Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Two constables came forward, one on the left and one on the right, and pressed Liu Bucktooth onto the caning platform. Liu Bucktooth struggled madly with his hands and feet: "Stop hitting me! Please! Ah!"

Zhao Xiu raised the wooden board in his hand high up, and then dropped it heavily, hitting Liu Bucktooth on the back.

With just this one blow, Liu Bucktooth was unable to speak. The blood drained away from his face instantly and his whole body tensed up.

The timid people in the hall raised their hands and covered their eyes. They had not seen anyone being beaten with a stick in many years. A stick that thick made their backs ache just by looking at it.

Shen Zheng in the hall also clenched her teeth unconsciously. The criminal law of the legal society she lived in before did not have such a punishment of physical torture. If someone broke the law, the only options were imprisonment or execution.

This was also the first time in her twenty-plus years of life that she had faced corporal punishment, and she couldn't help but feel an indescribable feeling in her heart.

But when in Rome, do as the Romans do. The cost of crime is open and transparent. If someone does something wrong, he or she must bear the corresponding responsibility. This is actually fair, isn't it?

During the first few strokes of the stick, Liu Bucktooth could still scream, and his screams echoed throughout the courtroom, but during the last few strokes, he fell silent.

After being beaten with twenty boards, traces of blood had seeped out of Liu Bucktooth's back. He lay on the torture platform, and it seemed that he was breathing in less than he was breathing out.

Shen Zheng raised her hand to signal the detectives to take the man away first. As for the fines and forced labor that would follow, they would have to wait until Liu Buckya was out of prison and able to get out of jail.

When the county residents saw that Liu Buckya had been taken away, they felt that there was nothing interesting to see and turned around to leave.

Shen Zheng had something else to say, so she stopped everyone and said, "Please wait a moment. I have two more words to say to you."

The county residents came back one after another. They looked at Shen Zheng, wondering what else she had to say.

"The Liu bucktooth incident has been settled, but this kind of thing is not an isolated case in Tongan County, and I'm sure everyone knows that."

Everyone nodded. Although Tongan County was not big, it was impossible that Liu Buckya was the only scoundrel. Liu Buckya was just unlucky to run into the county magistrate.

Shen Zheng looked at their expressions of approval and continued, "This kind of thing is something that neither you nor I want to see. When someone steals and cheats, it harms the interests of us ordinary people, not to mention bullying men and women. Even if you don't have daughters in your families, you still have mothers, right? Women value their reputation, and if something like this really happens, what can they do!"

The women in the hall all looked at Shen Zheng with gratitude.

In the past, when they encountered such things, as long as they could maintain their innocence, they would never dare to tell anyone except their very close people.

The men in the hall lowered their heads and pondered after hearing what Shen Zheng said. If the woman in the family was entangled by a scoundrel...

Just thinking about it made them feel furious.

"So we have to work together and not be afraid of that person's revenge. If we encounter injustice, we should report it to the county government. The county government will definitely punish that person severely! Their fate will be the same as Liu Bucktooth's!"

Shen Zheng said solemnly that she really hoped that such things could be stopped in the county government.

"The county magistrate is right! Let's work together to clean out all those termites!" After hearing Shen Zheng's words, everyone in the hall felt their blood boiling and agreed.

Shen Zheng stood up and bowed to everyone: "I would like to thank you all in advance! Today's business is over, let's adjourn!"

Everyone left one after another.

In fact, her purpose in saying these things was not only to get everyone to deal with those ruffians together.

Whether it is the severe sentence against Liu Buckya today or her last words, she hopes that it can be passed on to the ears of those who are like Liu Buckya through the crowd. She wants them to know that if they want to commit a crime in her Tongan County, they should first consider whether they can bear the punishment!

After everyone left, Shen Zheng let out a breath and sat on the chair.

From today onwards, we will be busy making food coupons and selling subsidized grain.

She turned to look at Xu Zhubu who was still writing the notice of the case, and thought that she couldn't trouble him for everything, so she would write the notice of the subsidy herself.

Before writing the notice, she had to go to the canal digging site again. She didn't know whether the person she was thinking of could help the county government to make food coupons.

It was already noon, and Shen Zheng called Xu Zhubu to go to the public kitchen to have lunch together. After eating a few bites, she left the county government office.

As soon as she arrived at the canal digging site, she walked towards Shanghe Village. The laborers were sweating profusely under the sun at this time, and they greeted her when they saw her.

Shen Zheng responded one by one, and in just a moment she saw the person she was looking for.

"Mr. Li!" Shen Zheng called out to Li Hongmao who was digging the ground.

As soon as Li Hongmao heard the voice, he knew the person coming was Shen Zheng. He quickly put the hoe in his hand against the ground and picked up the linen cloth hanging around his neck to wipe the sweat off his face.

"Lord Shen is here, but is there anything you want to ask me?"

Shen Zheng nodded: "There is indeed something I would like to ask Mr. Li for help. Shall we go to the shed to talk?"

Li Hongmao also felt that it was quite noisy here, and they both had to shout to talk, so he followed Shen Zheng to the small shed in the public kitchen.

After arriving at the shed, Shen Zheng poured a bowl of water for each of them, and then spoke directly: "The day I first met Mr. Li, from what you said, I thought you must be a scholar, right?"

Li Hongmao couldn't help but think of his school days after hearing her words, and nodded, "That's right, I studied for many years and passed the examination to become a scholar a few years ago."

This sentence from the scholar startled Shen Zheng so much that the bowl of water in her hand dropped onto the table with a "bang", and the water in the bowl spilled onto her clothes.

But at this moment, Shen Zheng no longer cared about clothes.

She had noticed before that Li Hongmao was a scholar, but she originally thought that Li Hongmao was at most a student.

As the old saying goes, Mr. Scholar, Mr. Scholar, there may be only one scholar in a hundred miles or so!

And the Li Hongmao in front of him actually passed the exam and became a scholar?

After ordinary people passed the examination to become a scholar, they could be exempted from land tax. They might not become rich, but at least they would have enough food and drink. Whether they were teaching in a private school or copying books for an academy, they would not become vagrants, right?

Li Hongmao in front of her saw what she was thinking and laughed at himself: "My Lord, are you going to ask me why I became a refugee?"

Shen Zheng nodded: "That's right, Mr. Li passed the exam and became a scholar, so it shouldn't be like this."

Then Li Hongmao told Shen Zheng their story.

It turned out that Li Hongmao and his companions were from the same village. He had shown great talent for study since he was a child. Although their village was poor, they were very united. Both his tuition and the cost of taking the exam were raised by the villagers.

When he passed the examination and became a scholar easily, and then studied hard for three years to become a juren, the whole village thought that their lives would get better and better.