Chapter 20 Chapter Twenty
The three-way drum sounded, and the trial began in the evening hall.The people in Lanfang didn't know that the important case was being tried, they only thought it was a routine matter such as the money and grain class, so only a few dozens of people came to see the trial.
After Di Gong sat down after the case, Fang Zheng was ordered to go to the entrance of the lobby and lock the door.
Di Gong shocked the hall with a blow, and said in a loud voice: "Today's trial of important criminals in the hall is related to the safety of the country. This county has strictly ordered that no one is allowed to leave the hall before leaving the hall!"
Everyone in the hall was shocked when they heard the words, and there was an uproar.
Di Gong shouted "Quiet", pulled out the fire stick from the stick, and ordered the team leader to bring the criminal to the hall.
Urgin was mentioned in the second prison.Helped him to the lobby, and knelt down one of his good legs in front of the desk.
Di Gong shouted: "The criminal under the hall, what is your name, what is your job, tell the truth!"
Ulgin raised his head, his eyes burning with anger.
"I am the king of Wuerjin County in Hexi, and I only hate being plotted by you, which made my success come to an end. Now that I have been captured, I am just dead, so why ask more questions!"
"Wuljin, you are a district chieftain, and you also proclaim yourself king. Let's not ask about this now. This county wants to make it clear to you that my Tang emperor, Long En, is mighty, and treats you as a prince. Your lord also bleeds As an alliance, we will always form a good relationship between the Tang family and thank God. Now you are repaying your favor, betraying the master and destroying the alliance, plotting to capture the city, killing people and looting, and committing heinous crimes. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, we have punished all traitors. You If you want to have a good death, you must confess your conspiracy truthfully, and tell the names of the traitors in Lanfang. Like this kind of military affairs, you little Urgin, who can't support a single tree, can't do anything with one hand, what can you do? There must be a traitor from the Han family Thieves and you work together, inside and outside, to do evil!"
"If you want to kill, you can kill, if you want to cut, you can cut, if you want me to betray my friend, it's hard!"
The class leader raised his whip to beat him, but Di Gong stopped and shouted: "Urjin is so stubborn! The punishment in the hall is merciless, your right leg has already been broken, if you keep talking hard, your left leg may be damaged!"
Ulgin just doesn't recruit.
Di Gong hit the gavel and said loudly: "Left and right, wait for the big punishment!"
Before the words were finished, the second servant had already overturned Uerjin and stepped on his hands, and another servant brought a two-foot-high bench.The team leader tied Uerjin's left leg to the bench, and raised his eyes to ask Di Gong to show him.
Duke Di nodded his head, and a stout waiter raised his stick and landed on Urgin's knee, causing him to scream in pain.
Di Gong ordered the waiter: "Don't be impatient, and beat slowly with one stick!"
The hall servant hit the criminal twice on the calf and twice on the thigh, and Urgin yelled and cursed continuously.On the sixth stroke, Ulgin screamed wildly.The hall servant raised the water and fire stick again, if the stick hits down, his left leg will be broken.Seeing this, Di Gong raised his hand and stopped abruptly.
Di Gongdao: "Uerjin, such torture is a routine matter. In fact, not only have your accomplices reined in the precipice, but they have already sued you in the Yamen. Otherwise, how could this county arrest you? This county is just I want to verify from your confession whether there is anything wrong with his confession."
Hearing this, Urgin pulled out a hand from the foot of the hall servant with divine power, pointed at Duke Di and scolded: "Listen, the dog officer, I only fell for you once when Urgin fell for you, and you are lying to me again with flattering words. Take the bait, how can I trust you!"
Di Gong said coldly: "Your accomplice is ten times smarter than you. He was in the same bed with you, so of course he can't help you. He pretended to help you and conspired with you, but he just wanted to borrow your money. One head, in exchange for his black gauze hat, once he sees that the limelight is not right, he will sue you to the government and ask for a reward. Now he is indeed a meritorious official, and the county has submitted a petition to appoint him an official position, and he will be treated generously. Like you Isn't it pitiful for this kind of stupid people to be teased like this, but still kept in the dark, and still show loyalty to him and suffer punishment for him?" Then he said to Ma Rong, "Urjin won't shed tears when he sees the coffin, go and put it in the coffin. He is invited by the party!"
When Ni Qi saw Urjin lying on the ground, he knew that something was wrong, his face had already turned dead gray, and he was about to slip away, when Ma Rong grabbed him with a big hand like iron tongs.
When Uerjin saw Ni Qi, he couldn't believe it, pointed at him and cursed: "What a traitor! I, Urjin, have never treated you badly, but you are a man in the open and a ghost in the dark. You ungrateful, dog-lung and wolf-hearted person, you will die in this life!"
Ni Qi pretended to be calm and said: "Master, this man is crazy, don't listen to his nonsense!"
Di Gong ignored it, and said to Urjin: "Which other party do you have in Ni Qi's house?"
Uerjin confessed the names of two barbarians. These two were hired by Ni Qi and worshiped as teachers in the house.Urgin continued: "There are a lot of letters in the city, and now I don't care about them. Ni Qi may have deceived me for a job, but the reason why other people voted for me is for nothing Silver." Then he told the names of three shopkeepers and four soldiers.
Tao Gan recorded the names of the nine accomplices separately and handed them over to Duke Di.Duke Di called Qiao Tai to his side, and whispered in his ear: "Take my command arrow and this list and go back to Qian's house to take down those four soldiers first, then go back and take 20 soldiers to Ni's house with Ling Gang. Two fanhu instructors were arrested, three shopkeepers were arrested, and Orion and the other two traitors were arrested in Beiliao."
After Qiao Tai took the order to leave, Duke Di said to Urjin again: "Everything in this county is judged impartially. If Ni Qi commits a rebellion, it is disloyal; if he insults his father, it is unfilial; if he instigates you to commit a crime, it is inhumane; It is unrighteous to bite you back again. It is not the intention of this county that such an unfaithful, unfilial, unkind and unrighteous person will rise to prosperity and rise to the top just because he accuses you of meritorious service. But if he is not found to have committed other crimes, That's the only way to do it. If you don't want to see him get away with it and get a blessing in disguise, you can confess the murder of County Magistrate Pan."
There was a fierce look in Urgin's eyes.
"If you don't avenge this revenge, you swear not to be a human being! Let me tell you! One day four years ago, Ni Qi gave me ten pieces of silver and ordered me to go to the county government to report to the county government, assuming that when he made a card at night, there was a place where the molecular boundary river could be crossed. The confidants sent by my lord met in secret, planning to do something wrong. County magistrate Pan didn't know what the plan was, and believed it was true. Because he was new here and the yamen was short of staff, he took only two entourages with me to lead the way to arrest him in a hurry. He just left the city gate , I took advantage of the unpreparedness of the three of them, I flew up my double knives, and killed the two servants first. Is Pan County Magistrate alone my opponent? I cut him down with the knife in my hand, and dragged his body to the riverside."
Urgin spat at Ni Qi after speaking, and said sternly: "Good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil. Now you should go ask for credit too!"
Di Gong ordered the secretary office to read Urjin's confession aloud.Urgin confessed and put a charge on the confession form.
Di Gongdao: "Wuljin listened. You are a chieftain of a foreign race. It is inconvenient for the county to punish you directly. We will only escort you to Chang'an quickly. How to deal with it is up to the court to decide."
The hall servant was ordered to carry Urjin on a stretcher and send him back to the prison for imprisonment.
Di Gong ordered: "Put the criminal Ni Qi in front of the kneeling hall for trial!"
Ni Qi knelt down on the slate floor in front of the case.Di Gong's face darkened, and he said: "Ni Qi, you colluded with Fanhu and plotted rebellion. According to the criminal law of our Tang Dynasty, you may be sentenced or sentenced to Ling Chi for the crime of rebellion. The county is also willing to excuse you, and finally came to the stage to show compassion, and it is unknown if you will spare your whole body. Therefore, the county advises you to bring your crimes to justice now."
Ni Qi bowed his head and remained silent.Di Gong didn't pursue him either.Just order the team leader and all the hall servants to wait patiently.Ni Qi finally raised his head slowly, sighed, and said: "Since ancient times, if you are not successful, you will become benevolent. I will recruit. Except for the two Xianghu teachers, I have no accomplices in my family. I plan to take us over at the last moment. Ding Yan explained the plan of the city to everyone. The four soldiers bought it with my money and will light a firework signal on the tallest watchtower of the Qian House at midnight tomorrow. When there was trouble, another group of hooligans took advantage of the chaos to rob two gold markets. But the beacon smoke above the tower was actually a signal for Hu Bing to cross the river and attack the city on the west bank of the Boundary River. At that time, Urgin and other internal officers will open the water gate..."
Di Gong interrupted his words and said: "That's all for this offering, and I will invite you in the hall tomorrow. Now, there is still a section in this county that needs to be clarified. Why are the last words left by your deceased father in the middle of the scroll scroll missing now?" gone?"
A layer of consternation appeared on Ni Qi's haggard face, and he replied: "Because the original will stated that the family property will be divided equally between my brothers, I destroyed it and inserted a fake copy into the interlayer of the frame. In this way, Naturally, I became the first legal heir of the entire estate of my deceased father. If I want to make a difference, I must have people under my command, and my servants alone are far from enough. I also need to rely on the military force of the barbarians. It is absolutely impossible without a large amount of money.”
Di Gongdao: "If people don't know, unless you don't do it yourself. All your pickling activities are under the control of this county. Left and right, take the criminal to the prison!"
Mr. Di retreated back to the inner yamen. Just as he sat down, Qiao Tai came in to report, saying that all the perpetrators had been captured and none slipped through the net.In Beiliao, Orion resisted stubbornly, and after a lot of effort, Ling Gang finally captured him alive.
Di Gongdao: "That's very good, but we must quickly escort the six Fanhu criminals including Urjin to the capital, and order Ling Gang to select ten fine soldiers and Han Quan as long-term interpreters. We will receive the official documents in the morning and start our journey. If The stage horses are strong and strong, and the journey is smooth, and they can reach Chang'an within seven days. The three shopkeepers and four soldiers were interrogated and punished on the spot."
Four personal attendants formed a semicircle and sat in front of Di Gong's case.Di Gong smiled slightly and said: "There is a saying that shoots horses first when shooting people, and captures jade first when capturing thieves. Now that the chieftain has been wiped out, the Hu soldiers will be chaotic if they don't fight. They will not dare to act rashly."
Qiao Tai nodded repeatedly, and said: "Hu Yong, a fan soldier, is good at riding and shooting. If they fight in the field, their power cannot be underestimated. But when they attack Jincheng Tangchi, they will pale in comparison. Tomorrow night, there will be no signal on the watchtower of Qian's house. They will definitely not Dare to enter the army rashly!"
Di Gongdao: "Qiaotai, since ancient times, we have been prepared for any danger. We should take some precautions. I entrust this matter to you." He smiled at the fourth assistant: "In the past few days, none of you complained about being bored. The ears are naturally much quieter.
Hong Canjun also said with a smile: "I remember the day we came to Lanfang, the master predicted that we would encounter some interesting side questions and strange questions here, and it is time to show our talents and do a big job. Now what we said really came true."
Di Gong counted and said, "We've only been here for seven days. It's unbelievable. My biggest worry in the past few days is that I don't know who is behind Qian Mou. If it is not removed, there will be no peace in Lanfang for a day. This is a blind man, and any disaster may happen."
Tao Gan asked: "How does the master know that Ni Qi is this person? I haven't seen a trace."
"No matter who the perpetrator is, first, he must be well versed in state affairs, and second, he must live near Qian's house. We can follow the clues based on this. At the beginning, I had doubts about Wu Feng, thinking that this person is courageous and insightful. It would not be surprising if he took the risk to do evil. Besides, he is the son of a general, he has seen a lot, and he has a lot of information about the state and military affairs, so it is not difficult to manipulate Qian Mou in the dark."
Hong Canjun interjected: "One more thing, Wu Feng prefers fanhu painting, and it seems that there is a reason for it."
Di Gongdao: "That's true. But Wu Feng has not been in Lanfang for a long time. His residence is far away from the Qian's house. If he often goes in and out of the hotel in disguise, how can the owner not know it? Also, from Ma Rong I learned from the conversation with Orion that the arrest of Wu Feng did not cause panic among the rebels, and they were still preparing to respond to Hu Bing's attack on the city as usual. From this we can see that Wu Feng is not the person behind Qian Mou's scenes."
Di Gong faced Qiao Tai again and said, "When I was at a loss what to do, your words brightened my heart."
Qiao Tai was stunned when he heard the words, and just ignored him, Di Hui said again: "You said that we faked border guards and produced two results. This sentence gave me a lot of inspiration. Ni Qi's martial arts can be interpreted as being prepared for danger in times of peace. Standing on guard to prevent the unexpected invasion of Hu Bing. It can also be seen that he is preparing his troops to lure wolves into the house and attack the city! Once suspicious, Ni Qi is the person behind the scenes, and it will become more and more like that. First, Ni Qi was born in a famous family Second, Ni and Qian are less than half a mile away from each other. Qian Mou raised a soap flag at the gate, and Ni Qi could see it immediately. I asked myself, since Ni Qi was afraid of being captured by Hu soldiers, why would He should live in the old house of the Ni family near the East City Gate, and he could go out of the city and enter the mountains to escape whenever there is a disturbance. But he left this safe place and chose to buy a mansion in a dangerous area in the southwest corner of the city, which is very close to the Water Gate. Why? Ni Qi Although Qian Mou was unwilling to get the two swordfighting masters from Qian Zhai under his door, he later let him go. Why? There is only one answer: Ni Qi and Qian Mou were originally the same breed. It is from Ni Qi that he established an independent kingdom in this despicable area to fight against the imperial court.
"Actually, Qian Mou himself has already told me the answer!"
Hong Canjun and Ma Rong asked at the same time: "Master, when did Qian Mou say that? How did we not know?"
Di Gong looked at the four assistants in front of him, and said with a bright smile: "Before Qian Mou died, we all thought he was going to say 'you...', but because he couldn't catch his breath, he only said one word 'you' in one sentence. He died. In fact, I should have understood a long time ago that a dying person can hardly get a single word out of his mouth. How can he speak long? He just wanted to say the name of a person, the name of the murderer who killed the magistrate Pan, so that Answer my question. And this name is Ni Qi, but he died before saying the word 'Qi'."
Tao Gan punched his legs and nodded repeatedly.
Di Gong said again: "Today I went to the mountain to meet Mr. Heyi. Before I said a few words, he misunderstood "you" as "Ni". One of the words in his mouth is "Ni" instead of "you"! In fact, the old hermit may not have misheard him. Looking back at what he said to me, although there were many things that were far-fetched and mysterious, and some places were even reckless, but I think , every word of his sentence may have something to say, and it has a deep meaning."
Di Gong stroked his beard slowly and remained silent for a while.He looked up at the four attendants in front of him, and said: "Tomorrow, I will conclude the case of Ni Qi's treason, and the murder case of County Magistrate Pan will also be closed. In addition, the trial of Ding Huguo's murder case can also be completed. "
Di Gong's last words made the four assistants stare again, and they couldn't help talking about each other.
Di Gongdao: "The mystery of the death of Ding Huguo's study is known, and the clues to find the perpetrator are at the scene of the crime."
Hong Canjun said: "So, the criminal is still Wu Feng in the end!"
Di Gongdao: "When this case is heard in the court tomorrow, you will understand how Ding Huguo died and by whom." He took a sip of tea and said, "We have gained a lot today, but there are still two problems. There is still no answer. One is that Bai Lan is still missing, and the other is that the mystery of Ni Shouqian's painting scroll has not yet been solved. The first fact is urgent and cannot be delayed; Ni Qi committed the capital crime of treason. According to the law, the government will confiscate all his family property. If we cannot prove that Mrs. Ni’s mother and son have the right to inherit half of the estate left by Mrs. Ni, the orphan and widow will spend their lives without clothes, without food, and endless suffering. It is a pity that Ni Qi has destroyed Ni Gong’s posthumous text hidden in the painting scroll, so such evidence will no longer exist. Even if Ni Qitang confesses the truth, it will not be able to change Ni Shouqian’s last words left on the sick bed before his death: the painting scroll returns Mrs. Ni, mother and son, the rest of the family property belongs to Ni Qi. The government, especially the Chang’an Household Department, will confiscate all Ni Qi’s family property according to this oral will. In this way, unless we solve the mystery of the painting scroll, Mrs. Ni, mother and son will have nothing to do with it.”
Tao Gan nodded and asked, "At first we only knew that Ni Qi was involved in an inheritance dispute, but we didn't know that he was conspiring to rebel. And the master has been very interested in the case of the Ni family from the very beginning, why?"
Di Gong said with a smile: "It's a long story. Since you asked, you might as well tell it to you. I have long admired Ni Shouqian, the ambassador who deposed him. I remember that when I was still studying in the past, I asked him about the criminal case ——I copied it carefully. At that time, he was still the head of a small county. I studied all kinds of cases hard, and devoted myself to learning his method of investigating cases. After that, I read carefully the memorials to the case that he wrote to the emperor. His writing is full of vigor and vigor, and the style of writing is vertical and horizontal. I never tire of reading it, and I can't put it down. One day I will be able to meet Zunyan, listen to the teachings, and fulfill my wish for life. But at that time, he has been dismissed from office, and I am just an unknown person struggling in the bumpy official career. How can I get my wish! Soon. I The hero in my mind suddenly resigned from office, and I was stunned. Since then, I have doubts and puzzled my mind.
"After I came to Lanfang, I saw the Ni family's case in the archives, and I wanted to study the Ni family's dispute in detail. For me, who has always regarded Ni Gong as an idol, it will be very helpful. Its sound is like seeing the role of the person. On another level, his strange will seems to have challenged me from the grave..."
Di Gong paused for a while, stared at the scroll on the opposite wall, pointed with his finger, and said, "Even if there are thousands of difficulties, I still want to solve the mystery of the scroll! Since Ni Qi confessed, Ni Shouqian's will has exceeded that of the previous one. The scope of my challenge. I deeply feel that it is my duty to ensure that Ni Shouqian’s widow’s youngest son obtains the property he deserves, especially since I will soon send his eldest son to the west, and I am even more duty bound.”
Di Gong stood up and walked to the painting scroll, and the four relatives followed suit—leaving their seats and looking at the mysterious painting again.
Di Gong put his hands behind his back and said slowly: "Void castle! Back then, when Ni Shouqian found out that his eldest son had the same talent as him as a general, but his conduct was bad and his intentions were wrong, how shocked he must have been! What a disappointment! I have seen the painting many times, and I remember every stroke clearly in my heart. I hoped to get some clues from Ni Gong's other courtyard outside the east gate, but..."
Di Gong suddenly stopped talking, leaned forward and looked at the whole painting carefully from bottom to top, then slowly straightened up, turned his head and stroked his long beard leisurely, his eyes were wide open, and he smiled slightly at the four relatives. , said: "Yes! Tomorrow, the mystery of the painting scroll can also be solved!"
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