Chapter 158 Seeking Justice
Zhongmu County is one of the dozen or so counties under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Prefecture.
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, after Cao Cao failed in his attempt to assassinate Dong Zhuo, he fled here and was captured alive by the county magistrate Chen Gong.
Chen Gong admired Cao Cao's behavior, not only did he release Cao Cao, but he also resigned and followed Cao Cao.
This period also made Zhongmu County well-known to many people.
However, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" had not yet appeared at that time, and Zhongmu County was just an unknown small county.
In the back court of Zhongmou County, the newly appointed county magistrate Sheng Changbai was having breakfast when he suddenly heard a drumbeat and paused in his movements.
"Sir, where does the drum sound come from so early in the morning?"
Li Fu, Sheng Changbai's long-time attendant, said in surprise.
"Someone is beating the drum to complain about his grievances." Sheng Changbai put down his chopsticks and took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth.
“Beat the drum to complain?”
Li Fu was stunned at first, but he quickly reacted and said, "I'll go prepare the official uniform for you, young master."
This was the first time someone beat the drum to complain about injustice since he followed Sheng Changbai to take office, and he didn't react at first.
Someone beat the drum to complain about injustice, and the county magistrate Sheng Changbai would definitely take the case and handle it.
Not long after, Sheng Changbai changed into his official uniform and went to the front yamen.
As soon as I arrived at the front yamen, the county magistrate of Zhongmou County came over in a hurry.
Seeing Sheng Changbai coming over, he said anxiously, "Sir, someone is here to beat the drum to complain about the Zhou family."
"What are you suing the Zhou family for?" Sheng Changbai asked.
"Sue the Zhou family for occupying his land." said the county magistrate.
"Yeah!" Sheng Changbai nodded slightly when he heard that, and his hands clenched inconspicuously in his sleeves.
Although Zhao Xing issued orders for county magistrates to complete land surveys within their counties, Sheng Changbai was not in a hurry to implement it after taking office.
Instead, he first used some tricks to win over some officials and initially gained a foothold.
The county magistrate of Zhongmu County was the first to surrender to him.
As the highest-ranking official in Zhongmu County besides the county magistrate, it stands to reason that the county secretary should compete for power with the new county magistrate.
However, the position of the county magistrate of Zhongmu County was completely marginalized by the former county magistrate. Even after the former county magistrate was arrested, he could not control the situation in the county.
Therefore, after Sheng Changbai took office, he simply observed him for two days and then joined Sheng Changbai.
This is also the reason why Sheng Changbai was able to gain a foothold in just seven or eight days.
Now, almost one-third of the one month given by Zhao Xing has passed, and the matter of clearing the land can no longer be delayed.
However, as soon as this matter was implemented, it encountered obstacles.
It’s not that the officials were uncooperative, but that they measured some land and the results were consistent with those on the title deed, with no discrepancies.
However, according to the information that Sheng Changbai asked Li Fu to secretly inquire about, there was indeed hidden land in Zhongmou County.
Some land deeds say that the area is ten acres, but it looks more than ten acres when viewed visually, and the measurement result is exactly ten acres.
Apparently there was something wrong with the person taking the measurements, but he changed a batch and got the same result.
Although there were officials supervising the measurement of land, the work was still done by ordinary yamen runners.
These yamen runners were all locals, and the landlords and gentry had been doing business in Zhongmou County for many years, so it was normal for them to be able to achieve this.
There was no point in dealing with these yamen runners, because he was an official and could only deal with the yamen runners.
But the landlords and gentry might be targeting the families of the yamen runners.
He needed a point of entry to let those yamen runners see his determination. Only in this way could those yamen runners see the situation clearly.
He thought hard but couldn't think of any good solution. Unexpectedly, when he was dozing off, the pillow came.
Seeing Sheng Changbai's expression calm after hearing the news, the county magistrate whispered, "Sir, this Zhou family is not simple. Someone in the family is a prefect elsewhere and has connections with some officials in the court."
"That's even better." Sheng Changbai said.
"Huh?" The county magistrate was stunned, not quite understanding what Sheng Changbai meant.
Sheng Changbai had no intention of explaining. He walked all the way to the lobby of the county government office and ordered someone to bring the plaintiff over.
The plaintiffs consisted of four persons, a father and his two sons. They were dressed in rags, had rough and dark skin, and were very thin. One could tell at a glance that they were ordinary people.
"Uncle, I am the magistrate of Zhongmou County. What grievances have you suffered?" Sheng Changbai asked.
Sheng Changbai has a dignified appearance, and now he is sitting in the court wearing official uniform, he looks intimidating without even getting angry.
A trace of fear flashed in the eyes of the old man and his three sons, and they knelt down with a thud: "My family originally had more than ten acres of land, which was barely enough to make a living. Five years ago..."
The old man recounted his grievances in detail.
The matter was simple. His field bordered on a field owned by the Zhou family. Five years ago, there was a flood in Zhongmou County. When the flood receded, it was discovered that the boundary marker between his field and the Zhou family's field had been washed out by the water.
Boundary markers are used to determine the size of a field. If they are washed out, they must be driven back into the soil.
But this thing has to be measured and installed by the government, otherwise there will be disputes.
After they contacted the government, they did send people to remeasure and put the boundary markers in.
However, the boundary marker had moved a lot closer to his field from its original location.
If they followed that position, their family's ten acres of land would be reduced by half. The old man's family naturally did not agree, so they went to the government again.
But the government said there was no problem with the measurement and ignored it. The good ten acres of land turned into seven or eight acres, and now it can't be sold.
Because their land title said it was more than ten acres, but in reality it was only seven or eight acres. Even if he sold it according to the actual size, no one would want it because he had to pay taxes based on the size of the land.
"Uncle, what you said is just your one-sided statement after all. I need to bring people to measure your family's land with you and check the land deed before I can confirm it." Sheng Changbai said.
"Thank you, great sir!" The old man and his family were so excited that they kowtowed continuously.
Sheng Changbai quickly stopped them and asked Li Fu to gather the yamen runners and take them and the old man's family to their village.
The old man also went home and took the land deed to show it to Sheng Changbai.
Many people in the village heard the news and came over to watch the excitement from afar.
After Sheng Changbai finished reading the land deed, he asked someone to find the boundary markers of the old man's field. He estimated the size with his eyes and frowned slightly, saying, "Measure it and see how big it is."
"Yes!" The accompanying yamen runner took the order and started measuring immediately.
"County Magistrate Jiang, look at how big this piece of land is?" Sheng Changbai said.
In fact, there is no need to measure. According to the location of several boundary markers, the land is no more than ten acres, but the deed says it is 16 acres.
“My Lord County Magistrate, this…this…” County Magistrate Jiang didn’t know what to say for a moment.
"I remember that County Magistrate Jiang has been serving as County Magistrate in Zhongmou County for seven or eight years. Have you heard about this incident?" Sheng Changbai asked.
"me…"
He must have heard of it, but he had not told Sheng Changbai before.
In fact, there were many such things, but he never told Sheng Changbai any of them.
Those officials in Zhongmu County who sided with Sheng Changbai were only doing it for their own interests.
There are some things they are willing to talk about, and some things they are not willing to talk about.
Sheng Changbai waved his hand and said, "Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. I'd like to trouble County Magistrate Jiang to personally supervise it. I don't want to see a land that is clearly more than ten acres, but is measured to be less than ten acres."
County Magistrate Jiang's expression changed for a while, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Yes!"
He understood that Sheng Changbai asked him to supervise, which was actually asking him to express his opinion.
Before, he turned to Sheng Changbai only because he knew Sheng Changbai's identity and thought that he would not stay here for long, so he was willing to cooperate with his work.
But he doesn't want to get involved in anything that will affect his future or is troublesome.
At this point, I had to make a choice.
It wouldn't take long to measure an area of less than ten acres.
Soon, County Magistrate Jiang came back and reported: "Sir, according to the measurement, there are only more than seven acres, less than eight acres."
Sheng Changbai nodded with satisfaction: "So, the Zhou family's occupation of land is true?"
"Sir, someone is coming." Li Fu reminded.
Sheng Changbai looked in the direction Li Fu pointed and saw a group of people walking towards them from a distance.
These people were all young and strong. Among them was a sedan chair, but no one knew who was sitting inside it.
"Sir, it should be the Zhou family that has arrived." County Magistrate Jiang said.
"You came quite quickly." Sheng Changbai said lightly.
Seeing that Sheng Changbai didn't say anything else, County Magistrate Jiang just looked calmly in the direction of the person who came and didn't say anything else.
After a while, the group of people came closer. After the sedan chair was lowered, a fat man who looked to be in his forties or fifties walked out.
"Haha, I'm out inspecting the farm. I heard that County Magistrate Sheng is nearby, so I came to visit him." Zhou Rang walked forward with a smile, bowed, and wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief.
He was already very fat, and it was summer now, so even though there were two maids behind him fanning him, he was still sweating profusely.
"The weather is so hot now, but Mr. Zhou still goes out to inspect the farm. He is really thoughtful." Sheng Changbai said lightly.
Zhou Rang didn't know if he didn't hear the sarcasm in Sheng Changbai's words, but he still smiled and said, "It's almost autumn harvest time, and my whole family depends on this piece of land for a living, so I naturally have to pay more attention to it. By the way, I wonder what County Magistrate Sheng is doing here? If there is anything I can do to help, just tell me, I will definitely not refuse."
"Mr. Zhou, you've come at the right time. Actually, you are the defendant, but I didn't summon you before because there was insufficient evidence. Now that there is sufficient evidence, even if Mr. Zhou doesn't come, I'm going to send someone to summon you." Sheng Changbai said.
"Oh?" Zhou Rang said in surprise, "I usually abide by the law. When the county needed to build bridges and roads, I donated a lot. How did I become the defendant? There must be some misunderstanding."
Sheng Changbai pointed to the land he had just measured and said, "According to the land deed, this is 16 mu of land, but the area within the boundary marker is less than 8 mu. Five years ago, the boundary marker was washed out, and then it was re-inserted after measurement. The owner of the land sued Mr. Zhou for occupying their land. I wonder what Mr. Zhou has to say?"
"Is this true?" Zhou Rang said in surprise, "The farmland is managed by the manor, and I have never heard of this. But since County Magistrate Sheng said so, it cannot be false. Although it is not my fault, I cannot make it difficult for County Magistrate Sheng. The county magistrate can have someone measure enough acres of land and re-mark the boundary markers."
"No!" Sheng Changbai shook his head and said, "This matter is clearly the fault of the county government, how can Mr. Zhou be held responsible? I will have someone measure the acreage of the Zhou family's land. Please take out the land deed and show it to me. As long as there is no problem with the number of acres of the Zhou family's land, it naturally has nothing to do with the Zhou family."
Zhou Rang's face darkened when he heard this, and he said, "County Magistrate Sheng, this is just a small matter, why make it so complicated? Since he said he is short of a few acres of land, I will give it to him. The Zhou family doesn't need this much."
After saying that, Zhou Rang looked at the old man not far away and said calmly: "This is the plaintiff, right? Do you think what I said makes sense?"
"Mr. Zhou, you..."
Sheng Changbai was a little annoyed. The government's principle in handling cases is that if the citizens don't report a case, the officials won't investigate.
Normally, such a peaceful solution is naturally the best.
But he still wanted to take advantage of the situation.
Zhou Rang was obviously threatening the old man just now. If the old man accepted it, how would he be able to take advantage of the situation next time?
Before Sheng Changbai finished speaking, the old man shouted: "Although I have never been educated and don't understand the truth, I know that I can't take what is not mine. I just want justice!"
(End of this chapter)