Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 459: The Law Does Not Punish Everyone
Huang Kezan wrote down Li Guochen's answer word for word, and then asked, "Why did you send Li Youcai to Zhongwei to inform Shen Caiyu?"

Li Guochen didn't hesitate and answered directly: "Because the Li family, like many people in the harem, has been accepting gifts from Shen Caiyu for many years. I'm afraid that after he is arrested, he will confess these transactions."

As Huang Kezan took notes, he glanced at Zhang Weixian subtly. He noticed that even though Li Guochen had explicitly mentioned the Rear Military Governor's Office, the Duke remained composed and seemingly unresponsive. However, if Huang Kezan had been able to look Zhang Weixian in the eye, he would have been able to detect the momentary, abnormal contraction of the Duke's pupil.

"How much tribute did the Li family receive from Shen Caiyu?" When Huang Kezan asked this question, this interrogation completely deviated from the "withholding salary case."

"I don't know." Li Guochen seemed to be about to say "I don't know," but after a seemingly fleeting yet noticeable hesitation, Li Guochen changed his words and said, "Probably tens of thousands of taels."

"How many tens of thousands of taels is it?" Huang Kezan's eyes lit up as he pressed on. It looked like this was a significant sum. If he could use this case to force the wealthy nobles to cough up some silver, he could also use it as an opportunity to petition for some money to fund the refugee camp.

"How would I know how much all these detailed claims add up to?" Li Guochen looked bewildered, his words full of ambiguous speculation. "But after all, it's been so many years, so there should be at least 30,000 or 40,000 taels."

"Besides the Li family, who else accepted Shen Caiyu's filial piety?" Huang Kezan asked.

"Ahem!" He Zongyan interrupted Li Guochen with a deliberate, heavy cough before he could respond. "Shaofu, it's too early to ask that now." If this question were asked, the nature of the interrogation would completely change.

"Yes." Zhang Wenda paused. "Let's ask something else first."

Huang Kezan hesitated for only a moment. "Okay. But I don't have anything else to ask. Deyun and Junmei, you should ask them."

Zhang Wenda was not polite. He picked up the pen and wrote down his question: "Li Guochen, you stopped the salary transport team. Is the only crime you want to be charged with the crime of killing your own servants?" Zhang Wenda used an extremely roundabout way of asking.

"Yes! The only crime is the killing of Li Youcai." Li Guochen turned and looked at Zhang Wenda who was asking the question.

"Think it through," Zhang Wenda leaned forward twice. "But I remind you, if you don't surrender yourself, his crime will not be forgiven."

"In reply to General Zhang, the only charges I want to face are the crime of leaking information and killing Li Youcai." Li Guochen answered sincerely.

"Then I have nothing more to ask." Zhang Wenda put down the pen in his hand.

Huang Kezan looked at He Zongyan. He Zongyan shook his head, indicating that he had nothing more to ask. Huang Kezan then waved to Li Guochen. "That's it for now. Come over and sign."

"Yes." Li Guochen walked over, and Huang Kezan also turned the interrogation record over. "Take a look first. If you think it's wrong, you don't have to sign it."

Li Guochen finished reading quickly. He took the brush from Huang Kezan and wrote his name at the end of the article. From that moment on, Li Guochen was a serious criminal, but the sentence had not yet been determined.

"Do you want to sign the other two copies as well?" Li Guochen bowed to Zhang Wenda and He Zongyan.

"You don't have to draw it. This is the Ministry of Justice's investigation into your interception of the military payroll team, not a joint trial by the three courts. They are just listening and taking notes," said Huang Kezan.

"Then the criminal will not sign." Li Guochen handed the brush back to Huang Kezan.

Huang Kezan put away his pen and paper and turned to look at Zhang Weixian. "Duke Yingguo, could you please take the prisoner to the cell?"

Zhang Weixian immediately understood that Huang Kezan was trying to get him out of the way so he could have a small talk with the other two judges. He had no objection, though, or perhaps that was exactly what he was thinking. "Okay," he replied, then stood up and walked to the tea room door. He didn't seem interested in even glancing at the confession.

--------

The door of the tea room was closed again. The three judicial officials first exchanged and read each other's records and signed their names on them.

"What do you two think about this matter?" Huang Kezan returned the signed record to He Zongyan, but did not sit back.

He Zongyan answered immediately. "I think this Mr. Li is quite scheming. I underestimated him."

"What do you mean?" Huang Kezan nodded slightly.

"He's trying to drag as many people into this as possible, so he can get away with it." He Zongyan pointed at a line on the confession and sneered, "'Like many others in the rear office.' What do you mean by many others? Who are they? If he were to let him accuse people of this, I'm afraid the only people who wouldn't be implicated in the entire rear military governor's office would be the newly appointed ones."

"But Junmei," Huang Kezan said, looking at He Zongyan's notes, "you should still remember this sentence."

He Zongyan said as a matter of course, "Of course I should remember it. Although it's a little too early to ask this now, it's not wrong to ask. With this sentence, it will be easier to ask when the time comes."

"That's right." Huang Kezan, with his wisdom, naturally wouldn't ask when the right time is. "What about Deyun? What do you think?"

"He's avoiding the serious and focusing on the trivial," Zhang Wenda said. "Illegal smuggling, harboring criminals, and counterfeiting and disappearing. Of the three cases uncovered in quick succession, harboring criminals is the least serious. Now he admits to that one, but firmly denies the other two. He's clearly avoiding the serious and focusing on the trivial."

"Hmm." Huang Kezan walked over to the chair where Li Guochen had been sitting before and slammed the back of the chair. "Whether it's the law of not punishing everyone or avoiding the important and focusing on the trivial, we have to deny his wish!"

"That's right." Zhang Wenda and He Zongyan nodded in unison.

--------

Elsewhere, Zhang Weixian and Li Guochen were on their way to the Heavenly Prison. Although there were many people passing by them, no one was paying close attention to them.

"Duke" Li Guochen spoke first.

"Just say what you want to say, don't beat around the bush. It's only a few steps from here to the prison," Zhang Weixian interrupted him. "What do you want to do?"

"Duke," Li Guochen said, "I'm just trying to protect myself."

"Self-protection?" Zhang Weixian said, "Do you think you can protect yourself by dragging others into the water?" "Then will you find a way to protect the kid?" Li Guochen asked back.

"Oh," Zhang Weixian chuckled and said, "I don't need to protect you. Don't try to use this to threaten me into speaking for you. If you want to pull it, go ahead and pull it. Let me tell you bluntly, even if you add the Zhang family to the confession, my Zhang family will be fine. On the contrary, not only will it be fine, I can also launder all that not-so-clean silver."

"What if it can't be washed clean?" Li Guochen also followed his words.

"Then return it all to the court. Money is merely material possessions, and my Zhang family isn't as stingy and greedy as your Li family. I know exactly what money can be earned, what can't, and when to return it." When they reached a quiet place, Zhang Weixian even began to mock. "Only a fool driven crazy by poverty would engage in such a business that would get him killed. Your Li family was very poor fifty years ago, and are we still poor now?"

"Haha." Li Guochen couldn't understand what Zhang Weixian said. He knew the best thing to do at this moment was to shut up, but in the end, Li Guochen couldn't help but said, "Not poor, indeed."

--------

Several tall horses stopped at the yamen gate, and Wei Chao rolled over and stepped on the ground. He took only one step forward, and the eunuchs on duty at the gate hurried over to greet him, kneeling in greeting. "Great Ancestor!"

Wei Chao ignored them, silently handed the reins to the eunuch accompanying him, and walked straight in over the high threshold.

In the hall, a group of prominent eunuchs were enjoying dinner. Tonight's main course was white noodles made from finely ground wheat flour, served with a variety of flavored stews, which the eunuchs could mix and match to their taste. Besides the noodles, the table also offered a variety of side dishes.

As Wei Chao entered, the eunuchs sitting at the two square tables on his left and right put down their bowls and chopsticks and stood up. Cao Huachun, who sat opposite Wang An with his back to the door, and Liu Ruoyu, who sat to the left between Wang An and Cao Huachun, heard the commotion and turned their heads. Seeing that it was Wei Chao, they also stood up and saluted.

"Everyone, sit down, sit down." Wei Chao waved and greeted them hurriedly, walking to the dining table in the middle without stopping.

"Ancestor."

"Have you eaten?" Wang An raised his hand to stop him.

Wei Chao was stunned for a moment, then didn't kneel. "Not yet."

"Then let's eat first." As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Cao Huachun, who had just sat down, stood up and put his stool behind Wei Chao. "Grand Ancestor, please sit down."

Cao Huachun then beckoned to a nearby eunuch. "Another set of bowls and chopsticks." Every meal at the Imperial Household Department was oversupplied. Even if one or two more people were added, there wouldn't be a shortage.

"Ru, my brother, you're too polite." Cao Huachun used only one character, Ru. From the day he entered the Imperial Household Department, Wei Chao addressed him as his brother. Cao Huachun called Wei Chao "Great Ancestor," and Wei Chao called Cao Huachun "Ru, my brother." Although they were different opinions, it didn't seem strange to outsiders.

After Wei Chao sat down, Wang An said again: "I thought you wouldn't come back today."

"Has the ancestor not heard about what happened in front of Dong'an Gate?" Wei Chao took the bowl and chopsticks from the eunuch who was serving the meal, and then used the pair of public chopsticks inserted in the big bowl to pick up a bowl of steaming white noodles.

"It's about Li Guochen intercepting the military payroll and you sending him to the Ministry of Justice." Wang An glanced at him and continued eating. "I heard about it in the Qianqing Palace."

"Then long live the master." Wei Chao's hand, which was about to make the soup, stopped in mid-air.

"Of course I know that."

"Shouldn't I send Li Guochen to the Ministry of Justice?" Wei Chao asked nervously.

After the fleet left the dock, Wei Chao first walked around the Dongbianmen Gate as planned. In the afternoon, he visited the three major branches of the bank, Chaoyangmen, Andingmen, and Fuchengmen, for on-site inspections. Along the way, he always felt that something was wrong.

Finally, on the way to the Zhengyangmen branch, Wei Chao suddenly had an idea. The emperor hadn't announced his decision on the Li family case yet, so it would be against the rules for him to rashly send the eldest son of the Li family to the Ministry of Justice.
"I shouldn't have." Wang An took another mouthful of noodles before continuing, "But this time, it's not so bad."

"I don't understand, please enlighten me, ancestor." Wei Chao had picked up the noodles and prepared the sauce, but he was still hesitant to pick up the chopsticks to put them in his mouth.

"The three judicial officials have made amends for you. They've submitted a joint petition, requesting that the Li family's case be handed over to the judicial authorities for a thorough investigation, to restore order. Oh, it's quite blunt." Wang An recited the most significant line: "The Son of Heaven is the divine ruler who shepherds the people on behalf of Heaven, and the Emperor is the heir to the ancestral throne. Don't let your concerns for your relatives lead you to lose the hopes of heaven and earth and undermine the ancestral order."

"Master, has Your Majesty agreed to this?" Wei Chao asked.

"No." Wang An shook his head. "It should take another two or three days. And..."

The reason it took two or three days, rather than longer or shorter, was because the Taichang Imperial Examination, the imperial examination for special privileges, would begin two days later. Wang An had almost guessed the emperor's intentions. By then, someone would undoubtedly write in the examination essays, advising the monarch not to be concerned with favoritism. These essays would push public opinion in Beijing to a new high. Then, the emperor could, acting as a wise ruler who, despite concerns about favoritism, still prioritized state affairs, accept the advice of his ministers and newly minted Jinshi, approve the judicial memorial left in the palace, and have the court impartially judge the Li family's crimes. After that, the grand drama played out for the entire world would only have one final act left.

"If the master didn't agree, how can this be considered making amends?" Wei Chao still didn't understand. "Isn't this just the court using this incident to do what public opinion demands of them?"

"Is the taste so bland?" Wang An added a spoonful of braised pork stew to the remaining noodles in the bowl. "You eat it too."

"Yes." Wei Chao obediently stuffed a few mouthfuls of noodles into his mouth, swallowed them whole, and then looked at Wang An again.

"What's that smell?" Wang An asked.

"Not too bland," Wei Chao thought, and said suddenly, "They didn't directly try Li Guochen as a criminal!" The three judicial departments could have done so, because even if the emperor questioned them, the three judicial departments could have put all the responsibility on Wei Chao, saying that his behavior made the three judicial departments mistakenly believe that the emperor had agreed to let the judicial departments conduct a strict trial of the case.

Wang An nodded. But just as Wei Chao's face lit up with joy, Wang An added, "Actually, it was interrogated."

"Huh?" Wei Chao was stunned. "They dared to conduct the trial without even waiting for the emperor's reply?" Submitting a memorial for retrial would have a completely different nature. This was because the memorial had already eliminated the three judges' defenses. The emperor could even directly accuse the judges of deceiving the emperor and force the judges to retire.

"That's how clever they are," Wang An said with sincere admiration. "They didn't try the three major cases. They tried the case of intercepting the military payroll convoy!"

(End of this chapter)