Queen Mother, she just wants to lie down

“If you don’t believe me, Master Ma, you can send someone to check. I estimate that some of the fields that have been harvested have already completed the handover procedures.

We will also sort out the issues that have not been completed as soon as possible so as not to delay their crop planting in the second half of the year."

Chen Mian ignored the looks from the other people and continued speaking in the most pious tone possible.

Could it be that this old man had already colluded with Ma Ziliang and deliberately set up this trap for them to fall into?

When they thought of this, the heads of the other three families glared at Chen Mian with eyes as if they were about to burst into flames.

Looking at their expressions, it seemed as if they wanted to pounce on him and strangle him to death.

Mr. Zheng Sanye of the Zheng family felt a pang in his heart.

Ma Ziliang had indeed received instructions from above.

As someone from the Chen family was an official in the capital, they got the news earlier and took the initiative to find Ma Ziliang and confess their guilt.

Damn it! Didn’t the four prominent families of Qingsha have an agreement long ago that they are all of the same blood and look out for each other?

How could the Chen family be so treacherous?

If something really happened, he would not leak any information and would jump out alone, without caring about the lives of the three families.

The Chen family is probably planning to wait until the three families are finished so that they can dominate Qingsha alone, right?

Mr. Chen thought with gritted teeth.

While he was quickly thinking of a countermeasure in his mind, he kept winking at Zheng Qiyun.

I hope he can be more alert to Linglong, realize what is wrong in time, learn from Chen Mian, and take the initiative to admit his guilt.

As long as they admit their guilt with a good attitude, and the Chen family has a concubine in the palace, the emperor will have to give them some face, right?

But Zheng Qiyun was already so mad at Chen Mian that he didn't even glance at him.

He instinctively thought that the Chen family was colluding with Ma Ziliang to frame the other three families and thus become the only one in power.

He first glared at Chen Mian fiercely, then turned his gaze to Ma Ziliang and spoke with a righteous look:

"I cannot bear the accusation of Master Ma. Our Zheng family has always passed down poetry and literature.

The children of the clan begin their education at the age of five, and all of them are familiar with the teachings of the sages.

How is it possible to evade taxes and seize other people’s property and land?

As for the accusation of aiding and abetting the tyrant and condoning his clansmen to do evil, it is completely false.

Of course, my Zheng family has been passed down for a hundred years, and there are many children in the clan, so it is inevitable that there will be one or two yellow leaves occasionally.

If there is a young man who has violated the laws of the country, Lord Ma can deal with him according to the law, and Zheng will not hesitate.

But if you intend to use these rumors that you heard from nowhere to force me to confess, I will never admit it even if I die."

He spoke passionately and decisively.

Most people who are not familiar with him would probably applaud him after hearing his performance.

“Brother Zheng is right. The sky in Qingsha was sunny before Lord Ma came.

When Lord Ma came, everything changed.

As soon as you arrived in Qingsha, you issued a decree that ran counter to the laws of our Daxi, arresting people as soon as you heard a report.

If the arrested person wants to prove his innocence, he has to find evidence on his own.

Such an absurd decree is simply unheard of, but the Lord relied on the power of the county magistrate and acted on his own.

In just a few months in Qingsha, countless unjust, false and wrongful cases had already occurred.

Now they are even fabricating such absurd crimes and pinning them on us.

We are all from a prominent family of gentry, and each family has more than one son with a degree in scholarship, so the taxes we need to pay are limited.

This amount of tax is just a drop in the bucket for us. Is there any need to hide the tax?

As for the claim of occupying the people's fertile land, it is even more nonsense.

Three years ago, several towns in this county suffered severe disasters.

A few of us were kind-hearted and bought their land at a price 20% higher than the land price at the time, helping them overcome the difficulties.

We signed a contract that within five years, if they wanted to redeem the land, we would return it to them at the current price without any hesitation.

The contract is reasonable and does not contain any unfair terms.

Now the people are unwilling to redeem their land. Can we be blamed for this?

Of course, it is impossible for us to do the same as Mr. Chen and return the land to them at a loss.

Everything has a contractual spirit. Once a contract is signed, everything must be done according to the contract.

If Lord Ma wants to rely on his status as the county magistrate to fabricate charges against us and take down several of our families in one fell swoop to facilitate your career, I advise you to give up this idea.

We are not the kind of people you can bully." He Zhengxiong first snorted at Chen Mian with contempt, and then looked at Ma Ziliang with disdain.

He Zhengxiong, who has been calling the shots in Qingsha for decades, has long developed an arrogant and contemptuous character.

He was thrown into jail for several days for no reason. Not only did he not reflect on himself, but he was filled with endless anger.

In addition, seeing Chen Mian do this again at the trial, he was so angry that he almost felt like a Buddha was born and two Buddhas entered Nirvana.

He didn't think at all that Ma Ziliang had the ability to take them all down at the same time.

Even if we really join forces with the Chen family, we don't have this ability.

In recent years, there has been no outstanding figures in the Chen family.

The highest-ranking official was Mr. Chen Wu, a mere sixth-rank Censor.

The other is this year's new Jinshi.

Do you think you can defeat the He, Zheng, and Xu families with just these two people and Ma Ziliang?

It’s almost like a dream!

"Pa, pa, pa, you two are good at speaking. I have heard about your arrogance before, but after seeing it for myself, I am still amazed.

Let’s not talk about other things for now. Just for the fact that you roared in court during the interrogation, I can punish you for being so disrespectful.”

Ma Ziliang stood up from the desk, walked up to the few people step by step, clapped his hands and spoke.

"We are just arguing with reason. How can it be said that we are roaring in the court?" Zheng Qiyun said angrily.

"Xu Xiao, do you have anything to say?" Ma Ziliang ignored him and turned his gaze to the head of the Xu family who had not spoken a word.

"I have nothing to say. Lord Ma arrested several of us from our homes for no reason. I guess he has some evidence in his hands.

Let's talk about everything based on evidence. If the evidence in your hand is sufficient to prove that we have indeed committed the crimes you mentioned.

There is nothing much to say, just follow the law of the court.

If there is no solid evidence, then we will have to jointly sue Mr. Ma." Xu Xiao said calmly.

"Haha, Patriarch Xu is really open-minded. Look at how well he said it.

Come on, please invite the witness to come to the court." Ma Ziliang laughed, then turned his head and called out.

As he finished speaking, three figures walked in from outside.

When everyone's eyes fell on the three figures, the Zheng and Xu families were slightly stunned.

The He family's pupils shrank uncontrollably.