In less than half an hour, the other two bailiffs entered the school with a middle-aged man in his thirties, and one bailiff stepped forward and whispered to the assistant judge for a while. The assistant judge patted the wooden hall and said, "We have found a new witness, Zhang Fengting, so the trial is now open." Chen Qi, is there anything that needs to be revised in the testimony you just said? ”

Seeing Zhang Fengting, Chen Qi knew that something was wrong, he wanted to revise his testimony, but he understood that after revising his testimony, he was afraid that it would be worse. Although he did not understand the assistant judge's words, it was obviously not a good thing that his testimony was not credible. He pinned all his hopes on Zhang Fengting, so he gritted his teeth and said, "Judge, there is nothing that needs to be modified for the small ones. ”

The assistant judge said, "Zhang Fengting, you come forward first and make an oath." ”

The bailiff stepped forward with Zhang Fengting, took out a piece of paper and said, "Follow me, I will read a sentence, you will read a sentence." ”

Zhang Fengting followed and read: "I swear in the honor of my father and ancestors: what I say is the truth or the whole of the facts. If the oath is violated, he is willing to accept the punishment of the law and the condemnation of morality. Oathed by: Zhang Fengting. After Chen Qi heard his oath, his legs went limp, and he could no longer support it and fell to the ground.

The assistant judge glanced at him, turned his head and asked, "Zhang Fengting, have you met Chen Qi today?" ”

Zhang Fengting said: "I've seen it." ”

The associate judge asked, "When will we meet and what?" ”

Zhang Fengting said: "Just an hour ago, Chen Qi found me, paid me back the money he owed me last time, and asked me to go to the gambling stall again tomorrow. ”

The assistant judge asked, "How much money does he give you?" What money does he owe you? ”

Zhang Fengting said: "I repaid three yuan, which is the gambling debt owed in the past month." He said that he still had three yuan, and he could gamble again tomorrow. ”

The assistant judge asked, "Can he say where the money came from?" ”

Zhang Fengting said: "That's not true, and the little one didn't ask." ”

The assistant judge said, "Very well, you wait on the side first." Chen Qi, do you have anything else to say? ”

Chen Qidao: "This money is what Teacher Liu is willing to give me, because my primary six has good academic performance, so he gave me a reward." ”

The assistant judge asked, "When you say Teacher Liu, do you mean Mr. Liu Mingli, the head of Xiaogang Academy?" ”

Chen Qi was dazed for a moment and reacted, "Yes." ”

The assistant judge asked, "Liu Shanchang, did you give Chen Qi money because you wanted to reward his eldest son, Chen Liusheng, for his good academic performance?" ”

Liu Mingli stepped forward and said, "Your Excellency, it was Chen Liusheng's study situation that threatened me, so I had to give him money." ”

The assistant judge asked, "How can he threaten you with his son's studies?" ”

Liu Mingli said: "Chen Liusheng's grades are very good, and he is the most likely student in our school to be promoted to the county intermediate school. Chen Qi threatened me that if he didn't give him money, he would let Chen Liusheng deliberately fail in the exam, so that he could not enter the intermediate academy to study. ”

The assistant judge asked again: "Chen Qi, what Liu Shanchang said is true?" ”

Chen Qi replied in a low voice: "Yes." ”

The assistant judge said: "In the case of Chen Qi's extortion, the facts are clear, and the parties have no objection. In accordance with the provisions of the "Da Ming Law", this court sentenced Chen Qi to one year of hard labor, which was to be executed immediately. The six yuan that was extorted was first returned by Zhang Fengting to Chen Qi, and then Chen Qi returned it together and retired from the court. ”

Zhang Fengting immediately took out three silver coins and gave them to Chen Qi, who reluctantly took out the other three silver coins from his pocket, and then returned them to Liu Mingli together. Liu Mingli smiled: "Don't worry, I will give this money to your wife, maybe after you leave, they should be able to live more comfortably with the money and food issued by the imperial court." ”

Chen Qi lowered his head and did not make a sound, naturally a bailiff took him away. After the assistant judge also left, Zhu Youxiao smiled and said, "It's still like it." ”

Wei Zhongxian said: "This is the interrogation method formulated by the Holy Lord himself today, and of course it is the best. ”

Zhu Youxiao smiled and didn't make a sound, and then said to Liu Mingli: "In the future, you should pay attention, it is useless to reason with someone like Chen Qi, he will not listen, and if there is something, he will find the court." By the way, how much time have you been teaching here? ”

Liu Mingli replied: "Lord Inspector, Xiao Ke has been teaching here for four years. ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "Then tell me, what is the reason for being so poor here?" ”

Liu Mingli hesitated and said: "Lord Inspector, Xiao Ke is just teaching, not from the Clerk's School, and it is not Xiao Ke's duty to govern the local affairs." ”

Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "The Normal School has stricter requirements than the Officials School, and the admission score is higher, so it makes no sense that you, a normal student, will not understand civil affairs at all." ”

Liu Mingli said with a smile: "There is a specialization in the art industry, Xiao Ke will talk about it, and the inspector will listen to it, don't make fun of Xiao Ke." ”

Zhu Youxiao nodded, and Liu Mingli said: "The surrounding areas of Fengyang are poor, and in Xiao Ke's opinion, there are two main reasons. One point is that there are some problems with the policy of the imperial court, after sending down the money and food, a group of lazy people have been raised, and this has lasted for more than two hundred years, so the people here can support themselves without doing any work, so how many people will work hard? ”

Seeing that Zhu Youxiao did not react, Liu Mingli continued: "The second point is the traffic problem, Fengyang is mountainous, the road is difficult to travel, even if there is some production here, but it cannot be transported, this is not only a problem in Fengyang, there is a problem all over the country. Now the imperial court is overhauling the railway, which can indeed play a role in liaising with various places, but in places like Fengyang, the road has not been repaired, and it actually does not have much effect. ”

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "It seems that Liu Shanchang has also thought about some problems. Fengyang's subsidy problem is indeed very problematic, but these things have to be worried about by the cabinet monks. It's just that this road construction is not in the hands of the imperial court to build railways and large highways, and these small roads will not be on the agenda for a while. ”

Liu Mingli said: "The inspector is reasonable, but the small one thinks so, the imperial court concentrates on building railways and large roads, can the local people build the roads themselves?" ”

Zhu Youxiao shook his head and said: "If you build it yourself, then the cement plant will not be able to supply so many places, how to solve this matter?" ”

Liu Mingli said with a smile: "When Xiao Ke was in the capital, he saw a large highway, ten to fifteen steps wide, and it was smoothed with cement, which may be due to the traffic situation for a long time in the future, Xiao Ke didn't dare to talk nonsense." But now the roads around the country do not need to be so wide, and there is no need to pave cement, as long as there are two steps wide, and then paved with gravel or even loess, you can pass through donkey carts and ox carts or something, so why do you need to pave cement? ”