Chapter 551

The officials had their own roads, and the people had their own roads. Don't think that just because the commoners couldn't listen in, they couldn't get any information. The father of a Zao official was among the crowd, and so was the neighbor of a Secretary. They all had their own people to ask for help from, so they were not slow to find out what was happening in the Interrogation Hall.

When the news that Zhang Daoyun admitted that they were the culprits of breaking into a house and raping a woman reached the magistrate's office, the crowd in front of the magistrate's office immediately became silent. The atmosphere was so oppressive that it felt like a storm was coming. Even a swallow seemed to be affected by the heavy atmosphere. It suddenly folded its wings and flew low, gliding across the ground, cutting a beautiful arc, and then went back into the void.

Then, the news of Ye Xiaotian's "hanging" verdict came out. The crowd in front of the government office cheered, jumped, shouted, and ran around to spread the news. Although they did not believe that the five thugs would be executed just because Ye Qingyu had sentenced them to death, they were still inexplicably excited.

Gathered in the corner of the government office, some of the nobles who had nothing to do with the case, but were very concerned about it, looked at their excited faces and felt puzzled. What was the point? Could it be that the Imperial Judge Ye sentenced them to death would really execute them?

They didn't understand that even though the five thugs could escape death by virtue of the law, at least at this moment, they were sentenced to death. They were criminals, condemned to death! And even if it was just a formality, it would have never happened before!

At this moment, the lives and dignity of the commoners were equal to the lives and dignity of the nobles. This was a kind of recognition for them, something that had never happened before. This was the main reason why the commoners were so excited.

Soon after, Ye Xiaotian was called away by Yu Junting. The people in front of the government office were still excitedly discussing and narrating the story, happily telling every passerby about it. Thus, more and more people joined in the discussion. When they were about to disperse one after another, a new piece of news came out, "Due to the pressure from the Governor, the Prefectural Judge was ready to compromise with the nobles. The daughter of the Luo family committed suicide by knocking herself to death in the Torture Court."

There was dead silence in front of the government office, but the nobles who had been quietly waiting in the corner were happy. They talked and laughed loudly, and looked at the commoners with disdain, "A bunch of peasants, born to be bitches! Do they deserve the same rights as us? What wishful thinking! "

…

When Dai Tongzhi hurried over, Miss Luo had already hit a pillar and died. Even though Miss Luo was only a lowly peasant girl, but facing her dead body, even someone like Chieftain Dai did not have the courage to stand up and persuade Luo Fu and Luo Mu to drop the charges.

Dai Tongzhi was silent for a while, and then quietly returned to the interrogation room. Yu Junting saw his strange expression and asked, "Is it done?"

Dai Tongzhi shook his head and sat down on the chair. He said bitterly, "The Luo father and daughter refused to accept the compensation. Miss Luo … killed herself. She hit her head on the pillar and died!"

Yu Junting was stunned. In her daze, the ivory fan in her hand fell on the table with a clatter. She muttered to herself, "Die from hitting the pillar? Miss Luo … is really a chaste woman! "

Dai Tongzhi said dejectedly, "In this situation, it is impossible to mediate. It is difficult to offend the anger of the public. Why don't we just sit back and do nothing? If Ye Xiaotian wants to sentence them to death by hanging, let him. Anyway, when the sentence is sent to the capital, it will be pardoned by the Emperor. It won't get out of hand. "

Yu Junting sighed and said to Dai Tongzhi, "I am not feeling well. Go and tell them."

…

"Dongweng?"

Li Qiuchi looked at Ye Xiaotian's pale face and called out worriedly. Ye Xiaotian's clenched fists slowly relaxed. He looked coldly at Li Qiuchi and said in a low voice, "Sir Li, you are the top lawyer in Guizhou. Tell me, according to common sense, how should this case be judged?"

Li Qiuchi said with a bitter face, "According to common sense, they should be sentenced to death by hanging, even if they are from a noble family. I remember that during the Hongzhi era, there was a similar case. It happened under the feet of the Emperor, the capital of the Imperial City. "

Li Qiuchi was worthy of being the top lawyer in Guizhou. Not only did he memorize the Great Ming Law, but he also memorized countless classic cases since the founding of the Great Ming Dynasty. He immediately told Ye Xiaotian about a similar case that happened during the Hongzhi era and how it was handled.

In the ninth year of the Hongzhi era, there was a young thug in Beijing named Ma Ji. He met a squire's daughter by chance and was shocked. That night, he gathered a group of thugs, masked and armed with knives, and rushed into the squire's residence. They raped the squire's daughter on the spot.

Ma Ji also connived with the thugs to rob the squire's family of money and kidnapped the young lady. He wanted to continue toying with her. By the time Ma Ji rushed to the main road, the sky was already bright. A group of men carrying a disheveled young girl on the street was too eye-catching, so they wanted to temporarily hide in an inn.

But when they called the door, the inn's waiter peeked through the crack in the door and saw that none of them looked like good people. They were also carrying a disheveled young girl who looked like she was unconscious, so he didn't dare to open the door. They called the door, but there was no answer. At this time, a group of patrolling guards happened to pass by. Ma Ji had no choice but to abandon the young girl and lead the group of thugs to escape.

In the end, the group of guards discovered that something was wrong and immediately chased after them and arrested them on the spot. For such a vile act to happen at the foot of the Emperor, it shook the nine cities. Young thug Ma Ji and his subordinates were also thrown into prison, awaiting their sentence.

The Ma family was quite influential. In order to rescue his son, Ma Ji's father bribed the 'Commander of the Imperial Guard' Chen Yun. At that time, the position of Commander of the Imperial Guard was vacant. As the Commander of the Imperial Guard, Chen Yun was in charge of the Imperial Guard's affairs.

After receiving the Ma family's money, Chen Yun sent an official to casually find a reason to take Ma Ji away from the Shun Tian Prefecture's prison and lock him up in the Imperial Guard's prison. After a few days, he was quietly released. Chen Yun thought that this matter was done in secret, but he neglected the spies from the East Faction Guards.

The East Faction Guards had stationed agents in each of the government offices to supervise the various yamen's handling of official business and illegal activities. The agent stationed in the Imperial Guard for a long time was very astute and investigated the matter thoroughly. He immediately reported to the East Faction Guards and the East Faction Guards immediately sent a secret memorial to the Emperor.

At that time, the Emperor Hong Zhi was the father of the later famous Naughty Emperor Zheng De. He was famous for being a benevolent and wise ruler. When Hong Zhi heard the news, he was furious and immediately issued an edict for the three departments to jointly investigate this case. The three departments worked together and sentenced Ma Ji and his companion Ma Cong, as well as his entourage of scoundrels, to be hanged. The Commander of the Imperial Guard Chen Yun accepted bribes and disregarded the country's laws. He was sentenced to be 'stripped of his citizenship and thrown into prison'.

When the verdict was reported to the Emperor Hong Zhi, the Emperor replied: Ma Ji forcibly broke into a private residence, raped a woman, was extremely vicious, and disregarded the law to the extreme. He should be beheaded. Ma Ji's family bribed him and sent him to the border guards to be exiled, never to be pardoned. Ma Cong and his entourage were sentenced to be hanged and later beheaded.

As soon as Ye Xiaotian heard Li Qiuchi tell him about the case personally investigated by the Emperor Hong Zhi, his eyes shone with an ominous glint, making Li Qiuchi's heart palpitate. He hurriedly added, "But Dongweng, you must know that in the Central Plains, even if you are a member of the imperial family, you do not have the right to be pardoned. But the Chieftains do. If the Chieftains have done anything illegal to the natives under their rule, they can use gold to pay for their crimes. This is a rule set by the Emperor Hong Wu. "

All along, the Chieftains had the power to take whatever they wanted from the natives under their rule, they had the power to kill and seize their lives, and the imperial court had never interfered. Zhu Yuanzhang was a powerful emperor, but he could not interfere too much with the rules that had been passed down for thousands of years. Therefore, when he was recruiting the Chieftains of Guizhou, he gave them many privileges according to the rules of the previous dynasties. After many negotiations, he reluctantly added this one rule, which could be considered a restriction on them.

Ye Xiaotian fiercely said, "The natives under their rule? That Luo family is a Han, they are the Han who moved here! "

Li Qiuchi spread out his hands and said, "But who told them to settle on the Chieftains' land? Sanli Village is under the jurisdiction of the Zhang family. According to common sense, those who live on their land are their people. Just like foreigners who live on our China's land are China's people, they must be bound by our dynasty's laws. It is the same principle, since the Luo family … "

Ye Xiaotian sneered and said, "Common sense? Back then, the agreement between Emperor Hongwu and the Chieftains was that he had the right to ransom the natives under his rule, didn't he? Emperor Hongwu did not specify that if the people of a foreign land moved to his place, they would be the natives under his rule, didn't he? The natives under the rule of the Zhang family don't have to pay taxes to the imperial court, but the Luo family has to pay taxes to the imperial court. Therefore, the Luo family is not considered as the Zhang family's natives at all, isn't that right? "

Ye Xiaotian said "isn't that right" three times in a row. Li Qiuchi, who had always been sharp-tongued, was tongue-tied and could only defend himself, "But … this is an established rule. If Dongweng breaks the rule, he will become the enemy of everyone. At that time, what should Dongweng do? The dead are already dead, why look for trouble? Besides, Dongweng just asked me, according to common sense, how should the verdict be, and the criminal in this case is precisely not in common sense … "

Ye Xiaotian interrupted him and said angrily, "Common sense? I didn't want to talk about common sense with those unreasonable nobles today, so what?! " At this time, the look in Ye Xiaotian's eyes was very much like that of a crazy gambler. But gamblers were gambling for unwillingness and that glimmer of hope. What was he gambling for?

Ye Xiaotian turned around and left. Li Qiuchi chased after him and said, "What does Dongweng want?"

Ye Xiaotian said, "I want to follow the example of the Emperor Hongzhi!"

Follow the example of the Emperor Hongzhi?

Li Qiuchi suddenly remembered that he had just said the words "behead", and cold sweat immediately fell like rain. He licked his dry lips and hurriedly chased out of the main hall. Outside the main hall, Ye Xiaotian's figure was already nowhere to be seen. Looking around, he just happened to see Mao Wenzhi walking over.

Li Qiuchi acted as if he had seen a relative. He hurriedly went up and grabbed Mao Wenzhi's arm. He anxiously shouted, "Old Mao, quickly go back to the mansion, tell your family to pack up and prepare the horses! In a moment, I will go back with Dongweng, and we will immediately escape! "

Mao Wenzhi laughed and said, "Aiya, I say, Mr. Li, didn't you always boast that even if Mount Tai died in front of you, you would not change your expression? Why are you so flustered? Is the sky going to fall?"

Li Qiuchi was flustered and exasperated, "Yes, the sky is going to fall! Dongweng is going to stab the sky and collapse it soon! "