The village is right next to the official road. There are many houses and it looks quite prosperous. When the three of them passed by, there were noises from time to time in the brightly lit town, as if something was happening. Entering the town, along the main road
There was an inn just a few steps down the street. He Qizhou didn't want to care about what was going on in the town, so he went directly to the inn to stay. As usual, he presented the fish talisman from the earth hall and asked the shopkeeper for a room in the upper room.
The shopkeeper was an old man in his fifties, and he was the only one in the spacious inn. After carefully looking at the fish charm, the old man became a little excited, asked the three of them to wait, and then quickly ran towards the town, carrying a man behind him.
A richly dressed middle-aged man came over, and with him were two guards and two innkeepers.
When the middle-aged man saw He Qizhou, he hurriedly bowed and said: "You three adults, a murder has just occurred in this small town. Please make the decision for me."
"We are not local officials, we are just passing by here. Can't you report the case to the county?" He Qizhou didn't want to cause more trouble.
"This - it's getting late, and the incident happened suddenly. It may be too late to go to the county town. The villain's name is Ou Peng. He is from this town and has a small amount of money. This inn is also a property in my name. Human life is at stake. Is it still possible?
I hope you will uphold justice for me!" Ou Peng clasped his fists and bowed, then took out two large silver ingots from his sleeves, weighing a hundred taels, and wanted to stuff them into He Qizhou's hands.
He Qizhou pushed Ou Peng's hand away, and after looking at Xu Mu, he realized that the other party was also interested in doing something good, so he said, "Tell me what's going on first."
Ou Peng was overjoyed and said: "Quick, quick, let's serve tea. Three adults, please sit down. Please sit down. I'll tell you what happened."
"Come on, we have to leave early tomorrow morning." He Qizhou said impatiently.
"Yes, yes." Ou Peng told the story of the case: "My eight hundred acres of wheat fields have matured, and the government is pressing hard to collect military rations. The full amount must be paid the day after tomorrow. Because there is not enough manpower to harvest wheat at home, I have to pay a high price to my family.
The Kong family, a big family in the town, hired laborers and borrowed a total of six people from his family. Tonight, my nursing home accidentally discovered that one of the six people had stolen my ears of wheat. They found more than a hundred kilograms of wheat in the woodshed where they stayed.
.
In anger, I called the nursing home to investigate. One of the six people admitted that his hands and feet were dirty, so I gave him a lesson. Unexpectedly, when I returned to the woodshed, the guy couldn't figure it out and committed suicide by hitting a pillar.
After the Kong family learned about this, they immediately came to their door and asked me to pay him a thousand taels of silver, otherwise I would report it to the government. It happened that two people from Qinglong Temple Mutang were living in the inn owned by his family, and they were attracted by him to cheer me up.
. Those two people must have accepted his favor, saying that if I reported it to the official, I had beaten someone else's slave to death. According to the law, in addition to paying compensation, I would also have to be punished with a cane and exiled.
But that man did commit suicide. The people in Mutang certainly don’t know the law as well as you in Tutang. If you decide the case, no one will dare to say anything wrong. So please three adults to uphold justice for me! If it is reasonable
If you resolve this matter, I will definitely give you a heavy reward!"
The more He Qizhou listened, the angrier he became, and said, "It's enough to negotiate the price in private if a life is sacrificed? Don't you need to explain anything to the family of the deceased?"
Ou Peng was stunned and immediately said: "Those are the slaves who came from the Southern Qi Dynasty. The Kong family has heirs in the army, and they got a few slaves from the last great victory. His family relies on the talents in the army to dominate the town.
blessing……"
He Qizhou felt sad, looked at Helian Changji and asked: "According to the laws of the Zhou Dynasty, how should this matter be handled?"
Helian Changji quickly and diligently replied: "If you kill your own slave, you are not guilty; if you kill someone else's slave, it is equivalent to destroying people and property. First, you have to pay compensation. Second, after all, human lives are involved, so it depends on the situation."
The people in Mutang are right about increasing the punishment."
"Then let them resolve it privately?" He Qizhou asked.
"They are just slaves. They will not be promoted by the people and will not be investigated by the officials. As long as the Kong family agrees, the matter will be over." Helian Changji said in a relaxed tone.
"Yes, but he committed suicide." Ou Peng shouted hurriedly.
"In whose house did he commit suicide? Why did he commit suicide?" Helian Changji asked.
"This, this - such a thin slave is worth three hundred taels at most..." Ou Peng exclaimed.
"Take me to see it!" He Qizhou suppressed his anger and said, no one here cares about the dead slave, all they care about is money.
"Okay, okay, sir, why don't you accept it first..." Ou Peng wanted to hand over the money again.
"I'll collect money from you when it's done! Lead the way." He Qizhou said coldly.
The Ou family's mansion was only a hundred steps away from the inn, and there were hundreds of villagers watching outside the courtyard. Ou Peng dispersed the people gathered at the gate, straightened his back and entered his courtyard with three "backstagers", shouting loudly:
"Old Man Kong, the masters of Tutang are here, let them comment on it!"
Old Man Kong, whose surname is Kong, is rich and tall and fat. When he heard Ou Peng call him this, his expression changed and he said: "Don't brag, since when did you know the people in Tutang?"
He Qizhou entered the courtyard and took a look. There was a thin corpse lying in the center of the courtyard. There were dozens of people standing on both sides of the corpse. He could tell at a glance that they were from the Kong family and the Ou family. There were also five men squatting in the corner.
, wearing the same sleeveless short coat as the corpse.
"Everyone who has nothing to do with it should leave this courtyard! Ou Peng, go bring two stools over." He Qizhou called.
"Quickly, go bring two chairs over. Kong Decai, do you hear me? Get your men out!" Ou Peng said.
"Except for those who have beaten someone, everyone else in your family is also out. How can there be so many people trying the case?" He Qizhou frowned and said.
"Yes, yes, Ah Da, Ah Er, you stay and everyone else goes out." Ou Peng shouted.
Seeing that the Kong family members were also walking out of the yard one after another, and only two young men in their early twenties were left around Kong Decai, He Qizhou asked, "Who are they and why are they still standing here?"
"We are from Mutang. Master Kong invited us to sort out the case." One of them replied with a somewhat arrogant look.
"What's your name? Everyone in Mutang is a student, so who are they qualified to hear cases?" He Qizhou looked unhappy.
"My dear Lian Wen, this is my younger brother Lian Wu. We are candidates recommended by Anzhou Mutang. We are passing by here when we go to Beijing for the autumn examination. These are our waist badges. Please show us our official certificates.
"After Lian Wen said this, he took out a wooden sign and his brother's waist sign. He took two steps closer and handed it to He Qizhou.
He Qizhou took the wooden sign, glanced at it pretendingly, and when he returned it, he took off the Tutang Fish Talisman from his waist, waved it in front of Lian Wen, and said: "They are my subordinates, so just listen.
.”
"I haven't asked Lord Baihu about your surname yet." Qianwen saw the Baihu official certificate in He Qizhou's hand at a glance, and there seemed to be some disdain in his tone.
"No need for your surname to be Zhou."
Lian Wen retreated to Kong Decai's side. Two elegant wooden chairs were moved to the courtyard. He Qizhou asked Xu Mu to sit down facing south, while Helian Changji stood behind them consciously.
"Are Mutang good at selecting students? What is the autumn examination?" He Qizhou asked Helian Changji in a low voice.
Helian Changji replied in a low voice: "Of course it's not worth mentioning compared with the Gongsheng students of the Military Academy, but compared with the hundreds of households in Tutang, haha, it is much more expensive. There are only a few places in one state at most. After the autumn examination
, they are about to join the officialdom, and the worst thing is that they will start from a hundred households, and their promotion speed will be much faster than others."
"No wonder you are so arrogant!" Xu Mu muttered.
"Are you Kong Decai? Tell me what happened." He Qizhou asked about the rich man who was covered in flesh.
Kong Decai saw that the other party was just a hundred households, so he didn't take it seriously. He pointed at the dead bodies on the ground and said loudly: "Ou Peng borrowed six people from me and agreed to help him work for ten days and pay them back the day after tomorrow."
Man, I didn’t expect that he forced my slave to death, please seek justice.”
"His hands and feet were not clean. His affairs were exposed and he committed suicide in shame and anger. What the hell do you care about me? I can't even afford to pay for such a person!" Ou Peng shouted.
"Did I let you speak?" He Qizhou glanced at Ou Peng on the other side and asked.
Kong Decai said even more proudly: "If you don't starve them and force them to work hard, will they steal your things?"
He Qizhou turned on his disgusting face and said to Kong Decai: "How do you calculate ten days' rent? How much is left unpaid? How did you calculate the one thousand taels of silver?"
Kong Decai said: "Each person gets one tael and five taels of silver a day, and the total for six people in ten days is ninety taels. I collected half of the deposit first and agreed to make up the rest the day after tomorrow. As for how to calculate the one thousand taels,
With the current market price, such a slave is worth five hundred taels. He is guilty of Peng. If Xiang wants to settle the lawsuit, it will cost at least two thousand taels. It would be polite for me to ask him to double the compensation."
"Fuck you! With this body, someone wants two hundred taels, and I have your last name! Sir..." Ou Peng shouted urgently.
"Shut up, are you allowed to speak? Didn't you understand what I just said?" He Qizhou said angrily.
"Yes, I'm sorry." Ou Peng hurriedly stopped.
"How long do you let them work for a day?" He Qizhou turned to Ou Peng and asked.
"Seven to eight hours, when the sun is at its strongest, we will also let them rest for about half an hour." Ou Peng said.
"That means you have to work as long as it's daylight?" He Qizhou asked.
"Sir, the rent is so expensive, and your government is pressing for it, so of course you have to hurry up and work." Ou Peng said.
"Did you feed them enough?" He Qizhou asked.
"That's natural. Two meals a day, every meal has meat..." Ou Peng said.
He Qizhou stood up and walked towards the slaves in the corner and said, "Is there something wrong with what he said? How is the food better than yours at Kong's house? Tell the truth."
The five slaves were all thin, two were slightly taller, and the other three were no different from the dead bodies on the ground. One of them boldly said: "We will work for no less than seven and a half hours every day.
, if your hands and feet are slow, you will be beaten by his nurse. As for the food, the chicken bones and minced meat are leftovers from his family. The rice is yellow rice and coarse grain, which is no different from the Kong family except that the quantity is slightly larger.