Back to Tang Dynasty to be Emperor

The next day, with Wei Zheng as the presiding judge, Zongzheng Temple Minister Li Xiaogong, Criminal Ministry Shang Liu Zhenghui, Dali Temple Minister Sun Fujia, and Huangmen Shilang as jurors, the three-judgement trial opened again in the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

When Li Ke was summoned to the court of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, Wei Zheng, Li Xiaogong, Sun Fujia, Liu Zhenghui, and Wang were already seated. Among them, except for the senior Li Xiaogong who nodded slightly to Li Ke, the other four stood up and saluted Li Ke. He also bowed his hands and returned the salute, and then took the seat arranged for him in the lobby.

"Your Highness, yesterday the emperor appointed Wei Chen as the presiding judge of the three trials. I will definitely try the case with all the jurors impartially and find out the truth of the case." Wei Zheng said, "Your Highness is here today to ask a few questions and check them out. I hope His Highness will cooperate with the confessions of the servants and maids."

When Wei Zheng said that he would investigate and deal with the truth, Li Ke did not doubt it at all. He said to Wei Zheng, "Secretary Supervisor Wei, please, I know everything."

"En!" Wei Zheng nodded and said, "His Royal Highness, please tell me the specific time when you will enter the palace to meet the emperor and Concubine Yang and go to the medicinal food room, talk to the servant in the medicinal food room, and where you met Xianglan. Tell me in detail when you met."

Wei Zheng came here today prepared, and the questions he asked were all related to the case. Li Ke didn't dare to neglect to recall it carefully for a moment, and said seriously, "This king entered the palace at the time of You to meet the royal father in the imperial room of Ganquan Palace. It took nearly a quarter of what the father said. Then Li Ke went to visit his mother and concubine in the royal room, and spent about an hour with his mother and concubine in the Qianqiu Palace. The king hurriedly went to the medicated food room, and when he met a servant in the medicated food room to salute the king, he called himself Zhang Zhong. Because it was late, and the king had to rush back to the mansion, so he walked to the Lizheng Hall. From the Hongwen Museum to the Royal Road in front of the Taiji Hall, the Chengtian Gate was exited, and I met Xianglan when I was passing through the Lizheng Hall."

"En!" Wei Zheng nodded in satisfaction. He looked at the four jurors and saw that the four jurors Li Xiaogong, Liu Zhenghui, Wang and Sun Fujia were also very satisfied with Li Ke's answer, so he continued to ask, "Then, please describe your highness in the medicinal diet?" What did Fang ask Zhang Zhong? What did Zhang Zhong tell you? Also, did you ever talk to Xiang Lan you met when you crossed the Lizheng Palace? What did you say?"

"When I first arrived at the medicated food room, Zhang Zhong, the servant, had already greeted me. While saluting the king, he also handed the king a pack of herbs, and kept telling the king that he was blind. The maid of the maid who fetched the medicine, the maid in the palace. As for the king and I only asked one day, when the king was about to leave the medicine room, he saw a lot of court ladies and servants making noise in another yard, so the king asked Zhang What's the matter with Zhong? Zhang Zhong told me that she was the personal maid who took the medicine for the queen and the concubine Yin." Li Ke said slowly, "En Xianglan met when she was passing through the Lizheng Hall, and the king asked about the queen's As for the physical condition, Pan Lan said that it is nothing serious that the queen is weak."

"Aren't there any other questions?"

After Li Ke finished speaking, Liu Zhenghui asked Li Ke appropriately, as if accusing Li Ke of concealing something in his words.

How could Li Ke not understand Liu Zhenghui's thoughts, and couldn't help asking, "What does Liu Shang think this king should ask?"

"Your Highness, as a juror, I have the right to question you repeatedly about the process and the process. I hope you can cooperate." Liu Zhenghui's face darkened, and he said in a serious tone.

"Then please Liu Shang continue!" Li Ke said with a pun.

Liu Zhenghui glanced at Li Ke, who was smiling but not smiling, and ignored the presiding judge Wei Zheng, and said angrily, "Your Highness, don't you know that Zhang Zhong, the waiter in the medicinal food room, has confessed that Xianglan's death has something to do with you? How do you explain this?"

"Liu Shang..."

Wei Zheng didn't expect Liu Zhenghui to reveal Zhang Zhong's confession to Li Ke so early, and he wanted to stop it by shouting when he found out it was too late, so he took the opportunity and said, "Zhang Zhongtang, the waiter in the medicinal food room."

Zhang Zhong's face was pale when he was detained by the guards in Datang, and when he saw Li Ke, he couldn't help but took a step back in fright and didn't dare to look at Li Ke, as if he had done something wrong to Li Ke.When Wei Zheng and everyone in the hall saw Zhang Zhong's reaction, Liu Zhenghui said first, "Zhang Zhong, tell me the inside story you know in detail. You can rest assured that the judge, the chief judge and the three jurors will keep you safe."

Liu Zhenghui's words seemed to have given Zhang Zhong a sedative, and Zhang Zhong said tremblingly, "The chief judge and all the jurors, the lady asked the maid to come to the medicine room to get the medicine that night, and the slave didn't know that he was the maid of the concubine Yang's palace. There was no medicinal material for her. After the maid left, the servant heard that the empress and the eunuch beside the concubine Yin said that it was a maid in the palace of the concubine Yang, and the servant knew that he had made a big mistake. The servant Having read the list of medicines given to the servant by the court lady, I hurriedly prepared the herbs and was about to take them to Concubine Yang when I saw His Highness the King of Han coming down to the medicine room..."

"Zhang Zhong, what you just said was interrogated yesterday. You have already said it very clearly. I don't need to repeat it. What I want to ask you today is that the cause of Xianglan's death that you confessed earlier has something to do with the King of Han. Confession, you will go through it in detail." Liu Zheng was very annoyed that Zhang Zhong didn't make a point.

"Liu Shang, slave..." When Zhang Zhong said this, his words trembled and he couldn't make a sound. He secretly glanced at Li Ke and then fell silent.

"Bold Zhang Zhong, do you want to cover up criminals? Could it be that what you said earlier was all lies and perjured witnesses?" Liu Zhenghui was very angry when he saw Zhang Zhong's submissive appearance, and shouted, "You must know the consequences of perjury , that is a charge of beheading."

"Liu Shang, slave... I have been in charge of the medicated dining room for several years, and I sleep in the hut in the backyard of the medicated dining room at night. That night, when I was about to rest, I heard a quarrel in the yard, and someone spoke like His Highness the King of Han. , Two and one miss Xianglan, the queen's maid. The servant just wondered why Hanwang and Xianglan came to the backyard of the medicinal food room? Because the matter of taking medicine during the day offended His Highness the Hanwang. The servant did not dare to go out to check, but just listened quietly to them They were talking about something, but the little slave couldn’t hear what they were talking in front of them. In the end, the slave only heard the man with the voice of King Han saying, “If you don’t listen to me, I’ll push you into this place right now.” In the well." Under Liu Zhenghui's interrogation, Zhang Zhong still told what he saw and heard that night verbatim, but when he said this, he took a peek at Li Ke tremblingly.

"Go ahead!" Wei Zheng said.

"The man with the voice of King Han said, if you don't listen to me, I'll push you into this well right now. Then the servant heard Xianglan say loudly, I've done what I have to do, and you still have to do it." What do you want me to do? Do you really want to force me to jump into this well? After Xianglan finished speaking, the servant was so frightened that he regretted that he should not have heard this, but at this moment the servant heard Xianglan say Since His Highness is forcing the servant girl so much, then the servant girl did as His Highness wished, and hoped that His Highness could take care of the servant girl's family. Afterwards, the servant heard a 'plop', and heard the sound of someone struggling in the well, but the servant was too timid to go out. Only after checking, Xianglan will be let... please forgive Liu Shang and Wei Mijian!" Zhang Zhong said that tears were streaming down his face, and he couldn't make a sound.

"Hanwang Highness, do you have anything else to say now?" Liu Zhenghui asked sharply.

Li Ke didn't expect that his servant Zhang Zhong would be so courageous, daring to give false testimony to prove that he had forced Xianglan to death, but then he thought of another question and asked Wei Zheng, "Secretary Wei, just now Zhang Zhong said that Xianglan was forced to kill Xianglan. Did you drown in the well?"

"Your Highness is right. Zhang Zhong's confession said that Xianglan drowned in the well." Wei Zheng replied to Li Ke, and then asked, "Zhang Zhong, did your confession say that Xianglan was drowned in the well?" ? Are you sure?"

"Secretary Supervisor Wei, the imperial doctor has examined Xianglan's body and confirmed that she was indeed drowned in the well. Zhang Zhong is right!" Liu Zhenghui interrupted suddenly.

"Secretary Supervisor Wei, the slave is sure that Xianglan drowned in the well, and I dare not be false." Zhang Zhong followed Liu Zhenghui's words and said affirmatively.

"Zhang Zhong, you just need to sign and sign the confession." Wei Zheng said, "Come here, take Zhang Zhong to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice for interrogation."

After Zhang Zhong was escorted out of the courtroom by the yamen of the Ministry of Justice, Wei Zheng looked at Li Ke with a livid face and said, "I don't know what your Highness's explanation is for Zhang Zhong's confession?"

"Secretary Wei, don't you think that Zhang Zhong's confession is full of mistakes?" Li Ke asked, "First, what time did Zhang Zhong rest, and the king had already returned to the mansion at that time, how could he be in the palace?" Meeting Xianglan in the backyard of the herbal meal room? Second, since Zhang Zhong is in the hut in the backyard of the herbal meal room, did the murderer tolerate him to testify when he knew his existence? Didn’t he ever think about murdering him? Third, Secret Supervisor Wei Please don't interrogate this king without confirming the authenticity of Zhang Zhong's evidence, this king has no time to do such boring things with you."

"How did Xianglan die? Why was she drowned in the well? You have to investigate the cause of her death in detail; you also have to examine the medicine residue of the empress and the concubine Yin in detail, and keep the evidence properly; so I went to the medicinal meal that night. You also have to interrogate the maids and servants in the room in detail, and on July 26, all people who have entered and exited the palace from daytime to the next morning must be interrogated and examined in detail, and no one can be missed." Li Ke said Here, he said to Wei Zheng, "Does Secretary Wei have any questions? If not, I have something else to do, so I will go back to the mansion first."

Wei Zheng's expression was ugly when he was questioned by Li Ke, but he knew that Li Ke was telling the truth, so he could only listen patiently. Seeing that Li Ke said he was going back to the mansion, Wei Zheng said, "Your Highness, please go ahead, next time the courtroom Your Highness will definitely not be disappointed."

Wei Zheng's words had a double meaning, Li Ke understood what he meant, smiled slightly in his heart, bid farewell to everyone present and walked out of the Ministry of Punishment court.