The First Criminal Judge of the Zhenguan Era

Chapter 120 Found! The Case of Li Jiancheng's Break with Li Shimin!

The archives of Wannian County Government were much smaller than those of the Ministry of Justice.

It was located on the east side of the backyard of the county government office, consisting of only one room, and was unattended.

It was always locked with a padlock, and only when retrieving files or filing new files would a special official open it.

After being reprimanded by Liu Shuyi, County Lieutenant Gu Wen dared not harbor any further thoughts. After leading Liu Shuyi to the archives, he quickly took out the key and unlocked the lock.

As he pushed open the door to the archives, rows of shelves immediately came into view.

"Please, Assistant Minister Liu."

Gu Wen bowed deeply, showing great respect, which surprised some of the yamen runners who were unaware of the truth. After all, not long ago, they had heard Gu Wen say that he wanted Liu Shuyi to wait outside the door for a while, which clearly showed that he had a problem with Liu Shuyi. Who knew that in such a short time, Gu Wen had become like this, acting like a lackey.

Is this still the same arrogant County Magistrate Gu who can shut people up with just a few words?
The constables initially doubted their eyes, but as Liu Shuyi entered the archives, Gu Wen turned around and glared at them fiercely, startling them. They quickly lowered their heads and hurried away, not daring to look again. Only then did they realize that they were not seeing things; County Magistrate Gu was simply showing special treatment to Assistant Minister Liu.

Gu Wen snorted coldly in his heart, but when he turned to look at Liu Shuyi, the coldness on his face quickly turned into a warm smile. He quickly followed him inside and said, "I wonder what case files Mr. Liu is looking for? Please give your instructions, and I will find them for you."

Liu Shuyi was very satisfied with Gu Wen's thoughtfulness. He glanced at the shelf full of case files and said, "I wonder if County Magistrate Gu remembers a case that occurred in March of the ninth year of Wude, which was related to a man named Wei Ji?"

"March of the ninth year of the Wude era? Wei Ji?"

Gu Wen frowned, a look of reminiscence on his face.

But after thinking for a long time, he finally shook his head: "Logically speaking, two years ago is not that long ago. I still have a deep memory of the major cases that happened, but... no matter how I think about it, I still can't remember which major case was related to a man named Wei Ji."

"It's not a major case."

Liu Shuyi said, "It should be a minor case related to a certain special person."

"A small case?"

Gu Wen was stunned. Liu Shuyi had come to the Wannian County Government Office in person and even brought up the follow-up of the Anqing West Treason Case to warn him, but in the end he told him that he was not there to investigate any major case, but a minor case that he had no recollection of.

Is Liu Shuyi playing a trick on himself?

He couldn't help but look up at Liu Shuyi, but although Liu Shuyi had a smile on his face, his eyes were very serious. He didn't seem to be joking with him.

"Is it really a small case?"

He couldn't believe it. Was Liu Shuyi just bored, or was he forced by Qian Wenqing to accumulate merit through small cases? Otherwise, for a small case, anyone could just send someone to pick up the file. Why make such a big fuss?

Liu Shuyi could naturally see what Gu Wen was thinking, but he didn't need to explain to someone as insignificant as Gu Wen. He continued, "When you were investigating this case, you even sent your constables to the Bingzhou Prefectural Governor's Office to inquire, and the final result was that the person you were looking for had died in the Bingzhou prison."

"County Commandant Gu, does what I've said recall anything?"

Gu Wen was surprised that Liu Shuyi could explain in such detail, which meant that Liu Shuyi must have already grasped a lot of information. Although he didn't understand why Liu Shuyi would be so concerned about a small case, he still carefully recalled the information.

next moment……

"With your reminder, I do recall a case that seems to be similar to what you mentioned."

"Oh?"

Liu Shuyi raised an eyebrow and asked, "What case?"

Gu Wendao said, "It seems that valuables were stolen in Jinwu Street..."

As he spoke, he turned and walked to the shelf: "Please wait a moment, sir. I remember those simple little cases are all here..."

During Gu Wen's tenure, he investigated almost all the cases in Wannian County. Therefore, he only needed to glance at these files to know their contents. Even though the shelf was piled high with files, Gu Wen had already flipped through most of them in less than a quarter of an hour.

"I remember this place, how come I still can't find it..."

The more Gu Wen flipped through the files, the more sweat beaded on his forehead. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to find the files Liu Shuyi wanted, which would displease Liu Shuyi and lead to further reprimands.

Seeing him constantly wiping away sweat and his face visibly tense, Zhao Feng couldn't help but ask, "County Commandant Gu, do you need any help?"

"Need not……"

If they can't find it themselves, they certainly can't find it either.

Gu Wen flipped through the files faster and faster, until finally he had gone through the entire shelf of files.

"How could there not be any? That shouldn't be the case!"

Gu Wen frowned, his face full of confusion.

Seeing this, Liu Shuyi narrowed his eyes and said, "Didn't find it?"

Gu Wen subconsciously swallowed, afraid that Liu Shuyi would misunderstand him, and hurriedly said, "Master Liu, it's not that I want to disobey you, it's just... I really don't have that file."

Zhao Feng said, "Could it be on another shelf?"

"will not."

Gu Wen shook his head: "Although our yamen doesn't have as many files as the Ministry of Justice, they are all categorized and placed here. Those small cases should be placed here."

"Could someone have seconded him out?" Zhao Feng wondered.

Gu Wen frowned: "Who would borrow a small case from two years ago..."

However, despite saying that, he still found the person in charge of the archives and asked for the records of the borrowed files.

As he flipped through the documents, he asked the official in charge of the archives, "Does anyone know if anyone recently borrowed a case file from the third month of the ninth year of the Wude era?"

The official shook his head: "There shouldn't be any. Even if they were to borrow files, they would be for major cases. No one would borrow files for minor cases like theft."

Gu Wen also flipped through the books and then looked at Liu Shuyi: "The case files of Wannian County are usually only borrowed by the Court of Judicial Review or the Ministry of Justice, and the number borrowed is not large. I have gone through the records of the past two years and have not found any record of borrowing the case files of that case."

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered slightly as he said, "So, the case file concerning Wei Ji disappeared without a trace without you borrowing it?"

Gu Wen pursed his lips. He knew that if he nodded, Wannian County Government would inevitably have a problem with the preservation of files, but he didn't want Liu Shuyi to take his anger out on him, rather than let others suffer.

"Yes, this file has indeed mysteriously disappeared."

Liu Shuyi looked at Gu Wen with deep eyes, making Gu Wen feel as if a mountain was pressing down on him. He subconsciously bowed his back. He was nervous, afraid that Liu Shuyi would blame him for not doing a good job, so he quickly said, "However, I have already remembered the general situation of the case. Even if I can't find the case file, I can dictate it to you."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuyi looked away.

Zhao Feng couldn't help but whisper, "Sir, could the disappearance of this case file be related to Yao Guang?"

Liu Shuyi gently stroked the jade pendant at his waist and said calmly, "Besides him, who else would steal the case file of such a trivial case that no one cares about?"

"but……"

He chuckled and said with a slight smile, "It is precisely because this case file disappeared without a trace that I am completely convinced that my investigation direction is correct. On the contrary, I should thank him for helping me confirm this point. Otherwise, if this case seemed to be without problems, I might have doubted whether I had made a mistake."

As he spoke, he looked at Gu Wen, who looked nervous, and said, "County Commandant Gu, please tell me about this case."

Gu Wen nodded quickly and said, "I don't remember the exact time of this case, but it should have been after mid-March."

"That day, Hu Hebing, the magistrate of Jinwu Street, came to the yamen and said that his property had been stolen while he was patrolling during the curfew."

"Upon hearing that a colleague's home had been robbed, I naturally could not slack off, so I personally led a group to the residence of Hu Jieshi."

"As it turned out, I found that the cabinets in Hu Jieshi's house were ransacked and there were obvious footprints on the wall. It was clear that thieves had taken advantage of Hu Jieshi's absence and the fact that his family was asleep to climb over the wall and enter the house to commit theft."

"I immediately looked for clues and asked the neighbors. A neighbor told me that in the past two days, a man named Wei Ji had been loitering outside the Hu family's residence and would often look into the courtyard."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shuyi suddenly spoke up, interrupting Gu Wen, and asked, "Does the neighbor know Wei Ji's identity?"

"Yes."

Gu Wendao said, "Wei Ji is also from their neighborhood. He has no father, mother, wife, or children. He idles away his days and does not do any proper work. Many people use him to educate their children, so many people know him."

Liu Shuyi nodded: "Let's continue."

Gu Wen dared not delay and continued, "Upon hearing Wei Ji's behavior and his usual character, I became suspicious of him, so I immediately ordered someone to go to his home to find him."

"But to everyone's surprise, the constables found no one home; he wasn't even there."

“I thought he might be hiding because he was afraid of being discovered, so I ordered the yamen runners to search for him. As a result, we found that Wei Ji had actually applied for a passage at the county yamen in advance.”

He looked at Liu Shuyi and said, "Having heard this, I believe the official should understand everything now."

"It's obvious that Wei Ji had planned this all along. He applied for permission to leave the city in advance so that he could escape Chang'an immediately after the theft and thus escape the law."

“If the person who was robbed was just an ordinary citizen, or if the lost items were not particularly valuable, then if he fled Chang’an, the government might not have bothered to expend manpower and resources to hunt him down. But he deliberately chose to target government officials.”

"If we let him get away with it, not only will I have a hard time explaining this to Envoy Hu, but the court will also lose face."

"Therefore, I have arranged for men to go to Bingzhou and ask the Bingzhou governor's office to help capture Wei Ji."

"And the official also learned about what happened afterward."

Gu Wendao said, "After Wei Ji arrived in Bingzhou, he still couldn't control his thievery and dared to steal. As a result, he was caught by the governor's office, imprisoned, and then died of a sudden illness in the Bingzhou prison."

"After the yamen runner reported the matter, I informed the magistrate of Hu Street. Upon hearing that Wei Ji was dead, the magistrate sighed a few times and did not pursue the matter further. Thus, the case was closed."

After Gu Wen's explanation, Liu Shuyi finally understood the reasons behind Wei Ji's trip to Bingzhou.

Of course, the consequences within this cause and effect... Anqingxi has already been proven to be false, so the cause is probably not true either.

He thought for a moment and said, "Do you know what Wei Ji stole from Hu Hebing's house?"

Gu Wen recalled for a moment and said, "It seems to be money and some valuables."

How many copper coins are there in total?

"There should be more than one..."

Always more?

Liu Shuyi sneered. A string of copper coins was indeed a lot for ordinary people, but for truly wealthy families, it was nothing at all.

If Wei Ji really wanted to steal money, what kind of crazy idea would he have to steal money from court officials?

Did he not realize that he had offended the court officials and that the government would not let him off the hook?
Furthermore, if an official of the imperial court relies solely on his salary, he will not accumulate much wealth. He can only steal a little over one string of cash from the home of an official of the imperial court. If he chooses a wealthy merchant, he can steal at least several strings or even dozens of strings of cash. Moreover, if a wealthy merchant discovers that his money is missing, even if he reports it to the authorities, the government may not be willing to investigate across prefectures.

In other words, Wei Ji chose to spend less money but take on greater risks. Was he out of his mind?
Of course, perhaps Wei Ji had a conflict with Hu Hebing and wanted to steal Hu Hebing's money, but he shouldn't have been openly loitering outside Hu's residence and constantly peeking into it... Was he afraid that no one would know he was a thief?
Not to mention that everyone lived in the same neighborhood and knew him. Whenever someone learned that something had gone missing from the Hu residence, he was the first person they suspected.

Therefore, Liu Shuyi did not believe a word of any of the claims that he fled Chang'an because he stole property.

Since it wasn't theft, then Hu Hebing, the magistrate of Jinwu Street who reported the case, is clearly suspicious.

And those neighbors...

Liu Shuyi asked, "Did you only ask one neighbor, or did you ask all the neighbors?" Gu Wen hurriedly replied, "Of course I asked all the neighbors, and I also asked the street vendors. They all saw Wei Ji wandering outside the Hu residence during those two days. There is absolutely no mistake about that."

Liu Shuyi looked thoughtful. If these neighbors hadn't all been bribed, then it proved that Wei Ji was indeed loitering outside the Hu residence.

Why was he loitering outside the Hu residence and peering inside?

Later, when he was arrested in Bingzhou, he was carrying a very valuable luminous pearl.

Is it...

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered slightly as he considered a possibility.

Could it be that... Wei Ji did something for Hu Hebing, and Hu Hebing promised to give him money but never fulfilled his promise? So Wei Ji wanted to go to Hu Hebing to ask for it back, but he was worried about something and didn't dare to.

Later, he received a luminous pearl from Hu Hebing. Fearing for his safety, he immediately fled.

However, he didn't know that no sooner had he left than Hu Hebing reported him to the police, saying that he was a thief. Because his behavior over the past two days had indeed been strange, very much like a thief scouting the area, the people in Wannian County directly identified him as a thief.

Afterwards, Wannian County sent people to Bingzhou to investigate, but Fusheng Louzhu had already sent An Qingxi to kill Wei Ji. In the end, because Wei Ji died in prison, this small case of theft came to an end.

A meticulously planned murder to cover up the crime was completely concealed under what appeared to be a simple and straightforward theft case.

If that's the case, then the escape route that Wei Ji had prepared in advance might have already been discovered by Yao Guang. So this was a plan to turn the tables on Wei Ji. Yao Guang deliberately made Hu Hebing give Wei Ji money later in order to lure Wei Ji to Hu's residence a few more times, so that the framing of Wei Ji would be flawless.

"What a brilliant plan!"

Although it was just a simple murder to silence witnesses, it basically used everyone who could be used. These people, whether they were kind-hearted neighbors or yamen runners from Wannian County, all thought they had done a good deed and were happy, but little did they know... they had become accomplices in Yaoguang's cover-up of the truth!
Even Liu Shuyi couldn't help but admire it at this moment.

This incident reveals that Yao Guang's mind is cunning and treacherous, perhaps even more so than An Qingxi's, and no less so than Liu Yuanming's.

He slowly exhaled. Although it was all speculation, he believed that the facts wouldn't be too far off based on the outcome.

He looked at Lu Yangyuan and said, "Deputy Lieutenant Lu, go to the Jinwu Guard office and find General Cheng. Ask General Cheng to arrange for Hu Hebing to be brought here."

Lu Yangyuan nodded in agreement and was about to leave when Gu Wendao said, "If the official is looking for Envoy Hu, then there's no need to go..."

Lu Yangyuan looked at Gu Wen with a puzzled expression, and Liu Shuyi also glanced at him.

Gu Wen didn't dare to keep them in suspense and said directly, "Envoy Hu has passed away due to an accident."

"What!?"

"Hu Hebing is dead!?"

Upon hearing this news, Zhao Feng, who had been quiet all along, changed his expression and exclaimed in surprise.

He knew very well that Liu Yuanwailang had gone to great lengths to find Wei Ji's files in order to find someone who might be related to Yao Guang.

To his surprise, after finally finding this person, Gu Wen said that he was already dead! This was hard for him to accept.

Gu Wendao said: "About a month after the case of the theft at Hu Jieshi’s house was closed, some people came to the yamen to report that someone had drowned."

"Upon receiving the report, I immediately went to investigate and discovered that the person who had fallen into the water was none other than Hu Jieshi, whom I had met not long ago."

"When Hu Jieshi fell into the water, many people witnessed it. According to them, Hu Jieshi walked to the bridge, suddenly stopped, and then stuck his head out to look down. He lost his footing and fell in. By the time the people pulled him out, he had already stopped breathing."

"The coroner's examination of the body revealed that there was some mud and sand in Hu Jieshi's mouth and nasal cavity, which is consistent with the characteristics of drowning. In addition, there were testimonies from other people. Therefore, this case was determined to be an accident."

Zhao Feng frowned as he listened. From Gu Wen's account, it seemed that Hu Hebing's death was indeed without any problem.

With all the witnesses present and the coroner's examination of the body normal, it all looks like an accidental drowning death.

But after learning about Hu Hebing's relationship with Wei Ji, Wei Ji was silenced, and Hu Hebing also died just over a month later... This made it hard for him to believe that this was a normal accident.

He couldn't help but look at Liu Shuyi, and saw that Liu Shuyi's eyes were slightly narrowed, and his dark eyes were constantly flashing with a thoughtful look.

At this moment, Liu Shuyi suddenly spoke up, asking, "Has it been determined what Hu Jieshi was looking at under the bridge?"

Gu Wen shook his head: "Hu Jieshi is already dead, and others also said that there was nothing in the river and under the bridge at the time, so we don't know what Hu Jieshi was looking at."

"Who brought Hu Jieshi out of the river? Have you questioned that person?" Liu Shuyi asked again.

Gu Wen recalled for a moment and still shook his head: "When we arrived, Hu Jieshi was already lying on the bank. We asked who went into the river to save him, but the people around all shook their heads. They searched around but couldn't find the person. Perhaps the person had urgent business and left after getting Hu Jieshi out."

"Is it urgent? Should we leave?"

Liu Shuyi's eyes flickered. After a moment's thought, he continued, "After Hu Jieshi fell into the water, did he struggle in the water? Did he sink directly into the water and then float back up, or did he struggle before sinking?"

"This……"

Gu Wen scratched his head, somewhat hesitant to look Liu Shuyi in the eye: "This humble official did not ask..."

Liu Shuyi gave Gu Wen a cold glance.

Even in a case that is clearly an accident, all the details should be taken into account.

However, it was clear that after obtaining the testimonies of the surrounding witnesses and the coroner's autopsy results, Gu Wen concluded that it was an accident and had no further intention to investigate.

As a result, a lot of information is missing.

In other words, he hadn't personally reviewed the case file; otherwise, he would have definitely rejected it and asked Gu Wen to investigate further.

Not long after Wei Jigang was silenced, Hu Hebing also drowned... This is highly unlikely to be a coincidence.

As expected, Hu Hebing was also silenced by Yao Guang.

Compared to Wei Ji, Hu Hebing should have been a higher-ranking person, yet he was also silenced...

It seems that what Yaoguang did using Hu Hebing and Wei Ji was probably no small matter.

But after reviewing those files, Wei Ji's name wasn't found there...

Could it be that Wei Ji has gone into hiding and is making his move from the shadows?

So... what about Hu Hebing?
Was he cooperating covertly, or was he acting openly due to his special status?
If it were in the open...

Liu Shuyi looked directly at Gu Wen and said, "County Commandant Gu, do you know anything special about Hu Jieshi's affairs before his house was robbed? Or was he involved in any case?"

"This……"

Gu Wen frowned and thought for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he said, "Now that you mention it, I do think of a case. It was just three days before the burglary at the Hu family's house. That case was just closed."

"Hu Jieshi happened to be on night patrol and had some connection with the case, so he was questioned."

The case was closed three days before the theft...

I was even questioned...

Zhao Feng realized something and quickly looked at Liu Shuyi.

Then Liu Shuyi's lips curled up and he gently exhaled.

After the case is closed, it's time to collect the money, so is that why Wei Ji was loitering in front of Hu Hebing's house?

Everything matches up.

Finally, he finally found it!

He asked, "What case?"

Gu Wen took a deep breath, his expression becoming more serious, and said, "The case of the massacre of Ma Qingfeng's family, former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel!"

"Former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Ma Qingfeng?! It's actually him?"

Zhao Feng suddenly raised his head.

He did not know Ma Qingfeng, but he knew about Ma Qingfeng's family massacre!

When Li Jiancheng was still the crown prince, Ma Qingfeng was a very important confidant of Li Jiancheng and one of the key forces in Li Jiancheng's control of the Ministry of Personnel.

But who would have thought that one night in March of the ninth year of the Wude era, all thirty-five members of the Ma family would be brutally murdered!

Shocks were felt throughout the government and the public!

Emperor Emeritus Li Yuan ordered the Three Departments to investigate.

But no matter how hard the three departments investigated, they still couldn't find the real culprit.

Ultimately, the case became a cold case and remains unsolved to this day.

Although the mystery was not solved, a rumor circulated widely at the time.

That is... the real culprit who murdered Ma Qingfeng's family was someone from the Prince of Qin's mansion!

After all, the physician who replaced Ma Qingfeng after his death was Changsun Wuji, one of Li Shimin's most trusted confidants.

With Changsun Wuji's entry into the Ministry of Personnel, Li Shimin's control over the ministry instantly strengthened, while Li Jiancheng's power was weakened.

Given the near-complete breakdown in relations between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin at the time, Li Shimin was indeed the ultimate beneficiary of the Ma Qingfeng family massacre.

However, the three departments could not find any clues, and the matter ultimately came to nothing.

But precisely because of this, everyone believes that only the Qin King's Mansion could wipe out an entire family without leaving any clues, so more and more people believe this rumor.

As a result, Li Jiancheng completely broke with Li Shimin...

Furthermore, Zhao Feng's father once told him that the Xuanwu Gate Incident a few months later was closely related to this case.

Zhao Feng had only listened to it as a story, but he never expected to hear about the Ma Qingfeng family massacre case again today!

And now, he also knows about the existence of Yaoguang and Fushenglou.

and so……

He couldn't help but widen his eyes and look at Liu Shuyi with a face full of horror.

Then Liu Shuyi's expression was also strange, but unlike Zhao Feng's horror and disbelief, Liu Shuyi's lips curled up slightly.

A glint of light appeared in those deep eyes.

"interesting……"

"The Ma Qingfeng family massacre case..."

"The case that caused Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng to turn against each other was, as I expected, truly a... momentous event!"

(End of this chapter)