Upon arriving at the government office, the two were first held aside and asked to wait for a summons from inside.
The two scholars, who were always arrogant and haughty, were both angry and afraid when they were being suppressed by the bailiffs. Their faces were pale with a red tinge, of course, pale from fear and red from anger!
Xie Yushu was invited inside directly.
Inside, Han Zhongyu was already seated in the main seat. Xie Yushu, now a fourth-rank village lady, could hear about the case, so she was arranged to sit to Han Zhongyu's left. Qu Xiaodie and Nanxing stood behind Han Zhongyu.
The advisors and others had already taken their positions, and Han Zhongyu slammed the gavel down with a "smack".
Then Liu Nan's deep voice came.
"Your Excellency the Governor has entered the courtroom. Summon the plaintiff and defendant to the court!"
As soon as Liu Nan finished speaking, Sun Chongren was the first to enter, followed by Xiao Yuanhang and Li Mingcheng.
As soon as the group stood still, a shout of "Majesty!" rang out, and the disciplinary rods were struck rhythmically.
Sun Chongren remained calm, while Xiao Yuanhang and Li Mingcheng were startled.
The two men were now in a predicament they couldn't complain to. They had come to ambush Sun Chongren, but now they had essentially delivered themselves to his doorstep, leaving them no room to maneuver!
The rhythm of the stern warning stick was very powerful; the moment the sound was uttered, the atmosphere immediately became serious.
The essence of "majesty" comes from the idea that wealth and power cannot corrupt one, and that power cannot subdue one.
The mere mention of those two words signifies the integrity and uprightness of the court, its fearlessness in the face of power, and its courage to stand up for the people. It both inspires the good, reminding people not to fear authority, and intimidates the bad, making the criminals feel oppressed and thus revealing their true colors.
The reality was just like that. After the sound stopped, Sun Chongren calmly knelt in the hall to state his identity and then presented his petition, without even giving Xiao Yuanhang a glance!
Xiao Yuanhang and Li Mingcheng, on the other hand, were timid and hesitant, relying on their status as scholars and the privilege of not having to kneel before officials. They were both tempted to kneel and unwilling to kneel, racking their brains to find a way to escape.
However, at this point, no one cared about their emotions. From the moment Sun Chongren started beating the grievance drum at the yamen gate, people began to gather to watch. This time, the news spread like wildfire, and the yamen gate was surrounded by layers upon layers of people.
Prisoners have no dignity, and of course, the suspects in the yamen hall right now have none either. Regardless of how humiliated Xiao Yuanhang and his companion felt, the clerk, wanting everyone present to hear the situation clearly, still raised his voice and read aloud:
"complaint
In Yonghe County, Tai'an Prefecture, Sun Chongren, a villager from Badaoling, has accused Xiao Yuanhang and Li Mingcheng, students of the Yonghe County School, of stealing Sun Chongren's policy essays to cheat in the examination.
Afterwards, Sun Chongren sought justice from the two men, but was severely injured by Xiao Yuanhang, Li Mingcheng, and Cao Chengan.
The second lawsuit alleges that Xiao Yuanhang maliciously injured Sun Chongren in an attempt to prevent him from entering the examination hall. He loosened the rocks where Sun Chongren's father usually rested on the mountain, causing Sun Chongren's father to fall and roll down the hillside, sustaining serious injuries that led to his death two months later.
The plaintiffs are accused of three individuals, Xiao Yuanhang, Li Mingcheng, and Cao Chengan, who, in collusion with Liu Hong, the magistrate of Yonghe County, committed cheating in the imperial examinations, disrupting the examination order. They then violently suppressed the matter, severely injuring the plaintiffs.
I hereby accuse the magistrate of Yonghe County of abusing his power for personal gain and allowing his family to harm students. Such conduct makes him unfit to be an official. I beg Your Honor to uphold justice for this humble citizen!
Plaintiff
Sun Chongren
After the clerk finished reading the petition, the room erupted in an uproar!
"Such a thing actually happened!"
"That's right! I never imagined that these two people's scholar titles were plagiarized! They look respectable, yet they did such a thing!"
"You can know a person's face but not their heart. Haven't you heard? That guy in the blue robe even killed someone's father! He's heartless!"
"They're all scoundrels! Stealing other people's articles is shameless enough, but to beat someone up so badly is just plain inhuman! They've wasted their time studying the classics!"
"The most righteous are often the lowly butchers, while the most ungrateful are often the scholars. The more you read, the more cunning you become, and when they turn bad, it's truly impossible to guard against them!"
A group of people at the entrance were buzzing and pointing at Xiao Yuanhang and Li Mingcheng.
When Xiao Yuanhang heard the second clause of the complaint, his head went blank and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. Now, with the onlookers pointing and whispering about him all around him, he was completely flustered.
But thinking of the consequences of confessing, he had to stubbornly deny it, and before Han Zhongyu could even ask him any questions, he began to cry out that he was innocent.
"Your Honor is wise; he is talking nonsense, he is making a false accusation!"
I knew nothing about his father. I earned my scholar's degree through my own efforts. He must have been jealous of us because we passed the exam and he didn't, and deliberately framed us!
"That's right, sir. It's obvious that he's making a false accusation. Everyone takes the imperial examinations based on their own abilities. He just had bad luck and missed the exam. What does that have to do with us? We taught him a lesson because he was causing trouble for us everywhere. We hit him a few times to protect ourselves. As for the claim that Magistrate Liu is protecting us and abusing his power for personal gain, that's completely unfounded!"
He was flogged because he falsely accused a student, disrupted the court proceedings, and defied the authority of Magistrate Fan Liu.
This is all his own fault, and has nothing to do with us!
Besides, the blow wasn't that serious; he's perfectly fine right now!
Li Mingcheng no longer dared to call him "Brother-in-law" and "County Magistrate Liu." The two of them were now of one mind, and they would deny everything and refuse to admit it no matter what.
Liu Nan and Liu Bei had been watching Xiao Yuanhang and Li Mingcheng for so many days that they knew everything that was going on inside, and they looked down on the two men's character.
Especially knowing that Xiao Yuanhang dared to harass Xie Yushu, she had long wanted to teach him a lesson. Now she had a perfectly legitimate opportunity. Seeing the two of them yelling and shouting, she immediately stepped forward and slapped them both hard across the face several times, shouting...
"How dare you! Before the magistrate has even spoken, you two dare to roar in the courtroom and show disrespect for the magistrate's authority! Kneel down now!"
After saying that, another person kicked them, causing the two of them to fall to their knees with a thud!
Li Mingcheng had just shouted that Sun Chongren deserved to be beaten for disrupting court proceedings and offending Magistrate Liu's authority, and now he was giving them the same answer.
Caught off guard, the two were kicked to their knees with a thud, their faces turning pale with pain, and they instinctively let out a howl.
Nobody paid any attention!
Han Zhongyu slammed the gavel down again.
"Plaintiff Sun Chongren, what do you have to say about what Xiao Yuanhang and Li Mingcheng said?"
Although Sun Chongren was furious at the two men's shamelessness, he had witnesses and physical evidence in hand and was not afraid that they would not confess. So he stepped forward and bowed in response.
"Your Excellency, their statements are untrue. I have witnesses and physical evidence to prove what they did. As for my injuries, Your Excellency has already seen them. If it weren't for Doctor Xie's miraculous healing, I might still be in a mess!"
Speaking of Sun Chongren's injuries, Han Zhongyu had seen his terrible state back then, and nodded.
"Okay, bring out the physical evidence! The witness statement!"
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