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After Li Sisan was taken to the court, Huo Zhengyuan carefully observed the man's complexion and expression.
This Li Sisan is not very old, that is, he is eighteen or nineteen years old, but he probably comes from a poor background. There is no childishness in his expression, and he is obviously well-trained, with dark skin, a strong figure, and under the dilapidated clothes. You can vaguely see tendons all over his body. After entering the court, he has always looked indifferent, as if he doesn't care about his life or death at all.
It's a pity that his image at this time is in a miserable state. First of all, he was injured yesterday when he was surrounded and ambushed by the lowly people. After being arrested, he tried to commit suicide by banging his head against the wall. Although he was quickly killed by the Nanjing garrison guarding him, He was rescued, but his head was still bleeding and his injuries were getting worse. Not only were his hands and feet bound and covered in blood, but his head and body were also covered with thick bandages.
At the same time, Li Sisan seemed to be indifferent and expressionless, but Huo Zhengyuan was still keenly aware that Li Sisan had been secretly observing Jia Lun since he was taken to the court. After briefly looking at each other, his expression changed. There was even a flash of panic and fear.
Seeing this situation, Huo Zhengyuan suddenly felt something in his heart.
Afterwards, Huo Zhengyuan directly took up the gavel, slapped it hard on the public case, and asked sternly: "Prisoner, what is your relationship with His Highness the Seventh Prince?"
As Huo Zhengyuan finished speaking, everyone in the side hall shook their bodies uncontrollably and their expressions changed drastically!
Although most of the high-ranking dignitaries in Nanjing have vaguely guessed the truth and believe that there must be a connection between Zhu Hejian and these dead bandits, but... can this kind of thing be directly revealed?
On the other side, after hearing Huo Zhengyuan's direct and stern questioning, Li Sisan was caught off guard and could no longer maintain his indifferent demeanor. His body immediately trembled, his face turned pale, and he shook his head quickly and said at a loss: "Seventh Prince? I, I don’t have anything to do with the Seventh Prince!”
Seeing Li Sisan's panic, Huo Zhengyuan couldn't help but feel satisfied. He thought that although Li Sisan seemed to be completely unconcerned about his own life and death, in fact, he was very likely to be the breakthrough for him to find out the truth.
Before Jin Yiwei and the Nanjing garrison brought Li Sisan for trial, Huo Zhengyuan had already quickly browsed Li Sisan's relevant information.
After this man was arrested, he quickly found an opportunity to bang his head against a wall and tried to commit suicide.
There are actually two explanations for this excessive behavior. One is that Li Sisan is loyal and firm, and would rather die than betray the seventh prince Zhu Hejian; the other is that Li Sisan has poor psychological quality and lacks the ability to withstand pressure. After being arrested, He was also afraid of the power and intimidation of the Seventh Prince, as well as the severe torture of the officials, so he chose to commit suicide out of despair.
Huo Zhengyuan speculated that Li Sisan was most likely to be in the latter case.
Because when Li Sisan tried to commit suicide, he chose to hit his head against the wall, but in the end he failed to commit suicide. Although his head was bruised and bloody, there was no fear of his life.
This means that Li Sisan did not exert all his strength when he hit his head against the wall, and there was still a trace of regret for his life deep in his heart.
Otherwise, with the physical fitness of these dead soldiers, if they smashed into the wall and committed suicide without sparing any effort, the ending would not be as simple as a broken head and bleeding. It would definitely be a shattered brain and death.
The most important thing is that among the six remaining "Chaofeng" dead soldiers, the remaining five showed resistance after being arrested and were unwilling to provide any effective information. Even their names, ages, places of origin, etc. were basically unknown. The information was also kept tight-lipped, but only this? Li Sisan took the initiative to reveal his name after his failed suicide.
Obviously, after the failed suicide, Li Sisan's mentality has changed significantly, and he has become more and more cowardly.
At this time, after preliminary testing and seeing Li Sisan's panic reaction, Huo Zhengyuan had completely confirmed his suspicion and believed that this person was definitely a breakthrough worth trying.
Xu Shengying chose to interrogate this person first, presumably because of the same consideration.
However, Huo Zhengyuan's probing methods naturally caused an uproar in the courtroom!
Xicheng directly interrupted the interrogation process, without any regard for dignity. Huo Ran stood up, pointed at Huo Zhengyuan and reprimanded loudly: "Huo Zhengyuan, what do you mean? What do you want to imply? What relationship does this ruthless gangster have with His Highness the Seventh Prince?" Do you want to lure the prisoner into confessing and frame His Highness the Seventh Prince?"
The next moment, Jia Lun also stepped forward and asked with a serious expression: "Master Huo, please explain, why do you suddenly mention my Highness? And associate my Highness with this gangster? Otherwise, Xiao I can’t explain my personal affairs to His Highness afterwards!”
Xu Shengying also frowned at Huo Zhengyuan, thinking that Huo Zhengyuan was too hasty in directly mentioning the connection between the dead bandits and the seventh prince Zhu Hejian.
Under everyone's attention and questioning, Huo Zhengyuan looked innocent and asked in confusion: "Why are you so excited? Why can't I mention His Highness the Seventh Prince? Although these prisoners have committed countless felonies, what they have committed is Among the various crimes, the most egregious crime was the kidnapping of the Seventh Prince, so I thought we should give priority to interrogating this crime, so I asked about the relationship between the prisoner and the Seventh Prince, hoping to know why they deliberately chose the Seventh Prince to kidnap. ……Any questions?"
After hearing Huo Zhengyuan's doubtful question, both Xicheng and Jia Lun were speechless and a little embarrassed.
The extreme behavior just now made the two of them appear guilty and guilty.
So, after Jialun apologized, he silently returned to his original position.
Xicheng snorted coldly and threatened again: "Master Huo, you should speak clearly when interrogating the prisoner. If there is any misunderstanding, you may not be able to bear the responsibility!"
After saying that, Xicheng sat down angrily.
Huo Zhengyuan ignored Xi Cheng, but turned to look at Xu Shengying. His eyes were meaningful and the meaning was very clear. He was reminding Xu Shengying that Xi Cheng and Jia Lun's behavior was extremely suspicious!
Although Xu Shengying had changed her position and wanted to investigate the truth, she was still neutral in general. Therefore, Huo Zhengyuan wanted to take the opportunity to influence Xu Shengying's judgment. If Xu Shengying firmly believed that Zhu Hejian was ambitious, he would then submit the secret and secret documents to Emperor Deqing. Listing all the doubts about Zhu Hejian in detail, even if Zhu Hejian successfully covered up his crimes in Nanjing, life would not be easy after returning to the center of the capital.
Xu Shengying also ignored Huo Zhengyuan's hint. Instead, after taking a serious look at Li Sisan, she took the gavel away from Huo Zhengyuan's hand, as if she wanted to take the opportunity to lead the interrogation.
However, without waiting for Xu Shengying to show off, Jiang Zheng changed his previous low-key attitude and stepped forward and said: "Master Huo, Xu Shoubei, Xi Zhengshou, student Jiang Zheng is a disciple of Dali Temple Qing Yang Xun, and he is also familiar with the imperial laws. Therefore, I accepted the order of Academician Huo to assist in the interrogation!"
After revealing his identity, Jiang Zheng asked slowly: "Although the tripartite joint trial has just begun, the student has something unclear, and I would like to ask three adults to enlighten me!"
After hearing that Jiang Zheng claimed to be a disciple of the great scholar Yang Xun, Xu Shengying's expression changed slightly. After slowly putting down the gavel in her hand, she nodded and said: "Since you are a disciple of the great scholar Yang Xun, I don't blame you for interrupting!" Well, do you have any questions?"
After Jiang Zheng bowed and thanked Xu Shengying, he asked again: "Xu Shoubei thinks that the students are interrupting, but the student's question is also related to the interrupting, that is, the order of the court! The student wants to know whether the three adults have done anything before interrogating the case. How many rules should be established first? Take interjection as an example. Because it is a tripartite joint trial, all three adults are the presiding judges. When Academician Huo is questioning the prisoner, should the two adults Xu Shoubei and Xi Zhenshou Do you have the right to interrupt? If you have the right to interrupt, should this power be slightly restricted? Otherwise, the three adults will always interrupt each other when interrogating the prisoner, which may seriously delay the trial process!"
Then, Jiang Zheng turned to look at the eunuch Jia Lun. After looking at each other for a moment, Jiang Zheng said: "The three adults are all presiding judges, so it is enough to interrupt each other, but... students like this Are people who are ordered to co-examine, or people who are ordered to watch like eunuch Jia, also qualified to interrupt?"
Huo Zhengyuan was a Qinggui scholar who was born in the Imperial Academy, and Xu Shengying was a military general who was born in a noble family. In the past, these two people rarely had the opportunity to intervene in the trials of various cases, but Xi Cheng, who controlled Nanjing Jinyiwei, often had He had the opportunity to get involved in various cases, but in the past, he always kept his word when trying cases, making temporary rules based on his own preferences, but he had no experience in jointly interrogating cases with others.
Therefore, after hearing Jiang Zheng's reminder, the three of them were slightly stunned before finally thinking of the importance of order in the court.
At the same time, Jia Lun's eyes flashed and he looked at Jiang Zheng with alert eyes.
These words alone were enough for Jia Lun to regard Jiang Zheng as a powerful enemy!
Over the years, Jialun has painstakingly studied the laws of the Ming Dynasty, and his biggest realization is that all the laws and regulations of the past dynasties are essentially to establish orders. Everyone will be protected by these orders, and everyone will be restricted by these orders. !
Take the Ming Dynasty's "Household Code" as an example. The "Household Code" is divided into seven volumes: "Household Service", "Field and House", "Marriage", "Warehouse", "Course", "Money and Debt" and "Shop". This series of legal provisions On the one hand, it established the distribution of interests among the three major strata of the court, the powerful and the gentry, ensuring the long-term power of the court, the powerful and the gentry to exploit ordinary people, but at the same time it also restricted the power of the court, the powerful and the gentry in exploiting the people and prevented them from exploiting the people. These rentier classes exploit the people to an excessive extent, draining the land of their wealth, and eventually the government forces the people to rebel.
All in all, everyone benefits from order and is also subject to order.
For the same class, this order is fair and everyone is on the same starting line;
But for different classes, this order is unfair. Some classes are like a fish in water, while others are struggling.
In this respect, it is not important how the rules are formulated, but rather the demarcation of classes.
At this time, Jiang Zheng proposed to establish court order and directly divided the relevant people into two classes. One class was the three presiding judges Huo Zhengyuan, Xi Cheng, and Xu Shengying, and the other class was except the three presiding officers. Other relevant persons other than the judge.
This method of class division is extremely cunning, and it is equivalent to binding Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun together.
Next, if after discussion, Huo Zhengyuan, Xu Shengying, and Xi Cheng decide that no one except the presiding judge is allowed to interrupt at will during the trial, then Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun will be restricted at the same time. ; If in addition to the presiding judge, co-trials like Jiang Zheng, or people watching the trial like Jia Lun can also interrupt at will, then both of them have the right to speak at the same time. Enhance.
This binding seems fair, but in fact, before Jiang Zheng mentioned the matter, his right to speak during the trial was far less than that of Jia Lun. Jia Lun was Zhu Hejian's representative, and no one dared He was directly expelled from the court, and Jiang Zheng was just one of the many co-examiners, and was not qualified to repeatedly interrupt. Otherwise, he would easily be targeted by Xi Cheng and directly expelled from the court. In this way, Jiang Zheng would next When competing with Jalen, he will naturally be at a disadvantage.
However, although Jia Lun saw through Jiang Zheng's intention, he had no way to decipher it.
Because this simple and crude dichotomy is always the most difficult to refute. If Jia Lun distinguishes himself from Jiang Zheng at this time and tries to gain more privileges, he will be pushing the envelope and be suspected of interfering with the case. It is very easy to be criticized. You will also be isolated by many co-reviewers.
Just as Jia Lun was speechless after thinking about the pros and cons, Huo Zhengyuan, Xu Shengying, and Xi Cheng finally reached a consensus after discussing in low voices.
Because Huo Zhengyuan is convinced of Jiang Zheng's ability, and Xi Cheng is also convinced of Jia Lun's ability, so both of them support that relevant personnel other than the presiding officer should have more say. Although Xu Shengying has a different attitude, he is unable to stand alone. You can only compromise a little bit.
Finally, Huo Zhengyuan raised his head and announced: "I discussed it with Xu Shoubei and Xi Zhenshou. When the three of us interrogate the prisoner, no one can interrupt, not even the other two chief interrogators. You can only supplement and refute as soon as possible! As for the remaining co-reviewers, they need to obtain the consent of the three main reviewers before they can express their opinions. However, the three main reviewers cannot unreasonably obstruct the co-reviewers from expressing their opinions...Jalen, you Observing the trial on behalf of His Highness the Seventh Prince is also equivalent to being a co-trial officer."
Later, Xu Shengying added: "If the three presiding judges repeatedly violated court rules and turned the case into a quarrel between the three presiding judges, it means that the three of us are incapable of examining the truth. Take the relevant prisoners to the capital and hand them over to the central government office for interrogation; if the others violate the court rules, they will be expelled from the court immediately and will not be allowed to participate in subsequent interrogations!"
After hearing what Huo Zhengyuan and Xu Shengying said, Jiang Zheng nodded in support.
This kind of court order also restricts Huo Zhengyuan, Xu Shengying and Xi Cheng. If the arrested dead soldiers are taken to the capital for trial, the situation will be out of their control, and various variables will inevitably emerge. For the three It's not a good thing for the presiding judge.
At the same time, both Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun have greater say in the matter. As long as they ask for instructions in advance, they can directly intervene in the case.
The next moment, Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun said in unison: "Three adults, the student still has a suggestion to report!"
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