"In the fourteenth year of Wangping, that is, six years ago, a severe drought broke out in Shuihan County. In the past two years, there was no harvest. The people in the county were suffering from famine. Corpses were strewn in the fields, and people died of hunger. At first, you responded to this chaotic situation. You didn't take it seriously, and even many people who were about to migrate were detained by you for "deceiving people with lies and exaggerating". However, when the news reached the court and the Ministry of Household Affairs opened warehouses to release grain to relieve the victims, you immediately abdicated your responsibility. , when it came time to ask for credit, your name was written at the front."
"In the same year, due to severe drought and famine, bandit rebellions broke out. Xia Anguo, who was the captain of Shuihan County at that time, wanted to lead his troops to suppress the bandits. As the county magistrate, you should also be responsible for the logistics and supply work, but you did not. Xia An was not allowed to send troops on the grounds of lack of food, which led to rampant thieves and massacres, and the two of you also forged an old grudge over this matter."
"In the seventeenth year of Wangping, the northern part of Shuihan County was in chaos, and the people on the border were disturbed. Xia Anguo led a large army to resist the enemy outside Shuihan Pass. However, you originally promised to recruit troops and reinforcements, but you turned a deaf ear because of personal grudges, and even He also ordered people to withdraw from Shuihan Pass, which directly caused Xia Anguo to be surrounded outside the pass, and was eventually defeated and killed. If the two counties of Xuanyang and Tiehan hadn't sent troops in the end, Shuihan Pass would have almost been surrendered."
"But in the last memorial you wrote to His Majesty, you claimed that Xia Anguo was self-willed and insisted on his own way. On the contrary, you made it clear that you did not send reinforcements or rations..."
"Do you want me to continue talking?" He Nan's expression was indescribably disgusting.
Unexpectedly, after hearing the accusation against himself, Wang Wei said without changing his expression: "Oh, what did I think...the severe drought that year was an unforeseen natural disaster. There were no signs at the time. In order to prevent the people from being worried, I had to take this strategy because of panic, and why am I ranked first in the credit book... My performance during disaster relief is obvious to all. As for the border war three years ago, Xia Anguo's stubbornness has already sealed the coffin. Conclusion, I ordered the withdrawal from Shuihan Pass as a temporary measure to prevent additional casualties, but after all these years it has become my responsibility? It’s really laughable.”
"Hey... you really don't shed tears until you see the coffin, even though I already guessed that you wouldn't admit it." He Nan rolled his eyes, as if he had been prepared, "Someone, go and invite Blacksmith Liu and others."
The jailer who was waiting not far away took the order and left. He Nan also took out half a yellowed piece of paper from his arms.
"In order to prevent you from destroying the evidence, I won't hand it over to you. Do you want me to read it out? Or should you recall it carefully through the cage?" He Nan shook the hand holding the yellow paper at Wang Wei. .
The content on this piece of paper is not complicated. It is a letter written by Wang Wei to Xia Anguo. In it, Wang Wei said that the country and the country are currently more important than personal grudges. He can put aside the resentment between the two and help the people in the country. Xia Anguo, who was stationed at Shuihan Pass, defeated the enemy. The letter also said that the Yunhu Rangers were very cunning and suggested that Xia Anguo lead the army out of the pass first to separate the Yunhu army, and that he would immediately recruit troops and food from the rear and send them to the front line, forming a pincer attack from both inside and outside to wipe them all out in one go. Xia Anguo was deeply moved by his frank attitude and sincere words, so he listened to Wang Wei's suggestion, but he never expected that he would be the one to be kidnapped in the end.
However, this letter seems to be incompletely preserved because it is older. The handwriting is somewhat blurry in many places, and the lower half of the paper has been damaged for unknown reasons.
After a brief silence, Wang Wei suddenly burst out laughing: "Why do you say this was written by me? Do you have any evidence? I even said you forged it to frame me! To take a step back, is it a personal lie? If you say that I wrote this letter to Xia Anguo, do I have to bear the responsibility?"
"Mr. Wang, the handwriting on this letter is exactly the same as yours, and judging from the age of the paper, it is not forged recently."
"It's a joke, there are not many talented people in the world who can copy other people's handwriting. How do I know if you are forging letters to frame me?" Wang Wei laughed angrily, but his white hair was like steel needles. stand upright.
"Ah... this..." He Nan's face suddenly turned blue and purple, his expression was extremely unnatural, and a moment later he shouted as if he was angry: "Don't deny it, old man, it doesn't matter. Then you can tell me what kind of evidence is valid?"
"Humph, you're still an errand..." Wang Wei sneered: "Of course, it must have the red clay seal stamped with the official seal as a certificate to be valid. In addition to the emperor's seal in our Sheng Kingdom, it is made of dragon button jade. In addition, the official seals held by officials of the fifth rank and above are all specially made tortoise buttons and heavy silver seals issued by the imperial court. No one dares to imitate them, and no one can imitate them."
Why did Wang Wei dare to say it so confidently? Because he knew that the seal he stamped at that time was at the bottom of the letter, and the lower half of the letter was missing at this time, so the seal he stamped would not become evidence anyway.
"Oh..." He Nan nodded like a child listening to his teacher read in the preface, "Since you said that, I'm relieved."
Zhou Li, who had been standing aside in silence for a long time, "timely" took out half a piece of yellow paper and handed it to He Nan, who fiercely slapped the thing on the iron railing: "Open your eyes wide and take a look. This Is it your seal?"
"You fucking plot against me!" After a long silence, Wang Wei shouted angrily.
"You're not going to say that this seal is an imitation of what we carved with a big radish, right?" He Nan licked his lower lip: "By the way, let me tell you, I tore this piece of paper in half, just to let you What is the so-called 'valid evidence'?"
This old man who was over seventy years old was so angry that he was trembling with anger under He Nan's fooling. He almost coughed up blood several times with dry coughs. While the two sides were in a stalemate, the jailers had already brought the people whom Nan had ordered to bring.
"Do you still remember these people?" He Nan pulled the visitors in front of Wang Kai and asked him to identify them one by one: "Tiejiang Liu and his son in the county town, and Widow Hu from Yulan County."
"Although the other people who were imprisoned by you have either moved to other places or are inconvenient to be here, I think these three are enough."
"Widow Hu wrote to you because of the drought in the county, and Liu Tiejiang's family took the lead in relocating... Do you want to listen to what they have to say?"
Liu Tiejiang said nothing and seemed to be hesitating, his eyes full of sadness and anger, while Widow Hu and Liu Tiejiang's son cursed at Wang Kai.
At that time, Liu Tiejiang and his eldest son were imprisoned by Wang Wei. After Liu Tiejiang's wife entrusted her youngest daughter to a neighbor who sneaked out of the city, she waited at home for the news that her husband and son would be released, but she had not yet waited for the court's relief. Liang Bian had starved to death at home. After being released, Liu Tiejiang and his son wailed in front of her skinny body. After hastily burying his wife's bones, Liu Tiejiang took his son on a journey to find his daughter. , but after several years of unsuccessful efforts, he returned to his former home frustrated.
The story of Widow Hu is similar to the former one. Widow Hu was not a widow at that time. She was a famous and strange woman from all over the country. After discovering that a lot of crops had been dried up in the fields, she went to the county government to report the matter to the county magistrate. After the county magistrate shied away, she thought She went to the county town to report to the county government, but was detained by Wang Wei on the grounds of "troubling the people's hearts." She was not released until the court ordered her to arrive at Shuihan County, but she learned that her husband had died due to bandits who took advantage of the fire to cause trouble. With the news in hand, the house was also burned to the ground.
"I haven't found any evidence from your deeds that you embezzled money. All your actions show is neglect of government and dereliction of duty. You are old and afraid that you will capsize in the gutter during your last years as an official, so you dare not embezzle. , and you don't dare to take any responsibility." He Nan, who was rare and patient, waited for Liu Tiejiang's son and Widow Hu to get tired of scolding each other before speaking: "But the harm of laziness in politics is no less harmful than the harm of greed in politics. As you can see, for the sake of superficial stability, you blocked the mouths of Liu Tiejiang, Widow Hu and others, which resulted in the separation of their wives and families; because of your personal grudges, you used foreign enemies to kill people who were passionate about protecting the family and the country. Although the other cases are not as representative as the ones I listed, they are one after another small things that add up to a large sum, and finally evolve into a situation where the whole county only looks up to you. Evil trends."
"I used to be puzzled to understand what your purpose is, or what benefit you have from doing these things - until I severely interrogated a corrupt official named Hou Ruming a few days ago, I finally got this A confession.”
"Although the part about you in this confession is simple, after combining it with the confessions of some other people, the questions about you are easily solved - what you want is not money, but power, even if you are old and humble and resign. After you retire, someone will still treat you as a guest of honor."
"Hou Ruming used to be the accountant responsible for statistics of financial revenue and expenditure in the county government. Since then, he has tried to make false accounts to make money. You turned a blind eye to this and didn't tell him. He was transferred to the county seat to be the chief bookkeeper, but he didn't take any of the benefits from his filial piety to you."
"You are weaving a web of relationships centered on you, just like a spider in a dark corner, capturing all the officials who can be used by you. Although you are not a corrupt official, you control the entire Shuihan County. The 'criminal evidence' of almost all officials, big and small, and in exchange they will obey your instructions and orders, and will never even disobey you. If I am right, even the county governor at that time was firmly under your control. - This also explains why, as the county magistrate, you are able to issue many orders beyond your authority, and can easily do things that are beyond your authority - such as withdrawing the garrison at Shuihan Pass."
"Those corrupt officials look up to you, and many of them were even dragged into the trap by you. Some people who are unwilling to join in your corruption have to choose to remain silent and stand by."
"You have almost single-handedly corrupted Shuihan County. Your ability to manipulate people's hearts cannot but be astonishing."
"But you hit an iron plate, and this iron plate is not me, but the law."
"You will pay a price for this, which is to say goodbye to the power you have worked so hard for several years, and of course your life." He Nan closed his eyes after finishing this long paragraph in one breath. He looked solemnly for this The culprit was sentenced to death.
