"here we go."
In the early morning, Li Ang, together with many Chang'an citizens, stood outside Dali Temple and looked inside.
He still came to see the trial process of this case. On the one hand, it was because of Wu Shiqi’s plea.
On the one hand, it is because of the previous changes in the suffering lotus.
In the State of Yu, both Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment had the power to administer justice.
Dali Temple is equivalent to the highest judicial authority, which is responsible for crimes committed by court officials and cases involving imprisonment or above that occurred in Chang'an.
The Punishment Department is responsible for handling ordinary prisoners and reviewing cases involving imprisonment or exile in Dali Temple.
If a major case involving politics or injustice occurs, the Yushitai will also be involved, and the court will be jointly adjudicated by the Minister of Dali Temple, the Minister of Punishment, the Minister of Justice, and the Yushi Zhongcheng.
The State of Yu divided cases into five categories, corresponding to five punishments, namely whipping, caning, fixed-term imprisonment, exile, and death.
Since someone died in this case, it will almost certainly start with a prison sentence and end with the death penalty. In other words, it must be reviewed by the Ministry of Punishment.
Originally, according to Yu Chu's rules, if it was a death penalty case, it would need to be submitted to the emperor for review to show Yu's prudence on the death penalty and concern for human rights.
But over the past few hundred years, the population of Yu State continued to expand, and there were more and more death penalty cases, which the emperor could not handle by himself. This rule is gradually no longer mentioned.
Even if it is the death penalty, it will be tried before three courts. The emperor will not easily intervene or interfere with the direction of the case.
Snap.
Two tall and burly Dali Temple guards dragged Nie Shilei, who was wearing prison clothes, along the aisle.
They pinched Nie Shilei's shoulders, pressed them down hard, and forced him to kneel on the solid stone bricks.
"Behead him! Behead him!"
"kill him!"
"This beast is worse than a pig or a dog!"
"****,***,***!"
Noisy curses instantly sounded outside Dali Temple, and all kinds of filthy words jumped out of the mouths of Chang'an citizens, who wished they could turn their words into sharp swords and pierce Nie Shilei who was kneeling there.
Even some old ladies who seemed kind-faced were looking down in sadness, "What a good girl. I heard that she was ruined by this fool when she was only fifteen years old."
"What do the government officials in Wannian County, Chang'an, do for a living? Do they usually let this idiot walk around on the streets?"
"I heard that his father took him out during the Dragon Boat Festival."
"Then why don't you arrest his father too? Maybe it was his father's instruction. Even if it has nothing to do with his father, it's still a mistake for his father to let a fool go out!"
Chang'an City has not seen such a bad case for a while. The citizens outside the temple were excited and their voices became louder and louder.
Qing Yunhanchi of Dali Temple, who was sitting high in the hall, frowned imperceptibly and slapped the dragon-shaped gavel to suppress the noise outside the temple.
"let's start."
Yun Hanchi took a deep breath and asked Nie Shilei, who was confused in the audience: "Are you Nie Shilei?"
"...yes."
Nie Shilei slowly raised his head, his eyes drifting and blurred. It took a long time for his eyes to fix on Yun Hanchi's face.
"In the fourth year of the Dragon Boat Festival in Xu Zheng, when it comes to the beginning of Hai, where are you and what are you doing?"
"...ah?"
Yun Hanchi pursed his lips and asked again patiently, "...half a month ago, on the night of the Dragon Boat Festival from Xu Zheng to Hai Chu, where were you and what were you doing?"
"I, I am accompanying Aye and my little sister, selling bamboo baskets."
Nie Shilei's speech is like that of a child, and his words are often confused and inconsistent.
At one moment he said that he was scared, at another moment he said that he had been beaten and began to cry.
Such a performance did not make the people outside the temple sympathize. Instead, they believed that he had suffered a madness, killed Meng Ying, and tried to get away with such a clumsy lie thought up by a fool.
boom!
Li Ang turned around and saw a middle-aged man wearing luxurious clothes in the corner. His eyes were red and he punched the stone wall hard.
The middle-aged man clenched his teeth, his body trembling slightly due to the intense grief and anger, and blood dripping from his fingers.
There was a circle of people around him. Among them, Jin Wusuan, the richest businessman in Yu State who was familiar to Li Ang, sighed and patted his shoulder gently.
That should be Meng Chengye, the father of the deceased Meng Ying and the manager of Liuguang Bank in Chang'an County.
Li Ang withdrew his gaze and turned to look inside Dali Temple.
"Bring me your ID."
Perhaps because he felt that talking to Nie Shilei was too strenuous, Dali Temple Qing Yun Hanchi waved his hand.
A police officer brought a group of people from the side courtyard to the front of the hall. Among them were girls from wealthy families, as well as officers from Wannian County in Chang'an and soldiers from the Zhenfu Division.
"Um?"
Li Ang raised his eyebrows and saw in the crowd the little girl whose vegetable leaves were smashed the day before yesterday.
Yun Hanchi asked the crowd questions one by one and reconstructed the case.
"According to the confessions of multiple witnesses, Meng Ying went to Qujiang Pool with her friends at noon on Dragon Boat Festival.
At the beginning of the afternoon, the suspect Nie Shilei, his father Nie Gao, and his sister Nie Yuhuan, carrying bamboo baskets and other commodities, went to the west side of the East Market to set up a stall.
At the beginning of the year, Meng Ying and her friends returned from Qujiang Pool and headed to Dongshi. A quarter of an hour after the first day of the lunar month, I got separated from my friends at the east entrance of Dongshi.
At about two-quarters of an hour on the first day of the lunar month, Nie Gao, who was located at the west entrance of the East Market, left the stall due to abdominal pain and asked his daughter Nie Yuhuan to keep an eye on Nie Shilei.
Nie Yuhuan was attracted by the float, and after telling Nie Shilei to stay there and not move around, he went to the float and bought candies for two people. When he returned, Nie Shilei had disappeared.
At a quarter of an hour after midnight, Meng Ying's friends came to the west side of Dongshi to search. Together with Nie Gao and Nie Yuhuan, they discovered Nie Shilei acting suspiciously in the alley, and Meng Ying, who was dead with his face scratched. "
Yun Hanchi said in a deep voice: "Is this the case?
After you left the stall, you were attracted by Meng Ying who appeared on the street. You followed her into the alley and encountered resistance and scolding. You threw her head against the wall and did something wrong. Later, out of fear, you scratched her face with the hosta on her head. In the end, it was too late to escape, and everyone and everything was stolen. "
"..."
Nie Shilei didn't seem to be listening to what the Dali Temple Minister was saying. He just looked at Nie Gao and Nie Yuhuan not far away and kept crying - his father Nie Gao had a bruised nose and a swollen face. It was obvious that he had been beaten by someone in Chang'an City during this time.
"You still have the nerve to shed tears?"
A rich girl who seemed to be Meng Ying's friend was so angry that she rushed forward from among the witnesses, kicked Nie Shilei on the shoulder, knocked him to the ground, and shouted loudly: "You know when Meng Ying died there was something wrong." How painful and desperate? Her nails fell off because of her hard struggle, and her..."
Dali Temple Qing Yun Hanchi frowned, and without him having to say anything, the servant on the side pulled the rich girl back.
He cleared his throat, "If there are no objections..."
"no."
This time, Nie Shilei finally took the initiative to speak, and his voice seemed to come from a very far distance, "I didn't kill her."
"Um?"
Yun Hanchi frowned and saw that Nie Shilei's eyes gradually stabilized and he no longer looked around, and his voice became much calmer and more orderly, "It's someone else."
"who?"
"he."
Amid the uproar, Nie Shilei waved his arm and pointed outside the door of Dali Temple.
A tall man's expression suddenly changed, and he was about to retreat silently, but his arm was grabbed by someone else.
"Where do you want to go?"
Li Ang said with a smile, and with a little force, he pushed him forward and came to the front of the hall.
