The Four Great Cases of Wu Zetian

Chapter 21

Good Words Encouraging Exemption from Autopsy Second Instance Confessions for Interrogation

However, after listening to Gao Chen's words, Di Gong was even more determined, and said to Hua Guoxiang: "According to what you said, you are all relying on your own opinions. The tea was made after dinner, and Hu Zuobin was drinking in the study at that time; The aunt has not come out except for dinner, so the newcomer can't inject poison on her own, so she can search for it with the aunt. Who entered the room in the afternoon, and she can't remember clearly, how can this case be speculated? Let's wait for the county to investigate , let’s judge again.” Saying that, he got up and went inside.At this time, the Li Wang family and the family members of the Hua family were all weeping loudly, saying that this gentle and beautiful bride suddenly suffered such a tragic change.When Mr. Di came to the courtyard of the upper room, he first ordered his female relatives to take shelter for a while, and looked around, and then walked into the room with Hua Guoxiang, and saw that all the boxes and cages had been moved, except for the teapot and a red lacquer. The tube is placed on a table of four immortals, and many servants are guarding in front of the bed.Di Gong asked: "Is this teapot originally on this table? You have brought the bowl and will try it in this county."

Said that the servant had already handed over a teacup, Di Gong took it in his hand and poured a cup of the tea in the pot, he saw that the color was different, the purple-black was similar to the sugar water, and it still smelled that fishy smell after a while.Di Gong looked at it for a while, and ordered someone to call a dog, and then someone put some food in it, and threw it on the ground. , biting and barking, about meal time, the dog was dead.Di Gong was even more surprised, and first ordered the guards to put a seal on it to prevent idlers from eating it by mistake, then he walked to the bed and took a look.I saw that the mouth of the deceased was bleeding profusely, and his whole body was bruised and swollen. It was undoubtedly poisonous gas.Turn around and go to the courtyard station, order someone to bring Mrs. Li, and say to Hua Guoxiang: "This person died, there is no doubt that he was poisoned, but you and the other two families are all scholars, and what happened today It's such a misfortune, since I have been accused, I would ask this county to investigate and deal with it, so there is no reason not to come and test it. But the deceased died of poison. It is not expected, and it will be even more miserable if the corpse is checked again. It is the pity of this county, and I specially ordered you two to come and explain the reason, and if you can't bear the suffering of the deceased, you will be exempted from the test, so as not to regret it in the future."

Before Hua Guoxiang could speak, Li Wang cried to Duke Di: "Master Qingtian, the little woman is only one daughter. Because her death is unknown, she was charged according to the information. Since the master decided the case in this way, she will not suffer after death. The little lady is willing to be exempt from the test." Hua Wenjun saw his mother-in-law like this, always because of the deep love between the couple, and couldn't bear her to be manipulated by everyone, so he said to Guoxiang: "Father, please excuse this matter, it is too tragic for the child to see his wife die. It's rare for my father to complete the matter and settle the case with poisoning. At this time, he will take care of him." Hua Guoxiang saw the son and the mother of the dead body, said the same, and he was not too demanding, so he had to withdraw and signed an exemption from inspection with Li Wang. Then he said to Di Gong: "My father's order to exempt people from inspection is out of respect, but my daughter-in-law was poisoned and died. This matter has been seen by all. I hope that my father will always torture this fool and punish him as usual. If after the coffin is built, there are sweet knots, and you blindly collect them, then the old father's platform will not be beautiful." Di Gong nodded, took the knot, and after ordering the prison servant Zaoli to leave the hall, he was really hesitant in his heart. It's not convenient to go back for a while, so I sit in the upper room and watch what happens when they go out.

At this time, inside and outside, there was naturally a commotion, all the servants, relatives and friends were working there, but fortunately everything about the coffin was done yesterday.Li Wangshi and Hua Wenjun were naturally sore and burst into tears.Mr. Di waited for the coffin to be set outside, and wanted to dress the deceased, he also followed the crowd to the room, but when he heard the stench from the bed blowing into his brain, he couldn't understand why.Secretly said: "There are many strange cases in ancient times. Even if it is caused by poisoning, the inside of this teapot is nothing more than being swallowed by the arsenic letter stone. Even though the seven holes bleed and died immediately, why is there such a foul smell? Look at the corpse. There are bruises, but the skin is not broken, and the chest is swollen like a melon, obviously there is another reason. Is there really something poisonous under the bed?" One person secretly speculated, and suddenly one person shouted: "It's not good, why have you been dead for two days? , the belly is still moving? Could it be a mischief?" As he said that, he ran out of bed immediately, his color changed in fright.Watching those people, seeing what he said, he was bold enough to go to his place to watch, but there was no movement, so that everyone said he was suspicious.At that time, they rushed up and down, hurriedly put on their clothes, and only listened to the yin and yang students to call them into the coffin. Everyone rushed out of bed, lifted the corpse, and pulled it out of the room for the funeral.Only Mr. Di, after everyone went out, went to the bed by himself, took a closer look, and then took a look on the ground again. He saw many bloody spots with some black threads inside, which seemed to be moving.Di Gong saw it in his eyes, went out of the back hall, sat down in front of the hall, and thought to himself: "This matter must not have been done by Hu Zuobin, there must be strange incidents in it, although Hua Guoxiang insisted on it, he refused to relax. If he does not do this, he will not be able to make a decision." The idea is settled, but it is easy to put it away.Di Gong ordered someone to invite Hua Guoxiang out and said: "This matter seems suspicious, and the county has no reason not to deal with it. Although Hu Zuobin is a defendant, Gao Chen is a companion, and he can't stay out of it. Please hand it over immediately. Bringing the case back to the Flood Office is to show fairness. If you blindly demand on Hu Zuobin, won’t it lead to controversy? This county will never treat respected servants right away.” When Hua Guoxiang saw him say this, it was always because he was the local parent official. If he wanted to judge, he had to order Mrs. Gao Chen to come out and plead in court. Mr. Di immediately got up and went back to the yamen in a sedan chair.At this time, only Hu Zuobin's mother was very grateful, knowing that Di Gong had other good intentions, secretly buying a servant and sending a letter to his son, it was no problem.

It's just that when Mr. Di returned to the office, he didn't go up to the court to handle the case, but he was ordered to hand over Gao Chen's family to the official media. The rest of the cases were ignored by the whole bank. This was the case for several days.Hua Guoxiang became anxious that day, and complained to his son: "This is all a mistake of your beast. Your mother-in-law promised to waive the inspection. She is a woman who doesn't know the pros and cons of official business. People who have always been officials always save trouble and do it right. Stand firm on his own footsteps, and he will not ask about other people's grievances. The day before yesterday, you decided to ask me to be exempted from the inspection. You see, this dog official has not been dismissed so far.

What he relies on, we have made a happy knot. Although the poisoning is true, the poison of the bully is groundless. He uses this delay to protect the dog's head. Isn't it because of your mistake!I'm going to go to urge the interrogation today to see how he treats me, otherwise the prosecution will be unavoidable. "As he said, he ordered people to wear crown belts and come to Changping County.

Why don't you ask Mr. Di to interrogate this matter? But he is a good official and never wants to frame ordinary people.He saw that this case was not done by Hu Zuobin, nor was it framed by Gao Chen. Although he knew the reason, he just couldn't think of a reason, when the poison was released, so he couldn't release it.This afternoon, Zheng and Ma Rong sent Zhao Wanquan away, and gave him 100 taels of fare, saying that he was straightforward and brave in the case of Shao Lihuai. Zhao Wanquan thanked him, returned the money, and left.Then he said to Ma Rong: "The case of Liulitun was easy to handle in this county from the very beginning, but it can be resolved by arresting the surname Shao. But Bi Shun couldn't find any injuries, and he had already reported it. It's not calm, but there is another wave, Hua Guoxiang's daughter-in-law has this suspicious case again. If you want to pay attention to Hu Zuobin, you can't help it. You saw all kinds of cases at his house the day before yesterday, but they couldn't be drawn up. Although Bringing Mrs. Gao Chen is just to prevent Hua Guoxiang from urging the case. You have already handled a lot of cases, so you can help the county think about it and visit the neighboring places. , go ask him, or get some eyebrows."

The two were discussing in the study room, and they posted a stick and came in and said, "Hua Ju is now in the hall. He wants to meet the grandfather and ask him how to deal with the case." Di Gong said: "This county knows that he will come to urge the case, so you go out and invite him." Yes, and greet the waiters in the lobby." The man agreed to leave, and in an instant, he saw Hua Guoxiang fully dressed and walked in.Mr. Di had no choice but to welcome them out of the study room, where the guests and the host sat down.Hua Guoxiang asked: "The old father brought the maid the day before yesterday. In the past few days, the case must have been cleared. I ask my father to show me who did the poisoning. I am very grateful." Di Gong replied. Said: "this county has been thinking about this matter for a long time, but it has not been found out for a while, so it has not been interrogated. It's a coincidence that the honorable driver came here. Please sit down for a while and wait for this county to ask how it is." Said that the outer hall has been served. When everything was ready, Di Gong immediately changed his clothes and went up to the hall to ask questions.First ordered to bring Hu Zuobin, Yuan Chai promised to bring him in at the entrance of the hall.Hu Zuobin knelt down before the case.

Di Gongdao: "Hua Wenjun's wife has been tested in this county, and she was obviously poisoned and died. Everyone said that you were poisoned by one person. Let's tell you the truth. When did the poison enter?" Hu Zuobin said: "The student has declared the day before yesterday. If you are playing, you will have it. Poisoning is really wronged, so where do you recruit students?" Di Gong said: "You don't have to deny it, as evidenced by his family's companion and aunt. When drinking wine that day, Hua Wenjun went out to thank the guests, you She often went in and out of the new house with the people, and took the opportunity to throw the poison. Are you still talking about it?" After hearing this, Hu Zuobin hurriedly said: "Father's clear opinion. Since she said that she often went in and out with the people, it is obvious that a non-student entered the room alone. If only one person enters the room, everyone will be able to see it, and when will they take advantage of the gap? Even if the newcomer enters, why is there no one pouring tea into the teapot for a long time in a day? Is there poison? Who poured this tea and when it was brewed? I always have to find out the root cause of this tea. Although the student does not know who it is, it is the responsibility of the companion and aunt. Except for relatives and friends entering the room, the family None of the women and servants went in. If the father didn't ask questions on it, even if the raw student Xiangge was tortured to death, there would be no confession.

Kowtow to my father to see clearly! "I don't know how Di Gong will handle it, let's see the breakdown in the next chapter.

(End of this chapter)