Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 15 Admit
Inside and outside the torture chamber.

Silence fell.

Both parties looked at Haiyue in amazement.

Most people in the government office were shocked. Except for Gu Shanjie and Shao Jing who had come to their senses, everyone else was dumbfounded.

These days, the entire government office has been revolving around the case of Li Weining's murder. Now someone tells them that it was not the prince who died, but the guards who did it?

how can that be!

The expressions of Annan's guards were very subtle. The arrogance they had just shown was gone. Several of them had their eyes rolling around with strange expressions.

"ridiculous!"

Ruan Zhengyong's expression was relatively calm, even his fury gone. His gaze fixed fiercely on Haiyue, as if he was re-examining the student he had accused. "How could you fabricate such a monstrous lie just to get away with it?"

"Don't rush to quibble. I've long been aware of the truth about Prince Annan, because there are more than one suspicious points."

Hai Yue opened her mouth and recounted all the details about the new version of Journey to the West, Shan Lan's drinking capacity, and the empty spirit room.

Everyone who had come into contact with the Prince of Annan couldn't help but look nostalgic when they heard this.

For example, Shao Jing thought that before leaving the government office, Prince Annan deliberately sat in a sedan chair instead of riding a tall horse and parading through the city.

When introducing the history of Dongpo Academy, the other party was not surprised at all, and even knew a lot about Su Shi's teaching in Hainan.

These subtle details are difficult to notice, but when I think about them now, they indirectly prove the authenticity.

But after saying this, Haiyue took the initiative again: "Of course, these cannot be regarded as real evidence!"

Zheng Wu immediately muttered, "What about the evidence? You've been talking for a long time, why don't you talk about the evidence?"

"Don't worry, the evidence I'm talking about isn't some vague frame-up, like the wine jug missing from the kitchen..."

Hai Yue sneered, "You took that wine jug that night, didn't you? It was a very sinister tactic. It wasn't actual evidence, but it made it impossible to argue. If the two officials at the government office hadn't been so perceptive and not been fooled by the trick, I would have been wrongfully accused to death!"

Gu Shanjie felt ashamed. If you, a student, hadn't used a gun, he would definitely order a thorough interrogation.

As for whether he is innocent or not, won’t we know after the trial results?
But since that kind of interrogation didn't happen, Gu Shanjie naturally spoke righteously, stroking his beard and saying, "As officials, we should not be afraid of danger and be discerning. How could we be misled by such a trivial matter and wrongly accuse a good person?"

Shao Jing looked sideways, and Ruan Zhengyong couldn't stand it any longer: "Stop rambling and tell me the evidence!"

Hai Yue said, "That morning, you stormed into the dormitory with your guards, threatening to kill me. Your reasoning was that all the other students were safe, but your prince was the only one who died from poisoning. Therefore, since I had touched his wine jug, I naturally became a major suspect."

"Everyone was deceived by you, myself included. I know I didn't poison her, but I've been wondering how the murderer could have done it. After thinking about it over and over again, I feel that it was impossible to have been poisoned!"

"In fact, you revealed your flaws during the process of making this accusation!"

Ruan Zhengyong's eyes flickered: "Oh? What flaw?"

Hai Yue said, "You're too impatient! Or rather, because you had a preconceived answer, you skipped the process of reasoning about the case, and there's a fatal error in the order of reasoning—you've already identified me as the murderer before I even entered the dormitory, instead of determining the status of the other students in the academy before concluding who poisoned me!"

Shao Jing reacted, "That's right! You guys were living in the designated room and haven't even entered the dorm yet. How did you know that other students in the academy weren't poisoned and yet you directly identified Haiyue as the murderer?"

Ruan Zhengyong was stunned for a moment, and his expression finally darkened.

"This is one of them!"

Haiyue then showed the corpse in her hand: "Another piece of solid evidence is on the corpse!"

"You initially forbade the coroner from performing an autopsy, claiming you didn't want the prince's body to be desecrated. Afterward, you sent guards to watch over the corpse. But these guards ended up drinking and having fun, with not even a single person keeping vigil!"

"This is not surprising. The person lying in the coffin is not their master at all. How could they have the slightest respect for him?"

"But once outsiders approach the mourning hall, the guards become extremely nervous, armed and firmly stationed outside. It's truly a case of trying to cover up one's own faults!"

"So I lured the tiger away from the mountain, tricked most of the guards away, and let the coroner take the opportunity to enter the cell and open the coffin for an autopsy!"

Behind this short sentence is the help of the Hai family members, the arrangement of the fourth brother, and the huge bribe of the eighth brother. Otherwise, how could the coroner dare to take the risk?

There was no need to go into detail. Haiyue briefly explained the process and handed the re-examination box to Gu Shanjie and Shao Jing: "Please review it, gentlemen!"

Gu Shanjie eagerly took it, took a closer look, and exclaimed in surprise, "Besides the signs of poisoning, there are also black spots on the shoulders, chest, and abdomen?" Hai Yue said in a deep voice, "This is restraint damage caused by an external force holding the deceased's shoulders and pressing on his chest and abdomen. The black spots on the corpse's skin are the result of subcutaneous hemorrhage."

In later autopsies, the severity of the injuries to various parts of the body and whether they were fatal required anatomical examination. The forensic doctor would record in detail the location of the injury, the characteristic morphology of the injury, and infer the shape of the object that caused the injury as much as possible.

In ancient times, there was no such scientific autopsy process, but after this explanation, everyone understood: "Someone was holding the shoulders of the deceased and pressing on the chest of the deceased?"

"That's right! That night, the prince's stand-in was half drunk and was helped into the bedroom. Then, while he was drowsy, he was given poison. In the middle of the night, he struggled painfully on the bed.

"The guard commander in the same room not only didn't inform him, but he actually pressed his knee against his chest and used both hands to control his shoulders to stop him from shouting and struggling!"

"He died in such pain and silence."

"Until the next morning, the Annan guards feigned shock and anger, shouting that the 'prince' who had been chatting and laughing the previous night had been 'assassinated'!"

At this point, thinking of Li Weining's enthusiastic and cheerful smile and his love for Journey to the West, Hai Yue revealed sadness and anger: "I originally thought that there was indeed an assassination, but it was just a mistake, killing the substitute, and you took advantage of the situation and planned all this! But judging by the characteristics of the corpse, the assassin could not have killed the target in such a way. Only you, Ruan Zhengyong, someone close to you, could have killed the target so ruthlessly, and that death would have such characteristics!"

"hiss!"

This time, it was not only Gu Shanjie who gasped, even Shao Jing's expression changed.

Too cruel!

The Annan guard remained silent. Ruan Zhengyong remained silent for a long time, then gritted his teeth and said, "Ridiculous! If it's true as you say, that man is the prince's substitute, then what's my purpose in killing him?"

Gu Shanjie was horrified and groaned, "Yeah...why do you do this?"

Hai Yue asked back, "Master Gu, I would like to ask you something: why have the Annan envoys stayed in Qiongzhou Prefecture and not gone north?"

Gu Shanjie moved his lips and looked at the Annan guards present, all of whom were tall and strong. He didn't dare to say anything for a moment, fearing that the other party would suddenly attack.

Shao Jing continued, "The delegation's arrival was sudden. Not only did they require a permit from the Qiongzhou government office, but they also arranged for a sedan chair worthy of a prince to escort them all the way to the Provincial Administration Office..."

"Not only does this require a large escort, but it also requires sufficient pomp and ceremony, with carriages, equipment, and everything else?"

"Yes!"

"No Annan delegation has ever passed through Hainan before when entering Beijing. This is completely unprecedented! Moreover, Annan is a vassal state, and the Ming Dynasty is the overlord. To greet a foreign envoy with such courtesy is putting the cart before the horse."

Gu Shanjie nodded repeatedly after hearing this: "Yes, that's why I flatly refused. But then I saw they were still pestering me, so I had to leave. Ahem!"

Haiyue said: "Then the motive is very clear."

"More than half a month ago, the Annan delegation arrived across the sea. The Qiongzhou government didn't dare to let them go, let alone agree to their rude request, so they had no choice but to keep them."

"While waiting for a response from the Sansi Yamen, the fake stand-in felt no urgency, but the real Prince of Annan could not wait any longer and urgently sought an opportunity to travel north."

"From the attitude of the local government, the real Prince of Annan also realized that this journey would be difficult and that seeking assistance would be difficult, so he hatched a plan."

"A plan to use a serious diplomatic incident to help the delegation gain the initiative!"

"Unable to stay in the government office, they pretended that the tribute had been stolen and moved out. They came to the academy and encouraged their substitute to socialize with the students. That night, they drank and chatted, and seeing an opportunity to frame the substitute, they waited for the substitute to return to the cell and brutally murdered him. The next morning, they stormed into the academy with great momentum and pinned the blame on the students of Daming!"

"The government office, unaware of the truth, believed that the Annan prince, the chief envoy, had truly been murdered at the Ming Dynasty's official academy. With such a tragic incident happening while paying tribute to a foreign vassal, the delegation's journey will undoubtedly be smooth. Who among the government offices along the way would dare to stop them?"

"At the same time, even after arriving in the capital, the envoys were in the right. On the one hand, the traitorous assassins were extremely vicious and had no regard for the power of the Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, it was ultimately the Ming Dynasty that failed to protect the envoys, and so we were somewhat at fault."

"So this was a premeditated murder. From the moment the envoys arrived at the academy, the 'Murder of Prince Annan' was already brewing!"

Upon hearing this, the officials in the prison glared at Annan.

If concealing the prince's identity is a necessary measure for safety, then this kind of behavior is completely despicable deception!
Extremely hateful!

"The flaws you accused me of are one piece of evidence! Re-examining the body is one piece of evidence! Now that the motive is clear, there's one more piece of evidence! That substitute won't pop out of nowhere!"

Hai Yue finally said, "This man's manners and demeanor are not comparable to those of ordinary people. I will have someone follow the route you took to Qionghai and investigate every town along the way to find out his true identity! This process will take some time, but the truth will eventually be revealed. At this point, what else do you have to say?"

Ruan Zhengyong lowered his head slightly, his eyelids lowered, as if he was thinking of a sophistry. But after hearing the last sentence, he snorted coldly and suddenly raised his head: "That's right! I am the real Prince of Dai Viet, Li Weining!"

(End of this chapter)