Chapter 41: Shangyuan County Court Trial
Chapter 41: Case Trial at Shangyuan County Court

Yingtian Prefecture has eight counties under its jurisdiction, Shangyuan County is one of them, and the distance is only a few dozen miles.

Ye Xuan and his group of more than ten Ti cavalry rode at full speed and arrived at Shangyuan County in just over an hour.

The group walked through the streets and came directly to Shangyuan County Government Office. When the county government officials saw Ye Xuan and others wearing flying fish costumes and looking ferocious, they were so frightened that they trembled with fear and did not dare to stop them at all.

This shows how powerful the Jinyiwei were.

Wang Feihu pulled over a scholar who looked like a legal advisor and said viciously, "Jinyiwei is investigating the case. Call out your county magistrate!"

After saying that, he pushed the scholar away and followed Ye Xuan into the court.

The attitude is so arrogant that it is outrageous.

Seeing this, Ye Xuan did not stop it. Instead, he sat down at the desk, crossed his legs, and leisurely looked at the layout of the Shangyuan County Court.

This is not because the Jinyiwei deliberately acted in a brutal manner, but friends who often interrogate prisoners know that as a law enforcement agency, once you have a gentle attitude, the prisoners will become brutal.

The overbearing attitude is telling the other party who is in charge here.

Sure enough, the scholar didn't dare to say a word and stumbled to the back hall.

After a while, a man in the uniform of a seventh-rank official hurriedly ran up to Ye Xuan, saluted politely and said, "I am the magistrate of Shangyuan County. Lin Zhiqi greets you!"

This was the early years of the Hongwu reign, not yet the middle and late periods when civil officials were respected and military officials were despised. Moreover, Ye Xuan was a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a legitimate sixth-rank military officer.

The magistrate of Shangyuan County was only of the seventh rank, so he called himself a humble official.

"Are you Lin Zhiqi?" Ye Xuan sneered, pretending to be mysterious and picked up the gavel and slammed it heavily, "Your crime has been exposed, why don't you tell the truth to avoid physical pain!"

Lin Zhiqi was almost frightened to fall down by the loud shout. He looked up at Ye Xuan and said in horror: "My Lord, what are you talking about? I...I don't understand!"

Ye Xuan sneered, "Since you don't want to face me, don't blame me for being impartial! In this case, take out the file on Li Yanran's case."

Lin Zhiqi was shocked, he couldn't understand how such a small rural rape and murder case could have reached the ears of the Jinyiwei.

The most important thing is, could it be that the Jinyiwei had nothing to do after eating, so they came to Shangyuan County to take care of this trivial matter?

Just as he was about to find an excuse to get rid of this group of Jinyiwei, the leader Ye Xuan sneered.

"County Magistrate Lin, this case was personally ordered by the emperor. I advise you to cooperate. Otherwise, you will be punished with the execution of your entire family for the crime of deceiving the emperor."

"Your Majesty..." Lin Zhiqi felt his body go limp and he took two steps back before he could barely keep his balance.

While he was horrified and terrified, he gave up the idea of ​​resisting and immediately ordered the clerk to bring him the files.

The county clerk was the scholar who had reported the matter earlier. Upon hearing this, he immediately went to the back hall.

Ye Xuan winked at Wang Feihu, and Wang Feihu understood and immediately followed the clerk.

The clerk did not dare to refuse, but only felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

After a while, the clerk brought a stack of files under the supervision of Wang Feihu.

Ye Xuan hooked his finger at Song Zhenshan, motioning him to come forward and read it.

It only took two or three quarters of an hour to finish reading the thin file.

Ye Xuan frowned and asked, "Lin Zhiqi, all the clues in the files point to the suspect Niu Er. Why didn't you interrogate him strictly, but let him go without permission?" Seeing that Lin Zhiqi was hesitant and unwilling to speak, Wang Feihu suddenly leaned close to Lin Zhiqi's ear and shouted with all his strength, "Speak!"

This roar was so loud that even the other people in the court felt a buzzing in their ears.

The sudden roar scared Lin Zhiqi so much that he almost collapsed. He covered his ears for a long time before he recovered.

Just as he was about to get angry, he saw that the dozen or so Jinyiwei brought by Ye Xuan all had their hands on the hilts of their swords, staring at him with unfriendly expressions.

When he heard the fierce reputation of the Jinyiwei, Lin Zhiqi wilted again, opening his mouth and stammering, unable to utter a few useful words.

Ye Xuan sneered and said, "Lin Zhiqi, I wanted to give you some face because we are officials in the same dynasty. But since you don't want to give me face, don't blame me for not giving you face."

Lin Zhiqi was shocked when he heard this, and he still hadn't figured out what Ye Xuan meant.

Ye Xuan slammed the gavel again and ordered Wang Feihu: "Open the gate and beat the drum to gather the people!"

At the same time, he turned to Song Zhenshan and said, "Zhenshan, lead your men to Lijiazhuang immediately and arrest Niu Er!"

"As ordered!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Feihu and Song Zhenshan immediately took action.

Seeing this, Lin Zhiqi knew that Ye Xuan was going to beat the drum to gather the people and hold a public trial of Li Yanran. His face suddenly turned pale.

Soon, as the sound of the "dong dong dong" drum at the gate of the county government spread throughout the county, a large number of people gradually gathered in front of the court.

Wang Feihu was afraid that it wouldn't be lively enough, so he took two Jinyiwei and ran directly into the crowd to announce it everywhere: "My captain Ye is going to publicly try the case of Li Yanran being raped and murdered by Niu Er. All the elders and villagers, come and see!"

Li Yanran's case happened more than a month ago, and the people in the county have more or less heard about it.

In particular, when the people heard that the person who committed such a bloody crime was the scoundrel Niu Er, who usually harmed the village, it had already aroused public outrage.

What's more, Old Man Li was kicked out of the yamen many times, and finally had one of his legs broken by the yamen runners.

This aroused even more sympathy and anger among the people, but the people did not fight against the officials.

No matter how angry the common people were, it would be of no avail. However, now that Ye Xuan had made this announcement, the Jinyiwei wanted to publicly try the case, which immediately attracted a large number of people to become officials.

Some people even launched a petition outside the court, saying that Niu Er must be the murderer and asked Lord Ye to make the decision.

Occasionally, you can hear someone mixing in the crowd and cursing, saying things like "the crooked officials took the bribes" and "they take bribes and pervert the law."

Lin Zhiqi was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat, but in public, in front of Ye Xuan, Lin Zhiqi couldn't drive the people away even if he wanted to.

While listening to the people's scolding, Ye Xuan looked at Lin Zhiqi and said sarcastically: "Lord Lin is really a good official. Look how enthusiastic the people are towards you."

"The officer must be joking. They are just some ignorant people from the countryside. How could they know the truth?" Lin Zhiqi wanted to argue, but was interrupted by Ye Xuan:

"I believe that the public has sharp eyes. Ordinary people may not know the truth about many things, but they can distinguish between good people and bad people, right?"

Lin Zhiqi smiled awkwardly, too embarrassed to speak.

Lijiazhuang was not far from Shangyuan County, and Song Zhenshan quickly picked up the ugly man who walked with one hand taller than the other.

After throwing the ugly man in front of the court, Song Zhenshan said, "Your Excellency, the suspect Niu Er is here!"

(End of this chapter)