Chapter 1200: Accusing a good person of being a thief, but there is no harm to the slave

"Which dimension have I traveled to again?"

Su Mingzhe opened his eyes and found himself lying in a straw stack.

Using both hands and feet, he climbed out of the straw stack and saw that it was very hot. After a while, he felt his skin was burning from the sun, as if he was being roasted.

Just then, a farmer carrying a hoe passed by and saw Su Mingzhe standing in the sun in a daze, and shouted:

"Su Lao Er, why are you still here? Your elder brother is almost beaten to death by Liu San, go and take a look!"

"Brother? Liu San?"

Su Mingzhe slowly integrated his memories and remembered his current identity. He turned out to be an ordinary citizen of Sishui Township, Qinpei County.

The eldest brother was called Su Da and I was called Su Er. Although they both served in the army, they did not kill the enemy on the battlefield and thus did not receive a title. After retiring and returning home, the two brothers lived on a few acres of thin land and did odd jobs for others.

As for Liu San...his ancestors were from Wei, and later his grandfather moved to Pei County and became a county magistrate in the former Chu State.

After Liu San's grandfather passed away, the Liu family fell into decline.

However, even so, the Liu family had produced scholars after all, so Liu Da, Liu Er, and Liu San all received education.

Among them, Liu San also followed the great knight Zhang Er and served as a retainer of Lord Xinling.

There was also such a legendary experience. After the Qin Dynasty unified the world, Liu San returned to Pei County. Everyone looked at him with a bit of fear.

Liu San himself was not a good person either. Relying on his ability in both literature and martial arts, he gathered a group of his former childhood friends in Sishui Township, took the position of township headman, bullied men and women, and did all kinds of bad things.

"Liu San from Pei County...could he be Liu Bang?"

Su Mingzhe's mind raced, and he ran quickly in the direction the farmer had pointed.

Not long after.

He saw four big men hanging a tall and thin farmer on a roadside tree and beating him.

One of them cursed while beating him:
"Su Da, if you just admit this, I will punish you as a slave for a year! If not, I will beat you to death today. Not only will you lose your life, but all your land and houses will be confiscated!"

Su Mingzhe came running from afar and after just listening to a few words, he guessed why Liu San and others beat his eldest brother.

Liu San was the head of the Sishui Township. According to Qin law, he had the obligation to maintain the customs and discipline of the township.

Now, they are forcing their eldest brother to admit something. It may be that some bandits have appeared in Sishui Township. If they cannot catch the real culprit, they will use Su Da to replace him.

Guessing what the men had done, Su Mingzhe let out a loud cry, rushed over, and knocked Liu San and his three accomplices unconscious with three punches and two kicks.

When he untied Su Da who was hanging up, he saw that his elder brother's body had been beaten to pieces, blood and flesh were all over the place, and he was half dead.

The original body and brother Su depended on each other and had a deep brotherly love. Su Mingzhe absorbed the original body's memories and emotions, and naturally felt furious. He picked up the whip on the ground and whipped Liu San and the others.

"Second brother, stop fighting, they are officials!"

Su Da was an honest man. Even though he was about to be beaten to death, he never thought of taking revenge on Liu San and the others.

Su Mingzhe didn't care about that and said bluntly:
"Brother, Liu San and his gang falsely accused innocent people of being thieves, which is against Qin law. Even if I beat them to death, there will be no trouble!"

Go ahead, Su Mingzhe raised the whip and whipped him a few more times.

Fortunately, Su Da recovered and snatched away the whip, which saved Liu San and his four friends' lives.

"Even if Liu San and his gang broke the law, we can hand them over to the county magistrate and let him deal with them. We can't carry out lynching!"

Su Da never went to school, but when he served in the Qin army camp, he followed his superiors to memorize many Qin laws.

Seeing that his elder brother was trying desperately to stop him, Su Mingzhe had no choice but to give up.

Then they poured cold water on the men to wake them up, tied them up with ropes, and took them to the county town to report to the authorities.

Qin laws were strict.

The Su Mingzhe brothers escorted the four men to the government office and told them how Liu San and the other three had falsely accused innocent people of thieves.

Liu San and the other three wanted to deny it, but after Su Mingzhe glared at them fiercely, they obediently told them the whole story.

It was exactly as Su Mingzhe had guessed.

Just because a rich family in the village had four bags of grain stolen, about 200 kilograms of grain, and reported the case. Liu San and others were unable to catch the murderer for a while, and when they saw Su Da enjoying the cool in the woods, they thought of framing an innocent person as a thief and covering up the case.

When the county magistrate learned of the case, he sentenced the four men to "theft", "two years' imprisonment as slaves", and "a fine of two hundred guilders".

The shield coin, also known as the cloth coin, was a popular currency unit in the Three Jins. One shield could buy approximately three to five kilograms of rice and half a kilogram of wine.

The county magistrate's standard for sentencing is "false accusation of the same crime."

Liu San and the other four were sentenced to the same crime as the one they falsely accused Su Da of.

Since the four men still held official positions, they were punished twice as much according to the law for knowingly breaking the law. After the county magistrate punished Liu San and the other four, he gave the extra fine, that is, 100 guilders, to Su Mingzhe, who arrested Liu San and the other four.

In addition, Su Mingzhe was awarded the title of "Gongshi" for capturing four people.

Although the title of Gongshi was the lowest among the twenty titles, the noble would still be allocated one hectare of land, nine mu of residential land, one servant, and 50 dan of grain.

When the officials escorted Liu San and the other four away, Su Mingzhe was about to leave with his elder brother, but was stopped by the county magistrate:

"Su Er, your Sishui Township Headman position is vacant now, are you willing to take the position?"

"Thank you for your appreciation, sir. I am willing to do so!"

Su Mingzhe didn't expect that on his first day of traveling through time, he would receive so many benefits just for helping his elder brother to redress his wrongdoing.

"Xiao Yuan, take Su Er to go through the formalities and collect the reward!"

"Here!"

Xiao He, the chief clerk of Pei County, received the order and took Su Mingzhe to register first.

When registering, Su Mingzhe gave himself a name.

Soon, Su Mingzhe got his new black bamboo card (ID card).

On the front it says:

"Su Song, courtesy name Mingzhe, was born in the Xinyou year. He has a broad face and phoenix eyes. He is seven feet eight inches tall (1.8 meters). His title is Gongshi. It was made in June of the Bingxu year."

On the back are some cloud pattern codes specially made for government offices, which can be used for inspection and theft prevention.

After receiving the black bamboo card, Xiao He took Su Mingzhe to collect the reward.

First of all, there is a reward of one hundred shields for capturing Liu San and four others.

One hundred shields weigh about twenty pounds.

Su Mingzhe stretched out his hand and shook him, then let his elder brother carry him on his back.

Then came the rewards for the title of duke: one hectare of land, nine acres of residential land, one slave, and fifty shi of grain.

Fifty dan of grain is approximately equivalent to three thousand kilograms in modern times.

There were too many things, and Su Mingzhe couldn't take them all, so he could only "cash them out".

The so-called "discount" means paying the tax that a pavilion chief should pay in advance with these three thousand kilograms of grain.

As for the rest, collect them all and then hand them in.

In addition, they can also receive a nine-acre residential plot, one hectare of land and a servant.

The homestead and fields will be decided after returning to Sishui Township.

Now I'm going to take a servant back first.

Servants can be either male or female.

Su Mingzhe brought Su Da to the prison cell where the official slaves were held.

Liu San and four others who were just arrested had their heads shaved and were locked up here.

When the four saw Xiao He bringing Su Mingzhe and Su Da in, they immediately begged Xiao He to rescue them.

Seeing this, Su Mingzhe smiled faintly at Xiao He and said:

"Brother Xiao Yuan, it seems that you have a good relationship with Liu San and the others!"

"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding!"

Although Xiao He was the chief clerk in the county government, he had no title and just made a living by writing. Fearing that Su Mingzhe would misunderstand him, he explained how he got to know Liu San and others.

It was nothing more than that the two parties had official dealings, and Xiao He was a smooth person, so he had a few meals with Liu San and others under their shameless persuasion.

Su Mingzhe didn't care about this.

Suddenly Su Mingzhe remembered something, pointed at one of Liu San's followers, and said with a smile:

"Brother Xiao Yuan, this Cao Wushang has just been captured. Can I choose him to be my slave now?"

Xiao He didn't know what the relationship between Su Mingzhe and Cao Wushang was, but he was not curious, so he nodded immediately:

"Of course, no problem! I'll register here later, and Brother Su can take him away..."

(End of this chapter)