In the early morning sunshine, Wang Zhixin lay on the grass, holding some wild grass in his mouth, looking very bored.
On the surface, he came to collect mining taxes, but in reality he came to Nanzhili to confiscate properties and kill people.
Now the progress is slow and he is very anxious.
"Sir, the local headman is here." Someone reported.
Wang Zhixin jumped up from the ground happily, "Quick, please invite him over."
The soldiers around looked at each other.
They had long heard that the East Factory commander-in-chief Wang Zhixin was not only greedy for money but also extremely cruel.
I didn't expect to say please to a village head.
It seems that the rumors are all false.
The head of the village was brought over soon.
Wang Zhixin deliberately put on an impatient look and asked, "If you have something to say, just say it. I'm annoyed."
The village head bowed deeply and pointed at the ground under Wang Zhixin's feet and said, "This is the land I rent and cultivate. Why are you digging a hole here...?"
"Mining!"
The headman swallowed his saliva and cried, "My family is poor, and we all rely on these few acres of land for our livelihood. If you open a mine here, I'm afraid my family will starve to death."
Woo woo woo——
The man in his fifties covered his face and started crying.
Wang Zhixin coughed heavily: "Why are you crying? It's not a waste of space."
When he heard that the land was not occupied in vain, the head of the village stopped crying immediately.
Wang Zhixin began to introduce: "If coal is really found here, the court will buy the land at the market price."
The village head was skeptical: "Sir...you won't lie to me, right?"
"Why would I lie to you?" Wang Zhixin glared at him and pointed at the sedan chair next to him and said, "Do you see that sedan chair? The imperial censor from the capital is sitting in it. Anyone who has suffered injustice can file a complaint to him at any time!"
"Really?" the headman asked excitedly.
"Of course!" Wang Zhixin urged, "He is the newly promoted censor of His Majesty, and he has no connection with the local officials. If you really have grievances, you should go to him."
"We must seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we miss it, we will never have it again."
"Thank you, sir!" The head of the village left in a hurry with excitement.
When the villagers outside saw him coming back, they gathered around him.
The village head repeated what Wang Zhixin had said to the villagers.
The villagers were silent at the same time.
"Everyone, don't play dumb. Tell us what you think," said the head of the village.
An elderly villager shook his head and sighed: "What is there to say? The officials of the Ming Dynasty are all the same. You protect me, I protect you, and officials protect each other! We ordinary people can only accept our fate!"
"We can't accept our fate!" A young man shouted, "Our land has been taken away by trickery and arrogance. The more we accept our fate, the more they will take advantage of us. Now that the imperial court has finally arrived, we must ask them to make the decision."
"Hold the shots?" The old villager smiled bitterly. "Half a year ago, your family's land was occupied. You complained to Baoying County, and the magistrate beat you up and sent soldiers to take you back."
"Three months ago, you complained to the state again, and the state said the matter was under the jurisdiction of the county, so they beat you up and took you back."
"A month ago, you were planning to go to the government office to file a complaint, but the news leaked out and you were caught and beaten by the county yamen officers on the way!"
"Either accept your fate or accept being beaten. Make your choice!"
The old man's words brought silence to the scene.
They tried to resist when they encountered injustice, but not only were they not treated fairly, but they suffered several times more injustice.
After a long time, the desire to resist will die.
The young man took a few deep breaths and said through gritted teeth: "I just want to give it a try! I accept the beating!"
After saying that, he walked towards the sedan chair.
Without waiting for the soldiers to stop him, he knelt on the ground and shouted, "I, Wang Wei, am innocent! Please, sir, help me!"
“Unfair!”
“Unfair!”
Amidst the cries of injustice, the curtain of the sedan chair was lifted from the inside.
Huang Zongxi, the Censor-in-Chief, wearing the seventh-rank official robe, stepped down from the sedan chair.
He pushed aside the soldiers who were blocking his way, came up to the young man and asked, "What's the injustice?"
Wang Wei cried and said, "Your Excellency. Half a year ago, the servant of Xu Yifan, a doctor in the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel, took a fancy to my five mu of thin land and forced me to sign a sales contract for one tael of silver."
"Xu Yifan owned thousands of acres of land, more than a hundred pawnshops and businesses, and earned hundreds of thousands of yuan in interest each year. He had more than a thousand servants and hundreds of ships."
"These five mu of thin land are a drop in the bucket for him, but for ordinary people, they are all they have!"
"I will go to the county to file a complaint..."
......
After listening to Wang Wei's crying, Huang Zongxi frowned hard.
I came to Nanzhili to supervise Wang Zhixin, but I didn't expect to encounter such a thing.
And it's very complicated.
If what Wang Wei said is true, at least three imperial officials are involved in this.
Xu Yifan, a fifth-rank doctor in the Ministry of Revenue, was the fifth-rank magistrate of Gaoyou, and the seventh-rank magistrate of Baoying.
In addition, there were dozens of yamen runners, hundreds of villagers and more than a thousand servants.
This was the first time Huang Zongxi encountered such a thing during his time abroad, and the situation was serious, so he had to stand still and think carefully.
Wang Zhixin quietly leaned forward and asked in a low voice: "Censor Huang, are you in trouble?"
"Hmm," Huang Zongxi responded unhappily.
His impression of Wang Zhixin was extremely bad.
If it weren't for his official duties, he would have wanted to be as far away from Wang Zhixin as possible.
Wang Zhixin laughed and said, "When you are in doubt, just go ahead and complain!"
"Hmm?" Huang Zongxi blinked. "Does Admiral Wang mean to report the case to Yangzhou Prefecture?"
"What else?" Wang Zhixin asked back, "This is a case in Yangzhou Prefecture. The Yangzhou prefect will be the chief judge. At best, we can only be deputy judges. If it goes well, we can share the credit. If it goes wrong, the Yangzhou prefect will take the blame. Why not do it?"
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