Seeing Bao Zheng hesitate, Li Tang became anxious and shouted quickly:
"Bold Cao Bin, you dare to slander the imperial court? You have violated Taizu's old system. Do you want to rebel?"
Cao Bin immediately jumped up and said:
"Fart, my family is a hereditary noble, and we live with the country. Who do you think you are? It's your turn to slander our own affairs?"
"Besides, Du Ya is not a prisoner. If she is tortured with a stick, it will force her to die! Taizu told you to kill innocent people indiscriminately?"
How could Li Tang dare to discuss Taizu's gains and losses in public? Cao Bin's words turned red and he almost lost his mind.
Therefore, he could only insist on one reason to refute:
"If you repudiate a confession, you will be tortured. This is a court rule and no one is allowed to violate it. If you say she is innocent, how about beating you?"
Before he could respond, Cao Bin immediately answered, "Okay, I'll take the punishment for her!"
Li Tang reacted immediately and roared: "No..."
Seeing him make a mistake, how could Cao Bin give him a chance to repent?
So he interrupted directly: "A gentleman's words are hard to catch up with. You have read many sages, are you going to go back on your promise?"
Then he immediately turned around and said to Bao Zheng:
"Master Bao, Du Ya's current testimony is favorable to me, and I am the defendant, so I should bear the punishment of the cane! This is only reasonable and reasonable."
Du Shiniang relaxed and looked at Cao Bin silently, her heart melting.
When Bao Zheng heard this, he nodded slightly and said, "That makes sense."
He was not willing to ruin Du Yu's life because of Taizu's old system.
Since Cao Bin was willing to suffer the punishment for Du Ya, he was happy to go along with the situation.
In addition, Cao Bin’s murder case was originally a certainty.
Although Du Ai, who testified, recanted her confession in court, and Cao Bin made excuses in every possible way, he understood what was going on, but there was no evidence.
Now that Cao Bin has taken the initiative to ask for punishment, he just wants to see if Cao Bin will not be able to withstand the punishment and take the initiative to plead guilty.
These dandy boys always underestimated the cane punishment, thinking it was just a spanking. When he was really tortured, he would know how powerful it was.
Therefore, Bao Zheng directly took the gavel and shouted: "Here comes someone! Beat Cao Bin to forty!"
"slow!"
Li Tang suddenly spoke.
Bao Zheng turned to look at him and said, "Master Li, what do you have to say?"
Li Tang cupped his hands and said, "I have never heard of anyone being tortured on behalf of others!"
When Bao Zheng saw Li Tang pestering him endlessly, he said with anger on his face: "What do you want, Mr. Li?"
Li Tang said fiercely: "Since Cao Bin wants to be punished on behalf of others, the number of sticks must be doubled, otherwise Li will not accept it."
He knew that he had no way to stop Cao Bin, so he could only try his best to create obstacles for him.
His meaning is also very clear. Since I have taken a step back, the other party must also take a step back. Otherwise, why should I agree to the other party's punishment?
When Bao Zheng heard this, he fell silent again.
It was not that he felt pity for Cao Bin, but he was afraid that with eighty strokes of the stick, Cao Bin would be beaten to death.
Seeing that things were frozen, Cao Bin was afraid that something might happen again, so he gritted his teeth and said:
"Come on, hit me. Eighty sticks are eighty sticks. Can you beat me to death?"
As he spoke, he took off his pants and lay on the ground.
He thought proudly: Thanks to the "kidney-strengthening talent", his health has improved, otherwise he would probably not be able to survive the eighty sticks based on his original strength.
When the onlookers saw him taking off his pants neatly, they immediately looked at him and screamed.
The women even covered their faces shyly... and looked out through their fingers.
The men looked disappointed and wanted to kick Cao Bin away. They didn't want to see this, they wanted to see that.
However, the executioner showed an intriguing expression and thought to himself: This guy is still too young. I can beat you to death with eighty sticks!
"Pa" "Ah..."
As soon as the stick went down, Cao Bin suddenly took a breath of cold air and screamed like a slaughtered pig. He felt a soreness and numbness rush up from his back and go straight to his forehead.
It hurts so much!
If the policeman hadn't held him down, he might have jumped up on the spot.
"Pa bang bang..." "Ah ah ah..."
The Kaifeng government office suddenly turned into a pig-killing scene.
The onlookers were made uncomfortable by his harsh shouts and covered their ears.
Their eyes were extremely excited, staring at Cao Bin fiercely, feeling extremely relieved.
At this time, a woman said:
"Cao Gou is still a man! At least he can take the punishment for his woman."
As soon as these words came out, they immediately aroused everyone's anger, and they all retorted:
"What kind of heroes? They're just dogs and men. Just beat them all to death!"
In court.
Du Shiniang's eyes were swollen from crying, like two walnuts.
Seeing that Cao Bin's breath was gradually weakening, she couldn't bear it any longer. She lay directly on Cao Bin's back and cried:
"Stop beating him. He is dying. Please stop beating Mr. Bao..."
The execution officer couldn't hold back his hand for a moment and hit Du Shiniang's back with two sticks, leaving two bloody marks on her back.
But she didn't realize it and kept begging Bao Zheng.
Bao Zheng was stunned and said: "Cao Bin, I will ask you again, do you plead guilty?"
Cao Bin raised his head in confusion and said, "I don't recognize it!"
It's a joke, if you admit it, you will die. As long as you can survive it, the world will be brighter.
Even if he is beaten to death and maimed, he will not admit guilt.
When Du Shiniang heard this, she immediately lay down on Cao Bin and burst into tears. She thought Bao Zheng was going to continue to torture him.
If so, Cao Bin might really be beaten to death.
Bao Zheng asked: "How many sticks are there?"
The officer quickly said: "Master Bao, I have already given you sixty-three strokes."
Bao Zheng nodded and said, "That's enough, you can go down."
But Li Tang quit. He wanted to beat Cao Bin to death directly. How could he want Cao Bin to cheat and cheat? So he stood up and said:
"Master Bao, the punishment with the rod has not yet been completed, how can you give up halfway?"
Bao Zheng said:
"This office is trying a case, not convicting people of murder. Does Mr. Li want to judge the case for our office?"
Seeing that Bao Zheng was angry, Li Tang had to sit down again and said:
"Master Bao said something harsh, it was Li Tang who was rude."
Bao Zheng ignored him and ordered directly:
"Come here, bring the servants of the Marquis!"
In a short time, the three servants were taken to court.
Bao Zheng thought he would get a breakthrough with them, but he didn't expect that they would retract their confession more thoroughly.
There are two key points in retracting the confession. One is that Cao Bin never ordered the beating, and the other is that Li Jia took action first and they fought back independently.
When Cao Bin heard this, he immediately felt relieved.
At this time, he admired Uncle Fu endlessly, and he didn't know what means he used to make these three people repent.
After a beating with the cane, Li Tang finally couldn't bear it anymore, stood up and suggested:
"Master Bao, I suspect that they were bribed by Cao Bin. It seems that only severe punishment can be used to make them confess truthfully!"
