Although it was nearly the second watch, the second hall of the county government was still brightly lit at the moment. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info County Ling Yang Chen was shaking his spirits, and he was interrogating a group of suspects who had just been brought from the soft red building. Even though he has a lot of confidence in his brother, Yang Chen is still quite surprised and excited that he can bring Li Chengji and the others back so smoothly this time, as well as bring back human and physical evidence.

After interrogating Hui Niang and several other stewards of the Soft Red Mansion, but failing to get further confessions, Yang Chen finally ordered someone to bring Li Chengji to the court for personal interrogation.

Although Li Chengji has been to the county government many times in the past, he has never been seen in the second hall as a suspect today. When he was still just bowing his hand to Yang Chen as before, the officials on his side let out a dissatisfied reprimand: "Bold criminal, dare not kneel when you see the county commander!" Before he could react, two water and fire sticks had poked at the crook of his knee, and the second master Li, who was caught off guard, was weak on his knees and fell to his knees in the hall.

It wasn't until his knee hit the bluestone ground and there was a sharp pain that Li Chengji understood his current situation, and he was really shocked and angry.

"Smack!" There was a startling sound in front of him, and a majestic voice sounded again: "Whoever is kneeling in the hall, report the name." ”

"Grass people Li Chengji! I've seen the big man. Even though he felt very uncomfortable in his heart, Li Chengji, who knew that the situation was stronger than others, still obediently reported his name.

"Li Chengji, are you guilty?"

"The grass people don't know." As early as the way to the county office, he had a plan. Presumably, soon, the brother who knew his situation would come to the rescue, and of course he would not be able to admit such a great crime of forcing good people to become prostitutes.

Yang Chen slammed the shocked wood again, and shouted: "Bold, at this time, the human and material evidence is there, and you still don't admit your guilt?" Isn't that soft red mansion under your control? Wasn't it from where the bloodstained instruments were found? What else do you have to deny? ”

Li Chengji raised his head and squinted at the high Yang County Order, and smiled bitterly: "What the adults say, the grass people are indeed irrefutable. But what the grass people want to say is that such lawless things are indeed not done by the grass people, let alone instructed by the grass people. All this was done by other people in the building behind the backs of the grass people, and I hope that the adults will see it. ”

Yang Chen was stunned when he heard this, he didn't expect that this person would dare to put all the blame on others at this moment, wouldn't he be afraid to confront him in court? Thinking of this, he said in a deep voice: "This is just your words, do you dare to confront Hui Niang and the others?" ”

"Why don't you dare?" Li Chengji replied fearlessly: "The grass people are indeed wronged, how dare they not confront others." ”

Just looking at his fearless appearance, Yang Chen muttered in his heart. Immediately guessed that what he relied on was the power of the Li family. Just now, Hui Niang and other suspects almost didn't say a word, neither admitting guilt nor saying that Li Chengji was the mastermind, obviously they had concerns about this.

And once he really gathers these people together, he is afraid that under the authority of the Li family, these people will not dare to push the charges on the second master of Li. As a result, the case is a little difficult to adjudicate.

Just when Yang Chen was considering whether to leave the hall for the time being, and wait for tomorrow to think of a way, an errand officer who was supposed to be outside the county government suddenly came to the front of the hall and reported: "My lord, Li Chenggang asked to see him outside, saying that he had something important to tell him. ”

"Huh?" When Yang Chen heard this, his eyes couldn't help but stare at this errand officer. There are rules in the yamen, who dares to come and disturb when the county magistrate is trying the case? Obviously, this person dared to do this because he had received a lot of benefits from the Li family, or he was a person arranged by the Li family in the yamen.

The errand officer was glared at by Yang Chen, and his heart was also furious. Don't look at Yang Chen's youth, and he has only been the county magistrate for half a year, but after getting rid of Xuanchuang, his power in the county government is already not small, but it is not something that a small person like him can withstand. However, he had to help the Li family speak, so he had the courage to say: "That Master Li also said that this matter has a lot to do with today's soft red mansion. ”

At this time, Li Chengji also reacted, and hurriedly said: "Yes, master, whether the grass people are guilty or not, my brother knows best." If the eldest man refuses to believe me, you can ask my brother to find out the truth. ”

Yang Chen was a little uncertain in his heart, so he looked at Zhuang Heng, who was making a note. Dealing with such things, it is still him, who has been a master in other yamen, who is better at dealing with it.

When Zhuang Heng saw the owner looking at him, he knew that he had made a difficulty. After thinking about it for a while, he nodded slightly, and motioned for Yang Chen to call Li Chenggang in. Originally, the case was already a little untenable, so it was better to find another way to see if we could find a breakthrough from Li Chenggang.

Yang Chen nodded a little unwillingly: "Pass Li Chenggang to the court." ”

Soon, Li Chenggang, whose face was slightly gloomy, came to the front of the hall. Unlike his own brothers, he knew the rules very well, and respectfully kowtowed to Yang Chen as usual, and reported his name, and then with Yang Chen's permission, he stood up and replied.

"Outside Li, you said that you are here for the matter of the Soft Red Mansion?"

"Lord Hui, exactly." Li Chenggang first glanced at his brother with some annoyance, and then said respectfully: "In fact, as early as last year, the grass people had already found out that there were women who were abducted and sold from other places in the soft red building under the name of our Li family and forced them to be prostitutes. For this reason, the grass people also severely reprimanded these evildoers, and then asked my second brother Chengji to take care of them. ”

"Oh? Is there such a thing? Then why doesn't the official know anything? Yang Chen naturally couldn't believe his words, so he pointed out the flaws.

Li Chenggang smiled bitterly: "After all, it is the ugly thing of my Li family, how can I, as the head of the family, say it to others at will?" It's just a punishment for those who make their own claims, that's it. Unexpectedly, after a year, they relapsed again, which is really ashamed. If they had known that they would dare to do such a crazy thing, the grass people would have arrested them and handed them over to the government for disposal that day. ”

"Who are the wicked people you call to be prostitutes?"

"It's Hui Niang, Cao Qi and other people who were brought by the county officials today. It's only because the grass people were soft-hearted that day and didn't discipline them well, which is why today's loss is made. But the younger brother was wronged, he was just deceived by others, so he let the soft red mansion have this incident again. Please also ask the master to see it! Li Chenggang said, knelt on the ground again, and kowtowed.

If he didn't know what kind of existence his Li family was, just looking at his performance on his face, Yang Chen might really believe his words. But now it's impossible to believe it, only to see him sneer: "Li Yuanwai is really a good excuse." Do you think this official will believe you on this side? ”

"My lord, what the grass people say is true. If you don't believe them, ask them to see what they have to say. Li Chenggang did not flinch because of Yang Chen's cold words, and still looked frank.

"Oh? Is it? That's exactly what the official wants. Yang Chen said and patted the hall again: "Come on, bring Cao Qi and other suspects to the hall." ”

At this time, Yang Zhen, who was standing in the middle of the officials, suddenly saw a smug smile flashing on the face of Li Chenggang, who was standing at the next level, and suddenly his heart moved, feeling that something was wrong.

But in any case, the county magistrate spoke, and his subordinates had to do it, and the five stewards of the soft red mansion were quickly brought over from the signing room on the side. It's just that I don't know if it's psychological, Yang Zhen looked at them at this moment, and always felt that their expressions were more nervous and uneasy than just now.

"This official asks you again, the matter of using torture to force good people into prostitution found in the Soft Red Mansion today was done by Li Chengji's instructions? Hurry up and recruit from the official! ”

Yang Chen's rather majestic voice echoed in the hall, causing the five of them to slam into a sudden. It wasn't until they glanced at Li Chenggang, who was standing on the side, that they seemed to have made a decision. Cao Qi was the first to speak: "My lord, the grass people admit that this thing is indeed done by the grass people. But it has nothing to do with Second Master Li, he doesn't know anything. ”

"Yes, my lord, slave family...... The slave family was only greedy for a while, so he did this, but he has been hiding it from the second master, which is really ashamed! Hui Niang said, bowed down, and began to cry.

The other three then took the blame on themselves, but they also denied that Li Chengji had anything to do with it, and it seemed that in just a short moment, these five people all found out in their consciences.

Seeing this, Yang Zhen couldn't help but sigh: "Sure enough, the prestige of the Li family is indeed very great. Even with human and material evidence, it is still difficult to put the blame on them. ”

Compared with Yang Zhen, Yang Chen was even more surprised. He stared at the five people in the hall for a long time before he said: "Do you know that this crime is not light, if it is just instructed by others, it can be lightly sentenced, if you are the mastermind, once it is verified, you will definitely be sentenced heavily!" ”

The faces of the five people showed fear, but after glancing at Li Chenggang, they still insisted: "What the grass people say is true, don't dare to hide it from the adults!" Please also ask the master to see clearly! ”

At this point, the matter was completely out of Yang Chen's control. He looked at the people in front of him in a daze, not understanding why they had suddenly changed so much.

Seeing that he was out of his mind for a while, Li Chenggang smiled and reminded in a low voice: "My lord, since they have all admitted that my brother has nothing to do with this case, I also ask the county government to return my brother's innocence and acquit him!" ”

"You ......" Although Yang Chen didn't know why those people had such a change, one thing could be guessed, it must be Li Chenggang's work behind his back. But now the situation is irreversible, and it is not easy for him, the county commander, to continue to detain the "innocent" Li Chengji, so he has no choice but to say with a straight face: "Since this is the case, this official will allow you to take him away!" ”