Chapter 41 Murder
Li Nuo has been in the Chang'an County Government for several days. Today is the first time he has met the county magistrate and the county lieutenant.
In a county, the county magistrate is the chief official, while the county clerk and county lieutenant are assistant officials. Their duty is to assist the county magistrate in handling government affairs. The county clerk can be understood as the deputy county magistrate, who can temporarily take over the position of the county magistrate when the county magistrate is absent for some reason. The county lieutenant is specifically in charge of arresting thieves, which is equivalent to the director of the county public security bureau in later generations.
Li Nuo remembered that in ancient times, most of the time, the rank of the county magistrate and the county assistant were very different, and the county lieutenant was even further away, and they were minor officials who had just entered the mainstream. However, in the Great Xia of this world, it seemed that in order to balance the power of the county magistrate, the ranks of the county magistrate and the county assistant were not low.
The magistrate of Chang'an County is of the fifth rank, the county assistant is of the sixth rank, and the county lieutenant is of the seventh rank. They are all appointed and dismissed directly by the imperial court. Magistrate Pei, as the head of a county, cannot do whatever he wants in the county government.
But judging from the two men's servile attitude towards Magistrate Pei, although Lord Pei was timid as hell in front of the lady, his ability to control his subordinates seemed to be pretty good. Both County Magistrate Zhang and County Lieutenant Wang were extremely respectful to him.
With a county magistrate and a county lieutenant in the county government, Pei Zhe no longer has to do everything himself.
Zhang, the county magistrate, took care of the farming, collecting taxes and labor service, promoting education, and caring for the orphans and widows. Wang, the county lieutenant, took over the dirty and tiring work of arresting thieves. Li Nuo was in charge of hearing cases and judging cases. As the county magistrate, he only had to drink tea and catch up on his sleep in the back hall, or go to Fengqi Tower to help those poor women under the pretext of an incognito tour...
Now that my career has come this far, what more could I ask for?
It’s a pity that all the gifts from fate are secretly marked with a price.
There is a reason why County Magistrate Zhang and County Lieutenant Wang became so obedient. They were not afraid of himself, but of the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple behind him.
No, how could there be a Dali Temple Minister behind him?
But everyone thought so, and he was just covered in mud and had no way of defending himself.
Pei Zhe sighed. Over the past decade, he had been very careful in everything he did, as he did not want to be involved in the disputes in the officialdom. However, he did not expect that he would not be able to escape in the end.
He could only comfort himself that even if he was forced to take sides, he would be taking sides with the extremely powerful Dali Temple Minister. At least before he fell, he would be absolutely safe. Not only would he be safe, but he could also walk sideways in the Daxia officialdom. If Prince Chun succeeded to the throne in the future, he would also have the merit of following the dragon, and the position under his buttocks might be raised further...
Pei Zhe had just changed his clothes and was about to go out to investigate the people's sentiments. Before he even stepped out of the door, he saw County Lieutenant Wang running in hurriedly and said in a deep voice, "Oh no, Lord Pei, a big case has occurred!"
Judging from the expression of County Lieutenant Wang, this case should be quite serious. Pei Zhe did not bother to go out and hurried to the front hall of the county government office.
Pei Zhe had just run to the front hall and looked at the two bodies on the ground. He turned around and leaned against the wall to vomit violently, vomiting out all the breakfast he had just eaten.
A little further away, near the wall, Li Nuo was also feeling uncomfortable.
He had just finished vomiting.
He was originally mediating a marriage dispute. When he heard that a murder had occurred, he did not even bother to judge the case and ran away immediately.
After all, if he judged ten such small cases, he could only extend his life by one day, while solving a homicide case would take at least ten days, and solving a hundred small cases would be equivalent to solving one homicide case.
If the murderer is a high-level warrior, the increased lifespan can be multiplied countless times based on the ten days, and it can take off directly.
So Li Nuo ran out in a hurry.
How fast he rushed forward, how fast he retreated.
The two bodies placed outside the court were probably burned by fire and then soaked in water for who knows how long. It was simply horrible to look at, and the condition was difficult to describe in words. Li Nuo had handled many criminal cases, but he was only responsible for sentencing and had never been to the scene. This tragic scene gave him a great visual impact, and he almost vomited out his overnight meal.
Most of the people present were leaning against the wall and vomiting. Only County Lieutenant Wang and a group of detectives who often rushed to the crime scene could still stand normally, but most of the people's faces were very pale.
Pei Zhe ordered people to carry the body to the morgue first. After a long time, his complexion looked better.
He looked at County Lieutenant Wang and asked, "What's going on?"
County Lieutenant Wang walked up to him, clasped his fists, and said, "The people who reported the case were two fishermen. They went to the river to fish early this morning and found the two bodies in a bay. I have investigated and found that it should not be the first scene. The bodies were first burned and then soaked in water for a long time. The coroner could not find the specific time of death, but according to the two fishermen, they were fishing in that bay all day on July 11, and the two bodies did not exist at that time. Based on the appearance of the bodies, it is speculated that the deceased is a man and a woman, and the time of death was between July 12 and July 15..."
Li Nuo has a deep memory of July 12, because it was on this day that he traveled through time.
Today is July 19th, which means it has been about seven days since the two people were murdered, which is almost the same two days when he traveled through time.
County Lieutenant Wang continued to report, "Two charred corpses. The woman had a fatal wound on her chest. The man was headless, with a smooth cut on his neck. He must have been beheaded with a sharp weapon before death. It is speculated that the murderer is a warrior above the Inner Breathing Realm. I have sent people to visit nearby villages to see if there are any missing people in recent days..."
When it comes to investigating cases and tracking down murderers, County Lieutenant Wang is undoubtedly professional.
The first and most important step in solving a murder case is to identify the deceased.
Only by confirming the identity of the deceased can we check their interpersonal relationships one by one and determine the next direction of investigation.
Once the identity of the deceased was confirmed, it would be much easier for Li Nuo to find the murderer.
Judging from the cut on the male corpse's neck, the murderer is most likely a master. If he can be arrested, it will at least add one month to his life. Li Nuo is looking forward to it.
This expectation lasted for seven days.
During these seven days, the county detectives visited many places but could not even confirm the identities of the two deceased. The case was at a stalemate and there was no progress at all.
Although Li Nuo was a little disappointed, he couldn't blame them.
The two bodies were first burned and then soaked, and one of them was still headless. Without DNA testing technology, even their relatives would probably not be able to recognize them.
According to Magistrate Pei, if one out of ten homicide cases in Daxia could be solved, it would be considered a good success. In the majority of cases, no result would be obtained.
Although the murder case that he had high hopes for was not solved, Li Nuo gained a lot in these seven days. After the case of the son of the imperial examination official, the credibility of the county government among the people was greatly enhanced. During these seven days, Li Nuo personally handled hundreds of cases, and his lifespan has accumulated to ninety-three days.
Compared to the three-day countdown half a month ago, the three months allowed him to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Tomorrow is another holiday. Li Nuo plans to give Lord Pei and the others a day off, as well as a day off for himself. He does not plan to go to the county government office.
In the past half month, he really hasn't had a single day of rest.
I get up at dawn and go to the county government office. I am busy all day and sometimes I don’t even have time to eat lunch. When I return home in the evening, after explaining math problems to Mu’er, I read books by myself until very late. My days are extremely fulfilling.
I just feel like life is meaningless.
So he planned to take a day off to adjust.
(End of this chapter)
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