Rebirth: From being expelled from the imperial court to becoming a high-ranking official

"It's okay, it's okay. A prison is naturally not very clean. I just went to take a look so that I can report back to you, sir."

Pingle County Magistrate hesitated for a moment and said, "Then I will accompany Lord Liu to take a look. However, there have been many criminals involved in robbery recently, and we are a little short of manpower. It is inevitable that we will not behave properly. I am afraid that Lord Liu will be embarrassed."

The Pingle County Magistrate did not shy away from it and it seemed that he really did not think there was anything wrong with what he did.

"Your Excellency is busy with official duties, why not send someone to take me to have a look?"

The magistrate of Pingle naturally would not let anyone take Liu Dianshi with him.

Liu Dianshi and Zhuzi were fully prepared, but the moment they entered the room, they were almost forced to retreat by the smell that hit their heads.

Zhuzi had been to the prison before, and he knew that half of the prison was hidden underground, the ventilation holes were small, and the smell would not be very good.

But no matter how bad it is, I have never encountered such a thing.

Liu Dianshi couldn't help but raise his sleeves to cover his mouth and nose, and Pingle County Magistrate was naturally not much better.

Once we actually got in, the smell inside was even more stuffy and disgusting. The sounds of prisoners groaning, wailing for mercy, and shouting and cursing could be heard constantly from the prison.

A few steps inside was where the jailers were on duty. A jailer was looking at a booklet with an impatient frown, when he looked up and saw the magistrate coming in.

The jailer stood up quickly and said, "Sir, why did you come here in person? If you have anything to say, just call me over. This place is really dirty..."

"I'm bringing the police from the capital to see how the trial of the bandit's accomplices is going."

The jailer looked at Liu Dianshi and Zhuzi behind him in surprise, bowed and nodded curiously, "Greetings, superior..."

The magistrate glanced at the dirty barrels in the corners and aisles and frowned: "Pick these up, it will look terrible."

"Yes, yes." The jailer quickly took his men to carry the wooden barrel out.

A few people walked further in and saw a horizontal aisle in front, leading to the left and right, with two rows of cells facing each other on both sides.

Zhuzi glanced at the cell closest to them. There were seven or eight people imprisoned in the small cell.

Except for one person who was sitting in the corner, the others were either curled up on their sides or lying down. It was impossible to see their appearance clearly, and it was unknown whether they were dead or alive.

But from time to time, low groans of pain could be heard, and I didn't know who made them.

As we got here, the voices of begging for mercy and the police's questioning became clearer.

"Sir Liu, please come this way." The magistrate raised his hand, pointed to the right and led Liu Dianshi inside.

Liu Dianshi found that there were about seven or eight people locked up in each room, and it was really overcrowded.

Several people arrived at a place where the police interrogated prisoners. A yamen runner was sitting there with a sword in his hand, frowning and asking something, and there were other officers holding torture instruments beside him.

".....Hu Saner, I advise you to confess as soon as possible to avoid suffering this physical pain. Why bother..."

As the bailiff was speaking he saw the magistrate come in and quickly stood up.

"Sir, why are you in such a filthy place?"

"How's the trial going? Any progress today?"

"Boss Yu and Boss Qian both confessed today..."

"Yu Hui confessed?" The Pingle County Magistrate seemed a little surprised.

"Yes, Yu Hui admitted that he did know Pan Qing was the bandit leader, but he only admitted that he knew, not that he was involved."

When Liu Dianshi heard about this Boss Yu, his heart jumped: Could this Boss Yu be the Boss Yu from Huiminglou?

The magistrate nodded and said, "Where is his confession? Let me take a look."

The bailiff immediately took a confession from the table and said, "I will report to you after I have interrogated Hu Saner."

The magistrate took a quick look at the confession and handed it to Liu Dianshi: "Master Liu, would you like to take a look?"

It was too stuffy and smelly here, and Liu Dianshi felt a little dizzy. He quickly flipped through the confession.

In fact, the confession was nothing more than the process and details of his interactions with Pan Qing. Apart from that, he also said that he accidentally heard Pan Qing bragging that he was a bandit leader while drinking one time.

But apart from this sentence, there was no other witness testimony.

No matter how you look at it, it looks like a confession forced upon him.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for this to really happen.

It is possible for a drunk person to brag about his identity as a gang leader. But for him to be a gang leader, this was too imprudent.

The magistrate asked, "Where is Yu Hui imprisoned?"

"Inside, my lord. I will show you the way."

The magistrate then asked Liu Dianshi to follow him inside.

The bailiff led the way, and Liu Dianshi continued to follow the magistrate inside with a heavy heart.

Led by the yamen runners, several people walked to the door of a cell. Before they could say anything, a man inside rushed over and grabbed the iron bars.

“Sir, Master Instructor! Please save my father. He is dying. They are torturing him and forcing him to confess…”

Liu Dianshi looked at the young man in his twenties in surprise, and then glanced at County Magistrate Jiang who was standing next to him with an embarrassed look on his face.

County Magistrate Jiang looked at Liu Dianshi awkwardly, and said in an unnatural voice: "This is Yu Hui's son, a county student. He has a good reputation. I didn't torture him, but I have reported to the education commissioner to revoke his reputation."

Liu Dianshi was once again shocked and speechless about the Pingle County Magistrate.

You arrested a scholar who had studied hard for many years to obtain the title, before he was convicted, and even directly requested that his title be revoked.

Aren’t you afraid that after the final trial it will be discovered that you are innocent?

County Magistrate Jiang said to Hui's son: "Your father has confessed. He knows that Pan Qing is the bandit leader..."

"Impossible! My father was clearly tortured into confessing! Sir, my family is an honest business owner, how dare we collude with bandits? You have known my father for many years, don't you know that he just likes to make friends..."

There was no one else in the cell except Yu Hui and his family of three. Magistrate Jiang looked at the two people standing still in the corner of the cell with a guilty look on his face.

Suddenly one of them trembled and let out a low groan.

Yu Hui's son hurried over and called out anxiously, "Dad, Dad..."

County Magistrate Jiang looked at Liu Dianshi awkwardly again: "Master Liu, is there anything else you want to see?"

Liu Dianshi quickly shook his head.

"Then why don't you ask Sir Liu to follow me out first? This place is really filthy."

Liu Dianshi quickly agreed.

Several people left the prison in silence again.

After leaving the prison, several people exhaled at the same time and felt alive again.

After returning to the county government office and sitting down, the atmosphere between the two was still a little awkward.

Liu Dianshi hesitated and said, "Sir, I have a few words to say, but I don't know whether I should say them or not..."

The magistrate said quickly, "Please speak, Sir Liu. I am all ears."

Whether he had the right to speak or not, Liu Dianshi had to speak out at this time, otherwise, if something really happened to Yu Hui's family, how would he explain it when he returned?

"Sir, if you ask me, the case has not been finally decided yet. Why are you in such a hurry? Anyway, the city gates have been guarded and the people have been arrested. Why don't you wait until the case is finally decided?"

"Since I am the county magistrate, I must work hard to govern the country and help the court. How can I be negligent and shirk my responsibilities..."

But you haven't relieved the court of its worries.

Liu Dianshi felt his forehead twitching.

"Sir, please don't blame me for being impolite. I only spoke rudely because I saw that you had great ambitions and treated me sincerely..."

"You're welcome, Master Liu. Since I took office, I haven't even had anyone to make decisions. If you can give me some pointers, it would be a great favor to me."

"Sir, have you ever thought that as a new official, it is better to do nothing than to make mistakes?"

"Why do you say that, Lord Liu? Your Majesty has shown your grace and the Ministry of Personnel has favored me by promoting me from a teacher to a county magistrate. How can I do such a thing?"

"It is precisely because the court values ​​you that you should be more cautious. Think about it, you have just taken office and are not familiar with the law. If you misapply the law or wrongly injure someone, wouldn't that be a betrayal of your majesty's grace?"

When the Pingle County Magistrate heard this, he was stunned and sweat slowly broke out on his forehead.

"You must have no experience in solving cases now. How can you guarantee that the testimonies are credible? With so many people, how can you guarantee that no one was tortured into confessing? What if the prosecutor or the inspector finds that there are many mistakes and omissions, or even if someone changes his mind and claims innocence during the autumn trial, what will you do?

With so many people around, if a few were beaten to death... Even if the court sympathizes that the adults are not good at judging cases and have caused public resentment, they will inevitably punish them.

Why don't you first ask carefully if there are any experienced advisors, and ask one to help you first. When he is proficient in the business, he can help the court with his worries?"

As County Magistrate Jiang listened to Liu Dianshi's analysis, he became more and more frightened, and the sweat on his forehead kept coming out.