(Weizhi County has risen, and brothers must rise too. Please vote for me!)
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Yes. Thinking about it, I have successfully overturned this case, which was sentenced to death by the Ministry of Punishment. I will definitely become famous in the future, and my future will be bright. It seems that I should be content.
But if we really want to obscure this case, He Chang, the culprit, will definitely go unpunished. He will become an accomplice in covering up the murderer. I am afraid that this knot will be difficult to solve for the rest of his life!
Wei Zhixian has been reading the books of sages for twenty years, so he naturally regards the words of the sages as his guide. The sage said that a gentleman has nine thoughts, the first of which is to "see and think clearly." A gentleman must see and think clearly, and he must distinguish right from wrong and distinguish truth from falsehood.
, we must see people and things clearly!
When he was a student, Wei Zhixian regarded this as a matter of course. However, after becoming an official, he realized that people often just can't see clearly what is right and wrong, or they dare not or don't want to see clearly what is true and what is false. Because they can distinguish too clearly or too clearly,
It is inevitable that you will get a bloody head, or even your life. But if you pretend to be confused, you can get peace for a while, but you will suffer from the torment of your conscience and a lifetime of pain...
When reality and belief conflict, the latter is often the one who compromises. But for Wei Yuan, this choice is particularly difficult. This is related to his experience. He was a Jinshi in the fourth year of Yongle. Because he was too young and his face was too tender, Yongle
The emperor asked him to return home as a Jinshi and to be ready to study. He will never forget the emperor's gentle words of encouragement and expectations when he met his Majesty...
'Wei Xiao Aiqing, you must always reflect on yourself, be strict with yourself, and never lose what I hope for!'
To this day, Emperor Yongle's words still echo in his mind, making him dare not relax on himself...
That night, there was a battle between heaven and man in Weizhi County. He kept his eyes open until dawn, and he finally made a decision!
That day, when they were waiting at the Yamen, the officials of Fuyang County saw a county magistrate with blood-red eyes and heard his decision:
"Today at Chenshi, He Chang will be re-examined in the lobby!"
All the officials were surprised, and then they solemnly accepted the order, which was completely different from the past.
The second hall of the county government branch. On weekdays, the county magistrate is promoted to the second hall when handling government affairs and settling cases. When promoted to the second hall, the county magistrate usually wears official uniforms, and the officials he calls are generally limited to clerks and clerks on duty, which have nothing to do with the incident.
Officials do not need to appear.
When promoted to the main hall, the county magistrate must wear court uniforms, and all six offices and three teams of officials must gather to prepare for the office. The level of solemnity is much higher than the former. According to regulations, generally only when the imperial edict is read out, when an order is issued, or when there is a particularly important case.
Upgrade to the lobby!
Today, Magistrate Wei wants to go to the lobby to investigate the case, which has already made his attitude clear.
After leaving the court, the magistrate of Wei took a bath and burned incense, took off his official clothes and put on court clothes.
He stood in front of the bronze mirror wearing white socks and black shoes. Two of his followers put on Chi Luo Qingyuan's top and bottom clothes, then adjusted the collar, revealing a single white collar. Then they put on a silver leather belt and wore it.
Chi Luo Wu Yuan's knee-covering clothes hung on it. The leather belt was then tied with a ribbon to cover it up, and finally two large belts that were plain on the outside and inside hung down...
This is both a dress and a ceremony. As each piece of clothing is added to the body, Wei Zhixian feels the responsibility, which is also burdened on his shoulders. Serving the emperor's herdsmen and upholding justice for the people is the meaning of wearing this court uniform!
"Dong Weng..." Sima Qiu's old face appeared on the dressing mirror, and he sighed: "Are you really going to risk your life?"
"Eating the emperor's salary, being loyal to the emperor, serving as an official for one term, and benefiting the whole country, this is the oath I made before taking office." Although the county magistrate in the mirror had a straight face, he still looked very young: "Why is Fuyang often like this?
If the bully is not eliminated, how can it be regarded as being loyal to the emperor and benefiting one party?"
"I wonder what Dong Weng plans to do?" Master Sima said in awe.
"I'm waiting for Sir to come up with an idea..." Wei Zhixian spread his hands and said honestly.
"Alas..." Sima Qiu sighed: "It's really troublesome to have a boss like you..."
"Sir, do you have a good idea?" Wei Zhixian heard the elegant meaning of Xiange and turned his head excitedly. Although Confucius said Chengren and Mencius said Yi, it is best not to use Chengren to Yiyi...
"I have thought about it again and again, and He Chang is actually not that scary." Sima Qiu smiled bitterly and said softly: "Let's talk about the identity of the Jin Yiwei we are most afraid of. This is very strange. If he is the Jin Yiwei Baihu, why did he only appear in court yesterday?
Didn't mention it? I'm afraid there must be something unspeakable. Since he didn't mention it, we just pretend we don't know. As for whether Jin Yiwei will interfere in the future, that's a matter above and has nothing to do with Dong Weng. Those who don't know will not be guilty, and Jin Yiwei will be domineering again.
, and we won’t cause trouble to Dong Weng.”
"Well, that's right." Wei Zhixian nodded: "What about the identity of the grain chief? This is also very troublesome."
"It is said that if the grain chief commits a capital crime, he can pay money to atone for his crime. I couldn't sleep last night, so I looked through the "Da Gao" and found this article from Guisi in December of the eighth year of Hongwu. "If the grain chief commits a miscellaneous death crime and emigrates,
You can pay atonement.'" Sima Qiu said softly.
"Oh..." Wei Zhixian read the sage's book, and his study of legal provisions has only just begun. However, he also knows that the so-called 'miscellaneous capital crime' is a lighter type of capital crime, and is different from 'real capital crime'
In contrast, executions are generally lighter.
To put it simply, miscellaneous capital crimes are among the ten evils, so killing, rebelling against fate, guarding traitors and robbing people, receiving money and violating the law are capital crimes other than those of the deceased.
But what does this mean?
"Well, what do you mean?" Wei Zhixian didn't want to show his ignorance. But time was tight, so he had no choice but to ask without shame.
"That is to say, if He Chang can be made to confess to the crime of intentional homicide, he will be irredeemable." Sima Qiu explained: "Otherwise, the miscellaneous charges of instigation, abduction, and hiding will not be able to touch him."
"But what if he doesn't recruit him?" Wei Zhixian frowned and said, "This kind of brave and stubborn person who can't be tortured is really troublesome."
"It can be punished." Sima Qiu shook his head and said: "The imperial court does not have any clearly stated preferential treatment for the grain chief like it does for the students and judicial officers. It's just because Emperor Taizu valued the grain chief, and the grain chief was related to the court's taxes and local officials.
I don’t dare to offend, so I’m just saying it.”
The grain chief was responsible for collecting and transporting grain to the imperial court. Emperor Taizu, who had been soaked in bitter water, witnessed the scene where corrupt officials went to the countryside to exact money during the tax collection season, causing the people to lose their homes. When he ascended the throne, he came up with new ideas.
This set of collection methods for private self-government was specially designed. Officials were not allowed to interfere in the entire process of tax and grain collection and distribution.
In addition, the grain chief of the Hongwu Dynasty could meet the emperor and was responsible for collecting local sentiments for the emperor, which made the local officials jealous. They were also afraid that the grain chief would give up his pick and delay the transportation of grain, and he could not afford to suffer the consequences, so he treated the grain preferentially.
It has become an unspoken rule of the local government to give the same treatment to scholars and even ordinary people.
"So that's it." Wei Zhixian said happily: "Then it will be easy to handle. Under the three trees, I will keep it safe and let him speak!"
"But there are troubles in using punishment." Sima Qiu said with a bitter smile: "Firstly, if you surrender and get beaten, it will be easy to retract your confession in the future. Secondly, beating a horse and a mule will scare you. There are still six grain chiefs in this county. Seeing Dong Weng break the rules, they will inevitably understand.
If you keep grudges, you'll probably be in trouble when tax season comes."
"Hometown wishes are the thief of virtue!" Wei Zhixian cursed bitterly: "First pass this level and then talk about it. There will be a road before the car reaches the mountain!"
"Actually, you don't have to use torture, you can just outwit it." Sima Qiu said with a blush on his face. In fact, he went to Wang Xian early this morning to ask for advice. What seemed to him to be an unsolvable problem was solved by Wang Xian with just a few words.
It's been solved. There's nothing I can do about it. As I get older, my brain doesn't work as well...
Sima Qiu still took Wang Xian's method as his own, and whispered in Weizhi County's ear: "Since the previous method worked, just follow the prescription and take the medicine. Listening to He Chang's last words last night, it seemed that he was also convinced that 'only miscellaneous
I know nothing about the rule that only those who commit capital crimes can pay the penalty and avoid punishment." This is normal, because more than ten years after the death of Emperor Hongwu, the "Da Gao" was almost completely abandoned. Even a professional master like Sima Qiu,
They all need to look up information, let alone He Chang.
"Since he wants Dong Weng to help him calculate how much the total fine will be for these crimes, then let him calculate it for him..." Sima Qiu finished in a low voice.
After hearing this, Wei Zhixian laughed loudly and said: "It's really treacherous, but I like it, hahahaha..." After laughing, he looked at Sima Qiu with some strangeness and said: "Sir, my mind suddenly became bright recently, and he came up with clever ideas one after another.
They were completely different from each other before."
Old Sima Qiu blushed slightly and cursed secretly: "To put it mildly would kill someone!" He could only cough dryly and said: "I just came here for the first time. I don't know what the customs are like here. Naturally, the students can't talk about it..."
"So that's it!" Wei Zhixian exclaimed, "My husband is as good as Han Gao's ovary!"
"Dong Weng was so complimentary..." Sima Qiu's old face turned into a chrysanthemum smile.
At this time, Liang Guan was presented to Wei Magistrate by his personal entourage, but he refused to accept it and said: "I won't wear court clothes anymore, I will change into public clothes!"
The two attendants almost vomited blood. Do you know that wearing court clothes once is very troublesome, boss!
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At a quarter o'clock, the six and three classes of the county government office all changed into official uniforms and gathered in the lobby. Unexpectedly, the county master's attendant came to inform them that the interrogation would be changed to the second hall.
When all the subordinate officials heard this, they made an uproar, secretly cursing Wei Zhixian for being talkative and weak in his work. Except for the officials in the execution room and the servants, the rest went back to their respective rooms, and the birds and beasts scattered in all directions.
Above the second hall, Wei Zhixian, wearing a black gauze on his head, a green official uniform, and a chest patch, was sitting behind the major case. He first interrogated He Fu, Zhu Zhu and other family members of the He family.
Because they were not the ones who killed the person, and Magistrate Wei promised to reduce their sentence if they confessed. Several people quickly confessed to the source of the female corpse two years ago.
It turned out that the concubine Linghua bought by He Chang had a strong temper and often contradicted him. As a result, He Chang accidentally beat him to death. After beating the concubine to death, He Chang was afraid of being discovered, so he asked some pillars to tie up Linghua.
On the stone, sinking into the heart of Fuchun River...
After several people signed their confessions, Wei Zhixian was shocked and said: "Take He Chang!"
After a while, He Chang walked up to the hall without any torture instruments, as if taking a walk, and bowed his hands to Wei Zhixian as a salute.
"Take a seat."
Zaoli then brought a spoon up and asked He Chang to sit down.
Wei Zhixian said to He Chang with a straight face: "I have thought about it all night. You are one of the seven grain chiefs in this county, and the autumn grain harvest will be in one month. In line with the teachings of Taizu, I decided to let you go!"