Nanyang Taishou Mansion lives in Wancheng to the middle, sits north to south, the axis is symmetrical, the master and slave are orderly, the central hall, the two sides are auxiliary, the layout is multi-road, and the courtyard is counted. On both sides of the central axis, the left is martial and the right is martial, the left is respectful and the right is humble, and the front is facing the back.

The wall of the government is concave, more than two zhang high, seven zhang wide, made of blue bricks, and there is a brick inscription of "Nanyang Mansion" on the brick.

The daughter wall in front of the gate, on both sides is the eight-character wall, and the wall is inlaid with stone tablets in all directions. Entering the arched gate with three rooms wide and two rooms deep is the instrument gate.

The shape of the instrument gate is the same as the gate, but the inner eaves of the front slope are made of wood-colored roll shed. The door of the instrument is the gate of ceremonies, where the new official arrives, he dismounts in front of the door of the ceremony, and welcomes the officials into the door. In the Jiaqing ceremony, the emperor is happy, and the holy decree is read or major sacrificial activities are held, and the door of the ceremony is also opened.

After the instrument door is the lobby, it is five rooms wide and three rooms deep, which is the main building on the central axis and the third courtyard. Under the eaves, the bucket arch is sparse, and the beam frame is bright and spacious.

The lobby is the place where the Taishou reads the edict, receives the officials, and holds important ceremonies. The second hall after the lobby is the place where the prefectural governor handles ordinary official business, and it has a majestic and solemn atmosphere. Walk through the gate of the second hall for about 20 steps, and there is the third hall, which is the place where the Taishou receives superior officials, discusses righteous political affairs, handles official affairs and Yanju.

According to the past practice, the overdue payment of debts is a small civil dispute, and in any case, it should not be tried by Taishou himself, but only by the local county government to decide the case.

Wan County is the county seat of Nanyang County, and the distance between the county government and the Taishou Mansion is not far. When the county commander Hu Da heard that someone dared to go to the government to file a lawsuit, he was almost frightened and fainted, so he hurriedly trotted all the way to the government office and asked to see Xia Ruan.

Since the former Nanyang Taishou Sima Hong was escorted to Beijing, the imperial court transferred Xia Ruan from the Prime Minister's Mansion to Nanyang to take office. As one of the few local officials who were lucky enough not to be affected, Chen Da didn't know much about the new Taishou, but he knew that he was an extremely honest and capable official.

"Taishou has already instructed that if Hu County Ling comes to ask for a meeting, just take it to the second hall for trial." After the doorman entered the house to report for a while, Cao Xu Guangchuan, the head of the guards of the Taishou Mansion, slowly walked out and bowed to Hu Da.

Hu Da didn't dare to hold it up, after all, the thief Cao was the confidant of the Taishou, so he hurriedly replied: "In this way, it will bother the thief Cao." ”

Xu Guangchuan did not continue to be polite to him, but turned around and led him slowly to the second hall.

The cases heard by the Taishou government are very different from those of the county government, especially the hearing system. In order to show fairness, justice and openness, the county government allowed the people to hear the trial outside the yamen. Due to the high rank of the government office, even if a county order like Hu Da came to ask for a meeting, it had to be reported, and it was not suitable for ordinary people to enter and exit freely, and even gathering people outside the government gate was extremely taboo.

When Hu Da came to the second hall of the government and saw that it was Cao Pengshi, who was the chief prosecutor, who was sitting in the hall to try the case, he knew that the case was not handed over to Cao Pengshi, who was the main judge of the crime and prison, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

In the Qin and Han dynasties, the county magistrates had administrative and judicial powers, and handled ordinary cases within their jurisdiction, and could report difficult cases to the court commander for handling. Under the county guard, there are Ci Cao Peng Shi and Ju Cao Peng Shi, and under the county order, there are Ci Cao Peng Shi and Prison Peng, all of which assist the county guard and the county order in judicial work.

According to the division of later generations, Cao Pengshi is biased towards civil litigation, while Cao Pengshi is more often in charge of criminal cases. Therefore, when Hu Da saw that it was Cao Pengshi, the official of the government, was trying the case, he knew that the case was not serious.

Although Hu Da was quite unhappy that some people in Wan County under his rule dared to go beyond the level of litigation, and felt that he had lost face, as long as there was no big mess, it was worth celebrating.

Seeing Hu Da entering the hall, Ci Cao Peng Shi Pu Xin nodded slightly at him, and motioned to Peng under the door to add a side seat to him. Although Hu Da's grade is higher, Pu Xin is a person from the government, so he naturally doesn't care too much about Hu Da's arrival.

Huda didn't care, slowly sat down on the side seat, took the lawsuit handed by Shuzuo, and read it carefully. When he finished reading the lawsuit, he couldn't help but look very surprised. The general content of the lawsuit is that the Cao clan borrowed a total of 80 million yuan from Li Zhou, the person who started the lawsuit, and now the six-month period set on the IOU has passed, and the settlement of principal and interest is worth more than 100 million yuan.

As a local official, Hu Da naturally knew the profound heritage of the Cao family, and he couldn't believe that they owed such a high amount of debt and still failed to pay it overdue.

Hu Da returned the complaint to Shuzuo, and then carefully looked at the plaintiff Li Zhou, who was standing in the court, and saw that he was dressed in soap-colored linen, his face was dark, and he looked like an honest farmer, and he really did not look like a person with a huge net worth. Under all his doubts, he couldn't help but ask: "Since it is a lawsuit, can you bring an IOU as evidence to present it to the court?" ”

Li Zhou slowly raised his head and did not reply, but looked at the chairman with a little doubt.

Pu Xin frowned, obviously quite unhappy with Hu Da's bold words, but he didn't have a good seizure, so he said lightly: "This is the order of Hu County in Wan County, and I specially came to hear the trial." Since Hu County's order wants to inquire, you can reply to it. ”

Li Zhou bowed down and agreed, but he had no intention of taking out the IOU, but turned his head to Hu Da and said slowly: "Back to the county order, Caomin Shicai has handed over the IOU to Park Peng Shizhen to see." If the county order is not believed, when the people of the Cao family come to court, the grass people will take out the IOU as evidence. ”

Hu Da couldn't help but be stunned, this Li Zhou didn't know him, the parent official of Wanxian County, but he seemed to trust Pu Xin, who was sent from the capital with Taishou Xia Ruan, and it seemed that he was definitely not a local person. This matter is quite strange, Hu Da thought of all kinds of strange things, and couldn't help but regret that he was involved in this matter, but at this time, I am afraid it is too late to get out.

Just when Hu Da's thoughts were upset, the subordinate Peng entered the lobby and reported: "Yu Pengshi, the official has brought Cao Jian and is waiting outside the hall at this time. ”

Pu Xin bowed slightly, and ordered: "It's not slow, bring him to the hall." ”

The door answered the promise and left, and after a while, he led Cao Jian into the hall.

Cao Jian saw that Hu Da was also sitting in the hall, and couldn't help but rejoice in his heart. This Huda has served as the county magistrate of Wanxian County for several years, and he has not received the "filial piety" of the Cao family, and he will definitely help when he wants to come.

Hu Da saw that Cao Jian looked at him with a hint of asking for help in his eyes, and he couldn't help but chuckle in his heart, secretly saying that it was not good. He finally escaped the imperial court's purge of Nanyang officialdom, and he definitely didn't want to be dragged into the water again. However, he did take a lot of benefits from the Cao family at the beginning, if he really provoked Cao Jian and shook it out, it would be enough for him to lose his official position.

"Cao Jian, a grass citizen, has seen Peng Shi and the county order." Cao Jian slowly bent his knees to the ground and bowed to the two chief officials.

The worship in the early Han Dynasty was different from the kneeling of the braided play in the Qing Dynasty in later generations, and only the ordinary people involved in the lawsuit had to worship. In most cases, the people do not need to bow when they see officials.

Prostrations are more of a ritual than kneeling, and humiliation is not as severe as kneeling. In the early Han Dynasty, "not bowing" and "not kneeling" were two completely different concepts. Unless there is a very special situation, the Han people only kneel to the heaven and earth. Compared with the descendants of the Han people with weak knees, the real Han people really live with dignity!

"You're Cao Jian?" Park Xin waved his hand, motioned for him to get up, and then asked.

Cao Jian stood up, didn't have time to tidy up his clothes, and hurriedly bowed down and said, "It's the grass people." ”

Pu Xin nodded, and then asked, "Well, do you know why you were summoned to come this time?" ”

"The grass people only know that someone is complaining, saying that they have not paid their debts, but they don't know much about the details." Cao Jian replied honestly, his face couldn't help but show a little dazed and a little annoyed.

"Well, if that is the case, you should first look at the lawsuit and see if there are any objections." Pu Xin obviously didn't want to waste time, so he immediately went straight to the point and asked Shu Zuofu to hand the lawsuit to Cao Jian again.

Cao Jian cautiously took the lawsuit and read it quickly with some eagerness. After reading it, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, looked up at Pu Xin, and said with a slight anger: "Yu Pengshi, the things mentioned in this lawsuit are all wanton slander, and the grass people don't know the person named Li Zhou at all, let alone borrow such a huge amount of money from him!" I also hope that Peng Shi will be the master of the grass people and convict him of framing for money! ”

"Presumptuous! How to decide the lawsuit, this official will handle it impartially, how can you be a businessman to talk about it! Pu Xin raised his eyebrows and said coldly.

Cao Jian couldn't help but tremble, secretly regretting it in his heart, and when he was excited for a while, he really got a little carried away and lost his sense of proportion a little. He hurriedly bowed down and said: "Peng Shi forgives the sin, the grass people were angry for a while, and only then did they speak carelessly, and they didn't dare to criticize the mind of judging the case. ”

Pu Xin didn't squeak, but looked at Cao Jian coldly, stared at him until cold sweat broke out on his back, and hurriedly glanced at Hu Da, revealing a look of help.

Hu Da was annoyed in his heart, but he had to speak out to help: "Why should Peng Shi bother with such a vulgar businessman? It is understandable that he is unstable when he is in tune. ”

Pu Xin looked at Hu Da with interest, with a playful smile on his face, and then waved his hand and said, "Since Hu Xianling has spoken, forget it, don't take it as an example." ”

Cao Jian breathed a sigh of relief at this time, and was about to make a promise, but he heard Pu Xin ask in a loud voice: "Li Zhou, this Cao Jian said that he didn't know you, let alone borrowed money from you, do you have any arguments?" ”

Cao Jian was stunned when he heard this, and then he found that there was a black-faced man standing not far from his side. According to Pu Xin's questioning, this big man is Li Zhou who sued him in court. Cao Jian's eyes erupted with boundless anger, staring directly at Li Zhou, convinced that he had never seen this person, and he was sure that he had been falsely accused, and he became more and more resentful, and he felt like he was eating his flesh and then being happy.

Li Zhou turned a blind eye to Cao Jian, and just replied to Pu Xin casually: "Looking back at the history of Peng, the grass people and Cao Jian do not know each other. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the hall was full of surprise, obviously it was the first time to see such a strange person in the court. Even if you really want to make false accusations for money, even if you don't defend a few words, you should beg for mercy after being poked, how can you be so light-hearted? Isn't he a fool? (To be continued.) )