"Silence!" Seeing that there was some commotion at the scene, Li Yuntian looked up at the supervising imperial history who was whispering outside the door, slapped the startled wood expressionlessly, and shouted loudly.

The supervising imperial historians immediately quieted down, and looked at the scene in front of them intently, it was obvious that this was just the beginning of the case, if Li Yuntian did not have the evidence in his hands, Ma An would not be imprisoned in the edict of the Fusi of Beizhen.

"Chuan Guizhou Dao supervises the imperial history Niu Fei." Li Yuntian saw that those supervising imperial histories were quiet, so he whispered a few words to Qin Yue and Fan Min beside him, and then gave an order in a loud voice.

"Xiaguan Niu Fei has seen all the adults." Niu Fei waited in the wing room on the edge of the lobby, and after being brought by two Jinyi Guards, he saluted Li Yuntian and the others.

At the same time that Ma An was arrested by Captain Jinyiwei, Li Yuntian asked people to inform Niu Fei that he was going to serve as a witness on the side of the Metropolitan Procuratorate during the trial, after all, this case was taken by Niu Fei, and it was impossible for Li Yuntian, who was busy with official business, to personally investigate some details, so he naturally had to hand it over to his subordinates to handle.

"Niu Yushi, this official asked you, why did the Metropolitan Procuratorate want to investigate Ma Yushi?" Li Yuntian bowed slightly to Niu Fei and asked quietly.

"Lord Qiqi, the lower official received an anonymous report, saying that the Guangxi Provincial Inspector Yu Shi Ma An knew the law and violated the law, and took the opportunity of the inspection to take bribes on a large scale, and the lower officials did not dare to slack off, so they immediately reported to Lord Zuodu Yushi, and Zuodu Yushi asked the lower officials to be responsible for the investigation." Niu Fei bowed his hand to Li Yuntian and replied methodically.

"Lord Li, this official can testify that what Niu Yushi said is true, and at that time, Niu Yushi told this official that Ma An might be suspected of corruption, so this official asked him to investigate this case." At this time, Gu Zuo, who was sitting at the top of the left side of the lobby, opened his mouth and confirmed what Niu Fei said.

Hearing this, there was a small commotion among the supervising imperial historians outside the door, everyone originally thought that Gu Zuo wanted to investigate Ma An, but they didn't expect that this case was provoked by Niu Fei.

Thinking of the grievances and entanglements between Niu Fei and Ma An, everyone suddenly understood in their hearts that this was Niu Fei rectifying Ma An, and the so-called anonymous report was probably just a cover.

"Niu Yushi, what have you found?" Li Yuntian had already guessed from Gu Zuo's words and demeanor that Ma An's case had little to do with him, and now he undoubtedly confirmed his guess, a subtle smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he looked at Niu Fei with a stern expression.

"My lord, after the unremitting efforts of the lower official and your colleagues, I finally found the evidence of Ma An's bribery, and made it clear to Lord Zuodu Yushi, Lord Zuodu Yushi let this official have full authority to deal with this case, and since there is no place for interrogation in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the lower official notified the Beizhen Fusi to let him assist in the investigation of the case."

Niu Fei didn't even think about Li Yuntian's question, and answered calmly, what he said was the truth, so he was not afraid of someone jumping out to question it.

"That's true." Li Yuntian looked at Gu Zuo when he heard this, and Gu Zuo nodded at him to affirm Niu Fei's statement.

"What is the incriminating evidence?" Then, Li Yuntian's gaze fell on Niu Fei's body and asked quietly.

"My lord, Ma An is cunning by nature, in order to cover up those bribes, he exchanged them for expensive calligraphy and paintings and hid them at home, according to the investigation of the lower officials, the market price of those calligraphy and paintings is as high as 10,000 taels of silver." Niu Fei bowed to Li Yuntian and told Niu Fei's guilt loudly.

As soon as this remark came out, there was an uproar in the audience, no one thought that Ma An would be involved in bribes as high as 10,000 taels, you must know that the most embezzlement among the more than 30 or so removed imperial histories was only more than 9,000 taels, and Ma An actually exceeded 10,000 taels.

"You are spewing blood, those calligraphy and paintings are all imitations bought by the official from above, and they are worth more than a hundred taels of silver in total, where do you say ten thousand taels?" Ma An's face suddenly sank, and he pointed at Niu Fei and said angrily.

"Hmph, it's not up to you to decide whether it's an imitation or not!" Niu Fei sneered when he heard this, his eyes glared coldly at Ma An, who was glaring at him, and said to Li Yuntian in a deep voice, "My lord, the lower officials have asked someone to appraise those calligraphy and paintings, and some of them are indeed imitations, but some are treasures handed down from the previous dynasty. ”

"Hmph, those people are at your mercy, don't you just do what you say?" Ma An looked at Niu Fei coldly, with an angry look on his face.

"Silence!" With the-for-tat confrontation between Ma An and Niu Fei, the situation on the scene became noisy again, and Li Yuntian slapped the shocked wood again, which made the surroundings calm again.

"Come on, bring up those calligraphy and paintings." Under the gaze of the people, Li Yuntian exchanged a few words with Qin Yue and Fan Min in a low voice, and then gave an order in a deep voice.

A moment later, the two Jinyi Guard captains carried a large mahogany box with the seal of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to the lobby, and opened it to see that there were dozens of painting scrolls inside, which were the calligraphy and paintings that had been searched from Ma An's house.

"Ma Yushi, go up and take a look, are the contents of the box from your house?" Li Yuntian stretched out his hand and pointed to the calligraphy and paintings in the alley, and said to Ma An in an orderly manner.

Ma An arched his hand to Li Yuntian, walked quickly to the box, and opened the scrolls one by one to inspect them.

In fact, the painting scrolls are not very easy to identify Ma An, Ma An not only inscribed his name on those painting scrolls, but also put on his imperial history seal, and the seals of the Imperial History Supervision of the Metropolitan Procuratorate are different.

For example, Ma An's seal is engraved with the words "Guangxi Provincial Supervision Imperial History", and below the font are numbers such as "壹" and "贰", which represent their exact identity, so just look at the seal on it.

There are not only Ma An's seals on those painting scrolls, but also Niu Fei's seals, it turned out that Niu Fei was a little worried when he handed over those calligraphy and paintings to Li Yuntian, worried that someone would steal the dragon and turn the phoenix, so he also stamped his own imperial history seal, so that no one could exchange those calligraphy and paintings.

"My lord, Xiaguan loves calligraphy and painting, and these calligraphy and paintings were bought by Xiaguan from the old market, and they have Xiaguan's seal on them." After checking the dozens of calligraphy and paintings, Ma An arched his hand at Li Yuntian and said seriously.

"Niu Yushi, go and see if those calligraphy and paintings are the ones you seized." Li Yuntian bowed slightly when he heard this, turned to Niu Fei and said.

"It's the ones that the lower officials seized." Niu Fei immediately stepped forward to take a closer look, and then nodded affirmatively to Li Yuntian.

"The matter has come to this, the situation is clear, the key to this case is on these calligraphy and paintings, if these calligraphy and paintings are really worth ten thousand taels, then Ma Yushi's crime is unforgivable, if these calligraphy and paintings are only worth one or two hundred taels, then Ma Yushi is framed."

After Ma An and Niu Fei confirmed that those calligraphy and paintings were the evidence that Niu Fei had searched from Ma An, Li Yuntian glanced around at the scene and said with a stern expression, "Therefore, this official is going to find someone to identify the authenticity and value of these calligraphy and paintings." ”

"Come on, use the official's carriage to invite Master Wu Youzi to come." As he spoke, Li Yuntian shouted orders to his own soldiers standing outside the door.

"Wu Youzi came to the capital?"

"It's good now, with Wu, everyone can distinguish the authenticity."

"Wu's eyes are like torches, it seems that this case will soon come to light."

……

Hearing the words "Wu Youzi", the imperial historians at the scene discussed in surprise, and no one expected that Li Yuntian would find Wu Youzi.

Wu Youzi is the Taishan Beidou of the Ming Dynasty calligraphy and painting circles, especially in the two capitals and the south of the Yangtze River, a landscape painting made when he was young was approved by the Hongwu Emperor, and left a "magnificent" imperial approval on it on a whim, which made him famous in one fell swoop.

This year, Wu Youzi is over sixty years old and lives in Nanjing, and I don't know when he came to Beijing.

Ma An's face was immediately happy when he heard this, Wu Youzi's calligraphy and painting skills are profound, and he can definitely see that most of those calligraphy and paintings are imitations, even if they are genuine, the value is not high, and the most important thing is that Wu Youzi has the highest authority in the calligraphy and painting world, which undoubtedly cleared his charges.

Niu Fei's face became a little ugly, and he looked up at Li Yuntian, who was talking about something with Qin Yue and Fan Min in the lobby, and his brows furrowed slightly.

He originally thought that Li Yuntian was going to find people in the calligraphy and painting circles in the capital to identify the authenticity of those paintings and calligraphy, so he had already secretly said hello, and no matter who came, he would insist that those paintings and calligraphy were genuine works of great value.

At this moment, Niu Fei couldn't help but complain in his heart that Li Yuntian was making a fuss, and he was willing to let Wu Youzi be the appraiser.

However, Niu Fei knew that he couldn't complain about Li Yuntian, after all, this case was the first case tried by Li Yuntian after he was promoted to the imperial history of Zuo Yandu, so he naturally had to be cautious.

Niu Fei regretted it now, if he knew that Li Yuntian was so careful, he would have secretly given Li Yuntian some hints, so as not to make things so complicated.

In Niu Fei's opinion, Li Yuntian is a member of the cabinet camp and naturally wants to help him, and the relationship between Li Yuntian and Ma An seems to be very bad, and there is no reason to help Ma An get out of trouble.

"My lord, the owner of the calligraphy and painting stall involved in the case in the old market has been brought." Just when everyone was anxiously waiting for Wu Youzi to arrive, a group of brocade guards led a few middle-aged people holding account books in their hands into the lobby under the surprised gaze of people, and the leading brocade guards told Li Yuntian in a deep voice.

"Meet your Excellency." Several middle-aged people came to the lobby and knelt on the ground to salute Li Yuntian and the others.

"Do you know this man?" Li Yuntian stretched out his hand and pointed at Ma An, who was standing on the side, and asked in a deep voice.

"Lord Qiyu, this is Lord Yushi Ma, the superintendent of Guangxi Province of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he often comes to the old city to exchange calligraphy and paintings, so he is familiar with me and a few others." A middle-aged man kneeling in the middle with two mustaches glanced at Ma An and knelt there and bowed in reply.

"This official asks you, Ma Yushi can buy valuable paintings and calligraphy from you?" When Li Yuntian heard this, he stared at the middle-aged man with a blank face, and asked sharply, "This official wants to remind you that this is the lobby of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, if you have half a lie, this official will severely punish you!" ”