Hu Jiaoyu's mouth was gagged and he was dragged away in front of the villagers of Zhengjia Village.
Many villagers in Zhengjia Village were confused and had no idea what was going on. They only knew that a senior official in the yamen was arrested by a larger official.
"Please spare my life, Mr. Fantai! The common people are all deceived by this man."
As soon as Hu Jiaoyu was taken away, the third master hurriedly knelt under the wooden platform and kowtowed in the direction of Hong Chengchou.
The patriarch of Zhengjia Village and the fifth master also reacted quickly, kneeling down and kowtow to beg for mercy.
The eldest son of Zhengjiacun, who was standing by, couldn't bear to stand up and said to Hong Chengchou: "I would like to ask the eldest master of Fantai to forgive them once because they are deceived by others. I will be very grateful here."
However, Hong Chengchou ignored him at all.
After standing up from his seat, he said to the magistrate of Xin'an County on the side: "I will leave the matters here to you. I will leave a team of soldiers for you."
After saying that, he got off the wooden platform, mounted his horse, and left Zhengjia Village with some of his soldiers.
The eldest uncle did not dare to stop Hong Chengchou, so he could only look to the magistrate of Xin'an County for help.
"Are you the rich man of Zhengjia Village and the elder of the village?" the magistrate of Xin'an County said, looking at the old man in front of him.
The eldest uncle did not dare to show off in front of the county magistrate, and said with a smile: "The old man is crazy about how many years he has grown."
"It's a pity that you have lived your whole life like a dog." The magistrate of Xin'an County cursed unceremoniously.
The old man's face darkened after being scolded.
Naturally, he was very dissatisfied that he was insulted in public by a junior at such a young age, even if the other party was the magistrate of Xin'an County.
The magistrate of Xin'an County continued without waiting for the elder to speak: "Don't you know anything about what they did in Zhengjia Village?"
"The little old man didn't participate." The elder replied.
This is also his confidence, because he did not get involved in these people's affairs.
The magistrate of Xin'an County said: "Since you knew what they were doing, you did not report the information, let alone dissuade them. You just watched a few of them fall into the abyss. You are still young and you are like a dog."
Being called a dog again, the elder's face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
"You still have the nerve to plead for them here. You should take care of yourself first! Don't think that you have nothing to do because you have done nothing." The magistrate of Xin'an County retorted unceremoniously.
The eldest man was stunned when he heard this and said in surprise: "What can the little old man do? The little old man has done nothing. Big lord, you can't accuse the little old man unjustly!"
Although he didn't want to see anything happen to the clan leader and other elders of Zhengjia Village, he was even more unwilling to bear the responsibility for them.
"I know exactly what you are thinking." The magistrate of Xin'an County said, "It's nothing more than watching others do it and taking advantage of it. If something happens, you won't be implicated."
"The little old man is wronged! The little old man didn't know anything beforehand. If some elders hadn't come over today to tell the truth, the little old man would still be hiding it." The elder wanted to take it out. As for Zhengjiacun He didn't even care about the lives of the other few people.
Seeing the old man in front of him shrink back, the magistrate of Xin'an County snorted and said, "You have to deal with your own affairs. You are the ones who have to deal with it now."
As he spoke, he turned his eyes to the chief of the Zhengjia Village and the third and fifth masters.
"I wonder what the county elder plans to do with them?" the elder asked cautiously.
The magistrate of Xin'an County smiled and asked, "Have you ever heard of the public trial meeting?"
"I've heard it once or twice, but I'm not sure what happened." The elder shook his head blankly.
When the Tiger Character Banner first occupied Xin'an County, a public trial was held. The village where the public trial was held was dozens of miles away from Zhengjia Village.
Villages separated by tens of miles are almost two different worlds nowadays, and it is difficult for news to be conveyed completely.
The people in power in Zhengjia Village are just a few local sticks, unlike scholars who like to make friends everywhere, so they only heard about the public trial meeting in name, but have little understanding of what is going on.
"You will know in a moment." The magistrate of Xin'an County said with a smile.
Although the eldest son of Zhengjia Village felt that the public trial was not a good thing, he could not stop it and could only allow the magistrate of Xin'an County to hold the public trial in Zhengjia Village.
Soon, the chief of the Zhengjia Village, the three masters and the fifth master, as well as the thugs they supported, and the housekeepers and servants at home were all escorted to the wooden platform and their hands were tied with ropes.
When the public trial begins, it is natural that someone will take the lead to stand up and expose the evil deeds these people committed in Zhengjia Village.
Because these people have been in Zhengjia Village for a long time, no one in the village dared to stand up.
However, this situation did not last long. As a woman took the lead in standing up and accusing the third master of all the evil things he had committed, more and more villagers began to come forward.
The chief of the Zhengjia Village, several clan elders, and the thugs they raised have committed so many evil things that it is too long to mention them all. Some villagers were still not satisfied with just talking about it, so they picked up the dirt on the ground and threw it at a few people on the wooden platform. passed.
When other villagers saw it, they also picked up the things around them and threw them on the wooden platform.
Naturally, the magistrate of Xin'an County could not watch several people being smashed to death on the wooden platform, so he ordered the soldiers around the wooden platform to stop the villagers from throwing things on the wooden platform.
The indignant villagers took a lot of effort to calm down.
As for the eldest son of Zhengjia Village, his face turned pale with fear, and he finally understood what a public trial was.
Hearing the evil deeds being leaked by the villagers, even after he heard about it, he wanted to kill the clan leader of Zhengjia Village and the other two clan elders.
It's so abominable.
But he knew better that he was no different from these people. He had done the same things they had done. The only difference was that now he was standing under the wooden platform and there was no public trial target.
There was a secretary nearby based on the villagers' complaints and recorded everything one by one.
After recording it, he took it over and asked the people on the wooden platform to sign it.
The chief of Zhengjia Village and others just wanted to leave the wooden platform first, and didn't care so much about other things, so they didn't even look at it and signed the pledge happily.
The clerk handed the charged charges to the magistrate of Xin'an County.
The magistrate of Xin'an County glanced at it casually and said, "Since the charges have been laid, let's execute them all!"
The clerk read out the crimes of the Zhengjia Village chief and others in public.
The tiger-character flag soldiers stepped forward and picked out all the people one by one with bayonets on the wooden platform. Even the few slaves were not spared, and they were all sent to Huangquan Road.
"Kowtow to Master Qingtian."
Someone among the villagers shouted this, and the people fell to their knees.
