I become a god in another world

Chapter 576 Zang Clan Ancestors
Chapter 576

Du Shengming's father was exhausted by the difficult situation at home and passed away early.

When Du Shengming took over the household chores, he was determined to change this situation.

"He boldly sought refuge with a ghost tamer from the Demon Suppression Department, and was willing to gamble with his family property, serve him as his master, and pay taxes to him every year."

The advantage of doing this is that Du Shengming only needs to pay taxes to the silver general, and at the same time he is protected by the ghost rider, so other exorbitant taxes are reduced.

"Although most of the money in a year has to be handed over to Lord Guo, other taxes have become less every year, and life has gradually become better."

Granny Xu said:

"Lord Du only had one wife, two sons and one daughter. His wife died when Lady Du was ten years old. He was worried that his second wife would mistreat his children, so he never married again."

Concubine Du was beautiful since childhood and had a gentle temperament. When she came of age, Du Shengming presented his daughter to Zhongdu.

"Mr. Du's two sons are also very hardworking. They donated money to buy official positions and entered the government, and they are doing well." When Granny Xu said this, perhaps referring to the glory of the Du family in the past, she showed a rare nostalgic look on her face:

"The Du family has a good tradition. The eldest son married the well-matched Miss Jiang. When Miss Jiang entered the family, Lady Du was still young. The eldest sister-in-law is like a mother, and the two sisters-in-law have a very good relationship. Until the eldest mistress gave birth to a daughter, Lady Du was still at home, holding her niece in her arms, and was reluctant to let go for a moment——"

When she said this, she couldn't help but turn her head to look at the child beside Zhao Fusheng, with a look of love and compassion in her eyes.

At this point, Zhao Fusheng probably guessed the child's background.

"After entering the palace, Concubine Du was soon favored by the emperor and soon became pregnant."

By that time, the Han royal family had already declined during the pre-Han dynasty, and all major world affairs were decided by the Demon Suppression Division.

After Emperor Ai died, Emperor Li succeeded to the throne at a young age. He had no children since he grew up, and the fetus in Concubine Du's belly might be his eldest son.

"The Emperor rewarded the Du family with a sum of money because the beauty was pregnant..." Granny Xu said this with a look of reluctance on her face:
"In fact, during this period, Lord Du had been blackmailed by the Guo family for a long time."

When the Ghost Rider was alive, he was extremely powerful and had a way of making money, so the Guo family got used to a life of extravagance.

After General Yin died, life suddenly fell into a slump. The young men in the family continued to indulge in drinking, whoring and gambling, and the family's supplies gradually became insufficient.

Although the Du family still pays tribute honestly every year, how can a thousand strings of cash a year be compared with the tens of thousands of assets of the Du family?

The descendants of the Guo family often come to cause trouble, trying to seize the Du family's assets.

This kind of thing is not uncommon, and many people swallow their anger.

Although Du Shengming has a daughter entering the palace, the Demon Suppression Division is powerful - this matter involves the descendants of the ghost rider, and it is not convenient for the emperor to intervene.

So he decided to spend money to avoid disaster.

"The Guo family originally planned to ask Lord Du to hand over 20,000 ingots of silver, and the relationship between the two parties would be written off."

But although the Du family has land, they can only barely survive under the heavy taxes. How can they suddenly come up with such a large sum of money?

"But the Guo family refused to give up and ordered the thugs to break into the Du family and beat up Lord Du and his family."

Du Shengming was already quite old and was beaten so badly that he fell ill in bed. In the end, he scraped together some money and borrowed 7,000 ingots of money to send over first.

Giving away this sum of silver temporarily eased the Du family's crisis.

However, the Du family still had a debt of more than 10,000 taels of silver. Du Shengming had no choice but to sell his farm and shop despite his injured body.

At this time, Concubine Du missed her niece and asked her sister-in-law Jiang to bring the children to the palace to visit her.

During the conversation between the aunt and the sister-in-law, Concubine Du was a sensitive person and saw that her sister-in-law was forcing a smile. After asking her further, she learned about the major events that had taken place in the Du family - this also led to the conversation between Concubine Du and the emperor mentioned later by Chen Nuling.

The emperor felt sorry for the beauty, and took advantage of the fact that she was pregnant to reward the Du family with silver, thus resolving the Du family's crisis.

But the story is not over yet.

Soon, the descendants of the Guo family sued the family slave Du Shengming, demanding that Du's property be confiscated and merged into the name of the Guo family.

When the case came out, the emperor felt both angry and surprised.

"This case is easy to handle."

When Fan Wujiu heard this, he couldn't help but wonder:

"Everything has to be based on reason." Although the word "reason" is not very useful in this world, the Du family is different and is not a family without roots.

"The Guo family does not follow reason. The right and wrong and cause and effect can be found out with a simple investigation. Everyone knows which side is right."

Granny Xu couldn't help but sneer when she heard this:
"The reason is this. The emperor was young at the time and thought there was no mystery in the case. However, since it involved the descendants of the Demon Suppression Division, the emperor specially appointed the court judge Yan Jipan to personally try the case."

Yan Jipan has already been ranked among the Nine Ministers, has a good reputation in the court and a special status.

As soon as he saw the case, he knew that the Du family was wronged.

In fact, Du Shengming's family had already run into trouble at that time. His two sons were dismissed from their posts and thrown into prison.

Although they were relatives of the emperor, this did not bring any preferential treatment to the Du family. The father and his two sons were severely tortured in prison.

Du Shengming's eldest son had one eye gouged out and one leg broken, and his second son had all his teeth lost and was almost unable to speak.

And Du Shengming himself was even more miserable.

He was already injured and was not young and strong. After being imprisoned and tortured, he was only hanging on for his last breath.

When Yan Jipan saw the miserable state of the three members of the Du family, he knew that this matter would not end well.

The emperor's position is awkward, his power is smaller than that of the devil. If he loses the case of Du Shengming, the emperor's majesty will be lost.

It was precisely because they knew this that the three members of the Du family did not dare to die even though they were tortured.

……

Wu Shaochun was filled with indignation after hearing these words:

"Is there no justice in this matter?"

"How can that make sense?" Granny Xu asked back calmly.

Wu Shaochun said:

"His Guo family is just the descendants of the ghost rider. To put it bluntly, they are just taking advantage of the power of their masters. The silver general is dead, so what's wrong with killing his family?"

After hearing this, Granny Xu just looked at him strangely.

Wu Shaochun saw the disapproval in her eyes and asked in surprise:

"What do you mean by looking at me like that?"

Granny Xu said calmly:
"It's nothing. You are young and righteous, and you are a breath of fresh air in the Demon Suppression Division. If all the ghost riders in the Demon Suppression Division have the same upright character as you in more than a hundred years, why should we worry that the people of the world will not have a good life?"

"..." She was clearly saying nice things, but Wu Shaochun always felt that she was insulting him.

He couldn't help but turn his head to look at Zhao Fusheng, who snorted coldly:
"Shaochun, just do your own thing and have a clear conscience. We can manage ourselves, but we can't manage the world's affairs at the moment, let alone the weirdness of people with ulterior motives."

“……”Now it was Granny Xu’s turn to be speechless.

After a while, she said angrily:

"Your Excellency is very good at talking."

"Don't be so tactful as to accuse someone else of something. You are using the token of the Later Han Dynasty to judge a case of the Previous Dynasty." Zhao Fusheng said bluntly:
"As for Xian Han's problem, you can just scold Xian Han, don't take your anger out on us. We are here to listen to your story about the past lawsuit in order to solve the case, not to listen to your scolding."

She was direct in her attitude. Granny Xu was furious and was about to lose her temper, but when her eyes met Zhao Fusheng's cold gaze, her anger gradually cooled down.

Grandma Xu's gaze fell on the child beside her. The child had already noticed the tense atmosphere between the two sides and became obviously nervous. His little hands tightly grasped his knees, not knowing whether to continue sitting or stand up in a hurry.

The child suffered misfortune when he was young and had to live with others since childhood. He was trapped in the ghost realm with her for many years and had never seen a real sunrise and sunset since then.

He had never met a stranger, no one washed his face or combed his hair, no one talked to him.

Now that Zhao Fusheng and his group had entered the ghost realm, Granny Xu didn't know what kind of people they were, but they wiped the child's face and combed his messy hair - they would behave like this towards a strange child in the ghost realm, how bad could they be?

When she thought of this, the anger in Grandma Xu's heart suddenly subsided.

"You are right, my Lord." Granny Xu had always been stubborn and stubborn, but now she admitted her mistake:
"I was wrong. Every generation has its own mistakes. The grudges were settled long ago."

She said this and sighed:
"It's a long story. The descendants of the Guo family no longer have anyone to back them up, but it's not uncommon for ordinary farmers to rely on ghost riders."

The case itself is not difficult to judge, and everyone knows that the Du family is on the right side.

The Du family also believed that they only recognized the Guo family as their master, but did not actually sell themselves to the Guo family as slaves - after all, according to the household registration book, Du Shengming's family was still good citizens and had not been enslaved.

The laws of the Han Dynasty stipulated that slaves were not allowed to serve as officials in the court, but Du Shengming's two sons both donated money to become officials.

This is enough to prove the identity of the Du family.

But the situation at that time was that evil spirits were rampant in the late Han Dynasty, and the frequency of ghost disasters was unbelievable.

The number of ghost riders killed in the Demon Suppression Bureaus in various places doubles every year. Many of them will die within two years once they are sent to serve in other places.

Under such circumstances, the ghost rider fears death, becomes violent, and loses his compassion, becoming no different from a ghost.

Therefore, the ghost riders used all means to make a fortune, just to pave the way for future generations.

Since the Du family case involved the emperor, many people were watching it.

Ordinary merchants and common people are like lambs to be slaughtered in front of ghost riders. "The Du family's case is not an isolated case. There have been countless precedents of ghost riders' descendants taking over ordinary people's property. Some of these people are descendants of ghost riders from the Demon Suppression Bureau, and some are even living ghost riders."

The Du family is just in a special situation, but they are not without support, and they have the support of the emperor.

But so what?
At this point in the lawsuit, the issue is no longer the lawsuit itself.

"Who should be judged as the winner? If Du Shengming is judged as the winner, then justice will win, which will anger the Demon Suppression Division."

If Du Shengming wins, what will happen to the other people whose property was seized by the ghost rider? Will anyone be tempted to sue Du Shengming after seeing him overturn the verdict?

Although human life is worthless in this world, once the number of people causing trouble increases and the momentum is huge, it can be troublesome.

Having said that, Wu Shaochun also realized that what he said before was indeed too hasty and did not take into account the actual problems of the Du family.

Emperor Li knew very well that the imperial court could not afford to offend the Demon Suppression Division.

On the surface, this lawsuit was about the feud between the Du and Guo families, but in reality it was a confrontation between the imperial power and the authority of the Demon Suppression Bureau.

Emperor Li lost.

In order to prevent the emperor from losing face, the Demon Suppression Division finally stepped in to mediate and made a compromise - the Du family was confirmed as slaves, but they were no longer slaves of the Guo family. Instead, they were sentenced to the names of other ghost riders.

"This ghost rider is Zang Junji."

Granny Xu's expression revealed sadness. She thought she would burst into tears when she said this - she had been holding grievances in her heart for many years with no one to tell, and she had been trapped in the ghost realm for more than a hundred years without seeing the sun. Now she finally met outsiders, and these outsiders turned out to be from the Demon Suppression Division.

She originally thought that after telling of these grievances and telling of these sufferings, she would be able to gain some balance for the Du family. The moment she finished, she would feel satisfied, and the resentment that had been accumulating in her heart for a long time would be released. She even thought that she might burst into tears.

But nothing happened.

Being trapped in the ghost realm for more than a hundred years seemed to have dried up her tears.

After she finished speaking, all that was left was melancholy and indescribable discomfort.

Old friends have died one by one. Du Shengming and Du Meiren are nowhere to be found. The emperor's evil ghost has revived and is now a walking corpse, trapped in this ghost realm in Zhongdu.

Granny Xu was suddenly terrified: Was all this true or false? Was the intruder real or was it just a fantasy?

"Zang Junji?!"

Zhao Fusheng was startled and murmured.

Xie Jingsheng also whispered at the same time:

"Zang Junji - the emperor's general."

Zhao Fusheng turned to look at Xie Jingsheng. Xie Jingsheng forced a smile. He seemed to see the doubt hidden in Zhao Fusheng's eyes at this moment, and whispered:
"This is the one I mentioned. He was the only emperor-level general in the Demon Suppression Division. He was also the one who personally recorded the Du Shengming case."

Zhao Fusheng looked at him intently:
"When Old Zhang was alive..." When she mentioned Zhang Chuanshi, her tone paused for a moment. After a while, Zhao Fusheng sorted out her thoughts and said again:
"When we were in Shangyang County, when Old Zhang mentioned the Zang Xiongshan case, he said that one of his ancestors was a ghost rider from the Demon Suppression Department—"

"Yes."

Xie Jingsheng nodded:
"The ancestors of the Zang family had great glory,"

The Zang surname is not a common surname, and there are clues between the two. It is not surprising that Zhao Fusheng guessed the clue when he heard the name.

"So what Lao Zhang said was right."

Liu Yizhen said coldly:

"What's the use of glory? After several generations, the younger generation will still be just like everyone else."

The ancestors of the Zang family were once extremely prosperous, but unfortunately their descendants lived an extremely difficult life.

Liu Yizhen thought of Zhang Chuanshi and felt melancholy:
"If, if the Zang family's glory still exists, will the tragedy of the Zhang family not happen again?"

Fan Bisi and others had a thoughtful look on their faces.

"Absolutely not."

Zhao Fusheng said loudly: "If Rong Yao is still here, similar situations like Du Shengming's case will only repeat themselves -"

In the late Later Han Dynasty, the harm caused by the Demon Suppression Office was probably worse than the disaster caused by ghosts.

For ordinary people, evil spirits are as scary as the ghost controllers in the Demon Suppression Bureau, who can even suck the marrow out of bones.

“…” Granny Xu was stunned when she heard this.

The others were also stunned, and finally everyone was silent for a moment.

The sensible people were in a heavy mood, only two innocent and cute children were sitting on Zhao Fusheng's left and right. They were not bothered by the troubles between the adults, as if the case between Du Shengming and the Demon Suppression Division was far away from the two children.

After a while, Granny Xu's eyes gradually softened. She looked at Zhao Fusheng with a faint smile on her lips. The hostility in her body instantly dissipated a lot, and then she said:

"This Lord Zang is also a good man. He is willing to stand up and withstand the pressure from others."

On the surface, Du Shengming lost the case, but in reality the Guo family did not get anything good either, as they failed to occupy the Du family's land as they wished.

But such a "victory" was just a tragic victory for Du Shengming.

After a lawsuit, the Du family suffered a lot. The servants had already fled and stole most of the family's finances before leaving.

The shops were in disarray, and the tenant farmers on the farms were worried and had no interest in farming.

The most important thing is that the father and his two sons of the Du family were tortured and severely injured, and the women were demoted to slaves and registered, no longer good citizens - the laws of the Han Dynasty clearly stated that once someone was registered as a slave after a lawsuit, his family would never be able to serve as an official for ten generations, which undoubtedly cut off the foundation of the Du family.