Why did Xu Zun accept Zhang Fei's suggestion and hand the case over to Sima Guang for trial? It was not only to convince the other party, but more because Xu Zun also understood Sima Guang's character.
A gentleman!
Will not use any means to achieve the goal.
In fact, at present everyone is still arguing about beliefs, and they are still arguing within the scope of the rules.
From a legal perspective, this is certainly a good thing.
After Sima Guang took over the case, he followed the procedure and invited Xu Zun to ask for the reasons for overturning the verdict.
Xu Zun also handed over the entire case to Sima Guang truthfully.
After Sima Guang understood the situation, he said, "This is not enough to overturn the verdict. I will not comment on the verdict of Fang Datian for now, but this case is not enough to overturn Ayun's verdict, because this case proves that Fang Datian not only did not instruct the criminal woman to commit the crime, but also opposed her doing so."
Xu Zun said: "I don't think so. This case can at least prove that Ayun is not a vicious person. She was forced to take this step. Based on this, the other party raised doubts about Ayun's motive for murder. I think it makes sense.
In addition, the other party also invited a new witness, Wei Ada, who was originally a victim in this case. This alone is enough to constitute a reason for overturning the verdict. "
Sima Guang frowned when he heard this and said, "As a victim, Wei Ada is testifying for the murderer. Don't you think this is strange?"
Xu Zun said: "That's why I allowed this case to be retried."
Sima Guang quickly reviewed the confession again and asked, "It does not mention Wei Ada's new confession."
Xu Zun said: "The other party is unwilling to provide this information."
Sima Guang asked: "Why?"
Xu Zun said: "The other party believes that they are the weaker party. If they provide evidence too early, they are afraid that it will cause harm to their witnesses."
"That's outrageous."
Sima Guang asked, "Why does he think so?"
Since Xu Zun became an official, he has never been afraid of power, and he said directly: "Because he thinks our previous judgment was unfair."
Sima Guang glanced at Xu Zun, stroked his beard and smiled, "Forget it! Forget it! Whether it is fair or not, we will know after the trial."
After Xu Zun left, Wang Shiyuan, Qi Hui, Lu Gongzhe and other judicial elders in the court came in.
Some of them supported Sima Guang, but some were neutral. For example, Kaifeng prefect Lu Gongzhuo was neutral. In fact, he was more inclined to some of Wang Anshi's arguments before, believing that Ayun was not guilty of a heinous crime and should not be sentenced to death. However, he was very opposed to Xu Zun's argument of excessive self-defense.
This is outrageous.
After reading the case, these elders were unanimous in their opinions, saying that these so-called "evidence" were not sufficient to constitute grounds for a retrial.
The only one who can constitute grounds for retrial is the new witness Wei Ada. He is the victim and the person involved. His confession is very crucial, but the problem is that Xu Zun did not provide a specific confession, which is against the rules.
Sima Guang laughed and said, "If it weren't for this, why would they be willing to let me judge them?"
Everyone suddenly understood.
If Wang Anshi were allowed to review the case, once they knew the truth, they would definitely not agree to a retrial.
This is actually a deal.
Lu Gong said: "If Xu Zhongtu was not sure, he would definitely not ask for a retrial."
Sima Guang nodded and said, "From the current perspective, there are two tricks here. The first is the confession of Wei Ada that we mentioned before. If Wei Ada changes his confession, Ayun may be able to escape punishment."
They had all thought of this, but they believed that if Xu Zun did this, he would undoubtedly be courting his own destruction. In terms of hard power, Xu Zun could not compare with them.
Wang Shiyuan asked: "What is the second one?"
Sima Guang said: "The second is that they did not provide specific evidence. I guess their evidence is not ironclad. If they had told us in advance, we would have been able to refute them one by one. Otherwise, they would not have had to hide. Therefore, they did not tell us in advance, and their purpose was to catch us off guard.
But no matter what tricks they use, as long as they can’t produce irrefutable evidence, it will be impossible to overturn the case for the criminal woman.”
At this point, he picked up the file of Fang Datian's case and said, "But this Zhang San, I am a little surprised. Xu Zhongtu actually handed over such an important case to a commoner. It shows that this person is extraordinary."
Sima Guang suddenly frowned, looked at the file, and whispered: "Zhang San?"
... ...
Since the evidence provided by Xu Zun was very little, almost non-existent, and this was just a deal, Sima Guang and his men had nothing to prepare.
Moreover, Xu Zun's statement caused great anger among conservatives.
Turning oneself in to reduce one's sentence is at least a way to exploit a legal loophole.
You are still not satisfied with this and want to call it excessive self-defense.
This is outrageous.
Officials in the court felt that Xu Zun was becoming more and more lawless, and many judicial elders were eager to end this case as soon as possible.
I find this very shameful.
If this were to succeed, the century-old legal system of the Song Dynasty would be destroyed in an instant!
Some officials who had previously supported Wang Anshi gradually sided with Sima Guang, and Lu Gongzhu was one of them.
These people believe that Ayun does not deserve to die, but it is definitely not excessive self-defense.
Sima Guang didn't want to drag it on. He knew that the other party had just set up a fighting arena and who was right and who was wrong would only be known after the fight.
He immediately retried the case in the name of the Court of Criminal Justice, which was specifically set up to supervise the Dali Temple. Only the Court of Criminal Justice could review the Dali Temple's verdict. Sima Guang also invited all officials related to the case to come to the trial, including Wang Anshi.
Its purpose is also very obvious, which is to make the final decision.
Don't get entangled again.
Having said that, the most depressed person among them was Wang Anshi. He did not expect things to come to this point. He would rather choose the power game because by doing so, the direction of things would be completely out of his control.
But this case concerns his lifelong dream.
He guessed the beginning. Although Xu Zun was not his man, he knew Xu Zun's character and knew that Xu Zun would definitely continue to fight because this was indeed a loophole in the law. If he was transferred to the Dali Temple, he would definitely continue to advocate his own opinions.
But he didn't expect Xu Zun to argue in this way.
Fuck off!
Just focus on the doubts and leave the rest to me.
You are stealing the show!
Find out who the fuck is.
If I had known this... ...!
This even led to Wang Anshi, who always believed that man could conquer nature, only being able to pray at home, silently repeating three times: Xu Zun will win, Xu Zun will win, Xu Zun will win.
... ...
Today is the day of the public trial.
This case almost swept the entire court, and almost all the senior officials in the court came to listen to the trial. On the left were the supporters headed by Wang Anshi, and on the right were the opponents headed by Sima Guang.
In fact, it is only a dispute of ideas at present, and has not reached the point of being irreconcilable. However, judging from the seating arrangement, there are already some signs of division in the court.
Xu Zunben wanted to stay out of it, but he realized that if he wanted to stay out of it, he could only sit at the door. He had no choice but to sit next to Wang Anshi. At least their legal ideas were very similar.
But it can also be seen from this that this public trial is the last vestige of the rule of law.
If there is no winner, all that remains is a struggle for power.
Sima Guang came to the seat of the chief judge, sat down, picked up the gavel as usual, and was about to bang it when he saw that all the bigwigs were sitting below. How could he calm down anyone
He simply put it down again and said more gently, "Pass it to Zhang San."
"Pass it to Zhang San."
I saw a young man in his twenties coming to the court. He was wearing a green robe and a green hat, which were bright colors. In this solemn court, he looked particularly bright. There was a short pen stuck on the brim of his hat, as if telling people, I am an ear pen, and I am proud.
Just look at his outfit and his age.
The conservatives on the right shook their heads. This is the Court of Justice, the Supreme Court of the Song Dynasty. How can you still do such a frivolous thing? At the same time, they were quite happy. That's it? What can you achieve
The reformists sitting opposite them looked deathly pale.
Where did this weirdo come from
Wang Anshi was nervous and asked Xu Zun in a low voice, "Why did you let him wear such bright clothes in such an occasion?"
The implication is, how could you trust such a person.
Xu Zun glanced at him. How dare you criticize others with your character? I don't know how Mrs. Wang endured it. She smiled bitterly and said, "I have talked to him before, but he said that he loves this business very much and he is proud of it. This dress is to show his respect for this industry."
What kind of a reason is this
Wang Anshi looked at Xu Zun speechlessly.
Just at this moment, a young man in his twenties and a middle-aged man came to the side door. When the guard at the door saw the young men, he was startled and was about to salute, but the young man raised his hand to stop them.
The young man was none other than Emperor Shenzong of Song, and the middle-aged man beside him was his attendant Liu Zhao.
Shenzong secretly looked inside and immediately fell in love with the man in blue. He was too conspicuous. He felt that his attire was strange and out of place with the whole environment. So he asked Liu Zhao beside him, "Who is that man?"
Liu Zhao replied, "This man's name is Zhang San. It is said that after Ah Yun committed the crime, he saved a drowning man. It was this man who wanted to overturn Ah Yun's case in order to repay Ah Yun for saving his life."
"I see."
Song Shenzong nodded slightly and looked inside again. He saw Zhang San came to the middle of the hall and bowed to Sima Guang. "I, Zhang San, greet the chief judge."
Sima Guang asked, "Zhang San, is that your real name?"
Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, his heart ached. Could it be that you are a fortune teller and know that this is not my real name
Seeing that he remained silent, Sima Guang asked again, "Why don't you answer my question? Is Zhang San your real name?"
"No...no." Zhang Fei shook his head, his voice trembling slightly.
Xu Zun was stunned.
what's the situation
But Xu Zun reacted quickly and secretly blamed himself for overlooking this point.
Zhang Fei is obviously a scholar and he probably wouldn't choose such a name. Even if his parents gave him this name, they would change it later.
This name is really "Dog, Pillar".
But this is not his fault, because it was very difficult to communicate with Zhang Fei at the beginning, and it took a long time to get the name. He subconsciously thought that after asking for so long, it was impossible to ask out a false name!
And it was not easy for Zhang Fei to change his words, so he never said anything.
Sima Guang immediately slammed the gavel and shouted, "You don't even dare to tell others your real name, so what right do you have to seek justice for others?"
Zhang Fei was extremely panicked. His identity was his biggest weakness. He quickly explained, "It's not that I don't dare to tell anyone. I did tell them, but since I just arrived in Dengzhou and the language is different, no one could understand my name. They only knew my nickname. Because I am the third child in my family, my fellow villagers used to call me Zhang San. I thought it was very intimate, so I didn't tell my real name."
Sima Guang glanced at Xu Zun.
Xu Zun's mind was quick, and he said quickly, "It is true. This has been stated in his previous confession. If he had not been unable to speak and provide a detailed confession, he would not have been in jail for three months in vain. But I was also negligent in not asking his real name."
Sima Guang then asked Zhang Fei: "What is your real name?"
Zhang Fei said: "My real name is Zhang Fei, the Fei of greatness."
Sima Guang asked again: "Are there any words?"
You must be a god. You keep hitting my weak spot. Can you show some martial ethics? This is a court, not a blind date meeting. Zhang Fei was a little confused by the question. He really didn't know whether there should be a word or not. At this moment, he suddenly remembered his idol and said, "Xiaomin's name is Yi'an."
"Zhang Yian?"
Sima Guang read it once and then asked, "Where do you live and why did you go to Dengzhou?"
I'm a civilian, not a criminal. Are you done yet? Zhang Fei said, "I live in Hanyang. I came to Dengzhou with my father and brother to do business a year ago. I didn't expect that we would encounter a shipwreck on the way. My father and brother were nowhere to be found. I could only go to Dengzhou to look for them. However, after searching for several months, I still couldn't find their whereabouts. I was so depressed that I jumped into the river and committed suicide. Fortunately, Miss Ayun rescued me."
This set of statements was the explanation he gave after he understood the local language. Since he was originally from Wuhan and had some knowledge of the city's history, he only dared to report that he was from Hanyang.
Sima Guang said: "As for your origins, it's just your one-sided story. I will investigate it in detail."
Zhang Fei had a headache. Although he didn't believe Sima Guang would go to so much trouble to investigate his background, he was still a little panicked as to whether Sima Guang really had the ability to do so. He thought, this old man is really hard to deal with. He ignores the case and just attacks me, and his attacks are so precise. If this goes on, he will find out my flaws sooner or later!
Little did he know that there was someone who was more panicked than him. That was Wang Anshi who was sitting next to him. He saw that Zhang Fei was sweating. Just as he expected, this young man had very poor psychological quality. He had already started thinking about how to save everything.
Sima Guang also noticed this, so he asked, "Are you hot?"
Zhang Fei said: "I am just a commoner, and I feel very nervous standing here."
"Yeah?"
Sima Guang said: "But I heard that after you were released from prison, you repeatedly went to the government office to file complaints. You shouldn't be nervous!"
Xu Zun glanced at Sima Guang with a serious expression and thought to himself, he is worthy of being Sima Junshi. He figured out that Zhang San is the key to this case so quickly.
He did not provide this information, which must have meant that Sima Guang had conducted a serious investigation of Zhang Fei.
If a person is nervous, it can indicate several problems.
Sima Guang's question was obviously a trap he had dug, waiting for Zhang Fei to jump into.
Zhang Fei was gradually unable to hold back. One lie required countless lies to cover it up, but he was not a coward. He said truthfully, "I did file a complaint several times, but I only submitted the complaint papers and never went to the government office. I was a little nervous at the time, but I will not back down in the face of justice."
"What a guy who won't back down."
Sima Guang snorted and pointed at Zhang Fei, saying, "I have seen many people like you who are good at making trouble and misleading people, and then profiting from it. Blinded by greed, you often take risks instead of pursuing justice."
Zhang Fei suddenly had an idea when he heard this, and immediately said, "What the chief judge said is absolutely right, that's exactly the case, but I am not ashamed of it, on the contrary I am proud of it. I will file more cases in the future and make more money."