Emperor Renzong of the Great Song Dynasty

On the fifth day of May, during the Dragon Boat Festival regatta, one person died.

Died in front of the emperor's dragon boat.

The murderer was said to be a hero who acted bravely for justice.The person who was killed was said to be a small official from Fengxiang Mansion, thousands of miles away, who was in charge of litigation documents. Judging from his clothes before he died, he seemed to be quite wealthy.

That's right, anyone who can find a job in the government will not lack the money to buy a decent set of clothes.Even if he was once completely poor, after becoming a petty official, he should not be poor anymore.

Working in the government office, as long as you have the heart, there are lucrative waters to be fished everywhere, and there are a lot of lucrative waters everywhere.

As for why this little official came to Bianliang, and why this hero traveled so far to Bianliang to kill him, it is not a matter for outsiders.

The people of Bianliang lack everything else, that is, the energy and ability to arrange gossip and spread gossip.In less than half a day, the scorching heat brought by the scorching sun on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival has not dissipated, and three versions of the cause and effect of the murder have been circulated among the market.

Among the most widely circulated versions, most of them have such a few plots——

The murderous hero was a righteous man who drew his sword to help when he saw injustice. He witnessed an unjust case in Fengxiang Mansion, and the cause of this unjust case was that a petty official in the government accidentally fell in love with the beauty of a farmer's wife. , So he made a small plan to put this innocent farmer in prison-he is in charge of the litigation documents, so it is not difficult to do this.

After he was sent to prison, he went to find the beautiful woman and explained his reason for coming. As long as she was willing to spend a few good nights with him, he would be able to get her husband out who "did a little trouble".

Of course, the little official did not explain that all this stemmed from his conspiracy.

The woman hesitated for a moment, then agreed.

As the little official said, after a few good nights, her husband came back.

After her husband came back, the little official still didn't know how to restrain himself, and even deliberately picked her husband to go to her when he was at home.Her husband didn't say anything, but he would pay attention to avoid the petty official so as not to hinder his good affairs.

It used to be that simple.Where the sky is high and the emperor is far away, there are no ethics and laws to speak of, as long as he can live well.

But that woman gave birth to a daughter, who was only five or six years old, and she was very cute.On a night when a farmer was out and a small official came to the door, she got up in the middle of the night. She was really anxious, so she didn't follow her mother's instructions and stayed in her room until dawn, but went to the toilet outside the yard to relieve herself.

Just happened to be bumped into by the little official who had drunk too much and lost his mind.

When the farmer returned home the next day, what he saw was a tragic scene in the world where his daughter died and his wife hanged herself.

He didn't say anything, just sharpened the ax he used for chopping wood on the stone, put it on his waist, and went to the city to find the little official.

It is conceivable that his revenge failed.The petty official sent him to prison in the name of "breaking into the court with a sharp knife in his hand, intending to stab the chief officer", but he was not tried for a long time.

Because Yimin's crime of assassinating officials is too great, if there is a trial, the death penalty will inevitably be imposed.The so-called human life is at stake, and the judgment of the death penalty needs to be handed down layer by layer, and finally the emperor will pass the purpose.

There are many doubts in this case, so it is not appropriate to submit it to the higher authorities.

So the document of this case was kept on his desk until the strong and determined farmer died of a sudden illness in prison, and then he approved the document "Insane, this is a punishment from heaven" and wrote Asking the jailer to sign a confession, admitting that "we never raped him", coupled with the bond of the prisoner who was with him, the real official in charge turned a blind eye, the case is so delicate passed by.

It may be due to fate that this farmer had a relationship with a hero in the rivers and lakes before his death.After his death, this chivalrous man happened to pass by Fengxiang mansion, and heard that he wanted to assassinate him by chance.

How could a simple and submissive farmer go to the government court with an ax in broad daylight and assassinate the chief?

Under such doubts, the hero followed the clues to investigate carefully, and finally learned the whole process of the case.

Finding out the truth is not difficult, because the truth is in broad daylight.The petty official never even thought of covering up the truth.

Anyway, the person who wanted to kill him with the ax was dead, so he had nothing to fear, so why was he trying so hard to cover up the truth?

That knight-errant has high martial arts skills, he is not unarmed like a farmer, and when he desperately seeks revenge, he only has a rusty axe.He has a three-foot long sword in his hand and a chivalrous blue sky in his chest.He easily put his sword on the little official's neck, and listened to his confession of all the crimes in tears.

He asked the little official to write the confession by himself, and draw the pledge himself.

He could have killed this little official with a single sword strike—but he knew that killing a person was easy, but after killing him like this, what good would it do to the dead?What is the benefit to the thousands of living beings who are still alive?

He wanted to kill this man, but not now, nor at the servant's house.

He wanted to kill him in front of thousands of people, he wanted to kill him in front of the emperor.

He wants to use this person's death to expose all the filth and filth to the world!

In addition to these main plots, the people of Bianliang who love gossip add color and flavor to the story according to their own preferences. Before they got married, they were a couple.Some people think that women are dissolute by nature, maybe she is just an ordinary adulterer with the little official, and she is definitely not clear about the hero. In the story, there is only a poor farmer, and his wife and daughter are gone in the blink of an eye. , but it is still unknown who the daughter belongs to...

These unclear and obscene words are destined not to be submitted to the emperor's imperial case.

In the Chongzheng Palace, what Zhao Yiyi held in his hand was the most original outline of the case.

The truth of the case is roughly consistent with the rumors in the market, except that Bai Yutang pretended to be the hero who killed the murderer in front of the emperor.

The farmer has no friends who are heroes of the rivers and lakes, and no one will find out the truth for him after he dies.

If Bao Zheng hadn't passed by Fengxiang Mansion, intending to find a case that could be used as an "introduction" to detonate a big turmoil, the truth of his death would have been buried forever.

Until the bones rot in the ground into a pile of loess.

Thinking of the little official who lost five fingers and half of his left hand, Zhao Yiyi sighed secretly.

This young hero Bai Yutang is really good at extorting confessions by torture...

It is said that he cut it inch by inch with his precious knife that cuts gold and jade...

Thanks to Bai Yutang's ability to extort a confession, the confession he held in his hand recorded in detail how the petty official raped women, tortured children to death, and threw Anxian people into prison to kill them.In addition, there are other "brilliant deeds".

One pile after another, all witnesses and physical evidence.

Looking at this confession, Zhao Yiyi couldn't help sighing that a low-level knife and pen official has such a great power, can play with the fate of others like a god, and can be so mad and do such a thing Come.

And his superior officials, those literati who grew up reading sage books and experienced the imperial examination, actually acquiesced in this way, or ignored what he did.

For such cases, Bao Zheng has seized countless cases in the past six months in the north, and the evidence is piled up in the Forbidden Army camp, and even needs to set aside a special place to store them.

He gently placed the confession on the table in front of him, and glanced at the officials in the hall: "What do you think about this?"

The hall was quiet, and a needle could be heard.

What do they think...

Civil and military officials not only smiled wryly.

On the auspicious day of the Dragon Boat Festival, the emperor rides a dragon boat to have fun with the people, and they all accompany him. What a sight, what a glory.

As a result, the emperor just got on the deck, and before he stood there for a long time, a small boat suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and it moved automatically without wind, as if something was pushing it underneath, and it came to the front of the dragon boat.Before they had time to react, the people on the small boat picked up a thing that was tied into rice dumplings and seemed to be in the shape of a human being. They killed the person like killing a chicken and bleeding, and threw the body on the ground. Show them the deck.

The corpse fell right in front of the emperor!

If this goes one step further, it will hit the emperor directly on the forehead!

After killing the man and throwing away the corpse, the boat swished away again, so fast that it was impossible to chase.

All the confessions and evidences of the evil that the corpse did during his lifetime were thrown onto the dragon boat along with the corpse.

Zhao Yiyi slapped the table hard: "I ask you, what do you think!"

He has always been a good-tempered person, and he rarely shows his power in front of his courtiers.

Those who never get angry are the scariest when they get angry.

Therefore, with the sound of drinking, Man Chao Wenwu fell to his knees in fright.

Zhao Yiyi took a deep breath: "Speak!"

As the head of the officials, Fan Zhongyan was the first to speak: "When I returned to the official's house, I thought that this case exterminated human relations and was insane. If this person was not killed by a ranger, he should be sentenced to death by hanging. View He didn't know how to repent, and he killed the father of the young boy, which is an extra crime, and should be torn apart."

Zhao Yiyi said: "Very good. But since he is dead, there is no way to talk about the cracking of the gallows."

Anyway, in the last period of his life, he was facing Bai Yutang, this young hero was cruel, so he must not let him live comfortably.

"The man is dead, but he did not die under the punishment of the government, but was killed by a ranger."

Zhao Yiyi said: "I'm surprised, it's clear that he violated my king's law and harmed my people, but why my officials can't arrest him, convict him and punish him, they have to wait for someone to do justice for the heavens." Only by standing up, can he be executed?"