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Seeing that Wang Liu was heartbroken, Yu Chenglong turned to Guan Pei and asked, "County Magistrate Guan, are there any scratches on the body of the deceased?"
Guan Pei answered affirmatively: "No."
Yu Chenglong then asked: "Is there anything left between the fingernails of the deceased?"
"nor."
Yu Chenglong couldn't help but cast a suspicious look at Guan Pei. Under normal circumstances, a good woman would resist to some extent when being broken into and raped. Yu Chenglong doubted whether Guan Pei had investigated all these in detail at the time.
It is too late to re-investigate now. The case happened several months ago and the body could not have been preserved for so long and had been buried long ago.
Yu Chenglong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Not only were there three hundred people watching outside the hall, but the current emperor was also sitting behind him, which made him feel very pressured. He looked through the family files on the table again to see if there was anything missing.
Qin Mu asked the young eunuch Hong Bao to bring up the murderous dagger and examined it carefully. Not only was there purple-black blood on the blade, but also on the handle. Qin Mu carefully wrapped the tip with white silk, then picked it up and examined the wooden handle of the dagger carefully.
Yu Chenglong asked again at this time: "Yang Guan, after hearing Wang Liu's shouting, did you immediately get up and rush to the crime scene?"
Yang Guanlue said hesitantly, "Yes... No, sir, I heard someone shouting murder. I woke up in shock and was about to go out when I heard footsteps behind my house. I ran to the backyard to check, but didn't see anyone. I chased west for a while, but didn't catch up. So I came back and saw the head of the village coming with his men..."
Yu Chenglong summoned the village chief Yang Yicai to the court and asked, "Yang Yicai, where did you see Yang Guan on the night of the crime?"
Yang Yicai quickly replied, "Your Excellency, I was following what Wang Yang said and led people to chase the murderer in the direction he fled. When we were near the Yang family, we saw Yang Guan coming alone."
"How long had it been since the crime occurred when you saw Yang Guanshi?"
"Your Excellency, from the time we heard Wang Liu's scream, to the time we rushed to Wang's house, to the time we chased her out, it took about a cup of tea."
Yu Chenglong frowned again. If Yang Guan really killed someone, a cup of tea and a distance of 35 steps would be enough time for him to change his clothes. But if he changed his clothes, it meant that the clothes he wore when committing the crime must have been stained with blood. Although a cup of tea could change clothes, it was not enough to hide them, unless, as Guan Pei inferred, there was no blood on his clothes when he killed someone.
"Yang Yicai, you saw Yang Guanshi. What was he wearing?"
"Your Excellency, Yang Guan was wearing the same inner layer of clothes that he is wearing now. I can see clearly, and there is absolutely no mistake. There were more than ten people who followed me to chase the murderer, and they can all testify."
"Come on, take off Yang Guan's winter clothes."
The yamen runner immediately went up and took off Yang Guan's outer winter clothes. Yu Chenglong frowned even more when he saw it. The clothes he revealed were stained with blood. It was tattered and it was not difficult to imagine that these were the stains left by him from his repeated tortures.
Qin Mu suddenly spoke up at this time: "Yu Qing, please check for yourself, is there any blood on Yang Guan's cuffs? Especially inside the cuffs."
Suddenly hearing the emperor's words, Yu Chenglong quickly stood up, bowed and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."
Yu Chenglong walked up to Yang Guan and asked him to stretch out his hands. After a quick inspection, he found that there were not only bloodstains on his cuffs, but also a lot of bloodstains inside his cuffs.
"Your Majesty, there are bloodstains on the inside and outside of Yang Guan's sleeves."
Qin Mu turned to Guan Pei and asked, "Xia Magistrate, before you tortured him, did you check Yang Guan's cuffs to see if there was any blood?"
Guan Pei's forehead was covered with sweat, and he answered nervously: "Your Majesty, I have checked and found that... at that time... there was indeed no blood on Yang Guan's cuffs."
"Have you searched the area around the Yang family carefully?"
"Your Majesty, I have sent people to search the area around Yangjia Village, but found nothing."
"Guan Pei, if a person runs at full speed within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, do you know how far he can travel back and forth?"
"Your Majesty, I have calculated that if Yang Guan's clothes were stained with blood when he killed someone, he would have to go home to change clothes first. Excluding the time it would take to change clothes, he would definitely not be able to run two miles and then turn back in a cup of tea..."
Qin Mu asked calmly, "If Yang Guan had time to change the clothes he used to commit the crime and dispose of them, would he have left the murder dagger in his backyard?"
"This... .....so I conclude that when Yang Guan killed someone, there was no blood on his clothes."
Qin Mu did not comment, and said to the yamen runners in the hall: "Take off Yang Guan's clothes."
Seeing that the emperor had a doubtful attitude, Guan Pei began to sweat profusely and felt extremely anxious.
Qin Mu was indeed very dissatisfied with him. Guan Pei overlooked a very important thing, that is, the bloodstains on the window. Since it can be confirmed that the bloodstains were left by the murderer, it means that the murderer at least had bloodstains on his hands at the time, so he left bloodstains on the window when he escaped through the window.
If a person kills someone for the first time and is caught on the spot, the possibility of the blood on his hands not getting on his clothes when he flees in panic is almost zero.
Judging from the dried bloodstains on the handle of the dagger, the murderer not only had bloodstains on his hands, but also a lot of bloodstains, because the entire handle of the dagger was almost covered with dried bloodstains.
Judging from a series of signs, if there was no blood on Yang Guan's clothes at the time, it can be basically concluded that he did not kill the person, because if he had time to change the bloody clothes and dispose of them, it would be impossible for him to leave the murder dagger in the grass in his backyard.
Thinking of this, Qin Mu asked, "Yang Liu, is there a wall around your backyard?"
Yang Liu replied hurriedly, "Your Majesty, my backyard only has a half-high fence."
Qin Mu then said to the young eunuch Hong Bao: "Xiao Bao, take a piece of white paper and ask Yang Guan to print all ten fingerprints clearly on the white paper."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Qin Mu picked up the dagger again and looked closely at the handle of the dagger against the light.
The county magistrate of this era combined administrative, judicial, financial, taxation, cultural, educational, and public security powers. Basically all the affairs of a county were under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate, and very few of them had professional knowledge in investigating and handling cases.
After seeing Guan Pei's performance, Qin Mu felt disappointed and heavy in his heart. It was not difficult to imagine that most of the county magistrates in the country would not be much better than Guan Pei.
It is such a group of people with no detective experience who are handling cases in various states and counties. How many of these cases are unjust and wrong? Just thinking about it makes people feel cold.
It seems that there is still a long way to go to improve the judicial system of the Qin Dynasty! Qin Mu thought of the Song Dynasty official Song Ci, who once wrote a book called "Xiyuan Jilu". It seems that in the future, people who are engaged in case scene investigation must read such books and pass the assessment before they can take up their posts.
In fact, this is also the reason why Qin Mu is eager to promote local judicial reform. The county magistrate can no longer play both the role of father and mother. Judicial trials and case investigations must be handed over to professionals, and the coroners in various counties must also be retrained.
The dagger, as the most important physical evidence, was well preserved. Although it had been melted for several months, fingerprints could still be found from the bloodstains on the dagger handle. In this day and age, few people use fingerprints to solve cases, so fingerprints are often overlooked.
The young eunuch Hong Bao followed Qin Mu's instructions, took a piece of white paper, asked Yang Guan to press his ten fingers on the ink, and then printed them on the white paper.
The people watching outside the hall did not understand what was going on and thought that the emperor wanted Yang Guan to confess his guilt and sign the document. Although the guards had warned them not to make any loud noises, they still could not help whispering to each other.
After the young eunuch took down the white paper with the fingerprints, Qin Mu placed the dagger on it and compared the fingerprints on the white paper with those on the dagger handle one by one. The light was not very good, and the dagger handle was round, and the fingerprints on it were also curved, which made the comparison difficult.
Qin Mu tried it and found that it was difficult to compare and it was easy to make mistakes. So he said to Jackie Chan, "Yu Qing, come here."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Yu Chenglong walked to the imperial desk with doubts.
Qin Mu carefully picked up the dagger and pointed at the fingerprint on the handle and said to him: "See the fingerprint on the handle? Find someone immediately to take a copy of the fingerprint on the handle. Remember, do not destroy the fingerprint on the dagger. This fingerprint is the most important evidence."
Yu Chenglong agreed cautiously. Nowadays, people's rubbing technology is still very advanced, so it is not a problem to make a rubbing of the fingerprint on the handle of the dagger.
The case was heard here, and Qin Mu ordered the court to adjourn temporarily and resume the trial the next day.
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.(To be continued..)
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