"If you make noise during the interrogation, you will be flogged!"
Before Heifu could answer, the fierce-looking clerk "Nu" glared at Ji Ying, and then the two military clerks on standby in the hall came over and pressed Ji Ying to the ground!
"I just have a case to explain..."
Ji Ying shouted that he was wronged, but one thing is one thing, Nu personally took a bamboo stick and whipped him on the back and buttocks!
Heifu closed his eyes helplessly, and listened to the bamboo stick hitting ten times, and Ji Ying also yelled ten times, and this temporary punishment was over.
Good guy, the defendant was not beaten, and the plaintiff was beaten first, but this can only be blamed on Ji Ying for talking too much.
Caning is the lightest corporal punishment. Apart from the pain of the flesh, it will not cause major injuries. After the beating, Xi asked Ji Ying what case he wanted to provide to the government.
Ji Ying was honest now, and told the thief Pan everything he said that day.
Xi nodded after listening, and looked at the thief: "Pan, is it true?"
"That was just nonsense." Pan still had a fluke and denied it flatly! Because he knew the consequences of killing.
"Well, since you don't admit that there are other crimes, let's listen to what this is."
Xi spread out a bamboo slip in front of him and read: "On the 20th year, September, Jiayin, the Jingling County Magistrate dared to sue the Anlu County Magistrate..."
This was the reply letter from Jingling County. Next, there was a long paragraph about Pan's crimes, including that he had enlisted in the army several times when he was young and participated in the war, but was reprimanded for not being active in fighting. After returning home, he spread negative remarks and was reported by neighbors, so he was punished as a garrison soldier and went to the north to guard. However, on the way north, he injured the escort personnel, robbed armor and weapons, and fled into Yunmengze.
After that, Pan tried to sneak back to his hometown and take his wife and children with him, but was stopped by his neighbors. Pan injured someone and escaped again.
"How dare you say that you have no other sins?" Xi's voice became stern. Seeing that all his past was exposed, Pan lowered his head in frustration and admitted these sins.
Xi's voice softened again, as if he knew everything about Pan: "I know all your crimes, and I don't expose you because I want to see if you are willing to confess... For example, did you also participate in the burglary and robbery in the river in Jingling County half a year ago? The book of Jingling County said that the appearance and figure of the murderer described by the survivor of the case are exactly the same as yours!"
Xi's face changed immediately, and he threatened: "If you don't confess the truth, I will torture you!"
Unlike the ten tortures of the Qin Dynasty that were imagined by later generations, the interrogation of the Qin State was the best means to collect evidence and question the criminals. The criminals would not be tortured until they were really stubborn, but in the eyes of the officials, this was already a low-level approach.
Pan was just frustrated just now, but now he was shocked. He bowed his head repeatedly and confessed all the crimes he had committed like pouring beans.
It turned out that he really had two lives on his hands, and had participated in five or six robberies of varying sizes, but the money he robbed was not much.
Unfortunately, when judging a case in Qin, no matter how much money you robbed, it depends on your criminal heart! Even if it was just a penny, even if it was a rope or mulberry leaf that was worthless, it was considered theft! Not to mention murder.
However, murder was not the most extreme crime. The most serious crime in the Qin criminal law, except for treason, was the crime of gang theft.
Next, Xi asked Pan's two accomplices to state their names, hometowns, and crimes one by one. The result was surprising. They were actually Chu people who fled from the Jiangnan area (Hunan) of Chu to Yunmengze. There were three of them in total, and they had just teamed up with Pan this summer.
This was a bit troublesome. Although Xi knew about this long ago, he still frowned.
The laws of Qin only applied to the counties of Qin, but not to Chu. In this way, the hometowns and crimes of the two Chu thieves could not be verified, and they could only be sentenced according to convention.
At this time, it was Heifu and Jiying's turn to appear. Just like before, they stated their names, identities, and places of origin.
Xi repeatedly confirmed with them that there were only four thieves at that time?
"Indeed, there were only four." Heifu now admired Xi very much. The entire county prison hall seemed to have become his stage for performance. His sharpness and competence were no less than any professionally trained judge in later generations!
"According to the law, since there are less than five people, it does not constitute a crime of gang robbery."
Xi stroked his beard and said to the officials: "Write it down. Pan and others are not gang robbers. They can only be punished for ordinary robbery and murder."
In this way, the course of the case and the nature of the crime were clear, but it was not over yet. Xi turned his eyes to Heifu and the others and asked about the process of capturing the thieves.
Jiying seemed to have forgotten the beating just now. He talked about it with great joy, especially the deeds of Heifu who beat three thieves alone and took the knife with his bare hands. Since he recognized Heifu as his brother, Heifu's ability seemed to have become his own ability, and he was proud of it.
Ji Ying was not good at other things, but he was good at gossiping and bragging. When he talked about the exciting part, the clerks who had been recording the interrogation stopped writing and listened attentively.
Xi still did not interrupt Ji Ying. After he finished speaking with a dry mouth, he turned his head and asked Heifu: "Is that so?"
Heifu had to bite the bullet and said: "Although the words are a bit exaggerated, they are generally correct. I was indeed fighting one against three, but Ji Ying also fought with another thief for a long time. If it weren't for his help, I'm afraid I would have been a dead body on the roadside."
Xi nodded, but did not believe it rashly. He asked the three thieves again. Seeing that they had no objection, he turned his consulting eyes to the historian "Nu".
It turned out that Nu's duties were not only to maintain order in the court, but also to examine corpses and conduct on-site inspections, which was equivalent to the forensic doctor in later generations. Qin ruled the country with the Legalist ideology, and strived for accuracy in everything. When he was sent to question three thieves the day before, Nu had already recorded the wounds of the thieves one by one and submitted the inspection report "Yuan Shu".
"There is a blade wound on the outside of Chu Bandit A's left ankle, horizontally, 9 inches long, a mark of a dagger scratch, and bruises on the abdomen, a mark of being hit by a heavy punch; there is a blade wound on the outside of Chu Bandit B's right leg, vertically, 4 inches long, 1 inch wide, the wound is smooth, a mark of a dagger piercing, and no other parts are injured..."
After reading the wound examination book, Xi knew that Heifu was not lying. The parts of the thieves hit and the depth of the wounds were consistent. He was surprised and said: "You look young, but you have such courage and skills."
Heifu was still shocked by the advanced inspection system of the Qin State, which could be compared with the forensic doctors of later generations, but heard Xi ask him: "Who did you learn your martial arts from?"
He thought it was not good. His enemy-catching fist was not something of this era. Seeing that Xi was like a Virgo with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he would find flaws. Of course, he didn't dare to talk nonsense, so he could only find a dead person as a shield.
Heifu said, "My late father taught me. He once served in the army, beheaded a person and was awarded the title of a public official. He also collected firewood in the mountains and fought with wild boars, and learned a set of boxing. Because he loved me the most among his three sons, he only passed it on to me..."
You are kidding! If I remember correctly, the one that the cheap father loved the most was the youngest son "Jing", who was the younger brother who went to the military camp with Heifu in history. But Heifu has now practiced lying without revealing any flaws. Anyway, the cheap father has been dead for several years. No matter how capable Xi is, can he ask a ghost?
As expected, Xi frowned. Although his intuition told him that Heifu did not tell the truth, he did not find anything suspicious, so he stopped pursuing the matter and said to the clerks in the hall:
"Write it down. The three thieves should be captured by Heifu and Jiying. Next, it is the case of Huyang Pavilion Chief..."
He looked at Heifu: "Heifu, you reported Huyang Pavilion Chief and Qiu the thieves before in order to steal the credit and cheat the reward. Do you still insist on it now?"
Heifu bowed: "The government encourages reporting traitors, and I insist on reporting myself."
Xi frowned and said: "Huyang Pavilion Chief is a government official who fights for food. Do you know that if you falsely accuse an official, you will be charged with counter-accusation and severely punished if you are found guilty!"
There is no way back now. Heifu raised his head: "I know, but I am just stating my grievances and dare not hide them."
"Okay." Xi nodded and gestured to Nu and Le: "Bring up Huyang Pavilion Chief and others! Both cases must be tried today!"
Accompanied by a burst of footsteps, the people of Huyang Pavilion were brought up from the hall, including the thin Qiudao and three pavilion guards. After they came to the hall, they all stared at Heifu, their anger was beyond words...
Huyang Pavilion Chief, who had a horse face, walked at the end. When he entered the hall, he first looked around and found the merchant Bao who stood aside as a witness. He stared at him with his eyes. After Bao nodded timidly, Huyang Pavilion Chief was relieved.
He turned to look at Heifu and sneered secretly: "Little boy, when we confront and question you later, I guarantee that you will be dumbfounded and unable to explain yourself!"
A man's body was lying on his back in the south of a house. There was a knife wound on the left corner of the man's head and two knife wounds on his back, both of which were vertical, 4 inches long and 1 inch wide, with a concave in the middle of the wound, like the mark of an axe. Bleeding around, contaminated the head, back and ground. The rest of the body was uninjured.
He was wearing a single-cloth short coat and a skirt. The back of the short coat corresponded to the wound area, and there were two places cut by the blade. The back and the collar of the coat were stained with blood.
There was a pair of Qin-style hemp shoes on the west side of the body, one was a little more than 6 steps away from the body, and the other was 10 steps away from the body. The shoes were put on the body and they fit just right. The ground was hard and there was no trace of the murderer. The deceased was a middle-aged man with white skin, 7 feet 1 inch tall, and 2 feet long hair. There were two old scars from moxibustion on the abdomen...
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