Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 378 Deciding the Case

Zhao Yongping blew up Jining City, which also marked a new direction in the form of war. Gunpowder will play a greater role in the future.

The army rushed into the city, and the people in the city were all in panic and trembling. At this time, officials at all levels in Jining City had already been in chaos, and no one expected that the city would be breached so quickly.

After the Zhou army entered the city, the resistance in the city was slight, and almost all the generals surrendered. Only Lu Guonan, who was stationed in the north city, led his troops out of the city after Jining City fell. However, under the obstruction and siege of the Zhou army, only a few escaped.

After just one night, Zhou's army completely controlled Jining City and captured Jining Prefect Li Wude, River Governor Yang Fangxing and more than ten officials of various ranks. Among the military officials, Jining City was headed by Linqing General Yi Yonggui, who had nearly a hundred officers of various ranks.

While Zhou's army was clearing Jining City, a small incident occurred. Gao Yi was a little tired when he led the heavy armored troops to wipe out the resistance against the Qing troops. When he stopped to rest on the street at the south gate, an old man rushed over despite an old woman's attempt to stop him.

Gao Yi's personal guards thought it was an assassin, but the old man knelt on the ground as soon as he came over, crawled all the way to Gao Yi, and cried, "General, it's unfair!"

Gao Yi was confused. Didn't you see that there was a war going on here and there were corpses everywhere? You were crying out for injustice at this time. Didn't you not see the situation clearly?

Gao Yi saw this and said in a deep voice: "Old man, this is a chaotic time. You should go home immediately. If you have any grievances, come back to seek redress when things are more settled."

The old man cried and shook his head, saying, "General, now that it's peaceful, no one can take care of it."

Gao Yi frowned and said, "Well, just keep it short. If you have any grievances, please tell me quickly. I don't have much time."

"General, I want to sue the criminal clerk Zhao Chunbai. He raped my daughter and fabricated charges against my son and put him in jail. He also said that killing me is like killing a fly. I went to the government to appeal, but the magistrate beat me instead."

Gao Yi was stunned and asked, "This criminal clerk doesn't seem to be an official, but a clerk, right?"

The old man nodded hastily and said, "I eat at the government's expense."

Gao Yi curled his lips. He thought it was some shocking case, an injustice that would go down in history. There would be no sense of accomplishment in killing a minor official.

At this time, a messenger came running and ordered Gao Yi to lead the army to the government office as soon as possible. Gao Yi then casually left a token for the old man and told him his name, indicating that he could come to find him after the situation calmed down.

It was not until Jining City was completely settled down and there was no sound of fighting in the city that the old man took the token and asked along the way, and actually found Gao Yi again.

Gao Yi originally wanted to send someone to kill the minor official, but after thinking about it, he felt that it seemed inappropriate, so he reported the matter to Zhao Yongping.

Zhao Yongping has always had the ambition to save the world and bring peace to the people. Upon hearing the news, he felt that the petty officials were doing even worse harm to the people. Zhao Yongping then met the old man in person to learn more about the situation. The old man's name was Sun San, the petty official's name was Zhao Chunbai, and the Jining magistrate's name was Tang Huan.

After pondering for a long time, Zhao Yongping decided to judge the case in Jining City, to win over the people's hearts and punish the evil officials. In the subsequent report sent to Nanjing, Zhao Yongping specifically advised Meng Jun: "Governing the people is not as good as governing the officials. The harm caused by the officials is worse than defending against floods!"

In order to appease the people of Jining City, Zhao Yongping ordered people to post notices to reassure the people and to post notices, telling the people inside and outside Jining City that if they had grievances, they could file a complaint.

When Jining City changed its owner, many people did not dare to file a complaint, and only those who were wronged dared to file a complaint.

In order to establish his credibility, Zhao Yongping personally interrogated Sun San on the street.

Such a scene was something that common people, not even the generals in the army had ever seen. When the generals heard that General Zhao was going to be the county magistrate and judge cases himself, they were all very curious and rushed to the scene to watch.

A group of Qing army civil and military officers were guarding nearby, and many brave people stopped there to watch.

Zhao Yongping sat on the armchair. On the table in front of him, there was a gavel, a cinnabar brush, and next to it was an inkstone with some ink remaining in it. Sitting here, Zhao Yongping seemed to have found a sense of solving a case.

Zhao Yongping shouted: "Pass it to Sun San, Zhao Chunbai, and Tang Huan!"

Jining County Magistrate Tang Huan was stunned. He thought he was just there to make up the numbers. As the saying goes, a man who has committed many evil deeds can only be relegated to the provincial capital. Tang Huan's life as the county magistrate in Jining was not a good one. Several of his immediate superiors were in Jining. Good things could not come to him, but bad things could not be avoided.

However, when Zhou's army captured Jining, Tang Huan thought that this had nothing to do with him. After all, there were so many tall men supporting him, and it would never be his turn as a small shrimp. Unexpectedly, he would be the first one to be pulled up.

Tang Huan was at least somewhat cheered up, but Zhao Chunbai, the clerk in the prison, had lost all his dignity and wet his pants in full view of everyone.

Zhao Yongping frowned, covered his nose lightly, and said in a deep voice: "Sun San, tell me all your grievances."

Sun San knelt and said, "General, I want to sue the criminal clerk Zhao Chunbai for forcibly raping my daughter, causing her to commit suicide. My son came to ask for an explanation, but he fabricated a crime and put him in jail. I went to the government to appeal, but the magistrate ignored me and beat me up instead."

Zhao Yongping shouted, "Zhao Chunbai, what do you have to say?"

Zhao Chunbai looked up and saw murderous soldiers all around him. He had never seen such a scene before and was so frightened that he fainted on the spot.

"Leave him here, pour the water on him to wake him up." Zhao Yongping signaled to the guards on both sides to wake up Zhao Chunbai.

The two bodyguards were not polite either. They rushed up, picked him up, and slapped him more than ten times in a row, waking Zhao Chunbai up.

Zhao Chunbai woke up slowly, his cheeks aching and he cried. Seeing Zhao Yongping asking again, Zhao Chunbai was so scared that he almost had a mental breakdown. He kowtowed repeatedly and said, "My lord, I know I was wrong, and I will never dare to do it again."

Seeing that Zhao Chunbai had already confessed his guilt, Zhao Yongping turned to ask Magistrate Tang: "Tang Huan, as a magistrate, why don't you accept the injustice?"

Tang Huan didn't expect that it was because of such a small matter. He cursed Zhao Chunbai in his heart and regretted accepting the fifty taels of silver from him. Seeing this, Tang Huan argued: "I was deceived by this thief and failed to supervise him."

Zhao Yongping said coldly: "You are an official appointed by the enemy court, how can you call me an official?"

Before Tang Huan could reply, Zhao Chunbai seemed to have realized what was happening and said in a hurry, "County Magistrate Tang accepted fifty taels of silver from me and promised to cover up this matter for me."

Tang Huan was so angry that he punched Zhao Chunbai in the face. Seeing this, the guard next to him kicked Tang Huan to the ground.

Tang Huan quickly fell to the ground and begged, "General, I was bewildered for a moment, please forgive me."

Zhao Yongping snorted coldly and said, "Zhao Chun's crimes are unforgivable, behead him and throw him into the streets. Tang Huan is greedy and harms the people, behead him, execute him immediately!"

When the two heard the trial, they were so frightened that they fainted.

At this time, Zhao Yongping slammed the gavel hard and said, "If there is a grievance, redress it. Next one."

Many people in Jining had been tortured by this evil official. Seeing Zhao Chunbai being tortured and dying tragically made the surrounding people cheer.

More and more people appealed their grievances to the military clerks appointed by Zhao Yongping.

Nearly a thousand people filed complaints, and the officials, military officers, gentry, local tyrants, and ruffians who were tried were just that many.

Zhao Yongping brought everyone together and asked the people to file their complaints. Sometimes, dozens of cases were tried at the same time, and the efficiency was extremely high.

In just one day, only more than twenty people including Jining officials, gentry, local tyrants, soldiers and generals survived.

Among them, Yi Yonggui shouted: "General, I am the general of Linqing. Now I have surrendered with my troops. How can you kill the surrendered? This will disgrace your reputation!"

Zhao Yongping smiled when he heard this, shook his head and said, "Let's not talk about your actions of harming the people. You surrendered only after your city was broken and you were desperate. For this reason alone, I will kill you. Come, behead Yi Yonggui and hang his head on the flag to scare the enemy army!"

(I originally wanted to write another long chapter, but then I thought that everyone would not believe me, so it would be best to divide it into two chapters →_→)