On the tenth day of the lunar month, the crowds outside Shuntian Mansion were crowded, boiling and surging, and many people who came to see the excitement under the cold wind gathered densely.

Yin Zhao Muyu, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, had long expected that today's court trial would attract a large number of people, so he had already prepared to mobilize sufficient soldiers to maintain order at the scene.

"Do you think that Zhenguo Gong is really a big traitor like Liu Ren said, rampant and domineering in Jiaozhi and Guangxi, covering the sky with one hand?"

"Being an official for thousands of miles is just for money, I don't think the town is much better!"

"So Zhen Guogong is a hypocrite who is ruined on the outside?"

"I've seen Zhen Guogong, who is kind and kind, and he won't be as dirty as you say!"

"Brother, the matter is clear now, Liu Ren was sent by the Zhenguo Gong to kill him, the purpose is to kill the mouth, so as not to make Liu Ren make the matter a big mess and end badly."

"I heard that the emperor already knew that Zhenguo Gong was doing evil in Jiaozhi, Long Yan was furious and gave an edict to Zhenguo Gong, and Zhen Guogong came to Shuntian Mansion at this time, otherwise how could Shuntian Mansion alone invite Zhen Guogong to drive?"

……

Before Li Yuntian arrived, the people gathered in groups to talk about his relationship with Liu Ren's case, and because the news on the market was unfavorable to Li Yuntian, the people in the capital had doubts about his character, and public opinion then showed a one-sided trend, which greatly affected Li Yuntian's image.

It is worth mentioning that in order to avoid the outbreak of conflicts, Li Yuntian ordered that the personnel and family members of the martial arts hall should not come to Yingtianfu, otherwise, in the current situation, the people who spoke of the martial arts hall would definitely fight with those people who said that Li Yuntian was a traitorous official, and it would only be the martial arts hall that would be even more disadvantageous at that time.

"It's coming!"

Soon after, an excited voice rang out in the crowd, which caused the people who were talking with great interest to stretch their necks and look into the street, only to see a black four-wheeled carriage slowly approaching surrounded by a group of guards.

Seeing this, people instantly became agitated, and they stretched their necks and squeezed forward, all wanting to see Li Yuntian up close, which made the Ying Tianfu soldiers who maintained order squeezed and staggered.

In the carriage, Li Yuntian lifted the corner of the curtain of the car window and looked out, and when he saw that the street was densely packed with people, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but show a smile, it seems that his appeal in the capital is not bad, and there are so many people who come to cheer.

At the gate of the Shuntian Mansion, Yin Zhao Muyu of the Shuntian Mansion led the officials of the Shuntian Mansion and the officials sent by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Criminal Department, and the Dali Temple to greet Li Yuntian.

It is worth mentioning that whether it is the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Criminal Department, or the Dali Temple, all sent five-grade officials to hear the trial this time, and the officials of the three law divisions, especially the officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, no one wants to get involved in Liu Ren's case, after all, Li Yuntian is not easy to provoke, and everyone has a good relationship with Li Yuntian, so naturally they must avoid being involved

"Participate in the national government." When Li Yuntian got off the carriage, Zhao Muyu bowed to Li Yuntian and bowed.

"See Guogong." Seeing this, the officials who followed behind Zhao Muyu saluted Li Yuntian one after another.

"No courtesy." Li Yuntian's right hand was lifted upward, and he smiled and said to Zhao Muyu, "Lord Zhao, this time you have been promoted to the hall in person." ”

"The country's words are serious, this is the duty of the lower officials." Zhao Muyu smiled disappreciably, and then reached out and made a gesture of please.

As Li Yuntian and others entered the palace, the two heavy doors of the palace were slowly closed, and in order to avoid any accidents in the middle of the trial, Zhao Muyu specially ordered the gate of the Shuntian Mansion to be closed.

As with the situation outside the door, the aisles in the courtyard of the Shuntian Mansion were also full of people, and they all looked at him curiously when they saw Li Yuntian come in, these people were the people who had been selected to participate in the hearing.

There are four seats in the lobby of Shuntian Mansion, three on the left are the hearing officials of the Three Law Divisions, and one on the right is Li Yuntian's seat.

"The woman with the case, Liu Zhang's!" After bowing slightly to Li Yuntian, Zhao Muyu's face sank, and he slapped the startled wood and shouted loudly.

Soon, a woman with a white belt on her head and a heavy filial piety dress walked into the public hall, with a medium appearance, about thirty years old, holding a child who was also wearing heavy filial piety in one hand, with a sad expression and teary eyes, she was Liu Ren's wife Liu Zhang.

The two children were Liu Ren's two sons, five or six years old on the left and four or five years old on the right, their childish faces were full of horror, and they looked timidly at the people in the court.

After seeing the two children, Li Yuntian's brows furrowed slightly, and then his eyes fell on Liu Zhang.

"The people's woman Liu Zhang's knock to see the master of Qingtian, and hope that the master of Qingtian will avenge the people's wife, so that the husband of the people's wife can be blind under the nine springs." Liu Zhangshi came to the front of the hall, knelt down with his legs bent, took out a form, held his hands high above his head, and said to Zhao Muyu who was sitting behind the desk with a Jiangnan accent on his face.

The two children also knelt beside Liu Zhang's side and kowtowed with Liu Zhang's, looking very cute.

"Liu Zhang, according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, those who sue officials must be punished with a rod for thirty years regardless of whether they are guilty or not, are you willing to accept the rod?" Zhao Muyu looked at Liu Zhang's with a stern expression, and said quietly, "In addition, the crime of framing the prince is added to the crime, you have to think about it." ”

The laws of the Ming Dynasty stipulate that if the people sue the officials, they will all have 30 rods, that is, they will hit 30 boards.

If the accusation is true, then it will be "ignored" and the person who complains will not be held responsible, but if the person who complains is falsely accused, then it must be "reversed", that is, it will be sentenced for the crime of false accusation, and if the object of the complaint is a noble or a royal family, the crime will be increased by one degree.

Moreover, there are corresponding rules for filing complaints to the Yamen, the Ming Dynasty has a notice day, and the Yamen only allows the people to sue on a certain day for ordinary civil lawsuits that cause death by not bodily injury, usually choosing the first and fifth days of the new year, and will not accept them at other times, so as not to affect the operation of the Yamen.

Not only that, in ancient times, the Yamen Chen was at the beginning of the hour, and the shift was closed at three o'clock in the morning, that is, at seven o'clock in the morning and four o'clock in the afternoon, so the complaint should be filed as soon as possible, so as not to miss the hour.

It is worth mentioning that in ancient times, civil litigation was usually a big matter and a small matter, and the presiding judge usually tried to mediate the contradictions between the two parties with the mud, and strive to achieve peace and quiet, after all, it was difficult for a clean official to decide family affairs, and those trivial things were simply entangled.

According to the Yamen's trial process, there must be a complaint when the complaint is filed, otherwise the Yamen will not be able to accept it, because ordinary people in ancient times were illiterate, so they usually had to ask someone to write on their behalf, so there was a profession of lawyer, for example, Li Yuntian's best friend Yang Yungui was a lawyer in Hukou County.

Due to the limited means of trial and investigation in ancient times, it was usually necessary to understand the facts of the case through guò pleadings, so the quality of the pleadings can often affect the presiding judge's impression of both parties involved, so a pleadings that can cater to the preferences of the presiding judge have a better chance of winning, which makes those experienced litigators who can understand the temperament of the presiding judge very popular.

However, if a lawyer often helps people to fight lawsuits, he will also be beaten because of "happy litigation", after all, everyone wants peace in their jurisdiction, otherwise, if there are many lawsuits, doesn't it mean that their governance is unfavorable?

Because Emperor Hongwu was born poor, he set up a Dengwen drum to understand the suffering of the world, and he only played a board for overstepping the level of the complaint.

When it came to the Qing Dynasty, it was not so simple to go to the next level, and many harsh restrictions were set, taking the three law divisions of the Qing Dynasty as an example, if you want to think of the three law divisions to file a lawsuit, you must roll the nail board to prove that there is a great grievance, and the criminal department can accept it.

As for the drum, the Qing Dynasty stipulated that the reason for drumming "must be related to the major affairs of the military state, great greed and evil, and strange injustice", otherwise the violator of the drum shall not be guilty of serious crimes, and it must be verified before the drumming is beaten, so that the drumming will exist in name only.

In fact, not only the Qing Dynasty, but also the Ming Dynasty after Xuande Dengwen drum was basically reduced to a decoration.

According to the original intention of Emperor Hongwu to set up the Dengwen drum, once the people beat the drum and complained, the emperor must personally accept it, and if the officials obstruct it, they will be severely sentenced.

With the improvement of the cabinet system and the control of the cabinet and the six ministries, the Ming Dynasty has gradually formed a complete system for handling government affairs since Xuande, and there is no longer a need for the emperors to bow down to everything, so most of the emperors after Xuande are no longer as diligent in government affairs as Emperor Hongwu, Emperor Yongle, Emperor Hongxi and Emperor Xuande, and the officials below naturally do not dare to use the drums to disturb the holy driver, you must know that in the history of the Ming Dynasty, there are several examples of large-scale cane killings that angered the emperor and civil officials.

The so-called nail board is a wooden board full of iron nails, about five feet wide and about one zhang long.

It is rumored that the gatehouse of the three law divisions of the Qing Dynasty prepared two specifications of nail plates, one with 380 steel nails, and the other with only 81 steel nails.

The nail plate of rolling 380 steel nails is okay, because there are many steel nails that make the body contact with the steel nails more stress points, the pressure on a single steel nail is small, and the damage to the human body is small.

But if it is eighty-one steel nails, then if you roll down this trip, there will definitely be a lot of blood holes on your body.

"The women are willing." In the face of Zhao Muyu's inquiry, Liu Zhang did not hesitate at all, and agreed in one bite, looking at Zhao Muyu decisively.

It stands to reason that when Liu Zhang was in front of Shuntian Mansion, the servants of Shuntian Mansion should execute her, and then take her case.

However, Liu Zhang's situation was relatively special, involving Li Yuntian and Liu Ren, who was poisoned to death in the prison of Shuntianfu, so none of the officials in Shuntianfu dared to take Liu Zhang's case lightly, but reported it to Zhao Muyu at the first level, and Zhao Muyu reported it to Emperor Xuande, so Liu Zhang's family escaped the board.

However, the current situation is different from the previous one, since the Shuntian Mansion has accepted Liu Zhang's case, then Liu Zhang's board is inevitable no matter what, otherwise it will violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

"Execution!" Seeing that Liu Zhang's mind had been decided, Zhao Muyu immediately took out a order sign from the sign holder on the desk and threw it on the ground with a snap.

Seeing this, several officers in the lobby immediately stepped forward and prepared to hold Liu Zhang's execution, because Liu Zhang's was a woman, so he could be punished without taking off his pants.

"Wait!" Before the officers walked to Liu Zhang's side, Li Yuntian suddenly opened his mouth unexpectedly to stop him, which made everyone at the scene look at him suspiciously, not knowing what he meant.