Chapter 87: Autumn decision

After becoming the crown prince, Feng Liao, on the one hand, had to follow the emperor to study government affairs, and on the other hand, remembering that he had to do ten errands for the emperor in exchange for the right to choose his own wife.
At noon one day, Feng Liao frowned when she came back, her face was embarrassed, and there was some disgust and rejection mixed with the embarrassment.
The small Guizi, Xiaolinzi and others who followed him also held thick files.
"What's wrong?" Yong Ruo asked Feng Liao.
What errand did the emperor make you uncomfortable?
Feng Liang frowned and sighed longly: "Father Emperor ordered me to personally decide this year's death row prisoner after the trial this year."
Yong Ruo stayed for a moment: This is the power of life and death!
Because of the words "human life is off the sky", the court's judgment and execution procedures for the death penalty were very cumbersome.
According to the law of the current dynasty: All cases involving human life shall be preliminarily reviewed by Zhixian County, and after the conclusion, they shall be reported to the Prefectural Government for second instance, and then the files shall be submitted to the officials of the Prosecution Division for review. If the officials of the Procuratorate deem that there is no doubt, they will report to the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, Dali Temple, and Ducao respectively for review. After the three parties' review opinions have been gathered, they will be submitted to the palace in different categories, and the emperor will be finally convicted.
This is the basic judgment procedure.
Some special cases can skip some links in the middle. For example, the case for the injustice of the Yong family was directly sent by the emperor to Shuntian House for trial; the other case where Feng Liang went to investigate for himself was the Tribunal Trial.
According to the classification of execution time, the death penalty can be divided into two types: "decision" and "waiting."
"Decision" is the immediate execution of the death penalty, which is generally used on prisoners with serious crimes and bad influence.
"Monitoring" is awaiting acceptance. Prisoners sentenced to death or death in a year will be executed centrally after the fall. This is the so-called "fall judgment".
Before the "autumn verdict", an autumn trial and a court trial will be conducted, that is, the case that has been sentenced to death will be reviewed again.
Autumn trials are held locally. The court trial was conducted in the court hall. In addition to the officials of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, Dali Temple and the Dushan People's Court, there were also emperors, princes and some officials who had nothing to do with the case.
After the court trial, if no one raised any doubt, the emperor executed the prisoner on the spot.
Unless the emperor decides, the death penalty cannot be executed. This is the "power of life and death." This is also an embodiment of the supreme authority of the emperor.
Yong Ruo thinks: The court system is basically a cut scene. Because the trials are all dossiers and no witnesses or witnesses are seen, the symbolic significance of this system is greater than the actual significance.
It is mainly intended to show that the court attached great importance to human life and was very cautious about the death penalty.
In actual operation, since the founding of the DPRK, the actual cases of injustice found in the trial of the DPRK are still zero.
"His Royal Highness doesn't like this errand?" When Xiao Guizi dropped the stack of files, Yong Ruo sent all the eunuchs out and asked them knowingly.
"I don't like it very much." Feng Liao nodded her head, and still frowned. "I thought: as long as I checked with a pen, there would be a head falling to the ground, or someone would be hanged alive. comfortable."
Yong Ruo understands the pressure he feels.
It is indeed a great deal of pressure for a good young man in feudal society who has not yet reached the age of eighteen.
But the prince is already Chu Jun. Sooner or later, this incident will fall on Feng Liang.
Feng Liao only slowly adapted.
After thinking about it, she comforted Feng Liao: "His Highness might not think like this: You are not ending a life, but you are applying for justice, and you are seeking justice for the victims, so that those who succumb to death will not die. "
Feng Liao nodded, and his face was still very heavy: "I understand all you said. But I'm afraid of ... Is there any wrongdoing? If there is any wrongdoing, wouldn't I even become an accomplice in making the wrong? ? "
Yong Ruo was speechless: In this era, this is inevitable!
Her father was wronged in the first place. But with a dozen boards and a stick on it, I could n’t carry it! If you don't want to continue to be tortured endlessly, you can only confess your confession against your will and accept your fate.
In the society where the powers of reconnaissance, public prosecution, and trial were separated in her previous life, wasn't there any grievance?
In an era when the judicial system is dark from the roots and interrogators can legally punish confessions, there will only be more unjust deaths.
"If Ruo, if there is any wrongdoing, I ... what should I do?"
Yong Ruo thought about it and slowly said, "I can only think of one way."
"What way?" Feng Liao looked at her with anticipation.
"When you are reviewing and reviewing the dossier, you should be more careful and patient. Think about whether there are any doubts. If there are doubts, don't check them and send them back for retrial."
Having said that, she couldn't help sighing secretly. Whether a retrial will be sent back will have different results. It depends on the character of the officials and the timing of the case reversal. The results are unpredictable.
As for the methods for improving the system, it is not something that Prince Feng Feng can promote.
If he has a chance after he ascended the throne, let's talk!
"That's right!" Feng Liao thought for a moment, finally sighed, and raised his spirit. "If you don't want to be an accomplice, you can only spend more energy and study these files."
He shook his head, thinking: If this still leads to unjust prison, I can only punish those corrupt officials.
He went to the book case and began to look at the files that Xiao Guizi had brought in.
These files were specially copied by people from the Criminal Department. The purpose was to know more about the case before the trial, to think about the details, and to think about all the key points.
"Let me watch it with you!" Yong Ruo said with interest.
She has never been exposed to various cases and crimes since she came across, and now feels itchy.
Feng Liao said a little disapprovingly, "What's so nice about these files? It's boring and boring. It's full of crimes in the criminal department. It doesn't stain your eyes and makes you angry."
Yong Ruo smiled and said, "The emperor and his Royal Highness are not afraid of being stained. What am I afraid of? I just look at the lively and long-term knowledge. If I do n’t look at it, I will leave it.
Feng Liao no longer said anything, so Yong Ruo read the files with him.
The files are not all about the court trial, and the file of the Yuan Cheng conspiracy case is on top.
Yuan Cheng and others conspired to assassinate the king of the county, and also gathered gangsters to plot rebellion. The main crime of such a "ten evil" was to be sentenced to "Ling Chi".
But over the years, the emperor has become older, and because of the problems of his son, his heart is getting softer and softer, and the methods of governing affairs are becoming more and more kind. Yuan Cheng and others were only sentenced to a decisive decision.
Yong Ruo thought to himself: Did the emperor hand over Feng Liang to the verdict, did he mean to make Feng Liang "revenge"?
Yongruo was very satisfied that the emperor only allowed Feng Liao to "determinate" and not let him "sentence." Feng Liang was just named Prince, and his position was a bit subtle. It was not easy for him to judge him, and his psychological pressure was even greater.
One of the things that made Yong Ruo even more interesting was that the case file of the court review also included the case in which the Yong family had been wronged.
Those in Wei Yaozu's family who had been betrayed and beheaded must be executed this fall.
She couldn't help thinking: What a wonderful fate in this world!
At that time, the Wei family bullied others and framed Yong Yong. Now, he is accompanied by Feng Liao to read the dossier, waiting for Feng Liao to decide the scum of the Wei family to do evil and do bad things. This is really a good reincarnation!
She accompanied Feng Liao to watch the dossier and saw late at night.
A widow's case of poisoning her mother-in-law and her only son caught Yongruo's attention.
The widow's widow's family name is Zhang, her husband died early, and she lived with her eight-year-old son and widow's mother-in-law for decades.
According to the case file: This widow is dissatisfied with her mother-in-law who is too picky and treats herself for many years. On the eighth birthday of her son, she poisoned the meat bun and wanted to kill her mother-in-law.
I did n’t know that her mother-in-law loved her grandson, and gave half of the buns to her grandson, and the grandchildren were poisoned together.
The crime of widow Zhang was justified by Ling Chi.
However, because the emperor acted kindly, when the case file was reported, she was only sentenced to a death sentence and was scheduled to be executed this fall.
Yong Ruo read all the files of this case three times and thought about it for a while, then said to Feng Liao: "This case is a bit suspicious!"
Upon hearing doubts, Feng Liao's attention was immediately drawn from the file in her hand and focused on her: "Where is the doubt?" He had already seen the file of this case and found no problems!
He stared at Yong Ruo with a very bright eyes, and strongly hoped that she would really find an injustice, so that this court trial of which she participated was of some use.
"First, if this widow Zhang really wanted to poison her mother-in-law, when would it be bad to poison her, but on her son's birthday? Does she want her son to never have a birthday again?"
"This ..." Feng Liao groaned and patted his thigh. "Yeah! If his birthday is the day of grandmother's death, how will this Zhang family son celebrate his birthday?"
Yong Ruo shook his head and said to Feng Liao, "You don't agree with me. Come ... find a way to refute me."
Feng Liao laughed. He understands: If this is to deduce the case with him, so that he will not be dumbed up when he is in court.
"Still killing people?" He simulated as many different thoughts as possible, and antagonized Yong Ruo.
"If you kill people on the spur of the moment, naturally you won't pick a day. But poisoning in a bun, this is murder, it must be well planned, why not pick a day?"
Feng Liang thought for a while and said, "Maybe Zhang Widow didn't think of this?"
Yong Ruo shook his head: "A man's family can't think of this. But the woman's family is very careful. What she wants to say all day is nothing short of parents, food and clothing, and the joy of marrying and living is extremely relish. It must be a mother You won't think of it. "
"It's better to start on my son's birthday?" As soon as the words were finished, Feng Liang himself thought that the reason he was looking for was ridiculous. "Forget it, you didn't say it. What about the second reason?"
According to the dossier: Zhang's housework, such as cooking and washing dishes, was done by Zhang widow alone. When is it difficult for Widow Zhang to start?
Yong Ruo pointedly pointed at the testimony: "Second, the person who likes to eat meat buns is the widow of Zhang, not her mother-in-law.
"砒` cream has no taste. If it is really widow Zhang poisoning, she can use it in any diet, why should she put it in the meat buns that her son likes to eat? Is she afraid that her son will not eat 砒 `cream? Obviously unreasonable. "
Feng Liang thought for a while and said, "Perhaps, Widow Zhang didn't know that 砒` cream had no taste. She was afraid of being eaten by her mother-in-law, so she would put it in the heavier bun stuffing? "
Yong Ruo shook his head again: "If you are just afraid of heavy taste, isn't it better to use it in soup medicine? Look here ..."
She pointed to one of the statements and said, "At the time of the incident, her mother-in-law had relapsed and was taking soup medicine. Putting the cream in the soup medicine, what smell can't be covered?"
Feng Liang was speechless.
Yong Ruo also said a third reason: "Although widow Zhang's mother-in-law picks children, not only her daughter-in-law, but also herself. But everyone says that she treats her grandchildren very well. In this case, I am afraid to treat myself It ’s not reasonable to eat the remaining buns for grandsons. "
"why?"
Yong Ruo laughed: "The mother-in-law who picks herself up and treats her grandchildren well will not eat the remaining buns to the grandson, but will only give the buns to the grandson. If the grandson finishes eating, leave it alone, Pick it up again. "
Feng Liang imagined that kind of person, that kind of family situation, could not help but nodded again and again: "It makes sense. But how did you know this?"
Yong Ruo remembered the past in Mopan Hutong. The superb mother-in-law, Mrs. Jin, who is the "clothing clothes" next door to her house, is such a person!
"Remember those 'folk misery' I told you about this Lantern Festival?"
Feng Liao nodded: "Remember."
"I've seen with my own eyes that the best digger for 'Cleaning Clothes' picked up her half grandson and dropped it on the ground ..."