Ji Zhibai thought for a moment, then gave a wink to the official next to him. The official nodded and left quickly.
When Fang Yingwu from the side hall saw Fang Yun coming out, he immediately contacted the officials to cooperate with Fang Yun in investigating the case.
Because it is related to Ji Zhibai, County Magistrate Tao Dingnian and others will come.
Soon, the relevant yamen officials came to the court, and unrelated officials also appeared outside the hall door. The current county magistrate was trying the previous county magistrate. This was a rare show. Even Fang Yun's staff and Yang Yuhuan were outside listening.
The Legalist scholar in charge of the Criminal Hall pilot project has been brought to the scene.
Soon, Fang Yun brought Ao Huang back and sat in the center of the court.
Ji Zhibai sat on the chair to Fang Yun’s left.
Fang Yun slammed the gavel and shouted, "Bring the suspect Gou Qian to court!"
"Mighty... Powerful..."
The yamen runners on both sides struck the ground with water and fire sticks, making a chaotic but majestic sound.
Ji Zhibai, who was sitting on the chair, had a strange look in his eyes. At that time, some people said that Fang Yun had implemented this change in the yamen, but he did not take it seriously. However, when he was there in person, he felt an invisible pressure surrounding him.
This kind of behavior can actually mobilize power similar to official authority!
Soon, two yamen runners arrived and brought a young man in shackles.
Ji Zhibai saw the decadent look on the eldest son of the once prominent Gou family. His expression changed slightly and he said in a deep voice: "County Magistrate Fang, Gou Qian is a student. Putting on torture instruments will damage his reputation as a scholar."
Fang Yun said: "Gou Xian hired thugs to kill people, and the person he killed was his half brother. He was suspected of colluding with military officials to kill the innocent worker Zhu Yueming. He was extremely vicious and his crimes were extremely serious. In order to prevent him from escaping, he was shackled."
"But the law clearly stipulates that scholars cannot be punished." Ji Zhibai said.
"Although shackles are instruments of torture, their purpose is to prevent dangerous people from committing crimes, not punishment, so they don't count as torture. What's more, Ning An is a pilot in the Criminal Palace." Fang Yun said.
Ji Zhibai still wanted to argue with Fang Yun in court, but when he heard the words "pilot program in the Criminal Palace", he shut up and remained silent.
Fang Yun looked away from Ji Zhibai and towards Gou Qian, thinking that fate was playing tricks on him. He was just on a secret visit and encountered a few bullies. In order to atone for their crimes, the bullies gave out another murderer, and finally implicated not only the future head of a prominent family, but also Ji Zhibai, the chief judge of the murder case.
After Gou Qian was imprisoned in prison, the head of the Gou family came to plead for mercy. Fang Yun invited the head of the Gou family to an empty room and told him the truth that his wife had an affair with a gigolo in a brothel and gave birth to Gou Qian.
The head of the Gou family almost fainted from anger, and thanked Fang Yun after being angry. Regarding the treatment of Gou Qian, the head of the Gou family was very conflicted and said nothing.
When I first met Gou Qian, he was in great spirits and had the temperament of a scholar. But after just a few days, Gou Qian became very decadent, and there was no light in his eyes anymore, as if they had been worn away by the prison.
Fang Yun slammed the gavel and said, "Gou Qian, you confessed that you hired someone to kill your half brother Ai Weijiang. You also created the illusion that Zhu Yueming killed Ai Weijiang to deceive the then Lord Ji. As for why Zhu Yueming died in exile, you didn't know. Is what I said correct?"
"I have no objection." Gou Qi said.
Fang turned his head and looked at Ji Zhibai, who was very calm, and said, "Master Ji, I have read the case files in detail. There are some things I don't understand, and I hope Master Ji can answer them one by one."
"Just say it." Ji Zhibai straightened his body, leaned back in the chair, and stared at Fang Yun.
"This is a murder case. The case file shows that when you were investigating the case on the fifth day of the seventh lunar month, a witness said that he had seen Zhu Yueming passing by the murder scene in the late night of the third day of the seventh lunar month. So, in the late night of the sixth day of the lunar month, you personally went to the murder scene to confirm that what the witness said was true. Ordinary people can see the side face of a person clearly in the moonlight. Is this content true?"
Ji Zhibai nodded and said, "It is clearly written above, it is true."
Fang Yun looked directly into Ji Zhibai's eyes and said word by word, "It's the sixth day of the seventh month. The moon has already set in the first half of the night. Even if you are a semi-saint, you can't use the 'moonlight' to see a person's profile! This county wants to ask, is the moonlight that Lord Ji encountered the light of the demon moon in the demon world?"
Ji Zhibai was stunned for a moment, then pretended to be calm and said, "Let me think about it for a while."
Everyone present was puzzled for a moment, recalling the phases of the moon during those days, and soon realized that Fang Yun was right.
Ordinary officials were fine, they just thought Fang Yun had a great vision, but those legal professionals and veteran officials who were often involved in cases all looked at Fang Yun with disbelief.
The entire file is so complicated, but Fang Yun could actually find the problem from the insignificant word "moonlight". It is really hard to believe that those famous officials in history who were famous for solving cases like gods are no more than this.
Many people looked at Ji Zhibai, and what was written down in black and white was definitely not something that Ji Zhibai could use as an excuse that he had made a mistake.
After a moment, Ji Zhibai sighed and said, "I wanted to go and verify it myself in the second half of the night, but I overslept and thought the witness was trustworthy, so I made up this story. After returning to Beijing, I will plead guilty and accept the punishment."
"Trustworthy? Someone, bring up the witness from that day! I want to ask Master Ji, a notorious habitual criminal, a bully who bullies the neighbors, and one of the four murderers who admitted to participating in the murder of Ai Weijiang. Master Ji actually believes that his words are credible? Didn't Master Ji look at the witness's identity documents?"
The bully walked up, lowered his head and said nothing.
Ji Zhibai gritted his teeth and said, "I was very busy with official duties that day, and I had just taken charge of the county for a few months. I neglected many processes. When I questioned the witness that day, I did not look at the identity documents. This was my oversight."
Some people looked at Ji Zhibai with contempt. It was impossible for a Jinshi to make such an omission. The matter was simple. It was obvious that Ji Zhibai was in collusion with Gou Qian.
Then, Fang Yun bluntly pointed out twelve unreasonable places in the case. Ji Zhibai did not have any reasonable excuses for any of them. He could only keep saying that it was his own negligence and refused to let go, refusing to admit that he had teamed up with Gou Qian to frame Zhu Yueming.
If that were the case, Ji Zhibai would ultimately be convicted of dereliction of duty and fined several years' salary. Even the heaviest punishment would only be a demotion by one level, but he would still be able to serve as the principal.
Fang Yun said mercilessly: "Oversight? Mistake? There are loopholes everywhere in just one case. Did you come to Ning'an County to be an official, or to harm people? An innocent Zhu Yueming was killed by you, a corrupt official who didn't know how to judge a case!"
Ji Zhibai raised his head and glared at Fang Yun, saying, "County Magistrate Fang, stop slandering me! I admit that I misjudged this case. Zhu Yueming is indeed not the murderer, but Zhu Yueming died on the way to exile, which has nothing to do with me!"
"Well then, please invite the Yingyang Military Coroner to the court." Fang Yun said and slammed the gavel.
Ji Zhibai's eyelids jumped. The coroner was the official who examined the injuries of the people involved in the case. (To be continued...)