Zhang Yanling did not dare to go home alone, so he could only follow his brother to the Shouning Marquis Mansion.

Zhang Heling stepped forward to negotiate with the Imperial Guards surrounding the mansion, and then invited Zhang Yanling to enter the mansion.

"...Brother, why are those people just surrounding your house? Or is Your Majesty willing to spare you and just searching my home?" Zhang Yanling asked in confusion.

Zhang Heling said: "I just asked, and said that when His Majesty first heard that you assigned someone to assassinate Shen Zhihou, and even set fire to the Ministry of Justice, he was very angry and wanted to investigate our houses. Shen Zhihou woke up and helped to make peace, so that your mansion would survive... Second brother, when did you send someone to the Ministry of Justice to set fire?"

Zhang Yanling said anxiously: "Brother, it seems that someone must be trying to murder our brother... When will I send someone to the Ministry of Fever? Let's enter the palace together, do you think I have time?"

Zhang Heling frowned and felt a little embarrassed: "The problem now is that all the evidence points to you... Maybe you really didn't send someone, but your subordinates know what you want, so what if you do it yourself?"

Zhang Yanling said: "Even if the bastards under my younger brother are brave, they dare not go to the Ministry of Justice to set fire. That is a head-lost errand! Brother, do you think it was Shen Zhihou who did it? I guess only he can do this!"

Zhang Heling looked out and saw that the night sky outside the courtyard wall was reflected in red by torches held by the imperial guards. The neighing sounds of horses came from time to time. He looked like a messy look. He couldn't help but shake his head and said:

"I had doubted it before, but now I think it's not very meaningful for Shen Zhihou to do this... He has found out the evidence of your crime. Even if these things happen, he will not be able to kill you and me. What's the point of doing this?"

"Besides, he was stabbed and his injuries were very serious. He knew that His Majesty would take the imperial physician to visit him, would he dare to make a falsification? Finally, when he woke up, he spoke to you and my brothers as soon as possible, perhaps he realized that someone had framed you and my brothers..."

"Brother, look at what you said. What do you mean...will that kid intentionally help us?" Zhang Yanling seemed incomprehensible.

Zhang Heling's face was gloomy and shook his head and said, "Don't think that Shen Zhihou is Yiyou. He has a lot of years in the court, but his influence is extremely huge. Not only does the current emperor trust him, but the court officials are also respectful... Look at who in the court, except Xie Yuqiao, dares to despise him?"

"Brother, stop talking. In short, I think this matter is like Shen Zhihou's thief calling for catching the thief. Our brother has been plotted against!"

Zhang Yanling said angrily, "Our return home is almost like a trap. Now we should find a way to leave. If it really doesn't work... let's just turn the other way. Anyway, you and my brother control the Beijing Camp, and our direct descendants in the 12th Regiment Camp will control the Sixth Camp!"

Zhang Heling was extremely shocked: "You really dare to think about it! If you plot against the enemy, not only will you and my brother beheaded by the whole family, but even the Empress Dowager will be implicated..."

"I told you that for the sake of the throne, even father, brother and nephew can not let go. The Ming Dynasty had had many incidents such as Jingzhan and the gate-taking. The royal family and ministers were full of vigilance about this, and there was no possibility of success at all... Besides, the people in the Jingzhan camp were basically outside the city, so how could they be transferred to the city? Without the military talisman, do you think everyone below would obey the orders?"

Zhang Yanling said angrily: "This is not OK, that is not OK. According to the elder brother's wishes, we can only sit here and wait for the imperial court to deal with us, right?"

"I've said it a long time ago, it's better to admit your mistakes with His Majesty."

Zhang Heling said, "Wait first, now the people around the family are panic, I have to explain, and then we will go to see Your Majesty together... Your Majesty is in Shen's house now, and it is not difficult to see him. Then you just follow my teachings. This is your last chance to maintain your current identity and status!"

...

...

Zhang Heling showed up with Zhang Yanling in front of Zhu Houzhao.

In the main hall of the Shen family, Zhu Houzhao sat upright in the main seat in the middle. He Jian, Xiao Tuozi, Zhang Zilin and several guards stood on both sides, and the two brothers Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling were kneeling in front of him.

"...Your Majesty, the criminal brought his younger brother. It was his ignorance that caused such a big storm. However, according to the criminal investigation, the younger brother was just occupying the land of the people. As for the fact that the *** girl and the matter of taking human lives has nothing to do with him..."

Zhang Heling was prepared, so after seeing Zhu Houzhao, his words were quite organized.

Zhu Houzhao was calm and composed. He was worried that these two uncles would rely on military power to commit rebellion. Now, when he saw the two uncles kneeling in front of him, he let go of his hangover, but the anger in his heart still did not disappear.

Zhu Houzhao shouted, "I still want to be cunning, right? Do you want to present the evidence of the crime to you before you, and you will admit it?"

Zhang Yanling almost cried and said, "Your Majesty, my uncle really didn't care about his life... I just did something to bully people with power... My uncle was obsessed with it. When Liu Jin abused power, he specially bought some land to give it to me. My uncle has confiscated it. After Liu Jin died, the land was under the name of my uncle. When I accepted it, I had some conflicts with the original owner of the land..."

Zhang Heling asked his staff to make up stories for his younger brother, and the initiator of the case was no longer Zhang Yanling, but Liu Jin.

In this way, Zhang Yanling's land grabbing became an "old case" when Liu Jin was in power, complicating simple matters.

Zhu Houzhao felt a headache when she heard this, and directly interrupted Zhang Yanling and said, "I don't care about your forcibly occupying the land. I just ask you, what's going on with the *** girl? And... you are placing charges to harm innocent people, and what's going on with the stabbing of Shangshu Shen? Who released the fire from the Ministry of Justice?"

Zhang Yanling shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, there was a tenant who could not afford to pay the rent and sold his children. At that time, the ministers thought they were pitiful and bought the person, but there were proofs!"

Zhu Houzhao frowned. It was obvious that what Zhang Yanling said was obviously different from what he had heard before, and the reason why Zhang Yanling stated seemed to make sense.

Zhang Yanling continued: "After learning that someone in the court impeached his subordinates, the subordinate asked his servants to send the woman he bought back and asked someone to return the land... As for how these people were later imprisoned, the subordinates did not know anything about it. Maybe... the magistrate of Daxing understood the wrong meaning of the subordinates!"

"Your Majesty, the case is complicated, so you should investigate carefully, and not simply attribute the crime to the uncle!" He Jian was originally the pioneer in impeachment of Zhang Yanling, but when the situation developed to this point, he stood up to speak for Zhang Yanling.

Zhu Houzhao said: "Where is the damn magistrate of Daxing? Call the person and I will interrogate him in person!"

Xiao Guozi hurried out to spread the news. Zhu Houzhao then looked at Zhang Yanling and said, "Mr. Jianchang, what you said now seems to make some sense. You will definitely deny that the stabbing of Shangshu Chen and the fire in the Ministry of Justice has nothing to do with you, right?"

"I don't know anything about the subordinates."

Zhang Yanling denied it.

Zhu Houzhao said angrily: "I knew you would do this, but I was prepared for it. When I caught the fire from the Ministry of Justice and the assassin, I would know if what you said was true... I would give you a last chance. If you admit it now, maybe I would give it a lighter."

Zhang Yanling continued to defend himself: "It's really not what the ministers do. Please be aware of your Majesty!"

...

...

The interrogation is at a deadlock.

Zhu Houzhao had no idea about the case, so he asked him to take charge of the interrogation work in person, which was clueless. In addition, Zhang Yanling had fabricated a lie, which made the case impossible to continue.

After a while, Xiao Guozi came in from outside, looking extremely embarrassed: "Your Majesty, Fu Tongkuan, the magistrate of Daxing, committed suicide due to his crime and died in the prison cell of the Ministry of Justice."

"What?"

Zhu Houzhao stood up in anger, "Just die like this? Suicide? How could he commit suicide?"

Xiao Tiaozi said: "I heard that he died of suicide. As soon as he entered the cell, no one noticed him and found an opportunity to strangle himself to death..."

Hearing this, Zhang Yanling was obviously relieved, while Zhu Houzhao was furious, staring at Zhang Zilin and asked sternly: "Shangshu Zhang, you had swear in front of me before that there would be no accident. Now, it's fine. First, there was a fire in the prison of the Ministry of Justice, and then another important prisoner died. If you look back, you won't even die inexplicably, right?"

Zhang Zilin's body was trembling and thought to himself: "After learning that something happened, I rushed here without stopping. Who knows what happened to the Ministry of Justice?"

He Jian came forward to speak: "Your Majesty, Fu Tongkuan committed suicide fearlessly, at least it means that this person is guilty. Perhaps he did many things without authorization, and it has nothing to do with the two marquises."

“Not related?!”

Zhu Houzhao said annoyedly, "If you say it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter? I think that Fu Tongkuan didn't commit suicide at all, but someone silenced him... What about the remaining people in the county government?"

Xiao Tiaozi was stunned and said quickly: "I will go and spread the news now."

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and said, "Forget it, even if he calls someone, he probably says he doesn't know. I've expected this kind of thing long ago..."

"Mr. Jianchang, you are really capable. After ordering someone to assassinate Mr. Chen, you immediately ran to the palace to ask for help from the Empress Dowager. At the same time, you arranged for someone to set fire in the prison of the Ministry of Justice. Now you kill someone to silence him... Don't argue with me, where did the rope come from in the prison? Then try it, can you strangle yourself to death without someone else? Tell me, how capable are you, how can you command the people in the department of the Ministry of Justice as your arms?"

"I didn't do this, I hope Your Majesty will understand clearly." When Zhang Yanling heard the charges that Zhu Houzhao had woven for him, he felt that he was even more unjust than Dou E, so he could only kowtow and beg for mercy.

Zhang Heling bent on the mercy: "Your Majesty, there are many strange things about this matter, so it is better to find out the truth."

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand: "Take the memorials that Shangshu Chen had written before. I want to compare the above evidence of the crimes and make a decision one by one!"

As He Jian submitted the memorial, the Zhang brothers began to become nervous.

The fact that they almost got away with it was based on Zhu Houzhao's secrets of not understanding the secret of case trial and being led by them was led by the nose. Although Chen Xi was stabbed and unable to be in charge of the director, he wrote a memorial to use as a reference. The two immediately realized that the situation was not good.

Zhu Houzhao took the memorial and read it for a while, then stared at Zhang Yanling and sneered: "The victims on this are not one household or two, but nearly a hundred households... If it is a family's opinion, it can be said that someone framed you. So many people said it was yours, how can you make a falsification? If you forcefully buy and sell, they don't buy the high-priced land you sold, so you force them to write an IOU, and then abuse their wife and daughter in front of them..."

"Your Majesty, you're wronged. Someone must have framed him behind his back." Zhang Yanling's face was full of grievance. "Can your Majesty believe such a deceased?"

Zhu Houzhao said: "Everyone's confession is here, both the human and physical evidence are there, do you still want to deny it? It seems that you will not admit it without some means."

Zhu Houzhao said, and he was about to order to be torture.

Zhang Yanling immediately became nervous and kowtowed: "Your Majesty, you can't betrayed."

Zhu Houzhao had no experience in the trial of the case. Seeing that Zhang Yanling was reluctant to admit it, he planned to torture the confession... This was also a method he learned from the Southern Dramas he usually watched.

Zhu Houzhao thought to himself: "On the stage, once Di Renjie, Bao Longtu and other honest officials find evidence and the criminal refuses to admit it, he will definitely be tortured. Now I will do the same to the previous one."

But Zhang Yanling was already calling Tianqu.

Zhu Houzhao said, "Come on, I will be punished!"

He Jian immediately persuaded: "Your Majesty, this case has not been investigated yet, and the punishment should not be imposed on the two marquises."

"What? I have to discuss with you what I want to do? I will fight if I say it!"

Zhu Houzhao was the most domineering. Others couldn't persuade them to come back when they knew what they were right. Zhang Zilin next to him hurriedly joined the ranks of persuaders, but at this moment several imperial guards had entered the door. Zhu Houzhao pointed at Zhang Yanling and said, "Beat! Pull it out and beat me hard!"

Zhang Yanling continued to shout: "Your Majesty, my minister is not guilty, my minister is not guilty!"

Even if he shouted loudly, it would be useless. Several palace guards had already grabbed him and dragged him out the door. When people left the door, soon the stick and screams came at the same time, each of which made the people present frightened.

Because Zhu Houzhao didn't say how many hits, the palace guards did not dare to be negligent, and hit them with one stick and didn't care about how many hits they had hit. Seeing that this was not good, He Jian quickly advised: "Your Majesty, if you beat Marquis Jianchang out, the case will not be clear."

Zhu Houzhao looked at Zhang Heling who was kneeling in front of him without saying a word. She wondered why his uncle didn't come out to plead for mercy. Only then did he feel that his anger was vented in his heart, and waved his hand and said, "Okay, it's almost time to pull the person in and ask."

He Jian ran out of the house and stopped the torture outside.

When Zhang Yanling was dragged back, his whole body was disheveled and his head was drooping. He seemed to be heartless, muttering something on his mouth. Zhu Houzhao listened in a slanted ear, but could not tell whether he was moaning or cursing.

He Jian said: "Your Majesty, you have brought it back and you can ask questions."

Zhu Houzhao sneered: "Marty Jianchang, can you admit your crime now?"

"The minister is not guilty... He was wronged. He did not take care of his life, nor sent anyone to assassinate Shen Zhihou, nor instructed him to set fire to the Ministry of Justice. He was wronged... Please give your Majesty a clear explanation."

Zhang Yanling decided on one thing, and if he admitted it, he would be even more responsible. Even if he suffered some flesh and blood, he would bite the crime he could not admit.

Zhu Houzhao was furious: "You are a ungrateful thing. The relationship was just in vain, right? Come on, beat me hard again!"

Zhang Heling finally spoke: "Your Majesty, if you want to fight, just fight me together... I am not good at teaching me, and I am willing to suffer this crime for him!"

Zhu Houzhao said: "Mr. Shouning, do you think you have fewer mistakes? You have not taken care of human life, but I have heard that you have done a lot of invading the land and houses... No, right? Who knows if you conspired with Marquis Jianchang? It is indeed time to fight together!"

He Jian regretted asking Chen Xi to expose the Zhang brothers. Unexpectedly, Zhu Houzhao acted so brutally and directly, so he quickly advised: "Your Majesty, you must not. When handling a case, you must convince the criminals and confess their guilt. Torturing and forcing confessions will eventually be the king."

Just at this moment, Ma Jiu came in and reported: "Your Majesty, the people from the Ministry of Fire have been arrested and brought to justice. I don't know what to do?"

Zhu Houzhao's eyes lit up and said, "It's great, my trial is deadlocked, and this witness comes... hurry up and take the person up."

When the Zhang brothers heard that the criminal was arrested, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, thinking in their hearts: "I can finally cleanse up the unjust injustice."
Chapter completed!