In life, Sima Guang was definitely a very humble and generous gentleman, but like Wang Anshi, he was also very stubborn on some issues of principle and would never give in easily.
Therefore, everyone jokingly called Wang Anshi the Stubborn Prime Minister, and also jokingly called Sima Guang Sima Niu.
Once this bull gets angry, no one can stop him!
If their governing philosophies were completely consistent, it would definitely be a blessing for the Song Dynasty whether they went left or right.
Maybe what happened later wouldn't have happened.
Unfortunately, there are no ifs.
After leaving the court, Sima Guang felt very self-blaming and angry. He had never imagined this would be the outcome. At the beginning, he was confident of winning, but in the end he was defeated by his opponent.
He immediately asked someone to bring the court trial record. While reading it, he studied why such a simple murder case could be labeled as excessive self-defense.
It's really off the mark.
At this time, professional judges including Lu Gongzhuo, Wang Shiyuan, Qi Hui, Liu Shu and others also rushed over. They were also in a daze as to how things could turn out like this.
Seeing Sima Guang sitting on the chair with a sullen face, looking at the trial records, he didn't say anything, so he just sat quietly by the side and waited.
After a long while, Sima Guang slammed the notes on the table and sighed in annoyance: "I was so careless!"
When he just left the court, his head was dizzy, and when he looked at the transcript as a bystander, he suddenly realized that he had been led by Zhang Fei since he started interrogating Wei Ada.
The key point is that Zhang Fei compared himself and the emperor based on the disparity in their status.
He knew that this was definitely not a sudden inspiration on the other party's part. The other party was obviously well prepared and was just waiting for him to jump into the pit.
But we have to ask ourselves, if we give him another chance, would he choose to do something different
Wang Shiyuan was also somewhat puzzled by this, and immediately said, "Sima Xueshi was too gentle to that boy just now. He is so arrogant, disrespecting the court, and committing a crime. Why doesn't he punish him?"
He gave a very professional opinion.
If it were him, he would have beaten Zhang Fei so hard that he had to lie down during the interrogation.
How can I judge you when you are such a coward
He even suspected that Sima Guang was deliberately letting the game go.
Sima Guang really had a hard time saying goodbye. If he had really beaten Zhang Fei with a stick in court at that time, I believe no one would dare to stop him, including Wang Anshi, Xu Zun and others. If such arrogant people were not taught a lesson, who would take them, a group of masters, seriously in the future
But if they really go ahead with the lawsuit, the conservatives will lose their future, and it doesn’t matter whether they fight the lawsuit or not.
From now on, whenever they reject the emperor's opinion, Wang Anshi will definitely use this matter to make an issue of it. You, Sima Guang, are allowed to argue with the emperor based on reason, but no one else is allowed to argue with you based on reason.
To put it indirectly, is the emperor not even as good as you
Zhang Fei's clever argument directly brought up the dispute between the prime minister's power and the emperor's power, which was actually the turning point of this trial.
Because this made Sima Guang completely lose his dominant position.
This point is also crucial because it directly leads to changes in the entire trial process. Even the iron-faced and impartial Bao Zheng would not be able to try a case so gently.
Zhang Fei felt like a fish in water because this was the atmosphere he was used to, while Sima Guang was at a loss.
A collapse of a thousand miles is a natural result.
Lu Gong understood Sima Guang's difficulties. He had to consider the overall situation and really couldn't fight. He said, "This matter can't be blamed on Sima Guang. Now that things have come to this, we should discuss how to judge this case."
Qi Hui immediately said, "That guy is clearly trying to be mysterious and confuse people. This cannot be excessive self-defense. If we sentence him like this, wouldn't it be encouraging people to commit crimes?"
Wang Shiyuan nodded and said, "That makes sense. How can this be considered self-defense? That kid hasn't produced any hard evidence. If we judge him this way, it will cause endless harm!"
This is so embarrassing.
As the highest judges of the Song Dynasty, they refused even to surrender themselves to reduce their sentences and argued with the emperor till their faces turned red. Now they are accusing him of excessive self-defense. If this verdict is passed, how will they have the face to stay in this position
Sima Guang said: "If we still want to uphold the original verdict, we must find evidence to refute the other party's inference that the criminal woman had no intention of killing. You should immediately send someone to Dengzhou to investigate the criminal woman's background."
Since this case had both witnesses and physical evidence, which were ironclad facts, he did not know enough about Ayun's past and family affairs, and did not investigate further.
He believed that this was the main reason why he was at a disadvantage, so if he wanted to reject Zhang Fei's appeal, he had to start with the details.
... ...
Xu Zun and Zhang Fei returned to the mansion and saw Zhang Fei was very pleased with himself, as if everything was over. However, he knew that Zhang Fei did not produce any ironclad evidence, but only provided some supporting evidence and clever excuses. He thought that the case could still be won, so he warned him, "Don't be careless. Grand Secretary Sima did not make a verdict in court, but said that he would continue the investigation. It can be seen that he is not convinced. He will definitely find a way to refute your arguments, and Grand Secretary Sima is one of the smartest people in the Song Dynasty."
Zhang Fei smiled confidently and said, "Within ten days, Scholar Sima will definitely give a verdict."
Xu Zun heard his arrogant tone and sneered, "You are too arrogant."
Zhang Fei said: "If you don't believe me, why not bet on something?"
Xu Zun was also a very unique person, and asked, "How do you want to bet?"
Zhang Fei said: "If I lose, I will be at your service for a year for free, but if I win, not only will you forgive my debt, you will also have to give me thirty strings of cash."
"It's a deal!"
Xu Zun still doesn't believe this, ten days? Humph, you really trust the efficiency of our Song Dynasty too much.
Zhang Fei said: "It's a deal."
Xu Zun suddenly seemed to think of something and said, "Wait a minute! They said they would give a verdict within ten days, but they didn't say how they would judge it."
Zhang Fei said: "It's not about how they want to judge, but we should strive to make them judge it that way."
Floating!
It's really floating!
Xu Zun glanced at Zhang Fei and said earnestly: "Although you have been so glorious in the hall just now, don't get carried away. After all, you are just a commoner. This secret competition is beyond your ability."
Zhang Fei said calmly, "There is no secret competition, because the other party has already lost."
Xu Zun was quite drunk. He waved his hands and said, "Forget it! Forget it! I don't want to argue with you. So how do you say this case should be judged?"
"Release him immediately." Zhang Fei said.
Xu Zun was stunned and said, "How is this possible? Even if it is judged as excessive self-defense, it is still a crime and must be punished."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "My benefactor, do you still remember why the Grand Secretary Sima opposed the reduction of sentence for surrendering?"
Xu Zun subconsciously said, "They regard this case as a malicious case, so even if it is considered as surrendering, it cannot be reduced in sentence."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Although I fought in self-defense, it does not mean that I have given up the voluntary surrender and reduced sentence. If this case is judged as excessive self-defense, then it is certainly not a malicious case, and the voluntary surrender can be cited for reduced sentence. Sima Dashi will find it difficult to refute it. Excessive self-defense can be reduced by two levels. In addition, Ayun has been in prison for nearly half a year, which is enough for her immediate release."
"Yes! If it is ruled as excessive self-defense, it will completely meet the regulations for reducing the sentence by turning oneself in."
Xu Zun suddenly realized, and suddenly looked at Zhang Fei with a hint of shock, and said: "Have you also considered the emperor and Wang Daxueshi."
Zhang Fei said: "I didn't consider them. I only considered the benefactor. No matter what their purpose was, they gave great support to the benefactor. The benefactor should give back to them. In this way, the benefactor can also get more support."
Xu Zun just felt that this boy was truly unfathomable!
If Zhang Fei was just well-versed in the law and eloquent, then he could understand it. But now this issue has greater political significance. In fact, it is too severe to sentence him to excessive self-defense, and the filial piety he defended cannot be too severe.
However, Zhang Fei still wants to fight for a more lenient sentence by surrendering himself and reducing his sentence.
It sounds a bit aggressive, but it is extremely politically significant.
Because what Wang Anshi and Sima Guang were arguing about was whether surrendering oneself was applicable to reducing one's sentence, but this lawsuit was about excessive self-defense. Even if Zhang Fei won the case, it is hard to say whether it means that Wang Anshi had won.
Adding a sentence reduction for surrendering oneself and not adding a sentence reduction for surrendering oneself are politically incomparable.
The more he thought about it, the more incredible it seemed. This aroused Xu Zun's love for talent, and he thought, such a talent cannot be let go easily! Should I find a way to delay it for ten days
"My benefactor, are you planning to interfere and delay this for ten days?"
"What did you say? Ahem!"
Xu Zun suddenly opened his eyes wide and said, "Asshole, would I be that kind of shameless person?"
"That's fine."
Zhang Fei said: "Tomorrow, you can fight for Ayun's immediate release."
Xu Zun was stunned for a moment and said, "It hasn't been judged yet!"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "But at least you can express your attitude!"
Xu Zun saw that this guy didn't have good intentions, so he asked, "What tricks are you trying to play?"
Zhang Fei was about to cry but had no tears: "This case has already been tried. Shouldn't the Dali Temple give its own opinion?"
Xu Zun always felt that this boy was doing something shady again, but he couldn't tell what.
"Oh no! Oh no!"
Just at this moment, a maid ran in in a panic, panting and saying, "Master, something terrible has happened. Sister Qian'er is on a hunger strike."
Xu Zun said: "Tell her that if she starves for another ten days, I will let her out."
"ah?"
The maid opened her mouth slightly and stared at Xu Zun blankly.
Zhang Fei also looked at Xu Zun in disbelief, thinking, is this really his biological son
Xu Zun glared at him secretly and said, "This is all your fault."