A Complete Explanation of the Negative Textbooks of the Imperial Examination

Chapter 64: Trial

Today, the news that the county government is going to open a court to try the case drifted out before you knew it. Even the people of Jinjiang County, who were indifferent to the government, were surprised to hear it.

Over time, the people were reluctant to go to the court to report the case. If something happened, they were more willing to go to the squires of Jinjiang County.

At the insistence of Xiao Jingduo, the long-closed court was reopened. Because the county magistrate Chen unexpectedly died, and the court had not had time to send a new officer, Xiao Jingduo could only preside over the trial on his behalf . Xiao Jingduo never allowed himself to leave a position in the open, so even if he was the actual leader, Xiao Jingduo refused to sit in the main seat, but sat on the side according to the rules.

After the process of ascending the hall, Xiao Jingduo looked solemn and shouted in a deep voice, “Take butcher Feng.”

Feng Butcher did not expect Xiao Jingduo to come to the real world.

Feng Butcher is tall and big, how could he be willing to be bullied like this? He was about to resist when he heard a calm voice from above: “Don’t be rude.”

This sentence is a double meaning, and the yamen who escorted the prisoner calmed down a little after hearing this, and Feng Butcher also settled down for the time being.

After motioning for the clerk to step back, Xiao Jingduo asked, “Are you the master of the Feng family, Feng Xiang?”

Feng Butcher shook his shoulders reluctantly, and replied, “It’s me.”

“Sun Sizuo of this county accused you of murdering the county magistrate Chen, and arrested you in front of the county magistrate’s house the night before yesterday. Is this true?”

Feng Butcher was playing the drums a little. Listening to Xiao Jingduo’s voice, he seemed to be on Sun Sizuo’s side. What does this person mean? Butcher Feng couldn’t figure out why Xiao Jingduo’s words were completely different from what he said yesterday, so he stuck his neck and said, “I don’t recognize it, it’s not the person I killed!”

Sun Sizuo was also sitting on the side of the lobby. He was the clerk responsible for recording the trial documents, and he was also by the side when the trial started today. Hearing Butcher Feng say this at this moment, Sun Sizuo lost his pen and pointed at Butcher Feng and said, “It’s you, you were the only one who appeared in the county magistrate Chen’s house that day, and I saw you kill the magistrate Chen with my own eyes. What is there to quibble about? The county magistrate, let’s finalize the case, kill this reckless man to avenge the county magistrate Chen!”

Feng Butcher was also angry, if it wasn’t for his body being held, he would have rushed up to fight with Sun Sizuo: “You despicable little white face, I have to kill you …”

“The county magistrate, you look at him like this, why are you hesitating!” Sun Sizuo was stared at by Feng Butcher’s eyes, for fear that the official could not hold Feng Butcher down, so he repeatedly urged Xiao Jingduo.

Feng Butcher kept shouting ruthless words, Sun Sizuo relied on his lip service and read books, and was incessantly charging Feng Butcher’s head with charges. The two were arguing endlessly, and others in the courtroom pointed and whispered. There was a lot of noise in the court, when suddenly a crisp gavel was heard: “Quiet.”

This sound is extremely penetrating, and it scares people inside and out all of a sudden. Xiao Jingduo put down the Xingmu in his hand, and said with a solemn face: “In the courtroom, you must not make any noise. Feng Xiang, now you have to say what you did the day before yesterday, and you must not hide it.”

Feng Butcher was still unconvinced, gasping for breath in his nose. After hearing Xiao Jingduo’s words, although his eyes were still glaring at Sun Sizuo, he repeated what happened the day before yesterday.

Unconsciously, there were many people watching the lively outside the courthouse, and they were whispering, apparently also discussing the matter of the county magistrate.

He killed the county magistrate!”

“Shut up.” Xiao Jingduo raised his voice and glanced at Sun Sizuo coldly, “When the servants are speaking, others must not interrupt, and if they repeat offenses, they will not be lenient. ”

Sun Sizuo is naturally dissatisfied. No one has dared to embarrass him in front of so many people in these years. He sneered in his heart and sat back in his seat according to his words.

Feng Butcher could finish his speech. After Feng Butcher finished speaking, Xiao Jingduo turned to Sun Sizuo and asked, “Sun Sizuo, you said that you saw Feng Butcher commit the murder with your own eyes. Now let’s talk in detail. Come to the scene at that time.”

Sun Sizuo endured his impatience and said, “I was reciting poetry to the moon at the time, and I didn’t intend to walk outside the county magistrate’s door. At that time, the magistrate’s house was lit, and two people were projected from the window paper. Shadow. I thought Magistrate Chen was talking with the guests at night, so I didn’t bother. But as soon as I turned around, I heard a muffled sound, and when I turned around, I saw someone pushing Magistrate Chen hard. He also slashed and killed the magistrate with a hidden knife. I hurriedly called for someone to come over, and without caring for my own safety, I blocked the door in person. Sure enough, Butcher Feng came out of the house after a while. The man refused to admit after killing the magistrate Chen. , and repeatedly attacked me in the county office, this is not a guilty conscience of a thief?”

At this time, the others responded: “Sun Sizuo is right, it seems that the case is correct, and the murderer is undoubtedly Feng Butcher.”

Xiao Jingduo asked: “Sun Sizuo, you said you saw the whole process of Feng Butcher’s murder from the window paper?”

“Yes!”

“Master, after the death of the county magistrate Chen, can the furnishings in his house be moved?”

The clerk bowed and replied, “Xiaguan has already sent someone to watch, but he has not moved.”

“Okay.” Xiao Jingduo nodded and said, “Since the furnishings in the county magistrate’s house have not been moved, that means that the table was still placed under the window on the day of the crime. There is only one candlestick in his bedroom, which is placed on the table case, the bed is by the north wall, and the table case and candlestick are placed under the south window, so it seems that the county magistrate Chen can only talk to Feng Xiang standing in the middle of the room. Zuo, let me ask you, the candlestick is placed under the window, how did you cast the shadows of the county magistrate Chen and Feng Xiang on the window paper?”

Sun Sizuo obviously did not expect this, and stammered: “This, this…”

“And at the scene of the crime, that is, in the bedroom of the county magistrate, there was the most blood on the bed, which almost soaked the bedding below, but there were only slender bloodstains on the walls, which shows that what?”

Master couldn’t help but repeat: “What did it say?”

“It means that Magistrate Chen was cut after he died! Magistrate Chen’s fatal wound was on his neck. If he cut off his neck while he was alive, a lot of blood would have been sprayed out. All around, the bed was placed close to the wall, and it was inevitable that many bloodstains would be splashed on the wall. However, there were only slender bloodstains on the wall at the scene. This was because something was shaken with force, causing the blood spots to fly out. That is to say, when the murderer slashed the county magistrate Chen with a knife, the magistrate was already exhausted, so the blood in the neck would only flow down, instead of spraying all around, and when the murderer committed the murder , the blood droplets on the knife were thrown out and splattered on the wall, leaving slender bloodstains.”

After listening to Xiao Jingduo’s words, everyone inside and outside the hall was in an uproar. The master also stayed in the county magistrate Chen’s bedroom for a long time, but he didn’t find anything wrong with the bloodstains. Now, after Xiao Jingduo said it, the master felt that it was indeed the case.

Not only the registrar, but even many people understand it. They didn’t expect that the case of the county magistrate Chen would still go around in so many circles. He stopped, and wanted to hear what the new county magistrate had to say next.

“Xiao Xiancheng, you mean…”

“The county magistrate Chen was slashed after his death. The murderer in this case is someone else.”

Death, not to mention whether the figure can be reflected on the window paper, just follow your words, how did you see the county magistrate Chen talking to another person and being hacked to death?”

Sun Sizuo’s face was already pale, and he kept wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve: “I, this… Maybe I was too fascinated by the moon at that time, I looked wrong…”

Feng Butcher is very happy now: “Now you say that you are wrong. When you accused me just now, didn’t you still look very good! Are those two eyes above your nostrils easy to use? Use it?”

“You…” Sun Sizuo gritted his teeth and looked at Butcher Feng. Butcher Feng was now ashamed, laughing and mocking Sun Sizuo. Sun Sizuo hated so much in his heart, but he had nothing to say.

It can be said that one stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the officials in the court could not sit still.

“Yeah, why?”

Sun Sizuo’s face was ashen, and these words almost popped out of his teeth: “At that time, I saw Feng Butcher coming out of the county magistrate’s house, and his body was covered with blood, so I suspected that he was the murderer Makes sense. It’s just that I was so fascinated that I couldn’t tell which ones were what I guessed and which ones I saw.

“Oh, I’m confused.” Feng Butcher sneered, “Next time I’ll also remember that you are a murderer, so don’t make trouble, Sun boy!”

“Shut up!” Sun Sizuo scolded.

“Enough.” Xiao Jingduo stopped, “As the county magistrate’s secretary, Sun Sizuo made false testimony without seeing it with his own eyes. It was a dereliction of duty. After this matter, I will report to The superiors report truthfully, and how to punish them when they fail is up to the orders of the state officials.”

Xiao Jingduo naturally doesn’t think that Sun Sizuo is just forging testimony. He still has many problems, but Sun Sizuo has the Sun family behind him. It is difficult for Xiao Jingduo to take Sun Sizuo for a while. Therefore, Xiao Jingduo could only relied on his dereliction of duty to punish Sun Sizuo a little or two, and the rest could only be discussed in the long run.

Sun Sizuo is the direct descendant of the Sun family. He has been smooth sailing since he was a child. When has he been humiliated like this, especially in front of so many people. Sun Sizuo secretly clenched his fists and made a hard note in his heart.

The Sun family has been doing good fortune and prestige in Jinjiang County for a long time. Seeing that Sun Sizuo has lost a big ugly face, many people are secretly happy. At this time, a person in the crowd shouted: “The county magistrate, how did you say the county magistrate died?”

“Yes, who is the murderer?”

Sun Sizuo lowered his head and pulled the corner of his mouth coldly. This ignorant newcomer dared to embarrass him, very good, this beam is formed. It was enough that Xiao Jingduo saw through his testimony by luck, but Sun Sizuo didn’t believe that Xiao Jingduo could find out who really did it.

People are willing to ask questions, this is really a good start, at least it proves that they are slowly accepting him as a new official. Xiao Jingduo smiled and said: “This, we have to ask the people around Chen County magistrate.”

“Come here, bring the old servant up.”

Sun Sizuo’s brows jumped inadvertently. “Look at all the officials, the old slave is just a servant and doesn’t know anything. This, what’s going on…”

“Don’t know anything?” Xiao Jingduo asked, “I ask you, after the county magistrate got drunk these days, did you make the hangover soup?”

“It’s an old slave, but everyone can drink sober soup. What’s so strange? The county magistrate therefore suspects the old slave. This is too unreasonable!”

?”

Someone in the crowd has already shouted: “Isn’t this Gehua, I have seen this medicinal material in the mountains, it can indeed be added to the soup to hangover…”

“Gehua can sober up. It is true that Gehua can sober up. Southern Yunnan Materia Medica once said that Gehua treats dizziness, hates cold, strengthens heat, relieves hangover and soothes the spleen, and alcohol poisons hurts the stomach. Many other ancient books have recorded Gehua The effect of sobering up. However, kudzu flower is very strong and cannot be taken in large quantities. If you take too much, you will vomit and have diarrhea that day, which will seriously damage the spleen and stomach. What’s more serious is that if you drink again the next day, some people will have violent reactions , ranging from convulsions at light, to poisoning and suffocation at worst. Magistrate Chen, is the latter case.”

This remark caused an uproar, and many people sighed in disbelief: “It’s just a common Gehua in Shanyin, so…”

“Old servant, you know that the county magistrate Chen is weak and easily poisoned by alcohol, but you deliberately added a lot of Gehua to the hangover soup. After drinking the hangover soup, the county magistrate immediately had diarrhea. Not only that, you deliberately sent a lot of spirits to the magistrate’s house the next day. The magistrate Chen drank the spirits without knowing the inside story, which caused the medicinal properties of kudzu to collide with the spirits, and soon convulsed and suffocated. And die. And you, the so-called loyal servant, just packed up the tableware and left after watching the county magistrate Chen die!”

Everyone couldn’t close their mouths in surprise, and looked at the old servant in disbelief. The old servant knelt on the ground, sweating in cold sweat, so scared that he couldn’t even speak.

Xiao Jingduo slammed the wood to wake up: “Say, why did you kill the magistrate?”

“No old servant, no old servant…” The old servant knelt on the ground, and the cold sweat continued to fall, only repeating this sentence.

“Here, go search his residence immediately.”

No need for Xiao Jingduo to say, many people volunteered to stand up and quickly ran to the old servant’s house to search. It didn’t take long for the two yamen to come back with the dregs of medicine and the unused Gehua: “Xiaoxian Cheng, these were found in this servant’s house.”

Xiao Jingduo took the medicine dregs, spread it on the table and dipped it, then pointed at the dregs and said, “This is Muxiang, this is orange peel, this is Poria cocos, Atractylodes, these are Gehua. Obviously this is a sobering recipe. , Ge Hua is at most five cents, depending on the weight in your soup, I am afraid it is far more than that.”

Xiao Jingduo’s ability to identify the medicinal residues by just scratching and pulling really frightened a lot of people. The chief clerk and the county magistrate did not expect that this new colleague was not only talented in academics, but also proficient in medicine.

In front of the iron-like evidence, the old servant couldn’t hold it anymore, and Weedon cried bitterly on the ground: “It’s the old servant who can’t help the county magistrate, the old servant should die for his crimes…”

“Damn the old slave…”

The clerk was emotional, Xiao Jingduo waved his hand quickly and motioned to the clerk next to him to stop the clerk. In addition to the chief clerk, many people in the county government were very angry. Even Xiao Jingduo sighed heavily and asked, “Why did you kill the county magistrate?”

The old servant knelt down on the ground, tears streaming down his face full of ravines, but even so, he shook his head and said: “Xiao County’s case is like a god, the old servant is convinced. The poison that the slave gave to the county magistrate has nothing to do with other people, Xiaoxian Cheng decides the case!”

Xiao Jingduo still felt incredible: “Why do you do this?”

But the old servant just shook his head, refusing to say much, just kept urging: “The old servant pleads guilty, and the county magistrate will decide the case!”

According to the law, those who kill with a blade will be beheaded. The old servant under the hall deliberately poisoned the magistrate of Chen County, Jinjiang County, and according to the law, he will be executed.”

Many people in the hall exclaimed, and some people applauded faintly. Jinjiang County has not had such a big event for a long time, and when they dispersed, the people were excitedly talking about it with others.

Xiao Jingduo and other officials took the court and went to the backyard to continue writing documents. Although the death of the county magistrate has been finalized, there is still a lot of follow-up work. The court has not yet sent a new magistrate, so Xiao Jingduo can only take the lead to write the testimony, evidence, trial process, etc. of the case in detail, and then It was organized into a file and sent to Chang’an, where it was reviewed by the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment. If the Ministry of Punishment approved the outcome of the case, then the old servant was really convicted and asked to be executed in the autumn.

Now all they have to do is organize the files.

Xiao Jingduo is the county magistrate and the deputy of the county magistrate. He is mainly in charge of lawsuits, warehouses, etc. After the case is settled, it should be his busiest time, but Xiao Jingduo avoided other people and made a special trip to find Butcher Feng made a trip.

Feng Butcher was wronged as a murderer, went to jail and went to court, but now he was acquitted without injury. He was so proud, he was bragging about his sister who had come to pick him up. Feng Jiao, the little lady of the Feng family, was frightened to death. Now that she heard that her brother was not afraid, but was proud of her, she was really annoyed. She was about to speak well, but inadvertently saw a person walking behind her.

Seeing the person coming, Feng Jiao’s expression froze, she immediately calmed down, whispered to Feng Butcher, and took the initiative to avoid it.

Feng Butcher turned around and looked at the person unexpectedly: “Xiao Xiancheng, why are you?”

“I still don’t know something, I want to ask you.”

After today’s incident, Butcher Feng completely convinced Xiao Jingduo. He is a reckless man, although he is domineering and disobedient to discipline, but once he admits someone sincerely, he will be kind to the other party, and Xiao Jingduo is obviously one of the very few people.

“You don’t have to be so polite, Xiao Xiancheng, just say whatever you want!”

Xiao Jingduo smiled, feeling that this idiot is also a muscle. He asked, “You said that you sneaked into the county office late at night following the instructions of the county magistrate. Do you have any evidence to leave it?”

“This…” Butcher Feng scratched his head, “The county magistrate Chen sent a message, and I can’t prove it!”

Alas, it did. Butcher Feng was illiterate, and even if he wanted to come to the county magistrate Chen, he would not contact him through a note. Xiao Jingduo asked again about the appearance of the person who sent the message, and after he wrote it down secretly, he left.

While Xiao Jingduo and others were busy writing the dossier, Sun Sizuo’s punishment also came down. Sun Sizuo deliberately made perjury and should be disqualified from his post according to the law, but Nian has been working diligently in his years, so he has been reduced to one rank and suspended for investigation.

If the magistrate of Jinjiang County is here, then you can directly punish according to the law, but the magistrate Chen is dead, and the new magistrate has not been dispatched. Although Xiao Jingduo is temporarily acting as the magistrate, he After all, due to the restriction of quality and rank, he could not directly punish the subordinates, so he could only circle around and report to the governor of Rong Prefecture, so that the governor could issue an order.

Not only did the punishment and reward take a lot of trouble, but even the file arrangement was not smooth. The people in the Jinjiang county government office were used to being loose, and the dossier also wrote so-so and fooled things. Xiao Jingduo was angry with them several times.

The chief clerk and others dared not raise their heads when they were scolded, and one person mustered up the courage to say, “But the county magistrate, our county used to be like this!”

“That’s right.” Xiao Jingduo took a sip from the teacup and said very calmly, “So all previous cases will be reviewed and re-examined.”

“Ah…” There was a wailing in the council hall.

The news that the newly arrived Xiao County Chancellor was going to retrial the old case spread quickly. Xiao Jingduo personally said that all the people in the family who are wrongly accused can come to the court to report the case. Many people were vividly aware of Xiao Jingduo’s heroic appearance in the case that day, so intermittently, a few people played the big drum in front of the court.

Although there are few people, but at least the beginning, Xiao Jingduo comforts himself, everything has to be achieved step by step, the image of the county’s incompetence is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and he wants to establish credibility and reverse the people’s perception of the county and even the county According to the official’s view, we need to plan slowly.

At night, Xiao Jingduo looked at the files from previous years under the lamp, and he let out a small hum.

“Why are there so many disappearances?”

The name of the daughter of the county magistrate Chen’s statement is written on the file.

The author has something to say:

The effect of Gehua comes from “Southern Yunnan Materia Medica”, the recipe for hangover soup comes from “The Spleen and Stomach”, and the death of Gehua comes from a ghost story in the Tang Dynasty, the name is unknown.

All the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine in this chapter is copied and has no practical significance. Please do not imitate. Xiao Jingduo said that he still needs to return to Chang’an as soon as possible to get promoted and rich and marry the princess, and he does not want to be arrested for murder.