Han official!

Chapter 124: Endurance
"Guo Jie? Why are you here in the granary, buying hemp paper from the Du family of Baling, and taking away a whole lot of it?"

The Maoling magistrate picked up the leopard-shaped brocade robe and put it on. He looked at Guo Jie who had rushed in without any fear, and even spoke with a bit of contempt.

He looked down on Guo Jie, who came from a rural background.

Every word you say is counted as hemp paper.

One cent is one hundred and twenty coins, which is the tax.

All citizens, regardless of gender, need to pay a certain amount of money every year from the age of fifteen to fifty-six.

That is, the poll tax.

Merchants registered in the city, as well as slaves, were required to pay double the tax, with each person being charged two taxes per year.

The Western Han Dynasty imposed heavy taxes on merchants and powerful people.

Ordinary people could not afford to keep slaves, so only wealthy merchants and powerful people could do so. The more slaves they kept, the more money they had in their family, and the higher the tax they had to pay.

The "one calculation" in Maoling Ling's words also mocks Guo Jie's poor background and his inability to support the slaves who were required to pay the "two calculations".

Mang Tong was furious.

On weekdays, he has a good temper, is taciturn and doesn't like to talk.

If he saw someone humiliating Guo Jie, it would be the greatest insult to Mang Tong. He would pick up the iron hammer at his waist and smash the mouth of Maoling Ling.

Before Mang Tong could make a move, a figure strode forward and walked to the side of the couch.

"boom!"

Guo Jie reached out his hand, grabbed the collar of Maoling Ling's leopard-embroidered robe, and directly pulled him off the couch, throwing him onto the floor on the second floor of the house.

Du Ji showed off a pair of slender arms, a jade-like face with a hint of spring, her cherry lips opened wide, and her face was full of surprise.

A small clerk.

He dared to offend the chief official of Maoling Town, the Maoling Magistrate.

"One calculation?"

Guo Jie punched the Maoling Magistrate in the mouth, smashing his front teeth on the spot. He sneered, "You fool, you don't see the current situation clearly. I, a minor official, am the butcher, and you, a senior official, are the meat. Do you really think Gushuli is the official residence of the Maoling Temple? There are countless county soldiers outside who are ready to obey your orders at any time."

"boom!"

"what!"

Maoling Ling was hit hard by a punch and screamed in pain. He felt a piercing pain in his mouth, which almost made him die.

The Maoling Ling was lying on the floor, touching his mouth where he carefully trimmed his eight-point beard every day. His hands were covered in blood, and the cuffs of his leopard brocade robe were also stained with blood.

"you you."

The Maoling Magistrate was so angry that he trembled all over. He pointed a trembling finger at Guo Jie and said, "How dare you offend a high official? I am the Maoling Magistrate's superior! Maoling is the emperor's mausoleum, and I have direct access to him. When I see him in the garden, I will accuse you of causing trouble for the people of this village."

Impeach me?
Guo Jie sneered and shook his head. What an idiot! He still couldn't see the current situation clearly.

Also.

This kind of person is easy to understand. He had seen many of them when he was an official in the past. They were in charge of a region and were flattered by their subordinates all day long. They had long developed a self-centered character and believed that everyone had to revolve around them.

Not to mention Guo Jie, a small official, even Guo Jie's superior Zhang Tang did not dare to offend the Maoling magistrate.

"boom!"

Guo Jie raised his foot and stomped hard on the head of the Maoling Ling official. He raised the ring-handled sword in his hand and said with a fierce grin, "Ever since you and Du Jun'ao instigated the three elders to go to the palace gate to protest your injustice, there has been no room for reconciliation between you and me. Others dare not kill the chief official of the emperor's mausoleum, but I do!"

Until he uttered the words "I dare to kill the official in charge of the emperor's mausoleum."

The Maoling magistrate was shocked and realized Guo Jie's audacity.

He actually dared to kill a mausoleum magistrate who had the opportunity to meet the emperor.

The Maoling magistrate was frightened.

He was unwilling to admit it, but he had to admit that a senior official had actually begun to fear a small subordinate.

In the past, such a petty official would not even be able to enter the commanding residence, let alone be afraid.

"Take it slow"

Maoling Ling looked at the cold, gleaming sword with a dreadful heart. This high-ranking official finally bowed his head and began to beg for mercy: "You cannot harm me. The people of Gushu know I'm in the hemp paper workshop. If I die, you can't escape any responsibility unless you kill all the thousands of people in Gushu."

"presumptuous!"

Du Ji, a foolish woman, once again displayed her folly. She glanced at Guo Jie and said fearlessly, "The thousands of people in Gushu are all relatives. Those outsiders have long been excluded. If my father says a word, they will all beat you to death."

"puff!"

Guo Jie severed the tendons of Maoling Ling's right arm with a single blow of his sword. He collected some interest first and said with a half-smile, "So, the people in the granary are all from Du Junao's clan, or his wife's clan. There isn't a single innocent outsider."

"what!"

The Maoling magistrate screamed, rolled his eyes, and his body twisted in pain. A senior official who lived a life of luxury and was flattered by many county officials and subordinates could never have imagined that one day he would suffer inhuman torture.

The person who tortured him was not the higher-ranking county governor.

Nor is he the Zhongdu official of the Jiuqingguan Temple.

He turned out to be the low-level peasant whom we looked down upon in the past.

I have seen what it means to be angry.

"you"

Du Ji was horrified when she saw the Maoling Ling Ling with his tendons cut. "Don't come here! There are thousands of Ba Ling Du clan members and their wives in the granary. If you hurt even one finger of mine, you will never be able to leave the granary in peace again."

"boom!"

Guo Jie looked coldly at the beautiful Du Ji. He had to admit that she was very beautiful, but he did not show any sympathy for her. He simply dragged Du Ji off the couch by her golden hairpin and bun.

"what!"

Du Ji screamed, and her beautiful face lost its previous arrogance. She pretended to cry, looking pitiful.

She was very beautiful, so this method worked well for her. She had used her pitiful appearance to deceive men many times in the past.

It works every time.

This time is no exception. Du Ji firmly believes that no man can resist the pitiful appearance of a very beautiful woman.

"boom!"

Unexpectedly, Guo Jie's hooked shoes struck Du Ji hard, and he said in disgust, "I will not accept such tactics. Tell me who conspired with you to spread the rumor that Princess Pingyang had an affair with a riding slave."

"what!"

Du Ji screamed miserably, her face twisted. She had never been treated like this by a man before, her body was in great pain, and her heart was broken.

She couldn't bear the thought that her beauty was useless to a man.

"This"

Chong Huangrou had a dazed look on her face.

He looked at Guo Jie who was beating Du Ji in shock, his face full of disbelief.

Chong Huangrou looked at the pitiful Du Ji and couldn't help but feel some pity for her. However, Guo Jie was not moved at all. In fact, the more pitiful Du Ji looked, the more she was beaten by Guo Jie.

If Guo Jie had not already married two wives, and if his first wife, Yi Shuo, was not pregnant, people would have suspected that he was not interested in women but in men.

"boom!"

Guo Jie looked impatient and kicked Du Ji in the stomach again. "I'll give you the last three breaths of time. If you don't tell me, I'll sever your tendons with the Ring-Handed Sword."

"No!" Du Ji screamed, tears streaming down her face. She no longer dared to play the victim. "I only took a bucket of hemp paper and asked a maid to write a rumor. The real mastermind behind this was the Magistrate of Maoling. He found Dong Yan and offered a good plan to slander Princess Pingyang in order to flatter Princess Guantao."

A dousi is a unit of weight.

It's probably about ten pounds of stuff.

When Guo Jie heard that the hemp paper used to spread the rumor weighed more than ten pounds, he was overjoyed. The more harmful the rumor, the more significant his contribution would be.

What made him even more delighted was.

The Maoling Magistrate was the mastermind.

"hehe."

Guo Jie couldn't help but laugh. He looked at the Maoling Magistrate, who was lying on the ground and gradually recovering, and walked over with his ring-handled sword in hand. "How dare you spread rumors that Princess Pingyang was having an affair with a cavalry slave? You've reached the end of your tenure as a mausoleum magistrate. You're truly foolish! You've actually tried to curry favor with the Dou family, your mausoleum relatives."

The Magistrate of Maoling took one look at Guo Jie and thought he was stupid.

He actually offended the Dou family, his foreign relatives.

"Forging a letter is nothing more than a piece of cake."

The Maoling Magistrate covered his severed arm, enduring the excruciating pain as he said, "At most, I was sentenced to serving as a city pounder. You, a mere official, resorted to lynching and severing my tendons. Your crime is even greater. Expect to be beheaded and thrown into the streets. At the very least, you will also be sentenced to serving as a city pounder."

City day grind?
Guo Jie's face was filled with disdain. "Princess Pingyang holds a high position. She won't punish you severely. To show her leniency, she might even give you a lighter sentence. However, Princess Pingyang is a woman after all, and all women are petty. She hates slandering her reputation the most. So, if anyone can help Princess Pingyang vent her anger, she will appreciate that person very much."

He walked up to the Maoling Order with a ring-handled sword in hand.

"What are you going to do?"

Maoling Ling was terrified. Looking at the ring-handled knife in Guo Jie's hand, his scalp tingled. "You are a low-ranking official. If you assault a higher-ranking official, you will be sentenced. Zhang Tang, Zhao Yu, and Sang Hongyang can't protect you. No one can protect you."

"Protect me?"

Guo Jie shook his head and sneered, "You want to be the Right Secretary of the Interior? You haven't even read the Han laws, but you keep shouting to the chief official Zhao Yu that you're the best at making plans and will be the Right Secretary of the Interior next year.

That’s right, if I were to beat someone, I would be sentenced to serving time in the city or being beheaded and thrown into the streets.

If they fight each other, it's just a punishment."

Maoling is stupid.

This is also okay for a man???
He never imagined that Guo Jie would use this method to avoid punishment.

Guo Jie drew the two-foot sword from his waist and stuffed it directly into the hand of Maoling Ling, signaling Mang Tong to hold Maoling Ling's hand tightly, leaving fingerprints on the hilt.

As long as there are fingerprints, it means a fight.

The Han Code was already a very complete legal system and a model of governing the country by law. It was even more in line with the legal system than the laws of later dynasties.

However, Han laws pale in comparison to modern laws, which are often more than a dozen dictionaries thick.

No one knows how to exploit loopholes in the law better than him.

The only punishment he could endure was shaving off his beard and sideburns.

In the eyes of the ancients, one’s body and hair are given by one’s parents, and enduring punishment is a severe penalty.

In Guo Jie's opinion, he used to shave every morning to avoid looking sloppy with a scruffy beard.

If the ancients knew that he had to shave his beard every day, they would definitely be horrified.

Being tortured once a day is truly a torturous form of torture.

Besides, it was a good thing that Naixing shaved off his beard, making Guo Jie very conspicuous.

Anyone who sees Guo Jie will remember the torture he suffered for Princess Pingyang.

It's like he's been in jail for the society.

It is not a punishment, but a medal that shows merit.

"puff!"

Guo Jie waited until the Maoling magistrate's finger left a bloody mark on the two-foot sword, then slashed at the magistrate's lower arm with his sword. He grinned and said, "You wanted to kill me, and I have been thinking of this day to give you a revenge you will never forget."

"what!"

Maoling Ling's face was distorted, and the severe pain from the severed tendons in his hands made him roll around and scream miserably.

"puff!"

"what!"

"puff!"

"what!"

After a series of chopping and slamming sounds, Maoling Ling couldn't even struggle. His body was convulsing and he passed out from the pain. He woke up again from the severe pain and was in great torture.

"what--"

Du Ji let out a scream of fear and fainted on the spot.

The Maoling magistrate had his tendons in his hands and feet cut by Guo Jie.

In the end, Maoling Ling's limbs were torn off by Mang Tong.

It wasn't until she saw the Maoling Magistrate's limbs torn off that Chong Huangrou came to her senses and sighed, "I never thought that Han law could be used in this way. If two people fight and cause limbs to be broken, they will only be sentenced to endurance."

The Han Dynasty law stipulates: Those who break thorns, teeth, fingers, skin, or cut off the nose or ears shall be punished.

This means that if two people fight with each other and cause the other party to break limbs, teeth, fingers, nose or ears, they will be sentenced to life imprisonment.

What surprised Chong Huangrou even more was.

Guo Jie did not use the ring-handled knife to cut off Maoling Ling's limbs, but asked Mang Tong to tear Maoling Ling's limbs apart.

There is a prerequisite for sentencing to a long-term sentence.

Do not hold sharp metal objects, hammers, or awls to injure others.

That is, you cannot use weapons such as swords or knives to hurt others.

Guo Jie understood the law very well.

"Snapped!"

Guo Jie was very happy after taking revenge on the Maoling Magistrate. He slapped Du Ji's face, which immediately became red and swollen.

He felt even happier.

Guo Jie showed no mercy. Seeing the woman unable to walk, he coldly said, "How much of the hemp paper is left in the dou-bu box? Where did you hide it? Tell me now! If you hide anything, you will end up like the magistrate of Maoling."

"what!"

Du Ji screamed, backing away repeatedly, her blood-stained skirt dragging behind her, her face filled with panic. "No! No! I'll tell you everything. I only threw out a small portion of the hemp paper in the dou-bu box when the Chang'an officials investigated. My father had already snatched the rest and was about to burn it, but the Maoling Magistrate stopped him and hid it in a secret compartment of the box."

Du Ji was so frightened that her face turned pale. The golden hairpin that was stuck in her hair fell on the bloody floor. Her trembling jade fingers pointed at a box beside the couch.

A box is a large cabinet with a roof-shaped top, two doors at the bottom, and an openable lid on the top equipped with a hidden lock.

Guo Jie walked to the box beside the couch, picked open the secret lock with a knife, and sure enough, he saw a lot of hemp paper hidden inside.

He picked one out at random, took a quick look at it, and confirmed that it was correct. It was written in official script about Princess Pingyang having an affair with the riding slave Wei Qing.

Guo Jie looked around, picked up the fragrant silk undershirt on the couch, wrapped everything in hemp paper and prepared to leave the granary.

"Insect Emperor Soft!"

At this time, Du Junao and a large number of his clansmen surrounded the Chongwu, blaming Chong Huangrou as the culprit: "You set fire to the storehouse and broke into my daughter's Chongwu. Today, I will bring you to the court to punish you."

(End of this chapter)