The man walked faster, but there was no response.
Seeing this, Liu Yong ordered his attendants, "Catch him."
In an instant, several yamen runners came up and held the man down. The man was shocked and asked, "What are you doing? What do you want to do?"
"Don't catch my grandpa, don't catch my grandpa!"
a little girl yelled.
Liu Yong was stunned for a moment. He thought the man was in a hurry and quite suspicious, and thought he was a human trafficker who stole children.
I didn't expect that he was actually the father of these two little girls.
Just as he was about to go up and question her, a woman's voice came closer from behind, mixed with sobs: "Wuwuwu, boss, come back quickly, that's your daughter!"
After a while, a woman came out hurriedly from the end of the road, crawling and tumbling.
She was wearing coarse linen clothes that were patched together, and she looked pale and thin, but at this moment her face was filled with extreme sadness and she was crying loudly.
Seeing this, Liu Yong became even more confused and had to ask his men to let the man go.
At that moment, the woman had already approached. She rushed to the two children, hugged them tightly, and cried like a tearful person, "You want to sell your own daughters? Are you still a human being?"
The man also burst into tears and wailed, "What can I do? There are so many taxes this year, and Manager Wang even took away our hoes. If I don't sell them, we will starve to death this year."
In an instant, Liu Yong understood. He looked at Jiang Qu beside him with a serious expression, and Jiang Qu's face also became gloomy.
Now all parts of the country are focusing on political achievements and new policies. If Xinzhou fails to do so at this juncture and is caught by the censor and reported to the court, they will completely fail the assessment.
Performance-based salary is a minor issue; the key point is that they are all Jinshi (imperial scholar) graduates. In ancient times, it was difficult for those who entered the officialdom through family connections to advance to higher positions, so actual performance was more important.
However, the diploma of a Jinshi is much better than those who entered the officialdom through family nepotism or those who were of the same Jinshi origin, and the court often gives priority to them in promotion.
If they fail the assessment at this juncture, their future will undoubtedly be in jeopardy.
The young couple was already hugging each other and crying.
Jiang Qu walked over and was about to speak when another large group of people came over from behind.
The leader was a skinny man. Seeing the young couple walking along the tree-lined path on the small ridge ahead, he shouted happily, "Quick, take them back."
"Manager Wang, what are you doing? I just want to sell my own child, and you won't allow it?"
The man exclaimed in surprise.
"Who allowed you to go down the mountain and sell it in town? If you want to sell it, you can only sell it to our father-in-law."
"But your family only gave so little money, and you even had to use it to pay off debts. You didn't give us any money or food at all. If this continues, we will starve to death this year."
"It's only natural to pay back your debts. Who made you owe the money?"
Steward Wang sneered.
Liu Yong could no longer contain his anger and spoke out in a righteous manner, "You scoundrels, you've already torn someone apart from his wife and children. What else do you want? Are you going to be satisfied until you've driven him to death and destroyed his family?"
"You are so unreasonable, old fellow."
After all, Manager Wang was only the steward of a wealthy landlord in the village, and he couldn't be said to have much discernment. Seeing that Liu Yong and the others were dressed in coarse clothes like peddlers, he sneered, "If they owe money to our father-in-law, they should use their children to pay off the debt. If their children can't pay, then use their wives!"
Liu Yong was extremely angry and was about to order his men to grab weapons and attack.
Jiang Qu, who was standing nearby, calmed down. Seeing that the enemy had quite a large force, around ten or so, he decided to avoid a loss and whispered to him, "Sir, they have a lot of people. Why don't you go back and gather some more people before coming back?"
This sentence awakened Liu Yong. If he had been in his twenties, he would have probably gotten it, but as he got older, although he used to hang out in brothels and was pursued by prostitutes.
But precisely because of this, he has become accustomed to being greeted with smiles and the ways of the world, and has become more experienced and mature, and no longer as ruthless.
He had no choice but to take a few steps back.
Seeing this, the steward Wang smiled smugly and said, "You old fellow, just do your job as a peddler, stop meddling in other people's business, and take the man back."
"Manager Wang, we will pay back the money we owe you, you..."
The young couple wailed.
But all the thugs rushed up, tied them up and walked back in a swagger.
At this time, Liu Yong frowned and was thinking about something.
Are you really just going to watch it?
Although what Jiang Qu said made sense, even if they went to Yiyang County Government to transfer people, it would take two days to go back and forth, and the young couple didn't know how much hardship and torture they would have to endure.
Besides, it is hard to say whether this landlord has any connection with the Yiyang County Magistrate.
Seriously speaking, he was here on a secret visit. If he was near the county town, or even in the surrounding mountain villages, everything would be fine as long as he revealed his identity.
But in these deep mountains and forests, if they were beaten to death and buried somewhere randomly, I'm afraid no one would know where they are in this lifetime.
So Liu Yong was conflicted for a while.
'What should I do at this time?'
"If we go back to mobilize troops, it might be too late, and they might even destroy the evidence."
"Now is the best time to arrest him. With all the evidence, there is no room for denial!"
'But I have few people now.'
"By the way, think about what the dean would do if he were here."
'He'll definitely find a way.'
'Yes, it can be outsmarted!'
Liu Yong immediately came up with a plan, and then said to everyone: "Everyone, I have a plan. If it works, it will definitely be a great achievement. Then, by then, there may be hope for a place in this year's civil service examination."
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