The first assistant of the poor family

Chapter 564 Reversal of the Case 【4000 words two in one chapter】

After all, the emperor is still very young, and his judgment on many issues is insufficient, so he needs to listen to the opinions of his ministers.And Xie Shen's opinion is undoubtedly decisive.

Xie Shen analyzed it for Zhu Houzhao, and the emperor immediately saw the conspiracy behind it.

He decreed to review Dingchen's request to execute blacksmith Chen San's memorial, and indicated that the case was full of doubts, and ordered Gu Dingchen to review it carefully, especially focusing on Zhao Mengqing, the magistrate of Linqing.

Xie Shen was naturally pleased about this.Zhu Houzhao is very young and very malleable.As long as it is properly guided, there is still the possibility of developing into a wise king.

As soon as the imperial decree arrived in Linqing, Gu Dingchen naturally kowtowed to accept the decree.

To his surprise, the emperor did not approve his judgment, but sent the case back for review.

Gu Dingchen is of course a smart man, the emperor asked him to mainly investigate Zhao Mengqing, and he realized that Zhao Mengqing might not be clean in this matter.

Of course, he would not investigate the matter on the bright side, but mobilized the manpower brought from the capital to secretly investigate Zhao Mengqing and Chen Tiejiang's assassination of Tongzhi.

As an imperial envoy, Gu Dingchen brought a lot of Jin Yiwei with him on this trip.It's just that these Jinyi guards are all in plain clothes, and they are secretly guarding Gu Dingchen's comprehensiveness, and no one in Linqing knows about it.

Jin Yiwei's investigation efficiency is naturally not a problem, and the results of the investigation were soon available.

On the day Li Tai was assassinated, the blacksmith Chen San didn't go to the brothel but slept at home.That old bustard gave perjury!
Gu Dingchen was furious when he heard the report.Zhao Mengqing swore to him that the bustard confirmed that Chen San had appeared in the brothel that day, and he began to doubt Chen Tiejiang.

Now it seems that this is just a trick to divert trouble.

The results of the subsequent investigation shocked Gu Dingchen even more.

That day when Li Tai went to the brothel to find sex, the body of the girl Xuan'er he was looking for was found in a dry well behind the brothel, and the body was already decomposed.

There was an obvious knife wound on the neck of the deceased, clean and neat.

It seems that there is no doubt that Xuan'er was murdered.

This can even clear up the suspicion of blacksmith Chen San.Just imagine, Chen San has a grudge against Li Tai, so at most he is seeking revenge against Li Tai.There is a wronged person and a debtor, why is he bothering Miss Xuan'er?
There is only one explanation, that is, someone else killed Li Tai, the same acquaintance, and the girl Xuan'er in the boudoir at that time may have seen the assassin's true face, and the assassin was afraid that Xuan'er would reveal the truth, so he killed him.

As for the investigation of Zhao Mengqing, Gu Dingchen trembled even more angrily.

This Linqing parent's official reputation is very bad. Not only is he not a Qingtian master who makes decisions for the people, but he is also a corrupt official with many taints.

Just for the construction of the river embankment, he successively corrupted 10 taels of silver, which is simply outrageous.

It's really knowing people, knowing their faces, but not their hearts.

Gu Dingchen felt a little ashamed, he was easily coaxed by Zhao Mengqing to lead him by the nose.

Now it seems that Zhao Mengqing is undoubtedly the biggest suspect in killing Li Tai, but Gu Dingchen doesn't have enough evidence to arrest Zhao Mengqing immediately.

However, the abnormal attitude of the imperial envoy still aroused Zhao Mengqing's vigilance.

Zhao Zhizhou recruited counselor Wu Lian to discuss countermeasures, and naturally asked why Chen Tiejiang hadn't been executed yet.

"Proprietor, I heard that the imperial decree has been sent down from the capital. From this point of view, the imperial envoy must have received some instructions. Looking at it now, I am afraid that this is not the approval of the execution of the death row prisoner, but the decree of reviewing the case."

Wu Lian saw the problem thoroughly, and what he said made Zhao Mengqing, who was full of fantasies, feel cold.

"If this is the case, then am I finished?"

Zhao Mengqing's face was pale, his lips were trembling, and he looked completely different from the previous few days.

"That's not necessarily the case." Wu Lian pondered for a moment and said, "The imperial envoy hasn't done anything to you to prove that he doesn't have sufficient evidence."

Zhao Mengqing shook his head and smiled wryly: "Evidence? It's not like you don't know what I did in Linqing. Does Gu Dingchen really want to find out but can't find it out?"

"For the current plan, I'm afraid the only thing I can do is to do nothing but to do him all the time!"

A trace of viciousness flashed in Zhao Mengqing's eyes, and he clenched his fists tightly.

He must not sit still and wait for death, anyone who wants his life must die, even if this person is an imperial envoy representing the emperor!

"That's not a solution."

By now, Wu Lian also knew that his proprietor had been driven to a dead end, and he might have to make up his mind to get a glimmer of life.

"Since we have established a relationship with Sanjitang, let them handle it. Gu wants my life, so it depends on whether he has the ability!"

The trapped beast is still fighting, Zhao Mengqing vowed to fight back the most violently.

Before finding sufficient evidence to convict Zhao Mengqing, Gu Dingchen's strategy is to stabilize him first.

Everything was as usual, Gu Dingchen did not refuse Zhao Mengqing's invitation.

On this day, Zhao Mengqing asked the imperial envoy to go out of the city to climb the mountain, and Gu Dingchen readily agreed. He only brought a few servants and went out of the city with Zhao Zhizhou to climb the mountain.

Walking halfway up the mountain, Zhao Mengqing suddenly fell ill, unable to speak and convulsed all over his body.

Gu Dingchen had no choice but to order someone to carry Zhao Mengqing to a thatched house near the river, and then send someone to invite him a doctor.

Even prisoners have the right to enjoy medical treatment, not to mention that Zhao Mengqing is not a prisoner yet.

Just when Zhao Zhizhou was bedridden, something happened suddenly.

More than a dozen black-clothed men in night clothes surrounded the thatched hut, slashing with knives when they saw anyone.

Gu Dingchen sneered in his heart, wondering if Zhao Mengqing wanted to kill people to silence him?
Although he only brought a few entourages with him, there were quite a few brocade guards secretly guarding him, just to prevent this from happening.

Seeing that the imperial envoy was in danger, the Jin Yiwei who were sneaking in the dark jumped out one after another and fought with the man in black.

I have to say that these assassins are very skillful, even Jin Yiwei can't take advantage of them one-on-one.

But Jinyiwei wins because of the large number of people, and it is still very advantageous for a few to fight against one.

Soon the assassins were overwhelmed and defeated.

But it is not difficult to escape with their skills.Except for one assassin who was wounded and captured, all the others escaped.

Gu Dingchen came to the wounded assassin under the escort of a group of Jin Yiwei, and ordered someone to remove the black scarf from his face.

At this moment, the assassin's cheek twitched.

Gu Dingchen secretly thought that it was not good, and hurriedly ordered someone to pry open the assassin's mouth, and took out a small red pill from under the root of his tooth.

"Thinking to commit suicide? It's not that easy!"

Gu Dingchen said coldly: "Quick call, who asked you to assassinate this official. If you tell the truth, this official can spare your life, otherwise you may not be able to survive the severe punishment."

The assassin turned his head coldly without saying a word.

Gu Dingchen was naturally not in a hurry, he waved his hand and said, "Put it down and keep it under strict supervision. I will interrogate myself when I return to the city."

The one who paid the most attention to the assassination incident was of course Zhao Mengqing, the prefect of Linqing.

Master Zhao fainted out of anger when he learned that the assassins were defeated and one of them was captured.

Gu Dingchen didn't have time to care about whether Zhao Mengqing was really sick or fake, so he left three people to monitor Zhao Zhizhou, and the rest returned to Linqing with him.

As soon as he arrived in Linqing City, Gu Dingchen personally interrogated the captured assassin.

At first, the assassin's attitude was very decisive, and he was indifferent to several severe punishments.

Later, Gu Dingchen changed his mind and ordered Jin Yiwei to draw several portraits of the assassin and prepare to post them all over the city.

Hearing this news, the assassin was horrified.

"If you want to kill, you can kill, if you want to cut, you can cut, what do you look like in doodles!"

Gu Dingchen smiled and said, "Why are you afraid?"

The assassin's face changed and he said: "Joke, I'm not even afraid of a big punishment, what kind of portrait will I be afraid of?"

Gu Dingchen knew that he was a dead duck with a stubborn mouth, so he said quietly: "You are not afraid of severe punishment, because at most it can only cause some pain to your body. But the portrait is not the case, it can let everyone who knows you know that you are a An assassin who commits crimes and kills people like hemp."

Although Gu Dingchen said it calmly, the assassin's chest was obviously shocked, and he was taken aback for a moment.

Gu Dingchen knew that he hit the nail on the head, and was overjoyed.

He continued: "I think you should be a local. If the official guessed correctly, you should have another job, which is used to cover up people's ears. I'm afraid you don't want your wife and children to know that besides doing this job, you Are you still doing the killing thing?"

The assassin's expression became painful, and it took a long time before he nodded and said: "You guessed right, I do have another job, which is to make sticks at the dock. You can ask me to do anything, I only have one request, that is Don't tell my family the truth."

Gu Dingchen nodded and said: "Don't worry, this officer keeps his word. As long as you confess truthfully, this officer will definitely not tell your family about your being an assassin."

Everyone has weaknesses, and assassins are no exception.

The reason why assassins can kill like crazy is because their hearts are very cold.

But no matter how cold the heart is, it is impossible to turn a blind eye to the family.

Gu Dingchen relied on this to force the assassin to reveal his identity.

"Okay, okay!" The assassin laughed resignedly, and then said: "I work for Sanjitang. On the surface, we are the powerful sticks for unloading and loading ships at the dock, but in fact we are the assassins of Linqing's biggest killer organization. Don't worry about being a wealthy businessman. Wealthy businessmen are still dignitaries, as long as we give enough money, we will take their lives cleanly."

Gu Dingchen asked: "According to what you said, it is this Sanjitang who is going to take my life? But I have no enmity with this Sanjitang, so why does he want my life?"

"Didn't I say that we use other people's money to do things for others. Of course you have no enmity with Sanjitang, but you have enmity with others. Someone offered 5000 taels of silver and wanted to take your head."

Gu Dingchen said with a wry smile: "It's a little surprising that I didn't expect that the official's head is worth 5000 taels."

"Don't you want to know who bought your life?"

"Actually, I already know it. But... I still want to hear it from you."

The assassin nodded and murmured: "It is said that we are ruthless killers, but compared to this one, we are nothing. The one who wants to kill you is either someone else or Linqing prefect Zhao Mengqing. That fellow prefect Li Tai is him He asked us to kill him. He was afraid that he would be involved in the matter, so he wanted to do nothing but do you too."

"."

Although he was prepared in his heart, it was still difficult for Gu Dingchen to accept the truth from the assassin.

"So everything is planned by Zhao Zhizhou behind the scenes?"

"That's right, I'm sorry you were kept in the dark and thought Zhao Mengqing was a good person. Haha, haha."

The assassin laughed out loud, but Gu Dingchen looked serious.

He really handled this matter too carelessly, no wonder Zhao Mengqing was able to escape.

"Take it away."

Gu Dingchen waved his hand, and immediately two Jin Yiwei stepped forward to set up the assassin and walked towards the cell.

The witnesses and material evidence are all there, and it's time to close the net.

The imperial envoy Gu Dingchen ordered the accompanying Jinyiwei to arrest Zhao Mengqing, the prefect of Linqing.

At this time, Zhao Mengqing was really sick and was bedridden.

When a group of guards in brocade clothes, wearing flying fish suits and embroidered spring knives on their waists and hips, came to the Yamen, they found that the former high-ranking state official was curled up on the bed like a shrimp.The brocade quilt fully covered two beds.

But Jin Yiwei will not show any mercy.

In the capital they listened to the emperor, and outside Beijing they listened to the imperial envoys.

Gu Dingchen had already issued an order, and they had to arrest Zhao Mengqing and bring him to the imperial envoy.

Zhao Mengqing did not struggle, nor did he have the strength to struggle.He let Jin Yiwei drag him out of the house like a dead dog, and bring him to the imperial envoy Gu Dingchen.

Looking at the poor man in front of him, Gu Dingchen didn't show any mercy.

Poor people must have something to hate, and this person is no exception.

"Tell me, why did you send someone to assassinate me?"

"Haha, why should the imperial envoy ask you knowingly? Your majesty told you to retry the case. If I don't do it, why don't you wait until you find out the truth and kill me in the vegetable market?"

Zhao Mengqing's face became ferocious.

"Ask yourself, are there any places where I have not served you well these days when you come to Qing? Why can't you be lenient to me?"

"Let's be more generous? I have already checked the accounts of the Linqing Yamen. Did you ever think about today when you were full of money and greedy for money and money to build the embankment?"

Zhao Zhizhou was taken aback for a moment, he obviously didn't expect that Gu Dingchen had already found out that he was greedy for ink and built river embankments and silver coins.

How could he do it so seamlessly?How could he find out?
"If you want others to know, you have to do nothing yourself. You think that there is no flaw in keeping the books in order, but you don't know that there are people outside the world, and the capable officials brought by me can see through your little tricks."

From the very beginning, Gu Dingchen felt that there was a problem with the accounts of Linqing Prefecture, but he never thought that it would be the black hand of Zhao Mengqing, the parent officer of Yizhou.

It wasn't until Zhao Mengqing saw that he had sent an assassin to assassinate him, that Gu Dingchen really woke up and sent someone to check the accounts, and finally found evidence of Zhao Mengqing's corruption.

Of course, Zhao Mengqing was not the only one who was greedy for ink, more than half of the officials in the Yamen of Linqing Prefecture were corrupt.

Not only that, even Sun Yan, the magistrate of Dongchang Prefecture, was greedy for a large sum of money.

"Do you think you can do whatever you want with the support of an in-law who is the magistrate? I tell you, the Skynet is well-connected, and it is impossible for anyone to override the law of the Ming Dynasty!"

What Gu Dingchen hated the most in his life was corrupt officials, regardless of whether it was the magistrate of Linqing or the magistrate of Dongchang, if he committed a crime, he would not be able to escape!
(End of this chapter)