The next morning, Wang Yuanguo brought people to take those who had deliberately pretended to be ghosts the previous night to the government office.
Wang Er also went to the Yi Zhou Royal Palace to find out that someone had actually dared to trick Li Yao. Liu Yun's anger rose in his heart.
The day before, he had summoned all the county magistrates and major officials of Yi Prefecture in his capacity as the Prince of Yi Zhou, in order to get everyone to stay.
But unexpectedly, most of the people insisted on leaving Yi Prefecture.
If they wanted everyone to stay, they would have to increase their salaries substantially.
There is a saying that a country cannot be without a ruler even for a day, but also cannot be without officials for a day.
Yi Prefecture needs many officials to manage it.
Without the assistance of officials, he, the Prince of Yi Prefecture, would just be an empty figurehead. It would be impossible to find so many people to reappoint as officials in a short period of time.
As for increasing salaries, that was even more unlikely.
It wasn't that he couldn't afford the money, but rather that once he set this precedent, the officials below him would stick together to force him to compromise whenever anything happened in the future, which was equivalent to sidelining him.
He had barely slept all night because of this matter. When he got up in the morning and heard about this kind of nonsense, his mood became even worse.
Prefect Li had left, so the daily affairs of Yizhou Prefecture were temporarily handled by three Vice Prefects and an additional Magistrate.
Cases like these were generally handled by the Magistrate.
So he sent Bai Song to the prefectural office to inquire. But Bai Song came back and told him that Prefectural Judge He had already closed the case. Each of the people who were sent there was fined a few hundred coins, and then released.
Right after they walked out of the front gate of the prefectural office, the one whose leg was broken was carried back into the prefectural office by people again. He then accused the Li Family of breaking his leg.
The rest also unanimously accused Wang Yuanguo of assaulting them, resulting in varying degrees of injury.
Now the staff of the prefectural office had sent runners to arrest people.
Liu Yun could hardly believe his ears.
These people had colluded to defraud money, but instead of investigating to the bottom of it, this Prefectural Judge had just fined them some money and considered it done?
It was simply child's play!
What was even more ridiculous was that these people actually dared to invert black and white!
"Bring Prefectural Judge He to me!"
"Brother Liu," Wang Er next to him hurriedly said, "don't get angry first."
"How can I not be angry? Such a big incident has happened, and I, the Prince of Yi Prefecture, must naturally get justice for you."
"There is no hurry for this," Wang Er said. "My mother had already anticipated that this would be the result, so she asked me to pass on a few words to you."
After listening to Wang Er's message, Liu Yun felt that he was still too young and impulsive.
"Alright, let's do it according to Auntie's teachings. Let's go to the prefectural office now."
......
Yizhou Prefecture was several times more majestic than the Baichuan County government office. In front of the vermilion gate stood two stone lions over two meters tall, and a huge sounding drum hung under the eaves of a building next door.
At this time, the main gate of the prefectural office was wide open. Two rows of servants in official uniforms held black lacquered staffs in their hands, looking extremely majestic.
Sitting high above the tribunal was an official with a long beard—Prefectural Judge He of the Yizhou Prefectural Office.
In principle, a Prefectural Judge did not have the qualifications to sit in this position, but now there was no Prefect in the prefectural office. None of the three Vice Prefects were willing to stick their necks out either, so he had taken advantage of the opportunity to pretend to be the Prefect.
At this time, in the main hall, Brother Wu and his group of plaintiffs were waiting. Standing in front of them was Zhang the Shopkeeper.
When the people he had sent last night were caught red-handed, Zhang the Shopkeeper was greatly shocked.
If the ghost stories about those residences were exposed, then the people buying the residences would surely back out of the deal.
If they backed out, not only would he not make any money, he would lose several thousand taels!
So he immediately went to find the bosses of several pawnshops in the city at night. One of them was none other than Prefectural Judge He, who now sat high above the hall.
After thinking it over, Prefectural Judge He told him to come today and make a counterclaim. This would not only allow him to get the Wuchu Residence back, but the profits would not be reduced either.
With Prefectural Judge He handling this matter, Zhang the Shopkeeper knew it was not a difficult matter at all. A huge weight was lifted from his heart.
Just then, an attendant came into the hall and announced: “Prefectural Judge He, the offenders have arrived!"
"Bring them to the hall."
Soon, Wang Yuanguo walked into the main hall.
Because the residence that Li Yao bought was under Da Zhuang's name, it was Da Zhuang who followed behind him.
Meanwhile, He Xiaoyi and her family were stopped outside the front gate. They could only watch from afar, along with many common people who had come to join in the fun.
After paying their respects, Prefectural Judge He asked in a deep voice, "Zhang Shopkeeper, are these two the ones you want to accuse?"
"Exactly!"
"What do you want to accuse them of?"
"Your Honor," Zhang Shopkeeper said according to what was agreed upon last night, "these two relied on force to intimidate people and forced me to sell the Wuchu Residence to them at a low price. I am a timid person and was afraid, thinking I should just take the loss. So I reluctantly sold it to them. But my buddies were indignant about this. Last night they went to reason with them, but they were unexpectedly beaten badly by them. One buddy even had his leg broken. I am an upstanding businessman in Yizhou Prefecture who has always conducted business in good conscience. I usually don't mind taking a small loss. But these two were vicious in their actions, and actually inflicted such serious harm on my innocent buddies. I plead with Your Honor to uphold justice on behalf of the common people. Make them return my residence to me and treat my buddy's injuries!"
"Nonsense!" As soon as Da Zhuang heard this, he could no longer restrain himself and shouted loudly, "We clearly bought that residence from you fairly!"
"Bought fairly?" Zhang Shopkeeper gave a cold laugh. "Let me ask you, how much silver did you spend buying those residences from me?"
"Ten thousand for mine."
"I bought four residences for a total of thirty thousand taels. That's less than seven thousand five hundred per residence on average," said Wang Yuanguo.
"That's right!" said Zhang Shopkeeper. "Go ask any pawn shop in Yizhou Prefecture and see if you can buy that kind of residence at such a price! Your Honor, they were clearly seizing things by force. I plead with Your Honor to discern this clearly!"
Da Zhuang and Wang Yuanguo's eyebrows wrinkled slightly. Indeed, the price they paid for the residences was very low. They hadn't expected this to be part of a plot.
"Hmm," said Prefectural Judge He. "According to what this official knows, the price of residences in that area should not be lower than fifteen thousand taels of silver."
"But Your Honor, he clearly sold them to us voluntarily!"
"Do you have any witnesses?"
"We do!" said Da Zhuang. "Our whole family was there at the time."
"One’s own family will naturally speak for them, so they cannot serve as witnesses,” said Prefectural Judge He. “Is there anyone else?"
"Well...no."
"If there are no other witnesses, then that cannot prove it was a fair transaction on your part,” said Prefectural Judge He. “Combined with your group’s beating of the shop assistants, which is also a fact, this official thinks the possibility of you two forcing the purchase is very great."
"Your Honor, they came pretending to be ghosts in our house in the middle of the night...”
"Do you have any witnesses?”
Da Zhuang: ......
"Without witnesses, how can you expect this official to believe your one-sided claim?"
When he spoke to this point, a faint smile appeared involuntarily on Zhang Shopkeeper’s face. With Prefectural Judge He here, these two outsiders would surely have to obediently give in.
"However, this official does not arbitrarily decide right and wrong,” Prefectural Judge He went on. “Since each of you stick to your own claims and neither side has witnesses, then this official also cannot determine who is right or wrong. So this official will rule that you two return the residences. However, because you wildly spread rumors that the residences were haunted, which will surely impact future sales, you will have to provide compensation—500 taels per residence. Also, for your group beating the shop assistants, you should rightly be imprisoned for that. But considering that you have just arrived from other places and are not familiar with the customs here in Yizhou Prefecture, this official will not severely punish you. Compensating a total of 500 taels, so as to serve as a warning, will suffice.”
Wang Yuanguo and Da Zhuang looked at each other, dumbfounded. How could the case be judged like this?
"If there are no objections, hand over the deeds and sale contracts,” Prefectural Judge He went on. “Zhang Shopkeeper, also prepare the silver bills so you can return the money to them later.”
"Yes, Your Honor. I will have someone fetch the banknotes right away.”
"Alright, this case is now closed," said Prefectural Judge He as he picked up the sounding block on the bench and slammed it down heavily. "Dismissed."
"Wait!"
Just as he was about to turn around to leave, a slender figure hurriedly walked into the main hall.