"The officials of the trial actually coerced and induced the prisoners to confess, and tortured them into tricks, Jing Min and Shi Dayou's confessions are not credible, do you think that this case can be handled with just a few letters? If the boss insisted that those letters were not written by him, but were written by someone imitating his handwriting, would the father really take his crown prince with these letters? Unless the father himself has the intention of abolishing the crown prince, do you think the father will do this at this time? Don't talk about others, just say that he can't pass my mother's level! ”

Zhuo Bufan frowned, and said, "But Your Majesty has asked you to be the chief judge, isn't it convenient for you to find evidence for the prince?" If His Majesty is biased in favor of the crown prince, why should he do this, wouldn't it be better to change other ministers to be the chief judges, the ministers can't figure it out! ”

Zhao Ping shook his head: "If you think that my father asked me to be the chief judge in order to facilitate me to find evidence of the boss's crimes, then you are very wrong, where is he doing this to facilitate me, he is testing me, he is warning me, if I have the slightest act of framing the boss in the next trial process, he will definitely know about it, and then it will be when I am unlucky!" ”

After Zhuo Bufan listened, a cold sweat broke out on his body.

"Your Highness, what are you going to do next?"

Zhao Ping thought for a while and said: "This case is only afraid that Huang Dezhong will be sacrificed, and the next investigation can only be done by normal means, this king tries not to personally intervene in the investigation and interrogation, and hands over the investigation and interrogation of the entire case to the criminal department, Dali Temple and the chief officials of the Yushitai to carry out, this king is only responsible for listening to the results, and it is best to collect the evidence of the boss's crime, if there is no new discovery, this case can only be handed over to the father and emperor with the current evidence!" ”

Wang Fu Zhan Shizhuo couldn't help but feel particularly sorry: "Your Highness, in fact, as long as we plan properly this time, it is not impossible to pull the prince off the horse, but as His Highness said, His Majesty seems to be deliberately favoring the Prince, if we use means, Your Majesty will definitely not like it, which will make Your Majesty disgusted Your Highness!" ”

Zhao Ping smiled bitterly: "The father is not partial to the boss, he wants to be fair, but he does favor the boss, the boss and I are both his sons, he always has a bowl of water, what is the temperament of the boss, the father is very clear, in the future, we should try not to use this method, if we overdo it, it will outweigh the losses!" ”

"What Your Highness said is very true!"

······

The prison of the Criminal Department.

As night fell, the chill inside the prison seemed to rise.

Iron doors were opened, and several jailers walked in with rice buckets and clay bowls and chopsticks.

"It's time to eat!" The cell boss shouted and began to instruct the guards to fill the inmates in each cell with food in clay bowls and bring it in through the small window under the cell door, along with bamboo chopsticks.

Watching a few jailers walk away, the cell head looked back, walked to the door of cell nine, leaned against the door and knocked on the door.

A prisoner in a prison uniform in the corner of the cell heard a knock on the door.

The cell boss said casually: "Lord Huang, Your Highness asked me to bring you a sentence, 'Huang Dezhong, your family and this king will take care of you for you, as long as there is this king for a day, they will have no worries about food and clothing'"

After saying that, the cell boss left directly.

Huang Dezhong's face in the cell instantly turned pale, and he took a few steps back and fell to the ground.

After the last patrol was completed, the cell boss on duty led the guards out of the depths of the cell and locked the iron doors one after another with iron locks.

It wasn't until the last iron door was locked that the cell boss turned to the jailers and said, "It's getting late, let's go back to our rooms and rest!" ”

The jailers were lazily scattered, and the cell boss also carried the keys to the various cells and the three iron doors to the guard room.

The jailers nested in the dormitory and pushed Pai Gow for an hour, and in the end everyone couldn't stand it anymore, and the card game was dispersed, and they slept on their bunks, and the lights in the dormitory were blown out.

The entire interior of the prison fell into silence.

A man in black suddenly appeared inside the cell, and this person went back and forth between the ear room on duty and outside the prison guard's quarters, the whole process was silent, and then easily removed a large set of keys from the waist of the sleeping cell head in the ear room.

The arrival of the man in black alarmed several prisoners who had not yet fallen asleep, but none of these prisoners made a sound, but quickly closed their eyes and pretended to be asleep.

The feeling that this man in black brought to them was too dangerous, and the wisest choice at this time was to choose to pretend to be asleep, pretend to be asleep, if the man in black found out that they were still awake, they might be killed.

The man in black walked unhurriedly with a sword, and there was a prisoner hanging on the door of a cell in front of the right. The man in black shook his way on.

The lock of the cell door was opened, and the sound of the chain pulling sounded, and the man in black pushed open the cell door and walked in.

The sound woke Jing Min up, and he opened his eyes to see the man in black.

"I've done what you say!" Jing Min said.

The man in black said, "I know! ”

"What are you doing this time?"

"Kill you!"

As soon as the words fell, the bright sword light flashed, and Jing Min couldn't even speak before he could speak.

As if he had never had a sword, the man in black turned and left, without any nostalgia.

Jing Min's corpse fell to the ground with a thud.

······

Early in the morning, Zhao Junsheng changed his clothes after breakfast and prepared to go to the Qinzheng Palace.

Mulan stopped him: "You wait! ”

Zhao Junsheng stopped and turned to look at her, Wan Yutong was feeding the child, and he also looked at it at this time.

Hua Mulan hesitated, walked up to Zhao Junsheng and asked, "I heard that you ordered the boss to be grounded in the East Palace?" ”

Zhao Junsheng nodded: "That's right, he is suspected of disobeying the will to protect Sogdian merchants and colluding with them for smuggling, harming the interests of Daqian, this case is currently under investigation, I have ordered the Criminal Department, Dali Temple and Yushitai to form a three-division trial, with the third chief judge!" ”

Hua Mulan was a little angry: "The boss disobeyed your will to shelter Sogdian merchants and colluded with them to smuggle, do you believe it?" ”

Zhao Junsheng sighed: "As his grandfather, I don't want to believe that he will do this; As an emperor, believe it or not, this case must be investigated! ”

"Check it, I don't believe my son would do such a thing, but why did you order him to be grounded in the East Palace? Do you know what kind of message you will send to the court and officials in various places, as well as to those feudal officials? Everyone thinks that the prince has fallen out of favor, and then the ministers will deliberately keep their distance from the boss, if someone caught the boss in the past, this time it is a good opportunity to fall into the ground! ”

Zhao Junsheng asked: "Don't you think the boss's brain should be cooled down?" Also, if the eldest and the third are vying for the right to inherit the throne, which side will you be on? ”

After Zhao Junsheng finished speaking, he turned around and left.

"I don't stand on either side, they're all my sons!"

Mulan was stunned after saying this, what? Could it be that the third child is playing ghost this time? No, the relationship between the eldest and the third brother has always been very good!

Hua Mulan turned around and walked to Wan Yutong and sat down, "You also heard it just now, did he mean that the eldest and third are now fighting for the throne?" ”

Wan Yutong was surprised: "Won't it?" The husband is in the prime of life, why did the eldest and third start to do it so early? When the question of the ownership of the succession to the throne is to be put on the table, they don't know that it will have to wait until the Year of the Monkey and the month of the horse. ”

Mulan didn't make a sound for a while, and finally sighed: "The children are all older, and they all have their own thoughts and ideas, and I, the mother, don't know that they have ······ I just hope they don't fratricidally fight for the right to the throne."

Zhao Junsheng came to the Qinzheng Palace, and the old eunuch Kang Yide was already waiting at the door of the main hall, and he asked, "Have you sent all the pieces for today?" ”

Conith bowed; "Back to Your Majesty, the time has not yet come!"

Zhao Junsheng nodded, walked into the main hall, and asked as he walked, "How is the trial of Jing Min by the three divisions going?" What progress have they made in the past few days? ”

"Your Majesty, these days are still in the investigation stage, the Criminal Department has sent another director named Sun Wei to be responsible for the third investigation, and the object of this investigation is Jing Min, Shi Dayou and the people around them, to see if those entourage, guards, family members and maids know the relevant clues; In addition, Yushitai is also investigating the arrest and torture personnel of his subordinates who followed Huang Dezhong to solve the case, to see if there is a suspicion of inducing confessions, coercion and inducement, and torture! ”

At this time, a little eunuch walked in quickly and whispered a few words in Kang Yide's ear, and Huang Dezhong waved his hand to the little eunuch after hearing this, asking him to step back.

"Your Majesty, I just received the news that Jing Min was killed in prison last night, and Huang Dezhong, who was originally investigating the case, hanged himself in fear of crime, and both of them were locked up in the No. A prison area, and there were only a few cells between the two cells!"

Zhao Junsheng was taken aback, and then became furious: "What? It is simply lawless that someone dares to commit murder in the prison of the Criminal Department, this is provoking the judicial yamen of the imperial court! Kang Yide, you send someone to tell the King of Shu that I want him and the chief of the Three Law Divisions to report the relevant case to me as soon as possible! ”

"No!"

An hour later, Zhao Ping and the officials in charge of the relevant cases of the Three Law Divisions entered the palace to meet and report the relevant cases.

"Your Majesty!" A few people saluted after singing.

Zhao Junsheng said: "Flat!" ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Which of you will tell me the details of Jing Min and Huang Dezhong's deaths? I ordered the three of you to jointly investigate and try this case, and in the past few days, not only have you not investigated the case clearly, but you have let the two key criminals die, should you give me an explanation, huh? ”

Zhao Ping looked at the person next to him and said, "Sun Wei, you come to report the relevant case to your father!" ”

"No!"

Sun Wei, the head of the Criminal Department, stood up and saluted, and said: "Your Majesty, the minister has led people to inspect two scenes, and in Jing Min's cell, the ministers and others found that he was killed by someone with a sword after investigation, and Jing Min didn't even have a chance to resist and hide!" The wound was at the center of the forehead and eyebrows, and a sword pierced the skull! As far as the minister knows, although Jing Min is a civil official, he has martial arts, and his martial arts are still very strong, except for the fatal wound in the center of the eyebrows, Jing Min's body has no other sword wounds found except for the torture wounds he has received before, which means that he was killed by the murderer with a sword, which shows that the murderer's swordsmanship is very superb! No other clues left by the killer were found at the scene! ”

"After the ministers investigated Huang Dezhong's cell, they found that Huang Dezhong hanged himself and died, and there was no sign of his killing, and the thing used to hang himself was his own belt, and the ministers also found a suicide note written on the cloth in blood in the cell, Huang Dezhong said in the suicide note that he was deeply favored by the emperor but did something illegal in law enforcement, and he was guilty of holy grace, and he knew that he was guilty of sin, and he had no shame to live in the world!"

After listening to this, Zhao Junsheng pondered for a while and asked, "When did these two people die?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the time when Huang Dezhong hanged himself was about a moment after the middle of the night, Jing Min was killed around the time of the ugly, after inspection, Huang Dezhong should have died before Jing Min!"

Zhao Junsheng asked again: "How did the murderer get into prison?" Did any of the other inmates in the prison be asked if anyone had witnessed the killer? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the ministers are currently sending people to interrogate the prisoners, and they have not yet received relevant clues! When the murderer entered the prison, he killed five guards outside, and later took the key from the sleeping cell boss, opened several iron doors and prison doors, and killed Jing Min, from the deaths of these guards, it can also be seen that the murderer should be a person with very strong swordsmanship! ”

Zhao Junsheng was furious: "It's just bold, I can enter and enter the prison of the Criminal Department freely, is the prison of the Criminal Department a vegetable garden?" I don't understand, why the murderer can enter the prison so easily to kill people, and the guards are a bunch of wine bags and rice bags? Passing on my will, the warden was seriously derelict in his duty and dereliction of duty, and all the cell bosses and jailers who were on duty last night were dismissed and sent to prison, waiting to be released! ”

"In addition, to investigate, I want to know where this murderer is, so unscrupulous! This case happened in the prison of the Criminal Department, and it is related to the case investigated by the Criminal Department, so it will be handed over to the Criminal Department for investigation! ”

Li Yuande, the secretary of the Criminal Department, stood up and agreed: "The old minister obeys the order!" ”

Wang De, the secretary of Dali Temple, stood up and saluted and asked: "Your Majesty, now that Jing Min, the main suspect in the Jing Min case, is dead, he confessed that he was instructed by the prince to shelter Sogdian merchants and colluded with them to carry out smuggling matters, and because Huang Dezhong was suspected of being beaten into a trick, so his confession is no longer credible, although he provided letters as evidence, but because of this person's death and the suspicion of being beaten into a confession, the accusation against the prince is somewhat insufficient!" ”

Zhao Junsheng thought for a moment and asked, "How are you investigating the people around Jing Min and Shi Dayou in the past few days?" Are there any other clues to find? ”

Sun Wei replied: "Back to Your Majesty's words, the minister has investigated these people, and they don't know whether the prince has anything to do with this matter, but Huang Dezhong's subordinates confessed that Huang Dezhong did induce confessions and even threatened Jing Min and Shi Dayou!" ”

Zhao Junsheng thought about it for a while, looked at Wang De and Li Yuande and asked, "What are your views and opinions?" ”

Li Yuande said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the prince is not involved in this matter, and he is not the mastermind behind the Jing Min case, this case is obviously someone who wants to involve the prince, and those letters and Jing Min and Shi Dayou's first confession are all methods used by someone to deal with the prince!" ”

Zhao Junsheng retorted: "Jing Min was killed, how do you explain this?" If someone wants to frame the prince, why kill Jing Min, the person who is the most unfavorable to the prince? ”

Wang De saluted and said, "Your Majesty, how can you explain Huang Dezhong's death?" He beat Jing Min and Shi Dayou into confessions, induced confessions, the minister will not he will not do this for no reason, according to the investigation, this person and Jing Min and Shi Dayou have no such enmity, he must have been instructed to do so, his death just makes it impossible for us to track down the mastermind behind the scenes, the minister suspects that there is something strange about this person's death, even if he really committed suicide, I am afraid that it is a last resort! The minister thinks that the ban on the crown prince should be lifted, and almost all the clues in this case have been cut off because of the deaths of Jing Min and Huang Dezhong, and he can't find any clues if he wants to continue to investigate! ”

Zhao Junsheng touched his chin, weighed it and said, "I have to think about it, so let's step back!" ”

Everyone saluted together: "Wait for the resignation!" ”