"This ...... This ......" Facing Li Yuntian's question, Su Zhonghe dared to answer, kneeling there with his head down, sweat on his cheeks like rain, and his expression was extremely frightened.

As Han Liang said, Su Zhonghe met Nan Zhili's uncle who was sentenced to death through Niu Fei, and after accepting his benefits of 5,000 taels, he blocked the case file and sent it back to Ningguo Mansion for retrial.

Emperor Xuande has ordered to severely punish officials for corruption, not to mention five thousand taels of silver, even the more than two thousand taels to buy a house are enough for Su Zhonghe to be cut off his head, no, nine times out of ten he will be hanged, so how dare he reveal half a word to the outside world.

"Outside of Su Yuan, the official is asking you, did you hear it?" Seeing that Su Zhonghe had been inking there for a long time and couldn't answer his question, Li Yuntian raised his voice and asked.

"My lord, Xia Guan accepted 5,000 taels of silver from Nan Zhili's uncle who was a death row prisoner, and then found an excuse to exonerate him, so that he could escape the death penalty."

Su Zhonghe was frightened by Li Yuntian's voice, he knew that he had made up his mind this time, he didn't care about wiping the sweat on his face, and looked at Li Yuntian with a bloodless face, "My lord, the lower official was confused for a while, please be merciful and spare the life of the lower official." ”

Seeing Su Zhonghe confess, the scene was in an uproar, no one thought that he was so bold, and he accepted a bribe of 5,000 taels at once.

Fan Min, the right attendant of the Criminal Department, turned a little ugly, originally he came to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to see the excitement, but whoever wanted to fold in coldly folded into a member of the Criminal Department.

Niu Fei's face was cloudy, he glared at Su Zhonghe viciously, he couldn't drink it and gave Su Zhonghe two mouths, this bastard didn't know that he had just collected the money and used it to buy an industry, and now he fell into Li Yuntian's hands, and he was simply killing himself.

"The official asked you, how did you get the five thousand taels of silver?" Li Yuntian glanced at Niu Fei, who had an extremely gloomy expression, and asked Su Zhonghe quietly.

"My lord, Xia Guan didn't know the uncle of the death row prisoner, it was Niu Yushi who found Xia Guan, and Xia Guan did something foolish." Hearing this, Su Zhonghe hurriedly pointed at Niu Fei and said with a chagrined expression.

"It's nonsense, why do you mean to get involved with the official, is it because the official wants you to take bribes?" Niu Fei had long expected that Su Zhonghe would not be able to resist, so he refuted loudly.

"My lord, the lower official is willing to make meritorious service for his crimes, and he reported that Niu Yushi Ye accepted bribes from the uncle of the death row prisoner, and I hope that the lower officials can reduce their guilt." When Su Zhonghai heard this, a look of resentment flashed at the corner of his mouth, if it weren't for Niu Fei, he wouldn't have ended up in such a field, and then said to Li Yuntian in a loud voice.

"My lord, this person has done anything to get rid of his crimes, and my lord can't trust him!" Niu Fei is not an idle person, seeing that Su Zhonghai was about to come out for him, he bowed his hand to Li Yuntian, and defended himself not to be outdone.

"My lord, Xia Guan is not a fool, the reason why Xia Guan got five thousand taels of silver is because Xia Guan sued the death row prisoner Uncle De for the same amount of hard-earned money as Niu Yushi, so he gave Xia Guan five thousand taels."

Since he had already torn his face with Niu Fei, Su Zhonghai had nothing to hide, and said to Li Yuntian busily, "My lord, Xia Guan knows that Niu Yushi will not be in vain, but I didn't expect his appetite to be so big that he actually asked for five thousand taels from others!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the scene was in an uproar, and people were talking about it one after another, and in an instant, the case of Nan Zhili's death row prisoner involved 10,000 taels of silver, and if other expenses were counted, it would be a huge expense, which made everyone curious about the family background of the death row prisoner for a while.

"Silence!" Li Yuntian slapped the shocked wood heavily to stop the commotion in the hall, and then quietly looked at Niu Fei, who had become a little excited, turned to Su Zhonghai and asked, "This official asked you, since you said that the uncle of the death row prisoner bribed Niu Yushi, how did the two of them meet?" ”

"My lord, for the sake of prudence, the lower official specially asked the uncle of the death row prisoner about his relationship with Niu Yushi, and the uncle of the death row prisoner had a request from the lower official, so he did not dare to hide it, he was a big salt merchant named Zhang Gui in the south of the Yangtze River who became acquainted with Niu Yushi."

Su Zhonghai had heard about Li Yuntian, and usually as long as the prisoner honestly confessed to the crime, he would be treated leniently by Li Yuntian afterwards, so he did not hide it at all, and said in a fifteen-ten.

Hearing the word "Zhang Gui", there was a commotion at the scene, and people were talking there in surprise, no one would have thought that the case of Xiangyun Teahouse could be involved in the case of Mingyue Pavilion.

"My lord, this is a bunch of nonsense, Xia Guan has never seen the uncle of the death row prisoner mentioned by Su Langzhong, let alone any salt merchant!" Niu Fei didn't expect that the uncle of the death row prisoner would tell Su Zhonghai about such an important matter, his face suddenly turned pale, and he hurriedly defended himself to Li Yuntian in a loud voice, "My lord, this is an excuse he made up in order to get away with it!" ”

At this moment, Niu Fei's heart was extremely angry, he had solemnly warned the uncle of the death row prisoner not to tell him about Zhang Gui, but who would have thought that the uncle of the death row prisoner still sued Su Zhonghai, and he would be killed at this time.

"My lord, what the lower official said is true, if you don't believe it, you can arrest the uncle of the death row prisoner to the capital, as long as the first instance will know." Su Zhonghai sneered when he heard this, and not to be outdone, he mentioned to Li Yuntian that if he wanted to reduce his responsibility now, he could only report Niu Fei for meritorious service, so he would definitely fight Niu Fei to the end.

"Adult......" Niu Fei knew that to Su Zhonghai, he was like a drowning man grabbing a straw that could live, and he would definitely drag himself into the water before he was willing, so he defended with a grim expression.

"Okay, it's up to the official to decide who is right and who is wrong!" Without waiting for Niu Fei to speak, Li Yuntian waved his hand to stop him, this is the lobby of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, how can Su Zhonghai and Niu Fei be allowed to fall into each other here, what kind of system will it become?

"Su Langzhong, this official wants to remind you that you are now guilty of a serious crime, if this official finds out that you are framing Niu Yushi, then increase the crime by one degree, I am afraid that you will only be executed by Ling Chi at that time." Then, Li Yuntian looked at Su Zhonghai expressionlessly, "This official gives you a chance, you have to think about it, is what you just said true?" ”

"My lord, every word of the lower official's previous words is true, and if you say half a lie, you will be punished!" Su Zhonghai has no choice now, he is dead both horizontally and vertically anyway, and only by letting go can he have a glimmer of life, so he bowed his hand to Li Yuntian and replied with a resolute expression.

"Okay, then you will tell the official everything you know." Seeing Su Zhonghai's resolute tone, Li Yuntian said in a deep voice, "If what you said about the case is true, then this official will count you as guilty and meritorious service, and the crime will be reduced by one degree!" ”

Su Zhonghai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he heard this, if others said this, he might be suspicious, but Li Yuntian's handling of the case has a good reputation in the officialdom, as long as he agrees to do it, it will definitely be done.

Therefore, Su Zhonghai no longer had the slightest scruples at this time, and told the truth of the matter like a bamboo tube pouring beans.

According to his confession, one day in mid-to-late March, Niu Fei found Su Zhonghai and mentioned to him the case of the death row inmate in Nan Zhili, euphemistically saying that the death row inmate was the only son in the family and hoped that he would open up the net.

Later, under Niu Fei's arrangement, Su Zhonghai met the uncle of the death row prisoner, accepted 5,000 taels of silver from the other party, and used 2,000 taels to point the official in charge of inspecting the death row prisoner's case file in the Huguang Qing Officials Division of the Criminal Department, and then successfully sent the case file back to Ningguo Mansion for retrial.

Just when Su Zhonghai confessed, several officials who were originally standing behind him knelt down tremblingly, looking frightened, they were the officials of the Huguang Qing Officials Division of the Criminal Department who were implicated in this matter, and no one expected that the incident would happen so soon.

Facing the scene in front of them, the imperial historians outside the hall were buzzing and whispering, although it was not yet possible to prove that Niu Fei was related to Su Zhonghai, but it was obvious that Su Zhonghai and the officials of the Huguang Qing Officials Division of the Criminal Department had accepted bribes from the uncle of the death row prisoner.

The atmosphere in the lobby was also extremely dull, not only Gu Zuo's face became a little ugly, but Fan Min was even more gloomy, the two of them had been floating in the sea for decades, and naturally knew that Su Zhonghai would never testify against Niu Fei for no reason, and there was a chance that Niu Fei was involved in the case.

This case not only involves a huge amount of money but also has a bad nature, once it is verified, the face of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Criminal Department will be lost by Niu Fei and Su Zhonghai, and it is not clear that Emperor Xuande will carry out a major rectification of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Criminal Department, and I don't know how many filthy things will be found out at that time.

"My lord, the lower official remembered that the uncle of the death row prisoner seemed to have said that he was the Niu Yushi who he saw in the Xiangyun Teahouse in the east of the city on the afternoon of March 16, as long as the lord checked, he could know whether the lower official was lying."

After explaining how he helped the death row prisoner get rid of his crimes, Su Zhonghai suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said loudly to Li Yuntian.

As soon as these words came out, the scene was silent for an instant, and the people who were whispering there looked up at Su Zhonghai in surprise, never expecting Su Zhonghai to say such an amazing thing.

Not long ago, Li Yuntian interrogated whether Niu Fei went to Xiangyun Teahouse, but because of the testimony of the two soldiers and horses in Nancheng, Niu Fei was exonerated from the crime.

Now Su Zhonghai has also proved that Niu Fei went to Xiangyun Teahouse that day, so he has formed cross-evidence with the thin and tall guy in the teahouse, and such evidence is undoubtedly more credible.

Obviously, Su Zhonghai didn't know about the trial around whether Niu Fei had been to Xiangyun Teahouse just now, which meant that he knew that Niu Fei had gone to Xiangyun Teahouse to meet the uncle of the death row prisoner.

"My lord, they colluded with each other and wanted to frame the lower officials, please find out." Niu Fei didn't expect Su Zhonghai to even know such a secret thing, he was caught off guard for a while, cold sweat flowed down his cheeks, and he shouted to Li Yuntian with a pale face, with an irrepressible panicked look in his eyes.

Gu Zuo shook his head when he heard this, and sighed secretly in his heart, he was extremely disappointed in Niu Fei, unless Su Zhonghai was crazy, how could he use this way to frame Niu Fei, not only was his career ruined, and he became a despised prisoner from a high-ranking member of the criminal department, but his family was also implicated, and this price was definitely unbearable.

When everyone at the scene heard this, their faces showed a look of disdain, and at this moment, even the imperial history of Gu Zuobu of the cabinet camp knew that Niu Fei was quibbling, and his expression was extremely gloomy and lost.