When Yang Fan had spoken just now, Chen Dong had not uttered a single word.
This was not because Chen Dong was able to maintain his composure in the face of the questioning of a junior and layman of the law, but because these were the rules.
Yang Fan's statement was a questioning of him. Regardless of whether it was a questioning or an impeachment, as long as a superior was present and the other party's words were directed at the superior, he could not immediately refute before the other party finished speaking and the superior began to question him.
It was the same in the imperial court. If an imperial censor reported against you, you could only listen from the side. Even if what he said was completely nonsensical and nonexistent, you could only maintain your silence before the censor finished speaking and the emperor questioned you. You absolutely could not jump out halfway through the other party's statement and start spitting saliva at the censor with a flushed face and neck.
While Yang Fan was narrating, Chen Dong was also anxiously thinking of how to phrase his words.
At this point, how could he not understand that Yang Fan, who had been pretending to be a pig for nearly a month, was now starting to eat the tiger? Thus, Chen Dong's reaction was also extremely cautious.
Chen Dong thought carefully for a moment and cupped his hands at Cui Yuanzong. "Assistant Minister, this lowly official's judgment is naturally somewhat inappropriate from a legal point of view. However … this lowly official has been in the Justice Department for many years, so how could I not be familiar with this kind of law? This lowly official's judgment was made after careful consideration. "
Cui Yuanzong smiled slightly. "Speak!"
Chen Dong glanced disdainfully at Yang Fan and said, "The law is nothing more than human emotions. This case is not a simple murder case, but rather a mother-in-law disciplining her daughter-in-law. She was too heavy-handed and caused death. In terms of filial piety, the relationship between parents is greater than that between husband and wife. In this case, Chang Lin has already lost his wife. If his mother was killed because of his wife, wouldn't that go against nature and go against filial piety? Moreover, Chang Lin's mother originally had no intention of killing, and it was a mistake. Moreover, she was already advanced in age, so this lowly official's judgment was reduced by one level. "
He smiled and casually added, "This case has already been reported to the Assistant Minister. Since the Assistant Minister has approved of this lowly official's judgment, I believe that this lowly official understands this lowly official's painstaking efforts to promote filial piety!"
Cui Yuanzong stroked his beard and smiled noncommittally. He then turned to Yang Fan and asked, "What does Yang Langzhong think of Doctor Chen's explanation?"
Yang Fan said calmly, "I think it's ridiculous!"
"Oh?"
Cui Yuanzong chuckled and said, "Tell me your reason!"
Yang Fan said, "The law is nothing more than human feelings. On this point, Yang completely agrees. Advocating filial piety, this Yang completely agrees with this! However, this lowly official believes that a favor is not the same as abusing it. To promote filial piety, one must not do things that go against the harmony of heaven and go against humanity in the name of filial piety. Otherwise, that would be false filial piety! "
If it was purely a lecture, it was impossible for Yang Fan's understanding of the law to surpass that of Chen Dong, who had worked in the legal profession for most of his life. However, when it came to the sharpness of the tongue, he was not inferior to Chen Dong in the slightest. The huge pit that Chen Dong had dug had been easily and skillfully circumvented with a single sentence.
The 'pit' that Chen Dong had dug was' filial piety '.
Moreover, he had been shouting all day that the dignity of the law could not be violated. Had he done it? What would the situation be like a thousand years ago? That was a society ruled by men, where power was greater than the law! And these people who held power all placed filial piety at the top of all the virtues.
If Yang Fan stubbornly acted as a legal warrior and shouted that the law could not be violated, and that since the law stipulated that the old woman should be sentenced to death by hanging, then he could pack up and go home. If this lawsuit was brought to Wu Zetian, he could forget about winning. Which was more important between the life and death of a wicked old woman and upholding filial piety?
Yang Fan said, "From the confession of the Chang family's son, Madam Cheng did not do anything wrong. The one who set up a trap was the man surnamed Pan, and the one who was addicted to gambling and owed a huge debt was Chang Lin himself. The old woman from the Chang family vented her anger on her daughter-in-law and actually beat an innocent woman to death!"
At this point, Yang Fan felt miserable.
He had received the murder case that the Ministry of Justice had already investigated the day before yesterday, but this case had only been concluded yesterday. Therefore, the case was not included in the case files he had received beforehand. He only found out about this murder case now. When he thought of how the innocent woman he saw on the night of Chinese Valentine's Day had been beaten to death by her unreasonable mother-in-law, his emotions surged and he found it hard to calm down.
Yang Fan cupped his fists and said, "Assistant Minister, does it mean that parents absolutely cannot commit crimes, or that they can take their children's life and death? There is no such provision in the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty. There are all kinds of parents in the world, and that is only for their children. The one who should be filial is Chang Lin, so it is human nature for Chang Lin not to sue. It is also human nature for Chang Lin's son, Chang Zhiyuan, to sue his grandmother for killing his mother.
Moreover, this case was brought to the attention of Bōshō and Marquis Wu due to the indignation of the common people, who then reported it to the Luoyang government. It has nothing to do with Chang Lin and his son, Chang Zhiyuan. What is the Ministry of Justice? Why does the Imperial Court need to establish the Ministry of Justice? Isn't it just to manage the injustice of the world? Isn't it to bring the grievances of the common people that cannot be resolved by themselves to the law, so that the Imperial Court can uphold justice? Director Chen is not the son of that unreasonable old woman, so who is he being filial on behalf of? Moreover, he is using the life of Madam Cheng, so who is he being generous? "
Yang Fan waved his sleeves and said in a clear voice that shook the roof tiles, "Therefore, this lowly official believes that Director Chen, under the guise of fake filial piety, caused an innocent to die in vain, and should be retried!"
Yang Fan's words were powerful and resonant, and the last few words were like the sound of metal and stone, piercing directly into the hearts of the people. As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the meeting hall was moved. In the silence, no one made a sound for a long time.
After a long time, Cui Yuanzong took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Director Chen and Yang Langzhong each have their own arguments, so it is not good for this official to make a decision. How about this, let's have a discussion, this case … should we retry it? "
Chen Dong sat there with a cold smile on his face, a hint of disdain on his face.
Yang Fan's words were quite touching, but the people present were all bureaucrats who had been through the ups and downs of officialdom for many years, not those ignorant commoners on the streets. A few words could make their blood boil, and they would be at the mercy of others if they were hot-headed. In the officialdom, which one of them did not put the word "benefit" first and weigh it again and again?
Would anyone agree with Yang Fan's opinion?
Yang Fan? What is that? Would someone take the risk of offending him and stand on Yang Fan's side?
Chen Dong gently curled his lips and picked up the cup of water on the table. The water was already warm and not scalding, but he still pretended to blow on it a few times. Then, he gently raised his eyelids and lightly swept his gaze over Yang Fan. The air of provocation was extremely thick.
"Ahem!"
Sun Yuxuan lightly coughed and said, "Assistant Minister, in this lowly official's opinion, since there are still disputes in this case, why not … retry it!"
Chen Dong was startled and looked at him with some surprise. "This fence-sitter, how come he has his own opinion today?"
Sun Yuxuan smiled with a harmless expression on his face, as if he was trying to smooth things over.
That day, he had already seen Yang Fan's connections, and he had already calculated it clearly. At this time, speaking up for Yang Fan was like sending charcoal in snowy weather to Yang Fan. If Yang Fan could become powerful, he would have one more friend and one more path.
Right now, Chen Dong had the upper hand. If he stood on Chen Dong's side, it would only be the icing on the cake. At most, he would go back and get a good look from Chen Dong. What else could he do? If he helped Yang Fan smooth things over at this time, and Yang Fan still lost, because today's action was not as important to Chen Dong as it was to Yang Fan. At most, they would not be too harmonious in the future, and he would not anger Chen Dong too much.
Yan Xiaojun had the same idea as him, but he hesitated for a moment, and Sun Yuxuan beat him to it. If he spoke again, he wouldn't be able to be as calm as Sun Yuxuan, so he was a little annoyed. However, he did not know that the reason why Sun Yuxuan spoke first was because he drank Yang Fan's free wine every noon and was a little embarrassed to hide behind.
He covered his mouth and coughed twice, then said to Cui Yuanzong, "Assistant Minister, a person's life is related to the heavens. This lowly official thinks that it is better to be cautious and reexamine the case."
Other than Cui Yuanzong, who was the assistant minister, there were a total of five doctors present. Now that Yang Fan and Chen Dong had made their stand clear, and Sun Yuxuan and Yan Xiaojun both agreed to reexamine the case, three of the five doctors agreed to reexamine it. Whether Pi Erding expressed his stance or not, this case was destined to be reexamined.
Pi Erding did not want to express his stance. He was Cui Yuanzong's man, and in his opinion, the battle between Yang Fan and Chen Dong was a dog-eat-dog situation. It did not matter who killed who. It was best if both of them died at the same time.
However, Cui Yuanzong was secretly shocked, "This Yang Fan is very scheming! Since when did he rope in Sun Yuxuan and Yan Xiaojun to be on his side, and I did not notice it at all. "
Cui Yuanzong secretly raised his guard and said with a smile, "If that is the case, then this case should be reexamined!"
Chen Dong did not expect Sun Yuxuan and Yan Xiaojun to speak up for Yang Fan. Ever since Cui Yuanzong entered the Ministry of Justice, these two fence-sitters had pledged their allegiance to him. However, their allegiance was only to follow Cui Yuanzong's arrangements and not to drag Cui Yuanzong down. They had never stood up for Cui Yuanzong and made things difficult for him. Who would have thought that today …
Chen Dong thought anxiously, "Could it be that Cui Yuanzong saw that he could not bring me down, and has the intention to use the tiger to swallow the wolf? He wants to use Yang Fan to be my enemy, and he can reap the benefits from his position?"
Hearing Cui Yuanzong say that the case would be reexamined, Chen Dong was also angry. He said stiffly, "Assistant Minister, my judgment is based on evidence. I do not agree with what Yang Langzhong said. Even if this case is reexamined, I will still make the same judgment! "
Cui Yuanzong said with a smile, "Since Yang Langzhong has objections, I will naturally send it to Yang Langzhong for a reexamination!"
Chen Dong was stunned and felt great regret, "This old fox, he actually took the opportunity to bite me."
Ever since Cui Yuanzong entered the Ministry of Justice, he had been hindered many times by him. Now that he had made a fool of him, Cui Yuanzong was very happy. He stood up with a smile and said, "Alright, we have wasted too much time today. Let's call it a day. We will discuss the rest of the files in the next ten days. "With that said, he flicked his sleeves and walked away.
"This old dog, he did it on purpose! He used Yang Fan to fight with me. No matter who won or lost, he would clean up the mess! "
Chen Dong returned to his office and immediately cursed. The scribes and yamen runners stood in the outer hall. They knew that he was cursing at the main hall, but they could only pretend to be ignorant.
At this moment, Luo Ling ran in like a wisp of smoke. He naturally knew that Chen Dong had suffered a setback, but he was actually beaming with joy.
"Doctor, Doctor, something big has happened!"
Luo Ling tiptoed to Chen Dong's ear and muttered something. Chen Dong was startled and asked, "Really?"
Luo Ling nodded and said, "Absolutely!"
Chen Dong sneered and said darkly, "You want to use this case to diminish my prestige? Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes. Now this case has become a hot potato. Even if you want to throw it to me, I won't take it! "
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