Chapter 87 Interrogation (Thanks to the babies for their monthly votes for additional updates)
Liao Qilin came outside the court and shouted loudly: "Who is playing drums here?"
"It's the common people beating drums to express their grievances." Jiang Sanlang stepped forward and saluted.
Liao Qilin looked at the man in front of him and said, "Why are you beating the drum if you don't write a pleading and submit it first when you have an grievance?"
Jiang Sanlang: "Xiaomin has written a petition and submitted it, but there has been no news for several days. Xiaomin is worried about the safety of his little girl and is anxious. He happened to catch a kidnapper and brought him to the Yamen today."
Liao Qilin: "Who did you give the petition to?"
"Sun Lizheng from our township submitted it, and the Yamen returned the receipt." Jiang Sanlang handed over the receipt of the petition.
Liao Qilin took it and took a look and couldn't help but frown.
The signature on the receipt is Lin Huaisheng, the chief clerk of the Yamen.
Liao Qilin thought for a while, and when he was about to return to the inner hall with the receipt, Jiang Sanlang stepped forward and stopped him, "Please Sir, please return the receipt to Xiaomin."
This thing is the evidence that I submitted the petition. How could I let a scholar-like person take it away?
That's right, this Liao Qilin was a scholar. Because he had no hope of passing the examination, he worked as an aide under Magistrate Mei, helping the magistrate with suggestions and handling some less important official affairs.
Liao Qilin's face darkened, "What? Do you think someone will ignore your receipt?"
"Don't dare."
Jiang Sanlang said he didn't dare, but he still insisted: "If Xiaomin doesn't have the receipt in his hand, the official will ignore Xiaomin's complaint and ask Mr. Lang to return the receipt to Xiaomin."
Liao Qilin looked unhappy. He looked around and saw dozens of pairs of eyes staring at him outside, so he had to hand the receipt back to Jiang Sanlang.
Returning to the inner hall, Liao Qilin said to Magistrate Mei County: "The drummer outside had submitted the petition, and it was the forest owner who took it from Bo. He also signed the receipt, and the receipt was stamped with the official seal."
When Magistrate Mei heard this, he became angry and slapped the table: "You bastard! Since you have received the petition, why don't you show it to me? Call the forest owner Bo!"
The complaint that has been recorded is the case in his hands. If he hands it over to the next person without authorization, his performance evaluation will definitely be flawed. How can Magistrate Mei not be angry.
After a while, the forest owner came in with his neck hunched.
Magistrate Mei sat behind the desk and asked coldly: "Did you accept the complaint from the man outside?"
Lin Boss Bo knew that he couldn't hide it, so he directly admitted: "It was indeed accepted by my subordinates, but didn't you say that the lawsuit and other matters were temporarily postponed, so my subordinates..."
"That's enough! Don't blame this officer for your dereliction of duty!"
Magistrate Mei was furious, "Where's the petition?"
He was about to resign, and this bitch actually caused such a thing for him, and it was known to the superiors. Then wouldn't all his hard work for so many years be completely negated because of a trivial matter.
You should know that after local officials resign, they have to go to the next higher level state government to renew their posts, wait for the supervisory censor to assess their merits, and then the results after the assessment determine their removal.
The assessment content is divided into four virtues and three virtues.
The four virtues are virtue, prudence, publicity, and diligence; the third is the three aspects of managing affairs, admonishing lessons, and raising children.
As long as a person is found to be seriously unqualified in some aspect, his career in this life will be almost over.
Master Lin Momo took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and presented it to him.
The staff took it and handed it to Magistrate Mei County.
Magistrate Mei started to take a closer look, and the more he looked, the angrier he became.
"Who are these Han sisters? Hurry and get them! And Chen Ergou, if you can't catch him, call the rest of his family for questioning!"
Magistrate Mei Xian threw down two green picks.
The catcher on the side had been waiting for a long time, and he quickly took it and hugged his fist, "Yes! I will do it now!"
This is a good job to arrest people. When you get to the countryside, you can not only eat and hold it, but you may also receive some profits.
Afterwards, Magistrate Mei County immediately ordered people to go to the hall, and then asked people to bring the Jiang family into the Qinmin Hall.
Sitting behind the public case, Magistrate Mei was stunned and asked: "Name the plaintiff!"
A government official pulled Jiang Sanlang to the plaintiff's stone and asked him to present himself to the county magistrate.
"Jiang Sanlang, a small citizen, has met a high official." Jiang Sanlang greeted the county magistrate.
Magistrate Mei County: "Who did you accuse and what did you do? Tell me one by one."
So Jiang Sanlang told the story about his daughter who was suddenly drugged and taken away.
"Xiaomin has captured a kidnapper named Zhang Mazi. He has admitted that he and his father-in-law Chen Ergou did it together because someone paid them to rob people and said they would be given a sum of money afterwards. .”
When Magistrate Mei heard that one of the criminals had been caught, he felt relieved and ordered the defendant to be brought up.
Zhang Mazi was pushed by two government officials to kneel on the defendant's stone.
At this time, Zhang Mazi was frightened. It was the first time for him to see an official in his twenties. He shook his head and kowtowed to the official above. He didn't master the strength well and almost broke his head. "Great official!" You, little, little person was deceived by your father-in-law."
I agreed to give him a regular amount of money, but ended up giving him a hundred coins. It was really not cost-effective for me to hide in Tibet these days and not be able to reunite with my wife and children.
Magistrate Mei was shocked: "I will punish you for all the things you have committed. If you make a mistake or omit a word, the criminal law will take care of you!"
So, Zhang Mazi told everything he knew like pouring beans out of a bamboo tube. At the end, he sobbed and said that he had been hungry all day and saw a child at the entrance of the alley holding half a piece of rice cake, so he grabbed it and ate it.
Magistrate Mei's documents were recorded one by one, without missing a word.
In the end, Zhang Mazi signed and stamped the confession, and was beaten for thirty more times before being dragged to the county prison cell.
The next step is to wait for the police to bring the person back.
Of course, Magistrate Mei would not wait in the courtroom. He retreated to the inner room to discuss with his staff how to close the case.
The initial trial of this case went well. Magistrate Mei was in a very good mood and asked a staff member to prepare questions for the next trial.
When Jiang Sanlang came out of the court, he asked his wife to take Ying Bao and his parents back to his eldest sister's house to rest. He took several villagers to a nearby restaurant for dinner.
Unexpectedly, before the meal was finished, the second brother Jiang Erlang and two villagers took Chen Ergou back.
"Sanlang, we caught him over there and chased him for two streets before catching up with him." Jiang Erlang kicked Chen Ergou, "Do you want to send him to prison now?"
Jiang Sanlang narrowed his eyes, "Let's ask him first who his employer is. If he dares to tell lies, I will cut out his tongue."
Chen Ergou was gagged and screamed when he heard this.
"Be honest!" Jiang Erlang kicked him again and took out the rag from his mouth.
Chen Ergou spat, spat out the rags in his mouth, and shouted: "Jiang Sanlang, how dare you!"
"Why don't I dare?" Jiang Sanlang put one foot on the bench, slapped him, and sneered: "If you dare to touch my child, I will make you pay with your life!"
"Hey, that's not a bad tone!"
Suddenly several government officials rushed in, and the leader turned out to be Chen Guanglu.
I saw Chen Guanglu winking at the government officials, who rushed forward, and Chen Ergou fell into their hands.
Jiang Sanlang's face darkened, knowing that he couldn't fight with the government officials, let alone compete with Chen Guanglu for people at this time.
When Chen Ergou saw Chen Guanglu coming, he smiled and said: "Chen Guanren is here to save me, right..."
He recognized this official as Xiao Han's husband. He had been to Xichen Village before and even talked to him.
Before he finished speaking, Chen Guanglu was slapped on the face.
"Take them back to the Yamen!" Chen Guanglu glanced coldly at Jiang Sanlang and others, and directed the Yamen servants to take Chen Ergou away.