During the Qianlong period, there was a butcher named Zhang Long in Zhangqiao Village, Guhuang County, who was lazy and ugly. But he married a beautiful lady from a declining official family. Zhang Long has a problem, he is particularly greedy for what is in the cup, and he will get drunk every time he drinks. What's worse is that every time he gets drunk, he will beat and scold his wife Wang, and abuse him in every way.
One day, when the drunken Zhang Long passed by the Lei Gong Temple at the entrance of the village, because of internal urgency, he stood on the god case and poured a soak of urine into the incense burner, and then swaggered home. The next day, Wang went back to his mother's house in a neighboring village, but could not return home because it was raining in the afternoon. At night, Zhang Long made do with something and fell asleep. But at midnight, suddenly thunder and lightning broke out, and after a huge thunder sounded on the roof of Zhang Long's house, Zhang Long's home became in ruins, and Zhang Long was also struck by lightning and his flesh and blood were blurred. After that, the news that "Master Lei Gong appeared and hacked to death Zhang Long, who blasphemed the gods", spread all over Shili and Eight Villages.
Li Zheng reported the matter to the county magistrate, Lord Wang. Lord Wang immediately brought the master, the servant, and the official to the place of the accident. Lord Wang carefully inspected the bodies of the Zhang family and Zhang Long, who had been struck into ruins by lightning, comforted the Wang family, and then asked the people in the village about Zhang Long's personality and his peeing in the Lei Gong Ancestral Hall. After confirming that all this was true, Lord Wang decided the case: Zhang Long was punished for being disrespectful to Lei Gong and blaspheming the gods, and was killed by thunder. After that, Lord Wang said to Wang: "In three days, this county will personally try this case in the Lei Gong Ancestral Hall at the entrance of the village, and give you justice." ”
In a blink of an eye, three days have arrived, and the people of ten miles and eight towns have come here to see the excitement. I saw Lord Wang sitting in danger after the temporary public case, patted the shocked wood, and said, "Lei Gong, are you guilty?" But the clay statue Lei Gong did not answer. Just when everyone was puzzled, Lord Wang said again: "Huh? You don't know what sin you have committed? Well, the county will tell you. Zhang Long is just an illiterate, reckless and ignorant village butcher, and his behavior is slightly inappropriate, and he collides with the honorable driver, which is his fault. You are in the immortal class, why bother with such ignorant people? He relieved his hands in your Lei Gong Ancestral Hall, which was disrespectful, and you treated human life like a mustard and chopped him to death, how cruel! Isn't that your sin? After speaking, Lord Wang looked at the statue of Lei Gong angrily. Of course, the clay statue of Lei Gong naturally did not answer.
After a while, Lord Wang said, "Since you don't speak, you have nothing to say, and you have confessed your sin." Master Ma, how should the crime committed by Lei Gong be judged according to the law? Master Ma hurriedly replied: "Lei Gong used thunder to hurt people, then let's come to 'use the way of others to treat his body', and also use the method of thunder to rectify him, so that he can also taste the taste of being struck by lightning!" Lord Wang was overjoyed when he heard this, but after a while, he became sad again, and said, "Who will thunder in the whole world?" "Master Ma proposed to send a list of articles, and spend a lot of money to recruit talented people with miraculous abilities. After hearing this, Lord Wang nodded.
The next day, the list of recruiting talented people was posted all over the streets and alleys, but for five consecutive days, no one unveiled the list. It wasn't until the morning of the sixth day that a young man of about thirty years old walked in with a bang in his hand. This man claimed to be surnamed Xu Qingyuan, and he had been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and he had some skills. So, Lord Wang took Xu Qingyuan to the Lei Gong Ancestral Hall, only to see Xu Qingyuan lighting a pile of firewood next to the offering table, and then retreated, and asked everyone to retreat to a place ten zhang away from the Lei Gong Ancestral Hall. At this time, Lord Wang asked tentatively, "What method do you want to use to split Lei Gong?" It's not going to be fun for us, is it? Xu Qingyuan smiled faintly, took out a bucket-sized oilcloth bag from behind him, and after opening it, a pungent smell overflowed from inside, only to see that it was filled with black and yellow powder. Lord Wang looked at it for a long time before he said, "Is this gunpowder?" Are you going to blow up Lei Gong with it? "Not bad! This is indeed gunpowder, and when the villain throws such a large bag of gunpowder into the fire, won't this little Lei Gong Temple be blown up to the sky? It's exactly the same as the effect of Lightning Split! Xu Qingyuan was very proud, and was about to throw gunpowder into the fire, when Lord Wang suddenly grabbed his hand, and at the same time, shouted to the officials around him who were already eager to try: "Take it for me!" All the officials rushed up, knocked Xu Qingyuan to the ground, and tied a knot with a rope. Xu Qingyuan asked unwillingly: "Lord Wang, what do you mean by this?" Where did the villain offend the adult? "You didn't offend me, but you offended Wang Fa. It was you who made gunpowder, blew up Zhang Long and disguised himself as a thunderbolt. The county has a little trick to lure you out. After speaking, Lord Wang ordered the officials to bring Xu Qingyuan and the Wang family back to the county office.
In fact, when Lord Wang came to the scene of the accident, he found that the case was a little strange. Because not only Zhang Long was "struck by thunder" to the point of blurred flesh and blood, but even several houses of the Zhang family and the kang where Zhang Long slept were struck by lightning, and a big pit was left on the ground. Obviously, lightning does not possess such power. Just as Lord Wang was deep in thought, he thought of Zhang Long's young and beautiful wife Wang, and couldn't help but feel a stir in his heart: Zhang Long is a butcher with five big and three rough appearances, how could he marry such a beautiful lady as his wife? Moreover, on the day of the accident, it happened that Wang was not at home and was able to be safe and sound. Is there such a clever thing in the world? It must be that the Wang family has a personal relationship with others, and for the sake of their appearance, they made such a ruthless move and put Zhang Long to death.
However, all this is the conjecture of Lord Wang, and there is neither evidence nor physical evidence. Lord Wang had no choice but to pretend that Zhang Long was killed by thunder, and that he would try Lei Gong three days later. His seemingly absurd move actually had two purposes: first, to let the Wang family and the real murderer relax their vigilance in order to expose their feet; 2. Delay time so that the clues of the case can be clarified and clues to the real culprit's crime can be found.
Helplessly, there was nothing to gain in these three days, so Lord Wang made another plan and co-acted in a scene with Master Ma, and came to a "list to recruit talents" - the person who has a way to thunder and thunder the prince must have something to do with the real murderer. In order to attract people, use a thousand taels ** as bait. Unexpectedly, the real murderer Xu Qingyuan was really caught.
The next day, Mr. Wang formally tried the case. Xu Qingyuan began to refuse to admit it, but when he heard that if he refused to confess, he and the Wang family would be indispensable to the pain of flesh and skin, and suddenly became honest. He confessed to killing Zhang Long with gunpowder on the night of a thunderstorm, and repeatedly reiterated that he was the sole perpetrator of the incident and had nothing to do with Wang.
When Lord Wang asked him why he killed Zhang Long, Xu Qingyuan tearfully told such a story: Xu Qingyuan and Wang have been childhood sweethearts since childhood. But Wang's parents thought that the Xu family was poor, so they asked Xu Qingyuan to go out to make a living, saying that the day he returned to his hometown in the future was the time when he and Wang's cave house spent candles, and if he couldn't return to his hometown within five years, Wang would marry someone else. In this way, Xu Qingyuan said goodbye to his mother and went outside to break into the world.
In the fourth year of his absence, Xu Qingyuan really made a fortune and happily returned to his hometown. But who knows, before he came back, Wang had no money for medical treatment because his parents were seriously ill, so he had to marry Zhang Long and use the dowry money to treat his parents. Later, Xu Qingyuan heard that Zhang Long often beat and scolded Wang, and he was very heavy. Seeing that his sweetheart was tortured like this, Xu Qingyuan was very angry and decided to get rid of Zhang Long in the name of Lei Gong. Coincidentally, one day, Xu Qingyuan saw that there was a halo in the sun, the clouds flew north, and it was the thunderstorm season at this time, so he concluded that there would be a thunderstorm the next night. So he tricked Wang back to his parents' house, and took advantage of the thunderstorm to ignite the gunpowder that had been prepared.
Lord Wang was greatly moved when he heard what Xu Qingyuan said, and said after a while: "Then why did you throw yourself into the net for this thousand taels?" Xu Qingyuan smiled bitterly: "I went out for a few years, and I originally earned a lot of family business, but when I learned that the Wang family had married someone else, my heart was like ashes, I scattered my family wealth, and lived a poor life before." However, recently, my mother was sick, and I had no belongings, so I could not ask a doctor to buy medicine, so I had to take risks for the sake of this money. ”
The truth of the case was revealed, and Wang was acquitted. Wang cried and said that Xu Qingyuan was too stupid and it was not worth doing all this, but Xu Qingyuan said that he had no regrets. Although Xu Qingyuan's actions were touching, killing paid for his life, and Xu Qingyuan was sentenced to beheading. After that, the Wang family took care of Xu Qingyuan's mother as his own mother.
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