Chapter 448 Break their legs!
The yamen runners received the order and rushed in like a tide in an instant, holding water and fire sticks, and surrounded Zhu Lan and Zhu Qingyan, intending to restrain the two.
Zhu Qingyan smiled coldly.
"A mere county magistrate, are you worthy of my kneeling?"
She acted faster and easily snatched a water and fire stick. Before the yamen runners could react, they felt severe pain in their legs and fell to the ground wailing.
Seeing this, the fat man next to the county magistrate pulled out a knife from somewhere, rushed over shouting, but was kicked to the ground by Zhu Qingyan.
"Rebellion... Rebellion!" Miao Zhi was shocked and angry, and raised the gavel in panic to give himself courage.
Zhu Qingyan tapped her toes lightly, and the long sword on the ground flew into the air. She threw it with her backhand, and the long sword flew straight towards Miao Zhi like a dragon!
Miao Zhi's face lost its color in an instant, and the hand that raised the gavel hovered in mid-air.
It's over.
The expected death did not come. Miao Zhi slowly recovered his breathing and touched his neck.
Fortunately, the brain is still there.
Liquid dripped down his hem and all over the floor. Miao Zhi turned around slowly with horrified eyes.
I saw the long knife piercing through his black hat and nailing the hat firmly to the wall behind him, and the handle of the knife was still shaking slightly.
"Miao Zhi." Zhu Qingyan spoke, and Miao Zhi was so scared that he turned around immediately.
She raised the golden seal of the imperial envoy in her hand.
"The Imperial Envoy is here, why don't you get out of here right away!"
"Imperial...Imperial Envoy..." Miao Zhi fell off the stool, crawled over, and kowtowed repeatedly.
"I... Miao Zhi, the magistrate of Yu County in Qingzhou... pay my respects to... pay my respects to the Imperial Envoy!"
After an incense stick of time, Zhu Lan and Zhu Qingyan walked out from the back hall.
The two men washed the charcoal dust off their faces and took off their worn cotton coats, revealing the red official robes underneath. They looked dignified and imposing.
Zhu Lan walked up to the court with a steady gait, sat down, raised the gavel and slammed it heavily, saying in a resounding voice:
"Miao Zhi, the magistrate of Yu County in Qingzhou, do you admit your guilt?"
Miao Zhi knelt down in the hall, prostrating himself, shaking like a sieve.
"Your subordinate...Your subordinate acknowledges his guilt..."
"Oh?" Zhu Lan's eyes were sharp. "Then what crime did you commit?"
Miao Zhi was sweating profusely and said hurriedly:
"I detained refugees outside the city and ordered them to be burned..."
"You are taking human life lightly, you deserve to be beheaded!"
"I admit my crime, Your Excellency the Imperial Envoy, please spare my life!" Miao Zhi cried out.
Zhu Lan's face was stern and he said sternly:
"Let me ask you, when Qingzhou was hit by famine, the imperial court clearly distributed enough food for disaster relief, so why are there so many refugees?"
"This..." Miao Zhi stammered, his eyes rolling rapidly.
"Bang!" Zhu Lan slammed the gavel again, frightening Miao Zhi so much that he almost jumped up.
"Miao Zhi, you are now doomed to die. The only way you can have a chance of survival is to confess the person behind this.
Otherwise, if this huge crime is placed on you, the punishment may not be as simple as beheading.
Confiscating your property and exterminating your entire family, or even executing you by slow slicing... You better think about the consequences."
"Sir, please spare my life! I am just a small county magistrate. How can I be so capable as to embezzle the relief grain from the imperial court?
It was all done by Shen Wanxiong and Shi Yuanzhong!"
"Well, go on." Zhu Lan's unsurprising attitude made Miao Zhi even more nervous.
He couldn't guess how much the imperial envoy knew, so he didn't dare to hide anything and had to tell him everything.
According to Miao Zhi's confession, most of the relief grain from the imperial court went into Shen Wanxiong's granary.
Shen Wanxiong runs a rice shop and a wine shop, which requires a lot of grain. After receiving the disaster relief grain, he used all of it to make wine, and sold the brewed "Spring Breeze Drunk" to make a lot of money, and then used the money to support a group of officials in Qingzhou.
Zhu Qingyan wrote down Miao Zhi's confession in great detail.
The confession was brought to Miao Zhi.
"Master Miao, please sign your name."
Miao Zhi raised his head and looked at Zhu Qingyan with a pleading look.
"Sir, I am only a small county magistrate. All these things are done by the prefect behind the scenes. You can't let me take the blame!
...Since the prefect does not plead guilty, I am sorry that I cannot sign the document!"
Zhu Lan sat upright and sneered.
"Do you think he can escape?
Come, summon Shi Yuanzhong and Shen Wanxiong to the court!"
Zhu Qingyan was stunned for a moment.
Is Zhu Lan confused?
The yamen runners in front of them are not trustworthy, and the two of them have no soldiers. Are they going to capture Shi Yuanzhong themselves?
Never mind, just go.
Zhu Qingyan resigned himself to his fate and walked out, only to meet a group of people coming towards him.
"Lu Feng, the magistrate of Qingzhou, has come to assist the imperial commissioner in capturing the thief!"
Lu Feng was wearing armor. He was not tall, but his voice was as loud as a bell. How could he look like someone who had been ill for a long time?
He strode into the court with a dozen personal guards. Lu Yiner followed behind her father and nodded to Zhu Qingyan and Zhu Lan.
"President Lu arrived at the right time."
Zhu Lan stood up and gave a decisive order:
"I am here on royal orders to investigate all matters in Qingzhou on behalf of Your Majesty.
Qingzhou Tongpan Lufeng, I now grant you the authority to act beyond your authority. Take people to immediately arrest Qingzhou prefect Shi Yuanzhong and Shen's business owner Shen Wanxiong and bring them to question for crime!"
"I obey your orders!"
…
Not long after Lu Feng and his men left, a guard reported back:
“Your Excellency, Shen Wanxiong is here!”
When Shen Wanxiong saw Zhu Lan and the other man, his eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost.
“You…how could you…!”
As he spoke, he looked around in panic.
"Are you looking for Lord Li Moxu?" Zhu Qingyan looked at him jokingly.
"Don't be busy, Master Shen. Master Li is now in the prison of Songtao County, enjoying a good meal and drinking spicy drinks. He has no time to send you news."
When Shen Wanxiong heard this, his expression changed instantly and he sweated profusely.
He looked again at the yamen runners kneeling on the ground and the pale-faced Miao County Magistrate, and a feeling of despair and fear crept into his heart.
“Bang!”
Zhu Lan slammed the gavel with an imposing manner.
"You bold Shen Wanxiong, why don't you quickly confess the truth about how you colluded with the Qingzhou officials and embezzled the imperial court's disaster relief grain?
County Magistrate Miao Zhi has just confessed everything. I advise you not to take any chances, lest you bring trouble to your family."
“Hehehe…” Shen Wanxiong suddenly laughed, but his smile was very ugly.
“I never thought that after so many years of being in the business world and accumulating countless fortunes, I would be defeated by two little girls today…”
He looked up to the sky and sighed for a long time, and finally said dejectedly:
"Okay, I'll take it."
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