The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 10: The Imperial prison with a nonchalant Lower Six rank Prefect

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty. 《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 10: The Imperial prison with a nonchalant Lower Six rank Prefect

　　The East Depot has also encountered many fires since its inception. This time the fire was not as exaggerated as Lao Wang described it, but only affected the parts in the west, where it did not spread and was soon extinguished. The cause is said to be that people were burning things nearby, flints drifting to this point, ignited by the wood, if it changed the conditions of rain and rain a few days ago, it would not burn.

　　When Tang Fan inquired about it, the place where it burned down was really a cell used by the Eastern Depot to house the prisoners, which was also the place where Zheng Cheng's body was housed, and the fire killed two prisoners and turned Zheng Cheng's body into ashes.

　　The matter has come to this point, more speculation will not be able to help, he thinks that the conceited person had started the fire precisely this idea, Tang Fan sighed darkly, thought of going around and around, did not expect to finally return to the original point, that maiden A-Lin, this time Tang Fan afraid that cannot escape this fate.

　　He is interested in this case, wants to find out the truth, not to make a splash, or to confront Pan Bin, but only to comfort the deceased in the Ninth Spring[1], so that the innocent can escape from blame, cold window hard study, not for the sake of one day to protect the people's lives, now that the dynasty is corrupt, many people would rather focus on ascending to the above, rather than do something practical for the people, as Pan Bin so bad or not bad, the wise philosophy to protect their own officials are more numerous. [1] Nine Spring is the Realm of the Dead or Hell

　　But the way things are put out there, there's always someone else who's going to do it, and since someone else doesn't want to do it, that Tang Fan doesn't mind taking over.

　　The fact that he was able to give Pan Bin an idea to bring all the Eastern Depot and Jinyiwei into the water fully shows that Tang Fan's tactics are not uncomplicated, but the gentleman's outside is round and inside is round, but he only wants to use all his ingenuity on the right thing.

　　It's just that he didn't expect that things would go so hard, and what was originally an uncomplicated case, one after another, would encounter obstacles, and now even the bodies are gone, directly cutting off all the way back.

　　Now, Tang Pan knows why his teacher Qiu Jun, who was a great scholar many years before Pan Bin, and he is now a great Confucian scholar, but so far he is only the Imperial College teacher.

　　The world is such that those who choose to do what is good and are stubborn like teachers and refuse to compromise are doomed to be unused.

　　And is he, himself, going to follow the old path of the teacher?

　　Tang Fan shook his head, his calm and meticulous personality allowing him to quickly pull his emotions away from the loss of the Marquis of Wu’an Mansion case, pulling out the lowest one in that stack of files and flipping it open.

　　The Marquis of Wu’an case, Tang Fan has an easy job, it is not a clerical job in the Hanlin Academy, where he had to sort out the paperwork and pass the time.

　　Although the office of the Prefecture officer is small, it is the one who is in charge of the adjudication of cases and the prosecution of jails in Shuntian Prefecture, and his responsibility must not be overlooked.

　　The first time Tang Fan saw it, he was very slow to see it, and he thought about it carefully, and sometimes he wrote down notes next to it, and occasionally he got up again to look through the old documents, and then he went back to work after he had used the meal that the officers had sent over at noon.

　　The sun had begun to slant westward, and Tang Fan finally felt a bit sour in his eyes.

　　He lifted his head, glanced at the sky outside, then looked at the finished dossier on the other side of the table, satisfied that he had done quite a bit for the day, and stood up to stretch himself and pack his things for home.

　　Tang Fan came to Shuntian Prefecture for more than six months, and normally, if there are no accidents, this is going to be his day job.　

　　When work is done, it's a good time to have a bowl of wonton with scallions or a bowl of noodles with meat.

　　Just thinking about the owner of the soup noodle wonton stall in the north of the city, Master Tang felt hungry.

　　However, before he could put the idea into practice, a Jinyiwei came in from outside.

　　"Brother Xue?" Tang Fan was amazed to see the man here.

　　This person was none other than Xue Ling who was following Sui Zhou around.

　　Xue Ling arched his hand: "Master Tang, General Sui Zongqi has ordered me to come ask your Excellency to come over."

　　Tang Fan: "I wonder what happened to General Sui Zongqi."

　　This man with an elite face gave a rare smile: "Good thing."

　　Since the other party said so, Tang Fan agreed, he gathered his things, and went out the door with Xue Ling.

　　"Brother Xue, if your master is in no hurry, why don't you join me for a bowl of wontons first, I'm afraid I'll be too weak in the legs and shaky in the teeth to speak when I go to your master with such a hunger. The wontons at that wonton stall in the north of the city are stuffed with the day's fresh pork and wrapped with chopped shiitake mushrooms and small onions, the skin is so thin that you can vaguely see the filling as soon as it's cooked, the taste is so tender and smooth that one can taste it and feel like they were not born in the capital in vain!"

　　After all that talk, he was more hungry himself.

　　'Xue Ling' he laughed as he found this Master Tang to be really interesting.

　　Because of the special function of the Jinyiwei, ordinary officials see them, mostly the scatter in fear with scruples and start to think of defenses, either shy face to curry favor, Tang Fan is the exception, the man keeps on joking with them, then when the need arise he gets seriousness with them, neither too much awkward wanting to please, nor turn to aversion when he sees one.

　　As soon as he was persuaded by his three-inch tongue, Xue Ling even felt a glutton in his stomach.

　　"Since that's the case, then I'll have to take advantage of Master Tang this time."

　　Tang Fan said happily, "Walk, walk, I'm so hungry that my chest is against my back!"

　　The two ran to that stall and ate painfully, Xue Ling found that Tang Fan did not lie to him, this stall was simple, but there were many customers, and the taste was also excellent, he had never tasted it before in the north of the city, and he had come and gone before.

　　Xue Ling knew the taste by the pith, and asked for another bowl of meat and bone soup noodles, he was a martial artist and had to eat twice as much food as Tang Fan.

　　After the meal, Tang Fan paid the money, and then the two of them went to the Northern Administrative Court Division, their stomachs filled their, and their bodies have strength and spirit.

　　In the evening, most of the pedestrians were in a hurry to go back to the family reunion and eat the rice cooked by their grandmothers. Although there were various government offices stationed in the inner city, and there was no shortage of noblemen's residences, there were also ordinary people living in the city, some of whom had come to settle down with the Emperor when he moved to the capital city back then. Over the years, after the emperor Chengzu has died like a lamp, and the people have lived through generations. However, the Imperial capital has become more and more prosperous, and it is far from Nanjing and has become a veritable capital.

　　

　　However, sometimes this law doesn't work so well, not far away, there was a person who hurriedly hurried with his head down, and didn't look carefully at Tang Fan and Xue Ling's outfits, and came face to face with Tang Fan.

　　Tang Fan turned his head to look back, but he could only see the back of the man hurrying away, quickly drowning in the crowd.

　　"What's wrong?" Next to Xue Ling, he saw him stopping and raised his voice to inquire.

　　"Nothing, walk away."

　　The Jinyiwei was divided into the Southern and the Northern Administrative Court Divisions, and there were also the Experience Division and the Fourteen Schools, of which to the Southern and the Northern Administrative Court Division was the core of the Jinyiwei. The Southern Administrative Court Department was in charge of the internal workings, the Northern Administrative Court Department was to deal with the external workings, and the Northern Administrative Court Division was divided into five centers, each with its own department.

　　The head of the guards was called the Commander Qianhu, and there were also deputy Qianhu, Baihu, and the Deputy Baihu, before it was the turn of the General Zongqi, which in general was not a high official position, but only the did practical work, such as the case of the Marquis of Wu’an Mansion murder, in which the emperor ordered the Jinyiwei to intervene in the investigation because of the special status of the deceased, and the case fell to the Sui Zhou, who was in charge and a General Sui Zongqi.

　　Tang Fan followed Xue Ling and entered the Jinyiwei Institute, all the way to the Northern Administrative Court. The ordinary plaque of the official script was hung on the pillar on the right side of the gate. There was an intimidating force in the air. There were two guards standing at the door. The two guards stood at the door, expressionless and cross-eyed, and if one was someone who was a bit timid had already begun to turn his legs.

　　The name of the Jinyiwei is mostly on the head of the Northern Administrative Court Division, and the name of the Northern Administrative Court Division is mostly on the head of the Imperial prison. This was founded by the Taizu Emperor, the emperor wanted to develop and grow the secret service institutions, especially the "Fire and water, torture all over the ground, come walking, and leave in a stretcher.” Of the imperial prison, it is s really daunting, I think of it get a cold shivers, in the Great Ming Dynasty as an official, one fear Eastern Depot, two fear of the imperial prison.

　　So as long as it is a normal human being, especially an official, regardless of the size of the official position, whether or not they come here voluntarily, as soon as they arrive at the Northern Administrative Court Division, the smile immediately disappears, the face immediately tense, as if someone owes him several hundred taels of money not paid.

　　Only Tang Fan alone walked in and his face was as usual, as if he had no time to observe and measure, and his attitude fell into Xue Ling's eyes and the man was secretly surprised.

　　"Brother Runqing seems to be quite interested in the Northern Administration Court Division, how about I take you for a spin in the Imperial Prison after you have seen the General Sui Zongqi?" Xue Ling was intent on scaring him.

　　After a bowl of wontons, the two had mingled and the calling had naturally changed from formal to informal.

　　Some people are born with an affinity to make a good impression and make good friends with others, just as some people are born with a leadership style and fit to be a leader, these are abilities that cannot be replicated or emulated.

　　People with this ability, first of all, they are not too ugly to look at, secondly, they have an ethereal and indispensable temperament which is also very important, some people even if they do not speak, can also make others feel calm like a spring breeze, some people do not speak, but only make people feel that he is lonely and aloof, this is the difference in temperament.

　　Finally, the ability to communicate and the ability to speak is also important, throughout the ages, being able to dance in the officialdom, and eventually rise to the peak of power, there is no one who is not good at reading people's hearts and minds and be able to ascend, such as the current cabinet's Prime Minister Wan An, although everyone in private shouted him "Long live the cabinet", they ridiculed him but the in turn, kowtow to shout long live, since they cannot deny that he is good at being a person who is needed.

　　Even Xue Ling, who had never thought much of those civil officials, felt that Tang Runqing was indeed a person to make friends with after only a few short acquaintances.

　　Tang Fan listened to his words and he said, "I've never been to an Imperial prison before, so I'd like to ask Lao Xue to show me the way. In case any crimes committed later leads to me being thrown in, don’t make your eyes too unfamiliar with me!"

　　Xue Ling jerked a smile the corners of his mouth, because the others' faces changed greatly when they heard the word "Imperial prison", Tang Fan was different.

　　As a member of the staff of the Imperial prison, Xue Ling gave conscientious advice: "It's easy to get in and hard to get out, don't look things from outside a cell outside and blow the ceiling, in fact the Imperial prison is several times more terrible than you think, and when you really see it, you'll never want to go in again in your life."

　　The two men walked into a room while talking.

　　Only to see Xue Ling stammer as he stepped into the house, his feet raw and stammering, "Big, big brother!"

　　In the main room, General Sui Zongqi was sitting on a chair, and he watched as the two men walked in, laughing, with no expression on their faces, and said, "It looks like you two are very close."

　　Xue Ling: "......."

　　Tang Fan: "......."

　

   

   

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