At 10 o'clock in the evening, Chu Ge once again entered the game world of "Dark Sand" on time.
After choosing the identity of Zhang Renxia, continue to try to clear the dungeon.
At this time, his position was as a judicial officer in Gwangju, and his main job was to handle various civil and criminal cases.
The cases in the first stage were relatively simple. Chu Ge dealt with them according to the laws at the time. Basically, he did not make any big mistakes and successfully passed the cases.
After the plot of meeting Yu Jiaxuan, Zhang Renxia's dungeon challenge content has naturally entered the second stage.
At this time, there are still 9 years left before the Battle of Uuzhu.
Chu Ge originally thought that the challenges in the second phase would change, but he did not expect that his task would still be to deal with various cases.
Although the complexity of these cases seems to have improved compared to the first stage, and some cases contain traps that require careful screening, but overall, the nature of the work has not changed.
Chu Ge didn't think too much and just dealt with one case after another step by step.
Just like when Sheng Taizu reviewed memorials, he searched for legal provisions and made a judgment in his mind. Then the game system will automatically execute various details and report the handling of these cases to the court official who has become a counselor at this time.
Political affairs, Wang Wenchuan gained real power.
Case after case is handled quickly.
Chu Ge originally thought that he handled it without any problems and should be able to enter the next stage smoothly. However, he did not expect that after he finished handling the last case, his vision was filled with fog and he returned to the initial state of the second stage.
"Failed?"
Chu Ge felt very surprised. This was obviously a sign of failure to clear the level.
But why did it fail?
"It's strange. I obviously handled all the cases in accordance with the laws. There shouldn't be any serious omissions or wrongful convictions...
"Could it be said that among these cases in the second phase, there are some major and important cases hidden that I have not discovered?
"It doesn't make sense..."
Chu Ge entered the game again and went through various cases encountered in the second stage.
Different from the first stage, the repetition of cases this time has increased significantly, and he has seen most of the complex cases before.
Obviously, the two stages of "solving the case" are also different game mechanisms.
The cases in the first stage are very simple, so if players are allowed to try again and again, they can easily pass the level, so there must be a strong sense of randomness.
But the cases in the second stage are much more complicated. If the player does not know the correct answer, it is impossible to try out the answer through stupid methods if he does not use his brain, so many cases will appear repeatedly.
Moreover, Chu Ge speculated based on his previous experience when he played the role of "Emperor" Sheng Taizu that there must be something hidden in these cases in the second stage waiting for him to discover.
Just like when playing the role of "Emperor", you need to find key cases such as the North and South List Case and the Kongyin Case from the piles of memorials, and you also need to find the link that killed Sima Yan.
So Chu Ge went through it again seriously.
Until he saw a name he had seen before: Ayun.
"Is there any other way to deal with this case?"
Chu Ge went through the case involving this person seriously again.
"There is a woman named Ayun, who was hired by Wei in her mother's clothes. Yun promised to marry before she got married. She thought her husband was ugly, so she waited for her to sleep in the farmhouse. She cut him with a knife and cut him more than ten times. He couldn't kill him and cut off one of his fingers. The officials asked for the robbery but they couldn't get it.
, I doubt what the cloud has done, insist on questioning it, want to get more information and plunder it, but tell the truth..."
The content of the case itself is actually not complicated.
There was a thirteen-year-old girl named Ayun in Guangzhou. Her father died early and her mother died alone. She was promised by her uncle to a man named Wei Da as his wife with a few stones of grain.
Wei Da was ugly and Ayun didn't want to marry him, so he sneaked into Wei Da's house at night while he was waiting for him to go to bed and hacked him with a hatchet.
However, Ayun was young after all, only thirteen years old at the time, so he was unable to kill Wei Da. He only made more than ten wounds and cut off one of his fingers. Wei Da woke up from his sleep and raised his hand in panic.
He was blocked, so Ayun dropped his hatchet and ran away.
The officials who investigated the case concluded that it was not the crime of bandits, so they arrested Ayun. After some questioning, Ayun revealed the truth and admitted that he had attempted to murder Wei Da.
There was no torture to extract a confession, and there was no frame-up. The facts of the case are clear, and there shouldn't be any big doubts.
Chu Ge knew very well that the game "Ansha" tests the player's judgment rather than the criminal investigation ability. Since the player is not asked to personally interrogate the prisoner or conduct on-site investigation, it means that the information is basically no problem, and the player can rest assured
The court will decide the case based on this.
Therefore, according to the laws at that time, he first sentenced Ayun to death last time, and later changed the sentence to hanging.
The reason for this sentence was that according to the laws of the Qi Dynasty at that time, murdering a husband was a definite death sentence; and the ordinary "killing with injury", that is, if the attempted murder caused the other party to be injured, he was sentenced to hanging.
Chu Ge initially thought that this was a case of murdering her husband, so he could only be sentenced to beheading.
But later he noticed that there was another known condition, "his mother was employed by Wei". In other words, Ayun was hired by Wei Da while he was in mourning for his mother.
According to the laws at that time, children were not allowed to marry during their mourning period, so the marriage contract itself should be invalid.
In this case, the punishment should not be considered as murdering her husband, but as attempted murder. Naturally, beheading was changed to hanging.
When he discovered this, Chu Ge felt lucky.
If the standard answer is hanging and he sentenced to beheading, wouldn't that very likely result in a failed pass?
But then I thought again, whether it was the death penalty or hanging, Ayun would always die. In fact, there was no big difference.
Regarding this case, Chu Ge was of course full of sympathy for the thirteen-year-old girl.
Because judging from the facts of the case, this is obviously an act of "eating the whole family".
Ayun's father died early, and her mother also passed away. As a result, while she was in mourning for her mother, her uncle couldn't wait to sell her, exchanged her for a few stones of food, and forced her to marry someone she disliked very much.
people.
Of course, Wei Da is actually relatively innocent, because there is no evidence to prove that he is a bad person. He is just poor and ugly, so he was chopped by Ayun more than a dozen times, and one of his fingers was also chopped off.
To say who caused this tragedy, on the surface it was Ayun's uncle who was living in poverty, but on a deeper level, it was the social system at that time where women could not marry freely and could not control their own destiny.
If we look at it from the current point of view, Ayun's marriage contract is not valid, he is a minor, and his circumstances are merciful. Even if it is considered attempted murder, he should not be sentenced to death.
But at this time, Chu Ge was acting as a judicial officer of the Qi Dynasty, so naturally he could only be punished according to the laws of the Qi Dynasty.
Otherwise, after Ayunwang is given a break, what will happen to the prisoners in other cases?
There is a big difference between modern and ancient legal concepts, and we cannot all judge according to modern laws. In that case, there is no hope of passing this copy.
Therefore, when the last case was decided, Chu Ge did not feel that there was anything wrong with his "hanging" sentence.
He did sympathize with the girl, but under the social environment at that time, there was really nothing he could do.
But after seeing the name "Ayun" for the second time, Chu Ge felt keenly that this case seemed to be a little different from other cases.
"Could it be said that Ayun can survive?
“It doesn’t make sense either.
"Death penalty cases must be reported to the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment for approval, and these two departments will definitely approve it, because whether it is beheading or hanging, the sentence is made in accordance with the laws of the time.
"These two departments must maintain the authority of Qi Dynasty's laws and cannot overturn the provisions of the laws on their own.
“So, after the report is submitted, the result will definitely be approved immediately.
"Then... will it make a difference if I ask Wang Wenchuan alone for instructions?"
Chu Ge suddenly had such an idea.
At this time, he plays Zhang Renxia, whose job is to serve as a judicial officer in the army. Logically speaking, if the case involves the death penalty, it must be reported to all levels, from the prefect to Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment, before it can finally be determined.
But judging from the last experience, the result of the report will definitely be approval of the death penalty.
Chu Ge wanted to save this woman named Ayun, at least avoid her death penalty, and seek a punishment such as exile, but from a legal point of view, he couldn't find any support at all.
That's why he suddenly thought that maybe he should ask Wang Wenchuan for instructions alone.
Zhang Renxia was highly appreciated by Wang Wenchuan at this time, and the two were both teachers and friends.
Wang Wenchuan appreciated Zhang Renxia's character, personality and talents. At this time, he asked him to serve as a judicial officer in Gwangju and join the army. In fact, he had the idea of cultivating talents for the new law. As long as Zhang Renxia was willing, Wang Wenchuan would soon promote him.
While serving as a judicial officer in Gwangju and joining the army, Zhang Renxia could indeed directly report everything that happened in Gwangju, and Wang Wenchuan would also give his approval.
Historically, it was precisely because of Wang Wenchuan's actions that Zhang Renxia was deeply moved and became a confidant.
Chu Ge was not sure whether throwing this problem to Wang Wenchuan would definitely change things, but he could at least give it a try. If Wang Wenchuan didn't respond, it meant that the problem was not with this case.
Thinking of this, Chu Ge copied three cases that he had doubts about, including the Ayun case, wrote down his own disposal plan, and reported it to Wang Wenchuan.
…
The game omitted meaningless waiting time, so Chu Ge quickly received Wang Wenchuan's reply.
And this answer surprised and surprised him.
"Wang Wenchuan expressed his approval for the other two cases, but only in the Ayun case, he asked me to reconsider it!
"In other words, there are indeed other ways to deal with this Ayun case?
"But...Wang Wenchuan didn't say which specific law he would invoke.
"I can only figure it out myself..."
Although he still had no clue, Chu Ge was still refreshed because Wang Wenchuan's reply confirmed his direction.
Wang Wenchuan definitely meant to change the sentence.
But at this time, Chu Ge needs to answer two questions: First, why should the sentence be changed?
We must know that Wang Wenchuan was involved in political affairs at this time and could be said to be the prime minister. Why would he be so concerned about the case of an ordinary girl's attempted murder?
It seems a little unreasonable to use simple sympathy.
Compassion is certainly one aspect, but there are certainly other more important aspects.
The second is, how to change the sentence?
According to the laws of the Qi Dynasty at that time, anyone who attempted murder and caused injury to the other party was sentenced to death by hanging. This cannot be changed.
Not to mention Zhang Renxia, even Wang Wenchuan or people from Dali Temple and the Ministry of Punishment could not forcefully change the laws.
Chu Ge thought about it and found that there was only one person who could make Ayun immortal.
That is the emperor!
In ancient society, the emperor had supreme authority, and the emperor basically made the final decision on a country's laws.
If the emperor feels that a law is inappropriate, it may be changed.
However, it is still unrealistic for the emperor to directly change the "hanging for attempted murder" clause for Ayun's sake.
On the one hand, this law has always existed in the Qi Dynasty, which means that everyone from the emperor to the ministers in the Qi Dynasty basically recognized this method of punishment. The emperor had no reason to change this law.
On the other hand, even if the emperor sympathized with Ayun, he could not do such a thing as changing the laws of the Qi Dynasty just to benefit a commoner. That would encounter great resistance.
After some analysis, Chu Ge finally came to a conclusion.
"The only person who can save Ayun is the emperor.
"But the emperor cannot directly change this law because there is too much resistance and he does not have enough motivation.
"So... what if the emperor has already said something and issued an edict that conflicts with this law? Or, what if the emperor has enough motives to sentence Ayun to death?
"Judging from Wang Wenchuan's reaction, he, the governor, obviously had a strong motive to protect Ayun from death. Then, the emperor who currently supports Wang Wenchuan's reform can naturally be conveyed this motive.
"Then the question now is, what is Wang Wenchuan's motive for saving Ayun?
"Well... I'm afraid there can only be one reason other than simple sympathy."
Chu Ge analyzed it and finally settled on two words.
New law!
He speculated that the reason why Wang Wenchuan gave him the order to try every means to change the sentence and save Ayun was because this seemingly inconspicuous case was potentially related to the new law.
If this speculation is true, then everything will be connected.
Chu Ge immediately looked through the emperor's edicts and handwritings, and sure enough, he found some clues.
Prior to this, the emperor had issued a decree: murder has caused personal injury, but if the prisoner truthfully confesses the circumstances of the crime before officials interrogate and torture the prisoner, he will be treated as surrendering, and the crime of murder will be reduced by two levels.
In other words, if Ayun is designated as "surrendering" according to the instructions of this handwriting, then Ayun will not die.
As for why Wang Wenchuan hopes that Ayun will not die?
Because as long as it is confirmed that the emperor's decree can indeed override the law at that time, then there will be a basis for reform.
In other words, in Wang Wenchuan's view, this inconspicuous case is an excellent breakthrough for reform.
