Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 355: One Body, Three Heads

"Of course there are many such cases. But is it possible that the silver was not taken away by the culprit, but by the person who first discovered the body but did not report the case? Or was it simply taken away by the people from the Bingmasi?" Fang Zhenru said without hesitation, and did not even lower his voice because there were people from the Bingmasi standing at the door.

"It's possible." Shen Guangzuo raised his hand to stop Tan Shijiang. "But we haven't found any useful clues yet, so Tan Tuifu's hypothesis isn't wrong. It's at least a direction to follow. And in this case, no silver was found on the deceased."

Fang Zhenru looked at Shen Guangzuo. "Is that why you ask those questions?"

Shen Guangzuo nodded and said, "As far as I know, a middle-aged woman of the age of the man in the wing room is entitled to at least 20 taels of silver when leaving the palace. But I searched the wing room for a long time and only found some miscellaneous items in the cabinet. Not to mention silver, there's not even a copper coin. And it's impossible for the soldiers from the military to put the silver on their bodies under your nose. The body is still hanging on the beam."

"But this family looks like honest and respectable people." Fang Zhenru looked at the room opposite again.

"I don't think they did it either. But we can't rely on preconceived intuition when investigating a case. We have to investigate everything." Shen Guangzuo said, "I've seen it. The man's death is a common suicide by hanging. The strangulation marks on the back of the neck don't cross, there are scratches on both sides, the nails are turned outward and bleeding, and there are pieces of flesh stuck between the nails. Moreover, this family has no strong laborers. The old man and the old woman combined may not be able to move the deceased, let alone the boy who cried non-stop when he saw the body. This alone is not enough. Only after we have searched the rest of the yard can we preliminarily rule out this family as a suspect."

Fang Zhenru nodded slightly and continued, "But even if they find money, we can't say that it was taken from the deceased, right? Maybe it's their own savings over the years?"

"Haha." Shen Guangzuo's face lit up with admiration. "Fang Haiwei, you really are cut out for the job of magistrate. Other cases require careful investigation of witnesses and evidence to avoid the miscarriage of justice you're worried about, but in this case, simply finding the silver will allow us to immediately determine if it was carried by the deceased."

"Why?" Fang Zhenru asked.

Shen Guangzuo said, "It seems you don't know yet. The silver these eunuchs took with them when they left the palace wasn't old-style official ingots or broken silver. It was the newly minted 'Taichang Silver' made by the Silver Bureau. 'Taichang Silver' is easy to recognize. It's completely different from the old-style official ingots. Even without the stamp, you can tell it apart at a glance."

"I see." Fang Zhenru nodded deeply and said nothing more. Silence returned to the back room.

--------

Just as the search for evidence was about to conclude, the sound of hurried horse hooves approached from afar, quickly arriving at the crime scene. Zheng Shiyi was accompanied by two of his generals, along with a team of galloping captains.

Zheng Shiyi and the two generals dismounted at the courtyard gate, handed the reins to the captain, and strode into the courtyard. Because there was no place to tie the horses outside the courtyard, the captain who was looking after the horses could only hold the reins and act as a human hitching post.

"Humble official Yang Zhang greets Captain Zheng." The first person to greet him was Yang Zhang, commander of the North City Military Command. He approached Zheng Shiyi and saluted respectfully, but Zheng Shiyi, who was of the same rank, didn't even glance at him. He simply walked past him and headed to the pile of debris in the center of the courtyard.

Zheng Shiyi faced Tan Shijiang without even greeting him. He pointed at the junk and asked, "Where's the body? Who found it? And what are these rags?"

"The deceased is still hanging in the wing room. It was discovered by the owner of this house. These things are all the family's property." Tan Shijiang began to feel frightened when he saw the Jinyiwei. After answering one by one, he directed Zheng Shiyi's attention to the back room: "Zheng Baizai, Shen Zanfu and Fang Yushi are here too."

"You called the city inspector as well! Why?" Zheng Shiyi asked in surprise.

"The inspector wasn't sent by the Shuntian Prefecture Office." Tan Shijiang looked at Yang Zhang. "When Shen Zanfu and I arrived here, Censor Fang had already arrived."

Zheng Shiyi then followed Tan Shijiang's gaze and looked directly at Yang Zhang. He asked in the tone of a superior addressing a subordinate, "Why did you call the Imperial Inspector here? Didn't we send someone to warn you?"

"Oh!" Yang Zhang glanced at Fang Zhenru in the back room, then pointed in the direction of the main room. With a helpless tone, he whispered, "Captain Zheng, I didn't call Censor Fang here. This family went directly to the Northern Inspection Court when they reported the case. We were all called here by Censor Fang."

The Office of the Imperial Censorate for Inspecting Cities is also known as the "Office of the Imperial Censorate for Inspecting a Certain City", and is often shortened to "Office of the Imperial Censorate for Inspecting a Certain City" in spoken language.

Since the Hongwu reign, city inspectors have been able to supervise and dispatch the Bingmasi (military guards) in their respective cities. With the establishment of the East and West Offices during the Chenghua reign, the Bingmasi gained a new superior, the Jinyiwei (embroidered uniform guards). Furthermore, since Shuntian Prefecture could investigate all cases, both large and small, within the capital and its suburbs, and could also dispatch the Bingmasi when doing so, this sixth-rank government office effectively came under triple authority. For the Bingmasi, it was like having three heads on one body.

Normally, it wasn't that bad. The Jinyiwei generally didn't care about trivial matters. Even a murder case was considered a minor offense in their eyes. Shuntian Prefecture could investigate it. The city inspectors mainly dealt with officials and their families. Unless there was a public security incident, they rarely ordered the military to be deployed.

But if they encountered a case like the one in front of them that concerned all three yamen, the Bingmasi, who were caught in the middle, would be in a very difficult situation.

"Hmph!" Zheng Shiyi snorted and turned to walk towards the back house.

"Oh." Yang Zhang and Tan Shijiang looked at each other and followed closely.

In the back room, Shen Guangzuo and Fang Zhenru had already heard the noise and stood up. Zheng Shiyi walked in, but only bowed to the prefect Shen Guangzuo. "This humble official greets Mr. Shen Zan."

"Greetings, Zheng Baizai." Fang Zhenru and Shen Guangzuo saluted Zheng Shiyi together, obviously not caring much about Zheng Shiyi's rudeness.

After the greetings, Zheng Shiyi immediately asked, "Have you examined the person who reported the case?"

"Zheng Baizai, why don't you go check on the body first?" Shen Guangzuo also instructed, "It's in the wing room over there."

Zheng Shiyi said, "The coroner will examine the body. I just want to know why it's here." As Tan Shijiang pointed out the body's location, a Jinyiwei officer, a veteran of the coroner trade, led two others to examine it. If Shen Guangzuo and Fang Zhenru hadn't been there, Zheng Shiyi would have had the family arrested and ready to be taken to the East Office prison.

"Zheng Baizai, please be patient and take a seat." Shen Guangzuo did not answer immediately, but waved his hand towards the empty stool next to him, which was where Tan Shijiang had sat before.

Zheng Shiyi was silent for a moment, but finally sat down. "Mr. Shen Zan, can you speak now?"

Shen Guangzuo said, "The deceased was a tenant of this house, and the lease was only signed this month. Therefore, I infer that the deceased was a redundant employee who was laid off during the internal layoffs. There was no severance pay provided by the palace during the layoffs in the deceased's room." At this point, Shen Guangzuo looked at Tan Shijiang again. "Mr. Tan, when you went out to check the property just now, did you find the 'Taichang Silver'?"

"This family doesn't have much cash to begin with. The small change found in the entire yard only adds up to three or four taels." Tan Shijiang unfolded his clenched right hand, and a small purse immediately appeared before everyone's eyes. He opened the bag and poured the small change into his left hand. "Besides this silver, there's also nearly a whole string of copper coins of various ages."

Although the influx of silver from overseas led to the widespread use of precisely cut silver coins as an alternative "sub-coin" for daily transactions, the copper coin's position remained remarkably stable. After all, accurately dividing silver coins was a skill, and there was always the risk of being cheated when giving change. Throughout the Ming Dynasty, almost every emperor minted copper coins as low-value subsidiary coins for civilian use. Before leaving office, Li Ruhua prepared to communicate with the Ministry of Industry and jointly request the minting of a batch of "Taichang Tongbao" coins, declaring the new emperor's presence in circulation.

While they were talking, Yang Zhang tactfully found a low stool for Tan Shijiang and placed it under his butt. "Mr. Tan Tui, please take a seat."

"Thank you." Tan Shijiang sat down and, from among the mostly small, old silver, he picked out a piece of silver that was noticeably newer and slightly larger, showing it to the crowd. "This is the only one, and it looks like it was cut from a piece of 'Taichang Silver.' The weight roughly matches what the old woman said, but since there's no year stamp on the cut, I can't be completely sure."

"Put it away." Shen Guangzuo waved his hand and said to Zheng Shiyi, "This is the situation we have at the moment."

"In other words, the deceased's money was lost, but Shuntian Prefecture ruled out the possibility that this family killed for money?" Zheng Shiyi understood it all at once.

"It can't be said to be ruled out." Shen Guangzuo's eyes twitched. He chose his words carefully and said rigorously: "It's just that at this moment, we have not found any conclusive evidence in this yard that can be used to prove that this family killed people for money. Moreover, there are only two old people and one child living in this house. They may not be able to carry the deceased to the beam even if they are combined." Shen Guangzuo shook his sleeves and pointed to the main house opposite through the window.

Zheng Shiyi only glanced at it. "Just because there are two elderly people and a child living there doesn't mean they're the only ones there. Who knows? Perhaps their able-bodied laborers have already gone into hiding somewhere else. And even if there aren't any, they might be colluding with someone, acting as accomplices. Perhaps it's some meticulous criminal who specifically targets seemingly insurmountable individuals like these, kills them, robs them, and then has them report them to the authorities to dispel their suspicions. Meanwhile, the actual perpetrators have already disappeared with the money."

Fang Zhenru could tell this Jinyiwei captain was clearly pre-positioned, intent on diverting the investigation towards this family. He couldn't help but retort, "If there truly was a meticulous criminal, why not just dump the bodies in the river, like the first and second bodies? And instead of sending someone to report it to the authorities, are they afraid the authorities won't be able to catch them?"

Zheng Shiyi turned his head and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Those two cases didn't happen in the jurisdiction of the Northern Inspection Court, did they? How did Censor Fang know about them?"

"I heard about it." Fang Zhenru said.

"Who told you that?" Zheng Shiyi immediately pressed, his eyes subconsciously glancing in Shen Guangzuo's direction. Previously, in Shuntian Prefecture, he and Shen Guangzuo had agreed to a verbal cooperation agreement, which stipulated that both parties would not interfere with each other, share intelligence, and not disclose information to others until they reached an agreement.

"I" Fang Zhenru started to say, but he swallowed his words. He frowned and asked, "Captain Zheng, are you questioning me?"

"So what?" Zheng Shiyi stared at him intently, his tone harsh. If Fang Zhenru hadn't taken matters into his own hands, Zheng Shiyi wouldn't have bothered to talk to him. In Zheng Shiyi's view, every single one of the officials was a troublemaker, always looking for trouble. With this bunch of people getting involved, the case was completely unstoppable.

"Where in the Ming Dynasty is there any law that allows the Jinyiwei to interrogate a sitting censor?" Fang Zhenru met Zheng Shiyi's gaze without flinching. "If you want to interrogate me, you'd better ask for permission to arrest me first."

Seeing that the tension between the two was getting more and more intense, Shen Guangzuo had to speak out to stop them and said, "Okay! Let's talk about the case." Zheng Shiyi looked at Shen Guangzuo, and Shen Guangzuo shook his head, indicating that the news was not leaked from Shuntian Prefecture.

Zheng Shiyi understood and was willing to believe Shen Guangzuo. After all, Fang Zhenru had been invited by the reporter to come to the scene, making him the first official to arrive. It wasn't surprising that the case had leaked. He bowed to Shen Guangzuo, took a few deep breaths, and then looked back at Fang Zhenru. "Then, Censor Fang, are you sure about your previous statement?"

"What do you mean?" Fang Zhenru also saw Shen Guangzuo shaking his head, but he thought completely differently from Shen and Zheng. He just thought that Shen Guangzuo wanted Zheng Shiyi to speak less harshly.

"This family has nothing to do with the case," said Zheng Shiyi.

"When did I say that?" Fang Zhenru asked.

"You just said it, and you forgot it after getting into an argument?" Zheng Shiyi's tone softened a little, but the content was still aggressive.

Fang Zhenru was stunned for a moment before he said, "I was just objecting to your speculation based on basic logic. I didn't say that this family had nothing to do with the case."

"So you're saying that this family may be related to the case?" Zheng Shiyi turned the words around, and Shen Guangzuo frowned.

"I didn't say that." Fang Zhenru's blood pressure rose again. "Why do you always misinterpret my meaning?"

"I didn't misinterpret your meaning. I just followed basic logic and made my own understanding of your words. And I made it very clear." Zheng Shiyi paused for a moment before emphasizing, "It's possible!"

(End of this chapter)