I'm just a dude

When approaching the Meridian Gate, the former head lieutenant asked Qi Yuan to put the shackles on him.

The wooden shackles are so heavy that people have to bend over to bear them, and the shackles are even more heavy, making it difficult for people to move an inch.Qi Yuan was usually spoiled and spoiled, but now he was very rigid, accepted it without saying a word, and dragged the shackles forward.

The school lieutenant looked back at him several times, couldn't bear it, and turned back to his side, lifted the wooden shackle with one hand, and actually relieved most of the weight.Qi Yuan saw that he was taking extra care of himself, and nodded at him.But even so, when he arrived at the Meridian Gate, his clothes were already soaked through.

There are already many people waiting at the Meridian Gate, and there are more than a dozen people in official uniforms.

The two people in the middle are wearing black gauze hats, scarlet uniforms, colorful embroidered peacock patches on the chest, and gold leather belts around the waist.The other person also wears black gauze on his head, but he wears a variegated round-neck gown with a Xiezhi patch on the chest and back.

Xie Zhi meant to be eloquent and straight. It seems that this person is from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, just another third-rank official, but I don't know if he is from the Ministry of Punishment or Dali Temple.

Qi Yuan didn't dare to look too much, he caught a glimpse of a tall figure behind them from the corner of his eye, it was Xu Ting, and his heart suddenly settled down.

Beside him was another person kneeling there, with disheveled hair and no face to be seen.Qi Yuan was pressed down to kneel with that person, when he heard someone screaming from above: "...the people kneeling are the criminals Gao Ya and Qi Yuan?"

Gao Ya responded, and before Qi Yuan could speak, he heard the human voice above: "Fifty sticks each, just for questioning!"

Captains on both sides responded, but before they came over, another person said: "Wait!"

The official in the crimson uniform spoke slowly, and said to the person who had just given the order: "Cai Langzhong, it's important to ask questions."

It turned out that this third-rank official was Zhu Yan, the Minister of Dali Temple.The one who just ordered is Cai Yisheng, the doctor of Huguang Qingli Division of the Ministry of Punishment.Today's interrogation, the Ministry of Criminal Justice and the Metropolitan Procuratorate are the presiding judges. Cai Yisheng made up his mind to get rid of Qi Yuan first. The weather is hot, and if he is punished with fifty sticks, half his life can be taken away without death.At this moment, Zhu Yan tried to stop him, but he was unwilling.

But he is only a doctor of the sixth rank, but Zhu Yan is an official of the third rank, Cai Yisheng is secretly annoyed.Today the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment did not come, and among the people present, only Zhu Yan and Zhou Wen, the left deputy governor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, had the highest official positions.He had to pretend to ask Zhou Wen and wink.

Zhou Wen kept wiping his sweat, but didn't look at him: "The weather is getting hot, so it's important to ask questions."

Cai Yisheng had no choice but to forcefully wave his hand to let the torturer back down.

The next question was about the same as he expected. Gao Ya confessed that two years ago, after Qi Zhuo entered Yachuan, he selected a team of soldiers to practice every day, taught various tactical formations, and made everyone just obey orders. to him.Naturally, Gao Ya was also among them. After several battles, this group of soldiers either went out in advance to inquire about the military situation, or followed Qi Zhuo to cheer, and gradually became Qi Zhuo's confidants.

Until last year's winter solstice, King Xichuan's military strength was greatly damaged, and he took the blame and begged for surrender.Seeing that the fighting was about to stop, Qi Zhuo falsely passed on the military order, ordering General Zuo to lead [-] troops, and secretly led the army across the Dushui River to attack Xichuan.King Xichuan was furious and raised his troops to resist.Our army was unable to react in time, General Shi's entire army was annihilated, and the overall situation of Xichuan was completely destroyed by Qi Zhuo's hands.

Gao Ya and two other soldiers were captured by the enemy, and only then did he know that Qi Zhuo had secretly communicated with the Xichuan Army for a long time, and had repeatedly revealed military information.In the end, this man cried bitterly, crying that he shouldn't be afraid of death, but Qi Zhuo was collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country, he was extremely vicious, and immortality was not enough to comfort the souls of the soldiers.

Someone on the side finished recording Gao Ya's statement and asked him to sign it.

Qi Yuan could not help being startled when he heard every word he said, which was extremely deceptive.This Gao Ya's confession was very fluent and sensational, either he confessed the facts, or he had already made it up and memorized it by heart.

He didn't know anything about the Yachuan war, Cai Langzhong from the Ministry of Criminal Justice came to interrogate him again, Qi Yuan naturally denied it, and even claimed that he was wronged.

Cai Langzhong shouted angrily again, and ordered the execution, so that he could be tortured.

The lieutenants in charge of punishment on both sides came again, but they saw Xu Yu suddenly come out of the crowd, and stopped him: "Wait a minute!"

Cai Langzhong was determined to extort a confession, Qi Yuan was only sixteen years old and a scholar, so torture was the easiest way.Who would have thought that the people in Dali Temple would fight against me today after being repeatedly blocked?

Cai Langzhong was furious, but he was afraid of Xu Yu's special status, so he could only sneer and say, "Mr. Xu wants to cover up this criminal?"

"This case involves treason, and the matter is very important. Now that the case is not clear, how does Master Cai know that Mr. Qi must be the criminal?" Xu Yu stepped out and stood in front of Qi Yuan, "If your lord insists on using torture, it is inevitable that torture will become a trick, and innocent people will be abused." suspect."

"What an indiscriminate and innocent person!" Cai Langzhong suddenly stood up, no longer able to hide it, pointed at him and said angrily, "I'm handling the case, how can you allow your little critic to act wild here! Come on!"

Hearing the sound, the soldiers of the punishment department on both sides stepped forward.Almost at the same time, everyone in Dali Temple, who had been silent all the time, also moved forward together, with their knives out of their sheaths.

Cai Langzhong was horrified: "You want to rebel?"

Xu Xuan sneered, and asked back: "If you don't listen to your order, it's treason. Does Cai Langzhong regard himself as His Majesty?"

Cai Langzhong had no choice but to say that he didn't dare, and then turned his voice to express his loyalty to the direction of the main hall.

Xu Yu is young and vigorous, with a good literary talent, and is a relative of the emperor. Cai Langzhong was annoyed that he could not take advantage of his words, so he had to ask Zhu Yan instead, "Master Zhu, our Ministry of Criminal Affairs handles cases and has its own methods. Dali Temple Is it too much control?"

Zhu Yan shook her fan leisurely, and laughed after a long time.

"Master Cai, why did you say that?" Zhu Yan said with a smile, "My job as the Minister of Dali Temple is to be in charge of the country, break the prison and punish the punishment carefully. The second is to be sad, to be punished for injustice; the third is to be fair, to be imprisoned by Jushu. There are many doubts in this case, and Gao Ya is the only witness. Isn't it also suspected of framing you to act like this?"

"You!" Cai Langzhong became furious, "Doesn't your Dali Temple take our Ministry of Punishment seriously?!"

The people on both sides were about to fight, and the left deputy, Yu Shi, who had been silent all this time, hurriedly came out to fight: "The two adults calm down! It's all for investigating the case, it's not worth it, it's not worth it."

Zhu Yan also said: "It's really not worth it. He tried the case in the scorching heat and was scolded by the sixth-rank doctor. Zhou Yushi, it seems that the third-rank officials like us are worthless."

After saying this, everyone in Dali Temple laughed.

Zhou Wen could only smile wryly.

Cai Yisheng couldn't swallow this breath, but the minister of the Ministry of punishment was supposed to come over, and the minister of the Ministry of punishment said that he was sick at home, but the servants on the left and right did not listen to his godfather's greetings.Only then did Cai Yisheng think of a way to replace him.How can you think of thousands of calculations, but you have suffered the loss of this official position.

But he clearly remembered that his godfather had greeted the people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate. This week, Wen has always been able to hear and see very well, and he is very knowledgeable. Why did he become so alive today?

At this time, not only him, but also Xu Wei secretly wondered, but the matter was much easier if the people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate did not get involved.

In the end, the case was still unclear, Zhou Yushi suggested to search for evidence, and Cai Langzhong ordered that both Qi Yuan and Qi Yuan be sent to prison for another trial.

The Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple fought over which prison to go to, and finally had to compromise and went to the prison of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Qi Yuan didn't drink a sip of water after he left the gate of the uncle's mansion. After kneeling in the sun for a long time, he couldn't help feeling a little dizzy.The head lieutenant of the school should also be a member of the Ministry of Punishment. Seeing that Cai Langzhong was very angry, he didn't dare to help him when he came back.Qi Yuan was wearing handcuffs and shackles, and almost fell down on the road several times.

An official behind him yelled and cursed a few times, kicked him a few times, but was stopped by the school lieutenant.

Qi Yuan was dizzy, biting the tip of his tongue, and after entering the prison, he was exhausted and passed out.When he woke up again, only a little light leaked from the small window above his head, and he couldn't tell the time.

There was also an old man in the prison, covered in dirt, who was huddling in a corner and resting with his eyes closed. Seeing that he woke up, he kicked a piece of pancake over.

Qi Yuan was afraid of being poisoned at first, but then he thought, the insidious villain surnamed Cai would definitely torture himself first, how could he let himself die so quickly?What's more, this is the big prison of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Since Xu Yu managed to keep herself from entering the Ministry of Criminal Justice, it was probably for her own safety.

He didn't care much, picked up the pancake and took a bite.

The pancakes were so unpalatable that Qi Yuan was so choked that his eyes went dark, but luckily the old man handed him another water bag.

"Thank you, old man." Qi Yuan drank his saliva and was suddenly taken aback.

The shackles and shackles on his body were gone.

The old man was already skinny and his hair was disheveled like a chicken coop. Seeing him in a daze, he could still laugh.

"Your family must have used the money." The old man said, "You just came in, and someone gave you the torture tools."

Knowing that this was Xu Xuan's arrangement, Qi Yuan suddenly settled down and bent his lips into a smile.

Seeing him bowing his head and chuckling, the old man suddenly froze, raised his hair, and looked at him intently.

As soon as Qi Yuan raised his head, he was taken aback by his staring eyes.

Seeing him jumping away like a rabbit, the old man was taken aback for a moment, and then laughed.

"What's your name?" the old man asked, "Why did you enter this prison at such a young age?"

Qi Yuan didn't want to talk too much with others, he just said: "My name is Qi Yuan, I was framed by someone."

The old man smiled, "So your surname is Qi...that's all."

Seeing that he didn't have any malice, Qi Yuan looked at him curiously.

"I have a son, if he is still alive, he should be about the same age as you." The old man said, "I don't know if he is dead or alive."

"What's his name?" Qi Yuan said, "I probably won't be able to get out, but I can ask a friend to help you."

"I'll name it Ji Yun." The old man shook his head without any hope. "He was only ten years old when I was imprisoned. Those people couldn't let him go. Such a young child..."

Qi Yuan: "How did you get in?"

"Me?" The old man sneered, "I was originally the magistrate of Qianjiang County. Back then, Cai Xian's nephew went to Qianjiang to play. He was arrested and brought to justice. The prefect of Hangzhou accused me of deceiving the king..."

The prefect of Hangzhou is Cai Xian's lackey, so naturally he defends it in many ways.In the end, the rape case was falsely blamed on Qian Zhixian, and the case was reported to the capital. In the end, Qian Zhixian was sentenced to be hanged, and his family members were either exiled into the army or confiscated into the Jiaofang Division...

Later, after he was imprisoned, he caught up with the court's amnesty, but although he was spared the death penalty, he was still imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. Later, for unknown reasons, he was transferred to the prison of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Not much torturing him.

Qi Yuan sighed when he heard it, and after a long time he was suddenly taken aback: "..."

Qianjiang magistrate?Could it be... Could it be Yunji's father?

He vaguely remembered that Xu Yu had mentioned it, but he was afraid that he would remember it wrong, and it would be useless to make people happy.What's more, Yunji is now a member of the Jiaofang Division. Although he has some fame in the theater troupe, he is only an attendant of the officials when they have banquets.

He secretly made a note in his heart, said something else to the old man, and then stopped talking.

There was no sun in the prison, the weather was hot, and there were swarms of rats. Qi Yuan didn't dare to sleep at first, but then he couldn't bear it anymore and took a nap. When he woke up again, he saw the old man was helping him drive away the rats and mosquitoes.

He knew that the old man treated him like his son, so he discussed with him, and the two took turns on duty.

Xu Ting bribed the jailers of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and sent them meals outside the prison alone every day, and kept sending news.Qi Yuan is well-behaved and dainty, coaxing the jailer to laugh all day long, so he knows a lot of things from this.

It turned out that Cai Langzhong went to Bo's house to search the same day, and because everyone from Dali Temple followed, nothing was found.Cai Lang was resentful in the heart, and wanted to interrogate Peng Shi, Yun Lan, and many servants of the Bofu.

Zhu Yan, Minister of Dali Temple, wrote a letter to oppose it, saying that it is recorded in the "Laws and Orders", "Whoever sues the grandfather must not point to his descendants as evidence, the brother must not point to his younger brother, and the husband must not point to his wife as witnesses." , the accuser should not point to the spleen of his slave as evidence. Violators will be punished."

Cai Langzhong couldn't understand the "Law" and was dumb on the spot.

Xu Xuan immediately wrote a letter of impeachment, pointing out that Cai Yisheng once wanted to force Qi Zhuo's daughter to be a concubine, but after Mrs. Qi refused, she held a grudge. It is recorded in the "Laws" that there is a recusal system in the joint trial. Cai Yisheng and the Qi Mansion have old suspicions, so they should be recused.

Emperor Yuanzhao didn't think about a joint trial, so he caused the Ministry of Criminal Justice and Dali Temple to fight, and then asked the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Zhou Wen, the deputy governor of the left, said that Cai Langzhong's loyalty can be learned from, and Master Zhu's words are justified... In short, both left and right Yes, he doesn't know anything.

The review was delayed again and again.

On the fifth day, Qi Yuan heard someone talking outside, and then a jailer came over and opened the cell door.

Qi Yuan followed him outside, looked up, and couldn't help but get red eyes.

Xu Xuan, Ruan Hong, Fang Chenghe were all outside.This is the patrolling room, the jailer told them to speak quickly, and then retreated.

Seeing him coming out, Xu Yu took a step forward and asked in a low voice, "How are you these days?" After speaking, she carefully checked Qi Yuan's body for any wounds.

Qi Yuanhong nodded with eyes: "It's good, no one bullies me. Why are you here?"

Fang Chenghe just came over, "I really don't trust you. Today Ruan Ge Lao came to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Shen Zhi asked the censor to let us in secretly."

Ruan Hong had been avoiding Qi Yuan before, but today he dared to bring a few people here, this... more seems to be the tacit approval of Ruan Ge.

Could it be that the case has taken a turn for the better?

Qi Yuan's thoughts turned sharply, but he didn't dare to show it, and he was afraid that he was thinking too much to be happy, so he hurriedly bowed deeply to Ruan Hong.

Ruan Hong blushed, hesitated a bit, and avoided it.

Fang Chenghe came over quietly, and said quickly: "We sneaked in and didn't dare to stay for long. I just told you that the Tai Tuo found Si Tianjian... The old emperor heard that the recent punishment and prison are not going well. I am afraid of the vision. Maybe you will be able to go out in a few days."

Qi Yuan: "..."

Qi Yuan didn't expect that there was such a saying, could Si Tianjian be talking nonsense?The old emperor came here to seize the throne, how many people have been killed unjustly, and he still believes it?

Fang Chenghe saw his doubts, and said in a low voice: "Si Tianjian said that the heaven will show retribution, not in his body, but in his descendants."

Emperor Yuan Zhao himself was not very afraid, but he was afraid that his descendants would be implicated.The current two princes fighting for the crown prince is enough for him to have a headache.

Qi Yuan: "..." The old lady really understood.

After Fang Chenghe finished speaking, he backed away and went out with Ruan Hong, Qi Yuan felt at ease, seeing Xu Yu's handsome eyes, dressed in an official uniform, suddenly remembered the way this person stood in front of him that day, refusing to give an inch.

He has a sore nose.Xu Yu sighed softly, simply embraced him, and kissed him lightly on the forehead.

Qi Yuan asked: "Did you offend the Ministry of Punishment?"

The Sanfa Division has always been involuntary in asking cases, and they will use punishment immediately when they come up.Qi Yuan fought all the way that day, but he didn't expect the people in Dali Temple to be so tough.

"The Ministry of Punishment is colluding with the eunuchs, and they are becoming more and more powerful. It is difficult for our Dali Temple to check and balance. Master Zhu also wants to use this to change the situation." Xu Yu knew his concerns and comforted him, "You can just wait here with peace of mind. If you are really worried , just give me a kiss."

Qi Yuan's face turned red.

Xu Yu asked in a low voice, "Did you miss me?"

Qi Yuan gave a soft "hmm", put his arm around his neck, and stood on tiptoe.

Xu Yu bowed her head and kissed him, but she didn't dare to go deeper.

The two of them pressed their foreheads together and sighed.

"We will all find a way to pick you up as soon as possible." Xu Yu said again, "By the way, Miss Wanjun is still outside, and she said she has something to look for you."

He wondered, "You guys have known each other for a long time?"

That day in Tongzhou, when Wan Jun insisted on seeing Qi Yuan, Xu Yu felt a little weird.But this Yangzhou famous prostitute only came to Beijing for the first time in March this year, Qi Yuan had already entered the Imperial College at that time, and Xu Wei had never seen him go to Huajie Liuxiang.

Qi Yuan was taken aback, and also a little surprised: "Miss Wanjun? Looking for me?"

Xu Yu nodded.

Both of them thought it was weird, but since Wan Jun came with Ruan Hong and insisted on telling Qi Yuan alone, Xu Yu had no choice but to let him in.

Miss Wanjun came here alone, without even a maid.

Qi Yuan looked at her blankly, and saw Wan Jun bowing to him, then took a letter from his sleeve and handed it over.The letter was sealed with mud, apparently very confidential.

Qi Yuan took it, and unexplainably opened it to see, but it turned out to be an extremely beautiful lower script on the head of a rope, tall and straight, beautiful and full of muscles and bones.He glanced back, and when he saw the signature clearly, there was a "buzz" in his head, and he was stunned.

The author has something to say:

ps: A few sentences about the responsibilities of Dali Temple, mainly citing "Tang Liudian" and "Daming Zhiguanzhi"

"Ling Ling" is the content of "Da Ming Law" quoted.There are evidence rules and recusal systems in the joint trial, but in fact there are many loopholes, and the implementation is not very strict.

(In ancient times, most cases were punished regardless of guilt or innocence, and some even beat witnesses)

pps: Qianjiang magistrate was written as magistrate earlier, but the scumbag author just went to change it