Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 475 Win or Lose
After Liu Hui finished speaking, the room fell silent for a moment, but everyone's eyes gleamed with an unusual light.

Liu Huizeng wasn't in a hurry. Everyone who came here tonight had guessed what he was going to do, so he wasn't afraid of not having support. These people were just waiting for him to explain the specific arrangements.

Sure enough, someone spoke up: "According to the laws of the Great Liang Dynasty, all direct appeal cases must first go through the Dengwen Drum Court. Only if the Dengwen Drum Court does not review the case within three days can it be sent to the Dengwen Prosecutor's Office to be heard by the Emperor."

“You haven’t submitted your petition to the Dengwen Drum Court yet, and you will be turned away if you go to the Dengwen Prosecutor’s Office.”

Liu Hui smiled and looked at someone in the corner.

The man stood up; he was Yang Sanli, the magistrate of Renhe County. He had been dismissed for his poor performance in suppressing bandits and was transferred back to the capital to serve as a Taizhu in the Taichang Temple. He was dissatisfied with the court's decision and kept submitting petitions to the Dengwen Drum Court to appeal his case, but the court rejected them after review and he was fined.

Yang Sanli was dissatisfied and filed another complaint, which resulted in him being fined and forced to pay compensation.

These events became anecdotes in the officialdom of Bianjing. Despite having insufficient evidence, Yang Sanli was stubborn and, even after being punished twice, still wrote petitions to file another complaint.

Three days ago, Yang Sanli sent his petition to the Dengwen Drum Court, but the officials there had a headache just looking at him and didn't even bother to read it, simply suppressing it.

When everyone heard Liu Hui mention these things, they immediately came to their senses.

"So, the petition that Yang Taizhu sent was not the previous one, but a complaint against Xia Mengxian?"

Yang Sanli nodded: "My so-called failure to suppress bandits was because I offended Xia Mengxian by inspecting the He family's caravan. This trip to Beijing is to sue Xia Mengxian."

"But the time is not right. Even if all the evidence is presented, the court will suppress it. Besides, it's just a small case of false accusation. Even if it's successful, it will only hurt Xia Mengxian superficially. So what I did before was simply to make the Dengwen Drum Court lower its guard."

Yang Sanli's words made the eyes of everyone in the room light up.

Don't underestimate this small petition; it conveys a message that Liu Huizeng and others have been planning this for a long time and are not rushing into it.

“In fact, in order to investigate the Ministry of Justice’s case, Wang Yan and Xu Huaiyi had already obtained the right to submit secret reports,” Liu Huizeng said. “But Xia Mengxian and his people already knew about this, which is why they took action to obstruct it. Using my eldest son to frame the Wang family was their first step.”

"Xia Mengxian thought that by holding my eldest son's life in his hands, he could force me to submit, but we were prepared. Relying solely on a secret memorial to impeach Xia Mengxian would inevitably invite criticism, so we must start by changing the situation. Our trip tomorrow is to lend a helping hand to Lord Wang and Lord Xu."

The case escalated to the point of being reported to the Imperial Prosecutor's Office. It was not only known to everyone in the imperial court, but it also caused a sensation in Bianjing (Kaifeng).

With their lawsuit, plus the evidence in the hands of Wang Yan and Xu Huaiyi, there's no fear of failing to bring down Xia Mengxian.

Yang Sanli bowed to the officials in the room: "Tomorrow, Liu Zuolang and I will be there first. If you are willing, please help us make a good impression."

As soon as Yang Sanli finished speaking, an official said, "I have only been in office for a short time, and I was framed for making a mistake. The evidence is in Xia Mengxian's hands. I have been living in fear because of this all these years... I am afraid that one day Xia Mengxian will force me to do something. I don't want to live like this anymore. No matter how the court punishes me, I will impeach Xia Mengxian for making false accusations out of personal interest."

An official stood up, and the rest of the people in the room also stood up.

"Let's go to the Dengwen Prosecutor's Office together tomorrow."

With Liu Huizeng's complaint, they can act as co-defendants and also appear at the prosecutor's office.

The more people there are, the more impressive their presence, and the more likely the government will summon them.

“In that case,” Liu Huizeng said, “we shall jointly submit a memorial to the throne.”

Everyone nodded in unison.

"To avoid leaks, we don't need to go home. We'll head straight to the Dengwen Prosecutor's Office first thing tomorrow morning."

After saying this, everyone immediately gathered around to discuss the memorial.

...In another courtyard, Wang Yan and Xu Huaiyi were also organizing documents with their clerks.

A great deal of evidence has been collected against Xia Mengxian. In the past five years, there have been problems with the case files of at least a dozen cases, and the documentary evidence of these people has been altered or replaced.

The documentary evidence is sufficient; what's lacking now is witness testimony.

The two people were busy when someone rushed in.

“Lord Wang, Lord Xu,” Kang Liang, the judge of the Court of Judicial Review, ran over breathlessly, “Qiao Min, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice who was convicted and committed suicide, still has two children. One of them, the eldest son, did not leave Bianjing and is living in Zhuxian Town.”

Qiao Min had impeached Xia Mengxian, and was later convicted of instigating the wrongful killing of an official. There was something wrong with Qiao Min's case file. They had been searching for witnesses in Qiao Min's case, and unexpectedly, they made progress at this time.

Wang Yan looked at Xu Huaiyi.

Xu Huaiyi said, "There's no time to lose. I'll take some men and go find them right now."

Kang Liang hesitated slightly.

Wang Yan asked, "Is there anything else you haven't said?"

Kang Liang sighed: "I tried to invite him to the city to see the two lords, but that Qiao Dalang was very cautious. Even after seeing my waist token, he still refused to come with me."

"Unless the two gentlemen go there, he will not mention the case from back then."

Wang Yan's expression remained unchanged, and he simply said, "They're afraid that after entering the city, they'll fall into the tiger's den. I'm sure Xia Mengxian and his men have threatened that family quite a bit."

Kang Liang agreed, "That makes sense."

“In that case, I’ll go,” Wang Yan said, looking at Xu Huaiyi. “You stay in Bianjing.”

Seeing this, Kang Liang was about to speak again when Xu Huaiyi spoke first: "Sir, you are not familiar with the documents of the Ministry of Justice, so I'm afraid there will be omissions in the questioning. Tomorrow morning, Liu Zuolang will be going to the Dengwen Procuratorate. If we can prepare the written evidence and witnesses as soon as possible, we can arrest Xia Mengxian immediately."

Zhuxian Town is located in one of the counties under the jurisdiction of Bianjing, so it's not far from there, and I can always get back in time.

Wang Yan pondered for a moment and nodded: "Then let's go together. No matter what the outcome, we must be back in the city before dawn."

Without further delay, the two headed out of the city with Kang Liang.

The three passed through the city gate, and the imperial guards guarding the city immediately found an excuse to go to the palace and send the news of Wang Yan's departure into the inner palace.

Inside the Funing Palace, the Emperor, who should have retired long ago, was still leaning against his couch reading official documents, because he was waiting for news from outside.

"Your Majesty," the eunuch stepped forward and whispered, "news has come from outside that Lord Wang and Lord Xu have left the city."

The official's hand tightened slightly as he gripped the official document, his brows furrowed. He seemed about to say something, but ultimately remained silent, only letting out a cold snort.

"In this round, I wonder who will win between me and Your Highness."

A few days ago, Wang Yan requested a secret report, and he issued an order. Wang Yan handed the document to him, but when he unfolded it, he was surprised to find that there was not a single word on it.

The Emperor took a deep breath, seemingly addressing the eunuch: "I have broadened the channels for advice, and Emperor Taizu even established the Court of Petitions and the Court of Petitions Inspection. Is it possible that even so, there are still some things that cannot be presented to me?"

There will be more tonight.