Tianliangyuan

Chapter 260 That's not how you calculate the accounts.

The Zhao family's jade mine case was not difficult to investigate.

Because the person really died, the compensation was indeed only two hundred coins.

Of course, the Zhao family acted swiftly as well.

After two stewards, a dozen servants, and a local village head and pavilion chief from Lantian County were brought to a close, the matter was concluded.

As for the families of the victims, they were naturally compensated as well.

Each victim's family received ten strings of cash as compensation. In addition, each family received two bolts of cloth and thirty catties of rice as compensation.

Are these compensations excessive?

For ordinary people, that's quite a lot.

Ten strings of cash alone would be enough for a family of seven or eight to live on for a year, not to mention other goods as compensation.

But from another perspective, their family lost a strong laborer. Normally, a strong laborer could contribute to the family for at least twenty years.

How much money can a strong laborer earn in twenty years?

Even if you calculate it at 100 coins per month, you would only have 1,200 coins per year, which is more than 1,000 strings of cash.

So it would take ten years to earn twelve strings of cash.

Twenty years is twenty-four strings of cash.

Therefore, if Xu Zhaozhao were to make the judgment, they should at least be required to pay 30 strings of cash in compensation to be considered reasonable.

Because if there is no war or disease, it is not uncommon for a strong laborer to contribute to his family for more than 30 years.

This shows that the Zhao family is still not being honest!

Before Xu Zhaozhao left, she had secretly informed Fang Youwei about this matter, so she hoped that Fang Youwei could stand up and truly seek justice for the victim's family.

Because the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review had received an imperial order, he naturally had to personally conduct the trial in Lantian County.

After the Zhao family offered partial compensation, he felt it wouldn't hurt to give them a way out, since they would inevitably run into each other again in the future, and there was no need to make things too ugly.

But Fang Youwei stepped forward.

He recited the explanation that Xu Zhaozhao had calculated for him, and then specifically pointed out several victim families. Now, each family has a total of thirteen people, but only one strong laborer is left to support them. What will happen after the ten strings of cash are spent?

What will become of them?

Following his suggestion, the county magistrate and the county constable also stepped forward to plead for the victims' families.

The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review was genuinely taken aback.

Because he has never thought about the problem from this perspective.

However, it must be said that Fang Youwei's calculations were quite reasonable.

“What you all say makes sense. Although the Zhao family has offered compensation, it is still not enough.”

The Zhao family sent out only a collateral branch, and they shifted all the blame onto the servants, claiming that they had embezzled the money. However, the amount of money recovered by the people sent out by the Minister of Justice was limited, as there were many victims, and even if it were all distributed to the victims' families, it wouldn't be enough.

Ultimately, the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review ruled that the Zhao family, as the owners of the jade mine, should compensate each victim with thirty strings of cash, and this was the minimum standard.

Actually, thirty strings of cash isn't much.

Converted to silver, it would only amount to thirty taels of silver.

However, prices in Daxing are not high these days; to put it bluntly, money is worth more.

Thirty strings of cash, if the victim's family could be frugal and not work at all, could support them for five or six years.

Xu Zhaozhao originally intended to try and get fifty strings of cash, but later gave up.

There was no other reason than that she had seen the compensation amounts in similar cases in the past, which generally did not exceed twenty strings of cash.

Therefore, thirty strings of cash is quite astonishing.

If it were any more, it might be suspected of extortion, and it would also displease those in power.

The case of Zhao Jiayu Mine has been concluded, with more than 160 victims.

In other words, the Zhao family needs to come up with more than four thousand strings of cash, nearly five thousand strings, to make compensation.

That's a huge sum of money!

Taking out more than four thousand strings of cash at once, while not a major blow to the Zhao family, would obviously affect their ability to provide financial support to the Prince Zhong's residence.

More importantly, this incident brought shame upon the Zhao family.

They originally thought that by making a show of it, visiting each household to offer their condolences, and voluntarily giving an extra ten strings of cash, they could bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion.

Unexpectedly, these officials from Lantian County have become a hindrance!

But they really didn't dare to retaliate.

Why?

Because the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review is also investigating the person who dared to assassinate the court official.

The Zhao family then realized that by sending people to hunt down an official of the imperial court, they had offended the court.

This incident enraged not only the emperor but also the court officials below him.

They are all officials, serving His Majesty and the court, but they can't even guarantee their own safety. How can they talk about making great achievements?

Therefore, the Zhao family has truly encountered a difficult situation this time.

Although no one explicitly said it was the Zhao family who did it, no one is stupid.

Do you really think that just sending a few scapegoats out will solve everything?

There were only two major cases in total.

No matter how powerful the Zhou family is, they don't have the guts to assassinate an official of the imperial court, mainly because they don't have the ability or connections to do so.

But the Zhao family is different.

The Zhao family is a powerful and influential family; they have money, people, and guts. Who else could it be but them?

This infuriated the Zhao family.

This is yellow mud that got into my crotch; even if it's not poop, it looks like poop now.

The Zhao family couldn't very well go around saying that they only sent someone to assassinate the county magistrate, and that the assassinations of the others had nothing to do with them!

Can you say that?

Would anyone believe me if I said that?

Therefore, the Zhao family is determined to suffer this loss in silence.

Because of this incident, the three officials from Lantian County did indeed catch the eye of the Emperor and the head of the Ministry of Personnel.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, all three of them will undoubtedly be promoted in this year's official performance evaluation.

After the case was closed, Emperor Yong'an issued a special decree to reward the three men. Although they were not directly promoted, they were given silver, money, and silk, which was enough to show that they had made their mark in front of the emperor. At this point, as long as one was not stupid, no one would touch them.

Some people who were originally thinking of killing these three people are furious.

As the saying goes, wealth is found in danger.

With this move, the county magistrate will be promoted next year, all set.

"Miss, the old lady wants to see you for questioning."

Questioning?

Xu Zhaozhao asked Dingxiang to help her change her clothes.

Dingxiang whispered, "My aunt is here again. I heard that Madam Zhao is with her this time."

"Hmm? Which Madam Zhao?"

"The wife of Zhao Yuezhou, the Vice Minister of the Chancellery, is also the aunt of the Princess Consort of Zhong."

Xu Zhaozhao immediately understood: this was a group coming to interrogate her.

The Vice Minister of the Secretariat was the head of the Secretariat and the deputy head of the Secretariat. He assisted the head of the Secretariat in managing the affairs of the Secretariat. To put it more bluntly, he was the prime minister with a fixed position in the Secretariat.

Zhao Yuezhou wields considerable power!

Xu Zhaozhao curled her lips: "The Zhao family is really anxious. It's just a jade mine case, yet it has attracted the wife of this Vice Minister of the Imperial Secretariat to come and question them personally. Hehe, interesting!"