The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Left-handed people, also known as "left-handed" in ancient times, are considered unlucky in the West. Although China also believes that the right hand is the "proper hand", there is no excessive discrimination against left-handed people.

Today, the fact that Heifu is left-handed makes the confessions of Huyang Pavilion Chief, Shangjia Bao and others self-defeating.

The chief judge Xi certainly did not believe it easily. He even asked Heifu to come forward and write his name on a wooden tablet.

You may not believe it, but the Qin State, which has always been said to be "stupid", is the country with the highest literacy rate among the seven powers in the Warring States Period. Although Shang Jun burned all the poems, books and other things, he set up a "school" to train specialized legal practitioners, which is equivalent to higher education.

In addition, village clerks are also required to be literate. If the pavilion chief and the villagers are illiterate, how can they count the household registration for the country and arrange corvée? On this basis, there is also "Teaching with the law and taking officials as teachers". Shang Yang once said: "Officials and people who know the law will ask the judges. Therefore, there are no officials and people in the world who do not know the law." It requires officials to popularize the law to the people. Xi in front of him did this job when he was young, receiving people who came to ask about the law every day. After the people finished asking, the judge had to write the questions on the wooden board, split it into two halves, one half was archived as "Legal Questions and Answers", and the other half was allowed to be taken back by the people as a voucher. In this way, one person spread ten, ten people spread a hundred, not only did the law penetrate into the hearts of the people, but some smart people also had a channel to recognize words.

Hei Fu didn't know many seal characters, and he could only write a few hundred. He knelt on the ground with a pen in his left hand, and wrote the four Qin small seal characters "Hei Fu is innocent" on the wooden board one stroke at a time. There is no doubt about this matter. If he was right-handed, the word would have been crooked to an unknown place.

Shang Jia Bao, who had just lied, collapsed in an instant. He sat down on the ground with a pale face, like a puddle of mud.

Afterwards, under Xi's sharp and repeated questioning, Shang Jia Bao bowed his head repeatedly and admitted the fact that he colluded with Huyang Pavilion Chief to give false testimony.

After opening a gap here, Xi successively captured the three pavilion guards. They all confessed that they were only lying because they were forced by Pavilion Chief and Qiu Dao.

In the end, Qiu Dao Mai also confessed, leaving Huyang Pavilion Chief speechless.

He never expected that he would lose because of the simple difference between left and right hands.

It was too late to change his confession at this time.

At this point, the truth of the two cases came to light. After a brief discussion with his subordinates, Xi began to "read the verdict" in court.

This time, Heifu once again witnessed the meticulousness of Qin law. Almost every crime had a corresponding punishment.

The first to be convicted were three thieves.

Pan, the thief with a curly beard, committed the "crime of evading military service" and the "crime of robbery and murder" of multiple robberies and murders. Based on the latter alone, he was sentenced to death. For both crimes, Pan would be sentenced to crucifixion. After being sent back to Jingling County, where he was born, to confirm all his crimes, he would be executed in public, his body would be split and beheaded, and his head would be hung on the corpse for public display... Just thinking about that scene made Heifu's scalp numb.

The other two Chu thieves were luckier. They just did not meet the "gang robbery crime" of five or more people. Because they were not Qin people, the government could not determine their previous identities and crimes. The two also said that they had never killed anyone. So according to the ordinary "absconding from another country" and "theft crime", they were sentenced to tattooing and serving a city sentence. It can be imagined that there are two more prisoners in the civil engineering project of Nanjun, and the chances of redeeming them as commoners are slim.

After that, it was the turn of the people in Huyang Pavilion to judge their crimes.

"Huyang Pavilion Chief Zhen, as an official with a salary, should have held a two-foot wooden tablet to publicize the laws and orders to the people under his jurisdiction, but he broke the law knowingly, tried to steal the reward, and falsely accused Shi Wu Heifu of wounding people. The three crimes are punished together, and he should be shaved, tattooed, and sent to guard the border! But considering that he has a title, the three levels of title will be stripped to pay for the crime, and the sentence will be changed to shaved, redeemed and tattooed, and served as a ghost firewood."

Huyang Pavilion Chief Zhen knelt on the ground, listening to his own verdict blankly.

He inherited his father's title as soon as he came of age and became a respected "Zhan Niao", but he still wanted to be promoted to the fourth level "Bu Geng", so that he could be exempted from the one-month guard duty every year forever...

So a few days ago, he trained the guards in Huyang Pavilion and went out to arrest thieves, but he always failed. Until that day, when he heard that the merchant Bao Lai had reported the case, he was overjoyed, but he didn't expect that two young soldiers Wu got there first, which made him very unwilling.

It was also because Zhen was eager for quick success and was confused for a while. After listening to Qiu Dao's instigation, he planned to steal the credit and reward. Unexpectedly, he dug a big hole for himself and was involved in a lawsuit, and the judge was still the iron-faced and impartial Xi.

After the incident, his family also secretly arranged for him, but in Qin, at least on the surface, no one dared to openly accept bribes and bend the law for personal gain. The Qin law clearly stated what could be done and what could not be done, and countless Qin officials who were influenced by the law since childhood were also watching!

But in the end, they still found a loophole: bribed the meal delivery clerk, passed on information, coerced and bribed the merchant Bao, and let him cooperate in changing his confession and falsifying. As long as he denied that he had taken credit for the reward, and then confirmed that Heifu had the crime of beating officials, he could win the trial!

But who would have thought that before Xi could investigate carefully, the lies made up by this group of people were defeated by Heifu's clever questioning.

Zhen, who has always been proud, actually capsized in the hands of a lowly soldier!

Now, every word read by Xi, sounds like the death knell of the end of the world in Zhen's ears!

To shave is to shave the head, to tattoo is to tattoo on the face, and to redeem the crime is to redeem the crime with money. To collect firewood is to go into the mountains and collect firewood, which is also a kind of hard labor...

For the pavilion chief Zhen, who was only in his twenties and had a smooth life, this was an unacceptable result!

"I don't accept it!"

As soon as he heard the verdict, Zhen yelled with a red face and thick neck.

"I don't accept it, I want to beg for an interrogation!"

Begging for an interrogation is a unique review system of the Qin State. If the parties are dissatisfied with the verdict, they can request a retrial within the statutory time. The county will report the case to the county magistrate. If they are still dissatisfied with the county magistrate's judgment, they can continue to beg for an interrogation and report it to the Xianyang Tingwei, and the Supreme Court will conduct a final trial within three months. In this way, the unjust, false and wrong cases that were temporarily judged by the county and the county will have the opportunity to be vindicated by the Tingwei. The most famous one was in the first year of the reign of Qin Wangzheng, when a musician named Jiang was falsely accused of stealing a cow. He refused to accept the charge and repeatedly begged for interrogation. In the end, it was found that it was indeed a false accusation, and all the careless county judges were punished.

"Are you sure you want to beg for interrogation?" Xi asked.

Zhen said with a stiff neck, "Yes!"

Xi closed the bamboo slips with wet ink and looked down at Zhen.

"Do you think my judgment is wrong?"

"Do you think you are still wronged?"

"Do you think the county magistrate and the court judge will show you mercy?"

Xi's series of questions were like thunder exploding in Zhen's ears. His lips were pale and he murmured, "I dare not, but, but this punishment is too heavy..."

"Do you think the punishment is too heavy?"

Xi sighed and said, "If you didn't have a title above Shangzao, you could have slightly atonement for the crime, and the punishment would have been even heavier! And you know, if the interrogation fails, according to Qin law, you will be punished more severely! At that time, the punishment will be even heavier, perhaps cutting off the nose or cutting off the toes!"

Zhen was so disheartened that he knew that the facts of his crime were solid, and his testimony was full of loopholes. He was exposed in court and recorded in the book. Even if his family had connections and reported to the county and Xianyang, there was no possibility of overturning the case, so he bowed his head and said, "I plead guilty and dare not ask for interrogation again..."

After the head of Huyang Pavilion pleaded guilty, the rest of the people were easy to deal with.

As one of the main criminals, Qiu Daomai was sent to the border for "false accusation" and "fraud reward". He still had to shave his head because he was just a public official and could not atone for his crime, so he was sent to the border and it might take a long time before he could return to his hometown, which was worse than the head of Huyang Pavilion.

The three guards were accomplices and had their heads shaved for three years. At least they didn't have to leave their hometown. When their hair grew out completely, they would be free. The three of them bowed their heads in gratitude and felt that this was already a great tolerance.

The merchant Bao was similar. He was convicted of "false accusation" and "fraud" and sentenced to five years of imprisonment. When he was taken away, he cried and said that if he had known this, he should not have helped the head of the pavilion and others to give false testimony.

In short, after reading the verdict, the people in the hall confessed their guilt and were shocked.

Hei Fu felt very comfortable looking at the embarrassed faces of this group of people.

He now felt that the charge of "false accusation" was really good. Whoever falsely accused you and was found guilty would have to bear the same punishment as the false accusation. For example, if someone falsely accused you of murder but there was no evidence and you lost the case, you would be beheaded. Therefore, in the Qin State, although there was a reward for reporting treason, you had to think twice before filing a complaint.

With this decree, Heifu seemed to be wearing a piece of armor that could hurt him. After winning the case, all the blame would rebound on the false accusers. So, although the punishments of the six people were different, they all had to be shaved and sentenced to prison.

What does it mean to reap what you sow? What does it mean to be caught in a cocoon? What does it mean to hurt others and eventually hurt yourself?

That's it!

But this sense of pleasure was soon diluted by the harsh reality.

When Heifu stopped the road to complain, he did not expect that these people would be sentenced so heavily. He was so cold and ruthless that he once again saw the severity of Qin law.

"This is the end of stepping on the red line. No matter how many years you have worked diligently and carefully before, if you accidentally violate the law, your life will be ruined." Qin law stipulates that people who have committed crimes cannot be appointed as officials. Although the head of Huyang Pavilion was exempted from some punishment by virtue of his title, he basically has no chance of being an official in this life.

When Heifu was sighing, Xi called him and Jiying forward again, and the two hurried out.

Xi closed the verdict, took another bamboo slip from the clerk, and said lightly: "I have finished the punishment, and it is time to talk about rewards."

Upon hearing this, Heifu and Jiying looked at each other, and they saw the joy in each other's eyes!

After so many days of litigation, finally waited for this moment!

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