The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 143 A Perfect Ironclad Case? No! I've found a breakthrough!

Rumors and gossip were rampant outside, and the storm stirred up by the reinvestigation of the military pay case was sweeping through the entire court at an alarming speed. Yet, the Ministry of Justice was eerily quiet.

The Ministry of Justice seemed unaffected, with its various departments continuing to operate efficiently, and not a single word of discussion about reopening the investigation into the military pay case could be heard within the entire government office.

It was as if none of the officials in the Ministry of Justice knew that the case of the paid treasury was being re-investigated by their physician.

The office of the Chief Physician in the Ministry of Justice.

"It's really weird."

Lu Yangyuan said to Liu Shuyi, "I would like to hear what my colleagues think about the reinvestigation of the salary silver case. Is there anyone who is dissatisfied with Doctor Liu because they were involved in the salary silver case, and is deliberately trying to sabotage him?"

"As a result, I walked through several courtyards, but I didn't hear a single word of discussion."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuyi, who was sitting behind his desk, did not take his eyes off the files on the desk and said indifferently, "It's normal. Although the case was jointly investigated by the three departments and many people were involved, most of them were just laborers."

"They have a share of the work, but the credit has nothing to do with them."

"They did not benefit from this case, so they are naturally not worried about any unexpected events in the salary case. After all, even if something unexpected happens, it will not be their fault, nor will it affect their current interests."

"Those who should really be afraid are those who made contributions in the salary case and were promoted or rewarded as a result... If I really overturn the result of the salary case, they will have to worry about whether the benefits they were given by the court will be taken back, or whether they will have to bear the consequences of the hundreds of people dying and nearly a thousand people being exiled because of their wrong judgment."

"And such people are all the top people in the Three Departments, at the level of Minister, Vice Minister, and Director."

"But these people..."

Liu Shuyi paused for a moment before raising his head to look at Lu Yangyuan and asked, "After His Majesty ascended the throne, how many people remained in the Three Departments? And how many remained in the Ministry of Justice?"

"Even if I stay in the Ministry of Justice, everyone knows I'm Lord Du's man. How dare they challenge me under Lord Du's nose?"

Lu Yangyuan's eyes lit up immediately upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words.

"That's right. Although your renewed investigation of the military pay case will displease many people who were originally in charge of the three departments, as you said, there are actually very few people who can really cause you trouble."

He breathed a sigh of relief and patted his chest: "Now that Doctor Liu has said that, I feel much more at ease. I thought that this investigation would put us at odds with the entire Three Departments!"

Seeing Lu Yangyuan's relaxed demeanor, Liu Shuyi smiled and shook his head.

In fact, he should thank Li Shimin.

After all, if Li Shimin hadn't, after ascending the throne, basically killed or marginalized the important officials in key positions during the Wude era, and replaced the highest officials of the Three Departments with Li Shimin's men... he might have really become an enemy of the entire Three Departments.

In that case, even if he were to uncover the truth of the case, he would not be able to establish himself in the Three Departments.

Now, he no longer has such worries.

Of course... there will definitely be people who try to stop them. After all, even though the leaders of the three departments have retired, they must have accumulated a lot of connections and influence over the years.

Moreover, some people still remain in the Three Departments.

However, among those who remained, the highest-ranking was Ren Xing, while those with the greatest influence were marginalized.

The officialdom is the most pragmatic place, where "the tea cools when the person leaves." The influence one has while in a position is completely different from that of someone not in that position.

Therefore, with Li Shimin as his backer and Du Ruhui as his support in the Ministry of Justice, this case, though difficult, was by no means the kind of case that outsiders claimed would make him an enemy of the world.

He picked up his water glass, poured himself a glass, and said, "Is there still no news from the Wannian County Government or the Chang'an County Government?"

Lu Yangyuan shook his head: "No."

Liu Shuyi glanced at the sky outside. The sun had already moved to the southwest. More than two hours had passed since he ordered the Wannian County and Chang'an County governments to begin their search.

With the capabilities of the two government offices, these two hours should have been enough to search many places and question many people, but still no news came...

He frowned slightly as he looked at the lengthy record of Ren Xing in the case file.

The person who benefited the most from the entire cash embezzlement case was Ren Xing. If Ren Xing cannot be found, it will be difficult to reconstruct the full picture of the cash embezzlement case.

"Dr. Liu..."

At that moment, Zhao Feng's voice rang out from outside the door.

"Come in."

crunch--

Zhao Feng pushed open the door and entered. He handed a book to Liu Shuyi and said, "This is a list of personnel from the three departments who participated in the silver treasury case back then, which I asked Physician Liu to compile. Because there were too many people involved, I have only compiled the list of officials and those who made meritorious contributions. As for the other clerks and officials, it will take some time."

Liu Shuyi opened the book, looked at the very clear handwriting and well-organized information, and nodded slightly: "Thank you for your hard work, that's all for now."

"My time is limited, and it's impossible for me to meet everyone. Information on these leaders and those who have made contributions is sufficient."

Zhao Feng naturally had no objections.

Liu Shuyi glanced at the first page and saw three names on it.

It was the seventh year of the Wude era, and he was the leader of the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate.

These three men were the organizers of the silver treasury case, so they all received a lot of credit for its cracking and were rewarded by Li Yuan. They were the beneficiaries of the silver treasury case.

However, after Li Shimin ascended the throne following the Xuanwu Gate Incident, these three men were either executed because they were Li Jiancheng's confidants or marginalized because they were Li Yuan's confidants. Currently, only Dai Fei, the former Minister of Justice, and Mu Ping, the former Minister of Justice, are still alive.

In the first year of the Zhenguan era, Dai Fei resigned from his official post to observe mourning for his father. However, Li Shimin did not want to waste his talents and allowed Dai Fei to observe mourning, but after three years, he was required to return to court as an official.

Mu Ping was then transferred to the position of Grand Master of the Palace, a civil official of the third rank, who had a salary but no real power.

The saying "a new emperor, a new court" is vividly illustrated in the lives of Dai Fei and his two companions.

Liu Shuyi turned to the second page and saw that this page contained people from the second echelon of the Three Departments, mainly of the fourth rank.

Compared to the three people on the third rank, there are more people on this page, a total of six.

Two of them were killed because of Li Jiancheng, two were Li Yuan's confidants who were marginalized, and two others remained in the fourth rank.

These two men were Wu Chenyang, the Censor-in-Chief, and Wei Qian, the Vice Minister of Justice.

Although the Censor-in-Chief is only a fifth-rank official, as the second-highest-ranking person in the Censorate, his power and influence actually exceed that of a fourth-rank official, and therefore his status is highly respected.

At the same time, Zhao Feng also underlined and marked a sentence after Censor-in-Chief Wu Chenyang.

Wu Chenyang was a student of Pei Ji, the Minister of Works.

With just a simple sentence, without any further words, Liu Shuyi understood Zhao Feng's meaning.

"Old Dog Pei's student..."

He narrowed his eyes and traced Wu Chenyang's name on his fingertips a few times.

Then, as if he had just thought of something, he let out a soft chuckle.

This case has caught Li Shimin's attention, and in his mind, the truth of this case is even more important than the case of Ma Qingfeng's family being wiped out.

After all, this directly determines whether there are still treacherous individuals harboring ill intentions towards Li Shimin, hiding in the shadows.

In this situation, if anyone dares to stop him... it's fine if he can't find a handle on him, he'll only weigh eight ounces if he doesn't weigh him. But if he does find a handle on him and puts it in front of Li Shimin to weigh him, then he won't be able to stop him even if he weighs a thousand or ten thousand pounds. At that time, he will see how Pei Ji will choose.

Should we risk our lives to protect it, or cut it off completely?

While thinking, Liu Shuyi turned to the next page.

The next page lists officials of the fifth rank. Unlike the third and fourth ranks, the number of officials of the fifth rank is several times greater.

While the fifth rank is considered mid-to-high level, it differs from the true high-ranking positions. In this case, most of them were just laborers doing manual labor. The only one who actually got to eat meat and was eventually promoted to the fourth rank was Ren Xing, the head of the Dali Temple.

The others, they only got to drink some soup, they made some contributions, but not much.

Therefore, even if these people are somewhat hostile towards you, it won't be too great.

As for the sixth and seventh ranks... they are nothing more than cattle and horses.

He couldn't even get a sip of soup, and his role in the silver tael case was extremely small.

Liu Shuyi quickly flipped through the books and said to Zhao Feng, "It's very well organized, concise yet comprehensive. Thank you for your hard work."

Zhao Feng hurriedly replied, "It's all what I should do, and this is also thanks to the help of Assistant Minister Cui. Without Assistant Minister Cui using his power and the Cui family's influence, I wouldn't have been able to find out the situation of so many people in the Three Departments in such a short time."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "If there is really a problem with the silver treasury case, and I can find out the truth, then you and Assistant Minister Cui will both be credited."

Zhao Feng smiled knowingly; he was never worried that working for Liu Shuyi would be a waste of time.

Liu Shuyi glanced at the book one last time, then closed it and said, "Call someone."

He turned to Zhao Feng and Lu Yangyuan and said, "You two immediately take your men and notify the people listed in the records, asking them to come to the Ministry of Justice to cooperate with the investigation."

"The message can be conveyed; there's no need to wait in place."

Zhao Feng's heart skipped a beat, and he guessed, "Doctor Liu means... to see if they are willing to cooperate?"

Liu Shuyi smiled. Zhao Feng had followed him through one major case after another, and was no longer the naive person he once was. He could quickly guess Liu Shuyi's motives for many of his decisions.

He said, "If there are really problems with the outcome of the salary case, then one or more officials involved in the investigation must have something to hide. In that case, they would subconsciously resist my investigation."

"Therefore, by observing who takes the initiative and who delays, one can roughly understand their attitude towards me, and then preliminarily filter out who I can contact to learn more about the case."

Understanding Liu Shuyi's meaning, Zhao Feng and Lu Yangyuan no longer hesitated and said directly, "The doctor is waiting for good news."

After saying that, he quickly turned and left.

Watching the two figures quickly walk away, Liu Shuyi slowly exhaled. The reinvestigation of the salary case had only just begun.

…………

Half an hour later.

dong dong dong.

There was a sudden knock on the closed door.

Liu Shuyi, without looking up, asked, "Who?"

"It is I, Wei Qian, Doctor Liu."

Wei Qian?

Liu Shuyi suddenly raised his head.

Wei Qian was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. When Du Ruhui was not in charge of the Ministry of Justice, the two Vice Ministers were the ones in power.

In other words, Wei Qian was the second or third most important person in the Ministry of Justice, making him, as a doctor, his direct superior.

At the same time, he was one of the fourth-rank officials who remained in the Three Departments after the silver payment scandal...

And then, he came looking for him...

Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed, and he quickly stood up and opened the door. Looking at the middle-aged man outside the door, dressed in a fourth-rank official's robe and exuding a refined air, he cupped his hands and said, "Vice Minister Wei."

Wei Qian smiled and said, "Physician Liu, there's no need for such formalities. I heard that you are investigating the military pay case again. I happened to have participated in the investigation of the military pay case before, and I thought you might need my help, so I came uninvited. I hope I haven't disturbed you."

Hearing Wei Qian's words, Liu Shuyi smiled and said, "It is my honor that Vice Minister Wei can come to help me. I am only afraid of delaying Vice Minister Wei's official duties. How could I have any other thoughts?"

As he spoke, he stepped aside from the doorway and said, "Minister Wei, please come in."

Wei Qian walked into Liu Shuyi's office with his hands behind his back, not in a hurry.

As Liu Shuyi looked at Wei Qian's figure, the original owner's memories of Wei Qian quickly surfaced in his mind.

Wei Qian was a former official of the Sui Dynasty. After Li Yuan raised his army, he surrendered to Li Yuan in the second year of Wude and entered the Tang Dynasty court as a sixth-rank censor of the Censorate. In just a few years, he was promoted to the fourth-rank vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, demonstrating his outstanding abilities.

In addition, he has a refined and gentle personality, and is well-liked.

Even the original owner of this body was very respectful to Wei Qian. However, Wei Qian's position was too high for the original owner, who was just a minor official, to approach. So, although the original owner had been in the Ministry of Justice for several years, he never had the chance to say even a single word to Wei Qian.

So this was the first conversation between Liu Shuyi and Wei Qian.

Liu Shuyi invited Wei Qian to sit down, poured him a glass of water, and said, "Minister Wei, time is precious, so let's get straight to the point."

Wei Qian held the warm water glass in both hands and nodded gently: "That's what I meant too."

He looked Liu Shuyi up and down, showing no disrespect for Liu Shuyi's youth, and said, "Although I have never had the opportunity to meet Physician Liu, I have been keeping a close eye on Physician Liu and know of his abilities. If Physician Liu wants to know anything, please ask. I will answer whatever I know."

Seeing Wei Qian say this, Liu Shuyi didn't stand on ceremony with him and said directly, "I would like to ask Vice Minister Wei to tell you in detail about your investigation experience, and to tell you as many details as possible."

Wei Qian seemed to be prepared. Upon hearing Liu Shuyi's words, he did not take time to recall and said, "I remember that it was the early morning of August 22nd in the seventh year of Wude."

"I had already gone to bed when a servant knocked on the door, saying that His Majesty summoned me."

"I glanced at the sky outside and my heart tightened. His Majesty's summons at this late hour must mean something unexpected happened. At that time, the Turks were invading, and the Prince of Qin was leading his troops to fight them. People were in a state of panic... So my first thought was whether there was a problem at the front. This made my heart hang in the balance."

"After all, the Turks of that time were not comparable in strength to the Turks of today. They were a real threat to the foundation of the Tang Dynasty. With this on my mind, I immediately rushed to the palace, only to find..."

He looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "I have learned that the military pay has been lost..."

He then recounted to Liu Shuyi in detail how Li Yuan had become enraged in the palace and how he had issued a death order, commanding them to solve the case within a month or face demotion by three ranks.

Despite the pressure of being demoted three ranks, Dai Fei and the other three officials, without even returning home, immediately led the three officials to the military camp after leaving the palace.

Upon arriving at the military camp, just as the records show, it was confirmed that the pay was not lost in the camp. All the soldiers who escorted the pay were taken back to Chang'an. Then, all the officials from the Three Departments were mobilized, and personnel from the Chang'an County Government, Wannian County Government, and other government offices were also borrowed to question the soldiers.

Up to this point, although the dossier is not very detailed, it is largely the same as Wei Qian's account.

Liu Shuyi picked up a brush and drew a mark on the file, indicating that there were no objections to the above content.

"But after questioning all the soldiers and comparing their testimonies, we found no problems..."

Wei Qian sighed and said, "Doctor Liu, you are the best at investigating cases, so you should know very well how much pressure we felt when we had investigated everyone we could and found nothing unusual, and time was running out."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "I understand. After all, I have several cases to investigate during this period, and they all have time limits."

"That's what makes you so amazing."

Wei Qian exclaimed, "We felt incredibly tense during our month-long investigation, as if a knife was constantly chasing us from behind. But you usually only had a few days, yet you were able to remain calm and composed, solving cases in just one or two days. You are much more capable than us."

Liu Shuyi quickly waved his hand: "I was just lucky."

Whether Wei Qian genuinely thought this way or was deliberately setting a trap for Liu Shuyi, Liu Shuyi couldn't agree. Otherwise, if word got out, he would be seen as arrogant and conceited.

"You're just being modest."

Wei Qian didn't continue to praise Liu Shuyi. He said, "We hadn't closed our eyes for several days. Seeing our hard work over the past few days turn into nothing, many of us were on the verge of collapse."

"And just then..."

He looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "Ren Shaoqing, when he was still the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, after carefully reviewing the confessions we had prepared, suddenly said... there was something wrong with Feng Mu's whereabouts."

Upon hearing the name Feng Mu, Liu Shuyi immediately straightened his back and asked, "What's the problem?"

Wei Qian said, "Ren Shaoqing said that Feng Mu said he was on leave at home on the eighth day of the seventh month and did not leave, but Ren Shaoqing clearly saw Feng Mu in Binzhou on the eighth day of the seventh month."

Liu Shuyi said, "Ren Shaoqing, do you remember it so clearly? Are you sure it was the eighth day of the seventh month?"

Wei Qian nodded: "Ren Shaoqing said that it was his grandmother's birthday that day. He returned to Binzhou to celebrate his grandmother's birthday and happened to meet Feng Mu. However, he was busy preparing for the birthday celebration and did not greet Feng Mu."

Celebrating a birthday...

Liu Shuyi stroked his chin and nodded.

Wei Qian continued, "Ren Shaoqing confirmed that he would not make a mistake, so after discovering that Feng Muyu had lied about his whereabouts, he immediately confirmed Feng Muyu's other days off as well."

"result……"

He looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "Ren Shaoqing discovered that during Feng Mu's rest periods in June and May, he said he was resting in the mansion and never left. However, there was only one old servant in Feng Mu's mansion. During his rest periods, he always told the old servant to go home and rest, and he did not need the old servant to serve him."

"In other words, every day off, Feng Mu would deliberately send the old servant away... He said he was always in the mansion, but in fact no one could prove it."

"The fact that the old servant was sent away is enough to explain a lot of things. Combined with the fact that Ren Shaoqing confirmed that Feng Mu was lying about his whereabouts, we concluded that Feng Mu has a very serious problem!"

As Liu Shuyi listened, he appeared deep in thought.

Wei Qian's words were not recorded in the case file. At the time, he felt that Ren Xing's sudden statement about Feng Mu's whereabouts was problematic without any warning was very abrupt and lacked any expected transition or line of thought.

That makes much more sense now.

Binzhou... was the only way from Chang'an to Qingzhou, and Qingzhou was the place where Yang Wengan plotted his rebellion.

This corresponds to the subsequent discovery of Yang Wengan's memorial tablet and letters, confirming that Feng Mu and Yang Wengan conspired to rebel.

Wei Qian continued, "Having confirmed Feng Mu's situation, the three departments immediately focused their attention on him. Ren Shaoqing immediately requested a search of Feng Mu's residence in hopes of finding clues, and we approved it..."

"What happened next, as Dr. Liu should know, was that thanks to your brother's keen insight, they discovered the hidden compartment and finally found the most crucial evidence."

"With this evidence, further investigation will be much easier..."

As Liu Shuyi listened to Wei Qian's account, he verified the information against the contents of the case file.

Finally, he discovered that the case file, which he had criticized for numerous minor issues, was actually completely accurate.

The case file and Wei Qian's words are identical except for a few missing details.

If Wei Qian hadn't told him all this, he would have suspected that Wei Qian was doing a fill-in-the-blank exercise while looking at the case file.

He gently ran his fingertips over the rough pages of the dossier and said, "Feng Mu's men all say that Feng Mu bribed them. I wonder how Feng Mu bribed them?"

Wei Qian said, "It was bought with money."

"Feng Mu promised them that as long as they cooperated with him to steal the military pay, he would give each of them one hundred strings of copper coins after the deed was done."

"At the same time, Feng Mu also threatened them, saying that he knew where their families were and that if anyone betrayed them, he would make sure their families were destroyed."

“Feng Mu used both coercion and enticement to tie them to the same rope as himself. In addition, they were Feng Mu’s confidants and had received many benefits from Feng Mu over the years, so they followed Feng Mu to do this unforgivable act of stealing military pay.”

Before the operation, Feng Mu gave each person twenty strings of copper coins as a deposit, but he told them that if the court found out that the money was missing, they would all have to cooperate with the investigation, so they could not carry the money with them.

"That's why we didn't find any money on them, otherwise we would have suspected them long ago."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "Feng Mu is indeed cautious enough..."

He then asked, "I wonder if the money was ever found later?"

Wei Qian nodded: "Found it."

"Found it?" Liu Shuyi's eyes flashed.

Wei Qian said, "According to the soldiers' confessions, we found some of the money, but some of it disappeared. According to the soldiers, the places where they hid their money were suggested by Feng Mu, so it must have been Feng Mu who stole it later. It is very likely that Feng Mu planned from the beginning to kill them to cover it up after the deed was done!"

"He never even considered spending tens of thousands of dollars to buy off these subordinates."

"However, by the time the money was found, a month had already passed. In order to report back to the Emperor Emeritus, the case of the salary payment had been closed and the case file had been archived."

"Therefore, the follow-up to Feng Mu's bribery of soldiers was not written in the file."

…………

A quarter of an hour later.

Liu Shuyi saw Wei Qian off as he left the office.

Watching Wei Qian walk away unhurriedly with his hands behind his back, Liu Shuyi's eyes suddenly narrowed.

He wasn't surprised that Wei Qian would offer his help.

Since they were both in the Ministry of Justice, and he had Du Ruhui protecting him, Wei Qian should help him out of both courtesy and reason.

What Wei Qian said... directly filled in all the missing parts of the case file.

Wei Qian provided perfect answers to the three questions Li Shimin raised about the case file.

It's fair to say that if he had gone to see Li Shimin with Wei Qian, Li Shimin probably wouldn't have even considered reopening the investigation into the military pay case.

Wei Qian's answer was so perfect that it was evident from the fact that he was the best.

With Wei Qian's response, the entire case of the salary payment was completely resolved.

The line of reasoning is clear, the chain of evidence is complete, and each link is sufficiently interconnected.

No matter how you look at it, it's a flawless and ironclad case!

but……

Ren Xing has disappeared!

His own brother also clearly has problems!

How could it possibly be a flawless case?

The more perfect it is, the more terrifying the secrets hidden within!
Liu Shuyi didn't know what Wei Qian's true motives were in helping him, but there was one thing Wei Qian definitely didn't know.

That is……

Thanks to Wei Qian's perfect supplementary details.

He finally found a breakthrough.

He already knew how to investigate.

(End of this chapter)