Chapter 115 Section One hundred and fifteen

Zeng Guofan first hired a sedan chair to send the third brother of the Nan family out of the capital, and then rushed to the Ministry of Punishment. As soon as he entered the Ministry of Criminal Justice, Hong Xiang came out to greet him first, saying: "Master Zeng, Qi Zhongtang came to the Ministry of Criminal Justice early in the morning, and now he is drinking tea and talking with Chief Si Kou in the Shang Study Room." Zeng Guofan couldn't help being taken aback, and didn't have time to say anything, so he went straight to Shangshu's office to greet Qi Yuzao and Zhou Zupei.

As soon as I arrived at Shangshu's office, I saw Qi Shizao and Zhou Zupei smoking cigarettes facing each other. Both of them had long beards, like two old gods, sitting in the clouds and comparing their skills. Zeng Guofan made a deep salute and said, "I have seen Lord Zhongtang and Lord Zhou, and I would like to greet the two adults." Zhou Zupei put down the cigarette and said, "Come on! Show Mrs. Zeng a seat." Qi Shizao sat still, smoking a cigarette and said, "Zeng Youtang, the old man passed by the Ministry of Punishment today, just come in and have a look at Da Sikou and your brother. I don't know the king. How is the trial of Zhengfu's case going?"

Zeng Guofan stood up and replied: "Return to the Lord Zhongtang, the next official is going to formally hear the case in the lobby today." "Cough!" Qi Yuzao sighed and said, "This old man and Da Sikou are discussing this matter. Brother Disheng, the matter of Wang Zhengfu, in my opinion, let it go. The plaintiff, Qi Zhuanyan, is just a sixth grade His general sentence, but he is an old criminal name of more than 20 years. Not to mention, just talking about his son, you and me Han people can't afford to provoke him!" Zeng Guofan couldn't help asking: "Which court is the son of Qi Bijia?"

Zhou Zupei said: "The old man just heard that it is Qi Hongtao, the fifth-rank guard with a knife in the inner circle. He used to be a subordinate of Lord Su. I heard that Lord Su thinks highly of him!" Qi Yuzao said: "Yesterday, the guard Qi went to the military plane to find the old man, and said that he always respected Mr. Zeng, and that Mr. Wang Zhengfu's case should not be tried again by Mr. Minister. Only then did the old man know that you have stopped Wang Zhengfu who was on the way out of exile. .Brother, you are still young. Although you are an official to the second rank, you have little experience after all. You have a good future, because of a Wang Zhengfu, why should we bother, let's stop."

Zeng Guofan thought about it for a while, and said, "Lord Xie Zhongtang is willing to give you some advice! However, Wang Zhengfu has already arrived in Beijing, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to stop at this time. If it spreads out, I'm afraid it will hurt the reputation of the Ministry of Punishment. Chief Sikou, what do you think?" Before Zhou Zupei could reply, Qi Yuzao said, "You don't need to worry too much, my old man and Mr. Zhou have already made a plan for you. Tomorrow, my old man will tell you to go to the Imperial Academy to engrave Emperor Xuanzong's calligraphy. Wouldn't you be free?" ?”

Zeng Guofan couldn't help but ask, "What about Wang Zhengfu?" Zhou Zupeixu smiled and said: "All civil and military people in the court know that there is no special order for the cases handled by Zeng Shilang, and no one else can intervene. How can the emperor issue a special order for a small Wang Zhengfu? He can only let the king Zhengfu continues to be exiled, hahaha..." Zeng Guofan hesitated for a moment and said: "It seems that the lower official can only play Ming Shengshang, and it is up to the higher-ups to decide! The lower official resigns." Qi Yuzao couldn't help being surprised: "You..."

Zhou Zupei said at this time: "Tisheng, Qi Zhongtang is also for your own good! Shuntian Mansion is incomparable to other places." Qi Yuzao sighed again and again: "Come on! I didn't expect your Minister Zeng to be so stubborn! I'll handle it with you. Besides, old man I didn't say how you are, so why do you have to play Ming Shengshang! You go down, the old man should go to the military plane." Zeng Guofan said again: "I will resign as an official." Zeng Guofan walked out of Shangshu's office, and just when he saw Hong Xiang coming towards him, Hong Xiang suddenly lowered his voice and asked, "Is Wang Zhengfu still on trial?"

Zeng Guofan asked as he walked, "Are all the people in the lobby of the Ministry of Punishment ready?" Hong Xiang said: "Returning to your lord, the copywriter and station shift in the lobby are already waiting in the hall." Zeng Guofan suddenly said loudly: "It is said that Wang Zhengfu will wait for everyone to come to the lobby for questioning." Then he strode towards the lobby of the Ministry of Punishment. The lobby of the Criminal Department is on the right side of the Office of the Criminal Department. Zeng Guofan walked into the hall, and saw that all the hall personnel were ready. When they saw Zeng Guofan, they all greeted him.

Zeng Guofan returned the salute and walked towards the hall. Zeng Guofan passed on to the duty officer in the lobby and brought all the files about Wang Zhengfu's case.The officer on duty in the lobby agreed, and went to find someone to open the cabinet.Soon, all the files about Wang Zhengfu were placed in the lobby. After another moment, Wang Zhengfu waited for a group of people to arrive, and they all waited outside the hall. Zeng Guofan first passed on Wang Zhengfu to the court.Wang Zhengfu knelt down in front of the hall, waiting for questioning. Zeng Guofan followed the trial practice and asked casually: "Who is kneeling in the hall, please report the name."

Wang Zhengfu said: "Returning to my lord, I am Wang Zhengfu, the county magistrate of Wanping County, a reformer." Zeng Guofan said: "Wang Zhengfu, what have you committed? Please tell the officer, you can raise your head and speak." Wang Zhengfu raised his head and said: "I was framed by others, and I was wronged. I need to ask my lord to learn from you." Zeng Guofan slapped the startled wood and said: "Wang Zhengfu, listen carefully! The decision of the Ministry to accept your Beijing Control does not mean that Shuntian Mansion has wrongly judged you! As the capital of the Qing Dynasty, how could Shuntian Mansion wrongly accuse good people of arbitrarily judging cases? Wang Zhengfu, tell the whole story right now, without any concealment! If you are indiscriminately controlling Beijing, the Ministry will definitely punish you for several crimes, and you will never be lenient! Tell me.” Wang Zhengfu looked at Zeng Guofan, who was seated majestically in the hall, spoke slowly.

The matter must start when Wang Zhengfu served as the general judge of Shuntian Mansion. When Wang Zhengfu was the general judge of Shuntian Mansion, Qi Zhuanyan was the magistrate of Wanping County.When Wang Zhengfu served as the general judge of Shuntian Mansion, he once resolved a case of beating and killing servants of a wealthy family. That big family is relatively well-known in Shuntian Prefecture, the owner is from the Banner, who is from the Xianglan Banner, and has done the history of the county's money valley in Shuntian Prefecture, and has accumulated tens of thousands of silver.After he became an official due to illness, he opened a bank in Daxing County, which was very prosperous.For some unknown reason, he accidentally killed a servant, but said that the servant stole something and committed suicide in fear of crime, so he sent the servant's family to collect the body.The servant's father saw several bruises on his son's body and bleeding from his head, so he reported it to the official. Daxing County did not dare to accept the case because of the influence of Lao Dianshi, so the servant's father sued the mansion.After Wang Zhengfu accepted the case, he immediately took people to Daxing for an autopsy, and concluded that he was beaten to death with sticks.Now that the conclusion has been drawn, the old Dian Shisuo is taken into the Shuntian Mansion Prison without any hesitation at the moment, and he must be dealt with properly.Unexpectedly, this serious case of human life has not yet been resolved in time, but Wang Zhengfu received the imperial edict to be demoted as the county magistrate of Wanping County with the sixth rank; Wang Zhengfu had no choice but to put aside the case and rush to Wanping County to take up his post.Within a few days after he took office, he heard that Lao Dianshi, who had been put in prison by him, had been released; the servant's father was not only accused of false accusation, but also beaten with forty killing sticks and kicked out of the lobby. Wang Zhengfu was very surprised, so he searched slowly and found out that Lao Dianshi was able to win this lawsuit because money played a role.Qi Zhuanyan took five thousand taels of silver from Lao Dianshi, and Lao Dianshi went bankrupt to avoid disaster. Soon, Wang Zhengfu learned that Qi Zhuanyan's Shuntian Mansion was short of points, and Qi Zhuanyan bought it through his son for 20,000 taels of silver. Mrs. Wang Zheng was so angry that he wrote a secret letter to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, exposing Qi Zhuanyan's two incidents of neglecting human life and buying shortages with money, but on the surface he pretended to be a normal person. Wang Zhengfu thought that the matter was done in the most secretive way, and no one else in the world knew about it except him.One afternoon, Qi Zhuanyan suddenly sent someone to invite him to appreciate chrysanthemums at his residence. Wang Zhengfu went to Qi Mansion out of curiosity, and because he also wanted to see what Qi Biejia was up to.When the servant saw him, he led him into a room, said it was a study, and turned to invite the master. Just as Wang Zhengfu was about to sit down, he saw a naked woman suddenly turn out from behind the screen and sneered at him.He was so frightened that he turned around and left. As soon as he went out, he was knocked down by several people, who beat him until he passed out and didn't feel the pain until he passed out.When he woke up, he was already on death row in Shuntian Prefecture. He was passed six times in the General Judgment Hall, out of which five times he was beaten unconscious, and one time his two front teeth were knocked out. Shuntian Mansion wanted to kill him, Wang Zhengfu himself thought that he would die, but he reported to the Ministry of Punishment, but was exiled for three thousand miles, and finally survived. In the end, Wang Zhengfu said with snot and tears: "I am really wronged, please Master Qingtian make the decision for me!" Zeng Guofan said: "Wang Zhengfu, what you said just now has been recorded in the copy. The hall hopes that what you said is the truth. If it is true, the hall will give you justice. You just step back and wait outside the hall. Witness Wang Laosan!" Wang Zhengfu was taken down, and Wang Laosan was brought up. Wang Laosan knelt down in court, showing no stage fright at all. Zeng Guofan asked: "Who is in the hall, please report your name." Wang Laosan lowered his head and replied: "Slave Wang Laosan is the disciple of Qi Mansion." Zeng Guofan said: "Wang Laosan, this department does not know the truth and cannot retry the case. You should know that. According to the laws of my Qing Dynasty, making false confessions and giving false evidence will be punished by beheading! Wang Laosan, can you hear me clearly? "Wang Laosan was stunned for a long time, and said: "My lord's words, the slaves can hear clearly." Zeng Guofan asked: "Wang Laosan, I want to ask you, Wang Zhengfu went to Qi's mansion to appreciate chrysanthemums, but you led him into the mansion?" Wang Laosan answered the wrong question: "It was the little one who opened the door of the house." Zeng Guofan just said: "Let Wang Zhengfu go to court!" Wang Zhengfu came to the hall and knelt down in the hall.Zeng Guofan pointed to Wang Laosan and asked Wang Zhengfu: "Wang Zhengfu, you can see clearly, but this person brought you into Qi Mansion?" Wang Zhengfu turned his head to look at Wang Laosan, and replied: "My lord, it was this person who opened the door for Zhengfu, but it was another person who led Zhengfu into the mansion. Please be careful, Your lord." Zeng Guofan nodded and said, "Retire outside the hall and wait." Wang Zhengfu was taken down. Zeng Guofan slapped the gavel here, and shouted majestically: "Bold Wang Laosan, don't you want to live?" Wang Laosan trembled in fright, and hurriedly replied: "I don't know why your lord is angry." Zeng Guofan said word by word: "Wang Laosan, listen clearly. Yesterday the Headquarters asked you, and you really told the Headquarters that you were the one who led Wang Zhengfu into Qi Biejia's study, and you were the first You found out that Wang Zhengfu committed adultery, and today you said that you only opened the gate of the mansion. Come here, I will serve you with great punishment!" Wang Laosan kowtowed and said, "Listen, my lord, it's the slave who made a mistake yesterday." Zeng Guofan sneered and said, "Lao Wang, you are not a witness, what are you doing in the Ministry of Punishment? Come here, give him a hundred mouthfuls first, and then listen to him!" The two executioners slapped their hands and began to execute. After the execution, Zeng Guofan said with a stern face: "Wang Laosan, now the Ministry is asking you, who is it that led Wang Zhengfu into Biejia's study?" Blood was dripping from the corner of Wang Laosan's mouth, and he said in a low voice, "Your Excellency, it's Ma Jiu, the Grand Master's personal bodyguard." Zeng Guofan immediately sent Li Bao to see him, and Li Bao strode in. Zeng Guofan said: "You immediately ask Mr. Hong, the doctor of the Ministry of punishment, to issue a subpoena, and go to the Tongju Yamen of Shuntian Mansion to pass Ma Jiu, the personal bodyguard of Qi Zhuanyan, there must be no mistake!" Li Bao agreed, went to the document office to get the order and signed, and hurried out. Zeng Guofan shouted loudly at this moment: "Miss Chuan Qi Mansion is here!"