"Old man, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't talk nonsense. It's really a mouthful for you to talk nonsense like this!
The reputation of the Guojiu Mansion cannot be tarnished. If you cannot produce evidence, the Guojiu Mansion will charge you with slander and false accusation!"
Faced with Wang Laizi's accusation, Shan Liangji became furious and wanted to sue Wang Laizi for slander.
"I-I'll beat you to death, you beast!" Wang Laizi became angry when Shan Liangji poked him in the painful spot. He picked up his walking stick and hit Shan Liangji.
Because he clearly knew who the murderer was, but he was unable to bring the murderer to justice because he had no evidence.
The long-suppressed depression, frustration and pain in his heart burst out under the stimulation of Shan Liangji's words.
Woo——
After all, Wang Laizi was a veteran who had fought on the battlefield. Although he was lame and old, his murderous energy was still there. The cane hit Shan Liangji on the head with a fierce cracking sound.
However, Shan Liangji easily caught it in his hand and pushed it hard.
Lame Wang could not stand on one foot and fell to the ground on his back.
Snapped!
"quiet!"
Xu Zhengping angrily slapped the wooden door in the hall and warned sternly: "Whoever dares to disturb the court again will not be blamed for being punished with a cane!"
Wang Laizi got up from the ground, anger and humiliation welling up in his heart, and his old face suddenly swelled into the color of pig liver.
Although he was lame and old, he still retained a little bit of the glory and pride of a soldier deep in his heart. However, this fall on his back not only hurt his butt, but also broke his heart.
He glared at Shan Liangji with a murderous look, and his eyeballs had bloodshot eyes, as if they were about to burst.
Just when all the government officials were on guard, thinking that Wang Laizi was going to pounce on Shan Liangji and fight to the death, Wang Laizi suddenly looked up to the sky and laughed wildly.
"Ha ha--"
Wang Laizi's heart-rending laughter made people wonder if he was too stimulated and went crazy.
But after he laughed several times, his voice suddenly stopped, and then he turned around and left.
He was limping on crutches, but his back was straight, his chest was broad, and his eyes were resolute. He felt that instead of humiliating himself here, it would be better to die with the last bit of dignity.
He was going to smash down the door of Su Hanlin's house and spill his passion on the vermilion door of the palace.
He was going to use his worthless body to deal with the uncle's house in the most extreme way. Even if he couldn't be buried with the uncle's house, he would still be covered in blood.
In fact, this was his plan.
"stop!"
Xu Zhengping shouted and asked: "Wang Laizi, the trial is not over yet, where are you going?"
Wang Laizi waved his hands without looking back and sighed: "There is no evidence, so why not file a damn lawsuit.
A bunch of old and crippled things, who keeps you from dying on the battlefield?
He could still be called a martyr if he died on the battlefield, but what if he died at the hands of the emperor and his brother-in-law?
You deserve your miserable life!
You still think that you are fighting for a peaceful and prosperous age with your head, but you don’t know that the world is as dark as crows!”
Xu Zhengping was so angry that he was livid with the cynicism and sarcasm of Wang Laizi, and shouted: "Come here, stop this generous Wang Laizi!"
"promise!"
The government servants guarding the door of the lobby immediately responded to the order and set up their water and fire sticks on the left and right to block Wang Laizi's way.
Zhang Xiaozu still watched with cold eyes.
Shan Liangji felt that Xu Zhengping was too troublesome, and Wang Laizi had already said that he would not sue, so he just let him go.
"Do you want to convict this little old man of making a false accusation?" Wang Laizi asked with a sneer without looking back.
"Bold King Cripple, do you have any regard for court discipline?
When you come to the hall, you roar and feel sorry for yourself, then you curse me and leave like the crows in the world.
You feel that you are full of grievances and have nowhere to redress, then have you ever thought that I am also full of grievances?" Xu Zhengping asked angrily and depressedly.
"What grievances can you have, sir?" Wang Laizi asked nonchalantly.
"I am the dignified presiding judge of the three divisions. You slapped me with a big hat before I even had a chance to interrogate you. Do you think I am aggrieved?" Xu Zhengping asked.
"——" Wang Laizi looked slightly embarrassed. He felt that what Xu Zhengping said seemed reasonable, but after a moment of silence, he couldn't help shaking his head and smiling bitterly: "But the little old man really has no evidence, but the little old man is absolutely sure that the murderer must be the uncle's house.
"
"You have no evidence, but I do. Come back and listen to me." Xu Zhengping shouted.
"What, sir, do you have evidence?!" Wang Laizi turned around in shock and surprise and asked.
Seeing that Xu Zheng had a straight face and refused to give him a good look, he walked back to his original position angrily.
Xu Zhengping patted the gavel and shouted: "Come here, bring the murder weapon and bloody clothes, and pass the funeral to the hall."
As he finished speaking, two yamen servants soon brought a long knife stained with blood scabs and a piece of blood-stained brocade clothing to the hall on a tray.
The official from the Ministry of Punishment also went to court together.
"Song Wuzuo, have you checked the murder weapon?" Xu Zhengping asked Wuzuo.
"Your Excellency, I have inspected it and found that the size of this long knife is very consistent with the fatal wound on the corpse in Xiangyang Village.
I can conclude that even if the murder weapon is not this knife, it must be a knife that is very similar in shape and size to this knife." Wu Zuo replied.
Xu Zhengping nodded, looked at Shan Liangji and asked, "Shan Liangji, where was this knife found?"
"My lord, it was discovered by a domestic slave from my uncle's house in a hollow of a dead tree in the north of Xiangyang Village." Shan Liangji replied.
"Has the owner of this knife been found?" Xu Zhengping asked the government servant carrying the tray.
"Sir, we have found out. This knife came from the Hongji Blacksmith Shop in Liujia Alley. Blacksmith Hong said that this sword was specially customized by Huo Xingwu, the son of Mr. Huo, the county magistrate, because there is a totem on the handle that Huo Xingwu ordered Blacksmith Hong to carve.
, so Blacksmith Hong remembers it very clearly." The officer replied.
"Where are the blood clothes?" Xu Zhengping asked again.
"The blood coat also belongs to Huo Xingwu. His name is embroidered on the inside of the skirt. I also went to the tailor shop to inquire. The shopkeeper said that this dress was indeed customized by Huo Xingwu in their shop."
"Where was the blood coat found?" Xu Zhengping looked at Shan Liangji and asked.
"Sir, the bloody clothes were found in the weeds beside a mountain road in the north of Xiangyang Village." Shan Liangji replied.
"Huo Xingwu——" Wang Laizi's eyes were about to burst, and he roared angrily: "I'm going to cut you into pieces!"
"Shut up! You stand up for me and listen!" Xu Zhengping shouted angrily at Wang Laizi.
Then he looked at Shan Liangji and said coldly: "More than one hundred and sixty officials from the county government and the Ministry of Justice immediately searched Xiangyang Village within ten miles, but no useful clues were found. But Guojiu Mansion
The house slave went out to search and found two key pieces of evidence.
Are the county and criminal government officials too useless?
Or is it some unknown coincidence?"
Shan Liangji couldn't help but frown when he heard this, because Xu Zhengping obviously had something behind his words, and he suspected that the uncle's government was framing Huo Xingwu.
However, Shan Liangji did not panic, because suspicion cannot be used as evidence, but Huo Xingwu's knife and bloody clothes are solid evidence.
He felt that he was invincible.
"It must be that the souls of those who died tragically in Xiangyang Village didn't want to see the murderer go unpunished, and they didn't want to see the kind-hearted uncle Guo being wronged, so he secretly guided the domestic slaves in the uncle's house to find the hidden evidence." Shan
Liangji responded loudly and confidently.
"Huo Xingwu has no enmity with the people of Xiangyang Village, so why did he massacre the people of Xiangyang Village?" Xu Zhengping asked.
Shan Liangji immediately corrected him: "Your Excellency, Huo Xingwu and the people of Xiangyang Village are not without grievances.
Many workers had seen him quarrel with the people in Xiangyang Village and then fight, and Huo Xingwu said more than once that he would destroy Xiangyang Village.
If you don't believe me, you can go to the mountain and ask the workers who built the Dengxian Pavilion."
"I will naturally send someone to verify it." Xu Zhengping responded.
Shan Liangji frowned and asked, "Sir, why don't you let Huo Xingwu come and confront you in court?"
He had long known that Huo Xingwu was no longer in the imperial capital, so he asked this deliberately.
"Huo Xingwu is not in the imperial capital. He went to Shibu City in the north to visit relatives more than half a month ago. I have sent people to arrest him." Xu Zhengping didn't hide it either.
"Humph, he must have fled out of fear of crime." Shan Liangji snorted coldly.
Xu Zhengping frowned and said nothing.
If it is an ordinary case, the current evidence is basically sufficient. We only need to check some details. If there are no errors, we can convict Huo Xingwu.
But the reason why Xu Zhengping frowned in this case was precisely because the evidence was too sufficient.
Why did the county government and the Ministry of Justice jointly investigate for so long and no clues were found, but as soon as the uncle Guo's house was traced, the evidence was immediately delivered?
This was obviously a long-planned coincidence.
Xu Zhengping felt that Huo Xingwu was a scapegoat deliberately arranged by the uncle's government.
He even felt that this was no longer a conspiracy by the uncle's family, but a fearless conspiracy.
I'm not afraid that all of you will suspect that I did it. Without evidence, it means nothing.
Xu Zhengping's eyes fell on Zhang Xiaozu, who had not spoken for a long time and was standing aside watching the show like an outsider. He remembered that Zhang Xiaozu said that he had another piece of evidence.
"Your Majesty, the county government chief Wang Wu has something to say." Suddenly a government official came to report.
"pass."
Zhang Xiaozhu couldn't help but be a little surprised when he heard Wang Wu's name, and then smiled slightly. He vaguely understood why Shan Liangji wanted to borrow his sword to deal with the uncle's house.
"I humbly bow to you, my lords."
"What do you want to say?" Xu Zhengping asked.
Shan Liangji glanced sideways at Wang Wu, and a cold breath pressed towards Wang Wu.
He was warning Wang Wu not to talk nonsense.
However, Wang Wuli ignored him and Gu Zi said: "Sir, the murder case in Xiangyang Village was committed by the Guojiu Mansion, and Huo Xingwu was their deliberately arranged scapegoat. Please make a clear decision."
Shan Liangji's face instantly darkened.
"Do you have any evidence for saying that?" Xu Zhengping asked.
"Sir, I don't have a humble position."
"——" Xu Zhengping's eyes twitched and he cursed angrily in his heart: "Then you are talking nonsense!"
He looked at Zhang Xiaozu again and asked: "Zhang Xiaozu, you said you have another piece of evidence, and this evidence is also related to the Xiangyang Village case. Can you tell me now?"
"Excuse me, sir, how will this case be decided in the end?" Zhang Xiaozhu asked.
Xu Zhengping frowned and said: "There are still many doubtful points in this case, which need to be carefully verified, and the suspect Huo Xingwu has not yet arrived, so the case cannot be closed for the time being."
Zhang Xiaozu nodded, then walked towards the front of the hall and said: "I do have another piece of evidence, let me show it to you."
After saying that, he suddenly turned around, pulled out the bone knife from the mustard seeds, and slashed at Shan Liangji.
Shan Liangji was suddenly startled and hurriedly jumped back to avoid the oncoming bone knife.
Zhang Xiaozu pressed forward and forced Shan Liangji out of the lobby, shouting: "Sir, my evidence is him. When I take him down, the case will be closed today."
"——" Xu Zheng had a black line on his head, but in his heart he felt that Zhang Xiaozu's method was indeed the best way to solve the current predicament.
Wang Wu followed and chased him out.
He has only one way to go now, which is to overthrow the uncle's house and at least kill Shan Liangji. Therefore, he must join forces with Zhang Xiaozu to deal with Shan Liangji and never let him escape.
