One by one, Fang Ping read out the amount of money Xia Yan had embezzled and bribed when he was the magistrate of Yongchuan County, as if to accuse Xia Yan of his guilt.
Xia Yan did not deny this at all, just as he had previously admitted the crimes listed by Zhao Bingliang and Qian Yiqian without hesitation.
"So."
Fang Ping closed the file, with an inexplicable meaningful smile on his face.
"That is to say, in the six years since you, Magistrate Xia, have been magistrate of Yongchuan County, your income from accepting bribes and punishing wealthy families in various ways has been converted into money, which is a total of 153,762 taels. I'm right. ?”
Hearing this, Zhao Bingliang and Hu Yan couldn't help but chuckle.
Zhao Bingconscience thought to himself: "This old man looks so upright, but he didn't expect to be so ruthless. He only kills people, but he wants to kill people! What a cruel heart!"
In his opinion, Fang Ping checking the stolen money with Xia Yan in public was like whipping a corpse, which can be described as murder and heart-wrenching.
Not only the two of them, but most of the judicial officials present could not help but smile knowingly, obviously having similar thoughts to Zhao Bingliang.
However, they did not notice that when Fang Ping verified the stolen money one by one and accurately stated the total amount of stolen money, Qian Yiqian on the side frowned inexplicably.
Lu Chen's expression below also changed slightly.
He inexplicably felt something was wrong, and the source of the uneasiness caused by this was Fang Ping's stated total amount of stolen money.
"This number... feels a bit familiar..."
Yes.
One hundred and fifty-three thousand, seven hundred and sixty-two strings... He always felt that this number had a subtle sense of déjà vu.
Xia Yan didn't think much about it, he just thought about it for a while, calculated it several times in his heart very carefully, and then nodded slowly.
"That's right, not bad at all."
Seeing him admit it, the smile on Fang Ping's face became deeper and deeper.
But in Lu Chen's eyes, his smile became even more perverted.
The unknown feeling in Lu Chen's heart that arose from Ping's words before the trial started was inexplicably stronger at this moment.
"Something's wrong!"
He stared intently at Fang Ping's old face that looked full of life for some reason, as if he wanted to see something from Fang Ping's expression.
After a moment, as if to confirm his guess.
"In that case."
Fang Ping suddenly stood up.
"Magistrate Xia, I have a question and I need to ask you for advice."
Hearing this, Xia Yan couldn't help but be slightly startled.
Um, please tell me?
After reacting, his face couldn't help but look a little weird.
He is only a seventh-rank county magistrate, and he is also a criminal official, wearing a criminal body, while Fang Ping is a dignified second-rank high-ranking official, a veteran of three dynasties who is famous all over the world!
Such a person actually used the condescending word "ask for advice" to him?
Shaking his head, Xia Yan didn't think much. He just cupped his hands towards Fang Ping and said, "Master Fang said something serious. I don't think I should take it seriously. If you have any questions, just ask me directly. I will never hide anything."
Fang Ping smiled slightly.
"No wonder Lu Gaishi will fight for you to prove your innocence even at the risk of giving up his future. Magistrate Xia is indeed a humble, respectful and sincere gentleman..."
Hearing this, Xia Yan couldn't help but look at Lu Chen with a complicated expression, and then shook his head.
"Master Fang, you are so complimentary. I cannot trust Lu Guishi, nor can I be worthy of Master Fang's high praise."
"No, you deserve it!"
Fang Ping said decisively.
As he spoke, he suddenly raised his hand and then waved it.
Following his movements, a four or five square meter screen of light suddenly appeared in the open space among the crowd.
Everyone subconsciously looked at the light curtain, only to see some simple text messages displayed on it——
On the seventh day of April in the first year of Shenghe... Chen Yuan, the left minister of the Ministry of Personnel, received 4,000 taels of silver from Xia Yantan, the magistrate of Yongchuan County, which is equivalent to 4,000 guan of silver...
On June 23rd of the first year of Shenghe... Lu Fang, the Minister of Civil Affairs, received five thousand taels of silver from Xia Yan, the magistrate of Yongchuan County, a pair of Ruyi jade, and a Gui Ling Pill, which was equivalent to about 10,000 taels of silver...
The eighth day of the first lunar month in the second year of Shenghe...
…
"Huh? This is..."
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then quickly came to their senses.
"The ledger found in the Demon Queen's palace?"
A censor spoke, somewhat uncertainly.
These words reminded everyone at once.
So the time, place, people, treasures, converted money and other information mentioned above, aren't they the details of Xia Yan's bribery in the account books found in the Demon Queen's palace?
Many of the people present had seen the account book that served as a reminder to many of the Queen Mother's gang members. As ministers of Dali Temple and Minister of Punishment, Zhao Bingliang and Qian Yiqian were naturally no strangers to that account book.
Lu Chen was the court official who supervised the case. He had read the transcript of this account book many times and was very familiar with the records about Xia Yan.
These records also made Xia Yan a prison inmate of many of the Queen Mother's accomplices who were once very proud but were now imprisoned in the sky prison.
Looking at the familiar messages above, Lu Chen didn't realize there was anything wrong at first, but the more he looked down, the more he felt something was wrong.
At the same time, the uneasiness deep in my heart began to grow stronger.
At this time, Qian Yiqian's expression suddenly changed.
"This...does it mean..."
Disbelief gradually appeared on his face.
Seeing that everyone's attention was focused on the light screen, Fang Ping slowly walked towards Xia Yan with his hands behind his back.
While pacing, he stimulated the spiritual power in his body.
"Xia County Magistrate."
He stared at Xia Yan with sharp eyes and said word by word: "Please explain why the total amount of stolen money you paid as bribes to the greedy Demon Queen's henchmen who brought trouble to the imperial court is different from the total amount of illegal gains from corruption, bribery, and plunder." , will it be basically the same?”
The moment the voice fell, a line of text suddenly appeared on the light screen at the bottom of all the stolen money details:
Total stolen money: 153,962 coins!
It is actually almost the same as the total amount of stolen money that Xia Yan and Fang Ping checked just now, and it is even 200 more than Xia Yan's corruption gains in the past few years!
Is this normal?
Obviously very abnormal!
As soon as Fang Ping asked this question, except for Qian Yiqian and a few censors, everyone else looked confused almost at the same time.
"The amount of bribes given and received is basically the same...basically the same...basically the same..."
Lu Chen muttered it repeatedly for a while, and then his eyes suddenly widened.
"Fuck!!"
He is not stupid, he has fully reacted at this time.
'Nima! The amount of bribes paid is less than the amount of bribes paid. Even a fool would not do such a loss-making business, right? If you can do this, what kind of corrupt official is that? ! '
Thinking of this, Lu Chen felt that his extremely powerful heart was trampled by ten thousand grass and mud horses in an instant.
My heart began to ache again.
'I was stabbed in the back again? ! '
At the same time, Qian Yiqian looked at Lu Chen with an ugly face, a hint of gloom quietly flashed in his eyes, while Zhao Bingliang clenched his fists fiercely.
Neither of them looked very good-looking.
Plop...
Only a soft sound was heard, but after Hu Yan reacted, he became unstable and fell directly to the ground.
At this time, how could he still have the confidence he had before?
His face was extremely pale, and there was an indescribable fear in his eyes when he looked at Xia Yan.
It’s over!
