Chapter 416 of the Tenth Volume of the Dragon Dance Although Cao Song's confidence is sufficient, his appearance is a little embarrassed. He had a cut in his elbow, faintly stained with blood, and the placket of his shirt was covered with dirt.

When Chu Yu saw it, he was startled, and said in surprise: "What's wrong?" ”

Cao Hao also stood up, looked Cao Song up and down, and asked, "What is this...... Fallen from a horse? ”

Cao Song didn't see Jinghui, and he couldn't say that he was disappointed, but he was relieved and said with a smile: "It's okay, my brother and sister-in-law are worried, but they just scratched a little skin!" ”

Cao Hao took a closer look and saw the blood stains the size of the bowl, where can he put his heart? Reaching out to touch it, Cao Song immediately let out an "oops" in pain.

Cao Hao lifted his sleeve and looked at it, and his forearm was swollen and bruised.

"It's okay, are you still young?" Cao Hao couldn't help but be a little annoyed, so he hurriedly called someone to bring the medicine and wine over, helped him wipe it, and sent someone to ask for a doctor.

Cao Song smiled "hehe", and after a long time, he looked up and said to Chu Yu: "Sister-in-law, where is the quiet girl?" ”

Chu Yu replied: "I asked someone to send it to Taoyuan for placement!" ”

Cao Song still laughed, Cao Hao was really angry and funny when he saw him like this, and said: "Other people's families have changed so dramatically, as for you being happy to be like this, you are not kind!" ”

Cao Song touched his head and said with a smile: "My brother is just happy to think of ...... The thought of her now in this courtyard makes me happy......"

In a word, Cao Hao and Chu Yu both laughed.

Cao Hao asked someone to find a set of his own clothes and let Cao Song change into them.

Cao Song changed his clothes, only to notice that he was a little hungry, raised his head and said, "Sister-in-law, my brother is busy rushing into the city, and I haven't taken care of eating at night, if there is anything to eat, let my brother pad it!" ”

Chu Yu listened, first brought him a plate of fine snacks from the cabinet, and then asked someone to go to the kitchen to pass the food.

Cao Song took the snack plate and swept it clean in two bites.

Cao Hao saw that his eyes were bright, and he didn't know that the injury hurt, and he couldn't help sighing in his heart, this kid really didn't know how to worry.

After a while, the meal was delivered, and Cao Song also swallowed two bowls of rice.

After eating, he couldn't sit still, and his butt didn't touch the kang, so he walked back and forth on the ground as if grinding.

Cao Hao was dizzy by him, and said, "Hurry up and sit down, I don't know how your injuries are, don't hold on to them!" ”

Cao Song sat down on the side of the kang again, grinning and said, "Brother, what's that...... What's ......?"

Squeaky and squeak, it finally took a little twist, and some couldn't speak.

Up to now, even if some words are not listened to, Cao Hao, as an elder brother, must explain it clearly.

"Second brother, you are also a weak crown now, and you should not be a child. There are some things that you need to know in your heart! After thinking about it for a while, Cao Hao said: "This kind of change happened to Dong E's family, although Jinghui temporarily avoided in our house, you may be able to see one side and two sides, and you can ease your thoughts, but what about the future?" Speaking of which, our two families are also worthy of each other, if we change the way and talk to the second wife, it is not hopeless. But now, it's different. Have you ever thought about it, how do you talk to your mother? ”

Cao Song slowly stopped laughing, his expression became solemn, and said, "Brother don't worry, my brother has been thinking about it since the beginning of the year." Yuan is also in chaos, not only to protect her, but also to disobey her mother, it is very difficult. It's just that a few days ago, Xiao San'er's words made his younger brother enlightened. Yes, my mother wants to be annoyed, my mother wants to spread fire, and I have my younger brother in front of her, and I will never let her be wronged. ”

Seeing that he was decisive, Cao Hao patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's not as simple as the upper lip touching the lower lip, no matter what you think in front of your head, you should hurry up and get an idea now." No matter how the lawsuit of Dong E's family ends, Jinghui's situation will only be more difficult in the future. ”

"Brother, aren't we there?" Cao Song was a little puzzled when he heard him say this.

Cao Hao shook his head and said, "We are not her clansmen, and our relatives are a little farther away." Although the old lady sent her granddaughter to our house, when the matter of Ming'er Dong E's family spread, the clansmen and relatives of Jinghui Yatou rarely had to speak. ”

At that time, the patriarchal law was parallel to the national law, even if Jinghui had no parents, her grandmother and uncles were squeezed, and there were other clansmen as elders.

When Cao Song heard this, he couldn't help frowning, and muttered: "How much effort does it take for us to end this lawsuit?" If only her old lady had come out earlier! ”

Cao Hao remembered that Long Keduo brought back the edict from the Imperial Palace, which asked the Criminal Department to interrogate him before the Holy Driver left Beijing for the summer. Today is April 17, and the Holy Driver plans to leave Beijing on the 20th, but it will only be three days.

Now, the criminal department has already started the interrogation!

* Cao Hao's expectations were not bad, here in the lobby of the Criminal Department, several officials had already gathered.

Now the Manshang Book of the Criminal Department is Lai Du, who was originally the deputy capital of Mongolia with a blue flag, and was only transferred to the Sixth Department as a court official in the first month of this year. I don't know the name of the punishment at all, it's just an ornament.

The official affairs of the Criminal Department are mainly handled by Zhang Tingshu, a scholar of the Han Dynasty. He was a jinshi in the twenty-second year of Kangxi, and was awarded the compilation from the Hanlin Academy, and then the Hanlin Academy lectured on the bachelor's place and supervised Jiangnan Xuezheng. In the forty-fourth year of Kangxi, he was promoted to the left waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and then he was transferred to the right waiter of the Ministry of Officials, and in the forty-eighth year of Kangxi, he was promoted to the secretary of the Criminal Department.

When the crown prince was reinstated, Zhang Tingshu was the deputy envoy of the canonization. From time to time, it is rumored that when Zhang Tingshu was a scholar in Jiangnan, the party attached the prince's uncle to ask for a map.

Regardless of the truth, this has become the tongue of other officials attacking him, and it is really irrefutable.

Therefore, he did a very unstable job as the secretary of the criminal department, and was dismissed from office in less than a year due to the improper handling of a rice theft case.

Kangxi's evaluation of him is: everything is paranoid, his surname is competitive, and he has the responsibility of a minister.

It was not until the fifty-first year of Kangxi, before and after the second abolition of the prince, that a group of six officials who had the same prince fell from power, and Zhang Tingshu was reinstated as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

Since Kangxi uses him, that is, he believes that he is not a tide feather, if someone makes a fuss about the old things in Jiangnan more than ten years ago, it is already useless.

For Kali, Zhang Tingshu has a lot to do with it. After he was reinstated as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, he went down to Jiangnan with the head of the Ministry of Households, Mu Helun, and the Manchu and Han officials, and tried the lawsuit between Kali and Zhang Boxing.

In addition to these two scholars, there are also the left attendant of the Criminal Department, Dun Duoli, and the right attendant of the Criminal Department, Li Tao. Dun Duoli is over 80 years old, deaf and dizzy, but he is just a squire for his retirement.

Li Tao was promoted from the left deputy capital Yushi to the squire last year, and he acted quite respectfully, always doing more and saying less. He also has no way, the last right attendant of the Criminal Department was also promoted by the left deputy capital Yushi, but because he got too close to Man Shangshu, and he was suspected of being attached to the prince's brother, he was dismissed.

Whether it is the two Manqing who have always been decorations, or the two Han Qings who are people with their tails between their legs, they are extremely indignant about the Kali mother murder case.

Even Dun Duoli, who has always only dozed off and is silent, sits in the hall with his eyebrows raised tonight, waiting for a confession.

Zhang Tingshu had tried the Kali and Zhang Boxing cases in his early years, and had seen the tricks of Kali, but he was originally afraid that he would die and refused to admit his guilt. After all, after he has made meritorious deeds, he cannot be executed easily without a holy decree.

Unexpectedly, when the trial began in the lobby of the Criminal Department, Kari happily admitted his guilt. Although he said that he was the one who took the idea and that he instructed people to poison the kitchen, he tortured the mother-in-law and other people in the kitchen, but it was his son who instructed him.

When the interrogation reached Gandu, Gandu confessed to his guilt, and claimed that it was just his "villain's thoughts", and his father did not know about it.

The Kali father and son were later Serki, who confessed to conspiring with his nephew to poison him, but he also did not admit that he was the Kali mastermind.

Zhang Tingshu was a little confused, and he couldn't figure out what the intention of these people was to confess like this, could it be that they thought they could run away from anyone?

They are all descendants of the Jue Luo clan, even if they are not the people who poisoned them with their own hands, they have the intention of killing, they are disobedient and unfilial to the extreme.

Jue Luo was ordered to sit in the hall because he was old and old.

Listening to his son and grandson explain the details one by one, the old man trembled his lips and couldn't speak, his eyes were red, but he refused to lose his temper in public.

The faces of several Shangshu servants were not good-looking, and Dundori had an old relationship with Kali's father when he was young, and he grew up watching him.

After hearing that he confessed to the crime of murdering his mother-in-law, the old man was furious, stepped forward with his crutches, slapped the Ka salute fiercely, and scolded: "This bastard, I knew that your hands were not clean, this kid was burned by money, and he lost his conscience!" ”

Kali stood there, not dodging, the whole person was wooden, not knowing what he was thinking.

Although there are two Shangshu here, it is not the turn of Dun Duoli, the squire, but he is over eighty years old, and he is Kangxi's old minister who has always been kind and tolerant, who will care about him.

Lai Du "coughed", called two messengers, and helped the old waiter to his seat.

Dundori was panting, still cursing in his mouth.

Lai Du looked at Zhang Tingshu, now that the murder of his mother-in-law has been completed, and a large amount of property has been seized in the house of Kali's wife, the crime of corruption has long been decided.

Now, how do you judge?

Kali also has the in-law relationship between the Dong E family and Prince Yu, Prince Cheng, and Jiubeizi Mansion, if this is too ugly, maybe which master is not happy in his heart.

Although he is not familiar with ministry affairs, he is transparent to the powerful people in the capital, or he would not have climbed to this position.

Zhang Tingshu was scruples, but it was Kangxi's face. This Kari is the "great filial son" among the hundred officials who have been praised by the world in the holy decree, and now he has made a case of killing his mother, which is really appalling.

Although he was also full of indignation in his heart about Kali and the others' murder of Jue Luo, out of various considerations, he still turned his head and asked Jue Luo: "Old lady, the case is clear, do you have any other explanations here?" ”

Although it is a great crime for Kali to murder his mother, after all, Jue Luo is fine.

Although the legal principle is greater than human affection, in line with the principle of "the people do not raise it, and the officials do not hold it accountable", if Jue Luo changed his words at this time and said a few good words for his children and grandchildren, then he could be lenient in sentencing.

Hearing this, Jue Luo raised his head, looked at Kali and the others, and slowly shook his head.

Zhang Tingshu sighed in his heart and ordered someone to take Kali and the others down for detention first. For Jue Luo, he also instructed people to please go down and settle down.

In the hall, there were only a few officials left, and two clerks.

Zhang Tingshu hugged Lai Du and said: "My lord, the case is clear, when you behead, when you hang, when you flow, should this be a lenient sentence or a heavy sentence?" ”

Lai Du thought about being lenient in his heart, but felt that Luo didn't speak, there was no room for leniency, and he couldn't make up his mind for a while.

At this time, I heard someone say: "As a minister, Kali is arbitrarily greedy, and he murdered his own mother, and he is extremely disloyal and unfilial, and he deserves a heavy sentence!" ”

But it was the eighth elder brother and the ninth elder brother who came together, and several hall officials hurriedly got up to salute.

Before the preliminary trial, the Criminal Department sent someone to the Eighth Elder Brother's Mansion to invite the chief elder brother to come over. The eighth elder brother only said that he was sick, and asked a few court officials to try it first.

The eighth elder brother nodded to everyone, and was allowed to sit in the main seat behind the case. He picked up the file that had just been recorded on the case and read it in a hurry, but he knew it in his heart.

Lai Du arched his hand and said: "Eighth master, although Kali has confessed, but looking at the confession of his brother and his son, it seems that there is another hidden secret. ”

The eighth elder brother shook his head and said, "Kali was originally an unfaithful and unfilial person, but even now, he is still clever and clever, where is there any hidden secret?" This is a case hand-picked by Huang Amma, and it is a major case of disobedience, how can it be lifted high and gently put down? ”

"Whew, the minion got it!" Lai Du bowed down and signaled Zhang Tingshu to close the case.

Since there is a prince and elder brother, Zhang Tingshu only obeyed orders, called two sentences, and preliminarily drew up a verdict: Kali's murder of his mother-in-law is a heinous crime, and he will be executed; The Kali brothers Serchi and Zigan were all accomplices and beheaded prisoners; The wife of the Kali is also guilty of disobedience, and the marquis is hanged; Selqi's son Gantai, sent Heilongjiang as a drudgery, and the family property was merged into the official.

The eighth elder brother saw it, but he was not satisfied, and changed the Kali to Ling Chi, the Serqi Tonggan changed the beheading decision, and the Kali wife changed the hanging.

When he came out of the Yamen of the Household Department, it was already midnight, and Brother Jiu had some questions and asked, "Brother Starling, do you need to do this?" ”

Eighth Elder Brother smiled bitterly: "Huang Ama wants me to make up my mind, although a heavy sentence will hurt some people's feelings, but it is better than a light sentence for violating his taboo...... Emperor Ama is old, and he is afraid that we will become the second Kari ......"

*

(To be continued)