But I saw that Lu Shen had white hair, a thin figure, and sunken eyes, but he was bright and sharp. He was wearing a gray shirt and his waist was straight.
Zhong E, who was sitting on the other side, was just the opposite. He was tall and sturdy, but his eyes were somewhat erratic and he looked uneasy.
Judging from the appearance, the two represent civil and military affairs, so they are a perfect match.
The two of them had actually arrived a long time ago, but they didn't appear in the courtyard. Instead, they stayed in a special room and had just arrived.
Zhang Fei turned his head to look at Lu Shen and asked with a smile: "What do you think, Prefect Lu?"
Lu Shen looked directly at Zhang Fei and said, "Lu has some objections to President Zhang."
This question made the civil officials present hold their breath.
They all know what Lu Shen wants to question, but this is an official appointment. If you question it, it won't change anything, and it will offend him.
"Have you any objections to me?" Zhang Fei couldn't help but be stunned, and immediately asked: "Prefect Lu, please tell me."
Lu Shen said: "I don't think Chief Zhang De is worthy of the position."
"Is virtue not worthy of my place?" Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, and then said: "I have never been very good at morality. More than one person has said this. I am just a citizen of the Song Dynasty who obeys the law and abides by the law. That's all. With There is no comparison with such a humble gentleman as Magistrate Lu."
"puff!"
Xu Zhiqian, who was behind her, never expected that Zhang Fei would say such a thing. She couldn't hold it back for a moment and quickly lowered her head. Fortunately, the guests were also confused and didn't notice.
Lu Shen was also stunned.
How can you answer this? How can I continue to ask this question?
Zhang Fei added: "What I mean by 'opinion' is whether everyone, including me, has an interest in this case, not the moral aspect. We are all so young, and we are certainly not sitting on this based on morality. Yes, but by virtue of ability.”
Both Su Che and Shangguan felt a little offended.
We are still very ethical.
Lu Shen asked: "You used this case to threaten the government to allocate funds to our imperial court. Is this considered a relationship of interest?"
Zhang Fei frowned and said, "Who said that?"
Lu Shen said: "Needless to say, you deliberately postponed the court session before, just to blackmail the government office. Although I don't agree with the government office's behavior, President Zhang should report to the court and should not use official duties to threaten him. Why is this? It’s not about bending the law for personal gain. If everyone does this, how can we talk about the court system?”
He is also an expert in legal studies, and he cares very much about moral issues. If he makes a mistake, you can report him, but you cannot use this method.
He had been holding in this breath.
Zhang Fei leaned back and rubbed his forehead depressedly, "President Lu, I tell you frankly, you have left a very bad impression on me, because you just speak with your mouth, which is really difficult for people to understand. believe."
Lu Shen was incorruptible and upright. He was the magistrate of Chengdu Prefecture. His family only had two acres of vegetable land. He was as virtuous as Sima Guang. No one had ever given him such an evaluation. He was so happy that he asked with a smile: "How can President Zhang do this?" Why do you say that?"
Zhang Fei asked: "May I ask Magistrate Lu if there is a set date for the court session?"
Lu Shen thought for a moment and said, "That's not true."
"If there is no such thing, then why postpone the trial? Secondly..."
Zhang Fei said: "What do you mean by threatening the government? It is our imperial court who is waiting for funds to open the court. If the government does not allocate money, all the ministers and generals will have to sit on the rocks, and the witnesses who want to appear in court will have to live in caves. They hunt for a living inside. The soldiers are waiting for weapons to go to the battlefield. Is this a threat? I thought this was common sense."
Cai Yanqing, who was sitting below, was embarrassed and ashamed.
Wei Yingfang was furious. You are really talking with your eyes open. The funds I will give you do not include this!
Lu Shen had some doubts and then said: "You"
"turn down!"
Zhang Fei impatiently picked up the mallet and struck it with a bang. Lu Shen was so frightened that he almost bit his tongue and was stunned.
Zhang Fei glanced at the audience and said: "Do you have any other opinions? If so, think carefully about whether the trial personnel have an interest in the case. If so, bring out the evidence and don't waste everyone's time here. Time, if you have any questions unrelated to this case, you can come to the president of the court to ask after the trial is over. The weather is so hot, and the president of the court does not want to work overtime until noon."
Wow.!
What a great official authority!
Is this. Is this the legendary imperial court?
Wang Shao, Guo Kui, Lu Gongru and other leaders were all dumbfounded.
After all, he is the prefect, has a higher rank than you, and is older than you.
You just...really have bad morals!
Zhong E originally wanted to be tough, but everyone there questioned him, so he couldn't shrink back and opened his mouth, but he felt inexplicably weak, so he thought about it and let it go.
Zhang Fei just waited for a moment, then knocked the gavel and said: "The court is open."
OK, OK! I would like to see what you are capable of. Lu Shen held back his breath. For the time being, he had no evidence to prove that the imperial court was just waiting for the government's funds to be exposed.
But soon Zhang Fei gave him a chance to open his mouth.
Without too much introduction, Lu Shen was directly summoned to court.
Lu Shen had always been the presiding judge. He had never been tried before, and he had never seen how the imperial court tried cases. He looked around at a loss. Aren't I just in the court?
A court police officer came over and led him to sit in the middle seat.
The surrounding civil servants were a little dissatisfied. This seat was usually occupied by prisoners. Although Lu Shen was sitting, he looked like he was being interrogated.
In their view, cheating is the defendant.
But Lu Shen didn't feel anything was wrong. He was sitting on it, calm and composed, without any ripples in the ancient well.
It is a perfect explanation of what it means to be upright and not afraid of slanted shadows.
Zhang Fei said: "Prefect Lu, the president of this court hopes that you will put aside the matter just now, because your confession is crucial to this case. Please think carefully before answering."
When Lu Shen heard this, he felt even more angry. You are clearly mocking me. Because Zhang Fei had just said that he would come as soon as he opened his mouth, he ignored Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei didn't care at all. He flipped through the following transcript and said: "According to the information learned by this court president, Prefect Lu was involved in the entire battle of Suizhou. Could you please Prefect Lu briefly describe the process of this battle?" "
After sitting down, Lu Shen was naturally not in a hurry to fight with Zhang Fei. He would discuss this matter later, so he said: "This incident happened in the fourth year of Zhiping. At that time..."
"What month and day is it?"
Zhang Fei asked.
Lu Shen was stunned for a moment, then thought for a while, and then said: "It was roughly mid-September. I can't remember the specific date, and it's not easy to calculate..."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Please continue."
Lu Shen continued: "At that time, Lu was in charge of Yanzhou, while Zi Zheng was in charge of Qingjian City."
Zhang Fei asked again: "What is the relationship between the two?"
Lu Shen looked at Zhang Fei in surprise.
You don’t even know this, what are you trying to do?
Zhang Fei looked at him in surprise, as if asking, is there any problem with my question?
Forget it, he is just a child with a yellow mouth, why should I be angry with him? Lu Shen took a deep breath and said, "Qingjian City belongs to Yanzhou and is located two hundred miles northeast of Yanzhou."
Zhang Fei said: "So General Zhong at that time was a subordinate of Magistrate Lu."
Lu Shen nodded and said, "Exactly."
Zhang Fei waited for a moment and saw that he did not continue, so he looked at the copy again and said, "According to the investigation of this court president, it was Magistrate Lu who recommended General Zhong to take charge of Qingjian City. Is it true?"
Lu Shen nodded.
Zhang Fei said: "Why did Magistrate Lu recommend General Zhong? Is it because the two families are related?"
"of course not."
Lu Shenshi said righteously: "I always recommend others based on their abilities rather than their family background. At that time, I thought that Zizi was brave and resourceful and could be qualified for the important task of defending Qingjian City."
Zhong E, who was sitting below, had a slightly depressed look on his face.
Although with his family background and ability, he will rise to the top sooner or later, but it was Lu Shen who gave him a hand and gave him the opportunity to make meritorious deeds. Otherwise, it might have been a few years later.
But many prefects and county magistrates who supported Lu Shen shook their heads.
They all wanted to shout the slogan "Wolf-hearted and dog-lunged".
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Prefect Lu, please continue."
Lu Shen added: "At that time, those who occupied Suizhou were the two brothers Weimingshan and Weimingyishan from Xixia and their tribes. After our army instigated a rebellion, Weimingyishan had secretly joined us in the Song Dynasty.
Zizizheng used Wei Mingyishan to lobby his brother Wei Mingshan, intending to recapture Suizhou in one fell swoop, and reported this plan to the court.
However, without waiting for the imperial edict or reporting it to me, he led the entire Qingjian City army to attack and occupied Suizhou in one fell swoop.
Since our army was not yet ready to go to war with Xixia, and the current official had just ascended the throne, I asked Zizizheng to come back immediately in the name of no edict, but Zizizheng refused to obey the order, and had a conflict with the Xixia army. Although he eventually won the victory, But it almost led to a catastrophe. Fortunately, the Xixia leader Li Liangzuo died of illness at the time, so he did not continue to fight. This is how the whole thing happened. "
Zhang Fei nodded and asked, "According to what Magistrate Lu said, Seeds has reported the plan to the court in advance."
"Yes."
Lu Shen nodded.
Zhang Fei asked: "Does this comply with the imperial laws?"
Lu Shen nodded.
Zhang Fei asked again: "Prefect Lu said that he had not waited for the imperial edict, so did the imperial court issue an edict at that time?"
"have."
Lu Shen nodded.
Zhang Fei asked: "What does the edict say?"
Lu Shen said: "The imperial court ordered that Lu and Xue Xiang, the transfer envoy at that time, be responsible for planning the matter, and then Zi Zheng came forward to lure the enemy commander Wei Mingshan to surrender."
At this point, he changed the subject and added: "But according to subsequent investigations, Zizi lied about military information because he was greedy for merit. In fact, his attempt to induce surrender was not successful. His sending troops this time was very risky."
Zhang Fei asked: "How do you say this?"
Lu Xu said: "At that time, Zizi was just using Wei Mingyi Mountain to bribe one of Wei Mingshan's subordinates named Li Wenxi, so that Li Wenxi could pass on Wei Mingshan's order and express his willingness to surrender to our army. However, Wei Mingshan had no idea about this matter. It was not until Zinzheng arrived later that Weimingshan learned that his brother had surrendered to our army, so he laid down his weapons and surrendered with him. However, Zinzheng said in a memorial to the court that Weimingshan had agreed to surrender."
Zhang Fei asked: "Does Magistrate Lu have any evidence for his statement?"
"Of course."
Lu Shen said: "At that time, a soldier saw Wei Mingshan mounting a gun and getting ready to fight our army, but his brother Wei Mingyishan stopped him. If Wei Mingshan was already preparing to surrender, why did he still raise a gun and mount his horse?
Moreover, Zizi attacked at that time, not to accept the surrender of Wei Mingshan, because he chose the way of surprise attack, which is enough to prove that he actually knew that Wei Mingshan had not surrendered. "
Zhang Fei nodded and asked: "Regardless of whether Zi Zheng knows it or not, our army has occupied Suizhou. Even if he went out without an imperial edict, he should not be held accountable. If Lu Zhifu recalled him, it would mean giving up." Suizhou.”
Lu Shen said: "The reason I have just said is that because the officials had just ascended the throne at that time, and our army was not yet ready for a war with Xixia, the war between our country and Xixia was not about a temporary victory or defeat, but a long-term plan. If we want to start a war, At least the army must be deployed and food and fodder prepared.
The situation was very dangerous at that time. Xixia had already sent troops. After discussion, the imperial court decided to abandon Suizhou after burning it and did not ask our army to stick to Suizhou. "
"Really? But the burning and abandonment of the city that Magistrate Lu said did not happen." Zhang Fei couldn't help but wonder.
"You can ask Xianggong Guo about this, he knows best."
Lu Shen turned his head and looked at Guo Kui beside him.
(End of chapter)
