Chapter 200: The Minister of Works in the Garbage Dump
Thinking of the villagers who were washed away by the flood and the hundreds of acres of fertile land that were submerged, Zhao Hongye wanted to eat Wang Duozi alive.
He asked loudly: "Sir Wang, you are the Minister of Works, you know the importance of infrastructure. The people of Xiling did something wrong, but you went to great lengths to destroy the dam and harmed so many innocent people. Doesn't your conscience hurt?"
Wang Duozi knew that the end was coming, and he was not afraid of anything. He stared at Zhao Hongye with bloodshot eyes and said angrily:
"Don't pretend to be a good person here. Those people died because of you. Because of the Su family, Su Xiaoxiao killed my son and forced my father to death. I just wanted to overthrow the Su family and the Zhao family to avenge them. What's wrong with me? If you want to blame someone, blame you for going to Xiling."
Zhao Hongye was stunned. He didn't kill Boren, but Boren died because of him. If it wasn't him who went to Xiling to provide disaster relief, would Wang Duozi not have tampered with the dam?
Zhao Hongye thought so, but the victims knew it clearly. Among so many officials who went to provide disaster relief, only Zhao Hongye really cared about the people. If it was someone else, they would probably have frozen to death or starved to death after the earthquake.
Seeing Zhao Hongye's self-blame, the old victim trembled and said, "Master Zhao, he is wrong. If it were not for you, we would have died long ago. It was you who worked tirelessly, traveled everywhere day and night, and took us to rebuild our homeland."
Another one echoed, "That's right, Master Zhao. The previous disaster relief officials didn't even go to the disaster area. They just looted and left. Only you really took our lives seriously. If it was someone else, more than a few dozen people would have died."
Other victims also echoed, "Master Zhao, it wasn't you who killed people, it was the hypocritical Minister of Works!"
"Give my brother back his life!"
"My son was washed away by the flood. Kill to pay for his life. Kill him!"
"Yes, kill him!"
The disaster victims were excited and angrily crowded towards Wang Duozi.
The officials used wooden sticks to stop the disaster victims from getting close.
Thinking of their dead relatives and flooded farmland, the disaster victims could no longer bear it. They squeezed in with all their strength, wanting to kill Wang Duozi with their own hands.
One of Wang Duozi's staff seized the opportunity and shouted, "Master Xu, the disaster victims are rioting, why don't you take them down!"
Xu Mo rolled his eyes at the man, but the situation was indeed more difficult now. If he didn't stop it quickly and caused bloodshed, these disaster victims would really be labeled as rioters.
Su Xiaoxiao had slipped out without knowing when. He grabbed a disaster victim who was unable to squeeze in and said, "You still want to kill people in front of the government? It would be more satisfying to hit them with stinky shoes and stinky socks!"
The man immediately understood, took off the shoes he had worn for several months, and threw them at Wang Duozi.
The man's aim was very good, and the shoes hung squarely on Wang Duozi's head.
Before Wang Duozi could recover from the stinky feet, a pair of stinky socks were hung around his neck.
"You are going too far!" Wang Duozi cursed.
Someone rolled up the stinky socks into a ball and threw them directly into Wang Duozi's mouth.
Xu Mo, a handsome young man, could not stand the stench, and backed away, covering his nose.
Pei Yuan and Su Changhe smiled at each other, and then they started to wrestle. Pei Yuan didn't know where he got the strength from, but he kicked Su Changhe away.
Su Changhe stumbled and fell right in front of Wang Duozi. He pushed Wang Duozi, who was covered in smelly socks, to the door of the court.
It was not known whether it was accidental or coincidental, but when a few officials were maintaining order, they ran into Wang Duozi, and Wang Duozi rolled out directly.
Su Xiaoxiao had already run from the disaster victims to the other side. They were all there to watch Xu Mo's trial.
Su Xiaoxiao shouted, "No wonder the capital city floods when it rains. It must be that the Minister of Works cut corners when building the fortifications. I really want to beat him to death with rotten eggs." The
person standing next to Xiaoxiao was an old woman selling eggs. The old woman's small yard was flooded every year after she collected money from the court to build the road.
The old woman's anger was ignited immediately. She grabbed the eggs in the basket and shouted at Wang Duozi who rolled out, "Big corrupt official, I will beat you to death!"
Others followed suit, using rotten vegetable leaves, rotten eggs, swill, and even the fresh horse feces of Pei Yuan's precious horse.
Soon, Wang Duozi was buried by these messy things.
The instigator, Su Xiaoxiao, had returned to the court without anyone noticing and stood next to the prince.
Gu Huaiyu saw her enter the crowd and wanted to pull her back, but when he saw the reaction of the man next to him, he withdrew his foot. He couldn't ruin Su Xiaoxiao's good fortune.
He pretended not to notice Su Xiaoxiao leaving. He suppressed the corners of his mouth and watched Su Xiaoxiao covering her eyes with both hands, looking at the vicious Wang Duozi through her fingers.
Su Xiaoxiao was really a little scared: [Oh my God, where did they find such a heavy-tasting thing? Fortunately, I ran fast, Tsk tsk tsk. Xu Mo was also
stunned. Thanks to Pei Yuan and Su Changhe for their intelligence, otherwise, his Dali Temple would be filled with garbage. Just thinking about it made Xu Mo feel sick.
The officials seemed to be frozen, watching Wang Duozi being besieged, and no one stepped forward to stop it.
Xu Mo's master still had some rationality. He whispered to Xu Mo: "Sir, that's enough. If he really died like this, it would damage your wisdom."
Xu Mo sighed: "What a pity!" If he was not the Dali Temple, he could cheer for the victims like Pei Yuan and Su Changhe.
"Okay, let the officers take Wang Duozi to jail first, and I'll report to the emperor later." Xu Mo was afraid that he didn't explain it clearly enough, so he added, "Send him directly to jail!"
Wang Duozi was too dirty, and he didn't want his territory to be tainted.
Xu Mo didn't even need to do anything. With just a few words from the master, the officers who were immobilized instantly came back to life. They beat their killing sticks in unison, and then shouted "Silence!" The noisy crowd immediately quieted down.
Xu Mo then walked out slowly and stood far away from Wang Duozi and said:
"As the Minister of Works, Wang Duozi did not think of being loyal to the country and acting for the people. Instead, he formed a clique for personal gain, framed loyal and good people, and privately destroyed the Xiling Dam, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries among the disaster victims in Xiling. He also caused Lord Zhao to lead the people to reclaim farmland that had been reclaimed for several months to be destroyed in an instant. Wang Duozi's crimes should be punished according to the law. He will be sent to the death row of the Dali Temple first and his sentence will be decided later."
Seeing Xu Mo speak, the crowd around him dispersed, and only the disaster victims were still waiting there.
They didn't believe Xu Mo, they only believed Zhao Hongye. They all knelt down in front of Zhao Hongye and said, "Master Zhao, you can make a decision for the dead folks!"