Chapter 128 Lu Changli deceives the king!
"Yes, then I will go check the sachet first." Having said that, Snow Wolf had no choice but to shut up.
In the Ministry of Justice court.
"We have a letter of denunciation written by Wei Zhenglin himself. Fang Yaozu, do you have anything else to say?" Lu Changqing looked at the kneeling person proudly.
Fang Yaozong couldn't stand the torture yesterday and fainted, so he couldn't go to court today. Now it's the younger and thinner Fang Yaozu who has taken over, and he will sign the name sooner or later.
"There is nothing to say. My father supported Prince Yong out of justice. It was definitely not a clique for personal gain as you said!" Fang Yaozu had become extremely thin, with shackles on his hands and feet. He glanced at the middle-aged man kneeling beside him and said, "It's not surprising that Lord Wei wrote this for the sake of his family's lives. I can also write a letter of denunciation to accuse Lord Wei of colluding with Prince Yong..."
"You... are slandering me!" Wei Zhenglin panicked and rushed up to fight with Fang Yaozu.
The two middle-aged prisoners fought in the court.
"Someone, pull them apart for me!" Lu Changqing frowned.
Two bailiffs immediately stepped forward and pulled the two apart. Lu Changqing glanced at Fang Yaozu smugly, then looked at the torture instruments beside him: "Fang Yaozu, I think you are just like your elder brother, you won't cry until you see the coffin."
"Uncle, are you okay?" Fang Jue supported Fang Yaozu, whose face was scratched by Wei Zhenglin, and looked up at Lu Changqing. "My lords, my uncle is old. If you want to torture him, come to me!"
"Fang Jue!" Yan Fenghua wanted to persuade him, but she didn't know how. Once this torture device was used, even a good person would become disabled. "You still have a long life ahead of you..."
Lu Changqing suddenly laughed sarcastically: "It's rare that Young Master Fang asked for your permission, how can I not oblige you? Come, torture Fang Jue!"
There was panic in the court.
The young master of the Fang family was personally taught by Master Fang. He was familiar with the classics at the age of four, and his handwriting was already famous in the capital when he was six. He was trained to be the top scholar since he was a child! If the torture is applied, the fingers will be broken. How can he hold a pen in the future?
Fang Jue stubbornly stretched out ten fingers: "Come on!"
Lu Changqing's face darkened, and three yamen runners came out, one holding Fang Jue's shoulders, while two of them, one on the left and one on the right, were about to torture him.
"Wait!" Fang Qianxue suddenly walked in from outside the court room.
"Princess Beining," said Zhuang Yucheng, the Minister of the Dali Temple, unhappily, "Yesterday, because Fang Yaozong fainted, we made an exception and allowed you to come to the court. Why are you here again today?"
"This important case being tried by the three courts concerns the lives of hundreds of people in our Fang family. Do we have to hide it? I can't stand it." Fang Qianxue looked directly at Lu Changqing who was sitting upstairs. The latter looked down at her with vicious eyes.
"If you want to listen, I'll let you listen, so that you can be convinced." Lu Changqing said with a smile, "You came at the right time. I was just about to torture Fang Jue. You can just watch from the side."
Fang Qianxue looked at Fang Jue, then at Lu Changqing, and her heart felt cold.
When the two of them first got married, they often visited the Fang family. Fang Jue was young at that time, and he always followed Lu Changqing with admiration in his eyes, calling him "Brother-in-law, brother-in-law". Lu Changqing also taught Fang Jue to write in a gentle and elegant manner. Who would have thought that today he would want to cut off Fang Jue's hand without even blinking an eye.
It’s so cold and indifferent.
"Unfortunately, there are doubts in this case. My grandfather's confession was imitated by someone. Since my grandfather's confession is fake, the fact that my family colluded with Prince Yong is completely false."
"You don't think that we, the three courts, can just rely on your lies in the trial, do you?" said Zhuang Yucheng, the Minister of the Dali Temple, unhappily.
"Princess Beining, this is the court of the Ministry of Justice," Yan Fenghua was sweating and frowned at her, "Everything requires evidence."
Regarding the letter of repentance, he had already sent people to look for famous calligraphers and painters in the capital who could do handwriting authentication, but they all said that unless the original copy was found, or the person who copied it personally was found, it would be difficult to verify the authenticity of the letter of repentance.
The person who forged the letter of repentance had probably been killed long ago.
Lu Changqing leaned back in his chair, looking at Fang Qianxue with a gloating look, and said, "Princess, I have a close relationship with you and the Fang family, but unless there is evidence, I cannot be partial to you."
"I have evidence." Fang Qianxue was waiting for him to say this. "The three adults are all here today. Please take a look at these two handwritten letters from my grandfather. Every word in the letter of repentance was copied from these two letters. The size of the handwriting is exactly the same."
After she finished speaking, she took out three letters from her sleeve and asked the clerk to present them to her: "And this one, I asked Lord Wei to authenticate it, and it proves that my grandfather's letter of repentance was a forgery."
As she spoke slowly, the courtroom suddenly became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Then Lu Changqing said in panic, "Nonsense! Someone, get her out!"
"Wait!" Yan Fenghua said, "Lord Lu, His Majesty ordered us to hold a joint trial to prevent wrongful convictions. If we conceal evidence, it would be a violation of the law. Come on, present the evidence!"
When the two letters were presented, Lu Changqing suddenly felt like the sky had fallen. He had clearly hidden them in the bamboo slips in his study... How could the letters be here? Fang Qianxue hadn't been to his study for a long time, and he thought it was foolproof! I should have listened to Prime Minister Yang and burned the letter!
"Lord Lu, this... this is really the letter from Lord Wei, and the handwriting of these two letters is exactly the same as the one in the confession!" Zhuang Yucheng held the letter in one hand and the confession in the other hand to compare, "This proves that Master Fang's confession was forged by someone with ulterior motives!"
"This," Lu Changqing was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat, "There must be a reason for this. Even if the letter of repentance is fake, it can't prove that Master Fang didn't form a clique for personal gain and interfere with the crown prince's removal and enthronement..."
"Lord Lu! The key evidence in this case is wrong, which means it is very likely a frame-up by someone with ulterior motives. I will go to the palace now and ask Your Majesty to make a decision!" After Yan Fenghua said this, he stood up and led several yamen runners to the Weiyang Palace.
About half an hour later, the eunuch's voice came from outside the court: "The emperor has arrived!"
Everyone walked down the steps and knelt on both sides of the court to welcome Emperor Ming.
"Lu Changqing, I asked you to try a case, why did you ask me to leave the palace?" Emperor Ming sat on the throne unhappily and looked at the people below and asked, "What's going on?"
"Your Majesty," Zhuang Yucheng quickly handed over several letters in his hand, "The confession of Grand Tutor Fang was forged, so... so Lord Yan suspected that someone had framed the Fang family."
The old emperor picked up a few letters and glanced at them. His face darkened and he slammed the table: "How dare you!"
"Your Majesty, please calm down!" Everyone kowtowed.
"Lu Changqing, the letter of repentance from Grand Tutor Fang was handed over by your brother Lu Changli, who said that it was written by Grand Tutor Fang in the prison of the Supervisory Department. Now there is a problem with this letter of repentance, which means that Lu Changli is deceiving the emperor!"
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