Although it is impossible for all the conditions to be met for the time being, Huangshi also intends to establish a system for the evaluation of lawyers, and then all the judges, supervisors, and defense lawyers must pass this examination, which is somewhat similar to the emergency judicial system that Sun Kewang engaged in in Henan. As a result, the master-apprentice relationship between Xu Ping and Huangshi was more convinced by the public, and the lawyer system in Henan at that time was issued in the name of Xu Ping, which was obviously Xu Ping applying what he had learned from his master in the eyes of everyone.

In line with the principle of not interfering with the independent judiciary that had just begun as much as possible, when the Funing Army returned to the Northern Alliance and the rebels who surrendered to the Ming Army were transported back to Fujian, they were handed over to the Quanzhou Criminal Division for trial.

All the cases of the Sentencing Division in Quanzhou were sealed in envelopes, and then distributed by the staff to the indictment officers on duty in order, and the few colleagues in front of the Sentencing Officer Zheng Zhilin received trivial cases. When Zheng Zhilin opened the envelope on his desk, what he saw was this much-anticipated lawsuit.

"The Quanzhou Supervision Department prosecuted Jiang Ping, Wang Qinian and other 26 generals for treason, murder, and robbery......" Zheng Ti frowned and read the things on the paper, feeling that this case was really a hot potato, so he protested to the chief criminal officer of Quanzhou Prefecture: "These cases all happened in the north, why does the Quanzhou Provincial Criminal Division have jurisdiction?" ”

At present, the regulations on the jurisdiction of the criminal officer are still very sloppy, but there is a basic principle that it is handed over to the local criminal prosecution department responsible for the trial, and the chief criminal officer explained: "Because there is no Qing Yuan and criminal prosecution department in Henan, Shanxi, or Shaanxi, these prisoners went ashore in Quanzhou, so the jurisdiction falls into our hands." ”

Zheng Zhilin, who was helpless, returned home sullenly, before the reform of Fujian and Guangdong, he worked for the Marquis of Zhendong, and also earned fame and a county order, his ideal is also to achieve achievements in his career, and after this restructuring, the Duke of Qi was transferred to the Criminal Division to do things because of the shortage in the eyes of people who know the law, which is not in line with Zheng Zhilin's wishes.

But in the election more than a year ago, most of the candidates were either gentry or businessmen, and it was difficult for Zheng Zhilin to compete with them, let alone the courage to disobey the authority of the Qi State Government, so he took up this job.

It wasn't until half a year ago that Zheng Zhilin once again saw an opportunity to continue his original ideal, that is, after the first wave of campaigning, the enthusiasm of the gentry and businessmen for their personal appointment as a doctor or magistrate began to fade. The first reason, of course, is the growing strength of the parties, and in the past year most of the small parties have been swallowed up by the big parties or have united on their own; The second reason is that the House of Ministers passed a resolution requiring those who run for public office to work full-time, a proposal that was unanimously approved by the three major parties of the House of Secretaries, and businessmen and doctors who enter the House in their personal names must choose whether to resign from their bosses to concentrate on working in the House of Secretaries, or quit the House of Secretaries.

In the next election of the secretary and local officials, it is obvious that no one will conduct an election in his personal name that he knows he will lose, and all parties have begun to look for people with outstanding political achievements and good official reputations to form alliances and elect these people to become candidates; because Zheng Zhilin has always been conscientious in his work in the Quanzhou Criminal Justice Division, and his judgments have always been inclined to the will of the people, so the Kuomintang and the Labor Party have successively thrown olive branches to him, hoping that he can participate in the next election for the governor of Quanzhou Prefecture as the party's promoter.

Therefore, in the past six months, Zheng Zhilin has redoubled his hard work, even giving up all the holidays given to officials by the Qi State Mansion, and reporting to the Criminal Investigation Department every day to try the case, hoping to leave an impression on more people, and at the same time, he can also give a better impression to voters during the election campaign.

When Mrs. Zheng saw that her husband was sullen and sat in a chair and sighed, she asked him with concern what was wrong with him.

"The case of the rebel general in the north has been handed over to me, how good is this." Zheng Zhilin and his wife are young husband and wife, since he was young, he often told his ambitions in front of his wife, and in the last six months, when he mentioned the approaching second Quanzhou government election, his eyebrows fluttered: "You know that I have always regarded the people as the people for more than a year, and within the scope of the law, I have tried my best to exonerate those who have been wronged by the people for them; Severely punish those who are hated by the people. ”

"The law is not a favor, the master did the right thing."

"But what about this case?" Zheng Zhilin's face was full of distress, and the Duke of Qi had already issued a report claiming that these rebels would be the enemies of the Ming-Shun Alliance, and the Duke of Qi proudly declared in the newspaper that the crimes committed against the people of either side of the Ming and Shun sides were common crimes against both sides of the alliance: "The Duke of Qi obviously wants me to re-sentence within the scope of my authority, but ......"

However, when Jiang Pai and others were escorted ashore in Quanzhou Mansion, they did not look like any evil war criminals, but triumphant heroes. Thousands of people in Quanzhou were empty, and the people who had heard the news in advance rushed to the port to see the appearance of these Northern Alliance generals. In particular, Wang Qinian, the old minister of Qi Guogong, waved to the onlookers with a smile on his face, and shouted to the people of Fujian:

"When I heard that the Xu thief soldiers were coming to Fujian, I didn't have any other thoughts in my heart, I only thought of the safety of the Fujian fathers and elders, Jiang Dashuai and I swore that we would not hesitate to die, but also persuade the sweat to raise troops to attack the thieves, and we did it! Fujian is safe, and our efforts have not been in vain. ”

The surrounding people cheered at Wang Qinian and Jiang Ping, and even the soldiers of the Funing Army who were in charge of escorting these prisoners of war were also smiling.

"Although everyone despises their traitorous behavior, everyone knows that this is a group of villains, but after all, they have done something beneficial to our Fujian Province." These days, the non-official newspapers in Fujian, Guangdong, and Jiangxi all believe that these rebels of the Northern Alliance do have a great crime against Shun, but they are the heroes of the Ming Dynasty - as the people's hearts continue to settle down, including the Qing Yuan, they all think that Shun is the mortal enemy of their side after all, and Zheng Zhilin also sees it this way: "Whether it is the Qing Yuan, the Criminal Division, the parties or the election campaign, if the thieves come, there will be nothing, and these guys have bought us a lot of time after all." ”

"But didn't they kill a lot of our people?"

"Yes, so their murder and robbery crimes are established," Zheng Zhilin remembered the attitude of public opinion and voters: "If I sentence them heavily, then everyone will be angry with me because they sympathize with them, and there will be no more parties to invite me to participate in the election, and there is no hope for my career." ”

"Then the lord might as well give a lighter sentence."

"Not counting treason, I'm afraid there are more than 30 massacres of cities, millions of murders, robberies, and rapes that will be punished for their masterminds, how can this be a light sentence?" During the day today, Zheng Zhilin had already browsed some of the files in the Criminal Division, and the contents of them were shocking, no matter how light the offender was, he would not escape death, he beat his chest and lamented: "How could it be that I drew this lot?" ”

……

This is the second time that Zhang Zaidi has met with Zheng Zhilin, the criminal officer of the Quanzhou Criminal Division, and the last time he came, he bluntly expressed his hope that the Qi State Mansion could interfere with the Quanzhou Criminal Division and transfer the case to another criminal officer to be responsible, and Zhang Zaidi reluctantly agreed to report his intention to Qi Guogong for decision.

"Xiaguan knocks to see Lord Zhang."

"No need to be polite." Zhang Zaidi asked Zheng Zhilin to sit down, his brows furrowed tightly, and he shook his head at Zheng Zhilin and said: "Sure enough, as I expected, Qi Guogong does not agree to choose another person to be the criminal officer of this case...... Don't say anything that you won't rob, if you can change people to try the case after drawing it, there will definitely be people who coerce and induce people to give up on their own initiative. Qi Guogong said that if Criminal Officer Zheng Ti is really unwilling to try the case, he can resign. ”

Zheng Zhilin sat in the chair for a long time, and his resignation meant giving up all his previous efforts, and everyone would know that he was not only selfish, but also a coward.

……

"Although His Majesty and the ruling prince had to use expedient measures to temporarily negotiate peace with the thieves in order to plan for the whole, in fact, the areas controlled by the thieves in the north no longer belonged to the Ming Dynasty, and the people there also considered themselves to be the subjects of Dashun,"

Zheng Zhilin was making a statement on the verdict of the much-anticipated Northern Alliance war criminals case, and the auditorium was full of reporters from the Fujian Yue Di Daily:

"Even if they kill people, it is not the people of Da Ming who are killed, but the people who call themselves Da Shun thieves, although the Duke of Qi states that all the murders are also crimes committed against Da Ming, but the official feels that this is a paralyzing word of the thief, and there is no basis in the law.

……

Perhaps people in the future will wonder why the official made such a judgment and let the people who repeatedly committed treason and caused several lives to go unpunished, it must be because they did not know the situation faced by the Ming Dynasty in the first year of Hongguang. The official believes that when this kind of questioning was issued, the Ming Dynasty had already recovered the lost territory in the north and the two capitals. I believe that the people who raised such doubts must have not experienced these difficult days, and they did not know how worried about our country was in the first year of Hongguang, and every day when we had to lie down and sleep, lest we wake up and find that the thieves have defeated our army and destroyed our country.

……

So far, this official has not been able to find any witnesses who can prove that the surrender of Xu Ping in Shanxi was an expedient measure, in order to preserve strength and paralyze the thieves in order to wait for a good opportunity to serve the country. These justifications are lies that have been disguised; The official could not find anyone who could prove that the prisoners were 'behind the thieves' when we raised troops and instigated to enter the customs and attack the thieves in order to repay His Majesty the prison country, the ruling state and the imperial court. These testimonies are not true.

……

Murder, for example, is a crime of killing for the sake of killing, with the intention of killing and carrying it out. However, since it cannot be proved that the prisoners raised a rebellion in order to serve His Majesty, the ruling state, and the imperial court, then they were engaged in military operations. Is it possible to require the army to conduct military operations without causing casualties? If a general is guilty of death or injury in a war, how many generals in the past and present should not be killed?

……

The judge found that the defendants were not guilty of all charges, and the defendants were allowed to leave. ”

After being released from court, Wang Qinian and Jiang Pai faced the swarming Di reporters side by side, and after serving as defendants in Fujian for a few months, these generals of the Northern Alliance also had a considerable understanding of the current operation of the Ming system.

"I am ready to be executed, all of you know that my greatest wish is to be loyal to the country, especially after the Duke of Qi became the ruler, I know that the Guild of Qi will bring peace to the world, if the Duke of Qi needs time, I am willing to use everything I have to exchange time for the Duke of Qi." Jiang Jian talked eloquently in front of everyone: "So if I am executed, I will not have the slightest complaint, I will also laugh at Jiuquan." ”

"I am a martial artist, and a martial artist should die to serve the country." Wang Qinian said to another group of reporters on Jiang Pin's side: "Although the court pardoned me, I am not happy at all now, because this gives the treacherous, incorruptible and shameless Li Zicheng and Xu Ping two thieves an excuse to tear up the peace negotiation, if I let the Ming soldiers shed blood because of the pardon of me, then I am a sinner, and I will not get peace in my life." ”

When the Donglin people in the Qing Yuan heard about the incident, they said that the verdict was very gratifying, and some Donglin councilors openly claimed that the not guilty verdict sounded the clarion call for the offensive of the Northern Expedition.

……

"What is this!"

Today, Xu Ping was urgently summoned to attend the royal meeting of King Shun, and after the meeting ended, he went to the post house to see Huang Naiming in anger, and slapped the latest newspaper in front of the other party: "Is Duke Qi going to tear up the treaty?" Is this how Qi Gong fulfilled his promise? ”

Huang Naiming's face was a little pale, but he didn't apologize but said calmly: "Brother Xu, I will write to ask immediately." ”

"Please also ask General Huang to start writing immediately, and I will go and prepare a fast horse messenger for General Huang."

Half a month later, when Huang Naiming came to see Xu Ping, the latter immediately asked as soon as he saw him: "I heard that General Huang has a messenger coming, is it the explanation that Duke Qi intends to give us?" ”

"Yes, I will go to see King Shun tomorrow, but I want to talk to Brother Xu about this matter in advance."

"Does Duke Qi plan to avenge the innocent people who died?"

"Intentions, so Jia Yan has proposed in the Qing Yuan to add a new crime to the law, called: Crimes against humanity."

"Will the rebels be put to death on this charge?"

Huang Naiming shook his head: "No, the first case is not a second trial, and the family can only make up for it." ”

Xu Ping was silent for a while, then suddenly shook his head and said, "I always thought that what I had never done could be a reason for the Duke of Qi to break his promise." ”

"Brother Xu......"

"General Huang, I don't understand," Xu Ping raised his head and interrupted Huang Naiming's defense: "I think I am one of the best people in the world who is familiar with Ling Zun's regulations, and there are many Ling Zun's regulations. I also understand that the state has national laws and family rules, and I guess that Ling Zun also has some intention in formulating rules such as the second instance of the case, but is this intention to protect these sinners? Do these villains deserve Ling Zun's painstaking protection? ”

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