"Dad! Dad! Save your son! Dad, if you don't come out, your son will be beaten..." The second young master Jiang didn't understand whether Lord Yang was pretending to appease the public anger or really wanted to beat him. In any case, it was normal for him to be afraid.
"Puff!" After a blow of the board, the second young master Jiang let out an extremely shrill howl, like a pig with a knife stabbed in the neck. The sound was extremely creepy.
Erniu was so scared that she screamed, turned around and threw herself into Ding Youtian's arms, closing her eyes and not daring to look again.
Sanniu shrugged her shoulders and blinked in surprise. Jian Ning quickly pulled her into his arms and covered her eyes to prevent her from seeing.
Fifty lashes of the cane, each one hitting the flesh. At first, the Second Young Master Jiang screamed heartbreakingly, but after a dozen or so, his voice gradually died down. Hearing the news, more and more people rushed into the yamen. The Second Young Master Jiang was a bully in Yancheng and had always oppressed the people. Seeing him being beaten, the people he had oppressed felt extremely happy. They raised their arms and shouted, "Kill him! Kill him!"
The angry shouts were getting louder and louder, and Jiang Tongpan in the back hall was terrified. He originally wanted to come out and take a sneak peek to see which yamen runners were carrying out the caning. If they really dared to kill his son, he would kill them!
But he couldn't get out. He couldn't go against the public anger, and his feet were frozen by the people's shouting and cursing!
A little impatience can ruin a great plan, and he'd remembered this grudge! With Prince Yong as his backer, he wasn't afraid of Lord Yang impeaching him. He didn't even look down on a prefect who had been in office for six months and had been completely sidelined by him. It was doubtful whether the impeachment memorial would even reach the emperor's desk. He was wary of Jian Ning and Ding Youtian, and now he wanted to tear them both apart!
The sound of the beating was like a blow to Jiang Tongpan's heart. The veins on his forehead jumped with every blow. Finally, the beating was over.
After being beaten with fifty boards, the second young master Jiang was subjected to acupuncture. He was a martial artist, so a beating of boards would not kill him. The yamen runners knew what they were doing, but it would still hurt him a lot. With these new injuries added to the old ones, he really looked like a dead dog. He was carried to the prison by the yamen runners on a board.
Lord Yang has been in office for half a year and has not been able to make any progress. In the past, Judge Jiang targeted and resisted him in all official matters in the yamen, and Lord He always acted according to Judge Jiang's instructions. Whenever the two of them were talking and laughing together, the conversation would become awkward as soon as he interrupted. He felt extremely frustrated.
Today he can finally hold his head high. He couldn't help but look at the people in front of the court. Having been in officialdom for many years, he knew that there was a lot of reason behind the people's behavior today. But he didn't know who was secretly guiding the people.
He turned his gaze and fell on Jian Ning and Ding Youtian. He didn't doubt Ding Youtian, but the two of them were very conspicuous standing in the crowd. Jian Ning was expected to cure his hidden illness, so he naturally looked at them more.
Looking over, Cao stumbled towards Jian Ning and Ding Youtian. Before Ding Youtian could stop her, she knelt down and kowtowed to them several times, saying loudly, "Thank you so much, my two benefactors! If it weren't for you, my son would be dead!"
Cao remembered Ding Youtian's words. She could not call him "Sir" nor could she call Jian Ning "Princess". She was filled with mixed emotions. She thought her son would not survive and the Xu family's incense would be cut off. Unexpectedly, she met two great nobles, Jian Ning and Ding Youtian. Not only was her son acquitted and saved his life, but he was also given two hundred taels of silver as compensation. She was so happy that she burst into tears.
"Son!" Seeing Tong Bajin and Erlangzi carrying Xu Dali over on a door panel, she stood up and rushed over to grab Xu Dali's hand again, pointing at Jian Ning and Ding Youtian, "Remember, without them, not only would you die, but your wife and daughter would also die! This lady is a miraculous doctor. She saved your wife and daughter, as well as her husband..."
"Auntie!" Ding Youtian interrupted her, "My wife is a female doctor. Treating illnesses and saving lives is her duty as a doctor. Why bother with that? My wife has left her medicine box on the carriage outside. Hurry and carry the man over so that my wife can treat your son immediately. Don't delay."
Although he stopped Cao in her tracks, preventing her from saying the rest of her words, Lord Yang already knew that Ding Youtian had written the petition on Cao's behalf. He had learned from Uncle Yao that Ding Youtian and Jian Ning were in the medicinal herb business, and he hadn't expected Ding Youtian to be so talented. This surprised him, and gave him even more confidence that Jian Ning could cure him.
At this time, Lord Yang did not know that Ding Youtian was the new top scholar, but Judge Jiang knew it. He had previously guessed that Xu Dali's incident was related to Princess An Ning and her husband. Now, he saw Cao kneeling down to them through the crack in the back hall door. His face was so gloomy that water could drip out of it. He stared at Jian Ning and Ding Youtian, his eyes filled with a cold and dim light like a poisonous snake spitting out its tongue.
"Today is truly a great day!" On the way back, Erlangzi said excitedly, "We've heard a lot about the evil deeds of the Second Young Master Jiang these past two days. Everyone here knows that Jiang Tongpan and Prince Rui are in cahoots with each other. This father and son have done a lot of evil, but everyone is angry but dares not speak out. Today, Lord Yang has really done a great thing for the people. It's so satisfying!"
"That's also us..." Tong Bajin chuckled twice. He wanted to say that Lord Yang could accomplish this task, which was inseparable from the secret planning of their family's master. After what happened today, he admired Ding Youtian even more.
He drove the carriage and sat outside with Erlangzi, while Xu Dali curled up in the carriage. Jian Ning had checked his injuries and asked Cao to feed him medicine and apply ointment to treat external injuries. On the night he surrendered, Jiang Tongpan broke into the prison and beat him half to death. He had multiple external and internal injuries all over his body, and he would not be able to get out of bed for several days of recovery.
As soon as Cao got on the carriage, she told Xu Dali the identities of Ding Youtian and Jian Ning, and urged him to repay the two benefactors in the future. Xu Dali was so moved that he could not speak, so he expressed his deep gratitude to them with his eyes.
Jian Ning asked Tong Bajin to go to the inn where they were staying first. She and her family returned to the inn with their pets. When Tong Bajin drove the carriage to Xiahe Street in the south of the city, the people from Dingzihao also rode out of the east gate and headed towards the neighboring county. The news that Jiang Tongpan had been colluding with King Rui for a long time and allowing his son to commit crimes was quickly spread from county to county to the capital and even to the ears of the prince.
Ding Youtian didn't know if simply allowing his son to commit the crime could convict Jiang Tongpan. He had heard from Blind Liu that there was a precedent in the previous dynasty where a son's failure to educate his father was the fault of the father, and a son's violation of the law led to his father being dismissed from office, but he had never heard of such a case in this dynasty.
Earlier in the court, every move of Mr. He, the Tongzhi, did not escape his eyes. Mr. He was the old official mentioned by his master. Such an official was good at dealing with people and changing his attitude according to the situation. He was neither good nor bad. As long as he was not on the same side as Jiang Tongpan, he would not have to worry about him.
Right now, his only concern was Jiang Tongpan. If he couldn't get him implicated by his son and dismissed, or if he was simply transferred to another prefecture, wouldn't he still cause harm to the area? Furthermore, he was ordered by Prince Yong to kill him and Jian Ning, and now because of his son's incident, he was afraid he would not give up.
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