I go to the ancient imperial examinations

Chapter 388: Confronting the Court
The courtroom was full of people, and Sun Baihu's family members were still kneeling obediently in the corner. Master Yao was just killing the second son Min's prestige, so after he knelt down and saluted, people got up.

As for Chu Qian, although he was imprisoned for a few days, Lord Yao did not use torture. Except that he was not allowed to go out, he did not suffer, but his spirit was not good, especially when he looked at Zhan Feiyu with gloomy and frightening eyes.

"Reporting to my lord, the lower officials did not act thoroughly that day, which almost caused a catastrophe. Please punish me, my lord." When Chu Qian opened his mouth, he retreated to advance.

The arrest of Zhan Feiyu without evidence and evidence was indeed due to Chu Qian's fault first, but as the commander of the capital, he was a fourth-rank official of the imperial court, and one of the officials in the joint trial of the three divisions. He is qualified to order the arrest of Zhan Feiyu, a young scholar.

As for after the arrest, if it was wrongly convicted, it was found out that Chu Qian had wronged Zhan Feiyu, and the court, Master Yao, and Commander Xie would convict him of negligence of duty.

But it was Zhan Feiyu's fault that she fought against Tolerance who arrested her in the courtroom.

Between Chu Qianshi and Zhan Feiyu, either the west wind overwhelms the east wind, or the east wind overwhelms the west wind. If Chu Qianshi's crime is minor, then Zhan Feiyu's guilt will be greater.

Especially Sun Baihu, who was still lying on the door panel and was about to die. When it comes to the crime of homicide, it was the military attache of the guard who killed it. This crime was put on Zhan Feiyu's head. It is not easy to clear the accusation.

"My lord, I also want to sue Zhan Feiyu for committing murder." Second Young Master Min added fuel to the fire.

It is estimated that he kneeled down before, although the Second Young Master Min was still domineering and domineering, at least he did not dare to treat the Suzhou government court as a place to act wildly.

Glancing at Zhan Feiyu with a vicious look, Second Master Min continued: "Sun Baihu is lying in the hospital seriously injured, and the doctor who sees him needs [-]-year-old ginseng to hang himself, so I sent two nurses to kill him." The courtyard went to Zhan Feiyu."

There was a pause, and the second young master Min showed a sinister sneer on his pale face, "Who knew that Zhan Feiyu not only injured the nursing home of my Min family by relying on the name of Gu Xueshi, but also turned black and white and sent him to The government is here, such a bullying and reckless lunatic, please punish him severely!"

Commander Xie showed his first smile when he entered the Suzhou government office, and his sonorous voice rang out, "It is said that the Min family has a clean and upright family style. I saw it today and it is true. On behalf of Sun Baihu, I would like to thank the second son for his righteous deed."

"Commander Xie, you're being polite. Saving a life is better than building a seven-level pagoda. It's a matter of little effort." The second son of Min returned a salute to Commander Xie, and then continued to Master Yao who was hanging under the plaque in the mirror: "At that time In order to convince Zhan Feiyu, this is why Nursing Court wears Sun Baihu's badge."

Second Master Min's explanation wiped out the charge of stealing the waist card.

Zhao Tongzhi and other officials of the Suzhou government office who were watching were solemn. They were almost killed by the butchers of Sun Baihu and others that day, and then they were guarded by Zhan Feiyu's followers and retreated to the government office, and they were almost burned to death. .

But hearing Chu Qian's eloquent tongue and black and white reversed, although Zhao Tongzhi and the others looked livid with anger, they couldn't refute it, and couldn't help worrying about Zhan Feiyu who was in trouble.

Compared to the triumphant Chu Qianshi, the Second Young Master Min, or the worried Zhao Tongzhi, Lord Yao looked solemn and calm, and said in a deep voice, "Zhan Feiyu, do you want to defend yourself?"

Zhan Feiyu stepped forward, and there was no trace of worry on his delicate and fair face, "Go back to your lord, the students want to accuse Chu Qian of intending to murder the students and the adults of Zhao Tongzhi, the governor of the Suzhou government."

"A bunch of nonsense!" The scolding sound suddenly sounded, and Chu Qianshi's face was gloomy, "Zhan Feiyu, do you know what crime it is to frame an official of the court? I thought you were young, and I didn't intend to pursue it when you were confused, but you don't know. Anyway, if you make mistakes again and again, don't blame me for being stern and selfless!"

"Back off!" The loud voice sounded again, Commander Xie angrily said to Chu Qian: "If you know that you have violated the law, this commander will definitely punish you severely! Miss Zhan, do you have any evidence? The commander will not tolerate any actions." Rapists!"

Ignoring the pretentious Commander Xie, Zhan Feiyu looked at Mr. Yao and said, "Please ask someone to testify in court."

"Sure." Lord Yao agreed, but he was a bit puzzled, it seemed that it was still unclear who would win the battle.

While everyone was waiting in amazement, the three of them were arrested and quickly brought to court. The leader was a middle-aged man with a rich appearance, "Craftsman Tong Mingyuan pays his respects to your lord."

"Get up and answer, Tong Mingyuan, who are you?" Master Yao asked, dressed like a merchant.

Master Yao's guess is not wrong. Tong Mingyuan is indeed a merchant, an oil merchant. He has a batch of tung oil in his hand, which he planned to sell to the pharmacy. Tung oil can cause sore throat, carbuncle, scabies, ecchymosis, burns, frostbite, chapped effect.

But because of improper preservation, it can only be used as lamp oil and sold at a low price. However, the people in Longyou Road are not rich, and very few people can afford lamp oil.

"Responding to my lord's words, Caomin originally thought that the tung oil would be transported back to the Southwest Road. The toss and turns would not only make money, but also pay back, so Caomin thought that even if it was a loss, it would be best to sell it. It just so happened that the shopkeeper Hong willing to buy these tung oil."

When Tong Mingyuan said this, these people in the court understood that the tung oil that Chu Qian wanted to set fire to the government office that day was bought from a grocery store.

"It's just a coincidence." The second son of Min snorted coldly, if it wasn't for the fact that the surnamed Yao didn't give the second prince and the Min family face, and according to the domineering and arrogant behavior of the second son of Min, he would have sent Zhan Feiyu to prison immediately up.

Mr. Zheng, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke, "Tong Mingyuan, how many catties of tung oil did you sell to the grocery store?"

"Returning to my lord, there is a total of one thousand catties of tung oil, and the price is fifty yuan per catty, and a total of 50 taels of silver are sold." Tong Mingyuan did not dare to hide anything, and even presented the account books he brought over.

50 taels of silver is not much, but it is not too much. After all, this tung oil is defective and can only be sold at a low price, and the salary of the arrester in the court is only two taels of silver. Tong Mingyuan's transaction is almost One year's salary for the catcher.

Lord Yao handed over the account book to the little official, and asked him to pass it on to Lord Zheng and the others for review, "Captain Hu, you are familiar with Suzhou Prefecture. I asked you how the business of Xinglong Grocery Store is doing?"

Hu Butou quickly estimated in his mind, "Xinglong's grocery store is at the end of Sifang Street. Shopkeeper Hong is also good at running the store. The store's business is good. With a humble job, it is estimated that it can make a profit of at least one hundred taels a year."

Officials in the Daqing Dynasty had high salaries, and Zhao Tongzhi was a fifth-rank official, with a salary of 200 taels a year.

A small grocery store bought defective tung oil for 50 taels of silver.

If it couldn't be sold, why did shopkeeper Hong of the grocery store buy the tung oil, and it happened that Chu Qian was about to set fire to the government office, so a thousand catties of tung oil would come in handy.

"Come on, bring the shopkeeper and the buddies of the Xinglong Grocery Store to the hall!" Master Yao gave an order, and Hu Butou immediately took the order.

During the waiting time, Chu Qianshi's face was a bit ugly, but there was no anxiety or nervousness in his expression, and he presumably had been fully prepared.

Zhan Feiyu stood aside as before, and looked at Sun Baihu who was lying on the door panel. As long as it can be proved that Chu Qian's incident was a premeditated murder, Sun Baihu would be an accomplice, and even if he died, there would be no disturbance.

The Xinglong grocery store is very close to the government office, otherwise Chu Qian would not have sent someone to buy tung oil from the grocery store that day. In less than a quarter of an hour, shopkeeper Hong and the boy entered the government office with a panicked expression.

"Caomin pays homage to your lord..." His voice trembled a little, shopkeeper Hong knelt on the ground, his body trembling uncontrollably.

Shopkeeper Hong also recorded a statement in the yamen before, confirming that the tung oil that almost burned the government office was bought from his shop, but he was just a merchant, and the official bought tung oil with money, and shopkeeper Hong did not Dare not to sell.

I thought the matter was over, but who knew that I would be called to court again.

"Shopkeeper Hong, I would like to ask you if the thousand catties of tung oil is not bought, what will you do with the tung oil?" Master Yao's face is majestic, and his sharp eyes are fixed on the shopkeeper Hong who is kneeling below.

"Returning to my lord, Xiangwu County was besieged by barbarians before, and many people's homes caught fire that day. The grass people heard from the carpenters in Xiangwu County that a lot of furniture needs to be built there. Seeing that the price of tung oil is cheap, the grass people I just want to buy it at a low price, and then ship it to Xiangwu County and sell it at a high price."

These tung oils are defective products and cannot be used for medicine, but they can be used to paint furniture. If they are really sold as lamp oil, it will take ten years to sell them all.

When shopkeeper Hong said this, Zhan Feiyu understood. When defending the city that day, hot oil was poured at first, but even during the Chinese New Year, every household did not store much oil. Later, they boiled water and poured it down the tower. .

The most wasteful thing to boil water is firewood. The situation was critical that night, so we had to get materials nearby. Therefore, the firewood stored in the homes of the people near the city gate was not enough to burn, so we had to chop up the furniture of every household and use it as firewood.

"My lord, next year is the year of the widow, so girls who want to get married will have their homes this year. By then, they will have to buy a lot of furniture, and the tung oil can be sold at a high price." Shopkeeper Hong does have business skills. These two explanations are reasonable.

Chu Qianshi turned his head and looked at the calm and composed Zhan Feiyu sarcastically, "As the saying goes, there is no coincidence, Miss Zhan, what evidence do you have to show together?"

"Shopkeeper Hong, the Xinglong grocery store usually closes at the end of the unitary hour, but that day, shopkeeper Hong, you went to the bank at the first two quarters of the unitary hour and took 50 taels of silver."

"A quarter of an hour later, shopkeeper Tong just came to sell tung oil at the grocery store. The two of you hit it off immediately. After you paid 50 taels of silver, shopkeeper Hong, shopkeeper Tong asked the waiter to drive over the carriage parked at the inn, and moved a thousand catties of tung oil to the grocery store. The shop happened to be at the end of the You hour, so you closed the door until the next morning when someone sent by Chu Qianshi came to the shop to buy tung oil."

Zhan Feiyu spoke word by word slowly, and looked at the shocked shopkeeper Hong with clear eyes. He probably didn't expect Zhan Feiyu to know such details, even when he went to the bank and when he closed the shop. Clearly.

Buying and selling tung oil can still be said to be a coincidence, but the money was withdrawn a quarter of an hour before the sale of tung oil, and it happened to be 50 taels, which is also far-fetched if it is a coincidence.

On a cold day, shopkeeper Hong was sweating on his forehead, and rubbed his fingers unconsciously, "Returning to my lord, the reason Cao Min took 50 taels of silver from the bank that day was also because he knew that shopkeeper Tong wanted to sell tung oil at a low price." .”

"Caomin has always been cautious in doing business, and he didn't want shopkeeper Tong's temporary price increase, so he inquired about the price of the tung oil beforehand, and then took out the silver in advance. He planned to go to the inn the next day to talk to shopkeeper Tong about the deal, but he didn't expect shopkeeper Tong It's a coincidence that someone came to the door."

Zhan Feiyu laughed when he heard this, "As shopkeeper Hong said, you are cautious in doing business because five years ago you were stolen by your nephew for 100 taels of silver. Silver, you will bring the silver home every day, if you want to buy goods or the business is good that day, if the silver is more than ten taels, shopkeeper Hong, you will send the silver to the bank for storage."

Shopkeeper Hong raised his head abruptly, his eyes widened in shock. Apart from himself, his parents, his wife and children didn't know about it.

The 100 taels of silver were stolen from the shop by his nephew just like that, and shopkeeper Hong was so angry that he almost vomited blood.But the man had already escaped, and shopkeeper Hong didn't want outsiders to see the joke, so he kept the matter a secret.

But shopkeeper Hong has been very cautious since then, and he doesn't put too much silver in the shop. Even his wife and children, he doesn't trust them to keep the silver, and puts it in the bank.

But whenever he wanted to buy goods, shopkeeper Hong would go to the bank to get the money on the same day, and he would go there a quarter of an hour in advance. He has maintained it for five years.

(End of this chapter)