In ancient times, Li Zheng's duty was to help his superiors, that is, the county, to collect and supervise taxes. To put it more clearly, he meant to oppress the people, extract money, and oppress the villagers. They are not officials, not even officials, but these local snakes are more intimidating than officials.
Jiang Lizheng was not from a prominent family in Fengshan, but he was quite experienced and had a stable character. He had been running around for decades. After becoming a high-ranking official, he was out of control and his family business was obviously growing. Except for being illiterate, his other abilities are first-rate. Xiatinglou, the largest restaurant in Fengshan, belongs to his upright family business.
His biggest regret in his life is that he is illiterate and considers himself inferior to others in all abilities. However, when it comes to reading, he can only lament alone. Therefore, he spared no effort in educating his children and invited the most famous talents in Fengshan to teach his children. Even his daughter did not want to be left behind.
The ancients often said that a woman's lack of talent is a virtue. If she knows too much, her heart will be wild, and it even wiped a handful of black ash on his face.
Not only was it a family scandal, after Meng Liangchen arrived at the Jiang family, he was also responsible for handling many chores in Fengshan Township. To put it bluntly, this job was a bit like being a village clerk, but Meng Liangchen refused to take it on anyway.
What does the township clerk do? Specifically, he is a subordinate clerk of the county government. He assists Li Zheng in handling documents and is responsible for the accounting of various types of books and accounts related to tax collection in the township.
There is an unwritten rule in the Song Dynasty. Anyone who is a minor official will never be able to take the scientific examination in this life. Meng Liangchen is determined to be on the gold medal list, so how can he risk his own future?
That's okay, Jiang Lizheng also has a lot of shady things in his village affairs accounts, and he doesn't want others to know about it, so just let Meng Liangchen do it!
But Meng Liangchen is a smart man after all, but his emotional intelligence is horribly low. After working for a long time, he discovered many problems with money, food, labor, and taxation. The eyes were concealed. He thought that Jiang Lizheng was illiterate and was fooled by the documents below. He reported these issues to Jiang Lizheng many times with "enthusiasm" and was even bold enough to say that he would report it to the county.
Jiang Lizheng remained silent on the surface, but was actually shaken inside. On the one hand, he comforted Meng Liangchen, but on the other hand, he wanted to leave a way out for himself!
Unknowingly, this stupid scholar became a thorn in Master Li Zheng's side!
Jiang Lizheng was responsible for collecting taxes. After collecting the taxes, he withheld the taxes that should be paid to the county. But the money withheld did not go into Jiang Lizheng's own pocket. Instead, he used the money to build bridges and pave roads. Although I don't deduct much tax money every year, but accumulated over decades, it is enough to make Fengshan a place like this. Makeover.
There are only a few people in a village who can read and write. County officials are frequently transferred and they rarely go to the countryside. Even if they do come down, it is just for show, and they rarely go deep into the countryside to take care of all kinds of trivial things. Therefore, this kind of chores fell on the heads of the rural writers. How much tax money each household has to pay and how much tax money it pays all depend on the figures written down by the village clerk on the ledger.
How could the villagers know whether Li Zhengxiang's secretary remembered it consistently or just one article in the book? They only knew that Li Zheng and the township clerk had written down what they paid, so it was correct. As for whose pocket the money went into, it was not What they have to consider is whether they will be full for the next meal.
In this way, Jiang Lizheng and his old accountant just created a Fengshan from the taxes that were supposed to be paid to his superiors.
It's just that after the old accountant he reused left, Jiang Lizheng admired Meng Liangchen, a literate outsider. Precisely because this migrant has no local background, it should be easy to control him, so he was assigned a job. Who would have thought that this Meng Liangchen was completely brainwashed by the teachings of Confucius and Mencius! This kid actually wants to report it to the county! In his opinion, it was simply treason!
Seeing that his scheme was revealed to Meng Liangchen, and his daughter was involved in the scandal of elopement, Jiang Lizheng took advantage of this opportunity to have Meng Liangchen deceived and killed his daughter. Got in.
By chance, Liang Chuan taught this young man a lesson in Xinghua Prison.
Jiang Lizheng just wanted to send this ignorant nerd to a place where he could not talk nonsense, so that he could wake up and learn a lesson in life. The prison in Xinghua was the best place. During this period, Jiang Lizheng also went to Xinghua to take care of He Laogui in the prison, and asked Meng Liangchen if he had said anything that should not be said. What surprised him was that this nerd only talked to himself from beginning to end, and other people. The prisoners did not even make eye contact.
How could the conceited Meng Liangchen think highly of these prisoners and apprentices? He was only afraid that these scum would stain his soul, which had read the gatherings of sages.
Now Meng Liangchen seems to be a little confused. Every day when he faces the light outside the window and the dark walls, he only smiles happily to himself, and does not speak when others interact with him. The prison officers on duty for several shifts of Mr. He just looked to see if he would die, and there was nothing they could do about his state. If a person is locked up for a long time, he will be somewhat irritated.
Jiang Lizheng found his old accountant, changed the forged account book, and took him to explain the situation to the county lieutenant of the county government. The county lieutenant was equivalent to the public security chief of this era, in charge of prisons, Li Chengfu, etc. There are three more classes in Dutou that are under his control, and he is responsible to the county magistrate above.
The iron-clad county captain and the smooth county magistrate. This county captain has been in office for who knows how many years, but the magistrate has been replaced several times. In this three-thirds of an acre of land, it was always the county magistrate who made the final decision. The county lieutenant might have the power, but it was never him who made the decision. This also led the county lieutenant to come to the conclusion that working exhaustingly would make all the difference. Take the blame, don't cause trouble for the magistrate, and do one less thing than one more thing, and you will live a peaceful life.
There are still many people in Xinghua Prison, but they are all small cases that are neither good nor bad. It takes a long time to bring them up for trial. They are afraid that the magistrate will be bored and let them go without bringing them up for trial. The person who reported the case has objections. As time went by, he, the Wuwei County Lieutenant, had a lot of cases on his hands.
Fortunately, most of the facts are relatively clear, and the parties involved knew that they could not escape their guilt, so they stayed quietly in the jail waiting for the county to deal with it. There are only a few individuals who have grievances.
Jiang Lizheng came to the county captain with a lot of local products. As soon as he came, he went straight to the point, saying that his daughter was dead and could not be resurrected. Although Meng Liangchen was suspected, he could not be convicted. Forgive him that he was a young scholar in Xinghua. Such a conclusion Wouldn't it be a pity to have him killed? He planned to drop the case!
The county captain had long heard that Meng Liangchen had been locked up in prison. He had been locked up for so long that his mind was a little abnormal. These nerds have very weird personalities and tempers, and they are afraid that if something happens and they die in prison for no reason, then they will be stained with shit.
Meng Liangchen's mother, now that she is full and has nothing to do, wanders around Xinghua every day. Blocked at the gate of the county government office on time every day, a grey-haired old woman staggered from Fengshan to Xinghua every day. When she arrived, she started crying and told everyone that her son was wronged. As long as he has a clear conscience, Normal people will be moved when they see it.
Now that the county magistrate is old and doesn't like to move around, he hasn't gone out to meet Meng Liangchen's mother yet. If they make inquiries, the officials in charge of prison litigation will inevitably encounter twists and turns.
The county captain is now Babuduo. Every villager who reported a crime is like Jiang Lizheng. He came back and withdrew the complaint and settled the dispute. The whole prison was clean and no one bothered him.
After Jiang Lizheng explained the matter clearly, the county lieutenant did not pursue the matter further and notified He Laogui to release him immediately.
Meng Liangchen was in good condition when he came out of the prison. He had not been tortured before the trial, but he seemed to be a little crazy. Although a literate person did not suffer hardship, it is still a bit sad to end up like this.
Everyone in the world has abandoned Meng Liangchen, but the mother has not given up on her son. She remains unshakable and stands guard outside the county government office. She was used to standing at the door of the county government office, leaning against the painted red beams, staring blankly into the county government office, because she couldn't get in, and the government would not allow her to come and go at will. Unless the announcement was made and people could go in and watch, she could only stand at the door on other days, looking forward to it.
She had always believed that her son would never do such a shameful thing as defrauding other people's wives and daughters and stealing money. However, she also knew about Jiang Lizheng's reputation in Fengshan. She had begged Jiang Lizheng to get rid of his son. If the county magistrate deprives her of her official status, her son's life will be over. But Jiang Lizheng ignored her. He just said lightly that right and wrong would be judged by the public, and it was not his decision.
Just like in the past, she still came to guard the county government office today. Things should have an outcome, no matter good or bad. But today she doubted whether her eyesight was blurred. She saw a young man walking out of the county government office. He was in a state of despair, dressed in white. Several strong government officials led him out of the cell and towards the door, just like her son. . .
The yamen officer took the young man to the yamen gate and left him behind. "Let's go, you are free!"
Meng Liangchen was able to see the light of day again, but the young man staggered. Mother Meng was afraid that her eyes had deceived her, so she stepped forward to take a look. Tears instantly burst out of her dry eyes. She tried her best to cover her mouth to prevent herself from crying. Her sobs were moving.
Mother Meng hugged her son tightly, hugged his head, and the two of them sat slumped at the yamen door.
"My son, what did these beasts do to you? How could a good person become like this? God, why are you so cruel to our mother and son! My child, they are so cruel to you. What did you do? Answer me, mother!"
Meng Liangchen also couldn't understand why he came out so easily?
