On the other hand, Heifu and Jiying were taken to the county jail by the jailer after arriving in Anlu County. However, they were not placed in a cell, but in a guest house of the county jail. It was said that this was specially prepared for "self-confession" like them. The room was not big, but it was clean. There were two straw mats on the floor, so they could rest, but they could not walk around freely. Someone had to watch them when they went to the toilet. Two meals a day were provided - of course, they were only the coarsest rice.
Jiying was very uneasy. When Heifu closed his eyes to rest, he kept pacing back and forth, worrying about this and that. After a while, he suddenly asked:
"Brother Heifu, do you think that Doctor Xi can handle the case impartially?"
"I think so..." Heifu answered casually while lying on the straw mat.
When he heard "Xi" introduce himself, he was also slightly surprised. He remembered that in the TV program of his previous life, it was said that the biggest discovery of Yunmeng Qin Bamboo Slips was not the letter written by "Heifu" to his family, but the coffin of the Anlu County official named "Xi" full of excerpts of Qin laws, which opened the door to the Qin Dynasty for archaeologists...
Except for the scattered more than a thousand bamboo slips copied by Xi himself, there were no other valuable burial objects in the coffin. It can be seen how much this civil servant loved his job.
Such a person should not violate the law, right?
It's funny to say that at this point, Heifu can only pin his hopes on the fairness and justice of Qin law.
It was dark, and the two fell asleep in a daze. Unexpectedly, someone suddenly pushed the door open from outside!
Heifu got up quickly. The weak light from outside came in. He saw a kind-looking clerk in black clothes, holding a pen and a knife. His attire was exactly the replica of the "Clerk Figurine" in the Terracotta Warriors.
Seeing Ji Ying and Heifu saluting him, the clerk smiled and said, "No need to be polite. I am just a small clerk who earns a living. I am not an official. You sit down and talk."
So Heifu and Ji Ying knelt on the straw mat. The jailer who called himself "Le" sat opposite them, put a small wooden frame for fixing bamboo slips on the table, lit the oil lamp, yawned, and began the routine questioning.
The questions were nothing more than Heifu and Ji Ying's names, identities, and native places. The most important thing was whether they had a criminal record before!
"No, absolutely not!" Ji Ying shook his head like a rattle.
Heifu also said that he had three brothers, all of whom were good citizens and had never done anything illegal.
"That's good." Le smiled, but his words were chilling.
"If you have a previous crime and deliberately conceal it, it will be very disadvantageous to you when the county magistrate informs the township and village!"
The two still said that they had never committed a crime, so Le just passed it by and didn't mention it.
After a while, Heifu couldn't help but asked, "Sir, we two came to the county to serve, and the deadline is October 1st. If we miss the service period..."
Le gave him a reassurance: "Don't worry about the service. The county magistrate has sent a document to the county lieutenant to explain the situation. You just need to cooperate with the trial."
Le also told them that after the information inquired today was recorded, it would be sent to their hometown for verification, and the township and village would be required to reply in written form, which is called "Yuanshu". Not only the plaintiff, but also the defendant follows the same process. Once their identities are confirmed, the formal interrogation will begin.
Hei Fu said, "May I ask the superior officer, when will the interrogation be held?"
Le Xiao said, "The place of origin that the thief confessed is not far away, it is in the neighboring county. It only takes two days for the letter to go back and forth. If nothing goes wrong, the interrogation can begin in three days. At that time, you will be the defendants in court, explain the course of the case, list the witnesses and material evidence, and then question each other..."
Hei Fu was stunned, huh? It seems that the trial in Qin State is to let the defendants and plaintiffs argue with each other, and the court will listen silently and make a decision.
At that time, both parties in the lawsuit will have to play their own lawyers and have a verbal battle?
This was something Hei Fu had not expected. His impression of the ancient trials was that the judges in various costume TV dramas would slam the gavel and hit the prisoners with a board as thick as their arms...
At the end, the clerk left with a word.
"At that time, you only need to tell the truth and never lie! Remember, remember!"
After the door was closed again, Ji Ying began to worry, because although he had heard some laws from the clerks in the village, especially how much fines were imposed for committing certain crimes, he had never sued anyone in court.
"What should I do?" He looked at Hei Fu and asked.
"Just chill!"
Hei Fu fell asleep.
From this, it can be seen that the Qin State is worthy of being famous for its legalism. It is very strict in trying cases and has its own rules, rather than acting according to the personal preferences of officials.
Not to mention that he was right in this matter, he had taken torture classes in the police academy in his previous life, and he had attended court many times. It was just a confrontation with the defendant, so what was there to be afraid of!
For a moment, Hei Fu was actually looking forward to the "trial" three days later.
...
In the imagination of ordinary people, the trial in ancient times was probably like this:
Outside the county government office, there were crowds of people. Above the lobby, a plaque with the words "a clear mirror hanging high" was hung high in the middle. Below sat the county magistrate, wearing a black gauze hat, and three guillotines, dragon, tiger and dog, were placed in the hall. When the prisoner was brought up, the yamen runners on both sides shouted "mighty", and the great judge slammed the gavel and pointed at the prisoner, saying: "First, beat him with three hundred sticks!"...
However, when it came to the "trial", that is, the day of the court session, Heifu saw the following scene:
The trial was not held in the county temple yamen, but in the county prison separated by a wall. The county prison was a prison inside and the main hall outside. From the outside, it was just a small courtyard, without the style of an official residence, except that the pavement was paved with stones, and even the fallen leaves were swept clean.
After entering the main hall, Heifu found that there was no place for people to beat drums to complain, and it was not open to the public. A "罘罳", that is, a clay screen, blocked the entrance, painted white, and a few lines of Qin seal characters were written in ink.
Heifu was literate, otherwise how could he write letters to his family in the military camp? But what was written on it was an article titled "The Way of Being an Official".
"The way of being an official must be clean and upright, cautious and firm, be impartial, meticulous, quiet and not harsh, and be fair in rewards and punishments..."
Then there are "five virtues" and "five mistakes"... These are the requirements of the Qin State for officials of all sizes. Translated into vernacular, they mean being honest and dedicated to public service, being forbidden to abuse public power for personal gain, being close to the people, and being an official to eliminate harm and promote benefits for the people. It should be similar to the content in "Several Principles for the Integrity of CPC Leading Cadres in Politics".
In short, Heifu was stunned. Is this still the legendary "tyrannical Qin?"
"I hope the officials who are trying the case today can really do these things."
Under the guidance of the prison guard "Le", Heifu and Jiying walked around the screen and entered the main hall, only to find that the judge sitting in the hall was not the Anlu County Magistrate or County Magistrate, but the prison guard Xi! He was dressed in black today, wearing a Xiezhi crown on his head, sitting upright, so majestic.
Seeing this man, Heifu felt relieved. He heard from the jailer that Doctor Xi was famous for his impartiality in Anlu County and was highly trusted by the county magistrate. All the difficult cases would be handed over to him. If he tried the case, there shouldn't be any problem, right?
At this time, Xi was already trying the case of "robbery of merchant Bao". When Heifu and his companions were brought into the hall, the merchant "Bao" was telling about how he was on his way to the town market that day and encountered robbery on the road nine miles away from Huyang Pavilion, and fled in fear.
Then, it was the turn of the three thieves in shackles to kneel down in the hall to state their crimes.
The bearded man who had fought with Hei Fu confessed first: "My name is Pan, I am a soldier in Jingling County, living in a certain village. I was conscripted in February last year and went to fight in the northern Zhao State. Because of heavy rain, I was afraid of traveling far and fled. Later, I fled to Yunmengze and became a thief. I met the other three people. My crime is just as the merchant Pan said, and I have not committed any other crimes."
Jingling County is one of the 18 counties in Nanjun, facing Anlu County across Yunmengze. When the big man was making his statement, the officials sitting on the left and right of the hall were holding pens and rustling on wooden and bamboo slips. The seriousness was like the recorders in the courts of later generations. They had to record the words and deeds of the criminals, and then seal them into the warehouse as archives. Most of the Qin bamboo slips unearthed in later generations are similar things.
The chief judge Xi did not interrupt Pan's statement, but kept writing on the bamboo slips. After he finished speaking, he asked again: "Apart from the robbery of merchant Bao, are there any other crimes?"
Pan hesitated for a moment and said: "No!"
At this time, Ji Ying turned his head and muttered to Hei Fu: "I remember that day, didn't he say that he had several lives on his hands..."
------------