"Sir, please spare my life! I did this after receiving money from others!" Mrs. Zhang shouted loudly.
"Oh? If you are willing to confess that person, I might be able to spare your life!" Liu Xinnan asked, "Tell me, who is it?"
Mrs. Zhang looked back and pointed outside the court: "Yes... it was Wang Yanei who instigated me to do this! He said that when a new official took office, he wanted to show her off, so he spent three hundred taels of silver to let civilian women steal their children. ! The three hundred taels of silver are just under the woman’s pillow, and she hasn’t spent a penny of it... Mr. Qingtian, the woman is so obsessed with money that she does such an unconscionable thing, you are so lenient to me!”
Wang Zhipeng?
As expected!
Wang Zhipeng, who was still clamoring in the crowd before, is nowhere to be seen now? He had already disappeared without a trace.
"This abominable Wang Zhipeng! He actually instigated others to steal children. This is a heinous crime! Here comes someone!" Liu Xinnan immediately issued an order: "Arrest Wang Zhipeng immediately!"
"No, no, Master Liu." Master Ma hurriedly stood up to dissuade him, "The Wang Yamen Ningguofu family has a great business. Half of the people in Ningguofu rely on his family to make a living. Even the previous repairs of our Yamen were borrowed from the Wang family. , a full ten thousand taels of silver, if you catch him, we will never have peace in the future!"
Liu Xinnan gritted her teeth, "It's simply lawless!"
Master Ma said: "Yes, everyone knows that the fourth generation of the Wang family has been in charge of Ningguo Mansion, and he has the most power in Jiangnanxi. Mr. Liu has just taken office, so it is better not to provoke him. As for this poisonous woman, what should be the punishment? Judgment, kill if necessary..."
Liu Xinnan was undecided for a moment and turned her head to look at Song Che: "Brother Song, what do you think we should do?"
Song Che said softly: "Brother Song is not the prefect, how can he make decisions for Master Liu."
"Then...Brother Jiang?" Liu Xinnan turned her gaze to Jiang Yuntian again.
Jiang Yuntian crossed his arms and said coldly: "In my opinion, you should resign as soon as possible to avoid being criticized for being a coward in the future."
Liu Xinnan hesitated for a moment, her eyes were fixed, and she was shocked: "Come here! Bring Wang Zhipeng to court! Then go to the convict's house to search for the stolen money!"
Yamen officials, you look at me, I look at you, and you fall back into a state of indifference.
"If you don't obey the order again, you will be sentenced to thirty feet for the crime of blasphemy like Chen You!" Liu Xinnan said angrily.
Only then did all the government officials obey the order, put on shackles and shackles, and followed Jiang Yuntian to the Wang family to arrest people.
"Sir, no, no, no..." Mr. Ma repeatedly advised.
Liu Xinnan said angrily: "The new official has dared to do random things even if he took office three times, so why should I not do anything wrong? Master Ma, I advise you to stay safe and keep to yourself. If you dare to make alarmist remarks again, I will have you stabbed first!"
How did the master know that this seemingly weak new magistrate could be so courageous that he dared not speak again with his mouth shut?
As soon as they heard that the prefect was going to interrogate Wang Yameni, the people who came after hearing the news surrounded the Yamen.
Mo about half an hour later
"Get out of the way!"
"Make way for our young master!"
A group of domestic servants pushed aside the crowd, and Wang Zhipeng strode into the courtroom with great pride.
"Master Liu, I was having lunch at home, so you sent someone to summon me. What's the reason?"
"Wang Zhipeng, the convict Mrs. Zhang has pleaded guilty and confessed to you bribing her to steal the child. What crime do you deserve!" Liu Xinnan asked loudly.
Wang Zhipeng picked his ears, "What? Did I hear it correctly?" He glanced coldly at Mrs. Zhang who was kneeling aside, "I don't know what grudge this woman has against me, but she threw dirt on me in front of the audience. Water," he looked at Liu Xinnan fearlessly:
"Mr. Liu, everything must be based on evidence. Just based on the words of others, you can conclude that I am an accomplice. No one will be convinced by such a verdict."
"Young Master Wang, you have to be conscientious when you speak! You clearly called me to the palace last night and asked me to steal Mrs. Liu's child to make things difficult for Master Liu. Why don't you admit it now?" Ms. Zhang rushed forward and hugged her. Wang Zhipeng's legs cried.
"Bitch! Don't stop spouting nonsense! I don't even know you, how can I collude with you?"
Wang Zhipeng kicked Zhang away, and then complained to Liu Xinnan: "Master Liu, in my opinion, this convict is clearly afraid of death, so he used my name to pay for his crime. He has a terrible heart and should be questioned and executed in court!" "
"Oh, my God, if I had known you were such a beast, I shouldn't have done bad things for you!" Mrs. Zhang beat her chest and slapped the ground, woefully!
"Wang Zhipeng, you are still a scholar, and you instigate others to steal children...do you still have any humanity?"
"Hey, everyone, look at it, this is the man who has been admitted to the imperial examinations today, and he insults others in court. It is simply a corruption of official ethics, low-level and obscene!"
Wang Zhipeng used the topic to his advantage, and those losers who followed him responded and sighed.
"Wang Zhipeng, you——"
"Liu Xinnan!"
Wang Zhipeng said in a cold voice without losing the threat: "Leave a little bit of a sec in your life so that we can meet each other in the future. As an official of the imperial court, now that you are an official here, you should unite with local nobles like us to manage the Ningguo Mansion. Now you haven't even sat down yet." Re then wants to take drastic measures...Guan'er, this is not what you do!"
"What do you mean, it's your turn to take Mr. Liu's seat?" Song Che, who had been silent for a long time, asked coldly.
Wang Zhipeng looked at Song Che in a blink of an eye, and immediately stared with hatred: "I recognize you!"
"It's quite humiliating to be recognized by you."
Song Che looked disdainfully and asked Zhang, "You said earlier that he had promised you three hundred taels of silver, but a full three hundred taels?"
Mrs. Zhang nodded and said: "Fifty taels of brand-new large ingots, a total of six ingots!"
At this time, the government officials who went to Zhang's home to search for the stolen money also returned to the court.
Song Che took the silver ingot, first weighed it in his hands, then looked at the light, and finally turned the silver ingot over one by one, and saw the four characters "Jiangxi Bank Bureau" engraved on the bottom.
Wang Zhipeng's expression changed drastically.
"Wang Yameni, what a coincidence, Song runs a bank, so he knows a lot about silver casting. Is this 'Jiangxi Silver Bureau' an official silver ingot?"
The purity, color, and use of official silver are very different from private silver. Official silver is only used for the treasury and can never be circulated in the world. Even if it is obtained through illegal channels, it must be smelted or cut into pieces for use;
If the official money is used for personal use, the term may be ten years at the least, and the person who is responsible for the serious consequences will be punished.
Not to mention ordinary people, not even people like Song Che who own a bank can have access to things like official silver. The only people who have the chance to appropriate it are officials.
"Come here! Detain Wang Zhipeng!"
"yes!"
"Who dares to touch me!"
Wang Zhipeng glared at the officers angrily, "In the past when my father was the prefect, which one of you policemen did not benefit from me? If I am guilty, you all are guilty!"
The yamen servants should not dare to move again.
Wang Zhipeng said: "What's wrong with using official silver? Since my great-grandfather's generation, he has been an official of the Liang Dynasty. My grandfather was once the minister of the transfer department. These official silver are just their salaries, but they are used too much." In a hurry, I forgot to change him into a silver nugget, is this also a sin?"
He simply admitted, "Yes, I hired Mrs. Zhang to steal the child. The purpose was just to test your case-solving ability as the new prefect. Besides, didn't the child return to its original owner? It's not like that." If she causes any damage, the worst I can do is compensate her with some money and just let it go as a fart!"
