This was the first time that County Magistrate Ye appeared in public after successfully seizing power. He should have been a majestic and powerful county magistrate.
In fact, it was so embarrassing and shameful that it led to social death.
But, with so many people watching him, he had to hold on!
What Okawa?
I... No, I don’t know.
Fortunately, Old Cui reacted very quickly. When she heard Ye Huaifeng's words, she came to her senses immediately.
My goodness, Dachuan, who works in the yamen, is actually the county magistrate!
No wonder Brother Xian is so confident.
Since even the county magistrate is one of their own, what does Mrs. Cui have to be afraid of?
She immediately knelt down and continued to cry, "Your Majesty, the county magistrate Zhao Zhi is too much. He wants to use one penny to forcibly buy my family's thirty acres of land! He also wants to send my whole family to the corvée field to open up wasteland!"
"Please help me with my family!"
Although Chen and Lin were also shocked that Dachuan had become a county magistrate, they followed their mother-in-law and knelt down, wiping their tears together.
When Ye Huaifeng heard this, his expression changed slightly: "Is this true?"
Old Cui's words also caused an uproar among the large number of people who were watching from the surrounding area.
Aren’t you here to watch the young gentlemen pulling up the seedlings?
How come there is a lawsuit all of a sudden?
Moreover, buying thirty acres of land from someone else for just one penny is really a heartless act!
Such an absurd and hateful thing, but when they thought that it was done by the Zhao family, disgust and understanding appeared in everyone's eyes.
Looking at Nanyang County, who doesn’t know that the Zhao family is extremely powerful?
However.
Facing the knife-like gazes of countless people present.
Zhao Zhi was not afraid and sneered, "This is pure nonsense! Your family voluntarily sold the land, and my family came to buy it. The money and goods were paid, and it was purely voluntary. How can it be said that it is too much?"
Wow!
Hearing these extremely shameless words, the people present were all shocked.
Ye Huaifeng was also very angry, and looked at Zhao Zhi fiercely: "How dare you! Don't be rude in front of me! Zhao Zhi, let me ask you, are you trying to force the people to buy their land by coercion or bribery?"
"Even at the cost of forcing them to do corvée labor?"
Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes, looked at Ye Huaifeng, and sneered, "Nonsense! Even though you are the county magistrate, you still have to have evidence when you speak."
"I, Zhao Zhiqing, am innocent and have worked hard for the people of Nanyang. Before you speak, County Magistrate, you'd better think it over. Otherwise—humph!"
What a great official authority and such an arrogant attitude!
In front of so many people, he actually dared not to give the county magistrate any face. It shows how arrogant this person is.
However, as the head of the local gentry, the Zhao family assisted the government in collecting grain taxes and maintaining local stability.
He not only represents the Zhao family.
It also represents the entire Nanyang gentry, which is an invisible "class group".
As the saying goes: Imperial power does not extend below the county level.
Once the two sides fall out, the county government's policies will be greatly hindered from being implemented.
Ye Huaifeng's face flushed red, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Zhao Zhi, don't be so arrogant! Wait until I get the evidence, I will definitely not let you go!"
Zhao Zhi was fearless: "Then let's wait until the county magistrate gets the evidence."
He finished speaking.
A group of people with miserable expressions and ragged clothes rushed out from the crowd.
It was the villagers whose land had been annexed who arrived.
"County magistrate, please make the decision for us."
"Zhao Zhi also used one penny to buy dozens of acres of my family's land."
"Zhao Zhi, you deserve to die, you deserve to die!"
The villagers knelt down in front of Ye Huaifeng and recounted their grievances with mournful expressions.
The old woman who had once cried to Cui Yu outside the Zhao residence looked at Zhao Zhi with a ferocious face and said hatefully: "Zhao Zhi, do you still remember me? I'm afraid you don't remember me!"
"But I remember you! I will remember you in this life and the next! You took away all the forty acres of land in my family."
"You sent my eldest son to perform corvée labor, and he died there. You also sent people to beat my second and youngest son to death."
"My three daughters-in-law starved to death one after another, and then my grandchildren starved to death! I am the only one in my family of 11 who is still alive! Zhao Zhi, you bastard official, I curse you to die a miserable death!"
These words moved countless people around and made them look pity.
Ye Huaifeng was even more furious.
But faced with such questioning, Zhao Zhi showed no shame at all and turned to look at his own servant.
Amidst countless uproars.
A servant of the Zhao family pushed the old woman to the ground and warned her, "Don't talk nonsense, you old woman. You are slandering the officials of the imperial court."
The old woman was thrown to the ground unexpectedly and started coughing violently.
Zhao Zhi was preparing to return by car, and he did not forget to glance at the large number of people around him, and looked at Ye Huaifeng sarcastically: "The county magistrate made such a big scene, is it just to humiliate himself?"
"I still say the same thing. When an official makes a judgment, he must rely on evidence. Do you think you are playing house?"
"Or, are you planning to make a scene here again, just like you did at the prefectural yamen that day, so that the people present can see the demeanor of their fatherly official?"
Ye Huaifeng's face turned red with anger and his whole body was trembling, but he couldn't do anything to Zhao Zhi for the moment.
When Magistrate Ye heard Zhao Zhi say "such a big fuss", he suddenly reacted and looked in the direction of Cui's fields.
The conversation I had with Cui Xian at the dinner table at Cui's house that day came to my mind again.
"Brother Xian, in your opinion, can I really take down the second-in-command?"
"Of course you can, Brother Dachuan. What you need now is a favorable wind."
East wind!
Ye Huaifeng's eyes suddenly lit up!
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