At that moment, the servants dissected the nameless corpse and the body of Li's husband, took out the stomach contents respectively, washed them with water, and then used silver needles to explore them separately. It's all just slightly darkened.

Leng Yi said: "The corpse poison invades the food in the stomach, and it cannot be completely removed by washing, so the silver needle will turn black slightly." However, the corpses we examined were all the same, and those corpses were normal deaths, frozen to death by the wind and snow. Since the silver needle probe is the same, it means that none of them were poisoned. What do you think of the prefectural judgment? ”

The crowd nodded convincingly, and a few of them bowed their hands admiringly: "The autopsy method instructed by the eldest master, let me wait for the mouth to open, and then I will know how to conduct the autopsy." ”

Leng Yi said again: "It's just that how Li's husband died, it's hard to verify now." Because there are many reasons for death, such as sudden death from disease, etc., didn't the deceased have an attack of illness and palpitations before his death, it is estimated that the attack of this disease caused sudden death. One thing is certain, though, and that is that it wasn't murder. Because, after the autopsy, it was determined that the crack on the deceased's head in this case was not caused by a heavy blow by external force, but a crack that appeared normally, and there were no external injuries on the deceased in this case, and there were no signs of poisoning, therefore, the possibility of murder was ruled out. The county decided to acquit the offender, Li. ”

Everyone nodded.

Leng Yi said to Master Dong: "After you go back, you will immediately go and release the Li family, and at the same time, send the scribe of the torture room to the deceased's parents' house to tell them the whole process and conclusion of our autopsy, and explain the reasons for the acquittal of the Li family." lest the bitter family misunderstand. ”

Master Dong hurriedly nodded in agreement.

Leng Yi also instructed the servants to rebury several corpses, and then get up and return to the ya.

Leng Yi's voice just now was very high, that is, to popularize some basic forensic knowledge to the onlookers, these people heard that the county lord was right, and they were all convinced, looking at Leng Yi one by one, their eyes were full of awe.

When Leng Yi returned to the yamen, it was already noon. Zhuo Qiaoniang had already made lunch. Although Cheng Luochang and the female catcher are there soon, they are responsible for guarding and can't be taken out to help with housework, cooking, laundry or something. And the maid grass spike is seriously ill and can't get out of bed to work, so Zhuo Qiaoniang does it herself.

When Leng Yi came back, Zhuo Qiaoniang brought hot water, Leng Yi washed his hands and changed his clothes, and sat down to eat.

After eating, Leng Yi wanted to help Zhuo Qiaoniang clean up the dishes and chopsticks and wash the dishes, Zhuo Qiaoniang blushed and didn't want to do it anyway, so let Leng Yi sit in the study and drink tea and rest, and she came by herself. Leng Yi knew that she didn't want Cheng Luoyan and them to see an official doing housework, and she would say that she would be killed behind her back.

Leng Yi also gave up, sat in the study and continued to practice calligraphy.

At this time, Zheng Yan, who was in charge of the gate of the inner house, came in to report that the Li family, who had been acquitted, knelt outside the inner house and asked to kowtow to the eldest lord to thank him. Ask Leng Yi if he can see it.

Leng Yi got up and came out, and sure enough, he saw Li, who was kneeling on the ground in rags, and when he saw him come out, he knelt and crawled a few steps, kowtowing like pounding garlic: "The women thank Master Qingtian for ......!" When I said this, I was already in tears, and I couldn't make a sound when I choked up, just kowtowed.

Leng Yi hurriedly asked Cheng Luojie next to her to help her up, and watched Li Shi's hands being tortured and all ten knuckles were crushed, and they were so swollen that they were like small mallets, and they couldn't even bend. Not only gloomy.

He took off the money bag and purse around his waist, poured out all the broken silver, held it and handed it to Li, and said: "I have wronged you, your hands and fingers have been abolished, and you will definitely have a difficult life in the future, alas! It's all the county's fault. Bending into a trick, you will suffer from prison, and you will lose your hands. This bit of silver can be regarded as a little compensation given to you by the county. ”

In ancient times, there was only one word of rehabilitation, and there was never a word of state compensation, and the wronged people were already thankful that they could be rehabilitated and acquitted. Hearing Leng Yi say this, he suddenly fell to his knees in a panic, kowtowed and said, "The women don't dare!" The women didn't dare to ......! ”

Leng Yi said: "Yes, if it's anything else, the county uses a big punishment to abolish your hands, it really shouldn't be, this bit of silver, you take it to see Langzhong, and strive to heal the injury, it is estimated that it is impossible to recover completely, and it is good to recover four or five points." Please take it! ”

That Li was so moved that he burst into tears, prostrate on the ground, whimpering and kowtowing, and didn't even dare to say anything.

Leng Yi looked at Cheng Luojie next to her, and Cheng Luojie's eyes were a little red. stepped forward to help her up, and said, "Since the county magistrate said so, you can accept it." With that, he took the broken silver from Leng Yi's hand and stuffed it into her hands.

Li Shi held the broken silver, crying so much that his nose and saliva were slugging, but he choked up and said thank you Lord Qingtian, and couldn't say anything more.

Leng Yi asked the yamen female catcher to send Li home quickly, looking at Li who turned back three times and slowly walked away, Leng Yi sighed with emotion.

Wu Zhutou arched his hand on the side and said: "Master, my subordinates now understand, why doesn't the Lord let me and others use the big punishment on the prisoner at will, and the big punishment is indeed too easy to cause a wrong case." This time, Li's life was big, and he met the eldest man and helped her find out the unjust case, but his hands were still useless. In the future, we must keep in mind the teachings of the great master, and will never use torture to extract confessions from criminals. ”

Master Dong next to him also stroked his beard and nodded frequently: "Yes, in the future, like the eldest master, you must carefully analyze the case, investigate and secretly visit, find evidence, and find out the crime, this is the right way to solve the case." ”

Leng Yi smiled bitterly, seeing the tragic situation of the Li family, he gave her all the silver he got from Lin Ling, and now his pockets are deflated, the New Year is approaching, how can this celebrate the New Year?

Fortunately, within a few days, Yu Lu sent it down. Leng Yi couldn't hold the money of the yamen scribes anymore, and directly let the households receiving the money distribute it to everyone. Everyone received their wages in time for the first time, and they were all very happy, plus the money that Leng Yi had sent to everyone to repay the debt before, they all said that they could have a good New Year this year.

They were happy, but Leng Yi couldn't laugh after receiving his own money.

Because he had inquired about Master Dong, he knew that the county magistrate in this remote area was 10,000 copper coins per month, plus 3,000 wen for servant wages (if he did not hire a servant, the money would go to the magistrate himself), and there were also three stones of Lusu. Nothing else.

It's not bad to think about it, not counting the servant fees, the monthly salary is 10,000 yuan, and there is also food worth about 1,000 yuan, which adds up to 11,000 yuan. It's a high salary, and I'm very satisfied. Unexpectedly, what was sent to his inner house was less than three copper coins, that is, less than three thousand wen, and some daily necessities such as cloth, wine, and salt.

Leng Yi was strange, called Master Dong, and asked side-by-side to find out that although the Song Dynasty as a whole was the highest in the past, even nearly ten times higher than the Ming and Qing dynasties, but at the beginning of the Song Dynasty, it was not high, and at this time, only about thirty percent of the officials' money was given in cash, and the rest was distributed in kind.

In addition, since the economy was not very prosperous at the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the state treasury did not have much money, and the salaries given to officials were also discounted, "eight cents are counted as ten points," that is, only 80 percent of the wages were paid.

Therefore, Leng Yi's monthly salary is actually only a little more than 8,000 yuan, and most of them are in kind. The cash is less than 3,000 yuan. For Leng Yi, who urgently needs money to repay his debts and start a life, he can only smile bitterly.

Of course, if there is no foreign debt, this money is enough for him and Zhuo Qiaoniang, and it is barely well-off. However, some of the debts owed by the magistrate he replaced were still unpaid, so when he was looking at a pile of things and smiling bitterly, several creditors came to collect debts.

Although Leng Yi has paid off all the taxes this year and paid off the arrears of everyone in the Yamen, in addition to the arrears of Zhuang Jincai, who helped him exchange gold, the arrears of several large households have not been repaid. When I heard that he had made a fortune, they all came to the door to collect the debt in person.