Returning from Lan Ting's mouth this spring, I heard a lot of inside information about the Dongxu murder case.

According to Brother Yin Ren's inquiry, the two brothers of the Wu family, when they were old, they had a dispute over a jujube tree planted in Wu Dagui's yard, and for some reason, Wu Ergui suddenly wanted Wu Dagui to cut down the jujube tree, but Wu Dagui was unwilling because the jujube tree was planted by his grandfather, and the two brothers quarreled over this matter, and also alarmed the elder mediation, saying that Wu Ergui was unreasonable. But even though the two brothers had a conflict before the murder, Wu Ergui couldn't really have the evil idea of murdering people for the sake of a tree, right? Lan Ting didn't believe Hua Xiaoji's testimony, but after questioning, he had doubts about Wu Ergui's motive for killing his brother.

"Then between Wu Ergui and Jiao Manshi, is there a feud?" Spring return asked.

"Although the two families live in Dongxu, but the two cards in the east-west direction everywhere have never intersected, I look at the file, Wu Ergui denied that he and Jiao Manshi knew each other, whether it was the first neighbor of the Wu family, or the first neighbor of the Jiao family, they also testified that there was indeed no contradiction between the two."

"Then does Jiao Manshi have any other enemies, especially the officials in the yamen?"

"After investigation, although Jiao Manshi and Wu Dagui said that their family background in the area where they live is quite solid, they rely on their own diligence and thrift, not on the family business accumulated by crooked and evil ways, although Jiao Manshi is a little impatient, but he has not had a fierce dispute with others, Wu Dagui is even more honest and benevolent, and neither of them should have enemies."

But one died for no reason, and the other was guilty and disappeared.

"Didn't you find anything strange then?" The return of spring is also at a loss, and I can't figure out why Wu Dagui died, and who framed Jiao Manshi.

"There are also strange things." Lan Ting took a sip of tea before continuing: "Huihui recommended Brother An Shi to me, but I didn't expect me to ask him for advice, and Brother An Shi really had an impression of the Dongxu murder case. ”

Sun Ning's word is self-an, and "Brother An Shi" refers to him.

Chun Gui was also pleasantly surprised: "Brother Sun Shi really paid attention to this case? ”

"According to Brother An Shi, he happened to be the secretary of the torture room at that time, and he also remembered that the original reporter was indeed Wu Ergui, Brother An Shi and Tong Zuo were sent to Wu's house, and when the prison officer asked about the case, Wu's mother, Wu Ergui and Jiang also did have their own words, but although Wu Lao Niang said that she insisted that her eldest son was killed by Jiang and the adulterer, she said that she didn't see the adulterer's appearance, and Wu Ergui even said that when he heard the sound and rushed over, the adulterer was nowhere to be seen, and he saw his mother beating and scolding Jiang."

"Then how can Jiao Manshi be implicated?"

"Although Dongxu is under the jurisdiction of the state government, the Wu family's murder case did not attract Hu Duan's attention at first, and according to local practice, he does not need to personally try the case in this court...... "Lan Ting talked about the duties of the state government officials, and did not take care of Chungui's eagerness to conclude the case.

"I know that criminal cases that occur in prefectures and counties are generally tried by magistrates, but because Dongxu is under the jurisdiction of the state government, and the general judgment has authority over the criminal cases and litigation within the jurisdiction, it is completely possible to decide to preside over the trial in person, but generally speaking, unless the case is major and involves a wide range of issues, the general judgment pays more attention to grain transportation, family fields and other affairs, rather than judging criminal cases." Chungui interrupted.

"Hui Hui actually knows the functions of officials?"

"It was also when my father was alive that he casually explained a few words to me."

Lan Ting: It seems that Master Yue's father-in-law completely cultivated Chungui as the heir of the inheritance of the family, and even the affairs of officialdom were taught at a young age.

He no longer cared about him, which made Chungui even more anxious, and said: "The original Shu Tuiguan also asked the neighbors, thinking that the deceased Wu Dagui and the Jiang family were in love, and they accepted Jiang's evidence even more, and suspected that the murderer was Wu Ergui, but the Jiang family did not witness Wu Ergui's murder with his own eyes. ”

According to Jiang's account of the situation at the time, she and her husband had turned off the lights and rested, and when they were half-asleep and half-awake, they heard a noise in the yard, and Jiang thought it was a thief, Wu Dagui pushed open the window and took a look, and scolded "Ergui, how can this muddy person not get along with the jujube tree planted by his grandfather", it turned out that in the middle of the night, it was Wu Ergui who came from the corner gate and was waving a knife to cut down the tree.

Wu Dagui put on his clothes and went out to stop, Jiang was worried, listening to it in the window, he heard the two brothers arguing, she was even more uneasy, and she also put on her clothes and went out to dissuade her, but when she went out, she had seen her husband lying in a pool of blood, Wu Ergui stood aside, Jiang screamed and rushed forward to check, her husband was unconscious, she cried and scolded Wu Ergui, but was stopped by Wu's mother, who had also woken up out of the house, and the mother and son pushed her into the room, Wu's mother threatened her not to "defile" the uncle, Jiang did not comply, and insisted on going to sue the official, but was stopped by the mother and son.

How is Chiang an opponent? was knocked unconscious by Wu Ergui, and when she woke up, it was already Wu Ergui who had gone to sue the official, and Sun Ning and other officials in the torture room were recording evidence.

Both sides insisted on their own words, but because Wu Lao Niang was Wu Dagui's biological mother, she insisted that it was Jiang who killed people, and cried to her neighbors about Jiang's lewdness, pitiful for her eldest son was killed, and her second son was also wronged. Seeing that Shu Tuiguan was about to take office, he was worried that he would not be able to handle it well and hinder his promotion, so he became more and more hesitant.

It was precisely because of Hu Duan's trial that it was clear that Jiang was committing adultery with Jiao Manshi, and took advantage of the convenience of her husband to go to the second uncle's house to drink and stay overnight, and invited the adulterer to come to the door to steal joy, but Wu Dagui went home to break the adultery, and Jiang was beaten by Wu Dagui, and Jiao Manshi picked up the firewood knife in the yard and slashed Wu Dagui on the back of the head in order to get out, causing his death. And Wu Ergui also confessed that he invited his brother to drink that night, precisely because he felt guilty about the dispute over the jujube tree, and planned to bridge the friendship between the brothers. ”

"How did Hu Tong's verdict investigate the facts of the case?" Spring return is still full of confusion.

"It was said that Jiang Shi was unbearable to be tortured, he confessed, and there was supporting evidence from Jiao's wife and others, so the case was 'undoubted' The trial was concluded, and even before Jiang's confession, the original confession was written off, and soon, Shu Tuiguan was transferred to Fen, if it weren't for Brother An Shi who happened to participate in the preliminary investigation of this case, I didn't even know that there were so many discrepancies before and after this case." Lan Ting sneered.

Chungui also frowned: "It sounds like Wu's mother's evidence is unclear, and the intention is just to let Wu Ergui escape responsibility, so that the tragic death of the eldest son Wu Dagui is blamed on the daughter-in-law Jiang who accused the second son, so her initial confession said that she didn't see the adulterer's appearance clearly, but after the case was taken over by Hu Tong, the adulterer was conclusively scorched." ”

"Brother An Shi also has a friendship with the man who participated in the case at the beginning, and the reason why he paid special attention to this case was because he heard that the man mentioned that Hu Duan had summoned him to inquire about the case."

There are many errand servants in the yamen, and the status of the servant is the most lowly, and the servant was summoned by the dignified judge, and the flattered mood can be imagined, only that Hu Tongju is dutiful, so he carefully explained the matter of the night on duty, and mentioned that on his way to Wu's house, when he passed by the door of Jiao's house, he happened to meet an acquaintance, and that person was Langzhong, who lived near Dongxu.

As a result, it didn't take long for the Wu family's murder case to come to light, and the murderer was Jiang and the adulterer Jiao Manshi, and he was deeply aware of it, and faintly guessed that he didn't know whether the clues he provided became the key to solving the case, and once he drank too much wine, he mentioned to Sun Ning, Sun Ning was much sharper than Qi Zuo, he didn't think that Jiang was the real murderer at all, and believed in Shu Tuiguan's intuition at the beginning, Jiang was innocent, and the second noble brother was killed!

However, Sun Ning only suspects that he has no ability to perceive the facts, let alone rescue the innocent, he is just an intermediary, and he has no hope of entering the office, even if he has noticed the injustice, he can only quietly sigh and sympathize.

Until Lan Ting mentioned this old case to him.

"In this way, assuming that Wu Ergui is the real murderer, and Jiang and Jiao Manshi are innocent, then it must be Hu Duan, the state, who framed the two and exonerated Wu Ergui!" Chungui felt weird: "But Hu Duan and Wu Ergui are not related, and they have no hatred or grudge against Jiang and Jiao Manshi, as an official of the imperial court, why did he do such a thing that violated the law and discipline?!" ”

Since this case was revealed in the hands of Hu Duan, and he deliberately blurred the file file, then the reason for the previous assumption such as "the sophistry of the subordinates" does not exist, and it must be that Hu Duan deliberately judged this murder case to such a result, there is no evidence to show that he has a grudge against Jiang and Jiao Manshi, and there is only one motive left, which is to exonerate Wu Ergui.

Either Hu Duan took bribes, but Wu Ergui did not have the bribes to make Hu Duan bend the law.

Another possibility is that Wu Ergui is a relative and friend of Hu Duan, but this obviously does not exist.

Seeing Chungui's eyes, he was "thirsty for knowledge", but Lan Ting spread his hands: "This time I am still confused, and I can't find any clues at all." ”

Chungui let out a long sigh of disappointment.

But it is secretly worried: In any case, the mother and son of the Wu family are also extremely critical, as long as this case is retried, they will definitely be uneasy, if they let the canal go out to peep, I am not afraid that they will not be sure whether they are guilty or not, maybe this time, I can really be one step ahead of me to find out the facts of the case earlier.