Chapter 686 Death

"In the thirty-first year of the old calendar, on the ninth day of the fourth lunar month, at the time of Chou. When the jailer routinely inspected the cell in the prison, he found King Qian lying on the ground. At that time, the jailer was startled and immediately blew his whistle. When the key came to open the cell door to investigate, he was already out of breath."

The location is the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. To be precise, it is a sky prison, a special prison area.

The large prisons of the Ministry of Punishment are all for detaining serious offenders, while the sky prison is for special prisoners among the heavy offenders. The special prison area is even more unusual, and it is a place specially used to detain royal family members.

It is actually very troublesome to deal with the royal family committing a crime. Although the law apparently applies to people in the royal family other than the emperor, the actual situation is that people in the royal family enjoy many preferential treatment even in the Ministry of Punishment. Even for capital crimes, they enjoy basic decency before death.

For example, the special cell in the Sky Prison is very clean, definitely not as dirty as ordinary cells, on the contrary, it will be very clean, and there will even be some special beds, tables and stools. There will also be a curtain to cover the toilet.

Even the diet is as satisfying as possible. You can even bring some books, paper and pens outside to pass the time.

And torture is rarely seen in the royal family. Even if it is necessary, people from the royal family will do it themselves, and people from the Ministry of Punishment will not be involved.

But the trouble is troublesome, but the royal family has been quite disciplined throughout the ages. They may be high-profile or arrogant, but they rarely break the law, and the bottom line is well guarded. Therefore, the special prison area of ​​Tianlao is vacant all year round.

It’s just that King Jing and King Qian had a big fight on Junhou Street some time ago. Not only did the monks and guards around them use their magic skills, but they even took out their bows and crossbows. Several, but luckily no one was killed.

This incident aroused the emperor's fury and ordered the Ministry of Punishment to investigate and deal with it. So King Jing and King Qian were arrested and sent back to the special prison in the Sky Prison for separate detention.

Everyone knows that this is an extraordinary period, especially the matters between the prince and the prince are more sensitive. Ma Xuanlin, Shangshu of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, repeatedly urged no one to try this case, just procrastinating. After ten days and a half months, he made another memorial, saying that the two princes knew they were wrong, and they also paid for the injured's medical expenses and house. For the reconstruction, some more were given as compensation, and the emperor should be able to expose the matter if he wanted to come.

But who knew that before the memorial was typed up, something big happened in the sky prison.

King Qian, who was imprisoned in the T-shaped cell, died.

The warden of the prison area was so frightened that he peed his pants, and then King Jing, who was also in the special prison area, was tightly protected by the royal guards who rushed in, but King Jing still stayed here without the emperor's warrant and could not leave. The door of the room cannot take half a step.

At the same time, Ma Xuanlin, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, who rushed over in a panic, was a little crazy. He felt like someone was sitting at home, and disaster came from the sky. Who is so unscrupulous? Why are you so crap on his territory?

Looking at the already stiff corpse lying on the ground, Ma Xuanlin had the urge to resign from office, he knew that if he didn't handle this matter well, his life might be involved in it.

While making an urgent report to Zuoxiang Yamen, he also sent news to the palace. At the same time, Ma Xuanlin also called for the most capable generals under his command. Can there be some words to answer his words? If you ask three questions and don't know, if you offend the emperor, you may be beheaded in a rage.

So now Ma Xuanlin hastily went to the Left Prime Minister Ye Lansheng to discuss countermeasures, and the matter of the deceased was handed over to the Major Case Department of the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

The chief officer "Iron Face" Xue Gui rushed over after receiving the news, his eyes seemed to be covered with frost, a look that made people subconsciously avoid their sight, coupled with the cold mask on his face, most people would not even dare to stand up. by his side.

"Who has been here?"

"At the beginning of Xu, the food delivery person came once, and then came again when it was almost at the right time of Xu, and took away the bowls and chopsticks, and brought a pot of fruit wine according to the previous order of the king. But everyone was outside and never came in. .

After the accident, the warden opened the cell door and came in, as well as two doctors, and three guards of the king who came after hearing the news. "

Xue Gui is here, so naturally his adjutant Li Qing will not be absent. Now after Xue Gui walked around in the cell, Li Qing just came back after finishing the preliminary investigation of the prison area, and hurriedly made a report to Xue Gui.

The scene is very important, but not to mention the footprints now, even the placement and arrangement of many objects in the cell have been moved. For example, when the king was found, he was lying on the ground, but the warden who rushed over carried the king to the bed in order to save him. It was a pill and a spell, and it turned out that the dead could not survive. Yes, the site was also severely damaged.

"There is no sign of poisoning on the surface of the corpse, and there are no obvious odors, scars, or struggles. Did it die peacefully?" Xue Gui stood by the bed and briefly checked the corpse of the King Gan. As he expected, there was almost no evidence What direct clues to find.

"Where is Wuzuo? When will you be there?"

"I'm already waiting outside. But my lord, do you really need an autopsy? This is the king, should you report it first before making any plans?" Li Qing was a little worried. Because of the dead prince, the royal family is very particular about the body after death. If Wu is asked to conduct an autopsy with a knife, although it is for the purpose of solving the case, it will be a big trouble if it is pursued.

But Xue Gui shook his head and said: "I can't wait, almost an hour has passed since the body was found. If it is a homicide in such a fortified place, there are only a few methods, and poisoning is one of them." .Some poisons will dissipate on their own after a long time in the corpse, so you should take advantage of the heat. You should be clear about this, right?"

"The subordinates know, but..."

Xue Gui interrupted: "Okay, let's call Wu Zuo in."

Seeing that her lord had already made a decision, Li Qing stopped persuading her, turned around and went out, and soon came in with two assistants in their fifties.

Xue Gui raised his hand to stop Wu Zuo's politeness, pointed to the dead body on the bed and said to them: "That's King Qian, Your Majesty's second son, the cause of death is currently unknown, and you need to figure it out. You must not let go of any suspicious points on the dead body. Let's start." .”

The bodies of the two butlers visibly trembled a few times. Even veteran craftsmen who had handled hundreds of corpses were still instinctively nervous when they heard that they were going to cook the corpse of a prince. But they know the rules of the major case department, you can do whatever you are asked to do, procrastinating or perfunctory or resisting will be endless, so you can only bite the bullet.

Starting from undressing, one person checks one person's records while filling in the gaps. After an hour and a half of tossing from the inside to the outside, the last autopsy result reached Xue Gui.