The First Lackey Under The Empress

An old case!

In Zhao Douan's expectations, the "file bag" would contain举报letters, clues to hidden assets, or other miscellaneous things.

But after looking at it, he realized it was actually a case file.

It recorded a murder case that occurred thirteen years ago, during the reign of the old emperor, in the "Zhengtong Year".

And this file was still recorded in the capital's yamen.

The documents seemed decent, but after a brief look, he found that the information content was shockingly low.

It was almost entirely the "procedures" of various departments going through the motions and stamping.

"Look at the back, or just flip to the last page and look at the seals of the officials who handled the case."

Haitang curled her lips and pointed out.

Putting important things at the top… so clueless, clearly lacking experience… Zhao Douan complained.

Skipping directly to the front, he pulled out the last page, his eyebrows raised:

"The chief judge, the Censor-in-chief of the Censorate… Zhou Cheng? Huh? He used to be an official in the Censorate?"

Zhao Douan was surprised.

The poker-faced Zhang Han, resembling a serious business backbone, recited like a textbook:

"Zhou Cheng came from a poor background, loved reading since childhood, and was intelligent. He became a Xiucai at sixteen, passed the provincial and imperial examinations, and entered the Ministry of Revenue as a principal, overseeing the national finances. It was also then that he first developed a collegial friendship with the current Prime Minister.

Afterwards, he was transferred several times within the Six Ministries, and was also sent to Linfeng Prefecture as a prefect. Due to his outstanding political achievements, he was promoted to Surveillance Commissioner of the Huai River Waterway, and then transferred to Provincial Administration Commissioner…

Later, he was transferred back to the capital and entered the Censorate, serving as Censor-in-chief, which happened to be during the Zhengtong Year."

Haitang, who was idly eating melon seeds, added faintly:

"Oh, it's worth mentioning that the position of Grand Censor of the Censorate was vacant at that time, so he, as the Censor-in-chief, was in charge of the entire Censorate."

Damn… this old guy's resume is so impressive… Sure enough, none of those who can reach the Nine Ministers are simple.

Zhao Douan knew that the "Censor-in-chief" was the deputy of the "Grand Censor", a fourth-rank official.

Equivalent to a stepping stone before being promoted to Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.

"Huh, what's with this long list of offending officials? I remember, it was just a small case at the beginning."

Zhao Douan glanced at the list of criminals again, his expression slightly changing.

This time, without his colleague's reminder, he calmed down and quickly began to flip through from the beginning.

——

The case is as follows:

During the Zhengtong Year, one day, a centurion named Yang An in the capital suddenly suffered from a serious illness and died at home.

The family mournfully handled the funeral, but unexpectedly, a colleague of Yang An stood up and claimed that Yang An did not die from illness, but was the victim of a villain's scheme.

He accused Yang An's wife, Yue, of having illicit relations with her brother-in-law.

Because Yang An had a pre-existing condition, the adulterous couple, through a neighbor named Hao, hired a low-ranking Taoist priest from the Celestial Master's Mansion named Shen, who mixed符paper into the decoction to stimulate the disease, thereby killing Yang An.

The indictment was submitted to the yamen.

After investigation and trial, the yamen found that it was indeed the case and imprisoned the adulterous couple and the neighbor Hao.

Even the Taoist priest Shen was "extradited" from the Celestial Master's Mansion to the prison for violating the law.

Because it involved a murder case, the yamen's judgment documents needed to be reviewed by the Three Judicial Offices.

The case passed through the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice, both of which determined that the criminals should be sentenced to death.

But when it was submitted to the Court of Judicial Review, it was rejected by Xue Lin, the then Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.

Zhao Douan was engrossed in reading and gradually became fascinated.

But he found that the information in his hand suddenly stopped.

It seemed like a part was missing.

The new page only briefly described that due to the disagreement of the Three Judicial Offices, the case was finally submitted to the late emperor for a decision.

After investigation, it was determined that Xue Lin, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and others had accepted bribes, collectively perverted the law, and shielded the criminals.

The late emperor was furious, and several officials of the Court of Judicial Review, headed by Xue Lin, were collectively imprisoned. After interrogation, a batch of offending officials were implicated.

In the end, this case, which was not originally large, dragged in a group of people.

The offending officials involved were beheaded or exiled.

——

"Where's the middle part?"

Zhao Douan raised his head, threw the information on the table, and said suspiciously:

"This file is missing a part, right?"

Even a blind person could see that there was a section of the story missing from the time Xue Lin rejected the yamen's judgment to the time the late emperor intervened and Xue Lin's officials were imprisoned.

Beside the square table, Zhang Han shook his head expressionlessly:

"No, this part of the file is all lost."

Zhao Douan raised his eyebrows: "Tell me in detail!"

Zhang Han looked at the Water Immortal Hall Master opposite him and said:

"You know this old case best, and you were the first to dig it up, you tell him."

Zhao Douan became interested, eating melon seeds while looking at his heroic female colleague:

Come on, show me.

"…" Haitang sighed and said helplessly:

"Actually, before you received this task, the Zhao Yamen had also paid attention to Zhou Cheng, but there were no major gains.

Of course, it was also because His Majesty didn't let us investigate at that time, but in order to compete for the position of the top of the Nine Halls, I paid special attention to these court officials."

Oh, I understand… you want to improve too much… Zhao Douan showed an admiring expression.

Haitang said:

"So, I checked the major cases he had handled and found this case during his tenure as Censor-in-chief. Then, when I tried to investigate further, I realized something was wrong."

Zhao Douan's eyes flickered:

"You found that the file was incomplete?"

"That's right!" Haitang showed a look of recollection:

"With the authority of our Zhao Yamen, even the files in the Three Judicial Offices can be accessed.

I found an excuse to check, and found that, except for the initial 'husband-killing' part of the case, which was still relatively complete in the yamen's archives.

After that, the parts involving Xue Lin disappeared completely. Even what remained were only extremely brief words.

Zhao Douan sat up slightly straighter.

"You suspect someone is concealing something?"

Haitang nodded, solemnly saying:

"It's just a case file from over a decade ago. Logically, it should still be relatively complete.

Moreover, this case involved so many officials, even resulting in the execution of a Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. Numerous government offices were involved, yet each of them has lost the records. This is too abnormal!"

Zhao Douan asked, "And then?"

Haitang leaned back listlessly, hugging her arms, and said without energy:

"Then I tried to investigate it simply in private, but there was no progress. Plus, I had a pile of cases on hand at the time, and I couldn't spare the energy to satisfy my curiosity, so I temporarily shelved it and forgot about it."

Zhang Han added:

"It wasn't until she learned you were going to deal with Zhou Cheng that she picked up this lead again.

We both agreed that there must be something fishy here.

The one who presided over this case back then was Zhou Cheng, and among those involved that year, besides the late emperor, only Zhou Cheng could have erased the relevant records."

Wonderful!

If Zhou Cheng really destroyed the case files, it means that this old case likely contains content that threatens his current position.

Zhao Douan smacked his lips and pinched a melon seed.

"If you put it that way, it is indeed a breakthrough. But it seems a bit difficult to investigate. I don't understand solving cases. You guys are the professionals in this area. What are your opinions?"

What he excels at most is dealing with people.

Not finding clues from a complex and confusing fog.

But it doesn't matter. His past life experience taught him a principle: a leader doesn't need to understand the business; they just need people under them who do.

Haitang's lips curled slightly, with a smug look that said, "You also have a day when you can't do it and have to ask for this lady's help."

She picked up the teacup beside her, took a sip affectedly, and then said faintly:

"The case files are destroyed, but the people who know about what happened back then are still around. Although Xue Lin was beheaded and his family almost died out, there is only one daughter who is still alive, and she is in the capital."

Daughter… Zhao Douan suddenly realized:

"Are we going to the Jiaofang Division next?"

Generally speaking, officials who committed major crimes had their sons exiled to the frontier to do hard labor, and their daughters were sent to the official brothels under the Ministry of Rites to work and pay off debts.

Xue Lin's entire family died, but only a daughter remained. Zhao Douan rationally guessed that she was likely forced into prostitution.

Zhang Han also nodded, having the same speculation, and immediately got up.

He pondered what name to use to reimburse the "ticket money" for going to the Jiaofang Division.

Haitang was stunned for a second before understanding the thought processes of these two men, and couldn't help but blush, angrily slapping the table and spitting:

"Can't you think of something clean in your heads? She's doing well and didn't go to that kind of place."

Then she explained:

"When Xue Lin was imprisoned, many officials in the court interceded for him. Xue Lin's only daughter, named Xue Xuan, was engaged to the eldest grandson of Grand Tutor Dong, but they were still young and hadn't met yet.

After Xue Lin was imprisoned, Grand Tutor Dong mediated, but ultimately failed to save his life. The marriage between the two families naturally fell through, but he saved Xue Xuan, allowing her to escape disaster.

Now, thirteen years have passed, and Xue Xuan has already become an adult.

She now lives in the East City and runs a small private school. As long as we pry open her mouth, we might be able to find out the missing part of the case file…"

So that's how it is… The two men were embarrassed for a while, feeling that their hearts were dark and their eyes were dirty.

However, now that there is someone who needs to be dealt with, it's simple.

Zhao Douan doesn't understand solving cases, but dealing with people… he's good at it.

"Then what are we waiting for? There's no time like the present. Let's go meet the descendant of the Xue family."

Zhao Douan patted off the melon seed shells on his hand and stood up.

That's exactly what I wanted… The two colleagues also stood up, paid the bill, and went downstairs.

Downstairs.

Zhao Douan raised his foot and stepped onto the carriage, while the two colleagues didn't ride in the carriage, but rode their horses alone.

Seizing Zhou Cheng's weakness is not suitable to be done with great fanfare, so they didn't bring their subordinates.

"Tsk, the two of us are riding horses while he's riding in a carriage. It's as if we've really become his subordinate guards."

Haitang, who was heroic, with long legs, a high ponytail, and outstanding appearance, hummed.

Beside her, Zhang Han, who was holding the horse, remained silent, thinking:

Didn't Director Zhao send the two of us here to be his subordinates and guards, so that he wouldn't be assassinated again?

"Miss Haitang, if you don't like riding a horse, then come and sit with me."

Inside the carriage.

Zhao Douan heard her muttering, laughed, raised his hand, and patted the cushion beside him in the carriage.

Libertine… Haitang rolled her eyes, ignored him, flipped onto the horse, and cracked the whip:

"Giddy up!"

…

…

On the other side, outside the Jiaofang Division.

On the street, a carriage slowly stopped.

The coachman whispered:

"Sir, according to the report, Zhao Douan's lackey, named Qin Qiu, came here last night and hasn't come out since. He should have spent the night here."

Through a thick curtain, inside the carriage.

Wearing ordinary clothes instead of a cyan official robe, He Zheng, whose eyebrows looked righteous but was actually full of male prostitutes and female thieves, opened his eyes from a nap.

This Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, who had twice feuded with Zhao Douan, raised his hand, pursed the mustache on his lips, and looked at the Jiaofang Division across the street through the carriage window.

His eyes were gloomy: "Find him."