After rebirth, I joined forces with my mortal enemy to seek revenge.

In the political hall, Cen Xi was looking through the documents transferred from Guazhou and the confessions submitted by witnesses from both parties. On the day of the incident, Guazhou City had been attacked by the Tubo Company for several days. It was Pei Jiaoran who led the troops to defend the city instead of Li Xiujing. However, Zhao Zhen obstructed his actions many times, and was only then convicted and killed by him. In another file, it was written that Zhao Zhen suspected that Li Xiujing had left his post without permission and was not in the city. In order to conceal the truth, he executed him on the battlefield.

But some people say that Guazhou was isolated and helpless at that time, but Liangzhou refused to send troops to help for various reasons. When food and grass were running out, Li Xiujing had to raid the Tubo grain road. The confession given by Dugu Chen was that he sent troops to support Guazhou.

Today Pei Jiaoran is still imprisoned in Yushi Prison. As long as there is no conclusive evidence and judicial proceedings have not been entered into, neither Dali Temple nor the Ministry of Punishment can interfere at will. To a certain extent, it temporarily ensured her safety. It also reminded Jia Gonglu and others that this matter must be determined as soon as possible. It would be best to make her murder of Zhao Zhen a definite crime.

Jia Gonglu flipped through the case file and looked at Cen Xi, "This matter involves so much, I thought it would be appropriate to ask Yuan Yan to go to the Yushitai for questioning. In order to prevent people in the court from attacking each other and causing the inside story to be hidden."

He remembered that Yuan Yanchong went to investigate the matter of a minor official in Guazhou, but he did not find out about it. Maybe he was deliberately covering up his actions. Now it is best to find a breakthrough point in Pei Jiaoran and let the case continue to expand, so that Li Xiujing and even others in Nanya can be involved.

Cen Xi smiled when he heard this and said, "That's exactly what I mean. In the past, Yuan Yanchong went to Guazhou to investigate Li Qian's matter. Maybe he should know the reason for this matter. Ask him so that he can know what the inside story is." After that, he took it from his arms. He took out a folded piece of paper and said, "Does Mr. Jia know that the Guazhou County Magistrate reported Duguchen? When the Tubo besieged Guazhou, they refused to send troops and ordered no nearby states to send troops to assist. He has also been enriching himself for many years. .”

The complaint filed by the Guazhou County Magistrate was delivered directly to the Censor's Desk through the hands of the Supervising Censor. When the censor Zhongcheng saw that many people were involved in the incident, he submitted a complaint to Cen Xi. Therefore, not many people know about this right now.

After hearing this, Jia Gonglu smiled meaninglessly. There is a calculation hidden in the eyebrows.

"In this case, I will report to Your Majesty and send all the people involved in the case to Yushi Prison for execution." Jia Gonglu said.

The Zhengshitang's recommendations were unanimous, and Cen Xi and others immediately signed a petition. After returning to Menxia Province, Cen Xi sent people to the Yushitai to find out Li Qian's case, write an official document, and ordered the scribes to copy it and submit it to Shangshu Province. Later, the subordinate officials were ordered to go to each house to pick up people according to the list they had. A list included Pei Jiaoran, Yuan Yanchong and the Guazhou County Magistrate. The other list includes officials at all levels headed by Dugu Chen.

Flipping through the directory, Cen Xi said, "Let's call these people separately for questioning."

According to the law, when an official is accused, the Yushitai will first push for prosecution before conclusive evidence is obtained. Except for Pei Jiaoran and Yuan Yanchong, everyone else was tried by the Taiwan Court. In addition to the Yushi doctor presiding over the trial, the two men also had the East and West privy envoys as jury members to ensure fairness.

After the imperial censor and the privy envoy sat down, Pei Jiaoran was also brought up. I saw that Pei Jiaoran was not wearing shackles or shackles, and there were no signs of torture on his body. The Eastern and Western Privy Councilors showed a cold look on their faces.

"Are all the censors in the imperial court free of charge? Why is this man not in chains or in prison because of his crime?" Envoy Dong said angrily.

Pei Jiaoran raised his eyes and looked at the two privy envoys in front of him, with the corners of his lips slightly raised.

"There is no conclusive evidence yet. This person still has an official status. In addition, after the preliminary trial, this person did not admit that he killed Zhao Zhen without any reason." The imperial censor glanced at the Privy Council next to him and stroked his beard, "We also It is impossible to violate the law and torture people without reason. This court clearly prohibits torture to extract confessions from court officials. Moreover, there is currently no substantive content to confess."

Privy Councilor Xi angrily tossed his sleeves, "How do you know that there is no content to confess without being tortured? I think some people are just tough-talking. If they don't roll on the rack a few times, they won't know that the sky is high and the earth is high."

"Come here, tie up Pei Jiaoran for me." Privy Councilor Dong scolded.

"According to the law of Wei, 'Prisoners who need to be tortured must first be interrogated with their emotions, scrutinized their reasoning, and examined repeatedly. If the matter cannot be resolved, if the matter needs to be interrogated, the case will be filed and sentenced together, and then tortured. If there are any of the above provisions, Violators will be punished with a rod of sixty.' In addition, there is also a saying in the law. Anyone who is among those who are discussed, requested, or reduced, as well as those who are over seventy years old, under fifteen years old, and disabled, should not be tortured. All should be based on the evidence. Convicted, the violator will be charged with negligence." Pei Jiaoran glanced at the two Shencejun who rushed toward him, and said with a smile: "And there is no conclusive evidence, why should I be tortured."

Choked by Pei Jiaoran's words, the two privy ministers sat down with unwilling expressions. I could only watch as the imperial censor ordered Pei Jiaoran to move a chair and let her sit down.

The two privy envoys looked at each other, and the privy envoy Dong said: "You said that Zhao Zhen violated orders in front of the formation, and you dealt with him in accordance with military law? Then where was Li Xiujing at that time?"

"Zhao Zhen shook the morale of the army in front of the formation and blocked my orders many times. This made the people in the army panic, and I had no choice but to kill him to calm people's hearts. At that time, Li Xiujing entrusted me with the scepter, and I decided all matters big and small in Guazhou." After a pause, Pei Jiaoran said: "I killed Zhao Zhen in accordance with the law. There is nothing wrong with it."

The imperial censor looked at Pei Jiaoran and spoke carefully, "Where was Li Xiujing at that time? Why did he entrust the scepter to you? Was it because Li Xiujing left his post without authorization and was noticed by Zhao Zhen that you killed him? "

"Zhao Zhen thought that Li Xiujing was not in the city to sway the morale of the army and colluded with Tubo inside and outside to leak the defenses in the city. Li Xiujing and I noticed it, so he pretended to go out of the city to lure the enemy. I never thought that he could not keep calm. He was exposed all of a sudden. About Goulian." Pei Jiaoran smiled.

As long as the question brought up Li Xiujing's absence from duty, she could use the opportunity to bring out Dugu Chen's refusal to send troops.

"You said Zhao Zhen colluded with Tubo? Is there any evidence?" asked the imperial censor.

Pei Jiaoran replied: "The charges and evidence have been submitted to the Yushitai. If you don't believe it, you can send someone to collect the evidence."

"Evidence? How do we know whether you forged the evidence or obtained it through torture? As far as we know, you and Zhao Zhen had a rift in the past. Who knows if you committed murder intentionally." The Western Privy Councilor said coldly. A face.

"If there is a gap, why would I take action myself? Guazhou was going through war at that time, and if he was injured by a stray arrow, it would have nothing to do with me." Pei Jiaoran showed a bit of impatience on his face.

There is no need to continue this meaningless rambling. But these two secret envoys clearly wanted to beat her into submission.

"Go and get Zhao Zhen's documents of collaborating with the enemy and his confession." The imperial censor ordered the subordinate officer beside him.

After a while, the subordinate officer came back with two civil servants holding the wooden box.

The official said: "Doctor Zhu, Zhao Zhen's confession and collaboration documents have been brought over. Please take a look at them."

The imperial censor circulated the confession and collaboration documents between the Eastern and Western Privy Council envoys and him.

About an hour later, the censor doctor looked at the secretary beside him, saw him nodding, and then said: "I think Pei Jiaoran has nothing to interrogate. Why don't we look at the confessions provided by others. Let's discuss it later. .”

"No. I think torture is still necessary. After so many days of interrogation, it is time to torture." Privy Council Dong's tone was slightly cold.

As soon as he finished speaking, Minister Xi pulled his sleeves and motioned for him to sit down.

Glancing at the two privy envoys, the imperial censor smiled and said to Jin Wuwei: "Take the person down. This case should be tried later."