Han Xu stared at Yang Lian quietly, with no expression on his face.

He has known Yang Lian for a long time, and he also knows about Yang Lian's personality and his background.

Han Xu doesn't believe that Yang Lian is greedy for money. He is just saying that he is naive, which is really naive. He is stupid because of reading. He is talking about Yang Lian, and he doesn't know whether he is sad or lucky.

Wei Zhongxian sat aside, but his face didn't change much. He could tell that Han Xu wanted to give Yang Lian a hand.

Wei Zhongxian was wondering what he should do, whether to kill Yang Lian or just do his own thing. If he didn't take action, Yang Lian probably wouldn't be able to survive this time.

Although Yang Lian impeached Xiong Tingbi, he had nothing to do with those things. Yang Lian did not collude with Li Ruzhen of Liaodong, nor did he accept bribes from Liu Guojin.

In fact, Wei Zhongxian made great efforts to investigate the matter of accepting bribes. However, the whole matter did not involve Yang Lian. After Wang Huazhen opened his mouth, Wei Zhongxian began to follow the lead, but after repeated investigations, Wei Zhongxian discovered that this

However, Yang Lian was not involved.

It may also be because of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. This is a Qingshui Yamen. Apart from impeaching people and extorting some money, or doing others a favor by impeaching others and collecting some bribes, there is really no other income.

Yao Zongwen and others received 3,000 taels of silver, which sounded like a lot, but Wei Zhongxian knew that this was far worse than the real power departments. For the real power departments, 3,000 taels of silver was not enough to fill their teeth.

Yang Lian couldn't receive the money. It probably wasn't that he didn't want to receive it, but that he couldn't receive it. Wei Zhongxian made such malicious speculation in his heart.

But Wei Zhongxian also knew that this was just a matter of thought, and he had no evidence. Otherwise, he would have already dealt with Yang Lian, so why did he let Han Xu come to the limelight?

In fact, in the original history, Wei Zhongxian did not get much money from Yang Lian's family, and no concrete evidence of Yang Lian's corruption was found.

The evidence that Wei Zhongxian overturned the Donglin Party's corruption was actually produced by Wang Huazhen. He didn't receive much money at that time, let alone now?

Yang Lian didn't receive any money at all and was very aggrieved.

Looking up and looking at Han Xu casually, Wei Zhongxian said slowly: "Mr. Han Ge, is it inappropriate for you to do this?"

Han Xu glanced at Wei Zhongxian and said nonchalantly: "If Eunuch Wei is dissatisfied, you can report it to His Majesty."

After saying that, Han Xu no longer looked at Wei Zhongxian, but turned to look at Yang Lian, "There is no evidence that Yang Lian was involved in the case of accepting bribes and impeaching Xiong Tingbi."

Looking at the document, Han Xu said solemnly: "Record this sentence of this pavilion in the record."

Hearing this, everyone was stunned. No one thought that Han Xu would do such a thing.

Han Xu was protecting Yang Lian. Although Han Xu just told the truth, this was the fact.

Yang Lian also raised his head and looked at Han Xu hesitantly.

In fact, Yang Lian didn't have a very good impression of Han Xu, or it could be said that the entire Donglin Party didn't like Han Xu.

But now Yang Lian had a strange feeling, especially after Han Xu showed him those things, he couldn't figure it out.

Han Xu didn't pay attention to everyone's surprised looks, but was stunned and continued: "Let's ask about the next case."

"Yang Lian, I want to ask you, His Majesty asked you to interrogate the case of slandering Xiong Tingbi. Why did you make that conclusion? Was it to protect Yao Zongwen and others? Was it your instigation to retract their confession?"

"No." Yang Lian said with a firm tone: "I did not do this. I did not support them in retracting their confession, nor did I ask cell leader Zhang San to go to them, nor did I ask Zhang San to pass on those words, nor did I kill Zhang San.

Silence. None of these things were done by me, I didn’t do that.”

Han Xu nodded, looked at the document and said, "Record it."

Hearing Yang Lian's answer, Wei Zhongxian was on pins and needles and couldn't bear it anymore, "Didn't you do these things?"

Is this all going to be blamed on me?

I was indeed the one who retracted the confession, but I don’t even know what happened to Zhang San later, let alone killing someone and silencing him.

Yang Lian glanced at Wei Zhongxian with disdain and seemed not to say what he meant, because Yang Lian had no evidence to prove that Wei Zhongxian did this.

Nodding, Han Xu continued to ask: "Then let me ask you, what happened in the previous trial? Was it your own decision, or was it under the instructions of others?"

After saying this, Han Xu stared at Yang Lian closely.

If Yang Lian admits that he is himself, then he will be convicted of this crime.

Yang Lian did not participate in the case of falsely accusing Xiong Tingbi. He had just concluded that there was no solid evidence. In other words, from the beginning to now, Yang Lian was not guilty of anything.

If Yang Lian pleads guilty to this crime now, it would be tantamount to him admitting that he was indeed the one who deliberately protected Yao Zongwen.

As the presiding judge of a case, confusing right and wrong and shielding criminals, this kind of behavior will never be tolerated and must be severely punished.

Consignment to the army and distribution are very light, and you may be beheaded directly. Because this is a case designated by His Majesty, how dare you do such a thing?

Yang Lian raised his head, knowing what choice he faced.

As long as he confesses the person, he will be coerced by the superior, or even forced to have no choice. Although he is not without guilt, the punishment will be reduced a lot, and he should be dismissed from office. As for whether he will never be hired, that depends on

What did your Majesty decide?

If there is no permanent employment, then there may be a possibility of relapse in the future.

The question is who should be confessed?

Two people flashed through Yang Lian's mind. One of these two people was Zou Yuanbiao, and the other was Gao Panlong.

If it weren't for these two guys, I wouldn't be in the situation I am today.

I originally planned to find out the details of the case, get out Feng Sanyuan and Yao Zongwen, and punish them severely, but in the end, I failed to do so.

Zou Yuanbiao disagreed, and Gao Panlong also disagreed. The entire Donglin Party was suppressing him to prevent him from making this matter bigger. At most, he could only implicate Li Ruzhen.

But what about the result? Someone was causing trouble, and these people retracted their confessions, and they didn't even get the most basic results. In the end, they could only submit a report to His Majesty, saying that these were Wei Zhongxian's fault, and these people were all wronged.

As a result, he was sent to jail.

Yang Lian felt that she might have been taken advantage of, and that cell leader Zhang San might have been created by them.

Tears of grievance flowed down from his eyes instantly, burning Yang Lian's heart. He didn't know whether he should say this.

If you open this mouth, your reputation will be ruined; if you don't open this mouth, what will happen?

Yang Lian didn't know what would happen to him, but he decided not to speak because he had no way to speak, and he had no way to continue saying anything.

Raising his head and looking at Han Xu, Yang Lian said, "I'm just basing my conclusion based on the facts. Those people retracted their confessions. They all said that Wei Zhongxian instigated it and that they were framed."

"If I made a mistake in this case, it's because I'm incompetent. But there was no emotional fraud involved, and I didn't protect them. I investigated it seriously, but I just didn't find it out."

After listening to Yang Lian's words, a flash of disappointment flashed across Han Xu's face and he nodded gently.

He knew that he still failed. Yang Lian did not acknowledge his feelings. He hoped that Yang Lian would speak and that Yang Lian would follow him.

Once he achieves this goal, there will be less infamy from the outside. Yang Lian will share some of the pressure with himself, and at the same time he can drag more people up.

But Yang Lian still didn't do it.

Han Xu knew that Yang Lian would not say anything anymore. As for the punishment, Han Xu never thought that the tricks that Dongchang had already used proved to be useless, and it would be useless for him to use them again.

"It's on record." Han Xu could only ask expressionlessly: "Have you, Zou Yuanbiao and others formed a clique for personal gain?"

"No. I, Yang Lian, am devoted to the public good. I have never failed His Majesty or the Ming Dynasty from the beginning to the end. I just encountered unkind people and my abilities are limited, but I also hope that the Ming Dynasty will prosper." Yang Lian said while crying.

Rolling, the voice was trembling.

Han Xu felt the same. He knew that Yang Lian was not crying because of the punishment he would receive, but because Yang Lian was really unkind to others and because his ideals could not be realized.

Yang Lian begs for mercy and gets mercy. This time, he will never be let off easily.

"Okay, let's put it on record." Han Xu said again. Then he waved his hand and motioned for his men to take Yang Lian down.

Han Xu's eyes were a little sad. He picked up the tea cup and took a sip of water. He seemed to have no intention of calling the next person.

Wei Zhongxian curled his lips when he saw this scene. These literati like to do such messy things.

Wei Zhongxian knew that Han Xu wanted to protect Yang Lian just now, and he could probably do it. If Han Xu handled the case like this this time, His Majesty would definitely be grateful to him, and his request would definitely give him face. As long as Yang Lian opens his mouth, then

You will definitely be able to keep it.

It's a pity that Han Xu chose not to speak, but Wei Zhongxian was relieved. These people are just stupid, so it's better not to speak.

The expression on Han Xu's face finally calmed down, then he put down the teacup and said, "Bring Zou Yuanbiao up."

But at this moment, a guard in golden clothes hurriedly ran in from outside the door, with an anxious look on his face.

After the Jin Yiwei entered the room, he knelt down with a thud and said with horror in his tone: "My lords, Zou Yuanbiao is dead!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the room stood up in shock.

Wei Zhongxian was even shocked, let alone others.

He didn't even dare to kill Zou Yuanbiao, who was the dignified censor of Zuodu. If he killed him, he would have no good consequences.

In the original history, Wei Zhongxian dared to kill Yang Lian, the censor of Zuodu, in Dongchang. That was because Wei Zhongxian had already dominated the world at that time, but it was different now. The current Wei Zhongxian did not have that ability.

After hearing the report from his subordinates, Luo Sigong, the commander of the Imperial Guard, turned pale. How could he die?

If he died in Dongchang, then of course it had nothing to do with him. But if he died in Jinyiwei's prison, who would believe him if he said it had nothing to do with him?

Even if it doesn't matter, you still have to bear the blame, or you might just become the scapegoat.
Chapter completed!