"The governor at that time was Chen Guangteng..." Fu Mingrui began to speak, Duanmu Qingchen looked at him, and Fu Mingrui stood beside Lian Youyou in the hall, "He believed Zhou Youfa's words at the time and thought that the epidemic was serious. He had no choice but to dispatch troops to suppress the plague. Although he didn't know the truth, after suppressing the plague, he still couldn't forgive himself for massacring the villagers of Lijia Village, so he resigned from his official position that year, took his wife and children and left Wuzhou and returned home."
Duanmu Qingchen was slightly surprised, then calmed down and sat back in his original seat.
"We also went to Chen Guangteng's hometown to look for him. He could not let go of the affairs of Lijia Village for many years and lived in guilt and depression every day. As a result, he died young, leaving behind only orphans and widows. Therefore, he was not arrested this time." Fu Mingrui reported everything factually. Chen Guangteng's death was not deserved, but he was not exempted from responsibility.
Chen Guangteng did not know the truth, but the plague had to be suppressed, and he did his job. However, the victims were also ordinary people, so he always felt guilty. He was at fault for failing to personally verify the epidemic reported by Zhou Youfa.
"Since Chen Guangteng has passed away, I will no longer pursue his dereliction of duty. But you who are still alive! You must learn from Chen Guangteng's lesson!" Duanmu Qingchen pointed the gavel at the officials in the palace, "If there is an outbreak of plague, it should be investigated and verified first! Do not send troops to suppress it at will!"
"Yes - the prince is wise -" All the officials regretted coming to the trial today. If they had known that there would be such a serious hidden secret in this case, no one would want to come. What if they were implicated by accident, and they would be caught in a trap.
All the officials stood up one after another. They felt very uncomfortable sitting in the hall.
"What about Wanqing? Who is this Wanqing? What is her connection with this case?" Duanmu Qingchen pointed at Wanqing who was kneeling in the main hall.
"Wanqing is the only survivor." Lian Youyou said calmly, "Although she was young at the time, she remembered the death of the entire village and has been waiting for an opportunity to take revenge."
When Fu Mingrui heard Lian Youyou say that Wanqing was young, he knew that what Lian Youyou said in the court today was mixed with water. If she didn't say that Wanqing was sixteen years old, and why she didn't look old was because she had a worm in her body, did she want Wanqing to perform here? Wouldn't this scare the people of the whole city
The dust is finally settling, and there is no need to create more trouble. Perhaps what the people want to hear is the version that Lian Youyou is saying now.
It is simple, easy to understand, yet sad and moving, making everyone feel uneasy.
There were no ghosts or demons causing trouble, everything was reasonable, and the doubts in the case were solved one by one by Lian Youyou. The people would no longer have any doubts or speculations.
Duanmu Qingchen nodded, with some pity for Wanqing in his eyes.
Fu Kun secretly glanced at Duanmu Qingchen from the side, his face already gloomy. This Ma Guanqun, is indeed a troublemaker! Fortunately, he is only a superficial acquaintance with him, otherwise he would be implicated this time.
"Where's the evidence... I have never done what you said! You believed this witch's words without any evidence?!" Ma Guanqun was confident. After ten years, it was hard to find evidence. He looked at Duanmu Qingchen in pain, "Your Highness, please make a fair judgment. They are all slandering me!"
Duanmu Qingchen looked at Ma Guanqun with a sullen face, then he looked at Fu Mingrui with one hand and raised his eyebrows: "Hey, he said you have no evidence, hurry up and show him the evidence to shut him up."
Duanmu Qingchen was amused. Ma Guanqun must have run his own grain store. He must have eaten too much rice and his head was full of it. His good brother Fu Mingrui was standing here. How dare he say he had no evidence? This was really the biggest joke Duanmu Qingchen had heard this year.
Fu Mingrui bowed to Duanmu Qingchen and turned back with a gloomy face: "Bring up Yu Aliang, the old account bookkeeper of the Ma Family Grain Store, and Zhou Youfa, the current governor of Wuzhou!"
Ma Guanqun's face turned pale and he collapsed to the ground. This was the end.
Witnesses and criminals were brought in one by one.
Zhou Youfa also looked haggard, obviously having been severely interrogated and had already revealed all the truth.
And the old accountant was just an ordinary citizen, how could he withstand torture? He confessed without being tortured.
After he learned that all the people in Lijia Village had died, he was always troubled by his conscience. So when he retired from the Ma family, he was thoughtful and stole the account book and took it back to his hometown.
Now that all the evidence is complete, it is difficult to identify Ma Guanqun anymore!
"Bang!" Duanmu Qingchen slammed the gavel again, his face majestic and solemn, "Your Highness has been ordered by the emperor to come here for public trial. I have the power to make a direct judgment, without going through the Ministry of Justice! Your Highness will pronounce the verdict now!"
"Powerful and powerful!" The constables on both sides immediately created momentum.
Duanmu Qingchen stood up, drew out the warrant with respect, and looked solemnly at everyone in the hall: "Ma Guanqun colluded with the county magistrate, embezzled the disaster relief money, distributed moldy rice, and caused the Lijia Village tragedy, hundreds of lives were lost, and it would not be enough to kill you once to appease the public anger! Since you proposed to sentence Miss Wanqing to death by slicing, well, this prince will satisfy you! Sentence you to death by slicing! One hundred and forty-three cuts, not one more, not one less!"
The order was thrown out and fell to the ground with a clang. Ma Guanqun was so frightened that he lost his soul. He barely took a breath, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot!
"Yes!" Immediately, two constables stepped forward and dragged up Ma Guanqun.
"Good - the prince made a good judgment - a good judgment -" the people outside the door cheered and gave their thumbs up to praise their prince.
Lian Youyou looked at Wanqing who was kneeling in the hall and showed a rare gentle smile. This smile entered Lin Tingjun's eyes, and he looked at her quietly. It turned out that this crazy goddess also had moments like a normal goddess.
“Madam, please spare me—please spare me—” Zhou Youfa was already sobbing and sobbing, “Please spare me… Please spare me—I have elderly parents and young children to take care of, please spare me—”
"You have parents and children to take care of. When you swallowed the poisonous rice, why didn't you think about the parents and children in Lijia Village?!" Fu Mingrui has been holding his breath since he learned the truth. He has tried many cases since he entered the Eight Gates, but he has never encountered a major case like this one with more than a hundred deaths. When he was reading the files, his hands were shaking.
"I was wrong - I know I was wrong -" a state official cried and wailed in the hall.
"Humph." Duanmu Qingchen sneered and drew another lot: "Zhou Youfa and Ma Guanqun were in cahoots with each other back then. Since you two have shared the good fortune, today, you will share the bad fortune! You will both be executed by slow slicing!"
The order was thrown out again, and Zhou Youfa collapsed immediately, his body soaked with urine.
Lingchi is a punishment of skinning alive. The person must be skinned alive, but must not die while being skinned. Each cut cuts three inches of flesh, and it takes 3,600 cuts to skin a person. Duanmu Qingchen only allowed 143 cuts, which was considered a mercy. (To be continued)