I embezzled 100,000 taels at the beginning, and the empress begged me to be more greedy

time flies.

One day passed.

In the darkness, one does not know the time.

In the cold cell, one can hear bursts of pleasant singing.

Listening carefully, it seems to be sung by a man.

"He said that in the wind and rain, this little pain is nothing..."

Jiang Zuo lay on the thatch with a rather indifferent expression.

In comparison, Master Guo's emotions were almost broken.

"Sir, how can you still have the heart to sing a little song..."

Master Guo became increasingly irritated.

I heard that when the Qianqi Division investigated a case, no criminal could survive the next day.

Jiang Zuo closed his eyes and continued singing, as if nothing had happened and he was very calm.

"Sir, you are truly extraordinary. You can remain so calm at a time like this. Alas, I am sorry that I cannot do that."

Master Guo sighed.

"Master, don't be impatient."

Jiang Zuo's words were calm, and it was obvious that he did not show any fear at all.

"This is the Qianqi Division. If they find out that our office has deceived His Majesty, we will definitely lose our heads."

Master Guo was extremely worried.

"The Qianqi Division has always handled cases quickly, but this time, they put us in jail instead of escorting us back to the capital or executing us on the spot. It's been a day, and I think they must be investigating something else."

Jiang Zuo said, his words were ambiguous.

Master Guo couldn't understand what was going on. He just sighed and shook his head: "So what..."

"That proves that they still need to keep us alive and won't kill us so quickly."

Jiang Zuo speculated.

"Click..."

At this time, the sound of the door lock being opened was heard from afar.

The footsteps slowly approached, and several officers appeared in the cell and opened the locks one by one.

"Master Jiang, we are about to set off."

When Master Guo said this, he almost shed tears.

The two men were shackled and looked like prisoners.

With the pushing and shoving of the constables, the two were brought to the court.

Citizens can also watch this public trial.

Because this case involves too many people, a large number of witnesses need to be summoned, and a large number of people with special identities are also involved in this case.

Seeing the county magistrate Jiang Zuo in such a miserable state, the people could not bear it and some even shed tears.

"Master Jiang, are you okay?"

"Everything is alright, Lord Jiang."

The people all expressed their concern.

"Everything is fine, no need to worry."

Even with his hands handcuffed, Jiang Zuo still did not forget to wave to the people.

"No noise is allowed in the court!"

Liang Ming, the judge of this case, immediately slammed the table and shouted, "Kneel down."

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Zuo and Master Guo were pinned down by the constables and made to kneel on the ground.

Chen Qingyun and Qiuyue also turned into bystanders at this moment, paying attention to everything happening in the court.

At least from what I have observed over the past few days, Jiang Zuo is indeed a county magistrate who is loved by the people. There is absolutely no doubt about that.

Having seen all kinds of intrigue, Empress Chen Qingyun understood that it was impossible to act out these true feelings.

"The criminal is from Jiang Zuo, who stole and sold government grain, and bent the law for personal gain..."

Liang Ming began to read out Jiang Zuo's crimes, and then asked: "Prisoner Jiang Zuo, Guo Jinpeng, do you plead guilty?"

Master Guo lowered his head, now panicked and silent.

But Jiang Zuo remained calm and said, "Your Excellency, we do not plead guilty."

"The evidence is conclusive, and you still want to deny it?" Liang Ming refuted.

"Evidence? Where does the evidence come from?" Jiang Zuo asked.

"The mountains of gold and silver in the treasury are the biggest evidence. If you weren't corrupt, how could you have gotten so much silver?" Liang Ming continued to question, "Here are the account books. I'll see how you can argue!"

"Every amount in this account book is the legal income of our Anding County." Jiang Zuo explained calmly, "Sir Liang, if you embezzled some money, would you write it down in the account book so honestly?"

After being asked this question, Liang Ming was suddenly speechless.

After a moment, he asked again: "Then how do you explain your unauthorized purchase and sale of land and the exorbitant bribes you received?"

Hearing this, Empress Chen Qingyun, who was listening on the side, suddenly remembered something.

That was when she met Jiang Zuo for the first time, she saw Jiang Zuo reaching a house transaction worth ten thousand taels with someone else.

It is absolutely not justice to amass wealth in this way.

Jiang Zuo explained calmly, "Dayan has always been a feudal country with private land ownership. How can we buy and sell without authorization? If someone sells, I buy; if someone buys, I sell... This is all consensual. Besides, I have never accepted any bribes. What's the problem?"

"It's all sophistry." Liang Ming continued to look dignified, but in fact he often turned his head to look at Ma Hengwei who was sitting in the supporting seat.

In this court, it stands to reason that Ma Hengwei holds the highest position.

For a moment, the yamen court was silent.

Ma Hengwei blew on the hot tea in his hand, took a sip, and then said, "Master Liang, why don't you continue."

During this period, he kept observing Jiang Zuo's expression.

This man is anything but simple.

As a commander of the Thousand Cavalry Division, Ma Hengwei's intuition is never wrong.

"Yes, sir." Liang Ming nodded.

"Listen, if you two can confess your crimes and explain everything, I can spare your lives. But if you still stubbornly struggle, you will be sentenced to death!"

Liang Ming began to threaten.

Jiangzuo remained unmoved.

If you plead guilty, does it make any difference whether you live or die?

But at this moment, he heard Master Guo beside him say, "I plead guilty, I plead guilty!"

"Master!" Jiang Zuo thought to himself that something was not good.

Liang Ming is clearly setting a trap.

Master Guo was eager to survive and fell into Liang Ming's trap.

Jiang Zuo knew very well that if Liang Ming really had evidence to prove that Jiang Zuo was guilty of a capital crime, he would not have to be tried in this yamen today, but would go directly to the execution ground.

The fact that they can hold a trial proves that they have not yet obtained the so-called evidence.

"Good!" Liang Ming was secretly delighted.

"The criminal has confessed. It seems that there is no need to continue the trial. Sir Ma, please give the order."

Liang Ming was quite proud.

"Why did Master plead guilty..."

The onlookers were all anxious.

"Wait a minute."

Seeing the yamen runners preparing to step forward, Jiang Zuo said again: "Master Guo only said that he pleaded guilty, but he didn't say what crime he pleaded guilty to."

"Haha, you still want to struggle?" Liang Ming was quite disdainful. "Of course, I admit that I am guilty of corruption and abuse of power. Why would I argue so much?"

"But Lord Liang didn't seem to mention it just now. Maybe you heard it wrong, so you nodded and admitted it so quickly." Jiang Zuo explained for Master Guo.

Now, Master Guo is in the same boat with Jiang Zuo.

Saving Master Guo means saving Jiang Zuo himself.

For Master Guo, the most important thing now was to save his life. He was extremely panicked and was totally unable to be as eloquent as Jiang Zuo.

"I've admitted it, so what does it matter which crime it is?" Liang Ming thought that this was Jiang Zuo's last struggle.

"According to the laws of Dayan, the confession procedure in court must be accurate. There are so many witnesses here. Is Lord Liang so careless? Moreover, Lord Liang was obviously trying to induce us to confess. According to the laws of Dayan, this is also not in accordance with the procedure. If it is serious, it may affect your official position."

Jiang Zuo was very calm.