Yu Bantou in the back was secretly frightened, he didn't expect this county master to have such a hot temper, and he would do it if he didn't agree with him, and he didn't look like a scholar at all.

The hand strength is also big.

It looks like it's confusing everyone.

On the other side, Ji Fu also kicked the other jailer to the ground and ripped the key directly from him.

opened his mouth and scolded: "Two dog things, you haven't woken up yet, right?" Dare to stop the county master, don't you want to live? Believe it or not, I killed you two? ”

The two jailers panicked, "Your Excellency...... Spare your life! ”

Whether they want to live or not, they really haven't thought about it.

Because they are accustomed to following the master of the book.

Which county lord has come here before, and he has not been subject to the control of the master bookkeeper?

The master of the bookkeeper has indeed told that no one is allowed to enter or leave. It's just that this time it's the county lord who came, and they didn't dare to really block it to the end, and they would still let it go in the end, they just wanted to make it difficult and make a performance, and sell it well in front of the master bookkeeper.

I never thought about it, and hit the iron plate.

Liao Qing and the others ignored the two jailers, opened the door, and went in.

After the guard, there are two passages.

To the left, there is an ordinary cell; To the right, there is a death row cell.

The two groups of buildings are connected into one, with a total of 12 ordinary cells, 2 forbidden cells, and 4 death row cells.

The cells were also carefully designed, with barbed wire in the middle aisle and bells hung on the nets that would ring whenever a prisoner tried to escape over the wall.

The passage is as low as the door, and if you are a little taller, you have to bow your waist, and even Xu Jiaojiao has to lower her head for fear of hitting the top.

And the structure here is very ingenious, there are two doors in the passage, both of which are single, but they open in different directions, one opens from the right and the other opens from the left.

The place where Zhou Xiaochai was once held is now empty.

The cell was dim, but as long as you were careful, you could see it clearly, Xu Jiaojiao and the four of them looked around and didn't find anything abnormal.

The whole ground was empty, except for a few weeds.

Weeds are standard in the cell.

The ground is still relatively flat, the blue brick wall is sticking with the mortar that is gradually peeling, and a small window is sealed with iron bars, there is no trace of passing, in fact, even if this window is not sealed, it can't pass a person, it's too small.

The four of them checked it and found nothing wrong.

Even if it was a pile of weeds, it was very ordinary, Master Ji rummaged through it, but he didn't see anything.

"It looks like normal here."

Liao Qing was noncommittal and looked at Yu Bantou: "How long have you been working in the yamen?" Do people often die in a prison cell? ”

Yu Bantou bowed down and said, "Back to the adult, the little one has been on an errand in the yamen for more than six years. As for this cell, there are always a few people who die every year, and sometimes even a dozen. ”

Liao Qing: "Was it a natural death or an accidental death?" ”

Yu Bantou: "Although there are people who die of natural old age, there are very few, most of them have been punished, and they are too seriously injured to survive. ”

Why do so few people die of natural causes?

Because the official decides the case, the sentence to imprisonment is generally not more than three years, and most of them are one to two years. In such a short period of time, the chances of dying in a cell are very small.

Why are prison sentences so short?

First, the life expectancy of the ancients was relatively short, especially for the poor, and fifty or sixty years old was already considered a high lifespan. If you are sentenced to ten or eight years like modern times, ordinary people will not be able to endure it, but the government wants to supply their rations, which is too cost-effective and wasteful, which is the second reason.

The third reason is that it is basically useless to sentence a long prison sentence, because the emperor is happy, such as the new emperor ascending the throne, the old emperor dies, the queen, the prince, etc., if this kind of major thing happens, there will be an amnesty for the world, and all criminals (except for special criminals) will be released, so even if the old man sets a sentence longer than three years, it will not have much effect, after all, he will be pardoned by the emperor every once in a while.

Finally, prison sentences are not limited to prisoners, who are not only detained but also forced to perform intensive labor. Due to the excessive intensity of hard labor, once the sentence is too long, many prisoners who are not very good in physical fitness are likely to die of exhaustion in their cells and never see the light of day again.

As for why someone would die from their injuries?

Won't the yamen heal?

This is going to be the other side, the water in the yamen is deep, and the water in the cell is even deeper.

To put it simply, this is one of the ways for the servants to make extra money, and if they don't give money, they can be cured, and if they don't give money, they will be left to fate.

But that doesn't mean it's legal.

It's a pity that Yu Bantou is not the confidant of the master bookkeeper, so he doesn't know some things, whether Zhou Xiaochai died for this reason.

No evidence was found at the scene.

Could it be that Zhou Xiaochai was really frozen to death?

Xu Jiaojiao didn't believe it a little, although this place was cold, it would definitely not reach the point of freezing to death, unless he was shirtless.

Is it possible that someone deliberately let Zhou Xiaochai not wear clothes?

Xu Jiaojiao thought about it while walking, and suddenly felt a little strange under her feet.

It's not that she's stepping on anything, but she thinks the ground is a little ...... Soft.

The floor of the cell is not paved with green bricks, but after a long time of stepping on it, the surface should be hard and uneven, just like an ordinary farmer's house.

But here, it's a little flat, and the ground isn't so hard.

Xu Jiaojiao was about to go to the next cell to have a look, and when she made a comparison, she caught a glimpse of a black and flat thing in the corner of the wall.

Ground turtle insects!

Xu Jiaojiao actually rarely saw this thing, and it was several times larger than she remembered, almost a finger long, but she was sure that she was not mistaken. Because the ground turtle insect is still an important medicinal material, it also has a name called the turtle, and there are also places called it the turtle.

How did this turtle come to live in dark, damp, humusy loose soil?

Xu Jiaojiao looked at a small hole in the corner of the wall and asked, "Are there any digging tools here?" ”

This was obviously asked by Yu Bantou, because only he was most familiar with this place.

Yu Ban replied, "I'll look for it." ”

Ji Fu also spoke, "Let's go together." ”

Where there are tools, there are still tools suitable for digging, and of course there is only a watch.

The two returned to the guard the same way they came, and the two jailers were wandering boredly, yawning.

Ji Fu shouted at them: "You two get out of here immediately!" Stay outside the gate, and you can't step in until we come out, or I'll break your dog's legs!" Hurry up! ”

The two jailers were stunned, full of questions and anger, wanting to ask or refute, but fearing that they would be beaten again, so they could only retreat obediently.

Ji Fu came to this scene, not that he was fierce and bullying people for no reason, he was just worried that if he really wanted to find any clues, these two people would tell the master bookkeeper.