In fact, of course Li Lei and the others knew that Wu Tian and Liu Lian had known each other for a long time, and they took Wu Tian's rescue eight years ago as a starting point. They just wanted to prove that Wu Tian's feelings for Liu Lian were the cause of their relationship. The main reason why Wu Tian led people to attack the military camp.
Although they also knew that Zhang Fei was famous for being "detailed", they believed that it was impossible for Zhang Fei to be investigated until the ninth year, and they went to court to prove this.
Because before that rescue, Wu Tian and Liu Lian only interacted in secret, and not many people knew about it. In fact, Wu Tian himself didn’t remember it clearly. When Hu Wanggui appeared in court, he didn’t even recognize him. Li Guozhong naturally I did not conduct a more detailed investigation.
Who would have known that Zhang Fei actually found out about the ninth year, and also found witnesses and evidence from the time to prove that Wu Tian and Liu Lian secretly colluded to rob foreign businessmen.
This left Li Guozhong speechless, and they were even embarrassed to blame the information provider.
There's really no way to prevent this.
When did lies become so fragile?
In fact, not to mention them, even Qi Ji and Wang Gong were dumbfounded. They had no idea about this and could not imagine how Zhang Fei found all this evidence.
Little did they know that all this was due to the hard work of the previous three years. At that time, the ghost tax police lurking on Jingdong East Road had nothing to do and kept digging. However, Liu Lian, the number one bustard in Qizhou, was really eye-catching. , is a person who is the focus of investigation by the Taxation Department.
This is why the tax department originally planned to use Wu Tian to scare the monkeys, but they didn't know that this was a bad start, and they were counterattacked, which led to what happened now.
After this confrontation, the thoughts of the guests sitting here gradually became clearer.
In fact, before the lawsuit started, they didn't know how to fight this kind of lawsuit. As for what Wu Tian did, if it was the previous judicial system, it would not be too easy to convict of rebellion. No one would dare to say anything. shit.
Will the Public Security Bureau be different?
This is a highlight before the trial.
Now they gradually understand how to judge the crime of rebellion under the public prosecutor's law. In fact, it is to separate the crime of rebellion from the law of thieves and thieves.
Just to make it clear, why did he do this?
Is the original intention to subvert the emperor's rule, or the government's rule, or is it just a simple robbery to make a living.
The charges of treason gradually became clear.
This made many officials sitting here have complicated expressions. They suddenly thought that this change was not bad, and for them, it was safer.
But if it is based on this point, Zhang Fei's questioning can only prove that Wu Tian not only saved Liu Lian for love, but because Liu Lian held Wu Tian's criminal evidence.
Since you want to prove it clearly, this point is not enough to prove that Wu Tian is planning to rebel.
Li Lei objects to this point. Even if it is evidence of murder, it does not mean rebellion. The other party cannot guide him in the direction of rebellion.
It is very crucial to find out what evidence Liu Lian holds.
Next, Zhang Fei directly requested that Liu Lian be summoned to appear in court to testify.
Li Guozhong felt very uneasy and whispered to the young man next to him: "Are you sure Liu Lian doesn't have any evidence of guilt beyond what we know about?"
"No!"
The young man was very sure: "Liu Lian is just handling some business for Wu Tian, and Liu Lian is very loyal to Wu Tian. Even if she dies, she will never betray Wu Tian."
Li Guozhong couldn't believe it now. He just nodded and said, "I hope so. It would be terrible if it happened."
After a while, Liu Lian came to the court.
Liu Lian is now a woman in her thirties. Although she looks a little haggard, she still looks charming. She was a beauty when she was young.
Zhang Fei stood up and asked, "Liu Lian, do you know Wu Tian?"
Liu Lian just nodded slightly.
Zhang Fei asked again: "Then when did you meet Wu Tian?"
Liu Lian just said lightly: "Wu Tian and I have known each other for a long time, but I can't remember exactly when."
Zhang Fei continued to ask: "Then what is your relationship with Wu Tian?"
Liu Liandao: "Lover relationship."
Zhang Fei said: "But as far as I know, you and Wu Tian do not live together."
Liu Lian smiled and said: "We are just lovers, not husband and wife. Why do we live together? We just have occasional trysts."
This sentence caused many people to sneer.
How shameless.
It's no wonder he's a bustard, so his adaptability is really good. Zhang Fei asked with a smile: "Then what exactly did you do when you had a tryst with Wu Tian?"
As soon as these words came out, the whole world seemed to be quiet, and the whole place was completely silent. The court police present glanced at Liu Lian slightly, while the audience outside the courtyard pricked up their ears.
"I object."
Li Lei stood up and said, "It's against etiquette to ask a woman about such an intimate matter."
Many scholar-bureaucrats present nodded slightly.
Zhao Pian also felt that something was wrong. He looked at Zhang Fei and asked, "Prosecutor Zhang, what does this have to do with this case?"
Zhang Fei explained: "President, we have enough evidence to prove that they are not just lovers, so we must know clearly what they were doing during their tryst."
Zhao Pian thought for a moment and then said: "Objection is invalid!" Then he looked at Liu Lian, "The suspect must answer the prosecution's questions."
Liu Liandao: "It's a matter between men and women."
"That's it?"
"Um."
Liu Lian nodded.
detail!
detail!
The audience immediately looked at Zhang Fei with burning eyes. You, Zhang San, are famous for being meticulous. This is the time when you need to be meticulous the most.
What is the matter between men and women?
How to proceed?
Come quickly!
It’s still early anyway!
Of course Zhang Fei ignored them, looked down at the copy, and said, "According to our investigation, you have ten taverns and teahouses, three Goulan Houses, and one restaurant under your name. I wonder if that's the case?"
Liu Lian nodded.
Zhang Fei asked: "And you were just a drunken prostitute in Chunhua House before, right?"
Liu Lian nodded again.
Zhang Fei said: "Then how did you manage so many businesses in just six years?"
Liu Liandao: "I admit that Wu Tian's help was involved. Without his support, how could a weak woman like me manage so many businesses."
Zhang Fei asked: "If I say that Wu Tian is the mastermind behind these transactions, do you agree?"
Liu Lian nodded and said, "I agree. Because Wu Tian is tired of the life of fighting and killing, and he wants to do legitimate business."
"Yeah?"
Zhang Fei asked with a smile: "Does this mean that Wu Tian has the idea of correcting his evil ways and returning to the right side?"
Liu Lian nodded, but Zhang Fei's confident tone still made her feel a little uneasy.
Zhang Fei turned around and said to the prosecutor behind Wang Gong: "Copyright No. 7."
The prosecutor behind him immediately took apart the document No. 7 and gave it to Zhang Fei. Zhang Fei took it, looked at it, and said: "Do you remember that at the beginning of last year, that is, on February 12th, you dialed Pay a huge sum of eighteen hundred dollars."
"February 12 last year?"
Liu Lian's eyes were also confused, and then she read again: "One thousand eight hundred strings!"
At this point, a flash of horror flashed in her eyes, but it passed quickly. She shook her head and said, "I don't remember, because it is very common for me to spend 1,800 yuan on my business."
Zhang Fei said to Zhao Bian again: "President, I will present a very special evidence next, which is a knife. Please don't be too panicked."
Zhao Peng nodded, "Submit it."
Zhang Fei added: "In addition, I hope to summon Liu Gang, the chief minister of the Daming Prefecture, to appear in court to testify."
Zhao Bian also agreed immediately.
Li Lei also noticed the change in Liu Lian's face before. When he saw Zhang Fei, even the Prime Minister of the Daming Mansion was invited to testify. This person was confused. He had not received any relevant information before, so he turned around and said, "This What does one thousand eight hundred strings mean?"
The young man also shook his head in confusion, "I don't know either."
After hearing this, Li Lei looked frustrated and couldn't help complaining: "How can this blind man be so clairvoyant?"
Soon Liu Gang came to the court, and at the same time the knife was also presented to the court.
Zhang Fei directly asked the court police to give the knife to Liu Gang, and then asked Liu Gang: "Liu Cheng, do you know this knife?"
Liu Gang looked at it carefully for a while, then took out a ruler to measure it, and said, "This is a weapon made by our Daming Mansion."
Zhang Fei asked: "Why are you so sure? As far as I know, there are no marks or special symbols on this knife."
Liu Gang said: "This is for ordinary soldiers, so there is no special mark, but the size of the weapons made by each institute is actually different, whether it is the thickness and length of the blade, or the size of the handle, and The size of this hand knife is exactly the same as the size specified by our Damingfu Duzuo Institute."
Zhang Fei asked again: "Then can you tell when this sword was made by Damingfu Duzuoyuan?"
"You should be able to get it, because each batch of knives made has something special." Liu Gang looked at it carefully again, "This knife should have been made the year before last. If I remember correctly, it should have been sent to Those hand knives from Qizhou."
Zhang Fei said: "How do you judge?"
Liu Gang said: "I also judged based on the quality of the knife and the materials used to make it. First of all, according to the system of our Daming Prefecture's capital, the best-quality knives are sent to Hebei, while the second-class ones are sent to Jingdong. East Road.
Secondly, the handle of this knife is made of mulberry wood, and it is relatively new, but last year we used peach wood, so it must have been made the year before. "
Zhang Fei asked: "Are you sure?"
Liu Gang nodded and said, "I'm sure."
Zhang Fei said to Zhao Bian again: "President, we also took this evidence from Wu Tian's camp. Many of his men hold this kind of hand knives. So far, we have found 290 A handful."
As soon as these words came out, the whole place was in an uproar.
what's the situation?
How could a dignified official sword fall into the hands of a grassroots bandit? This is simply outrageous!
The VIP seats on both sides were suddenly talking about it.
Isn't it a case of rebellion?
Why did it involve the military?
Some officials had already taken out silk handkerchiefs to secretly wipe their sweat.
Wang Anshi frowned and murmured to himself: "It takes more than a day to freeze three feet!"
Deng Wan behind him whispered: "Scholar Wang, can this trial continue?"
Wang Anshi said sullenly: "Are you going to stop it? I don't dare."
Deng Wan remained silent.
Many officials' hearts jumped directly into their throats. This lawsuit seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. It was not only about the gentry and meritorious deeds of Qizhou, it might even involve the civil servants and generals of Qizhou, and even the capital. Come!
The amount of oil and water in the weapon is astonishing!
Everyone was in a panic!
Some officials don't know whether this has anything to do with them.
Because this is already a confusing account.
What do you want?
Many people's intestines are so full of regret.
If I had known this, it would have been better to let Dali Temple come to trial. Even if you tried it fairly and justly, even if you killed them all, it would be better than this extraneous incident!
One after another, I don’t know when it will end!
Wu Tian and Liu Lian also looked at each other in tacit understanding, with a hint of despair in their eyes.
They didn't seem to think that this matter could be dug out.
When Li Guozhong heard this, his hands were trembling, and he asked the young man: "How many things are there that we don't know about?"
The young man also looked depressed and said, "We don't know this either. Neither Wu Tian nor Liu Lian has explained this matter to us."
Li Guozhong couldn't help but said excitedly: "It's already such a time, and they are still hiding something."
That hat hasn't been taken off yet, and here is another more deadly hat. He doesn't know what to say.
Zhang Fei's performance over there was still going on. He looked around, "I believe everyone is very surprised. Why did the official sword sent to Qizhou by Daming Mansion fall into the hands of a group of grass bandits?"
With that said, he asked Xiang Liu Gang: "Liu Cheng, do you know the news that these official swords have been lost?"
Liu Gang shook his head and said: "I don't know anything about this, but if it is lost, we usually get the news and make a new batch, but we have not received any news about this."
"Thank you Liu Cheng."
Zhang Fei nodded with a smile and said to Zhao Bian: "President, I believe that the soldiers of the Qingping Army in Qizhou can answer all this for us, so I kindly ask Lin Song, who once served as the chief of the Qingping Army, to appear in court."
"I object!"
Li Lei suddenly stood up, "I don't know what all this has to do with my client? This is obviously another case. The procuratorate wants to expand the case, but this does not comply with the provisions of the Public Prosecution Law."
He didn't know anything about it, and he didn't know what to say other than to object. The key was that it was very fatal, and he didn't dare to talk nonsense, so he could only avoid the important and take the easy.
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "I will explain everything later. These two cases are closely related." After saying that, he glanced at Li Lei helplessly.
"invalid objection!"
Zhao Bian was not stupid. This relationship was already very clear. He would definitely stop and said loudly: "It is said that Lin Song is the leader of the Qing Ping Army."
But I saw a burly man coming to the court.
Zhang Fei asked: "Lin Song, what did you do?"
Lin Song said: "I was once a captain of the Qingping Army in Qizhou."
Zhang Fei asked: "According to our investigation, you reported to the commander of the Qingping Army that your Qiancheng Battalion was facing a shortage of weapons."
Lin Song nodded and said, "Yes, the soldiers in our battalion are very short of weapons."
Zhang Fei asked: "Can you tell me specifically how lacking it is?"
Lin Song sighed and said, "Most of the soldiers in our battalion can only wear wooden swords when patrolling the city defense."
When Zhao Xu in the corridor heard this sentence, he couldn't suppress the anger in his heart. He jumped up and almost rushed out. Fortunately, Liu Zhao stopped him.
Zhao Xu could only pace back and forth, cursing: "How unreasonable! How unreasonable! None of these rebellious officials and traitors can escape, I will execute them all.
I used to wonder why there were so many grass bandits in Qizhou that they could never be brought under control. It turned out that the local army had become so corrupt. If it hadn't been for this case, I would still have been kept in the dark. "
Wang Anshi, who was sitting aside, clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth. No matter how much I make money, I can't stand your troubles. No amount of money is enough!
Although Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo, and Sima Guang were not as excited as Zhao Xu and Wang Anshi, they still shook their heads and sighed.
They are more or less familiar with this situation, so they emphasize that in governing the country, you must first govern the officials. They use Wang Anshi's approach, which is to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause and drain the lake.
However, he did not expect that the grassroots bandits used official swords and the officers and soldiers used wooden swords. This is really, very outrageous!
"Wooden knife?"
Zhang Fei looked at Lin Song in surprise, as if he had heard wrongly.
The acting is still top notch.
Lin Song nodded.
Zhang Fei said: "Then have you received any feedback on your suggestions?"
Lin Song nodded and said, "Yes. I will be laid off this time."
"???"
Zhao Xu couldn't help it anymore and started to rush outside. Liu Zhao quickly stopped him and said, "The officials should calm down and wait until the trial is over."
"I."
Zhao Xu could only sit back down and sulked alone.
He only knew that the case would involve the corruption of the Qingping Army, but he didn't know the specific details, and he was almost mad.
After hearing this, Wang Anshi became worried and asked, "Who is responsible for the disarmament on Jingdong East Road?"
Lu Huiqing whispered: "Bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, Inspector Han Wei of Jingdong East Road."
Wang Anshi frowned: "Han Chiguo?"
Although Han Wei was Han Jiang's younger brother, he did not support Wang Anshi's reform. However, Han Wei did not go to confront Wang Anshi like Fan Zhen. He also knew that his brother supported Wang Anshi, so he went directly to become an official outside.
Wang Anshi was also relieved.
Lu Huiqing added: "The inspector is the general manager of the disarmament, and Dutou is just a small military attache. How can he take care of this? And this kind of thing is inevitable. Even in Hezhong Mansion, there must be such a thing. situation."
The more upright people are, the less popular they are in the officialdom. Only those who are talented and smooth are more popular.
If you don’t cut someone, you can cut someone else.
Then I heard Zhang Fei ask: "After the disarmament, where did you go?"
Lin Songdao: "Later, I was spotted by the Taxation Department, so I joined the Taxation Department, specifically responsible for investigating tax evasion in the Forbidden Army."
Zhang Fei asked: "Then what did you find?"
Lin Song said: "We found out that the son-in-law of Xie Liuwu, the commander of the Qingping Army, suddenly had 1,300 acres of fertile land under his name.
We followed this clue and continued our investigation. It turned out that this 1,300 acres of land previously belonged to a nunnery called Jingxin Nunnery.
Later we found out that Liu Lian, the proprietor of Yingchun Building, often donated to this nunnery. Not long before this incident, Liu Lian suddenly donated 1,800 guan to Jingxin nunnery. Jingxin nunnery then used the money to purchase 1,300 acres of fertile land. Not long after, these 1,300 acres of fertile land were assigned to He Dingsheng. At the same time, we also checked the accounts of Jingxin Temple, and there was no income from the sale of the land.
I happened to learn that Daming Mansion had sent a batch of official swords before, but for some reason, this batch of official swords did not enter the Qiancheng Camp's armory.
We are almost certain that this batch of official knives was eventually secretly sold to Liu Lian, or it can be said that they were sold to Liu Lian's lover Wu Tian. "
Zhang Feidu: "Do you have any evidence to prove this?"
"some."
Lin Song nodded and said: "During this year's investigation of tax evasion, He Dingsheng and Xue Pingjin, the head of the weapons department at the time, were both arrested by our tax department for tax evasion, and they both confessed to this matter."
Zhang Fei nodded and smiled: "Thank you very much for being able to testify in court."
Zhao Peng suddenly said loudly: "Yesterday, the Procuratorate has filed a complaint with our imperial court regarding the two witnesses He Dingsheng and Xue Pingjin. As long as He Dingsheng and Xue Pingjin are willing to provide evidence to accuse Wu Tian, Xie Liuwu, Liu Lian and others, the imperial court will exempt them. All culpability in this case. After reviewing the crimes committed by the two of them, the president of the court found that they were all accessories and not the masterminds, so he agreed to the prosecutor's request."
Li Guozhong was already hopeless and weakly asked the young man beside him: "Why are these two people not on the list of Qizhou witnesses you provided?"
The young man looked confused and said: "I don't know, but we have confirmed the relevant escort records several times, but there is no list of these two people."
Fei Ming, who was sitting aside, chuckled: "Then Xie Liu Wu has really found a good son-in-law!"
"When disaster strikes, let's all fly together!"
They were sighing.
If this case is confirmed, this lawsuit will be quite difficult to fight.
Li Guozhong saw that the case was getting more and more mysterious. It involved weapons manufacturing, which was extremely dangerous, and he had already begun to think about quitting. He thought for a while and said to Li Lei: "I will think of a reason to ask for an adjournment later."
The imperial court over there summoned He Dingsheng and Xue Pingjin to testify in court.
The two of them told the whole story one by one and provided relevant land deeds, letters and official documents.
It turns out that according to the market situation in the Northern Song Dynasty, these temples and Taoist temples can avoid taxes, and many wealthy people have stored some land in the name of the temple.
Liu Lian and the others used Jingxin Temple to bribe officials and generals. This was difficult to detect because it was the norm.
It is normal that there are many pieces of land in this nunnery, and this piece of land is assigned to the name of the landowner. This is actually normal. No one will pay attention to these things.
But it was a pity that I met the Taxation Department. The Taxation Department specializes in investigating this matter, and will not let go of temples and Taoist temples, because Jingdong East Road has implemented exemption tax, and it is paid together with the autumn tax.
Monks, Taoists, and nuns all have to pay corresponding taxes.
After the two of them finished their confession, Zhang Fei said to Liu Lian again: "Liu Lian, is this what you call reforming evil?"
Liu Lian frowned slightly, as if she was still looking for a countermeasure.
"I object!"
Li Lei suddenly stood up, "We have no knowledge of this official knife trafficking case, and we also doubt whether the evidence provided by the other party is true. If we are not sure about this, it is very unfair to my client. Therefore, We kindly ask the Chief Justice to adjourn the case and allow us to review the relevant evidence.”
Zhao Pian hesitated for a while, then looked at Zhang Fei and said, "Does the procuratorate have any objection to this?"
Zhang Feiyun said calmly: "We have no objections."
"In that case, let's adjourn the court first."
After Zhao Pian finished speaking, he banged the gavel.
Many officials seemed to have forgotten to breathe before, but now they came to their senses. Their tense muscles immediately relaxed, and they coughed violently.
"Prosecutor Zhang, if you don't believe us, why would you let us be your assistants?"
Qi Ji said very unhappy.
He and Wang Gong were just like the audience, they had no sense of participation because they knew nothing about it.
Zhang Fei explained apologetically: "How could I not believe you two, but this was requested by the Taxation Department, because the Taxation Department was betrayed by someone in Qizhou and suffered heavy losses. They were extremely careful this time. Until the previous It took two days for the evidence to be handed over to me, and I was asked to keep it secret and not to tell anyone, not even the Attorney General knew about it."
(End of chapter)
