Cross the Sea in the Red Chamber

Jinling City, also known as Yingtianfu, was the capital city in the early years of the Jing Dynasty. After the capital was moved to the capital, it was designated as the accompanying capital. The officials in power were not ordinary magistrates, but non-permanent governors.Compared with ordinary fourth-rank magistrates, Jinling's Yingtian Fu Yin and Jingcheng's Shuntian Fu Yin are both high-ranking officials of the third rank, which is not inferior.

Now that they knew about the beheading of the white duck, Jiang Yuan and Lin Jun decided to go to Jinling to investigate before the officials from the third division arrived.This prisoner who died for death is a very important witness. If someone kills him, there will be no evidence to prove his death. Although it is not impossible to find evidence to convict him, it is still a life after all. How can he let it pass in vain?

This Yin Tian Fu Yin is also a guilty official recorded in the "Hundred Officials' Statement". He was taken down by the soldiers long ago, and now he has been escorted to Beijing.Therefore, Jiangyuan has the highest official position in Jinling now, and he holds the golden medal representing the position of imperial envoy bestowed by Situ Cheng in his hand. Of course, the two of them can go in and out of the prison freely, and no one in the government office dares. bar.Seeing the former Fu Yin fall, who would dare to offend the imperial envoy at this time?

The death cell in Yingtian Mansion was set up on the southwest side of the government office. The part above the ground was only a few feet away, and the rest was placed underground. It was said that it was convenient for patrol inspection and could prevent prisoners from escaping.The death row has green bricks as walls and blue tiles as the roof. It looks ordinary. If there is no explanation, outsiders will think it is a cellar.

In addition to the eaves paved with tiles, there are small one-foot-square windows with iron bars on the walls that are exposed to the ground, leading to the cells inside. As you walk by, you can condescendingly see whether the prisoners in the cell are still there, and whether they have escaped from prison.

There are three gates at the entrance of the prison.The first one is made of elm wood with a thickness of two inches. I'm afraid it will not be strong. It is also covered with a thick layer of copper skin, and the inside is firmly stuck by a foot-wide iron bolt.This door is very tight, unless the hinge on the door is knocked loose with a ram from the outside, otherwise the people inside will not open the door, and the people outside will not be able to get in no matter what.

The door panel was painted black, but the auxiliary title ring on the door was not the common pepper pattern, but a sign representing the prison. It looked serious and unusual, but a little lonely.

The second and third gates are fence gates made up of arm-thick iron railings, with iron chains as thick as arms wrapped around it, and a special large iron lock is hung on it. The iron lock itself is very strong, and the internal structure is also very strong. It's very complicated, unless the original key is used to open the door, no matter how clever a person is, they will never be able to pick these two locks without spending an hour or two.

Under such strict confinement, going further inside is the real prison cell.

There are prison cells on the left and right sides of the inside, each cell is one foot high and one foot wide, and the size is also one foot square. It is built of bluestones with a thickness of one foot, and it is difficult to get through.There are no beds in the cell, but some straw is randomly sprinkled to keep out the moisture.

Because only the upper part of these cells is exposed to the ground, and the bottom is underground, there is no sunlight in the cells, and the air does not circulate very much. Apart from being dark, it is also very humid.Among the cells on both sides, each room held a few prisoners. They either roared unwillingly, or stared out blankly with numb eyes, which made people feel chills in their bones.

"My lord, please come inside." A prisoner graciously held up an oil lamp and walked ahead to lead the way. How can there be such a strict cell in other places?"

"Although this big prison is called Death Row, not all of them are prisoners sentenced to death. The prisoners in the front cells are all prisoners waiting to be dispatched to the army. They will be escorted to the frontier in a few days. After another iron gate is the cell of the death row."

Jiang Yuan and Lin Jun didn't ask any more questions, they just followed the prisoner through the last iron gate.

Going further inside, the appearance of the prison cells was not significantly different from those outside, but the partition between the cells and the corridor was not a wooden fence, but a strip of iron fences.The light here is even darker, and not every cell has prisoners living in it, even if the cells are closed, each cell can only hold one person at most.

The prisoner in front led Jiang and Lin to the innermost cell, pointed to the prisoner inside and said, "This is the man the adults are looking for."

Looking inside through the iron bars, I saw a young man in prison clothes sitting in the darkest corner of the entire cell. The prisoner looked to be in his 20s. Although he was tall, he was very thin. , there is no flesh on the side of the cheek, and the eyes are very numb.Although he has been imprisoned in the cell for this period of time, he has become a little white because he has not seen the sun, but if he looks closely, he can see a thick layer of calluses on his hands.

The young man's body was covered with bloodstains. His fingers were purple and black, and blood stains could still be seen on his fingertips. With a strong bloody smell, it can be seen that this prisoner has been tortured by punishment.

Is it a trick to beat...

Xue Pan of the Xue family in Jinling is only in his teens this year. As the eldest son of the Xue family and the only son of his family, he has been doted on since he was a child. How could such a dude be like this?Where is this guy from a rich young man?He is clearly a young man who works a lot and has no food or clothing!

Is it really a white duck...

Seeing this situation, Lin Jun was very angry. Although he is very capable, he has not experienced any great setbacks. He was recommended by Jiang Yuan not long after he became an official, and he has not been squeezed out by his colleagues, so the city is not so deep. Angry, a little bit of it couldn't help but appear on his face.

Seeing Jiang Yuan nodding his head, he hurriedly asked through the iron fence: "Who is the person inside, and report it to the officer."

Although Lin Jun and Jiang Yuan didn't wear official uniforms, they both had official prestige. Coupled with the nodding and flattering Prison standing beside them, no matter who saw them, they could tell that they were high-ranking officials.

When the young man in the prison saw the two of them, his expression was happy at first, but he opened his mouth, but he didn't know what he thought of, his eyes immediately dimmed, he pursed his lips, and said numbly: "I... villain The name is... Xue Pan..."

Lin Jun frowned and said, "How old are you?"

The young man opened his mouth, gritted his teeth, and finally choked out a sentence, "The villain is fifteen years old..."

Lin Jun shook his head, only fifteen?If this person says that he is 25, some people will believe him. How can there be a 15-year-old like this?Could it be that everyone is blind?

Lin Jun asked him a few more questions about how he committed crimes, how he robbed maids, how he took people's lives, and so on. This young man must have been tortured and tortured a long time ago. It can be said to be well-founded and quite coherent.He told all the things about how "I" bought the maid forcibly, and how I ordered the slaves under him to beat people to death.

Time, place, person, event, cause, process, result... Nothing is lost, it is exactly the same as that written on the confession found by Jiang Yuan, there is no difference in a single word, one can tell that it is memorizing something, otherwise the description of murder How can you have no feelings at all about this matter, and just report the running account so dryly?

Lin Jun looked at Jiang Yuan, Jiang Yuan nodded and winked, Lin Jun understood immediately, and without waiting for the man to recite the whole killing process, he asked loudly, "What's your mother's name? "

"Li Cuihua..." The young man had no training, and he didn't know how to defend himself when he was concentrating on carrying things. When he suddenly heard the question, he accidentally slipped his mouth, and by the time he realized it, it was too late.

"I remember that Xue Pan's mother in Jinling was surnamed Wang, how could it be someone surnamed Li?" Lin Jun was condescending, quite imposing, and his majestic words made the young man unable to resist, "Then Yingtian Fu Yin was corrupt and broke the law. You have committed a serious crime, and now you have been escorted back to Beijing by the Holy Order, and you will be interrogated and convicted. You don’t have to be afraid, he can’t wrong you now, who are you, and you still don’t follow the truth for me?”

As soon as the young man heard that Yin Tianfu Yin had been arrested, he immediately became overjoyed, his eyes brightened again, he quickly got up from the ground, knelt in the straw and kowtowed to Lin Jun who was outside the railing, "My lord, the villain is wronged!" ... The villain is really not Xue Pan, he was arrested by the governor to take the blame for him... The villain has always been timid and fearful, and has never killed anyone! They forced the villain to say so... ..."

The young man whose expression was still numb before now had hope shining in his eyes, and regardless of the seriousness of his injuries, he kowtowed hard towards the outside of the cell, and he didn't stop until he touched his forehead with blood.The majestic man is now full of tears, and the tears slide down from his eye sockets and fall onto the stone slab in front of him. The dripping liquid does not look like colorless tears, but rather like red blood from his heart!

Jiang Yuan quickly signaled the prisoner beside him to open the cell door. He and Lin Jun entered the cell and quickly reached out to support the kowtowing young man, patted him on the shoulder to calm him down, and asked him about the case. the truth.

This young man is actually a tenant of the Xue family's farm, named Zhao Da, who is four in his twenties this year.The father of the family died early, leaving only him and his young brother to support the old mother.Originally, although life was bleak, he could always manage to get by, but one day, an official rushed into his house and took him back to the death row. He insisted that he was not Zhao Da but Xue Pan, and Said that he fought with others for the maid and beat someone to death, he is a fugitive!

Zhao Daliu quickly argued that he was wronged, but the guards gave him a big punishment indiscriminately. He didn't know how much he had eaten with boards, leather whips, and soldering irons.Zhao Da knew that once he couldn't bear the punishment and pleaded guilty, he was afraid that he would be dead, and if he insisted on denying it, he might still have a way to survive.Seeing that Zhao Da still said that he was wronged, the guards even used pinches, and later nailed his fingers and toes with bamboo sticks, which hurt him to death.

After torturing him like this for several days, the guards refused to give him water, and Zhao Da was tortured to the point where only half his life remained.

Yin Tianfu Yin sent a master to talk to him, saying that if he was willing to admit that he was Xue Pan from the Xue family and take the life lawsuit for him, then the Xue family would give him 100 taels of silver and let his family Otherwise, he will be accused of being a bandit, and he will die, and his family will have no money, and his family will be sent to the sidelines for the crime of banditry.

At this point, Zhao Da also knew that he was the scapegoat chosen by the Xue family to take the beheading knife for that young master Xue.At first he insisted on pleading not guilty, and was tortured for a few days, only to see that his elderly mother and young brother were also arrested and put on death row.

The guard in the prison tortured his younger brother, but his mother tried hard to stop him, and only said that she was willing to persuade her son on behalf of Fu Yin.As soon as the guard left, his mother knelt down at him, begging him to confess the crime.The Zhao family has only their two sons, and now he has been tortured, if his younger brother is also severely punished, I am afraid that the lives of the two sons will not be saved, so what will happen to the incense of the Zhao family in the future?

Zhao Da also knew that even if he refused to confess, he would be killed by the Xue family and Yin Tianfu to vent his anger.After his death, what should his mother and younger brother do?

Now that Fu Yin has arrested them, it seems that he will not let his family go without saying anything. If he bites him to death and refuses to plead guilty, then these officials will force his younger brother to plead guilty and replace Xue Pan. If they refuse to plead guilty, it is estimated that as the master said, they will be convicted of gangsters, and their whole family will have to die.If this is the case, he might as well grit his teeth and admit the crime of beheading, and find a way out for his relatives at home.

It's not that Zhao Da didn't expect a master Qingtian like the storytelling and operas to come to rescue him from prison, but who in Jinling City doesn't know the prestige of the Xue family?

In a good year, there is heavy snow, and pearls are like earth and gold is like iron!If you violate the Xue family, even a high-ranking official like Fu Yin will not be able to keep his official position and life. How can a poor tenant like him have the power to be an enemy of the Xue family...

The so-called greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. After a long time, Zhao Da will accept his fate.Zhao Da also heaved a sigh of relief seeing his family members being released.Locked in the dark death row, waiting for his conviction and execution in a few months, the only thing he begged for was that his family members be safe and sound, and he really didn't dare to think about anything else.

Who knew that just when he had lost all hope, he met Jiang Yuan and Lin Jun who came to inquire about the White Duck...

Although it has been confirmed that this person named Zhao Da must be a white duck who was arrested and killed, he, as an important witness, cannot be let go easily, and he is required to stay in the government office until the trial of the three divisions. middle.Jiang Yuan specially sent soldiers to guard the death row, fearing that someone would try to kill Zhao Da and kill him.Not only that, Jiang Yuan also ordered people to find Zhao Da's family members for protection, so as not to be caught and threaten Zhao Da to change his words.

Leaving the heavily guarded death cell, looking at the bright world outside, Lin Jun heaved a long sigh of relief, and a lot of the gloom accumulated in the cell was also removed.Looking back at the three gates and the solid prison cells, not only sinners who want to escape from prison, but also kind people who were slandered as gangsters by treacherous ministers were imprisoned!

Bi An guards the solemn and upright spirit, but the "righteousness" in the entire officialdom can be controlled by a pair of small assistant chiefs? !

Although Lin Jun's life in the past was a bit difficult, he left Jiangnan with his father to live in the capital since he was a child. Although life was a bit difficult, he had never seen anything too dark in the capital, the best place. of the scene.

He got an official position after passing the imperial examination. Although his position was low because of his low ranking, he still had an official status and added a layer of protection.He has never blocked anyone's way, nor has he won any credit, so at most he has seen some old people ostracizing newcomers, but he has never seen such a blatant entrapment.

In the past, he also talked about laws and rules, but that was only because he was influenced by calligraphers when he was studying and learning. Today, he understands why his ancestors insisted on ruling the country by the rule of law, and why the law was destroyed. What a tragedy it will be.

Shengmin has no place to complain about their grievances. How can they ever see the blue sky when they look up?A hundred taels of silver is exchanged for one life, so how much is it worth to kill ten thousand people? !

Zhao Dana's experience of being tortured and forced to help was just the tip of the iceberg. How many such things did he not know?He has seen Jiang Yuan's reasoning ability, and he has heard of Jiang Ning's good judgment. People like them can naturally restore people's innocence and save people from suffering. How many?Can these people protect the people of the whole world?

Naturally it cannot.

So what can we do to save the people of the whole world?

Lin Jun was lost in thought, Jiang Yuan saw it, so he didn't urge him.If a person wants to be an official in this life, he must have a consistent and unswerving heart. Otherwise, he will be swayed by money and power, and he can only be a stupid or corrupt official to entrap the people. Now, how can it be as clear as water and as bright as a mirror?

His Jiang Yuan's original intention is to bring peace to the world and fight for the lives of thousands of people in Dajing!This point will definitely be implemented throughout his life, so that he will not make mistakes, and Lin Jun must have his own beliefs, otherwise, what will support him through this long and tortuous life?He admired this young man very much, and he didn't want Lin Jun to become unsightly because of power and money. Naturally, he hoped that Lin Jun could establish his heart and firm belief.

After a long time, Lin Jun looked at the sky above his head and let out a long sigh of relief. He met Jiang Yuan's gaze and smiled and said, "Master Jiang, although I don't know if a subordinate official can do it, but Jun really wants to be a good official. Be a good official who can set rules and keep them, and establish a firm belief for the world's officials and people!"

Jiang Yuan smiled slightly, patted Lin Jun on the shoulder, and walked out of the Yin Yamen of Yingtian Mansion first.

Lin Jun is a smart person, but he is also a strong-willed person. Although he doesn't know whether Lin Jun can do what he wants, Jiang Yuan hopes that Lin Jun can keep his pure heart at this time for the rest of his life...

The third division has already arrived in the south of the Yangtze River, and the backup officials summoned by Situ Sheng have already taken their positions one by one according to the imperial decree, and have begun to take over the affairs under the administration.

It will be a slow process to eradicate the remaining forces in Jiangnan, but with these officials carefully selected by Situ Cheng who have nothing to do with Jiangnan affairs, it won't be long before the entire Jiangnan land will be destroyed. Breaking away from the grasp of the aristocratic family and nobles, it was firmly held in the palm of His Majesty the Emperor.

Jiang Ning and others interrogated Zhao Da as soon as they arrived in Jiangnan. This "prisoner" was full of obvious doubts, such as age and appearance.

The former Yingtian Fu Yin was completely "pointing a deer into a horse", relying on himself and the power of the Xue family and the Wang family in Jinling to forcibly suppress other people's doubts, and bullying the censor in the capital so he couldn't intervene one by one. There is no problem, but the evidence cannot stand up to questioning at all. After finding the family of the deceased and confronting him in court, the truth of the case was clarified in just two or three questions.

Since he did not commit a crime, Zhao Da was released in court and was able to reunite with his family. The third division also immediately issued an official arrest document, gathering all the power of the world to capture the murderous fugitive Xue Pan!As for Wang Ziteng and Na Yingtian Fu Yin, they will be handed over to the capital to continue the investigation. Once the case is found to be true, they will be convicted together and will not be forgiven lightly!

After listening to the whole trial process, Lin Jun's mood improved a lot. When Zhao Da was released from prison, he specially invited a doctor to treat him carefully.Hearing the doctor say that Zhao Da just suffered some skin trauma, no bones or muscles were injured, he took the medicine well, and he would be fine in a short time, so he felt relieved, paid the consultation fee and bought a lot of medicinal materials to save his life. The doctor took care of Zhao Da's injury carefully.

Seeing Zhao Da's mother, Mrs. Li, pulling her two sons to thank him, Lin Jun quickly helped the three kneeling on the ground, saying "I can't afford it".

It is obvious that the officials in Jinling corrupted the law, falsely accused them of being robbers, tortured them into tricks, and entrapped people's lives.As an official of the imperial court, he just made up for some mistakes that shouldn't have happened. Can he be worthy of the thanks of the suffering master?

During these days, his faith has become more and more firm.Perhaps at the beginning, he was an official just to show his talents and to make his father live a better life, but now it is different.He really wants to change this country, change the entire court, and use his own way to reverse the suffering of these ordinary people and change the thinking of everyone in the world.

Maybe it's a very long road, maybe he won't see any results in his life, but he firmly believes that he will be able to go straight down, be unbiased and keep his heart...