"Lord Tongzhi..."
Liu Shuban fell to his knees, tears rolling down his eyes, begging for Ye Yongjia's mercy.
"Liu Shuban, did you set the fire?" Ye Yongjia asked gently.
"Absolutely not. There must be someone else. Maybe the one who set the fire has been burned to death..." After saying this, he felt ridiculous himself and was in a state of confusion. He looked at Master Tongzhi like a cat.
"How could the person who set the fire burn himself? It must be a living person, a living person who escaped without any injuries..."
Liu Shuban looked at himself. There were no holes in his clothes, only a few irregular wrinkles.
"Look," he lowered his head and pointed to a small spot of skin on his head, "that was scratched by a wooden beam, so it's not unscathed..."
Some soldiers couldn't help laughing. Ye Yongjia didn't want to laugh in this situation. Everyone also stopped talking.
"Okay. He may not be the one who set the fire. He will be detained in the prison cell first, waiting for Magistrate Lu's decision." He raised his hand, and several people tied Liu Shuban with ropes and walked towards the other end of the prison. Ye Yongjia led the remaining soldiers back to the Yamen.
Although this fire extinguished all possibilities of leaks, it also brought immeasurable losses to Chenzhou. According to the calculations of the planning office, a total of 12 people were burned and killed in the fire, and no corpses were left. Only Liu Shuban survived; all the books, documents, etc. were burned, and the Huaining people's household registration land was lost; as well as local taxes, Officials' salaries and other common regulations were lost, not to mention that the houses were completely destroyed and needed to be rebuilt.
All for the sake of Lu Deguang's official career and to appease the fearful heart of the prefect.
However, after Zhao received the news, he went to distribute private salt with confidence and solicited people in Huaining with great fanfare. When officers and soldiers came to investigate, the salt merchant took out the certificate and used it as a backer. While Zhao Zhixian was making a lot of money, the Yamen not far away also opened a court, preparing to find a legitimate reason to silence the murderer.
As a colleague, Ye Yongjia was also sitting. Different from the case of Uncle Wang when he first came to Chenzhou, this time he will personally participate in the trial.
"Sign up." Lu Deguang naturally spoke first.
"The villain's surname is Liu..." Liu Shuban replied.
"According to Ye Tongzhi and others, you fled in a hurry that day, and your clothes were not messy, and there were no injuries on your body. It is very suspicious." He asked Ye Yongjia, "Is this true?"
"Only a small layer of scalp was rubbed on the Tianling cover, no other injuries." Ye Yongjia reported.
"It seems that you were the first to escape?" Lu Deguang turned around and asked Liu Shuban.
"This is because all my colleagues are asleep, and the villain is still awake, so he can notice the fire..."
"Wait a minute," Ye Yongjia interrupted and asked, "You mean you're the only one who's still awake?"
"right."
"Then wouldn't you have the chance to set fire to it?"
"..." Liu Shuban was speechless for a while, and then retorted: "I have no grudges against them, so why set fire to them?"
Lu Deguang nodded solemnly as if he didn't know anything about it, "Ye Tongzhi, do you have any real evidence that he set the fire?"
"Of course there is." Ye Yongjia took out the fabricated evidence that ignored the facts, but suddenly showed a long-lost hesitation.
Even that heroic fire failed to shake his heart. Why didn't he dare to kill Liu Shuban even though he was a villain who was corrupt, perverting the law and blocking public opinion? Perhaps he thought this was in disregard of the facts, or perhaps he thought it was playing with the law. But what can he change if he hesitates for a moment? Will this hesitation of conscience bring any consolation to a disgraced man?
When he thought of this, he could think no more and made the document public to everyone: "This is irrefutable evidence!"
"This is the letter Liu Shuban wrote to the prefect the day before yesterday," Ye Yongjia pointed to the small print on the document and said, "It reported that Wang Shuban had moved public property without authorization. According to what I sent to investigate, it was just an uneven distribution of the spoils. The evildoer should file a complaint first. I did not report it because I was concerned about the face of the household. You saw no movement above for a long time, and you were afraid that your colleagues would tell the truth, so you set fire to the house and killed people to silence them. Is this the truth? !”
"I didn't write such a letter!" Liu Shuban was so anxious that he almost jumped up, but the people on both sides held him down.
"Are you suspecting that your colleague forged evidence?" Lu Deguang said, looking down at the file.
Liu Shuban shuddered and kowtowed repeatedly: "Of course I don't mean that." He swallowed his saliva, looked at the faces of the officials, and then lay down on the ground. "I plead guilty, I plead guilty. It was the villain who started the fire... Sirs, in this case, should the case be closed?"
Ye Yongjia looked at Lu Deguang.
"Case closed."
Lu Deguang packed up the file and handed it to Ye Yongjia. Ye Yongjia handed it to the person who took the notes, and then turned around and asked Lu Deguang respectfully: "How can Liu Shuban be convicted?"
Lu Deguang thought for a while and said: "Killing for a reason is punishable by death. There is also the matter of embezzling stolen money. Since the capital punishment has been committed, we can only recover the stolen money separately. However, the penalty can only be determined after it is handed over to the planning room and the execution room for discussion. .”
After that, Lu Deguang stood up, slapped the wood on the ground, shouted "Retreat", and Ye Yongjia and others also dispersed.
Afterwards, the preparatory office discussed Liu Shuban's case, and they all agreed with Magistrate Lu, so Liu Shuban was immediately questioned. Lu Deguang no longer felt anxious and thought that the dust had settled.
But Li Yong was worried all the time. Lu Deguang often saw his expression of embarrassment and asked why. Li Yong sighed: "The matter of smuggling salt is a trivial matter. Since Liu Shuban can't talk about it, even if the certificate is spread, no one will see it with his own eyes, so it's easy to evade it." "But burning a house cannot be witnessed by just one person. Once the province obtains a confession, there will be no excuses."
"Do you want me to kill Ye Tongzhi?" Lu Deguang asked confused.
"These are your confidants, so naturally they will not be leaked out. They are the ten soldiers sent." Li Yong's eyes flashed cunningly.
"You can't call out all ten of them and kill them together, right?"
"There is also such a way."
"What method? How to kill? Is there another fire?"
Li Yong shook his head: "Since we are soldiers, we have other ways. It just so happens that the army and horses have not been practicing for a long time, and the military appearance is not in good shape. Why don't you use this name to conduct military exercises, and then..." Before Li Yong finished speaking, he saw Lu Deguang do With a silent gesture, he quickly came up and discussed with him in a low voice.
By the time the matter was reported to the Inspection Department, it was already early the next morning. The officers who were the confidants of the prefect gathered their troops and set off for drills. According to the prefect, they were going to practice boating on the Xihua Jialu River, and the notice also said "to practice water warfare."
It was a good day for the magistrate election. The wind and waves in Xihua County were calm and the Jialu River was as flat as a mirror. They were practicing water battles and the soldiers were full of joy, waiting for the order from Magistrate Zhao.
Ye Yongjia stood next to Professor Zhao and observed this wonderful scenery. A few days ago, he also witnessed the magnificent sea of fire.
The boat was launched into the water and the river stirred up waves, but Ye Yongjia still felt calm in his heart.
