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 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.
"Just look at the back. Forget it. Just turn to the last page and read the stamp of the case officer."
Haitang curled her lips and pointed.
The important things are placed on top... He is not sensible at all and has no experience in doing things at all... Zhao Duan complained.
He skipped the beginning and pulled out the last page, his eyebrows raised:
"The presiding judge is the Chief Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate... Minister Zhou? Huh? He used to be an official in the Metropolitan Censorate?"
Zhao Duan was surprised.
Zhang Han, with his expressionless face, looked like a serious business backbone, reciting:
"Cheng Zhou was born in poverty. He loved reading as a child and was very intelligent. He became a scholar at the age of sixteen, passed the imperial examination, and became a Jinshi. He was appointed as the director of the Ministry of Revenue, overseeing the national finances. It was also during that time that he first became a colleague with the then Prime Minister.
After that, he was transferred several times within the six ministries, and was sent to Linfeng Prefecture as a prefect. Due to his outstanding achievements, he was promoted to Huaishui Dao Censor, and then to Provincial Governor...
Afterwards, he was transferred back to the capital and entered the Censorate, serving as Chief Censor, during the Zhengtong period.
Haitang, who was bored and eating melon seeds, added:
"By the way, it's worth mentioning that the position of Chief Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate was vacant at that time, so he, as the Minister of Justice, was in charge of the entire Metropolitan Censorate."
Holy shit... Is this Lao 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 with this long list of criminals? I remember it started with 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 grieving and dealing with the funeral, 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 conspiracy 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 adulterer and the adulteress asked their neighbor Hao to ask a low-grade sorcerer named Shen from the Tianshi Mansion to do it. They mixed talisman paper into the medicine to stimulate the disease and kill Yang An.
The petition was delivered to the government office.
After investigation and trial, the government found that the incident was indeed true and arrested the adulterous couple and their neighbor, Ms. Hao, and put them in jail.
Even the sorcerer surnamed 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 interrupted.
There seems to be a part missing in the middle.
On the new page, there is only a brief description. 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 the Dali Temple, and others accepted bribes, collectively violated the law, and sheltered criminals.
The late emperor was furious and several Dali Temple officials, led by Xue Lin, were collectively imprisoned. After interrogation, a group of criminal officials were implicated.
In the end, this case, which was not a big deal, ended up involving a group of people.
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 file?"
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 completely 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 Antun was interested. While eating melon seeds, he looked at his heroic female colleague:
Come on, show it.
"..." 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 didn't allow us to investigate at that time, but in order to compete for the position of the first in the Nine Halls, I paid special attention to these high-ranking officials in the court."
Oh, I understand... You really want to improve... Zhao Duan showed admiration on his face.
Haitang said:
"So, I looked into the major cases he had handled and discovered this one, from when he was Chief Censor. Then, when I tried to investigate further, I realized something was wrong."
Zhao Duan's eyes flickered:
"You discovered that the files were incomplete?"
"That's right!" Haitang's face showed reminiscence.
"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 discovered that, apart from the initial part of the case about "murdering husband", there was a relatively complete record in the government office's case files.
The part after Xue Lin got involved disappeared completely, and even what remained were only very brief fragments.
Zhao Duan sat up straighter:
"Do you suspect someone is covering up something?"
Haitang nodded and said seriously:
"These files are only from more than a decade ago, so they should be relatively intact.
Moreover, this case implicated so many officials, even chopped off the head of a Dali Temple official, and involved numerous government offices, yet each of them 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 quick private search, but it didn't lead to anything. Plus, I had a lot of cases on my plate 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 back then was Zhou Cheng, and among those involved in the case, apart from the late emperor, Zhou Cheng was the only one most likely to have been 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 the melon seeds:
"If that's the case, then it's indeed a breakthrough. But it seems a little difficult to investigate. I don't know how to solve cases, and you're professionals in this area. What suggestions do you have?"
What he is best at is getting people to do things.
Instead of looking for clues from the complex fog.
But it doesn’t matter. His previous life experience taught him a truth: to be a leader, you don’t need to understand the business, as long as the people under you understand it.
Haitang's lips curled up slightly, with a smug look on her face as if to say, "You can say no and 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 those who knew what happened are still around. Although Xue Lin was beheaded and almost everyone in her family died, only one daughter is still alive, and she's in the capital."
Daughter... Zhao Duan suddenly said:
"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, with the same guess, and stood up immediately.
Thinking about how to reimburse the "ticket money" for going to the Jiaofangsi.
Haitang was stunned for a second before she understood the two men's train of thought. Her cheeks flushed red as she angrily slammed the table and spat:
"Can you guys 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 on his behalf. Xue Lin's only daughter, Xue Xuan, was betrothed to the eldest grandson of the then Grand Tutor Dong, but they were still very young and had never met.
After Xue Lin was imprisoned, Grand Tutor Dong mediated, but ultimately failed to save his life, and the marriage between the two families was naturally called off. However, he did save Xue Xuan, allowing him to escape 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 can 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 just black-hearted and had dirty eyes.
However, now that we have someone to deal with, it's easy.
Zhao Duan doesn’t know how to solve cases, but he is good at dealing with people.
"Then what are you waiting for? Better today than tomorrow. Come with me to meet that 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 horseback.
It was not appropriate to make a big fuss to catch Zhou Cheng's handle, so he didn't bring any men with him.
"Tsk, we ride on horses and he rides in a car, it seems like we have really become his subordinate guards."
Haitang, who was handsome, with long legs, a high ponytail and outstanding appearance, hummed.
Beside him, Zhang Han, who was leading the horse, remained silent, 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 car.
Zhao Duan heard her muttering, 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 it down:
"drive!"
…
…
On the other side, outside the Jiaofangsi.
On the street, a carriage slowly stopped.
The driver whispered:
"Sir, according to the report, Zhao Duan's lackey, called Qin Qu, came here last night and has not come out since. He must have stayed overnight."
Inside the carriage, separated by a thick curtain.
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 a 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)
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