"That's right. Before your Majesty and I entered the city, we saw how bad the morals of the soldiers and officials in Guozhou City were."
"Those people dared to do this, naturally they had the connivance of the prefect of Guozhou. This is enough to show how absurd the prefect of Guozhou was in the past. He must have done a lot of bad things in private."
"As long as Your Majesty ties him up at the prefectural gate for everyone to see, then issue another order."
"Anyone who exposes Magistrate Wang will be given a pound of rice."
"It won't be long before the evidence comes to you."
"However, considering that Magistrate Wang has been in office for a long time and may have had a great impact on the local people, no one would dare to be the first to stand up."
"At this time, Your Majesty needs to secretly arrange for someone to go through this process first."
"Your Majesty, I think Lady Si's method might be worth a try." Feng Liuyu said.
“Once this order is issued, the Xue family will definitely not sit idly by.
But no matter how much they went too far, they dared not openly confront the government officials. "
"As long as they dare to move, more evidence will be revealed, and then we can catch them all in one fell swoop."
Si Muqiao didn’t know who the Xue family he was talking about were?
She guessed that it was probably a family with relatively strong local influence.
Moreover, he was the kind of person who had a relationship with Magistrate Wang and had done nothing good during the drought.
"Well, this order must also be delegated to the eight counties under Guozhou."
"When I return to the capital after this matter is over, I will set up a judicial supervision department and set up a suggestion box next to the hearing drum."
"Every month, every minister who comes to court must anonymously submit a letter of denunciation or recommendation."
“All officials who have been posted abroad must be reassigned after serving in the local area for three to five years.”
“…”
Si Muqiao was stunned when he heard this.
The dog tyrant is a dog, right?
Just because of what she said casually, so many things were derived?
Never mind, those things are not what she should worry about.
What she is most worried about at the moment is Fu Guozhong.
Ahhh, why hasn’t Fu Guozhong been carried over here yet?
I don't know if he is still alive.
Just as Simuqiao kept muttering to himself, someone came to report from outside.
"Sir, Fu Guozhong is here."
"Yes, I understand."
After leaving the house, Murong Qingli changed his identity to Lord Rong from the capital.
Si Muqiao followed him out of the house and saw the miserable state of Fu Guozhong.
Fu Guozhong was carried here on a stretcher.
He was wearing prison clothes, with marks of whipping and scars from branding irons all over his body, covered in wounds and blood.
The most serious wound was probably the one on his head, the gauze had been stained red with blood.
His face was thin and pale, and his hands hanging by his sides were bloody.
It's obvious that he has suffered all kinds of torture.
"Is he okay?" Murong Qingli asked.
"Your Excellency, I asked the doctor to examine Master Fu, and he said that Master Fu might not survive."
"Sir, how about letting me try?" Si Muqiao's heart trembled and he spoke in a low voice.
"Well, take a look." Murong Qingli nodded.
Just when Si Muqiao began to help him examine, a woman's shrill and mournful cries and shouts were suddenly heard outside the courtyard.
The voice was so penetrating and contained so much sorrow and pain that it made the listeners feel extremely uncomfortable.
"What's going on outside?"
"I will go and take a look."
"I will go with you."
After exiting the gate of the villa, Murong Qingli immediately saw a woman kneeling in front of the door and crying bitterly.
The woman was dressed simply, her voice was hoarse, and her face was filled with grief.
"Where is my master? Where is he? He has been wrongly accused!"
"When he was an official, he was wronged, bullied, and oppressed. Now that he has been dismissed from his post, you still won't let him go. Do you have to force him to death?"
"For the sake of the people affected by the disaster, he ran around and was unable to go home for nearly one or two months, looking for people and raising food."
"As soon as I got home, I told my family to live frugally and give the extra food to the disaster victims. I even sold my shop to get food to help more people."
"He also forced his own son to go to the rich Jiangnan countryside to study farming, food, and the climate there."
"But the world is so unfair. He worked so hard, but what did he get in the end?"
"You said he colluded with the thieves and burned the granary?"
"How ridiculous, hateful, and lamentable!"
"For the sake of food, he would kneel down before you all and even sell himself by the pound. How could he be willing to set fire to the food?"
"Where is my master? Where is he?"
"Let him go. I want to ask you, why did a small judge like him make such a fuss when so many officials above him didn't care?"
"Does he know what has become of his family now?"
"Fu Guozhong, Fu Guozhong, get out here!"
"Mom, mom, calm down."
"Dad taught us since we were young that we should be true to our conscience when doing things."
"As the magistrate of Guozhou, he is an official appointed by His Majesty."
"Dad said that the prefect doesn't care about the people of Guozhou, but he does. Otherwise, he would be unworthy of the official uniform he wears."
"The prefect of Guozhou is blind and has ignored tens of thousands of people, but the imperial envoy sent by His Majesty will definitely seek justice for Dad and clear his name."
The young man kneeling beside the woman seemed to be trying to comfort her who was in so much pain, but in fact he was taking the opportunity to express Fu Guozhong's position and attitude.
Ever since his father was wrongly accused and thrown into jail, no one in the Fu family has seen his father again.
He knew that his father must have been tortured a lot by the prefect, and he didn't even know whether he was alive or dead.
He heard that a new imperial commissioner had arrived in the capital and had ordered people to re-interrogate his father in prison.
He supported his mother and chased after him.
He was thinking that if even the new imperial commissioner could not clear the grievances against his father, he would go to the capital and file a complaint before the emperor.
He was not convinced. Why should his father, an official who was wholeheartedly devoted to the people, be treated like this?
However, Magistrate Wang, who took advantage of his power to bully others, only cared about his own enjoyment, and ignored the lives of the people, was still able to live like a fish in water and nothing happened to him.
He even thought about how to make trouble after arriving in Beijing and how to seek justice for his father.
"Are you Lord Fu's wife and son?" Murong Qingli looked at them and asked.
"That's right, you are the new imperial envoy?" Fu Guozhong's son looked up at Murong Qingli and asked.
"Yes, I am."
"From what you said, Lord Fu has worked hard during this drought. He is not colluding with the rebels and behaving improperly as Prefect Wang said?" Murong Qingli spoke.
"Mr. Justice, you must stand up for our master! He was wronged by the prefect!" Mrs. Fu spoke quickly after hearing this.
"I said I wanted to interrogate Lord Fu, but Magistrate Wang's people told me that Lord Fu was guilty of a serious crime and he was so ashamed that he hit his head against the wall. If he is innocent, how could this happen?"
"Impossible! My master would never do this. It was the prefect. It must be him. He used my master as a scapegoat."
"Sir, where is my master? How is he?" Mrs. Fu was angry and annoyed when she heard this, and she was also very worried and felt dizzy.
"My people are trying to rescue him. I don't know how Lord Fu is doing."
"Master Fu, please be safe for now until I come out."
"Madam Fu, I have already ordered that Magistrate Wang be tied to the gate of the prefecture, and that the citizens of the city and the county magistrates of each county go and expose and recommend him."
"If the prefect is truly guilty, I will not let him go."
"But if he is innocent, then I can't keep wrongly accusing the court official."
"As for your meeting with Master Fu, you can. Once I have finished the interrogation, no matter what the result is, I will let you meet him."
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