for Zhang Mingzhi, and there was more to come...

In years of disaster, he would send private soldiers to block the roads, and farmers whose crops had gone bankrupt were not allowed to flee the famine, and they had to become tenants of his family.

Good harvests pushed down grain prices, forcing self-cultivating farmers to go bankrupt because they could not pay taxes.

He colluded with the county magistrate to shift his own taxes onto others.

The original intention was to borrow 100 kilograms of grain for emergency use, but the farmer was illiterate and was taken advantage of by writing on the loan note that a loan of 1,000 kilograms was borrowed, with an interest rate as high as 80%, which was monthly interest.

Farmers were forced to sell their children to Songpa Village as slaves, and the parents were required to pay for food and accommodation. If they failed to pay, they would be beaten to death. This was simply because they were worried that their own slaves would steal food to feed their hungry parents.

Tenants were not allowed to marry on their own. They had to use their saved food rations or go hunting in the mountains to exchange animal furs for women given by the Songpa family. These women were usually tortured to the point of being on their last breath.

Any pretty girl under the age of ten had to go to the farm to serve Songpa's master. If she could survive the jealous Mrs. Songpa, she would eventually be sold, either to tenant farmers or to brothels in the city.

Any good-looking man who could not be bought to a wealthy family from other places to be a boy lover would be whipped and bitten by dogs in Songpa's house, especially on the face. If he survived, he would become a tenant of Songpa's family and work until his death.

As for the dungeons, water dungeons, lynchings, and cannibalism...

There were so many, so many that the clerks who had come with them filled up all the papers they had brought with them, and countless people were waiting in the audience to come on stage to appeal...

"Songpachung!"

Furious, Zhang Mingzhi pointed at the thick pile of evidence and shouted, "What else do you have to say?"

"Pooh."

Songpaxiong responded, "Master Zhang, words are not enough. Are you planning to convict me based on the nonsense of a few poor people? I say that these people were hired by you to frame me. What can you do to me?"

Zhang Mingzhi gave a wink, and the soldier next to him quickly hit Songpaxiong's good leg again.

Zhang Mingzhi said angrily, "You still dare to quibble? I'm going to hit your middle leg later. You won't be able to use it anyway, so I won't feel bad if it's broken."

"You say these people are lying? Fine, those kneeling below the stage, if you can expose the crimes of the Songpa family, you can get a lighter sentence."

As soon as Zhang Mingzhi finished speaking, the group of Songpa family's men who were kneeling in the audience spoke up one after another. After all, they originally thought that they were definitely going to be buried with the Songpa family, but now there is a glimmer of hope. They can only feel sorry for old man Songpa.

"Sir, I'm reporting that Songpa Xiong, in order to get rid of Butcher Zhang, framed him for selling diseased pork and colluded with the county magistrate to have Butcher Zhang imprisoned. Butcher Zhang's only daughter ended up sleeping with the men of Songpa's family for six months at the farm before being sold to a brothel in the next county. Butcher Zhang, unable to bear the torture, died in the county jail a few months ago. I was the one who did this. My crime is extremely serious, and I'm willing to testify. Please spare my life, sir."

"Sir, I am also willing to report this. There was originally a scholar in the neighboring Jijia Village who was said to be very knowledgeable. Songpaxiong was worried that he would become famous through the imperial examination, so he asked me to bring gifts to win him over. However, the scholar was stubborn and could not be won over. So Songpaxiong sent me to do something bad in secret, causing the scholar to fall into the river..."

"Sir, I'm reporting this. I was responsible for feeding the dog. In the past, those disobedient tenants and maids that the master got tired of playing with were all fed to the big dog in the manor. Oh, and there's more than one dog in the manor, there are many, and they bite everyone they see. I even had three fingers bitten off by a big dog..."

"grown ups..."

"Songpaxiong, what else do you have to say?"

Songpaxiong didn't want his middle leg to be beaten, but he was also unwilling to admit his guilt. He said stubbornly, "These people are also framing me."

"Oh, really? All right, then. Bring up another witness."

Zhang Mingzhi waved his hand, and a young man dressed in coarse linen clothes walked onto the platform.

Songpaxiong was curious. Could there be something different about this witness? He raised his head with an effort, and looked past Songpafeng and Songpachuchu who had been silent, and saw his second son, Songpayun.

"I, Song Payun, greet the County Magistrate."

"Songpayun, I promised you that you haven't done much evil. If you are willing to testify against the Songpa family's illegal activities, you can live."

Seeing that Zhang Mingzhi could say this in public, it proved that he had not lied to him. Song Payun turned around and said loudly to everyone: "The charges mentioned above are all true. I, Song Payun, have personally witnessed them..."

The public trial of the Songpa family (not really, this is a picture from the internet)