In the backyard of the inn.

"Here it is. ”

I don't know who shouted, and footsteps rushed to the backyard.

Cao Xian Ling stood up from the ground and patted the dust on his clothes, some of the dust was not there after a beat, and some of the dust could not be patted off after several beats.

"Lord Cao, Lord Governor, please. "The officials of the Governor's Mansion received an order from the Governor yesterday to add twenty more officials to guard the inn where Cao County was staying day and night. Cao Xianling must not be allowed to leave, and anyone who lets Cao Xianling go will be severely punished.

This morning, the Governor came to the Governor's Mansion early and arranged for them to bring the Cao County Order.

They didn't know what had happened, but it was estimated that the Governor wanted to handle the case impartially and never miss the old feelings again? Before, when they saw that the Governor did not take Cao County Commander into prison, they all thought that the Governor was looking at the face of his old friend and gave Cao County Commander some privileges when the case was not really settled.

The official who brought someone to invite the county commander Cao saw that the county magistrate looked a lost soul, a little strange, and said, "Lord Cao, the governor is invited, let's go?"

Cao Xian Ling looked at the seven or eight officials in front of him, and said with a wry smile: "Do you need so many people to invite me?" shook his head: "Let's go." ”

At this moment, in the back hall of the Governor's Palace, the Governor was sitting upright, with a few secretaries and officials and a few deputies next to him, and the main personnel who tried the case were all there.

"In the past two days, I have looked through all the evidence submitted by Chen Letian, and many of them are asking for witnesses, and they have also indicated the witnesses that can be found. I think it is necessary for us to confront all the witnesses, not just Chen Letian. "The Governor is humane.

Lord Wei, who is in charge of the law and punishment code of the Governor's Mansion, arched his hand and said: "My lord, the lower officials think that it is better to see what the situation of Lord Cao is first, if Lord Cao is willing to admit his guilt, it will be great, if he is not willing to admit his guilt, let's find the witness to confront him again, so that Lord Cao has nothing to say." ”

The Governor frowned and said: "I thought so before, but looking at the attitude of the Cao County Order, it is unlikely that he will take the initiative to admit his guilt, what do you think? Although it is more troublesome to find these witnesses, after all, this matter is not a trivial matter, and you can't be afraid of trouble." ”

After hearing this, Lord Wei nodded: "My lord is very worried, then I will contact Chen Letian later, and send someone to Bazhong City to find all the witnesses." ”

"Oh yes, it's best to let Chen Letian arrange it directly, and we can save trouble. "Your Excellency the Governor, this is not what a presiding judge should say.

However, given that this case is very special, it is not a big deal even if the imperial court knows.

Because this is not a lawsuit between people from two opposite camps.

Rather, it is a complaint against corrupt officials by a zealous person who has nothing to do with this matter on behalf of the interests of the people.

In essence, Chen Letian has nothing to do with Cao County, has nothing to do with the people of Bazhong City, and has nothing to do with Shu officialdom.

Chen Lotian can pick it up.

Because he doesn't belong to any party.

He is now here to sue Cao County, purely what he calls morality. In the words of the people, it was Chen Gongzi who was pulling out a knife to help when he saw injustice on the road.

Because this is the case, the Governor can ask Chen Lotian to invite the witnesses over.

If it is a normal lawsuit, it will never be possible.

Party A sues Party B.

Party A can only say who can testify, but he can't have too much contact with the witnesses, otherwise he will be suspected of spending money to buy the witnesses, which is not allowed.

But this is based on the fact that Party A will have an advantage if it wins the lawsuit. It is not applicable in the case of Chen Letian.

Chen Letian has stepped down from Cao County, there is no benefit, at least in terms of profit, he can't get a penny.

On the contrary, if you lose, you will have to bear a lot of responsibility for falsely accusing the imperial court.

This kind of business is not willing to be done by ordinary people, and if you lose, you may lose your life, and there is no benefit if you win.

This made Chen Letian stand on the moral high ground.

The Governor did not need to avoid suspicion, but the Governor's Mansion had to pick up the witnesses.

Just let Chen Letian pick it up, and I'm afraid that he will do something.

If you want to bring down the evidence needed to bring down Cao County's order, it can't be done by doing a trick on the witness, so many and so tight chains of evidence have been dug up for him. There is no need to say anything about such a trivial matter as a human witness, and there is no need to do anything about it.

If Chen Letian is really willing to do such a stupid thing, that is, he has a problem with his brain, and if he wins, not only will it be no good, but he will also have to put in a lot of silver.

There is no such thing as such a good thing in this world.

"My lord......" So when Lord Wei brought it up a little unruly.

The Governor immediately waved his hand and said with a serious expression: "It's okay, I will make it clear in the report to the imperial court, and I will bear the guilt." ”

"That's not what Xia Guan meant..."Lord Wei hurriedly stood up and gave up his hand.

The Governor laughed: "I'm kidding you, this case itself is a bad thing, but there is a warm-hearted person like Chen Letian, the court will not be indiscriminately responsible, Lao Wei, you can rest assured, how can there be so many rules, you have many rules, the most I have heard you say in the past few decades is that the rules and rules must be obeyed, and I often read it in my dreams at night." ”

As everyone spoke, the official came to report: "Lord Qiyu, Lord Cao has been brought." ”

"Bring him in. "The Governor is humane.

Lord Wei glanced at the Governor, thinking that the Governor seemed to be in a good mood today, unlike the other day when he looked at no one. However, a few days ago, I heard that there seemed to be a little bit of the meaning of protecting Cao County's order in his tone, but today I feel that I want to judge the case impartially. I really can't see through it, I can't see through it, could it be that I think too much, the Governor has always wanted to judge cases impartially? And this kind of impartiality is not deliberately sentenced more heavily because he wants to avoid suspicion to make himself look out, nor will he exonerate Cao County's order because he wants to protect himself?

Thinking of this, Lord Wei's admiration for the Governor was even more like a surging river.

Cao Xian Ling walked up to the adults and arched his hand: "Hello Governor. ”

The Governor looked Cao County Order up and down, and saw that this old friend was now haggard, as if he had aged many years overnight, and he must have also learned about the rescue of his wife, so he was worried that it became like this, and the Cao County Order who had a verbal argument with Chen Letian in the lobby last time was like two people.

The Governor was a little unbearable for a while, thinking of the days when the two of them talked happily and were like-minded in the past, he couldn't help but sigh lightly, and the angry rebuke that he had prepared in the hall suddenly came to naught, and he said indifferently: "Cao County Order, today is the same as the previous two days, I personally interrogate you, I still hope that you can take this matter seriously." ”