Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 82: The Incredible Truth (Three Updates!)
"Hoo! Hoo!"

When Xu Gao, the current chief academician of the Imperial College, hurried to the gate, he was already out of breath.

Xu Gao usually had a thin face, walked calmly, and had an extremely neatly trimmed beard. His demeanor revealed the elegance and composure of a scholar-official, and he was deeply respected by teachers and students.

He is knowledgeable and wins people over with his virtue.

But when he heard this morning that Marquis Wu Ding's brother-in-law had died in the Imperial College and that the murderer was Gui Ge Lao's son, Xu Gao choked and almost fainted.

This is certainly not due to a lack of mentality, but a normal reaction to the huge shock faced by him as he has been in poor health recently.

When such a major incident occurred in the Imperial College, the Chief Academician would be the first to bear the brunt of the consequences, and might even be the target of the anger of two high-ranking officials of the current dynasty.

Why am I so unlucky?
For the first time, Xu Gao even thought, how great it would be if the former Jijiu Yan Song was still in power...

He had also experienced the eunuch party turmoil during the Zhengde period. After thinking about this naive idea, he put it aside and rushed to the scene, hoping to clear himself of responsibility to the greatest extent possible.

However, just as they arrived outside the school, a young man's clear and melodious voice came from inside:

"I once read a medical book in my hometown that said each of the twelve meridians in the human body has an artery. If a sharp object pierces an artery, the largest amount of blood will spurt out."

"If it's stabbed into the neck, the carotid artery will be severed; if it's stabbed into the lungs, the pulmonary artery will be severed; if it's stabbed into the armpit, the subclavian artery will be severed; if it's stabbed into the groin, the femoral artery will be severed... Blood will spurt out like a jet, and there's no way to stop it!"

"If the wounds were truly like this, the assailant's upper body, especially his arms and chest, would have been covered in a large amount of blood."

At this time, standing at the scene were Shuntian Prefecture Governor Huo Tao, Procurator Yi Qin, a coroner carrying a box, as well as Yan Shifan, Gui Zai and the chatty Hai Yue.

When these words were spoken, everyone, including the coroner, fell into deep thought.

Because this statement is indeed unheard of.

artery?

Is there such a concept in medicine?
It seems so, but it has nothing to do with the amount of bleeding...

But it's hard to say. After all, medical books are so diverse and contain all kinds of concepts...

"That makes sense!"

Yan Shifan was not familiar with medicine, but when he was young, he was curious and went to see the people of Xipailou being beheaded.

At that time, the executioner chopped off the head with a knife, and a stream of blood spurted out. He was so scared that he went back and had nightmares for several days. He still remembers it vividly.

He really didn't understand the doctor's theory of arteries, but with his clever mind, he understood it immediately. He also thought that he had to pay attention to protecting the lungs, ribs and groin in the future, as they could cause heavy bleeding, and it would be impossible to save the patient even if he wanted to.

In fact, what Hai Yue said was somewhat reserved. If an artery is pierced, blood will splatter in the form of fine dots, and the spray can be as high as two meters. The collar and cuffs of the attacker will definitely form impact splatter marks.

There was no blood on Gui Zai's body, which preliminarily ruled out the possibility that he had cut the artery when he stabbed the deceased Zhao Chen with the weapon.

This was just the beginning. Hai Yue continued, "In addition to arterial damage, if the weapon is stabbed multiple times, the blade will inevitably draw blood as it is repeatedly thrust in and out. As the weapon is swung, it will form a tossing bloodstain. Arc-shaped bloodstains may appear on the murderer's face and arms."

"Also, in close combat, the murderer and the victim struggled physically, and blood could form transfer bloodstains through friction with clothing and contact with hands, such as bloody handprints and palm prints, or traces of bloody hands grasping..."

The others listened carefully and remained silent.

Seeing this, Yan Shifan quickly summarized: "Arterial trauma, multiple stabs, and close combat, these three situations inevitably resulted in a large amount of blood!"

Haiyue nodded slightly: "Then, let's talk about the possible situations of avoiding bloodstains. There are still three."

"The first method is to fix the weapon after stabbing it, not pulling it out, and keeping it still. The blood will mainly seep out slowly from the wound instead of splattering, and the possibility of the murderer being stained with blood will be greatly reduced."

"The second type involves specific angles and body positions, such as stabbing the chest from behind. The victim suddenly falls to the ground and is in a prone position, causing blood to flow to the ground."

"The last method is to cover it with clothing. They use another piece of clothing, wear it outside or cover it in front of the body, and then dispose of it after the crime is committed."

In fact, even if you wear dark waterproof outerwear, it can indeed block blood penetration to a certain extent, but trace amounts of blood may still stain the inner clothing. At this time, luminol reagent is needed to detect blood stains that are difficult to observe with the naked eye.

However, there was no such technology in ancient times, so it can be ignored.

Yan Shifan quickly said, "Fixing the murder weapon, using a special body position, or wearing other clothing can all avoid bloodstains!"

Not to mention that this person started taking notes again, Huo Tao was a little shocked.

After Haiyue took over the case, the key point was one word——

Blood!

This is also the biggest question as to whether Gui Zai killed someone.

His body was so clean that he didn't look like a murderer.

But just using this as an argument seems a bit empty.

Therefore, Haiyue rigorously pointed out that the methods of getting stained with blood and avoiding blood are clear in thought.

Huo Tao, after hearing this, found it quite plausible. He subconsciously glanced at the coroner, who also expressed surprise. After a moment's reflection, Huo Tao spoke bluntly, "As you all know, there's a man named Li Tiejian in Shuntian Prefecture. His colleagues in the prefecture privately call him 'Iron Mirror' because his gaze during autopsies is as sharp as steel, able to penetrate flesh and pinpoint the cause of death. Li Tiejian, tell us about this!"

Everyone looked at the coroner.

This man was wearing an indigo-dyed coarse linen shirt. The cuffs were a different shade of tung oil, resistant to the seepage of corpse fluids. He wore a hemp rope around his waist and carried a wooden box on his shoulder. He stepped forward, bowed, and introduced himself, "My name is Li Ming. I don't deserve the title of 'Iron Judge', but I've been a coroner for over twenty years!"

In ancient times, coroners were discriminated against and were at the bottom of the contempt chain among officials. However, there are always some top talents in every industry who can win the respect of others. This Iron Mirror Li Ming is obviously one of them.

He also knew that Huo Tao's introduction of him was not just for praise, but also to evaluate what Hai Yue had just said. He immediately looked at Hai Yue and asked, "Where did you get what you just said?"

What he meant was that he didn't believe that the teenage boy in front of him could have figured out this method of testing on his own.

Haiyue really didn't have the conditions to realize it on her own. Fortunately, her clan was full of talented people with various interests. Hainan was remote enough that it was difficult to verify. So it became natural. "My twelfth brother in the clan likes funerals. I have pondered it in my spare time. I just want to discuss it. So I came up with this realization. According to Li Tiejian, does it make sense?"

Coroner Li Ming nodded without hesitation: "Young Master, your judgment of the bloodstains is very reasonable. Even if I were to summarize it, it would be no more than this!"

Yan Shifan and Gui Zai both breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this.

Haiyue was from another place and didn't know the celebrities in Shuntian Prefecture. Gui Zai and Yan Shifan were sons of high-ranking officials and didn't care about how famous a coroner was.

But to be praised so highly by Huo Tao, he must be a powerful person. Seeing him come forward, they were very worried. What if Hai Yue's eloquent talk was exposed by the coroner as just the self-righteousness of an amateur?
I didn’t expect that the coroner nicknamed “Iron Mirror” would approve of what Haiyue said so much. I feel relieved!

'This boy lives up to his reputation!'

Huo Tao was also a little surprised and immediately fell into deep thought.

From his point of view, he certainly hoped that the person was not killed by Gui Zai, and the real murderer was someone else. This might avoid a huge court storm.

There is also the role Haiyue played in the Guangzhou Prefecture case. Compared to Yan Shifan, who is obviously very scheming, this calm young man from Qionghai is indeed more trustworthy.

At worst...

Treating a dead horse as a living horse doctor?
Just as he was considering this, the sound of Xu Gao entering startled Huo Tao. The Great Jingzhao immediately asked, "Xu Jijiu's arrival is just in time. Does this school have any secret doors or passages?"

Xu Gao's face changed slightly. If those mechanisms existed, the Imperial College would be under great responsibility. He quickly looked around and said through gritted teeth, "This is just an ordinary school. How could it have such things?"

"We can investigate this matter in detail. At worst, we can just tear down this school!"

Huo Tao sensed his uncertainty and turned back to the body: "If there's no secret door or passage, how did the murderer get in?"

"The murderer can't see..."

Gui Zai was about to speak when Yan Shifan quickly grabbed him. Hai Yue said, "We've finished analyzing the bloodstains on the body. How about analyzing the ground?"

Huo Tao raised his eyebrows, quite interested: "I'd like to hear the details!"

Later forensic medicine could reconstruct the murder scene through the distribution pattern of bloodstains.

For example, the direction of splashing: the long axis of the bloodstain points to the direction of blood flight, which can be used to infer the attacker's position; for example, the size of the bloodstain: the diameter of high-speed splashing bloodstains is usually less than one millimeter, and the diameter of low-speed dripping bloodstains is larger than four millimeters; for example, bloodstains on the soles of shoes, blood footprints or dripping bloodstains formed after stepping on blood, etc.

An experienced criminal investigator can form a general picture of the circumstances surrounding the murder after just one observation at the scene.

"The students are making a fool of themselves!"

Ancient times were no less reliant on these experiences. Hai Yue bowed to the crowd to show humility, then began to describe, "This bloody footprint represents where Zhao Qilang stood. After he was stabbed, this area is the blood dripping from the weapon."

"When blood drips from a certain height, it will inevitably form a continuous bloodstain distribution that is consistent with the trajectory of movement. Zhao Qilang was stabbed and was retreating, so these blood drops are in the shape of a line, moving backwards."

"The murder weapon was still inside him at the time."

"Then the murder weapon was drawn."

"Bah!"

"Then, a large amount of blood spurted out, forming a small pool here and splattering onto the wall. Judging from the amount of bleeding and the location of the wound, it must be a pulmonary artery injury!"

"Finally, Zhao Qilang fell backward and died."

Everyone suppressed their nausea, looked at the corpse and blood, and nodded slowly.

"Then the question arises. Have you noticed that the blood is distributed in an uninterrupted and continuous pattern? If the murderer was standing in front of the deceased and the blood splattered on the murderer, the pool of blood on the ground and the bloodstains on the wall would definitely not be so complete!"

Hai Yue asked, "Can we assume from this that when Zhao Qilang was stabbed and when he drew his sword, there was no one in front of him?"

Gui Zai was shocked: "I said it was an invisible murderer... Ugh!"

Haiyue said: "In fact, there is a simpler possibility that can completely achieve this."

Coroner Li Ming nodded heavily and said to Huo Tao, "Your Excellency, what Master Hai said makes sense. Based on the bloodstains at the scene, we can infer that the deceased may have stabbed himself. This person died of suicide!"

(End of this chapter)