During the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing official Shi Shilun was transferred to Jiangsu as the prefect of Yangzhou. When Lord Shi took up his post, after coming to Yangzhou, he vigorously promoted nongsang, punished corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and made decisions for the people, which was deeply loved by the local people, and the people called him "Shi Gong".
Lord Shi was busy with official business, and it was not easy to have some free time, and the lady was whispering in her ear that she was going to go to the famous temple in Yangzhou City, the Iron Buddha Temple, to enter the incense. Lord Shi worked hard to handle the case, and he also wanted to steal a day, so he asked the messenger to go to the Iron Buddha Temple first, and then he took his family to go to the incense. The messengers took the order and went away.
The next morning, Lord Shi and his wife each took a small palanquin and led a group of servants to the Iron Buddha Temple. The abbot of the temple had already lined up at the door to greet him, and after the abbot and Lord Shi had exchanged a few words of greeting, they led Lord Shi and his party to a Buddhist hall. The monks had already prepared incense candles, and Lord Shi and his wife each held three pillars of incense to pray, praying for peace, smooth wind and rain, and the people living and working in peace and contentment.
After entering the incense ceremony of the Buddha, the lady was accompanied by the Yahuan to rest and drink tea in the side hall, and The Shi People saw the ancient wood towering in the temple, and the Luohan sculpture technique under the eaves was simple and exquisite, so he came to the backyard to walk. The abbot, Elder Wuji, was busy calling the chief monk Wu Ming to take Lord Shi to play. Goku ming was a stout monk, and he gestured "babbling" to show the way for Lord Shi. It turned out that Wu Ming was a mute, and Lord Shi followed Wu Ming to the backyard.
Lord Shi toured the ancient temple, but his heart felt doubtful, and his brow wrinkled. It is reasonable to say that the Iron Buddha Temple has a long history, which has existed during the Tang Dynasty, and the incense is also very exuberant. But the vermilion paint on the walls of the temple peeled off the ground, spider webs crawled all over the buildings, and even the Buddha statues were full of spider webs. The backyard, which was originally the best scenery, is also overgrown with weeds, dead wood and barren grass swaying in the residual sun, and the cold wind blows chillingly.
Looking at the monks in the temple, although there are a large number of monks in the temple, they are also diligent and earnest, but it is obvious that the monks of the temple are all dressed in shabby clothes, one by one, yellow and thin, and a face of dish. Such a scene is completely inconsistent with the name of the famous temple in Yangzhou, and Lord Shi watched while walking, remembering while watching, and silently wrote down in his heart the various situations of the temple being abandoned.
At lunchtime, Wu Ming invited Mr. and Mrs. Shi to the temple to enjoy the fast. The half-baked meal was delivered, and When Lord Shi saw the meal, his face suddenly sank. Iftar rice is a bowl of sweet potato porridge for everyone, and there are two more plates of small dishes in front of Lord Shi and his wife, and the side dishes are just a few slices of pickled radish and a small amount of pickles. Lord Shi was puzzled in his heart, and casually ate two bites before resigning. After returning to the palace, the lady and the servants were already hungry, and Lord Shi asked the servants to quickly cook vegetables and eat.
At noon the next day, when Lord Shi was still washing, he heard the sound of drums beating outside the door. Lord Shi was busy washing up, dressed up, and then went to the lobby to ask about the case. Lord Shi sat down in the hall, glanced at the person who filed the complaint in the hall, and couldn't help but be stunned. There were four monks in the hall who reported the crime, three of them young monks arrested the chief of the Iron Buddha Temple, Wu Ming, and the four of them tore and fought in the hall, and Wu Ming struggled desperately with a fierce face to get rid of the shackles of the other three monks.
When Lord Shi saw this, he angrily asked the monks who were not practicing in the temple, so why did they come to the lobby to make a fool of themselves? One of the young monks knelt on the ground and said carefully, "Grand Master Qingtian, the three brothers of my division, Wu Tian, Wu Quan, and Wu Jin, accused the master and disciple Wu Ming, who did not abide by the rules and regulations, and spent the day outside the temple to drink wine and do something wrong. He also raised a concubine, and Wu Ming squandered the money in the temple, causing the monks all over the temple to be hungry and clothed. Master Wuming's heart is fierce, I dare not speak out, today I partnered to arrest him and ask the adults to severely punish him. ”
As soon as the words fell, the three monks burst into tears, and everyone denounced Wu Ming's various sins.
The mute monk Wu Ming heard clearly, busily swinging his hands to make a negative gesture, and shouting "Babbling" and shouting. Lord Shi looked at several monks and asked the monks who reported the case what evidence did they have to accuse the mute monk? Monk Goda took out an account book from his arms, which turned out to be the account book of the Iron Buddha Temple. The books of accounts clearly record the money and money spent and the amount of delivery of the successive principals each month, which are huge and recorded in detail. Lord Shi put aside the account book and asked the three monks if there was any definite evidence that they had accused Wu Ming of keeping a prostitute outside.
The three monks said in unison that there was a widow outside the temple who was the head of Wu Ming. Lord Shi asked the servant to summon the widow to the church, and when the widow arrived in the lobby, she took a pair of young children to cry and cry. Sun Widow was dressed in a coarse cloth shirt, but the person looked very beautiful. Lord Shi casually asked Sun Widow a few words, and then people blasted her out of the gate.
After the widow Sun was driven away, Lord Shi asked the three monks a few more words, and then he solemnly said to Wuming, "Monk Wuming, although you can't speak with your mouth, your ears can hear." Your three brothers accused you of keeping a prostitute and squandering money, causing the temple to be unable to make ends meet. Now that the evidence is there, this officer will dispose of you according to the law. On the spot, Lord Shi took back the Enlightened Monk Du Mu and returned it to the people, and exiled to the border pass to be a slave for three years.
Enlightenment's mouth cannot speak, but his ears can hear clearly. He jumped up from the ground, waved his hands, pointed at Lord Shi, kept screaming in his mouth, and demonstrated to Gokuda and the others. When Lord Shi saw that Wuming was disturbing the court, he immediately became furious and let the left and right push him to the ground and beat him twenty times. Wu Ming was beaten and had to restrain his behavior, and Lord Shi took him into custody temporarily and re-distributed him at a later date.
Lord Shi announced his resignation from the church, and then instructed the three monks, such as Goda, to repay the old abbot after they returned, not to confuse people anymore, and the whole temple should re-discuss and select a competent person to be the chief, and one day the old abbot would die or someone would take over. Goda and the other three monks thanked him profusely and patted their chests to ensure that they would do so when they returned.
One morning, Lord Shi wrote a document and asked the servant to bring the monk Wuming out of the prison and prepare to send him on his way. Lord Shi watched the official messenger take the documents, locked the monk and left, and felt a sigh of relief in his heart. The exhaustion of the past few days had exhausted him physically and mentally, and he lay down in his chair and squinted. In a trance, he had a nightmare, dreaming that the enlightened monk was walking towards him with a bloodied face, and his mouth was screaming injustice...
If a dumb man opens his mouth, there will be grievances. The enlightened monk was covered in blood, and there must be something wrong with this case. Lord Shi hurriedly asked the official messenger to chase the person who escorted Wu Ming back, and before the official messenger could leave the house, the escort man ran in and prayed: The monk Wu Ming crashed headlong into the stone pillar at the gate of the mansion, and he fought with his death, and hit his head and broke his head and bled. The enlightened monk must have been wronged by heaven before he could commit such an extreme act. Lord Shi broke out in a cold sweat, and the busy official sent Wu Ming to be treated, and then carefully examined the file and the account book, and sat down at the desk.
After lunch, Lord Shi dressed in civilian clothes and went to the vicinity of the widow's home of Sun at the Iron Buddha Temple. Sun Widow was washing clothes in the small courtyard at this time, and Sun Widow looked up to see Lord Shi enter the house, and was surprised to be frozen in place. Lord Shi told Sun Widow not to panic and to elaborate on the causes and consequences of the incident. The widow Sun cried from beginning to end.
It turned out that Sun Widow was not Wu Ming's concubine, but his lay sister-in-law. Wuming's family name is Tian, his name is Tian Erzhuang, Erzhuang's parents died when he was young, and he lived with his brother Dazhuang and his sister-in-law. Later, Erzhuang fell seriously ill and became mute. Tian Erzhuang grew tall and burly, had great strength, and ate a large amount of food. He had to eat a liter of rice for a meal, and when he became an adult, he went out to find a job, and the landlord's family valued his labor, but they hated him for eating too much. Tian Erzhuang had been in a state of semi-fullness, and his eldest brother really couldn't, so he had to beg the old abbot of the Iron Buddha Temple to take him in. Since then, Tian Dazhuang has been ordained as a monk, and his name is Wuming.
A few years later, Tian Dazhuang died of overwork, leaving a family of orphans and widows to survive. Tian Erzhuang carried firewood and water at the Tiefo Temple, and somehow was appointed as the chief steward of money and grain. Tian Erzhuang saw that his sister-in-law and two children were too bitter, and often took some grain from the temple to help them. Tian Erzhuang never took a penny from his family, but only brought back some grain. After Wu Ming was arrested, his sister-in-law felt ashamed of this, and felt that the little uncle was tired of him for the survival of the family. When the sister-in-law was summoned to the church, she only cried for a while without explaining her identity.
At that time, Lord Shi only looked at her once, and after asking some random questions, he blasted her out of the gate. This directly caused a misjudgment and almost killed Tian Erzhuang. When Lord Shi listened to Sun Widow's words, he felt ashamed in his heart, as a parent official and had the name of a clean official, but because of his momentary inattention and stereotypes, he almost killed innocent people. When Lord Shi looked at the tattered thatched hut of Sun Widow's house and looked at the child who was waiting to be fed, his heart was really not a taste, he gave Sun Widow a few pieces of silver and returned to the palace with his servants.
After returning to the palace, Lord Shi interrogated the three plaintiffs, Goda. Lord Shi sat in the lobby, and the three monks memorized the account books well, and they explained the amount, use, and delivery of the silver clearly, and there was no flaw in the questions and answers. Lord Shi saw that the three people answered each other like a stream, and for a while they could not find a breakthrough to solve the case. On the other hand, the monk Wuming survived the rescue, and Lord Shi temporarily resigned him as the chief of the office and recuperated in the yamen for some time.
Lord Shi was troubled by this, and he was unwilling to eat for several days in a row, and he fidgeted. When I went to bed, I was still thinking about this case, and Wu Ming's case made the whole yangzhou city boiling, and the streets and alleys were talking about it. Lord Shi sentenced the monk Wuming, but the verdict was not decided, which also made the people speculate and discuss. Seeing that he was so distressed, Madame interjected, "Why did a great iron Buddha temple let a dumb monk take charge of it?" Doesn't that seem strange? ”
Waking up the dreamer with a word, Lord Shi got up in his clothes, picked up the account book in the temple and looked at it carefully, and sat at the desk and thought all night. At last, when it was almost dawn, he suddenly thought of a plan.
Early the next morning, Li Xianling rushed to the Iron Buddha Temple with his servants. Lord Shi locked the three plaintiff monks, Goda, Goku, and Gojin, in three separate rooms and distributed a lump of wet mud to the three of them. Lord Shi said to the three monks, "Wu Ming refused to confess his sins, he said that the account books you gave were false. You must pinch out the appearance of the delivery of gold and silver according to the way they were when they first delivered the gold and silver, whether round or long, and always have a look. Using this as evidence, the enlightened monk was convinced and convicted. ”
Soon after, the three monks pinched out the appearance of gold and silver in the hut, and these gold and silver pieces of earth were sent to Lord Shi for inspection. As soon as Lord Shi saw it, he immediately interrogated the three monks. The three monks were not holding the same pieces of earth. On the spot, Lord Shi asked the three monks why they had deceived and framed Wu Ming. At this time, the three monks knew that they had fallen into the trap of Lord Shi, but it was too late to regret it. Lord Shi scolded the three monks left and right, and broke his legs without being honest. When the three monks saw this, they had no choice but to confess their crimes.
It turned out that these three monks went out with master Wu Ming, and when the old abbot was old, he entrusted the matter of money and grain in the temple to Gokuda. After Wu Tian became the master of money and grain, he took the gold and silver in the temple and squandered it, and his life after having money was much better than that of a monk. Wu Tian then did not want to be the master anymore, and pushed the position to his disciple Wu Quan, leaving a large amount of honeysuckle for himself to use, and became a dashing monk. After Wu Quan became the chief, he also learned to live a mixed life with his brother and master, and took a large amount of gold and silver for himself; later, Wu Jin discovered the secret of the two people, and used this as a threat to become the master, and Wu Quan gave up the position of chief to Wu Jin for a period of time.
All three rats were greedy for money, and they all became grasshoppers on a rope. They emptied the gold and silver of the temple, the whole temple became unable to make ends meet, and the other monks lived a very hard life. The old abbot was blinded by the three men and could no longer help the three men. Later, the three people saw that the deficit was huge, and worried that the government would find out and get the crime, so they pushed the chief office to the honest little master and disciple Wuming.
When the newly appointed Lord Shi and his family went to the Tiefo Temple to offer incense, Lord Shi noticed that the situation in the temple was not right, and his face was displeased many times. The three monks knew that after Lord Shi returned, they might have to check the Iron Buddha Temple, so they simply did not do anything twice, and deliberately brought coarse tea and light rice to entertain when Lord Shi inspected the Iron Buddha Temple, and let the rough man Wuming, who did not understand the number of rituals, entertain Lord Shi, so that Lord Shi would leave a bad impression on Wuming. When Lord Shi returned from his rage, the three monks arrested Wu Ming and filed a complaint the next day.
The three monks had already prepared the account books before filing the complaint, and they threatened the monk Wuming to often send grain to his home, falsely accusing Sun's widow of being Wuming's concubine. Lord Shi did not leave a good impression on Wu Ming, and the account book could not find any loopholes, and the three monks did not have any flaws in their answers. But although the monks were cunning, they could no longer remember the shape of the gold and silver that was finally given to Wu Ming.
They moved the gold and silver of the temple like ants, and finally handed over to Wu Ming how much gold and silver, what did the gold and silver look like? They didn't care in the slightest. They can only imagine pinching out different shapes of gold and silver, and the result is that the gold and silver they pinch out are different. In this way, Shi Daren used the simplest method to solve the difficult case and successfully cracked this strange case.
In the end, Lord Shi acquitted Gomei, and the three monks were greedy for money and treacherous, framing the innocent and almost causing a tragic crime. Each of them was charged with forty slabs, confiscated all the embezzled gold and silver, and traveled three thousand miles to the frontier to give the armored people slavery for three years. In addition, the three monks compensated Wu Ming with five hundred taels of silver. Wu Ming gave the five hundred taels of silver to his sister-in-law's family to solve their living problems.
The case was closed here, and Lord Shi cracked the case with this judgment, which was passed down as a good story throughout the ages.