He knelt on the ground and said with a sobbing tone, "Your Highness, if the two of them only wanted to steal something, I would have tolerated it since we are from the same village. However, they wanted to do something to my wife. I was so angry that I accidentally killed them."
There was no such thing as self-defense in the laws of Great Tang.
Under normal circumstances, it would be a death by armed assault.
However, at that time, Cheng Goudan was already an official. Although he was only a ninth-grade craftsman official, the meaning was completely different.
Therefore, killing the two of them wasn't a big crime at all.
In the current Great Tang, not only did everyone not walk the path of equality, but the hierarchy was even more meticulous. It was based on ability and contribution. Cheng Goudan relied on his nimble skills to make a fortune as a carpenter. He could be considered as a rising noble in Great Tang.
Cheng Goudan's words caused all the students to be dumbfounded.
The student who spoke first looked around and saw a villager he had just questioned. He strode over.
"Is what he said the truth?"
"That, what happened that night, only he knows." The person who was questioned was flustered. In the end, he pointed at Cheng Goudan and said sternly, "He is lying. He has long disliked Iron Pig and Iron Dog. He must have taken the opportunity to kill them."
"Shut up!" The student roared. Looking at the unruly person in front of him, he couldn't say a word.
Whether it was taking the opportunity to kill or accidentally killing them.
It was true that the two of them sneaked into a craftsman official's house.
Just based on this point, killing people wasn't a big crime.
The student already knew that his test was over. He was a student of the Immortal Bestow Academy, and an outstanding one at that. However, he was actually led by some unruly person.
However, there were other crimes.
Some of the students who were standing with him just now asked,
"Then why did you kidnap a civilian girl?"
Cui Niang and I are in love with each other. However, her father is addicted to gambling and wanted to sell Cui Niang. This humble one gave him five taels of silver to bring Cui Niang back. However, after he lost the money, he became insatiably greedy and repeatedly came to ask for money. This humble one naturally refused. "
"He said that you kidnapped a child."
"That's Cui Niang's younger brother. If I didn't kidnap him, I would have been sold."
There was no need to ask.
There was a reason for the few major crimes. As for the other crimes, such as forcibly occupying land, even if they were true, they did not warrant death.
Furthermore.
By now, the situation was clear at a glance.
No one would have thought that there would be a time when a group of villagers would slander a person together.
"Unruly people! What an unruly commoner! "A student shouted angrily. Obviously, he was slightly angry from embarrassment.
"Milord, I'm innocent." The villagers knelt down one by one in fear. Some of them even cried out, "Everything I said is true. This Cheng Goudan even snatched my family's farmland to build roads. He relied on the servants he hired to bully us and beat us up at the slightest provocation. This lowly one even has scars from being beaten up!"
"You, you stole Eighth Aunt's chicken, don't you deserve to be beaten?" Cheng Goudan was also furious.
"Nonsense, which eye of yours saw it?"
"That's right, I was beaten up too."
"Even if it's true, what right do you have to lecture me?!"
“.....”
The group of people directly made a ruckus in front of the many students. Spittle flew everywhere, and all kinds of unimaginable obscenities constantly gushed out. Some of the students had never seen such a scene before. Li Lizhi hid beside Wu Jiong, her small face pale, and her large eyes were about to burst into tears.
Wu Jiong's expression did not change, but when she saw Li Lizhi's expression, she sighed.
"All of you, shut up!" She frowned and her voice was cold. It was actually quite powerful.
Everyone's noises suddenly stopped.
Whether it was the villagers or Cheng Goudan, all of them knelt on the ground and trembled.
This was Princess Ming.
Princess Ming who was protected by the Immortal Lord.
Princess Ming's reputation among the people was more useful than that of the Crown Prince. After all, she was protected by the Immortal Lord. In today's Great Tang, which family did not have a memorial tablet for the Immortal Lord?
"You are the one at fault for this matter." Wu Jiong looked at Cheng Goudan and said directly, "After you obtained wealth, although you had no intention of harming others and wanted to repay your hometown, you stirred up the anger of the people. This matter must be resolved. I order you to leave this village and send an official here to educate the people. In less than five years, the resentment will be quelled."
Wu Jiong's solution was simple and crude.
Let this person leave Lu Village so that the villagers would not be jealous and resentful of him. Then, send an official to educate him.
This method was feasible.
However, the Headmaster frowned after hearing the story.
"Princess Ming, you think that Craftsman Cheng is the one at fault?"
"Indeed."
"But what did Craftsman Cheng do wrong?" The Headmaster was even more puzzled. "Three years ago, Craftsman Cheng passed the craftsman level and became an official. Since then, he has been wholeheartedly serving the village. First, he built roads for the village. Then, he tried to educate the village and mediate conflicts.
"That's right." The rest of the students also said, "It's obviously the unruly people of this place who are ungrateful and slandered us."
"If it was a place with simple people, Craftsman Cheng would be a kind official in the village."
"No matter what, it shouldn't be Craftsman Cheng's fault."
"Princess Ming's wisdom is beyond ours, but we really don't understand this matter."
“.....”
These words caused the faces of the villagers to turn pale and their bodies to tremble. However, they did not dare to say anything.
After everyone finished speaking.
Only then did Wu Jiong reply unhurriedly.
"In terms of law and morality, he did not do anything wrong. However, this matter started because of him, and the villagers resented him and the evil spirits grew. How can you say that he did not do anything wrong?"
His words caused many people to frown.
It seemed to make sense.
However, many people still could not accept it.
"Princess Ming, aren't you only looking at the beginning and the end and not the process?" The teacher said seriously.
"Even if we look at the process, it's still his fault," Wu Jiong said calmly.
"Princess Ming, I'm afraid you don't know that what Craftsman Cheng did was a combination of kindness and authority. It's a way to govern the people. However, the villagers here were jealous, so this happened," the teacher said.
After Cheng Goudan found out that he was hated, he did think of a way.
He started to mediate the conflict in the village because someone was guiding him behind the scenes.
However, this method might work if it was a foreign official.
However, when he did it, it had the opposite effect.
This was because the carpenter family was despised by the villagers before they became rich. After all, scholars, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen were ranked behind farmers.
And now, this "lowly carpenter" had suddenly risen to the top of everyone's list. He had become an official and even made a fortune.
Naturally, he was envied.
"His mistake is that since he can't do it, and it's even counterproductive, why should he care about it?" Wu Jiong said seriously. "He should have just left."
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