There is a special reason why Nan Zhili's case was reviewed by officials from the Huguang Qing Officials Division of the Criminal Department.

From the local administrative area of the Ming Dynasty, people are familiar with the "two capitals and thirteen provinces", that is, the north and south Zhili and the thirteen political envoys, plus the Jiaozhi political envoys, it is "two capitals and fourteen provinces".

Although in the literal sense, the two capitals and 14 provinces seem to be 16 administrative regions, but the north and south are different from the political envoys, because there is no political envoy in charge of local affairs, according to the inspection of the envoy and the capital department, so the affairs of the state capital are directly under the direct jurisdiction of the yamen of the major ministries and courts in the capital.

For example, the Household Department, the Criminal Department, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate in the capital all have 14 special yamen to manage the affairs of the 14 political envoys, specifically, the Household Department and the Criminal Department have 14 Qing Officials Division, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate has 14 Supervision of the Imperial History, which correspond to each political envoy one by one.

Therefore, the affairs of the state capitals directly under the north and south were managed by the six ministries of the capital and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Taking the Criminal Department as an example, it is divided into 14 Qing Officials Division, each of which is in charge of the affairs of the corresponding local judges, and is also in charge of the affairs of the Beijing Division, the Nanjing Division, the Metropolitan Guard, the Imperial Palace, the Five Cities, special institutions such as the Salt Division, and the affairs of the northern and southern prefectures.

Thereinto:

The three prefectures of Shuntian, Yongping and Guangping in the north are under the jurisdiction of Yunnan Qing officials, Baoding, Hejian, Zhending, Shunde and Baoan Prefecture are under the jurisdiction of Guizhou Qing officials, the Daimyo Mansion is under the management of Sichuan Qing officials, and Yanqing Prefecture is under the management of Guangdong Qing officials.

The Yingtian Mansion of Nanzhili is under the jurisdiction of the Guangdong Qing Officials, the Huai'an and Yangzhou Prefectures are under the jurisdiction of the Henan Officials, the Anqing and Huizhou Prefectures are under the jurisdiction of the Guangxi Officials, the Ningguo and Chizhou Prefectures are under the jurisdiction of the Huguang Officials, the Suzhou Prefecture is under the jurisdiction of the Guizhou Officials, the Songjiang Mansion is under the jurisdiction of the Sichuan Officials, the Luzhou Mansion is under the jurisdiction of the Jiangxi Officials, the Taiping Mansion is under the jurisdiction of the Shaanxi Officials, the Fengyang Mansion and Chuzhou are under the jurisdiction of the Shandong Officials, the Zhenjiang Mansion and Xuzhou are under the jurisdiction of the Shanxi Officials, the Changzhou Mansion and Guangdezhou are under the jurisdiction of the Fujian Officials, and the Hezhou is under the jurisdiction of the Zhejiang Officials.

Since the Jiaozhi Qing Officials Division had recently been established, the scope of power had not yet been divided, but the Guangdong, Guizhou, and Sichuan Qing Officials Divisions were in charge of the prefectures directly subordinate to the north and south at the same time, and it was likely that power would be divided from them at that time.

Since the Nan Zhili death row prisoner was from the Ning State Mansion of Nan Zhili, the case file submitted by him was examined by the Huguang Qing Officials Division of the Criminal Department, and it was only reported after confirming that there were no flaws in the case file, waiting for the autumn decision of the imperial court.

If the Huguang Qing Officials think that the evidence in the case file is insufficient or there are omissions and suspicious points, then they will send them back to Ningguo Mansion for a new trial.

Therefore, why the Huguang Qing Officials Department sent the case file of the death row prisoner of Nan Zhili back for retrial has become another key in the Xiangyun Teahouse case.

"Xiaguan has seen all the adults." Under the gaze of everyone, Zhao Dazhong, the Huguang Qing official of the Criminal Department, led Su Zhonghe, a member of the Huguang Qing Officials of the Criminal Department, and Su Zhonghe, a member of the Criminal Department, to the lobby and bowed to Li Yuntian and the others.

"Zhao Langzhong, this official asked you, at the end of March, your criminal department had returned the case file of Nan Zhili's execution, can you tell the official the specific reason?" Li Yuntian bowed slightly to Zhao Da and asked.

Speaking of Zhao Da, the relationship between Li Yuntian and him is quite good, when Li Yuntian was transferred to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he served as the supervisor of Huguang Dao, so he had too much intersection with the Huguang Dao Qing Officials Division of the Criminal Department when dealing with Huguang affairs.

"Your Excellency, this case is in charge of Su Yuanwai, and the subordinate officials are not particularly clear about the reason." When Zhao Da heard this, he bowed his hand to Li Yuntian, replied in a deep voice, and quietly pulled himself out of this incident.

When Zhao Da was in the Criminal Department, he already knew that something had happened to the death sentence case that was sent back to Ning Guofu at the end of March, because Jin Yiwei, who came to the Criminal Department, not only took the case file of Zhongnan Zhili in the treasury of the Criminal Department, but also looked around for people related to the case, and brought them all to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for trial.

The reason why they came late was because Su Zhonghe, a member of the Huguang Dao Qing Officials Division of the Criminal Department, went to the military camp outside the city to cooperate with the garrison to handle the case, but was brought back from the scene of the case by the Jinyi guard.

After all, Nan Zhili's case was sent back to Ning Guofu after Su Zhonghe checked the case file, and as a member of the Huguang Dao Qing Officials Division, he had the right to return those case files with doubts.

As a case file reported to the imperial court for the autumn decision, it must first be reviewed by the officials of the criminal department, and then reviewed by the officials and divisions, and only if both of them think that there are no flaws can they be reported to the court.

Therefore, because Nan Zhili's case was beaten back at Su Zhonghe, although Zhao Da had the intention of shirking, what he said was the truth.

"Su Yuanwai, you sue the official, what is wrong with this case, and you have to send it back to Ning Guofu for retrial?" Li Yuntian opened the file of Nan Zhili's case on the table, and looked at a middle-aged man with a round face of medium stature standing behind Zhao Da with a stern expression, he was Su Zhonghe, the official of the Huguang Qing Dynasty of the Criminal Department.

It is worth mentioning that Su Zhonghe sent Nan Zhili's case back for Ning Guofu to retry, but he did not send the case file back, but issued an official document to Ning Guofu for retrial, and the case file should be kept in the treasury of the Criminal Department for the record.

Su Zhonghe's forehead was already covered with sweat at this time, although he had also heard about the dispute between Niu Fei and Ma An in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but he didn't take it to heart, because in his opinion, it was the matter of the Metropolitan Procuratorate that had nothing to do with him.

It wasn't until he was brought to the Criminal Department by the imposing Jinyi Guard from the yamen of the garrison outside the city that he knew that the situation was bad, and the case that he had sent back to Nanzhili for retrial at the end of March was on a business trip.

Two years ago, Su Zhonghe was promoted from the local yamen to the post of Wailang, a member of the Huguang Dao Qing Officials Division of the Criminal Department, and his predecessor was released as an official to serve as the governor of a prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River.

Therefore, there was no friendship between Su Zhonghe and Li Yuntian, and he had long heard about Li Yuntian's trial in the capital and Hukou County, Jiujiang Prefecture, Jiangxi, and knew that Li Yuntian was a master of trial cases, and it would be even more difficult for him to get through the trick.

"My lord......" Facing Li Yuntian's inquiry, Su Zhonghe reached out and wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, and after stabilizing his mind, he was ready to quibble.

"Outside Su Yuan, I heard that you bought a house of more than 2,000 taels in Tongzhou last month, and you are still used to living in it, right?" Without waiting for Su Zhonghe to speak, Li Yuntian interrupted him abruptly, and asked lightly while looking at the case file in his hand.

"Ah......" Su Zhonghe couldn't catch off guard, and when he heard this, he was stunned, and looked at Li Yuntian who was flipping through the case file in a daze, his eyes showing a look of horror.

"Not good!" Seeing Suzhou Creek's reaction at this time, Niu Fei, who was standing on the side, suddenly sank in his heart, and his face became ugly, if he didn't guess wrong, Su Zhonghe bought a mansion in Tongzhou City.

The price of more than two thousand taels is enough to kill Su Zhonghe, you must know that Su Zhonghe's annual salary is only sixty or seventy taels if it is equivalent to silver, which is his salary for more than 30 years, and he will not eat or drink during this period.

The people at the scene were stunned by this sudden scene, no one would have thought that Li Yuntian would ask such a question, making Su Zhonghe completely stupid.

"Big ...... My lord, the lower official...... ......Under the suspicious gaze of everyone, Su Zhonghe, who had experienced the initial panic, suddenly came back to his senses, couldn't help but reach out and wipe the cold sweat on his forehead, and stammered to deny it.

"Han Yushi, tell the official the results of your investigation." Seeing that Su Zhonghe was about to speak, Li Yuntian interrupted him again and raised his head to look at Han Liang in the hall.

"My lord, the lower officials have found out that Su Yuanwai bought a house of more than 2,000 taels from a silk merchant in Tongzhou City in early April, and there lived in a concubine room he privately accepted in Jiangnan, and the concubine gave birth to a son and a daughter for him, and was taken care of by his mother's family." Hearing this, Han Liang glanced at Niu Fei coldly, and said to Li Yuntian in a deep voice.

"Han Yushi, how did you know that Su Yuanwai bought a house in Tongzhou City?" Hearing this, everyone at the scene was immediately shocked, Gu Zuowan never imagined that things would change so bizarrely, and couldn't help but ask Han Liang, his expression became heavy.

The time when Su Zhonghe bought the house was too sensitive, and after Nan Zhili's case was brought back, it couldn't help but make people think about it.

And once Su Zhonghe cheats on this case, then Niu Fei will be implicated if he is not sure, which is what Gu Zuo is most worried about now.

Everyone at the scene looked at Han Liang curiously, and it was a big surprise that Han Liang knew about it, it was obvious that Han Liang would not be bored enough to investigate Su Zhonghe, there was another hidden secret.

"Your Excellency, the envelope that the lower official got to report Niu Yushi not only contains evidence of Niu Yushi's crimes, but also a note, which says that Su Yuanwai used the bribes received from the Nanzhili case to buy a house in Tongzhou City, indicating that the criminal's family is Tongguò Niu Yushi and caught Su Yuanwai's line."

Han Liang bowed to Gu Zuo and replied in an orderly manner, "Therefore, Xiaguan asked people to check the house, and sure enough, Su Yuanwai bought it, and Xiaguan was worried that after this news was revealed, Su Yuanwai would take precautions, so at noon, he revealed Lord Li, who was in charge of the case. ”

Gu Zuo's eyes suddenly darkened when he heard this, Han Liang's explanation was reasonable, he couldn't find anything wrong for a while, it seemed that Niu Fei would be in big trouble nine times out of ten.

"Outside of Su Yuan, don't you have anything to say to this official?" Seeing Gu Zuo sitting there with a gloomy face and no longer speaking, Li Yuntian opened his mouth and asked the sweaty Suzhou River on his forehead, and asked coldly.

"Xiaguan...... The lower officials are guilty, please forgive your sins. Su Zhonghe's body trembled suddenly when he heard this, he never thought that he would be caught, so he knelt on the ground with a plop, and slapped himself with a bow left and right, while saying in a sincere panic.

"The official asks you, where did you get the money to buy the house?" Seeing this, a subtle smile flashed at the corner of Li Yuntian's mouth, and he asked expressionlessly, as long as Su Zhonghe confessed honestly, then Niu Fei would be implicated, and then break his lies one by one.