Chapter 104 Lies

The next morning, Ling Li Nu, who had heard the news from the county town, stood at the scene of the crime, frowning and silent.

This banyan tree grew on the top of a hill. Below the hill was a steep cliff, more than ten feet high, and below was a turbulent stream. The stream was full of mossy stones. The body of Youjiao Shuwu was lying on it, with half of his head smashed into a bloody mess...

Heifu Pavilion Chief said that he was tricked by the thieves, stepped on a trap, and was hung upside down on the banyan tree and could not get away. After Shuwu came, the thieves picked up a crossbow arrow and shot him in the eye socket. Shuwu was in pain and walked around, accidentally falling off the cliff.

"How can I record the original wound after falling like this?"

Nu shook his head and asked for help. It was not easy to find the fatal crossbow arrow from Shuwu's smashed head. It was indeed deeply embedded in the eye socket.

At this time, a clerk also hurried over to report: "Lingshi, the arrow that shot Heifu Pavilion Chief was found by the pond."

The same crossbow arrow, the tail was broken, because it was pulled out from the wound, the diamond-shaped arrow head on it was still stained with meat scraps and blood. Heifu said that he threw it aside after treating the wound by the pond, and it was found as expected.

After Nu carefully checked it, he nodded and asked everyone to collect the evidence and prepare to carry Shuwu's body back to the county for another inspection. Although there are still some small doubts, the overall situation is basically consistent with what Heifu said.

But Nu still felt something was wrong.

"This thief was able to escape from the pursuit of the patrol officers and the guards, and even fought back, killing one and injuring another. Isn't that too much?"

He only cared about solving the case, but he never thought that so many mistakes would occur when catching the thief. Now, the officials of Anlu County are in trouble...

But until they left, they did not find out the truth. This scene was carefully arranged by Hei Fu, who was very familiar with the work of Qin State Lingshi!

...

"That's what happened."

A few days later, Hei Fu was summoned again. In front of many colleagues such as the prison officials and the guards, he calmly recounted the incident again.

"The guard can leave now."

Xi nodded. Hei Fu described the incident in great detail, which was completely consistent with the results of the on-site investigation. When he said in anger that the head of the body was too shattered and he was powerless, the government did not find more suspicious points.

"Yes, the guilty official bids farewell."

Hei Fu limped and bowed, and walked out of the county prison. His subordinates Dongmen Bao, Ji Ying and others had been waiting here for a long time. Seeing this, they hurried over to support him.

Although he failed once, Hei Fu's position in everyone's mind remained unchanged.

The sun outside was dazzling and warm. In a trance, Hei Fu felt the sense of relief when he first walked out of here nearly a year ago...

He lied to cover up the truth of his murder. He was really forced to do so.

Hei Fu heard about such an incident. In the neighboring Jingling County, there was also a pavilion chief who accidentally shot and killed the thief in front of him while chasing the thief. Afterwards, he confessed truthfully. But because there was no one to testify for the pavilion chief except the thief who had run away long ago, the pavilion chief was still sentenced to murder in the end, and he paid for his life with the thief...

In fact, there was another incident that happened in the near future. Xiahou Ying was a native of Pei. He was a minor official in charge of carriages and horses in the county. He was a close friend of the pavilion chief Liu Bang. Whenever he drove back after sending envoys or guests, he would stop the car and chat with Liu Bang when passing by the pavilion where Liu Bang worked, and they would chat for most of the day.

The two often competed in martial arts, but once, when there was no witness, Liu Bang accidentally injured Xiahou Ying during the competition.

This little thing that the two good friends laughed off was reported to the government by someone with ulterior motives, saying that Liu Bang and Xiahou Ying had a private fight and injured someone!

As a pavilion chief, knowing the law and breaking it, he should be severely sentenced for injuring someone. Although Liu Bang appealed to the county that he did not intentionally injure anyone, Xiahou Ying also provided the same testimony. But because the informant insisted, the county suspected that the two had colluded and concealed something. As a result, Xiahou Ying was tortured for a long time and flogged hundreds of times...

In the end, because Xiahou Ying gritted his teeth and refused to change his confession, Liu Bang was proved innocent. The informant was falsely accused, but what if Xiahou Ying could not bear the punishment and provided testimony that was unfavorable to Liu Bang?

Then there would probably be no Han Gaozu beheading the white snake uprising, and Liu Bang himself would spend the rest of his life as a prisoner in Mount Li.

These two things are similar to Hei Fu's situation, that is, there was no third party present, so what else can he say except to put the blame on Zhongli Mei who ran away? He stretched out his hands and said to everyone frankly: "I killed You Jiao because he wanted to kill me?"

Who witnessed all this? Who can testify for him?

Who would believe Hei Fu if he just talked to himself?

Qin Li, who always values evidence, would believe him easily?

Should he point to God as evidence?

Hei Fu did not have such confidence, nor did he want to put his life in the hands of others again.

"I have no other choice but to lie to save myself."

This is why Hei Fu did not hesitate to carefully arrange the scene and clear himself.

Because telling the truth would only make things worse. Youjiao's family was not the top in the village, but there were many brothers who were minor officials. What was waiting for him at that time might be endless prosecution and torture. Hei Fu did not want to be confirmed as a "thief who killed someone". Then his life would be completely over. He had no choice but to rebel.

...

Throughout the late July, Hei Fu had been recuperating at home, and the affairs of Huyang Pavilion were handed over to Qiudao Dongmenbao to handle.

In the county, the turmoil of this incident has not yet subsided. The arrest had a great impact, but in the end the principal offender escaped, and the relevant officials were inevitably implicated.

While Heifu was recovering at home, several county officials in the county were indeed engaged in a fierce dispute.

The county left lieutenant, who had a grudge against Heifu, insisted on dismissing Heifu from his post as the head of the pavilion in the name of dereliction of duty!

The county right lieutenant believed that Heifu only lost the principal offender in the end, but if he had not made many suggestions during the investigation, he might not have caught the accomplice Shi and those Chu exiles - because they were discovered too early, Zhongli Mei's plan still failed. Those Chu exiles who fled to Yunmengze at night, except for one person who did not find any trace, the other five were all caught back.

The prison official Xi also provided legal advice: "Heifu Pavilion Chief failed to catch the thief, and he was fined three pieces of armor, that's all."

"Too light!" Zuo Wei shook his head and insisted on severe punishment.

While the officials were arguing, the county suddenly sent a messenger to deliver a document.

The officials looked at each other for a while. The news had been delivered to the county? How come the reply was so fast this time!

With a nervous heart, after opening the document, the expression on the county magistrate's face was somewhat wonderful.

"County magistrate, what does it say?"

From the county magistrate to the two county lieutenants, they all stared at the wooden slip, the content of which was related to their future.

"It's not the county government's punishment for us." The county magistrate didn't know how to answer, so he had to let everyone read it together.

It turned out that the "footprint study" that Heifu had presented earlier was reported by the county magistrate to ask for credit for him, and was recognized by the county magistrate. He believed that this method could be promoted in the county, so Heifu was praised...

"Can he be promoted to a higher rank, and become a hairpin?"

"It is unreasonable to reward someone instead of punishing him!" The county left lieutenant was furious and threatened to write a letter to the county to appeal the facts.

"Heifu failed to capture the thief and should be fined, but his previous achievements cannot be covered up."

Xi Chao bowed to the county left lieutenant and said, "If the left lieutenant insists on his own opinion, then I will have to explain the truth to the county city together and advocate that rewards and punishments should be carried out at the same time."

...

At this moment, Heifu did not know that the county officials were quarreling again because of him. His arrow wound did not hurt his bones. After more than half a month of recuperation at home, he gradually recovered, but his mood was not high.

The eldest brother Zhong thought that his brother Zhongdi was still upset about letting the thief run away, so he took the initiative to take him to the field, pointed to the bundles of golden rice harvested in the field and advised him: "Being an official is like planting crops. Wind and rain, drought and flood are common. How can everything go smoothly? Zhongdi, you should be more open-minded."

"I'm sorry to trouble you, brother." Heifu smiled, put the matter of Zhongli Mei and Shuwu behind his mind, and asked: "I haven't asked you, brother, how much the harvest was after using the composting technique last year?"

It would have been better if he didn't mention it. As soon as he mentioned it, Zhong's eyebrows were immediately happy, and he said happily: "Using Zhongdi's method, the harvest has increased a lot! For example, the corn yield was less than 2 dan per mu, but this year, the yield per mu is as much as 2.5 dan!"

PS: I have seen everyone's opinions. Because of the Chinese New Year, there were many things to do and I was sick again, so I wrote it in a hurry. I didn't consider many places carefully. I went off track while writing and there are many bugs. I'm sorry. Now I can only try to make it right. Fortunately, the police drama is completely over. I'm really not good at writing... I hope everyone can still look forward to it.

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