After a while, the officer came out again and said to those people wearing white clothes: "Okay, don't cry. The Lord Judge has agreed to summon you."
"Thank you, Lord Judge. Thank you, Lord Judge."
After hearing this, these people stopped crying and stood up.
The people who were watching were very curious, and as soon as the door opened, they began to pour in.
"What are you doing?"
The officer immediately stood in front of everyone and said with full official authority: "See clearly, this is Dali Temple. You can enter if you want. Do whatever you want, and don't join in the fun here."
This law does not stipulate that people can go in and watch the trial at will.
The middle-aged man had already crossed the threshold, and suddenly turned around, bowed his hands to the onlookers and said, "Fellow folks, please stay and be a witness for me. If my family doesn't come out again,
Please also ask all fellow villagers to inform Song Dynasty Times about this matter."
When the yamen official heard this, he realized that our Dali Temple was a place of murder and arson. He couldn't help but said angrily: "You are a very unruly villager. Our Lord Judge has agreed to see you. Why do you still say this? You are really ignorant."
The man hurriedly said: "Please calm down, sir. It's just that the person the common people are suing is not an ordinary person. It's not a pity for the common people to die. I'm afraid I won't be able to avenge my daughter."
When the people heard this, they immediately became restless. Of course, they were more curious. What they said was so shocking.
"We want to go in with this uncle."
"This is not a secret, why can't it be tried openly?"
"Yes, maybe there are still some shameful things going on in your Dali Temple."
Suddenly, an old man in a long gown came out, took out a rectangular token, and said: "This official, I am the Legislative Secretary. This case is unusual, and the victim seems to be afraid. In order to ensure that
In view of the fairness of the law, I hope that your Dali Temple can make this trial public."
It can't be such a coincidence!
The officer took the token and saw that it was really the token of the Legislative Yuan. If it were a few common people, they would not be afraid. But when people from the Legislative Yuan came, the situation was different, because the Legislative Secretary has the right to observe.
Then he said: "You guys wait a moment, I will report to the judge."
After a while, the official came out and said: "Fellow fellow villagers, our Lord Judge has allowed you to observe, but we have made it clear in advance that you are not allowed to make any noise after entering. Otherwise, don't blame us for being unkind."
These people followed the old man and his family inside, but they were stopped outside the hall and could only watch outside the door. Even the Legislative Secretary was the same. Unless there was an instruction from the Legislative Yuan, the Legislative Yuan could sit inside and listen on behalf of the Legislative Yuan.
, Otherwise, you can only stand outside. To put it bluntly, the Legislative Secretary is actually a common person and cannot be regarded as an official, so they cannot enjoy the treatment of officials.
I saw a person sitting directly above the hall. It was Zhao Zhi, the judge of Dali Temple. In fact, he was also very curious, so he accepted the case.
"Master Judge, please make the decision for the common people!"
As soon as the family entered, they all fell to their knees and cried loudly.
Zhao Zhi picked up a small wooden hammer and struck it with a bang, and said: "If you are really wronged, I will make the decision for you, but you must first tell me who you are and why you are here to complain?"
Originally, law enforcement agencies in the Song Dynasty used gavel wood, but the Judicial Yuan used gavel wood, and your Dali Temple also used gavel wood. It would be too impersonal, so Li Qicai borrowed the wooden hammer from later generations and asked Dali Temple to use wooden hammer.
Instead of gavel.
The woman had already burst into tears, so the middle-aged man said: "Reporting to the judge, the common man is a firewood man from Meilin Village on the outskirts of Dongcheng. His surname is Peng Dashu. The common man wants to sue the third son of the president of the Judicial Yuan.
, murdering Peng Hualei, the daughter of the grassroots."
As soon as this statement came out, the crowd was in an uproar.
No wonder this man said he didn't dare to go to the Judicial Yuan. It turned out that he wanted to sue the president of the Judicial Yuan. He really couldn't go to the Legislative Yuan. Otherwise, he would be asking for death.
Zhao Zhi was also frightened. He knocked the wooden hammer several times and said, "Silence, silence." After the people were quiet, he asked again: "You said you want to sue the third son of the president of the Judicial Yuan for killing your daughter?
"
The woman suddenly cried out: "Now that my daughter's body is still cold, how can I still be excused? I hope the Lord Judge will avenge my daughter's justice."
Zhao Zhi glanced at the stretcher and said: "You are so sure that the third son of the president of the Judicial Yuan killed your daughter, do you have any evidence?"
Peng Dashu immediately said: "Report to the judge, the eldest son of Cao Min saw it with his own eyes."
At this time, one of the people who had just been carrying the stretcher stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the grassroots Peng Lei is the elder brother of the deceased. This happened the day before yesterday. In the afternoon of that day, my third sister went to the mountains to pick wild vegetables. However, in the evening, she suddenly
My parents were very anxious when I didn’t see my third sister coming home, so I asked my second brother and me to go look for her. I searched around the village for a long time, but there was no sign of my third sister. However, when I passed by a ruined temple, I suddenly saw a person.
People ran out of the temple in a panic. I hurried forward and wanted to ask this person if he had seen my third sister, but I shouted a few times, but the person ignored him. I was curious, so I entered the temple.
Look, I found my third sister lying inside, but--but she was out of breath, and---and her clothes were disheveled---."
Speaking of this, he couldn't help but shed tears.
The woman even burst into tears, "My flower died so miserably----" and then fainted.
"mother---!"
Her two sons rushed forward to hug their mother.
When Zhao Zhi saw this, he hurriedly said: "Go and ask the doctor to take this woman to a side hall to rest."
"As commanded."
Two officials immediately came up and carried the woman away.
Zhao Zhi asked Peng Lei again: "You said you saw a person running out of the ruined temple in a panic in the evening?"
"Exactly."
"Then have you seen this person's face clearly?"
"Because it was dusk, the common people dare not say that they could see very clearly, but if the common people saw this person again, they would definitely be able to recognize him."
"So, you knew the third son of the president of the Judicial Yuan beforehand?"
Peng Lei shook his head and said: "The common people don't know."
Zhao Zhidao: "That's strange. If you don't know him, why do you dare to insist that that person is the third son of the president of the Judicial Yuan?"
Peng Lei said: "Although the Caomin people don't know each other, there are people who know them. Two boatmen in the Caomin village happened to be returning from work. Suddenly they met this person. This person also bumped into one of the boatmen. It happened that the two boatmen had picked up this person. They
At a glance, he recognized the man as Li Xian, the third son of the President of the Judicial Yuan. Cao Min also specifically asked about the man's clothes. The description they gave was exactly the same as what Cao Min saw, and the time and place were very consistent. Therefore, Cao Min dared to conclude that he was from
The person who came out of the ruined temple must be Li Xian."
Peng Lei's second brother added: "And in the past few months, many villagers in our village have seen a young man in Chinese clothes coming to my house to peek at my third sister. According to their description, she is about the same age as Li Xian.
, their body shapes are almost the same.”
Zhao Zhi immediately ordered people to find the two boatmen, and asked a court judge from the Criminal Division to examine the deceased's injuries, and then asked: "The incident happened in the evening the day before yesterday, why did you come to report it today?
"
Peng Dashu said with a guilty look on his face: "This is the third son of the president of the Judicial Yuan. Common people did not dare to come here to complain, but my mother-in-law kept crying at home and wanted to avenge her daughter, so we decided to come here to complain."
Zhao Zhi nodded. Although his expression did not change, he felt very regretful in his heart. He should not have allowed these people to come in to listen, because this would seriously damage the reputation of the Judicial Yuan. He said: "You guys should get up first and take a rest here. Wait.
The trial will be held after the two witnesses arrive."
Immediately, he ordered others to serve some cakes, and he got up and returned to the inner hall.
The chief clerk followed in and said to Zhao Zhi: "Sir, do you want to inform Dean Li?"
Zhao Zhi shook his head and said: "No need for now, let's wait until the two boatmen arrive."
The chief clerk said again: "If this is the case, what do you plan to do?"
Zhao Zhi sighed: "I am also considering this. If the evidence is irrefutable, then naturally we cannot bend the law for personal gain. But the problem is that if Li Xian really makes such a big mistake, it will affect President Li and be extremely detrimental to the Judicial Yuan.
That’s what I’m most worried about.”
Although the Dali Temple, the Judicial Yuan, and the Legislative Yuan are mutually exclusive, they are within the same judicial system, which will have a chain reaction.
After about half an hour, the forensic officer completed the examination and came to the back hall and reported to Zhao Zhi, "Your Majesty, since the deceased's family had touched the deceased's body beforehand, many evidences could not be collected. The only thing that can be proved is,
The deceased was caused to death by covering his mouth, and there were many scars on his body. There should have been a struggle before death, but no rape was committed. However, according to the family members of the deceased, it cannot be ruled out that the murderer attempted rape and killed the deceased.
.”
Zhao Zhi frowned and said, "Is that all?"
The forensic officer nodded and said: "We can only test these at present. The main reason is that the family of the deceased did not plan to report it to the official and prepared to bury the deceased, so a lot of evidence was destroyed."
Zhao Zhi pinched his forehead and said, "Okay, I understand, you can go down first."
"yes."
Nearly an hour passed, and a government official came in, cupping his fists and saying, "Sir, the two boatmen have been brought here, but when I went to their house, the two of them were packing their bags, and they seemed to be planning to go on a long journey."
"oh?"
Zhao Zhi frowned and said, "Let's go and have a look."
When the hall went up again, Zhao Zhi came to his seat, glanced at the two middle-aged men in the hall, then banged the wooden hammer and asked, "Who are you in the hall?"
"Sir, we don't know anything."
"Yeah, yeah, we don't know anything."
The two boatmen immediately shouted in panic.
Peng Dashu immediately said: "You---how could you do this? They told me clearly that on the way I met Li Xian, the third son of the Judicial Dean, and he even bumped into the second brother Shui."
"Peng Dashu, please don't talk nonsense. I--when did we tell you?"
"enough."
Zhao Zhi banged the hammer suddenly and said with a deep eyebrow: "Do you two brothers know where this is? I advise you to recruit from the truth. If I know that you are lying, I will definitely sentence you to disturbing the court."
"Sir, please spare my life!"
"Sir, please spare my life!"
These two people had not read books and did not know what the crime of disturbing the court was, but they heard that it was strange, so they immediately started shouting.
Zhao Zhidao: "Then let's get back to the real question. Who are your surnames and where do you live?"
The slightly older man on the left said: "The little man's name is Shui Qianli. He is my younger brother. Shui Wanli lives in Meilin Village. Our ancestors have been boatmen for generations, and our two brothers are also boatmen."
Zhao Zhidao: "Then do you know Li Xian, the third son of the Judicial Dean?"
The two brothers looked at each other.
"If you don't hurry up and recruit him from the truth, you may want me to serve you with severe punishment."
Zhao Zhi suddenly shouted, in fact, there are now very clear standards regarding torture. Although torture has not been abolished, it cannot be used indiscriminately. Zhao Zhi obviously wanted to scare them.
As expected, after being so frightened, Na Shui Wanli immediately said: "I know, I know, sir, don't use torture. Our brothers have carried Mr. Li Xian and others to the Bianhe River several times."
Zhao Zhi asked again: "Did you meet Li Xian at Mao hour the day before yesterday?"
"Little---little man---."
Shui Wanli's tongue started to get knotted.
At this moment, a loud voice suddenly sounded outside, "No need to embarrass them. I did meet the two brothers that day."