The next morning, outside the governor's office, the entire street was packed with people who had come to file complaints.
Previously, Hai Rui only accepted the complaint but did not bring it to court, which really made the people of Songjiang worried for a few days. They thought that even Minister Hai would not dare to take action against the Xu family.
It now seems that the Sea Warrior is still fearless and is determined to fight to the end.
At noon, the gate outside the governor's office opened, and a clerk holding numbered petitions called the plaintiffs and defendants at the front of the line to come into the yamen and wait on the platform in front of the lobby.
Hai Rui and other officials were already seated in the courtroom, and the trial began immediately after the person was brought in.
After a break during the Spring Festival, the Sea Warrior and his Ten Kings of Hell worked at full capacity and concluded eight hundred cases in one day!
The vast majority of them were accusations that the Xu family had encroached upon the land of the common people.
The Xu family was not panicking at first because they had given up all the land they had acquired in the past five years. This was also the reason for the 40,000 mu of land they had given up.
As for those five years ago, according to the current Criminal Law, there is a five-year statute of limitations for land disputes. That is to say, as long as the land has been transferred for more than five years, the seller cannot ask for redemption for any reason.
As long as the Xu family gave up their land within five years, they would be legally invincible, so Xu Jie was fearless and rejected Hai Rui's unreasonable demands.
Hai Rui, don't you always say that we should act in accordance with the law? Now I am discussing the national law with you, let's see what you will do?
Unfortunately, no one understood the laws of the Ming Dynasty better than Hai Rui, and he actually bypassed the "Regulations on Criminal Interrogation" and judged the case according to the "Ming Dynasty Law" formulated by Emperor Taizu. Because in the "Ming Dynasty Law", such cases can be prosecuted indefinitely!
The "Regulations on Criminal Interrogation" was originally a thing created by the scholar-official group to protect themselves from the harsh restrictions of the "Great Ming Law". Now Hai Rui used the "Great Ming Law" to judge the Xu family's case, which would be the end of the Xu family!
On the first day alone, the governor's office convicted more than 300 close relatives and slaves of the Xu family on charges of "accepting donations", "concealing land and tax evasion, and the amount is particularly huge".
Among them were Xu Jie’s three brothers, Xu Long, Xu Chen, and Xu Zhi, as well as more than twenty nephews and nieces including Xu Fan, Xu Kun, and Xu Ying.
This is just the Xu family in the capital city, which has a relatively small population. In the old Xu family house in Sijing, there are countless cousins, nephews, and grandchildren of Lord Xu who have been convicted.
Moreover, unlike the previous incident in Suzhou, Hai Rui immediately issued a warrant and dispatched government troops to capture all members of the Xu family and bring them to justice after the verdict was announced.
This frightened Niu Qianshi and the others again, and they hurriedly advised Hai Doushi to think twice, saying, "Because of the Xu brothers, most of the Xu family members have official positions or official titles, or at least have reputations to protect them. How can they just take it away?"
"Please give the flags and banners, my king!" Hai Rui stood up and bowed to the north.
Amid the low and solemn sound of drums, the flag officers escorted up four pairs of royal flags.
Hai Rui first took down a flag and handed it to Zhong Zhenji, saying, "Quickly take two hundred soldiers and go to the Xu Mansion in Nanchan Temple to arrest the man. If anyone escapes, bring him back with his head!"
"Understood!" Seeing that the royal command had been brought out, Zhong Zhengji knew that Duke Hai was going to give it a try, so he didn't dare to say anything more and quickly followed the order and left.
"You two should take 500 soldiers and horses to Xujiagang in Sijing to arrest the man. If anyone is let go, bring his head to us!" Hai Rui gave another pair of flags to Zheng Yue and Commissioner Wang.
The two of them quickly responded in unison.
Hai Rui then gave the third flag to Niu Chenshi, and said after a pause, "Take two hundred soldiers and go to Tuisi Garden to protect Lord Xu. Do not let him out of your sight!"
"..." Niu Chenshi secretly groaned. It was so exciting that he could understand the hidden meaning of Hai Gong's order.
Forget it, let’s just consider it as revenge for Lin Zhongcheng!
"Yes!" Thinking of this, white air came out of Niu's nose. He made up his mind and went down as instructed.
~~
Soon, soldiers from the governor's office were dispatched to various parts of the city.
The people watched the soldiers, wearing red and blue uniforms and leggings, march through the city in formation, carrying long rifles. Their cloth shoes with iron nails raised dust on the ground, making a terrifying clicking sound.
"The Governor's Office is handling a case. Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" The leading soldiers used their guns to disperse the crowd that was blocking the way.
Ordinary people hid and stood on both sides of the road looking around.
"Is this for Nanchan Temple?"
"Are you going to attack the Xu family?!"
"It's probably true! Let's go and take a look!" The people, who had originally been fearful, suddenly became excited.
The Xu family has been bullying the city for decades, and it is no exaggeration to say that they have done all kinds of bad things. Besides, their family has suddenly become rich thanks to the old man, so who in the city would not be jealous?
What's more, the superb pleasure of pulling down a local tyrant and stepping on him hard may only happen once in a lifetime.
The citizens were no longer afraid. They dropped what they were doing and followed the government troops to watch the fun.
The large group of officers and soldiers arrived at Nanchan Temple in a blink of an eye, and walked under the archways engraved with words like "Tanhua Jidi", "Shangzhuguo", "Da Zongbo", "Daxueshi" and "Shoufu Yuanlao", as if they had admired the glorious career of Lord Xu in a short period of time.
Unfortunately, no matter how glorious a career is, it will eventually come to an end. The glory of the past can no longer protect the largest family in Songjiang.
The government troops followed Prefect Zhong and arrived at the gate of Xu's mansion.
The Xu family had gotten wind of the news long ago and closed the door tightly. No matter how hard the detectives from the mansion knocked on the door, they did not respond.
"Knock on the door!" Now that things had come to this, there was no need to hesitate, and Zhong Zhengji waved his hand.
Ten soldiers were on horseback, carrying logs with iron heads. They ran for a short distance and then slammed the broken door hammer into the gate of Xu's mansion.
Even though the door is extremely solid, clad in iron and inlaid with copper, it cannot withstand this level of impact.
It only took three or two hits to knock off the iron hoops and nails connected to the door frame, and two more hits and he was knocked to the ground with a loud bang.
The Xu family servant inside the door screamed and dodged, almost being crushed under the collapsed door panel.
"Go in!" Seeing the door open, Zhong Zhengji ordered: "Arrest the people according to the list, seal up all the account books and deeds, and bring them all back to the headquarters!"
The detectives from the prefectural government rushed in with the officers and soldiers.
The Xu mansion was home to the three old masters of the Xu family, their children and grandchildren, as well as their female relatives and servants, a total of about a thousand people.
How could the government troops rush in like wolves and tigers and be polite to them? Although they did not go to the extent of smashing, looting, and robbing, it was inevitable that they would engage in violent actions and use vulgar language.
The Xu residence was immediately filled with ghostly howlings and women's screams, as if they had been severely tortured.
The retired Right Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Justice, Xu Zhi, the younger brother of Lord Xu, happened to be at home at that time.
Hearing the commotion outside, he quickly pulled up his pants and came out to check.
Just then, he happened to meet the government troops chasing the fleeing Xu family and they came up to him.
ps. This is the first of four consecutive updates. Please vote for me by the end of the month!