"Sir, I want to report, their family has taken over our shop, the grain shop by the west city gate facing the street is ours!" another middle-aged man stepped forward and shouted.
"Do you have any evidence?"
The middle-aged man said, "I have it at home!"
"Go get it! As long as the evidence is conclusive, I will make sure the shop is returned to you!"
The middle-aged man’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he hurried back home to fetch the evidence.
The evidence was a deed, and it was an official deed.
An official deed is a deed stamped with the official seal of the prefecture or county and can also be called a red deed. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✦𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✦𝓷𝓮𝓽
In contrast with the red deed is the white deed, a privately signed contract not overseen by the government.
Even with an official deed, he couldn’t keep the shop; this is really outrageous!
Glancing at the deed, Yang Mingzhao said, "Ma Yan, draft a new official deed for him! Register it!"
Ma Yan, who was already prepared, immediately took the deed, then drafted a new one and had the people register it.
In just a few minutes, a new deed was completed, stamped with the official seal of the county government.
"Take it! You can now take over this shop; from now on, it is yours!" said Yang Mingzhao.
The middle-aged man received the deed with tears in his eyes and knelt down with a thud, repeatedly kowtowing.
"Sir, your kindness is beyond words to express my gratitude!"
"Woo woo, thank you for your great kindness, Sir!"
"Go, go, hey, wait, I still need to try the case, and the guilty will be punished later! You can stay and watch!" Yang Mingzhao almost forgot the main event.
With the first person setting an example, the process became simple, as many people came forward to denounce the charges.
Yang Mingzhao’s way of adjudicating was simple as well, if there were many accusers, then this household must be guilty of numerous misdeeds and should be punished severely; if it involved a life, then it would be death, and if it didn’t, then imprisonment and hard labor later.
If there were few accusers, it might be a false accusation, or their misdeeds were relatively fewer, and they would be reserved for later disposition.
One by one, officials and local gentry and wealthy individuals were brought forward, with the people identifying them.
At first, only a few hundred people had gathered, but by noon, two to three thousand people had gathered on the street in front of the county government.
Most of the people in the city had come along.
"This dog of a County Magistrate, should he not be killed!" It was finally the turn of Li Zhongping, this County Magistrate. While holding a teapot in one hand, Yang Mingzhao shouted.
"He should be killed, should be killed!"
Filled with emotion, the people shouted.
Yang Mingzhao knocked on the wooden gavel, "Quiet, quiet!"
"Since he should be killed, then kill him!"
"Did you note it all down?"
He looked toward Ma Yan nearby.
"Noted down!" Ma Yan replied.
"Very well, now execute! First, behead those heinous criminals!" said Yang Mingzhao.
Including County Magistrate Li Zhongping, 23 officials and wealthy individuals were dragged out again. The surrounding people, seeing this, were all both frightened and excited.
Frightened by the bloody act of beheading, excited that these damn officials were finally being punished.
Lin Baichao stood in the crowd, intently watching those officials tied up, especially the one who had caused the death of his Dad and Mom, eyes full of excitement.
He looked at Yang Mingzhao, who was at this moment still standing on the chair, drinking straight from the teapot casually.
After yelling for over half a day, Yang Mingzhao’s voice was hoarse from dry mouth.
At the execution site, those officials and wealthy individuals were still struggling, still crying out, but their mouths were stuffed, only able to make muffled sounds.
Yang Mingzhao didn’t give them a chance to speak, not even interrogating them, as long as there were enough complaints, it was a capital crime.
One by one, they sobbed bitterly, some even urinating in fear.
But the people around were all extremely invigorated.
"Kill them, kill them!"
The townsfolk shouted.
Yang Mingzhao laughed heartily, "Execute!"
The strong men wielded Long Swords, pressing those officials and wealthy individuals, before swinging hard.
However, these guys weren’t skilled, and their swords weren’t professional Ghost Head Sabers, so after one blow, not a single one got beheaded.
On the bright side, none of these young men were afraid, each of them performed very earnestly.
Having killed, having seen blood, only then could they be considered qualified warriors.
Today was for them to practice bravery.
What followed was a gruesome scene of heads rolling.
Seeing the ground covered in blood, the clamorous people finally quieted down.
Yang Mingzhao shouted again, "From today on, I am the County Magistrate of Taiping County, and you are all citizens of Taiping County; if anyone has grievances, you can come to the county government anytime to file complaints!"
"Starting tomorrow, the county government will reorganize the Yellow Book, and everyone with property in the county must come to the county government to register, if you don’t come, your property can be treated as ownerless property!"
"By then, if the county government auctions off your property, you can’t blame me for being unreasonable!"
"Alright, that’s it for today, I’m tired, you can all disperse!"
Having said that, Yang Mingzhao turned around and walked back into the county government.
They had to remap and reorganize the Yellow Book for Taiping County, which meant the household registration, detailing the origin, name, age, number of mouths to feed, fields, properties, assets, and assigning households according to profession, predominantly divided into civilian, military, and crafts categories.
The Fish Scale Book, also known as the Fish Scale Atlas, is a kind of land registration book, which arranges and connects houses, forests, ponds, fields in order according to name, serving as the general records of civilian lands.