In June of the third year of Daoguang, in Deqing County, Huzhou, Zhejiang, a messenger from the Xu family of the local Hao clan knocked on the door of another Cai family of the Hao clan, and the messenger handed a letter to the concierge and left in a hurry. Cai Hong, the owner of the Cai family, received a letter and looked at it, and could not help but be shocked, this is a mourning letter, the letter informs that he married the niece of the Xu family the day before yesterday, hereby mourned.
As soon as this news came out, the Cai family mourned, and no one calmed down for a while. As the uncle of the deceased, Cai Hong accepted the fact that his niece died, but he was puzzled about the cause of death, a young grandmother who had always been pampered and well-cared for, and who was carefully cared for, would actually die of sha (hair sha is heat stroke), which is too strange and grotesque.
One
The Xu family and the Cai family in the incident were both high-gate giants in Deqing County, whose ancestors were famous and became officials on behalf of the officials. During the Daoguang years, the Xu family had a rich fortune and wealth on one side, and the first in the family was Xu Baohua and Xu Duncheng's uncle and nephew, the second in command was Xu Baohua's young concubine Ni Shi (whose yuan was deceased), and Xu Duncheng's wife, the deceased Xu Cai.
Although the Cai family's financial resources are slightly inferior to the Xu family's, there are still people in the family who are officials in the court, so the Xu family looks up to the Cai family and marries the Cai family.
Regarding the death of Xu Cai's violent illness in the Xu family, although the Cai family was overwhelmed with grief, they immediately sent powerful clan relatives to the Xu family to understand the situation. Cai Hong, the head of the Cai family, believes that even if his niece (Xu Cai) died of an ordinary illness, he would still have to pursue the Xu family for civil liability for poor care.
However, when the relatives who investigated the situation returned, they pointed out that the young grandmother's body had several wounds on the neck, such as strangles, and the conclusion of natural death was suspicious. An investigation of the young grandmother's interpersonal relations in the Xu family also revealed that the young grandmother and her husband Xu Duncheng had a bad relationship, and it was rumored that Xu Duncheng was bold and had a private affair with his uncle's concubine Ni Shi.
After listening to the report, Cai Hong's face suddenly changed dramatically, and based on this information, he believed that his niece had the characteristics of being killed, which further confirmed the previous speculation - how could a housewife who was raised in a deep boudoir and did not go out of the house rush to die of heat stroke?
"My Cai family died in the Xu family, so why did the Xu family just follow a method of death?" Cai Hong took the case and went to Deqing County to file a murder case.
To overturn the claim that Xu Cai's illness died, the first step in the county's investigation work was to open the coffin and perform an autopsy. The Qing Dynasty system stipulated that all those who wanted to examine the corpses must be personally present by the county leader, and there should be no delay, so as not to delay the decomposition of the corpses and delay the collection of evidence of the crime, nor to entrust miscellaneous miscellaneous works, which would undermine justice. However, in judicial practice, in many places, the number one is not willing to contaminate the dead and the dirty, and generally entrusts it to the people below to do the work.
Since the Cai family reported to the officials in early July, Huang Zhaohui of Deqingzhi County has neither personally presided over the autopsy nor entrusted his subordinates to do it. The Cai family asked the reason, and the county ya's reply was, "The county lord has a wind chill and is holding an illness in bed." ”
On the other hand, when the Xu family heard that the Cai family had reported the news to the officials and planted the stolen goods with the murder case, Dengshi was furious and asked Fei Wentao, a well-known local lawyer, to come forward to preside over the lawsuit. The two families changed from relatives to enemies for a time.
Cai Jia Delong Wangzun is interspersed with thousands of connections in Deqing, and the news has always been well-informed. According to inquiries, the Xu family had heeded the idea of the litigant Fei Wentao and sent a total of one hundred and twenty yuan of foreign silver to Huang Zhaohui and his concierge in Zhixian County, demanding that the county court and the lawsuit not be reported.
The Xu family's bribery made the Cai family more certain that Xu Cai was killed, and the murderer was in the Xu family. A few days later, the Cai family submitted a second accusation to Deqing County, urging Huang Zhaohui of Zhixian not to pretend to be dead and quickly get up for an autopsy.
Huang Zhaohui knew that someone in the Cai family was an official in Beijing and did not dare to offend, but the Xu family at the other end was extremely wealthy in Deqing, and it was not easy to offend. Since both ends were not easy to provoke, they had to adopt a compromise method to report the case to the city and hand it over to Fang Shigan, the governor of Huzhou (the city's first in command), to decide, and as for the reason for Huang's work, it was still stated that he was sick.
The prefect Fang Shigan naturally assigned the case to Wukangzhi County, near Deqing, and asked him to help him go on a trip.
When Xu Caishi died, it was in the sweltering heat of June and July, and it was delayed for a while due to the left and right blocks between officials, and by the time Wukangzhi County arrived at the autopsy, Xu Cai's body had already decomposed. What's worse is that Xu Cai's two families quarreled at the autopsy site, pointing at the bridge of their noses and scolding each other.
WuKangzhi County was difficult to maintain order, and was trying to scold the "Diao people", but he was afraid that the two sides were large households, so he swallowed it back, thinking that it was really obscure to take such a hot potato.
From the very beginning, Wu Kangzhi County did not intend to do his best to investigate the case, and later, he reported it to his superior Fang Shigan on the grounds that the body was decomposing and could not be examined, and Fang Shigan criticized his lack of ability and was not enough, and then kicked the case back to Deqing County.
In fact, even if the body is decomposing, it is not impossible to test, and the Qing Dynasty", the "Fuhui Quanshu" mentions in criminal investigation technology:
"If the body is festering and the color of the flesh is difficult to discern, it must be rinsed with water, and the color of the flesh is revealed." If the color of the wound is unknown, it is necessary to shave the rotten flesh and examine the bone, there are blood halos, blood shadows and other scars. ”
The Cai family could not bear this tone and soon crossed the county and city levels and went to the provincial officials.
Although the autopsy hosted by Wu Kangzhi County in the front was not happy, but there were still gains, this time the Cai family made a new supplementary description of the corpse in the accusation: "The corpse has a palm wound on the right cheek, there are three strangles under the neck, two wrists have binding marks, and there is a blood halo behind the chest, which is not a natural death." ”
The prefectural magistrate, who was in charge of the criminal prison proceedings in a province and was responsible for supervising the local officials, received a complaint from the Cai family, but when he saw that it was a petition that he had crossed the level, he sent it back to Huzhou City for the prefect Fang Shigan to deal with.
When Fang Shigan saw that the Cai family had actually gone to the province, was this not equivalent to jointly participating in a book? He couldn't help but laugh, "Do you really think that the provincial gate was opened by your ancestors, and see if someone cares about you?" So he did not have the anger to approve the case to Ma Bole of Gui'anzhi County for trial.
The poor Cai family and their party had not yet returned to Deqing County, and the above approval had already arrived in Gui'an County first, where did they know that this trip of running and toiling was fruitless. By the time they learned that the case had been sent back to the county-level officials for trial, they were already furious.
At this time, there is also a news that is not good or bad, there is a sudden personnel change within the Xu family on the defendant side, the old lady Xu Baohua (Xu Duncheng's uncle) fell ill and died, the external statement is that the old lady died worrying about the case, and the spearhead is self-evidently pointed to the Cai family's lawsuit to indirectly kill the old man.
The case has always been at a favorable and controllable node for the Xu family, but the Cai family is in a mess, so how can the old man worry about a life? This allowed Cai Hong to exclude Xu Baohua's suspicions, so only Ni And Xu Duncheng were left with major suspicions.
Two
Unsurprisingly, the Cai family received another rumor that the Xu family had ordered four hundred silver dollars to Gui'an Zhi County, which had received the case, making the case drag on for several months. The Cai family could not bear it and threatened to accuse Beijing (to beijing).
Beijing prosecution is an extremely difficult road of prosecution, facing a series of barriers set up by local officials, which are not only difficult to break through, but once they are hunted down, they will be charged with a crime by Sheng Anbai. The Cai family dared to speak wildly, and they had to have some relations between the DPRK and China, and Fang Shigan, the prefect of Huzhou City, was afraid.
On December 14, after nearly half a year of delay since the report of the case, the prefect Fang Shigan was finally willing to personally lead the team to conduct an autopsy, and Huang Zhaohui of Deqing Zhi County, who had been ill, also recovered and returned to the team. Through the steaming examination of corpses (a kind of criminal investigation technique that "tragically demolishes the bones and disgusts the three lights"), for the first time, the official conclusion on the cause of Xu Cai's death - "hanging himself".
How could a great living person commit suicide for no reason? The inquisitor turned to the Xu family arraignment.
After interrogation, Xu Duncheng confessed to the history of his wife who had committed an outbreak in the family — on the evening of June 28, Xu Duncheng, who had always been at odds with his wife, pushed Xu Cai to the ground and slapped him on the right forehead and left arm. After the aunt Ni Shi met and persuaded him to fight, he did not succeed, and then participated in beating the emotional Xu Cai Shi until he fell, and slapped him on the left forehead. Xu Caishi was humiliated and hanged himself the next day when he went on the lamp. The Xu family was afraid of the Cai family's accountability, so they falsely reported the illness and funeral to conceal it.
The judge also interrogated the Ni family and the Xu family maid, and many of the confessions were consistent, combined with the wounds on the forehead, cheeks, ribs and other parts of the deceased, which basically coincided with the wounds caused by the beating, so the possibility of Xu Cai's murder was ruled out, and the trial officer believed that the investigation of the case could be concluded and the case was closed by hanging himself.
When Cai Hong heard this conclusion, he felt deeply ridiculous, and he refused to approve it. Not long after, he went to Hangzhou for the second time and appealed to Shuai Chengying, the governor of Zhejiang (the first in charge of the province). In the appeal complaint, the Cai family added a new objection:
(1) The self-hanging conclusions obtained by the autopsy are different from the self-hanging situation contained in the officially promulgated "Correction and Washing record of the Law Museum" - the deceased had marks on the forehead near the temple, 27 teeth were lost, the neck bones were black and dark, and there were red halos in the blood pelvis, ribs, etc., and it was obvious that he was fatally injured before his death.
(2) The lower body shy bones and tail maggot bones are missing, and the servants (forensics) are said to be missing.
(3) Inside the corpse clothes, there is a sharp magnetic piece of rotten flesh sticking to it, and it is impossible to explain.
(4) Combined with (2) and (3), the autopsy in this case is suspected of fraud and favoritism.
Inspector Shuai Chengying initially understood the facts of the case, agreed that there were many doubts, so he accepted the appeal and ordered the commander to bring the case to the provincial yamen for trial, and three provincial officials were responsible.
However, despite the case personally approved by the provincial leader, the three provincial officials secretly played the "dragging trick" and dragged it to inspector Shuai Chengying because he was transferred to another place on official business.
In fact, things have developed to this point, which is beyond the imagination of all the people involved in the case. All kinds of indications show that behind the case is a huge black hand, and many forces are in the game, involving no less than a dozen large and small officials, involving the county leader, the city leader, and even the provincial government officials.
The current situation of the Cai family is to fight one enemy and a hundred, and the complaint is a matter of labor and wealth, time-consuming and labor-consuming. It is understood that most of the ordinary people who have been accused of the case have been grinded several times by the officials and will choose to withdraw the case and give up. A small number of complainants die to the end, but in the end they often scatter their family wealth, and even pay a serious price of being charged with crimes and compensating for their lives, but the success rate of complaints is still only one-thousandth of two. Therefore, since ancient times, there has been a truth about the wronged head: "The people do not fight with the officials, and they do not sue for their deaths." ”
But the Cai family is obviously a hard stubble, and the more they try to suppress the case, the more they want to break the net.
Three
In May of the fourth year of Daoguang, Cai Zhidong, the brother of the deceased Xu Caishi, wrote a letter to Wu Enshao, a close friend who was serving as an inspector in Beijing, to introduce the ins and outs of the case, and at the end of the letter, he complained: "Local life-saving does not save death, and officials do not save the people. ”
After receiving the letter, Wu Enshao first observed the case for February, and found that there was indeed little progress and it was difficult to move forward, so he handed the Daoguang Emperor a fold: "Please send the edict to the Governor of Zhejiang, Shuai Chengying, to thoroughly investigate the case, which is enough to make the official believe." ”
At this point, the case has reached the step of Beijing Control. When Daoguang learned of this, he immediately ordered the Zhejiang Inspectorate to be tried impartially and severely.
In July of that year, after the case had been suspended for more than half a year, the new Zhejiang Inspector Huang Mingjie was ordered to clean up the mess left by the previous Inspector Shuai Chengying, and instructed the Hangzhou prefect to replace the original work and review the trial with the original trial officials. This was the third autopsy (the second steam test) in this case, and the result was exactly the same - hanging himself.
According to the inspection report submitted by his subordinates, Inspector Huang Mingjie wrote a fold to explain the doubts in this case:
(1) Tooth loss is a common phenomenon, and some past self-hanging cases have also had such records, which is not enough to become a suspicious loophole in this case.
(2) The above-mentioned shame secret bone is lost, and it is determined that the corpse bone phase is "female head male body", and there is no shame secret bone.
(3) The loss of the aforementioned tail maggot bone is indeed the loss of the original examination, the human body is connected to the tail maggot bone, and the square bone is not injured, and the tail maggot bone can be pushed without injury. Therefore, the evidence lost in this case may be dispensable and not enough.
(3) The sharp magnetic pieces in the corpse clothes were picked up by the Cai family themselves in the coffin, and then stuffed into the clothes of the deceased, and after examination, there was no blood, which was not enough to become evidence.
(4) The re-examination of the wounds of the deceased is consistent with the self-hanging death situation contained in the "Record of Washing", and the remaining multiple wounds are minor injuries, or related to the beatings of Xu and Ni before their deaths, but they are not fatal enough.
After receiving this review report, Cai Hong fell heavily on the ground before he finished reading it, and said to his family angrily, "A bunch of nonsense, this kind of self-justifying nonsense he himself does not believe." I see that it is difficult to apply for snow in the province of the case, this gang of snakes and rats, collusion, re-inspection is the same batch of people, their own mistakes, and then a hundred times is only to memorize the answer. ”
Soon, the Cai family threatened to take control of Beijing again, and strongly stated that the case would either be sent to Beijing for trial or called on the neighboring provinces. Inspector Huang Mingjie patiently listened to the Cai family's request and said that he would reflect upwards. In his report to the Daoguang Emperor, he said:
"The family of the deceased still has many objections to the case, especially the trial officials. When the minister first arrived, he was still shallow in the official field in Zhejiang, and it was impossible to say that there was no problem with the officials involved in the case, but there was also no solid evidence for the problem. In order to show the justice of the law, the minister suggested that Wang Wei, a new envoy who had just been transferred from Hubei to Zhejiang (in charge of prison proceedings in a province), be allowed to preside over the trial of the case, and that the province should be removed and two elite servants should be transferred from Fujian Province to replace him. ”
Although the case was still pressed in Zhejiang Province, the presiding judge Wang Weiqian was half-baked in the Zhejiang officialdom and could be boldly appointed.
Four
As soon as Wang Wei inquired about the handling of the case, he isolated the people involved in the case and relevant witnesses for interrogation, and there was no breakthrough in his confession. Turning to an investigation from the periphery, he was taken aback by the results, deeply feeling that the complexity of the personnel was far greater than the complexity of the case, and after a few days he became mentally confused and panicked.
After arriving in Zhejiang, Wang Wei consulted and accompanied the original trial officials of Hangzhou Provincial Government and Huzhou Prefecture to review the examination. This is the fourth autopsy, but the bones have not yet been steamed, and Fujian Has given a new conclusion about the cause of death based on the obvious scars of the corpse - there is no doubt that it is strangled to death, and it is also pointed out that the previous examination is full of doubts and many untruths.
For a time, there was an uproar in the audience, and the booing was loud, and the original trial officials even pointed at the scolding and left the scene in anger, resulting in the failure of the autopsy procedure to be completed smoothly. Afterwards, Wang Wei inquired about the latest progress of the case to his superior, Huang Mingjie.
"Oh, there's a possibility that this case could be overturned?" Huang Mingjie asked while asking Wang Wei, who had already sat down, to inquire about tea.
Wang Weiqian replied, "Yes." ”
Huang Mingjie picked up the tea bowl, but did not drink, casually went to take the bowl lid to play with the foam on the tea soup, for a while before slowly and leisurely said: "The old brother really has a golden eye, the former inspector, and I, as well as a number of officials, almost handled a wrong case, fortunately you found the clues of the overturned case." Now if there is a mistake, it is not too late, brother you say? ”
Wang Weiqian tasted the sound of these words, but he still said sternly: "Facing a major case of human life!" Officials at all levels have neglected their duties, with a whistle on the top and a cover-up on the bottom, which has plunged the family of the deceased into a protracted headless lawsuit, nothing more than a joke that wants to see the Cai family lose both people and money. If you do not open your mind at a humble post, and if you take the money of the common people, you naturally cannot stand up for the officials, and this case must be thoroughly traced to the root cause, and when the water comes out, it will never tolerate any sinner involved in the case. ”
When it comes to this, it is very boring. Huang Mingjie's face was iron black, and he thought that Wang Weiqian had slandered the trial officials, including himself, and could not help but scold a few words. Wang Weiqian was ridiculed by other original trial officials at the autopsy site, and he was already angry, and suddenly he was scolded for no reason, and he even rushed to his head and openly bumped into his superior, Huang Mingjie saw that he was energetic, and he also lost his demeanor, and the two fiercely scolded each other. In the end, Huang Mingjie broke the tea bowl and scolded "get out of the egg", ending this unpleasant work report.
A few days later, Wang weiqian was found hanging himself in the office. At this time, it was March of the fifth year of Daoguang, and Wang Wei had only been in Zhejiang for a short month.
The case was pending for two years, but the presiding judge of a Sanpin officer was dead! How shocking!
Because wang Weiqian had a dispute with Huang Mingjie before his death, the remarks about Wang Weiqing's persecution and threat of persecution by The Zhejiang officialdom, especially Inspector Huang Mingjie, caused a shock in the government and the public, and Wang Weiqian's family and officials in the court wrote to Emperor Daoguang one after another, requesting a thorough investigation of the cause of death.
Daoguang was horrified and ordered the new inspector Cheng Hanzhang (who had left his post at the time) to investigate Wang Wei's cause of death. However, it is very regrettable that Cheng Hanzhang finally reported to Daoguang that Wang Weiqian was reprimanded by his superiors, and he felt that the pressure of handling the case was huge, and he was depressed for a while, so he had the idea of taking his own life, which was actually caused by his psychological quality being too hard, and it was too far-fetched to pursue Huang Mingjie's responsibility. Dao Guang sighed and agreed to the conclusion of the investigation.
After Wang Weiwen's death, Xu Cai's case was taken over by the new envoy Qi Tugong. Compared with Wang Weiqian, Qi Tugong's criminal investigation experience is more capable and sophisticated. As soon as the case was accepted, he interrogated xu and Cai families for more than twenty days, and then conducted a fifth examination of the corpses of the deceased who had long been beyond recognition, but unfortunately they had no eyebrows.
Thinking about it, Qi Tugong felt that it was too stupid to always whirling around in the original place, and he had to start from the subtleties to investigate.
After more than ten days of meticulous investigation, Qi Tugong's team found that a maid named Guixiang had never been interrogated because of her young age. Qi Tugong was keenly aware that this might be a clue that had been overlooked, so he immediately passed on Guixiang to the case.
Don't ask, don't know, a question is indeed material, this young lady Guixiang, who has not been valued, is actually an eyewitness. She confided that the young grandmother was sick in bed that day, and the aunt (Ni Shi) came to the room with Qiu Xiang to visit, and after closing the door, without saying a few words of greeting, Qiu Xiang suddenly pressed the hands and feet of the young grandmother, and then the aunt took out a rope and strangled the neck of the young grandmother, and the young grandmother struggled to move until she died of anger.
The character survey of the young concubine Guixiang shows that he is kind and generous, has pure interpersonal relationships, and his confession can be accepted. Qi Tugong was overjoyed, and immediately formulated a roundabout interrogation strategy against Ni Shi and Qiu Xiang, and then used the information he had mastered to knock on the side, even if the two of them made a good confession in advance and cooperated seamlessly, but it was difficult not to show the horse's feet in the end. Ni Shi confessed the motive for the killing, because his private affair with Xu Duncheng was broken by Xu Cai's face, and he was afraid that he would complain to the old master Xu Baohua, so he bought his personal servant to kill him. The two confessed their guilt and were imprisoned pending trial.
Since this case is a homicide, the conclusions of previous reviews must be overturned. Both the death of sha and the death of hanging are one lie to cover up another lie, so there are other criminal facts that need to be clarified in this case. The first is to examine whether Xu Duncheng, the head of the Xu family's economic management, conspired with the lawyer to kill his wife; second, it is necessary to examine whether the original trial official accepted the xu family's interests, made the case a small matter, and manipulated the facts of the case. Among them, Qi Tugong believes that it is basically solid.
Five
The night is long and dreamy, while the iron is hot, Ni's mouth has been loosened, and it is a good time to take advantage of the victory to pry out more evidence. However, just as Qi Tugong was about to retry Ni Shi, a servant stumbled to report: "Ni Shi, an important witness in this case, hanged himself in a death row with a baotou veil. ”
Qi Tugong was so stunned that he could not speak, and he wept on the spot, saying straightly: "All the dishes are lost!" ”
Death row is heavily guarded to prevent prisoners from self-harming and escaping, and all kinds of torture equipment are specially made. Coupled with the fact that Ni Shi is a serious offender in the Qin case, the prison officials will attach great importance to it, and there are guards and prison officers who patrol continuously 24 hours a day, and the surrounding area is also densely lined with eyeliner, and it is unbelievable that a woman with embroidery in the Ni clan has a way to relax the torture device and successfully commit suicide.
Hearing the news of this thunderbolt on a sunny day, Inspector Cheng Hanzhang immediately summoned Qi Tugong to scold him: "Mistake, big mistake!" This case has seen the dawn of closure, and it has changed dramatically. Wang Weiqing is a lesson from the past, which can also repeat the mistakes of the past. You big idiot! After saying that, Cheng Hanzhang pounded his chest and was mentally prepared to report to the Daoguang Emperor.
According to the law, repeat offenders die in prison, and all relevant officials are dismissed. Dao Guang was naturally angry, but this gang was the only team that found out the signs of the truth, and he had to calmly reply: "At this moment, it is a critical moment in the case, a big mistake has been made, and it is useless to ask for guilt. ”
After this twist and turn, Daoguang was still uneasy in the end, and finally agreed to send a Minister of Chincha to supervise and preside over the investigation work for this three-year-long, complicated human life case.
In September of the fifth year of Daoguang, Wang Ding, the minister of Chincha (minister of military aircraft and attendant of the ministry of households), arrived at the case. Wang Ding has been presiding over scientific expeditions in Zhejiang since July of this year, during which time he had already heard a little about Xu Cai's case, and was shocked to hear that the Xu family had paid as much as 40,000 taels of silver to bribe officials, almost exhausting the family's wealth.
Due to the loss of Ni Shi, a key witness, the case once again fell into a bottleneck. Xu Duncheng did not admit that he had participated in the murder of his wife, and put all the charges on Ni Shi, only admitting that he was wrapped up by Ni Shi, and taking into account his face, so he paid bribes to the first officers of Deqing and Gui'an Counties and the autopsy, begging him to make a big deal out of it and help cover up the crime. When asked whether he had paid bribes to officials at or above the municipal level, Xu Yakou denied it. Wang Ding had no choice but to check the Xu family's family assets and found that there were only four thousand taels left, and his wealth had plummeted. Where did the money go? There is no way to check, and it may disappear.
When discussing the case privately, Inspector Cheng Hanzhang said to Wang Ding: "When his wife was killed, he even covered up the murderer, and he never shed a tear?" This person is either an accomplice or a beast. ”
Wang Ding then said, "He is 80% guilty, but we can't cure him of his sins!" ”
Cheng Hanzhang sighed, "If the murderer is at large, will the world be okay?" ”
Wang Ding smiled and stopped answering.
The value of Xu Duncheng's confession was extremely limited, and Wang Ding's team could only see one step at a time, interrogating the bribe-taking officials who had been confessed one by one, inducing them to betray each other, hoping to find out more fraudulent officials. However, when the bribery section of Ma Bole in Gui'anzhi County was tried, another witness died- one of Ma Bole's bribed domestic servants was "hanged in fear of guilt" in prison.
Wang Ding was furious and when he was held accountable, the jailers and prison officials were extremely strict in their tone, attributing them to "management negligence and work mistakes" in unison, and were willing to accept punishment, but did not mention the suspicion of favoritism and fraud.
Two witnesses died in a row, the latter of which happened under the condition of Chincha sitting, and Wang Ding deeply felt the arrogance of this mysterious force. When discussing the facts of the case, Inspector Cheng Hanzhang trembled and reminded: "Lord Wang, if something goes wrong again, I am afraid that you and I will be hard to blame." Why don't you just leave it at that. Wang Ding refused at first, but the chain of evidence was destroyed, and he continued to interrogate for two months without a clue, and finally had to close the case and report it to Shengshang:
"The main circumstances of this case have been clarified, but the henchmen in the case are far from being able to arrest and bring them to justice... One dead man, three causes of death, shocked four, unheard of. Several people committed suicides one after another, but in fact, nine times out of ten they were colluded and killed. It shows that the inside story is full of strange and confusing situations, all of which are a good play of turning over the hand for the cloud to cover the hand for the rain, and now the case hastily closed, and the love has to be done. Since the divine decree was brought down, the people among them have been implicated by the roots, and they have colluded with each other to form a party and build an iron wall for personal gain, which is unbreakable. If we continue to investigate deeply, not only will there be another murder case, but I am afraid that the entire local official field will be uprooted. The subject believes that the murderer is punished by the law, and justice is returned to the people, and this case is not suitable for further investigation. ”
The sentencing report for this case is also attached as follows:
(1) The maid Qiu Xiang added merit from the side, and killed the master as a slave, that is, beheaded.
(2) Xu Duncheng bribed officials, proposed a hundred rods, and flowed three thousand miles.
(3) Deqing and Gui'an counties, Zhixian County, were corrupt and perverted the law, and were sent to the frontier to serve as a drudger.
(4) Fang Shigan, the prefect of Huzhou, neglected his duties and sent a military station to atone for his sins.
(5) Successive inspectors, envoys, and prefectural officials who cannot judge the truth shall be handed over to the Ministry of Officials' Deliberation Office, and shall be dismissed and demoted respectively.
In the middle of winter, the cold wind invaded the muscles, dripping water into ice, and the yangxin hall with the lights dimmed, the Daoguang Emperor, who had been working for one night, read this heavy recital and could not help but sigh, "A stone stirs up thousands of waves, and under the calm lake, there is a huge sadness. ”