Vol 2 Chapter 59: Good friends, let's cut together
"The state official at that time was Chen Guangteng..." Fu Mingrui said, Duanmu Qingchen looked at him, and Fu Mingrui stood beside Lian Youyou in the hall, "Because he believed what Zhou Youfa said, he thought the epidemic was serious and forced him to In desperation, he had to dispatch troops to suppress the plagued people. Although he didn't know the truth, after suppressing the plague, he still couldn't forgive himself for massacring the villagers of Lijia Village, so he resigned and left Wuzhou with his wife and children and returned to his hometown."
Duanmu Qingchen was slightly surprised, calmed down and sat back in his original position.
"We also went to Chen Guangteng's hometown to look for him. Because he couldn't let go of the Lijia Village all year round, he lived in guilt and depression every day, so he died young, leaving only orphans and widows. Therefore, he was not arrested this time. Bring it to justice." Fu Mingrui reported in detail that Chen Guangteng's death was not deserved, but it could not be exempted.
Chen Guangteng didn't know the truth, but the plague must be suppressed. He did his job, but the plagued people were ordinary people, so he always felt guilty and blamed himself. He was at fault for dereliction of duty and failed to personally verify the epidemic reported by Zhou Youfa.
"Since Chen Guangteng has died of illness, His Highness will not pursue his crime of dereliction of duty. But you are alive! You must learn from Chen Guangteng's lesson!" Duanmu Qingchen pointed at the officials in the hall with a gavel tree, "If there is a plague outbreak, you should first investigate Clear verification! Do not send troops to suppress at will!"
"Yes—the crown prince is wise—" All the officials also regretted coming to the trial today. They knew that there would be such a serious secret in this case, and they really didn't want to come. If you accidentally implicated yourself, you would have thrown yourself into a trap if you set yourself on fire.
All the officials got up one after another, and sitting in the hall at this time, they felt like sitting on pins and needles, restless.
"Then what about this Wanqing? Who is this Wanqing? How is she related to this case?" Duanmu Qingchen pointed to Wanqing who was kneeling in the hall.
"Wanqing is the only survivor." Lian Youyou said plainly, "Although she was young back then, she remembered the death of the whole village in her heart, so she kept looking for opportunities to take revenge."
When Fu Mingrui heard Lian Youyou say that Wanqing was young, he knew that what Lian Youyou said in this courtroom today was watered down. If not, say that Wanqing was sixteen years old, and the reason why she looks young is because there are worms in her body, do you want Wanqing to perform here? Doesn't this scare the people in the city?
After all, the dust is about to settle, and there is no need for further complications. What the people want to hear may be the version that Lian Youyou is talking about now.
Simple, easy to understand, and tragic and emotional, it makes everyone feel uneasy.
There are no ghosts or demons causing chaos, everything is reasonable, and the doubts in the case are solved by Lian Youyou one by one, and it makes sense. People will no longer come to doubt and guess.
Duanmu Qingchen nodded, showing pity for Wanqing in his eyes.
Fu Kun sneaked a glance at Duanmu Qingchen from the side, his face was already gloomy. This Ma Guanqun is indeed a troublemaker! Fortunately, we only have shallow friendship with him on weekdays, otherwise he would still be implicated this time.
"What about the evidence... I've never done what you said! You don't have evidence to listen to the words of this witch?!" Ma Guanqun was confident in his heart. After ten years, the evidence was hard to find. He looked at Duanmu Qingchen bitterly, " Your Royal Highness, please be fair, they are all slandering me!"
Duanmu Qingchen looked at Ma Guanqun with a sullen face, and looked at Fu Mingrui with one hand and raised his eyebrows: "Hey, he said that you have no evidence, quickly show the evidence to block his mouth."
Duanmu Qingchen was amused, this Ma Guanqun really started a food business by himself, he ate too much rice, his brain was full. His good brother Fu Mingrui is standing here, dare to say that he has no evidence? This was really the biggest joke Duanmu Qingchen had heard this year.
Fu Mingrui bowed to Duanmu Qingchen, and looked back with a downcast face: "Bring Yu Aliang, the old account bookkeeper of Majialiang, and Zhou Youfa, the current Wuzhou prefect!"
Immediately, Ma Guanqun turned pale and collapsed on the ground. Now, it's really over.
Witnesses and prisoners were taken one by one.
Zhou Youfa also had a haggard face, obviously he had been interrogated severely, and he vomited the truth long ago.
And that old account book is an ordinary citizen, how could he stand up to the torture? He was recruited without punishment.
After he learned that all the people in Lijia Village had died, he had been condemned by his conscience all the time, so when he retired from Ma's house, he thought about it and stole the account book and brought it back to his hometown.
Now that the witnesses and material evidence are complete, Ma Guanqun will no longer be able to distinguish!
"Crack!" Duanmu Qingchen slapped the gavel again, with a majestic and dignified face, "My Highness is ordered by my father to come to the public trial, and I have the right to judge directly, so I don't need to go through the Ministry of Criminal Justice! My Highness pronounces the sentence now!"
"Wei—wu—" The arresters on both sides immediately created momentum.
Duanmu Qingchen stood up, pulled out the order lottery with respect, and looked deeply at the people in the hall: "Ma Guanqun colluded with the county magistrate, embezzled the disaster money, distributed moldy rice, and caused the tragedy in Lijia Village, killing hundreds of people. It is difficult to kill you even once!" Public outrage! Since you proposed to sentence Miss Wanqing to Ling Chi, well, His Highness will satisfy you! Sentence you to Ling Chi! One hundred and forty-three knives, not too much, not too much!"
The token was thrown out, and it fell to the ground with a "clang", Ma Guanqun was frightened out of his wits, he didn't take a breath, rolled his eyes, and passed out on the spot!
"Yes!" Immediately, two police officers stepped forward and dragged Ma Guanqun.
"Good—the crown prince's sentence is good——the sentence is good—" the people outside the door applauded, giving their thumbs up and praising their prince.
Lian Youyou looked at Wanqing who was kneeling in the hall, showing a rare soft smile. This smile entered Ling Tingjun's eyes, and he watched her quietly. It turned out that this crazy goddess also had moments like a normal goddess.
"My wife, please forgive me—please—" Zhou Youfa was already weeping so hard that he couldn't make a sound.
"You have seniors and juniors, why didn't you think that there were seniors and juniors in Li Family Village when you swallowed the disaster silver and distributed the poisoned rice?!" Fu Mingrui kept holding his breath in his heart since he knew the truth. He has been involved in eight doors, and has tried many cases, but he has never encountered such a major case with more than a hundred dead. When he was reading the file, his hands were shaking.
"I was wrong—I know I was wrong—" a dignified state official cried in the lobby.
"Hmph." Duanmu Qingchen sneered, and then drew a lottery: "Zhou Youfa worked hand in hand with Ma Guanqun all those years ago. Since you are blessed to share the same fortune, today, you will have the same difficulty! Both of you will be executed by Ling Chi!"
The lottery was thrown out again, and Zhou Youfa immediately collapsed, his body wet with urine.
The punishment of Ling Chi is to be cut alive. Scrape alive, but not die while shaving. One cut of three inches of meat, after scraping a person, three thousand six hundred dollars. Duanmu Qingchen only let him scrape one hundred and forty-three knives, which is considered a kindness.