Chapter 250 I’m giving you face, understand?
All the people knelt down.
"Your Excellency the Governor!"
The attendants brought the imperial chair, and the governor sat down slowly and said to everyone, "Everyone, stand up!"
Everyone stood up. Most of them had never seen such a high-ranking official before. For a moment, the whole place was silent.
Looking at the soldiers holding weapons and with ferocious expressions, everyone felt a little uneasy.
The governor had a dignified look on his face, and his voice was powerful without being angry. "This governor heard that you besieged the post station yesterday and injured the prefect and the academician. Is this true?"
The people lowered their heads and dared not answer.
"County Magistrate Zhou," the governor said sternly, "as the chief official of Xianchuan County, please tell me, is this true?!"
A panicked and weeping voice came, "Your Excellency, Governor, it is my fault that I have failed to educate the people of Xianchuan County. I beg you to punish me. I will not dare to complain even a little bit..."
The governor thought he was hallucinating, so he turned around and saw Zhou Huaining standing there with his neck shrunk and head lowered, looking five parts aggrieved, three parts determined, and two parts stubborn.
Like a child who is beaten for doing something wrong, it is as pitiful as it can be.
"Your Excellency the County Magistrate..." Many people among the people cried.
They eventually got into trouble with the county magistrate.
"You..." The governor was so angry that he almost couldn't breathe.
"Zhou Huaining, who are you pretending for? Why are you pretending? It would be a shame if you didn't join the opera troupe and become an actor!"
"Your Excellency!" Zhou Huaining sniffed. "Although I'm only a small county magistrate, I'm still an official appointed by the imperial court. You're asking me to become an actor. That's simply insulting! I have my dignity too!"
"Woo woo, County Magistrate!"
"We are the ones who have let the County Magistrate down!"
The people cried even harder.
They saw it all. The usually young, handsome and willful county magistrate was now as aggrieved and humiliated young wife as he was in order to protect the common people.
Everyone was shocked, angry and upset.
This corrupt official, the governor, is here to vent his anger on those two corrupt officials from yesterday. He is deliberately trying to embarrass the county magistrate!
"Your Excellency, Governor!" The people knelt down in unison. "Your Excellency, the County Magistrate is a good official who is dedicated to serving the people. Although Your Excellency, Governor, is a superior, you cannot insult your subordinates like this!"
"What a despicable person an actor is! How dare the governor humiliate our father and mother like this!"
"The deaths of those two corrupt officials yesterday had nothing to do with the county magistrate. Governor, please don't make things difficult for the county magistrate!"
The governor was so angry that his face turned blue. "Well, Zhou Huaining, how much money did you spend and how many benefits did you give to let these untouchables speak for you like this!"
The people all said, "The county magistrate didn't give us any benefits!"
"The county magistrate is an honest official. We respect him sincerely!"
Amidst the buzzing noise, Zhou Huaining leaned over and whispered, "Governor, why are you so angry? The more servile I am, the more I enhance your authority. Do you think I like this? I'm giving you face, why don't you understand?"
The governor was so angry that he was gasping for breath and pointed at Zhou Huaining, "You, you, you..."
Zhou Huaining nodded. "I understand. The Governor doesn't like me doing this. So, shall I be myself again?"
"You dare!" The governor was so angry that veins popped out on his neck.
"It's so hard for me!" Zhou Huaining sighed and muttered to himself, "This isn't right, and that isn't right either! I suspect I'm being targeted! When I'm no longer this official, I'm going to ride on him and call him an old dog!"
Governor: “…”
The governor didn't dare to speak.
He knew that given Zhou Huaining's personality, these words were not really a threat, and he was really capable of doing such a thing!
"Ahem!" The governor cleared his throat and said loudly, "Although the county magistrate is the father and mother of the people, he cannot guarantee that the unruly people will not cause trouble. So, what happened yesterday is not the fault of County Magistrate Zhou."
"The Governor is wise!" the people said in unison.
The governor was extremely angry. He could see that these untouchables were extremely supportive of Zhou Huaining and did not take him, the governor, seriously at all.
Since that's the case, he's going to let them see who's the real boss!
Beside the governor stood the attendants of the prefect and the education commissioner.
The governor ordered, "You saw it all clearly yesterday. Now go and find those who are leading the riot. I will personally investigate!"
"Yes." The followers began to look for people in the crowd.
There were so many people causing trouble yesterday that they couldn't remember so many names. But they didn't dare to say they didn't remember, so they could only point them out randomly.
So, forty or fifty civilians were captured by the soldiers, and each of them cried out for injustice.
Some said, "Sir, I didn't come to town yesterday and didn't cause any trouble at all!"
Some said: "Yesterday the little one was just watching the fun and didn't do anything. Why did you arrest him?"
There were a lot of people around who were testifying at the same time.
"Yes, Governor, they really didn't cause any trouble yesterday!"
"This is the wrong person!"
"Silence!" the governor shouted. "You unruly people are very cunning. What's the point of quibbling now?"
He doesn't care at all whether these people are wronged or not. All he wants to do is kill the chicken to scare the monkeys and teach these people a profound lesson.
"Come here, each of you will be punished with eighty lashes!"
As soon as the governor finished speaking, everyone began to beg for mercy, "No, Your Excellency! Eighty lashes of the cane will kill him!"
The governor snorted coldly, "The prefect and the academician, both officials appointed by the imperial court, died, so why can't you lowly people die?"
Everyone said, "The prefect and the academician were killed by thunderbolts because of corruption! We didn't kill them!"
The governor said coldly, "If you hadn't caused trouble, the thunderbolt wouldn't have happened! The deaths of the prefect and the academician are inextricably linked to you! Execute them immediately!"
"Crackle", the board fell and there was crying on the field.
Half of those who were beaten with sticks were not present yesterday, and they were beaten without knowing why.
Being beaten would be fine, but the key is the severe punishment of eighty lashes with a stick, which few people can withstand.
The family members of the beaten person rushed forward regardless of anything, but were kicked to the side by the soldiers.
"You bastard official, you are indiscriminate and take human life lightly. You will not die a good death!"
"You are in cahoots with the prefect and the academician! You will be punished by heaven!"
"Oh my God, this bastard official is blaming us for the death of the prefect and the academician. Please help us!"
“Let them go!”
With an angry shout, Zhao Xingjian squeezed into the crowd.
I left home a little late today and only found out what happened after I arrived in town.
"Governor, I remember this man!" the attendant shouted. "He was so arrogant yesterday. Neither the prefect nor the academician could convince him. He's the culprit who started the riot!"
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