Chapter 1497. Catch them all in one fell swoop (4).
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After hearing Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun speaking in unison, Huo Zhengyuan couldn't help laughing.
His guess was correct. The protagonists of this tripartite joint trial turned out to be Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun.
Huo Zhengyuan secretly hides a dead soldier of "Chaofeng" alive, so he is not determined to win this tripartite joint trial.
At the same time, Huo Zhengyuan still remembered the real reason why Zhao Junchen sent Jiang Zheng to Nanjing, which was to let him take the opportunity to test Jiang Zheng's ability and loyalty - this was also another reason why Huo Zhengyuan brought Jiang Zheng to Zhanyuan to participate in the tripartite joint trial.
After careful consideration, they wanted to use this incident to completely bind Jiang Zheng to the forces of the "Zhao Party".
Therefore, Huo Zhengyuan didn't care about Jiang Zheng stealing the limelight, and immediately nodded and said: "What suggestions do you two have? Tell me."
On the other side, Xu Shengying became a little impatient and urged: "Although you are given the right to express your opinions and suggestions, you should also know the appropriateness and not delay the normal trial of the case. If you have anything to say, please speak up!"
After Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun looked at each other, Jia Lun took the lead and said: "The villain believes that although the various serious crimes committed by these gangsters in Nanjing are of a bad nature and cannot be punished, they should still be investigated carefully.
Divided into different situations, such as rioting and killing people, kidnapping military attachés to loot the military depot, assassinating the current academicians, kidnapping the orphans of Shantang and other crimes, the Nanjing government naturally has the right to interrogate in detail, but for their crime of kidnapping the seventh prince, the situation is different.
It’s completely different, it involves the Tian family royal family, so it’s better to leave the relevant interrogation to His Majesty’s Holy Judgment!”
Obviously, Jia Lun is unwilling to have any connection between Zhu Hejian and the "Chaofeng" dead soldiers, and this proposal is obviously to delay time.
As soon as Jia Lun finished speaking, Jiang Zheng directly expressed the completely opposite opinion and said loudly: "Three adults, the students believe that the crimes of these prisoners have been proven conclusively, and there is no need to add their various crimes to the list."
The crimes are classified, and the relevant details are not worth wasting energy on carefully investigating. The key point is to investigate their origins, backgrounds, and motives for committing crimes!"
But the next moment, Jiang Zheng supported some of Jia Lun's claims and continued: "At the same time, all the crimes committed by these prisoners are extremely heinous in nature. Although the Nanjing government has the right to investigate the truth, it does not have the right to sentence and convict."
, this kind of matter should be left to the central court to decide, and the three adults should not mention anything about conviction during the interrogation.
Even...in order to prevent the prisoners from thinking that they are guilty of the death penalty and stubbornly resisting the interrogation, the three adults should give them a chance to record all the prisoners' performances during the trial and report them truthfully.
The center of the imperial court, and suggested that the imperial court should be lenient to criminals who confess and behave well, and at least not implicate their clansmen."
After Jia Lun heard this, he couldn't help but frown.
Jiang Zheng's suggestion undoubtedly greatly increased the possibility of the "Chaofeng" dead soldier betraying the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, and also made the relationship between Zhu Hejian and the "Chaofeng" dead soldier more easily exposed.
Therefore, Jia Lun refused to give in and said again: "The nature of the relevant cases is bad. I am afraid that the Nanjing government not only has no right to sentence and convict, but also has no right to recommend commutation. What's more, the crimes of these prisoners are too many and too serious, let alone commutation."
If you get a first-class sentence, even if the crime is reduced to third-class, you can't escape the fate of beheading and abandoning the city, and killing the Lian people! Therefore, Mr. Jiang's proposal is probably meaningless except for causing controversy among the three presiding judges.
"
Jiang Zheng also responded tit-for-tat, frowning and saying: "Even if the crime is reduced to the third level, the members of the Lian clan must be executed? When did our dynasty have such a provision? According to the "Law of Robbery" of the Ming Dynasty's Criminal Code..."
"Young Master Jiang's statement is completely false. The crimes of these prisoners should be considered as treason, and the "Law of Thieves" does not apply..."
"Even if it's a serious rebellion, only those under the age of sixteen will be killed. How can we kill Lian? During the Jiaqing period, there was..."
"Since Mr. Jiang mentioned the Jiaqing period, why did he avoid talking about the Chengzu period? Let alone the three major cases handled by Taizu himself..."
"The criminal laws of our dynasty are based on the "Minglilu" as the general outline, and the specific implementation is based on the "Laws and Orders Direct Interpretation" as the criterion. Doesn't Eunuch Jia not know the difference between 'example' and 'not an example'..."
"Taizu has stipulated that the "Da Ming Code" cannot be changed..."
"Although the "Da Ming Code" cannot be changed, eunuch Jia still ignored the "Regulations on Punishment" promulgated by successive emperors since his founding..."
*
Just like this, just a seemingly insignificant detail caused Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun to argue endlessly.
However, Huo Zhengyuan, Xu Shengying, and Xi Cheng, the three nominal presiding judges, could only stand dumbfounded by their eloquent debate and were completely unable to interrupt.
"Da Ming Law" is an extremely complicated and profound knowledge. It has summarized the legal system of all dynasties from the beginning of its formulation. It can be said to be the masterpiece of laws in the feudal dynasty.
After Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang promulgated the "Da Ming Code", on the one hand, he was proud of the perfection and rigor of the "Da Ming Code", but on the other hand, he was worried that future emperors would "convert chaos into law", so he repeatedly promulgated ancestral precepts, saying that the "Da Ming Code" could never be used.
Change.
However, no matter how perfect the legal provisions are, they will one day be out of touch with the times. Therefore, in order to adapt to the actual situation and correct the irreversible shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty, the emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty successively promulgated many "temporary regulations". During the Jiaqing period, these regulations were
The "Temporary Regulations" were compiled and revised into 279 articles of the "Regulations on Questioning Punishments". Emperor Wanli expanded the "Regulations on Questioning Punishments" to 382 articles. During the reign of Emperor Deqing, the "Regulations on Questioning Punishments"
》has been expanded to nearly 500 items!
At the same time, the Ming Dynasty also implemented the rule of "parallel laws and orders", that is, when the government tried a case, it should follow the "Da Ming Law", the "Regulations on Penalties", and the precedents of similar cases in the previous dynasty, so that the Ming Dynasty officials should follow the "Parallel Laws" when trying cases.
The actual situation is becoming increasingly complex.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! The most important thing is that the emperor’s will is regarded as a golden word. The precedents and cases they personally adjudicate are often regarded as provisions with the same efficiency as the law.
The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were also willful people. Not only did they often personally intervene in various cases, but they also often judged crimes and sentencing matters at will based on their own likes and dislikes. Therefore, many imperial decrees of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were filled with a large number of "for-purposes".
Qualifiers such as "example", "not an example", and "no example".
The so-called "example" means that this imperial edict is a common law and must be followed when encountering similar situations in the future; "not an example" means that this imperial edict only has a one-time effect and cannot be used as an example by future generations.
As for "without exception", it is even more ridiculous, indicating that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty has not yet decided whether his imperial edict should be a regular law or a "special favor" - but only in the Ming Xianzong dynasty, there were "without exception" imperial edicts.
There are as many as sixteen ways!
As a result, the complexity and profoundness of the Ming Dynasty's laws were no longer something that normal people could understand.
At this moment, although Huo Zhengyuan, Xu Shengying and Xi Cheng all claimed to be smart, they were not familiar with it. After hearing the debate between Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun, they were still confused and dizzy.
My brain is so bloated that sometimes I can't even understand the content of the debate between Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun, nor can I tell which side of the two has the upper hand during the argument.
However, what Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun are arguing about is related to the basic principles of the trial, so they cannot be interrupted at will.
In the end, when Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun argued fiercely for a long time, but neither one could refute the other, Xu Shengying finally became impatient, slapped the gavel hard, and shouted angrily: "I don't
I know what you are arguing about! I don’t want to care about the content of your argument! No matter what you are arguing about, it will be discussed later. Now that you two have withdrawn, I will continue to interrogate the prisoner!"
Following Xu Shengying's angry rebuke, everyone slowly came to their senses and realized that ever since they brought Li Sisan to the court, they had been focusing on arguing and had forgotten about the business of interrogating the prisoner.
In the end, only Huo Zhengyuan asked about the relationship between Li Sisan and the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, which hit the nail on the head.
Under Xu Shengying's angry shouts, Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun finally reluctantly stopped their heated argument and retreated to both sides.
Xu Shengying took the opportunity to take the lead in the interrogation. Without consulting Huo Zhengyuan and Xi Cheng, she began to interrogate Li Sisan about his identity, background, place of origin and experience.
But after Li Sisan watched the chaos in the trial court, he controlled his panic a little. In addition, Jia Lun stood aside and watched eagerly, making him completely afraid to confess frankly, so after facing Xu Shengying's fierce interrogation,
Ji always kept silent. Before the trial, he was willing to tell the truth about his name, but now he is not even willing to tell his name.
Under such circumstances, Xu Shengying was naturally very angry and immediately sent people to torture him.
Under Xu Shengying's order, Li Sisan was pushed to the ground and beaten with a cane, a total of thirty times.
These thirty strokes of stick punishment were carried out by Jin Yiwei and the Nanjing garrison respectively sending one person to hold the stick. The Jin Yiwei who was responsible for the execution was obviously an experienced hand, and the fifteen sticks he struck seemed to be made by snapping.
The sound was louder than when the Nanjing defenders were tortured, but not even a single hair on Li Sisan was bent, so Li Sisan actually only received fifteen strokes.
The "Chaofeng" dead soldiers are all well-trained elites. Even Li Sisan, who has a weak ability to withstand pressure, is fully capable of withstanding these fifteen blows of the stick.
Therefore, after being beaten with the cane, Li Sisan still kept silent and resisted the interrogation.
Xu Shengying became more and more angry and wanted to impose severe punishment again.
But at this time, Jia Lun stood up again and expressed his different opinions. He believed that Li Sisan was originally seriously injured. If he was tortured repeatedly, the prisoner would most likely die from his injuries. Even Li Sisan
Confession under severe torture cannot guarantee the truth of the confession, so at this time, priority should be given to interrogating the other five dead soldiers and criminals.
The next moment, Jiang Zheng also stood up, naturally expressing the opposite opinion.
Then, the tripartite joint trial once again turned into a debate between Jiang Zheng and Jia Lun. The two still had reasonable grounds and rigorous logic. Jiang Zheng brought out the "Regulations on Punishment", and Jia Lun brought up the "Law Orders".
"Direct Interpretation", Jiang Zheng cited precedents from the Jiaqing period, and Jia Lun dug up old cases from the Chengzu period, but still no one could argue against the other.
However, the progress of the tripartite joint trial was interrupted again.
After seeing this situation, Xu Shengying became more and more irritable, Xi Cheng smiled and said nothing, while Huo Zhengyuan frowned and thought to himself: "I didn't expect that Jia Lun was so capable. Even Jiang Zheng couldn't do it.
He gained the upper hand in a short time, but Jiang Zheng had to stand up and argue with him, otherwise he would have to let Jia Lun guide the situation...
As a result, the three-party joint trial was repeatedly interrupted due to the heated arguments between the two of them, seriously delaying the progress. I am afraid this is also the Seventh Prince's strategy to delay time. Everyone is letting Jalen lead the way..."
While thinking secretly, Huo Zhengyuan ran through various countermeasures in his mind, but none of them could successfully solve this dilemma. He could not help but frown more and more, thinking that this Jia Lun was in some ways more difficult to deal with than the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian.
*
Just when Huo Zhengyuan was at his wits' end, the case trial situation in Zhanyuan had also reached Zhou Shangjing's ears.
Zhou Shangjing had obviously expected it, but he still had a calm attitude, and with his wisdom in hand, he said slowly: "Oh? It seems that the Seventh Prince really wants to delay time! But I can't wait any longer... The situation in Nanjing must be dealt with as soon as possible.
The dust will have settled before noon today! With your instructions, we can implement the next plan!"