Gu Xiancheng's famous saying

  As I entered the grand hall of the yamen, I saw two rows of attendants standing on either side. County Magistrate Chen Guanyu sat high up on the dais, with a plaque hanging above his head that read "Upright, Great and Enlightened". He had a very good face, with a square jawline, three long whiskers, and an air of integrity about him. If one didn't know what he was really like, they might think at first glance that he was a good official.

  In fact, this guy is not a good person, he wants to take advantage of everything, whether it's his or not, and he's cruel and harsh to the common people. Last time Zhu Yuanzhang came to the government office, I saw him "sitting in court comparing grain", using a board to punish several common people who couldn't pay their taxes.

  The Second Master entered the main hall, his legs still shaking slightly, with Ma Qianjiu and Zhu Yuanchang supporting him on either side.

  Ma Qianjiu was a seasoned veteran, and in his youth, he often followed the young master on trips, meeting many prominent figures, including the magistrate of Xi'an Prefecture. So, when he entered the county government office, he wasn't afraid at all, walking steadily. He glanced sideways and saw that Zhu Ba also walked steadily, with a firm grip on Second Master's hand, which made him feel somewhat surprised in his heart. This Zhu Ba was indeed a unique character; ordinary people would be more nervous than Second Master when they entered the magistrate's hall, but this cowherd boy seemed so calm and composed, truly having some skill.

  He walked into the hall and stood still. Magistrate Chen gave a low laugh, slapped his hand on the alarm stick: "How dare you! Seeing this official, why don't you kneel?"

  The second young master was stunned, he had no official title to his name, and in this situation, he should have knelt down. At this moment, he felt that he should have studied hard before, if he had an official title, he would not be humiliated by others at this time. However, this thought only flashed for a moment, like him, such a lazy person, even if he vowed to study hard, he would forget his vow the next day.

  After hesitating for a long time, the second young master finally knelt down. Ma Qianjiu also slowly knelt down, he was a little worried that Zhu Ba would not kneel, from the past two days of getting along with him, he faintly discovered that Zhu Ba seemed to have a proud temperament in his bones, if at this time he refused to kneel, it would be troublesome. His worry was unnecessary, Zhu Ba also slowly knelt down, seemingly without such a proud temperament, Ma Qianjiu finally let out a sigh of relief.

  In his previous life, Zhu Yuanzhang had possessed the world, but before he sat on the emperor's throne, he had been penniless, struggled in the muddy ground, begged for survival in the stinky ditch, crawled through piles of corpses, and even once when he was defeated in battle, it was Empress Ma who carried him on her back as they fled... He didn't have an unyielding pride, and when circumstances required it, he could kneel to anyone, but while kneeling, deep down he remained a monarch, without any intention of surrender.

  "Bang!" The wooden board slammed again. County Magistrate Chen sneered and said, "Ma Zhi Bin, do you know why I summoned you to the court today?"

  Ma Zhibin was the second young master, he was about to say that he knew, but Zhu Yuanzhang poked him lightly from behind. He suddenly woke up and hurriedly said: "I don't know! This young master is completely innocent, County Magistrate has brought me here, I don't know what's going on?"

  "How dare you!" County Magistrate Chen slammed his palm on the desk again, causing the courtroom to buzz with the sound of the shock-inducing wooden block. The purpose of this block was to intentionally create a loud noise to intimidate and awe the common people, making them fear the power of the officials.

  The second young master was dull and lacking in cunning, and these two loud noises startled him, his face turning slightly pale.

  "Pass on the order to seal off Xiguzi Village!" County Magistrate Chen shouted loudly.

  At the sound of an order, the side door of the main hall opened and several bailiffs led in a group of peasants tied with ropes. There were about thirty or forty people. Zhu Yuanzhang was somewhat familiar with these people, having seen some of them when he went to Xigou Village last time to fight. These peasants had already been punished, their buttocks swollen high from the beating, their heads hung low, their bodies shrinking in fear, and they walked out step by step. When they reached the middle of the hall, thirty or forty people knelt down together, making a rustling sound.

  In the courtyard outside the main hall of the government office, many common people crowded in to watch the trial. When they saw this group of villagers come out, some women's wailing voices immediately rang out. It turned out that these were women from Xigou Village, who had been waiting for a long time outside the hall, hoping to get their men back as soon as possible.

  When the group knelt down, no one dared to look at Second Master or Ma Qianjiu. Instead, two of them secretly glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang, their eyes filled with guilt. They had obviously betrayed the Ma family but didn't feel guilty towards Second Master; they only felt a little uneasy about implicating Zhu Baige in this matter.

  After they "attached" to the Ma family, although the tribute money handed over was lighter than the taxes paid to the government, it was still a heavy burden. The Ma family would use various methods to bully them, so their hatred for the Ma family would not be less than that of the government. Until recently, Zhu Ba took charge of all farm work as the deputy manager, and relaxed his control over these people somewhat. If someone couldn't pay the tribute money to the Ma family, Zhu Ba wouldn't drag him out and beat him like Qi, the former manager, but would allow them to delay for a few days.

  Magistrate Chen coldly snorted: "The obstinate villagers of Xigou Village... I'll come to ask you, are your fields and properties still in your own names?"

  "Not here!" The villagers of Xigou Village chorused: "It has been given to someone else."

  "Are you still ordinary farmers?"

  "Not present!" The villagers replied: "Already sold, now a slave."

  Magistrate Chen sneered coldly: "Good fields, why give them to others? Good peasants, why sell themselves into slavery? Why after selling your bodies and lands, are you still living in Xiguzi Village cultivating the land? Come, tell me one by one."

  The villagers did not respond!

  Magistrate Chen slapped the wooden table and sneered, "What you've done is clearly 'crooked entrustment', reporting your own land under someone else's name to evade taxes. You bunch of cunning commoners, this is harming the imperial court's interests, it's a crime of deceiving the ruler."

  Actually, before Zhu Yuanzhang and his men arrived, the villagers had already been severely beaten by County Magistrate Chen. All the questions that needed to be asked had been asked, and now they were just going through the motions again. The villagers who were being questioned here knew it was time to reveal the truth, and they all looked at each other nervously, waiting for County Magistrate Chen to ask the most crucial question.

  Magistrate Chen smiled slyly and said, "The crime of deceiving the public originally deserved to be punished by exterminating nine generations. However, Heaven has a benevolent heart, and I, as an official, do not have a fondness for killing. Considering that you are just some foolish and ignorant villagers who don't understand what 'concealed land' means, it's clear that you were deceived by scoundrels. Now, I'll give you the opportunity to reform and start anew. As long as you point out the person who instigated this and truthfully tell me which family your land was concealed in, I will deal with this leniently."

  The villagers raised their heads, and thirty or forty pairs of eyes all focused on the second young master. Countless hands were lifted, as if to point at the second young master...

  Just then, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been kneeling silently all along, suddenly spoke up. He said loudly, "County Magistrate, the 'ghost marriage' has been a bad habit for hundreds of years, and it has been prevalent throughout the country since the mid-Ming dynasty. No one has ever managed it before, and now no one manages it either. Why do you want to manage this matter today?"

  He deliberately aimed at the county magistrate's closed mouth, and everyone waited quietly for the villagers of Xigou Village to speak. The scene was originally very quiet, with a pin drop, and he spoke extremely loudly, his voice far away. It went out, and all the people outside the hall heard it clearly. This time, it seemed like throwing a stone into the calm lake surface, stirring up thousands of waves...

  The women of Xigou Village heard this and immediately burst into tears: "Yes... why did others 'frame' nothing, what did our Xigou Village do to provoke anyone? Why must they arrest my family's men?"

  Outside the temple, many common people who were also dependent on the Ma, Zhang, Li and other wealthy families immediately started shouting: "Pucheng County doesn't care, Chengcheng County doesn't care, Mizhi County doesn't care either, why does our Baishui County have to care about 'dependent households'?"

  Although many people shouted not to investigate "evil deeds", most of the common people were ordinary people without "evil deeds". So the ordinary people also shouted: "Evil deeds are wrong in the first place, they should be investigated."

  "So, you guys still have an excuse?"

  "Although County Magistrate is usually not doing the right thing, this time he did it right."

  "I also support County Magistrate's investigation into the strange occurrences!"

  "Strange, is Chen Guanyu going to change from being a bully to being a good person?"

  "County Magistrate, we support you! Investigate the strange occurrences!"

  Listening to the commotion outside, Zhu Yuanzhang was secretly delighted. As expected, the emotions of the people had been stirred up. In such a situation where public sentiment is surging, any official would want to maintain their reputation. Being called "Blue Sky" is always better than being called "Skin Flayer". This is the weakness of human nature. Even the most corrupt officials in the world will become self-righteous at this time... Chen Guanyu was about to take the bait...

  Unexpectedly, Chen Guanyu felt very pleased with himself as he listened to the commotion outside. The number of people supporting his investigation into Ma's corruption was clearly more than those opposing it. This time, not only could he deal with the Ma family, but also gain a good reputation for himself. For an instant, he even thought he was a clean official.

  In a low voice, Zhu Yuanzhang began to recite something. The sound was not loud or soft, just enough for the people outside the hall to hear it clearly, but Chen Guanyu and other officials could hear it very clearly. What he recited was a very generous and stirring phrase: "When an official in the capital is not loyal to his master, when a local official does not care about the people's livelihood, hiding in the countryside without speaking of justice, he is not worthy of being called a gentleman."

  Due to the intense emotions and chaotic scene, Chen Guanyu didn't have time to think about the meaning of Zhu Yuanzhang's words. He just felt that the speech was great and had a strong sense of justice. As he was worried about lacking some words to calm down the crowd, he quickly memorized them and then loudly declared to the people outside: "Everyone, stop arguing! The official has already made a decision. We will thoroughly investigate and eliminate evil and corruption. Those who are unfaithful to their lord in the capital, those who do not care about the people's livelihood in local governments, those who hide in rural areas and do not uphold justice, do not deserve to be called gentlemen."

  These words were truly extraordinary and immediately caused a burst of applause from the people outside...

  Zhu Yuanzhang sighed inwardly: Foolish county magistrate, do you know the origin of this sentence? This is a phrase often spoken by Gu Xiancheng, one of the leaders of the Donglin Party. If you're still not coming out to clean up after being deceived into reciting his famous quote... my surname isn't Zhu!