met free Chapter 75 I beg Your Majesty to do justice for this humble subject!
Chapter 75 I beg Your Majesty to do justice for this humble subject!
The wind changed course, and then the wind stopped.
The folk song about "Yang the Corrupt Official" had only been circulating in Yanzhou for a few days, and hadn't even reached Jining before it abruptly stopped.
The group of gentry led by Liu Hongchang and Master Geng, along with their wives, children, and elderly relatives, suddenly disappeared before they even reached Jining, as if they had never existed.
When Liu Hongchang and Master Geng had the blindfold removed and saw light again, they were already in the military camp in Jining. A general with leopard eyes, tiger cheeks, a thick beard, a face as black as charcoal, and a body as tall as an iron tower circled around Liu Hongchang and Master Geng several times, making clicking sounds all the while.
Looking at the injuries on Liu Hongchang and Master Geng, and the fearful expressions on their faces, the general with a face as black as charcoal couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He turned to a dark-faced man dressed in silk and said, "The person who attacked them was very careful. Their injuries aren't too serious."
The dark-faced man dressed in silk grunted in agreement, carefully examined Liu Hongchang, Master Geng, and the others for a few moments, and asked, "Was it you guys who spread that ballad about Yang, the corrupt official of Ningyang County, who 'scrapes three feet off the ground and then calls himself a champion of justice'?"
Liu Hongchang stammered, "No, it wasn't us who spread it. We were just thinking of going to the capital to file a complaint. We never intended to spread any ballads. We hope Your Excellency will understand."
The dark-faced man grunted and then asked, "So you've gone to the capital to file a complaint against that corrupt official, Yang? What has he done to make you hate him so much?"
Seeing that Liu Hongchang and the others hesitated and dared not answer, the general with a face as black as charcoal snorted coldly and said, "Damn it, didn't you guys shout that you wanted to go to the capital to file a complaint with the emperor? Now that the emperor is right here, go ahead and file your complaint."
Liu Hongchang was slightly taken aback and asked, "To take a higher position?"
The general snorted again and said, "It is His Majesty the Emperor of our Great Ming Dynasty!"
Liu Hongchang and the others then realized what was happening and hurriedly knelt down before Zhu Yuanzhang, not caring at all that they were bound by ropes. Liu Hongchang, in particular, kowtowed to the ground, saying, "Your Majesty, we commoners pay our respects! Long live Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty!"
Zhu Yuanzhang gave a slight hum, and after having the ropes binding Liu Hongchang and the others untied, he asked, "Tell me, what has that corrupt official surnamed Yang done? If he has indeed oppressed the good, I will take care of you."
Liu Hongchang knelt before Zhu Yuanzhang again, his voice trembling as he said, "Your Majesty, we have been wronged!"
Master Geng and the others joined in, shouting, "We're innocent!"
After pleading his innocence, Liu Hongchang continued, "Your Majesty, we are all from families that have been farming and studying for generations, and we have always been kind to others. When the Tartars retreated, we were afraid that the Tartar soldiers would burn, kill, and plunder, so we either took our families to seek refuge with relatives in distant places or fled directly into the deep mountains."
"Later, when the Ming army took over Ningyang, the common people were overjoyed and thought about returning to Ningyang County as soon as possible so that they could farm in peace from then on."
"We never expected that as soon as we returned to Ningyang County, we would find that our houses and land had been seized by someone. And the people who seized our houses and land were some kind of village head or neighborhood chief appointed by the county magistrate."
"We, the common people, thought there might be some misunderstanding here, so we went to the county government office of Ningyang County to find the magistrate. We thought we could clear up the misunderstanding and reclaim our houses and land. Even though those village heads and neighborhood chiefs were already cultivating our land, we thought we could compensate them with some grain and money. We couldn't let them suffer a loss."
“But…” Liu Hongchang wiped away his tears and continued, “Then Magistrate Yang first sent people to deceive us, so that we would beat the grievance drum outside the county government office on a day when we were not allowed to file a complaint. He also had people summon those village heads and neighborhood chiefs.”
"Later, Magistrate Yang asked us if we had any evidence. We handed over the house deeds and land deeds to Magistrate Yang. But who would have thought that Magistrate Yang would say that the house deeds and land deeds were issued by the Tartar government and that the Ming government would not recognize them."
"The common people were so agitated that they got into a quarrel with the village heads and ward chiefs. Magistrate Yang then had them flogged twenty times for disturbing the peace. The village heads and ward chiefs said they did not know the common people, so Magistrate Yang imprisoned them in jail and released them five days later."
"We commoners had no other choice but to go to the capital to appeal to His Majesty, hoping to ask him to do us justice. But... but..." Liu Hongchang choked up as he said, "But who would have thought that we had barely traveled a hundred miles from Ningyang County when bandits on horseback came from Ningyang County and beat us up again!"
Liu Hongchang kowtowed deeply to Emperor Zhu Chongba, crying out, "Your Majesty, please do justice for us commoners!"
Lord Geng and other gentry also joined in the lament, "Your Majesty, please do justice for us commoners!"
Emperor Zhu Chongba sighed softly, turned to look at the general whose face was as black as charcoal, and asked, "What does Bo Ren think?"
Chang Yuchun's courtesy name was Boren, and his pen name was Yanheng.
Chang Yuchun chuckled and said, "If you ask me, we should just push them all out and chop them up, so we don't have to listen to their nagging here."
As Chang Yuchun finished speaking, Liu Hongchang, Master Geng, and other gentry immediately changed their expressions and bowed to Emperor Zhu Chongba, saying, "Your Majesty, spare our lives!"
"This humble subject is wronged, Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty, please have mercy!"
"..."
Hearing the gentry crying and begging for mercy, Chang Yuchun felt annoyed and couldn't help but shout angrily, "Shut the hell up!"
After Liu Hongchang and the other gentry quieted down like quails, Chang Yuchun snorted again and said, "Listen to this, listen to this, the high-ranking official, where is a single word of truth in what you call these scoundrels?"
“These bastards never mentioned that they changed their names to Hu names, spoke Hu language, or became sworn brothers with Mongols and Semu people.”
"They never talked about how the Tartars seized land from the people by trickery and oppression when the Tartars were still around."
"They were wronged in every word, and it was all the fault of Magistrate Yang. If I hadn't met Magistrate Yang before and known what kind of person he was, and if Limpy Wu hadn't kept up with the news, I'm afraid I would have thought that Magistrate Yang was a corrupt official!"
Emperor Zhu Chongba glanced at Chang Yuchun and asked, "Can you guarantee that everything Limpy Five said is true? Can you guarantee that he didn't embellish it?"
Chang Yuchun was slightly taken aback, and asked anxiously, "What about Wang Sheren? Could it be that he's also colluding with Magistrate Yang?"
"Whether it's true or false, good or bad, you have to see it with your own eyes. How can you judge a case based on just one side's story?" Emperor Zhu Chongba shook his head slightly, then glared at Chang Yuchun with disappointment and said, "You are a high-ranking official, how can you still act so impulsively?"
At this point, Emperor Zhu Chongba couldn't help but complain again: "Luckily, our daughter takes after her mother. If she took after you, how could she possibly rule the world as empress? You brainless, reckless fool!"
Chang Yuchun felt somewhat heartbroken.
Damn it, how old is your own daughter? You, Zhu Chongba, are already thinking about your son first! Bah!