The Ming Dynasty version of Pan Jinlian: The bizarre story of fornication and **.
In the past, due to the circulation of books such as "Clearing Grievances", because people have a certain understanding of the methods of ** autopsy, some people tried to escape punishment by falsifying wounds and other methods, which were divided into cases of successfully escaping punishment by forging wounds in the past, and now divided into situations of escaping punishment by failing to fake wounds.
During the Ming Dynasty, such an incident happened in Xinxing County, Guangdong. At that time, a newly appointed judge surnamed Li went out to inspect the city and saw a woman wearing linen and filial piety in front of the mound on the side of the road. He immediately felt strange, so he turned his eyes to her, and when he looked again, it turned out that it was not a woman wearing linen and filial piety, but a woman wearing filial piety clothes.
Li Zhixian thought it was strange, so he asked his companion, who told him that the master had made a mistake and that it was just a sad woman crying at the grave. But the judge was not happy and ordered the woman to be brought back to the court for questioning.
After returning to the district office, Judge Li immediately questioned the woman and said:"Unfortunately, her husband passed away due to illness, and the neighbors in the neighborhood knew about it. Today is'The seventh day of the seventh month', she went to the grave to pay respects, ** will wear colorful clothes? "
Li Zhixian then ordered four neighbors to come forward, saying that the woman's husband was indeed sick and dead. Li Zhixian still did not release the people and ordered the investigation to continue. The woman's husband had no one at home, and when the four neighbors saw that Li Zhixian was very stubborn, they said that Li Zhixian was very stubborn"Detention of widows without cause", should help her go to the yamen to redress her grievances. The judge then asked Li Zhixian to find out the truth within half a year, and if he could not find out, he would use it"Entering people for no reason"Punishment for crimes (i.e., dismissal and disqualification from public office).
Despite the governor's warning, Li Zhixian still did not give up, he went out of the city in civilian clothes, but he looked around for the results, just opportunistic, day after day, won time, but never made money.
In the evening of that day, it suddenly began to rain, and Li Zhixian went to the farmhouse at the foot of the mountain to take shelter from the rain. There was only one middle-aged woman in the house, and when she saw that he was drenched in the rain, she took him in. Li Zhixian claimed to be a fortune teller passing by here, and because of the sudden heavy rain, he had nowhere to go, so he asked to stay overnight.
At the same time, the village woman's son returned home and saw a strange man in the house, Li Zhixian hurriedly explained, but the man just wanted to say something and stopped. Li Zhixian felt hungry, so he took out some silver money and asked the village woman to prepare some food for them, but the village woman smiled and said:"I don't have a restaurant at home, I only prepare some light side dishes, how can I spend money to entertain guests. "
After a while, the peasant woman set up the wine table and sent wine to her son and Li Zhixian to ward off the cold, and the two sat down to eat together. After a few glasses of wine, they gradually became acquainted, chatting while eating, and the son was slightly drunk and asked"You're from the city, do you know the current county magistrate? ".
I know, I heard that his name is Master Li. "Governor Lee replied.
But the son smiled and said"Did you know that Judge Li is about to be removed from office because of a woman's case! I'm afraid that Bao Longtu is alive, and he can't solve this case"。After saying these words, he looked at Judge Li proudly and said with a smile:"Only I can solve this case! "
Li Zhixian was surprised, but he didn't dare to show it, he just pretended to be curious and asked"What's written on this? "
The son pretended to drink a glass of wine and then said:"To tell you the truth, I came from a poor background and often stole in order to support my mother. I went to this woman's house for a long time to investigate, and that night, I saw that the door of the house was open, so I wanted to take the opportunity to take something and leave, but I saw a local old man with strong martial arts come in, so I had to hide in the dark. The old man seemed to be kind to the woman, but the man in the room was a patient lying on the bed and moaning, so the woman said that the medicine was broken, took a copper spoon into the house, and poured the contents of the spoon into the man's mouth, causing the man in the house to die in a pitiful scream. "
Governor Li couldn't help but ask"Why, does drinking medicine kill people? "
The son drank another glass of wine, knocked on the table and smiled"How can drinking medicine kill people? I could clearly see that the copper spoon was not filled with medicine, but with molten tin! I was so scared that I slipped away. You say, how did the government know about such a mysterious thing? "
Hearing this, Governor Li asked his son:"Why didn't you go to the police? "
And his son said:"As the saying goes,'Breaking into the house late at night is either a traitor or a thief'If I go to report him, won't I fall into a trap? "
County Magistrate Li gave his son a suggestion:'Being a thief is not a long-term solution. I know someone, you can come with me to the city tomorrow, I have some silver in my box, I will give you the capital, do a business! "The son, who had also been forced to steal because of his poor family, heard that this man was willing to give him money for a small business, and of course he agreed.
The next day, the county magistrate Li took the thief back to the village, told him to wait outside the cave for a while, returned to the cave and changed his clothes, and then sent a judge to let the thief in. The two met at the back door of the yamen, and the thief was shocked and immediately knelt on the ground and begged for mercy. Li Yuanwai gently persuaded:"Although you are dishonest, your filial piety is commendable, and as long as you don't steal in the future, this case will not be heard. "He was just waiting for the moment when the court took a stand on the case, and the thief dared to refuse.
Li Zhixian took the coffin of the deceased, opened the coffin for autopsy, and the forensic doctor said that the deceased's throat was actually blocked by iron blocks. Li Zhixian's heart sank to the bottom all of a sudden, he immediately stood up and asked about the case, he arrested Wu Zhuangyuan in the yamen, and took away the women in the cell, the two men in the hall immediately panicked, and together with the thief, they said a few confessions in the hall, how could the two deny it.
Seeing that they could not deny it, both men and women had to bow their heads and admit it. It turned out that the woman's husband had been sick in bed for a long time, and Wuji took the opportunity to have an affair with the woman. For"Looks like a guard"They agreed to kill the woman's husband, but Mowgli was worried that there would be a flaw with the poison, so he suggested using molten tin that would not be detected.
Since the groom's husband was bedridden for many years, the neighbors knew that he was dead and did not suspect him too much. Seeing that the conspiracy succeeded, but did not want to be discovered by Li Zhixian, after the woman heard that Li Zhixian was detained by Wu Zhuangyuan, she was afraid that the truth would be revealed, so she instigated the woman's neighbor to go to the government to correct the case, but she did not want to become a person who could not escape the law.
Governor Li sentenced the two to death in accordance with the "Da Ming Law", and then sent them to prison, handed over the case to the yamen, and gave the thief who testified a sum of money to persuade him to turn over a new leaf.