On the other hand, since Heifu and Ji Ying came to Anlu County, they were taken to the county prison by prisoners, but not the cell, but the guest house of the county prison. It is said that this was specially prepared for them like this kind of "provocation". The room is not big, but it is still clean. There are two straw mats on the ground, which can allow them to rest, but they cannot walk around at will. There must be someone watching the Shangqing (toilet) and both meals are available a day - of course, they are just the roughest rice.

Ji Ying was very uneasy. When Heifu closed his eyes and rested, he kept paced back and forth, worried about this and that. After a while, he suddenly asked:

"Brother Heifu, do you think that Dr. Xi can handle the case impartially?"

"It should be possible..." Heifu replied casually while lying on the straw mat.

When he heard "Xi" sign up for himself, he was also slightly shocked. He remembered that the biggest discovery of Yunmeng Qin Bamboo Shop was not the letter written by "Heifu" to his home, but the excerpts of Qin's law in the coffin of Anlu County officials named "Xi", which opened the door to the Qin Dynasty for archaeologists...

Apart from the more than a thousand scattered bamboo slips copied by Xi, there were no other valuable burial objects in the coffin. It can be seen how much a civil servant this is who loves his work.

Such a person should not be in vain, right?

It's ridiculous to say that at this point, Heifu can only pin his hopes on the fairness and justice of Qin's law.

It was already dark and the two fell asleep in a daze. Unexpectedly, someone suddenly pushed the door open and entered outside!

Heifu quickly got up, and a faint light shone in from outside, but he saw a gentle soap-clothed tiny official holding a pen and slitting it. His outfit was like a copy of the "civil figurine" among the Terracotta Warriors.

Seeing Ji Ying, the black husband saluted him, and the minor official said with a smile: "No need to be polite. I am just a minor official who fights food, not an official. You sit down and talk."

So Heifu and Ji Ying knelt on the straw mat. The prison officer who called himself "le" sat opposite them, placed a small wooden stand with bamboo slips fixed on the table, lit up the oil lamp, and yawned, and started routine inquiries.

The questions asked were nothing more than the names, identities, origins of Heifu and Ji Ying, and most importantly, whether they had any criminal records before!

"No, absolutely not!" Ji Ying shook her head into a rattle.

Heifu also said that he had three brothers in his family, all of whom were good civil servants and had never done anything illegal.

"It's better not to be there." Le smiled on his face, but what he said made people shudder.

"If you have a previous crime and deliberately conceal it, it will be very unfavorable to you when the county magistrate informs the township and learn about it!"

The two still said that they had never violated the law, so Lecai didn't mention it.

After a while, the Heifu couldn't help but ask, "Superior, I came to the county to serve. The deadline is the first day of October. If the service period is missed..."

Le gave him a reassurance: "Don't worry about serving. The county magistrate has sent a document to the county magistrate to explain the situation. You can cooperate with the case for a good review."

Le told them that after the information inquired today is recorded, it will be sent to their hometown for verification and requesting the village to reply in writing, which is called "Yuanshu". Not only the plaintiff, but the defendant also has this process. After their identities are confirmed, the formal interrogation will begin.

Heifu said, "I dare to ask the superior official, when will he be interrogated?"

Le Xiao said: "The thief confessed his hometown is not far away, and he is in a neighboring county. It only takes two days to go back and forth. If nothing unexpected happens, the prison will be initiated in three days. At that time, as a self-proclaimer, you will be able to confront the court with the person you are informing, explain the incident, list personal evidence, physical evidence, and then question each other..."

The black husband was stunned, ha? The Qin State trial was to make the defendant and plaintiff fight each other, and the court listened silently before making a decision.

At that time, both parties who are suing will have to act as their own lawyers and have a verbal battle?

This was what Heifu didn't expect. His impression of ancient case trials was that the master Qingtian in various costume TV series slapped the awkward wood and hit the prisoner with a thick arm...

Finally, when the little official left, he said something.

"At that time, you just need to make a statement based on facts and must not lie! Remember, remember!"

After the door closed again, Ji Ying began to worry because although he had heard some laws popularized by the minor officials in the village, he remembered clearly how much fines he would be fined for what he committed, but he never sued others and ignored the court.

"What should I do?" he asked at Heifu.

"Cool salad!"

But Heifu fell asleep.

From this point of view, the Qin State is worthy of being famous for its legalists. It is very strict when it comes to trial cases and has its own rules, rather than doing things according to the personal preferences of officials.

Not to mention that this matter is reasonable, just say that when he was in the Police Academy in his previous life, he had attended torture classes and had also attended the court many times. Isn’t it just a confrontation with the defendant, and he is afraid of a bird!

For a moment, the black husband was looking forward to the "investigation" three days later.

...

In most people's imagination, the ancient case trial was probably like this:

Outside the county government, there were crowds of people. On the lobby, there was a plaque with four words "Hanging high in the mirror" written on it, hanging in the middle. The county magistrate sat upright, wearing a black hat and three guillotines with dragons, tigers and dogs on the hem of the hall. When the prisoner was taken up, the yamen runners on both sides shouted "Magic" and the master Qingtian slapped the agglomeration, pointing at the prisoner, saying, "Beat him three hundred first and kill the powerful stick!"...

However, when I arrived at the "Insight Prison", that is, the day I met in court, the scene that Heifu saw was like this:

This interrogation was not placed in the county temple hall, but was arranged in the county prison separated by a wall. The inside of the county prison was a prison and the outside was a main hall. From the outside, it was a small courtyard, which was not as elegant as the government should have. It was just that the pavement made of stones was cleaned and even the fallen leaves were cleaned.

After entering the main hall, Heifu found that there was no place where people could beat drums and complain, and it was not open to the public. A "六六", that is, a local screen blocked the population, painted white on it, and several lines of Qin seal characters were written in ink.

Heifu was already literate, otherwise how could he go to the military camp and write a letter to his home? But he saw that the article was written on it, "The Way to Be an Official".

"Any way of being an official must be clean and upright, cautious and sturdy, selfless, small and delicate, quiet and not harsh, and reward and punish..."

Then there are the "five good" and "five mistakes"... This is the Qin State's requirement for officials of all sizes and big, translated into vernacular Chinese, which means being honest and dedicated to the public, being loyal to one's duties, prohibiting the use of public welfare, being close to the people, becoming an official should eliminate harm and promote profit for the people, etc., which should be similar to the content in the "Several Guidelines for the Integrity of the Leading Cadres of the Communist Party of China in Political Science".

Anyway, the black husband was stunned. Is this the legendary "tyrannical Qin?"

"I hope the officials who are trying the case today can really do these things."

Heifu, Ji Ying, under the guidance of the prisoner "Le", walked around the screen and walked into the main hall. He found that the judge sitting in the hall was not Anlu County Magistrate or the County Magistrate, but the prison officer! He was wearing black clothes and wearing a shaved crown on his head, sitting upright, very imposing.

Seeing this person, a big stone in Heifu's heart suddenly fell to the ground. The prisoner said that Dr. Xi is famous for being selfless in Anlu County and is extremely relied on by the county magistrate. He will leave the difficult cases to handle. If he is tried, there should be no problem?

At this time, Xi was already trying the case of "robbing merchants and robbing merchants and Bao". When Heifu and his friends were taken into the hall, the merchant "Bao" was telling him that he had gone to the township that day and encountered thieves plundering on the road nine miles away from Huyang Pavilion, and fled in fear.

Then it was three thieves wearing shackles and knelt in the hall to state their crimes.

The bearded man who had fought with the black man first confessed: "My name is Pan, I am a Shiwu of Jingling County. I live in a certain place. I was summoned to the army in February last year and went to the northern Zhao State to fight. I fled because of heavy rain and fear of traveling far away. Later, I fled into Yunmengze as a thief and got to know the other three people. The crime was just as the merchant Pan said, and I had never committed any other crimes."

Jingling County is one of the 18 counties in Nanjun, and is across Yunmengze from Anlu County. When this man made a statement, the officials sitting on the left and right in the hall all recorded the wooden slips and bamboo slips with pens. The seriousness was like the recorder in the courts of later generations. They wanted to record every word and deed of the criminals and then seal them into the warehouse as archives. Most of the Qin slips unearthed from later generations were similar things.

The chief judge Xi did not interrupt Pan's statement, but kept writing things on the bamboo slips. He asked again, "There are no other crimes besides this robber Jia Bao?"

Pan hesitated for a moment and said, "No!"

At this time, Ji Ying turned his head and muttered to Heifu: "I remember that day, didn't he say he had several lives on his hands..."
Chapter completed!