Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

Hearing the people outside the hall talking, Lu Hui slammed the gavel and shouted, "Everyone outside, shut up!"

As expected, the governor still had some deterrent power, and no one outside the door dared to make a sound.

Lu Hui glared at Zhang Jingwei with wide eyes and said, "Zhang Jingwei, I've figured out the consequences of slandering me."

Zhang Jingwei chuckled and said, "I understand. According to the laws of the Celestial Empire, anyone who makes a false accusation will be imprisoned for six months and fined 100 taels of silver. However, according to the laws of the Celestial Empire, murder and arson are punishable by beheading!"

After saying this, Zhang Jingwei glanced at Wang Tongpan, who snorted coldly, turned around and bowed to Lu Hui, saying, "Sir, I think this guy is clearly trying to use public opinion to suppress the government. If we openly try this case now, it will only cause trouble. It would be better to put him in the detention center and wait for the return of the Marquis..."

Lu Hui ignored him and turned to the Tongzhi and asked, "Yanzhi, your students said you can testify for him? Is that true?"

The Tongzhi bowed to Lu Hui and said, "I know a little about this case. Last night, there was a fire in the Marquis' Mansion, and someone reported that my students had set the fire. I ordered Yang Wu to detain them, but unexpectedly, several police officers sneaked into the detention center in the middle of the night and tried to harm Zhang Jingwei. Fortunately, I and my men arrived in time and detained the five thugs from the police squad."

Lu Hui frowned, pinched his chin, and thought again, then asked: "Have those soap hands confessed?"

The Tongzhi flicked his sleeves at Wang Tongpan and said, "They accuse Wang Tongpan of all the murders."

Wang Tongpan feigned an expression of being wronged, his eyes brightening as he said, "Master Tongzhi, the words of a few soap hands cannot be used as evidence. If you insist on slandering me, then I have no choice but to ask the prefect to seek justice."

Liu Yanzhi was the Tongzhi of Yunzhou, a fifth-rank official, while Wang Huang was the Tongpan of Yunzhou, a sixth-rank official.

Zhang Jingwei was not clear about the specific ranks of these official positions, but he now knew that his teacher's official position was higher than that of the Tongpan.

And I can’t explain it, but there’s a very strange thing, Lu Hui seems to be very disgusted with this Tongpan.

Lu Hui squinted at Wang Huang and said, "The innocent are innocent. Lord Wang has connections all over Yunzhou City. If this case is really related to you, not even the Northern Marquis can save you!"

Oh!

It turned out to be the case.

Zhang Jingwei suddenly realized.

Is there any grudge between this prefect and the Northern Marquis, or is it some kind of political relationship?

In ancient China, military generals had a lower status than civil officials. This was the result of imperial suppression. In order to prevent military generals from becoming powerful, the civil official group was used to suppress the military generals, thus making the civil official group more and more powerful. Therefore, many feudal dynasties had no generals left when the country was about to perish.

Lu Hui suddenly remembered the dying strong man and said to the strong man in the court: "Bring up Mu Tou, Zhang Liu and others!"

As soon as he entered the court, Mu Tou knelt on the ground and swayed, making sounds of "ouch, ouch" from his mouth from time to time.

Mu Tou kept saying “ouch” the whole time, and only Zhang Liu spoke: “I pay my respects to the governor. I beg you to make a decision for my young master and for us common people.”

Of course, this was also Zhang Jingwei's order. Mu Tou was an honest man and not very good at speaking. He just told Zhang Liu to say everything that needed to be said in an exaggerated way.

Lu Hui asked, "I'm asking you, tell me everything. Who beat you up like this?"

Zhang Liu said, "It's Wang Heng, the steward of the Marquis' Mansion. He's quite dissatisfied with my young master. He usually suppresses us, so he colluded with the Tongpan to harm my young master. This shows a complete disregard for the prefect. Please, sir, help us!"

As he spoke, tears welled up in Zhang Liu's eyes again.

Lu Hui bared his teeth and said, "Come here, quickly bring the steward of the Marquis' Mansion to the hall for trial!"

Wang Huang said angrily, "If you arrest someone just based on the words of a commoner, doesn't the governor think it's hasty?"

Lu Hui also began to speak in a sarcastic tone: "Now someone is accusing me of allowing someone to commit a crime. If I don't investigate carefully, I might be framed by the thief."

But Wang Huang was not in a hurry at all. He was sure that Wang Heng would not give him up. Even if he did, with his background, he was sure that Lu Hui would not dare to touch him.

……

After a while, Wang Heng was brought here.

Wang Heng strode forward. Since he was also a scholar, he did not need to kneel in the court. He saluted Lu Hui and others in the court and said, "I greet the governor, the deputy governor, and the deputy judge."

Lu Hui slammed the gavel and shouted, "You are so bold, Wang Heng, that you actually allowed someone to commit a murder in broad daylight on the government grounds. Do you admit your crime?"

Wang Heng flatly denied it: "The students are terrified. We absolutely dare not bear the charge of capital punishment."

Lu Hui asked, "Huh? Are you saying that I have wronged you?"

"The student did have some arguments with them yesterday, but he never had any intention of harming him. If anyone wants to frame him, he will definitely deny it."

Just as Wang Heng finished speaking, Zhang Jingwei stepped forward and said to him with a smile, "Housekeeper Wang, there's no need to be so hasty to deny it. I guess the Marquis's letter has already been delivered to the mansion. You wanted to kill me, but your master wanted me to live, so you didn't. At least I can live until the Marquis returns! As for how to live, whether to be half-dead or just hanging on to a breath, you can decide for yourself. Do you think my analysis is good?"

Wang Heng didn't say anything, but Wang Huang suddenly slammed his hand on the table and shouted angrily, "You are such a traitor, you are speaking nonsense here. I am grateful to the Northern Marquis for his kindness and pleading for you. Otherwise, you would have become a headless ghost on the execution ground. You are ungrateful. First you set fire to the house and then you slandered the Yunzhou prefect. You have repeatedly violated the law. What crime should you be punished for?"

Zhang Jingwei shook his head helplessly. He had no intention of wasting any more words. This Wang Huang just kept trying to make his presence felt.

indeed.

Zhang Jingwei was usually arrogant and domineering, often offending others, but there were basically no negative rumors about his father in this world. He was a kind man, and the greed of these officials was disgusting.

"Master Wang is right. I am the remnant of a traitor. I don't believe that you have no shit on your underwear. I'm afraid that most of the houses you bought belong to my Zhang family. You are using the traitor's money to live a romantic life, but my traitorous father is watching you, a dog official, in the underworld!" Zhang Jingwei changed his calm attitude, his words gradually became sharp, his expression became angry, and his saliva almost sprayed onto Wang Huang's desk.

Wang Huang began to get furious. He pulled out his token and threw it to the ground, shouting, "How dare you! How dare you call me a dog official? Someone, drag me out and beat me to death!"

Lu Hui felt that the situation might get out of control, so he quickly called the officers to retreat.

Wang Huang was temporarily detained in a side hall on charges of "abusing sealing wax orders", "using torture beyond authority" and "disregarding the court".