But this Lu Shen had white hair, a thin body, sunken eyes, but his eyes were bright and sharp. He was wearing a gray shirt and had a straight back.
Zhong Yan, who was sitting on the other side, was just the opposite. He was tall and strong, but his eyes were a little vague and he looked uneasy.
Judging from their appearance, the two of them represent civil and military affairs, which is a perfect match.
In fact, the two of them had arrived a long time ago, but they did not appear in the courtyard. Instead, they stayed in a special room and just came here.
Zhang Fei tilted his head to look at Lu Chen and asked with a smile, "What does Governor Lu have to say?"
Lu Chen looked directly at Zhang Fei, "I have some opinions about Judge Zhang."
This question made the civil servants present hold their breath.
They all knew what Lu Shen wanted to question, but this was appointed by the government, and questioning would not change anything and would only offend him.
"You have any opinions about me?" Zhang Fei was stunned, and then asked, "Prefect Lu, please speak."
Lu Chen said: "I think Zhang Jue is not worthy of his position."
...
...
"My moral character is not worthy of my position?" Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, then said: "My moral character has always been poor, and more than one person has said this. I am just a law-abiding citizen of the Song Dynasty, that's all. I can't compare with a modest gentleman like Prefect Lu."
"puff!"
Xu Zhiqian behind him never expected Zhang Fei to say such a thing. She couldn't help but lowered her head quickly. Fortunately, the guests were also confused and didn't notice it.
Lu Shen was also stunned.
How can you answer like that? How can I continue asking?
Zhang Fei added: "What I mean by 'opinion' is whether everyone, including me, has an interest in this case, not the moral aspect. We are all so young, and we definitely don't sit here based on morality, but on ability."
Su Che and Shangguan Jun both felt that they were somewhat offended.
We are still very moral.
Lu Chen asked, "You used this case to threaten the government to allocate funds to your imperial court. Does this count as a conflict of interest?"
Zhang Fei frowned and asked, "Who said that?"
Lu Chen said, "Needless to say, you postponed the court session before, wasn't it to blackmail the government office? Although I don't approve of the government office's behavior, Judge Zhang should report it to the court instead of blackmailing it with official duties. Isn't this also partiality and perversion of the law? If everyone does this, how can we talk about the court system?"
He is also an expert in law, and he cares very much about moral issues. If he makes a mistake, you can report him, but you cannot use this method.
He has been holding this breath.
Zhang Fei leaned back and rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Prefect Lu, I can tell you frankly that you have left a very bad impression on me because you speak without thinking. It is really hard to believe."
Lu Shen was honest and upright. He was the prefect of Chengdu Prefecture, but his family only had two acres of vegetable fields. He was as virtuous as Sima Guang. No one had ever given him such an evaluation. He was amused and asked with a smile: "What is the basis for Judge Zhang to say so?"
Zhang Fei asked, "May I ask Governor Lu, is there a set date for the court session?"
Lu Chen thought for a moment and said, "That's not the case."
"If there is none, then why postpone the trial? Secondly."
Zhang Fei said, "What do you mean by blackmailing the government? It is obvious that our imperial court is waiting for funds to open the court. If the government does not allocate funds, the ministers and generals will have to sit on rocks, and those witnesses who are going to appear in court will have to live in caves and hunt for a living. Soldiers are waiting for weapons to go to the battlefield. Is this a blackmail? I thought it was common sense."
Sitting
Wei Yingfang was furious. You are really talking like that with your eyes open. The funding I gave you does not include these!
Lu Chen was a little doubtful and said, "You..."
"turn down!"
Zhang Fei impatiently picked up the gavel and knocked it with a bang. Lu Shen was so scared that he almost bit his tongue and was stunned.
Zhang Fei looked around the room and said, "Any other opinions? If so, please think carefully about whether the judge has any vested interests in this case. If so, please provide evidence and don't waste everyone's time here. If you have any questions that are not related to this case, you can come to me after the trial to ask. The weather is so hot, I don't want to work overtime until noon."
Wow!
What a great official power!
Is this the legendary imperial court?
Wang Shao, Guo Kui, Lu Gongru and other leading figures were all stunned.
After all, he is the prefect, his rank is higher than yours, and he is older than you.
You really have low morals!
Zhong Yan originally wanted to stand up, but since the other party was questioning him, he couldn't just hold back. He opened his mouth, but he felt inexplicably weak in his heart, so he thought better of it.
Zhang Fei just waited for a moment, then knocked the gavel and said, "Court is in session."
All right, all right! I want to see what you can do. Lu Chen held back his anger. He had no evidence to prove that the imperial court was just waiting for the government to reveal the funds.
But soon Zhang Fei gave him a chance to open his mouth.
Without much introduction, Lu Shen was summoned to the court.
Lu Shen has always been the presiding judge and has never been tried by anyone, let alone seen how the imperial court tries cases. He looked around in confusion. Am I not in the court?
A court police officer came over and led him to sit in the middle seat.
The civil servants around were somewhat dissatisfied. This position was usually for prisoners to stand, and although Lu Shen was sitting, he looked like he was being interrogated.
In their view, Zhong Yan was the defendant.
But Lu Shen didn't feel anything was wrong. He sat there, calm and composed.
It is a perfect explanation of what it means to be upright and not afraid of your own shadow.
Zhang Fei said, "Prefect Lu, I hope you can put aside what happened just now, because your confession is crucial to this case. Please think it over before answering."
When Lu Chen heard this, he was even more angry. You are clearly mocking me. Because Zhang Fei had just said that he spoke without thinking, he ignored Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei didn't care. He flipped through the case and said, "According to the information I have learned, Magistrate Lu participated in the entire process of the Suizhou battle. Magistrate Lu, please tell me the general process of this battle."
Since he was already sitting up, Lu Chen naturally would not rush to fight with Zhang Fei. He would talk about this matter later, so he said: "This happened in the fourth year of Zhiping, at that time."
"What month and day?"
Zhang Fei asked.
Lu Chen was stunned, and thought for a long time before he said, "About mid-September. I don't remember the exact date, so it's hard to calculate."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Please continue."
Lu Chen continued, "At that time, I was the governor of Yanzhou, and Zongzi was in charge of Qingjian City."
Zhang Fei asked again: "What is the relationship between these two?"
Lu Shen looked at Zhang Fei in surprise.
You don't even know this, what are you judging?
Zhang Fei looked at him in surprise, as if asking, is there anything wrong with what I asked?
Forget it, he is just a young boy, why should I be angry with him? Lu Chen took a deep breath and said, "Qingjian City belongs to Yanzhou, located 200 miles northeast of Yanzhou."
Zhang Fei said: "So General Zhong was a subordinate of Prefect Lu at that time."
Lu Chen nodded and said, "That's right."
Zhang Fei waited for a moment, and seeing that he did not continue, he looked at the document again, "According to my investigation, it was Prefect Lu who recommended General Zhong to take charge of Qingjian City. Is this true?"
Lu Shen nodded.
Zhang Fei asked: "Why did Magistrate Lu recommend General Zhong? Is it because the two families have a connection?"
"Of course not."
Lu Shenshi said righteously, "When I recommend someone, I always look at their ability, not their family background. At that time, I thought that Zongzi was brave and resourceful, and could take on the important task of defending Qingjian City."
Sitting
Although he would have risen to the top sooner or later given his family background and abilities, this final push was indeed a help from Lu Shen, giving him the opportunity to make a contribution. Otherwise, it might have taken several years for him to achieve his goal.
However, many prefects and county magistrates who supported Lu Shen just shook their heads.
They all wanted to shout out the slogan "wolf heart and dog lung".
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Prefect Lu, please continue."
Lu Shen added: "At that time, the people occupying Suizhou were the two brothers Weimingshan and Weimingyishan of Xixia and their tribe. After our army instigated a rebellion, Weimingyishan secretly surrendered to the Song Dynasty.
And Zongzi Zheng used Weiming Yishan to lobby his brother Weimingshan, intending to retake Suizhou in one fell swoop, and reported the plan to the court.
However, without waiting for the imperial edict or reporting to me, he led the entire army of Qingjian City to attack and occupied Suizhou in one fell swoop.
Since our army was not ready to go to war with Xixia, and the current emperor had just ascended the throne, I asked Zhong Zizheng to return immediately in the name of no imperial edict, but Zhong Zizheng refused to obey and clashed with the Xixia army. Although we won the victory in the end, it almost caused a disaster. Fortunately, the Xixia leader Li Liangzuo died of illness at that time, so we did not continue the fight. This is the whole process of the incident. "
Zhang Fei nodded and asked, "According to what Prefect Lu said, Zongzi had reported the plan to the court in advance."
"Yes."
Lu Shen nodded.
Zhang Fei asked, "Does this comply with the laws of the court?"
Lu Shen nodded.
Zhang Fei asked again: "Prefect Lu said that he had not waited for the imperial edict, so did the imperial court issue an edict at that time?"
"have."
Lu Shen nodded.
Zhang Fei asked, "What does the imperial edict say?"
Lu Chen said: "The court ordered Lu and the then transport envoy Xue Xiang to plan this matter, and then Zong Zizheng came forward to lure the enemy commander Wei Mingshan to surrender."
At this point, he changed the subject and said, "But according to later investigations, it was because of greed that Zhong Zi lied about military intelligence. In fact, his attempt to induce surrender was unsuccessful, and his deployment was very risky."
Zhang Fei asked: "What do you mean?"
Lu Shen said: "At that time, Zongzi Zheng only used Weiming Yishan to bribe a close confidant of Weiming Shan named Li Wenxi, and asked Li Wenxi to falsely convey Weiming Shan's order, saying that he was willing to surrender to our army. However, Weiming Shan was unaware of this matter. It was not until Zongzi Zheng arrived that Weiming Shan knew that his brother had surrendered to our army, so he laid down his weapons and surrendered with him. However, Zongzi Zheng said in the memorial submitted to the court that Weiming Shan had agreed to surrender."
Zhang Fei asked, "Does Magistrate Lu have any evidence for what he said?"
"Of course."
Lu Chen said: "At that time, some soldiers saw Wei Mingshan holding a gun and getting on a horse ready to fight with our army. It was his brother Wei Mingyishan who stopped him. If Wei Mingshan was ready to surrender, why did he still hold a gun and get on a horse?
Moreover, when Zongzi attacked at that time, he was not going to accept Weimingshan's surrender, because he chose the method of surprise attack, which is enough to prove that he actually knew that Weimingshan had not surrendered. "
Zhang Fei nodded and asked, "Regardless of whether Zong Zizheng knew or not, our army had already occupied Suizhou. Even if he went out without an imperial edict, he should not be held accountable. If Governor Lu recalled him, it would mean giving up Suizhou."
Lu Chen said: "I have already said the reason. At that time, the emperor had just ascended the throne, and our army was not yet ready for war with Xixia. The war between our country and Xixia was not a matter of short-term victory or defeat, but a long-term plan. If we want to go to war, we must at least deploy troops and prepare food and grass.
The situation was very dangerous at the time. Xixia had already sent troops to the area. After discussion, the imperial court decided to abandon Suizhou after burning it, and did not ask our army to hold on to it. "
"Really? But what Magistrate Lu said about burning and abandoning the city did not happen." Zhang Fei couldn't help but ask curiously.
"You can ask Mr. Guo about this. He knows it best."
Lu Shen turned his head to look at Guo Kui standing beside him.
.
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