Chapter 122 Meritorious Service
"The prefect is here. He got up early in the morning and arrived before dawn. He said that someone had reported that Magistrate Zou was corrupt and had allowed his family members to run rampant outside and seize the people's money and property. The prefect is now questioning Magistrate Zou in the county government office!"
"After the prefect arrived at the county government office, he told our city gate guards to take anyone who claimed to be from Jiangjia Village and was posing as a government official to the county government office."
"Everyone, please follow me."
The guard led the way.
Jiang Mixia, Jiang Zhengxin and others followed first.
Compared to the nervousness they had felt on the way here just now, the people in Jiangjia Village were now excited when they heard that the prefect was coming to question the county magistrate and investigate the matter of the county magistrate condoning his family members to bully others by taking advantage of their power.
"God is indeed wise. At this critical moment, the prefect has come. He will surely make the decision for our village."
"Good will prevail over evil. If you do too many bad things, you will definitely be punished. Isn't the retribution coming now?"
"Hey, don't you think that the prefect's arrival is too coincidental? Something happened in Jiangjia Village yesterday, and the prefect came to the county town in the middle of the night?"
"If that's what you mean, didn't the officer just tell them to wait for the people from Jiangjia Village at the city gate? Does the prefect already know about the situation in Jiangjia Village?"
"It seems so..."
The villagers of Jiangjia Village were discussing here, and Jiang Mixia and Jiang Zhengxin were also very surprised.
Why did the prefect come, and why did he know about Jiangjia Village so quickly? When Jiang Mixia and Jiang Zhengxin arrived at the gate of the county government and saw Xun Yuanbo smiling, they roughly guessed the reason behind these two questions.
Xun Yuanbo stroked his beard before Jiang Mixia and the others could speak. "Don't thank me. I'm not doing this specifically to help you. I'm just really angry!"
In his old age, when had he ever suffered such injustice? If he didn't teach these bastards a lesson, they would still think he was just a charlatan! He had wasted so much energy over the years, and if he couldn't even settle such a small matter, then his title as a heavenly master was really useless!
So without saying a word, he hired a carriage to go to the provincial capital after arriving in the town and found Prefect Zhao.
Prefect Zhao is from a branch of the Zhao family in the capital. To be precise, one should call the current Lord Zhao "uncle". The Zhao family has always emphasized that the direct line and the branch should support each other to ensure the continuation of the glory of the Zhao family.
So although Prefect Zhao was a local official, he had close ties with the Zhao family in the capital and was aware of the situation in the capital. He even met Xun Yuanbai when he went to the capital to participate in the assessment by the Ministry of Personnel, and he knew the weight of Xun Yuanbai in front of the emperor.
Prefect Zhao was also a man of great social skills. After hearing Xun Yuanbo's general description, he rushed here overnight without any delay and questioned Magistrate Zou.
All matters concerning the appointment, transfer, and dismissal of civil and military officials in the court required the emperor's approval. In theory, the prefect did not have the right to directly deal with or dismiss a county magistrate.
However, the prefect could make suggestions to the court and restrain, investigate, and hold accountable the county magistrate.
A higher-ranking official can crush a person to death. Prefect Zhao takes this matter so seriously this time and wants to investigate it carefully. Prefect Zhao has someone powerful enough to speak for him, so it can be said that Magistrate Zou is completely finished.
Jiang Mixia, Jiang Zhengxin and others learned the whole story of why Prefect Zhao came to the county government office. When Prefect Zhao learned that they had arrived at the county government office, he questioned them in the court.
There was no need to add fuel to the fire. Jiang Mixia, Jiang Zhengxin and others simply described the situation at the time truthfully and put their fingerprints on the testimony at the end.
Magistrate Zhao was a middle-aged man of medium build with a square face. He looked quite decent. After he finished asking questions, he walked down from behind the desk and said, "I have almost gotten all the information about Magistrate Zou and the Chai family."
"In the early years, County Magistrate Zou relied on his father-in-law's family to study and take the imperial examinations, and successfully became an official. He was quite afraid of his father-in-law's family, and even indulged them. A few years ago, his wife's brother Chai Kaifu began to seize good farmland and robbed many villages of their property, forcibly demanding money, and making many villagers miserable."
"Chai Kaifu targeted the porcelain kiln in Jiangjia Village this time. Fortunately, you are not afraid of powerful bullies, nor are you deceived by these evil yamen runners. This is why Chai Kaifu never succeeded. This also gave me the opportunity to purge these parasites in the court and eliminate such scoundrels for the court."
"You have done a great job this time!"
Prefect Zhao spoke in a full official tone and his words were a little too superficial, but after listening to him, he felt that his logic was sound, and one thing he said was very clear: Jiangjia Village did not do anything wrong in beating up those yamen runners this time, but instead achieved merit.
Originally on the way from the county city gate to the county government office, many people thought that since Magistrate Zhao had arrived, the matter would be easy to resolve. The merits and demerits of Jiangjia Village would offset each other, and they probably would not be punished.
But now the nature has changed from being faultless to being meritorious.
To have this honor is truly incredible!
Upon hearing this, everyone in Jiangjia Village was delighted.
For lunch, the people of Jiangjia Village had their meal at the county government office.
The reason was that Prefect Zhao, in order to reward the people of Jiangjia Village who had captured Chai Fa and those yamen runners who colluded with him, specially packed up some wine and food from an outside restaurant and set up a table in the county government office.
There are eight cold dishes and eight hot dishes, a total of sixteen dishes, and even the wine they drink is Fenjiu.
The people in Jiangjia Village felt that this was a very glorious thing. Ever since they came out of the county government office after eating and drinking their fill, they have been holding their heads high and looking very proud. They even talked about it for several days after returning to Jiangjia Village.
"Being able to have a meal at the county government office, and being treated by the prefect, my life is complete."
"Of course, that feast is quite impressive!"
"We in Jiangjia Village are relatively well-off, but this is the first time we have eaten such a delicious feast."
"There's smoke coming out of our ancestral grave..."
After showing off like this for more than ten days, news came from the county government again.
It was said that Magistrate Zou had been dismissed from his post because of corruption and indulgence in his family's unscrupulous plunder. He was thrown into prison along with his wife Chai and his wife's brother Chai Kaifu, and would soon be exiled to the northwest.
All the stolen money and property that could be returned would be returned to their original owners. If the original owners could not be found, they would be put into the national treasury and used to repair the county’s canals and river embankments.
The new county magistrate, Li Zhongan, will take office soon.
Speaking of the new county magistrate Li Zhongan, it can be said that the entire county has heard of him.
He came from a farming and reading family. He had been the eighteenth successful candidate in the imperial examination. He was praised when he was in the Hanlin Academy. He was also praised by the people when he served as the county magistrate in a nearby county. When he was transferred here this time, the people of his original county also rushed to see him off.
(End of this chapter)
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