If Xu Zengshou reacts slowly this time, I'm afraid he will have to suffer again! Fortunately, he had already reacted at this time, and when he was falling down, he hurriedly retracted his thighs and raised his knees, so that he didn't get hit again!
But even so, he still felt excruciating pain when his knees landed on the ground! So he had to fall forward and support the ground with both hands before he managed to get into a passable kneeling position!
Liu Haojia didn't care about his feelings and asked directly: "Xu Zengshou, I'm asking you now, are you sure that the shop opened by Xu Peijiang was purchased with the money from your Xu family?"
Xu Zengshou's face was twisted in pain at this time, and he could only squeeze out a voice from between his teeth and said: "Yes, it is the Xu family's property!"
Liu Haojia nodded and turned to Xu Peijiang and said, "Xu Peijiang, he said that the dyeing workshop is a public property, what do you say?"
Xu Peijiang immediately said loudly: "He is lying! Although my family has the same ancestor as the Xu family in Songjiang, they are not the same family at all. They were separated two generations ago!"
Liu Haojia laughed immediately when he heard this! He knew that Xu Peijiang finally gave him the answer he needed most! So he immediately turned to look at Xu Zengshou and said, "He said that their branch and your Songjiang branch have been separated for a long time. What do you say?"
Xu Zengshou was immediately speechless! The word "separation of family" is a very important word in Chinese social ethics. This means that apart from sharing an ancestor, the two parties have no interaction and the economy is completely independent!
Family separation was an important matter at that time. Even if it was a family separation among ordinary people, the elders of the clan, neighbors, village chiefs or grain chiefs should come forward as witnesses to clearly divide the family property. , and write down detailed documents and keep them in the record to be considered a formal separation!
If a prominent family in a place has to split up due to too many families, it will be a major local matter and cannot be hidden at all! As long as you send someone to the local area to inquire, you will know what is going on. Now as long as it is confirmed that they have separated, the reasons Xu Zengshou said will definitely not be established. It will be absolutely easy to accuse him of false accusations and fraud!
It's just that Magistrate Sun ruled that Xu Zengshou won without any verification at all, and the shop and dyeing workshop were under the name of the Xu family. It would be strange to say that there was nothing fishy in this! And in the end, it’s unclear whether the shop and dyeing shop really belong to the Xu family! The greater possibility is that it falls into the hands of Xu Zengshou!
When Liu Haojia saw that Xu Zengshou didn't speak, he asked, "Xu Zengshou, if I am asking you now, if you don't speak, I will tacitly admit that you have confessed!"
But how could Xu Zengshou plead guilty at this time! He raised his head slightly and said, "When he said the families should be divided, the families should be divided. How can one ancestor separate them clearly?"
Liu Haojia relaxed his body and said: "What you said makes sense! You can't be sure that you are two groups just because of Xu Peijiang's words! How about this? I sent someone to Songjiang to make inquiries. I happened to have recently heard about Mr. Zhang's measurement of the world's acres. It still can’t be implemented in Songjiang, so we can check it out together!”
When Xu Zengshou heard this, the cold sweat on his face became even more intense! He knew that Liu Haojia was 90% trying to scare him, but the problem was that he didn't know if Liu Haojia would catch the 1% and really dare to investigate!
If he wants to investigate, he can simply send someone to the local area to find out, and what he has done will be exposed immediately! Judging from the Xu family's "upright and aboveboard" family style, he will definitely be sent to serve his sentence and bear all the charges!
But compared to this matter, once Liu Haojia intervenes in the investigation of the land, the reputation of the Xu family will be completely ruined! Because what Liu Haojia said is right. In the Songjiang area, the investigation of the land cannot continue. The reason is that Xu Jie refuses to return the land! If this matter is revealed, my whole family will die without a burial place!
Thinking of this, Xu Zengshou immediately made up his mind and gritted his teeth and said: "There is no need to investigate, I will plead guilty! This matter was indeed caused by greed!"
As soon as he said these words, the people in the hall burst into noise! Liu Haojia knocked on the gavel tree to silence all the people, then glanced at the earth-colored county magistrate sitting next to him and asked: "Then when you appealed, why did Magistrate Sun sentence the sentence without even asking? You Did you bribe him?"
When Xu Zengshou heard this, he said disdainfully: "There is no need to bribe someone like him! I just used my master's post to come forward! In order to curry favor with my master, he will naturally agree to anything!"
Liu Haojia said: "That is to say, County Magistrate Sun knew that you falsely accused Xu Peijiang and deliberately cooperated with you to swallow up his family property, isn't that true?"
Xu Zengshou had nothing to hesitate at this time, and he felt that with the reputation of Mr. Xu Ge and Zhang Juzheng, he should be safe. As long as he passed the current hurdle first, there would always be a chance to escape in the future! So he said very simply: "Yes, that's it!"
Liu Haojia then asked: "You are doing this kind of thing in Tianjin. I guess Mr. Xu Ge doesn't know about it, right?"
When Xu Zengshou heard Liu Haojia ask this, he thought it was because he didn't want to involve Mr. Xu Ge and just stayed at his own level, which meant that even the punishment would not be too severe! This is a common way for officials to excuse each other! So he cheered up and said, "My master really doesn't know! Why does my master need to ask about this matter?"
In fact, Xu Zengshou misunderstood, and Liu Haojia himself did not have any intention of clinging to Xu Jie. Because it can't be done on the one hand, and on the other hand, Xu Jie really doesn't need to ask about the matter of 20,000 taels of silver, so it is enough to determine the cause and effect of the entire case.
At this point, the truth was completely revealed. Liu Haojia asked someone to sign Xu Zengshou's signature. At the same time, he pointed at the pale-faced Magistrate Sun and said, "You're done!"
When he got the document signed by Xu Zengshou, he pronounced the verdict: "The case that Xu Zengshou falsely accused Xu Peijiang and his wife was dropped, and the shop and dyeing workshop were returned to their original owners! At the same time, the amount of money involved in the case was huge and Xu Zengshou was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labor!"
Xu Zengshou's expression changed immediately after hearing this! He has been in Tianjin for a while. Does he know what Liu Haojia refers to as labor? The lighter ones are built by building bridges, paving roads and cutting rocks, while the heavier ones are sold directly to coal mines for coal mining! Not to mention fifteen years, even fifteen days his body wouldn't be able to withstand it!
He immediately shouted loudly: "Master Hou, for the sake of my master and Prime Minister Zhang, please spare this little man's life!"
