Jiang Dalang and others rushed to the road and stopped the team carrying the woman.
Each of them had simple knives hanging on their waists, and they looked so fierce that the people carrying the pig cages were shocked and suspicious. They stood still and did not dare to act rashly.
The two sides were in a stalemate for a few seconds. A man in his forties came out and said, "Who are you?"
"Those who draw their swords to help when there is injustice on the road."
Zhao Jun stepped out from the crowd, frowned and said, "In broad daylight, you want to dip someone into a pig cage?"
The man sneered and said: "This person does not abide by the rules of women and will be dealt with according to the patriarchal law. You, a foreigner, should not meddle in other people's business. Be careful of being imprisoned."
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
After hearing what the man said, the woman in the pig cage kept whimpering, shaking her head desperately, and tears could not stop flowing.
Seeing this situation, Zhao Jun was too lazy to talk nonsense, waved his hand and said: "Help."
"Click, rub, rub!"
More than a dozen elite imperial guards drew their sabers and surrounded them.
Jiang Dalang pointed the knife at the man and said: "Squat down!"
There were quite a few people on the other side, there were seven or eight of them, two people carried the pig cage, and the rest followed, all strong men.
But facing the imperial guards, they didn't even dare to fart. Under the force of the shimmering blade, they squatted on the ground one after another, and the pig cage was lowered.
Zhao Jun walked over. At this moment, Huang Sanlang opened the pig cage and pulled out the rag stuffed in the woman's mouth. The woman could make a sound and cried out as soon as possible: "Thank you, officer, for saving my life! Thank you, officer, for saving my life!"
"what happened?"
Zhao Jun asked.
"It was the Zhou family who didn't want a good death and sold me to the Wang family to have their daughter's bones!"
The woman named Axia cried.
Zhao Jun was stunned at first.
Then a strong anger rushed straight into Tianling Gai!
This match for the daughter's bones has another saying in later generations - match for underworld marriage!
Since the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there has been this custom of arranging a ghost marriage for a dead son. Cao Cao once arranged a ghost marriage for Cao Chong by hiring the deceased daughter of the Zhen family.
However, during the Han, Jin, Sui and Tang dynasties, this custom was not particularly prosperous. By the Song Dynasty, it gradually became mainstream. There are many records of ghost marriages in the Song Dynasty anthology "Yesterday Dreams".
As long as the family has money and their heirs die young, they will often look for a suitable woman who died young, move the bones to the tomb, hold a ghost marriage ceremony, and bury them together.
For this reason, the Song Dynasty even spawned a large number of people who robbed graves and dug up corpses. During the Zhenzong period, laws were also introduced to severely punish those who robbed corpses.
But none of this can stop illegal tomb robbers. As long as there is still demand for ghost marriages among the people, there will be many people who are willing to take legal risks and will continue to run into cemeteries and open graves to exhume corpses.
But what should I do if there are only a limited number of corpses, or if the age or birth date are different?
Of course there is another way.
Obviously using living people to match them is also one of the ways.
Zhao Jun asked the woman about her specific situation.
It turned out that this woman was named Fang Caixia, a nineteen-year-old native of Shouzhou on Huainan West Road. Due to the drought in Shouzhou the year before last, she was forced to go north to Yingtian Mansion with her family to seek life.
When passing through Fuxian County, it happened that the eldest son of Zhou, a rich farmer here, had reached the marriage age. The man saw Caixia, who was sixteen years old at the time, and thought she was pretty, so he informed his parents and asked them to send a matchmaker.
The Fang family originally came to escape, but when passing through Fuxian County, they were forced to stay for a day because it was too late. Then they went north along the canal and took the land route to Yingtian Mansion.
At this time, someone suddenly came over and told them that they were willing to pay a gift to hire Caixia as their first wife.
In this case, everyone will agree.
After all, life was already very difficult for the Fang family. One more person would mean one more person. Marrying off their daughter in exchange for a betrothal gift would also allow them to travel to Yingtian Mansion.
So Fang Caixia's father agreed without thinking.
Both parties were fine at the beginning, and their birth dates and horoscopes were also calculated. The combination of Fengtian and Bingdi, a good relationship followed, and a great case was made.
Normal development is a beautiful thing.
Unexpectedly, half a month later, on the night of the wedding, the eldest son was very drunk at the banquet. After the banquet, when it was time to go to the bridal chamber, he insisted on seeing off a few friends he had grown up with since childhood.
Those friends were also very drunk, and they met to send them to the entrance of the village. Zhou's eldest son was going back to enter the bridal chamber, but on a whim, they sent them a little further. When they were returning, a man passed by the river and slipped and fell in. Drowned.
Now the wedding turned into a funeral, and the Zhou family suddenly fell into quarrel, accusing Fang Caixia of being a neglectful person and neglecting her husband's life.
The Fang family was afraid that the Zhou family would take back the gift, so they left Fang Caixia behind and ran away overnight. The marriage was suddenly messed up, and Fang Caixia's fate fell to the bottom.
In fact, anyone with a discerning eye can see that Fang Caixia cannot be blamed for this.
The problem is that the Zhou family needs an outlet, so Fang Caixia becomes the target of venting and becomes a slave of the Zhou family, where she is subjected to various beatings, humiliations, corporal punishments, etc. in turn.
In the past two years, the Zhou family had almost abused Fang Caixia. The villagers could only sympathize with her and couldn't do anything about it.
Fang Caixia, on the other hand, lost contact with her relatives and was helpless. Although she was abused in the Zhou family, she at least had food to eat, so she could only swallow her anger and did not dare to resist.
It also happened that the Zhou family had an underage second son. Originally, the Zhou family could only be regarded as a wealthy family, not a big landowner. They gave out the betrothal gifts and held a big banquet, spending a lot of money, but in the end they lost both their lives and their wealth. .
With no other choice, she could only raise Fang Caixia as a child bride, and when her second son grows up, she can be his concubine.
As a result, this year the youngest son of the Wang family, a large landowner in Fuxian County, died at the age of seventeen. The Wang family was devastated and hoped to find someone to arrange a secret marriage for their youngest son so that he would not be lonely on the road to hell.
After looking for two or three months, there was no suitable candidate.
Seeing that the child in the family had been dead for so long and the body was almost rotting, the Feng Shui master who had read Fang Caixia and Zhou's eldest son had a bad idea. He thought that Fang Caixia's horoscope was consistent with the youngest son of the Wang family and was about the same age, so why not...
So the Wang family spent a lot of money to find the Zhou family. The Zhou family thought that Fang Caixia had killed their eldest son and brought their family into ruin. Being a concubine to the second son might also harm the second son, so it was better to exchange for a lot of money.
This amount of money is many times more than the original gift, and I have made a lot of money over time.
It's just that the Song Dynasty abolished slavery and did not allow the sale of slaves. Even if you came to become a slave, you had to sign a contract. Beating the slave to death was considered murder and required a rod and a ban.
When Chen Zhizhong was prime minister, he killed his maid and was demoted. He took advantage of the fact that he was not a good doctor due to punishment and was protected by Song Renzong Zhao Zhen. Ordinary landowners killed tenants and slaves at will, and basically beat them with a hundred sticks, and then sent them to the frontier.
What's more, Fang Caixia is not a slave, but the official wife of the Zhou family's matchmaker. If she is killed directly, if the Fang family comes to visit her in the future, the Zhou family may be involved in a prison lawsuit.
So they simply framed Fang Caixia for committing adultery and wanted to deal with it according to clan law.
In this way, Landlord Wang only needs to take good care of the government and let the villagers change the narrative to say that Fang Caixia committed adultery and was dipped in a pig cage and died. Then the matter will naturally go away.
When the time comes, people from the village will help with perjury, and Fang Caixia is dead and has no evidence to prove that the Fang family, as foreigners, will be unable to do anything to them even if they come to visit in the future.
Today, the Wang family sent someone to pick up Fang Caixia, preparing to drown her in a pig cage and then take her body back.
After hearing the whole story, Zhao Jun was so angry that his nose almost became crooked.
Although students of history know that there were many bad habits in ancient society, I have only seen glimpses of them in history books and have never really seen such a situation.
But now he is living in contempt of people's lives in front of his eyes. If he lets it go, how can he have the face to face the heroic words that he once said he would change the Song Dynasty?
"Catch him!"
Zhao Jun said without hesitation: "Da Lang, go back to the boat and call for more manpower. No participants will be spared!"
"yes."
Jiang Dalang turned around and ran towards the river in the distance.
"This official!"
When the leader of the Wang family saw that the other party was approaching fiercely, he did not dare to speak loudly, but said: "Everyone is just asking for food, so as not to make the matter a big deal."
"oh?"
Zhao Jun asked: "Does this mean that you care so little about human life that it is just a trivial matter?"
The leader said sternly: "Please make it easy for me. As long as you can pretend not to see it today, our Wang family will not treat you badly. I have five taels of silver in my sleeves. Please accept it with a smile."
When Fang Caixia heard this, her heart suddenly tightened. She squatted on the ground and looked at Zhao Jun with almost pleading eyes.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Jun did not look at her, but turned his head to look at Huang Sanlang and others, smiling almost mockingly: "Sanlang, he said he would buy me with five taels of broken silver."
"Hahahahahaha."
Huang Sanlang and others also laughed.
The magistrate is in charge of the power of the country. After the taxes came up last autumn, the money in the treasury was more than 40 million yuan?
It was all controlled by the Imperial Academy and allocated according to annual expenses.
Even if we don't mention the treasury, the worst gifts given by Guanglu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others can be worth hundreds or even thousands of guan, and the expensive ones can even be worth nearly 10,000 guan.
Just these few taels of silver?
Send beggars away.
Seeing everyone laughing at them, the leader's face turned cold and said: "I advise you not to know what is good and what is good, so as not to suffer the consequences and even be unable to leave Bozhou."
"Haha, threatening me?"
Zhao Jun sneered and said, "What if I insist on taking care of it?"
"Magistrate Shi in the Yamen is a good friend of my family's head. Please don't toast me and you will be fined with wine."
The leader said coldly.
"The county magistrate."
Zhao Jun pretended to ponder, and then said: "Logically speaking, we, the righteous people, cannot ignore death. But if the county magistrate really comes, then I can't give him a favor. But what if you lie to me?" ? So if you can invite the county magistrate to come over, then let’s talk about it, otherwise I will take care of this matter today and I will arrest you to see the official."
"How can you meet the county magistrate whenever you want?"
Seeing that Zhao Jun seemed a little scared, the leader said coldly: "If you are afraid that we will deceive you, then follow us to the county, and you will be able to tell the truth from the lies."
After he finished speaking, a man squatting next to him whispered in his ear: "Sixth brother, and you can't go to the county. If you really let him take people to the county government office, the government office will open a court to try the case, and the matter will be big." , everyone in the county knows what the head of the family has done, and I’m afraid it will harm his reputation.”
The leader thought so and immediately changed his mind and said, "I still won't go to the county. This matter must be reported to the head of my family first."
"OK."
Zhao Jun smiled and said: "You go and report the news. I have detained the rest. I advise you to go back quickly, otherwise I don't mind arresting them and reporting them to the official."
The leader stood up, hesitated slightly, and finally ran away.
The other Wang family servants were arrested by Zhao Jun.
Fang Caixia choked with fear and said: "Official, we can't let him go back to report the news. When the official Wang brings people over, won't the little girl be dead?"
Zhao Jun comforted him: "Don't be afraid. Since I dare to save you, I can make the decision for you. To be honest, I also have an official status."
"Do high-ranking officials also have official status?"
Caixia asked in confusion: "Is the official's official big?"
"Roughly speaking, he should be a little older than his magistrate Shi."
Zhao Jun thought for a while.
The magistrates of the Song Dynasty were generally of the seventh rank, and I was the first rank, which was indeed a little too big.
Fang Caixia obviously didn't know how big what the other party said was. She thought it was the county magistrate's superior informing the prefecture, so she was overjoyed.
After a while, Jiang Dalang brought several more groups of imperial guards. There were about forty people and more than fifty imperial guards. They rushed into the village, broke into the Zhou family, and arrested the Zhou family.
The leader of the Wang family over there was a steward of Landlord Wang. After he was released by Zhao Jun, he quickly drove the carriage towards Fuxian County without stopping.
They brought carriages and horses with them when they came, preparing to carry the body back, but they didn't expect it to come in handy. Although it was just a horse driving a horse, it was still faster than walking. With the full force of the whip, the carriage took less than an hour to reach Fuxian County for a distance of more than 30 miles.
It was around five o'clock in the afternoon, and the housekeeper hurried back to Landlord Wang's mansion and reported the matter to him.
Landlord Wang was furious when he learned that Cheng Yaojin had appeared on the way. He immediately went to the county government office to find Magistrate Shi, hoping that he would take the government servants and his own servants to find the other party's trouble.
In fact, the relationship between Magistrate Shi and Landlord Wang was just like that. After all, magistrates were floating officials. Officials in the Song Dynasty were very mobile. A county magistrate, magistrate, etc. would usually serve in the local area for no more than two years. There was really no need to run a business for too long. Deep interpersonal relationships.
But there is a problem. The brother of Landlord Wang is a Jinshi in the third year of Tiansheng. Although he is only a fourth-class Jinshi, he has been in the officialdom for so many years and is currently serving as a magistrate in another place. He has a good relationship with Guo Chengyou, the current magistrate of Bozhou, and Guo Chengyou occasionally visits the Wang family.
In addition, Landlord Wang is a good person and often gives some money or expensive gifts. Therefore, for the sake of this human relationship and gifts, Magistrate Shi basically turned a blind eye to the Wang family's misdeeds in the past, and tried his best to protect him in lawsuits.
But now Landlord Wang asked him to take the government servants to arrest people. He acted as if the government was run by his family and directly ordered him. This made Magistrate Shi very unhappy.
However, considering that Landlord Wang had recently lost his son and might have lost his mind in anger, the county magistrate could only understand.
It happened that the canal and ditch were blocked again at noon, and someone had already reported to the county. Magistrate Shi felt that for Guo Zhizhou's sake, the two issues could be solved together, so he agreed to Landlord Wang's request and took the people in person. Make a trip over there.
Without further ado, before it was completely dark, the county magistrate and Landlord Wang led hundreds of people and charged toward the village where Zhao Jun was located.
(End of chapter)
