At this time, the Chongde Hall in the palace had been dispersed, and Li Zong went to the vertical arch hall accompanied by the eunuchs. The ministers talked in a low voice and walked towards the palace gate. Zheng Degang, the secretary of Dali Temple, Yu Min, the young secretary of Dali Temple, Cheng Shuqin, the secretary of the Criminal Department, Duan Qi, the servant of the Criminal Department, and Liu Zhan, the servant of the Imperial History, and Cao Kechun, the imperial history, did not go out of the palace as usual, but gathered in Shuxiao Taizhong to the east of the main gate of Li, and sat in front of a table.

Shu Xiaotai is built in the palace with a view pool, is in the shade of green trees, there is a flower wall outside, the regulation is simple, and it is as small as an ordinary residence. Originally, the trial of the three divisions was to be carried out in Dali Temple, but after Lizong ascended the throne, Shi Miyuan strengthened the control of officials entering the palace, and said that the three envoys of important cases should be tried in the palace for the first time, so as to report the progress of the case to the emperor in a timely manner, saving the time of waiting for the next time every time he entered the palace, so the official family gave Shu Xiaotai to the three envoys to try the case.

Zheng Degang's great-grandfather, once served as the left director of Dali Temple, and the descendants all served in Dali Temple, Zheng Degang's father, has been in the position of Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and finally ascended to the first position of Dali Temple in his generation. Zheng De has just passed the year of his establishment, he is so witty and a bit cynical, but he inherited the talent of the Zheng family in law enforcement and case judgment, and took the ability of Dali Temple to judge cases and govern prisons from top to bottom.

At this moment, Zheng Degang was holding a cup of tea, looking at the case files sent by the general judge and the officials, and said: "Lord Zhao is a Qing official, and the mansions rewarded by the official family have been donated as tribute courts. Yu Min hurriedly copied this on the white silk. Cheng Shuqin raised his head from the case file and said: "Jiang Ningtong sentenced the case file sent by Hangzhi, and all the piles are about Zhao Qingzhou's merits. ”

"There's no need," Liu Zhan stopped in the imperial history, "Zhao Qingzhou is known as a virtuous person, and the officials know about these exploits, but the officials have to investigate him, what does it mean?" It shows that the official family intends to convict Zhao Qingzhou, and we can't disobey the official family. Zheng Degang smiled: "Then according to Lord Liu's meaning, do you have to put Lord Zhao to death?" ”

"Lord Zheng is really joking, the ironclad evidence is like a mountain, is it that our Yushitai can't slander it?" Cao Kechun was holding Zhao Qingzhou's blank recitals in his hand, he got up and walked towards Zheng Degang, and said: "The matter of judging physical evidence, Dali Temple is an expert, and I also ask Master Zheng to take a look, is the official seal on this recital true or false?" Is this blank recital that teases the monarch true or false? As he spoke, he spread out a few copies of the recital in front of Zheng Degang and Yu Min.

Zheng Degang put down the tea bowl in his hand, wiped his hands on the official mansion, picked up a copy, frowned and looked at it carefully, then put it back on the table and said: "It's true, the official seal and the chapter are indeed made by the officials, and there is no mistake." Yu Min also looked at the piece and asked, "Lord Zheng, is the physical evidence true?" Zheng Degang nodded and said, "It is indeed not forged by others." ”

Liu Zhan motioned for Cao Kechun to return to his seat, he also took a few sips of the tea bowl, smacked his mouth a few times, and said, "Master Cheng, you also heard it, Dali Temple personally examined, and the physical evidence is true." Our three divisions have always tried the case in Dali Temple, and the Criminal Department has verified the sentencing, in your opinion, how should this case be judged? Cheng Shuqin knew in his heart that Zhao Qingzhou was wronged, but he didn't know how to explain him, so he only said: "I haven't seen any witnesses, so I can't convict him at will." ”

Liu Zhan seemed to have been waiting for Cheng Shuqin to bring up the matter of witnesses, and before his voice fell, he shouted, "Come on, bring witnesses." Hearing the sound of the forbidden army outside the door, the two Zhaoxuan envoys were brought into Shu Xiaotai, and the already small room became crowded for a while. Zhaoxuan's envoy directly obeyed the orders of the officials, and there was no need to kneel when he saw the officials. They are the most capable group of eunuchs, and they are deeply trusted by the officials, so the civil and military officials have always been more respectful when they see them.

Cao Kechun stood up on behalf of Liu Zhan and said: "Presumably, the two Zhaoxuan envoys have understood the reason for coming here, and now the three directors are here, I want to ask about the matter of taking the chapter that day, what mistakes have occurred in the middle?" The two Zhao Xuan envoys took the chapter, bundled, transported, and presented it from the stone messenger that day, and explained in detail that there was no problem in between. When several people heard this, they glanced at each other, asked the two Zhaoxuan envoys to put fingerprints on the testimony written down by Yu Min, and sent the two out.

After Yu Min sent Zhao Xuan's envoy out, he said to Zheng Degang: "Lord Zheng, the person who went to Jiangning to investigate sent a flying pigeon to report this morning, and there were no other problems with the Jiangning official messenger. Zheng Degang and Yu Min glanced at each other, shook their heads and said: "If this is the case, these people have really done enough plays, and they can't turn the case over at all." When Liu Zhan heard Zheng Degang's words, he sneered and said, "Lord Zheng doesn't even believe the conclusions found by his own people?" Could it be that even you want to pretend to be public and private, and say that black is white? ”

Zheng Degang clasped his hands in front of his chest, his whole body leaned on the back of the chair, he had an intuition that Zhao Qingzhou couldn't do such a ridiculous thing. "Lord Liu, there is an old saying that 'the ink dyes the pelican black for a short time, and the whitewashed crow is not complete', let's hold a trial, what we have to do is not to look at the superficial articles, but to see whether there are grievances, whether there are false accusations, and whether there are people who are scheming to murder Zhongliang, you say yes."

"Okay, Master Zheng said it well." Liu Zhan stroked his beard and said with a smile, "It doesn't matter if Dali Temple doesn't admit this case, after all, Dali Temple's power and responsibility lie in the trial of the case, and as for how to convict people based on the conclusions reached, the Criminal Department has the final say." Lord Cheng, this case, the human and material evidence are clear, you can see if the case can be decided. He turned his head to look at Cheng Shuqin, and his small and narrow eyes shone brightly.

Cheng Shuqin gathered the case file on the table and said, "Lord Liu, you still remember the rules set by the first emperor, if the case is jointly tried by the three divisions, if there are doubts in the two divisions, the case cannot be decided. Master Zheng and I both feel that this matter should be investigated again, so we won't be in a hurry to make a conclusion today. ”

Liu Zhan and Cao Kechun glanced at each other, both a little annoyed, and were about to refute, when they suddenly heard the sound of conversation coming from far and near outside. "Who's out there? All of them are cleared. The three divisions handle the case, and idle people are not allowed to approach. Cao Kechun transferred his anger to the people outside. Kechun, who provoked you, such a big anger" The people outside raised their voices and walked in, it was Prime Minister Shi Miyuan, followed by Du Jinping, who was under the door.

"Prime Minister!" Cao Kechun was so frightened that he hurriedly knelt down, "The villain has no intention of offending the prime minister. It's just that.. Shi Miyuan walked two steps quickly, and helped Cao Kechun up with a smile: "Hurry up, Lord Cao doesn't have to be formal, when you enter Shu Xiaotai, the law is bigger than the sky, you don't have to care about the official rank, let's only use the laws of the court to do things." Cao Kechun blushed and said: "Prime Minister Shi, the villain doesn't dare anymore, please take a seat." ”