Feng Xihui's hypnotic voice was still going on, without any cadence or pause.
He had yet to read the case of Ying Tu, the magistrate of the town, killing the commoner Qin Xiaobai. He was now reading the case of a mother-in-law beating and killing her daughter-in-law.
Because there was no case that he could use to make things difficult for him, Yang Fan, like the other officials, looked down and seemed to be dozing off. However, a sentence suddenly floated into his ears, "The son of the deceased, Chang Zhiyuan, said that on the night of the Double Seventh Festival, he accompanied his mother to Ding Ding Long Street and was harassed by this man with the surname Pan. The huge gambling debt that his father owed was also owned by this man with the surname Pan …"
Yang Fan was startled and immediately pricked up his ears. Feng Xihui continued to speak weakly. Yang Fan had only heard the second half of the story, but he had already understood the gist of it. It seemed that a man called Chang Lin had married a woman named Cheng. Her name was Yun Ni. This woman was beautiful and attracted the covetous eyes of a man with the surname Pan.
Therefore, the man with the surname Pan made use of Chang Lin's gambling addiction and lured him into a huge debt. Then, he forced him to give up his wife. Chang Lin was unable to repay the debt and returned home to complain to his wife. Who knew that Cheng's wife was an extremely chaste woman and would rather die than comply. Chang Lin knew that he was in the wrong and did not dare to force himself on his wife. The man with the surname Pan then sent a group of ruffians to their house every day to demand for the debt, harassing and smashing things up.
When Chang Lin's mother, Madam Dou, found out that it was her daughter-in-law who went on the long street on the night of the Double Seventh Festival that attracted the attention of the man with the surname Pan, she scolded her daughter-in-law for being a jinx and a vixen for harming her precious son. This old woman was also a very unruly mother-in-law. After a round of beating, she actually hit her daughter-in-law's vitals and beat her to death.
This turned into a murder case and was reported to the Luoyang government. The Luoyang government's trial was very straightforward and sentenced the old woman to pay with her life. However, cases of banishment and above had to be reviewed by the Ministry of Justice, so the case was reported to the Ministry of Justice.
The disciplinary officer, Chen Dong, had an objection to this case. His verdict was, "A superior beating a subordinate is not a fight. Moreover, the old woman had a son, and the deceased was his son's wife. If he killed his mother because of his wife, it would not be filial. Because the old woman is old, once she is exiled to a foreign land, it is tantamount to throwing away her life, which violates the original intention of reducing her crime by one level. Therefore, the sentence is reduced by one level, to imprisonment, and she is sentenced to work in the Sinong Temple for two years to atone for her crime. "
Because the starting point of Chen Dong's judgment was filial piety, and filial piety was the Great Dao that everyone from the Emperor to the officials and even the people of the world had to abide by. It was the cornerstone of ethics and morality, so Cui Yuanzong did not have any objections. He had already done a preliminary reading and was waiting for the ministers to discuss it today before sending it to the Luoyang Prefecture for execution.
After Feng Xihui finished reading the case, he raised his head slightly and took a sip of water to moisten his throat.
Assistant Minister Cui waited for a while. Seeing that no one spoke, he cleared his throat and asked, "Does anyone have any opinions?"
"This lowly official wishes to take another look at the dossier!"
Because this case was concluded by Chen Dong, he did not need to express his opinion. Pi Erding, Sun Yuxuan, and Yan Xiaojun, the three doctors, were just about to cup their hands and say, "This lowly official has no objections!" as per usual, Yang Fan spoke first.
In this kind of routine meeting, it was already extremely rare to raise an objection to a case, but the one who raised the objection was actually Yang Fan, the second "cult leader" of the Ministry of Justice, who was publicly recognized as ignorant and incompetent. Cui Yuanzong could not help but look at him in astonishment.
Feng Xihui was also somewhat astonished, "This is not the case that Yang Langzhong had chosen to make things difficult for! Didn't I already agree with Yang Langzhong? Why did he change his mind at the last minute? "
He looked at Yang Fan with some surprise, thinking that Yang Fan had remembered wrongly.
However, Yang Fan smiled warmly at him and said slowly, "Manager Feng, please let me read the dossier."
"Ah? Oh, yes … "
In front of all the officers, Feng Xihui could not give him a hint by winking, so he could only bring the dossier in front of him.
The dossier was open. Yang Fan flipped to the first page and carefully read it.
Chen Dong saw his behavior and could not help but raise his eyebrows slightly. Pi Erding glanced at Cui Yuanzong. Cui Yuanzong's face was expressionless, but when he looked at the slightly uncomfortable Chen Dong, and then looked at Yang Fan who had his head lowered and was seriously reading the dossier, a trace of understanding flashed through his eyes.
Whether it was Chen Dong or Yang Fan, they were both obstacles to his sole control of the Ministry of Justice. However, Chen Dong had a deep foundation in the Ministry of Justice, and Yang Fan had many backers. With Cui Yuanzong's boldness, he did not have the guts to start an all-out war with them. Now that these two tigers were going to fight, Cui Yuanzong was happy to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.
He slightly lowered his eyelids and gently stroked his beard without saying a word. Seeing this, Pi Erding also had the idea of sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight.
Sun Yuxuan and Yan Xiaojun looked at each other, both of them had a ruminating expression on their faces.
The room was quiet. Occasionally, there would be a "gulp" sound, but it was the sound of Feng Xihui drinking water.
Feng Xihui also did not expect that he could drink water so clearly at this time. Seeing everyone looking at him, he could not help but smile awkwardly.
"It really is her …"
Yang Fan saw Chang Zhiyuan, the son of the Chang family who had provided the testimony in the dossier, mention that on the night of the Double Seventh Festival, his mother was molested by the Pan surnamed foppish, and was subsequently rescued by a man who claimed to be from the Ministry of Justice. From this, he knew that the deceased was the woman he met that night.
Yang Fan closed his eyes, and the appearance of the woman suddenly appeared in front of him. She had a slender figure, fair skin, a slender waist, and a slender neck. She was as clean and translucent as a duck's egg that had its shell peeled. Although his son was already thirteen or fourteen years old and had a strong head, she looked to be only twenty-five or twenty-six. She was dignified, refined, and exceptionally beautiful.
That day was the Double Seventh Festival. While it was true that the Double Seventh Festival was a festival for lovers, the common people had their own festivals to celebrate, and they would not let go of this rare occasion where the curfew was lifted and the streets were filled with merriment. But … on that day, this woman called Cheng Yunni had brought her son Chang Zhiyuan out to play, but where was her husband, Chang Lin?
From this testimony, it could be seen that Chang Lin was a gambling addict. He was extremely fond of gambling, and most of the money he earned from working at the docks was spent on gambling. His family still relied on his wife's needlework to supplement their income. That night, when his wife was molested, he was probably at a gambling den, throwing dice with bloodshot eyes.
This man surnamed Pan was clearly the youngest son of the Assistant Counsellor of the Ministry of Personnel, Pan Junyi. The dossier did not mention a single word about his family background. Even though it could not be said that the officials were protecting each other, it was still a taboo for his father. The Assistant Counsellor of the Ministry of Personnel was indeed not a high-ranking official in the capital, but his authority was not small. He was in charge of assessing the achievements of officials, and if there was no other choice, no one would be willing to offend him.
The dossier did not mention how to deal with this man surnamed Pan, and this was something that Yang Fan could not do anything about. Even if he wanted to pursue the matter, there was no way to do so. It was true that Pan Junyi had molested Cheng Yunni on the street, but he had not done it in public. How should he deal with this? After the incident, his lustful desires did not stop, and he even set up a gambling den to lure Chang Lin in. His intentions were very clear, but he did not break the law. In the end, one was willing to be beaten, and the other was willing to be beaten.
In this case, only one person died, and it was the most innocent woman. She was tempted by lust, set up a trap, and walked the boundaries of the criminal law. Gambling addicts, who fell into the trap, were hateful, but could not be punished. The old woman was obviously extremely crafty, and she was biased towards her son, but she vented her anger on her innocent daughter-in-law, and beat her to death.
Such a fresh life, such a respectable woman, died just like that!
How innocent that woman was!
How unfair the Heavenly Axiom was!
A ball of anger burned fiercely in Yang Fan's heart. He slammed the dossier shut, raised his head, and said solemnly to Cui Yuanzong, "Assistant Minister, this lowly official thinks that Director Chen's judgment is really unfair!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked.
Sun Yuxuan and Yan Xiaojun did not know that Yang Fan was going to make trouble today, and they did not know what he had chosen to break out of. However, after the "Golden Hairpin Drunkenness" incident, they knew that Yang Fan would make trouble for Chen Dong sooner or later. At this moment, when they heard this, their eyes instantly lit up. "It has finally begun!"
They wanted to see Yang Fan's methods.
And Feng Xihui was the only one who knew that Yang Fan had already chosen which case to use to make trouble for Chen Dong. For this reason, he had even helped Yang Fan find a law book with sufficient evidence, and asked Yang Fan to carefully memorize it, and use it as a basis for his rebuttal. Who knew that Yang Fan would suddenly, as if he was possessed, choose the wrong case.
Feng Xihui was so anxious that he coughed repeatedly, but Yang Fan turned a deaf ear to him. Instead, Yang Fan looked at him meaningfully. Feng Xihui's heart trembled, and he did not dare to speak.
Assistant Minister Cui slowly stroked his beard, and asked softly, "I wonder what Yang Langzhong thinks is wrong with the case that Director Chen has decided?"
These days, Yang Fan had not been idle at home. Every night, the only thing he did was to memorize all kinds of cases and their legal principles that he might encounter within the scope of his duties.
Right now, he still could not think of all kinds of laws as soon as he used them. Although he had forcefully memorized all kinds of laws in his mind, when he needed to use specific related laws, he still needed to first think of the general category of laws in his mind, and then refine it down to some specific legal provisions.
He knew that this was his shortcoming, so when he flipped through more than half of the file, he still pretended to read the file seriously, but in reality, he was already thinking of the laws that could be used. At this time, when Cui Yuanzong asked, Yang Fan immediately answered, "According to the Zhou Law, the third paragraph of the section on fighting and litigation: If an elder beats a lowly child, injures the injured, the punishment will be reduced by one rank; if it is a small merit or a great merit, the punishment will be reduced by one rank. If a person dies from beating, the elder will be hanged. "
Word by word, Yang Fan recited the law that just happened to be applicable, and then said, "According to the law, if the old woman of the Chang family beats or even cripples her daughter-in-law, because she is an elder, her punishment can be reduced by one rank. But according to the law, even if she is an elder, the person who causes the death will be sentenced to hanging! Therefore, this lowly official thinks that Director Chen's judgment is very wrong! "
Cui Yuanzong slightly narrowed his eyes, and after listening to Yang Fan, a trace of surprise appeared in his eyes. They all knew how Yang Fan became an official, and how he became a military officer, so they had never thought that he actually understood the law.
Cui Yuanzong seemed to see Yang Fan for the first time, and looked at him seriously, then turned to Chen Dong and asked, "Director Chen, what do you have to say?"
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