Chapter 203 The Trial
The sun is scorching in June, and it is already the winter wheat harvest season in Suijin Town in the middle of the month.
Golden wheat covered the land outside the town, and the busy summer harvest overshadowed the capture of the Di Lu bandits from the mountains a few days ago.
The Song family did not grow wheat. Song Zhenping had now made friends with several grain-growing families in the town, and went to help them with their work. Xiao An was no longer at home pasting paper boxes, but followed them out to the fields every day, carrying a basket to pick up wheat ears.
Suijin Town was harvesting wheat, and so were other places. The Song family had announced their intention to purchase wheat straw, and firewood that had originally been used only for kindling was now being delivered from all over the place.
The town of Suijin is filled with carts full of wheat straw, and from the riverside to outside the town, there are ox carts waiting to unload.
Song Liyun, "injured", stayed at the carton factory every day to help Manager Mu weigh and keep accounts.
Seeing that the carton factory was too busy, Hu Qing and his colleagues simply transferred some staff from the Acorn Shop to take care of this side first.
Just when he was so busy, the case in Qili County happened to start trial and Song Liyun was asked to go to court to testify.
This was the first time in Song Liyun's two lives that she had ever been to a court hearing, so she couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
Fortunately, she did not go alone. Xue Zhuang, Han Ming, and Old Man Zhang were with her.
To avoid the scorching sun, they set out from Suijin Town at dawn. It was already noon when they arrived at Qili County, and there was still an hour before the court session began.
When we arrived at Yaqian Street, there were already people gathered in groups of three or four. I guess they were there to watch the trial.
There were many breakfast stalls on Yaqian Street. Song Liyun asked everyone to find a small stall selling steamed buns and dry biscuits a little further away. Each person had a bowl of mung bean porridge, two large meat buns, and a few side dishes, ready to eat and drink their fill before going to court.
Besides them, there were other people eating at the breakfast stall. They all looked excited and whispered to each other, as if they were waiting for something big to happen.
Song Liyun and the others had traveled dozens of miles. It was still early for class, so they were not in a hurry to leave and took a rest during the meal.
Han Ming and Xue Zhuang had big appetites, so after finishing their meat buns, they asked the stall owner for some pancakes, while Old Man Zhang slowly drank his mung bean porridge.
While the stall owner was busy doing business, he kept looking in the direction of the government office and almost overturned the stove several times.
The stall owners on Yaqian Street are all worldly-wise people, and it is rare for them to be as flustered as they are today.
Seeing him like this, Xue Zhuang wanted to inquire in advance, so he shouted, "Hey! Young stall owner, what case is going to be tried today? Why are all these people gathered around watching?"
His voice was so loud that the stall owner seemed to have heard something terrible. He turned around and gestured to Xue Zhuang to lower his voice: "Customer, please keep your voice down. Don't you see that group of scoundrels in front of the government office are looking for someone?"
"Looking for someone? Looking for whom?" Xue Zhuang pretended to be surprised.
Seeing that most of the food had been sold out, the stall owner could no longer contain his gossip, so he simply pulled a stool over and sat aside, whispering, "I heard that these rags are waiting for the military households from Suijin Town to come."
"Why?"
Old Master Zhang also leaned over. He was wearing a blue-gray coarse cloth shirt. Although it was plain, it had shed the dullness of the past and looked like an old man from a well-off country family.
The stall owner blinked and said, "I heard that the military households in Suijin Town are very powerful. They overthrew the rice shopkeeper of Tianxianglou and now they have captured the Dilu bandits. Now that Suijin Town has opened a market, they want to follow those military households to make a living."
Xue Zhuang was dumbfounded: "Why do you want to live with the military households? Do you want to work in the garrison?"
He had just heard people praising the military households in Suijin Town for their strength, and he felt a little proud. He had not yet reacted.
When the stall owner heard about going to the garrison to work, he immediately laughed and shook his head: "How is that possible! These young masters are too impatient to be idle. I'm afraid we can't afford to hire them to work."
"Why is that?"
Han Ming also became curious. He wanted to make a living as a military household, but he was unwilling to go to the garrison to become a citizen. What did he want to do?
The stall owner said with an expression of "you have no knowledge", "Now Suijin Town is a military town, and the military households are in charge. When the market comes, these hangers-on want to go to the town to collect fees and so on. Of course, they have to have good relations with the military households.
"As long as they join the sect, since there are not many people in the town now, it's the right time for them to seize territory."
Xue Zhuang's face froze instantly: Come to collect the fee?
I haven't seen any benefits yet, but some people are already eyeing the small things in Suijin Town.
"cough!"
Song Liyun almost choked on her water and looked at Xue Zhuang.
It is no exaggeration to say that the current situation of Suiyin Town was won by Xue Zhuang and I.
Xue Zhuang had rolled on the edge of a knife several times.
Now Xue Zhuang is in charge of public security, and that is what he deserves.
Those people even wanted to collect protection fees, which would steal his job.
Before Song Liyun could laugh, the stall owner's next words made her face darken.
"They also heard that Rouge Tiger, who captured Mickey in Broken Gold Town, was coming too, so they wanted to see if she was the rumored she-devil with a face as thick as a pot bottom, broad arms and a thick beard."
"cough!"
"cough!"
"cough!"
Everyone at the table started coughing.
The news that Song Liyun grabbed Yang Kaiquan with a knife in the Suijin Guild Hall quickly spread as the tax collector Sun Wuming and two yamen runners returned to the county government office.
Most people would just be surprised after hearing these words, say a few words like "this woman is really brave", and then forget about it.
But the idle men who waited outside the county government office every day and made a living by selling information were interested and wanted to see the woman's true face.
At the end of the Chen hour, the Bazi Yamen was wide open, and a group of yamen runners lined up in shifts. At this time, the street in front of the Yamen was already crowded with people watching the fun.
The people who were tried in the past few days were all small-time officials. This time, we have to deal with the case in which Mickey from Tianxianglou pretended to be an official and went to Suijin Town to cause trouble, and ten people had their legs broken.
In addition to Mickey, who had been in prison for more than two months, there was also Hong Jingtian, who had just been brought to justice.
Mickey and others had broken legs for two months. Their families may have spent money to bribe them, and they received medical treatment even though they were in prison.
But due to poor maintenance, his legs are now strangely crossed and he needs to hold on to the ground with his hands when walking.
Hong Jingtian has had a hard time these days as he is guilty of the serious crime of colluding with the Di Lu.
Once the eighty-jin wooden yoke was put on, he could not even lift his head. He could only kneel with the yoke on the ground and half-bent over.
Acting County Magistrate Jiang Feng sat in the hall, and first the clerk read out the beginning and end of the case.
Tianxianglou had done many things in secret, and now they had been uncovered. It took an hour to read the long booklet.
Even the clerks had to be replaced three times before the list was complete. The cases ranged from big ones like bullying men and women, stealing money and killing people, to small ones like using inferior goods to get good ones, and withholding food. There were hundreds of cases, and it is no exaggeration to say that they are too numerous to list.
These are what Lord Jiang has found out in the past two months. I don’t know how many of them are true and how many are false, and how many are just to take advantage of others’ misfortune.
Finally, it talked about the case where Mickey and others were instructed by Hong Jingtian to rob people in Suijin Town.
Song Liyun and his party had already entered the second room next to the court hall from the side and were waiting. At this time, they were summoned to the hall by the yamen runners.
(End of this chapter)
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