Liao Qilin came outside the court and shouted, "Who is beating the drum here?"
"It is the common people who beat the drum to appeal for justice." Jiang Sanlang stepped forward and saluted.
Liao Qilin looked at the man in front of him and said, "If you have a grievance, why don't you write a petition and submit it first? Why are you beating the drum?"
Jiang Sanlang: "I have written a petition and submitted it, but there has been no news for several days. I am worried about my daughter's safety and I am anxious. I just caught a kidnapper and brought him to the government office today."
Liao Qilin: "Who did you give the complaint to?"
"It was submitted by Sun Lizheng of our village, and the government office also gave us a receipt." Jiang Sanlang handed over the receipt for the petition.
Liao Qilin took it and looked at it, and couldn't help but frowned.
The receipt was signed by Lin Huaisheng, the chief clerk of the yamen.
Liao Qilin thought about it and was about to take the receipt back to the inner hall, but Jiang Sanlang stepped forward to stop him and said, "Please return the receipt to me, sir."
This thing is the evidence I submitted in my lawsuit. How could I let a scholar take it away
That’s right, Liao Qilin was a scholar. As he had no hope of passing the imperial examination, he became an aide to the magistrate of Mei County, helping the magistrate with advice and handling some unimportant official duties.
Liao Qilin's face darkened. "Why? Do you think I would ignore your receipt?"
"I don't dare."
Jiang Sanlang said he didn't dare, but he still insisted: "If I don't have the receipt, the officer will not pay attention to my complaint. Please return the receipt to me."
Liao Qilin looked unhappy. He looked around and saw dozens of eyes staring at him. He had no choice but to return the receipt to Jiang Sanlang.
Back in the inner hall, Liao Qilin said to the Mei County Magistrate: "The man beating the drum outside has submitted the petition, and it was Lin Zhubo who received it and signed a receipt with the official seal on it."
The Mei County Magistrate was furious when he heard this and slammed the table, "Asshole! Since you accepted the complaint, why didn't you show it to me? Call Chief Clerk Lin!"
The complaints that have been recorded are the cases in his hands. If he transfers them to the next person without authorization, his performance evaluation will definitely be flawed. How can the Mei County magistrate not be angry
After a while, Master Lin came in with his neck shrunk.
Mei County Magistrate sat behind the desk and asked coldly, "Did you take the petition from that person outside?"
Lin knew he couldn't hide it, so he admitted directly: "It was indeed my subordinate who accepted the call, but didn't you say that the lawsuit and other matters would be postponed for the time being, so my subordinate..."
"That's enough! Don't put your dereliction of duty on my head!"
Mei County Magistrate was furious, "Where is the petition?"
He was about to step down, and this bastard had caused such a thing to happen to him. If his superiors got to know about it, all his hard work over the years would be completely negated because of such a small matter.
You must know that after leaving office, local officials need to go to the next level of provincial government to continue their duties and wait for the censor to assess their performance, and then their promotion or demotion will be determined based on the assessment results.
The assessment content is divided into four virtues and three bests.
The four virtues are virtue, prudence, fairness and diligence; the three best are managing affairs, encouraging studies and raising children.
As long as someone is found to be seriously unqualified in some aspect, his career in this life will be almost over.
Chief Clerk Lin silently took out a petition from his sleeve and handed it forward.
The staff took it and handed it to the magistrate of Mei County.
The magistrate of Mei County unfolded it and took a closer look. The more he looked, the angrier he became.
"Who are these Han sisters? Hurry and bring them here! And as for Chen Ergou, if you can't catch him, call the rest of his family here for questioning!"
The Mei County Magistrate threw down two green sticks.
The captain of the police had been waiting nearby for a long time. He immediately took it and clasped his fists, "Yes! I'll do it right away!"
Arresting people is a good job. Not only can you get food and money when you go to the village, but you may also receive some benefits.
Afterwards, the Mei County Magistrate immediately ordered people to go to the court and then had the Jiang family brought into the Qinmin Hall.
Sitting behind the case, the Mei County Magistrate slammed the gavel and asked, "Plaintiff, please state your name!"
A bailiff dragged Jiang Sanlang to the plaintiff's stone and asked him to pay his respects to the county magistrate.
"I am Jiang Sanlang, a humble commoner. Nice to meet you, sir." Jiang Sanlang saluted the county magistrate.
Mei County Magistrate: "Who are you accusing? What is the matter? Tell me one by one."
So Jiang Sanlang told the story of how his daughter was suddenly drugged and taken away.
"We have caught a kidnapper named Zhang Mazi. He has admitted that he and his father-in-law Chen Ergou did this because someone paid them to kidnap someone and said they would be paid a sum of money after the incident."
When the Mei County magistrate heard that a criminal had been caught, he felt relieved and ordered the defendant to be brought up.
Zhang Mazi was pushed by two yamen runners to kneel on the defendant's stone.
Zhang Mazi was so frightened at this time. It was the first time for him to see an official in his twenties. He kowtowed to the official in a trembling manner. He didn't control the strength well and almost broke his head. "Sir, I was deceived by my father-in-law."
It was agreed that he would be given one string of money, but in the end he was only given a hundred coins. He has been hiding from place to place these days and cannot be reunited with his wife and children. It is really not worth it.
The Mei County Magistrate slammed the gavel and said, "Tell me everything you have done. If you miss a single word, you will be punished by law!"
Then Zhang Mazi told everything he knew like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube, and at the end he said with sobs that he had been hungry all day, and when he saw a child holding half a rice cake at the entrance of the alley, he snatched it and ate it.
The clerk of Mei County Magistrate recorded everything one by one, without missing a single word.
Finally, Zhang Mazi signed his confession and was beaten with thirty boards before being dragged to the county jail.
The next step is to wait for the constable to come back and get the person.
The Mei County Magistrate would certainly not wait in the court. He first withdrew from the court and went to the inner room to discuss with his staff how to close the case.
The initial trial of this case went relatively smoothly. The Mei County magistrate was in a very good mood and even asked an aide to prepare questions for the next trial.
After Jiang Sanlang came out of the court, he asked his wife to take Yingbao and his parents back to his eldest sister's house to rest. He took a few villagers to a nearby restaurant for dinner.
But before they finished their meal, their second brother Jiang Erlang and two villagers brought Chen Ergou back.
"Sanlang, we caught him over there. We chased him for two blocks before we caught up with him." Jiang Erlang kicked Chen Ergou, "Do you want to hand him over to the authorities now?"
Jiang Sanlang narrowed his eyes and said, "Let's ask him who his employer is first. If he dares to lie, I will cut off his tongue."
Chen Ergou had his mouth blocked and he cried out when he heard this.
"Behave yourself!" Jiang Erlang kicked him again and took the rag out of his mouth.
Chen Ergou spat out the rag in his mouth and shouted, "Jiang Sanlang, how dare you!"
"Why wouldn't I dare?" Jiang Sanlang put one foot on the bench, slapped him in the face, and sneered, "If you dare to touch my child, I will make you pay with your life!"
"Oh, you're quite arrogant!"
Suddenly, several yamen runners rushed in, and the one leading them was Chen Guanglu.
Chen Guanglu just winked at the yamen runners, and they rushed forward, and Chen Ergou fell into their hands.
Jiang Sanlang frowned, knowing that he could not confront the government officials, and he could not snatch the person from Chen Guanglu at this time.
When Chen Ergou saw Chen Guanglu coming, he smiled and said, "Mr. Chen, are you here to save me..."
He recognized this gentleman. He was Xiao Han's husband. He had been to Xichen Village before and had talked to him.
Before he could finish his words, Chen Guanglu slapped him in the face.
"Take him back to the yamen!" Chen Guanglu glanced coldly at Jiang Sanlang and others, and ordered the yamen runners to take Chen Ergou away.