Why do this?
One reason was to retaliate against Emperor Xuanzong of Tang of Tang for assigning him to such a remote small county. He had originally planned to spend three years bringing back the glory that Taoyuan County had achieved today.
But they only gave him one year, and even then, they dumped Taoyuan County, which had been suffering from drought for three years, on him.
He personally took charge of everything in building Taoyuan County.
For example, all the products currently on the market—cars, mobile phones, air conditioners, televisions, telecommunications, banking, websites, Didi Chuxing, etc.—were all developed by him alone.
That's not all; Qin Hao lost countless brain cells trying to create these things.
Although he made it easily without expending much energy, it disrupted his plans.
Qin Hao's plan is to develop the city solely based on his knowledge, without using the Origin Power the laws themselves.
However, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang of Tang forced him to use it.
Secondly, he wanted to carry out a nationwide reform so that the entire Great Tang could develop in this way, which required revising the laws of the Great Tang.
According to the laws of the Great Tang, Zhang Mazi and his men did nothing wrong, because they didn't force Emperor Xuanzong of Tang to buy it.
At most, the price is set too high, too outrageous.
But there doesn't seem to be such a provision in the law; shouldn't the price be reasonable?
Therefore, although Qin Hao committed fraud, he was not convicted under any relevant law.
In any case, Qin Hao wanted to make Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his men suffer a great loss, then amend the laws and carry out major reforms.
"Okay, very good, plaintiffs, do you have anything to say?"
Qin Hao asked Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and the others.
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang did not speak, but merely narrowed his eyes and carefully examined Qin Hao.
Princess Yuzhen was staring at Qin Hao, completely infatuated.
Zhang Shuo was furious. He thought to himself, "This Zhang Mazi cheated me out of so much money, why is he being interrogated like this? Laozi 'm not having it!"
So Zhang Shuo said, "Sir, Zhang Mazi and his gang have cheated us so much, why are they treated the same as us, with such good benefits, and not having to kneel?"
Upon hearing this, Qin Hao's lips curled into a smirk.
"How dare you! Are you the one judging this case, or am I?"
Of course, there were no officials banging sticks and shouting "Majestic!" at this time.
Even without that, Zhang Shuo was still startled.
After all, the Emperor was still present, so he couldn't be too presumptuous.
"Alright, plaintiffs, do you have anything to say, or any evidence?"
What? Evidence? Where are you going to find evidence yourself?
As he thought about it, Zhang Shuo suddenly remembered that when he first arrived in Taoyuan County, he kept hearing about surveillance cameras and such.
So he quickly shouted, "Sir, we have CCTV footage to verify this!"
Qin Hao was quite surprised, thinking to himself that this man truly deserved to be a prime minister; he even thought of using surveillance videos.
But thinking about it, it makes sense. Zhang Shuo he learned a good lesson from last night's honey trap.
"Very good. We have a copy of the surveillance video outside the South Urban District Gate and the surveillance video of the Jiu Kenni Hotel. Let's take a look together now!"
Hearing this, Zhang Shuo looked at Zhang Mazi and the others with a smug expression.
However, Zhang Mazi and his men looked at them with disdain and instead looked at them smugly.
This puzzled Zhang Shuo greatly.
Next, on a large screen in the government office, surveillance footage of the opening of the south gate was played.
The scene shows the Liu Brothers wearing blue work clothes and small red hats. Then a carriage approaches, and five people get off and get off—these are Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his entourage.
Next comes the scene of the Liu Brothers persuading Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his entourage to buy Xizhilang Jelly, with even the audio recorded clearly.
The video continues until Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his entourage leave in Zhang Mazi's carriage, and then it ends.
At this moment, Qin Hao said with a smile, "Alright, everyone saw it, right? The only unreasonable thing in the video is that the Liu Brothers raised the price of Xizhilang Jelly from 1 copper coin to 10 taels of silver per bag, and then sold it for 5 taels of silver per bag."
"Oh, of course, both of you were acting consensually throughout the process, and there were no problems."
"So, plaintiffs, do you have anything else to say?"
"Sir, this Xizhilang Jelly only costs one copper coin a bag, but they've raised the price to ten taels of silver. Isn't that evidence that they're deceiving us?"
Upon hearing this, Qin Hao immediately said, "I'm sorry, according to the laws of the Great Tang, there are no penalties for price gouging. Their pricing is unreasonable, but you don't have to buy it!"
"This..."
"What? Still have objections?"
Qin Hao asked.
Helpless, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his entourage were also filled with resignation, because Qin Hao was right; the other party was simply inflating prices, and they could have avoided buying the goods.
But I bought it myself, and the other party didn't force me to buy it at all.
"Sir, also, why are our carriages not allowed into the city?"
"Oh, about that. It's true that carriages aren't allowed into the city, because they affect the city's appearance. Unless your carriage is very clean and used specifically for sightseeing at tourist attractions, then it can only stay at those attractions."
"Hmph, fine then. Zhang Mazi forced us to pay an exorbitant fare, how are we going to settle this?"
"Oh, very well. Now, defendants, do you have anything to say?"
At this moment, Zhang Mazi hurriedly said, "Sir, I have dashcam footage as proof. I did not force them to ride in my car or pay such a high fare. My prices are just that high, but they insisted on riding in my car."
"Furthermore, I, a common citizen, will sue them for threatening me in the car, and all of this can be verified by the dashcam footage!"
"Okay, very good. Now let's take a look at the footage from the dashcam!"
Next, the video from the dashcam was projected onto the large screen.
In the video, Zhang Mazi did not violate any rules except for being one person ahead of him.
On the contrary, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his group were choking Zhang Mazi and threatening him.
After reading it, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and the others realized that their argument was completely untenable; on the contrary, they had violated the rules.
"As everyone has seen, the facts prove that Zhang Mazi did not commit any illegal acts other than violating traffic rules. But what about you, the plaintiffs?"
Zhang Shuo his face looked very bad, but he was helpless.
"Since the incident was not particularly serious and no one was injured, Zhang Mazi is hereby sentenced to a fine of 10 taels of silver and a 10-point warning."
"As for Liu, the thug among the plaintiffs, you have violated the crimes of intimidation and threats. Due to the extremely serious nature of the offenses, you are sentenced to 15 days of detention and fined 10 taels of silver."
Liu Shuai said he was truly wronged, but there was nothing he could do; he had indeed threatened and intimidated Zhang Mazi.
"Alright, next up is the Jiu Kenni Hotel fraud case!"
"Plaintiffs, you claim that Sister Wang from the Jiu Kenni Hotel defrauded you. Now, let's take a closer look at the surveillance video."
As Qin Hao finished speaking, the surveillance video of the Jiu Kenni Hotel was projected onto the big screen.
In the scene, Sister Wang did not force Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his entourage to stay at her inn. She even said that if they thought it was too expensive, they could stay at another inn.
The video footage and audio were all recorded clearly.
That's not all. While checking the items in the room, Sister Wang filmed a video with her phone and then uploaded it.
In the video, Zhang Shuo the TV screen in the room had a hole in it and was broken, and that a sex toy vending machine in Wang Gonggong's room was broken.
There were also sex toys lying around on the bed; I don't know if they've ever been used.
Upon seeing this, everyone looked at Wang Gonggong with strange expressions.
"Alright, everyone's seen the video. The only thing that doesn't make sense is what Sister Wang. How much is a TV set worth? They're paying compensation, not buying it. So even if they pay ten times the amount, it's only 20 taels of silver."
"As for sex vending machines, their value is also less than one tael of silver. The market price is only 7 strings of copper coins, and 10 times that is 70 strings of copper coins, which is equivalent to only 7 taels of silver. This is a scam!"
In fact, this money was paid by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang of Tang, as Qin Hao knew. Whether Zhang Shuo's money was recovered or not was another matter; the key was to save face for the emperor.
Therefore, Qin Hao said, "The accommodation fee is due, but regarding this compensation, the Jiu Kenni Hotel is suspected of fraud, so the judgment is as follows!"
The court ruled that Sister Wang must return the excess compensation to the plaintiff, and in addition, compensate the plaintiff for emotional distress with 10 taels of silver.
"The plaintiffs, Zhang Mazi and the Liu Brothers, are not suspected of fraud. Therefore, the plaintiffs shall each compensate Zhang Mazi and the Liu Brothers with 10 taels of silver for emotional distress!"
"Alright, plaintiff and defendant, do you have any further objections?"
The plaintiffs, including Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, looked helpless and could only say, "No?"
The defendants were overjoyed and quickly replied, "Thank you, Your Honor, we have no objections!"
"Alright, since no one has any objections, let's proceed as planned! Court adjourned!"
After saying this, Qin Hao left the courtroom and went to his office.