Chapter 134 Searching for the Xue Family's Descendants
Chapter 134 Searching for the Xue Family's Descendants
An old case!
In Zhao Duan's expectation, the "file bag" would contain a letter of denunciation, clues to hidden property, or some other miscellaneous things.
But when I looked at it, I realized that it was actually a file.
It records a murder case that occurred thirteen years ago during the reign of the old emperor, in the "Zhengtong Year".
And this file is a record of the government office in the capital.
The documents look presentable, but a quick glance reveals that the information content is shockingly low.
Almost all of them involve going through the processes of various departments and getting stamps and other "procedures".
"Just look at the back. Forget it. Just turn to the last page and look at the stamp of the officer handling the case."
Haitang curled her lips and pointed out.
The important things are placed on top... He is not sensible at all and it is obvious that he has no experience in doing things... Zhao Duan complained.
He skipped the beginning and pulled out the last page, his eyebrows raised:
"The chief judge is the Chief Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate... Zhou Cheng? Huh? He was an official in the Metropolitan Censorate?"
Zhao Duan was surprised.
Zhang Han, with a paralyzed face, looked like a serious business executive, reciting:
"Zhou Cheng was born in a poor family. He loved reading when he was young and was very smart. He became a scholar at the age of sixteen, passed the imperial examination, and became a Jinshi. He was appointed as the head of the Ministry of Revenue, supervising the state's finances. It was also at that time that he first developed a colleague relationship with the prime minister of the dynasty.
After that, he was transferred several times in the six ministries, and was sent to Linfeng Prefecture to serve as a prefect. Because of his outstanding achievements, he was promoted to the Huaishui Road Censor, and then to the Governor...
Afterwards, he was transferred back to the capital and entered the Censorate, serving as the Chief Censor, during the Zhengtong period.
Haitang, who was eating melon seeds out of boredom, added:
"By the way, it's worth mentioning that the position of Chief Censor of the Censorate was vacant at that time, so he, as the Chief Minister, was in charge of the entire Censorate."
Shit... Is this old Deng's resume so impressive... As expected, none of those who can become one of the Nine Ministers are simple.
Zhao Duan knew that the "Chief Censor" was the deputy of the "Grand Censor" and was of the fourth rank.
It is equivalent to a stepping stone before being promoted to the position of Dali Temple Minister.
"Hey, what's the matter with this long list of criminals? As I recall, it started out as just a minor case."
Zhao Duan glanced at the list of criminals again and his face changed slightly.
This time, without being reminded by his colleagues, he calmed down and quickly started reading from the beginning.
-
The cases are as follows:
During the Zhengtong period, one day, a centurion named Yang An in the capital suddenly fell ill and died at home.
The family was dealing with the funeral in grief, but unexpectedly, a colleague of Yang An stood up and claimed that Yang An did not die of illness, but was the result of a vicious plot by a treacherous person.
He sued Yang An's wife, Yue, for having an affair with his brother-in-law.
Because Yang An had an old illness, the adulterous couple asked their neighbor, Mrs. Hao, to ask a low-level sorcerer named Shen from the Tianshi Mansion to mix talisman paper into the medicine to stimulate the disease, thus killing Yang An.
The petition was delivered to the government office.
After investigation and trial, the government found that it was true and arrested the adulterous couple and their neighbor Ms. Hao and put them in jail.
Even the sorcerer named Shen was "extradited" from the Tianshi Mansion and thrown into prison for breaking the law.
Because it involved a murder case, the government's verdict needed to be submitted to the Three Courts for review.
The case went through the hands of the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice, both of which determined that the criminal should be sentenced to death.
However, when it was submitted to the Dali Temple, it was rejected by an official named Xue Lin, who was the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple at that time.
Zhao Duan was watching with great interest and gradually became absorbed in it.
But I found that the information I had was suddenly lost.
There seems to be a part missing in the middle.
On the new page, there is only a brief description that due to the disagreement among the three courts, the case was finally submitted to the late emperor for his judgment.
After investigation, it was determined that Xue Lin, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and others accepted bribes, collectively violated the law, and sheltered criminals.
The late emperor was furious, and several officials from the Dali Temple, led by Xue Lin, were collectively imprisoned. After interrogation, a group of other criminals were implicated.
In the end, this case, which was not a big deal, involved a group of people.
The officials involved in the case were either beheaded or exiled.
-
"What about the middle part?"
Zhao Duan raised his head, threw the information on the table, and said suspiciously:
"Is there a part missing from this dossier?"
Even a blind man can see that there is a missing part of the story from the time Xue Lin rejected the government's decision to the end of the late emperor and the imprisonment of Xue Lin and his group of officials.
At the square table, Zhang Han shook his head expressionlessly:
"No, the middle part of the file is all lost."
Zhao Duan raised his eyebrows: "Tell me in detail!"
Zhang Han looked at the Narcissus Hall Master opposite him and said:
"You know this old case best, and you were the first to uncover it. Please tell us about it."
Zhao Du'an was interested. While eating melon seeds, he looked at his heroic female colleague:
Come on, show.
"..." Haitang sighed and said helplessly:
“In fact, before you received this mission, the Imperial Court had paid attention to Zhou Cheng, but there was no significant gain.
Of course, it was also because His Majesty did not allow us to investigate at that time, but in order to compete for the first place in the Nine Halls, I paid special attention to these court officials. "
Oh, I understand... You really want to improve... Zhao Duan showed admiration on his face.
Haitang said:
"So, I looked up the major cases he had handled, and found this case, which happened when he was the Chief Censor. Then, when I tried to investigate further, I found something wrong."
Zhao Duan's eyes flickered:
"You found that the files were incomplete?"
"That's right!" Haitang looked reminiscent.
"With the authority of our imperial court, we have the opportunity to retrieve even the files in the three departments.
I found a reason to investigate, and found that except for the initial part of the case, which was about the murder of her husband, the records in the government documents were relatively complete. The part after Xue Lin was involved disappeared completely, and even what was left was only a few brief words.
Zhao Duan sat up straight:
"Do you suspect that someone is covering up something?"
Haitang nodded and said seriously:
“These are just files from more than a decade ago, so they should be relatively intact.
Moreover, this case involved so many officials, even a Dali Temple Shaoqing was beheaded, and many government offices were involved, but each government office lost it. This is too abnormal!"
Zhao Duan asked: "And then?"
Haitang leaned back unhappily, folded her arms, and said listlessly:
"Then I tried to do a simple search privately, but there was no progress. Plus, I had a lot of cases on my hands at the time and I couldn't spare the energy to satisfy my curiosity, so I put it aside for the time being and put it out of my mind."
Zhang Han added:
“She didn’t pick up this clue until she learned that you were going to deal with Zhou Cheng.
We both agreed that there must be something fishy going on here.
The person who presided over the case was Zhou Cheng, and among the people involved in the case, apart from the late emperor, Zhou Cheng was the only one who was most likely to be able to erase the relevant records. "
Wonderful!
If it was really the file that Zhou Cheng destroyed, it means that this old case very likely contained content that threatens his current position.
Zhao Duan smacked his lips and pinched melon seeds:
"If that's the case, then it is indeed a breakthrough. But it seems a little difficult to investigate. I don't know how to solve cases, and you are professionals in this area. Do you have any suggestions?"
What he is best at is dealing with people.
Instead of looking for clues from the intricate fog.
But it doesn’t matter. His experience in his previous life taught him that a leader does not need to understand the business, as long as the people under him understand it.
Haitang's lips curled up slightly, with a smug look as if saying, "You can't say no, please ask me for help one day."
He picked up the teacup beside him, drank a sip in a pretentious tone, and then said lightly:
"The documents are destroyed, but the people who knew what happened are still alive. Although Xue Lin was beheaded and almost all the family members died, only one daughter is still alive, and she is in the capital."
Daughter... Zhao Duan suddenly realized:
"Are we going to the Jiaofangsi next?"
Generally speaking, officials who committed serious crimes would have their male family members exiled to the frontier to do hard labor, and their female family members would be forced to work in official brothels under the Ministry of Rites to pay off their debts.
Xue Lin's entire family died out, leaving only a daughter. Zhao Duan rationally guessed that she was most likely forced into the sea life.
Zhang Han also nodded, had the same guess, and stood up immediately.
Thinking about how to reimburse the "ticket money" to the Jiaofangsi.
Haitang was stunned for a second before she understood the train of thought of these two men. She couldn't help but blush and angrily slammed the table and spat:
"Can you think of something clean? I'm fine. I didn't go to that kind of place."
Then he explained:
"When Xue Lin was imprisoned, many officials in the court worked hard for him. Xue Lin's only daughter, named Xue Xuan, was engaged to the eldest grandson of the then Grand Tutor Dong, but they were still young and had not met each other yet.
After Xue Lin was imprisoned, Master Dong tried to mediate, but ultimately failed to save her life, and the marriage between the two families was naturally called off. However, Xue Xuan was saved, and he escaped from danger.
Now, thirteen years have passed, and Xue Xuan has grown up.
Now she lives in East City and runs a small private school. If we just pry her open, we might be able to find out the missing part of the document..."
It turned out to be like this... The two men were embarrassed. They were the ones who had evil hearts and dirty eyes.
However, now that we have someone to deal with, it will be easy.
Zhao Duan doesn’t know how to solve cases, but he is good at dealing with people.
"Then what are you waiting for? It's better to do it now than to wait for a better day. Come with me to meet the descendant of the Xue family."
Zhao Duan shook off the melon seed shells on his hands and stood up.
That's what I meant... The two colleagues also stood up, paid the bill and went downstairs.
downstairs.
Zhao Duan stepped onto the carriage, but his two colleagues did not ride in the carriage, but rode on horses alone.
It would not be appropriate to make a big fuss to catch Zhou Cheng's handle, so he did not bring any men with him.
"Tsk, we ride on horses while he rides in a car. It seems like we have really become his subordinates and guards."
Haitang, who is heroic, has long legs, a high ponytail and outstanding looks, hummed.
Next to him, Zhang Han, who was leading the horse, said in silence, thinking:
Didn't the Governor send us here to serve as his subordinates and guards to prevent him from being assassinated again?
"Miss Haitang, if you don't like riding a horse, come sit next to me."
inside the carriage.
When Zhao Duan heard her mumbling, he laughed and raised his hand to pat the cushion next to him in the car.
Playboy... Haitang rolled her eyes and ignored him. She jumped on the horse and whipped him:
"drive!"
……
……
On the other side, outside the Jiaofangsi.
A carriage slowly stopped on the street.
The driver whispered:
"Sir, according to the report, Zhao Duan's lackey, called Qin Qu, came here last night and did not come out. He must have stayed overnight."
Separated by a thick curtain, inside the carriage.
He Zheng, who was not wearing the blue official robe but was dressed in casual clothes, looked righteous but was actually full of thieves and prostitutes. He opened his eyes from his nap.
The Dali Temple Secretary, who had had two feuds with Zhao Duan, raised his hand, pursed his beard, and looked at the Jiaofangsi across the street through the car window.
His eyes were gloomy: "Find him."
(End of this chapter)