The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 140 Discovery! Problems in the Files!
It turned out to be the notorious Wude case – the salary fraud case!

A look of surprise appeared in Liu Shuyi's eyes.

Although the original owner was not an official of the Ministry of Justice when the silver treasury case occurred, the case shocked the entire country, and many people lost their heads as a result, so the original owner was aware of the case.

The silver tael incident occurred on August 20th of the seventh year of the Wude era.

The original owner heard the version that Qin King Li Shimin led his army to fight against the Turkic army and block the Turkic army from advancing south into the Central Plains. Just when the two sides were deadlocked, the funds urgently raised by the court were delivered to the camp.

The quartermaster counted the pay according to regulations, but when he opened the box containing the pay, he found that it contained not copper coins or anything else of value, but a pile of stones!
The quartermaster stared at the pile of stones, frozen in place, cold sweat pouring down his back.

Because the Turks came suddenly, the King of Qin was caught off guard and the army's logistical preparations were insufficient. The entire army was waiting for pay to boost morale.

The silver paid in return turned into stones. If the soldiers found out, it could cause a huge uproar.

If the morale of the army is shaken and the Turks seize the opportunity to suffer a defeat, it will be a fatal crisis for the Tang Dynasty!
Therefore, the quartermaster hurriedly and secretly reported to Li Shimin, who was still the Prince of Qin. Upon learning of this, Li Shimin immediately arrested the personnel who were transporting the funds and blocked the news. He then informed Li Yuan of the matter via express courier.

When Li Yuan learned of this, he was furious.

The Ministry of Revenue was immediately ordered to raise funds as quickly as possible. However, the Tang Dynasty's treasury was not full at the time, and the previous salaries had been raised by the efforts of various prefectures. It was difficult for local governments to raise such a large amount of money in a short period of time.

Left with no other choice, Li Yuan had to tighten his belt, take some money from his personal treasury, cut government spending, and ask local governments to raise funds, which allowed him to barely get through the crisis.

While raising funds for the army, Li Yuan also ordered the Three Departments to conduct an investigation, demanding that they find out the truth and recover the funds within a month, or else everyone would be punished.

And so, under immense pressure, the three divisions began their investigation.

The original owner of this body did not know the specific details of the investigation by the three departments, but because his elder brother Liu Shuzhong was also involved, he knew that the case was extremely difficult. From the moment Liu Shuzhong began to participate in the investigation, he never returned to the mansion to spend the night.

A month later, my brother returned.

By then, the case concerning the payment of wages had already been closed.

According to the notice posted by the imperial court, the mastermind behind the theft of the military pay was Feng Mu, the general in charge of transporting the pay. Feng Mu bribed some of the soldiers escorting the pay and replaced the pay with stones along the way.

In the end, Feng Mu was beheaded and his property confiscated, and the soldiers who had been bribed also lost their heads.

Hundreds of people were beheaded at Caishikou, a scene of extreme bloodshed.

Soldiers who were not bribed were also exiled because they were not vigilant enough, resulting in the loss of their pay.

The scandalous silver payment case that shocked the entire Tang Dynasty thus came to a bloody end.

This is all that my predecessor knew about the silver tael case.

After Liu Shuzhong returned, his predecessor inquired about the details of the case, but Liu Shuzhong refused to disclose the information each time, citing that the case information was confidential and could not be disclosed.

Therefore, even if the predecessor knew that Liu Shuzhong was involved in the salary case, he had no idea about Liu Shuzhong's performance in the case, nor did he know that Liu Shuzhong had made contributions. Even if Liu Shuzhong was promoted in the end, the predecessor only knew that Liu Shuzhong was promoted because of his merits in the case, but did not know that the case was the salary case.

The original owner was just a scholar who was well protected by his elder brother and only knew how to bury himself in his studies. He was simple-minded and did not notice anything wrong. But when Liu Shuyi recalled this memory, he immediately realized that something was amiss.

First of all, the outcome of the salary silver case was announced to the world by the imperial court through a public notice. This shows that Li Yuan intended to use the salary silver case to deter villains. Therefore, the salary silver case was not a top-secret case at all, and the three departments could access it at will.

Why did Liu Shuzhong refuse to tell the original owner of the case details, even though it was clearly not a classified case, using the excuse of a classified case?
Was he afraid that the original owner of this body would find out about his performance in the case?
But Liu Shuzhong made contributions in this case. His performance was not bad at all, but rather excellent. Isn't this a good example for his younger brother? What's there to be afraid of?
Secondly, Liu Shuzhong made great contributions to such a major case, so why did he conceal his true identity?

Even if he was later promoted because of this, why didn't he tell the original owner which case he was promoted for?
They were clearly brothers who depended on each other for survival. He was willing to give up his childhood pursuits and do the things he hated most for his younger brother and family. The original owner of the body held such a high position in his heart, so why did he hide the original owner of the body?

Liu Shuyi frowned slightly; Liu Shuzhong's various actions all seemed to point to one possibility...

That is, Liu Shuzhong did not feel that his meritorious service in the silver treasury case was something he could boast about to his younger brother...

In other words, his behavior in the salary case may not be as simple as it seems on the surface; he may have something to hide!
This is exactly what Liu Shuzhong did at Miaoyinfang that day...

Is this what Liu Shuzhong regrets?
Does the cashier's embezzlement case conceal a great secret?
Thinking of this, Liu Shuyi was startled and subconsciously straightened his back.

He looked down at the file in his hand, took a deep breath, gathered his scattered thoughts, and began to read it carefully.

He observed very carefully, and this time, he finally learned details that the original owner of the body had never known.

The file states that the three officials rushed to the military camp immediately after receiving Li Yuan's order.

After thoroughly understanding the situation from the quartermaster and other officers, it was confirmed that no one in the military camp had touched the silver box after it was delivered to the camp. This ruled out the possibility that the silver was lost in the camp. Then, the thousands of soldiers who transported the silver were brought back to Chang'an for investigation and interrogation.

Because of the large number of soldiers transporting the military pay, the three departments basically mobilized all available personnel. This is why Liu Shuzhong was able to participate in the investigation of the military pay case even when his superior, Wang Pingshi, was absent.

Thus, the entire staff of the three departments interrogated people day and night, taking three whole days to complete the questioning of over a thousand people.

However, when they compiled and organized the testimonies, they found no problems; everyone's account was completely consistent.

They all said that no accidents occurred during the transport, and the transport vehicle was always guarded by hundreds of people, even at night when they were resting, people took turns guarding it.

Two hundred thousand strings of cash was no small sum; it was not something that one or two people could steal, let alone the fact that not only was the cash stolen, but it was also replaced with stones.

Therefore, the three officials concluded that someone was definitely lying, and that there were certainly quite a few liars.

But precisely because there are so many liars, they can verify each other's lies, making it difficult to determine who is lying.

The investigation by the three departments has therefore stalled.

Li Yuan gave them a month to solve the case, and if they failed, everyone would be punished... As the days went by, the three departments began to get anxious.

They stopped asking simple questions and started using torture.

No matter how much torture they used or how much time and energy they spent, the case made no progress whatsoever.

With only a little over half of the time Li Yuan had given them remaining, some officials in the Three Departments were already beginning to feel pessimistic…

Then, at that moment, things took a turn for the better.

Ren Xing, then serving as the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, discovered that Feng Mu, the General of the Central Army who was transporting the military pay, had been acting strangely in the months leading up to the transport of the pay.

Therefore, they began to suspect Feng Mu.

Later, Ren Xing led a group to search Feng Mu's residence. They eventually found a hidden compartment in Feng Mu's study, which contained a memorial tablet and several letters.

The memorial tablet reads "The Tablet of My Benefactor Yang Wengan".

The letters were correspondence with Yang Wengan.

Who is Yang Wengan?
He served as a bodyguard under Li Jiancheng and was appointed as the governor of Qingzhou. In June of the seventh year of the Wude era, he plotted a rebellion, which was quelled by Li Shimin in July.

Li Yuan was furious because Yang Wengan plotted a rebellion, and his lord Li Jiancheng was implicated and placed under house arrest in Renzhi Palace. Li Yuan once considered deposing Li Jiancheng from his position as crown prince, which caused quite a stir at the time.

Moreover, Yang Wengan was only killed in July after the rebellion was quelled, less than two months had passed. Therefore, as soon as Ren Xing saw the name on the memorial tablet, he immediately realized that Feng Mu had a serious problem.

He immediately checked the letters between Feng Mu and Yang Wengan.

result……

Feng Mu had known all along that Yang Wengan was plotting a rebellion.

He even secretly helped Yang Wengan to repay his kindness, because Yang Wengan had once saved his life and was his benefactor.

Feng Mu's strange behavior during that period was to help Yang Wengan plot a rebellion.

Feng Mu was Yang Wengan's accomplice!
Yang Wengan's rebellion had already been quelled by the Prince of Qin, and the Prince of Qin and the imperial court were the greatest enemies who caused Yang Wengan's death.

Therefore... Feng Mu had every reason to avenge Yang Wengan and take revenge on the imperial court and the Prince of Qin.

Ren Xing immediately discovered the motive behind the theft of the military pay.

Ren Xing immediately reported this discovery to his superiors at the Three Departments, which promptly dispatched personnel to conduct an investigation centered on Feng Mu.

It was eventually discovered that the group of soldiers transporting the paychecks consisted of over a hundred men, who were Feng Mu's trusted men, and it was Feng Mu who had requested that they be brought over.

Furthermore, Ren Xing discovered that Feng Mu had secretly met with these hundred-odd people before transporting the funds, and these people had also stayed overnight together during the transport.

In other words... they could easily have taken the pay while the other soldiers were sleeping and replaced it with stones.

With a motive and accomplices in place, the three departments immediately subjected Feng Mu and his associates to severe torture.

Finally, some soldiers couldn't take it anymore and confessed that Feng Mu had bribed them to steal the pay.

However, Feng Mu remained tight-lipped, even after his soldiers confessed, he still stubbornly insisted that he had not stolen the pay.

Only Feng Mu knew where the stolen silver had gone. The soldiers had only helped Feng Mu transport it and handed it over to some people dressed in night clothes. So, to find out where the silver was, they had to get Feng Mu to talk.

But Feng Mu was too stubborn; he was almost tortured to death in prison but didn't utter a word.

Instead, he vehemently criticized the court and Li Yuan, saying that Li Yuan was blind and could not distinguish between loyalty and treachery, good and evil, which ultimately enraged Li Yuan.

Enraged, Li Yuan forfeited the salary and ordered the execution of Feng Mu and all those involved. The salary case was thus closed.

However, the lost 200,000 strings of cash have not been found to this day.

Where did the pay go? Who were those men in black? What did Feng Mu intend to do with the pay? With Feng Mu's death, no one knew anymore.

Looking at the words "case closed" on the case file, Liu Shuyi gently shook his head.

If he were to investigate this case, he would absolutely not let it close until he found out where the money ultimately went.

Not to mention, the case seems to have sufficient clues and evidence, and is reasonable.

But in reality, Liu Shuyi saw nothing but problems.

For example, since Feng Mu had already decided to steal the military pay, he must have known that the imperial court might find out about him.

Since he was so well prepared, able to steal the salary without anyone noticing, how could he not have thought that the memorial tablet and the letter might expose him?

Even if he couldn't bear to part with his benefactor Yang Wengan's letters and memorial tablet and didn't want to destroy them, he should at least have hidden them outside and retrieved them after he regained his freedom.

How could someone knowingly leave such irrefutable evidence that could expose him at his residence when he knew that someone would suspect him and come to search the place?
For example, the case file says that Feng Mu's subordinates confessed that Feng Mu had bribed them.

However, the case file does not mention exactly how Feng Mu bribed him.

Was it that the interrogators at the time didn't pay attention to this trivial detail, or did everyone give different accounts?

If everyone's answer is different, is it because Feng Mu is so patient and has a specific plan to bribe each of the more than one hundred people, or is it because... these people were tortured and forced to confess, and because they were not bribed, everyone's answer is different?
Liu Shuyi was unaware of the specific circumstances at the time and would not readily suspect his colleagues from the three judicial departments who were investigating the case.

However... as someone in the three judicial and criminal systems, one should write detailed and complete accounts in every aspect when writing case files. In Liu Shuyi's eyes, a case file lacking details about bribery is no different from waste paper.

If it were a case under Liu Shuyi's jurisdiction, and his subordinates wrote the case file like this, he would definitely send it back for them to rewrite. If it was still not written well, he would severely punish them and replace them.

This is not a matter of ability, but a matter of attitude.

Of course, whether the way the case file of this salary case was written was due to an improper attitude or intentional... is uncertain.

In this file, Liu Shuyi also found the name of his elder brother, Liu Shuzhong.

They also found the place where Liu Shuzhong had performed meritorious service.

When Dali Temple official Ren Xing searched Feng Mu's residence, he initially found nothing useful. However, he eventually discovered a hidden compartment in Feng Mu's study and found the memorial tablet and letters... which belonged to Liu Shuzhong!

In other words, without Liu Shuzhong, the hidden compartment might never have been discovered, and the relationship between Feng Mu and Yang Wengan might never have been known.

Therefore, Liu Shuzhong deserves great credit for discovering the hidden compartment and finding the memorial tablet and letters.

Therefore, Liu Shuzhong, who was only an official outside the regular system, was included in the case file and was exceptionally promoted when his merits were later rewarded.

There's nothing wrong with that. If someone can help Liu Shuyi discover crucial clues during his investigation, he will definitely give them an important position and promote them...

However, Liu Shuyi knew that Liu Shuzhong had regrets.

Furthermore, based on his deduction, the thing that made Liu Shuzhong extremely regretful happened after the silver coin case... so Liu Shuzhong's merits are worth pondering.

Whether Liu Shuzhong's discovery of the hidden compartment was due to good luck or keen observation, it did not diminish his direct contribution to bringing the silver coin case closer to the truth. It can be said that his contribution was second only to Ren Xing, who discovered Feng Mu's unusual behavior, suspected Feng Mu, and then conducted a search.

With such merit and achievements, Liu Shuzhong had absolutely no reason to hide them from his younger brother.

But Liu Shuzhong kept it a secret.

So, does this mean... there's a problem with Liu Shuzhong discovering the hidden compartment?
Was the hidden compartment not discovered by Liu Shuzhong? Did Liu Shuzhong steal the credit from others?
Or is there something wrong with the memorial tablet and letter behind the hidden compartment?

Or perhaps there are other issues that I haven't thought of yet?
Liu Shuyi's expression flickered, and his eyes swept over the case file again.

After a while...

Liu Shuyi slowly exhaled and closed the file.

Seeing that Liu Shuyi had finally finished reading the case file, Zhao Feng asked in a low voice, "Dr. Liu, how was it?"

When Zhao Wenzhong heard Zhao Feng's words, although he didn't understand why Liu Shuyi suddenly wanted to find the case file of the salary silver, he also looked at Liu Shuyi with curiosity.

Then he saw Liu Shuyi look at him and say, "Judge Zhao, do you know who recommended my brother for merit and promoted him after he made his contribution?"

"This……"

Zhao Wenzhong was stunned; he never expected Liu Shuyi to ask such a question.

He couldn't help but ask, "Since Doctor Liu asked about this matter, is there something wrong with it?"

Liu Shuyi naturally wouldn't tell Zhao Wenzhong the truth. He just chuckled and said, "My brother has been missing for almost two years. I've been dreaming about him every night recently. I suddenly realized how much I've neglected him before. So now... I want to learn more about my brother's past to make up for my guilt."

Zhao Wenzhong then realized and said, "Because Judge Liu discovered the hidden compartment when Ren Shaoqing searched the Feng residence, which helped Ren Shaoqing discover Feng Mu's problem, Ren Shaoqing thought highly of Judge Liu. After the case was closed, Ren Shaoqing praised Judge Liu many times and also made an exception to promote Judge Liu to fill the vacancy of the judge position."

Ren Shaoqing...

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered. The Ren Shaoqing that Zhao Wenzhong mentioned was Ren Xing, the Dali Temple Chief Justice who was investigating the case at the time. Because Ren Xing made great contributions in the silver treasury case, he was promoted to the fourth-rank Dali Temple Chief Justice after the case was concluded.

So, was Ren Xing the benefactor who helped Liu Shuzhong get promoted?

Was Ren Xinghui's promotion of Liu Shuzhong really because Liu Shuzhong had helped him a great deal, or was there... other reasons?
Liu Shuyi recalled a previous suspicion: Liu Shuzhong's unusual behavior at the Dali Temple might be due to someone controlling him and preventing him from getting close to others...

If this is indeed the case, then could this person be Ren Xing?

He gently stroked the dossier with his fingertips and said, "I wonder what the relationship is like between Minister Ren and my elder brother?"

Zhao Wenzhong thought for a moment and said, "Minister Ren is a high-ranking official of the fourth rank, and he is too far away from us. We might not even get to say a word to him in a month... so we can't really say whether our relationship is good or bad, right?"

"However, I imagine that Liu Pingshi's position in Ren Shaoqing's heart is definitely different from ours, after all, Liu Pingshi was promoted by Ren Shaoqing."

Liu Shuyi summarized Zhao Wenzhong's meaning... Everyone thought that Liu Shuzhong held a high position in Ren Xing's heart, but in reality, the two had basically no contact after the silver coin case.

Why is this happening?
Do they not want others to see their close relationship?
Or was Ren Xing's promotion of Liu Shuzhong truly just a matter of official business, and he didn't treat Liu Shuzhong any differently afterward?
Liu Shuyi shook his head, feeling increasingly as if Liu Shuzhong was shrouded in a thin mist. Despite having lived with his predecessor for so long, he felt no sense of familiarity whatsoever.

Instead, there's a feeling that even the other person's appearance is becoming increasingly blurry.

It seems that not only was Liu Shuzhong's disappearance mysterious, but his promotion and even his behavior in the following two years were also very strange.

To unravel Liu Shuzhong's mysterious behavior, to understand his role in the case, what he did, and why he regrets it so much... there is only one way.

Reinvestigate the salary and silver case!
The case involving the payment of silver has been closed, but thousands of people have died or been exiled as a result. Hundreds of people were involved in the investigation, including high-ranking officials such as the heads of the three departments.

Why should I, a mere fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Justice, be allowed to conduct a second investigation?
Who would be willing to cooperate with me?

Who would want problems to be found in the cases they've closed?

This case involves so many deaths; it's no small matter. If we were to uncover problems ourselves, who could bear the responsibility?
Once the news of my desire to re-investigate spreads, I estimate that these people will immediately try to stop me.

Even though the former head of the Three Departments was replaced after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, his power and influence remained despite his departure.

Not to mention people like Ren Xing, who are still in key positions.

Liu Shuyi believed that if he dared to step forward, he would immediately know what suppression and targeting meant.

Can we skip the investigation?
How did he know about Liu Shuzhong's problems? If he didn't know about Liu Shuzhong's problems, how could he avoid potential dangers in the future?
Back then, Han Xi, a fifth-rank official, couldn't help Liu Shuzhong. But once a crisis struck, Han Xi, also a fifth-rank official, would certainly not have a good ending.

So how could he just let it go?

He must reopen the investigation into the issue of the salary payment!

And it must be so that no one else dares to stop it!
Liu Shuyi stared at the file in his hand, his mind racing.

Suddenly, he stood up abruptly.

He grabbed the case file and walked straight outside.

Lu Yangyuan quickly followed and asked, "Doctor Liu, what's going on?"

"Prepare the horses, I wish to see His Majesty."

The case involving the salary was very serious, and many of the people involved were people he couldn't afford to offend at the moment. Therefore, he had no choice but to find a powerful backer that no one else dared to offend.

However, Li Shimin might not agree to his unwarranted investigation of a case that had already been closed.

So, we need to figure out how to fool Li Shimin...

(End of this chapter)