Zou Mansion.
"Old Master, Zou Wulian and the others have sent a ssage back!" Housekeeper Zou He rushed into the yard where the County Magistrate Zou lives, followed by Zou Wulian and Zou Sifang.
The house slaves of the Zou family, as long as they are loyal to County Magistrate Zou and exceptionally capable, are granted the Zou surna and nad with numbers as their generation.
Zou Wulian and Zou Sifang, dressed as lowly servants, were hiding at the governnt gate observing the situation. When they saw Zou Jiang preferring to suffer the punishnt of intimidation rather than accusing the County Magistrate Zou, they imdiately rushed back to report.
County Magistrate Zou had been waiting for news and imdiately said to another confidant housekeeper, "Zou Hai, go open the gate for Zou He and bring the people in."
"Yes." Zou Hai walked steadily and swiftly, evidently concealing his martial arts skills as a practitioner. After opening the gate, he escorted Zou He and the other two inside.
County Magistrate Zou, his eyes deeply sunken, stared at Zou Wulian and Zou Sifang and said, "Speak, what’s the situation?"
Zou Sifang, quick with his words, relayed to County Magistrate Zou what had happened at the public court.
"Ungrateful wretch, truly an ungrateful wretch!" County Magistrate Zou, hearing that Zou Jiang submitted his own proof of being of good register, house deeds, land deeds, and emancipation letter he had given, was so angry that he smashed two teacups.
...He indeed wrote an emancipation letter for Zou Jiang. At the ti, he wrote it knowing that Zou Jiang would refuse to change back to good register and continue serving him as a slave. Pleased and wanting to put on a show, he made Zou Jiang feel like he truly saw him as a brother, thus he wrote the emancipation letter.
He even said at the ti, "If Brother Jiang changes his mind, he can take this emancipation letter to the governnt any ti and change his status from slave to good register."
But he was just saying it casually, never actually intending to let Zou Jiang revert to being a common citizen. However, Zou Jiang really did change his status behind his back!
When did this deceitful wretch change his status?
Moreover, he settled in the Prefecture city without returning to Luchang County. No wonder his informants in Luchang County said that no one nad Jiang Sheng returned to the county governnt to change their status.
"Scamr, traitor, disloyal dog, I will not let you go!" County Magistrate Zou’s eyes flashed with rage and he wished he could tear Zou Jiang apart. Daring to deceive him like this, does he truly believe he could succeed? Hah, Zou Jiang couldn’t beat him in the past; dreaming of fighting him now!
"Old Master, what should we do now?" Zou Wulian, rembering Zou Jiang’s fierce determination to accuse County Magistrate Zou even if it ant his death, felt very worried and suggested, "Perhaps, Old Master, you should leave and hide for a while?"
Taking advantage of the fact that the governnt officials had not arrived yet, they could take County Magistrate Zou away.
County Magistrate Zou stared at him and cursed silently, ’Fool’. Zou Jiang’s whole intention in accusing him publicly in daylight was to prevent his escape. If he fled now, it would definitely be seen as guilty evasion. That would be the end of him and the Zou family, all over.
"Just a slave, am I to fear him?" County Magistrate Zou sneered, "Not to ntion if he could even survive the intimidation punishnt at his age, even if he survives, does he have evidence to convict of cris?"
Over the past decades, he indeed committed cris like embezzlent, murder for money, favoritism, exam fraud, and forcefully changing civilian status to slave status, and had Zou Jiang help him deal with them. But every ti he committed a cri, he made sure to cover his tracks thoroughly, personally overseeing Zou Jiang destroy the evidence. Now, where could Zou Jiang get any evidence to accuse him? Impossible, no need to worry.
Hearing this, Zou He felt considerably relieved, "Old Master indeed possesses great talents of strategizing and precaution."
Zou Hai frowned upon hearing this, at such a ti Zou He was still kissing up... What kind of person was Zou Jiang? Over the years, Zou Hai knew well, Zou Jiang deserved his reputation as a figure who had been famous since his youth in He’an Prefecture, and Zou Hai was frightened by so of Zou Jiang’s thods when he was helping the County Magistrate Zou clean up.
If County Magistrate Zou and Zou Jiang were to fight, it’s really hard to say who would lose or win.
While Zou Hai was anxious, another housekeeper from the outer court suddenly rushed in, shouting: "Old Master, it’s bad, County Captain Jiang has co with a big group of Governnt Officials, they say they are here to arrest the Old Master."
"What did you say, Zou Hu? County Captain Jiang himself brought Governnt Officials here!" Zou Hai’s heart trembled, indeed Zou Jiang did have evidence, otherwise County Magistrate Xu would not have ordered the arrest, especially with County Captain Jiang, who bore a grudge against the Old Master, coming personally; this was not giving the Old Master any face.
Upon hearing this, County Magistrate Zou was so startled that he stood up from the couch: "Jiang Dahu, that reckless man has co!"
Zou Hu was the least favored among this batch of housekeepers, and now he was scared witless, crying: "Yes, Old Master, County Captain Jiang has co, bringing dozens of Governnt Officials, they have blocked all the doors of our Zou Mansion, and have ordered that no one from the mansion is allowed to go out, saying the Old Master has broken the law with solid evidence, they want to confiscate our property, what do we do?!"
"Solid evidence?" County Magistrate Zou was stunned: "Impossible, impossible, Zou Jiang can’t possibly have evidence... it must be fabricated, it definitely is forged evidence!"
Zou Jiang’s family used to run a bookshop, his great-grandfather, grandfather, including Zou Jiang’s short-lived father, all possessed skills in bookbinding, repairing calligraphy and paintings, fixing books. Zou Jiang’s family’s academic origin also implied this... Those pieces of evidence must have been forged by Zou Jiang.
"Beast, beast, dare to harm this official like this, Zou Jiang, you just wait for this official!"
With a bang, the large gate of County Magistrate Zou’s yard was burst open, County Captain Jiang, in his official uniform, along with Luo Wu, Squad Leader Yang, and fifty Governnt Officials stord in, pointing at County Magistrate Zou: "Zou Youlian, you have engaged in corruption, plotted for personal gain leading to murder, biased cases in personal interests, exam fraud, and enrolling citizens under the status of slaves, committing many offenses against the Great Chu Criminal Law, the Lord County Magistrate has already ordered your arrest, here is the arrest warrant, take a look."
County Magistrate Zou sat inside, not looking at the arrest warrant, just staring at County Captain Jiang standing at the door, and said word by word: "This official is innocent, this official is frad by a treacherous house slave."
County Captain Jiang laughed: "Frad or not, first take a trip to the governnt office."
Zou Jiang knew a bit about the plan he and Qin San Lang had devised, a very risky thod, risking life for life, but Zou Jiang was willing, and after careful consideration, he felt there was an eighty percent chance of success. And now it has progressed to this step, indeed very smoothly.
County Magistrate Zou knew that today he must take a trip to the governnt office, he asked Zou He to bring the official uniform for him to change, and then said to County Captain Jiang: "I am still a court official, you cannot put in shackles."
County Captain Jiang ignored County Magistrate Zou, only said to Luo Wu: "You guard the Zou family, not a single fly is allowed to co in, nor a single dog to be let out. If you ss up the task, bring your head to see !"
What corruption, all these are not important, what Zou Jiang and San Lang intended to do was to pull out the river bandits behind Zou Youlian, but it was unknown if there were any river bandits lurking in the Zou Mansion.
"Yes." Luo Wu responded, holding his waist knife tightly, guarding each door of the Zou family with the thirty Governnt Officials left behind.
When County Captain Jiang ca to arrest soone, the onlooking civilians also followed, and at this mont, seeing County Magistrate Zou being escorted out, they imdiately beca excited.
"Wow, look quickly, County Magistrate Zou is really being arrested."
"Lord in heaven, Zou Youlian really got arrested, next year during the Tomb-Sweeping Festival I must tell this good news to my dad."
"Hey, why is County Magistrate Zou still wearing his official uniform, he isn’t tied up, is he really arrested or not?"
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