The interrogation was still going on. At Jimo Yuan's command, the famous salt merchants in the city were pushed onto the stage. Each of them looked ashen, and some of them were lying on the ground like dead dogs.
Holding the record, Shen Shaoyan said loudly, "Fu Youcai, occupied fertile land, and killed four civilians. Do you admit it or not?"
"I admit it, I admit it! Please make a new decision, sir."
"Ge Jiafu forced women into prostitution and seized the Gu family's dyeing house and cloth shop... Lu Yunlai seized the Lin family's assets, beat two elderly Lin family members to death, and forcibly took a daughter from the Li family as a concubine..."
Most people confessed, and even the few who were unwilling to confess confessed when faced with solid evidence.
Jimo Yuan: "Who gave you the courage to act so tyrannically? Don't you fear the law?"
The evil wealthy businessman looked at Admiral Lu without saying a word.
Yan Qingtian: "Those who confess will be treated leniently, those who resist will be treated severely. Lu Zhenhai, do you have anything to confess?"
Lu Zhenhai clenched his fists tightly: "Sir, I don't know any of this."
"What an ignorant person! Someone, bring up the witness!"
After seeing who was coming, Lu Zhenhai's pupils constricted, and the onlookers were also a little confused.
Magistrate He, isn’t he dead?
As soon as Magistrate He arrived on the stage, he knelt down, tears streaming down his face.
He said that he was incompetent and arrested these evil businessmen, but the next moment he was asked by Admiral Lu to release them and threatened him with his son. He tried to muster up the courage to not release them, but Admiral Lu sent people to open the cell openly and let go of all the people he had arrested. Recently, he even sent people to assassinate him.
The students who chose to go to the government office stood up and said, "We can all testify that those who assassinated the prefect and were hung on the city wall were indeed Admiral Lu's men. Without his instructions, who would dare to assassinate a fourth-rank official of the imperial court?"
Lord Di angrily said, "What a great Admiral Lu! You disregard human life and the laws of the country. You are a first-rank official of the Great Mo Dynasty. Are you worthy of the people under you and the promotion of His Majesty?"
Prime Minister Fang said, "Your Majesty appointed you as the governor to protect the people. Instead, you murdered loyal officials, led your subordinates to run rampant in the countryside, and acted as a protector for local bullies. You truly failed His Majesty's trust! Killing you a hundred times is not too much."
Admiral Lu was still trying to argue: "I was busy suppressing the pirates, I really didn't know about these things!"
He Zhifu wiped away his tears and said, "I have evidence. This is a threatening letter sent to me by Admiral Lu. It is written in his own handwriting. Your Excellency will understand."
A stack of letters was presented, which contained not only Admiral Lu's signature, but also the seal of the Admiral's Office.
Prime Minister Fang said, "Lu Zhenhai, the evidence is irrefutable. What else do you have to say?"
Admiral Lu broke out in a cold sweat. Why was the letter still there? Didn't they say it was burned? What on earth was going on?
Lu Yanzhou was also confused. There was such a big fire that night. He watched the study burn to ashes with his own eyes before leaving. He was sure that Magistrate He did not come out. Could there be some secret passage inside?
There was indeed a secret passage, which was deployed in advance by Jimo Yuan and He Zhifu. They didn't know when Admiral Lu would take action, so they planned to let He Zhifu escape first to avoid being assassinated endlessly by Admiral Lu.
Shen Shaoyan arrived sooner than Jimo Yuan expected, so Prefect He only hid for two days before coming out.
Admiral Lu still refused to admit it: "My Lords, these are all forged by them."
"What a forgery! All the wealthy businessmen present here, tell me for yourselves, have you colluded with Lu Zhenhai? Has he supported you?"
The wealthy businessmen trembled with fear, and Shen Shaoyan shouted: "Tell the truth!"
The wealthy businessmen shuddered, their defenses collapsed, and one of them finally admitted that it was indeed Admiral Lu who was protecting them from behind.
"If it weren't for Admiral Lu, we wouldn't have the courage to do this. Prefect He is no pushover either..."
If there is one, there will be two, and the wealthy businessmen all admit it.
Yan Qingtian slammed the table and said, "Lu Zhenhai, are you going to confess or not?!"
Faced with the angry glares of the people in the city and the covetous eyes of the three adults, Admiral Lu felt very pressured and finally couldn't bear it and admitted it.
He thought, this matter could be serious or minor, at most he would lose his job.
However, what he didn't expect was that Jimo Yuan suddenly smiled meaningfully.
"Since you admit that these letters were written by you, then please explain the illegal salt trafficking. According to what you wrote in your letters, you are all the same. Every salt merchant present here will be punished accordingly. As I said before, those who confess can receive a lighter punishment."
Selling illegal salt!
The people were in an uproar. That was a serious crime of confiscating property and killing people!
"I was wondering why Admiral Lu was protecting these salt merchants. It turns out there's a conflict of interest."
"As expected, the events that would make His Majesty send a prince as an imperial envoy are all major events. And all of you gentlemen are important pillars of the court..."
Admiral Lu thought the matter was over, but he didn't expect that they had also found out about the illegal salt trafficking. In front of everyone, Shen Shaoyan handed the evidence he had found in Jimo Yuan to Prime Minister Fang.
Admiral Lu’s face turned pale. These were all his stolen things, how could they have them!
"Lu Zhenhai lied about the salt production at the salt works, selling official salt as illicit salt, transporting it to various cities by water, evading salt taxes and harming the interests of the imperial court. He should be executed according to the law."
He Zhifu said, "I testify that this matter is true. In addition, there is another person who can confirm it. He is a spy planted by me in the salt field. The daily salt production is recorded."
When the person he was talking about jumped onto the platform, the salt merchants saw that there was no room for recovery and they all bowed their heads and confessed their guilt. Admiral Lu was disheartened.
General Chen wanted to take the responsibility on himself, but no one present was stupid and no one would let him do whatever he wanted. He was charged with an even more serious crime because of this incident and was sentenced to death in the autumn.
Admiral Lu winked at Lu Yanzhou, then suddenly stood up and started attacking the people next to him. The people who followed him jumped up one after another. Instead of sitting and waiting to die, it was better to fight hard.
Someone from the audience quickly rushed to the stage to cover Admiral Lu's retreat. Shen Shaoyan led the Shen family army to fight with them, killing most of them and capturing some alive. When they were counting the number of people, they found that Lu Yanzhou had run away.
Jimo Yuan: "Pass the order down, seal off the entire city."
…………～～～…………
Sheng Qiyue took advantage of the opportunity when Jimo Yuan and Shen Shaoyan left, put on a veil, took the gold she had saved, and rented a carriage to leave the city.
It was really strange today. There were few people on the street. When I asked, I found out that they all went to watch the interrogation of the imperial envoy.
The coachman was an elderly man who also wanted to join in the fun, so he asked Sheng Qiyue to stay in the carriage outside the crowd and he nimbly slipped into the crowd.
Sheng Qiyue Erkang's hand...
Unable to find another carriage for a while, Sheng Qiyue secretly lifted the curtain to look, secretly wondering whether she should leave first.
However, as soon as she got off the carriage, there was a commotion outside. Everyone was running for their lives. The driver came back in a flash and said, "Girl, get on the carriage quickly. Let's go!"
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