Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 39

Chapter 39 Frontal Barrier
Under the complicated and changeable gazes of more than a hundred people inside and outside the lobby, Lu Zhen said again, “It’s hard to distinguish between the truth and falsehood of the two of you. However …” As he said this, his words paused and his expression darkened. “A person can lie, but the evidence won’t!”

Evidence? Everyone around was obviously stunned. They couldn’t understand what he was referring to. Where did this kind of lawsuit get any evidence from? However, more people were holding the attitude of watching the play, and they were even more interested in it.

Lu Zhen quickly solved the riddle for them, “Someone, go ask the Shen Master Book for the deeds of the two clans to trade the land. Let this official take a look at them!”

Since the Wang Clan had already sold the land to the Tian Clan, they had to register it with the local government, that is, the Guangling County Government, and leave behind the contract to prevent any further disputes between the two sides or secretly change the contents of the contract. These words were all handled by the Shen Master Book.

Immediately, a servant agreed and walked out of the hall. Actually, there was no need for him to come out. The applicant who was listening outside had already winked at a subordinate beside him and ordered him to quickly search for the contract. He wanted to see what Lu Zhen would do next.

With Shen Zhubu’s active cooperation, it would be easy to find a contract. However, in the middle of a meal, the servant rushed back with a contract.

Lu Zhen casually swept the item and revealed an unfathomable smile. Only then did he order someone to bring it to the kneeling defendants and let them distinguish between the truth and the falsehood. “This is indeed the contract certificate for you to buy and sell the land, is it true?”

Wang 15th could not read, so he could only nod his head in confusion. Anyway, it looked very similar to the one from before. Tian Kui, on the other hand, carefully examined it from top to bottom before confirming, “If you want to return to my lord, this is it.”

“Alright.” Lu Zhen nodded in satisfaction, “Then this case is easy to deal with. Tian Kui, do you know your guilt?”

His words were easy, but they confused everyone else. Tian Kui shouted again, “Lord, the grass-roots people are wronged. No matter how courageous they are, the grass-roots people would not dare to do such a thing.”

“What, you’re actually trying to argue with me when there’s evidence?” Lu Zhen’s face sank, and he shook the handwriting in his hand. “It’s clearly written on it. If you hadn’t taken it by force, you wouldn’t have bought this thirteen mu of Wang Clan land.”

Everyone outside was in an uproar. They didn’t understand why Lu Zhen had made this assertion and immediately began to discuss. Although everyone knew what kind of virtue the Tian Clan possessed, they wished to know more about it.

“Alright, then this official will let you know where you are wrong.” As Lu Zhen spoke, he stood up from behind the table and slowly paced in front of Tian Kui. He placed the handwriting in front of him and said, “This is clearly written. You bought 13 acres of fertile land with 27 taels of silver.”

“Right, right” Although Tian Kui was beating his drum in his heart, he still couldn’t understand what was wrong.

“But look at the 47 taels of silver written here” Lu Zhen pointed at the place where he said, “Why did these 42 words fall to the side of 7 taels? It doesn’t look like they were written together at all, but it looks like they were made up afterwards.”

“This” Tian Kui’s forehead immediately oozed with a layer of sweat. He didn’t expect Lu Zhen to see it so carefully and take it so seriously. He didn’t know how to explain it.

“Also, no matter how wealthy your family is, I’m afraid you won’t be able to take out more than 40 taels of silver for the copper coins that I, Daming, have used to trade.” Lu Zhen sneered. Right now, it was not after Jiajing, but only between the government and the imperial court. There weren’t many people, and some people who had found out about the money had to be convicted.

This time, Tian Kui was completely dumbfounded. He didn’t know how to explain it. But Lu Zhen had already returned to his seat above. After sitting down, he said, “So if what this official expected is correct, you used only seven taels of silver to forcefully buy more than ten acres of the Wang Clan’s fertile land. That’s why you made the Wang Clan unhappy, causing a conflict and killing three innocent people.” “In order to cover up all of this, you colluded with the people in the yamen and tampered with this contract!” As he spoke, he slapped the shocking wood heavily and shouted, “Tian Kui, you still haven’t come from the truth!”

Although Tian Kui was a tyrant in the county, he was still just a commoner. If he was a commoner, he would have the intention to fear the officials. Now that he saw Lu Zhen being aggressive and adding guilt to his heart, he immediately panicked and became speechless.

At this moment, as long as not a fool could see that there was something wrong with him, County Magistrate Lu’s words were most likely accurate. This made many people angry and began to accuse him outside.

Hearing this, Zheng Fu’s face sank. He never thought that Lu Zhen, who had always kept a low profile and was cowardly, would actually have such a sharp speech and clear mind. Only then did he know that today’s matter was very troublesome.

We can’t let this brat continue to make trouble, or else it will be even harder to end! Thinking of this, Zheng Fu did not hesitate any longer. He took a step forward and headed straight for the lobby.

At the same time, Lu Zhen, who was in charge of the case, shouted again and asked, “Bold Tian Kui, who in the yamen is colluding with you so carelessly? If not, this official will punish you!” As he spoke, he picked up the shocking wood and slapped it down forcefully once more. The sound was even more terrifying than before.

Tian Kui felt guilty, but he knew that he couldn’t really tell the truth, so he could only lower his head and kneel there without saying a word. But at the same time, he was also worried that the county magistrate would really order people to torture him. Under his nervousness and fear, his body was already sweating like a puddle, and in the blink of an eye, his back was wet with sweat.

Right at this moment, a cold voice sounded from behind him, “County Magistrate Lu is really a powerful official. What a surprise!”

This familiar voice … Tian Kui subconsciously turned around and saw Zheng Fu slowly walking towards him. Very quickly, he brushed past him. Seeing that he had finally arrived, it was as if he had seen a savior. Tian Kui’s heart immediately calmed down. He was more clear than many people about who was in charge of this county government.

Lu Zhen and Zheng Fu’s gazes met at this moment, and flames seemed to burst out from the sky. As for the servants in the hall, they were obviously trembling, afraid that Zheng Dianshi would pursue their responsibility afterwards. Some of them even had the thought of leaving immediately.

These people had always relied on Zheng Fu’s breath to survive, and now that he was not here to help the magistrate with the case, the servants were naturally very guilty. However, this was the time of the court trial. They didn’t dare to offend the magistrate. After all, the other party was nominally the magistrate of the county government. It wouldn’t be too difficult for them to be punished. This caused the servants to be in a dilemma.

Lu Zhen and Zheng Fu’s eyes met and they suddenly laughed. Although this fellow came a little early, there was no harm in using the momentum just now to suppress him. He had made sufficient preparations for this match, so how could he retreat? He took a deep breath.

Unexpectedly, before he could say anything, Zheng Fu spoke first. With a wave of his hand, he casually said to the people around him like a duck, “What are you still doing here? Let’s disperse.” As an experienced official for many years, he could naturally see the current situation. Therefore, even if he hated Lu Zhen to death, it was not good to face him head-on at this time. It was better to suppress the matter first and then deal with him.

What do you mean domineering? What do you mean by one word and nine cauldrons? This was it. The moment Lord Dianshi entered the hall, he directly announced that everyone had dispersed. This was completely disregarding the Magistrate of the County, who was sitting high above to judge the case, and even the laws of the Great Ming Empire.

The servants were already tempted, so hearing him say that, they naturally wanted to disperse. But at this moment, a loud bang came from above, and Lu Zhen’s deep voice sounded, “How dare you disturb the court? Take him down for me!”

Lu Zhen was truly annoyed, but his heart was not in chaos. He knew that he would only succeed here at this time, so he immediately spoke.

However, this order did not receive any response from his subordinates. Although the servants subconsciously stopped where they were and did not disperse as Zheng Fu had said, none of them dared to go forward to take the person.

What a joke. These people always obeyed Zheng Dianshi’s orders. How could they suddenly turn against each other because of County Magistrate Lu’s words?

Zheng Fu thought the same in his heart, and a disdainful and teasing smile appeared on his face. This fellow really treated him as a child. Even in this hall, he was still an untouched existence!

However, just as his smile appeared on his face, a figure rushed out from the queue beside him. Just as he was stunned, his hands were suddenly cut back and he was instantly unable to move.

All of this happened too quickly. Not only did Zheng Fu feel caught off guard, even the servants on both sides could only stare blankly at him being held by someone, unable to react in the slightest. It wasn’t until everything was settled that everyone could clearly see that the person who had attacked was Lin Lie, who had always been silent.

“Lin Lie, how dare you!” Zheng Fu was furious and scolded when he saw the person holding him.

“Zheng Fu, you’re the one who has the guts. Not only did you break into the lobby, you even dared to be so rude to your boss and make him kneel down!” Before the others could react, Lu Zhen had already ordered loudly.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Lie’s knee suddenly pushed forward and hit Zheng Fu’s knee. His feet immediately lost strength and he knelt on the ground. His two knees landed heavily on the ground, causing his entire body to tremble in pain and almost burst into tears.

The surrounding officials and the people outside the hall were completely intimidated by the sudden change before their eyes. They didn’t even have a single person to move or speak …