In just one morning, the Jingnan County Court’s complaint drum sounded five times, all of which were theft cases that occurred three months ago.
How could it be possible that there was nothing fishy when so many owners came to complain? By observing the expressions of the people in the hall, Zhu Ping'an saw that Zhang Xiancheng and others were not surprised at all, and even glanced at him with gloating several times. He knew that all this must be the work of Zhang Xiancheng and others behind the scenes.
However, Zhu Ping'an checked the case and court records at that time and confirmed that the owners had indeed come to the government office to report the theft three months ago. This was a serial theft case with no clues and no witnesses. It was an unsolved case at the time, not to mention that the files were now "lost".
The day before yesterday, he forced the prisoners to take a holiday; today, County Magistrate Zhang and others deliberately chose such a serial theft case to incite the owners to come forward to complain... ... They are fighting back.
This is to make yourself look ugly and embarrassed.
interesting.
Zhu Ping'an raised the corners of his lips slightly. Fighting against the sky is endless fun; fighting against the earth is endless fun; fighting against people is endless fun... ...
Although there was no file, there were still the court transcripts from that time. Zhu Ping'an ordered the secretary to take the court transcripts of that day and read them. Through the transcripts, Zhu Ping'an had a more detailed understanding of this serial theft case.
Of course, in order to prevent the file from being "lost" again, Zhu Ping'an ordered Zhang Danian, the clerk of the criminal department, to submit the file registration and filing book to keep track of the file filing situation. Well, by coincidence, one page of the filing book submitted by Zhang Danian was torn off, and looking at the date, it happened to be when the serial thefts occurred.
Zhu Pingan stretched out his fingers to pinch the remnants of the missing pages of the archive, flipped it up and down, and saw fresh tear marks. He couldn't help but look at Zhang Danian with a playful look. Zhang Danian lowered his head, not daring to look at Zhu Pingan, sweating profusely, but thinking of the promise of Zhang Xiancheng, Zhang Danian forced himself to calm down and straighten his back to look at Zhu Pingan.
"Zhang Dianli, please explain to me what's going on?" Zhu Ping'an asked with squinted eyes, fiddling with the remaining pages with his fingers.
"This, this... This is because this page of case files was kept by the previous county magistrate, so the previous county magistrate tore up this page." Zhang Danian was very unconfident when answering Zhu Ping'an's question. He answered haltingly, his eyes wandering left and right, not daring to meet Zhu Ping'an's eyes.
"Did the previous magistrate tear it off?" Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but laugh when he heard it. "Such fresh tear marks..."
"Your Excellency, the tear marks may seem fresh, but they are actually there for a long time. The reason they look fresh is mainly because we have kept the archive books well." Zhang Danian puffed up his cheeks and explained stiffly.
"Is it well kept?"
Zhu Ping'an smiled speechlessly, reached out and flipped through the file book, which was wrinkled and torn, and there was no way it could be said to be well kept.
"Your Excellency, you are not suspecting that I tore up the archive book on purpose, are you? I have been in the county government for ten years, and there has not been a single day when I failed to work diligently and conscientiously. I dare to guarantee with my life that this page was indeed torn off by the previous magistrate, and it was definitely not done by me. Please have a clear understanding, Your Excellency." Zhang Danian's lies were exposed in front of him, and his face instantly turned as red as pig liver, but his whole body acted as if he had suffered the greatest injustice in his life that he could not bear. He raised his voice excitedly, swore on his life, and was filled with righteous indignation.
When a liar's lie is exposed, he often likes to cover it up by raising his voice and becoming hysterical. However, this behavior often backfires and makes his lie more clear and vivid.
This is Zhang Danian.
Zhu Ping'an's lips curled up as he watched Zhang Danian's exaggerated performance like a play, then smiled and said, "It turns out that Zhang Dianli has been in the county government for ten years. He works diligently and conscientiously every day. It's not easy. You should take a break. I'll give you a long vacation in a few days..."
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Excellency..." Zhang Danian heaved a sigh of relief and straightened his back when he heard that.
Humph, it is just as Zhang Xiancheng and Yao Zhubu said. This little county lord is from outside. If he wants to keep his position, how can he leave us locals? Without us, he is a county lord without any support. Even though he is a county lord, as long as we hold together, he will have to give in. Just like today, even if he saw it, what can he do? He still has to swallow his anger and even use the holiday to win me over.
"Punishment? Ha, he dares?! Let me tell you, the county magistrate didn't even dare to mention it, and he even gave me a holiday." After Zhang Danian returned to the torture room, he boasted to everyone about his heroic deeds in the head-on confrontation with Zhu Ping'an.
Everyone was encouraged and became more confident in driving Zhu Ping'an away.
When Zhang Danian and others were in collusion, Zhu Ping'an had already taken Liu Mu, Liu Dadao and six others to investigate the scene of the serial thefts. Because the court transcripts were limited, it was impossible to solve the case based on them. Otherwise, the serial thefts would not have been shelved until now. It was necessary to conduct on-site investigations and visits to find clues to solve the case.
Zhu Pingan, Liu Mu and others visited the five victims one by one, carefully understood the situation and checked the crime scene. Through the visit, they found that although the five victims were in two villages, they were not far away and were all on both sides of the road running through the two villages.
However, because a long time has passed, most of the crime scenes have been destroyed and not many clues have been obtained.
Zhu Ping'an also visited the neighbors of the person who was robbed, asking them whether they had seen any suspicious persons on the day of the incident and in the days before.
"If there's anything suspicious, it's my dog. Normally, my dog bites strangers very hard, but that night it was very strange. My dog didn't bite at all."
"Zhang Mazi at the head of the village is very suspicious. He usually deducts everything. There were a few days when he even bought meat for eating."
"Suspicious person? A few days ago, a peddler came to my house to ask for water, and praised my cattle for their good water..."
"Zhang San is such an honest man, but he had a quarrel with his wife that night. We went to mediate, but when we came back, the sheep was lost..."
"That night, I was half asleep when I heard a car passing by on the road behind me, but I didn't take it seriously. When I woke up, I heard Lao Liu say that the donkey had been stolen. We went to check and found wheel tracks on the road behind the village, all the way to the village entrance."
"There's nothing suspicious. It's been a long time, so I don't remember clearly..."
... ...
Zhu Ping'an obtained a lot of information during his visit, including quite a few useful clues, but they were rather messy.
Considering that the stolen items were live animals such as cattle, sheep and donkeys, which were relatively large and difficult to hide, the thieves would definitely sell the stolen goods as soon as possible to avoid being discovered. To this end, Zhu Ping'an visited villagers, butchers, and livestock markets in towns and villages, and carefully inquired about the sale of cattle, sheep and donkeys during the incident to find further clues.
... ...
After a day of running, my legs were almost broken, but fortunately I gained a lot.
Zhu Pingan listed, analyzed, and eliminated one by one, and finally sorted out 12 suspects. However, because too much time had passed, many clues and evidence had been destroyed, and based on the existing clues and evidence, it was impossible to continue to eliminate the suspects.