The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 902 Trial
Although the experienced cabinet ministers suggested that the emperor execute Kingsning secretly; although Kingsning had considerable influence among the imperial veterans; and although unrest was imminent; however, the emperor still insisted on publicly trying the villain.

Outside Tianxin City, local military and political leaders proposed a trial for the rebels. Furthermore, countries like Britain hoped that Daqi would also protect the "basic rights of citizens."

It should be noted that Kingsning holds dual citizenship of both Britain and Great Qi. Any improper handling could lead to new diplomatic problems.

The situation is complex and complicated, especially when the Baolu Carriage Company is facing an unprecedented crisis. The slightest mistake could lead to irreversible consequences.

The inhumane treatment suffered by Baolu employees abroad is outrageous. The most embarrassing thing is that this scandal was first exposed by the British.

This gave Da Qi's allies reason to wonder where the future of the empire was heading, the so-called equal country as Emperor Jing Yan said, or the Rakshasa-style slavery.

Emperor Jingyan was under unprecedented pressure.

Zhang Tingyu saw at a glance that this was a conspiracy by the provinces to undermine the government's power.

The Prime Minister of Great Qi said angrily, "Those governors and governors dare not openly offend the emperor, so they use such despicable tricks in a vain attempt to undermine the imperial power!"

Nian Gengyao suggested that there was no need to care about external forces, let alone worry about trade sanctions from Britain. Even without the European market, the Baolu Company could sell carriages to North America and Africa.

The Deputy Prime Minister also pointed out to the Emperor that if the trial was open and Kingsning was allowed to accuse each other recklessly, it would inevitably implicate all the corps. Everyone in the army would then be in danger, and we would be in chaos without the rebels having to take action. It would be a loss.

"What if this thief is not sentenced to death? Once he is released from prison, he continues to rebel and subvert the Great Qi. What will Your Majesty do?"

Liu Fan said disapprovingly, "Those who do too much evil will eventually perish. Just wait and see."

In short, Liu Fan still insisted on the trial.

The cabinet calculated political accounts for the emperor, but the emperor cared about the economic costs.

If the overseas market of Qi State is affected because of a King Ning, and trillions of foreign trade business is affected, which in turn leads to widespread suffering in the domestic and foreign trade industries, then it will really be a loss.

On December 30th of the 12th year of Jingyan, officials of the Tianxin City Prison Office received an official document from the cabinet, which required that a total of 13 prisoners involved in the rebellion be escorted to the Tianxin City Supreme Court for trial before 9:00 a.m. on January 1st of the following year. One of the prisoners, a rebel leader named Kingsning, was the main culprit and had to be closely escorted by more than 20 soldiers.

On the morning of January 1st, Shen Fei, the warden of Tianxin City's No. 1 Prison, personally led a large escort team to escort the rebel leader, who was covered in wounds and had a limp in one leg, into the heavily guarded Tianxin City Prison.

"You bastard, are you Kingsning?" Shen Fei asked loudly.

Before Kingsning could speak, a strange stench mixed with feces and urine hit him in the face. Shen Fei suppressed his nausea and asked again:

"Damn it! With such a coward like you, you still want to murder the Emperor of Da Qi?"

Although the No. 1 Prison of Tianzi was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, it received a lot of gold, silver, cloth and silk rewards from the emperor during festivals every year, so it had great respect for the imperial power. Facing these rebels in front of him, Shen Fei felt disgust from the bottom of his heart.

"I have a hundred ways to kill you! A hundred ways!"

After Shen Fei finished speaking, he slammed the prison door shut and instructed the group of soldiers behind him to keep a good watch outside the door.

A moment later, another fat man in a gray prison robe walked briskly through the cell door. Although he was wearing shackles, his complexion was obviously better than Kingsling in the cell, and there was not a single scar on his prison uniform.

Kingsning caught a glimpse of the fat man out of the corner of his eye, struggled to stand up, walked to the cell door and stuck his head out to say something to the fat man, but the guard pushed his head in with the cell door and raised his whip to whip Kingsning in the face.

The fat man's laughter was heard outside.

"Living King of Hell, you sold me out!"

"Old Jin, I just told them everything you did." The fat man said, shaking the handcuffs on his hand.

The guards obviously enjoyed watching this scene, so they stopped urging the fat man to move forward and made him stand next to the cell door.

"You betrayed the organization! You're a rotten piece of shit! Following me, I've let you sleep with so many women and make so much money!"

The fat man grinned and said, "I followed you just to sleep with women and make money. Now that you're done, why should I still follow you? I can take the opportunity to sell it for a good price, which can also be considered as doing good for you."

At this moment, a man who looked like an officer walked down the corridor and glared at them. "Are you done yet? Take the prisoner away! He's going to be tried."

~~~~~~~~~
Everyone in the empire attached great importance to this trial.

The trial was held in the First Court of Tianxin City, which has a courtroom that can accommodate a thousand people.

On the day of the trial, the courtroom was packed and the corridor doors were filled with people standing.

The emperor sent his trusted confidant, Eunuch Huang, and Chief of the Imperial Guard, Wang Bin, to serve on the jury. Deputy Prime Minister Nian Gengyao personally led twenty judicial officials versed in Qi law to participate in the trial. Fifty officials from the provincial offices in the capital were present, along with foreign ambassadors stationed in Tianxin City. All but one, Vincent van Gogh, the Dutch ambassador, was present due to illness.

Each corps sent law enforcement officers to attend the trial. In addition, more than one hundred citizen representatives from all walks of life in Tianxin City and newspaper reporters attended the trial.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the court clerk asked as a routine matter whether everyone had arrived. Two soldiers carefully counted them and replied that everyone was present, so the clerk began to call the roll.

After the roll call, the sheriff invited everyone into the courtroom. As soon as the jurors were seated, the sheriff staggered to the center of the courtroom and shouted at the top of his voice as if to intimidate everyone present:

"The court is in session!"

All rise!

The judges walked onto the stage one after another: leading the way was Bao Rui, the tall president of the First Court of Tianxin City, followed by the burly Deputy Prime Minister Nian Gengyao who wore gold-rimmed glasses, and finally the commander-in-chief of the Suoyi Guard, Wu Zhongguo.

The deputy prosecutor was John Bowie, who had both Da Qi and British ancestry. Although he had made preparations in advance, he immediately immersed himself in reading documents as soon as he sat down after following the judge in, making full preparations for the upcoming trial.

There were two clerks in total, one was a Tongpan transferred from Changsha, and the other's hometown was even farther away, from Annan, thousands of miles away.

Both of them were temporarily transferred to the capital last year to try this case.

Secretary Annan was a thin, dark-skinned, middle-aged official who was sitting in the other corner of the stage. He had prepared the documents that might need to be read out. It was his first time witnessing such a grand scene, and he was so excited that his fingers could not help but tremble.

Bao Rui looked around and reviewed the documents in his hand again. Before the formal interrogation, his eyes turned to Deputy Prime Minister Nian Gengyao who was sitting next to him. After receiving the latter's signal, the presiding judge immediately asked a few questions to the executor and the Annan clerk. After receiving affirmative answers, he ordered the defendant to appear in court.

Four pacification soldiers, wearing black military caps and holding rifles with fixed bayonets, walked in majestically, two of them in front, two behind, and the defendant in the middle.

Under the gaze of more than a thousand pairs of eyes, Kingsning limped towards the dock.

Kingsning's appearance immediately caused a commotion around him. Although most of the representatives attending the trial were respectable people, anger still broke out in an instant.

"Damn traitor!"

"Damn thing!"

"You want to mess up Tianxin City! Why don't you just die!"

Bao Rui waited for everyone to curse for a while before he raised the hammer and knocked on the table twice.

"quiet!"

The pacification soldiers standing at the door stepped forward to maintain order and appease the angry citizen representatives, and the court gradually quieted down.

The presiding judge waited for the surroundings to calm down completely, glanced at the defendant who was still grinning, and turned to Clerk Annan and said:
"Can you take shorthand?"

Secretary Annan quickly said, "Mr. Judge, of course I can take shorthand. I have been recognized for outstanding performance in Annan Province for three consecutive years. I am fluent in British and French. How many languages do you need the records in?"

Bao Rui smiled and nodded without saying anything else.

So the routine trial process began: counting the jurors, deciding on the fines for absent jurors, appointing a list of alternate jurors, and then the president of the court asked the priest to take the oath of the jurors...

(End of this chapter)