The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

Tang Qian, the thief official, was no stranger to Zuo Shixi, the prison official. Although he had only been transferred to the county for a year, he was already well-known and highly regarded by the county magistrate and the county governor.

But Xi was a strange person who refused to listen to anyone. For example, whenever he handled a case, he liked to investigate and question the case bit by bit, according to the rules, instead of beating the criminals and forcing them to confess like Tang Qian's prison official Lingshi...

This "internal spy case" with a wide range of implications was the same. Although Dou had been detained in prison and interrogated several times by several Lingshi, this person kept silent and refused to answer any questions...

"Use torture!"

Tang Qian lost his patience and made his own request to the prison official.

"If he is whipped, this pampered Duke of Chu will confess everything!"

Xi objected, "The Qin Law states that it is the best policy to interrogate the case based on the confession without torture, and it is the worst method to get the truth of the case through torture. This is the first trial, and it has not yet reached the third trial. Why torture?"

Tang Qian looked unhappy, "The county lieutenant ordered that this case should be investigated as soon as possible. If it is delayed, more secrets will be leaked to the inside of Chu. What should we do?"

Xi shook his head, "Dou Ran has been captured for more than half a year and has no direct connection with the recent assassination case. The old ministers of the Ruo'ao family who have contacted him are not necessarily internal spies. Therefore, Dou Ran is not a suspect, but a witness. In the Qin Law, it is the worst policy to torture the criminals, let alone to torture the witnesses? Moreover, it is not good to spread that the Qin official whipped the captured Duke of Chu. The thief Cao Yuan, please be patient and let me slowly investigate and question..."

"Patience? The county lieutenant didn't give you a deadline, so you don't have to rush!"

Seeing the two start to argue, Hei Fu hurried over to persuade them. In the end, Tang Qian and Xi reached a compromise and let Xi try again. If he still couldn't get anything out tomorrow, he would ask the county magistrate for approval to use torture.

"Xi Jun is still so opposed to torture, even if that person is a Chu person."

After Tang Qian left unhappily, Hei Fu and Xi started chatting in the county prison. He remembered that more than two years ago, when he and others were suing in Anlu County Prison, Xi never tortured any of them from beginning to end, but relied on collecting evidence, interrogation, and questioning to slowly unravel the truth.

In the past few years, Hei Fu found that not every law official could follow the rules of Qin Law like Xi, but Xi was a special case.

"I have encountered a case."

Sitting behind the desk, Xi flipped through the files about Dou Ran and told Hei Fu about an old story: "Last year when I first came to the county court, I received a case of begging for trial."

"Begging for trial" is equivalent to the retrial in later generations, that is, if the parties believe that the judgment is unfair, they can request a higher-level judicial department to re-examine their cases. The judgment of the county court can be re-examined by the county court. If there are still major doubts, the case of the county court can be re-examined by the Tingwei, which is the Supreme Court of Qin.

"On the day of Guihai in December of the 23rd year of the reign of King Wang, a soldier named Mao was taken to Dangyang County by the head of the pavilion for stealing cattle. Mao confessed to his theft and also named his accomplice, a musician named Jiang. His testimony was that on December 5, he and Jiang stole cattle together and took the cattle to Jiang's home..."

"Based on Mao's confession, the Dangyang County Magistrate and several clerks who tried the case believed that Jiang was an accomplice and sentenced him to tattooing and imprisonment."

"Jiang was dissatisfied, so he asked for a trial. The case came into my hands. It was already April of the 23rd year of the reign of King Wang."

The period for a trial was three months. Jiang was sentenced to tattooing and imprisonment on the 16th day of the second month. The retrial was on the 11th day of the fourth month. There was a gap of 54 days in between, which almost exceeded the time for retrial.

It was this short gap of six days that allowed Xi to save an innocent person who was tortured into confessing and almost became an imprisonment.

Xi followed his usual method of handling cases. He first collected all the records and books about the case, and then asked all the relevant witnesses to come to the county for questioning. The testimonies of the three witnesses were all favorable to Jiang.

Xi was surprised. With such an obvious loophole, why did the officials of Dangyang County seem to be blind to convict Jiang? Moreover, when Jiang was first questioned, he confessed that he was an accomplice in stealing cattle...

Under Xi's detailed questioning, Jiang finally revealed a secret during the initial trial: because he refused to admit his involvement in stealing cattle, he was beaten by the Dangyang County Magistrate "Diao" and poured cold water on him. Xi asked the county court's prison historians to examine him and found that "Jiang" had injuries on his back. There were thirteen scars as thick as fingers, and small scars were intertwined, stretching from shoulders to waist...

Even more surprising was the re-interrogation of the cattle thief Mao, who was tortured: Mao did admit that he stole the cattle alone at first, but the Dangyang County Magistrate who was in charge of interrogating him was sure that he could not have stolen the cattle alone, so he used a bamboo stick to hit his back, buttocks, and thighs, and blood flowed all over the ground.

"Mao" was in unbearable pain and had to drag his neighbor "Jiang" into the water to ask for more beatings. The physical examination revealed that Mao had countless scars on his body, and at least four scars on his buttocks and legs were as thick as fingers...

Under Xi's thorough investigation, the truth of the case came to light. The Dangyang County Magistrate Shi, who had been tortured and interrogated, knew that he could not deny it and had to accept the punishment with his head down. The county magistrate and several officials who participated in the trial also had to admit that they had made mistakes in their work during the first trial and were punished for dereliction of duty.

As for the musician who was wrongly accused, he was also able to clear his name and restore his identity and reputation. His wife and children who had been sold as slaves were redeemed by the government, and the property that had been confiscated and sold was also repaid at the price. Because he had been tattooed on his face and could no longer work as a musician, the county government relocated him to another county and granted him 100 mu of land to support himself and his family by working on the land...

After telling this story, Xi said to Heifu meaningfully: "This is why the law suggests that the judges should not use torture at will. Only when the prisoner is at a loss for words, has repeatedly lied, and has changed his confession and refused to plead guilty, can he be tortured according to the law, and the reason for the torture should be recorded in the book."

Heifu understood that because it was only a "suggestion" rather than a strict prohibition, the officials of Qin did not abide by this clause, and only a few people such as Xi silently implemented it.

In the words of later generations, Xi was a judge who believed in "procedural justice". He would do his best to maintain the fairness of the trial process, so as to achieve "justice in Qin law".

Heifu was ashamed, and remembered that when he first became a pavilion chief, he was also a good policeman who pursued "justice". But after experiencing many things and working in the battlefield and officialdom, Heifu's state of mind began to change. Some principles were abandoned, and he began to do things by any means. This time, he did not hesitate to involve Dou Ran in this "internal spy" case, mainly to drag Anlu Yunshi into the water...

Xi was also from Anlu County. He knew the feud between Heifu and Yunshi, and could guess the purpose of his active participation in this matter, but Heifu was cautious and had no handle.

So when leaving, Xi said to Heifu meaningfully: "Zuo Bingcaoshi, although you have made meritorious deeds and won titles at a young age and hold a high position, you must remember that wrong actions will lead to wrong consequences!"

It is not advisable to take revenge in the name of official duties!

Xi's words were full of meaning. Heifu listened respectfully on the surface, but sighed helplessly in his heart.

He would not laugh at Xi's pedantry, but would admire Xi.

Everyone in the world goes with the flow and changes with the times, but Xi stands still, holding several volumes of Qin Law in his hands, adhering to the principles in his heart.

But Heifu will never follow suit.

"The winner is justice!"

Silently reciting the famous saying of Gu Meimen Kensuke, Heifu walked into the dark streets. He also had to visit the thief officer Tang Qian overnight to discuss with him to let the "Provincial Public Security Bureau" thief officer and the "Provincial Court" prison officer compete for the right to interrogate this time as soon as possible.

...

As Heifu expected, Dou Ran was a proud county lord of Chu, with a strong aristocratic complex in his heart. If he was not tortured, he would not say a word. On the next day, the only response Xi got from repeated interrogations was Dou Ran's contemptuous back of his head.

So under Heifu's instigation, the thief officer Tang Qian began to ask the county governor and county magistrate to hand over Dou Ran to the thief officer, guaranteeing that he could get something out of him!

Considering that Dou Ran was not a suspect but a witness, and a captured county lord of Chu, he might be sent to Xianyang to meet the king in the future, so the county magistrate threw a difficult problem to the thief Cao: they could interrogate him, but no obvious scars should be left...

Tang Qian was a little worried, but Hei Fu was very happy, because he knew a lot of torture methods that would not leave scars in the future!

After being transferred from the prison to the thief Cao prison, Dou Ran realized that the Qin law officer's slow questioning was such a courtesy...

He first went through an ordinary interrogation, and Dou Ran still chose to remain silent. After that, he was roughly tied to a long table. The Qin official Hei Fu who captured him appeared in front of him and directed a group of grinning jailers to walk towards Dou Ran.

"You bastard! This county lord will never say a word!"

Dou Ran had expected this day, but this tough nobleman was not afraid at all. Whether it was whipping or knife, he could accept it with pleasure!

He was of Zhu Rong blood, a noble of the Chu State. He was not afraid of committing suicide with a sword, so what punishment was he afraid of?

However, what followed was not the whip or stick as imagined. The jailers just covered his mouth and nose with layers of thick linen towels.

This kind of torture was not included in the "Ten Cruel Punishments of the Tyrannical Qin" that was widely circulated in the Chu State. Dou Ran was a little surprised. As the linen cloth became thicker and thicker, he subconsciously opened his mouth and breathed hard, but then, cold water was poured on his face...

A large amount of water was sucked into the stomach, lungs and trachea, and the feeling of suffocation soon came. Dou Ran's larynx spasmed, and he began to vomit and cough.

Dou Ran struggled desperately, waving his hands and kicking his legs. Just when he thought he was going to suffocate to death, the wet cloth on his face was taken away, and the faces of Hei Fu and Tang Qian appeared in front of him.

"Confess or not?"

Tang Qian's voice came from his buzzing ears: "Who is the Anlu clan that you have corresponded with?"

Dou Ran gritted his teeth and didn't say a word.

Hei Fu smiled and instructed the jailers, "Continue."

So next, he repeatedly enjoyed the taste of "water torture" and the near-death experience of drowning. His lungs and trachea secreted a lot of thick nasal mucus, his mouth bled, and he even had incontinence. He suffered indescribable pain and humiliation...

Finally, when Dou Ran was tortured to the point of mental collapse and his consciousness gradually blurred, he finally couldn't stand the pain and murmured what Xi didn't ask.

"I said..."

"Stop!"

Tang Qian was overjoyed, raised his hand to stop the jailers who were still not satisfied, and approached Dou Ran with Hei Fu.

But Dou Ran took a few breaths of air, closed his eyes, and moved his lips slightly, saying: "The one who has correspondence with me is an old official of Ruo'ao..."

"Yun..."

Hearing that it was the Anlu County Lieutenant, Tang Qian's face was solemn, and Hei Fu also showed a sneer on his face. With Dou Ran's confession, plus the black material collected by his subordinates Li Xian and others in the past six months, Yun Man was enough to drink a pot!

Unexpectedly, Dou Ran had not finished speaking.

"And... Li!"