Shen Yue cried out in surprise.

At first, she thought her older sister was just playing a trick on her.

But when he saw that all the horses in the stable were in chaos, he began to feel afraid.

She gripped Chenxi tightly with her little hands, on the verge of tears.

"Big sister, I'm scared."

Chenxi had no time to comfort his younger sister.

She tried her best to control the frightened horse.

Fortunately, her training over the past few days has paid off.

The horses, restrained by Chenxi, started spinning in circles.

Zheng Ankang and the others quickly jumped over.

Shenxi tossed Shenyue to Zheng Ankang with one hand before leaping off his horse.

The remaining guards quickly gathered and completely took control of Chenxi's horse.

But the surrounding area remained in chaos.

Those who rushed in, carrying whips and farm tools, were still beating their horses.

And some people began to untie the horses.

Chenxi jumped over them and knocked them to the ground one by one.

Five were taken down in a row, and the guards came up together. They quickly brought more than twenty people under control and, together with the people from the equestrian center, controlled the runaway horses.

Despite this, three people died on the spot, more than a dozen were seriously injured, and many others sustained minor injuries.

Shenxi immediately ordered that the injured be quickly sent to the nearest hospitals and clinics.

Then, with a sullen face, he looked at everything before him.

"Bring all those involved to the county government office."

Such a serious problem has occurred in the county town, so of course we have to go to the county government office for a hearing first.

"Ankang, send Yue'er back and let Yingxue take care of her."

Zheng Ankang arranged for several people to escort Shen Yue back to the chief's residence.

By the time Song Zhen received the message, Shen Xi and her guards were already almost at the county government office.

Without saying a word, Song Zhen immediately bowed deeply to admit his mistake.

Such a major accident occurred in the county under his jurisdiction, especially while the county leader was present; he cannot shirk his responsibility.

Shen Xi simply kept a stern face and did not punish him.

The actual matter can only be decided after the trial is completed.

Song Zhen followed behind nervously.

When they arrived at the county government office and the court was convened, Song Zhen asked Shen Xi to take the seat of honor, but Shen Xi shook his head: "The county government office is where you try cases, so you should be the one to conduct the interrogation. I will just listen in."

Song Zhen's palms were sweaty.

He thought to himself, "Who is so bold as to do such a thing?"

We've been living peacefully for so long.

The manager of the horse farm, surnamed Qian, and the more than twenty people who attacked the horse farm were all taken to the county government office.

Mr. Qian knelt down immediately, weeping bitterly: "Your Excellency, please do justice for me! These people have caused me great losses."

The losses were indeed heavy; several horses were injured as they ran around in panic.

Horses were incredibly valuable back then. These weren't warhorses, just ordinary horses, but they were still very expensive.

Whether an injured horse can be used depends on the severity of its injury.

He's already checked, and two of them are definitely unusable.

What a huge loss!

It's all the fault of this mob; why did they have to storm his horse farm?

Mr. Qian was truly heartbroken; the horse farm had only been open for a short time and had not yet made a profit.

If it's lost in his hands, how can I explain it to my employer?

Song Zhen slammed the gavel down: "Don't speak unless you're asked."

"Yes, yes, I understand."

Song Zhen looked at the twenty-odd civilians who were being held down, and his head ached.

"Who can tell me why we stormed the horse farm?"

“This humble citizen, Dong Da, will speak.”

Dong Da knelt down, his head pounding; he was clearly not convinced.

Song Zhen nodded: "Go ahead and speak."

“Reporting to the magistrate, we are all villagers from Dongjia Village, which is more than forty li away from here. We were originally doing well, relying on the orders given by the leader to work hard and have food to eat.”

"Unexpectedly, one day, an order came down from above, requiring every household to raise horses, and saying that it was the leader's order."

"What?"

Shenxi was puzzled.

She does indeed lack horses, but getting ordinary people to raise horses is not yet on the agenda.

If ordinary people don't have enough to eat, how could they possibly have the means to raise horses?

A truly good horse doesn't grow up simply by eating grass.

High-quality protein is required.

"Yes, the village chief said it was an order from above, that is, an order from the leader."

Another villager, emboldened, shouted.

“We also went to the township to ask, and the township head said that the order issued by the leader was absolutely correct, and he even showed us the document.”

Song Zhen's head bounced again.

Do you have any copies of the documents?

"have."

Most ordinary people can now read some characters.

Many people would copy down the document and study it carefully at home.

The yamen runner took the copy of the document and handed it to Song Zhen.

Song Zhen then handed it to Shen Xi for review.

The yamen runners and the people kneeling below were all very surprised.

Who is this person, and why is the magistrate always so respectful to her?

When Shenxi took it, she saw that it was indeed written in a formal, official document style.

As stated above, the goal is indeed to have every household in several villages of Xunwang Township raise horses.

The horse was provided by Qian Zhen.

The horse is a bit thin and needs to be well cared for by the villagers, who will pay them 100 coins a month for each month of care.

He also promised that the horse's fodder would be provided by Mr. Qian.

The villagers thought it was a good business opportunity; they only needed to put in a little extra labor to earn 100 coins per person.

The villagers all signed the agreement in accordance with the regulations at the time.

To everyone's surprise, the horses that were brought in were not only thin and small, but some of them were also sick.

Mr. Qian's men said it's alright, you just need to take care of him and make sure he's healthy.

After raising them for more than two months, half of them died, and then Mr. Qian's men went back on their word.

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