The right minister of the Ministry of Punishment still took the main seat. After all, being a senior official of the third rank symbolized the status of the dynasty. Even the messenger from the Moon Altar could not overstep his authority.
The Taoist nun sat on the left, the one-eyed middle-aged man on the right, the young man Qian Yiwei on the left, and the county magistrate was pushed to the end and sat on the second on the right.
The dynasty attached great importance to etiquette, and every move, word, and deed had to comply with the rules. If the etiquette was messed up, the official would not be allowed to take a copy of it.
You can know the difference in status from the order in which people are seated.
The right minister of the Ministry of Justice looked at the county magistrate and said, "Tell me about the situation of this case first."
The county magistrate only used half of his buttocks to sit on the stool, but it was very stable. At first glance, he sat like this.
He smiled humbly and said, "I know very little about this case. I can only tell you what I know. The day before yesterday, the inspector of Qifeng County, Jingzhao Prefecture came to the Yamen. He claimed to be the person who had been escorted ten years ago.
The person in charge of the exiled prisoners also produced the documents passed ten years ago as evidence. The subordinate was extremely surprised at the time. Knowing that the matter was serious, he quickly sent someone to report it to the superiors."
Having said this, he paused and said, "After that, the lower official personally led the people to send 218 prisoners to the county government prison. In order to keep it secret, no one was allowed to approach. As for the inspector and the ten prisoners
The six government officers arranged to stay in the post station, and the lower official sent a team of officers and soldiers to guard it. That's what happened."
After listening, several people were silent, seeming to be thinking.
After a while, the Right Assistant Minister of the Criminal Department said, "Since that inspector is the person in charge of escorting the prisoners, call that inspector first for questioning."
"Wait a minute."
The one-eyed middle-aged man who was deep in thought suddenly raised his hand to stop him.
The right minister of the Criminal Department's face turned cold. He always felt that this person from the Demon Slayer Department was against him. "What's the problem?"
The one-eyed middle-aged man said, "Although the ninth-grade inspector has a miscellaneous job, he is still an official. As we all know, officials are good at making peace with mud and are slippery in their dealings. It is difficult to find out their usefulness. I propose to interrogate those exiles first. Those exiles
The prisoner himself has little hope and it is easy to tell the truth. Let me make it clear that I have no intention of targeting the officials, I am just discussing the matter."
The right minister of the Ministry of Justice had accumulated a lot of anger before, but now he couldn't help but explode. He pressed his palm on the table with a "bang", and the peacock shadow surrounding him rose into the sky, with great power, and said angrily, "Here you are
Is it the chief judge or is this officer the chief judge?”
The one-eyed middle-aged man was not intimidated by his official power, and said calmly, "Don't slap the table with me, it's useless to me. As for the question of who is the chief judge, I have not received your majesty's order that you are the chief judge."
Trial."
The right assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice said in a cold voice, "The Ministry of Justice is one of the six departments of the imperial court. It receives the name of punishment from all over the world. No matter what case it is, the Ministry of Justice will take the lead!"
"Yeah?"
A crisp voice sounded, and it turned out to be the young woman behind the one-eyed middle-aged man speaking.
She spoke with familiarity, "As far as I know, when it came to the case of Prince Qing's rebellion ten years ago, your Criminal Department didn't dare to say a word."
"Yan'er, don't be rude."
The one-eyed middle-aged man turned around and said something, but he couldn't help but laugh, "I don't hit people in the face, I don't scold them, I don't expose their shortcomings."
The right minister of the Criminal Department looked livid and extremely embarrassed. He slowly tightened his palms on the table and glanced at the young woman with dagger-like eyes.
Zheng Yan'er looked at him happily and without fear. Under her head was a swan-like snow-white and slender neck, which added a bit more brilliance to her already elegant and refined appearance.
The one-eyed middle-aged man said calmly, "What do you mean when you look at my daughter like that? I know your home address and that you have two precious sons. If anything happens to my daughter, I will definitely kill your whole family."
Is this human language? The corner of the mouth of the right minister of the Ministry of Justice twitched, feeling that a scholar was unable to communicate when he encountered a soldier.
Seeing the stalemate between the Demon Slayer Department and the Punishment Department, the other people had different reactions.
When the county magistrate looks at his eyes, nose and heart, he is like a wooden man, unable to see or hear anything.
The Taoist nun holds Fu Chen in her hand, making a secret with one hand in front of her body, with the moonlight shining behind her. She has already sat in meditation. There is no wave on her face, and there is no wave in her eyes, but her ears are listening to the teacher's instructions.
Buried in the world.
Qianhu, a young Jinyiwei who wore a bullfight uniform and carried an embroidered spring knife on his waist, chuckled and smoothed things over, "We are all working for the imperial court. Why do you two adults need to argue about such trivial details? We discussed it together and settled the matter."
He pondered for a moment, "I think Mr. Zheng's analysis is reasonable. It's not too late to interrogate those prisoners first and get some useful information, and then call the patrol inspector to question them."
The one-eyed middle-aged man looked at the young Jin Yiwei with admiration, "Heroes think alike. It's no wonder your father never avoids relatives when promoting virtuous people. He made an exception and promoted you to become a member of the Qianhu family at such a young age."
Zheng Yan'er couldn't help but look at him twice, and the young guard Qianhu nodded slightly in response.
The one-eyed middle-aged man said, "The minority obeys the majority. Let's interrogate the prisoner first."
The right minister of the Ministry of Punishment had a sullen face and said no more.
Seeing that the dispute had stopped, the county magistrate came back to life at this time and said, "There are 218 prisoners. There are so many of them that it is inconvenient to call them here for interrogation one by one. Please move to the prison."
"That's fine."
The one-eyed middle-aged man stood up first.
So, the county magistrate led the way, and everyone followed to the prison.
...
County school library.
Bai Yu didn't know what was going on in the yamen, so he felt a little uneasy.
While he was reading, he glanced at the gate of the county school from the corner of his eye.
As long as he finds someone from the Yamen coming to ask him for questioning, he will decisively climb over the wall and leave the county school. Then, he will leave from the nearest city gate and enter the mountains. He will change into the Minions character card and transform into a tiger.
Run away, the farther away the better.
"What a crappy book."
He put the books in his hands back on the bookshelf and found a volume with pictures on how to get his wife pregnant, which finally calmed him down a bit.
...
In the yamen prison.
It's dark, damp, and filled with a rotten smell.
Everyone's expressions remained unchanged and they were obviously used to it. Only the Taoist nun and Zheng Yan'er frowned.
When we came to the area where 218 exiled prisoners were detained, in other areas there were people shouting injustice, going crazy, and screaming, but this area was surprisingly quiet. All the prisoners looked numb, as if their hearts were filled with despair, and they had no desires or desires. They might have been exiled.
I was cold and hungry on the way, but I felt much more comfortable after entering this prison...
The one-eyed middle-aged man's eyes were sharp, and he fell in love with a young man of thirteen or fourteen years old at a glance. The older one was too oily, and the younger one didn't understand anything. Thirteen or fourteen was just the right age, innocent and easy to tell the truth.
.
The right minister of the Ministry of Justice who was very active before looked on with cold eyes. Because the young Jinyiwei Qianhu supported the Demon Slayer Division and followed the principle of the minority obeying the majority, he failed in this "struggle" for power without gunpowder and had lost all control of the case.
He has the right to dominate and simply does not express his own thoughts.
The jailer took the young man out and sent him to a separate secret room.
Everyone followed into the secret room and stood in a row, looking at the young man tied to the iron frame.
The one-eyed old man stared at the young man, "Let me ask you an answer. If you tell a lie, I will let the jailer brand you. Do you understand?"
The young man nodded silently.
"Name?"
The one-eyed middle-aged man began to interrogate him. He took out a register from his black robe and opened it. He saw that it was densely filled with small characters, all of which were household registration information. It was obvious that he had made preparations before coming to Fu County and obtained the register from the Ministry of Household Affairs.
The household registration information of this group of prisoners was obtained.
The young man replied, "Lin Pingan."
"age?"
"fourteen."
"Place of origin?"
"Shiniu Village, Qifeng County, Jingzhao Prefecture."
"The more detailed what happened during the exile, from Bajiaoting to Linfu County, the better."
"When we were approaching the Bajiao Pavilion, it was getting dark, so the official ordered us to spend the night in the Bajiao Pavilion..."...
Lin Pingan answered while recalling.
Everyone listened silently, their eyes flickering, looking for useful clues.
After listening, the one-eyed middle-aged man thought for a moment and said, "Let me sum it up and see if you think it's right."
"It was getting late, so the official ordered us to spend the night in the Bajiao Pavilion, and asked two government officials to be responsible for counting the number of people."
"When the two yamen officials were doing the counting, they found that there were two more prisoners in the team, so they reported it to the officials."
"The officer took out the roster and began to call the names one by one. When there were only a few dozen prisoners left, a tiger demon hiding among the dozens of prisoners was forced to reveal himself and took away the officer and the roster."
"After that, the tiger demon came back again and took away a prisoner next to you."
"Then, the tiger demon took away dozens of prisoners and government officials one after another."
"Finally, the official came back intact, and dozens of prisoners and government officials also came back. Only the prisoner next to you didn't come back."
"Are there any mistakes or omissions in what I summarized?"
Lin Ping'an opened his mouth and was a little surprised. He didn't expect this one-eyed middle-aged man to have such a good memory. He only said it once and the one-eyed middle-aged man remembered all the key points.