The county magistrate and the county lieutenant were frightened by the sudden move of the magistrate Zhan He. They all knelt down and urged: "My lord, magistrate, what are you doing? The late emperor is mourning, and all the people in the city are in obedience."
, I have no complaints, what is your fault?"
After persuading him, Lieutenant Tong secretly cast a threatening look at Zhan He.
This subtle movement was already noticed by Chu Nanzhi.
At this moment, she finally understood why Zhan He was sitting idle in the courtyard when she first entered the government office, deliberately neglecting herself to make things worse.
The magistrate of a county has to look to the county magistrate for his actions. The county magistrate's eyes are controlled by others, which is indeed frustrating.
"Magistrate Zhan, although you are trying to be mysterious and act lazy and inactive in front of me, and even a little rude, I know that you are not an inactive person. The tragedy of the Qian family happened only half a day ago, and you have made an autopsy conclusion.
Look carefully and have your own unique insights."
As Chu Nanzhi spoke, she held up the official hat in his hand and put it back on for him with a solemn expression:
"You have even studied the old lady's files. It can be seen that you have been studying these two cases attentively. Today, I am here in person and am determined to investigate this case. If you have any difficulties, please tell the truth.
, after all, this Langzhou City is not decided by the so-called famous families. Since it is on the territory of the empire, it has laws to abide by and orders to convey."
Looking at the county magistrate and county lieutenant with sharp eyes, Chu Nanzhi's words became sharper:
"Now that I sit in this position, if I can't even protect my own children, and can't seek justice for those mothers who are ten months pregnant, how can I live up to the name of a virtuous mother in the world? Which one of you here has no wife and children?"
, can you bear to watch your wife suffer, and your soon-to-be-born child be stillborn?"
The resounding words left the county magistrate and county lieutenant speechless, and they immediately lowered their heads and did not dare to speak to them again.
Zhan He saw that the queen was determined to take care of this matter, so he lamented and replied: "Since July, in just over a month, the county has reported nearly a hundred cases of maternal deaths from dystocia alone. Compared to
Ten times more than usual."
At this point, Zhan He was so choked that he could not speak. After pondering for a long time, he continued: "Xiaguan is very sad about this. There are thirteen counties in Langzhou, and each county has at least twenty counties. Xiaguan
It’s really hard to guess what the situation will be like in other counties.”
Chu Nanzhi and Chu Wenbi were both stunned when they heard this shocking figure.
Chu Wenbi couldn't help but shook his head and sighed: "In the small Jichun County alone, nearly a hundred women died of dystocia in one month. What an astonishing number if we add in the number of women who were induced to give birth due to national mourning."
?”
Chu Nanzhi could certainly hear the deep meaning in Zhan He's words.
Medical conditions are rudimentary these days, so it is inevitable for a woman to die from dystocia in a county town, but with so many people arriving in the rest of the month, it is obvious that there is something fishy involved.
It seems that the most common cases are those who died due to induced labor due to national mourning. In order to conceal the culpability, the government reported the death as dystocia.
And this is only the statistics of those who died in childbirth. The number of those who successfully had abortions and discarded their fetuses is unknown.
The methods used to induce labor these days are really cruel, let alone when labor is about to begin. Even if labor can be successfully induced, there may be many cases of sterilization.
At this moment, she truly realized what it means to have policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom.
As Chang Lao said at the beginning, the late emperor had no great achievements in his more than 20 years in power, but he was indeed an emperor who cared about the people. The only measure he took to benefit the people before his death was so ruined by low-level officials. It is chilling to think about it.
.
Since Lin Jinxiao came to the north and asked her to assist in Langzhou affairs, she was determined to fight against the famous families in Langzhou to the end for the sake of her newborn little Ruiji and Xiaoruisi, and for the sake of this unfair world.
With eyes like blades passing in front of everyone, Chu Nanzhi said to Zhan He in a deep tone: "Magistrate Zhan, today I will promote you as the Chief Secretary of the Tingwei Mansion to inspect the history of Tingwei in Langzhou.
If you find out the mothers who have suffered due to national mourning in each state, if you encounter any obstruction, you can bring the official documents of the Tingwei Mansion and coordinate with the local government offices to arrest them immediately."
Hearing this, the county magistrate and county lieutenant all lowered their heads in fear. Only Zhan He clasped his fists proudly and said: "I will fulfill my mission and thoroughly investigate all the unjust cases in every county in the state."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a deep sound of crutches coming from outside the hospital.
Chu Nanzhi looked up and saw Tang Weiming strolling in with a gray-haired old man.
Although the old man was already in his twilight years, his steps were vigorous and calm, and every step he took seemed to be filled with cold wind, adding a slight chill to the hot courtyard.
Chu Nanzhi sat firmly in the hall, watching quietly as the old man walked forward step by step.
When the old man entered the main hall, he just bowed his hand to her in a neither humble nor overbearing manner: "Gu Lei, a common man, has met the queen."
Such a calm demeanor was indeed a bit like everyone's. Chu Nanzhi guessed that this old man must be the great scholar in Gujiazhuang.
With the attitude of being polite first and fighting later, Chu Nanzhi did not attack him directly, but said with a warm smile: "Mr. Gu, there is no need to be polite."
After saying that, he glanced at Tang Weiming: "Give Mr. Gu a seat."
"Don't dare."
Gu Lei moved the crutch in his hand in front of him, with a straight body and a solemn expression, and said: "I heard that the queen summoned me, the common people dare not not come. I don't know what the queen summoned me to do. Could you please explain me clearly?"
Seeing the arrogant attitude of this little old man, but also being so polite and courteous that no one could find any fault with it, Chu Nanzhi could only look at Zhan He with a wry smile, and replied with a deep meaning: "It seems that Mr. Gu has no regard for me.
Pretty prejudiced?"
"The queen's words are serious. The common people are just ordinary people. How dare they disrespect the queen."
Gu Lei replied with his eyebrows gleaming.
"Mr. Gu's words are wrong."
Zhan He glanced at him maliciously: "I heard that it was Mr. Gu's slight remarks about the Queen's delivery last month that caused the entire Langzhou City to fall into a state of national mourning and stop childbirth, causing many women to die in childbirth.
Now they are even more willing to kill six members of the Qian family, a good citizen of this county, to maintain the old system."
"Magistrate Zhan, you are slandering people without any evidence. This is not what a gentleman does. Is this what you do as an official?"
Gu Lei calmly glanced at Chu Nanzhi who was sitting upright, and replied calmly: "Yes, the common people did have some complaints about the queen's death and childbirth in the country. Even at this moment, the common people still felt that the queen's move was against the late emperor.
Disrespectful.”
"Mr. Gu is well-known all over the world and he believes in persuading people with virtue. As the chief minister of Tingwei Mansion, I always only accept the truth. But since Mr. Gu is obsessed with me having a child, I will talk to you today."
Be reasonable."
Chu Nan Zhiliu's eyebrows trembled slightly, a faint smile appeared, and he said in a slow and careful tone:
"The system of human sacrifice was abolished in the early years of my dynasty. It shows that the emperors of the past dynasties were wise and valued human life far more than the previous dynasties. I think this alone is enough to bring the world back to its heart, and it is also the reason why our dynasty has lasted for hundreds of years.
The foundation has never faded, but Mr. Gu insisted on the old etiquette and asked the woman who was about to give birth to sacrifice her flesh and blood before giving birth, or even one body and two lives. How is this different from the human sacrifice system? "
Gu Lei's eyes froze after hearing this, and he didn't know how to answer her.