In the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang (1845), Zhang Qiren, who was born as a jinshi, came to huizhou as the prefect, and just after completing the handover matter, he encountered a case of mutual control between the two surnames because of the ownership of the cemetery. Looking through the file, I found that this was a dispute that had occurred since the nineteenth year of Jiaqing (1814), and it had been more than 30 years, because there was no contract document, so the successive prefects had not been able to solve it, so whenever the new prefect took office, the parties would come to sue.
Zhang Zhifu interrogated the parties and found that the plaintiff was an old Xiucai, who was now more than 70 years old, hunched over, old and long, wearing a worn-out robe with patches and patches, which was really "poor and sour". Zhang Zhifu thought: Such a poor and sour talent, who can persevere in fighting for a cemetery for more than 30 years, presumably this cemetery is very important to him, and now that it is the twilight year, it should be a grievance and a grievance.
Looking at the defendant again, he was a dancing teenager who had spent money to buy a government official title, wearing a five-pin official uniform, and his proud and fearless appearance made people feel disgusted when they saw it. Zhang Zhifu thought: A person who can spend more than a thousand silver to buy an official title should not be poor at home, so why should he fight with a poor acid show to fight for a graveyard? Is there any feng shui saying? Or is there treasure buried underground?
According to general principle, when officials and eunuchs fight lawsuits with the common people, local officials with a little dignity will be partial to the common people, because at that time, the basic virtue possessed by the strong orders of the upright and upright is to crack down on the powerful and powerful, so in line with the following principle: Whoever argues with the people will be judged to win the lawsuit; whoever has meritorious name and no meritorious name will be judged to lose the lawsuit; all the powerful and the small people will win the lawsuit; and all the rich and the rich will be judged to lose the lawsuit. In the eyes of these officials, officials, meritorious people, powerful people, and rich people are all strong and have natural advantages, and if they are biased toward them, they will be unjust and will be criticized by public opinion. As an official, it is said that your officials are corrupt and bribe-taking, and the officials protect each other, or that you are the only one who is strong and rich. In this case, a poor and sour old Xiucai competed with the family of an official eunuch for a cemetery, and it is reasonable to say that the value of this cemetery, that is, dozens of taels of silver, a person who can spend more than a thousand taels of silver and buy the same title of the government, how can he fight a lawsuit for more than thirty years for this dozens of cemeteries in this district, and a poor acid Xiucai? Old Xiu cai is poor, these dozens of taels of silver for him, is undoubtedly a huge production, and his desperate competition is also forgivable. So why should such a rich official eunuch's family struggle with a poor show to have property? Giving him a few dozen taels of silver is not a difficult matter, why have you been fighting for thirty years and refusing to give up half a point?
With all kinds of suspicions, Zhang Zhifu began to interrogate, first asking the plaintiff. According to the confession: Lao Xiucai's name is Huang Fanglai, this cemetery is the ancestral grave, since the time of the former Ming Dynasty has been his own grave, buried with his own ancestors, the family tree has "crows splashing terrain four graves" said. In the eighteenth year of Jiaqing (1813), the local gentry Wang Jiangao bullied others, believing himself to be a family of officials and eunuchs, bullying his family into being poor and orphaned, and forcibly occupying the cemetery in order to bury his father. Huang Fanglai was not satisfied, came to the county to complain, the county in the name of no contract documents, did not accept, Huang Fanglai had to go to the government to complain, successive prefects can not rule. Old man, you think, I am just a poor talent, if I am not guilty and wronged, how dare I fight a lawsuit with the officials and eunuchs, and repeatedly come to the court to confront me? He also hoped that Zhang Zhifu would be the master and cut off the cemetery to the soul of the Patriarch of The Patriarch. Zhang Zhifu said: When you say that Wang Jiangao was bullying others and forcibly occupying your family's graveyard, did you ever discuss a solution with him? If he gives you some silver, will you be able to accept the settlement? Huang Fang said: It is reasonable to say that the ancestral cemetery can never be sold, but the ancestral property is guarded by the descendants, the descendants are incompetent, they cannot live, and it is also common to sell the ancestral property, if the price he gives is reasonable, the students are willing to move the ancestral grave and accept the reconciliation of the elders.
Zhang Zhifu asked the defendant again, and according to the confession: The defendant was originally Wang Jiangao, now Wang Lanting, and is Wang Jiangao's son. Wang Jiangao once served as a prefect in Guangxi, and because Ding You returned to his hometown to bury his grandfather, he was stopped by Diao Sheng Huangfang, saying that the cemetery was the location of his family's ancestral grave. This cemetery is clearly my family's, Huang Fanglai is obviously Tu lai, and his father used him as unreasonable and expelled him before burying his grandfather. Unexpectedly, Huang Fang came to the county, and then to the government, the lawsuit was fought for more than 30 years, but his father was angry, but 3 years ago he had already done the ancient, and now only the lowly post came to answer the lawsuit. Adult, you think, my family has been an official for generations, the family has a number of acres of good land, hundreds of houses, and it is not a crime to rob a poor and talented cemetery. Besides, how can the ancestors of the ancestors of the eunuchs of the generations be buried in the graves of others, and this is not a great disrespect to the patriarchs? What kind of face do children and grandchildren have to live in the world! It is clear that he blamed the good people, and also asked the adults to be the masters, severely punish the slanderers, seek grievances for the old father, and comfort the spirits of the ancestors in heaven.
Zhang Zhifu said: Since you are a family of officials and eunuchs for generations, and you are rich in property, wouldn't it be good to give him some silver and peace? Wang Lanting said: The old man's words are bad, if this ancestral tomb is his family's, it is not a big deal to give some money from a lowly position, the problem is that this ancestral tomb is my family's, and there is no problem of buying and selling the ancestors who buried me, so why should I give him silver or two? Isn't that fueling the wind? Besides, if I give him money, I will admit that this graveyard belongs to his family, and if he moves the grave in this name, my ancestors will be humiliated, and if I do not let him move the grave, he will certainly threaten me by moving the grave, and then ask for silver money.
When Zhang Zhifu heard this, he asked: Both sides of the dispute in the cemetery have no real evidence, so can there be witnesses to testify?
Huang Fanglai replied: The defendant bullied the township with arrogance, and no one dared to come to testify. The students were penniless and had no money to ask someone to testify.
Wang Lanting retorted: "Old man, this is not the case!" I asked witnesses, but Huang Fanglai did not allow it, saying that I used money to buy people to testify, so successive prefects were not allowed to bring witnesses from low offices, and it was clear that Huang Fanglai was a rogue and did not allow others to testify, not without witnesses.
Zhang Zhifu said: Huang Fanglai has a family tree as evidence, what is your family's proof?
Wang Lanting said: He has a family tree as evidence, and I also have a family tree as evidence. The score says: 'Four graves in the field next to the right side of the house', which should be this ancestral tomb. You think, old man! His crow splashed four graves on the terrain, does this crow have a fixed residence? The land on the right side of my house is a fixed place, how can there be a fake?
Zhang Zhifu said: You both speak reasonably, you have a family tree as evidence, he also has a family tree as evidence, but the family tree was made by your ancestors, how can it be proved? Now that the Wang family is looking for someone to testify, the Huang family says that they will pay someone to testify, and the witness's testimony cannot be counted, and the Huang family has no witnesses, so there is no one to testify! Now that you don't have any contract documents and only family trees, how do you make a judgment? It seems that only the dead in the grave can be invited to testify! Let them talk about where the genealogy refers. If the grave is not afforded, the case cannot be adjudicated. If the grave rises, your patriarchs will not find peace. How can this be good? So be it! Go back first, and ask your ancestors what they mean! After saying this, he withdrew from the church alone and let the plaintiff and the defendant go out to wait.
The original defendants were greatly puzzled, the lawsuit has been fought for 30 years, and after countless counties and prefects, they have not yet encountered this kind of questioning, what is this kind of questioning! The living do not ask, but ask the dead, and the dead do not speak, so they say that it is a dream, which is simply nonsense!
Although the plaintiff and the defendant did not believe that Zhang Zhifu could judge the case, they were also not at ease, so they tried their best to inquire into what Zhang Zhifu had done. It was found that Zhang Zhifu was really troubled, and actually fasted for three days in the mansion, and then moved to the City God Temple to stay. This kind of behavior not only made the plaintiff and the defendant feel strange, but all the people who heard about it felt that the prefect was pretending to be a ghost, and of course, they could not stop their curiosity.
The next morning, Zhang Prefect sent a message to the plaintiff and the defendant to go to the tomb hill together to listen to the trial, and the people in the whole capital knew that the prefect had a dream, and did not know what they dreamed, so they followed it and came to the tomb hill in a big way.
But when he saw Zhang Prefect, he had people set up a table by the grave, and all the onlookers stood around. Zhang Zhifu sent an order to take the original defendant and say in front of everyone: I have dreamed of your ancestors. They said that the grave had its own owner, but they did not tell the officer at this time, but they should inform the officer today. This official wondered, are your patriarchs lying? In the morning, I heard your patriarchs say, 'Since the lord wants to determine the ownership of the tomb, why don't you make the two of you kneel before the tomb and pray?' If it were not for his ancestors, he would not be able to come to his ancestral grave to make offerings in the future. 'Both of you are now your ancestors with the bones in the grave, and once it has been determined, you will not be your ancestors anymore. Pray before this grave today and wait for this official to be judged tomorrow!
After listening to Zhang Zhifu's words, Lao Xiucai Huang Fanglai nodded and said yes, only promises, while Wang Lanting, who was the same as the governor of the house, had a difficult face and was so unwilling. The zhang prefect also did not allow them to plead, so he ordered them to grasp the caste and worship them one after another.
Old Xiu Cai Huang Fang came to catch the first worship, so he hurriedly got up, came to the grave to worship hastily, and retreated to the side to watch. Wang Lanting got up and went to the grave, touched the tombstone, knelt on the ground and cried loudly: For the descendants, they will not be able to sacrifice their ancestors in front of the grave again. Our family has been suing with Huang Fang for more than 30 years in the graveyard of the patriarchs, and my father died because of this, but I will continue to fight a lawsuit. Nowadays, the prefect is indiscriminate, pretending to be a demon, and wanting to make a judgment. The spirits of the patriarchs in heaven, please protect me, if you give me a home, this is the blessing of the descendants, but also the blessing of the patriarchs. If you can't give it to my family, you will never say goodbye to the patriarchs! What a mistake! treat unjustly! He fell to the ground, weeping bitterly, and could no longer stand up.
Seeing this, Zhang Zhifu stood up and shouted to the people watching: Who has no ancestors? Who has no children? If it is someone else's ancestral grave, he can't come back to pay homage to it in the future, can he be so sad? There is no such reason in the world! When you see these two people bidding farewell to the grave of their ancestors, is it true or false, should you understand it, and use this official to judge it?
The people watching shouted in unison: Old Man Shengming! Needless to say, we all get it. After saying that, they all laughed at Huang Fanglai, the old xiucai, and accused him of being poor and shameless, poor and immoral, and actually regarded other people's ancestors as his own ancestors. If he is proud, it is the sky without eyes!
Seeing that everyone laughed and scolded, Zhang Zhifu turned to Lao Xiucai Huang Fang and said: This is something that everyone can see for all to see, and it is also something that everyone understands, what else do you say?
At this time, Huang Fanglai was full of shame, so he had to kneel on the ground and prostrate his head to apologize, begging Zhang Prefect to raise his noble hand and avoid punishment. When Zhang Zhifu saw the situation, he immediately rebuked Huang Fang and said: You were originally a poor xiucai, for a cemetery, you falsely bid farewell to people for "strong and forcible occupation", thinking that it was a dispute between the poor and the rich, between the lowly and the noble, and the official government would help the poor and the unworthy, it was really a diaomin, you persevered in fighting the lawsuit for 30 years, thinking that there would always be a confused official, and the cemetery would be adjudicated to you, you could use the cemetery to blackmail Wang Lanting, you did not know that the heavenly way was not happy, no one had any relatives, not their own ancestors, and their feelings were not true, and the official ruled that he could make a deed again. No one else should compete with it, or they will be severely punished. As for the meritorious names of Huang Fanglai's students, this official will study politics in detail, reform them, and no longer allow you to endanger the township.
Zhang Zhifu's move can be described as killing three birds with one stone. First, in the name of the gods, without any effort, a case that has been contested for more than 30 years was closed; second, in full view of the public, it will not be accused of being an official who protects each other, clings to the powerful and powerful, profits from it, and wins the name of incorruptibility; third, because of insight into people's feelings, "frankly teaching, being cautious and cautious", not only educates the people, but also wins the name of doing things carefully.