Just after the Shangyuan Festival, before Zhang Jian could come up with any legitimate reason to deal with these powerful clans, these people came to the door first.

On this day, Zhang Jian was consulting the county chronicle file in the study, and Lu Qinggong walked in with a stack of documents outside the door.

"County Zun, this is the recent big and small cases in the county reported by the county lieutenant, please give instructions to the county honor."

"The case? You can leave the small case to Mr. Han to deal with, I have something important to do now. ”

Lu Qinggong nodded, and then took out a copy from the document and put it on Zhang Jian's case, "This pleadings were submitted below yesterday, and it is a big case that needs to be decided by the county lord himself." ”

"Big case?" Zhang Jian raised his head and looked at Lu Qinggong as he opened the pleadings, "One thousand!" Pass through! ”

Zhang Jian trembled and exclaimed with a puzzled face: "This is theft? A thousand! ”

Lu Qinggong said embarrassedly: "Back to the county, this pleadings clearly say a thousand yuan. ”

"How big is this thousand, has the plaintiff ever said that the thief committed the crime?"

"I've already asked below, and it's a person, and the thief has been caught and is now in prison."

Zhang Jian asked in a daze: "Alone? Now that everyone has caught it, have you found the filth? ”

Lu Qinggong shook his head, "I haven't found a single copper plate." ”

Zhang Jian was confused, a thief stole a thousand yuan, and he was caught but didn't find a penny of dirt.

Some people may have no concept of one thousand guan, according to the currency system of the Chu State has always been one thousand wen, and the current doumi is only fifty wen, and one thousand guan is 20,000 dou and 2,000 stones, which is a rather terrible wealth.

In such a case, a fool can see that there is something strange here, how can a person run with a thousand pounds, that is a thousand catties.

"Qinggong, you go and bring the criminal here, and I will try it myself."

"It's... It's not in order, let alone ... ”

"Go!"

Lu Qinggong didn't dare to say anything more, so he had to turn around and do it.

After a while, I heard the sound of 'bang, bang, bang' outside.

"The county order, the prisoner brought it."

"Bring it in."

Before the words fell, I saw Lu Qinggong escorting a person from outside the door, ragged and covered with blood and unkempt.

"This..." Zhang Jian pointed to the chains on the prisoner's body.

"County Zun, I was afraid that such a villain would collide with you, so I put iron ropes and heavy flail on him."

Zhang Jian sweated for a while, then stood up and came to the prisoner, I don't know if the shackles were too heavy or what, I saw that he kept shaking, so Zhang Jian asked Lu Qinggong to remove the heavy shackles around his neck.

This kind of flail was originally made for felons in prison, and each one weighed dozens of catties, and when Lu Qinggong unloaded the flail, he could clearly feel that the prisoner was relieved.

"What's your name? Where are the people? ”

The prisoner was unrestrained and knelt directly on the ground and said in a trembling voice: "Lord Huiyu, the grass people's name is Xu Zhuangtong, and there is one in the Chinese New Year's Eve this year, Xiaoping people. ”

"Do you know what crime you have committed?"

Xu Zhuangtong suddenly became emotional and kept kowtowing, "The villain went to the Xue family in the east of the city to steal on the night of Shangyuan, but... But Xiaomin didn't steal anything, so I beg the adults to see it. ”

Zhang Jian sneered and turned his head to look at Lu Qinggong, asking for Xu Zhuangtong's confession.

"You are really a hard bone, looking at the big and small injuries on your body, you should have been punished, but you still don't admit your guilt."

Now Zhang Jian probably already understands a little what's going on, the Xue family in the east of the city is one of the top clans in Xiaoping, and the pleadings that lost a thousand times before were also on the Xue family.

You must know that according to the law of Great Chu, the person who steals the property is only fifty rods, and the person who gets the property is convicted according to the amount of property.

Zhang Jian looked at Xu Zhuangtong and smiled; "You're not honest when it comes to me? You said that you didn't steal any property, so why did the Xue family submit a petition accusing you of stealing a thousand pieces of money. ”

"What? A thousand! Xu Zhuangtong kowtowed faster, and the stone slab on the ground 'snapped', "My lord! The grass people don't have it, how can the grass people have the courage to steal the thousand. ”

"Of course I know you don't, a thousand yuan is worth a thousand pounds, how did you steal the land. But it is an indisputable fact that you steal, and this county will not wronged a good person, nor will it let go of a bad person, so you can tell me why you stole now. ”

Xu Zhuangtong no longer kowtowed, but cried with a handful of snot and tears, and replied while crying: "The grass people are also forced to be helpless and can't live anymore." The grass people were originally tenants of the Xue family, this year's year is good, God cherishes us, I thought that I could have a full year, but Xue Chang, the head of the Xue family, indiscriminately collected a few more layers of tenant rent, the small ones are old and young, and they all point to these harvests to live, but Xue Chang said that this is the meaning of the government, two days before the New Year, the small ones went to the Xue Mansion to discuss the law, but they didn't expect to be beaten, and even Xue Chang didn't see them, and in the end there was no way, the small ones had to take risks and make this decision, but the grass people sneaked into Xue's house and were found by the guards to have no success. The grass people are now remorseful and begging the adults to be light. ”

Zhang Jian was even more angry when he heard that it was a rent increase, before he arrived, Song Zewen raised the rent and said that as long as the tax money was returned, he would not be to blame in the past, but this Xue Chang still acted perversely under the banner of the government, which was completely unaware of himself.

"Xu Zhuangtong, do you know what the crime of stealing a thousand guan should be?"

"The grass people don't have it, the grass people..."

Zhang Jian ignored him and continued: "If you steal a thousand yuan, this county can sentence you to 100 rods and exile 3,000 miles." ”

Xu Zhuangtong couldn't care about anything else when he heard that he was going to be exiled, and he struggled to stand up and explain, Lu Qinggong behind him quickly raised his hand and knocked him to the ground with a scabbard, Xu Zhuangtong endured severe pain and lay on the ground crying: "The grass people are wronged, and the adults are aware of it." ”

"Want to live?" Zhang Jian looked at Xu Zhuangtong, who was crying and screaming, and asked playfully.

"Yes, of course the grass people want to live!" Xu Zhuangtong nodded desperately, and the iron cables on his hands and feet were even more 'crackling'.

Zhang Jian paced a few steps in the study and sat back behind the case, "It's good to live if you want to live, then Xue Chang is really hateful in the name of the government, but you steal it, even if you can't find dirty things, as long as the Xue family bites and doesn't let go, I can't sentence you lightly." Now if you want to live, it will be easy to do, as long as you do what I tell you, I will guarantee that you will be able to return home safe and sound after a month, and the overcharged tenant rent will be returned to the county in full. ”

Before the words fell, Xu Zhuang said that he was willing, what Zhang Jian has done in the past month still has some status in the hearts of the people of Xiaoping, not to mention that he has no choice now.

Zhang Jian nodded with satisfaction, and instructed Lu Qinggong to take Xu Zhuangtong back to the cell first, and asked Lu Qinggong to inform Song Zewen to replace all the prison guards, and without his own order, he was not allowed to use any prisoner for private punishment, and if there was a violation of the order, he would be dismissed and investigated.