Chapter 907: Testify ——-2Magistrate Li had heard all about the situation from Yu Dong when the latter came to see her but she still could not just listen to one side of the story which was she went ahead and investigated the situation in the Big Stone Village.
But the result of her investigation was considerably similar to what Yu Dong had told her in her office.
The people of the Big Stone Village ate the children of their own village. Later on, when, the children of their own village ended up running out, they turned around and started stealing the children from other villagers. To make things worse the chief of that village even implemented her own grain tax, saying that she will not eat the children of those families who pay a desirable amount of grains as taxes to her causing many people to starve to death as they did not wish to let their children die.
Of course, those people were all eaten by the Big Stone Village as well while the other half left their lands behind and ran away from the village for survival.
The people of the Big Stone Village knew that the villagers of the Big River Village had enough food to feed their mers and mer son because of this they targeted the Big River Village, they knew that as long as they wiped the entire Big River Village they will be able to get all the grains and food stock which the villagers of this village were hiding.
They all thought that with their plan no one will be able to survive, they did not think that the villagers of this village would be fortunate enough to escape an avalanche.
She still remembered what those people said to her as soon as she arrived and started investigating the entire case, Magistrate Li thought that those villagers might be a bit guilty after trying to kill an entire village but she seemed to have thought too highly of them, not only did they not feel guilty but they also thought that they were in the right.
In fact, most of them were filled with hatred towards Yu Dong!
" We were on the verge of dying and yet those women of the Big River Village only fed their mers and mer sons, so what if their village owner laid down the premise that no mer or mer son was allowed to be malnourished? It was an emergency, they could have helped us since we are all women but they did not help us! If they had given us food when we asked for it nicely then we would not have done this!" One of the women of the Big Stone Village told her as she spoke with a twisted expression.
" Exactly, those people are heartless. They are the richest among the three villages in the first place, how can they not give us a few catties of grains? Obviously, they could have done so but they did not wish to! They did the same thing when the flood came, they knew that the flood was going to destroy their village but instead of saving everyone around them, they only cared about themselves. If they have helped us then we would not have lost so many strong women and we could have survived this disaster without losing anything!"
" They forced us into a corner, what else were we supposed to do? They cared about their mers but they did not care about us! Who wants to kill their children? It's because of their ruthlessness that we had to do something like this!"
" And why are we getting investigated? We were beaten up as well were we not? They did not receive any damage except for a few building breaking but we? We almost lost our lives, tell me what are we supposed to do now?"
" Yu Dong already took half of our village land, even if you push this tax on us you will not be able to get anything from us, you might as well kill us all this time around, that is much better!"
The villagers of the Big Stone Village got more and more agitated as they spoke. What was even more shocking was that they declared that Yu Dong and the women who fought against them were ruthless thugs and asked her to make them suffer by punishing them.
In their eyes, the villagers of the Big River Village were simply ungrateful and inhuman.
When Magistrate Li saw them blaming Yu Dong and calling her a monster and killer, she was speechless. This was the first time she saw someone blaming the victims and even announcing that they were in the right despite being in the wrong.
Magistrate Li was simply dumbfounded.
Even the officials who went with her had their worldviews refreshed.
They never thought that there could be anyone this shameless.
Not only did they eat their own kids but they also killed many other people who were not under the governance of their village and yet they were still able to say that they were not in the wrong.
When Magistrate Li walked out of the Big Stone Village, her heart was very heavy. She knew that she could not keep these villagers which was why she thought of taking care of them and wiping them all clean in one sweep but her officials and aides reminded her that she could not make a move against them all because she was being spied on by the eldest princess.
As long as she catch even the smallest fault in her, Magistrate Li knew that Elder Princess Xian will certainly pull her into a mess.
In the end, she could only think of another way of dealing with those villages.
But the matter was not as simple, if she wanted to execute those who ate the human flesh, she needed a witness. If no one files a complaint against those villagers there was nothing she will be able to do anything which was why she came to look for Yu Dong in the Big River Village.
Magistrate Li sighed and then spoke in a composed manner, " The Big Stone Village was indeed at fault but for the sake of punishing them, I need someone to come with me and testify against them only then will I be able to deal with them properly."