Early the next morning, Magistrate Jia went to court to interrogate the gang of human traffickers who were arrested the previous night.

Xu Fan and Xu Ying were also shackled and brought to the court along with Liu Zhun and others.

The two men didn't sleep a wink last night. The cell stank, was full of bedbugs and fleas, and rats bit their toes at night. The brothers had another novel but not pleasant experience.

Since they couldn't sleep, the two of them discussed it in low voice all night, and finally decided not to reveal their identities, even if they were sentenced.

Because they heard that Hai Rui had issued a warrant for their arrest, and a nationwide wanted notice was issued for the two of them. If their identities were exposed, wouldn't that be like walking into a trap?

The pass system had been abolished for a long time, and there were many refugees in Jiangnan, and many people of unknown origin. Anyway, they were not human traffickers, so they just made up an identity to fool people.

Having made up their minds, the two men felt relieved and re-arranged their identities. Yu Xi, Yu Bei and the like, it was no problem to coax illiterate people into buying money, but they would be exposed in court.

~~

After the human traffickers came to the classroom, they knelt down consciously.

Only Xu Fan and Xu Ying were still standing there unaware of anything.

"Kneel down!" the squad leader shouted.

"We, kneel down?" They knelt before the heavens, the earth, and their parents, but never before an official. "Why?"

Liu Zhun secretly gave a thumbs up, he didn't expect his second and third brothers to be so tough.

"Why don't you kneel down when you see the master!" the squad leader shouted angrily, and then two yamen runners picked up water and fire sticks and hit the two men's crutches hard.

They were immediately knocked to their knees.

Magistrate Jia slammed the gavel and asked in a deep voice, "Who is kneeling in the hall?"

"We..." Xu Fan was about to speak.

"Slap in the face! Did I let you talk?" Magistrate Jia glared at him, and the squad leader put on leather gloves and slapped Xu Fan hard on the front and back of the face.

Xu Fan's nose was bleeding and he looked at County Magistrate Jia with grievance. Wasn't it you who asked?

But it turned out that Magistrate Jia was not asking about him at all.

The captain who arrested them last night came out to report: "Master, we received a tip from the people last night and arrested a group of extremely vicious human traffickers!"

"Oh?" Magistrate Jia asked solemnly, "Have you asked for a confession?"

"My Lord, the preliminary trial has been conducted." The county's criminal department clerk came out to report: "At first they wanted to deny it, but after loosening their joints, they all gave up. These guys confessed that they started trafficking people last year and have committed 30 crimes so far."

"According to their confessions, I found that the case they confessed to had already been registered with the Southern Criminal Department. We left the city overnight and rescued the two captured women."

"So, we have both witnesses and evidence?" Magistrate Jia asked with a gloomy face.

"We have both witnesses and evidence." the clerk replied.

"How should the sentence be determined?" Magistrate Jia asked again.

"According to the law, anyone who abducts or sells a person will be punished with 100 strokes of the cane and 3,000 exiles. If more than three people are abducted, they will be put in a 100-jin shackle and kept in the shackle for one month before being sent away as before," the clerk replied hurriedly.

Magistrate Jia slammed the gavel and said, "This is the verdict. Court adjourned!"

Liu Zhun and others were thankful that at least they had not been caught murdering people and robbing goods as pirates, so they were able to keep their lives.

Although a hundred strokes of the cane might kill someone, as long as you pay, your butt won't be bruised.

As for exile, it would not be as far as 3,000 taels. Why would the county send free labor to others and pay a large amount of travel expenses? Usually, they were sent to the nearby salt fields, government warehouses, post stations, etc. to do hard labor.

Just find an opportunity to escape.

Xu Fan and Xu Ying were dumbfounded. How could they just make the judgment without even asking us? This was against the procedure.

"Sir, wait a minute, we are not human traffickers!" The two of them didn't care about being slapped in the face. They quickly shouted, "We were captured by them!"

"Master, don't listen to the nonsense of these two villains. Everyone heard them calling each other big brother, second brother, and third brother last night." The captain of the police hurriedly revealed.

Master Huang nodded, indicating that he had heard it too.

"How dare you, a traitor, openly fool me!" Magistrate Jia, who was originally in a good mood, suddenly flew into a rage. He pulled out a burning stick from the stick holder, threw it on the ground and said, "Hit me!"

The bailiffs immediately used water and fire sticks to hold down the Xu Fan brothers, stripped off their pants, and started beating their snow-white petals with boards!

"Ah..." The two brothers felt like their buttocks were about to burst, but they still cried out without giving up: "We are really good citizens!"

Even their sworn brother couldn't help but testify for the two, "They were indeed captured by us, they are not part of our group."

"..." Xu Fan and Xu Ying looked at the head of the gang in shock, not knowing whether he was too immersed in the play or his brain was malfunctioning. However, they could not care about so much at the moment, and quickly turned to the hall and said, "Master, do you believe it now? We are also victims."

"Yes, Master, we deliberately coaxed him into becoming sworn brothers because we were afraid that he would get the money and kill us..." Xu Ying added superfluously, "Who else would become sworn brothers with a human trafficker?"

"So you guys have always thought this way?!" Liu Zhun was struck hard by what he said, and said in hatred with a twisted face, "From now on, we are no longer friends!"

After saying that, she turned her head away and burst into tears.

Xu Fan and Xu Ying didn't care at all and just hoped to escape quickly.

"What are your names? Where are you from? Most importantly, do you have a pass?" Magistrate Jia asked them with a half-smile, "Answer the last question first."

"This..." The two were stunned. Where could they find that thing?

"Master, who needs that thing when going out nowadays..." Xu Fan clearly felt that something was wrong. Because when he was messing with others, he would also find fault with them.

"Asshole! I don't care about other counties! In Changxing County, we must abide by the law. Not having a pass is a crime!" Magistrate Jia slammed the gavel heavily.

"According to the law, according to the law..."

"According to the law, it should be treated as illegal crossing of the customs!" the clerk in the criminal department added loudly.

"Yes, illegally crossing the border will result in eighty strokes of the cane!" Magistrate Jia threw out another fire stick.

The corvée immediately continued to beat them with sticks, beating them till their skin was torn and their flesh was bruised and they were half dead...

After finally enduring the eighty blows, Magistrate Jia waved his sleeves and said, "Get out!"

Xu Fan and Xu Ying thought that it was finally over. A beating in exchange for regaining their freedom was not too bad.

"Master, I want to expose them and make a contribution!" Unexpectedly, Liu Zhun, who was about to be beaten with a stick, suddenly shouted, "They are planning a rebellion!"

Xu Fan and Xu Ying were stunned.

"What?!" Magistrate Jia immediately stopped the yamen runner and said to Liu Zhun, "If you tell the truth, I can save you from being beaten!"

"Yes, Master!" Brother Liu, whose feelings were seriously hurt, wanted to take revenge on these two cold-hearted people.

He then told him what Xu Fan had said, that the emperor was incompetent and the people were living in misery, that the world was about to undergo a major change, and that they should recruit soldiers, train secretly, and wait for the right time.

Oh no…

Xu Fan's eyes rolled back and he fainted.

Xu Ying took a look and thought, "It's a good match. I'm going to faint too..."