Chapter 15 first quarter
In the summer of the first year of Xining (AD 1068), the summer nights in Dengzhou were extremely hot, and the villager Wei Dalang tossed and turned on the pit, unable to fall asleep.
One is because of the heat of Xia Ye, and the other is because of the desire in his heart, the pretty face of his fiancée Xiaoyun comes into mind again and again, making Wei Dalang's blood boil.
Soon, Wei Dalang's kang head will no longer be alone, there will be another hot, soft and delicate body in this bed, thinking of this, Wei Dalang smiles crookedly.
Finally, Wei Dalang began to fall asleep after satisfying himself.
In the dead of night, a black shadow sneaked into Wei Dalang's house, came to Wei Dalang's bed, secretly looked at the ugly man on the bed for a long time.
Finally, the shadow drew out the knife and stabbed Wei Dalang on the bed.
The howling like a pig awakened the summer night in Dengzhou.
After receiving the report from the villagers, the local county government quickly rushed to the scene, but found that Wei Dalang was not dead.The killer was not very professional. Although Wei Dalang had more than a dozen stab wounds, they were all minor injuries and nothing serious. The most serious injury was a finger cut off (the killer's strength is obviously relatively weak), and the process was not very professional. He was out of danger after being rescued.
Next, it's time to find out who is the murderer of the criminal case.
The technical difficulty of the case is not too great. Although Wei Dalang's family is poor and ugly, he is still a good-natured person and has no problems with others in the village. After analyzing various evidences, the investigators focused on Wei Dalang's fiancée Xiaoyun.
The county magistrate summoned the young girl Xiaoyun, but Xiaoyun took the initiative to recruit without using severe punishment in the county government hall.Xiaoyun, a girl whose parents both died, was sold by her uncle to the ugly Wei Dalang as his wife. Unwilling to put a flower on the cow dung, Xiaoyun became confused and wanted to kill someone, so she took the kitchen knife from home and sneaked into Wei Dalang At home, the intention is to silence.
From issuing to solving the case, the local police were very efficient and only took a few hours.
The case is simple, the evidence is conclusive, and the judgment of the county-level judicial department is also legally based-according to the "Song Xingtong", the girl Xiaoyun killed her husband, which belongs to the top ten unforgivable crimes, and should be sentenced to death according to the law.
The death penalty system in the Northern Song Dynasty was so strict and complicated that a local government could not arbitrarily decide the life and death of a criminal.After the judicial organs at the county level conclude the case (county magistrate, county magistrate, and county lieutenant) and believe that the criminal should be sentenced to death, they must send the file to the judicial organ at the state level (prefect) for review, and the state-level agency then sends it to the judicial department at the road level. The competent department (providing some prisons) will finally send it to the central government, where there are still three procedures. First, it will be reviewed by Dali Temple. Send it to the highest authority in the empire, the Ministry of Education, and the prisoner's head will not be officially announced until the prime ministers sign the approval form.
Of course, if the Ministry of Punishment thinks that the case has major doubts or influences, it can also submit it to the Ministry of Punishment for trial.
Such a rigorous review process shows one thing, the careless consideration of human life does not apply to the criminal law system of the Northern Song Dynasty. Zhao Kuangyin established the two-character mantra for officials of his empire at the beginning of the founding of the country - careful punishment.
The dossier of Dengzhou Xiaoyun's husband-killing case was first reported to Xu Zun, the governor of Dengzhou at that time.
Xu Zunzi Zhongtu is a native of Sizhou. In addition to his status as a Jinshi, Xu Zhizhou also passed the highest legal professional examination in the empire (Zhongming Law). As a local official, Xu Zun has a good reputation and rich experience in handling cases, whether he works in the central judiciary or as a local official. He is a quasi-qingtian-level official responsible for the people.
After reviewing the case, Xu Zun disagreed with the judgment of the lower-level judiciary. He believed that when the girl Xiaoyun was betrothed (sold) to Wei Dalang by her guardian (his uncle), Xiaoyun was in the period of mourning for her mother, and her mother's mourning was still in progress. Just betroth (sell) it. This kind of marriage is essentially against the spirit of "Song Xingtong" - the principle of filial piety. The marriage of Wei Yun and his wife is illegal and not protected by Song laws. Therefore, the young girl Xiaoyun is not the heinous crime of murdering her husband, it is just an ordinary attempted murder; and the young girl Xiaoyun confessed her crime very proactively, which belongs to the category of surrender, and the circumstances can be lightened.
So Xu Zun re-judged the case and gave Xiao Yun a lenient sentence to save him from death.
After the dossier was reported to the Judgment Court of Dali Temple, the verdict was the same as that of the first trial. Of course, Dali Temple and the Judgment Court also considered that Xiaoyun and Wei Dalang were married during Xiaoyunmu's funeral. However, the Criminal Court hit Xiaoyun's ass with a board, and the charge became "violating the law for marriage and murdering her husband", that is to say, breaking the law is not breaking the law. If he paid money and signed a contract to buy a wife, then his legal marital rights of a big Chinese man must be protected.
The higher authorities have spoken in this way, and if they change to ordinary vulgar officials, they will follow suit. Anyway, Xu Zun has also made efforts to save Xiaoyun's life, and he is worthy of his conscience.
But Xu Zun is more serious, he wants to save the girl Xiaoyun.
Xu Zun went up again, arguing that the case of the young girl Xiaoyun was applicable to an edict issued by the emperor himself in the first year of Shenzong, "Murder has been injured, and if you want to prosecute according to the question, surrender yourself, and the theory of reducing the second class from murder." stay.
Xu Zun's actions finally alarmed the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and the case was transferred to the Ministry of Criminal Justice.
The result of the trial by the Ministry of Punishments was consistent with that of the Dali Temple Trial Court, and it was still the death penalty.
It is also Xiaoyun, the immortal girl.At this time, the emperor Zhao Xu cooperated and issued a personnel appointment. Xu Zuncongzhi was promoted to the chief judge of Dengzhou, and suddenly became the new head of Dali Temple.
The first thing Xu Zun took office was to protect the life of the young girl Xiaoyun. Xu Zun believed that the sentence of the Ministry of Criminal Justice was unfair. Please ask the Ministry of punishment to discuss again.
Xu Zun's bewildered approach was very disrespectful to the elites of the original imperial central judiciary, and also angered the admonishers at Yushitai. They impeached Xu Zun, the new head of Dali Temple who was somewhat ignorant.
Xu Zun refused to accept it, and asked the emperor to bring the case back.In this way, a small criminal case finally alarmed the top management of the entire empire, and Emperor Shenzong, who had been following this incident, finally spoke—the two systems came to discuss the Dengzhou version of Pan Jinlian's murder case Bar.
Sima Guang, Wang Anshi, you all come out and give me a word!
The fun has only just begun.
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