[PS: It's almost midnight. I can't finish writing. This chapter has two thousand and one words. I'll update it first and then write a few hundred words. You can subscribe first and refresh the chapter half an hour later or tomorrow morning. The extra words won't cost you anything.]
It took Li Mu three days to deal with the backlog of memorials during this period of time.
Other than the two memorials beside him, the table in front of him was empty.
The contents of the two memorials were very similar.
The county magistrate of Anyi County of Danyang County was assassinated a few months ago.
A month later, a deputy county magistrate of Tianhe County of Hanyang County was also assassinated.
Although there were many places in Great Zhou where demons and ghosts wreaked havoc and disturbed the lives of the people, it was rare for an official to be killed.
Murdering an official of the imperial court was a capital offense. The Ministry of Justice had always been strict in investigating such acts that challenged the authority of the imperial court.
These two memorials were submitted by Danyang County and Hanyang County. They should have directly notified the Ministry of Justice when their local officials were assassinated. However, the Ministry of Justice had not dealt with these two cases after receiving the requests from the two counties. The officials of the two counties had no choice but to send the memorials directly to the Hall of Secretaries.
Li Mu had originally planned to send these two memorials to the Hall of Secretaries and have them send it to the Ministry of Justice to urge them to implement it as soon as possible. However, if he followed this process of sending the memorials from the Hall of Secretaries to the Hall of Secretaries, then from the Hall of Secretaries to the Ministry of Justice, then from the Ministry of Justice to the Hall of Secretaries, then from the Hall of Secretaries to the Hall of Secretaries … This round trip would probably take half a year.
The backlog of memorials had been dealt with. Li Mu left the Hall of Secretaries, walked out of the palace gates, and went to the Ministry of Justice's yamen.
"Greetings, Lord Li!"
"Long time no see, Lord Li!"
"Lord Li, come have a pear …"
…
After leaving Fairy's Capital for three months, the people seemed to be more welcoming to him. Li Mu munched on a pear and leisurely went to the Ministry of Justice's yamen.
The constable at the entrance of the Ministry of Justice was shocked when he saw Li Mu. Li Mu asked, "Is there an official in the Ministry of Justice in the yamen?"
The bailiff replied, "The Minister and the Assistant Minister are not here. The Doctor is investigating the case."
Li Mu stood outside the court and waited for the director of the Ministry of Justice to finish the case.
He glanced at the courtroom and saw someone who surprised him.
Li Mu looked back at the bailiff and asked, "Why is Wei Peng in the Ministry of Justice?"
If he remembered correctly, Wei Peng should have failed the imperial examinations. At this moment, Li Mu saw him in the court of the Ministry of Justice. He seemed to be wearing official robes. Although the rank was very low, it was indeed official robes.
The constable said, "Sir, are you talking about Manager Wei? Manager Wei was specially recruited by Sir Lang Zhong three months ago …"
Li Mu said in surprise, "Specially recruited by the Ministry of Justice?"
Li Mu was the one who set up the imperial examination system, so he naturally knew what special recruitment was all about.
When he set up the imperial examination system, in order to recruit special talents, after the imperial examinations, other than the Grand Scholars on the Honor Roll of Azure Clouds, each of the six ministries had a quota to specially recruit one person from the examinees who failed the roll.
After discussing with a few officials of the Secretariat, he made some restrictions on this quota.
For example, even if it was a specially recruited person, they had to pass every subject of the imperial examination. Furthermore, they had to have outstanding results in one subject to meet the requirements of special recruitment.
After the ministries proposed special recruitment, the Secretariat would discuss and make a decision before it was finally implemented.
There was only one reason why Wei Peng could appear here. That was because of his outstanding results in criminal law. That was why the Ministry of Justice made an exception and specially recruited him outside of the hundred Grand Scholars.
Li Mu looked at the court of the Ministry of Justice with interest.
In the court, the director of the Ministry of Justice knocked on the gavel. He looked at the two people kneeling in front of the court and said, "Brother and sister Zhang, do you admit to killing Xu Shi?"
The man kneeling in front of the court said, "Sir, please judge clearly. It was Xu Shi who brought his servants and broke into my house in the middle of the night. He wanted to defile my sister. He had the servants control me, but I struggled to break free. I was anxious to save my sister, so I smashed his head with a jar …"
The director of the Ministry of Justice said, "But in the end, you and your sister are fine. Xu Shi is dead, so you naturally have to take responsibility for his death."
The man said with grief and indignation, "Am I supposed to just watch him defile my sister?"
The director of the Ministry of Justice said, "You could have stopped him, but you killed him. Since it was an unintentional mistake and Xu Shi was in the wrong first, I can give you a lighter sentence …"
The man lowered his head and said with a miserable voice, "He broke into my house time and time again, wanting to do something to my sister. I went to the yamen three times, but you didn't do anything. I just wanted to protect my sister. What crime is there? Where is the justice …"
The director of the Ministry of Justice rubbed his forehead and said, "I said before that Xu Shi did not harm you, but you killed him. This is excessive self-defense. I will now follow the law …"
"Sir, please wait!"
The director of the Ministry of Justice was about to pass judgment when a voice suddenly came from the court.
The director of the Ministry of Justice looked at the figure that walked out from the corner and immediately felt a headache coming on.
Wei Peng had been in the Ministry of Justice for three months. He had opposed him in court for three months. As a result, he felt a headache coming on as soon as the court started. He wanted nothing more than to have the yamen runners throw Wei Peng out.
But he could not really do that, because it was the assistant minister who had given him the privilege to have Wei Peng raise questions during the trial.
He looked at Wei Peng and said through gritted teeth, "Manager Wei, what is it now?"
Wei Peng walked into the court and raised his head to ask, "Sir, according to what you said, Xu Shi did not harm the women of Zhang Shi. Zhang Shi's self-defense was excessive. Then how should he defend himself? Could it be that he has to wait until Xu Shi harmed the women of Zhang Shi before he can defend himself?"
The director of the Ministry of Justice said, "Of course, that is not what I meant."
Wei Peng continued, "According to what you said, if Xu Shi harmed the women of Zhang Shi, they planned to leave the Zhang family and did not continue to harm them. At this time, if Zhang Shi counterattacked, would that not be taking the initiative to attack?"
The director of the Ministry of Justice said, "Of course, according to the law …"
Wei Peng looked at the director of the Ministry of Justice and asked, "Sir, you are familiar with the law. Then please tell me, when can Zhang Shi counterattack?"
The director of the Ministry of Justice rubbed his forehead. "This …"
Wei Peng said in a heavy voice, "Sir, if Zhang Shi was attacked by a group of villains in the middle of the night and wanted to defile your wife, what would you do? Could it be that you still have to consider when you should defend yourself? Is it after they defile your wife or after they draw a sword and slash you?"
The director of the Ministry of Justice was speechless. "This, I …"
Wei Peng did not wait for him to speak and continued, "The law is used to protect innocent people, not villains. This official believes that the Zhang siblings are not guilty. Xu Shi entered their home in the middle of the night and plotted against them. She deserved to die. The Xu family should compensate the Zhang siblings for this case …"
The director of the Ministry of Justice thought carefully and seemed to have been convinced by Wei Peng. He sighed and slammed the gavel. "This official now pronounces that Xu Shi trespassed and committed murder. She deserved to die. The Zhang siblings are not guilty …"
"Thank you, sir!"
"Thank you, sir, for upholding justice for us!"
The Zhang siblings were moved to tears. They knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Wei Peng. Wei Peng tidied his collar and straightened his official hat. "No need to thank me. This is what I should do …"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
