Emperor Ming Dynasty

When she came to the Princess Mansion, Zhu Jing could even feel the trembling legs and feet of the officials around her.

Ordinary soldiers are fine, but officials like them are out of luck.

Princess Kunning was conferred the title of Princess Kunxing during the Chongzhen period of the former dynasty, and changed to Princess Changping during the Shunzhi period of the puppet Qing Dynasty. In the year of Shaowu, the emperor thought that Kunxing was unlucky, so she was conferred the title of Princess Kunning again.

A while ago, she was also named the eldest princess, ranking first among the clan princesses.

Her husband, Zhou Shixian, was Zuo Zongzheng of the clan's mansion, and was well-known among the nobles of the clan.

His son Zhou Zhao, who was favored by him, became the uncle of Lingshou, and won the title of Spokesperson for no reason, and I don't know how many people are envious of him.

The original prestige of the Zhou Mansion was naturally suppressed by the Long Princess Mansion.

Not only those subordinates, but even Zhu Jing, who is the earl, also felt a little cold and restless in his heart.

The Patrol Headquarters was first built, and it was almost overwhelmed by such a heavy responsibility.

"Uncle Zhu is polite!"

"Uncle Zhou is too polite!"

There was a smile on Zhou Zhao's face, but it couldn't hide the panic inside.

Although his family bears a huge reputation, they have to bow their heads to Zhu Yi, the emperor's favorite and important minister in the capital.

"What is missing?"

The two walked almost side by side, but Zhou Zhao was half a step behind, lowered his head, and said with a wry smile, "It's a gourd bottle bestowed by the emperor. It's five-color gold-painted and has two knots. It's said that Jingdezhen was in Shaowu for 16 years. , a specially made batch..."

"I see."

Zhu Jing frowned: "Your Majesty loves to play with this kind of small and exquisite things, and he even tied a rope around his waist, talking about gourd babies."

"It seems to imply more children and more blessings."

"That thing seems to have only eight."

"That's right." Zhou Zhao suddenly puffed up his chest and said proudly: "At the beginning, Your Majesty thought of Xuan Guogong (Zhu Meng), An Guogong (Li Jizu), and Yi Guogong (Li Jingwu), the three former ministers of the hidden residence, so he bestowed a gift on each of them. handle."

"Xuan Guogong got a red doll with a gourd on his head; An Guogong got orange clothes, and Yi Guogong got yellow clothes."

"My family got a doll in green clothes."

"That's right." Zhu Jing nodded: "Your Majesty plays with it every day, it seems to be a white doll."

"This thing is precious!"

"That's right!" Zhou Zhao's face collapsed immediately: "There are only eight of them in the world, and they were gifts from the emperor, so they were lost in my house..."

"Trouble!"

Zhu Jing frowned tightly, and a strong bitterness emerged in her heart.

This is something that reaches heaven.

If the case is solved, it will increase the number of holy family members for others, but Dao doesn't lack for him!

If it is not broken, the emperor will definitely be disappointed with him, and the newly built Patrol Headquarters will lose its majesty, and it may even collapse.

If this thing is sold, it may cost tens of thousands, or even 10 yuan, which is money that many people will not be able to earn in eight lifetimes.

Don't be afraid that no one will dare to sell.

As long as someone dares to sell, there must be someone who dares to buy. There are countless people in the world who are daring.

After all, after waiting for decades, who will remember?

"How did you find out?"

Zhu Jing was puzzled.

Ordinary people naturally cherish the imperial gift very much, and even set up an incense burner directly, burning incense three times a day.

But for Xungui, there are too many imperial gifts like this, and if you worship three times a day, there is no place to put them down, so they are usually treasured and will not be taken out for inspection later.

"It's the butler who is in charge of the keys to the storeroom and has disappeared."

Zhou Zhao said embarrassingly, "That's why we realized something was wrong, so we took stock..."

"Self-defense?"

Zhu Jing was curious.

"His family members are all there, and he has been controlled. He can't escape alone if he is guarding himself!"

"Besides, nothing was taken away, and the house remains the same as before."

Zhou Zhao puffed up his chest and said, "This reason is very simple."

He has been talking about storytelling for many years, but he has no shortage of stories. Could it be the case of Bao Gong and Di Gong?

"That's right."

Zhu Jing inspected the entire warehouse, a large number of treasures bestowed by the emperor were so colorful that they blinded her eyes.

The savings of the Zhou family over the years are really eye-opening.

Ruyi and porcelain are wrapped in large and small wooden boxes, and there are many gold melon seeds and silver beans in yellow silk bags.

"Strange, I didn't take so many things, but I only took a gourd."

Zhu Jing was puzzled.

"It's probably because the gourd is of high value!" Zhou Zhao said, "This thief also has a good eye."

Zhu Jing checked carefully, but she had no clue.

Helpless, he returned to the yamen and studied for a whole night, but there was nothing he could do.

At this time, Master Xing Ming said: "Generally speaking, such a case can almost be concluded to be someone from the Zhou family, and it is very difficult for others to succeed."

"Sir will investigate the case?"

Zhu Jing was overjoyed.

The master said embarrassingly: "Students are ashamed, they don't have the skills of Di Gong and Bao Gong, they just know how to solve cases..."

Master Xing Ming doesn't know how to investigate cases, but decides cases.

That is to say, he is familiar with the law and knows the old cases of urban regulations over the years, so he can judge cases in a regular manner and prevent officials from measuring wrong sentences.

At the same time, the veteran criminal master will also peek out the details from the case files, and see through the subordinate officials' framing, outdated rules and bad habits.

All in all, it is still showing off its writing work, just like the judges of later generations.

Since the separation of officials in the Song Dynasty, officials from the imperial examinations were often played and applauded by those local subordinates, which is equivalent to being fooled by old dogs after graduation. This is very normal.

A good book does not mean that you will be an official.

After all, the knowledge of being an official is great.

Therefore, over time, it has become a tradition to hire a master.

Generally speaking, local officials will have three masters, Master Shuqi, Master Qiangu, and Master Xingming.

Master Shuqi is generally responsible for writing and handling office documents, as well as dealing with foreign countries.

When writing a memorial to the emperor, if one word is wrong, the head may be beheaded. It is reasonable to ask someone to help draft it.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guofan led the Hunan Army to repeated battles and repeated defeats. He wanted to jump into the river several times. His master wrote to him, changing the repeated battles to repeated defeats. trust.

Zhao Shu, the first prime minister of the Shaowu Dynasty, was Sun Chuanting's Shuqi master.

Master Xing Ming doesn't need to go into details.

Master Qian Gu is different, most of them will not travel around with the owner, but rooted in the ground.

Because compared with the yellow book of the imperial court, Master Qian Gu’s private book is the real yellow book, which contains the real local land measurement list, list of wealthy households, official relationship map, industry rules and taboos, etc.

Therefore, Master Qian Gu is basically passed on from father to son, or from master to apprentice, and is the chief of the local finance bureau.

Sometimes this kind of yellow book is worth tens of thousands of taels.

Emperor Shaowu also planned to cut it off at the beginning, but after trying it for a while, the harm outweighed the benefits, so he continued to acquiesce.

The imperial examination, which was born because of studying, is the fairest selection method today, and the shortcomings need to be supplemented by the master.

This is naturally regulated by history and has its rationality.

Even after an internship in politics, it does not necessarily make these outstanding scholars become officialdom masters.

After all, if the article is well written, the memorabilia may not be good; if you read a lot of books, you may not be able to master the law of Ming Dynasty.

Furthermore, the master is also the assistant of the official, so he can avoid being played and applauded by the subordinate staff.

The existence of the master, to some extent, fixed the bottom line.

"However, those who are best at solving cases and catching thieves are those old officials."

"Dong Weng can invite an old official to come."

Zhu Jing said coldly: "As the saying goes, if you are innocent, you should be killed if you are not guilty of a car and boat shop. These evil things are just good at telling stories and tricking them into tricks!"

Seeing his resentment, Master Xing didn't take it seriously, and stroked his goatee: "Dong Weng misunderstood, those pawns are only good at making official articles, but they are not good at judging cases."

"The one I want you to invite is Wu Zuo."

"At least 30 years old work."

"Wu Zuo?" Zhu Jing was taken aback for a moment, "Aren't they inspecting the corpse?"

Having said that, Zhu Jing still sent someone to invite an old monk to do it.

His cheeks are thin, his eyebrows are sparse, his eyes are slightly narrowed, and his whole body exudes a sense of coldness.

Fa Qianqiu, the ancestral Wu Zuo of Shuntian Mansion, since the Xuande period, the Legalists have been deeply rooted in the Wu Zuo industry.

The eldest son took over the business, while the second and youngest sons ran businesses, such as making paper, coffins, and shrouds.

When I am old, I will retire to guard the store and let my son go to work.

This line of work is passed down from father to son, and experience is passed on from mouth to mouth. It is impossible to find a second person, and it is difficult to find someone who is willing to do the same.

Although the imperial court selected the officials of the county government through the provincial examination, Wu Zuo was not among them, because they were too professional.

"Master Fa, you have rich experience, let's take a look."

Zhu Jing asked politely.

Fa Qianqiu hurriedly bowed his head, and after some evasions, he had no choice but to enter first.

I saw his eyes narrowed into slits at this moment, fearing that he would not be able to poke them in with a needle.

Eyebrows tangle like twine.

Nose wrinkled, sniffing constantly, seemed to be able to smell blood.

After a while, the entire room was searched, and everyone was a little impatient.

Only then did Fa Qianqiu point to the chassis of the cylinder, and said: "A layer of paint has been rubbed off here, it should be rubbed by heels during the fight."

"Judging from its traces, it should be very intense."

At this time, his son came over with a dog.

Fa Qianqiu explained: "Although my pair of noses are sensitive, they are not very bright anymore due to the smell of corpses every day."

"In recent years, I have raised some dogs. Dogs have sharper noses than humans, and they can smell the smell of several days ago."

As he spoke, he asked someone to find some clothes and asked the dog to find them.

Who knows, after just sniffing lightly, before waiting for any reaction from everyone, he went straight to the backyard.

Everyone hurried along the way and saw a well.

The dog barked incessantly at the well.

"There are corpses in this well." Fa Qianqiu asserted.

Sure enough, a dead body was salvaged.

It was the missing steward.

Everyone looks up to him like a god.

Immediately, Fa Qianqiu groped around the corpse, and after a quarter of an hour, he finally said: "This person was killed by someone, he should have been knocked out, thrown into the well, and drowned alive."

"You see, the spots are reddish, typical of drowning."

"Also, there is drowning liquid in his throat. This is the well water that was sucked in during his lifetime. If it was thrown into it after death, it is naturally impossible."

"That may also be suicide by jumping into a well." Zhou Zhao couldn't help cooperating.

"Good question." Fa Qianqiu smiled, the dry skin on his face made this smile very strange: "Look at his nails."

"It's full of moss on the side of the well. If it was really suicide, how could there be such a violent struggle?"

"Very good." Zhu Jing couldn't help but said, "Since this person was killed, who was the murderer?"

"It should be someone from the Zhou residence."

Fa Qianqiu said in a low voice: "His fingers are stiff, holding a piece of rag."

"It is very likely that the accomplice wanted to take it for himself, or it may be discovered after the key was stolen..."

Fa Qianqiu bowed his head and said: "Under the three trees, why not ask for it?"

"This is the commander-in-chief's business, and the little official can only do so much."

"Ok!"

Figured out the insider.

Zhu Jing nodded: "Bring all the male servants in the Zhou Mansion, I want to see who has the guts."

Sure enough, after some coercion and torture, the murderer who was missing the rag was found.

For a time, the General Patrol Office was full of applause.

However, Zhu Jing deeply knew that this was due to Wu Zuo, and also understood the importance of Wu Zuo.

Such a difficult case was solved in a short time, which is really amazing.

He found Fa Qianqiu and asked him why, as if breaking the casserole to ask the end.

Faced with the persecution of the superior, Fa Qianqiu had no choice but to take out a book:

"Record of Wrongly Washing"

Zhu Jing was stunned, and flipped through it to see that it described human anatomy, autopsy, investigation of the scene, identification of the cause of death and injury, various manifestations of suicide or murder, various poisons and first aid, and detoxification methods.

It can be said that everything is readily available.

What you need to understand, or what you don't need to understand, are all above.

It is simply a sharp weapon to solve the case.

"Is this your book?"

Unknowingly, he used honorifics.

Fa Qianqiu said with a wry smile: "How can the old official have such abilities."

"This is the God's Judgment in the Song Dynasty, written by Song Ci, the court councilor. It has gone through three dynasties more than four hundred years ago, and it is a must-have thing for everyone."

"Then why haven't I heard of it?" Zhu Jing was puzzled: "Such a magical book should be widely advertised!"

"If all the officials in the world have a copy, why worry about unjust cases?"

"Commander, there are many taboos among the common people in this job. They wish they could stay ten feet away on weekdays. It is difficult to marry a wife and have children. How can the record of injustice be spread?"

Fa Qianqiu said in a deep voice: "Furthermore, the records of redressing injustices are not written in the imperial examination, how many officials are interested?"

"Even if everyone has a copy, those officials and gentlemen can't read it..."

"As for the injustice cases, the co-workers are aware of them in their hearts. Only officials and lords can create them. Clearing up the injustice records is just another co-worker."

"You're right." Zhu Jing sighed. He stroked the line book, feeling the roughness of the writing. It was already sallow and black, and he had experienced many years.

If it hadn't been for the fact that his General Patrol Office had experienced a murder case and was stimulated by his work, how would he know about the record of injustice?

Those officials will only instruct you to conduct an investigation, and then the subordinate staff will frame the crime, distort the facts, and form an unjust, false and wrong case.

Books cannot solve unjust cases, only people can.

"Because of this, a large number of people who can solve unjust cases are needed to enter the officialdom!"

I overestimated myself, the detective was not easy to write, and wasted my time