The warm winter sun is high in the sky, shining on a small mound on the eastern outskirts of Bianjing City. At this time, hundreds of officers and soldiers were surrounding the originally sparsely populated mound. They were members of the Kaifeng Mansion, and the leader was Xue Yuanpeng, the official magistrate of the Mansion.
On the mound, a piece of mud had been dug up, and a large pit two or three feet square was dug out. The faces of the people surrounding the pit were a little pale, and Xue Tongpan's face was as sinking as water. Just because seven or eight corpses were buried in that pit, it was simply shocking.
In fact, it wasn't just them. Even Sun Tu, who knew this outcome, was also feeling heavy at this moment. Any normal person would feel sad and resentful after seeing the bones of so many people who died in vain.
In the eyes of some people in later generations, the Song Dynasty was a prosperous age for literati and an enlightened world that countless people yearned for. Traveling here was their best choice. But the reality is far from that. Perhaps the Song Dynasty was indeed prosperous, and the status of literati was much higher than that of other dynasties, but these benefits only belonged to the scholar-bureaucrats. For the real people at the bottom, their lives were still difficult. It can even be said that the situation is precarious.
What happened to Sun Tu in Yuncheng County back then was enough to explain everything. The corpses of the innocent victims buried on this barren mountain today even more bloody revealed the true and ugly face of the Song Dynasty. He believed that this was just the tip of the iceberg. In Bianjing City and throughout the world, how many innocent souls were buried deep without justice, but what could he do for these people
After being silent for a long time, Sun Tu looked at Xue Yuanpeng: "Xue Tongxuan, is the evidence of the crime conclusive this time?"
Not long ago, when Xue Yuanpeng asked whether there was any evidence to exonerate the defendant Zhang Bingcang in the second hall of the Kaifeng government office, Sun Tu pushed Zhang Jian, who had been standing at the back of the crowd, out and asked him to tell him everything he knew. Say it all.
After some struggle, Zhang Jian finally admitted truthfully: "My master has indeed dealt with some servants in the house who were not so obedient in the past few years..."
"Zhang Jian, as a slave of the Zhang family, do you know that it is a serious crime to accuse the head of the family like this?" Xue Yuanpeng was heartbroken and suddenly reminded the other party.
But at this time, Zhang Jian had no way out. Even though he knew that he would be implicated this time, he could only continue: "I know, but this matter is related to several lives after all. I have to seek justice for them." .”
"There is no basis for what you say. It is impossible for me to conclude that Zhang Bingcang did kill people just because of your words."
"The younger one also has conclusive physical evidence." Zhang Jian immediately replied: "A few months ago, my young master asked me to smuggle the body of a foreign businessman who died of drunkenness in the Niulou Hotel out of the city and bury it. And the younger brother The remains of other people buried there were also found.”
"What? Where is that?" Xue Yuanpeng couldn't defend Zhang Bingcang anymore this time, so he asked urgently with a straight face. Zhang Jian hesitated for a moment, and then said solemnly: "On a small mound in the eastern suburbs that has been abandoned for many years..."
Sun Tu listened to the exchanges between the two of them with a stern expression, feeling filled with emotion in his heart. In fact, he originally just wanted to gain Tong Guan's attention by dealing with the Zhang family, and never meant to drive them all away. However, during the subsequent secret investigation, he gradually discovered the deeds that the Zhang family had done behind the scenes.
Only then did he realize that the sanctimonious Dr. Tobe was actually a cold-blooded beast in disguise! This naturally strengthened his desire to eradicate this beast and avenge the innocent victims. In this way, he came up with a series of plans and calculations that not only ruined Zhang Bingcang's future and the lives of his two sons, but also wanted to send him to the prison of Kaifeng Mansion.
Now that Zhang Jian has spoken out to this extent, Xue Yuanpeng can no longer defend Zhang Bingcang, his old colleague. Not to mention that there was a Tong Guan behind Sun Tu. Just the actions of the victims who beat the grievance drum outside the government office with great fanfare just now were enough to attract attention, and he could not cover it up.
So, after some weighing, Xue Tongpan ordered the troops, took Sun Tu and Zhang Jian straight to the eastern suburbs, and under the guidance of the latter, dug up the corpses here.
At this time, after hearing Sun Tu's inquiry, Xue Tongpan's face became more and more gloomy, but he still nodded and said: "Yes, this time the evidence of the crime is indeed conclusive. Not only are there human witnesses, but also physical evidence. Someone, please bring these Please come out with the corpses and bring them back to the government office for the victims to identify."
However, this approach is obviously somewhat unnecessary, because most of the corpses in the pit have turned into white bones, and even the latest one is so rotten that its appearance cannot be recognized. When Xue Yuanpeng brought the corpses to the second hall of the government office for the victims to identify, they just cried together and screamed for injustice, but they could not identify any of the corpses as their children or wives.
In view of this, one of the officials below secretly said: "Tong Jian, there is still room for change in this matter. The identities of these people have not yet been determined. How can they be so sure that they are the slaves of the Zhang family? Moreover, can Zhang Jian change the situation?" Because it's suspicious, why not..." This is to make Zhang Jian a scapegoat.
Although Xue Yuanpeng did not disdain Zhang Bingcang's actions, after all, he was an official in the same dynasty and was targeted by Tong Guan's people, which made him want to help and wanted to accept this statement. But at this moment, Sun Tu came out to disrupt the situation again. He seemed to have guessed what the other party would say, and he said again: "Xue Tongpan, now that things have happened, why don't you send someone to arrest the mastermind and bring the murderer to justice? "
"There are still some doubts that need to be resolved in this case. How can you conclude that these people must be related to the Zhang family?"
"It's very simple, because that mound is the property of the Zhang family." Sun Tu quickly replied: "As long as Xue Tongpan investigates, he can know this. And why has the Zhang family kept such a mound for many years without doing anything about it? He uses it, and has no intention of selling it, so I don’t need to explain the reason, right?"
This time, even the last way to exonerate Zhang Bingcang was blocked. Xue Yuanpeng could only darken his face and order: "Come here, bring some people and go to Zhang's house right now, and arrest Zhang Bingcang and all the housekeepers." Bring them all to the government office for questioning."
It wasn't until he heard the order that Sun Tu finally breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the person was taken into Kaifeng Mansion, in the face of such conclusive personal and material evidence, it would be difficult for Zhang Bingcang to escape guilt. The victims and accusers once again burst into mourning, and at the same time they all knelt down and kowtowed, calling Xue Yuanpeng Qingtian.
There are no airtight walls in the city of Tokyo. In just two or three days, the news that Zhang Bingcang was arrested by Kaifeng Mansion for his crimes spread among the government and the public.
Originally, the Zhang family had attracted everyone's attention because of previous bizarre cases, and now that such a shocking life case had occurred, it was naturally discussed by many people. For a time, the criticism that was originally sympathetic to him immediately turned into one-sided condemnation and criticism. Even colleagues in the DPRK and China did not dare to offend the public outrage and defend him. Instead, they wanted to impeach him. Please The emperor punishes these murderers severely.
Sun Tu, the whistleblower who led all this and exposed the ugly face of the Zhang family, also came into the eyes of many people again. After knowing some of his connections with Tong Guan, officials in the DPRK and China easily took this case into account. Thinking about the conflict between Zhang Bingcang and Tong Guan about the series of events, while he was afraid of this favorite minister of the emperor, he also felt disgusted with Sun Tu, a commoner.
Of course, these are just the views of court officials on him. Among the people, Sun Tu's reputation is very good, because this time he upheld justice for the people. In their eyes, he is a true hero who is eager for justice and justice.
Various opinions from the outside world had no effect on Sun Tu at this time. After he completely settled the Zhang family matter, he resumed his previously boring life of practicing calligraphy and martial arts. After all, he was away from the shooting palace, which was related to his future. Bai Ding was not far away. After seeing the tragic results of those people, he became more and more eager to change Bai Ding's identity.
However, just a few days before the Chinese New Year, when everyone thought that Zhang Bingcang's case would be delayed until the next year, a piece of news suddenly came out. The suspect Zhang Bingcang actually hanged himself from the beam with his own belt in prison!
After hearing about this result, many people just clapped their hands and applauded, thinking that he had brought it on himself. Even Sun Tu thought that this was a reward for good and evil when he first heard about it. But after calming down and thinking about it carefully, he discovered the deeper problem.
I'm afraid there is another mystery behind Zhang Bingcang's death - because he died too quickly, and the case has not yet been fully concluded. Didn't he just confess his guilt with this death? How could this person, who had been in the officialdom for many years, have such poor psychological quality that he would commit suicide in fear of guilt after just a few court trials
Moreover, with the current favorable treatment of scholar-bureaucrats by the imperial court, even if everything is really found out, he may not necessarily die. After all, it was just some slaves who died. In the eyes of those superiors, their lives were nothing at all. Even if it hindered public opinion, the most they could do was send them to remote areas. Therefore, Zhang Bingcang was not in a desperate situation where he would die. Why would he? suicide
The only explanation is that someone wanted him dead. I am afraid that if the case is further investigated, other more terrifying problems will arise, and the interests of certain people will be implicated, so someone will come forward in secret, either directly killing or indirectly forcing Zhang Bingcang to die.
Thinking of this level, Sun Tu no longer felt as happy as before, and was replaced by deep thinking. The darkness of the Song Dynasty court was far more terrifying than he thought. He would have to be more careful in his actions in the future!
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It's Monday. Please recommend and collect it. It would be better if you have a monthly pass. . . . .