After traveling through time, I was raised by a little brat

Tang Qi looked at the people in the hall and slowly said, "Who are the villagers sent by Yang Village to negotiate peace with Qian Village? Are they all here?"

"Your Excellency, the County Magistrate, we are all here," Yang Hongtao replied respectfully. After kneeling for the entire afternoon since the arrival of the Qianjia Village chief and other relevant personnel, Yang Hongtao suddenly stood up, as if unwilling to lose momentum.

In terms of status, he was a scholar and did not have to kneel before officials. However, in terms of status, Qianjia Village, as a large village, was much higher than Yangjia Village. Furthermore, the head of Qianjia Village also served as the village chief, while the village chief of Yangjia Village was Yang Laosi's eldest brother and one of the negotiators. To avoid appearing inferior to Yangjia Village, Yang Hongtao stood up to listen to the trial.

Tang Qi took a look at the situation in the hall and announced loudly: "There will be a two-quarter-hour pause during the interrogation!" Then, he ordered the yamen runners to take several people from Yangjia Village to different rooms in the prison for separate interrogation.

After taking these people to cells far apart, the bailiffs turned around and left, completely disregarding what the people in the cells were thinking at the moment.

Tang Qi ordered the bailiffs to place dinner in the yard outside the cell. The aroma of food drifted into the cell through the air. For someone who was already starving, the smell was even more tormenting.

Tang Wenshu wolfed down his meal while asking in confusion, "Brother, why did you separate them? Wouldn't it be better to just interrogate them directly? I don't believe they dare to lie."

Tang Qi smiled and patiently explained, "Since these people had the courage to report the case, they must have already colluded with each other. If we interrogate them all at once, it's hard to extract any useful information. Therefore, the best approach right now is to detain them individually. When the time is almost up, we can interrogate them separately and tell them that the others have already confessed..."

As Tang Qi finished his words, time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two quarters of an hour had passed. He hurriedly ordered the yamen runners to re-interrogate the people from Yangjia Village. Instead of interrogating them separately as previously planned, Tang Qi had the runners ask no questions. He simply said to them coldly, "Some of you have already confessed. Now you may go out and await the county magistrate's sentencing." With that, he turned and left.

The people of Yangjia Village were so frightened that their faces turned pale and they broke out in cold sweats. They followed the officials tremblingly. When they arrived at the courtroom, they were terrified by the magistrate's majestic gaze and serious expression. Their legs gave way and they all knelt down and kowtowed.

"Sir! We're being wronged!" a villager cried. "We only went to Qianjia Village to negotiate a solution to our water problem, but the negotiations failed!"

"Yes, although there was a conflict, it was not big. Yang Laosi only suffered minor injuries." said a villager.

Another villager continued, "Yes, when we came back, Boss Yang had killed his own brother and said he could put the blame on Qianjia Village. He wanted their village chief to be arrested so that we could open the dike, divert water, and save our crops in Yangjia Village!"

Hearing this, County Magistrate Tang Qi frowned and sternly questioned, "How dare you do such a heinous thing?"

The villagers lowered their heads, not daring to look the county magistrate in the eye. One of them whispered, "We know, but... there's nothing we can do about it. The village head said that Yang Lao Si should just consider himself as someone who sacrificed his life for the people of Yangjia Village. In the future, we in Yangjia Village will definitely erect a monument for him, so that his name will be recorded in history forever!"

Another villager echoed, "Yes, and Yang Lao Si was useless to begin with. He had no son to inherit the family business, and he sold his daughter for money. So he's dead, so what?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Qi slammed the table in anger and stood up, shouting, "You people are completely devoid of conscience! For your own selfish interests, you are willing to sacrifice other people's lives and even fabricate lies to slander them! Come, throw all of these people into prison and wait for your punishment!"

When the people of Yangjia Village heard this, despair and regret appeared on their faces. They all collapsed on the ground, filled with regret. However, it was too late to regret now. They had to face the punishment of the law.

Boss Yang remained silent, his eyes tightly shut, his heart filled with despair. He recalled the circumstances of his brother's murder. Besides the struggle for water, there was another crucial reason. His brother's family originally consisted of four, and he had sold two daughters. If he could send his sister-in-law back to her parents' home and expel her from the village, the money he had earned from selling the daughters, along with the family's land and property, would belong to him. This greed blinded him to his conscience. He could use the people of Qianjia Village to take the blame, while also solving Yangjia Village's water problem—killing two birds with one stone.

Yang Hongtao, who had been standing in the hall, was shocked when he heard these words. He had always believed that the people in his village were kind, but he had never expected someone to brutally murder his family over such a trivial matter. At this moment, he felt extremely disappointed and heartbroken.

The village chief of Qianjia Village sat in his chair, filled with confusion and bewilderment. He recalled the incident not long ago when Yang Laosi had come to Qianjia Village to cause trouble. At that time, the two sides had only engaged in a minor conflict, with no serious consequences. However, now, hearing that Yang Laosi had suddenly died left him deeply puzzled. Regardless, this incident had nothing to do with him, and he didn't want to get into trouble. After all, every village had its own interests to protect, and when it came to the water issue, he absolutely would not compromise.

After careful consideration, Tang Qi finally made a verdict: Boss Yang was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, to be executed next autumn. The other villagers of Yangjia Village were sentenced to one year in prison for concealing the crime. During their sentences, they would perform corvée labor organized by the county government, as the government would not support idle people.

As for Qianjia Village's act of secretly building a dam to block the water source, Tang Qi thought for a moment and decided to send the convicted villagers of Yangjia Village to help dig ditches to achieve the purpose of water diversion and irrigation. In this way, both Qian and Yang villages can benefit from it.

Upon hearing the verdict, the two village chiefs expressed their sincere approval and shouted in unison, "The county magistrate is wise!" The people also gave a thumbs-up to this fair and reasonable ruling, praising it endlessly. They believed that Tang Qi's fair handling of the matter not only upheld the dignity of the law but also balanced the interests of all parties, resolving the conflict. This was truly admirable.