It snowed heavily for several days intermittently, and it was only sunny for two days in Yanzhou City, and white flocculent began to drift again on this day.

Just after the hour, in front of the Yanzhou Prefecture Yamen, which had finally been cleaned up, was covered with a thick layer of snowflakes, although it was not as cold as when the snow melted, it was so cold that people just wanted to nest in the house and were unwilling to move.

At this moment, the front of the yamen, which should have been quiet and solemn, was already full, and looking into the distance, there were still people rushing to this side all the way.

"Little brother, what is being sentenced today is the arson case of the Gu family brothers in Tingyi Alley?"

A woman who ran all the way to the back of the crowd asked, tugging at the hem of the person in front of her.

The man turned his head and was about to speak, when he saw the woman dressed up on the other side, he was startled, and after a long time he said, "Exactly, I don't know how it will be judged." ”

Someone next to him sneered and said: "How else can you judge, didn't you say that the old ambassador of the Gu family had a lot of money and bought off the officials in the state, I heard that it cost 100,000 yuan, and he also took eight hectares of fertile land, as long as he saved his own dog's life!" ”

Someone replied: "Who said no, he earned such a person's life money, and he didn't know if he was afraid of the unjust death at night!" ”

"Afraid of a bird! Dare to kill people and set fires, what ghosts are you afraid of? Doesn't it say that 'money can make the devil grind'? One person said sarcastically, "I just don't know which one I bought, this yamen is really dark!" ”

"I'm afraid, not necessarily! Since the trial is held today, if you let the dog brother go, I am not afraid that those individuals in front of me will make trouble......"

On the ground closest to the entrance of the state office, dozens of people dressed in linen and filial piety stood quietly, all staring at the door, as if they wanted to open it.

And the woman who had just arrived received an answer from the person in front of her, thanked her, and began to squeeze forward.

Deliberately braving the heavy snow to come here early, just to stand closer, watch the excitement, and be squeezed over, the people in front of them had to turn around and scold a few words, but this time, everyone saw the woman's outfit, and swallowed the scolding words back into their stomachs, not only that, but they also invariably turned to the side, making it easier for her to lean forward.

There was a large crowd of onlookers, and it took a long time for the woman to squeeze to the front, and she stood in the midst of the dozens of people dressed in linen and filial piety, and it was like a snowflake that had sunk into the snow, and soon it was mixed up and could not be found again.

The first two rows of people whispered.

"O iniquity, whose family is this? Look at that filial piety, isn't it just the death of the family"

"Who knows, so many people went into the fire and couldn't get out, and how many lives were lost just by going back to Dongdajie?"

"The yamen said that there were seventeen people, where to stop! I looked at the coffin face of the coffin seller on West Street, and I was smiling for a while! I don't know how much business he has generated! Just passing in front of my house, there are seven or eight rounds of funerals, so pitiful! ”

Everyone sighed, and another said: "There are so many people coming, I don't know how many can enter the second gate." ”

"It's not you!" The bystanders laughed.

The man touched his nose, a little annoyed, and was about to scold him to go back, but because of his stupid mouth, he didn't know what to do for a while. It was easy to think of a sentence, and I felt that it was very appropriate, and I was about to speak, when I suddenly heard a drum in the state office, and then the people in front of me made a noise - the door creaked open.

As soon as the door of the yamen was opened, there were still people standing here stupidly, and they all began to squeeze inside, and the person was stuck in his mouth with a curse word, and he didn't say anything, and he was sad if he didn't say it, and he only felt panicked.

When everyone flocked into the instrument gate, the second gate was also opened in due time, and the officials and archers inside were divided into two teams, holding water and fire sticks and big knives in the left and right rows.

According to the rules of the past, when the court was opened, thirty gentry and ten ordinary people would be put into the second gate to observe.

And among these forty people, there are sporadic four or five people wearing semi-filial piety.

Although there were no dead people, more than 10 people were burned, and because it involved arson, it was already a particularly important case.

Several officials sat down, and the officials were knocking on the water and fire sticks on the ground, and on the other hand, they shouted mightily, and when the judge of the trial was able to pat the hall of shock, the officials immediately stopped their mouths and stopped their hands, and heard the officials on the seat say: "The relevant people in this case are waiting to go to the court." ”

Soon, the official took Gu Pingli and two women to the court.

Ji Qingling was dressed in plain clothes and stood in the corridor outside the ya, waiting for the summons of the magistrate.

From her point of view, through the window lattice, she can see the situation inside.

Gu Pingli still has the position of being a lizheng, although he is a suspect, he has not been convicted, he is still dressed decently, he stands down, his face is like ashes, and he looks a little sluggish, while the other two women are let go by the official, they each collapsed on the ground, and they couldn't get up for a long time.

The magistrate ignored them, but directly read out the confession that the magistrate had confirmed with Gu Pingli, and when he read the previous paragraph, he asked Gu Pingli, "Recognizable?" ”。

The verdict is very long, mixed with the back-and-forth confirmation between the magistrate and Gu Pingli.

Although Gu Pingli described him as withered, he was still in a clear mind, and he could hear the magistrate read out the verdict, and whenever he asked him, he responded very simply, and there was no ambiguity at all.

Ji Qingling listened and couldn't help but want to sneer.

Sure enough, this is a broken tail to survive.

Gu Pingli in the hall took all the crimes, he wanted to rob the people, he put the fire on the yellow-haired woman, and the rest was arranged by him, and he didn't do anything about others.

However, in fact, the matter was indeed done by him again, that is, the state government investigator re-investigated, and no matter from the witness testimony, evidence, forged examination to confession, it was flawless, and no other clues could be found.

That being the case, the case has not been repeated.

The magistrate was shocked, and said, "Take the master." ”

Ji Qingling followed the official to the court.

Her face was solemn, and when she entered the hall, she first saluted the magistrate and Zheng Lin, and then stood far away from Gu Pingli and recounted what happened that day.

She had thought about the words countless times in her heart, but no matter how she talked about it, there was no way to relate to Gu Pingzhong's situation that night.

Anyway, if you break one, it's one by one. confessed to instigating arson, although no one died, but more than ten people were injured, Gu Pingli and the yellow-haired woman were already guilty of capital crimes. The rest of the people committed crimes in a deep or shallow way, but they could not escape.

In this way, Gu Pingzhong must not dare to start easily.

After the trial of the case was over, the magistrate wrote the verdict on the spot, and handed it to Gu Pingli with the officer, he didn't say a word of nonsense, and he didn't even hesitate, so he signed and drew the charge, and the case of the fire and kidnapping in the inn was over.

Before the magistrate could transfer the verdict to Zheng Lin's hands, and the verdict was determined by him, dozens of people wearing linen and filial piety outside the Yimen were already clamoring, and an old woman cried: "God! Thou art not to distinguish between good and evil, so that the evildoer may escape from heaven! ”

As soon as she cried, dozens of people next to her followed suit, and the crying outside the yamen shook the sky for a while.