When the guards heard this, they immediately brought this person to Wei Zhan.

Wei Zhan was sitting on a chair at the entrance of the county government and asked, "Tell me, who are they?" ”

The ragged man clenched his fists: "Back to the officials, a few of them are servants of Zhang Yuanwai in our township, and the other two are relatives of Zhang Yuanwai's son-in-law's family, and the rest of the younger ones don't know each other." ”

Wei Zhan looked at this person: "Where are you from?" Why do you know them? ”

The ragged man said with hatred: "The little one was the same villager as Zhang Yuanwai, and later the family land was taken away by Zhang Yuanwai's family, and my father also died at the hands of Zhang Yuanwai, and since then the little one has been begging in the county town for a living, so everyone in Zhang Yuanwai's family remembers it clearly." ”

Wei Zhan was silent, and as soon as he looked up, he saw his wife coming in a crowd of people.

"Why are you here?" Wei Zhan hurriedly got up and stood in front of the lady.

Sakura Po glanced at him and asked, "Why are you sitting outside?" ”

Wei Zhan smiled: "The county order said that I couldn't get sick, so I had to sit outside." ”

Sakura looked around and said, "In that case, let's set up a public court outside the county government and personally try this assassination case!" ”

Let's talk about it, invite Song Changshi, and the rest of the county lord's office officials.

Then someone brought a long table and placed it at the entrance of the county office.

Dozens of guards lined up on both sides, and Ying Bao and Wei Zhan sat at the desk, followed by the palace maid holding the barrier fan, the attendant holding the canopy, and the honor guard.

A chamberlain screamed: "The county lord is here to hear the case, and if you have any grievances, you can submit the pleadings, and the county lord will make the decision for you." There is now a witness for the assassination trial today, and who of you else knows the assassin on the ground? Talk back and forth. ”

After a pause, two more people came forward as several of the living Assassins were dragged over, indicating that they knew them.

"I know them! This is a tenant farmer of Zhang Yuanwai's family! One person said loudly: "They often follow Zhang Yuanwai to do evil things, and God finally has long eyes and is going to accept them!" ”

Another said: "Yes, yes! They are the thugs of Zhang Yuanwai's family, and whoever dares to disobey will be harmed by them! ”

Ying Bao looked at Song Changshi: "Song Changshi, record their confessions and press their handprints." ”

Song Changshi didn't say anything this time, so he asked the little guy to bring pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and began to write in person.

As the number of witnesses increased, Yingbao not only listened to their accusations against Zhang Yuanwai, but also guided them to tell which people were closer to Zhang Yuanwai's family, and whether there was evidence of collusion and joint crime.

So several people narrated that Zhang Yuanwai's family was in the grain business, and the largest grain store in the county was his, and he used a big bucket to buy grain and a small bucket to produce grain.

Some people also said that Zhang Yuanwai had many concubines, and he often gave concubines to officials as concubines, and one concubine was carried into the backyard of the county government half a year ago.

No wonder!

Ying Bao and Wei Zhan glanced at each other, and then gave an order: arrest Zhang Yuanwai's family.

All the prisoners arrested this time were the guards of the county lord's mansion, a total of about 200 people, and went straight to Zhang Yuanwai's mansion in the county seat.

arrested all the men in the county seat Zhang Yuanwai's family, and also put a seal on the door of his house.

On the second day, the guards went out of the city, arrested all the men of the Zhang family in the countryside, and threw them into the county jail.

At this time, Meixian Ling Fang appeared and explained to Wei Zhan that he was indeed sick and bedridden, and he did not mean not to show up.

Meixian Ling arched his hand to Wei Zhan: "General, you will hand over the case of the Zhang family to the lower officials, and the lower officials will definitely try it well." ”

Wei Zhan glanced at him lightly: "Zhang Yuan's assassination case, I have already reported it to the imperial court, presumably the imperial court will send someone to come soon, so I won't bother with Mei County's order to intervene." ”

When the Meixian Commander heard this, he immediately said: "How can that be, the lower official is the parent official of the county, and the general will inevitably overstep his responsibilities."

Wei Zhan snorted coldly: "Just you?" is also worthy of being the parent official of Zhouhe County? ”

Then he ordered left and right: "Go to the inner courtyard of the county government and arrest the prisoners who are harboring!" ”

If his guess is correct, Zhang Yuanwai, who is not found everywhere, should be hiding in the courtyard of the county government at this moment.

"Yes!" The guards received the order and rushed into the inner courtyard of the county government, and sure enough, they found two men and a woman.

Among the two men, one is in his fifties with a gray beard, and he is Zhang Yuanwai.

Another young man, about 20 years old, with a white face and beard, was Zhang Yuanwai's son-in-law.

The woman is the concubine that Zhang Yuanwai gave to Meixian Ling as a concubine.

Seeing that Wei Zhan suddenly asked people to break into the place where he lived to search for people, Meixian Ling knew that something was wrong, and he didn't dare to say a word again, and he couldn't wait to shrink himself into a quail that no one cared about.

Zhang Yuanwai was dragged out, crackled and beaten with a board first, and then pulled over for questioning.

Wei Zhan sat behind the desk and patted the wood: "Zhang Jin!" Tell me the truth about the assassin you hired to assassinate! Who instructed him? What is the purpose? ”

Zhang Jin refused to speak at first, but then was served by a stick and honestly recruited.

In fact, in the last assassination, a total of three gentry participated, and they all sent archers, a total of sixty or seventy people, but they were scattered as soon as they appeared.

The first time those people assassinated the court officials, they couldn't help but be weak-hearted, and many people fled one after another when they saw that the situation was not good, and they refused to turn back no matter how Zhang Jin's son called, so it caused the current situation.

After listening to the confessions of Zhang Jin and others, Wei Zhan said in his heart: Yes, the county government prison is almost unfitted.

But if you can't fit it anymore, you have to install it, and you can't miss one.

Until the end of the summer harvest, the assassination case of Zhang Jin and the three wealthy gentry finally came to an end.

Several masterminds were sentenced to imprisonment, accomplices were sentenced to 100 rods and 3,000 li, but all the participants were confiscated and confiscated all their family property, and family members over the age of three were sold into slavery.

The verdict was personally approved by the emperor, and it was punished as a crime of treason, and the punishment was so heavy that the ministers looked sideways.

In addition, the county order of Zhouhe County was dismissed and investigated, and escorted to the capital to await trial.

Since then, the officials and gentry of Zhouhe County have been as quiet as cicadas, and they dare not think about anything carefully.

Sakura took the opportunity to turn the forty-odd temporary servants into official ones, making them his right-hand men.

Time flies like a white horse, and two years have passed in a blink of an eye.

Nowadays, the people of Zhouhe County are also like Qinchuan County, two adult families have planted fungus ears, and sixty percent of the farmers have a high-efficiency loom at home.

Almost all the farmers in the county have planted crops such as cotton, sesame and pepper in varying quantities, and people's lives are getting better day by day.

Those peasant households who fled the fields also turned around one after another and stayed in their hometowns to live.

Xiaolang is now sixteen, a young man, serving as a scribe in the county government, writing and copying every day, and after the next duty, he still returns to the county lord's mansion to live.

Wuxiao is more than three years old, looks like a tiger, and is with Wei Fanzhi and Jiang Bao all day long, and the three of them are inseparable, even eating and sleeping together.

On this day, a team of people suddenly came outside the county lord's mansion, led by the eldest prince of the Lu family and a herald official. (End of chapter)