Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The public opinion box has been nailed up for five days, and relevant official documents have been sent out.

Notices have been posted on all traffic arteries inside and outside the city.

"Whenever an army is about to move out, first send the inner circle and the village commanders to the front. Each camp will use jumping gear, surprise troops, and cavalry troops to go out first, go to the camp one mile away, and arrange in front. The vanguard and the garrison will each hold an ambush..."

Zhu Ming was explaining the "General Essentials of the Military Classics" and had already talked about the order of military marches.

Explain and review at the same time.

Although Zhang Bor has read The Art of War, he has never seen "Martial Classics General Essentials". Firstly, this book has only been published for a few decades; secondly, because it is large and has few readers, booksellers do not like to print this kind of book. It is difficult to buy it on the market, and it is basically only collected in the homes of high-ranking military commanders.

The entire book is written in vernacular, which can be understood at a glance without Ju Ming actually needing to explain.

The content of this article, in addition to the marching order, is mainly to distinguish the organization and flags of each army. And when encountering different situations, what flag should be raised and how to use the flag to convey messages.

I can only memorize it by rote!

Zhang Boring took a pen and copied it quickly, and drew another one according to the flags of various colors, and also highlighted the number and proportion of each military unit.

Li Bao felt a little dizzy after hearing this. He originally hated reading, and even more hated memorizing by rote. It is more suitable for him to learn while fighting. Recognizing flags must be memorized in practice. It is too difficult for him to learn directly from a book.

"Ms. sir," Li Bao couldn't help but interrupt, "I'm free. Isn't it against the rules to make some small flags by yourself?"

Ju Ming smiled and said: "The smaller, the better."

Bai Sheng also felt his head pounding when he heard it: "I made small flags with Brother Li San, and then used stones to replace the army, and laid them out according to what is written in the book. I'm afraid it will be easier to remember that way. It's really hard to remember if you just read the book."

"This method is very good." Ju Ming felt that it was easy to remember, and he somewhat ignored everyone's feelings.

They practiced martial arts for a while, and it was already mid-afternoon.

Bai Sheng took the key and went out to open the public opinion box outside the state government office, but it was empty.

He went back and told Liu Shiren, "There is not even a letter."

Liu Shiren ran to find Ju Ming and said: "My lord, the people of this state may have doubts, so please submit a letter yourself to set an example."

Ju Ming said: "We are already preparing."

…

Guo Wenzhong, who secretly took refuge in Ju Ming, is the deputy section chief of the Justice Bureau and has worked in Jinzhou for more than ten years, so he naturally knows what typical unjust cases there are.

After get off work that day, Guo Wenzhong quietly went to the suburbs.

Until it got dark, he came to a residential house and gently knocked on the door: "Zeng Dalang, Zeng Dalang..."

"Who?" A voice came from the house.

"Guo Wenzhong."

"I don't recognize him. It's already late. Come back tomorrow."

"Don't you want to avenge your mother and wife?"

There was silence in the room and the door suddenly opened: "Come in and talk."

Zeng Dalang's name was Zeng Xiaoduan, and he had a younger brother and a younger sister at home. He asked his younger siblings to stay in the bedroom and gave Guo Wenzhong a bowl of water: "What are you doing?"

Guo Wenzhong said: "I am Guo Wenzhong, the deputy criminal case officer."

Zeng Xiaoduan's expectations suddenly turned into disappointment: "You, a civil servant, can't help me solve the case."

Guo Wenzhong said: "You know that a prefect has arrived. He is a good official who loves the people. As soon as he arrived, he asked the farmers on both sides of the Yue River to stop panning for gold and go home for spring plowing. He also ignored Huashi Gang and only collected soil tribute according to the quota. Also set up a public opinion box outside the state government office?"

"I've heard about it, maybe it's just to gain fame and reputation." Zeng Xiao said.

"If you are trying to gain fame and reputation, can you be punished for offending?" Guo Wenzhong asked.

Zeng Xiaoduan remained silent.

Guo Wenzhong scolded: "As a son, if you have a chance, you should also think about avenging your mother's justice, otherwise it would be unfilial! What's more, your wife also died in an unknown manner."

Zeng Xiaoduan explained: "I have also been running around, but I have been beaten many times. I have younger siblings to support at home, so I can't let anything happen again. I have to wait until they get married."

"Six years have passed since the case. It will be difficult to overturn the case if it is delayed any longer!" Guo Wenzhong reminded, "And good officials are rare. If you miss this one, who will make the decision for you? If the prefect wants to do something, he has to break the case and establish an unjust case. Wei, your case will definitely be solved."

Zeng Xiaoduan thought about it, went back to the room, got a pen and paper, and asked: "Which yamen should I submit the complaint to?"

Guo Wenzhong said: "When you vote in the public opinion box, it is best to choose a time when there are many people."

Zeng Xiaoduan quickly studied ink and wrote the complaint. His hands were shaking when he was writing, probably due to the uncontrollable anger in his heart.

The city gate was closed, Guo Wenzhong rested in an inn outside the city, and went home at dawn. Pretending that nothing happened, he went out on time to go to work in the criminal case.

In the middle of the morning, Zeng Xiaoduan brought his younger brother and sister to the state government office. The younger brother was fifteen years old and the younger sister was twelve years old. Because of the murder, it was difficult to get married.

After submitting the letter, Zeng Xiaoduan, brother and sister, knelt in front of the public opinion box and waited.

"Someone is complaining, someone is complaining!" The caretaker who had been arranged long ago immediately shouted at the top of his lungs.

After shouting for a while, more and more passers-by gathered.

The people of the state are obviously aware of this case. Some people think it is an unjust case and express sympathy for the three brothers and sisters. Some people think it is an ironclad case and despise them extremely.

"Who wrote the letter and complained about injustice?" Bai Sheng, Zhang Boring, Li Bao and others all ran out to check the situation.

Zeng Xiaoduan said: "Zeng Xiaoduan, a scholar from Xicheng County, Jinzhou, wanted to avenge his mother and his wife, and asked the prefect to reopen the murder case six years ago!"

Bai Sheng took out the key, opened the public opinion box, and handed the complaint to Liu Shiren.

After Liu Shiren finished reading, he said, "Come in with me."

Soon, the three siblings were brought to Ju Ming.

The general facts of the case are as follows:

Zeng Xiaoduan was a scholar and already married. After four years of marriage, he had no children. One day, his wife committed suicide by hanging from a beam, and Zeng Xiaoduan went to report it to the official.

When he was first tried at the county magistrate's office, the magistrate ruled that he had committed suicide. He believed that his wife had not had children for a long time and the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was not harmonious. The mother-in-law forced her son to divorce her, so his wife chose to commit suicide.

Zeng Xiaoduan refused to accept the verdict and appealed to the state court. He found a torn piece of cloth at home, thinking it was from the murderer's torn clothes. The police analyzed the neck injuries of the deceased and confirmed that he was strangled to death and then moved to give the impression of hanging. But the murderer could not be found.

Zeng Xiaoduan then looked for the murderer himself and began to doubt his cousin through the torn cloth. After secret observation, I discovered that there were indeed a few unhealed scratches on my cousin's neck.

After the cousin was arrested, he refused to plead guilty, claiming that the cloth was not his, and that the scratches on his neck were from a fight with his wife.

After repeated interrogations for half a month, the male servant of Zeng Xiaoduan's family suddenly came and surrendered. He said that he had committed adultery with his mistress (Zeng Xiaoduan's mother) and was accidentally caught by Zeng Xiaoduan's wife. He was so frightened that he ran away in panic. He heard that his wife had died that day, and he suspected that his mistress had killed his daughter-in-law and silenced her.

After being beaten, Zeng Xiaoduan's mother admitted that she had committed adultery with a servant and had killed her daughter-in-law.

After the case was decided, Zeng Xiaoduan appealed to the Judicial Yuan, and the Judicial Yuan upheld the original verdict. He went to Xiangyang again, stopped the driver of the punishment officer and complained about his injustice, and the punishment officer ordered the Jinzhou Judicial Court to retrial. The original verdict is still upheld.

Zeng Xiaoduan repeatedly complained that he was wronged and was beaten several times.

A year later, the cousin's family suddenly produced forged land and house deeds and colluded with county officials to seize Zeng Xiaoduan's fields, properties and shops.

Zeng Xiaoduan lost his mother and his wife, and because his mother committed a murder, he could no longer take the imperial examination.

After reading the complaint, Zhu Ming called Wu Mao over and ordered, "Bring it to the Judicial Court for retrial." He then said to Zeng Xiaoduan, "The three of you will temporarily live in the backyard of the state government office to avoid being murdered by Xiaoxiao."

"Thank you, Governor!"

Zeng Xiaoduan ignited hope and knelt down to kowtow heavily.

Over at the Executive Yuan, Huang Gui got the complaint and began to look through the dusty files.

This case has been concluded a long time ago. It was tried once by the State Court and twice by the Judicial Court. It also received approval from the Criminal Division, making it a solid case.

Since Zhizhou asked for a retrial, Huang Gui could only try again.

It took Huang Gui two full days to read all the files and asked his subordinates: "Where is this adulterer who surrendered himself?"

"I don't know." The official shook his head.

Huang Gui ordered to search for the whereabouts of the adulterer, and soon received news: the adulterer was only convicted of adultery and was sentenced to one and a half years in prison in accordance with the law. Because he surrendered and helped solve the murder case, he was eventually imprisoned in the Jianli Yuan Prison for a year. After his sentence was over, he disappeared.

The key person in the case is missing, so this thing can't be tried again.

…

The judge, Li Daochong, was drinking in the back room of the judge's hall at the moment. He received the news from his confidant and couldn't help but laugh: "He wants to overturn the case and establish his authority. He specially picked a bizarre case that made a big fuss."

In this case, the daughter-in-law was killed, the mother-in-law committed adultery, and the adulterer was a servant.

All kinds of gossip factors are taken into account, and it spreads extremely quickly, and it has long become a topic of conversation among the people after dinner. As long as the case can be overturned, its influence on public opinion will be greater than punishing the powerful!

"What's the grand judge's order?" asked the official.

Li Daochong said: "The adulterers can't be found, let them work blindly. Since he has set up a public opinion box, you can send someone to secretly drop a few complaints into it every night. They are all anonymous, making random accusations, look at him Will it waste time to check?"

"What if he ignores the anonymous letter?" the official asked again.

Li Daochong said: "Then arrange people to write letters with real names, mixed true and false, and let him slowly toss."

"Yes!" The official stepped back.

Li Daochong has already written a letter to complain, intending to join forces with the transfer envoy and the punishment envoy to impeach Ju Ming for illegally seizing Chang Ping's gold and account books.

It was dusk on the day Zeng Xiaoduan submitted his letter.

Li Bao and Yang Pu took Zeng Xiaoduan and secretly left the city in disguise.

Although Zeng Xiaoduan did not know where the adulterer had fled, he was once a servant of his family and knew where his hometown was.

In ancient times, people rarely moved to any strange place unless they had no other choice. They usually seek refuge with relatives or friends, and when they are able, they always look for opportunities to return to their hometown to pay homage to their ancestors.

Even if the adulterer did not live in his hometown, he would probably have returned to his hometown to visit his grave.

As long as you leave clues, you can follow the clues and find the person. Li Bao was responsible for arresting people, Yang Pu was responsible for investigating, and Zeng Xiaoduan was responsible for identification. The three of them formed a team to go out to arrest.

Li Bao sympathized with Zeng Xiaoduan's experience and comforted him: "Brother Zeng, don't worry. Your Majesty will definitely be able to wash away the grievances of your family."

Zeng Xiaoduan clenched his fists, then cupped his hands and said, "Thank you so much, Prefect, for upholding justice, and thank you both for accompanying me on this journey."

Yang Pu was extremely excited. He, a robber and a robber, could actually be responsible for such a major case. That kind of psychological sense of accomplishment was happier than rewarding him with a hundred strings.