"Humph, who is the criminal? They are just poor people who have been stained by the national law!" Zheng Shili couldn't help snorting in front of the people when he saw Zhu Di holding many prisoners in the empty seal case.
Then he actually stood up, and in front of the people, he explained the reasons for the empty seal case and the contents of his memorial in a concise and clear manner, and finally shouted: "This is the old system that has been established since the Yuan Dynasty." ! It’s not a heinous crime!”
"His Highness forced them into the bustling city. Isn't it too humiliating?"
After he said it first, the people immediately had a preconceived impression, and many people whispered to each other and felt sympathy for the prisoners.
"To be arrested and have your family destroyed just because of a blank piece of paper? It's a bit too much..."
"So, those people with shackles on the stage are all government officials? What a good boy! What is the background of His Highness and these military masters, so they are so cruel?"
"You don't recognize those clothes? Those are the Jin Yiwei. When Prime Minister Hu fell from power a few days ago, these people were the ones who caused chaos in the city. They just robbed them with open fire..."
"Hiss, it turned out to be the Jin Yiwei! It's said that if he fell into their hands, he would have to remove his skin even if he didn't die, and he could stop a child from crying at night..."
The people were whispering to each other, and soon everyone looked at Zhu Di and the Jin Yiwei in strange looks.
Zhu Di glanced at the smug Zheng Shili, his eyes half smiling but not smiling. This Vincent must have had some skill in being able to stir up such a huge public opinion. He turned to look at the struggling official kneeling first on the left. He asked someone to pull out the cloth stuffed in his mouth, walked up to him and asked, "Zhao Quande, you are struggling like this. Could it be that, as Zheng Sheng said, he was unjustly accused?"
"Yes, yes, Your Highness, I am wronged, I am wronged!" The official named Zhao Quande was able to speak out, and he immediately shouted that he was wronged. "Your Royal Highness, the lower official is working hard for the Ming Dynasty. The lower official has an eighty-year-old mother, and the lower official has a baby waiting to be fed..."
"Your Highness is aware of it, and the fellow villagers are aware of it. I was wronged by the official, I am really wronged by the official!" As he said this, he kowtowed to Zhu Di and the people in the audience.
How could Zhu Di not know his shameless intentions? He just thought that things had improved, so he deliberately shouted about injustice in order to incite the people and get away with it. These civil servants have a compulsory skill in manipulating the people. Seeing what he said was so miserable, the people below actually started to express their love for him. They all felt that it was a bit too cruel to punish a large group of people for a blank piece of paper that was agreed upon.
"Are you here now, complaining?" Zhu Di lifted the hem of his clothes, squatted in front of Zhao Quande, and looked directly at Zhao Quande. The hint of joking in his eyes slowly began to fade away.
His back was turned to Zheng Shili. Zheng Shili didn't know what was happening, but he was surprised to see that Zhao Quande, who was still shouting and kowtowing, gradually did not dare to move under the gaze of the Fourth Highness.
At this time, Zhao Quande looked into the eyes of this young man who was supposed to be humble, and felt all the fear deep in his heart gushing out. Originally he was still showing off with some joy and pride, but now he didn't dare to move at all.
Zhao Quande swallowed hard. At this moment, he felt that what was in front of him was...
……emperor.
"There may still be injustices in the world, but you, Zhao Quande, deserve to die!" Zhu Di said coldly. He stood up and no longer looked at Zhao Quande, but shouted to the Jin Yiwei: "Come on, call the old man from the Liu family!"
After a while, a shabby old man in ragged clothes was helped here by the Jin Yiwei. The old man seemed to be still confused. After seeing this battle, he was still looking around in fear. However, when he saw Zhao Quande kneeling on the stage, he let out an "ah" and his originally pale face turned red. He wanted to break away from Jin Yiwei and rush onto the stage.
"Traitor! You are actually here! Old man... old man fights with you!"
With that said, under Zhu Di's secret signal, the old man actually broke away from the Jin Yiwei, rushed up and punched and kicked Zhao Quande.
The onlookers were all stunned, and Zheng Shili also looked stunned. What's going on? Which old beggar is this on the street? The Fourth Highness invited him here, what was he going to do?
"This person is Old Beggar Liu from the Earth Temple in the east of the city. The one kneeling here is Zhao Quande, the former Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department." With the background sound of Old Liu beating Zhao Quande, Zhu Di said to the audience. spoke. "I believe some of you also know that this old man Liu turns out to be from a wealthy family with little wealth outside Yingtian City."
When he said this, someone below agreed: "It's true. That old man Liu, it turns out that his family also has several acres of thin farmland. In the fourth year of Hongwu, he was elected as the grain chief."
"Speaking of which, he is also an official!"
When he said this, he thought of the majesty of the grain chiefs in his hometown, and looked at the old beggar above him who was crying bitterly while punching Zhao Quande on the head and face. The curiosity of the people watching was completely aroused. The common people no longer cared about showing sympathy to the officials. Someone urged him to ask: "Your Highness, what happened to Old Man Liu? How did he end up in such a miserable state?"
"And why do you hate this inspector named Zhao so much?"
"Everything starts with a food delivery." Zhu Di said. "In the fifth year of Hongwu, Old Man Liu escorted a batch of tax grains to the Ministry of Household Affairs for delivery according to the regulations. However, he ran into trouble during the delivery. The official of the Ministry of Household Affairs who delivered the goods asked him for a bribe. When he failed to ask for a bribe, he falsely accused him of embezzling the tax grains. "
"Old man Liu was not convinced and immediately quarreled with the household official. At that time, Zhao Quande came out to resolve the case. The result of the verdict was that old man Liu was indeed embezzling taxes and grain. The evidence was conclusive and irrefutable. There was no need for a trial. The judge immediately confiscated the property. , to serve as a warning to others.”
"And that so-called conclusive evidence... is the blank-printed official document that the scholar just said was 'conventional' and 'made a mountain out of a molehill'!"
Zhu Di pointed at Zheng Shili and shouted angrily.
Zheng Shili was stunned. He could not imagine how a blank official document could be involved in the problem of a grain chief's corruption while transporting tax grains. The people were also confused and didn't know why. At this moment, the old man Liu who was beating Zhao Quande burst into tears and said sternly: "Physical evidence... what kind of physical evidence..."
"At that time, in front of the old man and Zhao Quande, the household official took out a blank document and wrote directly that the old man should have transported 30,000 shi of grain..."
"Thirty thousand dan! The old man's family transports grain for the imperial court, and the whole village's taxes and grains are less than 3,000 dan in a year!"
"The extra 27,000 dan will be considered as the old man's greed for ink... The sky is clear, the sky is clear! How can anyone write a document on the spot and be used as evidence of confiscating their home and being imprisoned!"
"Unfortunately, this Zhao Quande took the document and said that the printing was correct and that he was indeed corrupt. He smiled and took the old man to jail."
"Together with the household official, we devoured the land and property of the old man's family and the villagers!"
"The old man's family escaped the Mongols' plundering and the tyranny of the former Yuan Dynasty, but they did not escape these damn corrupt officials!"
"God damn those corrupt officials!"
The old beggar looked up to the sky and cried loudly.
(End of chapter)
