"Master Hou, Xiaguan...... Xiaguan ...... The lower official is guilty. ”

Under the gaze of everyone, Vice President Zhang's face changed a few times, as if he was engaged in a fierce ideological struggle, looked up at Lu Dezhong and Yang Muen, gritted his teeth, bent his legs at Li Yuntian, knelt down, fell to the ground and said, "The criminals are willing to truthfully confess the guilt they have committed, and give grace to the Hou Ye." ”

A smile appeared on the corner of Li Yuntian's mouth when he heard this, it seems that Vice President Zhang chose to believe Lu Dezhong after weighing left and right, which made things a lot easier.

"The lower official is guilty."

"The villain deserves death."

"The lower official is willing to confess truthfully and forgive his sins to the Hou Ye."

……

As Vice President Zhang knelt down, several deacons who were originally standing knelt on the ground, and together with several kneeling deacons, they all opened their mouths to beg Li Yuntian for mercy.

The Salt Merchants Association is naturally not monolithic, and it is also divided into several major factions, and Lu Dezhong and Vice President Zhang are members of the same faction.

The salt merchants who are now confessing their crimes are mainly from the two major factions of the Salt Merchants Association, one faction is the faction of Lu Dezhong and Vice President Zhang.

The other faction is the deceased Wei Deguang, the vice president of the former salt merchants' association, Wei Deguang's death is unknown, they have no one to rely on, for fear of being sold as a scapegoat by the salt merchants' association, so they also choose to confess to Li Yuntian.

In addition to these two major factions, there were two or three deacons who sensed that something was wrong, so they immediately made a decision and confessed their crimes to Li Yuntian.

Seeing this situation, the remaining salt merchants suddenly panicked, and looked at Yang Muen one after another, waiting for Yang Muen to make an idea.

"Master Hou, Xia Guan once received a report that Deacon Lu, Vice President Zhang and others conspired to transport and sell smuggled salt, but now it seems that the rumors are true, they are really secretly engaged in the sale of smuggled salt, and they are really the scum of my salt merchant association!"

Yang Muen's face was extremely ugly, but he had already expected this situation to happen, so he said to Li Yuntian gloomily, putting the blame for transporting and selling smuggled salt on the heads of Lu Dezhong and the others.

"Bold!" To everyone's surprise, Li Yuntian, who had always had a gentle attitude, turned pale when he heard this, stretched out his hand to point at Yang Muen, and said coldly, "I dare to interrupt the trial of this official, come here, and give this official a heavy responsibility of thirty boards!" ”

Hearing this, Yang Muen was stunned for a moment, and he didn't react in his mind for a while, he didn't expect Li Yuntian's attitude to change abruptly.

When several brocade guards rushed towards Yang Muen with a fierce attitude, Yang Muen reacted, this is in the court of the three law divisions, without Li Yuntian's consent, he can't speak indiscriminately, because of Li Yuntian's "kind face", Yang Muen was a little lax, and then Li Yuntian grabbed the handle.

"Xia Guan offended Hou Ye in a moment of excitement, please forgive Hou Ye." Yang Muen vaguely realized that he seemed to have fallen into Li Yuntian's trap, and hurriedly bowed his hand at Li Yuntian and bowed down to plead guilty.

Li Yuntian sneered when he heard this, he deliberately indulged Yang Muen in order to wait for Yang Muen to make a mistake, so how could he let go of this opportunity, and at the same time, it was also a warning to those salt merchants who still had illusions about Yang Muen, so naturally he would not prevent Yang Muen from being punished.

Subsequently, under the gaze of everyone at the scene, several brocade guards pressed Yang Muen in front of the hall and crackled like a board, which made Yang Muen scream again and again, his buttocks were bloody, and his flesh and blood were blurred, which looked miserable.

Pan Xingmin, Zhang Tao and Qin Ke shook their heads secretly, Yang Muen was obviously not Li Yuntian's opponent, not only was he suppressed by Li Yuntian in the court, but he was also caught by Li Yuntian and beaten by him carelessly, which would be a huge deterrent for those salt merchants who were undecided.

As the two water and fire sticks flew up and down, Yang Muen's screams became smaller and smaller, after all, he was over fifty years old and pampered on weekdays, when did he suffer this kind of crime, so by the end of the execution, he had already passed out and was carried away by several brocade guards.

"You go down and write down your guilt, and if the official verifies it after verification, then he will be punished lightly." Li Yuntian glanced at the salt merchants who looked more and more frightened at the scene, and quietly said to Vice President Zhang and other salt merchants who admitted their guilt.

Vice President Zhang and the others were stunned by Yang Muen's cane punishment just now, no one thought that Li Yuntian would suddenly turn his face, so that Yang Muen was really beaten violently, and when he heard this, he hurriedly kowtowed to Li Yuntian, got up and followed Jinyiwei to the side room to write a confession, and secretly felt happy in his heart, it seems that Li Yuntian is bound to win the case of Lianghuai Yandao this time.

"Hou ...... Hou Ye, Xiaguan...... The lower officials also recruited, and asked the Hou Ye to forgive his sins. Without waiting for President Zhang and his entourage to leave the lobby, a middle-aged salt merchant standing in front of the hall knelt down with a pale face, touched his head to the ground, and said in a trembling voice.

Even Yang Muen, who is the president of the Salt Merchants Association, was beaten half to death by Li Yuntian, where did he have the courage to resist stubbornly, and he would die in prison without knowing it.

The important thing is that Vice President Zhang and others have already chosen to truthfully confess their crimes, and the capital is thousands of miles away from Yangzhou, so when the rescue troops from the capital rushed to Yangzhou, Li Yuntian had already found out the case of illegal salt, and what was waiting for him at that time was undoubtedly a catastrophe.

"The villain is guilty, I hope the marquis will forgive the sin."

"Lord Hou is gracious, and the lower officials are willing to truthfully confess their guilt."

"Master Hou, the villain was confused for a while and did something wrong, I hope Master Hou can spare the villain's life."

……

Subsequently, the remaining salt merchants knelt down one after another, and together with the salt merchants who were kneeling on the ground, they begged Li Yuntian for mercy.

"Take it down and let them write their confessions!" Seeing this, Li Yuntian couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief, waved his hand at the Jinyi guard standing in front of the hall, and said quietly.

Before that, it was easy for Li Yuntian to get the confessions of these salt merchants, whether it was coercion or inducement, or searching their homes to get accurate evidence of the crime, he could implement the criminal responsibility of the salt merchants, but in this way, those salt merchants would be severely punished, and according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, they would inevitably die.

Li Yuntian didn't want the Lianghuai Yandao case to be bloody, and wanted to solve the case in a gentle way, trying not to disturb the order of Jiangnan politics and business, which was also what Emperor Xuande wanted to see.

Therefore, Li Yuntian painstakingly directed a good play just now, using Lu Dezhong and Yang Muen to defeat the luck in the hearts of those salt merchants in one fell swoop, and then made them make the most correct choice.

Pan Xingmin, Zhang Tao and Qin Ke couldn't help but glance at each other again, Li Yuntian's means of surrendering without a fight are indeed extremely superb, if he were replaced by other chief judges, he would have already used heavy torture against Yang Muen and others to extract confessions, but Li Yuntian only beat Yang Muen to force the remaining salt merchants to submit, and his scheming was really powerful.

After the salt merchants left, two brocade guards escorted the haggard Zhang Sheng to the lobby, Zhang Sheng's hair in his early forties was all white at this time, and he looked like a sixty-year-old man, which showed that he had been under tremendous psychological pressure in the past few days.

Seeing this situation, everyone at the scene couldn't help but sigh, the former high-spirited Lianghuai salt road transfer envoy had disappeared, and became a sad little old man, like a walking corpse that had lost its soul.

"Xiaguan see Lord Hou and my lords." When he came to the front of the hall, Zhang Sheng cheered up and bowed to Li Yuntian and the others.

"Master Zhang, it seems that you already know the current situation, so you don't need to bother with your own words." Li Yuntian glanced at Zhang Sheng and looked at him quietly, "This official gives you a chance, if you can truthfully explain the guilt of the two years of taking office in Lianghuai Yandao, then this official will give the emperor a chapter and exile you and your family to Jiaozhi, although Jiaozhi is the border land of my Ming Dynasty, but those cities with harbors are as prosperous as Jiangnan." ”

"Master Hou, what you said is true." Zhang Sheng's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this, and he couldn't help but ask.

Although Li Yuntian did not say it explicitly, the meaning was very clear, if Zhang Sheng honestly confessed to the crime, then he would intercede with Emperor Xuande to exempt Zhang Sheng from death, and exile Zhang Sheng's family to the bustling port city of Jiaozhi.

Yangzhou is a gathering place for Ming businessmen, Zhang Sheng naturally heard about Li Yuntian's vigorous development of Jiaozhi, and the market of those harbor cities in Jiaozhi is indeed prosperous, but it is also a good place to retire.

Moreover, Jiaozhi is Li Yuntian's territory, as long as Zhang Sheng hides there, the safety issue is enough to be guaranteed, which undoubtedly exempts him from worries.

"There is a court official from the Nanjing Three Law Divisions supervising the trial, how can this official be credible?" Li Yuntian saw that Zhang Sheng was moved, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but show a smile, glanced at Pan Xingmin and the three of them, and said in an orderly manner, "Lord Zhang, as far as this official knows, the two Huai Salt Roads have been greedy for ink for a long time, and you have only been in office for two years, although it is difficult to escape the blame for the corruption of the two Huai Salt Roads, but it is just a complicity, not the mastermind of corruption, if you can honestly explain the guilt and assist the official in investigating this case, it can be regarded as atonement, and it is not difficult to save a life." ”

Zhang Sheng's eyes flashed with surprise when he heard this, the reason why he turned gray in a hurry was that he knew that he was guilty of the illegal salt incident this time, as the transfer envoy of the Lianghuai Salt Road, he was the first to be punished for such a big private salt case in the Lianghuai Salt Road, and I am afraid that he would end up in a pattern full of beheadings.

To tell the truth, Zhang Sheng's situation is much worse than Chen Wenren's, because Chen Wenren issued the salt quote based on Zhang Sheng's report, if Chen Wenren puts all the blame on Zhang Sheng, Zhang Sheng will be dumb and can't say whether he eats Coptis chinensis and can't say it, and he will undoubtedly be identified as the mastermind of the illegal salt case.

Moreover, when it comes to the relationship with the officials of the six departments in the capital, Zhang Sheng is far inferior to Chen Wenren, so he will naturally become a substitute ghost to bear all the responsibility for the two Huai Salt Road private salt cases.

Now Li Yuntian is willing to let Zhang Sheng live, and he has also arranged a back road for him, which makes Zhang Sheng, who is already desperate, naturally very surprised, and his excitement is beyond words.

Pan Xingmin, Zhang Tao and Qin Ke all showed shocked expressions on their faces, and from Li Yuntian's words, the three of them keenly felt that Li Yuntian not only wanted to win down Zhang Sheng and Chen Wenren, but also was afraid that more officials would be implicated, and it was very likely to become a shocking corruption case after the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Subsequently, the eyes of the three of Pan Xingmin couldn't help but show a hint of excitement, which also meant that the three of them were very likely to be transferred to the Sixth Department of the Beijing Division, because the officials who handled such major cases according to the convention would be promoted afterwards, which was a golden opportunity for them who were squeezed out of Nanjing.