At first, Emperor Chen said that he would stay in each of the six departments for three months, but in fact, he only stayed in the household department for more than a month, and he would be transferred to the criminal department.

It seems that the open and honest leave is not passable in the emperor's place, the criminal department is much less work than the household department, I don't know what position the criminal department will arrange for him, it is best to be an idle position, stay safe and steady enough time, pat the ass and leave, the broom star will naturally take off the hat of the boss.

What the emperor said was that before mid-November, Tang Ning would naturally not disobey the holy decree, and he would report to the Ministry of Punishment as early as the ninth day of November.

He was received by a waiter named Xu Cheng from the Criminal Department, the Criminal Department is different from the Household Department, there is only one waiter, Xu Cheng took him to the Criminal Department, and then left in a hurry, as if there was something in a hurry.

Although the criminal department where he is located, although it is the one with the most affairs among the four offices of the criminal department, it is much more leisurely than the household department, and the criminal department responsible for judging cases does not have to try cases every day, because there are also Ping'an County Ya and Jingzhao Mansion Ya below, unless it is a case of human life, or a case specially arranged by His Majesty, those trivial small cases, the criminal department will not accept them.

An official bowed to him and said respectfully: "Wailang, a member of the Lower Official's Criminal Department, has seen Chief Tang. ”

Tang Ning saw Wai Lang, a member of the Criminal Department, and brushed his face in front of Ling Shi and Zhanggu of the Criminal Department, looked left and right, and asked, "Where is Lord Lang Zhong?" ”

Wai Lang, a member of the criminal department, said: "Lord Lang Zhong was injured a few days ago and went home to recuperate. ”

In the Criminal Department, in addition to Lang Zhong of the Criminal Department, he is the largest, and now Lang Zhong of the Criminal Department has gone home to recuperate, and he has become the leader of the Criminal Department.

Although in this way, the big and small matters of the Criminal Department have to go through his hands, which is a little troublesome, but Lang Zhong of the Criminal Department is no longer in the Yamen, and no one will say that he is a broom Xingke Shangguan, right?

The officials of the Criminal Department dispersed, and in a duty room, someone muttered in a low voice: "The rumors outside that Tang Shike Shangguan is really true, he is coming to the Criminal Department, Yang Shilang broke his foot twice in the same day, and he was scalded by hot water, I heard that he will have to recuperate for at least three months......"

Someone immediately chimed in: "It's too dangerous, we have to be careful......"

……

Tang Ning's criminal department is in charge of criminal law and prison, there are no major cases on weekdays, and he hands over his daily affairs to the outsider to take care of, and there is nothing to do for a few days, that is, he writes and reads books in the duty room.

"Reading idle books?" Song Yi, the secretary of the Criminal Department, didn't raise his head and said: "It's better to read idle books than to find idle things, does Xu Shilang want him to find idle things?" ”

Xu Cheng, the waiter of the Criminal Department, jumped his eyelids, he was looking for idle business last time, and he had already asked the household department to fold a waiter, and he didn't want to follow the old path of the household waiter.

Although he is in the Criminal Department, it is difficult to be an official in Beijing, and many times he has to consider it comprehensively, and he doesn't dare to say that everything he handles is in the right place, just in case, it's better not to take the initiative to provoke that person.

As soon as Xu Cheng walked into the duty room, a member of the Criminal Department hurriedly stepped forward, bowed down and said, "Lord Xu, someone reported the case." ”

Xu Cheng frowned and asked, "Who reported the case, and what happened?" ”

The Criminal Department is the highest department in charge of criminal punishment in Chen State, and major cases across the country must be summarized by the Criminal Department and reviewed by the Criminal Department, but the Criminal Department does not often try cases on weekdays.

There are county and government offices in Beijing, and these two yamen can already handle more than ninety percent of the cases, and the remaining one percent is the most tricky.

However, not hearing cases often does not mean that cases will not be tried, but those trivial small cases are usually blocked out by the palm, and once they come in and report, they must be serious murder cases, but in general, these serious cases and murder cases are easier than those handed over by the county government and the government government.

The household official said: "A wealthy businessman in the west of the city found his wife hanging herself at home this morning, and he came to the criminal department to report the case. ”

"Hanging?" Compared with homicide cases, suicide cases are much simpler, and often only need to be filed with the criminal department, without too much investigation.

Xu Cheng thought for a while and said, "Let the people from the Criminal Department deal with it." ”

Two days after Tang Ning came to the Criminal Department, he received the first case.

Wai Lang, a member of the Criminal Department, looked at him and said: "Chief Tang, this case is simple, probably the people from the Criminal Department went to investigate and investigate, if there is no accident, after the case is qualified, it can be handed over to the county government." ”

Tang Ning thought for a moment before nodding and saying, "Then let's go." ”

Although he had seen dead people, at that time, it was when his life was threatened, and he couldn't care about it so much, but in fact, he still had some fear of corpses in his heart.

The deceased was a wealthy businessman in the west of the city, who drank flower wine all night last night, and when he came back in the morning, he found his wife hanging herself in the room.

Zhao Man waved his hand at him from afar and asked, "Hey, where are you going?" ”

Not only Zhao Man is here, but even Chen Huang has changed into ordinary clothes, and there are only zero and countless private interviews with Weifu, and Chen Huang has become more and more fond of playing this tune recently.

Tang Ning stepped forward, arched his hand cooperatively, and said, "My lord, there is a case in the west of the city, and we are planning to investigate. ”

Emperor Chen looked at him, with an interested expression on his face, and said, "Let's go and have a look together." ”

Handling cases is not to see the excitement, but Tang Ning can't just say that they went out this time to do business, let them stay where it is cool, and can only go with them.

When he walked to the scene of the crime, the body had been removed from the white silk, but the officer of the criminal department who went first still had some knowledge of handling cases, and did not let the idlers enter the room.

Zhao Man hid behind Emperor Chen, and only dared to sneak a look.

A small official was inquiring about the case in detail, and Tang Ning walked into the room, looked around, and finally looked at Bai Aya.

He leaped into the air, grabbed a beam with one hand, and only jumped down a moment later.

Climbing over the wall or going to the house is a trivial matter for him now.

Zhao Man glanced inside the room, and when he saw this scene, his eyes immediately widened.

Tang Ning walked out of the room, squatted down, lifted the white cloth on the ground, and Zhao Man's eyes immediately closed again.

At this time, the little official had already finished asking and said: "My lord, the deceased is the wife of this rich businessman surnamed Hu, who was found dead at home this morning, and the time of death should be in the middle ......of the night yesterday. ”

A man with a rich body knelt on the ground, snorted and cried, "Lady, is there anything you can't say it, why can't you think about it......"

"Not self-hanging." Tang Ning shook his head and said, "She was strangled to death first, and then made the illusion of hanging herself." ”

Emperor Chen stepped forward, looked at him, and asked, "How do you conclude that she did not hang herself, but was killed?" ”

Tang Ning shook his head and said, "This is not what the lower official said, it was said by the deceased himself." ”

"Ah, death, can the dead speak!" Zhao Man exclaimed and immediately ran away.

Emperor Chen looked at him, his eyes suspicious, and asked, "How can a dead man speak?" ”

"Not only can the dead speak, but they are often more credible than the words of the living." Tang Ning looked at him and said: "Whoever hangs himself will have a violent struggle before he dies, which will make the white silk roll on the beam, causing the dust on the beam to change in many places, if there is only a piece of dust, it means that the victim was transferred here after death." ”

"Based on this alone, can you conclude that she didn't hang herself?" Emperor Chen looked at him and wondered, "What if she was bent on dying and didn't struggle?" ”

"It is human instinct to struggle when you hang yourself." Tang Ning shook his head, pointed to the corpse again, and said: "Besides, those who really hang themselves also have many external manifestations, such as closed eyes, open lips, hand holds, and tooth dew, strangulation marks are deep purple, and if it is hanged on the throat, the tongue is against the teeth, and the tongue is more under the throat, there is saliva on the chest, and there is feces coming out from the back of the buttocks; If someone is beaten and strangled, and pretends to hang himself, his mouth and eyes will be opened, his hands will be scattered, the blood veins under his throat will not work, the marks will be shallow, his tongue will not come out, and his teeth will not reach ......"

Without a pause, he continued: "Although the marks on the neck of this corpse are deep, but the mouth and eyes are open, the hands are scattered, the tongue is not out, and the teeth are not touched, it should be strangled to death, and pretended to hang himself, so this should be a murder, not a suicide case." ”

After hearing this, after thinking about it carefully, he suddenly said: "What this adult said makes sense, the old man has been conducting autopsies for many years, and he has seen many people who have hanged themselves, and it seems that it is really as this adult said, and this corpse is a little different......