area51novel Chapter 699
Chapter 699
Chapter 699
It's night, approaching Haizheng [ten o'clock in the evening].
Huang Tieyan, the general judge of Tongzhou, welcomed Jiao Shun and the others into the inn, and while leaning sideways to lead the way, he introduced: "The prisoner and his party checked in here yesterday evening, and originally planned to leave for Beijing early the next morning. When I entered the room, I found that the prisoner had already hanged himself from the beam in the room.”
"The state government received the notification around the next morning. The magistrate did not dare to be negligent after hearing the news, and immediately ordered the humble officer to come to protect the scene of the crime. After the inferior officer arrived, the Tianzihao guest room where the prisoner lived was changed by ten people. The six yamen servants are guarded in two shifts, and the door is always open and never closed, even if someone wants to sneak in through the window, it is absolutely impossible to escape the watchful eyes of the guards."
When he said this, he had already led Jiao Shun and everyone from Dali Temple up the stairs to the second floor—and in the process, the guards from Dali Temple had already begun to survey the layout of the inn.
Jiao Shun's footsteps stopped outside the door of Tianzihao's guest room. While looking at the belt still hanging in the air, and Wang Ziteng lying quietly on the bed, he said casually: "Since it was discovered during the rounds in the middle of the night, why the first time?" Notified the state government two days ago?"
Huang Tieyan spread his hands together: "The official responsible for the escort claimed that it was caused by a moment of panic, and after all, the prisoner was a high-ranking official in the dynasty, and Tongzhou is not far from the capital, so they didn't expect the state government to handle the case. It's just doing it smoothly while reporting to the capital."
According to the normal procedure, it is time to send someone to interrogate the escorts.
But when Jiao Shun heard this, he just nodded his head slightly, and then said with a smile: "When Chao Yipin died in Tongzhou, it's rare that the people in the prefectural government are able to stay calm in the face of danger. If it were me, I'm afraid I would make a mistake in their busy schedule."
"The adults are joking."
Huang Tieyan hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "Humble officials are also very anxious now, but Tongzhou is no different than other places. Every year, there are always criminals looking for opportunities to commit suicide here. There are many experiences, so I can barely be panic and not panic."
Jiao Shun nodded and said nothing else.
Huang Tieyan waited for a while, seeing that he hadn't written anything for a long time, he couldn't help stealing a peek.
The people in the Dali Temple behind were also a little restless—this is already at the scene of the crime, so what's the point of not going in?
After a while, Jiao Shun suddenly turned around and asked with a smile, "What are you all doing blankly? I'm just accompanying you to monitor, and it's your Dali Temple who are really in charge of investigating the case."
Only then did those people realize that Jiao Shun was waiting for them to enter first.
In fact, this should have been the case. The leader of the Dali Temple is a five-rank Temple Chancellor. If he is on the same level as Jiao Shun in terms of rank, it stands to reason that he should be able to stand up to him.
It's just that the person who escorted Wang Ziteng was originally an official of Dali Temple. He felt that he was here to make up for his sins, and subconsciously weakened his momentum by a third. In addition, the accompanying supervisor was still a close minister like Jiao Shun, so he didn't Consciously regards oneself as an existence attached to its tail.
Now being pointed out by Jiao Shun's words, he felt his face was hot, coughed dryly and said: "Since Mr. Jiao is accompanying the surveillance, he should come in with us."
After a pause, he added: "It's just that you must not rashly touch all the furnishings in the house."
Jiao Shun didn't refuse, motioned Jia Lian and Jia Baoyu to wait outside the door, and then walked into the house with the Si Cheng.
After the Si Cheng entered the door, he did not rush to investigate the scene and the corpse, but first called the accompanying deputy and ordered him to take a group of escort officials to the next door for questioning, and then led a few old officials to search around.
As for the corpse, two forensic officers took turns to examine it. When one was conducting an autopsy, the other was turned away to avoid suspicion. They did not exchange positions until the companion had completed the examination and records.
This is the rule of Dali Temple when investigating serious and important cases. The autopsy reports of the two priests will be handed in separately. If there is any conflict, the handling officials can find it in time.
And when the corpse is sent to the capital, according to the rules, another foreman will be found to conduct a re-examination, so that the three parties can verify with certainty.
Seeing that the people in Dali Temple were performing their duties, Jiao Shun stood silently in the middle, first looked around, and then his eyes fell on Wang Ziteng's body.
The face of the hanged person is naturally not much better, his face is pale and ashen, his eyes and tongue protrude out of the frame, and there is dried blood on the corner of his mouth. It should be the reason of incontinence before death.
Jiao Shun covered his nose with a handkerchief, not without regret.
In fact, he and Wang Ziteng had not met a few times, but he was very impressed with him. Gein Wang Ziteng's sharp and high-spirited temperament was something he had never seen in Rongguo Mansion.
Even in the officialdom, there are only a few Gelao Shangshu who are in the center can be compared.
But who would have thought that it would be like this when they met again.
Just as he was watching, he suddenly noticed someone standing silently behind him. Jiao Shun looked back, but it was Jia Baoyu who walked in at some time, looking at his uncle on the bed with a sad face.
Jiao Shun was originally worried that Wang Ziteng's death would scare him, but now it seems that he underestimated his courage.
Just as he was about to raise his hand and pat him on the shoulder, taking advantage of the situation to say a few words of condolence and consolation, he suddenly heard Jia Baoyu tremblingly saying: "Autumn, autumn pattern..."
Jiao Shun's outstretched hand froze for a moment, and couldn't help but rolled his eyes, thinking that this kid is really talented, seeing his uncle's body, he thought of a beautiful maid.
At this time, Baoyu continued to tremble and said, "It's the same after Qiu Wen's death."
Hey~
It was wrong to blame him, because he was not very scared, because he had seen similar situations before.
"Ah~"
At this time, Baoyu sighed again suddenly, and his whole body became loose, and he murmured: "It doesn't matter if you have great power, you can't escape a bun."
Is it necessary to 'enlighten the Tao in Longchang'?
Jiao Shun didn't dare to let him continue thinking about it, otherwise, if he wanted to become a monk after returning home, how could he explain to Aunt Xue and Mrs. Wang?
Immediately pushed his shoulder and said: "Brother Bao, why don't you go and buy two new clothes first, and prepare to change them after the autopsy--the Taiwei was famous during his lifetime, and he should always retain his dignity after death."
After dismissing Jia Baoyu, Jiao Shun stayed on the scene to supervise.
About half an hour later, the Dali Temple Prime Minister who led the team came out temporarily, holding two autopsy reports and the interrogation transcripts from the next door, Jiao Jiao stopped by: "Master Jiao, come and see, according to the results of the autopsy, the guilty There are obvious signs of hanging on the officer's neck, and his eyes and tongue protrude, which meet the symptoms of death from asphyxiation, and there are no other injuries on his body, and there are no signs of poisoning for the time being."
Immediately afterwards, several confessions were presented: "The confessions of the escorts are roughly the same. Although there are some differences in some details, they are basically unclear, and they don't seem to be deliberately fabricated."
After a pause, he further explained: "If the confession had been made in advance, these discrepancies would not have occurred."
Jiao Shun flipped through the pages while nodding his head slightly, and after finishing reading, he raised his head and asked, "Do the escort officials know these common senses for judging cases?"
"This……"
Si Cheng was dumbfounded.
This common sense is suitable for ordinary people, but it may not be so accurate for people who are also experienced in punishment.
Jiao Shun didn't hold on to this point, he shook the confession and autopsy report on his hand, and asked, "Apart from that, is there anything unusual about it?"
"It's unusual to say."
Si Cheng was picked on by him, so he didn't dare to be negligent and perfunctory at this time. He lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and then said: "Usually officials who commit suicide will write an apology or leave a few last words before committing suicide, but This time, there is no similar writing around the prisoner."
This is indeed a suspicious point.
But Jiao Shun felt that such an approach was more in line with Wang Ziteng's proud character.
But he didn't point that out either.
What the emperor is thinking, he is still not sure now, if he is going to make this matter a big deal, there is such a doubt, and it will be convenient to cause trouble in the future.
Next, the people of Dali Temple started a second investigation and interrogation.
This time the scope of the survey was wider, and the objects of interrogation also expanded from the escorts to the inn's shopkeeper, staff, guests, and Tongzhou officials who were guarding outside the door.
It wasn't until this time that Jia Lian reluctantly walked in, Hui and Jia Baoyu commanded the servants, scrubbed Prince Teng's body, and changed into clean and tidy clothes.
It was a busy night, and it didn't come to an end until the next day's noon.
The results of the investigation showed that, except for a few suspicious points, most of the evidence proved that Wang Ziteng had indeed committed suicide.
In addition, the issue that the escorts accepted bribes and neglected their duties, which gave Wang Ziteng a chance to hang himself, was basically settled.
The next step is to transport the body back to the capital, and then ask the emperor for instructions to see if it is necessary to continue the thorough investigation—to investigate, in what direction to investigate; if not, how to characterize the case.
He was discussing with the leader of the Dali Temple that he wanted to find a coffin for Prince Teng temporarily, so the magistrate of Tongzhou came to the door under the guidance of Huang Tieyan, saying that the official ship had been prepared and he could set off at any time.
Although Jiao Shun and the others came here by car and horseback, it was better to take a short rest on the official boat after a busy day and night than toil on the bumpy road.
So I thanked Zhizhou for his kindness, and asked for a willow coffin by the way, and loaded Wang Ziteng's body on board.
The official ship was not too big, but as Jiao Shun, he still got a separate guest room.
He washed up briefly, and lay down on the bed with all his clothes on. After thinking about things, he finally became tired, when he suddenly heard a knock on the door.
"what's up?"
"master."
Shuan Zhu, who was guarding the door, immediately replied: "The people in Dali Temple said that they found that the corpse had changed, and would like to invite you to go and have a look."
The body has changed? !
Jiao Shun's heart trembled, and he thought, could it be that Wang Ziteng really didn't commit suicide, but was murdered by someone? !
Since the matter was serious, he quickly jumped up, put on his official uniform and boots indiscriminately, pushed open the door and went out, straightened his sleeves and asked, "What happened to the corpse?"
The two officials standing behind Shuan Zhu bowed together and said: "You guys don't know, I just heard that the body has changed, please go and check it quickly."
Jiao Shun nodded, and was about to walk towards the mortuary room when his footsteps suddenly stopped, he looked back at the two officials, and said strangely: "What are you doing in Dali Temple, on the way here and just boarded the ship Why didn't I see you when you were here?"
Those two people were obviously a little flustered, but they still cupped their hands and said, "I think your lord is busy with other affairs, so you didn't notice the two of us before."
"Is that right?"
Jiao Shun's eyes were full of suspicion, if it was an ordinary person, he would have no impression, but there was a hooked nose between the two of them, and he was sure that he had never seen this person along the way.
And the demeanor of both of them is also...
"Go!"
At this moment, the hooked-nosed officer suddenly let out a loud cry, then pulled out a dagger with blue light from his sleeve, and stabbed Jiao Shundang in the chest.
Caught off guard, although Jiao Shun tried his best to back away, he was not as swift and decisive as the hooked nose. Seeing that the dagger was about to stab his chest, he suddenly straightened up and fell back. At the same time, a thick-soled official boot He raised it high and kicked the hooked-nosed wrist!
"what!"
With a scream from the hooked nose, the dagger in his hand was thrown out of his hand, and nailed to the wooden ceiling above his head with a bang.
Before Jiao Shun could heave a sigh of relief, another official came up with a dagger, and swiped it at Jiao Shun's ankle.
Jiao Shun hastily withdrew his legs to dodge, but he raised his foot and kicked towards the vital point between his legs.
In the midst of the crisis, a figure suddenly rushed forward and hugged the official, dragging him back violently.
It was Shuan Zhu who finally woke up with a start, and rushed forward to protect the Lord.
The officer was caught off guard for a moment, and he took two steps back while being hugged by him. Immediately, with a fierce look in his eyes, he stabbed the dagger backwards with his backhand.
At this moment, a bad wind came suddenly, but something slammed into it.
The fake official hurriedly raised his hand to block it, he didn't want the thing to hit his wrist, but the hard object at the front didn't slow down, and directly slapped him hard on the face, hitting a thousand peach blossoms!
But it turned out that Jiao Shun took the opportunity to take off his belt and used it as a whip to whip, and what hit the fake official's face was the gold buckle on his belt.
The fake official was in severe pain and his eyes were covered with blood from his forehead, so he swung his dagger and stabbed wildly, trying to prevent Jiao Shun from attacking.
But he didn't want his companion to pull out the dagger on the ceiling with great difficulty, and was rushing out from the side, and was stabbed in the arm unexpectedly.
The hooked nose immediately screamed again, dropped the dagger and covered his arm and shouted in a hurry: "Where's the antidote?! Where's the antidote?!"
As soon as these words came out, Jiao Shun took a deep breath, the dagger was still coated with poison!
Immediately, he swung his belt hastily, and then slapped his head and face fiercely again. When the officers on the ship heard the news and rushed over, the two of them had already been beaten to pieces by him at this moment.
It wasn't until the two of them were tied into rice dumplings that Jiao Shun finally dared to relax, leaned against the wall and sat softly on the ground, gritted his teeth and asked, "Say, who sent you here?!"
The officer with blood on his face snorted coldly, held his head up and refused to answer.
But another fake official with a hooked nose had already bled to death from his seven orifices.
(End of this chapter)