Chapter 291 Solving a Case in One Night

Faced with Chen Heng's questioning, Lou County's squad leader naturally had to argue again. He was sure that Zhen Zijing was dead and there was no evidence, so he directly put all the faults on his predecessor.

He only said that the woman could not bear the humiliation, so she hanged herself in anger.

Her husband learned about this and could not bear to see his wife go on the road alone. He found some poison from somewhere, took the child on the road, and the whole family went to the underworld together.

This statement actually did not withstand any scrutiny. Chen Heng knew that the other party was lying, so he could certainly use criminal law to force him to confess.

However, the death penalty requires a review, and the Ministry of Justice will send officials to review the case. By then, Lou County's squad leader will cry out that he was wronged and insist that he was tortured into confessing, and he will inevitably have to fight a verbal lawsuit. He will be severely punished and suspended from office pending trial.

The document submitted by the coroner also stated that there was nothing wrong with what Lou County's squad leader said. If the punishment is really based on this crime, this person will not only be dismissed from his official position, but also be given a lighter sentence, not to mention the death penalty.

How could Chen Heng let the head of Lou County get what he wanted? He first waved his hand and detained the other party.

He took the angry Liu Xianglian and Yan Xiaoer to the charity cemetery and met the coroner there.

"Sir." Seeing the county magistrate in person, the coroner, who was over 50 years old, was shocked.

He has been doing this job for so many years, and rarely sees the official on the scene. It was the hottest time of the summer, and the body that had been lying there for seven or eight days, the smell can be imagined.

Liu Xianglian came to the body and stood firm, his face turned pale immediately. The peculiar smell was really pungent. Not to mention him, even Yan Xiaoer, who had been rolling in the bottom for many years, could not stand it.

Chen Heng felt bad in his heart, but when he thought that the head of Lou County was going to get away with it, he was furious.

With conviction, he nodded at the coroner and asked directly, "Do you have a face towel?"

"Yes." The coroner hurriedly took out what Chen Heng wanted from his toolbox.

The so-called face towels are all Dharma instruments passed down by coroners of all generations. This face towel, fumigated and baked with spices, can effectively suppress the corpse gas from entering the body when worn on the face.

Chen Heng put on the face towel and instantly felt that the air smelled much better. He found two thin ropes and asked Liu Xianglian to help tie up the two sleeves.

Seeing that the master was busy, the coroner thought that the other party was also a master of Xing Dao, and he really admired him. Who knew that his good master just stood beside the corpse again and clasped his hands and said.

"Amitabha, Wuliang Tianzun. Don't blame me, don't blame me."

The coroner couldn't hold it back at that time. My lord, these two Dharma names are one Buddhist and one Taoist, why are you shouting them at the same time?

Chen Heng was just trying to make himself feel at ease. If it wasn't for the family's vindication, he would never want to come here in person and suffer this crime in vain.

The coroner waited for Chen Heng to finish his psychological preparation, and then he heard the adults say, "Remove the bamboo mat."

"Yes."

The coroner hurriedly uncovered the mat. The bodies of the three people in the family were lying straight on the wooden board.

Chen Heng secretly said guilty in his heart, his eyes fixed, and pointed at the three corpses and said, "Take off their clothes."

The coroner didn't dare to be surprised. They were all corpses that had been left for seven or eight days. Those that should be rotten were rotten, and those that should have worm eggs were worm eggs.

The coroner dealt with corpses all year round, so he was naturally not afraid. But when Liu Xianglian and Yan Xiaoer saw it, they could no longer restrain themselves. They turned around and ran to the courtyard and began to breathe heavily.

"This bastard should have been stabbed to death at that time." Liu Xianglian's angry curse floated in through the wooden window.

Chen Heng turned a deaf ear to it and just focused his eyes on the wounds on the corpses. He trusted the judgment of the coroner, but there were some things that he couldn't rest assured without seeing them in person.

Among the three corpses, the female had the most wounds, about a dozen. The male had fewer, but there were also seven or eight. The son had the least, only one or two.

Every time Chen Heng asked about a scar, he listened to the coroner's detailed description of the origin of the wound.

There are actually certain ways to judge what kind of object caused it and how long the scar was.

Chen Heng had never read such books before. With the ready-made opportunity for practical operation, he couldn't help asking more and more detailed questions.

When they were busy for half an hour, the sky was already faintly bright. The old coroner was dry-mouthed when he talked. If he wasn't happy that an adult was willing to be so respectful to a scholar, he would have been annoyed and let it go.

Doing the same thing again, and having to teach while talking, is really tiring.

Chen Heng was very energetic. Only when he changed the face towel in the middle, he showed some difficulty. He checked the three corpses repeatedly and found that there was no difference with what the head of Lou County said.

But because the latter changed his testimony, Chen Heng had already determined that the head of Lou County was suspected of murder. With this thought in mind, he couldn't help but become more suspicious when he saw the strange corpse.

"According to what you said, the father and son did die of poisoning, and the woman died of hanging."

"That's right, sir. The foreign objects in the throats of the father and son were caused by vomiting, not after death. The scratches on the woman's neck were also left by the rope."

"Can you tell what poison caused it?" Chen Heng subconsciously asked a stupid question.

This made the old coroner very difficult. His deceased master didn't teach this skill.

Seeing the old coroner standing there awkwardly, Chen Heng immediately reacted and said repeatedly: "It's okay, I was overthinking."

"If you really want to know what poison caused it, you can ask a famous doctor to come and see. They have superb medical skills and may be able to identify something through the symptoms."

The old coroner answered very cautiously. Chen Heng shook his head unconsciously. How could he find a famous doctor in such a short time? Even if hundreds of years have passed, it would be hard to find a good doctor for this profession.

Keeping this in mind, Chen Heng patiently examined the body again. He had a good memory. The old coroner demonstrated and taught again, and Chen Heng had done it well.

The old coroner on the side was jealous. He felt that if the master did not become an official in the future, it would be a great embryo to come and accompany him to examine the body.

After another useless work, Chen Heng shook his head and put the limbs of the deceased back to their original positions.

"Please put them back on."

The master was so polite that the coroner was really flattered. He hurriedly replied: "It should be, it should be, sir."

Seeing that Chen Heng was finally getting up and leaving, the coroner was relieved. Although he had worked in vain all night, he could see it from the details. Why did colleagues in the county government praise the new magistrate endlessly?

When Chen Heng finally came out, Liu Xianglian didn't bother to speak, Yan Xiaoer was already full of expectation and said: "Sir, have you got the evidence?"

Chen Heng shook his head with a heavy heart and looked up at the gray sky. The sky was about to brighten, the stars were hidden, and only the rising sun was not seen.

The three of them worked in vain all night, and they thought about seeing the smug face of the boss of Lou County when they returned.

Liu Xianglian's anger was even greater, coupled with the miserable situation of the family of three in the charity house. He directly raised his hand as a knife, wiped his neck, and said fiercely: "Sir, I have a way to keep him from leaving the prison. Otherwise..."

Wouldn't it be to kill a stupid pig and get yourself into trouble? Chen Heng is not a pedantic person. It's not that this kind of thing can't be done, but it's just for a small head of the police, it will never happen.

Chen Heng continued to shake his head. Liu Xianglian's strategy was definitely not the act of a wise man. He remained silent and led a few steps in front.

Seeing that everyone was leaving, Yan Xiaoer hurried to the front and said, "Sir, I'll go get the horse."

As a result, when he drove the carriage over, Chen Heng wanted to walk back to the county government office. Xiaoer had no choice but to drive the carriage himself and slowly follow Chen Heng and Liu Xianglian.

In the early morning, there were not many pedestrians on the street except for a few shops setting up morning stalls. In such a quiet environment, except for the occasional crowing of roosters, there was only the echo of horse hooves hitting the stone road.

Chen Heng was still thinking about the situation of the corpse in his mind. When he watched Song Ci and Di Renjie when he was a child, he only saw their divine side of solving cases. Now that he was in trouble, he knew how difficult it was.

It is said that corpses can speak. Old brother who died in vain, you should get up and say something. Tell me if you left any last words, just in time to testify against the criminal.

Seeing that the lord was lost in thought, Liu Xianglian ran to the roadside to buy three sesame cakes and brought them back. He promised Yan Xiaoer last night that he would treat him to the Wu family's sesame cakes this morning. Chen Heng really had no intention of eating, so he just took a bite of the pancake and continued to think.

He thought for a long time and suddenly screamed. This scared Liu and Yan behind him. They thought something was wrong with the adults and hurried over to show their concern.

Chen Heng smiled and waved his hand, "I was thinking too much and burned my hands."

Such a person is the one I want to follow for the rest of my life. Liu Xianglian's heart was hot when he heard it, and he hurriedly took out a sweat towel from his arms and handed it to Chen Heng, saying, "My lord, please eat something and go back to rest. Let's make a long-term plan."

"Okay."

Chen Heng smiled, accepted his friend's concern, and wiped the oil stains on his fingertips with a sweat towel. Nowadays, ordinary people are simple and honest, and they all use hot vegetable fried pancakes.

The freshly baked pancakes were golden on top, and oil and water flowed out of the cloth bag.

Suddenly, Chen Heng thought of something and stood there in a daze.

Liu Xianglian saw something strange again, and seeing Chen Heng's changed expression, he couldn't help but carefully asked: "Sir, what's wrong?"

"Clean..." Chen Heng murmured, "Too clean!"

"What?!" Liu Xianglian stared at the pancake in Chen Heng's hand. Isn't the cleaner the food, the better? In this day and age, is there still dirty food?

Chen Heng suddenly shouted: "There are accomplices, and more than one person."

Liu Xianglian was startled at the moment. He didn't expect Chen Heng's judgment to have any basis. Chen Heng, who had just shown an expression of listening and thinking over and over again, laughed out loud: "There is always a loophole in a hundred precautions, it is really a loophole in a hundred precautions. Although he is an old constable, he is a long-lasting law. Hahaha."

"You have been keeping an eye on the constables in Lou County these days. Do you know how many people have the best relationship with him?"

"Yes." Liu Xianglian nodded immediately and said bluntly, "There are three or four people who like to drink with Huang Bantou when they have nothing to do."

"You take people with you and arrest them first. Remember, arrest them separately and detain them all separately. I want to try them one by one."

Chen Heng's mind was lifted, and his originally sluggish spirit was as high as if he had drunk chicken blood.

Seeing that the adults were so confident, Liu Xianglian did not dare to delay. He stuffed the sesame cake into his arms and jumped into the carriage.

Yan Xiaoer, who had finished eating the pancake in a few bites, stretched out his hand to the adults who came and said vaguely: "Master... get in the car."

"Let's go, go back to the government office immediately." Chen Heng had not yet sat down and started to urge.

"Okay, let's go." Liu Xianglian, who received the order, threw the reins and drove the carriage on the avenue.

When they rushed back to Huating County Government Office, not long after, three or five constables formed a team and rushed directly to various places in the city with great momentum.

About a few moments later, Chen Heng, who had washed and tidied his clothes again, took Xiao Ping and Xinda who came to interrogate the prisoners who had just been captured.

This criminal was in his sleep when he was woken up by Liu Xianglian. He was still in shock and was still thinking about why he was in trouble.

Then he heard Chen Heng slamming the gavel and shouting: "Huang Bantou said that you and he were the ones who killed the Li family in Xiaozhu Village. Is there anything he said false?"

When this man heard this, he immediately felt something was wrong. His boss had killed yellow chickens with him and worshipped Guan Gong.

They had sworn to each other that they would never betray their brothers. He didn't believe Chen Heng's bluff and immediately refused to admit it.

Chen Heng was not in a hurry and directly took out a fabricated testimony. The signatures on it were all made by him and Xiao Ping.

Dayong strictly prohibited torture to get confessions, but there was no rule that no confessions could be induced. Who knew that this man was really a bit temperamental and didn't cry even when he saw the "coffin".

But without him, there were still four other people waiting to be interrogated one by one. Chen Heng did not waste any more time on him, and only left a mysterious sentence "leniency for confession, severity for resistance."

First, he put this person under separate custody, and then interrogated the remaining people in the same way. When it came to the third person, he finally encountered a person with a weak will, and he confessed the details of the murder in court.

He said that he was suddenly called by the squad leader that day, and together with several accomplices, he held the hands and feet of the man surnamed Li and forced him to drink poison.

With this person as a breakthrough, the rest of the people were all desperate when they were brought to trial again. With the continuous breakthroughs of Chen Heng and Xiao Ping, the defense line in their hearts was quickly broken.

Even the poison used and the hiding place were explained clearly. It was no effort for Chen Heng to find it.

Everything was ready, and the squad leader Huang, who had been deserted by everyone, had no ability to continue to deny. He forced a few words, and finally bowed his head and confessed his guilt.

After confessing that he often took advantage of Zhen Zijing's absence to force the woman to have sex. One day, Huang Bantou saw the woman hang herself, and then he decided to kill her completely.

After confessing the matter, Huang Bantou was still a little unwilling. He asked Chen Heng, who was thinking in the court: "I don't know how did you know that I had another helper?"

Huang Bantou himself had tracked many cases and knew the tricks better. How could he not pay attention to the details. He asked himself that he had done it perfectly, and he couldn't figure out how Chen Heng could find out the clues.

In the court, looking at the testimony of Huang Bantou's handprints. Chen Heng heard the question of the criminal, sneered at him, pointed at the kneeling man, and said: "I see that you were born in a local farmer's family. You may have forgotten what you looked like when you were a child in the countryside. You deliberately cleaned up the bodies of the three people in the Li family. But you forgot that the fingernails of farmers are the dirtiest."

It turned out to be because of this? ? Huang Bantou was really upset. At that time, he ordered people to hold down the man of the Li family and force him to drink poison.

The other party knew that his death was approaching, so he naturally struggled to death.

After several tugs, the other party's fingertips naturally had a lot of blood from several people.

Although there was no blood stain verification these days, Huang Bantou was determined to fake a suicide by taking poison, and he absolutely did not want the other party's fingertips to leave evidence of guilt.

After several treatments, he did not forget the child's hands.

He cleaned up so carefully, but finally fell here. Huang Bantou could not find more words except shouting "God wants to kill me, I admire you".

Chen Heng was too lazy to pay attention to him. He now had several testimonies in his hands, and the evidence was complete. He just had to wait to report to the prefect. This case was not only handled quickly, but also exciting and beautiful.

When the officials of Lou County received the news, they would find a way to help Huang Bantou operate, but there was no chance to operate.

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Liu Yanzhang got up early today, originally thinking of having a good meal at home. Who knew that before he had taken a few bites of the meal, he heard the Magistrate of Huating coming to the door.

Chen Heng was his favorite and lucky general. Magistrate Liu welcomed his "new love" into the house and was about to invite him to sit down and eat together when he heard Chen Heng directly talk about the case yesterday.

At first, Liu Yanzhang thought Chen Heng came to report the situation. Then he heard that the other party had caught the criminal. In the end, even the case had been judged. Such a fast trial speed was incredible even for Liu Yanzhang.

"Hold it, hold it." Liu Yanzhang smiled bitterly and shook his head. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that his subordinates are too capable?

Liu Yanzhang couldn't figure out the right balance, so he had to hint: "Now the border is urgent, and we have thousands of things to do in our state. We still have to focus on the overall situation."

Chen Heng looked up and looked at the sky. He saw that the sun was still bright. He said, "Every day has its own affairs, every state has its own affairs, and every country has its own affairs. We cannot let the people under our rule suffer because of the urgent border affairs. The overall situation is important, but local affairs cannot be neglected. Don't worry, I will not make things difficult for you."

The two exchanges were inexplicable, but in fact, the core was about Lou County.

Liu Yanzhang hoped that Chen Heng would bear some of the force. The knife was too fast, and it was easy to prick his hand.

Chen Heng didn't care at all. The border battle was not the battle in Songjiang. If Songjiang was well governed, he could also contribute better to the court.

There is no binary opposition. The two places separated by thousands of mountains and rivers are clearly an integrated relationship.

Liu Yanzhang knew that he could not persuade Chen Heng, and he knew that he had a good father-in-law and a good prince behind him.

Such a dragon crossing the river may climb over his head at any time. Forget it, let him be. The reason why Lou County was handed over to him was not because he understood that the higher-ups were slow to send a new official, right?

After handing over the case, Chen Heng hurried back to the county office to rest. They still had to go to the commercial street in the south of the city in the afternoon.

Today was the opening day of the street, and the weather was even better. How could he, the magistrate of Huating, miss such an important event?

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After returning home and resting for two hours, Chen Heng was awakened by Xinda. After washing his face casually, Chen Heng, feeling a little tired, rushed to the commercial street with the county office's runners.

It was already past noon, and the auspicious time determined by the Taoist priest was now, so no one could be blamed. In fact, the guests from all parties had been here for a long time, but they were curious because Chen Heng had not arrived for a long time.

Now that the real owner finally showed up, everyone praised the other party for solving the case overnight.

Chen Heng did not expect that the matter would spread so quickly, so he had to smile and accept some good words, and scanned the figures of his friends in the crowd.

He looked around and found the location of Xue Ke and Bao Qin. Just as I was about to go up and talk to her, I saw Xia Jingui appearing out of nowhere, walking straight towards Xue Ke.

"Brother Xue, Sister Xue. What a coincidence, we meet again."

Here I come, I started typing as soon as I got home, and I didn't even have dinner. Ah, let's take a break and rest.