According to the practice of court trials, the presiding judge had to interrogate the main culprit first to see if he pleaded guilty, so Li Yuntian took the lead in letting Xue Xuan take him to court.

Although he has been in the Imperial Prison for more than a month, Xue Xuan's complexion and spirit are very good, and he followed the officers of the Imperial Procuratorate into the lobby with his head held high, and it can be seen that he has not suffered any grievances in the Imperial Prison.

"Xue Xuan, Zuo Shaoqing of Xiaguan Dali Temple, has seen the prince and the adults." After standing in front of the hall, Xue Xuan bowed down and saluted Li Yuntian and Hu Ying and others, he had not been convicted at this time, so he was still the official of Dali Temple, so there was no need to kneel down in the hall.

"Xue Shaoqing, this king asked you, have you accepted a bribe of five hundred taels from the Zhao family?" Under the gaze of everyone at the scene, Li Yuntian asked Xue Xuan quietly.

"Back to the prince, the lower officials have never accepted bribes from the Zhao family, and the lower officials are worthy of their actions." Xue Xuan bowed to Li Yuntian and said in a deep voice.

"In that case, then the official asks you again, there are so many cases in the world, why don't you choose anything else, just the case of the He family?" Hearing this, Li Yuntian asked methodically, this is also where the outside world is most suspicious of Xue Xuan.

"Lord Wang, the files heard by the Metropolitan Procuratorate must be reported to Dali Temple, and the lower officials happened to get the file of the Yue He's murder case, and felt that the case was different, so he went to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to investigate thoroughly." Xue Xuan's expression changed when he heard this, and he looked at Li Yuntian solemnly, "If the prince doesn't believe it, you can check the records of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, it is the Dali Temple that the Metropolitan Procuratorate sent the file of the He family's murder case." ”

"Wang Vice-Capital Yushi, is this the case?" Li Yuntian turned his head to look at Wang Wen, the left deputy of the Imperial Palace, who was sitting in the seat near the gate, and asked expressionlessly, although he knew that this was the truth, he had to tell others in the court.

"Back to the prince, the lower officials checked the relevant records of the He family's murder case, and after the trial of the case, it was indeed sent to Dali Temple, and the case tried by the Metropolitan Procuratorate should be inspected by Dali Temple according to the custom." Wang Wen had already prepared, and picked up a record book from the hand of a Metropolitan Procuratorate official behind him and got up and sent it to Li Yuntian.

"Show your lords." Li Yuntian had already checked the record book, flipped through it, and handed it to an errand officer of the Metropolitan Procuratorate who was standing on the side.

The officer then handed over the record book to Hu Ying, and checked it among the high-ranking officials and dignitaries present in turn, which recorded the date when the Metropolitan Procuratorate handed over the He murder case to Dali Temple, which was before Xue Xuan intervened in the case, which can confirm that Xue Xuan did not lie.

"This record can only prove that the Metropolitan Procuratorate sent the file over, and it cannot prove the reason why you intervened in this case, maybe you saw an unjust case, or other reasons."

After everyone had circulated the record book, Li Yuntian looked at Xue Xuan quietly and said in a deep voice, "Therefore, this does not prove that you did not accept the bribe of five hundred taels of gold. ”

Xue Xuan couldn't help but show a wry smile at the corner of his mouth when he heard this, Li Yuntian's words were right, this didn't prove anything, he was still suspected of accepting bribes.

"Xue Shaoqing, this king is asking you once, did you accept bribes from the Zhao family?" Li Yuntian glanced around the scene and looked at the people who were looking at Xue Xuan, and asked in a deep voice with a serious expression.

"Lord Wang, Xia Guan has never done anything like that." Xue Xuan shook his head and replied solemnly.

"Come on, take the Zhao family's housekeeper." Li Yuntian saw that Xue Xuan didn't admit it, so he opened his mouth and said to the officer standing outside the door, this is another important witness in this case.

"The villain Zhao De kowtowed to the prince and the adults." Soon, the butler of the Zhao family was brought into the hall by two servants of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, a thin middle-aged man in his forties, who knelt in front of the hall in fear and saluted Li Yuntian and all the adults present.

"Zhao De, this king asks you, have you ever given Xue Shaoqing a bribe?" Li Yuntian looked at Zhao De quietly.

"Back to the prince, the villain gave a bribe to Lord Xue." Zhao De didn't hesitate at all when he heard this, and hurriedly replied, "It was sent by the villain himself, and there is also a record of withdrawing that money in the account book of the family." ”

"Bring the Zhao family's account books." Hearing Zhao De mention the Zhao family's account books, Li Yuntian commanded the servants under the hall in a loud voice.

An errand officer then presented the account book to Li Yuntian, and after Li Yuntian glanced at it, he asked Hu Ying and others to circulate it, which indeed clearly recorded that Zhao De had withdrawn five hundred taels of gold from the Zhao family's account, and the time was after He was found guilty and imprisoned and before Xue Xuan intervened in the case.

Li Yuntian actually didn't care much about the record of the money in the account book, the reason is very simple, it is very easy to forge an account book like this, but this can be used as a piece of evidence in the court.

"Do you know Xue Shaoqing?" After circulating the account books, Li Yuntian opened his mouth and asked Zhao De.

"Back to the prince, Lord Xue is Zuo Shaoqing of Dali Temple, with a high position, how can he know the villain." Zhao De hurriedly shook his head, how could he see Xue Xuan with his identity.

"In that case, how do you know that Xue Xuan took bribes?" Li Yuntian's face suddenly sank when he heard this, and he asked in a deep voice.

"Lord Wang, although the villain doesn't know Lord Xue, he knows the old servant under him, and it was the old servant who took the money and said it was for Lord Xue." Zhao De hurriedly explained the reason.

"The old servant you handed over the money yourself?" Li Yuntian's brows furrowed, and he asked with a grim expression.

"The villain handed over the money to him with his own hands, and if the adults don't believe it, the villain can confront him on the spot." Zhao De replied with an oath.

"Did you take the initiative to bribe or did he ask you for a bribe?" Li Yuntian glanced at Zhao De and asked the next question.

Don't look at Li Yuntian and Zhao De here to conduct a step-by-step Q&A, in fact, Zhao De, like Xue Laohan, has been approached by Yun Na in advance and knows what to say in the lobby.

"Back to the prince, the villain mentioned my wife's unjust case to the old servant of the Xue family, so he hinted that the villain could take eight hundred taels of gold so that Lord Xue could eliminate disasters and avoid disasters for my wife."

Zhao De did not hesitate at all, and said in an orderly manner, "But we don't have so much cash in our house, so the villain bargained with him and set the amount at five hundred taels of gold."

Hearing this, everyone present couldn't help but glance at each other, the dignified officialdom was turned into a vegetable market by Zhao De and Xue Laohan, and bargained there like hawkers, which was really sweeping and made the court lose face.

"Have you seen Xue Shaoqing during this period?" Li Yuntian glanced at the people at the scene, and then asked quietly.

"It's always been the old servant of the Xue family who contacted the villain again, the villain hasn't seen Lord Xue, the old servant said that Lord Xue is the official of Dali Temple, and it is inconvenient for him to see the villain." Zhao De shook his head and replied seriously.

"Have you seen anyone else in the Xue family?" Li Yuntian groaned for a moment when he heard this, his expression became a little solemn, and he asked.

"Back to the prince, the old servant of the Xue family said that it is not appropriate for a third party to know about this matter, let the villain remember not to inquire about the progress of the case from the Xue family, once the matter is leaked, even the gods will not be able to save my wife." Zhao De shook his head again when he heard this.

"Xue Shaoqing, did your old servant Xue Laohan mention the He family's case before you met you?" After getting the answer from Zhao De, Li Yuntian asked Xue Xuan, who was standing aside.

"Lord Wang, my old servant has never mentioned the He family's case in front of the lower officials, and he just asked the lower officials about the affairs of the court." Xue Xuan resolutely denied it, and at the same time glared at Zhao De and said, "My old servant has served the master faithfully for forty years, how can he accept bribes in private? ”

Zhao De didn't dare to look at Xue Xuan, kneeling there with his head down, his eyes looking a little flustered and complicated.

Like Xue Laohan, the reason why Zhao De wanted to slander Xue Xuan was also threatened by others, if he didn't do what the other party said, then not only would the He family die, but his family would also be unlucky.

Therefore, Zhao De followed the instructions of the other party and made false accounts to slander Xue Xuan, since Xue Xuan's case, he was also imprisoned in the edict prison, not only did he not receive punishment but was also served with good food and drink, you must know that he is the key to the whole case, neither Wang Zhen nor Ma Shun wants to make a mistake.

"Someone, pass on the He family." Seeing that Zhao De didn't dare to look directly at Xue Xuan, Li Yuntian groaned for a moment and gave an order to the messenger standing in front of the hall.

Although Xue Xuan was imprisoned in the prison of the Metropolitan Procuratorate when Xue Xuan took bribes, she was the cause of the case and naturally had to be interrogated by Li Yuntian in court.

"The He clan knocks to see the prince and the adults." After experiencing the murder case, He Shi is now able to take it calmly in the court, and after she came, she bowed to the officials at the scene in an orderly manner, and her current identity has changed from a "criminal woman" to a "He family", and her identity has changed qualitatively.

"He, this king asks you, have you ever instructed Zhao De to bribe a member of the court for your case?" Li Yuntian glanced at He Shi and asked in a deep voice.

"Back to the prince, although the He family is a female streamer, they also know that it is a big crime to bribe as an official of the court, so they don't dare to make a mistake."

He shook his head when he heard this, denied it in one mouthful, then groaned for a while, and said to Li Yuntian with a wry smile, "Lord Wang, if I let people do this, wouldn't I indirectly admit to killing someone, besides, I was in the prison of the Metropolitan Procuratorate at the time, and I couldn't see outsiders at all, how could I instruct someone to bribe the officials of the court?"

Hearing this, all the adults present nodded their heads, thinking that He Shi was reasonable, since He Shi was involved in the murder case, he has been strictly guarded by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and it is impossible to see outsiders at all.

Of course, it is not ruled out that the people of the Zhao family bribed the jailers to send a message to the He family, but this is only a possibility, there is no evidence to support it, and with Li Yuntian's entry into the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the atmosphere of the Metropolitan Procuratorate has been cleared, especially the jailers in the prison are honestly not daring to be as presumptuous as before.

Moreover, as He said, if she did this, she would admit to killing her husband.

"He's, take a look, is this account book real or fake?" Li Yuntian glanced at the people in the lobby, and asked people to show the account book that Zhao De had spent five hundred taels of gold from the account room to the He family.

"Lord Wang, this account is true." He flipped through it and nodded solemnly.

In fact, now the He family does not know whether Zhao De paid a bribe to Xue Xuan, because the account book is true, and Zhao De took five hundred taels of gold and recorded the account in the account book.

As for where the money went, it naturally flowed into Zhao De's hands, which was considered the money that Wang Zhen gave him to buy his life, according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, those who bribed the court officials to interfere with the trial of major cases would be sentenced to heavy punishment, and the amount of bribes given by Zhao De would definitely die, and even the frontier could only be a luxury.

Therefore, Wang Zhen is not afraid of people checking this account at all.

It is worth mentioning that the gold used by the Zhao family to bribe came from the money village opened by Jiangwutang, and all of them were imperial court gold nuggets and ingots, and there was a certificate for withdrawing this gold.

In order to make the funds of the lecture hall flow, and also to absorb the funds of the people to develop the people's livelihood, Li Yuntian asked the lecture to open a money village, with branches in various places, which was very popular with businessmen and the people.

The reason why the merchants are welcome is because it is more convenient for them to do business, and they no longer have to carry a lot of money on them, and the people are welcome because there is a certain interest in the bank, although the interest is very small, but no matter how small the mosquito is, it is also meat, which is equivalent to falling pie from the sky, anyway, they usually don't need any money.

It is especially important that when the money has been kept in the bank for a certain number of years, the bank can also provide low-interest loans to solve the urgent need, and the interest rate is much lower than that of loan sharks in the market.

It is precisely because of the establishment of the Jiangwutang Money Village that the usury practitioners in various places have been deeply hit, and thus effectively protected the local financial order and safeguarded the interests of the people.

Of course, because of the matter of low-interest loans, Li Yuntian even directly dispatched the soldiers of Wutang to arrest those usurers who tried to sabotage and obstruct the lending of money banks, and directly distributed them to the frontiers, which made usurers everywhere silent, and many people changed their careers, and those who did not change their careers also lowered their interest rates one after another to attract customers.

Some officials in the court complained about the loan of Qianzhuang, believing that by doing so, Jiangwutang was competing with the people for profits and sucking the people's fat and ointment.

Li Yuntian doesn't think so, when the court meeting in the hall of the money village loan explained, in addition to this can make the Wutang funds circulate to promote the development and construction of the Ming Dynasty, but also effectively solve the difficulties of the people, it is better than them borrowing usury from the people, it is a move of the Ming Dynasty to benefit the country and the people, ask who is willing to lend to the people at such a low interest?

As for why interest is charged, Li Yuntian listed a lot of expenses needed by the bank, and those interest are just used to maintain the operation of the bank.

In fact, although there are some objections, the money village of the lecture hall has not been hindered too much in the court, except that the money village is run by the state and does not seek personal gain from it, it is also related to the fact that the lecture hall belongs to the military attache system.

The civil officials naturally disdained this kind of monetary transaction, but they always despised the military attachés, so they would not be too opposed to the military attachés being contaminated with the stench of copper, but more receptive to the affairs of the bank.