Upon hearing Magistrate Cao's words, Young Master Mo hurriedly knelt down. He thought the three people who had been brought with him would also kneel down, but the three remained standing and showed no intention of kneeling.
"Your Honor, I am Mo Heng. Today, I went to a restaurant for a meal and was beaten by them. Several of my servants were also injured by them." Young Master Mo made a false accusation.
"Mo Heng, are you the son of Mo Yasi?" Magistrate Cao asked.
"Yes, I am Young Master Mo." Mo Heng was very happy; he hadn't expected Magistrate Cao to know his name.
"Mo Heng, I've heard you often bully others by abusing your power. Did you bully them first today, and then they beat your servant?" Magistrate Cao said, glancing at the three people beside him. When he saw Zhao Xian, he was stunned.
“It’s you…” Magistrate Cao had only met Zhao Xian once, so he wasn’t sure yet.
"Greetings, Your Honor. I am Zhao Xian," Zhao Xian replied calmly.
"So it's Young Master Zhao. I never expected to meet you in the main hall of the county government. Someone, please bring me a seat." Magistrate Cao seemed very excited.
Magistrate Cao's attitude towards the three immediately caused a stir among the onlookers. The fact that the magistrate was going to offer this young man a seat indicated that he was no ordinary person, and it seemed that Young Master Mo was going to suffer a setback today.
"No need. The three of us have been brought here for trial. How can we sit down? Magistrate, please ask us directly."
Magistrate Cao nodded, having forgotten about the matter in his moment of joy.
"Young Master Zhao, Mo Heng has accused you of beating his servant in the restaurant. Is that true?" Magistrate Cao sat up straight and began his interrogation.
"That's true. We did beat his servants, but they provoked us first," Zhao Xian said calmly.
"Could you explain in more detail?" Magistrate Cao asked.
At this moment, Zhao Cheng stepped forward, cupped his hands in greeting to Magistrate Cao, and said:
"Your Excellency, my young master came to the restaurant for a meal. The waiter led us to a private room upstairs. A little while later, three men came and claimed to be young master Mo's servants. They asked us to leave and give them the private room."
Of course we wouldn't give up the room, and the three of them were about to start a fight, so I kicked them out. Then they called their master.
This young master Mo brought more than ten people. Seeing that our young lady was beautiful, he claimed that he wanted to take her for himself. In order to achieve his goal, he ordered more than ten servants to attack at the same time, and we were forced to fight back.
After we drove the dozen or so servants out of the room, Young Master Mo became furious and told us to wait while he went to the county government to summon officers to arrest us.
I said, "The county government isn't your family's business. Can you really control the yamen runners?" This young master Mo replied that his father was the county clerk, who wielded considerable power, and even the county magistrate had to listen to his father.
Of course we didn't believe it. How could a local thug like him mobilize the officials? So we waited a while, and to our surprise, he actually did summon the officials, and then we were arrested and taken to the county government office.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Xian secretly rejoiced. This Zhao Cheng was quite the storyteller; he figured Magistrate Cao would be furious.
Mo Heng got a little anxious and began to try his best to explain himself.
"Your Honor, he's talking nonsense. I never said my father had great power..."
"Shut up! I know perfectly well whether you told me or not." At this moment, Magistrate Cao was furious, and he was trying his best to control his emotions.
"Who's on duty today? Which department arranged the arrest?"
"Reporting to your Excellency, it was I who was on duty today. It was Officer Mo who instructed me to lead the constables to arrest someone."
A constable stepped forward to report that he was merely carrying out a task assigned to him by his superior.
At this moment, a commotion broke out among the crowd outside, and everyone was talking about it.
"The arrest of people by the yamen runners should be the business of the criminal investigation department. Mo Yasi is just a civil official. How can he have so much power? I don't quite understand."
"No wonder Young Master Mo is so arrogant. With a father like that, the entire county government is his."
"The official system in the county is too chaotic; Your Excellency must thoroughly rectify it."
The people outside were talking amongst themselves, and Magistrate Cao heard it all. He felt his face burning with embarrassment.
"Bring Chief Clerk Mo here," Magistrate Cao ordered, and soon a constable went to fetch Chief Clerk Mo.
At this moment, Mo Yasi was restless. When he saw Magistrate Cao inviting him, he realized that trouble was coming.
He braced himself and went to the main hall. When he saw that Magistrate Cao's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, he knew that something bad was going to happen.
"The magistrate wants to see me," Mo Yasi asked anxiously.
"Officer Mo, did you have any official documents from the criminal investigation department when you sent your officers to arrest people today?" Magistrate Cao asked coldly.
"No."
"Without any documents from the criminal investigation department, you still order your yamen runners to arrest people? Who gave you such power? Your son told you to arrest people, so you just go and arrest them and deal with them yourself. It seems this county yamen really is your family's. Then what's the point of having me as the county magistrate?"
Mo Yasi was terrified and could only hope that Magistrate Cao would spare him this time.
"Sir, I was confused for a moment. Please forgive me this time. I will never dare to do it again."
Zhao Xian recalled that the original owner of this body had been deceived by a man named Ma Youlong, who claimed that he had a relative who worked as a clerk in the county government. He didn't know if it was true or not, but in any case, he was going to take this opportunity to teach this clerk a lesson.
Thinking of this, he spoke up.
"I heard that Mo Yasi is all-powerful in the county town, using all sorts of pretexts to bully and monopolize the market, and the people in the town are full of complaints."
Especially those business owners without powerful connections were exploited relentlessly by Mo Yasi, and any slight resistance resulted in their arrest and interrogation at the county government. I wonder if this is true.
Mo Yasi was shocked to hear this. He admitted that he had indeed used some means to acquire ill-gotten gains, but he had not reached the point of having absolute power.
But his precious son is such a disappointment that he has already ruined his reputation.
“You’re talking nonsense! This is completely untrue. Please, sir, make a fair judgment,” Mo Yasi argued vehemently.
"Master Mo, do you see all these people outside the main hall? There must be some people in the village who have been bullied by you. Invite them in and we'll find out soon enough." After saying this, Zhao Xian walked towards the entrance of the main hall.
By this time, the area outside the main hall was already crowded with people. They found it unbelievable that the person who had come was someone close to the emperor and had been arrested by Mo Yasi and brought to the county government office.
This was like an old man hanging himself, tired of living, so everyone came to watch the spectacle, and the crowd at the county government office grew larger and larger.
Zhao Xian stood at the entrance of the lobby, facing the audience, and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect.
"Fellow villagers, the three of us were dining at a restaurant when we were harassed by a scoundrel for no reason. His father even arrested us and took us to the county government for trial. Fortunately, Magistrate Cao upheld justice and gave us a fair trial."
"Anyone here who has been bullied by the Mo father and son, please step forward and join me in exposing their crimes. Don't be afraid, the magistrate will stand up for us."
Before the words were finished, an old woman cried out and pushed through the crowd, stumbling into the hall. She knelt down with a thud and began kowtowing repeatedly.
"I am innocent! Please, Your Honor, do me justice!"
This scene shocked everyone present; what kind of injustice must have led to such an action?
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