next day
Yuan Zhe was sitting in the hall, while Xie Ruoling and Zhao Dexun stood on the left and right holding swords.
Feng Rui, Xue Peilin and the magistrate of Xu Ting County all took their seats.
The woman in the hall, her eyes dull, sat slumped on the ground.
Because he kept kowtowing, the white cloth on his head was covered with dust. His long hair was messy, with scattered catkins hanging from his hair.
Xie Ruoling looked at the woman with pity in her eyes, and her impression of Pei Qihuan was even worse.
There were more people watching than before, and they all looked in.
There was silence in the hall, and no one dared to speak out.
"Your Highness!"
Zhou Hu and Li Jinghao trotted over with Zhao Wu on their backs.
Behind him were more than twenty men, running away in the dust.
Zhao Wu covered his head with his hands, blood dripping from his fingers.
When he got to the hall, he knelt down and said, "Master! You must make decisions for the common people!"
After seeing Zhao Wu, Yuan Zhe finally felt relieved.
But Zhao Wu was so embarrassed, which was unexpected, so he took advantage of the situation and asked: "What's going on?"
Zhao Wu raised his head, pointed at Feng Rui and accused: "The common people want to sue the governor of Tuzhou, Feng Rui, Lord Feng! He instigated Zhang Dazhuang to provoke and seriously injured the people in Yong'an County! It was him too! He came to the capital to frame the case. Sir, beat Zhang Dazhuang to death! Today, we also sent people to squat at the entrance of the alley and almost beat the common people to death!"
Then he raised his hand and pointed at the more than 20 men behind him: "They, they can all testify!"
The people behind him stood there hesitating. Seeing Feng Rui sitting firmly, they were too frightened to speak.
Zhao Wu gritted his teeth and cursed: "You bastard, you should tell me!"
One person took courage and whispered: "Yes, sir, we can all testify."
Yuan Zhe looked confused and looked up at Zhao Dexun.
Zhao Dexun also looked confused and shook his head lightly.
Feng Rui stood up from his seat, trembling with anger, pointing at Zhao Wu and scolding: "Nonsense talk, nonsense talk! Say! Who assigned you to frame the imperial official! Come here! This person is trying to frame the imperial official. , pull it down and chop it!"
After hearing Feng Rui's words, the county magistrate stood up hurriedly, startling Zhao Wu.
"cough."
Yuan Zhe coughed lightly, and then the county magistrate remembered that there was a gentleman sitting in the hall.
He rubbed his official clothes and sat down slowly.
"Feng Rui, you are too excited."
Seeing that the voice sounded familiar, Zhao Wu raised his head and looked toward the hall.
Yuan Zhe couldn't see his face clearly, but he could directly identify Zhao Dexun next to him.
He rubbed his eyes and grinned.
It's strange that he is blind and doesn't know the big shots!
Feng Rui was as dazed as a demon and ignored Yuan Zhe completely. Seeing that the county magistrate turned his head away and refused to agree, he directly rushed towards Zhao Wu to fight with him.
"Bang"!
Zhao Wu's whole body fell to the ground.
Feng Rui's eyes were red and he pinched Zhao Wu's neck fiercely!
"Sir... you still..." Zhao Wu was strangled to the point of dying, but he was not afraid. With provocation in his eyes, he said with difficulty: "It's better... just admit it!"
"Put it down!"
Yuan Zhe roared, and Zhao Dexun rushed down, grabbed Feng Rui's collar and pulled him away.
The officer next to him came forward with a stick and pressed Feng Rui to the ground!
Zhao Wu was able to catch his breath and lay on the ground coughing violently.
After taking a deep breath, he knelt down and explained the whole story clearly.
"ah--"
The woman shouted in grief, rushed to Feng Rui, slapped Feng Rui, and her nails cut her face, and drops of blood oozed out.
Zhao Dexun hurriedly grabbed the woman's arm and dragged her aside.
"Master Feng! Feng Rui! My husband and I received a morsel of food from you when we were in dire straits, and we have always been grateful for many years. My husband is even more willing to die. If you say to go east, he will never go west! Under your instruction , how many dirty things he has done! I wanted to keep silent because of your saving my life, but I didn’t expect that you actually killed people and silenced them!"
Feng Rui looked sideways at the woman and smiled: "You, you intend to frame me! Where is the evidence? Show me the evidence!"
"How did you know I didn't have one!"
The woman roared so heart-breakingly that she threw Zhao Dexun away with such force that Zhao Dexun could hardly stand.
Then he tore open his blouse, tore open the lining, and took out a piece of silk cloth.
Tears flowed down, and the hand holding the silk cloth kept shaking: "Although my husband is a bastard, he still takes care of me! He is worried that one day he will not die well, and he is afraid that you will be unfavorable to me, and you will be killed." You have told me everything you have told me, so I must write it down for self-defense..."
Before he finished speaking, he burst into tears.
Zhao Dexun took out the silk cloth from the woman's hand and handed it to Yuan Zhe.
Although the handwriting is not pretty, it is neat.
The woman raised her arms to wipe away the snot and tears on her face, pointed at Feng Rui and spat: "Feng Rui! You used the people's livelihood as an excuse to transport young women from various families to nearby counties, saying that they were doing things for wealthy families. These chores are actually sold to brothels and let them become prostitutes!"
"What!" The people watching were confused!
"Feng Rui! Give me back my daughter!"
"Feng Rui! You bastard! Where did you send my sister!"
The shouts and curses came one after another, annihilating the voices in the hall.
The yamen guard was standing outside, being pushed and pushed by everyone, and he couldn't resist.
Xue Peilin could no longer sit still, stood up and pointed at Feng Rui: "How could you do such a despicable thing!"
"More than that," Yuan Zhe looked at the silk cloth in his hand and said jokingly: "Forcibly occupying people's fields, concealing flood reports, and killing innocent people indiscriminately. These are all things that I remember clearly."
Feng Rui was lying on the ground, with the water and fire stick on his neck, and he was in a miserable state.
He held the water and fire sticks with both hands and laughed loudly: "So what? All the people in the hall have blood on their hands. Can you judge clearly and judge clearly? Hahahaha, sigh, sigh! Beauty has been a beauty since ancient times. Trouble, our Lan country is different! The dignified prince of the country is actually fascinated by the man. The Lan country is going to perish, the Lan country is going to perish, hahaha..."
Those disgusting words made Yuan Zhe's face turn red. He completely lost his usual calmness and wisdom. He stood up and shouted: "Kill Feng Rui with a stick!"
Zhao Dexun rushed forward and stopped the lot in Yuan Zhe's hand: "Your Highness, don't be impulsive!"
Xue Peilin stood in front of Feng Rui and suppressed his emotions: "Your Highness, Feng Rui is the governor of Tuzhou after all. If you want to deal with it, you need to ask your Majesty for instructions."
Yuan Zhe's eyes were red, and he held the lottery tightly and refused to let go.
Zhao Dexun leaned into his ear and whispered: "Your Highness, the overall situation is the most important thing."
Yuan Zhe closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let go.
"Put him in jail."
Until Feng Rui was taken to prison and the people dispersed.
Xie Ruoling was stunned and looked pale.
Seeing her like this, Yuan Zhe knew that he had never seen such a scene before and asked Li Jinghao to take her to rest.
On the way back, Yuan Zhe remained silent and frowned.
"Your Highness, Feng Rui speaks freely, don't take it too seriously."
Zhao Dexun looked relaxed and whistled happily.
Yuan Zhe suddenly stopped: "That's not right."
"Ah?" Zhao Dexun looked at Yuan Zhe, wondering what he meant.
I saw his frown getting deeper and deeper, and he was restless.
"Your Highness? Is there anything else wrong?"
Yuan Zhe ignored Zhao Dexun and only murmured to himself: "It went too smoothly..."
"Your Highness!"
Zhao Dexun looked into the distance and saw Zhou Hu trotting towards him.
"Master Zhou."
"General Zhao."
After a brief salute, Zhou Hu looked at Yuan Zhe: "Your Highness?"
When Yuan Zhe didn't respond, Zhao Dexun patted Zhou Hu on the shoulder and said "shhh".
Suddenly, Yuan Zhe grabbed Zhao Dexun's arm: "We still need to investigate."
Zhao Dexun asked: "What are you checking?"
"Investigate Zhao Wu's injury."
"Didn't you say that Feng Rui sent someone to fight?"
Yuan Zhe glared at Zhao Dexun: "Feng Rui is so smart, he must know that we are looking for Zhao Wu. With Feng Rui's temperament, he can either directly look for Zhao Wu to threaten him, or directly send someone to kill him with one blow. Today Zhao Wu The injury was definitely not caused by Feng Rui."
"actually..."
Before Zhou Hu next to him finished speaking, Yuan Zhe hurriedly stepped forward: "We still need to check!"
"Your Highness!" Zhou Hu ran two steps and came to Yuan Zhe.
"What are you doing?" Yuan Zhe was a little dissatisfied when he saw him stopping him.
Zhou Huqian bowed: "Your Highness, the one who injured Zhao Wu was not someone else, but a subordinate."
"Ah?" Zhao Dexun was even more confused!
"You?" Yuan Zhe always had a sullen face and frowned. Seeing Zhou Hu say this, he felt a little unbelievable.
Zhou Hu raised his hand to wipe the fine sweat from the tip of his nose and nodded: "Yesterday, when you asked me to take Yang Sheng to identify people, I guessed a lot. So this morning, I took a few people with me. They surrounded Zhao Wu’s house. Sure enough, he wanted to run away, so I sent someone to go up and beat him up!”
Yuan Zhe didn't speak, he just looked at Zhou Hu. After thinking about it carefully, he relaxed his brows and smiled with relief.
"That's not right." Zhao Dexun became more and more confused as he listened to the conversation between the two, and had to ask: "Last night, it was clearly just me and His Highness, how could you know that we were looking for Zhao Wu and not Zhang Zhang?"
Yuan Zhe glanced at Zhao Dexun and shook his head helplessly.
Zhou Hu smiled and said: "General Zhao, there are floods in Tuzhou, and the people are all suffering. Take a look, how many homes with tall houses and tiles have you seen in Xuting County?"
"You mean..." Zhao Dexun suddenly realized: "No wonder!"
"That's all, since you did it, I can rest assured."
Yuan Zhe patted Zhou Hu on the shoulder and said with a smile: "My king, how about recommending you to be the governor of Tuzhou?"
Zhou Hu was startled and hurriedly knelt down: "Thank you for your favor, Your Highness. I'm afraid that I can't..."
"There is no need to answer in a hurry. Let's go back and consider it carefully."
When Yuan Zhe stepped forward, Zhao Dexun squeezed Zhou Hu's shoulder: "Watch you!"
"Your Highness! Wait for me!"
Zhou Hu knelt on the spot, turned to look at Yuan Zhe's back, and frowned.
"Thank you, Miss, have a drink of water."
Li Jinghao found a bowl of clean water from a nearby house and handed it over.
Xie Ruoling sat with her knees crossed, looking at the ants on the ground in a daze.
"Miss Xie?"
"I told you, you want to call me Mr. Xie."
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Li." Li Jinghao smiled naively, a blush appearing on his fair face.
Xie Ruoling stretched out her finger and drew a circle around an ant.
"well."
Hearing a sigh, Li Jinghao put away his smile and asked with concern: "Are you okay?"
"I don't know." Xie Ruoling retracted her hand and pouted slightly: "I just feel that my heart is filled with panic and unspeakable discomfort."
Li Jinghao sat down and drank the water: "I didn't expect it to be like this."
"Huh?" Xie Ruoling straightened up and turned to look at Li Jinghao: "Why are you feeling melancholy?"
"I don't know." Li Jinghao looked forward with confusion in his eyes: "I just feel that things are going to change in Tuzhou."
"Forget it! Don't think about it anymore!" Xie Ruoling calmed down and reached out to Li Jinghao: "I'm thirsty."
"Oh." Li Jinghao hurriedly handed over the bowl in his hand, but it was empty.
He looked at Xie Ruoling and smiled innocently: "Sorry."
Seeing his stupid look, Xie Ruoling laughed out loud: "Idiot."
