After breakfast on the second day, Lu Jing set up a guard of honor and went to the county office, walked to the street, suddenly heard the sound of shouting grievances outside the sedan chair, Lu Jing ordered to stop the sedan chair, and after getting out of the sedan chair, he saw a little woman about thirty years old who was wearing her hair and shouting grievances, so he ordered someone to bring her to the front and asked the duty to pick up her presenter.

The woman didn't make a statement, she just kept crying, and kept shouting: "Lord Qingtian, help, the slave husband died unjustly." ”

Lu Jing saw his grief, so he asked, "What have you wronged, and tell me about it carefully." ”

The woman knelt down on her knees, shed tears before she spoke, choked up and said: "The little woman's maiden surname is Wang, her husband's surname is Zhou, and her name is Zhou Li. ”

The husband had no choice but to buy a banquet at home and ask him to bring the IOU. Who knew that when he arrived, he said that after the accumulation of Zili, my family still owed him five taels. The husband had no choice but to give him the new bundle sent by the student: three feet of good cloth, a pair of Beijing shoes, and a treasure inkstone. ”

He had already agreed at that time, but after eating and drinking, he said that it was not appropriate to discount the goods for accounting, and not only did he not return the IOU, but he would take away the cloth, Jingshu, and Baoyan. The husband refused to come forward to fight, who knew that he dropped his shoes and cloth, and broke the husband's head with a treasure inkstone, and then the neighbors He Ji and Zhang Jing came out to dissuade him, and he left. ”

"I don't want to think that two days later, Cao Guozhen died somehow, his son said that his husband was killed, and the husband was sued in court, and the county official took his money, and beat the husband into a trick, and sentenced him to behead after the autumn. In the past few days, they have also let a gang of scoundrels block the door of the little woman's house, preventing the little woman from going out, and the little woman desperately ran out. ”

Wang couldn't cry when he said this: "I beg the eldest master to be the master, avenge the little woman, and avenge my husband." "Anyway, he prostrated and didn't stop.

Lu Jing hurriedly ordered someone to help her up, and saw that there were already blood stains on her forehead, so he forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, and was not satisfied with borrowing fifty taels of silver, so he refused to return the loan, and was about to open his mouth to ask.

Zhang Dizhou took the opportunity to approach and said: "The villain saw that a few people were chasing this woman, and when he saw this woman running here, he dispersed. ”

Lu Jing nodded with a frosty face when he heard this, and then Wen Yan asked, "Where do you live?" ”

Wang cried: "The inner city root of the West Gate. ”

Lu Jing asked again, "Do you know where your husband's body is now?" ”

Wang shook his head and said, "The little woman asked several times, but they refused to tell me. ”

Lu Jing frowned and continued to ask, "Who else is in your family?" ”

Wang said bitterly: "After the death of her husband, the little woman is left alone. "I cried again.

Lu Jing sighed and asked, "Does anyone in your mother's family have any?" ”

Wang said: "My eldest brother is also dead, only a nephew, and now he is eight years old and lives with his widowed sister-in-law. ”

Lu Jing sighed again when he heard this, and instructed Lu Lian: "You take her to make up for Zhang Chengzi, and then take her to the yamen." ”

After hearing this, Wang knelt on the ground and kowtowed a few more times before crying.

When Lu Jing saw them leaving, he directly brought people to the county office and asked Jiang Runnong to get the file of Zhou Cao's case.

Jiang Runnong had just heard about this, and he was extremely frightened in his heart, and he had already ordered someone to inform Cao Guozhen's son Cao Ji, at this moment, seeing Lu Jing's cold eyebrows, his face was full of panic, and he was secretly thinking about countermeasures in his heart.

Lu Jing took the case file and looked at it, and saw that the plaintiff Cao Ji's submission read:

"The complaint is for beating people to death: Diao Zhou Li, approving the borrowing of fifty taels of silver from his father, and not repaying the principal and interest, so he agreed to settle the account, coaxed him to his house, forcibly snatched the loan, beat his father, and was seriously injured. Fortunately, He Ji and Zhang Jing saved their lives and crawled back, and died in two days. He did not repay his debts, and he beat people's lives. Today, the borrower was robbed, and his father was beaten to death. The injustice is unjust, and there is no redress. Cast into the sky for personal inspection, the law will pay for life, life and death are not wronged, and cry and sue. ”

Zhou Li's complaint reads:

"The complaint is a begging prosecution and false accusation: he borrowed 50 taels of silver from the wealthy Cao Guozhen, and repaid the principal and interest 80 taels within four years, and the accounts can be proven. Hao sat on the original batch, and had no choice but to return the cloth three feet, a pair of Beijing shoes, and a treasure inkstone, but still did not return the loan approval, and brushed the clothes out. begged along the way, but was beaten. It is the silver master, how dare he fight? There was no fight, and there were dead and wounded? begging; Prosecution, false accusations, appeals. ”

Lu Jing checked the testimony of witnesses He Ji and Zhang Jing again, and saw that both of them testified that Zhou Li broke Cao Guozhen's head with an inkstone.

opened the post-mortem report again, and it was written that Cao Guozhen's chest, forehead, and back of the head were all fatal.

Finally, he checked the cause of Zhou Li's death and reported it for approval, and the jailer reported that he had died of tuberculosis.

Lu Jing thought in his heart, these evidences and testimonies were all unfavorable to Zhou Li, and there seemed to be no wrongdoing, and he couldn't listen to Wang's words, in case someone deliberately arranged to lead him into a trick. But it is more likely that Cao Ji bought through the witnesses and made it, and he needs to be cautious.

Now that the matter has been opened, it is estimated that Cao Ji and others have received the news, if it is a false accusation, there will definitely be contact, so they ordered Wu Ze and Chen Ji to visit the traces of He Ji and Zhang Jing. He also ordered someone to inform Lu Lian to wait for his notice for the time being, and then bring the Wang family to complain after the news came back.

About two hours later, Wu Ze and Chen Ji came back to report, saying that Cao Ji had met with He and Zhang, and that He Zuo also appeared, and He, Zhang, and Qi Zuo all had a bag of silver in their waists when they left.

Lu Jing knew this in his heart, so he ordered someone to inform Lu Lian.

After a while, Lu Lian took the Wang family to the county office, and there were many people with him, and the people in the city had already learned about it, and they all knew that Zhou Li was wronged, so they flocked to the county government to watch.

When Lu Jing saw the arrival of the people, he ordered him to be promoted to the court to try the case.

After Wang submitted the appeal, he unconsciously cried loudly, knelt down and shouted: "I ask Lord Qingtian to redress the grievances of the people's women!" ”

Lu Jing said in a deep voice: "You don't have to be in a hurry, and you can tell slowly, the official has his own judgment." ”

Wang told her husband Zhou Li and Cao Guozhen the grievances again, and finally said that her husband was killed by someone, and he still doesn't know where the bones are.

After hearing this, Lu Jing immediately issued a sign and ordered someone to summon the jailer to the court.

After a while, the jailer arrived, knelt down and said, "The villain Wang Biao knocks on the adult." ”

Lu Jing asked, "How did Zhou Li die in prison, and where is the body now?" ”

Wang Biaoyu said: "Zhou Li died of illness in prison, and his body has been pulled outside the city for burial. ”

Lu Jing said coldly: "Since he died of illness, why didn't he hand it over to his family for burial, you dared to bury it privately." ”

Wang Biao hurriedly replied: "Lord Hui, Zhou Li had tuberculosis that week, if it is handed over to his family, it may infect other people, and the villain also acts according to the convention." ”

When Lu Jing heard this, he sneered slightly: "What a jailer, he dares to prevaricate in front of this official, no matter how he died, he wants to see people in life and corpses in death, you are limited to immediately bring someone to find his body and transport it back, if not, you can pay for his life, come on, take him to find the body." ”

When Wang Biao heard this, his face changed greatly, he looked up at Jiang Runnong, struggled a few times, and finally did not speak, so he went to look for the body outside the city.

Lu Jing immediately summoned He Ji to the court and asked him to describe in detail the conflict between Zhou and Cao that day.

When He Ji heard this, he described the matter in detail.

Lu Jing ordered him to retreat, and then passed Zhang Jing to describe it again, and then passed He Ji to describe it again, and then Zhang Jing again, and so on.

When the onlookers saw Lu Jing repeating it repeatedly, they were all confused and discussed.

Lu Jing picked up the testimony of the two and read it carefully, patted the shocked wood, and said angrily: "What a Diao Min, the matter has been more than four months ago, and the two of you actually remember it accurately, and the confessions are exactly the same several times, and it is clearly the testimony that has been memorized a long time ago, and it has not been recruited from the truth." ”

He Ji and Zhang Jing hurriedly knelt down and said: "What the villain said is the truth, and he really doesn't dare to lie in front of the adult." ”

Lu Jing shouted: "If you confess at this time, the official will still be lightly punished, and if you still deny it, watch the stick and serve." ”

Then he ordered people to be executed, seeing that some of the servants on both sides wanted to take a step, but they retreated, and no one did it for a while, Lu Jing sneered unconsciously, looked at Jiang Runnong and said: "Lord Jiang is a good subordinate of training, he only has your orders in his eyes, and he doesn't know that there is a court, it seems that your small court is running well." ”

Jiang Runnong saw that the matter had reached this point, and he couldn't do it well, so he had to argue strongly: "Your Excellency's words have tormented the lower officials, the lower officials are appointed by the imperial court, and they naturally obey the orders of the imperial court. ”

"Well said, so reasonable!" Lu Jing said with a smile, and then looked at the people in the hall: "Presumably, if this official does not open a trial, you all know the inside story of this matter, if you want to continue to follow your lords, just stand still, and if you obey your orders, take a step forward." ”

As soon as Lu Jing's words fell, more than two-thirds of the people in the audience took a step forward, and even the county clerk, the chief bookkeeper, and the six-room scribe next to the public case all stood up and took a small step forward.

Seeing this, Lu Jing suddenly had a smile on his face, and shouted coldly at Jiang Runnong: "Nineteen murders have occurred in Ganyu Ferry one after another, and you, as the chief official, have not even noticed it, and the crime of negligence is not small. ”

Jiang Runnong was stunned when he heard this, he didn't expect Lu Jing to use this matter to coerce him, and immediately said angrily: "You are nitpicking, those things have nothing to do with me, I want to play, I will sue you in front of the palace." ”

Lu Jing smiled and said, "In this case, Lord Jiang, please go on the road, let's see you in the capital." ”

Jiang Runnong was speechless, Lu Jing didn't wait for him to speak again, and motioned for Zhang Dizhou to escort him down.

Zhang Dizhou personally took the two of them and pushed Jiang Runnong down.

When the onlookers saw Lord Qincha escorting Jiang Runnong out of the palace, they applauded loudly, and some even took off their shoes and threw them on his head.