Ming Dynasty: At the beginning, the house was ransacked and the ancestral temple was burned down.

Chapter 89 He is the mastermind of the demon book! ? ? ?
  When the case reaches this point, everyone is confused.

After a long time of co-writing, Shen Shixing, the 'mastermind', and Zhang Chonghui, the 'witness', have never met each other?
  Of course no one would believe it. After all, this case was tried by Jin Yiwei before. How could Jin Yiwei make such a low-level mistake?

"Shen Shixing, Zhang Chonghui, you two should stop pretending to be stupid!" Li Shida, the censor of Zuodu, questioned again:
  "Over the years, you two have exchanged so many letters, how is it possible that you have never even met in person? You two are so collusive that you dare to deceive the court official in front of the court! In my opinion, these two people should be tortured directly before they are willing to do so. Tell the truth!”

"Torture! Torture! Torture again!" Yu Shenxing was so angry that he clenched his fists and smashed the table repeatedly, saying angrily:

"It's just a trial now, and there's no conviction yet! You guys are clamoring for torture! Have you ever thought about one thing? Mr. Shen Ge is the emperor's teacher!

Don’t you have a teacher? Don’t you have any students?
  Everyone here is basically a disciple of the Emperor who has passed Jinshi! What does it mean to be a disciple of the emperor? Don't you think you need me to explain it to you?
  We are all disciples of the Emperor! The emperor is our teacher! You are so ignorant! He is the emperor’s son and father!

So without a teacher or a father! Is it possible that you have read so much of the teachings of the sages! Did you read everything into the dog's belly?

Apply what you have learned and combine knowledge with action! Those who know but do not know do not know! We are now trying cases for the imperial court, and even more so for the emperor and his father!

You keep talking about using cruel punishments on the emperor's mentor, in order to torture him to extract the testimony and answers you want!

You are not just being arrogant! You even want to trap the emperor into being unkind and unjust!
  You people! Do you have to let your father bear the burden of being ruthless and unjust? The infamy of having no teacher and no father! Only then are you willing to give up! "

Yu Shenxing once again used the "bind the emperor" move. This move can be said to be the basic skill of ministers in the court. Anyway, if you encounter something that you can't argue with, then involve the emperor.

In this way, whether it is black or white, you can pull it towards the black side, and you will be messed up anyway.

Yu Shenxing is capable of becoming the Minister of Rites while continuing to offend others.

And Li Shida was able to become the censor of Zuodu in the censorship, so he naturally had a lot of "brushes". Faced with Shen Xing's strong accusation, he sneered:
  "Haha, what a 'no teacher, no father'! Shen Shixing is indeed the emperor's teacher, but so what? There is only one king and father for all people in the world, and that is the emperor!
  No subject can live above the emperor! Even if it’s the Emperor’s Master!

Sir, when you spoke so highly of Shen Shixing, the master's 'father', could it be that you meant that the status of Shen Shixing, the 'master', could be above that of the Son of Heaven, the King and the Father? "

As soon as Li Shida finished speaking, his censor Ma Zai jumped out and forcibly slapped Yu Shenxing on his head and said:

"As we all know, the only people who can be above the emperor and father are the emperors and ancestors! Mr. Yu, you are so brave! You dare to say such things that are against Tiangang and have no regard for the emperor's ancestors! Do you know your guilt? "

Li Shida and others' move of 'binding the emperor with a backhand' and 'binding the emperor's ancestors' directly questioned the guilt. It can be said that Yu Shenxing was caught off guard!
  Although Yu Shenxing had long expected that these people would be difficult to deal with, he didn't expect that they could actually involve the 'Imperial Ancestors'. In this case, the situation became even more difficult.

However, Yu Shenxing was not made of mud. He was a student of Zhang Juzheng and had been an official in the government for many years. He knew very well that Li Shida and others were digging a hole for him and forcing him to jump into it!

If he follows the other party's words and defends himself, he will fall into a trap! What's more, he fulfilled the other party's wish and jumped into the pit!
  Faced with this kind of "blaming" questioning, the best solution is not to explain, but to "push back" in the opposite direction!
  "Rebel Tiangang? Haha!" Yu Shenxing burst into laughter first, and then turned around and asked with stern eyes:
  "You said that I, Yu Shenxing, rebelled against Tiangang? What a joke! With so many people here, anyone with eyes and ears can see and hear that it is obviously you two who rebel against Tiangang!"

As soon as these words came out, Li Shida and the Ma Zai Yushi were both stunned. However, before they could refute, they saw Yu Shenxing pointing at their noses and continuing to curse:

"You used public affairs to repay private affairs. In order to achieve your own ulterior motives, you actually wanted to use my unintentional words to throw dirty water on the Emperor!
  In the end, you actually dared to point the finger at the 'Emperor Ancestors'!
  OK! You are so brave! I want to ask you a question on behalf of the Emperor today! Do you know your sin? ? "

"Yu Shenxing, you...!" Li Shida almost couldn't hold himself back and cursed out "Fragrant Words".

Although these Jinshi gentlemen who have read the books of sages and sages are usually polite, when they are really in a hurry, they are no more polite than ordinary people.

What's more, they will even roll up their sleeves and fight each other in public.

Seeing that the situation was about to develop into a fight, the chief referee Sun Piyang hurriedly stepped forward and shouted: "Everyone, be quiet!"

Sun Piyang's words reminded Li Shida, who was also the presiding judge, and even then he took on the pretense of being the presiding judge and gave orders to Shen Xing:

"Master Yu, don't forget! The emperor has ordered that the three judges will be the presiding judge in this trial! As the Minister of Etiquette, you are only a jury member! Please don't forget the priority!"

Yu Shenxing didn't care about the other party's demonstration, and replied: "Priority! Only people with a clear distinction between public and private affairs can distinguish the priority! If the person sitting on the throne has hidden secrets in official matters, If you are selfish, then this 'Lord' is not worthy of being this 'Lord'!"

Li Shida was so angry that his beard was about to fly.

Seeing that the situation was getting more and more chaotic, Sun Piyang, with a 'public' attitude, warned Yu Shenxing: "Master Yu, please respect the presiding judge! Be careful what you say!"

At the same time, Sun Piyang also warned Li Shida: "Don't have conflicts between colleagues because of official matters!"

For a time, both 'thorn heads' were warned.

At this moment, the originally tense atmosphere could only calm down.

The scene was calm, but many people present felt a little uninterested.

After all, they are all here to watch the fun.

Just watch the fun, of course the more lively the better! It would be even more fun and lively if you could see someone start a fight because of excessive words!
  At this point, we can no longer watch the excitement, and can only watch the serious trial.

"It's pointless to say more now." Shen Li, who was the Minister of the Ministry of Industry at the time, actually spoke up. He looked at the files in his hand and said leisurely:

"The file reviewed by Dongchang states that on the afternoon of August 20th, the only person who came to visit the Shen family at first was Zhang Yunxiu, Zhang Juzheng's fifth son. And Zhang Chonghui was later sent by Shenge's old housekeeper and others to visit Found it on the street.

Now Mr. Shen Ge and Zhang Chonghui both said that they had never met each other, and with August 20th being the date, they did seem suspicious. Instead of arguing here, adults, it would be better to immediately bring the butler of the Shen family and others to court to confront each other and prove the facts. "

Many people did not expect that someone like Shen Li, who "goes his own way" and doesn't like to get involved in trivial matters, would actually participate in this trial, and he would also stand on a "neutral" stance.

After all, in the eyes of many people, the relationship between Shen Li and Shen Shixing is extremely inconsistent.

It is said that the reason why the two did not get along was because Shen Li was an upright person and refused to rely on Shen Shixing, who was on both sides of the head and rat. As the chief assistant, Shen Shixing not only hated Shen Li in his heart, but even used official business as an excuse to suppress Shen Li from time to time.

This is the rumor, but only they themselves know whether this is actually the case.

"Should we announce the witness first?" The person who spoke carefully was Zhao Zhigao, the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. This person was the candidate recommended by Shen Shixing to join the cabinet before he resigned, and he was also the 'Shen Party' in everyone's eyes at this moment.

Zhao Zhigao spoke in a low voice and was very nervous, but he still spoke up bravely.

Sun Piyang, the presiding judge of the Ministry of Punishment, didn't care about the party or non-partisanship. All he wanted was to end the case quickly. After all, the Ministry of Punishment still had a lot of things to deal with.

"First bring up the housekeeper of the Shen family and the few servants who went to look for Zhang Chonghui that day." Sun Piyang ordered while looking through the files.

Not long after, the Shen family housekeeper and several servants were brought up.

"Have you ever seen this person?" Sun Piyang pointed at Zhang Chonghui and asked the housekeeper and several servants.

The housekeeper of Shen Mansion and several servants carefully looked at the young man in front of them, scratched their heads, noses, and ears. After reviewing their memories, they all shook their heads and said:
  "I don't think I've seen it before."

At this time, the atmosphere in the lobby of the Criminal Department became even weirder.

Li Shida couldn't sit still. He asked straightforwardly and excitedly: "Are you sure that Zhang Chonghui who went to the street to find that day was not this boy?"

Everyone shook their heads: "No."

The housekeeper of the Shen family even added: "Replying to this adult, I remember very clearly that the young man we were looking for that day was not as tall as him, and was almost a whole head shorter than him."

As soon as these words came out, everyone was stunned for a moment!
  Immediately afterwards, they frantically looked through the files in their hands, trying to find clues that would be beneficial to each of them.

Among this group of officials who were frantically searching through files and eagerly looking for useful clues, there was one person who was absent-minded.

This person is Yu Shenxing, who was still "talking among the Confucian scholars" not long ago!
  At this time, Yu Shenxing could no longer read a single word in the file. He was just flipping through it blindly, just to make himself less 'conspicuous' in the crowd.

Yu Shenxing already had some speculations in his mind, followed by panic that made his heart beat faster.

In order to verify his 'guess', he mustered up the courage to look at Zhang Chonghui, who was being interrogated in the middle of the lobby.

Zhang Chonghui seemed to have expected it. His eyes, which were still looking around, met Yu Shenxing's gaze immediately when he looked at him!
  This exchange of glances lasted only a breath, but it almost made Yu Shenxing's breathing stop!

While hurriedly returning his gaze to the file, Yu Shenxing, who had confirmed his suspicion, said in shock:
  "Oops! He wants to do it again! Get everyone involved!"

"What on earth does he want to do!?"

... Everyone frantically looked through the files, carefully and eagerly, and soon someone discovered new clues!
  "It is recorded in the file that the fool named Liu Erwu said that on the evening of August 24, a young man who had just turned eighteen took a large stack of demon books and ordered him to spread them. What he said was Who is this young man who has just turned eighteen? Could it be Zhang Chonghui?"

The person who spoke was Lu Guangzu, who was the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the Minister of the Ministry of War at that time. This man was the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the head of the six departments, and had a high status.

It is worth mentioning that after Zhang Juzheng's death, when everyone in the imperial court was trying to "defeat Zhang", Lu Guangzu was a very rare person who stood up and spoke for Zhang Juzheng. He once said bluntly at the time: "The merits of being the leader and supporting the wing cannot be forgotten."

What's more worth mentioning is that although Lu Guangzu stood up and spoke justice for Zhang Juzheng when thousands of people despised him, he was extremely inconsistent with Shen Shixing, who was single-handedly promoted by Zhang Juzheng.

After Lu Guangzu raised this question, almost everyone present turned their attention to Zhang Chonghui.

It was self-evident that everyone suspected that Zhang Chonghui was the so-called young man who had just turned eighteen.

After all, the day when Zhang Chonghui 'met' Shen Shixing and the day when Liu Erwu was ordered were both August 24th, and they were both in the afternoon to evening hours.

"No, I'm only thirteen years old." Zhang Chonghui defended himself seemingly speechlessly.

Li Shida immediately retorted: "But you look like eighteen!"

Zhang Chonghui did not defend himself anymore, but sighed helplessly. Finally, he turned around and asked Shen Shixing, who was standing next to him: "Old man, do you think I look like an eighteen-year-old?"

Shen Shixing, who had been silent for a long time, gave a rare smile and replied meaningfully: "I think you look like 80 years old."

"People in the hall should not whisper to each other!" Sun Piyang first warned, and then ordered someone to bring Liu Erwu to the hall for confrontation.

In fact, at this point, it is no longer necessary to announce or not that Liu Erwu will come to court.

Because in terms of time, everything is simply too late.

It is impossible for Zhang Chonghui to meet Shen Shixing, print the demon book on the same day, and then find Liu Erwu on the same day.

It is impossible to accomplish so many things in such a tight time.

The truth can only be that some of these three people are lying!
  In other words, they are all lying!

……

Liu Erwu was brought up quickly. The fool had been beaten until he was unconscious. He could only open and close his mouth with one sentence:
  "He really just turned eighteen!"

Apart from this, Liu Erwu couldn't say anything and didn't dare to say anything.

As of now, Liu Erwu's line has been completely abolished. No one will believe what such a fool says, even if it is true.

Now that the case is getting more and more chaotic, everyone is beginning to turn their attention to Zhang Chonghui. Sun Piyang asked according to what was said in the file:

"Zhang Chonghui, you said that Shen Shixing found you around Shen Shi on the afternoon of August 24, and took you to the place where the engravings of the demon books were hidden, and asked you to print and spread the demon books.

I would like to ask you, how did you publish so many copies of the demon book and spread it everywhere in such a short period of time? Do you still have any accomplices? "

This time, Zhang Chonghui did not accept the blame directly as he had done a few times before. Instead, he said strangely:

"What? I printed multiple copies of the demon book? And spread it everywhere? Sir, are you kidding me? I didn't print the demon book, let alone spread it."

As soon as Zhang Chonghui said this, Li Shida said excitedly as if he had grabbed a pigtail:

"You are so brave! When you first came to court, you already admitted that Shen Shixing ordered you to publish and spread the demon book! Now you dare to say that you didn't! Such a preface and follow-up statement! You are contemptuous of the king's law. !”

"What?" Zhang Chonghui frowned and said speechlessly: "Shen Shixing asked me to print and spread the demon book, but I didn't agree to it."

"What did you say?" Li Shida was so excited that he stood up from his chair: "You, you! What did you say?"

"I said, I did not agree to Shen Shixing to publish the demon book." Zhang Chonghui spoke deliberately, as if he was afraid that the other party would not understand.

At this time, not to mention Li Shida who was confused, everyone was stunned. After being stunned for a while, they picked up the file in their hands and looked at it again.

Look left, right, up, down. What is written on the file is as follows:
  Asked: "Who instructs you to print and spread demonic books?"

The answer was: "Yes."

He asked, "Who is he? Tell him clearly."

Answer: "The man's name is Shen Shixing. He said that like my grandfather, he was once a powerful cabinet minister. He also threatened me, saying that if I didn't print and spread the demon book for him, he would let me The few dozen remaining members of our Zhang family were all buried with my grandfather."

He asked, "Go on."

Answer: "He took me to the place where demon books are printed. There are many people printing them there."

Asked: "Where?"

Answer: "In..."

This is the end of the file and the end of the questioning.

What is recorded below is the location where the carvings were hidden, a ruined temple on the outskirts of the city.

Below, there is nothing.

By now, the officials responsible for the interrogation were all sweating...

Even Sun Piyang, the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, who was originally full of confidence, had his hair standing on end and shouted in his heart that it was not good!

Everyone wiped the sweat from their foreheads and carefully looked at the file reviewed by Beizhen Fusi over and over again.

The more I look at this, the colder my heart becomes.

Just looking at what is written in the file, it seems that every word is correct.

The file records that on August 20th, Zhang Chonghui and Zhang Yunxiu went to the Shen Mansion as guests, and all the Shen family members watched.

But the 'Zhang Chonghui' at that time was not the 'Zhang Chonghui' now, so who was the 'Zhang Chonghui' at that time?

The file also records that on August 24, Shen Shixing instructed Zhang Chonghui to print and spread the demon book.

But the "Shen Shixing" at that time was not the "Shen Shixing" now, so who was the "Shen Shixing" at that time?
  Originally, everyone thought that the dossier produced by Dongchang was very 'comprehensive', 'reliable' and 'trustworthy'.

But now that they were confronted face to face and then checked carefully, the interrogating officials felt that this dossier was full of loopholes, and its degree of perfection could be described in one word:
  屎！
  What alarmed the interrogation ministers the most, apart from the fact that this file looked like garbage, there was another very important and terrifying point!
  That is, this 'shit' file was reviewed by Beizhen Fusi!

Above Beizhen Fusi is Dongchang!

The boss of Dongchang... is the emperor!

As for this case, His Majesty the Emperor not only 'specifically' named the ministers from the Three Law Departments, the Cabinet, and the Sixth Ministry to try it! They even 'specifically' withdrew the Dongchang and Si Li Supervisors!

and so……

Sometimes, thinking about it is very scary.

Ever since, a very absurd, yet very possible guess filled the minds of the interrogating ministers!
  Everyone thought:

"The real mastermind of the demon book case..."

"Could it be His Majesty the Emperor himself?!"

(End of this chapter)