Because Zhao Ji suddenly changed his mind, almost all the suspects who were supposed to be detained in the Imperial City Division were taken away by the Ministry of Punishment. It almost means that there is an exception, and this exception is Zhong Yang, the general judge of Kaifeng Prefecture!
In this case, he was actually the most innocent and inconspicuous person. Apart from the fact that he was responsible for preventing Sun Tu and others from arresting the Gu family and his son, he had almost no other connections. However, because of this, he was easily ignored. Even if Sun Tu did not hand him over to the officials from the Ministry of Punishment, he was not aware of the difference. At least he would wait a few days before handing him over. There is no problem.
But the more this happened, the more frightened Zhong Tongpan felt when he was held in solitary confinement. He couldn't even guess how Sun Tu would deal with him. Especially when the door suddenly opened today and Sun Tu appeared in front of him with a gloomy look, he was even more frightened and his face turned pale and his whole body became weak. He almost knelt down and begged for mercy: "Marquis of Yue, I am only a subordinate to my responsibilities. I went to stop him, but I didn't know that Gu Jia actually did such a thing..." All he could do was try his best to defend himself.
Sun Tu turned a deaf ear to his explanation. He just came closer and looked him up and down, which made Zhong Yang feel more and more frightened: "Marquis Yue, what exactly do you want to do with this official? I am really wronged."
"I have investigated and found that you are indeed innocent in this matter, so I did not hand you over to the Ministry of Punishment." Sun Tu finally spoke and said slowly, but his face was still terrifyingly gloomy: "But Some things may not be possible.”
"Please make it clear to Marquis Yue!" Zhong Yang finally understood that he had offended Sun Tu in other matters. But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't connect with this person who had just arrived in the capital not long ago, so he could only bite the bullet and ask.
Sun Tu sneered: "It seems that you have done a lot of bad things on weekdays, but you don't know where you did something wrong. Let me ask you, what do you think about the case of Zhou Xiong who injured someone in the city a few months ago? Do you still have an impression?"
Zhong Yang frowned for a moment, thought carefully, and then his face changed slightly: "You... do you have an old relationship with that Zhou Xiong?"
"Are you asking me or am I asking you? I only ask you, but do you still remember that?"
"Remember... remember." Zhong Yang's expression became more and more nervous, and his body shrank back subconsciously: "But the evidence of the crime was solid. That Zhou Xiong did hurt people in the street, and many people were watching. The official will His imprisonment is a matter of course!"
"Really? Then I have to ask, even if it is a serious crime, there is no reason not to ask people to visit you. Why is he the only one who asked you to set a strict order in the Kaifeng Mansion prison and not let anyone contact you? "
Unexpectedly, Sun Toulian had already inquired and understood this, which made Zhong Yang twist his body even more uneasily: "This... the case has not been fully judged, and he is a repeat offender of wounding, so the lower official had to make this arrangement."
"I'm afraid it's more than that, right?" Sun Tu sneered again, took another step forward, bent down slightly, and came close to Zhong Yang and stared into Zhong Yang's eyes: "At this time, do you still want to hide some truths from me? Do you believe it or not? I can take your life now, and I guarantee that no one will find your whereabouts in the future!"
Facing Sun Tu's eyes full of murderous intent, Zhong Yang was immediately pushed to the edge of collapse. In the final analysis, he was just a sixth-rank petty official. Even though he looked majestic on weekdays, he was still insignificant compared to a high-level official like the Marquis. He knew that what Sun Tu said was true.
Breaking out in a cold sweat, he couldn't bear it any longer, and immediately shouted: "I said, I was also entrusted by others to do this. It was Doctor Yang of the Ministry of Punishment who asked me to keep him in prison and not to let him go." Anyone who comes in contact with it.”
This answer was unexpected by Sun Tu. How could he, a sixth-grade general judge, really dare to make his own opinions? Besides, the matter seemed to have nothing to do with him: "Mr. Yang, why is he doing this?" Do?"
"This... I don't know about this official. Yue Hou, I have told you the truth. I hope you will show your respect..."
"Don't be busy. We have to verify what happened first. But before that, you have to answer me again. There was a murder case in the capital last year. The person who was killed was the old man Zhou Tong. You are responsible for this matter. Was it handled?”
This question made Zhong Yang obviously stunned for a moment, but he still answered honestly: "Exactly. The case has been closed a long time ago. It was a few gangsters in the city who came to rob the property and had a conflict with the deceased, and then accidentally killed him. They have also been severely punished and sent to prison. …”
"Do you think I will believe it? Do you know who Zhou Tong is?" This time Zhong Yang shook his head in confusion, and Sun Tu snorted: "He is my mentor. Half of this skill comes from his guidance, and he is a rare martial arts master in the world. Would such a person be hurt by a few rogue thieves?"
Zhong Yang was really shocked this time. He looked at Sun Tu in surprise and couldn't even speak. Sun Tu continued: "Also, Zhou Xiong is also his nephew. Do you understand what I mean?"
Zhong Yang's expression changed again. He certainly understood the meaning of Sun Tu's words - Zhou Xiong could easily injure a dozen thugs and kill two alive, so how could Zhou Tong be killed so easily? Also, Zhou Xiong did this, which proved that the murderer of Zhou Tong was actually at large, and the case concluded before was wrong!
But now, not only did he randomly solve the case and indulge the real culprit, but he also imprisoned Zhou Xiong, who avenged his master. No matter how he looked, he looked like he was covering up for the real culprit. None of this is important. The most terrible thing is that the deceased Zhou Tong actually had a disciple named Sun Tu, and now he has fallen into his hands!
At this moment, Zhong Yang was so frightened that he almost lost his mind. After a while, he exclaimed: "Marquis Yue, Marquis Yue, please listen to my explanation. Your Majesty, your Majesty really didn't know that there were such twists and turns in this case. At that time, The deceased... Mr. Zhou had many wounds on his body, and his eyes were covered with lime, so he was probably attacked by someone sneakily, and then he was killed by those gangsters. Moreover, the official did carefully inspect the scene of the murder and visited it afterwards. After visiting the local neighbors, they learned that a group of thugs had indeed come to cause trouble before, so they identified them as the murderers and arrested and interrogated them all. These people also confessed during the trial, saying that they coveted the elderly. He went to steal the property and was discovered, so he was poisoned."
Sun Tu frowned and looked at him, listening to what he said
After speaking out, the questions in my heart were not solved, but deepened: "That's it?"
"That's it. Although I sometimes do wrong things, I don't dare to do anything random in a serious life case. I only dare to finalize the case when there is conclusive evidence. If the Marquis doesn't believe it, you can go to Kaifeng Mansion to check The relevant files are all recorded in them. If I make a false statement, just ask the official to use the sword to kill me, or I will die!" Zhong Yang was really scared this time, and he actually started to swear.
This also made Sun Tu more suspicious. Could it be that things were not what he thought before, and that Zhong Yang was really innocent
But then he thought about Zhou Xiong's matter again, and asked again: "What about Zhou Xiong's matter? Have you ever asked him carefully why he wanted to hurt people? Also, why did Yang Langzhong of the Criminal Department suddenly intervene in this matter? ?Don’t you think it’s strange?”
"You don't know something, Lord Marquis. As long as it is a major case, after it is reviewed by our Kaifeng Mansion, it must first be submitted to the Yamen of the Ministry of Justice for review. Mr. Yang is the review official of the case. So it is reasonable for him to intervene in the case. Among them. As for not letting others come into contact with such felons, there have been precedents in the past, so it’s not too strange. Naturally, I don’t dare to question it.”
Seeing that Sun Tu still seemed to have doubts, Zhong Yang, who was already frightened and shaken, no longer made any reservations, and continued: "And there is a reason for this. Originally, Zhou Xiong was going to fight this autumn, but because of His Majesty's Another son was given a general amnesty, so he was not executed two months ago and was kept in prison. It was after this that Doctor Yang suddenly sent word that we should treat people to death. No one is allowed to have free access to it, and the subordinates are only following orders."
After Sun Tu heard this, his heart was moved again. There were actually such twists and turns in the matter. In this way, if it hadn't been for the emperor's amnesty, Zhou Xiong would have been a dead man by now! This made him happy, but he was even more suspicious of Doctor Yang in his heart: "What's the name of Doctor Yang of the Ministry of Justice?" There were several doctors in the six departments of the imperial court. Although Sun Tu knew that there was Doctor Yang of the Ministry of Justice, he didn't know who he was. Not that person.
"It was Mr. Yang Huaichang who was convicted. He did the final review of many important cases. By the way, the case of Mr. Zhou's murder was also done by him. He was the one who did the final review, and the case was finalized only after it was verified to be correct." In order to prove himself. Zhong Yang really knew everything about his innocence, which was very different from his previous cold and solemn appearance in Kaifeng Mansion. If Cui Lueshang and other subordinates saw him, their jaws would probably drop.
After hearing this, Sun Tu's expression changed again. Is there such a coincidence in this world? It seems that Yang Huaichang really has a problem. But then, he frowned again, Yang Huaichang, isn't that the official from the Ministry of Justice who was involved in the Gu family case? How could there be such a coincidence
It would be nice if the case was still in his hands. He could easily extract the truth from Yang Huaichang, but now... After pondering for a moment, he could only do the next best thing: "I want to go to prison to see Zhou Xiong, don't tell me I can’t even do this little thing.”
At this time, his own life was in Sun Tu's hands. How could Zhong Yang dare to say no? He nodded immediately and said: "Of course, as long as Yuehou takes the officer's badge, you can easily enter the prison and inquire." Related things.”