Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 310: The Official is Wronged
Chen Ce still looked calm and shook his head, "What crime have you committed?"

"Excuse me, sir, have you found all the evidence? At the very least, you need to find a witness to prove that the batch of sulfur was sent by me."

"Your Excellency, you don't have any evidence yet, but you're asking me if I plead guilty. Even if this case is handed over to the Ministry of Justice, they won't try it the way you do, right?"

Cheng Yi shouted, "Stop quibbling! Come, punish me!"

Chen Ce pondered for a moment, raised his eyes, looked at Cheng Yi indifferently, and asked coldly: "Are you going to force a confession under torture?"

"Can you bear the consequences, sir?"

Cheng Tongpan was too lazy to listen to Chen Ce's nonsense. He wanted to get Chen Ce's confession tonight, so he waved his hand and said, "Quick! Start the punishment!"

Chen Ce looked at the two clerks approaching and said indifferently, "Ministry of Works? Ministry of War?"

Cheng Yi was stunned.

Chen Ce continued, "I don't know where Lord Cheng transported this batch of sulfur from, but it must have been returned to its original place. If I'm right, this batch of sulfur is no longer in Shuntian Prefecture."

Judge Cheng's heart skipped a beat and he stared at Chen Ce in a daze. Suddenly, his heart tightened!
Chen Ce said: "I don't know who instructed you, sir. You are not the mastermind of this matter because you are too stupid."

"I'm very curious, what kind of relationship do you have that would allow you to take such a risk to frame me?"

"What benefits did he give you? Let me guess...will he divide up the Shuntian Express assets after convicting me?"

"Your Excellency has only been in Shuntian Prefecture for a short time, and I'm afraid you haven't been in Beijing for a long time. Have you not checked the composition of Shuntian Express?"

"My Lord, don't you know that Shuntian Express is an imperial merchant? All the express distribution sites in Jiangnan were provided to me by the imperial court. Don't you know?"

"Even if I'm convicted, you won't get anything from the courier industry."

After a pause, Chen Ce glanced at him and continued, "Master Cheng, if you don't punish me today, I can guarantee that you won't be sentenced to death."

"If I torture you today, I can also make sure you die without a complete corpse."

Judge Cheng's heart beat faster, especially when he saw Chen Ce's confident and calm look, he felt a little worried.

Why does it feel like he already knows the whole conspiracy? Did he get caught on purpose, waiting to lure the snake out of its hole?
But the arrow was already on the string, and he had to shoot, so he shouted sternly: "Someone come!"

However, at this moment, a burly man in a scarlet official robe finally rushed in from outside, pointed at Cheng Yi and shouted: "You dare!"

Chen Ce looked back at Hong Zhong, took a long breath, and said, "Master Hong, you are finally here."

Chen Ce said so much just now just to delay time. If Hong Zhong didn't come again, he would have confessed his guilt.

There is no need to suffer the torture in vain.

Fortunately, Hong Zhong arrived in time.

When Cheng Yi saw the high-ranking officials from the Censorate arriving here with the imperial guards, he instantly broke out in a sweat, his legs began to tremble unconsciously, and his speech became stuttered.

"Sir, I am investigating a case of treason..."

Hong Zhong sneered, "Ministry of Industry Director Wang Qin has already explained everything. Why do you still want to pretend to be honest with me?"

"Treason? I think it's you who are plotting a rebellion!"

clack.

The red brush in Cheng Yi's hand fell to the ground. He wiped the cold sweat from his head, stood up, and knelt on the ground, crying to Hong Zhong: "Sir, it was Wang Qin. He instructed me to do this... He said that this guy was doing some commercial reforms behind the scenes, handing over the Ministry of Industry's projects to private businessmen, blocking the Ministry of Industry. Many people in the Ministry of Industry want to kill him."

"Director Wang also said that if I kill him, I will get a portion of Shuntian Express's assets, and I can also get in touch with more senior figures in the Ministry of Industry, which will help me advance my career..."

Judge Cheng had collapsed to the ground, his mind at a loss, and he was talking nonsense: "I have studied hard for ten years, and now I am fifty-three years old... I don't see any hope, and opportunities are rare, so I lost my mind and did such a wrong thing. Please have mercy on me, my Lord, please have mercy on me!"

"My dear, I just scared you. I didn't torture you. You said you would keep me alive... Please, I don't want to die, wuwuwu!"

The man in his fifties was crying like a pile of mud, and the majestic image of the chief judge just now was gone. Chen Ce glanced at him indifferently and said, "Do you believe everything I say?"

"You're going to kill me, and you want me to save you? How can this be justified?"

Judge Cheng’s eyes went dark, his breathing became rapid, and he burst into tears.

Chen Ce cupped his hands and said to Hong Zhong, "Master Hong, has the head of the Ministry of Works confessed?"

Hong Zhong shook his head and said, "No, he's still holding on, but... he just explained it."

Chen Ce: “…”

This guy looks big and strong, but his mind is so delicate. Is he deliberately deceiving Cheng Tongpan?

Upon hearing Hong Zhong's words, Judge Cheng's eyes went dark and he fainted completely.

Just like Chen Ce said, he was too stupid! He was stunned by his own stupidity!
Hong Zhong said to Chen Ce, "Leave the rest to me. I will send someone to take you back to rest. You have suffered these past two days."

Chen Ce: “Yeah.”

Before leaving, Chen Ce seemed to remember something. He looked back at Hong Zhong and asked, "Why do they know that I was the one who arranged the project bidding?"

Hong Zhong was stunned for a moment, looking at Chen Ce's questioning eyes, he was a little at a loss for a moment.

But he soon realized, why should I feel guilty? This matter has nothing to do with me!

"I don't know either."

Chen Ce: “Oh.”

He didn't say anything else and left with his hands behind his back. Hong Zhong vaguely felt that something might go wrong.

The only ones who knew about the project bidding were Minister Qin and Minister Xu. Chen Ce's distrustful look just now said it all. He suspected that Qin Hong and Xu Guan had sold him out?

……

Jin Yiwei ordered him to prison.

Wang Qin, the head of the Ministry of Works, was still gritting his teeth and insisting that as long as tonight was over, the doctors of the Ministry of Works would definitely find a way to hand him over to the Ministry of Justice tomorrow.

As long as the Ministry of Justice comes to investigate the case, the worst outcome would be misappropriation of public property for personal gain, which is not a serious crime and the worst that can happen is dismissal from office, investigation, or demotement.

Tuk-tuk-tuk.

Footsteps were heard from outside the imperial prison. Emperor Hongzhi and the Minister of Revenue stopped not far away. Wei Wenli personally moved a chair for Emperor Hongzhi to sit down.

The Minister of Works Xu Guan, with his hands behind his back, slowly came to stand in front of Wang Qin's prison.

"Master Xu, I am wronged!"

"After learning that this batch of sulfur was lost from the Ministry of Industry, I immediately ordered people to look for it. Fortunately, Shuntian Prefecture cooperated with me to find this batch of sulfur, so I ordered people to send the sulfur back late at night."

Xu Guan stared at him indifferently, which made Master Wang feel guilty and he dared not look directly into Xu Guan's eyes.

"The Censorate has arrested Cheng Yi. Judge Cheng is smarter than you. He confessed everything right away."

"I want to know two things."

"First, who else was involved in this besides you?"

"Second, why did you kill Chen Ce?"

(End of this chapter)