The head of the Criminal Department and the chief of Dali Temple are both officials of the sixth rank.
They are both mid-level officials with their respective duties. Both yamen have the power to review cases. These two officials can also "travel" to local areas to review serious cases.
Compared with the previous supervisory censor, these two officials can be said to be "professional counterparts".
Because Jiangdu is very close to Jiankang, on the afternoon when Shen Yi returned home with his wife, two imperial envoys from the imperial court arrived in Jiangdu.
This time is different from the supervisory censor last time.
Supervisory Yushi Zhangfu came to Jiangdu for daily inspections, and this time these two judicial officers with professional counterparts came under orders. In other words, these two people were imperial envoys in a sense.
When the imperial envoys arrived in Jiangdu, they were naturally greeted by the officials of Jiangdu Prefecture as usual. After the two imperial envoys arrived in Jiangdu, without saying a word, they asked the two levels of the county government to surround the Fan family and prohibit anyone from entering or exiting the Fan family.
The two people worked very efficiently. After arriving at the county government office, they retrieved all the case files related to the Fan family.
Zhang Jian, the county magistrate, specially brought the case of Chen Qing and the case of a tenant family of seven being arrested before the two imperial envoys.
Both the Criminal Department and Dali Temple are judicial offices. These two officials have to review who knows how many case files every year. It only took half a day for the two of them to read all the cases about the Fan family. When they saw the Chen Qing case,
When they arrived, the two imperial envoys discussed it and then turned to look at Zhang Jian in unison.
"Magistrate Zhang."
Fu Song, the head of the Criminal Department, said to Zhang Jian who was waiting on the side: "This case is full of loopholes and has serious problems. Please ask County Magistrate Zhang to bring the suspect who is the perpetrator of the case file to justice. I and I will retry the case in three days."
After Zhang Jian took the case file, he looked at the head of the Criminal Department and said with a smile: "Imperial envoy, most of these people are in Jiangdu, so there is no problem in getting them back. However, one of the suspects at the time was later exonerated by the former county magistrate Feng Lu.
Excuse me, now I have been admitted as a Jinshi and ranked in the Imperial Academy."
Having said this, Zhang Jian paused and said: "He is in Jiangdu now. It is not a problem to invite him to come to court. However, if you want to arrest him, you must first ask the Ministry of Rites to revoke his honor."
The two imperial envoys looked at each other, and finally Hu Ping, the principal of Dali Temple, smiled at Zhang Jian and said, "Is this what County Magistrate Zhang is talking about, Shen Yi, the principal of Di Bao Si?"
Zhang Jian nodded: "It's Shen Yi."
Hu Ping nodded and said: "Based on the case file, the possibility of Shen Sizheng committing the crime is extremely low. When the time comes, just ask him to come to court to cooperate in handling the case. There is no need to ask. As for the other people..."
Hu Sizheng looked at the case file in his hand and said solemnly: "Anyone who is in Jiangdu will be brought to trial."
Zhang Jian nodded and asked: "One of the people committed Qian Tong and was convicted and exiled by the previous county magistrate. This year, His Majesty is holding a grand wedding and is amnestying the world. He has been pardoned and returned to his place of origin. Do we still need to question him?"
"There's no need for this."
Fu Song shook his head and said: "I have an inscription in the law of Chen, which states that if a criminal is convicted for one case, he will no longer be judged for the crime after the crime is completed."
"This Qiantong..."
"No need to ask yet."
Zhang Jian smiled and cupped his hands and said, "Everyone follows the imperial envoy's instructions."
"Magistrate Zhang is very polite."
The two imperial envoys unanimously raised their hands to Zhang Jian and said, "They are all running errands for the imperial court. If there is any trouble, County Magistrate Zhang will help."
If he were an ordinary county magistrate, the two imperial envoys would not even look at him.
But Zhang Jian is different after all...
That afternoon, the two imperial envoys looked through all the case files and gave a list of six Fan family members, asking the Jiangdu County government to take them to the jail to await trial.
Among them is Fan Dongcheng.
With the two imperial envoys' warrants, Zhang Jian no longer had any scruples in doing things. In the evening of the same day, Zhang County Zun brought about twenty government servants to the gate of the Fan family's mansion and asked to see Fan Qian, the master of the Fan family.
.
The county master has arrived in person. The Fan family in the past might not give him face, but now the Fan family has no right to refuse unless they don't even give up the most basic dignity.
Soon, the door of Fan's house opened wide and Zhang Jian was welcomed in.
The central door was opened to welcome guests, which was the treatment given to the former Fan family when a third-rank official from the capital came to visit.
But now Zhang Jian enjoys this treatment.
Magistrate Zhang was undaunted and walked into the Fan family wearing a green official uniform. Fan Qian, the master of the Fan family, was already waiting at the door.
Mr. Fan is in his fifties this year. He was originally a vigorous middle-aged man with not much gray hair.
Now, he is a serious old man.
At this time, Master Fan's hair was mostly white, and at first glance, it was almost completely white.
After meeting Zhang Jian, Mr. Fan knelt down tremblingly, kowtowed to Zhang Jian and said: "Fan Qian, a common man, pays homage to the county master..."
This was the first time in Fan Qian's life that he kowtowed to a county magistrate.
Even when he was young, he never kowtowed to the county magistrate.
Zhang Jian's face didn't change, he reached out to help him up, and said with a smile: "What are you doing, Mr. Fan?"
Fan Qian stood up tremblingly, with an extremely humble expression: "When you return to the county magistrate, the common people kowtow to the county magistrate. This is what should be done."
"Not that much."
After the two exchanged a few words, Zhang Jian was invited to sit down and drink tea in the main hall of the Fan family, but Mr. Zhang did not drink tea.
After Shen Yi's lesson, he was also afraid that the Fan family would jump over the wall and do something irrational.
Zhang Jian sat on the chair, looked at Fan Qian with a smile, and said lightly: "Today, the two envoys from Jiankang arrived in Jiangdu. They checked my criminal case files in Jiangdu in recent years and found something wrong.
Therefore, I came to your mansion to ask a few people to go back to the county government to help with errands. Does Mr. Fan agree?"
Fan Qian bowed his head deeply: "The county magistrate has given orders, and the common people must obey them."
Zhang Jian was very satisfied with Fan Qian's attitude. He immediately took out a list from his sleeve and handed it to Master Fan: "These are the people the two imperial envoys want to invite. Please invite Master Fan to come out."
Fan Qian took the list, lowered his head and said, "Please wait a moment, Lord County Master."
After that, he stood up and ordered to the people at home: "Go and tie these people up to the county magistrate!"
They must be servants of the Fan family. Soon, five people were tied up in the main hall.
Zhang Jian frowned slightly and said, "Mr. Fan, this county gave you a list of six people."
Among these six people, there was Fan Dongcheng's name, but among the few people who were kidnapped, Fan Dongcheng was not there.
Master Fan closed his eyes and looked a little painful: "Go back to the county master, the dog is dead."
"died?"
Zhang Jian frowned and said calmly: "If Mr. Fan is so uncooperative, the county will send people to search. If the Fan family is messed up, Mr. Fan should not be offended..."
Fan Qian sat on his chair with a gloomy look on his face: "Your Majesty, please excuse me."
Zhang Jian had no expression on his face and waved to his men: "Search!"
More than twenty government officials responded with a bang.
The Fan family was very big, and more than 20 people searched the Fan family for more than an hour. Then a cadre stumbled to Zhang Jian, lowered his head and said: "Master... Master, Fan Dongcheng was not found.
, but someone in the Fan family ancestral hall in the backyard is calling for help!"
Zhang Jian frowned and looked at Fan Qian, who was unmoved.
Magistrate Zhang stood up and said in a deep voice: "Take this county over."
Soon, the group arrived at the Fan family ancestral hall.
The door of the ancestral hall is locked.
There was a slightly sad and weak cry for help inside.
Magistrate Zhang frowned and said, "Break the door lock."
"yes!"
The Yamen officials were very skilled at breaking down doors and picking locks, and they smashed open the door of the ancestral hall in a few clicks. The door of the ancestral hall opened, and inside there was a young man in shabby clothes and with a face as yellow as paper, lying on the threshold.
It was he who was calling for help.
Zhang Jian recognized him at a glance.
It is Fan Dongcheng.
From the looks of it, I haven't eaten for at least three days...
Magistrate Zhang took a deep breath.
This Fan family is really cruel, not only to outsiders, but also to their own family members.
However, Mr. Fan did not attack Fan Dongcheng, otherwise Fan Dongcheng would have been dead by now.
Thinking of this, Zhang Jian frowned slightly: "Carry it away and take it back to the county government."