At the beginning of the year, Shanxi Jin merchants bribed Zhang Sizhi with a large sum of silver in order to get him to speak for Li Xin in the imperial court. At that time, Zhang Sizhi also cooperated very well for Li Xin, and the reason was naturally that helping Li Xin was highly compatible with his interests.

Now, Yang Sichang is about to come to Taiwan, and the significance of secretly helping Li Xin to contain Yang Sichang has been lost, and the target of the attack has also shifted to Sun Chengzong, so containing Li Xin has become the immediate criterion for his actions.

As for the tens of thousands of taels of silver bribed by Jin Shang, Zhang Sizhi didn't pay attention to it at all, could it be that he dared to come to him, the emperor, and the cabinet scholars came to ask for it? What's more, these businessmen who are only interested in profit, need his help to smuggle salt, iron, leather and even grain outside the side wall.

Zhang Sizhi wrote the chapter overnight, but after a turn of thought, he pressed it under the thick pile of books on the bookcase, as if he remembered something again.

At the same time, those who are concerned about the case of Taiyuan City's angry murder of the adulterer Yin and the woman are also Zhu Youzhen, the great son of the Forbidden City.

There are many people who are popular, and it is definitely not too much to use on Li Xin, and now even the slightest bit of trouble in Li Xin can be used through various unknown channels to quickly spread throughout the officialdom of Beijing, and quickly become a topic of conversation among officials.

As for this powerful general who is popular by himself, Zhu Youzhen, the son of the big tomorrow, is more favored than blamed when he puts it in, but this time he still has a lot of dissatisfaction with Li Xin's gentle treatment. In his opinion, a stone is just a hill, and it is insignificant to the overall situation, if you want to protect him, keep this matter secret. If you don't want to protect him, just cut it neatly, and give everyone an explanation. What is the matter with making it look like he is now, not to mention affecting his own reputation, I am afraid it will attract more criticism and criticism.

However, after Gao Shiming's secret performance arrived, Zhu Youzhen's attitude also quietly changed, and he even began to sympathize with Zhang Shishi, the person involved in the case of the angry murder of the adulterer.

Zhu Youzhen sighed, "Alas, it's also a poor person, you can also comment, Zhang Shi and Hu Ergou can also be regarded as Mr. Dongguo and the wolf." ”

The words were said to Wang Chengen, and he sighed only when he heard him.

"The old slave also heard about the whole story, Zhang Shishi is really a faithful and benevolent person, can adhere to the principle and is not afraid of authority to redress the grievances of the people's daughter, and is loyal to the Lord for thousands of miles, and is even more meticulous to the brothers, it is said that he also bought a property for Hu Ergou in Taiyuan City, thinking that he would marry a wife for that person when he settled down...... When such a thing happened, the old slave was also very sad to hear it......"

Wang Chengen has always been cautious in speaking in front of Zhu Youzhen, never expressing his inner opinions, and more often than not, he only uses words to guide him like this. Such a person who values love and faithfulness is the person Zhu Youzhen prefers, and he values Li Xin more than his own ability. He already had a vague idea of pardoning this person, and if a holy decree continued, all problems would be solved. Moreover, Zhang Shi's anger in killing the adulterer Yin woman is excusable, even if it is amnesty, those ministers have no reason to make noise.

But Wang Chengen's other words made him dispel the idea of making an order immediately.

"It is reported that on the day of the incident, Lu Jiu, a battalion officer under General Zhengxi, did intend to block the news in order to calm things down. But there was something strange, but it took a few hours of effort, and the news leaked out, and it spread all over the city in an afternoon. ”

Zhu Youzhen was stunned for a moment, listening to Wang Chengen's meaning, there seemed to be a hidden story behind this case.

"Could it be that Li Xin's family is not quiet?"

"The old slave doesn't know, I only heard that even the King of Jin advocates a strict and serious trial of this case."

I heard that the kings of Jin were all involved, Zhu Youzhen's sensitive nerves were immediately stirred, and the vassal kings would definitely come out to make a fuss as long as they were a little troubled, just like King Shen of Lu'an Mansion, who dared to openly violate the ancestral system and lead troops into Tongguan. But King Jin is a kind and honest man, why is he ready to move? Besides, he is Li Xin's quasi-father-in-law, and Li Xin saved the county lord of Xinle again, so the relationship between the two should be eased......

"King Jin? Could it be that he is targeting Li Xin? ”

Wang Chengen thought for a moment and said: "Before General Zhengxi politely rejected Princess Xinle's gift of affection, he was rumored to have repented of his marriage by a stroke in the city, maybe ......" Halfway through the words, Zhu Youzhen understood, and at the same time felt a little dissatisfied in his heart, Gao Shiming missed more and more things from Taiyuan's secret report.

Looking at Wang Chengen again, Zhu Youzhen only felt that he was also a little eccentric, and he seemed to talk a lot more than usual. However, as soon as he had this thought, Wang Chengen became silent again, as before.

Zhu Youzhen said secretly, maybe he was too sensitive today. But the many obstacles Li Xin faced were definitely not sensitive, and he didn't expect that the courtiers had already fought to the former enemy. This made Zhu Youzhen unbearable, he wanted to see who was so eager to deal with the good generals who had made great contributions to the imperial court, and he also wanted to see how his hundred battles would deal with the challenges and plots from within the imperial court.

It just so happened that Zhu Youzhen caught a glimpse of the interrogation provisions of the case of Taiyuan's angry murder of the adulterer Yin woman that had just been presented by the cabinet, so he turned a few pages at random, and was attracted to read it in one go, and it took him a long time to study it several times before it was finished.

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly went to look at who drafted the article and who played it, and soon he found the names of the two people. It turned out to be proposed by Li Xin, and then by Lu Sizhen, the envoy of Shanxi. Unexpectedly, Li Xin still has this ability, and he can obviously see that the so-called method of dividing into three is to create convenient conditions for Zhang Shi to get rid of his crimes. But he still has one point of confusion, that is, the vast majority of the people in the trial, litigation, and jury have never intersected with Li Xin, so how to create convenience?

Zhang Fangyan, a bachelor in Taiyuan City, was invited by Li Xin to serve as the chief judge, naturally wanting to use his name as a founder Gengjie to improve the credibility of the interrogation, which is understandable, but isn't Li Xin afraid that this person's stinky and hard temper will cause him trouble?

There is also a list of observers, among which the King of Jin is also impressively listed, and he has to ask the imperial court to send personnel to observe it together, is this a bit too much, there are so many more obstacles in the entire interrogator, and the difficulty for Li Xin to exonerate his subordinates is afraid that it will increase a lot.

What is even more outrageous is the eleven jury, and the power to judge and convict was actually handed over to these people, and when Zhu Youzhen looked at the detailed rules for selecting jurors, he was even more confused. He even suspected that Li Xin's actions might be out of sincerity, for the sake of the fairness of the trial, and openly.

But this move is obviously not in line with common sense, once Zhang Shi is convicted, the impact on the Three Guards is secondary, so extravagant to engage in this set, and finally pit his subordinates, I am afraid that the reputation of meanness and injustice Li Xin will also have to carry his back.

Zhu Youzhen's heart suddenly moved, since Li Xin wanted the imperial court to send someone to observe, it was better to send someone down, and soon thought of a suitable candidate. Thinking that Li Xin deliberately chose a group of people who had no intersection with him and even had many discords to join the list of judges, Zhu Youzhen didn't mind adding another fire and seeing how Li Xin dealt with it.

Soon, the will of the imperial court came down, and Liu Lingyu, the right man of the Imperial Palace, went to Taiyuan in person to observe the case of the angry murder of the adulterer Yin and the woman who caused a sensation in the officialdom of Beijing. After receiving the emperor's will, Liu Lingyu was sincerely afraid, and he couldn't get the emperor's idea, and the previous backstage backer was Liu Yuliang, the first assistant university scholar of the cabinet, and later Liu Yuliang completely fell out of favor due to Xiong Kaiyuan's false accusation of Li Xin, and he lived in fear every day, for fear of being settled by the autumn queen.

Although Liu Lingyu later intended to take refuge in Zhang Sizhi, a scholar in the cabinet of today's emperor, the old guy was like leaving him, and he didn't know what to do. And this case may be both a crisis and a turning point. Sure enough, Zhang Sizhi's name and letter were sent to Liu Lingyu's house on the evening of the same day. Liu Lingyu couldn't wait to open the letter, but he was stunned and muttered to himself.

"Do you really want to accept the name?" After standing for a long time, he nodded and shook his head, and finally made up his mind. "Well, if you don't succeed, you will become a benevolent!"

Early in the morning of the second day, Liu Lingyu traveled lightly and set off on the road, and there were schadenfreude, rabbits and foxes who were sad, and those who sighed and were pitiful in the eyes of many send-offs. However, he could not see any of this.

In the evening of the same day, the emperor actually issued another decree, this time not to the courtiers, but to Li Yong, the deputy director of Beizhen, and ordered him to carry the secret decree to Taiyuan, as for what kind of task to perform, it is not known to outsiders.

Compared with the secret mission of Li Yong, the deputy director of Beizhen, to go south to Taiyuan, the ministers were more concerned about this person being Li Xin's cousin, and the emperor sent this person for great use, and some people even speculated in private that the emperor was ready to support Li Xin.

At the same time that Liu Lingyu went south, the jury selection was in full swing in Taiyuan City, and a large number of ordinary people, squires and wealthy families were among them. And Lu Sizhen was meticulous in accordance with the selection rules drawn up by Li Xin, and he had not even been so serious as an official for many years, what he did was to put the blame on him when Li Xin was impeached in the future, and then pick himself clean.

The selection rules set by Li Xin are even detailed to a specific matter. For example, among the relatives within the five uniforms of the candidate, if there are similar and adulterous people, they will not be selected. What's more, a number of questions are listed, and several candidate answers are listed, so that candidates can answer them one by one, and then score according to the selected answers, and only those who pass can be selected.

There is another problem, that is, the number of jurors, not the eleven people that Lu Sizhen thought before, but there are 33 people, a total of three groups. In the face of extremely harsh conditions, Lu Sizhen tried his best, and there were very few people who were willing to wade into troubled waters and were qualified.