Chapter Seventy-Five: Wrongful Conviction

  It was December and every household was preparing for the New Year, so the Yin Manor had also calmed down a bit. Li Chong started to have nothing to do again, so he casually went out for a walk.

  At this time, Li Chong already had his own mansion and no longer lived in the county government office. He walked to the county government office and heard a loud noise, so he rushed in to see what was happening. As he approached, Li Chong asked around and found out that it was a fight.

  Li Chong then entered the county yamen, wanting to see how Jia Kui would judge the case.

  Unexpectedly, Jia Kui saw Li Zhong coming forward and immediately yielded the master seat to him, asking Li Zhong to personally preside over the case. Li Zhong also became interested and took over the case, regardless of whether Jia Kui was sincere or not.

  Sitting in the main hall, Li Chong ordered someone to bring up the suspect. As soon as he saw the suspect, Li Chong smacked his lips and found that there was a Xianbei person. Li Chong's heart moved, and he immediately had an idea. He announced that the case would be tried publicly, which means that ordinary people could watch at will.

  The Xianbei man was called Muli Gen, who looked to be over thirty years old. He wore a leather coat that seemed quite valuable. The other person was an elderly man named Wang Er, with a face full of wrinkles and hands covered in calluses, clearly the result of many years of hard labor.

  Seeing Li Zhonggao sitting in the main seat, he bowed his head and said respectfully: "Sir..."

  "Shut your mouth! Have you been allowed to speak? You dare to make a loud noise in this official's county yamen, take him out and slap his mouth!" Li was furious, shouting loudly.

  The Xianbei people were suddenly stunned, what's going on here? The case hasn't even been tried yet, and they're already going to be beaten.

  The yamen runners didn't care about these things, they were originally soldiers who had been wounded and couldn't go to the battlefield to kill enemies. Li Zhong thought of using waste materials, so he let them serve as yamen runners. These people were extremely sensitive to orders, and when the master gave an order, they naturally followed it. Suddenly, two yamen runners came up, pressed down Mu Li's root, and started beating him with a wooden stick.

  Although this law of slapping the mouth had not yet appeared at that time, it was easy to understand. The yamen runners knew that as long as they slapped the prisoner's mouth, it would be enough.

  After a few blows, Mu Li Gen was already spitting out fresh blood and had lost several teeth.

  Seeing that they had almost finished fighting, Li Zhong pointed at Wang Er and asked: "Tell me, what's going on here?"

  Wang Er was already frightened out of his wits, thinking to himself that this official was too cruel. He came up and started beating him with a stick first, and since he was young and strong, he should be able to recover from the injuries, but what about me?

  Thinking of this, Wang Er asked cautiously: "Sir... can a humble subject really speak?"

  "Ah! Speak!" Li nodded seriously and said with a gentle expression.

  Wang Er felt that the official was being quite kind to him, and his courage grew. He spoke in a respectful tone: "I humbly report to Your Honor, I have a small clothing store in the Yin Guan where I specialize in making leather goods. This Mu Li Gen came to my store the other day to have me make a leather cloak for him, and he agreed to pay 500 coins. But today, when he took his cloak, he said that my craftsmanship was not up to par and only gave me 100 coins. I was indignant and argued with him, but this person actually hit me."

  As he spoke, Wang Er rolled up his sleeves and showed Li the wound on his arm.

  Li Chongdiao raised an eyebrow and asked Mu Ligen, "Is what Wang Er said true?"

  "Big... silver... it's not that the grass is unwilling to spend money, but..." Mu Li Gen said vaguely with a mouthful of broken teeth.

  Li Chong's eyes widened in annoyance and he said: "I didn't ask you that, I asked if you beat Wang Er or not?"

  "Yes!" replied Kōji, stiffening his scalp.

  Li Zhonglang sneered and said, "What a nuisance! Now that the case is clear, Mu Liugen intended to embezzle Wang Er's property. After the plot was exposed, he beat up Wang Er with the intention of killing him to silence him. According to the Great Han law... hmm... Ah... Mu Liugen will be taken out and executed by beheading, and the 500 coins that Wang Er should have received will be deducted, while the rest of his property will be confiscated."

  ……

  Everyone present, whether officials or ordinary people, were stunned by Li Chong's verdict. Some people involuntarily swallowed their saliva, unable to help themselves, as Li Chong's verdict was too bold.

  Judging from Li Zhong's poor excuse, it is clear that this official has not studied the Han law much, which means Li Zhong intentionally wants to put Mu Lie on death row.

  Mu Lugeng was shocked and hastily shouted loudly: "Sir, I'm innocent! I'm willing to pay compensation."

  "Take him out and behead him!" Li Chong waved his hand impatiently.

  "With a stern expression and an urgent tone, he shouted: 'Lord Li, I know the Governor of Youzhou, Liu Yu. How can you treat him like this...'"

  Before Mu Li Gen could finish speaking, a yamen runner received a hint from Li Chong and struck Mu Li Gen's occipital bone with a stick, knocking him unconscious to the ground. He was dragged out by his collar, and soon the yamen runner brought back Mu Li Gen's blood-soaked head to report to Li Chong.

  The onlookers were horrified and felt a deep sense of injustice, thinking to themselves: "How did we end up with such a governor? Will we ever have good days again?"

  Li Chong waved his hand and let the bailiffs retreat, looking at the onlookers among the common people and smiling: "Do you think I'm taking lives lightly?"

  The onlookers didn't dare to respond to Li Chong's words, they looked around with their eyes, wanting to leave the main hall but not daring to really walk away, fearing that Li Chong would get angry and find an excuse to behead them.

  Looking at the timid and shrinking civilians, Li Zhong exerted himself to reveal a warm smile, and then said: "I killed Muli Gen today just to tell you that our Han people are not to be bullied by aliens. I am here to protect you, even if you have done wrong, the law of the Han Dynasty only applies to the children of the Han Dynasty, do you understand?"

  "The adults are wise...” This time the common people were delighted. The Yanmen area is located in the northern border, and these common people often interact with ethnic minorities, who frequently bully them, while Yang Chou dares not offend these alien tribes, so the common people can only swallow their anger. This time Li Zhong rose strongly, and the common people suddenly had a feeling of raising their eyebrows and exhaling, and their resentment towards Li Zhong also dissipated a bit.

  This is also the reason why Li Zhong wanted to wrongfully kill Mu Ligen, only by doing so can Li Zhong make the common people accept him and consider him as one of their own, as for whether Mu Ligen deserved to die or not, that was no longer within Li Zhong's consideration.

  As Li Zhong said, if a country cannot protect its own people, what is the point of it still existing? It's better to disband early.

  It's reasonable to talk to your own people like this, but when it comes to outsiders, there's no need to explain anything. They won't reason with you either. The best way is to use knives and guns to communicate!

  Li Chong has always believed that the Han Chinese are the noblest nation in this world, and other nations should be inferior, barbarian tribes. National fusion, haha... is not impossible, but the key is that the Han Chinese must take charge and actively integrate with other nations.

  Now Li Chong's strength is not enough, once Li Chong's strength is sufficient, the obedient minority can be given a way out by the benevolent Lord Li Chong, but they must serve as oxen and horses. The disobedient minority has only one road to take, that is the road of death.