Dali Temple is just west of Renhe County Government Office, less than 40 feet away.
Gao Hengsun was sitting in the lobby behind the case, looking at the crowds of people inside and outside, feeling a little uncomfortable.
Looking at Shi Jiang Wanli on the left, Feng Mengde, the Minister of Justice on the right, and the officials listening on the side of the hall, they felt even more uncomfortable.
This posture is completely like a small "three-division trial". It seems that King Yan intends to decide today's case quickly.
The political system of the Song Dynasty was full of checks and balances, and it created a system of separation of trial and judgment in the judiciary. In the judicial system at all levels, there are two parallel agencies, one responsible for hearing the case and determining the facts, and the other responsible for examining the legal provisions and Sentencing and judgments are independent of each other and do not interfere with each other to serve as a check, which is conducive to judicial justice.
Although some small prefectures and counties will combine the two into one due to the provincial reduction of officials, with officials holding two positions, this is not inconsistent with this principle, because larger cases must go through multiple levels of review by superiors.
As the highest judicial institution, Dali Temple has two responsibilities, but the cases it hears are handed over to the Ministry of Punishment for sentencing and judgment.
In addition, this is not finished yet. After the results come out, they have to be submitted to the Yushitai or Zhongshu, or even the emperor for review.
Gao Hengsun looked at King Yan who was standing in the hall with a sullen face and eyes closed, and asked, "Your Highness, all the people involved in the case of mass assault have been gathered, can the trial begin?"
Zhao Mengqi slowly opened his eyes, "The fight is not a big case. The injured Juren is still alive and dead, so let's let it go for a while."
Um?
It is about the imperial examination, the government and the public are paying attention, and nearly a thousand candidates are watching eagerly. Isn't this a big case?
Life or death is uncertain, and that person is probably already out of his mind. Could it be that King Yan deliberately wanted to delay the so-called rescue?
I heard that the first few people from Wujiang to take action had an unusual relationship with King Yan. Could King Yan be thinking of ways to protect them?
Many officials present were suspicious. Gao Hengsun actually had the same idea, "What do you mean, His Highness, there is a more serious and urgent case than this!?"
"Yes." Zhao Mengqi glanced around, and without further explanation, he issued the order directly, "Take the prisoners!"
Gao Hengsun had no choice but to face King Yan's act of seizing the throne. He didn't care what the case was, just try it first.
After a while, a group of military patrol soldiers escorted two bound, blindfolded and gagged people into the lobby.
One of the women, dressed in gold and silver, full of wealth, was kicking and struggling even when being held by soldiers.
Military inspector Ke Qiucai took off the rag from her mouth and began to curse her in an extremely harsh manner.
"You idiots, you idiots, let me go quickly... You caught me for no reason. Maybe you don't have money to spend the New Year, so you want to blackmail me... Chaos monsters! I've really blinded your dogs. Eyes, my family is a government household, and I can’t afford to be offended by cheap thieves like you..."
Seeing King Yan frowning, Ke Qiu quickly stuffed the rag back into the woman's mouth to block the dirty words that followed, and then explained to King Yan with an embarrassed look on his face.
"This woman's name is Guo Mei. She is the head wife of Lai Jiang, the supervisor of the Salesian Bureau. She was caught in a gambling house by a low-level official. According to the instructions of Inspector Mo, she did not say anything to her. The low-level official was negligent for a moment. , let her taint His Highness’s ears, it’s a crime for her to be in a low position..."
If you want to try a case, you can't just keep your mouth shut.
Therefore, Zhao Mengqi did not mean to blame, and waved his hand, "It doesn't matter, let's get rid of the blocking thing and see what kind of shit she can spit out."
Guo Mei's ears were not blocked. When she heard the word "Your Highness" in Ke Qiu's language and Zhao Mengqi's words, she was already stunned. After taking off her blindfold, she found that she was in the lobby, and she immediately collapsed in fear. On the ground, the jewelry all over his body was clinking.
Next to her, Lai Jiang's penis was trembling, and his mouth was trembling, "No... I don't know what the official did."
The judges who were watching the trial were also very surprised when they saw Lai Jiang wearing official uniform, and they began to speculate and discuss.
"You are actually an official. How big of a crime did you commit? How come you were immediately brought to court?"
"The couple were arrested together, could it be a conspiracy?
Contrary, right? "
"I know him. He is from Lin'an. He is a Jinshi in the last subject. He is in charge of the Salesian Bureau's errands. He is only in the ninth rank. What kind of rebellion can he do?"
"Salesian Bureau? Aren't you just in charge of a bunch of orphans? What could possibly happen? You may have accidentally offended King Yan."
Zhao Mengqi looked at Lai Jiang coldly, "Master Lai, shouldn't you know exactly what you have done?"
"Ah? Well, the official has always been law-abiding and loyal to the court. He would never dare to do anything that violates the rules and discipline... If, if it is a matter of a low-ranking official, I really don't know about it..."
Lai Jiang had a sad face, looking loyal and honest.
"Haha, I really can't shed tears until I see the coffin. Since you are unwilling to confess your crimes, let everyone see what good things you have done."
After speaking, Zhao Mengqi clapped his hands, and the soldiers filed in with a large group of people.
"There is a criminal. The Salesian Bureau posted a letter to Lian Caiying and brought him to him."
"The criminal is brought to him by He Fan, a subordinate officer of the Salesian Bureau."
"The prisoner is Wang Laishi, Mother Mother of the Salesian Bureau, brought here."
"The criminal, Guo Sanqi, an official from the Salesian Bureau, was brought to..."
There are seventeen people in total, that is, from top to bottom of the Salesian Bureau, all the people who are doing things.
Then, there was another large group, "The criminal, Li Hongbo, who was doing official business in the nursing home, was brought to..."
There are more people in this network, more than 30 men and women, all working in nursing homes.
At this time, the people watching the trial were confused, and Gao Hengsun, who was interrogating the case, was even more confused.
However, Lai Jiang already understood the reason and fainted from fear.
Then, another soldier brought in a box of account books and five or six bamboo baskets containing unknown contents, and then brought in four or five little children.
Seeing this somewhat strange scene, the inside and outside of the lobby suddenly became extremely quiet.
Zhao Mengqi's low and sad voice sounded, "The Salesian Bureau and nursing homes are places where the imperial court cares for the people, but in the hands of these scum, they have become a place for eating people!"
He walked to a frame, opened it, grabbed a handful of rags and threw them on the ground, "These are what they use for the orphans in the bureau. Not everyone even has them. It's so cold. Even a strong man cannot keep out the cold, let alone a child, and more than ninety children were thrown into a few low woodsheds without even a brazier!"
Zhao Mengqi pointed to a few little kids, "When I got there, I saw these kids cleaning the yard. The reason why they were able to be outdoors was because they had put together all the clothes that the kids could wear, and they barely managed to avoid freezing to death. The children left in the woodshed could only stay naked and covered themselves with so-called quilts that were full of holes and even looked like rags."
"You must have never imagined that a pile of cow dung can be regarded as a treasure by them, just because it can be smeared on the body and used as clothes..."
Zhao Mengqi's voice became heavier, and he opened another bamboo basket, then lifted it with his foot. The bamboo basket fell down, and a pile of black "rice balls" rolled out.
"This is the food for the children, moldy grains, mixed with bran, and dried wild vegetables. These wild vegetables were picked by the children themselves in the wilderness in the past..."
"I tried to take a bite and forced myself to swallow it. It felt like chewing sand in my mouth, my throat felt like it was cut with a knife, and it fell into my stomach and it turned upside down. This damn thing is not food for humans at all!"
"But that's it. Each child only has two a day, so he can't even make his stomach full..."
"Also, according to the regulations, there should be a wet nurse for every baby. Yes, there are 39 wet nurses in the account book, each of whom is paid three times a month. However, in fact, there are only four wet nurses, three There is indeed milk, but except when dealing with outsiders, I have never really fed the babies. What the babies usually eat is rice porridge cooked with old grains, and most of them are not cooked thoroughly."
With that said, Zhao Mengqi walked to the pile of prisoners and dragged out a woman who looked like a fat pig with one hand.
"This is also a wet nurse and a mother! Look, does anyone think that she, who is in her forties, can still express milk? She is still a cook, earning four or five monthly wages, and eating a lot of fish and meat. She uses seven or eight braziers to keep herself warm. Why? Just because she is Lai Da
The official’s clan sister! ".
At this point, Zhao Mengqi almost lost control of himself and wanted to punch the woman to death. Then he took a deep breath and said, "Zhao Heyun, you can tell me what happens next."
Then, Zhao Heyun stepped forward, opened a bamboo basket, and took out the two infants inside with trembling hands.
"After we followed His Highness to the Salesian Bureau, we found these two dead babies among more than 20 babies. After preliminary examination, they died of cold and starvation. After further examination by doctors, the condition of the other babies was also very critical. If we go If it's later, there may be more deaths."
Zhao Heyun put the two swaddling clothes back and opened the other two, but did not dare to look inside.
"This is some of the corpses we excavated in a corner of the courtyard. There are thirteen bodies here, all of them babies. There are more than fifty bodies that we didn't bring with us, and there should be many more that haven't been discovered yet."
A putrid smell filled the lobby. If it hadn't been the middle of winter, it would have been many times stronger.
Smelling this smell and listening to Zhao Heyun's words, many people couldn't help but retched.
Zhao Heyun shook his head violently, gritted his teeth, and continued, "Judging from the account books, over the past two years, the Salesian Home has adopted 847 abandoned infants and orphans, plus the original 352. After deducting the 582 who were adopted and the 293 who died in infancy, there are still 324 left. Counting these two who just died, there are only 133 people in the hospital. "
"I'm sure there are a lot of fishy things in this account book. There are still nearly two hundred people missing and two hundred lives lost! Just disappeared out of thin air!?"
"The imperial court allocates money and food according to the number of people on the books. Where did the extra money and food go!? How much of the rest was actually used? Once you think about it deeply, it makes you shudder!"
"But, everyone present, can this matter be ignored?"
Zhao Heyun opened his blood-red eyes and looked at Gao Hengsun behind the major case, then at the officials listening to the trial on the side of the hall, and then at the people interrogating inside and outside the hall.
Suddenly he roared like a wild beast, "Can you tell me?"
The sound echoed in the air again and again, hitting everyone's heart.
Grief, anger and anger gathered into dark clouds above people's heads, triggering rolling thunder.
"Can't! Can't!"
"Check! Check to the end!"
"Find out everything and cut these beasts into pieces!"
