Chapter 137 Obtaining the Truth
In the backyard, after Xue Xuan calmly uttered these words, the three "investigators" present were stunned. They did not expect her to be so direct and without any preparation.
Zhao Duan looked at her with great interest:
"You knew this was what we were asking?"
Xue Xuan, wearing a female scholar's robe and with her black hair tied back, said calmly,
"After much thought, I believe the only case worth your attention is my father's unjust case. It's a case that has been settled. Lord Zhao is questioning me because he must want to know a different version of the story."
Her narration was clear and coherent, and even though she had just lost her composure due to threats not long ago, she was now calm.
"It seems that Xue Lin taught you well back then."
Zhao Duan exclaimed in admiration, worthy of being the woman who almost married into the Dong family.
Haitang asked curiously:
"You said that Xue Shaoqing was wrongly killed back then?"
Zhang Han's expressionless face also lit up:
"Sit down and tell me in detail!"
This answer contained so much information that even Zhao Duan sat up straighter.
There really is something to this clue!
Xue Xuan sat down as he was told, but did not start talking immediately. Instead, he looked at Haitang, who was the most talkative.
"I don't know what you know, or what you want to hear."
We want to hear the part that disappeared from the documents... The three of them murmured in their hearts, but they didn't dare to reveal it.
Zhao Duan said first:
"Just tell me the complete story of the case that you know about."
"Yes." Xue Xuan did not dare to disobey. He recalled briefly, as if organizing his words, and then said:
"The first incident was a complaint received by the government office regarding the death of Centurion Yang An..."
The first half of Xue Xuan's narrative was not much different from what Zhao Duan saw in the files.
The cause was that Yang An's colleagues claimed that the deceased was murdered by his wife Yue, his brother-in-law, his neighbor Hao, and a low-ranking priest of the Tianshi Mansion.
The difference is that there are more details, such as the warlock's full name, "Chen Rong".
After the case was judged and determined by the government office, it was sent to the Three Courts for review. It was approved by the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice, but it was stuck when it came to the Dali Temple.
"At that time, the person in charge of reviewing the case was my father, Xue Lin," Xue Xuan recounted.
"My father, as an official, liked to do things personally. When he was looking through the files at the government office, he found that Yue's confession was inconsistent and also differed from the confessions of several others. With his many years of experience in solving cases, he determined that she had been forced to confess.
The case was dismissed and remanded to the Ministry of Justice for review. However, the Ministry upheld the original verdict, and my father dismissed it again. This went on for several times.”
Yes, yes, that’s it!
Zhao Duan was shocked, the file ended here.
He suddenly felt like the novel he was following had been updated:
"Then?"
Xue Xuan narrated calmly:
"After several rounds of back and forth, the then Chief Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate, now the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Zhou Cheng, came to see my father in person to argue the case with him.
My father refused to acknowledge the result reached by both the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice. Doesn't that mean that the other two departments were incompetent?
Zhou Cheng went to court several times and even flew into a rage, but my father refused to compromise and insisted on rejecting the retrial.
So tough? Zhao Duan was surprised.
I immediately remembered that the information did describe Xue Lin's resume.
When he was young, this man had studied under Grand Tutor Dong and was quite famous in the circle of scholars. Later, he entered the official career and solved many major cases. He was known for his "integrity" and was highly praised by his contemporaries.
It is understandable that an official with strong backing, ability and integrity would not give Zhou Cheng face.
Zhang Han asked doubtfully:
"Logically, the case is being dragged between the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice. Why did Zhou Cheng jump out first and act so urgently?"
Xue Xuan glanced at him and suddenly said:
"Since you are all here at the Imperial Court, you should know who the last Governor was, right?"
Taking office as governor?
The three of them looked at each other.
Haitang nodded first and said:
"Of course I know. The previous governor was Wang Zhen, the eunuch who held the seal of the palace. He controlled the imperial court for over ten years. So, when your father was imprisoned, the imperial court was controlled by Wang Zhen."
Wang Zhen?
Zhao Duan squeezed his brain cells and finally remembered this character.
This man was a eunuch whom the old emperor relied on quite a lot in his later years. It was said that at his peak, he had more than 20 tasks to perform, had considerable power, and was able to interfere in court affairs.
He was also a powerful eunuch of his generation.
However, during the Xuanmen coup, this person was accompanying the old emperor and was killed in the chaos... and died silently.
After that, the empress ascended the throne, and Ma Yan was promoted to replace Wang Zhen as the new governor. This was probably the timeline.
Xue Xuan nodded and said calmly:
"Back then, Wang Zhen was quite powerful. When my father took office as the Junior Minister of the Dali Temple, Wang Zhen sent gifts to win him over. My father was a disciple of Grand Tutor Dong and had always been at odds with the eunuchs in the palace, so he declined.
He also said some unpleasant things, thus offending Wang Zhen."
"At that time, Minister Zhou was in charge of the Censorate and was very close to Eunuch Wang... Perhaps Minister Zhou acted in order to curry favor with Eunuch Wang. At least, that's what my father thought at the time."
Factional struggle... Zhao Duan shook his head and understood the reason:
"Then what?"
Xue Xuan said:
"Seeing that my father refused to budge, Prime Minister Zhou then teamed up with the Ministry of Justice to put pressure on the Dali Temple. After a long time, my father began to feel the pressure was too much, so one of his judges offered a suggestion: if all else failed, the case could be submitted to the late emperor for his final decision."
The story continues!
The three of them pricked up their ears. The file had briefly mentioned this matter, but it was not detailed.
Xue Xuan continued:
"But after the case was submitted, the three courts disagreed, and the late emperor didn't know how to make a decision. He therefore summoned an old censor named Pan from the Censorate and ordered him to reinvestigate the murder."
"Let the people from the Censorate investigate?" Zhang Han was surprised.
Zhao Duan glanced at him and said lightly:
"Since the late emperor made such an arrangement, it means that this Censor Pan is definitely not on the same side as Prime Minister Zhou."
Just like Lu Liang is also an imperial censor, but he and his immediate superior Yuan Li belong to completely different factions. This is very normal.
Xue Xuan heard this and nodded:
"Indeed, Censor Pan is not one of Zhou Cheng's men. After a careful investigation, he discovered that the case was indeed wrongly judged. Yang An had been ill for a long time and could not be cured. The Yue family did ask their neighbor, the Hao family, and the sorcerer Shen Rong to treat him, but they did not poison him.
As for the adultery, it was a complete fabrication, and Yang An simply died of a natural illness. Censor Pan reported this to the late emperor, and the late emperor, seeing the facts were clear, issued a ruling with a single stroke of his pen, releasing the arrested Yue family members and imprisoning the false accusers.
The case was cleared? The three were surprised at first, then even more puzzled.
Haitang is curious:
"The case has been investigated and the dust has settled, so why is there another stir?"
Xue Xuan was silent for a moment and said:
"Because Wang Zhen intervened."
The governor of the imperial court back then?
What happened?
Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows and thought that this case was becoming more and more interesting.
Xue Xuan said:
"After Wang Zhen sent someone to intervene, the case was quickly reversed. Censor Pan, who was in charge of the investigation, was accused of deceiving the emperor, and the four Yue family members who had been released also changed their statements again.
Wang Zhen's explanation is that my father accepted bribes, and since he and the sorcerer Shen Rong were both from Wuling, they were actually from the same hometown. Therefore, he abused his power and perverted the law to protect me. Censor Pan was also involved, and he and other officials from the Dali Temple were working together to deceive the late emperor.
"After Wang Zhen reported this to the late emperor, he was furious and ordered my father, Censor Pan, and other officials involved in the case to be imprisoned and handed over to the Censorate for trial.
It is conceivable what the outcome of the trial will be, as Zhou Cheng, who is in charge of the Censorate, will come out.
After my father and others were imprisoned in the Metropolitan Censorate's "Taiyuan Prison," they were severely tortured and forced to confess. Many of them could not bear the punishment and followed Zhou Cheng and his men's instructions to make false accusations, implicating more and more people...
As for the final result, the adults also know it.
My father died, and Censor Pan was exiled and died on the way."
There was a slight silence in the room.
Xue Xuan gave a more detailed version of the case, but the three became more confused.
Whether it was Censor Pan who was inexplicably accused of deceiving the emperor, or the four Yue family members who had already been released from prison and suddenly confessed their guilt.
It is obvious that it was all the work of that eunuch Wang. He tortured people into confessing and framed them. His methods were extremely simple.
Zhao Duan narrowed his eyes and said:
"You mean, all this is because of Wang Zhen? Because your father offended this eunuch Wang, so Eunuch Wang used this case to collude with Zhou Cheng to frame your father?"
Zhang Han and Haitang also frowned slightly.
Everyone thinks this statement makes sense, but it always feels a bit far-fetched.
After all, Xue Lin was not a simple person back then. He had a group of literati headed by Grand Tutor Dong behind him.
Even his daughter was engaged to the Dong family. Even though Eunuch Wang was powerful, he would intervene and frame her just for such a small matter?
Xue Xuan seemed to have seen through their thoughts. The female teacher who was hiding in the alleys of East City suddenly laughed at herself:
"At first, I thought so, but later I found out there was something else going on."
"Hidden secret?" Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows.
Xue Xuan said "yes" and said calmly:
"At that time, Wang Zhen had an adopted son whom he loved very much, and he also arranged for him to work in the imperial court.
The adopted son of eunuch Wang accidentally met Yue, the wife of Captain Yang An, one day. He was attracted by her beauty and wanted to take her away by force, but failed, so he held a grudge against her.
After learning of Yang An's death, he secretly bribed Yang An's colleague and ordered him to make a false accusation in an attempt to take revenge."
Zhao Duan and the other two were stunned. They didn't expect that the very first case contained such a big secret.
He even ate the melon and ended up hurting his own government.
Xue Xuan laughed at himself and said:
“Originally, if my father hadn’t interfered, this unjust case would have been resolved. Wang Zhen’s adopted son never imagined that the matter would escalate to such a level that it could no longer be resolved.
Censor Pan reported that after the late emperor made his ruling, he was so angry about such a trivial matter that he even went to the Golden Palace to make a scene, summoned Zhou Cheng and others, scolded them, and fined their salaries.
"In fact, Zhou Cheng already knew that the mastermind behind this case was Eunuch Wang's adopted son. The reason the Censorate approved this case was to save Eunuch Wang's face.
He went to the Dali Temple to put pressure on my father for the same reason."
It turned out to be like this...
So, Zhou Cheng ran over and slammed the table in order to help Wang Zhen’s adopted son… Zhao Duan took a deep breath.
I didn't expect that this case was full of foreshadowing...
Zhang Han and Haitang looked at each other in confusion: "What happens next?"
Xue Xuan said:
"After being punished, Zhou Cheng probably felt that the punishment shouldn't be in vain, so he went to see Wang Zhen and explained the whole story. He also wanted to gain some benefits. After all, in the final analysis, he had gone through all this trouble out of 'filial piety' to Eunuch Wang."
"When Wang Zhen learned that the root of the problem was his adopted son's lust, he was quite dissatisfied and called him over to give him a good scolding.
The adopted son dared not admit it and refused to confess, insisting that Censor Pan was lying and that the case had nothing to do with him.
"As a powerful eunuch, how could Wang Zhen tolerate any injustice? I think he knew his adopted son was lying.
But at that time, the court was in the midst of a political struggle, with Wang Zhen and Grand Tutor Dong and others at loggerheads. My father, as the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, was a thorn in Wang Zhen's side..."
Zhao Duan sighed and concluded:
"So, even though Wang Zhen knew it was his adopted son's fault, he still realized this was a good opportunity to strike at the enemy, and that's why he acted, turning the already proven case upside down?"
Xue Xuan nodded.
The secret story that had been suppressed for more than ten years was finally revealed today. For her, it was also a painful memory of the past.
The elegant and bookish lady said:
"That's all I know."
"I have another question," Haitang suddenly asked:
"What's the name of Wang Zhen's adopted son?"
The reason why she asked was not for anything else, but mainly because the other party had also served as a Jinyiwei captain in the imperial court, and was a "predecessor" to the three of them.
Really curious.
Xue Xuan was silent for a moment, then uttered a name:
"Wang Shan."
…
…
At the same time, in South City.
In a usually uninhabited house, Qin Qu, a short man who liked to wear silk clothes and had a fan stuck behind his neck, was tied to a pillar and beaten until he screamed like a ghost.
After he came out of the Jiaofangsi, he had not walked far when he was blindfolded, knocked unconscious, and kidnapped here.
The other party beat me up without saying a word.
There was a carriage parked at the door of the house.
He Zheng, the Dali Temple Secretary, sat quietly in the carriage, tapping his legs with his fingers. In his ears, he could hear low, humming screams coming from the yard.
a long time.
The screaming in the yard stopped, and after a while, the gate was pushed open.
The Dali Temple official who had been acting as the coachman, dressed in plain clothes, walked up to the carriage and whispered:
"Sir, this Qin Qu has confessed. He said that the only time he knew of Zhao Duan possibly sleeping with a woman was at the Wang residence."
He Zheng opened his eyes and stopped tapping his fingers on his thigh. His eyes lit up first.
I thought that after all this trouble, I finally found Zhao Duan's flaw.
Then he frowned and said, "Wang's house? Which Wang's house?"
There are many people with the surname Wang in the capital, so he was not sure for a moment.
The clerk whispered a name:
"Wang Shan."
…
P.S. The case mentioned in this chapter is not my own creation. It is based on a real case that happened during the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty. Some details have been modified, but the general process remains unchanged.
I read this story in a book by Ma Boyong, but Prince Ma did not adapt it into a novel. He just wrote an article to record the incident. The title of the article was "Four Wronged Souls during the Zhengtong Period". After reading it, I thought it was a good material, so I simply adapted it into a novel, haha.
(End of this chapter)
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