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Fan slapped a ladle on the idler's crotch, blurted out the words of tiger and wolf, and said contemptuously: "Just the two taels of meat in your crotch? Do you want to take off your pants and compare the weight with my husband?"

"Hahahaha!"

When the other idlers heard this, they were immediately amused and laughed.

The idler in the lead was furious, feeling that he had lost face, and immediately shouted: "Hold down that blacksmith, and I want this woman to know what to do!"

An idler reminded: "Fifth brother, we are here to handle errands, you don't want to spoil the master's errand."

The leader of the idle man said: "Don't worry, the silver will be given to me. Put this woman to sleep, and she will not dare to say anything, and the matter will be handled more properly." As he said, he threatened the blacksmith and his wife again, "If they dare to report to the officials afterwards , killed the man, and set fire to the shop!"

The blacksmith was not a vegetarian either, so he wrapped the handle of the sickle with a rag, held the rag with both hands and gestured: "Who dares to come over, I will kill him!"

The sickle had just been taken out of the stove, and the blade had been burned red.

The blacksmith stepped forward and waved it, scaring the idlers back.

The leader of the idle man retreated and shouted: "If you have something to say, you have something to say. As long as the wife withdraws the certificate, I will give your family ten taels of silver... wait a minute, don't do anything else, how about 15 taels of silver?"

"Get out, don't want Zheng's dirty money!" the blacksmith roared.

A few idlers got off the door and quickly fled.

After escaping from the door, the leader of the idle man yelled again: "You don't eat the toast, you don't eat fine wine, be careful that your iron shop catches fire in the middle of the night!"

The blacksmith and his wife looked worried, and went to the back room and said: "You two officials, I'm afraid someone set the fire at night."

There are two incorruptible officials sitting in the house, they are dedicated to protecting the safety.

Liang Tingxin slowly put the sword back into the cloth bag, and said with a smile: "Arson is a serious crime, at least you can be sentenced to exile. If you burn property or hurt people, you can be sentenced to death as appropriate!"

Many clean government officials are from Datong Club who carry swords!

After Zhao Han occupied Jiangsu and Anhui, hundreds of swordsmen were recruited into the central and local anti-corruption departments.

They are not afraid of fighting, killing and arson, and if they meet them, they don't even think about running away.

Chapter 533 [Another Big Fish]

Cao Benshu and Liang Tingxin, two incorruptible officials, guarded the blacksmith shop for several days, but they did not see anyone coming to set fire to the house.

An official from the Quzhou Prefecture Court came to inform Fan's court session.

Murder cases must be tried in public, that is, people can sit in on them.

The first trial of the case was held in Xi'an County Court.

The court was adjourned several times before and after, and the initial witness testimony all pointed to Feng Risheng deliberately pushing people down the stairs.

But in the last court session, the testimony of the witnesses was completely changed. The deceased was not killed by Feng Risheng on purpose, but by the manslaughter of Feng Risheng's entourage.Feng Risheng only punched him twice at that time, and it was not a deliberate beating. He was drunk and quarreled, and it was settled by paying some money to the family of the deceased.That entourage committed manslaughter and was sentenced to exile in Taiwan.

Due to active compensation, the family of the deceased did not appeal.

In ancient China, there were not only appeals, but also a death penalty review system.

Only serious crimes such as treason are sentenced to "beheaded and executed", but it is not direct killing.First hand it over to the Ministry of Punishment for trial, then to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for review, then to Dali Temple for trial, and finally to the emperor for approval.

There is also a kind of "cutting the prison waiting", commonly known as execution after autumn.

Before execution, prisoners can appeal.Even if there is no appeal, it must be submitted to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for review, and finally to the emperor for signature.

In terms of system, every death row prisoner in ancient China was beheaded after the emperor signed it.In actual operation, of course, this is impossible. Basically, the Ministry of Punishment and the cabinet just go through it once, otherwise, when encountering a negligent emperor like Wanli, the death row prisoners all over the world will laugh to death.

After Zhao Han reformed the judicial office, he still retained the death penalty review system, but there was no need to disturb the emperor and the cabinet, the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple could handle it on their own.

Only when the lawsuit went all the way to Dali Temple would the emperor and the cabinet come forward.

On this day, Dai Wenmeng and Mei Zhuyou dressed up in disguise and went to the trial in common clothes.It was Dai Wenmeng's idea to urge Fan's grievance to overturn the case. He wanted to see how the local officials would deal with it.

Chen An walked up to them and sat down, and said in a low voice: "We can't catch the officials, the witnesses have already been bribed. The Fan family refused to withdraw the complaint, so the Zheng family went to contact the witnesses and wrote down their testimony for them to collude. Even if it can be proved that the Zheng family bought witnesses, there are no loopholes in the lawsuit. The local judge's judgment, whether it was last year or today, must be completely legal."

Mei Zhuyou sighed: "Officials are not stupid, they like money, they like their own heads even more. The Zheng family is domineering, and they can be caught if they are checked. But the local officials, I'm afraid they can only catch some little ones."

Chen An said: "If Zheng's family is arrested, the officials must be confessed."

"So what if you confess?" Dai Wenmeng sneered, "Officials don't admit it and say they were slandered, how can they produce evidence of their crimes? Your Majesty said, we honest officials should avoid arresting officials indiscriminately without evidence."

If there is no evidence, the clean government officials can arrest people randomly, so it is no different from the Jinyiwei, and it is the Jinyiwei when the power is the greatest.

Mei Zhuyou said: "The only ones who can be arrested now are the officials in charge of project bidding, the officials who helped the Zheng family bully the city, and the warders and guards in the prison. Other officials can be completely dismissed."

Dai Wenmeng reminded: "Don't forget the mayors, village chiefs and peasant associations outside the city!"

"Yes, these people deserve to die too," Mei Zhuyou gritted his teeth, "especially the presidents of the peasant associations. His Majesty formed the peasant associations to help the peasants stand out, but now they have become accomplices in exploiting the peasants."

"Ah!"

Justice Bao Shouyue slapped the gavel: "Bring the plaintiff!"

Fan was taken to the plaintiff's seat, and the murder suspect Feng Risheng was brought there immediately.

Feng Risheng was full of smiles, and he was fat and white. He seemed to have eaten well in the past few days in custody.

The clerk made his case, and the first witness was brought in.

It was a restaurant manager.

"The day Shu Shouyi was killed, were you there?"

"Present."

"What day and time is it?"

"After the Lantern Festival last year, the eighteenth day of the first lunar month in the lunar calendar was around noon."

"Please state what you have seen and heard."

"At that time, Caomin was at the counter. He heard from the staff that there was a fight upstairs, so Caomin planned to go upstairs to persuade the fight. But it was Shu Shouyi who drank too much and bumped into Mr. Feng... Feng Risheng who was coming back from his relief. They didn't know who was the first to curse. The two quarreled and then wrestled together... Feng Risheng was so drunk that he was knocked to the ground. Feng Yun, Feng Risheng's entourage, was filled with righteous indignation, and also wrestled with Shu Shouyi. Both of them were drunk, and during the scuffle, Shu Shouyi was pushed Fall downstairs and die."

"Did you witness Feng Yun push Shu Shouyi downstairs?"

"The grass people saw it with their own eyes."

"Didn't Feng Risheng push it?"

"Feng Risheng was already beaten and lay on the ground."

Several witnesses came to court one after another, and the content described was almost exactly the same.

Immediately afterwards, the autopsy report submitted by Wu found that he was indeed killed by falling, with multiple falls all over his body, and the back of his head was also broken.

Everything is clear, and last year's first-instance judgment is upheld!

Moreover, the case has been tried twice, and the family of the deceased still has one chance to appeal, which is to go to the provincial court in Hangzhou.

If the provincial court also sentenced him in this way, he would have to go to the Dali Temple in Nanjing to appeal for injustice.

If you startle Dali Temple, you will definitely startle the emperor!

Feng Risheng was acquitted in court, suddenly turned to look at Fan, pinched his neck and smiled at Fan.

Fan shivered in fright, thinking that there was an imperial envoy behind him, and immediately burst into tears: "I am wronged! The bully colludes with corrupt officials and wants to drive the common people to death!"

The people who came to hear the trial, seeing Fan's miserable appearance, all whispered to each other.

"quiet!"

Bao Shouyue slapped the gavel: "Leave the court immediately, and if you dare to act violently again, it will be regarded as disturbing the court!"

Seeing this situation, Mei Zhuyou was very unhappy: "Judges at the prefecture and county levels can only decide on one case of wrongful conviction, and at most they will be demoted or dismissed. Something went wrong. What's the point of making them lose their jobs? If we don't throw them into prison, our trip will be in vain!"

"Let's meet tomorrow for a meeting, maybe there will be new clues." Dai Wenmeng said.

The next day, ten honest officials met, leaving two honest officials to protect the blacksmith and his wife.

Smiling, Feng Yue took out his small notebook, opened the record and said, "A big fish is about to be caught again. The prefect Liu Anyong, guess whose relative it is?"

"Who is it?" Everyone became alert.

Feng Yue said: "Liu Anyong, a native of Luling County. This guy has a lot of background, he is the brother of Liu Anfeng, Minister of the Household Department!"

Everyone gasped, they were the relatives of the Conglong heroes again.

Liu Anfeng successively served as the magistrate of Ganzhou, the Zuobu political envoy of Jiangsu, the Zuo Shilang of the household department, and the secretary of the household department. Due to his outstanding ability and outstanding political achievements, he was promoted rapidly all the way.

When Chen Maosheng was in Ganzhou, he personally took care of the political work of farmers, and Liu Anfeng assisted him a lot.

Not only was Liu Anfeng appreciated by Zhao Han, but he was also close to Chen Maosheng.

Feng Yue said again: "This Liu Anyong is not only Liu Anfeng's brother. He also has a wife in Luling County, and he secretly raised a concubine in Quzhou Mansion. This concubine is exactly Zheng Hongyi's concubine niece! "

"How did you find out about such a private matter?" Mei Zhuyou asked.

Feng Yue said with a smile: "I heard from Huang Zhifu that she asked Liu Anyong to investigate the embankment, but Liu Anyong concealed the fact that the river embankment cut corners. These days, I have been following Liu Anyong and found that he would go to a place every two days. Residential houses. I pretended to rent a house there, and asked the neighbors. I got the news from the maid in Liu Anyong's room!"

Dai Wenmeng clenched his fist and said, "This man can be arrested!"

As for officials taking concubines, it is like gentry taking concubines. As long as there is no trouble, the Ministry of officials is too lazy to investigate and punish.

And Liu Anyong is even more careful, he does not take concubines, but only raises concubines.

This guy obviously didn't dare, because officials took concubines at the place where they took office, not to mention the Datong court, even the Ming Dynasty strictly prohibited it.

The court of the Ming Dynasty clearly stipulated that after taking office, officials were not allowed to marry wives and concubines in the local area, and were not allowed to buy land and build houses in the local area.This is the fear of collusion between magistrates and gentry!

The same is true for the new dynasty of Datong. Officials accept concubines, and the court turns a blind eye.If one dares to take a concubine or keep an outsider in the place where one takes office, once found out, one will be dismissed at least, and severely punished.

Mei Zhuyou said: "It's no wonder that Quzhou's officialdom is rotten. It turns out that Liu Anyong, the magistrate of the government, is the key figure. Liu Anyong is the younger brother of Liu Anfeng, the Minister of the Household Department, and he took Zheng Hongyi's concubine niece as his wife. One of Zheng Hongyi's sons is Another son of Hubu Langzhong married Li Gelao’s niece and granddaughter. Hubu Shangshu Liu Anfeng is also close friends with Rites Shangshu Chen Maosheng. We all know that Chen Shangshu is His Majesty’s right-hand man!”

Dai Wenmeng asked: "Is Liu Anyong's house big?"

Feng Yue shook his head and said, "It's not very big, it's just an ordinary private house. According to my guess, with Liu Anyong's prudence, it is very likely that the house has not been transferred."

"Continue to investigate this Liu Anyong!" Dai Wenmeng ordered.

Huang Fei, as the magistrate, suddenly wanted to check the housing conditions in the city, and personally went to retrieve the files of the housing in the city.In order not to overwhelm others, they only said that they would carry out housing projects, learning from the emperor's example in Nanjing, and building low-rent housing for civilians who did not have houses to live in.

The information about the house was soon found out, and the owner's name was Liu Qi.The file shows that he is a local, but the household registration information cannot be found at all.

Then another thing was found out, Liu Anyong and the other room had already given birth to a son.

The crowd continued to guard, and it took half a month before new clues were obtained.

A confidant of the Zheng family went to the house quietly, with something stuffed in his chest.

Feng Yue deliberately drank and pretended to be drunk, and staggered to bump into it, feeling that the clerk was hiding silver dollars in his arms.

Check that guy again, it's from a trading company.

This business company has a mining license for iron mines, which was originally Zhao Han's reward for those who contributed to the meritorious service.However, as the anti-corruption officer went into the mountain to check, he found that the trading company had crossed the border to mine, and even forcibly occupied the land of the people in the mountain.

"It involves land policy, and this matter has exploded!" Dai Wenmeng exclaimed.

Mei Zhuyou said: "Are these people crazy?"

Dai Wenmeng said: "There is not much food to grow in the mountains, but mining iron ore makes money. After the Zheng family occupied the land of the mountain people, they asked the mountain people to help dig the mines. The mountain people can get wages and grain compensation from the Zheng family. As for the death in the mining accident, I can only admit that I am unlucky. This way, no common people will come to Fucheng to complain."

"What happened to the guy who gave Liu Anyong money?" Mei Zhuyou asked doubtfully.

Dai Wenmeng said: "I guess it's the dividends from the mine. Liu Anyong is too cautious, he can't even trust the Zheng family. The monthly dividends don't dare to be stored in the Zheng family's ticket number, nor dare to store them in Datong Bank. Let the Zheng family directly Send the money to the outer house. It is estimated that every year or so, he will send his confidants to quietly transport the money back to his hometown in Jiangxi."

Mei Zhuyou said: "It involves land policy, and it involves so many elders in the court and China. I suggest that His Majesty should be informed about the matter."

Dai Wenmeng said: "I will write a letter, and you will bring it back to Nanjing yourself."

Chapter 534 [A group of good officials who were cheated]

Nanjing, Forbidden City, Yingmin Hall.

Plum and bamboo friends were uneasy, and looked at the emperor from time to time, but they didn't see the emperor getting angry.

After reading their investigation report, the emperor didn't say a word, but stared outside the palace in a daze.It was so calm, without a single sound, like the night before a storm.

Finally, Zhao Han withdrew his gaze and stopped staring at the open space in front of the hall.

Zhao Han asked: "How many reliable police officers in the prefectural city of Quzhou, including the court officials?"

Mei Zhuyou said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I'm afraid I can't figure this out."

Zhao Han sighed and said, "Oh, you don't need to go to Hangzhou to recruit officials, you recruit peasants and soldiers on the spot in Quzhou Prefecture. Don't make secret investigations, arrest people directly and interrogate them separately. After the clues have been interrogated, I will let Xiao Huan personally decide the case. "

"According to the order!"

Mei Zhuyou didn't know whether to be excited or afraid.