The spring breeze with a little chill gently swept across the banks of the Yellow River, only making the wicker of the century-old giant willow on the bank of the river tender and green, so that the riverbank was also full of spring. Although there are still a few pieces of ice floe on the Yellow River that will bring some danger to shipping, the boatmen, who have been silent for a whole winter, still hurriedly drag the boat into the water, only to make the Yellow River busy again.

The recovery of shipping has also made the Qinghe River, which has been silent for a winter, once again show its prosperity, especially in the new city with the academy as the core, it is even more lively, and on the lively main street of the new market, there is a place that always attracts some people to gather here almost every day, and this is the Qinghe Trial Hall.

According to the rules set by the Jianghuai Economic Envoy, such as the prefect and the county magistrate no longer try all kinds of cases, the case is in charge of the criminal chamber of the Economic Envoy's Office, and the criminal chamber has a criminal constitution department and a trial hall, and there are higher trial halls, local trial halls, and primary trial halls in various parts of Jiangbei. The Higher Adjudication Hall is a provincial-level adjudication organ, with a department, a judge, a book, a master book, and a record. Local trial halls are set up in larger cities, and have chief judges, judges, bookkeepers, master books, and records. The primary trial halls are set up in each county, and there are judges and recorders. In this way, the old situation of the county magistrate and the judiciary was changed, which not only limited the power of the magistrate, but also enabled them to supervise each other, so as to avoid the power of the old magistrate in one county and covering the sky with one hand.

Of course, it is the ordinary people who really benefit from it, and this judicial independence fully protects the interests of the people, and even those people do not realize that it is beneficial to them. However, for the common people, watching the excitement in the court hall is a good way for them to pass the idle time, after all, in this court of justice, almost every day is new.

Just like now, in the Qinghe local trial hall, there is a big official who is being tried - the former Yangzhou salt transport envoy, this is a fat difference known to the world, such a prominent official is so in the trial hall in the open and honest trial, not to mention that ordinary people have never heard of it, even Chen Yonghua, it is unseen, and it is precisely because of this that he will squeeze into the trial hall like everyone else, because the seats in the hall are limited, he has to stand in the corridor on the second floor to observe the trial that is about to begin, the reason why he is here, is not only curious about the trial, but also curious about Jiangbei.

"It's been three days since the trial, and it is estimated that this sentence should be sentenced today......"

Could it be that in the past three days, the trial has been held in public? How is this different from humiliation?

When Chen Yonghua thought to himself, this was the first time he came to the trial hall, this trial hall was completely different from the ordinary yamen, there was a table in the center, and there was a shocking wood on the platform, obviously, it should be the position of the chief judge, about a foot away in front of the chief judge, with a railing separating rows of seats, where all the people were sitting in the audience. And in front of the railing there is a row of long tables to the left, and a row of long tables to the right, opposite the presiding judge,

"Hey, what's those twelve chairs for?"

Listening to the slightly hokkien tone of doubt in his ears, Wang Zhili, who only felt quite kind, closed the notepad in his hand and said softly.

"This brother should be the first time to come to Jiangbei!"

Looking at the young people around him, Wang Zhili introduced.

"Those twelve chairs are the jury's seats."

"Jury?"

Chen Yonghua asked suspiciously.

"This jury was when Jingluo pacified Jiangbei, in view of the fact that most of the officials in Jiangbei at that time were Qingyu puppet officials, because they didn't know their talents, in fact, they wanted to come to Brother Tai and also knew, not that they didn't know their talents, and didn't trust them, after all, those Qinglu puppet officials in order to curry favor with the Qingqing, they were extremely oppressive to the people, and they had long been accustomed to oppressing the people, and Jinglu naturally did not tolerate them doing this, so they would seize their trial power, so that they could no longer oppress the people with punishments, but there was no county participation, and how to deal with the punishment, so at that time, It is ordered that when each county hears a case, it should select 12 insiders as jurors, and they will provide proof after taking an oath to the county magistrate as the basis for the verdict......"

Wang Zhili's answer made Chen Yonghua stunned, and he who stayed in Xiamen with Yu Shizi at that time naturally didn't know the "jury".

"Let the people participate in the trial of the case, how can there be such a thing from ancient times to the present? How can the people distinguish between right and wrong? ”

"How is it that the people can't tell right from wrong?"

Wang Zhili then retorted.

The jury system used by Jinglu is actually the "umbrella stabbing method" of the revival of the Zhou system, "In the prison prosecution of the common people with three stabs, one is to interrogate the ministers, the second is to interrogate the officials, and the third is to interrogate the people", Zheng Xuan noted: "Assassination, murder, and three interrogations are punished for killing." news, words also". Only in this way can we avoid officials covering the sky with one hand! ”

first emphasized that the "jury system" is a weekly system, and then Wang Zhili said softly.

Besides, haven't you heard a sentence called "right and wrong are free in the hearts of the people"! ”

Right and wrong are at ease in people's hearts!

A simple sentence made Chen Yonghua's heart tremble.

"And you look at these 12 people, how can they choose 12 people at random, the selection of 12 local people as jurors needs to be jointly selected by the prosecution and defense, not to mention other cases, just Zheng Xiaru's case, when selecting jurors, it took two full days for the criminal officer and Zheng Xiaru's counselor to select these 12 jurors."

"Judge?"

Chen Yonghua asked puzzled.

"Who is this criminal officer?"

"The criminal officer, well, is a full-time criminal officer, is an official of the criminal constitution department set up under the torture room, in all parts of Jiangbei, criminal cases must be filed by the criminal officer, the reason why the justice of Jiangbei is meticulous, is because the local history is responsible for arresting, collecting evidence, and then handed over to the criminal officer, by him depending on the evidence to sentence, if the evidence is insufficient, naturally not to mention, after the criminal proceedings, and then by the trial hall is responsible for the trial, so each performs its own duties, naturally it also avoids the past county to cover the sky with one hand, between words can turn black into white, white into black! Prevent the plaintiff from being beaten as a defendant and the defendant from being a plaintiff! ”

Although he did not know much about the judicial system of Jiangbei's mutual restraint, Chen Yonghua still realized from Wang Zhili's words that under this meticulous structure, the people could indeed be protected to the greatest extent.

"Then if there is a jury of twelve to decide whether the defendant is guilty or not, what is the use of the presiding judge?"

When asked rhetorically, Chen Yonghua looked at the vacant seat.

"It's not the presiding judge, it's the magistrate."

Wang Zhili pointed to the first seat and said.

"Sitting there is the judge, and his duty is to maintain order in the courtroom, so that the prosecution and defense will not quarrel, so that they will not distort the facts, of course, in the end, this sentencing still depends on the judge's sentencing."

At this moment, the sound of a soldier sounded in the courtroom below the viewing platform.

"Silence! When the matter arrives, everyone stands! ”

Those who had been sitting stood up one after another. Of course, it also includes the prosecution and defense who have just arrived in the hall, and naturally there is Zheng Xiaru wearing a green shirt.

"Jing Luo once said that in the courtroom, the magistrate not only represents the Great Ming Law, but since he is the Son of Heaven, he also needs to stand to greet him. After all, what he represents is the majesty of the Great Ming Law. ”

When the magistrate entered the courtroom, Chen Yonghua saw that the official robe on the magistrate's body was not extremely repaired, but only a black official uniform with no supplements.

Therefore, a magistrate, like a criminal officer, has no rank, and there is no need to address anyone as a "subordinate official." In this way, it naturally prevents others from using their power to control them and bend the law for personal gain. ”

I hope so!

Maybe he didn't find the loophole for a while, but Chen Yonghua, who knew that there must be a loophole in it, didn't speak, but just looked at the trial hall, and he noticed that after the judge entered the trial hall, the atmosphere in the entire hall suddenly changed. Almost at the moment when the magistrate appeared, the hall suddenly fell silent, and although there were many people, none of these observers dared to make a loud noise, but only whispered continuously.

In this way, we can also see the majesty of this push.

If you make a loud noise and are convicted by the magistrate, you will disturb the hall at best, detain you for ten days without saying anything, and you will be fined several taels of silver, and at worst, it may be regarded as "contempt for national laws and disturbance of the hall" and flow for 3,000 miles! ”

A sentence of three thousand miles made Chen Yonghua simply unable to believe his ears,

"Three thousand miles?"

"Yes, that's right, it's exile to Taiwan, to tell you, there are really people who have been exiled for 3,000 miles for "flouting national laws and disturbing the hall", and there is no appeal or trial. ”

"Then what he said, isn't it Chrysostom!"

With a light voice in disbelief, Chen Yonghua didn't even notice that his voice was lowered a lot, and it could only be heard by the two of them,

"Isn't it Chrysostom!"

Wang Zhili's words were slightly dissatisfied.

"In this hall, what he said is Chrysostom, although he can't condemn death, he can make others live and die, but he can break the people's homes!"

From the tone of the person beside him, Chen Yonghua could hear that he seemed to be a little dissatisfied with Jiangbei or this "push", but from his words, he still felt the authority of the pusher, at least his authority in this trial hall was beyond doubt.

Whether they like it or not, the authority of the judge in the trial hall has already been established, and when the case began to be heard, Chen Yonghua immediately saw the arguments between the two sides of the probing, and what surprised them was that the judges, who should have been very authoritative, were just there to listen to their arguments, and occasionally spoke out to stop a certain party's radical remarks.

When he retired from the court to rest, his brows were tightly locked, and for the scene he had seen in the hall before, listening to the arguments between the prosecution and defense, he seemed to be thoughtful, and Chen Yonghua suddenly asked Wang Zhili.

"I don't know what my brother thinks, is Zheng Xiaru guilty?"