"My lord, my lord!" Shen Song was startled by an anxious cry in his ears, and raised his head to look, but it was the old steward Shen Tong. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Shen Tong is the old man of the Shen family, and he is the only person he has always brought with him, and Wu Qing also followed him this time.

At this moment, the old steward was looking at him with a worried face, and his eyes were full of concern.

Shen Song's heart was warm, he calmed down, slowly stood up and changed his clothes, and asked, "What kind of person outside is so bold and reckless that he dares to sound the drum of injustice?"

The drum of injustice, also known as the half-city drum. Once it rings, it hears half of the city, hence the name. In the film and television works of later generations, you can see many jokes about drumming outside the government and shouting grievances, and then the officials began to go to court to ask questions.

Actually, this is a misunderstanding.

There are three theories about the origin of the drum of grievances, one is that it was set up by Yin Baozheng of Kaifeng Mansion in the Song Dynasty. Under the old system, no lawsuit could be filed in court. The main gate was opened, so that the front Chen Qu was straight, and the officials did not dare to deceive. Later, at the entrance of local yamen at all levels, a drum was set up for the common people to report their grievances;

The second argument comes from the "drum of daring". "Da Dai Li, Bao Fu" cloud: And the crown prince is an adult, and he is exempt from the strictness of the Bao Fu, but he has a history of passing and a loss of food. The prince has been, and the history must be written. The righteousness of history has to be written. If you don't read it, you die. After the book, Zaich went to eat. The righteousness of the husband has to be eaten thoroughly. If you don't eat thoroughly, you die. So there is a place to eat, a wood to slander, and a drum to admonish.

This "drum of daring to admonish" is the predecessor of the drum of grievances, and the "Emperor Chronicle" records that this "drum of daring to admonish" was erected by Emperor Yao.

The third theory is spread by the people, saying that not long after the founding of the Han Emperor Liu Bang, the emperor's nephew molested Su Xiao'e, a woman in the capital, and was stabbed to death in the street.

Subsequently, the killer was arrested and imprisoned. Su Xiao'e was the Salvation Father, and because she was only white and couldn't see the officials, she thought of a way. and two companions, one wearing a small drum and the other holding a small gong, beat the gong and drum outside the palace to shout grievances. Finally, Liu Bang met and rescued Engong. And Liu Bang got this hint, so he launched the drum of grievances.

In either case, when it comes to actual implementation, in addition to being able to be implemented at the beginning, it will slowly become a form over time.

The same is true for the drum of grievances.

The unspoken rule of officialdom is that if there is a grievance or a complaint, someone can make a lawsuit and then submit it to the government. The government has a special person to receive this kind of lawsuit paper and then hand it to the government. Generally, it is handed over to the official's staff to understand the situation before reporting to the official. It is up to the Shangguan to decide whether or not to conduct a public trial.

In ancient times, most of the cases tried by the yamen were not in the main hall, but in the side hall. The advantage of this approach is that it leaves room for the adjudicating officer to move forward and retreat.

Unless an official feels the need to pass a certain case to promote a certain stance or authority, it is often said that the case is promoted to the court. This kind of questioning will be in the main hall, that is, the kind of scene where the officials on both sides will kill the mighty sticks and shout the mighty voice together.

In addition, the one who has to go to the main hall to question the case is this injustice. Because as soon as the drum sounded, almost the whole city knew about it, and even if they wanted to, they couldn't hide it.

In this way, it will inevitably cause the embarrassment of officials who are in a hurry and cannot respond. Therefore, officials at all levels can be said to abhor this. For example, in Xu Hu's biography, whoever beats the drum of injustice, no matter whether it is justified or not, must first be killed in the court, which is the reason.

Therefore, most people will abide by this unspoken rule, and no one is so stupid as to offend the officials who asked the case before they can ask the case.

This is also the reason why Shen Song sat down in shock, and asked who was bold at this time.

"Yes...... He Jinshen, the head of the He family, and his son. Hearing Shen Song's question, Shen Tong couldn't help but smile bitterly and echoed.

Shen Song's movements paused, Huo Ran turned around, and looked at the old steward with blazing eyes: "Who?"

The old steward repeated again: "Master, it's He Jinshen, the head of the He family, and his son He Yan." ”

Shen Song's eyes shrank, and then a touch of joy flashed quickly. I didn't expect the father and son of the He family to be so breathless, and they were all in a hurry to beat the drum of injustice. I was planning to delay them for three or five days, but now it seems that I don't need to. Not only do you not need to, but you must arrange it as soon as possible, so as not to really rush the He family, but it will cause extraneous branches.

"This old master is really, I only saw that I was okay yesterday, how come there is a grievance here today? You know what .......is going on, you go and let people take care of it, so that you can be appeased, don't lose your courtesy, and say Master, I will be there later." ”

He pressed his joy and said lightly pretending to be surprised. The affairs of the organization were his first secret affairs, and no one as close as the old steward could know about them.

The old steward answered, and turned to go down. Here, Shen Song happily changed into an official uniform and hat, and wore a full set of tops, and then he came to the main hall step by step.

In the main hall, there were already officials lined up on both sides, each holding a black and a red water and fire stick, with a solemn face and a silent voice.

Next to the Chinese case in the hall, the notekeepers, secretaries, interpreters, etc. are all in place, and other related people such as servants are waiting in the side box.

He Yan hugged his father, and stood in front of the main entrance of the lobby, surrounded by more than a dozen people who came to watch the excitement when they heard the sound of drums. And as time went by, more and more people gathered, and by the time Shen Song came out, there were already nearly 100 people, noisy and noisy. There are even hawkers selling snacks shuttling through the crowd, peddling their own goods, how to say it.

Shen Song couldn't help frowning slightly, this can be regarded as his virgin case, the first time he encountered this kind of scene, he was a little nervous, and he was faintly unhappy in his heart. But then he reacted, with a gentle smile on his face, he hurriedly stepped forward and hugged his fists and said: "He Weng, why is it so far? But what is the difficulty, can this county not make a contribution, so that you always come to beat the drum in person." Quick, come in, come on, add a chair to He Weng. In the last sentence, he turned his head to the official and commanded.

Someone next to him hurriedly went, He Jinshen walked into the main hall with the support of He Yan, first saluted Shen Song, and then with a straight face, and said: "The old man thanked the Lord of the Ming Mansion for his love, but this incident is related to the lives of all my people in Wuqing County, how can it be entrusted to the private room, it must be in front of the villagers." The situation is urgent, and if you offend, you will hope that Lord Mingfu will forgive you. ”

After that, he pushed away He Yan's support and took a deep look at it to the end.

Shen Song's smile froze on his face, and the feeling of uneasiness suddenly rose again. Li Liu, who was in his heart, suddenly saw He Jinshen's big gift, and hurriedly helped each other in a panic, but for a while he forgot that this was in the county hall, and he should sit behind the case at this moment.

He Jinshen's old eyes narrowed slightly, and he secretly sneered in his heart, sure enough, it was exactly the same as the analysis of Nayan. No matter how cunning this guy is, he is still just a chick in officialdom. It's just a mere opening, and it's already such a gaffe, and this time it's calculated, and there is another three-point chance of winning.

"Ahem!"

The old housekeeper next to him saw that his master was out of shape, and hurriedly coughed lightly twice to remind him, Shen Song was startled, and suddenly came to his senses. I couldn't help but feel ashamed and angry for a while, and I glanced at He Jinshen deeply, and then nodded indifferently: "Oh? With that, he flicked his sleeves and turned to sit down in the hall.

Then he snapped and screamed: "Ascension!"

The officials on both sides responded in unison: "Might--Wu-", and the water and fire sticks in their hands also clicked and knocked on the ground at the same time.

Su Mo, who was hiding in the crowd outside, watched with great amusement, and at the same time admired the person who invented this model. This is the application of the earliest sound and light theory, and the wisdom of the ancients is really sharp.

In today's matter, the father and son of the He family are the protagonists, and he, the mastermind behind the scenes, is not suitable to appear, so he secretly hides in the dark to watch the excitement.

At this moment, after the procedures in the hall were completed, Shen Song began to formally question the case.

He Yan helped the old man to sit down on the chair, turned around and strode to the middle of the hall, saluted respectfully to Shen Song behind the case, and said loudly: "Lord Mingfu, the day before yesterday, the villain made people report to the county government, and the road is that there are several people missing in the west of the city for no reason, I don't know if the adults can remember?"

Shen Song's eyes suddenly tightened, and he subconsciously clenched the fist in his sleeve. How could he not remember this? But what did he mean, and how could it not be that his daughter had been taken captive? Why did he mention this stubble?

Oops not good!

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind, and my face changed dramatically. Turning his eyes sharply, he saw that the crowd outside the yamen was silent for a moment, and then there was a buzzing discussion.

But listening to He Yan continued: "The adults responded before, saying that they were only missing for a short time, and there is no evidence, so they can't be considered missing. Today, however, we stumbled upon the bodies of two of them outside the city. The corpse's brain was cut into a big hole, the brain marrow was hollowed out, and the death was extremely miserable, not to mention, it was even more weird. After the father and the villain discussed, they all felt that this matter was extraordinary, or related to evil, and they must immediately report it to Lord Mingfu. And such evil deeds are aimed at the innocent and poor, and it can be said that they are closely related to the people of the whole city. ”

He didn't stop saying anything, and Shen Song couldn't stop it no matter how much he wanted to. couldn't help but sink like water, although his face still maintained his composure, but the hands hidden under the case were shaking uncontrollably.

It's over, this is a complete disruption to his plans! Once this kind of thing spreads, it will surely cause panic in the whole city. At that time, everyone is in danger, and under constant vigilance, no matter what they want to do, they will do half the work, and it will greatly increase the probability of being discovered. And once it is discovered, this matter is related to his new prefectural commander........

Shen Song imagined that scene, and couldn't help but shiver, and his forehead slowly sweated.

No! We can't go on like this, we have to control it! We have to control the scene, at least we have to keep the impact to a minimum. He listened to the exclamations and louder chatters outside, and thought secretly.

"He Gongzi said cautiously! In broad daylight, in the midst of the bright and bright world, where did any evil come from! Don't you hear the sage cloud: Zi Bu is silent and the strange power is confused? Okay, this county will immediately send people to investigate this matter, and we will definitely come up with a result as soon as possible. Well, the villagers outside don't need to panic, it is expected that some wild beasts are just scurrying out and hurting people. As long as everyone pays more attention on weekdays and goes less to remote places outside the city, there will be nothing to do. ”

He stood up, first scolded He Yan loudly, and then talked eloquently, and the people outside the yawai were really frightened and slowly quieted down.

Shen Song secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and was just about to seize the opportunity to end this ascension, but suddenly heard He Jinshen, who had been sitting quietly beside him, suddenly opened his mouth, and as soon as a few words came out, his face suddenly changed greatly, and the entire county government inside and outside also made an uproar again.