The hall of the county government of Taihu County has not been lit up at night for many years, and it is said that the hall was suddenly promoted at night tonight, it is said that the county government was stolen, and the thieves not only stole a large amount of silver taels, but also stole the seal letter of the Sentencing Division of Zhang Ti.

Due to the seriousness and special nature of the case, the government has not made a public announcement and has been secretly searching for clues, and today the unified operation will arrest all the suspects.

The four of them came to the public court after a short time, and the suspects saw the arrival of the county magistrate, and there was a commotion, but then under the reprimand of the officials, they quickly returned to quiet.

Chen Zhixian said to Zhang Zhiyuan, "Please ask Lord Zhang to preside over the trial." ”

Zhang Zhiyuan said, "The guest does not suppress the master, the official is a guest from afar, or Chen Zhixian is the chief judge." With that, he sat down on the side.

Zhang Peng and Yang Congyi stood behind Zhang Zhiyuan on the left and right.

Seeing this formation, the suspects in the hall were in a commotion again.

Chen Zhixian sat down, patted the shocked wood, and said sharply, "Silence!" ”

The people in the hall were quiet again, but they still turned their heads from time to time to look at Zhang Zhiyuan who was sitting next to him. Although they haven't seen it before, they have heard people talk about it more than once in the past few days, saying that this adult is approachable and has no official standing, it seems that the rumors are true, and it is rare to see a good official, so they naturally want to take a few more looks.

Chen Zhixian put down his surprise and said loudly, "A few days ago, there were thieves in this county, and this thief was bold enough to steal the county government, not only stealing the county's property, but also stealing the items of Lord Zhang. Such acts have a bad impact, and it is really difficult to explain to Mr. Zhang if the bold thieves are not brought to justice and the stolen items are recovered. After the county's secret investigation, you and the others all have a large amount of money of unknown origin, and all of them are suspected of committing crimes. Before the interrogation in this county, can anyone take the initiative to confess? ”

Everyone in the hall didn't dare to move, stealing the official mansion, such a big crime, no one dared to speak, and the atmosphere didn't dare to come out.

Chen Zhixian saw that the sound of breathing could be heard in the quiet hall, and glanced at everyone in the hall, but no one answered, so he said, "If someone takes the initiative to admit it, this county can ask Lord Zhang to make the decision to reduce the punishment." If you are lucky and don't admit it, you may be able to deceive the eyes of this county, but the adult who has been sentenced to punishment has handled countless cases, what kind of strange cases have not been seen, do you think you can escape the eyes of the adult? ”

After Chen Zhixian finished speaking, he stopped talking, but his eyes swept back and forth on the faces of everyone in the hall, and there was silence in the hall, and the crackling sound accompanied by the burning of oil lamps was extremely clear in everyone's ears.

Zhang Zhiyuan stared ahead, motionless, and the two people standing behind him were also like wooden people, which invisibly exerted a lot of psychological pressure on the suspects.

After this silence lasted for about a stick of incense, someone finally couldn't bear the huge psychological pressure brought by the silence, and knelt on the ground with a puff, kowtowed his head, and said in a trembling voice, "My lord, the grass people explain." ”

Chen Zhixian was stunned for a moment, looked at Zhang Zhiyuan, and saw that he was unmoved, so he immediately patted the shocked wooden road, "Okay, explain what you did clearly." ”

When the suspects in the hall saw that someone finally confessed, they all breathed a sigh of relief, and if someone admitted that there was nothing to do with them, they could go home immediately without going to the court and not being tortured, and everyone was secretly happy. As soon as the kneeling man spoke, he startled them back to their prototypes.

I only heard the man say, "Sun Erniu, a grass man, did steal ten taels of silver from the boss of the silk shop in the west of the city a few days ago while he was drunk. Please spare the grass people, and the grass people will immediately return the silver to Boss Zhou. Please, sir. As he spoke, he kept kowtowing.

After hearing this, Chen Zhixian said loudly, "Okay, since you take the initiative to confess, the county will not punish you severely, return the stolen silver to Boss Zhou, and then go to the county office to do ten days of miscellaneous labor, and the county will no longer investigate the crime of stealing." Get up. ”

The man cried, "Master Xie is gracious." "I didn't dare to get up until I thanked him.

Chen Zhixian said, "Come here, take Sun Erniu to record a confession, record the details of the theft one by one, check with Boss Zhou, if there is any untruth, severely punish it." ”

A servant stepped forward and took the man aside.

Chen Zhixian looked at the people in the hall sternly, "If someone wants to take advantage of the loophole and confess his guilt indiscriminately, so as to escape punishment, once it is verified, the punishment will be doubled." Is there anyone else to explain? ”

The suspects just saw someone confess their guilt, thinking that the theft had nothing to do with them, and just relaxed, they heard that the person decided that it was not a county theft case at all. After the county lord fulfilled his promise and almost did not punish Sun Erniu, some people thought that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, and they were trying to fabricate a reason for the crime to escape the trial, but they heard that the county lord wanted to check the case. For a moment, they did not dare to admit their guilt or cry out for injustice, and silence returned to the hall.

After waiting for a while, Chen Zhixian asked in a loud voice, "Isn't anyone willing to admit it?" ”

There was still no one in the hall answering, and there was an extraordinary tranquility.

Chen Zhixian nodded and said, "Okay, since no one admits it, let's come one by one." Come on, put on the torture instrument! ”

Almost instantly, the officials brought all kinds of torture instruments to the court. Yang Congyi looked at it once, and only knew the clamp stick in the torture instrument, and he didn't know anything else.

At this time, Zhang Zhiyuan spoke, "Chen Zhixian, don't use the torture tools lightly, let the official try it first." As he spoke, Yang Congyi leaned over and whispered in his ear, "A few more people." ”

Yang Cong immediately understood that this was to confuse the bandits who had not yet been discovered, to make them think that the government was indeed investigating the theft, and to let them relax their vigilance.

In fact, as soon as Yang Congyi entered the court, he recognized a bandit with a black birthmark on his face, but neither the magistrate nor Lord Zhang spoke, so he did not immediately identify the person. Now that he had been instructed, he stepped forward to examine the suspects one by one, and slowly walked past them.

When he passed in front of the bandit with the birthmark on his face, he paused, and found that the bandit's face and eyes were all expressionless and fearless, with a clear conscience, and a cloud of anger immediately rose in his chest, and he was about to point him out, when he suddenly remembered Master Zhang's explanation, he held back his anger, walked in front of the bandit, and quickly read the rest of the people one by one.

Zhang Zhiyuan saw that Yang Congyi's face was different, and hurriedly reminded, "Okay, identify them one by one." ”

Yang Congyi took the order, walked to the first row and pointed out two people, walked to the second row and pointed out one person, and when he reached the last row, he pointed out the two people first, and then walked to the bandit and pointed him out last.

Chen Zhixian saw that Yang Congyi had already found the bandits, so he said loudly, "Everyone who has been ordered has stepped forward and stood still, and the others have stood still." After speaking, seeing that no one in the hall was moving, he felt that his majesty was damaged, and said sharply, "Are you deaf?" Or do you want the county to pull you out one by one? Come on, drag them out of the county! ”

The six people pointed out by Yang Congyi were quickly escorted out by the officials to stand in the front row, only to see that they all looked away and did not dare to look at the eyes of the county lord, showing fear on their faces, but no one dared to take the lead in shouting injustice.

Chen Zhixian looked at those who were not identified and said, "Don't be lucky, in the future, this county will also find out the origin of your money one by one, and if there is any wrongdoing, it will definitely be severely punished." Come to someone, take them down, ask about the family situation, register them all, and notify the family members to claim them. ”

After the waiting catchers outside took out all the people who had not been named, the public hall was empty, and it was instantly much more spacious.

Chen Zhixian was not in a hurry to ask about the case, he sat upright, looking at the six people in the hall who bowed their heads and remained silent over and over again.

After half a burnt incense, Chen Zhixian said in a loud voice, "Come on, each of these Diao people will be beaten with twenty boards." ”

The six people were so frightened when they heard this, and one of them was even so frightened that he knelt on the ground and shouted injustice. The Yamen may not have eaten the board, but the county lord loves to play the board, and they have long known that the rule of not giving the defendant a chance to defend himself in court and playing the 20th board first is well known in Taihu County.

Chen Zhixian looked at the person who knelt on the ground and shouted grievances, and suddenly laughed, only to hear him say, "Let you say, you don't say it, now I want to speak, it's too late." First receive the county's 20 boards, and then it's not too late. Beat! ”

The officials were about to start to execute the suspect upside down, when Zhang Zhiyuan suddenly said, "Wait." They have all heard Chen Zhixian's methods, and some of them may have already understood it, so why don't you let this official try it for the first trial? ”

Chen Zhixian was overjoyed, got up and gave way to his seat, "This is just right, it is most suitable for Lord Zhang to try such a big case." Lord Zhang, please! ”

Zhang Zhiyuan sat still, glanced at the six people, and said, "Lord Chen, please take a seat, how can this official be so anti-guest-oriented." After registering these suspects, Mr. Chen took them to the official's residence for careful interrogation. After speaking, he got up and left, followed by Zhang Peng and Yang Congyi.

Chen Zhixian replied, "Yes, the lower officials obey the order." When Zhang Zhiyuan walked away, he sat down, glanced at the suspect again, and threatened, "Shut up in front of the county, and when it comes to Zhang Tixing, the county is afraid that you will be speechless." Shaoxing Zhang Qingtian, I don't know if you've heard of it, it doesn't matter if you haven't heard of it, you can all see it with your own eyes tonight. Now give your name and how many people in your family will be explained to the county. ”

Only then did everyone rush to tell the county lord, lest the county lord be angry, and the twenty boards would be hit on his body.