The sun gradually climbed to the 11 o'clock position. The bright sunlight made it impossible to open my eyes. Last night's storm seemed to have become a distant memory.
"Mighty..."
In the sunshine, two rows of officers in the court of the Ministry of Justice held water and fire sticks and shouted "mighty" in a low and powerful voice, officially opening the curtain of the petition in the Ministry of Justice.
"Snap"
A gavel rang out in the lobby.
"Come here, bring Zhu Ping'an and Zhao Daying to the court." The five presiding judges in the hall politely gave way to each other. Finally, Wang Xueyi, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, who represented the host, slammed the gavel and ordered the officers to bring Zhu Ping'an and Zhao Daying to the court.
After the order was given, two officers walked up to Zhu Ping'an and stretched out their hands one on each side as if they were leading a prisoner.
"Don't bother, I can walk by myself."
Zhu Ping'an stopped the officers from pulling him with his eyes, then straightened his clothes and walked towards the court.
Is this a petition or an interrogation? ! Zhu Pingan rolled his eyes speechlessly.
Compared with Zhu Ping'an, Zhao Daying was treated much better. He was respectfully invited up by the officers, and the presiding judges were also very friendly.
Tsk tsk, today is completely Zhao Daying's home court. Everything must have been arranged long ago. Haha, it's getting more and more interesting. Zhu Ping'an walked with the corners of his lips curled up with a disdainful smile, stretched, and walked into the court.
"I am Zhu Ping'an, your humble servant. I greet you all."
Zhu Ping'an walked into the court, bowed to the presiding judge, and then bowed to the gallery on both sides.
"No thanks."
After a long time, the presiding judge in the court finally responded indifferently.
"Who is there in the hall?" Although the presiding judge in the court knew that the people standing in the hall were Zhu Ping'an and Zhao Daying, he still asked the question according to the procedure.
"Your humble servant is Zhu Ping'an, a reader in the Imperial Academy."
"I am Zhao Daying, commander of the West City Military Department."
Zhu Ping'an and Zhao Daying replied almost at the same time.
"Well, since everyone is here, let's begin the court session." The presiding official in the court nodded and slammed the gavel.
"Mighty..." The policeman repeatedly hit the ground with the water and fire sticks in his hands. The low and mighty sound rang out again, shouting out the majesty of the court.
The officers' shouts of "power" and the presiding judge's banging of the gavel were all for the purpose of "court power", which was to convey the authority and sanctity of the law. In simple terms, it was to intimidate and scare people, and to train and govern the people.
Zhu Ping'an already knew the reason, so this trick was useless to him, his heart was as calm as still water without any ripples.
Zhu Ping'an stood in the hall, his whole body was like a huge reef standing in the waves. No matter how many waves came, they could not shake it in the slightest.
Zhu Ping'an's calmness surprised many officials who were listening to the speech. In their opinion, a teenager like Zhu Ping'an would be afraid and nervous when he first saw such a scene, but they did not expect Zhu Ping'an to be so calm. They had been in the officialdom for a long time and had sharp eyes. They could see that Zhu Ping'an was not pretending to be calm, but was calm from the inside out with a strong psychological quality, just like an old bureaucrat who had been in the officialdom for more than ten years.
"The case of the Imperial Academy Reader Zhu Ping'an impeaching the Thousand Household Zhao Daying was heard in the Ministry of Justice today. It is now jointly presided over by the Jinyiwei Tongzhi Takuhai Taku, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War Zhao Qiu, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice Wang Xueyi, the Junior Minister of the Dali Temple Wan Gongwan, the Right Deputy Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate Wang Gao, and this official Wang Xueyi of the Ministry of Justice. Zhao Daying, Zhu Ping'an, do you have any objections to this trial?"
Today, five ministries jointly held a trial. Since the Ministry of Justice was the main venue, Wang Xueyi, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, naturally presided over the trial with the humility of the other chief judges.
These are all procedural questions during the trial.
Basically, it is just like when a modern court opens a trial, the presiding judge announces the composition of the collegial panel and asks the parties whether they have any objections to the composition of the collegial panel. The implicit meaning is that if you believe that the members of the collegial panel have a vested interest in the case or have other relationships with the parties in the case that affect the trial, you can request that the relevant person be recused.
"No objection. I believe that you gentlemen will conduct a fair trial and clear my name." Zhao Daying responded first. After he finished speaking, he glanced at Zhu Ping'an demonstratively.
Zhao Daying naturally would not have any objection. Among the presiding judges were his uncle Zhao Qiu, officials he had visited with great gifts, and core officials of the Yan Party. Except for a few presiding judges, almost all of them were in his favor.
Zhu Ping'an raised his head and glanced at the presiding officials in the court one by one, narrowed his eyes slightly, and thought for a moment.
objection
Zhao Qiu is Zhao Daying's uncle, so he will definitely be biased towards Zhao Qiu; Wang Xueyi, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, is a close confidant of He Ao, the minister of the Ministry of Justice. He Ao is now attached to Yan Song, and Wang Xueyi is also a member of Yan Song's party. It goes without saying that Wang Xueyi will definitely be biased towards Zhao Daying; Jinyiwei Tongzhi Tuohai is a close confidant of Jinyiwei Commander Lu Bing. Although Lu Bing is not a member of Yan's party, after jointly rectifying the former Prime Minister Xia Yan with Yan Song, his relationship with Yan Song has heated up sharply. I think Tuohai will also be biased towards Zhao Daying;
Zhu Ping'an had some impression of Wan Gong, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple. He was an expert in water control and a capable minister, but he was not clear about the rest.
Wang Gao, the Right Deputy Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, is not a member of the Yan Party. He is a member of the Party of Li Mo, the Minister of Personnel. However, Li Mo has always disliked him, and recently he has regarded him as a scum of the literati because of his book "The Art of Thick Black". Who knows whether the Li Party is here to challenge the Yan Party, or to take this opportunity to purge the scum.
So, if one were to apply for recusation, the presiding judge in court would have to recuse himself from most of the cases...
But Zhao Qiu could easily object to the case by citing his uncle-nephew relationship with Zhao Daying; but what about the other judges? You said they were members of the Yan Party, so they objected? There are many members of the Yan Party today, including the chief judges and even more who are listening in.
This is not a legal reason. No one will support you in court. Moreover, it will completely displease Yan Song and offend the presiding judge, which will not be worth the loss.
Another point is, how do you prove that they are members of the Yan party
Therefore, if he wanted to object, he could only object to Zhao Qiu, which would not help the situation, as the other judges who were biased towards Zhao Qiu were still there. Moreover, even if he objected to Zhao Qiu, he might not succeed. If he said that he would sacrifice his relatives for the sake of justice, and the other judges took the opportunity to say that he should not avoid relatives or enemies when recommending people from within, he would be powerless.
This is a feudal society, not a modern society ruled by law. In a modern society ruled by law, kinship relations would definitely be avoided, but it was different in a feudal society, where mentioning them would likely be rejected.
One more or one less makes no more or less.
In that case, it’s better not to mention it.
Let them be proud for a while and let their guard down, it will be more interesting then.
There were a lot of thoughts above, but in Zhu Ping'an's mind it only took a moment, and it was less than a second before Zhao Daying said he had no objection.
"I have no objection." Zhu Ping'an thought for a moment and then bowed in reply.
After Zhu Ping'an finished speaking, Zhao Daying on the side couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth. Zhao Qiu in the court glanced at Zhu Ping'an with a meaningful look.
Other officials in the court who knew about the relationship between Zhao Daying and Zhao Qiu looked at Zhu Ping'an and shook their heads slightly. Zhu Ping'an was still too young...
"Okay, since everyone has no objection, let's formally begin the petition." Wang Xueyi, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, nodded and slammed the gavel.
"Wait, I have objections."
At this moment, a voice was suddenly heard, and the voice was extremely eye-catching in the court.