At the end of the unitary hour in the evening, the spring sun shines directly on the equator, and the length of day and night is the same. The sun rises at about six in the morning and sets at six in the evening.
At the end of the Youshi period, it was almost six o'clock and almost seven o'clock. The sun in the west had completely set, leaving only a trace of afterglow in the sky, shining out gorgeous fiery clouds, barely bringing some light to the already dark world.
The sky in the east is not covered with dark clouds. The clouds are gray and drizzle is falling. The world is neither black nor white, it is completely gray. The entire Dingliu Village was shrouded in this mist.
The spectators in the village were lying on the wall from a distance and watching. Several families next to Zhou's house had a rare number of guests. They all put up ladders and poked their heads out curiously.
For Fang Caixia, most of them showed sympathy, so no one went to see her death.
Not seeing her tragic experience with one's own eyes was the only kindness the villagers showed her.
But when someone suddenly appeared on the road and yelled at the injustice, and went against the government and the big landlords for Fang Caixia, the Song people's love of watching the excitement was revealed at this time, and they gathered around Zhou's house, wanting to see Let’s see how things develop.
Zhao Jun led the Imperial Guards into the village and took control of the Zhou family. The Zhou family used to be a wealthy family in the village. The house was slightly larger than ordinary families, with a large courtyard, two entrances and exits, and left and right side rooms and side rooms. The front room is a four-in-one courtyard, a bit like the old-fashioned ancestral halls in Jiangnan.
At this moment, the host and hostess of the Zhou family have been controlled. Zhao Jun is sitting under the eaves of the front yard and waiting. This matter has become very clear. People from the Wang family and Zhou family have confessed. Now they are all waiting for the Wang family. The landowner became their savior and came to save their lives.
At the beginning of Xu Shi, when the sky was completely dark, a large group of people appeared at the entrance of the village. Some people shouted "Quick, quick, quick", some shouted "Show some color to those outsiders", and some shouted "Front We’re here, go faster.”
Some of them were holding torches and whistle sticks, some were holding grass-cutting forks across their sides, and some were wearing the clothes of Yamen agents, with blades at their waists. One by one, they rushed with hurried footsteps and quickly broke into the village.
The surrounding villagers who were watching the excitement couldn't help but shrink their heads, but when they saw that the people didn't come towards them, they quickly poked their heads out. Many of them whispered excitedly: "I'm going to fight, I'm going to fight."
"This is it!"
"Come in!"
"boom!"
A loud noise was heard, and the door of Zhou's house was kicked hard.
The door was unlocked and was kicked open, and everyone rushed in with shouts.
At this moment, the forbidden soldiers in the room drew their swords, some even raised their spears, formed a military formation, and stopped in front of Zhao Jun. There were more than a dozen people holding crossbows in the corridors on the left and right side.
The sharp crossbow arrows shone with a suffocating cold light under the light of the torch.
The originally aggressive Wang family servants and county police officers were stunned when they saw this scene, and then stopped in place. The momentum in front of them stagnated at this time, and those behind them were still rushing in for unknown reasons, suddenly making the scene chaotic. .
"Why are you squeezing? Don't be squeezing."
"Straight bitch, you should go inside. What are you doing here?"
"Go if you can. Didn't you see what weapons they had?"
Instead, the losers made a mess on their own.
joke.
What private individuals can legally possess are bows, arrows, knives, spears, and short spears.
This does not include scorpion, gun and military crossbow.
That is, spears and lances.
The opponent's dazzling array of spears and spears, as well as the bows and crossbows, can only mean that the opponent has only one identity - a regular army!
Fighting against the regular army, even if the Song Dynasty's army has always been criticized for its combat power, is not something that ordinary people can provoke.
Not even the rebels.
At least in the Song Dynasty, the rebel armies were like crucian carp crossing the river, and were eventually defeated by the regular army.
So everyone who rushed in at this moment began to retreat.
The people who rushed inside wanted to exit, but the people outside did not know the situation and continued to rush in. For a time, dozens of people were crowded into the narrow door, and there was complete chaos.
Under normal circumstances, if the army starts fighting at this time, they will first fire random crossbows and arrows, and then use swords and guns to fire, and they will probably be able to kill the opponent completely.
However, Zhao Jun did not kill directly. With a wave of his hand, the soldiers in front stepped forward and pressed forward.
At this time, the people behind also realized that something was wrong and evacuated one after another. The people in front retreated to the main street of the village in embarrassment. There were more than a hundred people outside, but they kept retreating at this moment, and everyone was angry. Don't dare to breathe.
Soon the soldiers formed a semicircular square formation outside Zhou's house to protect the gate. Zhao Jun stepped out from the crowd, put his hands behind his back, looked at the crowd coldly and said, "Where is your leader?"
When Landlord Wang and Magistrate Shi saw this battle, they looked at each other, hesitated for a moment and then walked out. The magistrate stepped forward and scolded: "Who are you guys?"
"They are just the Imperial Guards who have encountered injustice on the road."
Zhao Jun said.
Magistrate Shi frowned, but he was not afraid of the imperial army. They were just a group of thieves.
The problem is that the young man in front of him has an extraordinary bearing and is the leader of the Forbidden Army. It is unclear which government office he belongs to.
The scholar-bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty were not afraid of the imperial army and the group of generals, but that also refers to high-level scholar-bureaucrats. The princes of the court could ignore the generals, but he, a seventh-grade county magistrate, could not.
After all, as the magistrate of a county, the reason why he was ordered by Landlord Wang was that he had a younger brother who was a magistrate of Bozhou, and he had a close relationship with his immediate boss, Guo Chengyou, the magistrate of Bozhou.
But the nobles of Bianliang can deal with the court ministers, and they are the immediate bosses of his immediate bosses. He is unreasonable in this matter, so he really doesn't dare to make a big deal out of it.
So after a little hesitation, Magistrate Shi asked tentatively: "I wonder which government office it is?"
This is to test the details.
Zhao Jun thought for a while and replied: "I am Liu Bin, the new commander of the capital of Yingzhou. Emperor Gaozu once served as the general of Youxiao Guard. I am about to go to Yingzhou to take office. When I pass by here and encounter this matter, I want to take care of it."
The Liu family's small office?
Magistrate Shi quickly recognized the other party's identity. His surname was Liu. The only person who had served as the general of Youxiao Guard was the founding general Liu Yanrang.
This identity obviously made Magistrate Shi feel relieved.
Because the Liu family is only a third-rate noble family, not a top-notch rich family, it is estimated that ordinary magistrates will not take it seriously, so he also gained some confidence and said with a smile: "Xiao Yameni doesn't know the depth. There is an inside story about this matter, so why not How about you follow me to the county government office and tell me?"
He didn't want to make the matter too big. After all, although the Liu family was only a third-rate noble, they stayed in Bianliang all year round. Who knew if they had the ability to go to Tongtian to listen? If the complaint goes to the court, they will be in big trouble.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Jun said coldly: "I am an open-minded person. I say everything clearly in front of my face, and I say it here, in front of so many villagers. Anyway, the person I arrested also confessed. The Wang family is so disrespectful of human life that in order to arrange a shady marriage for a dead person, they actually framed a living person and tried to drown them alive. It is really worse than a pig or a dog."
"oh?"
Magistrate Shi spoke in an official tone and pretended not to know: "Is there such a thing?"
Landlord Wang immediately said: "Your Majesty, this is absolutely not the case. That woman did not abide by the ways of women, committed adultery with a foreigner, and was punished by the local clan. What does this have to do with me?"
"Then why are you here?"
Zhao Jun spread his hands and said: "Since it is a matter of this village, why did you, a person from another village, send someone to execute him? What's more, since you said someone committed adultery, who is the adulterer? Bring him out and have a look."
Landlord Wang sneered: "I said the adulterer was a foreigner, so she ran away. As for why I am here, she was entrusted by others. After all, this woman has been with the Zhou family for several years, and the Zhou family cannot bear to deal with it personally. , I have some friendship with them, what’s wrong with asking me to help them?”
"joke."
Zhao Jun said happily: "It is said that family scandals should not be publicized. This week, my family not only publicized the family scandals everywhere, but also invited people from the county. Are they afraid that they will not know about the family scandals? Besides, they have already confessed, and I saw it with my own eyes." Why, do you think I'm blind?"
Landlord Wang was not annoyed and said with a smile: "Everyone in this village knows whether things are true or not. You will know if you ask them. As for what you said they confessed to, who knows whether it was you who forced them into submission?"
"That's true."
County Magistrate Shi chimed in: "Everyone has his own argument, and no one can convince anyone. It's better to invite someone to come out and confront him."
"Okay, I want to see how you confuse right and wrong."
Zhao Jun guessed that he had guessed the opponent's trick, and without exposing it, he said to others: "Push them out, and then let Fang Caixia come out to confront them."
Soon the people sent out by the Wang family, people from the Zhou family and Fang Caixia all came out. The difference was that the people from the Wang family and Zhou family were all tied up. Fang Caixia washed up a little and changed her clothes. She no longer looked like the last person. It started out so awkward.
When the Wang family and Zhou family members saw Magistrate Shi and Landlord Wang arriving, they suddenly became happy. The hostess of the Zhou family, a mean woman in her forties, screamed and shouted: "Your Majesty, this madman has no excuse." He broke into my house and arrested us. This person must be a rebel, please make the decision for us."
"Shut up!"
Magistrate Shi was even more displeased.
He was already unhappy at being driven by the landowner Wang, but now he saw a civilian woman yelling, and he glanced at her and said, "You have no right to speak here!"
The hostess of the Zhou family shivered all over, then she quickly lowered her head and huddled on the ground, not daring to move.
"Go, bring out the surrounding villagers, and ask them in front of Xiaoyanei, is Zhou's daughter-in-law unruly?"
After County Magistrate Shi scolded the woman, he ordered the Yamen servants.
Many government officials immediately went door to door and knocked on the door. It was already past seven o'clock in the evening. In fact, everyone was awake and many people were watching the excitement.
Now that they saw the government officials coming to the door, they wanted to get through this muddy water. They couldn't help but secretly cursed the Zhou family for being really harmful, even involving them. Now that no one on the two sides could afford to offend them, what should they do.
But the government officials all looked fierce, and the villagers had no choice but to open the door and be led out by the government officials.
Hula la, there were dozens more people.
The old farmer who Zhao Jun went to drink water at the other party's house in the afternoon was also among them, and the villagers all looked embarrassed.
Morally they naturally sympathize with Fang Caixia.
However, Landlord Wang is a big landowner in Fuxian County, and Magistrate Shi is the magistrate of Fuxian County who has the power of life and death over them. The county magistrate is not as good as the current one, so they naturally have no choice but to violate morality.
I heard County Magistrate Shi asking one by one: "Come out and tell me if this Zhou family's daughter-in-law is unruly."
The person being pointed at had a look of shame on his face and whispered, "Yes."
"I didn't hear you clearly, please speak louder."
Magistrate Shi shouted.
"yes."
The man was forced to raise his voice.
"And you."
Magistrate Shi asked another person.
"yes"
"Uncle Zhang, Aunt Wang, you guys"
Fang Caixia looked at the other party in disbelief.
She was married into the village as a foreigner and was mistreated by the Zhou family, so she never dared to make grudges with the people around her.
Not only is she diligent in her work on weekdays, but she is also very agile when she needs help from the village. She just hopes that for the sake of her help, the village can help and put in a good word when the Zhou family mistreats her.
In the end, the people who framed her were those who usually said she was pitiful and sympathized with her. I have to say that this is another kind of irony.
The people she named were all ashamed and retreated behind the crowd, not daring to look into her eyes.
Magistrate Shi asked around, and even the old farmer by the river was ashamed to say something against his will. No one dared to say that Caixia had not committed adultery, which made Fang Caixia fall into despair.
She looked at Zhao Jun with all her hopeful eyes, knelt down in front of Zhao Jun and cried: "Official, please believe in this little girl. The little girl is alone, abandoning her family and relying on others. Why do you still dare to commit adultery with an outsider? I beg the senior official to make the decision for this little girl!"
"alright."
Zhao Jun comforted him and motioned to Jiang Dalang to help him up. Then he glanced at the crowd and said, "So, you all say that Fang Caixia committed adultery?"
No one replied.
Landlord Wang smiled and said: "Xiaoyameni, you have seen everything. Everyone in the village knows about it. The evidence is conclusive. Why do you have to meddle in other people's affairs? She is dealt with according to the clan rules and it is reasonable."
"How does it make sense?"
Zhao Jun glanced at the other party: "In "Song Xingtong", for those who commit adultery, the men and women will be detained for one and a half years each, and those who have a husband will be detained for two years. Even if it does happen, it will be dealt with by the government. If you are young, you may say that it is a private court. , taking human life seriously. To put it more seriously, it means being lawless and contemptuous of the court, and you, the Shixian County Magistrate."
As he spoke, he looked at the county magistrate and said: "If this kind of thing happens in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangnan, and Lingnan, I can barely understand if the county magistrate doesn't take action. In this land of Huainan, when will the clan order be greater than Is there an order from the imperial court? What kind of dog official are you?"
Later generations said that the ancient patriarchal law was greater than the national law, but in fact it also depends on the place.
If the Han and Jin Dynasties were an era when aristocratic families were prosperous, with clan power spread all over the country, and various aristocratic families emerging one after another, then the laws within the clan would naturally be stronger than the national laws.
But in the Tang Dynasty, especially after the Huangchao Uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty, there were almost no gentry in the north, and the clan power was close to collapse.
After the Song Dynasty, due to the development of the commodity economy, smooth roads in the northern plains, and canals making transportation convenient, many people left their clans to work in the cities, further exacerbating the decline of clan power in the north.
In addition, the Song Dynasty officials have been committed to reducing the influence of local clans. Through migration, dispersion, etc., they have eliminated many influential local clans.
The most famous is the Yimen Chen family. This family is also known as the Jiangyou Chen family and Jiangzhou Chen family. It is a super-large family in Jiangxi where the clan power is relatively strong.
In the seventh year of Emperor Renzong's reign in the Song Dynasty, the imperial court was afraid of the influence of such a large local family, and issued an imperial edict ordering them to move and live separately.
Since then, the Yimen Chen family has been divided into more than a hundred migration teams and migrated to all parts of the country.
Even areas in the south such as Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Fujian, and Lingnan, which had been entrenched by clan forces since ancient times, were slowly disintegrated by the Song Dynasty court, let alone plain areas like Bozhou that originally belonged to Yuzhou in Henan.
Therefore, at least in the Central Plains areas such as Hebei, Henan, Huaibei, and Huainan since ancient times, it is actually difficult for local clan forces to override the laws of the imperial court.
Even if Magistrate Shi did not collude with the landlords, he would indeed be worthy of Zhao Jun's words of inaction and allowing local clan rules to override the law.
Just this scolding made Magistrate Shi furious.
He was already angry at the landowner Wang who ordered him around, but now even a small yamen from a third-rate noble family dared to insult him. He suddenly became furious and shouted back: "You are such a yellow-mouthed kid, you are still young, how dare you make such nonsense?" All the land in the county is under the jurisdiction of this county. What does it have to do with you? If you don’t get out of this county, don’t blame this county for going to war. Afterwards, you will report to the court and you will be scolded!"
"hehe."
Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Don't worry, county magistrate, you should take a look at this first."
He said and took out a document.
Magistrate Shi shouted: "What is this?"
"Do you think I didn't do anything when you guys came?"
Zhao Jun turned around and said, "Before you guys come, I sent people to call the Wen women from several surrounding villages and asked them to test Fang Caixia's body respectively. Do you know what the test revealed?"
He shook the document in his hand and laughed and said: "It has been found out that Fang Caixia is a yellow-flowered girl. This is the joint signature of those stable women. They have all confirmed it. You actually framed a yellow-flowered girl for committing adultery." , it’s like falsely accusing a blind man of spying on state secrets. Do you think it’s ridiculous?”
As soon as he finished speaking, there was silence all around, as if you could hear a needle drop!
The cases in the book all come from real unofficial histories and miscellaneous histories, and they are basically events from the two Song Dynasties, such as "Ming Gong Shu Pan Qingming Collection", "History of the Road", "Old Martial Arts" and "Songmo Jiwen". As for why Official history is not used, because official history will basically only record national events, and will not record such stories about folk and local magistrates. For example, Tian Deng, the magistrate of Yingtian Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty who only allowed state officials to set fires, comes from Lu You's "Laoxue'an" Notes", not found in official history.
In addition, I was also curious about why the county magistrate went there in person, so I explained the logic to him. Anyway, the prototype story is that he took people there in person. It tells the story of the county magistrate colluding with the landlords, and it was finally handled by the transfer envoy Chen Zeng.
So if everyone thinks it doesn’t make sense for the county magistrate to go there in person, that’s none of my business.
In addition, I should resume double updates starting today. My health has improved a lot, so I need to brace myself.
Recently, some friends said that the plot was not smooth and it felt like there was no main thread. In fact, there is a main line. The main line is the protagonist's grassroots research to prepare for the Qingli New Deal in the future. The branch line is to deal with the corrupt officials along the way. It's just that I was not in good health and couldn't update it properly, so the branch lines couldn't be connected quickly. As long as the update speed is improved. , it will be over soon, everyone is waiting for my good news.
(End of chapter)
