Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

When Master Luo heard that she was leaving, he quickly helped Zheng Kun out and asked, "Are you going to the Wen family's farm?"

Chen Shao nodded: "Go and take a look."

Zheng Kun said, "Then let's go together. Our good farmland has been taken away for so many years. We have to go and see what the people who took it away look like."

The Wen family’s farm was not far from Dashi Village, but because Zheng Kun was traveling with them and the road was all along the ridges of fields, it took the group two full cups of tea to get there.

All the people in the village ran away.

The Yulin Guards who came earlier had already found two granaries. Although the granaries were not large, they stored tens of thousands of kilograms of grain. There were also countless pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, deer, fish ponds, fruits, etc. A warehouse was also found in the account office. There were more than 300 taels of silver, more than 500 strings of copper coins, and more than 100 pieces of various leather materials.

People from various villages also came one after another, but the number of people was not large. All in all, there were less than fifty people.

The Wen family has been domineering for many years, and the villagers' fear of them is deep-rooted. It is not something that can be eliminated by Chen Shao's status as a high-ranking official from the capital.

Chen Shao was not in a hurry to prove it. After checking the two granaries and estimating the amount of grain, he told the Yulin Guards who followed Li Tianliu, "Go to the accounting office and see if there is a scale."

He then instructed Master Luo: "Go to the accounting office and see if there are any new account books. If not, bring some paper and pen."

He then ordered the other two Yulin Guards: "Go find a table and chairs."

After they left, Chen Shao instructed Chan Yi and Wu Er, "Go find some dustpans."

The scales, dustpans, tables, chairs, paper and pens were soon ready.

Chen Shao instructed Master Luo again: "Go outside and bring them over, starting with the people from Dashi Village."

He then instructed Chan Yi and Wu Er, "You two should follow me to maintain order."

Many people in Dashi Village knew Luo Ye, and when they heard him say they could get grain, they quickly followed him to the granary. People from other villages saw the people from Dashi Village walking in, and then followed them in half-believingly.

"Every family will first receive 100 kilograms of rice, 30 kilograms of wheat, 10 kilograms of rice and 5 kilograms of flour." After assigning more than ten Yulin guards to weigh the grain, Chen Shao asked Luo Ye to sit at the table to register.

At the front of the line is Zheng Kun.

When 100 kilograms of rice, 30 kilograms of wheat, 10 kilograms of rice and 5 kilograms of flour were handed to him, Zheng Kun burst into tears. As soon as he started crying, the others in the team also started crying. Luo Ye wanted to persuade him, but was stopped by Chen Shao. The grievances that had been suppressed in his heart for many years needed to be vented and resolved, otherwise, at his age, it would be easy for him to get into trouble.

After Zheng Kun's two sons laboriously carried out the food they had received, the next villager came forward impatiently and asked awkwardly, "I don't have that much stuff to carry the food with me. Can you wait until I go back and get some before weighing it for me?"

Many people in the team only brought a jar or a dustpan as a symbol, but when they heard what he said, they all started to agree with him.

Chen Shao comforted him, "Okay. But don't make this trip in vain. Weigh the rice or flour first and take it back to have your family cook it. When you come back with all the supplies and take the remaining food back, you can have a hot meal."

Ten kilograms of rice were handed over, and the villager took it with both hands, carefully put it aside, then knelt on the ground, kowtowed three times to Chen Shao, and then stood up and left with the rice. The action was too fast, and Chen Shao wanted to stop it in time. When the next villager wanted to follow suit, Chen Shao grabbed him and joked: "Don't kowtow, if you kowtow one by one, there will be a river of blood here in a while."

"Your Excellency deserves such a great gift even if it means rivers of blood." Someone said.

"I feel ashamed for saying this," Chen Shao said solemnly, "It is precisely because of the inaction of the government that the villagers have to live such a hard life. If I really want to make a serious calculation, I should kowtow to the villagers and apologize."

As he said this, he lifted his skirt and pretended to kneel down. Seeing this, the villagers immediately dispersed to both sides. Chen Shao stopped and bowed, saying, "If you guys don't want to be treated by me, I don't want to be treated by you either, so let's not kowtow. Let's happily collect the food, go back and have a good meal, and have a good sleep. In the next two days, we will settle the things in the farm, and then invite you to come back and take back the land that originally belonged to you, okay?"

With loud responses, food was distributed one basket at a time. As these people returned to the village with food, the villagers from other villages who were waiting and watching also rushed to the village with their tools.

The moonlight went from bright to dark.

The sunlight changes from dark to bright.

After a whole night of busy work, the line for collecting food did not get shorter, but longer.

"Sir," the women of Dashi Village came over with baskets as the sun pierced through the thin clouds and cast a thousand feet of golden light, "This is a little gift from us. It's nothing fancy. You have been busy all night, so just eat a little."

After expressing his gratitude, Chen Shao arranged for the two groups of Yulin Guards who had retired to eat.

"Everyone, please enjoy your meal. There's more in the village. We'll go back and get it." After the women set the table, they turned around and left.

Chan Yi looked at the white rice in the hands of Yu Lin Wei and said with red eyes: "There are so many of us, and they cooked all the rice they brought back for us to eat."

Li Tianliu, who was resting with his eyes closed not far away, heard her words and opened his eyes to look at the rice in the hands of the Yulin Guards. Seeing the dry rice in their bowls without a trace of water, his eyebrows slightly raised, and an unknown emotion suddenly surged from the bottom of his heart. After looking at Chen Shao and then at the people who were still collecting food, he said in a calm voice: "After dinner, carry a few bags of rice back to them!"

The Yulin Guards who were eating were also deeply moved. When they heard his words, they all answered yes in unison.

Chen Shao glanced at him and walked up to him. Li Tianliu opened his eyes slightly, saw that it was her, closed his eyes again and said, "What's the matter? Tell me."

Seeing the fatigue on his face, Chen Shao simply said, "Send someone back to the county town to bring Ding Lisheng, Hu Qinglu, Tao Ming and others here."

Li Tianliu opened his eyes again, looked at the group collecting food, and then looked back at her, "Not enough people?"

Chen Shao shook his head, took a step forward, turned around, and looked at the grain-collecting team shoulder to shoulder with him and said, "There must be more than one manor of the Wen family, and there must be more than one manor that did evil. It's okay to investigate one, and it's okay to investigate two, so let's investigate them all. As for letting Tao Ming and others come... Nowadays, most of the officials in the officialdom are Confucian scholars who can only talk about war on paper, and there are very few people who can do practical things. And the ability to do practical things is not innate, it must be trained step by step from the bottom. Such a good opportunity for training in front of them, of course, they can't miss it."

Li Tianliu asked: "You want to promote them?"

Chen Shao hummed, and said to him frankly, "Only when the country is stable enough can it allow a hundred flowers to bloom. Now there are external and internal troubles, and there is no peace anywhere. If we want Datong to continue to move forward, we must recruit young people with passion and energy."

Li Tianliu glanced at the Yulin guards who were eating, beckoned back, and two Yulin guards came up quickly. After repeating her request, Li Tianliu said, "Go quickly and come back soon!"

"Wait a moment." Chen Shao stopped the two of them, "Tell Hu Qinglu to bring the household registration information of Dashi Village, Dashu Village, Liujia Township, Xingfeng Township, Shangwan Village, Pingtou Village and Anyang Township when he comes over."

These seven villages are all located around Wenjia Village.

The two Yulin guards took the order and left. Shortly after noon, they returned with Ding Lisheng, Hu Qinglu, Tao Ming and others, and Fu Jiu was also with them.

Seeing the skinny appearance of the villagers queuing up to receive food, Ding Lisheng and Hu Qinglu both hunched their shoulders and lowered their heads guiltily.

Chen Shao was too lazy to teach them a lesson, so he called Tao Ming and others over, divided them into two groups of twenty, and asked them to take turns to fight, thus replacing the Yulin Guards who had been working hard for a day and a night.

Sun Qi, Liu Deming and others also came along. Last night, they worked overtime to sort out all the information. When they were about to give it to her this morning, they learned that she had gone out. After asking Quan Shuyu to help put the information in the study, they were about to return to the academy when they ran into Yulinwei who were going back to ask for help, so they followed along.

After arranging for the Yulin Guards to rest, Chen Shao called Hu Qinglu over and asked, "Have you brought the household registrations of several villages?"

Hu Qinglu answered honestly: "I brought them all here."

Chen Shao asked: "When was the last time you checked your household registration?"

Hu Qinglu hesitated, "Five, no, it should be eight years ago."

"Should it be eight years ago?" Chen Shao repeated coldly. The Datong Tongdian clearly stipulates: accounts should be compiled every year, and household registration should be compiled every three years! If Hongyuan County checked the household registration eight years ago, then no matter whether it is traced back or traced back, the result is self-evident!

Hu Qinglu was so scared that he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy.

Chen Shao glanced at the villagers who were looking at them and said coldly, "Take them to check the current and previous land holdings of each household in these villages. Also check the current situation of each household. If there are any missing people, find out how they are missing. After you find out, report to me immediately!"

Hu Qinglu quickly responded with a few "yes" and then quickly left with the remaining twenty students.

As soon as they left, Chen Shao's eyes naturally fell on Ding Lisheng, who was still there. Ding Lisheng smiled and walked over, calling out awkwardly, "Young Master."

Chen Shao asked in a bad mood: "Did you see everything?"

Ding Lisheng looked at the villagers who were collecting food and said, "I saw it."

Chen Shao glared at him: "Did you see it clearly?"

Ding Lisheng nodded repeatedly: "I see it clearly."

"Now that you've seen it clearly," Chen Shao asked solemnly, "then tell me why this happened?"

"It was my fault that I failed to..."

Chen Shao interrupted him: "I don't need to hear this kind of empty talk, just tell me, how do you feel when you see them like this?"

Ding Lisheng immediately grabbed his clothes at his chest and replied, "I am very heartbroken!"

"Are you heartbroken?" Chen Shao looked at him mockingly, "Whose manor is this?"

Ding Lisheng quickly replied: "It should be the Wen family."

"The Wen family has been doing evil here for nearly twenty years," Chen Shao questioned, "Is it true that you haven't heard anything about it?"

Ding Lisheng slapped himself hard, then knelt down and said, "It is my fault. Don't worry, I will investigate this matter thoroughly!"

Chen Shao looked at him quietly for a moment, then turned and left the farm. On the way to the cornfield where the family of Cun Zheng was buried alive in Dashi Village, he spoke again, "Have you received the certificates for the medicine shops belonging to the Ding family's assets?"

Ding Lisheng quickly replied: "Received."

Chen Shao asked casually: "What do you think?"

Ding Lisheng looked at her carefully and said, "Your subordinate, your subordinate..."

After listening to him for a long time without any result, Chen Shao snorted coldly and asked Fu Jiu, "Have you retrieved all the evidence?"

Fu Jiu nodded: "I got it back."

Chen Shao asked again: "Did you bring it?"

Fu Jiu nodded again: "I brought it."

Chen Shao glanced back and ordered, "When Mr. Luo wakes up, ask him to sort out all the evil deeds and crimes committed by the Wen family separately."

Fu Jiu agreed.

Ding Lisheng's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Master Luo? She found Master Luo? Evidence, what evidence? Ding Lisheng subconsciously looked around, but he didn't find Master Luo. Instead, he met Li Tianliu's half-smiley eyes. After quickly retracting his gaze, Ding Lisheng's heart was pounding. Lu Yuanfei mostly interacted with the younger generation of various noble families and gentry. He could be fearless, but Master Luo, Master Luo interacted with people of their generation, and evidence, evidence... No, the Wen family must die! Only when the Wen family died, he could take the opportunity to save himself!

Just as Ding Lisheng made up his mind, Chen Shao stopped.

After most of the night and most of the day, Xu Guang had already cleared out nine corpses. Seeing Chen Shao coming over, Xu Guang placed the bones in his hand on the straw mat, stood up and said, "There are about three or four more corpses to be cleared. Among the nine corpses, one is a woman in her seventies, one is a woman in her fifties, one is a woman in her twenties, two women in their teens, a man in his teens, and three children between the ages of five or six and eleven or twelve. The one I am clearing is a man in his thirties. Except for the darker color of the temporal bone, and occasionally one or two ribs or slight cracks on the spine, there are basically no other injuries. The corpse I am clearing now..."

Xu Guang picked up the sternum and handed it to her. After Chen Shao took it, he continued, "There are several scratches on the sternum, which look like they were cut by a sword."

Chen Shao nodded: "It was cut by swords and knives. Mr. Zheng Erye from Dashi Village said that when the Wen family buried them alive, they cut several people. Since the corpses that have been cleaned out have no cuts, you have to be more careful when cleaning the next few corpses."

Xu Guang took the sternum she handed back and said "OK".

Although he had long guessed that these corpses were related to the Wen family, when he heard about being buried alive, Ding Lisheng couldn't help but shout "good" several times in his heart, and then pretended to be horrified and said: "These corpses are..."

Chen Shao glanced at him and said, "The people in Wen's village buried the villagers alive."

Ding Lisheng shouted angrily: "Bury him alive! This Wen family is too rampant!"

Chen Shao said in a cold voice: "Since we know they are rampant, why don't we quickly go to the surrounding villages to check if they have committed other crimes!"

Ding Lisheng said quickly: "I'll go right away!"