Although he only taught a lesson to the two little minions who were used as guns by the crown prince Li Wei, Xie An was still in a good mood.

"My happiness is built on their pain......"

Humming a very out-of-tune song, Xie An sat in the second hall and continued to review the thick stack of case records.

After reviewing several copies, Xie An found that almost all of the cases submitted by local officials in the Great Zhou Dynasty involved human lives, and some of the people in the case files were sentenced to unpardonable capital crimes, and some were assigned to join the army.

At first, Xie An felt a little strange, but after thinking about it, he was relieved.

After all, the Great Prison Temple is the most authoritative public court in the Great Zhou, if it were not for a case involving human life, how could officials from all over the country ask their subordinate officials to travel thousands of miles to Jijing?

On the other hand, if every trivial matter is presented to the Great Prison Temple, wouldn't the Zhengqing, Shaoqing, and other officials of the Great Prison Temple be tired and vomit blood?

"In Pingchang County, Beihai County, the prisoner Zhu Er is a local butcher...... Because of the quarrel with Wang Cai, a local county citizen, he was not angry and held a grudge, and killed Wang Cai, and the murder weapon was a pig-killing knife...... After being arrested, he confessed and was escorted to the Criminal Department, where he was imprisoned...... Brother Zhou, what does this supervisor do? - Why did each of them go to what kind of prison priest? ”

Zhou Yi, who was commenting on the case of Wang Han and Zhang Jie, raised his head, and said with a smile when he heard the words, "Lord Qiyu Shaoqing, this prison hou department is the department of the criminal department that specializes in handling death penalty cases, and most of the case files submitted to my prison temple are cases that have been sentenced to death by various local governments, so they are all escorted to the prison hou department, and they are all taken to prison and awaiting execution......

Oh, it turns out that the [prison] of this eunuch means to be imprisoned......

Xie An suddenly realized when he heard this, and after thinking about it, he asked suspiciously, "Isn't the death row prisoner escorted to Jijing still executed on the spot?" ”

"Yes!" Seeing Xie An's unbelievable look, Zhou Yi arched his hand and explained with a smile, "The emperor's grace is vast, even if the condemned prisoner is sentenced to death, he is still my Great Zhou people, not the Criminal Department, and the local government officials have no right to behead him privately, otherwise he will be punished for homicide, and he must be escorted to the Prison Hou Division of the Criminal Department, who will convict him, take away his [national] status, and put him in prison." After this procedure, those condemned prisoners were renamed death row prisoners, and they were treated as criminals, and they were no longer the ...... of our Great Zhou people."

"So strict?"

"I have always been strict about the management of death sentences over the years," Zhou Yi continued to explain, smiling, "The day of execution of death row prisoners is in the autumn. At that time, the Criminal Department will escort the death row prisoner from the prison by the [Prison Division], and after the [Autumn Trial Division] re-examines the crime, the charges are established, and finally the prisoner is escorted to the market by the [Redemption Division] for questioning and beheading, and after the beheading, the body of the death row prisoner will be sent back to his hometown for burial, and the death row prisoner's belongings and family letters will be handed over to his family, and if there is no family member, the local government will collect it on his behalf. ”

So user-friendly?

Xie An was a little surprised when he heard this, he didn't expect that the execution of a death row prisoner would have to go through three procedures: the local government office, the Jijing Prison Temple, and the Criminal Department.

"Brother Zhou, isn't my Great Prison Temple in charge of the review, why does the Autumn Trial Division still have to review the side?"

"Your Excellency has misunderstood, the review of my Great Prison Temple is this case, if you feel that there is still something strange about this case, you can send it back and call the local government for retrial...... The review of the Autumn Trial Division of the Criminal Department is only as far as the prisoner himself is concerned, and roughly speaking, it is what kind of crime is on the head of the death row prisoner when he is executed. In addition, there are some death row inmates who commit suicide in prison without waiting for the beheading, and although the prison is strictly guarded, it is inevitable that such a thing will happen, so the Autumn Trial Division needs to reconfirm the roster according to the roster before beheading the death row prisoner, and if the death row inmate has died in prison, the date of his execution will be ticked......"

"Oh, that's ...... so" Xie An nodded, and then asked suspiciously, "How many death row inmates committed suicide in prison?" ”

"Well...... Zhou Yi hesitated, saw that there was no one left and right, and said in a low voice, "The official said so, but in fact, it is not the case...... Normally, even if it is a death row inmate, his family has to pay off the prison guards with some money, otherwise, I am afraid that they will not be able to wait for the execution, and they will be beaten to death by those jailers......"

"Didn't you kill yourself?"

Zhou Yi smiled bitterly, lowered his voice and said, "My Great Zhou criminal law is quite lenient, even if it is a death row prisoner waiting to be killed, it may not necessarily die, but whenever there is a great joy of the whole country, His Majesty will issue a holy decree to amnesty the world, for example, in the early years, the four princes of the northern expedition triumphant, the whole country was boiling, Your Majesty issued a holy decree to pardon the death row prisoners of that year, and they were reassigned to the army, so even if they were death row prisoners, as long as their families could make more silver, they could also save their lives......

"And that kind of thing?"

"Adults naturally don't know about this kind of dirty thing...... If a death row inmate is escorted to Jijing in the autumn, and his family members secretly use money to get through the relationship, the officials of the prison department will be able to convict and other reasons to let the death row prisoner be executed again in the next year...... If there is enough money, in the coming year, the prison officer will say that the death row prisoner is terminally ill and dying, and only half his life remains...... In short, as long as the autumn is obscured, it will be another year......"

“……”

"Year after year, year after year, when Your Majesty decrees and grants amnesty to the world, the condemned prisoner can be exempted from the death penalty and sentenced to military service...... In a word, money can be channeled! ”

Xie An opened his mouth in astonishment when he heard this, then shook his head with a wry smile, "This is really rich enough to make ghosts grind...... No, money can make a grinder! ”

Zhou Yi was stunned, and then couldn't help laughing, and arched his hand and said, "Lord Shaoqing Mingjian!" ”

As the two were talking, a civil official suddenly came in a hurry, and it was one of those civil officials who had been driven out of the third hall by Xie An.

"Lord Shaoqing, Lord Kong, please!"

"Hey!" Xie An smiled, licked his lips and looked at the civil official, only to look at the man uncomfortable.

"My lord......" Zhou Yi looked at Xie An a little anxiously, where could he not think of the reason, and was about to remind, but was interrupted by Xie An stretching out his hand.

"Brother Zhou doesn't need to worry, Master Kong is aware of everything, and he won't be embarrassed by this little thing!" Although the words were said to Zhou Yi, Xie An looked straight at the civil official when he spoke, obviously the drunkard did not mean to drink.

After saying a few words to Xiang Qing and Luo Chao, who were temporarily acting as guards at the gate of the second hall, Xie An walked towards the inner office.

The road, he recognized, after all, he had been there once two hours ago, so he was familiar with the road, and it didn't take long for him to come to the office house of the old man Kong Wenkong.

Looking at the old man playing chess alone in the house, it is undeniable that Xie An was a little nervous.

After all, he could guess what this old man was asking people to find him for, it was nothing more than that he, Xie An, ruthlessly drove those disobedient officials out of Santang.

Probably noticing Xie An standing at the door, Kong Wen turned his head, glanced at Xie An, and said with a smile, "Come in, this is the old man's bedroom, don't be restrained ......"

Seeing Kong Wen's expression as usual, Xie An breathed a sigh of relief, and when he heard that this room was Kong Wen's bedroom, he was a little puzzled again.

"The old man lives here on weekdays?" Xie An looked at the bed in the corner of the room in amazement, as well as the futon on the bed.

Kong Wen smiled slightly, and said with a little bitterness, "The old man has offended too many people in his life, and now that he is old and timid, he can only nest in this big prison temple......" As he said, he pointed to the chessboard on the table in front of him, and said with a smile, "Zhang Lin's kid still left the old man to take leave and go back to his hometown to participate in his brother's marriage, come on, come on, you come to accompany the old man in the next game......

"As long as the old man doesn't dislike the stinky ...... of official chess skills," Xie An said with a wry smile.

Sitting opposite, this old man and young man started to play chess, what Xie An didn't expect was that the old man in front of him who liked to play chess was really not very good at chess, even worse than him who played chess indiscriminately.

To know Xie An's chess skills, the eldest grandson Xiangyu commented that he could win him with his eyes closed.

"Seeing that you are young, this chess skill is quite superb......" Kong Wen looked at Xie An in surprise.

"......" Xie An was speechless, and after thinking about it, he felt that it was better not to tell the truth, so as not to hit the old man in front of him who liked to play chess.

"This ...... Xia Guan was fortunate enough to have the guidance of the daughter of the eldest grandson......"

"Oh, the daughter of the eldest grandson's family......" Kong Wen suddenly realized, nodded in relief and said, "It turns out that there is a famous master, no wonder chess skills can be compared with the old man who has been immersed in this way for decades......"

Looking at the conceited appearance of the old man in front of him, Xie An felt very sad for his old man, he had played chess for decades, but he only had this level of inaccessibility, in a way, it could be regarded as shocking.

Maybe it was a distraction, Xie An, who was still a good country in the first half of the game, finally lost with a slight disadvantage of one and a half glances, looking at the old man in front of him with a red face, Xie An was really a little unbelievable.

"Lose...... Actually lost? ”

"What Xie Shaoqing said, is it very shocking for you to lose to the old man?" Kong Wen said with a hearty laugh, quite a kind of raising eyebrows, giving people the illusion that he had never won before.

"It's worthy of being trained by the famous master of the eldest grandson's family, and he can be inseparable from the old man, but he is still slightly inferior to the old man, hahaha...... But Xie Shaoqing doesn't need to be discouraged, there are few geniuses like Zhang Lin in the world, the old man is half, you, work harder, and you may be able to surpass the old man in a few decades......"

Hearing this, Xie An really didn't know what to say, at this time, he thought that the master book named Zhang Lin was so good at chess, and later learned that the master book of Zhang Lin was just an ordinary level, like him, the eldest grandson Xiangyu may not be a problem to deal with dozens of them at a time.

It is conceivable how weak the chess skills of this old man Kong Wenkong are.

However, Xie Anke is not qualified to count down at the moment, after all, he lost.

"This doesn't count, come again!" It was Xie An who spoke, firstly, he could see that this old man liked to play chess and wanted to take this opportunity to win over the relationship; Second, he really couldn't accept that he lost to the old man in front of him.

It's obvious that he has the advantage, how can he lose?

Kong Wen raised his eyebrows, revealing an interested expression, but he deliberately pretended not to care, stroked his beard and said lightly, "Then the old man will be reluctant to make it difficult, and then accompany Xie Shaoqing in the next game......"

Xie An was sorting out the chess pieces, and said with a smile when he heard this, "If Old Man Kong doesn't dislike it, let's call the official by name......

"Name...... Oh, haven't you taken the table word yet? ”

"This," Xie An smiled bitterly, half-truths and half-truths, "Xiaguan is an orphan, he has not been close to his elders, and he has not yet reached the age of a weak crown, so this is the ...... of this expression."

"Oh," Kong Wen nodded, and didn't continue to ask, and said, "In that case, how about the old man sell an old man and call you Xiao'an?" ”

"The old man is serious......"

After some greetings, the old and the young [frogs at the bottom of the well] began to fight on the chessboard again.

I have to say that the chess skills of the two of them can really be said to be half a catty, so that when the eldest grandson Xiangyu saw the chess game that most of them would show disdain, the two of them were stunned and enthusiastic.

It may be that the relationship has become much closer, so Xie An is not restrained, and while playing chess, he asks Kong Wen about such and such things.

"Does the old man live in the Great Prison Temple on weekdays?"

"Ah, the old man has offended too many people in his life, and when he walks on the street, he has to pay attention to whether someone stabs the old man......"

"The old man laughed, you are an important minister of the three grades of the court, who would dare to assassinate you?" Xie An is telling the truth, you must know that Kong Wen's position as the Zhengqing of the Sanpin Prison Temple is different from the Sanpin official of Wang Han and Zhang Jie's father, it is one of the nine Qings, in addition to the prime minister, the six departments and Jiuqing can be said to be the first-class ministers of the imperial court, don't look at the three products, but the power is greater than Xie An's wife Liang Qiuwu's second rank.

"Who dares to assassinate? Hehehe, there are more people who miss the old man......" Kong Wen shook his head with a wry smile when he heard this, and said with a sigh, "Xiao An, my Great Prison Temple is specially used to offend people, do you know which one of the Jijing Divisions is the most hated?" ”

"Imperial Historian, right?"

"Not bad! The Imperial History Supervisor supervises my Da Zhou officials full-time, and he is naturally hated! And secondly...... It's my Great Prison Temple! ——It was the old man who warned you that if you don't have that guts, you are afraid of offending people, and you are afraid of being assassinated by people when you walk at night, it is better to resign early! Speaking of this, Kong Wen let out a long sigh.

Looking at the old man in front of him with a look of embarrassment, Xie An was stunned and asked carefully, "Could it be that the old man has encountered it?" ”

"Not just the old man......"

"Huh? Could it be ......" Speaking of this, Xie An subconsciously glanced at the furnishings in the room, and his heart moved slightly.

"You guessed right," Kong Wen let out a long sigh and said bitterly, "In the old man's family, now the old man is ...... alone."

"This ...... How? ”

"The old man is sixty and seven years old, more than ten years ago, the dog and his daughter-in-law took the old man and grandchildren to the old man's ancestral home to renovate the ancestral tomb, and when they didn't want to come back, they were poisoned by thieves......

"This ...... Who did such a poisonous act? Xie An asked incredulously.

"Who knows," Kong Wen smiled bitterly and said with a sigh, "The old man has offended too many people in his life, too many to count, how do you know which one?" A lesson from the past, a teacher from the back, Xiao An, the old man heard that you are also a family person, you can be careful, but don't follow in the footsteps of the old man......"

"Remember, boy! - But the boy's wife, who is quite strong in martial arts, should not be ......"

"Oh, by the way, your wife is the little girl of the Liangqiu family, that's ......" Kong Wen nodded with a smile, and then sighed, "When the old man was young, he thought that I was a big Zhou Lang, but later I learned that this world is filthy and filthy, and there are countless ...... And my Great Prison Temple is the place where the last inch of the blue sky and the white sun are sticking to it, although it is filthy and filthy, but it must also be worthy of the four-character plaque above the head, don't be intimidated, dare to offend people......"

"Boy, remember the old man's teachings!" Facing the old man in front of him who had dedicated everything he had to the Great Prison Temple, Xie Anxin could only be moved and respected.

Kong Wen looked at Xie An deeply, suddenly shook his head and said with a wry smile, "From the first time I saw you, the old man knew that you were not an ordinary person, and he would not be afraid of power like those busy people, but the old man really didn't expect that on this day, you would offend two third-grade officials in the DPRK and China...... The afterlife is terrifying! ”

Xie An clearly heard a bit of ridicule from Kong Wen's words, and asked in surprise, "The old man knows?" ”

"Ah, there is an old man who has been reported by the scribe, saying that you were promoted to the third hall, and you humiliated those two gentlemen......" Speaking of this, Kong Wen's eyes vaguely showed a little appreciation, nodded and said, "Although you are promoted to accept the case for the first time, the old man has to admit that you have done a beautiful job!" - I played those two little cubs who didn't talk like that, but I didn't fall behind...... Pretty! ”

"The old man ......is serious," Xie An was a little flattered when he heard this.

"There are so many geniuses in the world...... "Looking at Xie An with emotion, Kong Wen said again, "But even if you don't fall behind, you have offended the two third-grade members of the DPRK and the Central People's Republic of China, according to the old man, those two third-grade members of the DPRK and the Central People's Republic of China, as early as today and later tomorrow, will definitely come to my Great Prison Temple to ask for the ...... of those two."

"Don't worry, the old man will come to block the soldiers, and the water will cover the earth, and the kid will definitely not humiliate the brand of the Great Prison Temple!"

"Hehehehehe, good!" Kong Wen smiled slightly, then frowned, and asked, "Xiao An, do you have a gap with the prince?" ”

Xie An hesitated for a moment, nodded, and said, "Don't hide it from the old man, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has sent assassins to assassinate the kid three times, but fortunately, the kid's life is ......" Speaking of this, he looked up at Kong Wen with a little uneasiness.

"A dignified prince of a country......" Old Man Kong shook his head in disappointment.

Xie Anxin moved, and asked cautiously, "The old man seems to be the same to His Royal Highness the Prince...... Also dissatisfied? ”

"Humph!" Kong Wen snorted lightly and said wistfully, "The old man is greatly favored by His Majesty, but that His Highness is really ...... Have you ever heard of a man named He Xuan? ”

"He Xuan?" Xie An thought for a moment and shook his head.

Old man Kong pondered, frowned and said, "This person was originally the Imperial History Supervisor and the Fifth Rank Imperial History Doctor, because of the impeachment of the prince in the court and the evidence was insufficient, he was convicted and demoted to the county order of Tutang County, half a month ago, I got the news that this person was killed by thieves on the way to Tutang County with his family, and his whole family of 13 people, plus more than 20 sedan chair drivers, coachmen, and escort officers and soldiers, all died in ...... deaths."

Xie An gasped and said in astonishment, "Could it be ......"

Kong Wen shook his head, signaling Xie Anmo to continue, and then said melancholy, "The older Your Majesty gets, the dragon's body is not very healthy, and the abdication is imminent...... In the eyes of the court, in addition to the officials, most of the imperial historians also fell into the hands of the prince, and the imperial historians have a lot of power, so you must guard against them in the future! ”

"Remember, boy!" Xie An nodded, very shocked in his heart, shocked that the prince's hand was actually stretched out to the imperial historian, an institution that has the right to survey the officials of the whole country, plus the official department, in other words, the prince has almost mastered the institution of the officials of the Great Zhou.

Not noticing Xie An's shock, Kong Wen continued, "The Ministry of Officials is the prince's party, the Ministry of Rites is the sole power of the eldest grandson's family, the Ministry of Industry is the line of the eighth prince Li Xian, and the Ministry of War is the fourth prince Li Mao, only the household department and the criminal department have not yet stepped into this muddy water, but according to the old man, I am afraid that this situation will not be able to maintain for long...... Xiao An, you remember, in the future, no matter which His Royal Highness the Criminal Department intends to belong to, my Great Prison Temple will never be involved! ”

"Yes!" Xie An nodded again and again, but when he thought that he deliberately favored Li Shou, he couldn't help but feel a little weak.

"By the way, someone just told the old man that you drove some people out of Santang, and threatened that you won't need them in the future, but is there such a thing?"

Seeing that Old Man Kong mentioned this matter, Xie Anxin was slightly startled, raised his head to look at the old man's expression, and saw that he did not mean to ask the teacher for guilt, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's true, when the kid first took office, those people were really a bit excessive...... The old man didn't want to ask the teacher for sin, right? ”

"Hehehe, it's not enough for Xingshi to ask for guilt, the old man just seems that those people have served in my Great Prison Temple for many years, and they are conscientious and conscientious, and they ask you for a favor...... Sometimes, a little lesson is enough, you can't admit death, you need to know, insignificant things, you have to forgive people and forgive people......"

"The kid remembered...... It's up to those people to perform! - If they can take the blame, the boy will not do too much! It's up to them......" Xie An said with a shrug.

"Oh, good, good! - In this case, the old man will not be so uninteresting, go and mention them......" Old Man Kong nodded, then looked at Xie An, and asked hesitantly, "Xiao An, are you really only seventeen years old this year?" ”

"Well, it's ......," Xie An said with some humility.

"The future is terrifying, the future is terrifying......" Kong Wen nodded with emotion, stretched out his hand, and quietly moved the chess pieces on the chessboard.

Seeing this, Xie An couldn't cry or laugh, and said angrily, "Old man, after all, don't secretly move the chess pieces in the chessboard, okay?" - Still moving? Thought I didn't see what? ”

"What? What did you say? "The old man had a puzzled look on his face.

Xie An rolled his eyes and said angrily, "Old man, you won't win like this, right?" ”

"What did you say?!" As if he had heard something terrible, Old Man Kong's eyes widened suddenly, his face was red and his neck was thick, and he said angrily, "You are my Shaoqing of the Great Prison Temple, you need to know that you need to talk about evidence in everything...... Do you have proof? ”

"The evidence is in the hands of the old man...... The old man is holding a white child, right? What are you going to do with a sunspot? ”

"Huh? Oh, look at the old man, the old man is dizzy, and he accidentally took the wrong one, hahahaha......"

"......" Xie An looked at Kong Wen who was deliberately pretending to be stupid angrily, and shook his head secretly in his heart.

I've never seen a chess piece without a chess piece, but I've never seen someone with such a chess piece......

At this time, the sound of tuk tuk knock on the door suddenly came to mind outside the house.

"Lord Qiyu Zhengqing, Lord Shaoqing, the left deputy governor of the Imperial History Supervisor Chasi, Lord Wang Kun, and Zhan Shi of Zhan Shifu, Lord Zhang Ling Zhang, beat the drum outside the mansion, saying that they want to get back the two sons of his family......"

Old Man Kong and Xie An glanced at each other, shook their heads and said, "If you hit the small one, the adults of his family will come, alas, where is my Great Prison Temple?" ”

"Huh! Old man, come when the kid goes! ”

"Hmm! - Remember to be clean and sharp, Hugh must give people a handle! ——The old man just mentioned that most of the imperial historians have fallen into the hands of the East Palace! If you are given a talking handle, the old man will not be able to help you! ”

"Boy, remember!" As he spoke, Xie An bowed, and then turned to leave.

Looking at the back of Xie An leaving, Old Man Kong Wenkong looked deeply at the chessboard, thoughtful.

"Huh? You can actually win this game...... Shh Those two bastards! ”

c