Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside

Since Zou Youlian climbed up to become associated with County Magistrate Hong, he started to exploit those relationships by trafficking men bound for labor. After County Magistrate Hong retired to his hometown, his successors were County Magistrate Yan and County Magistrate Zhu. During their tenures, a total of 785 adult men were trafficked by Zou Youlian.

All these men were sold through Gao Tong, to mines that offered high prices—each man could be sold for up to ten taels of Silver, amounting to more than 7,800 taels.

After Gao Tong took his sixty percent, Zou Youlian still got 3,000 taels of Silver.

County Magistrate Xu laid out the evidence and had Steward Yu read it aloud at the court. But Zou Youlian was stubborn, not uttering a single word. His children and grandchildren were already deceased, he has nothing left but his condemned life; there was no need for him to confess just to facilitate someone else's promotion.

Ming Shaoqing didn't need Zou Youlian to speak. Back in the Prefecture, he had already ordered his subordinates to torture the leaders of the Water Bandit Village.

The criminal punishment at the Da Li Temple was similar to military punishment, even more sinister. The leaders of the bandit village couldn't endure it, and they spilled everything about trafficking men for labor in collaboration with Zou Youlian in the past years. Their confessions with their handprints were placed on County Magistrate Xu's desk.

"With definite evidence of this crime, to demonstrate the majesty of Criminal Law and uphold justice, a severe punishment must be imposed!" County Magistrate Xu declared in a paperwork full of brief yet profound words, saying that for the crime of selling men, Zou Youlian would face extreme torture.

However...

"Zou Youlian is also implicated in a major case of colluding with river bandits and needs to be escorted to the Imperial Court of Judicial Review in the Capital for trial, hence no execution will take place in Tianfu County."

At the end of County Magistrate Xu's statement, the victims who came to watch broke into cries, "Sir, this beast Zou Youlian has caused the deaths of hundreds in our Tianfu County. How can we let such a morally depraved creature go without immediately killing him and feeding him to dogs, how would that be fair to those who have died!"

"Sir, my husband died unjustly. It was agreed that once he returned from his labor service, we would build a new house next spring, but he never returned. To support the children, I scrimped and saved, barely daring to buy meat all year. It was only when my son grew up and made some money that we could build a new house and move out of that crumbling old place."

"Sir, Zou Youlian is a brute who has harmed numerous people. Look at the people here; every family has been victimized by him. If we don't execute him here in Tianfu County, how will we face the spirits of the deceased?"

Zou Youlian and Gao Tong sold men to work in the mines, work there often was deadly. Ming Shaoqing, through the confessions of several leaders from the bandit village, learned about several copper and iron mines where people were sold to, and sent people to investigate those mines, only to learn that the men sold had already died from exhaustion.

The victims present, thinking of their husbands, sons, and brothers who were killed, cried out loud. Some families even brought coffins, wailing before coffins that held only a set of clothes, recounting their hardships, making County Magistrate Xu so troubled by their cries that he had to rush over to console them.

Ming Shaoqing stood up and addressed the gathered crowd: "Zou Youlian's case has reached the highest levels of the court. We in Great Chu adhere to strict laws; regardless of where the execution takes place, his death is certain. And executing him in the Capital should provide more solace to the souls of the deceased."

Hearing this, the victims responded, "Ming Shaoqing is right, the Capital is where the Emperor resides. If our men knew that their perpetrator was beheaded in the Capital, they'd be pleased in the underworld. It shows that the Emperor cares for them, this is indeed a glorifying delight."

County Magistrate Xu twitched at the corners of his mouth. He had been talking for over half an hour and had barely managed to calm them down when Ming Shaoqing spoke just a few words, and they were immediately relieved, even considering it a glorifying delight? Are they using the right words?

While County Magistrate Xu was internally criticizing, he heard an old woman quietly say, "Ming Shaoqing is really handsome, exuding such charisma. He's much better looking than our Lord County Magistrate."

A middle-aged woman replied, "Of course, our Lord County Magistrate comes from a peasant family, had to carry manure and work the fields from a young age; however, Ming Shaoqing is born from a noble family, raised amidst playing music, writing poetry—the tasks of immortals. How could our Lord County Magistrate compare to Ming Shaoqing?"

County Magistrate Xu: "…"

What sin had he committed to have to hear these two people speak!

County Magistrate Xu turned his head and sat back under the suspended bright mirror, continuing to read the sentencing results of the other offenders.

All the old clerks, village chiefs, and town chiefs involved in this case, if still alive, were sentenced to immediate beheading. Those who had died had their family properties confiscated.

Those old clerks, village chiefs, and town chiefs, along with their families, upon hearing this, cried bitterly and kept kowtowing and begging for mercy, but were dragged away by county soldiers and Government Officials, and locked in prison.

After dragging away all the offenders, County Magistrate Xu wiped the sweat from his forehead and mentioned compensation: "His Majesty empathizes with your families for losing your men, and life being difficult, thus he has decreed to compensate each family with twenty taels of silver."

Due to severe drought in the Northwest, combined with military disasters everywhere, the court had already distributed much silver for disaster relief and quelling the disturbances. That Elder Shangguan was able to secure twenty taels of silver for these suffering families was indeed remarkable.

The victims present immediately knelt down and loudly praised 'Long live His Majesty'.

Because too many men had been trafficked, nearly eight hundred in total, when each household came to collect the silver, they had to bring household registration and records for verification. County Magistrate Xu and his team were busy until late at night before finishing the compensation matters.

They also advised these victims to return home first and come back the next day to collect the silver, but the people refused, saying that traveling to the county was too far, so County Magistrate Xu and his team had no choice but to continue working.

After finishing the work on compensation, and having slept only a few hours, the next day at noon they were busy again with the beheading of these offenders.

This time, the execution involved quite a few offenders, all well-known clerks, village chiefs, and town chiefs, providing a much greater deterrent effect than when Wan Lifang was killed, causing many serving clerks who had committed wrongdoings to be startled awake from their sleep in fear.

After the case of selling men for labor was concluded, Ming Shaoqing asked Zou Jiang: "I heard that when this person accused Zou Youlian, he used charges of corruption, exam fraud, and abuse of power..."

Before he could finish, County Magistrate Xu, frightened, suddenly knelt down with a thump... The charges he had submitted to the Prefecture Government Office were only that Zou Youlian trafficked good citizens, other matters, because they were false testimonies, Xu didn't dare report any of them, how could Ming Shaoqing know?

It's over, County Magistrate Xu felt like he was buried up to his neck, ready to reincarnate.

Seeing County Magistrate Xu so scared, Ming Shaoqing smiled and said: "County Magistrate Xu need not be nervous, I have no other intentions, I just want to meet Zou Jiang."

"Meet, meet Zou Jiang?" County Magistrate Xu was so scared that he broke into a cold sweat: "Meet Zou Jiang for what? He's just an old man in his sixties, somewhat clever, Your Honor is busy with official duties, there really is no need to meet him."

If Zou Jiang were to meet Ming Shaoqing alone and let Ming Shaoqing find out about his perjury, it wouldn't just be Zou Jiang who's finished, Xu Chongfeng would be utterly doomed too.

Ming Shaoqing was silent, only looking at County Magistrate Xu with a smile, and finally said: 'Tonight, I want to see Zou Jiang, does County Magistrate Xu understand?'

As an official much lower ranked than Ming Shaoqing, County Magistrate Xu dared not refuse. After nightfall, he nervously accompanied Zou Jiang to meet Ming Shaoqing.