bestfiction Chapter 881 Handwriting
Chapter 881 Handwriting
The emperor's face visibly darkened little by little.
The court was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Duke Sheng had not slept a wink last night and originally planned to feign illness today, but with the Northern Expedition imminent, as a military general, he would inevitably face criticism if he did not attend court at this time.
Secondly, he was also afraid that Sheng Junyi would do something irrational and he would not be able to stop him in time. He never expected that Sheng Junyi would be so bold as to beat the petition drum at this critical juncture.
Watching the commotion in the court, Duke Sheng broke out in a cold sweat, but dared not express his opinion before His Majesty spoke.
After a long while, the emperor stared at Sheng Junyi kneeling below and spoke with an ambiguous tone, "Second Prince Sheng, the case of Rong Qing was settled yesterday. The remaining matters have been handed over to the Dali Temple for handling. If you have any questions, you may submit them to the Dali Temple. Now that the Northern Expedition is imminent, what is your intention in beating the Dengwen Drum and disrupting the court assembly?"
Seizing the opportunity, Duke Sheng hurriedly knelt down to beg for forgiveness, "Your Majesty, I have failed in my duty to educate my son. Please forgive me."
"What a terrible excuse for failing to educate one's son! Duke Sheng, this imperial court is not your private residence. Get out and kneel down!" the emperor rebuked in a deep voice.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Duke Sheng dared not argue any further and hurriedly got up and left.
The emperor looked at Sheng Junyi again, "Hand over your so-called evidence to the Dali Temple, and the Dali Temple will handle it."
“Your Majesty,” Sheng Junyi said, holding the letter and looking up at the emperor, “With the Northern Expedition imminent, how can we appease the army if there are any doubts about the case of Prince Rong? I dare to be so bold as to ask Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate the forgery of the letters. Otherwise, if others follow suit, who will dare to lead troops into battle? Prince Rong died on the battlefield for the country, but his family was implicated and wiped out because of these few letters that colluded with the enemy. If this matter is not investigated, how can we appease Prince Rong’s spirit in heaven!”
"How dare you!" the emperor said coldly. "Are you questioning me?"
The clan chief of the Sheng clan, kneeling beside Sheng Junyi, was so frightened that he lay prostrate on the ground, not daring to raise his head.
Sheng Junyi faced the emperor's might head-on, saying, "This humble subject dares not, but I believe that with the Northern Expedition imminent, there is no room for doubt in the case of Prince Rong. Only by clearing Prince Rong's name and giving justice to his family can we boost morale and stabilize the army."
Sheng Junyi knew, of course, that this was not the right time to reveal this matter.
Publicly denouncing one's father in the imperial court is not a wise decision.
This matter involves Lord Wang, who is the emperor's confidant. The Duke of Xiao knew about the letter, and His Majesty also knew about it, but no one mentioned it, which is why my father was able to stay out of it.
Holding the evidence, even though he might have the opportunity to expose the matter in the future, he didn't want to gamble. He didn't want her to leave with regrets while the person who killed her entire family remained at large.
He came to put an end to what she hadn't finished.
Ying Xun also stepped forward at the opportune moment, "Your Majesty, I believe that what the Second Young Master Sheng said is reasonable. When I reviewed the case file, it was clearly stated that in the case of Prince Rong, there was a letter from Prince Rong who colluded with the enemy as evidence. I have already questioned the suspect Xiao Chong about this matter, and he has not seen the letter. This letter was lost without cause in the Dali Temple, but now it is related to Duke Sheng. If we do not investigate this matter, wouldn't we be showing contempt for the laws of our Great Zhao?"
The Dali Temple is piled with countless case files of major and serious crimes. Due to the complexity of the cases, theft is a common occurrence. Many people are aware of this, but to bring it into the open would be to disregard the laws of the Great Zhao Dynasty. If everyone steals case files out of fear of being overturned in the future, where is the dignity of the laws of the Great Zhao Dynasty?
Upon hearing this, many court officials stood up to support Ying Xun, saying, "What Ying Shaoqing said is absolutely right, Your Majesty. I believe this matter must not be tolerated. We must find out the relationship between the Duke of Sheng and this case to prove that the laws of our Great Zhao are strict and fair."
"I second the proposal."
The emperor stared at the court officials speaking below, but said nothing.
A voice announced from outside, "His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!"
Zong Que, dressed in the crown prince's crown, entered the Taiji Hall.
The courtiers hurriedly bowed, "Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince!"
Zong Que bowed to the emperor, stepped onto the stairs, and sat down on a chair below the dragon throne, facing the court officials.
The court officials were momentarily dazed at the sight, as if they had returned to the days when the emperor and the crown prince would hold court together.
The emperor looked thoughtfully at Zong Que, "Didn't the Crown Prince summon the generals of the East and West Camps?"
Zong Que will be leaving the capital in two days. He not only needs to summon the generals of the East and West Camps, but also needs to gather as much food and fodder as possible within these two days. He also needs to figure out how to arrange the troop deployment, which does not mean moving all the troops stationed in the East and West Camps. He has no time to even have a conversation with his father, let alone attend court.
At this moment, Pian Zongque arrived at the court assembly, his purpose obvious.
Zong Que didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "In the case of Prince Rong, the culprit Xiao Chong has confessed, but he forged letters and fabricated evidence, which resulted in the inability to find the entire family of Prince Rong who were implicated. Since there is evidence, I ask the Emperor and the ministers to examine it and uphold justice for Prince Rong and his family, in order to uphold the law and stabilize the morale of the army."
As soon as Zong Que spoke, his supporters immediately followed suit, asking the emperor to examine the evidence.
The emperor had no choice but to nod.
Zong Que directly instructed, "Present the letters, and also present the handwriting of Prince Rong and Duke Sheng for comparison. Handwriting can be imitated, but it cannot be done without flaws. The Court of Judicial Review and the Hanlin Academy have experience in this regard. Let the gentlemen take a look together."
Handwriting is a crucial piece of evidence in criminal law. Therefore, the Court of Judicial Review has specialists in handwriting identification. Additionally, the Hanlin Academy, responsible for compiling and drafting imperial edicts and other documents, is familiar with various handwriting styles, making handwriting identification a straightforward task for them.
Zong Que selected a few people, and they quickly compared the letter presented by Sheng Junyi with the handwriting of Duke Sheng and Prince Rong. After discussing it, they quickly came to a conclusion.
"Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince, it can be confirmed that these letters are not in the handwriting of Prince Rong."
"The characters on these letters were copied from Prince Rong's handwriting by tracing, and then rewritten. They appear to be Prince Rong's handwriting, but the combined characters will ignore the deviations in habit. If this letter was really written by Prince Rong, then he would not have been so deliberate when writing to someone, and there are a few characters that are obviously different from Prince Rong's handwriting."
For someone skilled in calligraphy, or capable of replicating old handwriting to forge a letter, creating a copy with 80-90% similarity is not difficult. However, ensuring that every single character in the letter is traceable is quite challenging. Since the forger used Prince Rong's handwriting to forge the letter, it's impossible to find a sample for every single one of the thousand characters. Even if samples were found, discrepancies would arise due to differences in writing habits when combining them.
Therefore, it can be confirmed that these letters were not written by Rong Che.
Zong Que then asked, "How similar is it to the handwriting of the Duke of Sheng?"
"Comparing handwriting habits, there is at least a 60 or 70% difference."
In other words, there is a greater than 50% chance that these letters were written by the Duke of Sheng.