Daqin: The Greatest Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

Erpingxia went to Beijing. It was a hot summer day. The scholar rode a tall horse and rushed to Xianyang, delivering visiting cards everywhere to show off his knowledge and seek an official position.

Sanping passed the imperial examination in the autumn, and the weather was clear and cool. With the help of the noble, he became the county lieutenant of Xianyang. When he brought generous gifts to thank the noble, he found that she was gazing at him from behind the door curtain. It turned out that he was her father.

The fourth screen depicts snow in winter. The scholar marries his beloved woman as he wishes. The couple loves each other very much. They sit in pavilions, lean on each other and enjoy the snow scene together.

Su Xuan shook his head with a look of regret, then looked at Li Si, "Lord Yanwei, do you mind if I follow you?"

"Junior brother, that's what I've been looking for." Li Si's face lit up with joy.

Su Xuan glanced at him calmly and reminded him, "I'm just going to take a look. It's your job to judge the case and impose the punishment."

Li Si nodded and said that it was the right thing for him to do as he was in his position.

Yanwei Hall was not far from here, and the two arrived there in just a few minutes.

The lobby was filled with people, all of whom were filled with indignation and looked regretful.

"Lord Yanwei will definitely find out the truth, severely punish the murderer, and give justice to County Lieutenant Teng."

"Ah, Madam Teng was a very kind person. I once received her kindness. I never thought that such a short-lived person would be gone just like this."

"It is said that Lord Teng fainted several times due to excessive grief after hearing the news. How sad must he be!"

......

In the hall, a man in an old green robe stood in the middle. His eyes were swollen and his face was depressed. When he saw Li Si, he bowed respectfully and said, "Greetings, Lord Yanwei."

"I have always heard that Lord Yanwei is strict in handling cases. I have come to ask for help today. I implore you to find the murderer and give my wife justice!" He was filled with grief and indignation. His voice choked several times and his body swayed, which was very moving.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant Teng. I will never tolerate anyone who commits evil!" Li Si assured him and asked someone to bring him a chair to sit on to prevent him from falling accidentally.

After this, Li Si summoned Chu Zuo, the first person to discover the body, and questioned him one by one to find out the details of what happened.

After understanding the situation, he asked Teng Kan if he had any enemies and if there was anything wrong with his wife recently.

Su Xuan sat on the side and listened. On the table were the case files of Li Si's past cases. He had asked his subordinate officials to bring them here specially. Because Li Si had just taken office, he did not have many case files to solve.

However, there are some classic cases.

One of the stories is about Li Si who was inspecting Jingyang County and found a dead body in the wilderness. The body was slashed with more than ten sickles. At first, it was believed that the body was killed by robbers, but the body's belongings were still there, which made Li Si suspicious. So he asked his subordinates to investigate and found the village where the dead body was.

A woman came forward to claim the body. Li Si asked her if she had any grudges with anyone. The woman replied that she did not, except that a man from the same village came to borrow money the first day but she did not lend it to him, so it could not be considered a grudge.

After understanding the general course of events, Li Si asked everyone in the village to take out their sickles. If there was anyone hiding, he must be a murderer.

After a while, hundreds of sickles were placed on the open space, with the names of each family clearly marked on them. Just when everyone was puzzled, Li Si led out the big yellow dog that had been prepared long ago. He first let it smell the blood, and then led it in front of the sickles. After a while, the dog stopped in front of a sickle and did not move.

This sickle belonged to the man who failed to borrow money. Faced with the irrefutable evidence, the man confessed his crime and accepted the punishment.

Su Xuan chuckled when he saw this. A dog's sense of smell is 1200 times more sensitive than that of a human. He told this to Li Si. The fact that he was able to apply this knowledge to solving cases so quickly showed that he was a natural-born descendant of the Legalist school.

Another story is about a child in Sanyuan County who relied on his strong body to beat another child to death. After Li Si arrested him, some people wanted to plead for him, saying that he was young and did not understand the situation, and that they should give him another chance.

As a result, at mealtime that day, Li Si inserted the chopsticks one right side up and the other upside down into the bowl and handed them to the child. The child took the bowl and straightened the chopsticks before starting to eat. Li Si immediately gave the order that the matter was clear and the person should be executed immediately. Everyone stopped arguing and had nothing to say.

Su Xuan nodded slightly, thinking that if it were him, eating with the chopsticks straightened, he was sensible and should be executed immediately, eating with the chopsticks not straightened, he was scheming and should be executed immediately, eating with his hands, he was born rebellious and should be executed immediately, throwing the bowl on the ground and eating with his mouth, he was disrespectful and should be executed immediately! Not eating? Then he would be reincarnated as a starving ghost.

There are thousands of reasons to want to kill someone. Being young and ignorant are never excuses or reasons to avoid punishment!

The child does not teach, the father too!

Give him a chance, who gives a dead child a chance?

He who kills someone should pay with his life, that's the way it should be!

Su Xuan glanced at the following cases. Most of them were trivial matters, such as two peasant women arguing over whose chicken belonged to them, or the thief crying "stop thief" and the one who tried to catch the thief confused.

At this time, Li Si, after learning the details of the incident, went to the pestle-making room to observe the traces left on the corpse.

Su Xuan looked at the corpse covered in mud and glanced at Teng Kan thoughtfully.

Chapter 167 The truth!

If the couple is very loving, would he allow her to be like this?

At least you should help her wipe the dirt off her body and change her into clean clothes.

The so-called rumors are just rumors after all!

But Li Si obviously did not realize this and was still preparing to take the pestle to the scene for investigation.

"No need to be so troublesome." Su Xuan spoke up to stop Li Si.

Li Si's eyes lit up, "Brother, have you found any key clues?"

Su Xuan shook his head, looked at Teng Kan, and asked, "County Lieutenant Teng, I heard that you two are deeply in love. I wonder if this is true or not?"

Teng Kan was obviously stunned for a moment, his eyes reddened, and he murmured, "I fell in love with her at first sight, and I indulged her in everything. How could I not love her?"

"Then why didn't County Captain Teng clean up the dirt on her body when he saw her body?" Su Xuan looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze.

Li Si also realized something was wrong when he heard this, and he also looked at Teng Kan, hoping that he would give him a reasonable explanation.

"This..." Teng Kan was choked up, his eyes wandering, and soon his face showed sadness. He explained, "When I learned about my wife's death, my mind went blank. I only wanted to find the murderer as soon as possible and bring him to justice."

The reasonable explanation instantly dispelled Li Si's doubts. He sighed softly and felt a little ashamed. They were a couple and respected each other and had a harmonious relationship, but he still doubted him!

He looked at Su Xuan, as if saying, Senior Brother, did we make a mistake?

Looking at Li Si who was doubting his life, Su Xuan smiled and shook his head, "Junior brother, the truth is often hidden inside things, and illusions are often exposed outside things."

“There is more to criminal justice than just following the rules, and finding the truth is not as complicated as you might think.”

As the words fell, Su Xuan snapped his fingers, and a ball of fire suddenly appeared at his fingertips. He looked straight at Teng Kan, and their eyes met. In just a moment, Teng Kan's eyes became dull and he lost his self-awareness.

This is exactly the fire charm technique that Su Xuan learned from Yan Lingji!

When it comes to sentencing and adjudicating cases, who says that extraordinary means cannot be used?

The fire charm is more than enough to deal with an ordinary person!

"Are you and your wife really as loving as the rumors say?" He asked the same question.

"Love?" Teng Kan sneered as if he had heard a huge joke. "You mean that woman who bosses me around every day and tramples on my dignity as a man every day, and I have to pretend nothing happened, coaxing her and smiling at her every day. If this is considered love, then we are indeed very loving!"

Li Si's eyes widened. The same question received two completely different answers. He looked at the flames dancing in Su Xuan's eyes with a flickering gaze, thinking that this was most likely a martial arts technique from the martial arts world.

He waved his hand and asked his officials to record Teng Kan's every word and action.

Teng Kan's beard became slightly hurried, "Everyone knows the story of the four screens, but the course of events is not what they think at all!"

"It's not her I like, but Lu'er. It was she who tore us apart and separated us from each other!" Teng Kan said angrily. "At first, I submitted my name card in Xianyang. With my knowledge, I could have made great achievements in Xianyang. But she, with the help of her father's influence, transferred me to a remote place. I started as a minor official. While trying to arrest a robber, I was stabbed several times and nearly died. I thought I could be promoted based on my merits, but I didn't expect that I would only get the honorary title of a hero in the end!"

"From then on, I knew that I could never go back to Xianyang. I could only be a minor official in this remote place forever. No matter how hard I tried, I could see my future fate from those older officials."

"Until one day, that woman wrote me a letter, asking me to kneel down and beg her. If I marry her, she can go back to Xianyang." His eyes were red, and his chest rose and fell. "I have never been humiliated like this. I wish I could hold the Qin sword and kill her whole family."

"But she calmed me down with just one sentence. She said if I didn't do it, she would kill Lu'er."

"That day, I bent my back and knelt in front of her in servility. I lost all my dignity as a man. But I think, as long as Lu'er is alive, it will all be worth it." His ferocious expression suddenly softened, as if he thought of the woman he had been thinking about.

"After I married her, she barged at me every day and never gave me a straight face. Although I returned to Xianyang, I lived worse than a dog." He laughed sadly, "I could endure all this, until later, I realized that I was wrong."

"On the day of my wedding, that woman had someone bring Lu'er to hide in the dark and witness the whole process!" His voice became gnashing, as if he wanted to tear off every piece of flesh and blood from her body. "She asked me to laugh more happily, and she asked me to be more intimate with her. All of this was done on purpose!"

"She is a vicious woman! I have never seen a more vicious woman than her! From that day on, Lu'er fell ill and could not get up. Even though I secretly invited the best doctor to treat her, she still passed away a few months later."

He cried and felt remorseful. "In her room, I found her last letter, which said, 'In this life, I will not marry anyone but you. Now that you are married, I will bury my bones in the underworld. I only hope that we can meet in the next life and be together forever!'"

Two lines of blood and tears slid down his cheeks. "I was wrong, so wrong!" He covered his cheeks with both hands, looking desperate and helpless. "If I had known this would happen, why would I have married that vicious woman?"

"We should live and die together!"

"After Lu'er died, I had no desire to live anymore. I killed this vicious woman." A trace of relief appeared in his eyes. "We can't live together, but we can be buried together in death."

"Why didn't you resist?" Li Si asked the key question.

"Her father is the Xianyang magistrate!" Teng Kan smiled bitterly. "Why didn't I resist? I tried every idea and contacted every person, but who would be willing to offend the powerful Xianyang magistrate for a nobody?"

When the fire charm technique was halfway performed, Su Xuan stopped the technique, and the following words were actually said voluntarily by Teng Kan.

Perhaps he is also lonely and wants to find someone who is willing to listen to him.

"The Xianyang Order has arrived!" As soon as the Xianyang Order was spoken, it arrived.

This was a middle-aged man with a beard, who looked somewhat similar to Zhao Gao. He was Zhao Gao's son-in-law Yan Le.

He came over arrogantly and angrily. Su Xuan glanced at him indifferently and ordered the bailiffs of Yanwei Mansion to arrest him.

"My Lord Prime Minister, what do you mean?" He narrowed his eyes slightly, exuding a stern aura. It was obvious that he possessed impressive martial arts skills. The guards around him stopped the bailiffs on their own without his orders and confronted Su Xuan.

"You are guilty!" Su Xuan looked at him expressionlessly and reminded him, "If you resist, your crime will be even more serious!"

"I wonder what crime I have committed?" Yan Le asked with a gloomy face.

"If I say you are guilty, then you are guilty!" Su Xuan blew a whistle, and the six sword slaves who had been secretly protecting him appeared in the blink of an eye.

"Take it!"

As the words fell, six long swords were placed on Yan Le's neck.

He turned his gaze towards Teng Kan and said word by word, "Now, I will make the decision for you!"

Chapter 168 Yan Le

"My Lord Prime Minister, my Qin State is founded on the law. You have no evidence, so why are you arresting me?" Yan Le had obviously never been beaten and was still a little unconvinced.

"Why did you turn a deaf ear to him when he was lecturing you?" Su Xuan asked sarcastically in a cold tone, "Why, are you thinking about lecturing now?"

Yan Le had an unsightly expression, and he looked at Teng Kan viciously, his eyes full of threats. This spineless man would not dare to betray himself.

However, what he didn't expect was that today, Teng Kan was out of character and told him all the old stories. "Last March, I killed a thief and deserved a promotion. You abused your power and prevented my promotion. You are guilty of dereliction of duty. The killing of the thief was recorded in detail by the local county government. I also have a handwritten copy in my hand. There is evidence!"

"Is this what you rely on?" Yan Le sneered, "Even if I admit this crime, what else can I do?"

"At most, I will be fined some salary and demoted one rank. This is not a big deal to me at all!"

At most he used some means of suppression against Teng Kan, which was far from enough to bring him down, so he was fearless.

"Really?" Teng Kan took something out of his arms. "I thought I wouldn't be able to use this thing even when I die, because I know that even if I have evidence, I still can't deal with you without someone of sufficient status and position."

"God has mercy on me, allowing me to meet the Prime Minister!" Teng Kan said with a pleased expression, "Today is the day you die!"

Yan Le's pupils shrank as he looked at the familiar account book.

Teng Kan laughed heartily, "Are you surprised? I got this account book from your daughter!"

Yan Le’s eyes went dark. This rebellious girl!

"Zhao's army, the commander of the arsenal, once smuggled a large amount of military equipment. But how could they hide the weapons from you, the commander of Xianyang?" Teng Kan sneered, "So you are in cahoots with them. Your share of the profits is clearly recorded in this account book!"

"Smuggling weapons will result in the punishment of being turned into a human pig." Teng Kan explained the punishment package to him very seriously, "Your limbs will be chopped off. Can you imagine what it would be like to have only a torso without limbs?"

"Your eyes will also be gouged out, leaving them empty and unable to see anything."

"Your ears will be filled with copper liquid. The temperature of the copper liquid is much higher than that of the flame. You can feel it for yourself!"

"After this, your tongue will be cut off, your nose will be chopped off, your vocal cords will be destroyed, and finally, you will be thrown into a cesspool, where you will be fed with the taste of feces. Maggots will crawl into your limbs and torso, drill into your nostrils and anus, and run rampant in your body!"

With every word Teng Kan said, Yan Le's face turned paler, until finally, it looked as pale as a ghost.

No one can endure such cruel punishment.

Su Xuan took the account book, confirmed its authenticity and threw it to Li Si.

Li Si looked unhappy after taking a look at it, because there was more than just Yan Le recorded there.

Damn termites!

With the support of his senior brother, Li Si was fearless. He immediately ordered the arrest and imprisonment of Yan Le, and ordered others to arrest all the people involved in the account book.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, my father-in-law is the Minister of the Imperial Chariots, Zhao Gao. For his sake, please make a big deal out of a small matter and spare me." Yan Le no longer had his previous arrogance and begged for mercy in a low voice.

"It turns out to be Lord Zhao Gao." Su Xuan said meaningfully.

Yan Le's face lit up with joy. "Since the Prime Minister knows my father-in-law, it will be easy! As long as the Prime Minister agrees to let me go, I will reward him handsomely!"

"Oh, how are you going to thank me?" Su Xuan began to tease him.

Yan Le made a three-sign gesture, "Thirty thousand taels of gold!"

Su Xuan looked at him deeply. He could easily take out 30,000 taels of gold. The actual amount of money he embezzled was probably far more than this number.

Seeing that Su Xuan didn't say anything, Yan Le thought that he had given too little, so he gritted his teeth and said, "If the Prime Minister is not satisfied, I can add more."