On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the seventh year of Hongde's reign, a farmer named Zhang beat a drum at the gate of the Jiangdu County government office and complained.
The content of the lawsuit is that the Fan family in Jiangdu was rich and unkind. In April of the third year of Hongde, they forcibly bought nearly ten acres of fertile land from their family at the low price of ten taels of silver per mu, and forced his family to write on the land deed. At that time, the servants of the Fan family even beat people.
Afterwards, the farmer surnamed Zhang went to the Yamen to complain many times, but nothing happened. The last time he was really angry, so he went to the Magistrate's Yamen to file a complaint.
As a result, the prefect's Yamen beat the eucalyptus back to the county government, and the official in charge of the county government directly ordered the farmer to be beaten up and kicked out.
In the following years, the family had no way to seek help, and was even beaten by servants of the Fan family. The man in the family had one of his legs broken, and they lived in fear.
But now, this somewhat lame man once again walked to the gate of the county government office and used all his strength to beat the drum and complain.
Because he heard that Zhang County Zun of Jiangdu County was a young official who was upright and not afraid of offending others.
Therefore, he once again summoned up the courage to sound the drum of injustice.
Soon, the Jiangdu County Government accepted the case, and the county magistrate personally reviewed the case, ordered people to go to the Fan family, and called the person involved who bought the Zhang family's land at that time.
This man's surname was Fan, and his name was Fan Jingting. He was a branch of the Fan family. Over the years, he had done many evil things in the name of the Fan family. After arriving, this Fan Jingting had an arrogant attitude and refused to admit it.
However, under a series of interrogation methods by the county magistrate, Fan Jingting finally had to kneel down in front of the stick and admitted that at that time he was interested in the Zhang family's nine acres of paddy field and bought it for only one hundred taels of silver. fact.
At this point, the eucalyptus is broken.
The county magistrate was unselfish and sentenced Fan Jingting to return the Zhang family's property. The Zhang family returned Fan Jingting's one hundred taels of silver. However, from the one hundred taels of silver, the income from the ten acres of paddy fields in the past three and a half years was deducted. In the end, the Zhang family only needed Less than eighty taels of silver were returned to Fan Jingting.
Because Fan Jingting bullied good people, the county master also fined him twenty big boards. The officials did not dare to neglect, so the boards fell hard and beat the young man from the Fan family until his butt was red. He was finally carried back by several Fan family members. At home.
At first, everyone thought it was just an ordinary incident.
And just on the ninth day of November the next day, someone came to sue the Fan family and robbed them of their property!
This time there were three people.
The amount of land they had misappropriated was staggering. Together, the three of them bought nearly 50 acres of land from Fan Jiaqiang. Although the price they sold the land for reached 20 taels of silver per acre, the price was far lower than the market price at that time. of.
For example, in the current Hongde Seventh Year, the price of an acre of Yongye field in Jiangdu should be around thirty or forty taels, and some fertile fields can be sold for more than forty taels.
The paddy fields that these three people were forced to buy were all the best fields.
The three of them are three brothers, and their land was passed down from their fathers. In the second year of Hongde, it was forcibly bought by the Fan family and has never been returned.
The Jiangdu County Government still accepted the case.
The county magistrate mercilessly summoned the parties involved in the Fan family to confront the three Zhu brothers. The three brothers and the Fan family quarreled in the courtroom for a long time. In the end, the county magistrate pronounced the verdict and declared that the transaction was invalid. Fan The family returned the land to the three Zhu brothers, and the three Zhu brothers returned the silver used by the Fan family to buy the land.
Just when Yuzi was about to seal the deal, a member of the Fan family with some silver threads in his hair came to the court.
It is Fan Lian, the fourth eldest son of the Fan family.
Fan Lian first raised his hands to County Master Zhang, then lowered his head and said: "Master County Master, the names of these three buyers are on this land deed, as well as their fingerprints. The witnesses such as the chief and Bao chief are also present one by one. The land deed also has the seal of the Jiangdu County Yamen House, and it is a red deed recognized by the Yamen. Now just because the price of buying the land is lower, the county master does not approve of this land deed?"
Fan Lian looked at Zhang Jian silently and said slowly: "If we follow this logic, not many land deeds will be useful in that day!"
The county magistrate said calmly: "In the second year of Hongde's reign, the land price in Jiangdu was around thirty-five taels of silver. How can there be any reason to buy land for fifteen taels of silver?"
Fan Lian raised his head and looked directly at the county official.
"Master County Master, our family is willing to buy, and their family is willing to sell. This is reasonable. When will the Yamen continue to control land prices?"
The three brothers of the Zhu family knelt in the courtroom and cried loudly: "Your Majesty, the Fan family came to beat us five years ago. My father was forced to buy the land and was so angry that he died. Please tell me this!"
After saying that, the third brother of the Zhu family knelt on the ground and cried: "Master County Master, all three of my brothers were injured five years ago. This is known to the neighbors and villagers. You can send someone to investigate. Now, My family doesn’t want to take advantage of the Fan family. As long as the Fan family returns the land, we, the three brothers, will get back as much as we paid for it.”
Zhang County looked at Fan Lian with a dull look and asked, "What is the opinion of the Fan family?"
"No way!"
Fan Lian gritted his teeth and said: "The sale has been settled for five years. If the contract can be changed based on the nonsense of these three unscrupulous people, then where is the legal system of my great master? The country will be in chaos immediately!"
The eldest son of the Zhu family made a plop, knelt on the ground, took out a few petitions from his arms, held them in his hands, and shouted: "Your Excellency, the three of my brothers have sued the Fan family several times in the past five years. , this is the petition we submitted a few years ago. My father was so worried about these fields that he died in depression, please ask the county master to make the decision!"
The three brothers knelt in the hall and kowtowed.
The county magistrate narrowed his eyes and reached out to pat the gavel.
"This county will find someone to find out the ins and outs of this case and review the case in two days!"
"Quit!"
On the night of the retreat, the county magistrate sent a dozen of his servants to stand guard at the entrance of the Zhu family's house. Sure enough, they squatted down with people from the Fan family who came to "make peace". As a result, a total of seven or eight servants of the Fan family were locked up and taken in. In prison.
Then, without waiting for two days, the Jiangdu County Government reopened the court early the next morning to hear the case of land seizure.
It was sentenced that the Fan family should return the land to the three brothers of the Zhu family, and the three brothers of the Zhu family should return the money used by the Fan family to buy the land.
In two days, two consecutive land disputes spread throughout Jiangdu.
There was a rumor in Jiangdu city that the county magistrate was the grandson of the prime minister. He was not afraid of powerful people and was upright. If anything was unfair, he could go to the Yamen to complain.
So, on the morning of the third day, about ten people went to the Yamen Gate to complain.
Most of them are lawsuits related to the Fan family, and the smaller half are other lawsuits.
The county magistrate was of course too busy to handle it alone, so he ordered the people in the execution room to pick up all the pieces without missing a beat.
Among these more than a dozen cases, one was not a property dispute, but a case involving a man who was beaten to disability by the Fan family eight years ago. He is still lying on the bed, being carried on the bed board, and came to the yamen gate to complain.
The county magistrate personally accepted the case of the crippling case and announced that a day would be set for the trial to begin.
That night, the county magistrate, who had been busy all day, finally returned to the back office. In the back office, a young scholar laid out a table of wine and food and was waiting for him.
Zhang Xianzun walked over with a smile, sat opposite the young scholar, and said with a smile: "Zi Heng's move is brilliant. Instead of one suffering master, more suffering masters have come!"
Shen Yi raised his wine glass, clinked it with the county magistrate, and said with a faint smile: "It's the Fan family's own work. As long as the tiger skin is taken off their bodies, countless people will naturally sue them."
He looked at Zhang Jian and sighed: "I just didn't want senior brother to get involved, but now I still have to trouble senior brother."
"No trouble, no trouble."
Zhang Jian took a sip of wine and said with a smile: "When you serve as an official, you will naturally benefit one party. This is my duty as the county magistrate. Besides, this is not a bad thing for me."
He said with a smile: "Now in Jiangdu City, some people call me brother Zhang Qingtian. If I leave office next year, I might be able to become a member of the Ten Thousand People Umbrella. After returning to Jiankang, I will have more face!"
Shen Yi picked up the wine glass, stood up and toasted Zhang Jian.
"Senior brother, I won't talk about the other brothers, everything is in the wine!"
Zhang Jian also stood up, and the two brothers raised their glasses and clinked their glasses.
"We brothers, we still have a long time ahead."
