Transmigrated into a minor official in a county government, with children at home waiting for rice t

The child looked about two or three years old, and his eyebrows and eyes resembled Qing Ge'er's when he was a child by about six or seven points.

Although Zhang Sanlang was surprised, he didn't take it to heart.

Children of this age typically have large heads and thin necks; they're good at eating but not at doing chores, so it's common for them to look somewhat alike.

He pushed open the courtyard gate and strolled back to his house.

The clerks were all busy with their own tasks, all with smiles on their faces, and the atmosphere inside the room was much more relaxed than usual. When Zhang Sanlang returned, everyone looked at him with the same way Ah Huang looked at Old Sun and his grandson next door.

Zhang Sanlang waved his hand, signaling them to continue their work. He walked to the shelf, bent down and flipped through it for a while, pulling out dozens of volumes and placing them on the table.

He meticulously examined all the household registration documents, property registers, land registers, and collection slips for the Feng, Wang, and Zhang families. After a moment's thought, he bent down and flipped through the files again, pulling out the case files for Wang Meizhen and Liu Daqiang as well.

Li Youtian, who was sitting nearby, glanced at it but didn't dare to ask. He lowered his head and continued to sort through the booklets handed over by the township official.

Zhang Sanlang carried these documents back to the signing room, sat down at the desk, and first spread out the Feng family's register.

He had seen the Feng family register before, and this time he also dug out the old records from the previous dynasty.

Sure enough, two lines of small print were found attached below the household registration certificate:

Feng Jian, the adopted son, was seventeen years old and was adopted and registered in the second year of Guangshun.

Feng Peishuang, an adopted daughter, was thirteen years old and was adopted and registered in the second year of Guangshun.

He then turned to the register of property ownership.

Feng Pu owned 430 mu of farmland.

The eldest son, Feng Shang, owned 350 mu of land.

The adopted son, Feng Jian, owns no land.

The eldest daughter, Feng Peilin, owned 500 mu of farmland.

The adopted daughter, Feng Peishuang, owned no land.

When the register from the ninth year of the Bao Dynasty was opened again, the character "故" was added next to Feng Pu's name, and the head of household was changed to Feng Shang.

Feng Shang owns 700 mu of farmland.

Feng Jian owns eighty mu of land.

Turning to the second year of the Taiping Xingguo era, the character "故" was added next to Feng Shang's name.

The head of household was changed to Feng Jian.

All the farmland was transferred from Feng Shang's name, totaling 780 mu.

Zhang Sanlang's finger paused on this page for a moment, a slight thought stirring in his mind.

After Feng Pu died, Feng Shang inherited his family property.

Feng Shang drowned, and Feng Jian inherited the family property.

In just two years, the Feng family suffered a series of misfortunes, and all their assets eventually fell into Feng Jian's hands.

Could this be a coincidence?

After thinking for a while, Zhang Sanlang hurriedly went to the torture chamber to find Xu Zheng and looked through the old case files.

After flipping through the files for about half a cup of tea, the two finally found two pages of records that were moldy and stuck together on the shelf of closed case files.

The county coroner ruled Feng Shang's death as an accidental drowning in his autopsy report.

The witness stand bears the signature: Feng Ba.

Zhang Sanlang nodded, "That's right."

This is Feng Bazi's real name.

This guy is the eighth in his clan...

Huh?

wrong!

Feng the Scarface?

He also has the surname Feng!

Zhang Sanlang's eyes flashed, and he quickly went to find Feng Bazi's household registration certificate.

Head of household: Feng Ba

Native place: Fengjiazhuang, Linhe Township, Juancheng County

Number of mouths: one person

Land holdings: None

Home property: None

Note: The head of household, Feng Ba, was orphaned and had no brothers. As a child, he was registered under the household of his cousin, Feng Jian, who adopted him and registered him in the household. At the age of thirteen, he was expelled from the family after accidentally injuring his cousin.

After reaching adulthood, he established his own household, and the original household registration records were kept under Feng Jian's household for future reference.

On the seventh day of the seventh month of the third year of Jianlong, Feng Jian, the head of the Household Department, registered the household register.

Zhang Sanlang let out a long sigh, folded a corner of the piece, and tossed it aside.

Let's examine the documents regarding the dowry land of the Feng family again.

The land deed bears the personal seal of Feng Pu and the seal of the household registration office, and the person in charge of the transaction was Feng Jian, the household registration office clerk at the time.

Zhang Sanlang stared at the number 500 mu for a while.

He put the dowry documents aside and then took out the case files of Wang Meizhen and Liu Daqiang.

Wang Meizhen was Feng's daughter-in-law and Zhang Dalang's wife.

Liu Daqiang was a new employee at Zhang's Grocery Store, hired less than a year ago.

Last year, because Zhang's employee Wang Er spread rumors, Zhang Sanlang went to Zhang Dalang's house to warn him, and the next day the employee was fired. Presumably, not long after, Liu Daqiang, an acquaintance of Wang Meizhen from the same village, was hired.

Upon further examination of Liu Daqiang's household registration records, Zhang Sanlang was astonished to discover that the Liu family had always been tenants of the Feng family, owning thirty mu of farmland in Wangjiazhuang, Linhe Township, with an annual rent of fifteen shi (a unit of dry measure).

Zhang Sanlang flipped to the next page and unexpectedly found Zhang's property transfer certificate. Last June, thirty mu of farmland in Linhe Township was transferred to the name of Liu Daqiang's son, Liu Xiaoxiang. The person in charge of the transaction was Zhou Quan, the then-household registration officer.

Thirty mu of farmland is worth about sixty guan.

Liu Daqiang's family were tenant farmers, earning only seven or eight strings of cash a year. Where would they get the money to buy land?

Unless that field was given to him by someone else!

Zhang Sanlang suddenly sat up straight.

All of the Feng family's property is now under Feng Jian's name.

Feng Pu died of illness, and Feng Shang drowned. In less than two years, most of the family property of three generations of the Feng family went to an adopted son.

Feng Shang had no family or children, and when he died, the land naturally went to Feng Jian.

When Feng married into the Zhang family, she took with her 500 mu of dowry land.

However, if Madam Feng dies, the remaining 300 mu of dowry land under her name should normally be inherited by Zhang Dalang.

Feng Jian couldn't get it.

However, what if Zhang Dalang also died?

According to the law, the dowry land should be returned to the bride's family!

Zhang Sanlang opened Wang Meizhen's case file. Wang Meizhen and Liu Daqiang conspired to smother Feng Shi to death. The prefectural government had already sent Magistrate Wang to examine the corpse and supervise the sentencing.

The case has been concluded, and the offender has been taken into custody pending further investigation.

When he reviewed the case file, he focused on the method of murder, the fact that the two had a secret affair and conspired to seize the property.

Looking at it now, my gaze falls on the three characters "Liu Daqiang".

He was a tenant farmer of the Feng family. Last year, he had just acquired thirty mu of land from Feng Jian, and this year he killed Feng.

If Liu Daqiang kills Feng Shi, and Zhang Dalang also dies, Feng Jian will receive Feng Shi's 300 mu of dowry land, while Liu Daqiang will receive 30 mu of lower land.

One deal, two benefits!

A fine layer of cold sweat appeared on Zhang Sanlang's forehead. He wiped it with his sleeve, and the more he thought about it, the more horrified he became.

Feng Jian already has 700 mu of land. If he gets another 300 mu, he will have 1,000 mu of superior land, all in Linhe Township.

Zhang Sanlang tapped his fingers twice on the table without thinking.

In Juancheng County, there are only a dozen or so households with more than 100 mu of land, among which Chen Youde owns 580 mu of land.

Kong Youan owns more than 300 mu of farmland.

Feng Jian's land holdings appear to be only 200 mu, but how could he possibly hide it from Zhang Sanlang?

The Feng family's land was registered under the names of dozens of households, and Tao Cheng turned a blind eye. Zhang Sanlang, lacking the authority to investigate further, and also because Feng Jian had shown him some favor, naturally didn't bother to investigate.

Now that he has been promoted to clerk, the fate of the more than four thousand households in the county can be investigated or not, all at his discretion.

After carefully examining the land deeds and combining them with the floating slips left by Tao Cheng, it has already been determined that the actual profits from those 780 mu of land belong to Feng Jian alone.

This method is not new; some shrewd farmers in Juancheng do it to evade land taxes.

However, the amount of nearly 800 mu is different. Chen Youde only has 580 mu, but he is known as the head of the farmers in Juancheng. Feng Jian has so much land, but he sits in the office of the clerk in a very low-key manner.

That's terrifying!