Tang Dynasty Prison Administration

035: The Strange Case of Youzhou

Not long after.

As several soldiers opened the coffin lid, Su Wen decisively jumped down into the pit to check.

Su Wen had been calculating in his mind before opening the coffin. Under normal circumstances, the body would start to decompose in about three months, and after about six months, it would basically be just skin and bones. At this point, it would be very difficult to tell whether someone had cut open the abdomen for practice.

Fortunately, this is Youzhou City in Youzhou, where winter comes after October every year and it doesn't start to get warmer until March or April of the following year.

The cold winter is like freezing, which significantly slows down the decomposition of corpses. As a result, of the four corpses that were opened, only one decomposed faster because the coffin had a hole that allowed bacteria to enter. The others were almost just dehydrated and became mummies.

Su Wen hurriedly called several soldiers to remove the clothes from the three still intact mummies. As the clothes were removed, a very obvious wound was clearly visible on the abdomen and chest of each of the mummies. One of the wounds was very large, more than a finger wide, but the second was much smaller, and the third was even smaller.

Su Wen carefully examined the wounds, which indicated that this person was clearly practicing. To practice on the third body, he would need to open it up at least a dozen or twenty times.

In other words, more than a dozen of these fallen soldiers had been dug up, but Su Wen couldn't have dug them all up.

Su Wen touched the wound with his hand. There were obvious needle and thread marks on the wound, indicating that the murderer had specially stitched it up after cutting it open, fearing that the internal organs would spill out all over the ground.

At this moment, Su Wen also focused his attention on the coffin. The material and style of these coffins were very familiar to him.

Almost instantly, Su Wen knew.

Su Wen looked at Xue Song and said, "I guessed right, these soldiers were the murderer's experimental subjects, used for practice—disemboweling and precisely harvesting organs!"

Xue Song asked, "Who is the murderer?"

Looking at the corpses, Su Wen slowly said, "We know who used them for practice, but we have no evidence, only speculation. We still need to find evidence!"

Xue Song asked, "How do we find evidence?"

Su Wen pondered for a moment and said, "The simplest and most direct evidence is to see who handled these bodies before they were buried, and whether they were handled by the same person!"

Xue Song responded, "Okay, I'll check the autopsy records when we get back!"

Su Wen walked over to Xue Song and said, "This man might not confess so easily, but I suspect that if we arrest him, he will definitely confess, and he might even confess like He Yan!"

Upon hearing this, Xue Song understood.

"So what do we do?"

Su Wen frowned, pondered for a moment, and then slowly said, "Let's make an example of them, like striking a chord to scare the tiger. We're not just going to arrest them, we're going to do it openly and make a big show of it. Once we catch them, we'll drag them straight to the execution ground and torture them!"

Xue Song hesitated for a moment: "But how can we dare to impose punishment directly without the approval of the Dali Temple? This is overstepping our bounds, a serious crime!"

Su Wen patted Xue Song on the shoulder and said, "The key isn't the torture, but the grand show. I want to force the real mastermind to show up and make a move!"

"Only by taking action can we find new clues!"

After watching the soldiers dress the soldiers and close the coffin lid, Su Wen slowly said, "One chess piece isn't important, but if another one is lost, he'll lose the game. After all, he'll know we're still investigating, and if we don't act, we'll lose even more pieces, maybe even himself!"

Xue Song replied, "Understood!"

"Also, he might not confess so easily. Although I haven't had formal training in criminal interrogation, I've picked up a few tricks up my sleeve over time!"

After saying that, Su Wen already had a way to interrogate the prisoner in his mind. As the saying goes: punishment is inferior to winning hearts and minds!

......

Back in Youzhou City, when Xue Song found the autopsy record from that time, Su Wen knew from the words that the person was none other than Wei Nanzi, the coroner, without even seeing the name!

Su Wen looked at Xue Song and said, "Let's go, let's catch him!"

Xue Song responded and then selected a group of more than a dozen men to go and capture Wei Nanzi.

Halfway there, they happened to run into Li Xingguo, who was on his way back to Youzhou City. Xue Song bowed to Li Xingguo and said, "General!"

Su Wen asked, "General, has Wei Nanzi made any moves?"

Li Xingguo said, "Wei Nanzi seems normal; he just went to Ningxiang Temple outside Ningshui County!"

Su Wen frowned: "Ningxiang Temple?"

Li Xingguo asked, "Chief Commander, Military Advisor Xue, what brings you here?"

"The Chief Director said to arrest Wei Nanzi!"

Li Xingguo said, "He's at home!"

Su Wen responded, and the group headed straight for Wei Nanzi's house. Upon arrival, none of them dismounted. A soldier in armor came to the door, pounded on it, and shouted, "Open the door!"

On the way here, because they were all armored and cavalry, they attracted a lot of onlookers and made quite a commotion.

The banging on the door elicited a shout from inside: "Coming!"

As the door slowly opened, Wei Nanzi was taken aback upon seeing the group of cavalrymen before him. A flicker of fear and panic flashed in his eyes, but he quickly looked at the crowd and spotted Su Wen in the throng. He hurriedly bowed and said, "Chief Su, what brings you here?"

Su Wen scrutinized Wei Nanzi carefully, then shouted loudly, "Bold Wei Nanzi! Last December, I ordered you to go to Youzhou City to be in charge of autopsies. You were the last person to come into contact with the corpses. As a result, the heavy rains a few days ago washed out some of the buried corpses. The second autopsy revealed that all the corpses had been stabbed and their abdomens cut open. Today, I'm arresting you and bringing you back to Youzhou Prefecture for interrogation!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Nanzi's face relaxed, and Su Wen immediately noticed this expression. Clearly, Wei Nanzi breathed a sigh of relief.

The Tang Dynasty did not have a crime of insulting corpses. At most, even if he confessed, he would be punished with caning or imprisonment.

Clearly, Wei Nanzi believed that Su Wen did not connect this case with the case of the Twelve Zodiac Formation in Youzhou!

As two soldiers shackled Wei Nanzi and led him outside, Su Wen suddenly reached out and said, "Go inside, search!"

Xue Song was also startled by Su Wen's sudden action. He had no idea what Su Wen was going to do. Su Wen then said, "Take all the letters, drawings, blueprints, and all the knives from his house back to Youzhou Prefecture!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Nanzi's expression changed drastically, though only briefly, but Su Wen still noticed the change.

At that moment, Su Wen understood that there must be some important clues and things hidden in his home.

After a considerable amount of time, once everyone had returned to Youzhou, Su Wen took them directly to Luxian County. However, he did not rush to interrogate them. Instead, he looked at Xue Song and Magistrate Cui and said, "No interrogation. Tonight, order everyone in the entire Luxian County government office not to go home. Light all the lanterns in Luxian County and pretend it's a night interrogation."

He then looked at Xue Song and said, "Tomorrow morning, mobilize the troops of Youzhou to begin patrolling the streets, and order a state of martial law to be imposed on all four counties of Youzhou!"