Queen Mother, she just wants to lie down

Ma Ziliang felt a slight tingling in his heart when he heard this. The methods used by the empress dowager before him were truly extremely cruel.

As soon as she said these words, it was estimated that only the Chen family would be left among the four prominent families in Qingsha.

Even for the Chen family, the fifty times tax fine would at least cost them half their lives, even if it didn't hurt them badly.

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to get on her lap by accident.

"Yes." Ma Ziliang felt emotional in his heart, but he did not show it on his face and responded respectfully.

He did not think that there was anything wrong with the Queen Mother's actions. None of the four families were innocent. If a thorough investigation was conducted, it would not be unfair to confiscate their property and exterminate their clans.

“We can investigate, but everything must be done according to the rules.

The guilty are guilty, and the innocent shall not be charged with crimes out of thin air, nor shall they be implicated.

Those who are corrupt, those who illegally occupy things, those who have killed people, those who aid and abet the evil... and so on.

Regardless of age or gender, once the facts are verified, the perpetrators will be thrown into jail and dealt with according to court law.

Anyone who colluded with them shall be guilty of the same crime." Ruan Qing glanced at him and added.

"Yes." Ma Ziliang said.

"Magistrate Ma, we have finished discussing serious matters. I have a private matter to discuss with you." Ruan Qing slowed down his tone.

"Ma'am, please speak."

"Wait a moment, Queqi, go call Jiang Benlei in." Ruan Qing ordered Queqi.

Queqi turned and left, and after a while, he came in with Jiang Benlei.

"He wanted to come to you to be a constable. You should know something about Jiang Benlei's background. It's up to you to decide whether it's feasible or not. I'm only responsible for helping to make some connections.

Don't worry about my face. If you think he is suitable, then he is suitable. If he is not suitable, it doesn't matter. "Ruan Qing pointed at Jiang Benlei.

"The former Thunderbolt Master is willing to work for me as a detective? This is a great thing.

Although there are quite a few constables in my county government, there are almost no real masters.

Captain Wu is quite skilled, but that is only relative to ordinary people. If he meets a real master, he has no power to defeat him at all.

If Jiang Daxia is willing to come to me and humble himself, I would be more than happy to do so." Ma Ziliang was startled, and then overjoyed.

This time he really wasn't trying to flatter Ruan Qing, but was speaking from his heart.

Thunderbolt Hand Jiang Benlei is very famous in the martial arts world and is a well-known figure on the list of martial arts masters.

If there could be one more expert detective in the county government, it would be like adding wings to a tiger for him.

"Master Ma, my situation..." Jiang Benlei was afraid that he was not aware of his troubles and therefore welcomed him so well, so he subconsciously wanted to explain it clearly.

"Don't say anymore. I understand. You used to be a gangster. It's normal for you to have some grudges in the gang.

It doesn't matter as long as you don't rely on your official status to do evil after you get the job and become a constable.

As for the rest, as officials, there is no reason for us to be afraid of bandits.

If there are really people who are so blind as to provoke us, we can just destroy their lair as well."

Ma Ziliang patted Jiang Benlei's shoulder nonchalantly and spoke with a bandit-like look on his face.

Ruan Qing...

Because the uncle and nephew of the Chen family were still waiting for Ma Ziliang, she didn't stay here for long. She said a few words and left.

May 25th was the third day after the heads of the four major families, He, Zheng, Xu and Chen, were arrested.

The He, Zheng, and Xu families took the written lawsuit to the government office to redeem the person.

"What? Are you treating me like a fool and trying to cover up the tax evasion by finding a scapegoat?" Ma Ziliang said to them expressionlessly after reading the lawsuit.

……

"This Ma Ziliang deserves to die. He really pissed me off. I'm going to get someone to kill him.

And why did the Chen family suddenly change their mind? Did they make some kind of deal with Ma Ziliang in private? "

When Mr. He Er and Mr. He San, who were severely criticized by Ma Ziliang, came out of the yamen, their noses were almost crooked with anger.

Mr. Zheng Sanye remained silent. Ma Ziliang's stubbornness and the Chen family's sudden change of mind made him instinctively realize that something was wrong.

Master Chen Wu of the Chen family is the Censor-in-Chief. Have they received any news?

Thinking of this, Mr. Zheng San, who had been planning to go home, immediately turned and went to Chen's house.

But when he arrived, Mr. Chen and Chen Lie were not at home, and the others had no idea what had happened, so they naturally couldn't find out the truth.

In desperation, the He, Zheng, and Xu families could only send people to find their own officials who were serving in other places and ask them to find a way to solve the problem.

But before he could receive a reply, Ma Ziliang took new action.

On May 28, Ma Ziliang posted a notice.

At noon tomorrow, the cases of the four major families, He, Chen, Xu and Zheng, will be publicly tried.

The people of Qingsha were already very curious about the matter, and when they saw the county magistrate post a notice of public trial, they

Even though the weather was hot, on May 29th, countless people still gathered at the gate of the government office to watch the fun.

Naturally, the He, Chen, Xu, and Zheng families all sent people to attend the trial.

The people who came from the Chen family were Chen Lie and Mr. Chen Erye.

The He family consists of Mr. He Sanye and Mr. He Erye.

In addition to Mr. Zheng Sanye, the other person who came to the Zheng family was the head of the family's son, Zheng Yuanji.

Only Mr. Xu Sanye came to the Xu family. The head of the family's son just passed the imperial examination last year and is currently studying in an academy in another city.

"Master Chen, Nephew Chen, you two are really hard to find." When the four families met outside the county government office, Master Zheng looked at the uncle and nephew of the Chen family with a meaningful look on his face and said this.

"I'm busy with something and I'm not at home these two days." Mr. Chen laughed.

Chen Lie was the younger generation, so he just smiled and said nothing.

The two were indeed not at home these two days. After meeting with County Magistrate Ma a few days ago, they went to the prison to meet with the head of the Chen family, and then went out to raise money.

There are many members of the Chen family who have made great achievements, so they don't have much land that needs to pay taxes.

But the taxes hidden over the years are not small.

The fine is fifty times, which means at least five or six hundred thousand taels of silver.

Even though the Chen family is a century-old prestigious family, it is not easy to come up with so much money at once.

But no matter how difficult it is, we have to make do with it.

From the moment Magistrate Ma gave the accurate reply, the uncle and nephew were both shocked and broke out in cold sweats, yet their hearts were filled with relief.

They took the initiative to confess their crimes and were given such heavy penalties. The other three families are probably in danger.

It doesn’t matter if the money is gone. As long as the people are there and the family foundation is there, the Chen family will be able to prosper for many years.

The He brothers snorted heavily, ignored them, and entered the yamen first.

Mr. Xu San glanced at the uncle and nephew of the Chen family and followed them in.

The Zheng and Chen families entered at the same time.

When they entered, Ma Ziliang was already sitting on the official seat in the court.

"The time has come, bring the prisoner." Ma Ziliang glanced at Sha Ke and said.

"Bring the prisoner." The bailiffs on both sides shouted.

After a while, the heads of the four families were brought up.

"He Zhengxiong, Chen Mian, Zheng Qiyun, Xu Xiao, you are the leaders of our Qingsha clan, and your every word and action represents the reputation of Qingsha.

As a result, he did not know the emperor's grace, nor did he care about the people. He did not restrain his children and relatives from doing wrong, but also annexed land, occupied the people's property, and evaded taxes...

The crimes are too numerous to list, do you know your guilt?" Ma Ziliang slammed the gavel.

"Chen Mian pleaded guilty to tax evasion and is willing to double the punishment.

As for the other things, I really didn't do them, especially the matter of annexing land and occupying the farmland of the people. It was purely a misunderstanding.

The reason why the Chen family bought those properties three years ago was that they wanted to do their best to help the disaster-stricken people get through the disaster.

Now that the disaster has passed, my Chen family has already taken the initiative to contact them and is willing to return the land in full. The price is 20% lower than the original purchase price, which can be regarded as making up for the losses they have suffered from renting the land in recent years.

If you don't have enough money on hand, you can ask them to pay in installments without charging any interest." Chen Mianli was the first to speak.

As soon as he said this, the people from the other three families looked at him as if they had seen a ghost. What did this old man want to do?