The county magistrate supported the public case in front of him with a hand as thick as a radish, only to hear an overwhelming creak from the public case, the county magistrate's face tightened, and he stood up from the wooden chair with difficulty, and then slowly walked down the public case.

Seeing that the county master was fat and full of fat, and after only walking a few steps, he was tired and out of breath, Xu Xiangxiong saw the county master walking towards him, he didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute:

"Uncle. ”

Patting Xu Xiangxiong's shoulder, the county magistrate squinted and smiled:

"Nephew, what's the matter with you, you have made people beat the drum and voice grievances in the mansion, and you don't know it. ”

Xu Xiangxiong's face changed, revealing bursts of ruthlessness, and his tone was full of ferocity:

"Uncle, don't you know that Liu Lin dared to insult me in the street, how could he swallow his anger? But their Liu family, one by one, is so bold that they still want to beat the drum and voice their grievances? I don't know if they are naïve or stupid. ”

The county magistrate put his hands behind his back, and said indifferently:

"Bold, bold can be used as food? Nephew, these people, although there is nothing to worry about, but don't take them too much, among a group of ants, there will always be a few who are not afraid of death, Brother Liu Zhu, is a special case, so you need to relax in the future. ”

"Yes, uncle, I will go out less in the future, so that these cheap people can breathe a sigh of relief. ”

The county magistrate rubbed his chin slightly with his hand and snorted coldly:

"Breathe a sigh of relief? They don't have this qualification, in fact, this is not an opportunity, we can take advantage of the people's panic and raise the agricultural tax by another 10%. ”

Xu Xiangxiong looked stunned for a moment, and cautiously said tentatively:

"The agricultural tax issued by the Qianlong Dynasty is three into three, we have raised Jiyang County to five, and now we have to increase it by one percent, isn't it a little impatient?"

The fat face stacked with horizontal meat showed a hint of an intriguing smile, and the county lord slowly walked towards the inner hall:

"Nephew, you need to learn a lot of things, if you want to be a good official, you must think through the minds of these untouchables, and learn to be officials, but it's a big tight, if you can't be a good official who is loved by the people, honest and honest, then you can be a bad official that everyone fears, mediocre and mediocre, and doing nothing, which is the most stupid way, especially in a small county like ours, as well as those remote places, poor mountains and bad rivers come out of the people, if you can't deter them, there will be a headache for us." ”

"You can see that in Jiyang County, there are bandits who are making trouble? They are not stupid, they know that this place is barren, naturally they will not come to invade, the people are rich, instead of sending their property to the hands of those bandits in vain, it is better for us to raise some taxes and put them in our own pockets, as the saying goes, fertilizer and water do not flow into the fields of outsiders. ”

Xu Xiangxiong followed by his side, and said an appropriate compliment:

"Uncle is really eloquent and strategic, and his resourcefulness is unparalleled, and he is really condescending to be a district and county commander. ”

When the county magistrate heard this, he shook his head and sighed:

"Your uncle and I, it's just a little shrimp, this county order, when it is really comfortable, the best result is that the above will completely forget me, in this Jiyang County, peace of mind to be a soil overlord, no more comfortable than being in the imperial city, the big dragon group swimming?"

"Uncle great wisdom, if Xiang Xiong can learn three points of uncle's ability, he will be used for life. ”

Xu blurted out the words of complimenting Xiong on the horse, quite skillful, this kind of sloppy and slapping the horse, he usually does not do less, by virtue of his father's position as a county magistrate, in addition to the county order's physical illness, unable to have children, with his own good eloquence, and the county order is very close.

Who doesn't like to praise, I saw the county commander smiling, turned his head to look at Xu Xiangxiong who was bowing down, and said seriously:

"Xiang Xiong, now is a good time, your reputation has reached the top, it is best for you to announce the decision to increase the tax by 10%, this time, you have to trouble Xiang Xiong, run in person. ”

Xu Xiangxiong smiled a little, after all, the tax of fifty percent is high enough, and when it is added to sixty percent, it is simply a way to live, Xu Xiangxiong seems to be not afraid of heaven and earth, but he is also afraid that those people will bottom out, and at that time, he must be the one who will be flayed alive first.

The county magistrate sighed in disappointment, as if he was lamenting his nephew, stubborn:

"Young, really young, now the agricultural tax is set at fifty percent, the people mourn every day, complaining that the agricultural tax is too high, as long as we raise the agricultural tax to sixty percent, next year, and then reduce it back to fifty percent, you will restrain a little, let them breathe, when the time comes, the people will be grateful to us, not to make trouble, this is the root of their ignorant people. ”

"In this way, we not only took 60% of the year's taxes, but also solved the negative emotions caused by the high agricultural tax, and these untouchables are also grateful to the government.

The county magistrate explained, let Xu Xiang Xiong Daigo empower, and instantly understood his deep meaning, seeing Xu bowing to Xiong, his words were full of admiration and worship:

"Xiang Xiong's intelligence is too far behind his uncle, and after Liu Lin was killed three days ago, Xiang Xiong took advantage of the fear in the hearts of the people that had not yet dissipated, and announced the terms of increasing taxes, presumably these untouchables did not dare to resist. ”

Looking at the groveling Xu Xiangxiong with gratifying eyes, the county lord laughed loudly:

"Okay, good, my nephew is really smart, and my son can be taught. ”

At this time, the county government can be described as very noisy, after all, no one has beaten the drum for many years, and almost half of the people of Jiyang County have been attracted to see what has happened.

The people whined and surrounded the entire county government.

"What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know, I saw a lot of people rushing here this morning, so I joined in the fun, and when I came here, I realized that someone was beating the drum and shouting grievances. ”

"I haven't heard of drumming in years. ”

Obviously, this person has only just arrived, and he has not yet known that anyone is beating the drum and crying out for grievances.

At this time, I saw someone in the crowd whispering:

"You don't know, the person who complained, called Liu Zhu, was for his younger brother, his brother Liu Lin, who insulted Xu Xiangxiong on the street, and was beaten by Xu Xiangxiong so badly. ”

This person is also a small stall owner who sets up a stall in Jiyang County for a living, and he witnessed what Liu Lin did not long ago, but he never expected that Liu Lin's brother would dare to sue Xu Xiangxiong.

"What? Xu Xiangxiong?"

"That's over, offended Xu Xiangxiong, it is fortunate to be able to die a whole corpse, do you know, a few years ago, Xu Xiangxiong robbed a girl on the street, how could her father watch his daughter fall into the mouth of the tiger, so he took farm tools to find the door, as a result, alas, the old man was divided into five horses, it is said that the corpse was also fed to wild dogs, and in the end there was not even a scum left, and the girl was unbearable, and finally went completely crazy. ”

Obviously, many people have heard about this, and someone immediately chimed in:

"Yes, yes, their surname is Wang, and they are pig slaughterers, and I used to buy their pork. ”

"Alas, I see, the two brothers Liu Zhu are more than lucky. ”

None of the onlookers were optimistic about Liu Zhu, and the facts were just as they thought.

I saw that the closed door was slowly pushed open, and two soaps dressed in black, holding Er Mazi, came to the front of everyone, and suddenly, the originally noisy crowd instantly quieted down, and they all quietly stared at Er Mazi standing on the stone platform of the gate, with his head down.

An officer and soldier with a saber walked quickly to the crowd, took out the closed case, and read aloud the resentful, but helpless verdict:

"After verification, the truth has now been ascertained, and the accuser Liu Zhu framed others for bad behavior, and was fined 30 boards to set an example. ”

"Liu Lin failed to rob the property, killed people on the street, heinous, unforgivable, unforgivable, according to the law of the Qianlong Dynasty, at three o'clock in the afternoon three days later, beheaded to show the public!"

According to the rules of the Qianlong Dynasty, all the litigants who beat the drum and shouted grievances must be shown to the public, and when they heard the verdict, the onlookers had already expected it, after all, this kind of reversal of black and white happened from time to time, only to see that there was silence around, no one applauded, and no one refuted.

The officers and soldiers who saw the announcement of the results took out another piece of rice paper:

"Xu Xiangxiong, because of his meritorious work in capturing Liu Lin, is deeply loved by the people, and in response to the wishes of the people, he is specially rewarded with one hundred taels of silver for encouragement. ”

It is really a heart-wrenching word, Xu Xiangxiong is not only not a murderer, but has become a meritorious person, the word "people's wishes" is really like a sharp blade, cutting the people's already tattered bodies, dripping with blood.

Many people who had been oppressed couldn't help but clench their fists tightly, and they were extremely resentful of Xu Xiangxiong in their hearts, but they didn't dare to stand up against it, so they had to curse secretly in their hearts, but if the curse was useful, Xu Xiangxiong would have died no less than ten thousand times.

Er Mazi's head was lowered deeply, he couldn't see what his expression was, he could only see his long hair that was a little messy, after listening to the verdict, Er Mazi did not refute it, because he knew that everyone knew what the truth was, but they were people who had no power and no wealth, and they had no qualifications to define the truth, even if they knew, they could only choose to accept it, and the price was the life of Liu Zhu's brothers and the grievances buried in the ground forever.

The reading was over, the officers and soldiers put a bench in the center of the stone platform, and the two officers and soldiers put Er Mazi on the wooden chair, facing the ground, Er Mazi's mind was blank now, he really couldn't do anything, slowly raised his head, and his bloodshot eyes stared at the hundreds of faces in front of him in confusion, some of these faces were indifferent, calm, resentful, pitying, expectant, and even gloating......

Slowly closed his eyes, at this moment, Er Mazi didn't resent anyone, including Xu Xiangxiong, he only blamed himself for being too weak, so pitiful that he could be crushed into powder with a light kick.

"Execution!"

At the sound of an order, the officers and soldiers standing on both sides of Er Mazi and holding wooden sticks raised the torture instrument as thick as an arm and fell fiercely towards Er Mazi.

The wooden stick brought up a gust of strong wind, and at this critical moment, only an ethereal cheer was heard in the air:

"Stop!"