Mystery makes me strong

Chapter 2598 The Judge's Decision

Wen Rensheng naturally knew what a magistrate was.

Responsible for the criminal cases of several counties or even more than ten counties in a prefecture.

In this world, the officials in charge of criminal cases are, from the smallest to the largest, the county lieutenant, the prosecutor, the censor, the minister of justice, and the emperor.

They were in charge of the criminal law of a county, a prefecture, a province, and the whole country in turn.

Finally, the execution of the criminals must be reported to the emperor.

But the emperor would never get involved in this matter, and would always push it to the prime minister. The prime minister would not stick to the pan either, so he would push it to the minister of justice.

The emperor would often reduce the severity of the crime and grant amnesty at any time.

It gives you a sense of being somewhere.

Of course, just one official position is definitely not enough. They each have their own deputies, with complicated names and numerous deputies.

The prosecutor himself has four or five deputies and a group of legal advisors to deal with the endless number of cases.

A magistrate is an official who can handle cases across counties.

Generally, he is of the sixth or fifth rank, slightly higher than the county magistrate, who is often of the seventh rank.

The place where Wen Rensheng was located was a large county, which was also the county where the prefectural government was located.

This is what is meant by "If one commits evil in his three lives, he will be made a county magistrate."

He followed a group of detectives to the prosecutor's office.

Then I saw the prosecutor.

The magistrate’s surname was Liu, he was a Jinshi graduate and was already in his 30s.

Liu Tuiguan had an untidy beard and half of his hair was white. He looked about fifty years old.

The whole person looked a little haggard.

There were big dark circles under his eyes, and it was obvious that he had been staying up late reading files.

Or staying up all night to perform an autopsy, everyone knows that smell.

This magistrate has real power.

Because whether it was the county magistrate or the prefect, no one would compete with him for the position, nor would anyone steal his job.

It’s just that when the case is finally judged, people will often say hello after receiving benefits from others.

I have to say that this Liu Tui Guan is quite unlucky.

I did a lot of work and worked very hard, but I was not promoted.

It will probably be like this for the rest of my life.

Actually, this is not bad.

Generally speaking, among the Jinshi scholars, those who are not good at seeking personal gain will often work as a county magistrate for their entire lives, or even as a deputy.

At this time, Tui Guan Liu saw these detectives coming in.

Then he yawned and continued, "Another murder case has occurred in the east end of the county."

"Follow me and take a look, and catch the murderer."

The county where they were located was the seat of the prefecture, and therefore was where the prosecutor was stationed.

If there are few cases in a large county, it doesn't mean things will be easy.

Because someone will gather the cases from all the nearby counties into the big county.

The prosecutor will then handle the case based on its urgency.

Afterwards, Tui Guan Liu took the detectives and headed towards the east of the city.

There was a constable leading the group.

They came to an alley in the east of the city, and the alley was already full of people.

One by one, they were pointing and gesticulating at a dilapidated courtyard deep in the alley.

Inside the yard, there was already another group of yamen runners. They captured a man and pressed him against the wall.

The man was still shouting "unfair" loudly.

"Eight out of ten murderers are crying out for innocence." Someone said.

"The body was dug out in the backyard of Liu Gen's house. Who else could it be if not him?"

After Magistrate Liu asked a few questions, the facts of the case soon became clear.

It turned out that someone had reported the case, saying that Liu Gen's backyard was so smelly that the people next door couldn't live there any more.

People who often bury corpses know that the stench of a corpse is not an ordinary smell and it is not easy to dissipate.

And it will become thicker and thicker until it turns into bones, which will take at least several months.

So the bailiffs came.

Then a rotten corpse was dug out in Liu Gen’s backyard.

The owner of this courtyard is called "Liu Gen".

At this time, Liu Gen's hands were handcuffed with wooden boards.

When he saw Magistrate Liu coming, he turned around and cried, "Sir, I didn't kill him. I didn't kill him. I am innocent."

Tui Guan Liu looked at the corpse, then looked at the depth of the pit in the backyard, and then glanced around.

He said calmly, "Who else is in your family?"

"I still have an old father. My old father and I depend on each other. How will he live without me?" Liu Gen said crying.

When Wen Rensheng heard this, he knew that this man was very treacherous and slippery, and was definitely not a filial son.

If he is a filial son, he will say at this time that this matter has nothing to do with my father.

Instead of involving his father to save his own life.

Then Tui Guan Liu asked the neighbors around.

We learned that Liu Gen’s father was in his 50s and Liu Gen was in his 30s.

He has not married yet and is still single.

As mentioned before, this is a land of abundance, where everyone has enough food and clothing, so why didn't Liu Gen get married?

This is entirely his personal matter.

He had a wife before, but Liu Gen was a gambler and ended up making his wife run away.

You lose as much as you earn.

In the end, no one followed him anymore.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of food here, so Liu Gen will always have something to eat no matter what.

Even if he goes out to beg on the street, people will give him food.

You can even pick fruits from the roadside trees every day and not starve to death.

And the population here has never been too large.

So the rent won’t be too high.

Even if the land has been annexed a long time ago, the population has not increased, and the landlords have no way to increase the rent. After all, if the rent here is high, others can go to other places.

Unless you buy a large number of serfs.

However, the government wanted to collect taxes from slaves, and serfs were not diligent in their work and were no better than temporary laborers.

Every additional slave required an additional tax.

This is actually not the fundamental problem.

The biggest problem is: there are more servants in the house, and according to the setting of this world, the frequency of cases occurring is higher.

The master of the family died very quickly.

Therefore, even in the richest families, the number of slaves was very small, usually no more than a hundred.

There are usually only a few direct servants.

Especially for the young masters, the situation like that in Dream of Red Mansions will never happen in Blue Star.

A young master was accompanied by more than ten maids, both big and small, as well as seven or eight attendants and servants.

That is courting death.

Such a young man was poisoned to death by his servants within a year.

Liu Tuiguan looked again, and then said to Liu Gen: "You said you didn't kill the person, but the body is buried in your backyard."

"Looking at the depth of the pit, it couldn't have been dug during the day. If it had been dug during the day, someone would have seen it."

"You must have had time to dig this deep late at night."

Liu Gen's face turned pale.

"And late at night, your old father must be sleeping at home. You may go out to gamble, but your father will definitely be at home."

"If someone came to your house and dug a grave to bury the body, how could they hide it from your father?"

"According to my deduction, it should be the body you buried."

"And when your father woke up and asked you about it, you just answered him casually." "And your father trusted you, so he didn't take it seriously."

"Is that right?"

Liu Gen's face was filled with shock, and he was obviously horrified by what Liu Tuiguan said.

This means that what Liu Tuiguan said hit the nail on the head for Liu Gen.

At this time, Liu Gen's father was also brought out by the yamen runners.

He looked at Liu Gen with a heavy face and said, "My son, a few days ago I asked you what you were doing in the middle of the night?"

"You said you wanted to hide some silver from me, so I left you alone."

"I didn't expect you to be hiding a body. Our Liu family has been clean for generations, how could a murderer like you appear?"

"Oh my God, I, Liu Wu, have no grandchildren, and my son has become a murderer. What is the point of me living?"

Liu Gen's father was crying miserably there.

The neighbors also expressed sympathy.

The father worked hard all his life, but his son turned out to be a murderer. It was such a devastating blow.

What's even more devastating is that after the person's death, no one presided over the funeral, no one burned incense for him, and he could only rely on the neighbors to simply collect the money, and let the village head bury him casually.

There will be no incense after death.

Crimes happen frequently in this world, so people believe in retribution from ghosts and gods.

Otherwise, why are there so many cases?

People who do evil in this world die especially quickly.

Unlike the real world, evildoers often oppress their neighbors for decades and no one dares to resist. Everyone swallows their anger and lingers on, allowing the evildoers to live until they grow old.

The neighbors were speechless.

"Liu Gen, look at what you have done."

"Yeah, you're already this old, and you're still worrying your father!"

At this time, Liu Gen cried and said, "I really didn't kill him."

"I'll admit them all."

"This person is actually a businessman from out of town. I met him at Bureau D."

"He stayed at my house for three days and wanted to leave because he thought the inn was dishonest and would steal his money."

"Three days later, he asked me to call him in advance so that he could leave the city gate earlier."

"Then when the time comes, I will go and call him, and when I call him, I will find that he is dead."

"Then I was worried that I would be blackmailed by the police, so I buried it myself..."

After hearing this, the detectives glared at him angrily.

In Wen Rensheng's eyes, they were clearly scolding him: Even if this is true, you can't tell everyone!
Judge Liu nodded, as if he believed what Liu Gen said.

An official like him who does practical work knows the moral character of his subordinates best.

How can we expect them not to blackmail us?

If you are an ordinary person, you would probably be afraid that the crime will happen at home.

Because they are detectives, they know the ins and outs of the case very well.

Therefore, they usually blackmail criminals who are sentenced to death.

The murderer will be caught, imprisoned and beheaded soon. Once he is dead, there will be no more cases to bother them.

Especially for a family like the Liu family, where there is only an old father in the family.

They were even less worried.

After all, money is too attractive.

For money, some people are willing to die, let alone they are just taking some risks.

Those gentlemen, the emperor and his ministers are not short of money, so they will not take risks for money.

They are different.

"Well, in that case, it seems you are innocent."

"Now release Liu Gen, take the body back to the government office, and continue the autopsy."

"What? They let the person go just like that?" Everyone was confused.

"Are we going to rule Liu Gen not guilty?" Some detectives were unwilling to accept this. After all, Liu Gen had openly slandered them.

They work so hard, just charging some money for tea, sedan chair, and shoe wear and tear...what's wrong with that?
This world is the same as the ancient world of Blue Star. If something happens without reporting it to the authorities, people will try not to do so. People will either settle the matter privately within the clan, or under the auspices of local gentry, or they will just keep it secret among themselves.

That’s what Liu Gen did.

Apparently, Liu the Tui Guan also thought that Liu Gen did nothing wrong, but he couldn't say so.

Then the detectives followed Officer Liu and left.

"Mr. Magistrate, you are too careless in your work today." A constable complained in a low voice with dissatisfaction.

He wanted to get more.

I heard that Liu Gen has been lucky recently and has a lot of money.

The other detectives didn't say much.

After all, they are all low-ranking people, while the dignified Tui Guan is a sixth-rank official.

To put it bluntly, the prosecutor just needs to pass a message to the county magistrate.

Those detectives may very likely lose their iron rice bowls.

Of course, the judge generally does not do this.

After all, these detectives are not directly under the jurisdiction of the prosecutor.

In fact, the only people this prosecutor could directly use were a few deputies and some people from the yamen.

Otherwise, why is it said that the Tui Guan is an assistant official?

The ones who actually have soldiers and people under their command are the seemingly low-ranking officials like the county magistrate.

And this captain of police is the county magistrate's brother-in-law. All in all, he has the qualifications to complain.

The captain of the police just said this and didn't say anything else.

Although the others were confused, they all followed orders and left Liu Gen's house one after another.

However, this magistrate was a chatterbox and did not even take his position seriously.

Or those who take their positions too seriously often get into trouble and die a violent death.

The judge said, "I know you will be confused."

"I'm telling you now. Send out eight people and take turns keeping an eye on Liu Gen."

"This is called playing hard to get, playing the long game to catch the big fish."

"Otherwise, if we simply arrest Liu Gen and torture him, we won't be able to find any real evidence."

"The body has been buried for too long, and the evidence of the crime has long disappeared."

"If Liu Gen was murdering for money, he would have definitely fled with the silver after escaping punishment by chance."

"If Liu Gen didn't kill anyone and was truly wronged, then he will continue to live here peacefully."

Wen Rensheng heard this and shook his head slightly.

When others heard this, they all gave thumbs up.

"The judge is wise."

Wen Rensheng smiled slightly.

The judge seems to be feeling a little self-satisfied.

Because of the other party's inference, there is still no evidence.

In his opinion, even if Liu Gen escaped, it could not prove that he was the one who killed the person.

All I can say is that after this incident, Liu Gen will definitely take his father and leave quickly.

Because this time he met a kind-hearted judge who ruled him not guilty.

When the next prosecutor is replaced, if he is a cruel one, he will be dragged out as a scapegoat.

It turned out to be just as Wen Rensheng had guessed.

Liu Gen packed up his belongings that night, called his father and left.

Finally, his father said he would not leave.

"If you haven't killed anyone, don't leave."

"Once you leave, people will think you are guilty and will send arrest warrants everywhere to catch you."

"I have lived here for most of my life. I would rather die at home than outside."

So Liu Gen abandoned his father and ran away alone.

(End of this chapter)