allonlinenovel Chapter 131 He is guilty
Chapter 131 He is guilty
"As long as you send people to protect my family and me, I will tell you everything I know."
Zhou Zhixing helped him up and immediately promised to protect him and his family's safety. He also offered to give them two hundred taels of silver to escort them away from the capital to a safe place.
So the old man told him everything he knew. Zhou Zhixing was afraid that he would turn around and accuse him, so he made him sign and put his fingerprint on the document. Even so, Zhou Zhixing was still unsure.
Judge Zhang slammed his gavel: "Who is there in the courtroom! What is your name, and what testimony have you given? Tell me everything you know, down to the smallest detail."
"Yes, I am Liu En, a commoner who makes a living selling calligraphy and paintings at the west end of the village. Occasionally, I also take on jobs imitating other people's handwriting to write books. Most of these jobs are for students who don't want to copy books, so they come to me."
"About eight or nine months ago, I don't remember the exact time, but I do remember that it was a very windy day, and a young man dressed all in black came to my house and asked me to copy a letter."
“It was very late, and I told him to come back tomorrow, but he gave me one hundred taels of silver and said he was in a hurry. Since the money was so much, I took the job. He gave me a lot of manuscripts and asked me to imitate the man’s handwriting, preferably to make it exactly the same.”
"I studied it for a little while, and they even asked me to write a few words. They only let me write when they were satisfied with what they had done. The person was very cautious; they didn't show me a complete letter to imitate. Instead, they started writing from the last word of the letter. They showed me one word at a time, and I wrote one word at a time."
"After I finished writing it, the man gave me money and said he would kill me if I told anyone about what happened tonight."
"I've never seen anything like this before. That very night, I read through all the words I had written, and I was so terrified I almost jumped out of my skin. I had my family move out of the house and I fled too."
Lord Zhang: "Do you still remember the contents of the letter?"
"Remember"
Lord Zhang gave the constable a look: "Check if this is the letter you wrote."
Liu En took it and examined it carefully: "That's right, sir, it's the letter I wrote."
Hearing this, Zhou Zhixing breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he hadn't betrayed the party at the last minute. All those performances he put on hadn't been in vain.
Lord Zhang nodded: "Do you still remember what the person who asked you to write the letter looked like?"
Liu En shook his head: "This humble one doesn't remember. That person was dressed entirely in black, including a black mask on his face."
Zhou Zhixing shook his head inwardly. He had already found out that the person had committed suicide, so he was clearly not the real mastermind.
Lord Zhang frowned. How could they investigate like this? Wouldn't the trail go cold?
"But where did those hundreds of thousands of taels of silver go? Even if you are innocent, you are still responsible for the disappearance of those hundreds of thousands of taels of silver."
Gu Mingtang cupped his hands and said, "Sir, these hundreds of thousands of taels of silver have official seals on them, so the thief couldn't possibly use them. Either the thief stole the silver and hid it, or melted down the official seals at the bottom to exchange for a large number of banknotes, or it's in a place that no one would expect but is the safest place."
A place no one would have expected?
What is the place that people wouldn't expect, or is it the safest?
Lord Zhang had a sudden inspiration: "The most dangerous place is the safest place. You mean the silver is still in the Six Ministries?"
Gu Mingtang nodded: "That's just my guess too."
Lord Zhang: "Men, send some to immediately investigate all the money shops in the capital to see if they have received any silver with official seals on the bottom or silver with destroyed bottoms. Send others to the Six Ministries to search for stolen silver."
Lord Zhang only sent two groups of people because they had already searched almost all other parts of the capital and still couldn't find it.
About an incense stick's time later.
The men sent by Lord Zhang have returned; those who went to the money exchange have returned empty-handed, while another group of men have joined forces to lift a huge box.
"Your Excellency, your subordinates have found government silver in the Six Ministries."
Lord Zhang excitedly stood up and walked around the table to check. It was indeed official silver, but something was wrong. Wasn't the silver not in the treasury of the Six Ministries?
Where did you find it?
"Your Excellency, the Six Ministries are very large. We didn't look for it in the warehouse specifically for storing silver; we found it in the Ministry of Works."
"Ministry of Works? Where exactly is the Ministry of Works?"
"Your Excellency, there's a hidden door behind the Ministry of Works's assistant minister's desk; we found it inside."
Lord Zhang looked at Gu Mingtang: "Isn't the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works your younger brother?"
Gu Mingtang nodded in acknowledgment: "He is my younger brother, but we separated from the family a long time ago. I don't know how the money ended up with him; it's probably difficult to transfer."
Gu Minghai was startled, his heart skipped a beat. How could the silver be with him?
"Gu Minghai, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works"
Gu Minghai walked in, his knees trembling. He glanced to the side, hoping to see Gu Mingtang's dejected state and give himself some confidence.
But when he looked over, he didn't see Gu Mingtang's haggard and disheveled appearance.
Didn't the Prime Minister promise to give him a good beating? How could someone who's been beating ever look so radiant?
Although he had lost weight and was dressed in coarse linen, his demeanor and appearance were no different from before he went to prison, and even his hair was still as shiny as ever.
Gu Minghai secretly harbored resentment towards the Prime Minister for actually fooling him.
Lord Zhang: "Sir, why is the silver with you? Did you steal it? Or did you frame your brother and get him imprisoned?"
Gu Minghai snapped out of his reverie, cold sweat breaking out on his brow. Although he desperately wanted to say that Gu Mingtang had instigated it, he couldn't; if he did, he would be implicated as well.
If the Prime Minister can fool himself with something as trivial as torturing Gu Mingtang, he can't expect the Prime Minister to suddenly have a change of heart and bail him out.
Gu Minghai cupped his hands and said, "My lord, please understand. I've had this secret room for a long time. At first, it was just used to store some useless waste paper. I cleaned it once because I thought it was messy, and then I never went in again. I really didn't know there was silver inside."
"Someone must have framed us. We urge you, sir, to investigate thoroughly."
Lord Zhang looked at the officials who had gone out to search for the silver: "Tell me the specifics inside."
"Reporting to you, sir, the inside is very tidy. Except for that box, which is covered in a layer of dust, it seems that very few people go in."
Gu Minghai exhaled a breath of stale air; someone wanted to harm him!
Gu Yu'an, standing in the crowd, secretly regretted his actions. "Tsk, thankfully I didn't get into trouble. I should have been more careful."
Lord Zhang turned to Chu Yuan and said softly, "Your Majesty, do you think... we can pronounce the verdict now?"
Chu Yuan nodded, his expression unreadable, but his hands clenched into tight fists: "You decide. Pretend I don't exist."
Lord Zhang: "..." Is that possible?
Lord Zhang slammed his gavel: "I hereby declare that the case of Gu Mingtang embezzling military funds is a frame-up, and the charge is unfounded. I hereby declare Gu Mingtang innocent..."
"Wait a minute, sir, he is guilty..."
Before Lord Zhang could finish speaking, a voice stopped him, and he looked in the direction of the voice.