Inside the County Office in Heyin County.
Several handsome, richly dressed young men were kneeling inside the County Office, their eyes filled with terror.
Their leader looked at the new county magistrate seated above them and said shakily, "County Lord! There must be some misunderstanding! We all come from respectable families. We truly should not be subjected to such humiliation!"
Another hurried to explain, "Our family backgrounds are spotless..."
"Can people who turn bandit and rob and murder the common people be called respectable men with spotless backgrounds?!"
"Privately concealed strong crossbows were found in your homes, along with the goods you hid away. They all match what the murdered merchants lost, and the crossbow bolts found on the merchants' bodies match yours!"
The newly appointed county magistrate roared in fury.
The young man grew somewhat angry too. "Lord Guo! Are you going to shield those merchants and hound us sons of respectable families to death? Could you have taken their bribes? How else could you do such a thing?"
A new county magistrate had come to Heyin County.
This county magistrate was very strange. His name was Guo Ze.
After arriving in the county town, he neither paid visits to the prominent local families nor bothered with the powerful landlords who came bearing gifts. Instead, he actually spent his days leading officials out among the lowly commoners.
This had given him a very poor reputation. Everyone in the county thought he was a muddleheaded, incompetent magistrate.
And Guo Ze's conduct grew increasingly outrageous. Today, he had actually sent men to arrest the sons of several great clans and search their residences.
How many years had it been since they had suffered such treatment, ever since Emperor Wu passed away!
This enraged the local aristocratic families, who submitted memorials to