In the afternoon of the next day, there was no traffic inside and outside the Wannian County Government Hall.
Originally, Wannian County, as the capital city, was densely populated and could not be compared to remote areas. Previously, the county magistrate Wannian brought the county elders and suffering masters to kowtow to complain, which had already attracted the attention of all parties. Even from the kowtow to the start of the public trial, it only took a day and a night. There were many idlers from all directions rushing on the starry night to watch.
Because there were so many people, the search took a lot of time, so much so that it took more than half an hour to start the ceremony, which was originally scheduled for the afternoon.
In accordance with his previous promise, Yun Fenghuang took off his beaded hairpin and tied his hair with only a red gold silk lantern hairpin. He also changed out of the concubine's attire and put on an aqua dress similar to that of a palace maid. There were no more burdens that would disturb the public trial, so Shi Shiran walked out under the guidance of the chamberlain.
Separated by a screen from Emperor Chunjia who was sitting in the court, an embroidered stool and a small table had already been placed, with tea, fruit, pastries and other items placed on the small table, ready for the concubine who was suspected of being favored to eavesdrop. Be comfortable and comfortable.
Because she was asked by the emperor not to go out together, she arrived a little late. At this time, the opening scene had been completed, and the victim and the defendant were both brought. According to the statement of Wannian County Magistrate, all three generations of the victim's family were dead. Among them were the kidnapped granddaughter and two grandsons under the age of ten. The ones who came forward to complain were the Kuzhu's clan members. The closest blood relative was the Kuzhu's younger brother, named Chen Jinde, who responded on his behalf.
In addition to Zheng Fengpi, the defendant was taken to court along with several other people, probably his accomplices.
Yun Fenghuang sat down behind the screen and heard Chen Jinde's tearful closing speech: "... Your Majesty, Cao Min's brother and his family died miserably! I beg Your Majesty to avenge Cao Min's brother! I beg Your Majesty to see clearly and repay Brother Cao Min's death." It’s fair!”
Afterwards, I burst into tears.
Emperor Chunjia also seemed a little moved. Through the screen, Yun Fenghuang saw his figure moving slightly. He seemed to be leaning down from the main seat. He spoke warmly to comfort the Chen family, probably saying "I will definitely "Justice" and so on. After Chen Jinde sobbed and thanked the emperor for his sympathy, he turned to Zheng Fengpi and asked him to bring him the truth!
"Your Majesty, these unruly people are really abominable!" As one of Zheng Ju's adopted sons, his adopted brother Zheng Fengfen was also the emperor's companion. Naturally, he was a saint, and he was arrogant. He obviously didn't have much regard for Emperor Chunjia who had just taken charge. In awe, with a tone of casualness and anger, Yun Fenghuang saw from the gap in the screen that although he was kneeling on the ground, his face was full of dissatisfaction.
Hearing this, he couldn't wait to say, "Weichen did bring Chen Jinxing's granddaughter into the house, but it was sold to Weichen by the Chen family themselves. After the money and goods were paid, how could there be any robbery?! As for the Talking about trampling on young seedlings is even more nonsense. Weichen went out to the city to relax that day and saw the green seedlings growing in the fields of the Chen family. So he took the horse and took a look at the fields, but they didn't go to the ground at all! As a result, the Chen family saw I dressed gorgeously and took the initiative to strike up a conversation. After learning the identity of my father and brother, I even licked my face and took the initiative to recommend myself to my granddaughter as a pillow..."
"You're talking nonsense!!!" When Chen Jinde heard this, he shouted excitedly, "Although the common people's family has declined in recent years, they were educated in the early years. How could you do such a thing that corrupts the family tradition?! You It’s just spitting blood!”
Zheng Fengpi snorted and ignored him. She just said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, what you say is unfounded. I have the contract of the Chen family's sale of her daughter here, and I have my fingerprints on it, which can be used as proof!"
As he spoke, he took out a contract from his arms and raised his hands above his head.
Emperor Chunjia said "Hmm", and Yan Yin, who was standing by his side, waved his fly whisk, went down to take out the contract and inspected it carefully before handing it over to the emperor.
The emperor looked at it for a moment and then motioned for the ministers and the people below to take a look.
This is indeed a contract of voluntary selling of a daughter. It states that because the family is poor, she voluntarily sells her granddaughter Chen Xiaoya to the noble Zheng family for ten taels of gold. She will have nothing to do with her life, old age, illness or death.
When the contract was passed around, Zheng Fengxi had already recited the contents. After hearing this, the monarchs and ministers in the hall just paid it back. The people gathered at the yamen gate immediately started talking: "Ten taels of gold to buy a little girl? Isn't that girl going to be able to follow you?" Like a fairy?!"
"What kind of immortals are they all from the countryside? If Mrs. Chen really had such stunning beauty, she would have gone to the palace to become the empress a few months ago. How could she still stay at home? At most she is not very pretty!" "
"Are you afraid that you didn't kill General Zheng on purpose because he was born into a wealthy family and was young?"
"That's right. Although this young general comes from a good background, he is really young. How could he know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive?"
"Not to mention anything else, the price of these ten taels of gold shows that the Chen family is not so kind."
"Yes, yes, yes, what kind of little girl wants ten taels of gold, when the leader of Chunfeng Tower only needs how much silver to redeem himself?"
Of course, some people occasionally raise questions: "My elders also know Chen Jinxing, and they say he is an upright man. How could he sell his granddaughter to a powerful person?"
"Yes, and it is said that Chen's daughter has been married to a certain family since she was a child. Even if she wants to curry favor with the powerful, she can't ignore her in-laws?"
"Everyone in the Chen family is dead. Who knows whether this contract is true or not..."
However, the following rhetoric was quickly refuted by many people: "The right way is to know people and their faces but not their hearts. Some people are kind on the surface, but they are dirty on the inside. How could you know that Chen Jinxing is not such a person who is not consistent with his appearance?" ?”
"Besides, if I can use my granddaughter to hook up with this young general, how dare my in-laws go to the hussar general to ask for him?!"
"How can you tell whether the contract is true or not? The Holy Emperor is sitting in front of the public hall right now, borrowing the courage of General Zheng to dare to deceive the emperor in public?!"
Behind the screen, Yun Fenghuang shook his fan and listened to these words, smiling, thinking that Zheng Ju was really fast.
Naturally, she was not qualified to participate in the transmission of the contract, and it was unknown whether it was true or false, but the words used to excuse Zheng Fengyi sounded like he was being paid to do things.
The most important thing is that although Wannian County and Dijing are adjacent to each other, their accents are somewhat different.
Although the comments coming from Li Shuli looked like ordinary people, the voices that led the defense for Zheng Fengpu... even though they were disguised, maybe because they were rushed into battle, they still revealed the tone of Beijing accent.
Even if the emperor's personal trial attracted many spectators, many of whom came from the Imperial Capital all night long, couldn't everyone who came from the Imperial Capital have a good impression and confidence in Zheng Fengyi and be willing to speak for him
Don't forget that General Zheng is one of the three evils of the Imperial Capital. How do ordinary people in the Imperial Capital feel about him
I don’t know who started this incident. Is this aimed at Zheng Gu
Before Yun Fenghuang could finish his thoughts, the deed had been passed around and the fingerprints on it were taken by an official to compare with the deed when Chen Jinxing bought the land during his lifetime, proving that it was indeed from the same person.
"This is impossible!" Upon hearing this conclusion, Chen Jinde was clearly startled, and then said angrily, "If Cao Min dares to use his head as a guarantee, Cao Min's brother will definitely..."
"You are so bold and unruly!" Seeing this, Zheng Fengxi rolled his eyes and suddenly pointed his halberd at him and shouted, "Confusing right and wrong to frame the innocent in front, roaring in court and despising His Majesty in the back, it is simply an unforgivable crime! How dare you act so unbridled here!"
Immediately, the people in the court cupped their hands and said, "Your Majesty, I think that these unruly people must..."
"The contract can be written at any time, and the fingerprints can be stamped whether before or after life!" Zheng Fengfen was about to take advantage of the victory and urge the emperor to finalize the matter. However, at this time, the Wannian County Magistrate who was standing in front of him suddenly walked out and flirted. He knelt down and said loudly, "Your Majesty, this evidence alone is not enough to be trusted! I beg your Majesty to investigate thoroughly! I am willing to use the black gauze on my head and the head on my neck to jointly guarantee that the character of Chen Jinxing's family is definitely not what General Zheng believed." What a despicable thing to say!”
At the same time, among the ministers sitting beside him, Cui Wan's face was ashen. If it weren't for the fact that the emperor and other important ministers were there, he would have wanted to grab the tea bowl and smash it down!
"Young man, you are full of energy." Renqi took a deep breath when the regent who came up to him stroked his short beard and praised with a half-smile, "No matter what the truth of the matter is, this Du Qinghui is not afraid of the powerful to plead for the people. , what a good intention after all.”
Wannian County Magistrate Du Langu, named Qinghui, was one of Cui Wan's disciples.
At this moment, the regent said this. Although Cui Wan was angry in his heart, he still forced a smile and cupped his hands towards the regent: "Your Majesty, you are so complimentary. This disciple of mine is young and impulsive after all."
While they were chatting in low voices, the emperor over there had agreed to conduct a thorough investigation. He interrogated Zheng Fengpi about the time and place when he ran into the Chen family when he left the city, and asked the Imperial City Department to interrogate all the witnesses on that day and the situation of the Chen family that day. Comprehensive evidence from all aspects to identify good and evil.
Of course, these cannot be found out in a short while, so after the emperor promised not to close the case just because of a deed, he announced that he would temporarily suspend the case and wait for the results to come out before continuing.
"Mother, since I have promised to uphold justice for all my subjects, I should wait for the matter to come to light before setting off for the palace." After retreating, the emperor immediately went to see Empress Dowager Ji and said, "But the weather is hot, and the county It is even worse than in the palace. How can I bring trouble to my mother, the queen, and the imperial grandmother and a group of concubines waiting here for this matter? It is better to let the queen and concubines take the first step in the name of the mother and the imperial grandmother, and then follow up after the ministers have taken care of this matter. Go up?"
The conditions in the county were of course far worse than those in the palace, especially since the emperor had never planned to stay at the county government office before, and there was no preparation here to receive the emperor.
Although they arrived last night, it had only been one night since then. Empress Dowager Ji was already unhappy in various ways. Even if the emperor didn't ask them to leave early, she didn't want to stay any longer.
But because Ji was worried about the emperor, she pondered for a moment, but did not agree immediately. She only said that she would ask the Queen Mother for instructions and discuss it with the queen.
After a while, Empress Dowager Ji asked someone to invite the emperor to come to her, saying that she thought the emperor's consideration was right, because the Empress Dowager really couldn't bear it and had to go to the palace early.
"But it doesn't look good for the emperor to stay alone." The Queen Mother said immediately, "After all, he is a majestic emperor, so he must have some people to serve him."
The emperor was not surprised by this. He smiled and said something to thank the queen mother for caring about him. At the end, he hinted that it was all a trivial matter and asked the queen mother to tell her what she had planned.
Empress Dowager Ji nodded and said: "If there are too many people left, I'm afraid it will hinder the emperor's schedule after the matter is over. How about letting Mao Jieyu, Ji Bin, and Yi Fengyi stay to serve?"
"It all depends on the mother." Yun Fenghuang is the emperor's new favorite, Ji is a member of the Ji family, and Yi Xing'en is very beautiful... The emperor speculated on the intentions of the empress dowager's aunt and nephew in making this arrangement, and smiled. Wen Yan said, "Thank you for your trouble, mother!"