Chapter 134 Looking for the descendants of the Xue family
An old case!
In Zhao Duan's expectation, the "portfolio" would contain some kind of report letter, clues about hidden property, or other miscellaneous things.
But after looking at it, I realized that this was actually a dossier.
It records a murder that occurred thirteen years ago during the "Legendary Year" during the old emperor's reign.
And this file is still a record of the capital government office.
The documents looked decent, but after a quick flip through, I found that the information content was shockingly low.
Almost all departments go through the procedures and stamp some "formalities".
"Look back, forget it, just turn to the last page and see the case handling officer's stamp."
Haitang curled her lips and pointed.
Put the important things at the top... He is not sensible at all, and he has no experience in doing things at first glance... Zhao Duan complained.
Skip directly to the front, pull out the last page, and raise your eyebrows:
"The presiding judge is Zhongcheng, the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate...Zhou Cheng? Huh? He was an official in the Metropolitan Procuratorate?"
Zhao Duan was surprised.
Zhang Han, who had a paralyzed face and looked like a serious business man, recited the following words: "Zhou Cheng was born in poverty. He loved reading when he was young and had a bright mind. He became a scholar at the age of sixteen. He won the imperial examination, Jinshi, and became the director of the Household Department. Supervising the country's money and food was also the first time he developed a sense of comradeship with the current prime minister.
After that, he was transferred several times among the six ministries, and was sent to Linfeng City as a magistrate. Due to his outstanding political achievements, he was promoted to the inspector of Huaihe River Road, and then to the chief envoy...
After that, he was transferred back to the capital, joined the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and served as the Censor Zhongcheng. He was in the Zhengtong year. "
Haitang, who was bored and eating melon seeds, added quietly: "By the way, it is worth mentioning that the post of censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate was vacant at that time, so as the Zhongcheng, he was in charge of the entire Metropolitan Procuratorate. "
Damn it... Is this Lao Deng's resume so beautiful... As expected, there is no simple person who can achieve the rank of Jiu Qing.
Zhao Duan knew that "Yu Shi Zhongcheng" was the deputy of "Yu Shi Dafu", from the fourth rank.
It is equivalent to a springboard for promotion to the Dali Temple.
"Hey, what's going on with this long list of prisoners? I remember that it was just a small case at the beginning."
Zhao Duan glanced at the list of criminals again and his expression changed slightly.
This time, without any reminder from his colleagues, he calmed down and quickly started reading from the beginning.
——
The case is as follows:
During the Zhengtong period, one day, an official named Yang An, an official from a hundred households in Beijing, suddenly fell ill and died at home.
The family grieved and dealt with the funeral, but unexpectedly, one of Yang An's colleagues came forward and claimed that Yang An did not die of illness, but was the result of a vicious plot.
Sued Yang An's wife Yue for having an affair with her brother-in-law.
Because Yang An had an old illness, the adulterer and adulterer asked a low-level warlock named Shen from the Tianshi Mansion through their neighbor Hao to mix talisman paper into the decoction to induce the disease and kill Yang An.
The petition was handed over to the government office.
After investigation and trial, the government found that the affair was true, and imprisoned the adulterer, the adulterer, and the neighbor Hao.
Even the warlock named Shen was "extradited" from the Tianshi Mansion and sent to prison for violating the law.
Because it involves a murder case, the government's judgment document needs to be submitted to the third division for review.
The case passed through the hands of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Criminal Justice, both of which determined that the prisoner should be sentenced to death.
But when it was submitted to Dali Temple, it was rejected by an official named Xue Lin, who was the Shaoqing of Dali Temple at the time.
Zhao Duan was watching with great interest and gradually became fascinated.
As a result, I found that the information in my hand was suddenly out of date.
There seems to be a part missing in the middle.
On the new page, there is only a brief description. Due to the disagreement among the three divisions, the case was finally submitted to the late Emperor's Holy Judgment.
After subsequent investigation, it was determined that Dali Temple Minister Xue Lin and others had accepted bribes, collectively violated the law, and protected the prisoners.
The late emperor was furious and several Dali Temple officials headed by Xue Lin were imprisoned collectively. After interrogation, another group of prisoners were implicated.
In the end, this case, which was not a big one at first, suddenly got a group of people involved.
The criminals involved in the case were beheaded or exiled.
——
"What about the middle part?"
Zhao Duan raised his head, threw the information on the table, and said suspiciously:
"Is there a part of this file missing?"
Even a blind person can see that from the time Xue Lin dismissed the government's verdict to the end of the late emperor and the imprisonment of Xue Lin and other officials, there was a missing piece of the story.
At the Sifang table, Zhang Han shook his head expressionlessly: "No more, the middle part of the file is all lost."
Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows: "Tell me carefully!"
Zhang Han looked at the Narcissus Hall Master opposite and said: "You know this old case best, and you were the first to uncover it. You can tell me."
Zhao Duan was interested. While eating melon seeds, he looked at his heroic female colleague:
Come on, show it off.
"..." Haitang sighed and said helplessly:
"Actually, before you received this mission, Zhaoya had paid attention to Zhou Cheng, but there was no big gain.
Of course, it was also because His Majesty did not let us investigate at that time, but in order to compete for the first position in the Nine Halls, I paid special attention to these court officials. "
Oh, I understand... you want to make progress too much... Zhao Duan looked appreciative.
Haitang said:
"So, I looked up the major cases he had handled, and found this case when he was the censor Zhongcheng. Then, when I tried to investigate in depth, I realized something was wrong."
Zhao Duan's eyes flickered:
"Did you find that the file is incomplete?"
"That's right!" Haitang recalled with a face: "With the authority of our imperial office, we have the opportunity to access even the files in the third division.
I then found a reason to investigate, and found that, except for the 'husband-killing' part that the case initially focused on, there were relatively complete records in the government records. Later, when Xue Lin was involved, everything disappeared, and even what was left was only a few brief words. "
Zhao Duan sat up slightly and said:
"Do you suspect that someone is covering something up?"
Haitang nodded and said seriously:
“It’s just a file from more than ten years ago. Logically speaking, it should be relatively intact.
What's more, this case involved so many officials, and even beheaded a young minister of Dali Temple. Many yamen were involved, but all the yamen lost it. This is so abnormal! "
Zhao Duan asked: "Then what?"
Haitang leaned back dejectedly, folded her arms, and said listlessly and silently:
"Then I tried to briefly check it in private, but there was no progress. In addition, I had a lot of cases in my hands at the time, and I couldn't spare the energy to satisfy my curiosity, so I put it aside for the time being and left it behind."
Zhang Han added: "She didn't pick up this clue until she learned that you were going to deal with Zhou Cheng.
The two of us agreed that there must be something fishy going on here.
The person who presided over the trial of the case back then was Zhou Cheng. Among the people involved in the case, apart from the late emperor, only Zhou Cheng was most likely to be able to erase relevant records. "
Wonderful!
If it is really the file that Zhou Cheng destroyed, it means that there is likely to be content in this old case that threatens his current status.
Zhao Duan smacked his lips and pinched the melon seeds:
"That being said, it is indeed a breakthrough. But it seems a bit difficult to investigate. I don't know how to solve crimes. You are professionals in this area. What do you think?"
What he is best at is dealing with people.
Instead of looking for clues in the intricate fog.
But it doesn't matter. His past life experience taught him that to be a leader, you don't need to understand the business, as long as the people under you understand it.
The corners of Haitang's mouth were slightly raised, with a proud look like "You also said no, please give me a day."
He picked up the tea cup next to him, took a sip in a pretentious tone, and then said calmly: "The documents were destroyed, but the people who knew what happened back then are still there. Although Xue Lin was beheaded, almost everyone in her family was also They are all dead, but only one daughter is still alive, and she is in the capital."
Daughter... Zhao Duan suddenly said:
"Are we going to Jiaofangsi next?"
Generally speaking, for officials who committed serious crimes, the men in their families were sent to the frontiers to do hard labor, and the women were sent to work in government-run brothels under the Ministry of Rites to pay off debts.
That Xue Lin's whole family was dead, but only one daughter was left. Zhao Duan rationally guessed that there was a high probability that she was forced to go to sea.
Zhang Han also nodded, having the same assumption, and stood up immediately.
Thinking about how to reimburse the "ticket money" for going to Jiaofangsi.
Haitang was stunned for a second before she understood the brain circuits of these two men. She couldn't help but blush, and slapped the table angrily and spat: "Can you think of something clean in your mind? I'm a good person and didn't go there. Plant a place.”
Then he explained:
"When Xue Lin was imprisoned, there were many officials in the court working for her. Xue Lin's only daughter, named Xue Xuan, was engaged to the eldest grandson of the current dynasty Grand Master Dong, but they were still young and had not yet met.
After Xue Lin was imprisoned, Grand Master Dong intervened, but ultimately failed to save her life, and the marriage between the two families was naturally canceled. However, Xue Xuan was saved and survived.
Now, thirteen years have passed, and Xue Xuan has long since grown up.
Now she lives in Dongcheng and runs a small private school. As long as we pry open her mouth, we may be able to find out the blank part of the document..."
It turned out to be like this... The two men were embarrassed for a while, because they were evil-minded.
But now that you have the people to deal with, it's easy.
Zhao Duan doesn't know how to solve crimes, but he is good at messing with people...
"Then what are you waiting for? It's better to hit the sun and follow me to meet the descendant of the Xue family."
Zhao Duan slapped the melon seed shells off his hands, stood up and said.
Just as he had this intention... the two colleagues also got up, paid the bill and went downstairs.
downstairs.
Zhao Duan stepped onto the carriage, while his two colleagues did not ride in the carriage and only rode alone.
It was not appropriate to make a big fuss about catching Zhou Cheng, so he didn't bring any of his men.
"Tsk, we are riding horses and he is riding in a car. It seems that we have really become his subordinate guards."
Haitang, who has a dashing appearance, long legs, high ponytail and outstanding appearance, hummed.
Next to him, Zhang Han, who was leading the horse, remained silent and said to himself:
Didn’t the governor send us here just to serve as his subordinates and as bodyguards to prevent him from being assassinated again?
"Miss Haitang, if you don't like riding horses, come and sit here with me."
inside the carriage.
When Zhao Duan heard her muttering, he laughed and raised his hand to pat the cushion next to him in the carriage.
The prodigal... Haitang rolled her eyes, ignored him, got on her horse, and whipped down:
"drive!"
…
…
On the other side, outside the Jiaofang Department.
On the street, a carriage slowly stopped.
The coachman whispered: "Sir, according to the report, Zhao Duan, that bitch named Qin Qiu, came here last night and didn't come out. He should have spent the night."
Separated by a thick curtain, inside the carriage.
He Zheng, who was not wearing a blue official robe and was still dressed in casual clothes. His face seemed to be righteous, but in fact he was full of male thieves and female prostitutes. He opened his eyes from a nap.
The Dali Temple Prime Minister who had two feuds with Zhao Duan raised his hand, pursed his lips and looked at Jiaofang Si across the street through the car window.
His eyes were gloomy: "Find him."
(End of chapter)