The prince is more stable

Chapter 88 Accidental Death
It feels great to be both the defendant and the judge.

Bingjingwu is not a charity, and it does not understand what it means to be gentle and considerate to women. Cao Ning's body was covered in blood, his legs were broken, and there was hardly any intact skin on his body.

It was obvious that Bingjingwu had hit Cao Ning hard. Cao Ning now looked like a fried ghost from the eighteen levels of hell, which was very scary.

Cao Anzhen was better, but there were also signs of torture on her body, and both father and daughter looked miserable.

Zhao Xiaoqian sat behind the desk, staring at them with cold eyes.

There was no sympathy in his heart. The court was a jungle where only the fittest survived. When Cao Ning treated his mother as prey, he never thought that there was a more ferocious beast behind him, staring at her coldly.

The evidence of his crimes was collected very comprehensively. Cao Anzhen had done many things over the years. Among all the bad things he did, corruption and bribery were the main themes. Of course, this was also the unspoken rule of the Song Dynasty court today.

As long as you don't make political mistakes and are a little greedy, no one will hold it against you. But if you are too serious, no one will be clean.

It would be wonderful if you could be honest and work hard until you retire and return home with a fortune, and see the government and the people in harmony.

However, if you offend someone or make a political mistake, such a small mistake as corruption or bribery may instantly become your death warrant. Not only will your whole life's work be in vain, but you may even lose your life.

Cao Anzhen is a typical example of the latter.

Until this moment he felt as if he were in a dream, as if everything was unreal.

The door of his own mansion was kicked open by the Imperial City Bureau, and he was tied up and taken to the Bingjing Office. Then he was tortured endlessly, forced to confess, write a confession, and then tortured again...

His life instantly fell from the peak to hell. He couldn't figure out what heavenly law he had violated, and why the Imperial City Bureau used thundering means to treat him so cruelly.

It was not until he was brought to the Imperial City Court for interrogation and saw his daughter Cao Ning that Cao Anzhen finally understood.

This little cotton-padded jacket is not just leaky, it's full of thorns. He had a smooth career in officialdom his entire life, but in the end, he was stabbed in the back by his own daughter.

When Cao Anzhen saw a thick stack of so-called charges at Bingjingwu, he knew he was in big trouble.

He knew what he had done, and the charges against him were both true and false, about half and half. Based on those false charges, Cao Anzhen realized that this time someone wanted to completely eliminate him from the court.

It is impossible for him to be an official in Beijing again. If he is lucky, he will be exiled to the countryside. If he is unlucky, his whole family will be exiled thousands of miles away, and he may even be exiled to the army.

Therefore, of course you cannot admit the crime, even if you are beaten to death. If you admit it, there will be no way to turn the situation around.

What Cao Anzhen didn't expect was that Zhao Xiaoqian actually didn't care whether he pleaded guilty or not.

The so-called interrogation at this moment is just a formality. The fate of Cao's father and daughter has already been decided by Zhao Xiaoqian.

Now Zhao Xiaoqian doesn't even want to go through the process.

He walked to the middle of the main hall, squatted in front of the father and daughter, and smiled friendlyly.

"Do you two think that as long as you don't confess your guilt, your colleagues in the court will definitely speak up for you?"

The father and daughter said nothing.

Zhao Xiaoqian smiled and said, "If you really think so, I can only say that you are too naive."

"The Imperial City is a lawless place. You must be convinced of this. And then... well, if the Imperial City wants a sealed confession, it's too easy."

"And I can guarantee that once this confession is brought to the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple, they will definitely judge the case swiftly and strictly, faster than you can imagine."

"Do you think that the reason you were brought to trial today is because the Imperial City Bureau is anxious to get your confession?"

"No, the confession is not important. I just want to tell Cao Sijian in person that you gave birth to a good daughter, but this daughter relied on you and brought disaster to your Cao family."

The father and daughter of the Cao family trembled all over. Cao Ning, who had been tortured, could not speak and could only look at Zhao Xiaoqian with pleading eyes.

Cao Anzhen seemed to have accepted her fate, her eyes closed with a look of dejection. Occasionally, when she opened them, she looked not at Zhao Xiaoqian but at Cao Ning, her eyes filled with murderous intent. It was clear that he hated this daughter who had brought such disaster to the Cao family.

Wei Jie came over at this time, holding a stack of indictments, and said, "Sir, here are the general charges against the Cao family father and daughter. All that's left is to seal and sign, and this case will be an ironclad conviction."

Zhao Xiaoqian took the indictment, glanced at it, and said calmly, "Fortunately, my mother was only bullied by you. If anything happened to her, it wouldn't just be you and your daughter who would be in trouble. The entire Cao family would pay the price."

Turning to look at Wei Jie, Zhao Xiaoqian said, "Hurry up and get the signature and send it to the Dali Temple for conviction."

After saying this, Zhao Xiaoqian ignored the desperate Cao father and daughter, dusted off his robe, stood up and left.

The Imperial City is a very dark place. After staying there for a long time, Zhao Xiaoqian felt that he was about to become a villain, the kind that any hero in the world could kill.

Only after leaving the Imperial City Office did Zhao Xiaoqian become the sunny and cheerful boy again.

…………

Just as Zhao Xiaoqian guessed, the Imperial City Division obtained the charges signed by the Cao father and daughter, and the charges were quickly sent to the Dali Temple.

But for some unknown reason, the Dali Temple made a lightning-fast judgment.

The news that Cao Anzhen was being questioned had just spread in the court. The Dali Temple had already made a verdict on the case. After a joint trial by the Ministry of Personnel, Cao Anzhen was found to have embezzled and violated the law in huge amounts. He was demoted to the position of magistrate of Qinzhou and was required to leave immediately without delay.

So, the wounded father and daughter of the Cao family did not even have time to pack their luggage. They only took a few clothes and a carriage and left Bianjing in a crawling posture.

While the court officials were shocked and were still planning to redress the grievances for Cao Anzhen, the father and daughter of the Cao family had already set off.

Then, the Dali Temple announced the crimes of Cao's father and daughter, including various illegal evidence collected by the Imperial City Bureau, and the confession signed by Cao Anzhen himself.

The noise in the court suddenly quieted down.

How could he still seek justice for the case, now that it was already an ironclad conviction? If he continued to dwell on it, he might end up getting himself into trouble.

But the whole thing has a weird flavor, which makes people think a lot.

Supervising and investigating illegal officials has always been the job of the Dali Temple, but it was done by the Imperial City Bureau. The Dali Temple has always been slow in judging cases. An ordinary case may not be convicted for three to five months, but Cao Anzhen's crime was convicted within two days.

The case had been decided, and the court officials had nothing to say, so they had to stop fighting. The new and old parties continued to fight wits and courage, and people's attention was quickly diverted.

After everything calmed down, on the third day after the Cao father and daughter were exiled from the capital, Wei Jie came to the gate of the Chu Palace with a look of surprise and asked to see the prince.

After seeing Zhao Xiaoqian, Wei Jie wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Prince, the father and daughter of the Cao family are dead. They died on the way to be exiled from the capital."

Zhao Xiaoqian looked at him strangely, very confused by Wei Jie's reaction.

Isn't this normal? Everything went according to the script. Now that the Cao family father and daughter have finished filming, should they be given flowers, applauded, and given a banquet?
Wei Jie smiled bitterly and said, "Something unexpected happened. The death of the Cao family father and daughter was not caused by the Imperial City Bureau."

Zhao Xiaoqian was finally surprised: "It wasn't you who did it?"

Wei Jie sighed, "After the Cao family father and daughter left the capital, our troops have been quietly following them, waiting for the right moment to strike..."

"We were planning to take action outside Xiangzhou City when we discovered that the Cao family's carriage was passing a cliff. For some unknown reason, the horse pulling the carriage went mad and suddenly fell off the cliff, smashing the carriage, horses, and people alike into pieces..."

Zhao Xiaoqian was shocked and said, "The horse pulling the cart has gone crazy? What kind of plot is this?"

Wei Jie sighed, "I swear, this is not the work of the Imperial City Division. This is different from our original plan. We had intended to create a robbery and murder by horse bandits."

"Furthermore, when the carriage fell off the cliff, many merchants and common people on the mountain road saw it. It can be said that with so many witnesses, the death of the Cao family father and daughter was purely accidental and the death was flawless."

(End of this chapter)