Tang Dynasty Prison Administration

063: The Lianhua Case in Qingzhou

Su Wen sighed and said, "Incompetent generals lead to the exhaustion of the entire army!"

It should be noted that almost all of these soldiers were locals from Qingzhou or nearby areas. They knew all too well what it meant to be armored and armed in the city.

Su Wen's head was spinning just thinking about it!

However, Xu Ge, who was standing to the side, asked, "Master, why are the names you give getting longer and longer?"

Su Wen glanced at Xu Ge and said, "Your master was born a commoner, with no backing or background. If I just give my name, no one will pay any attention to me. So I have to give my official title, the longer the better, so that people will know that I got here through my own abilities, and therefore they won't look down on me!"

Hearing Su Wen say this, Xu Ge shook his head, indicating that he didn't understand. Su Wen didn't explain further, but simply patted Xu Ge on the shoulder and said, "Let's go, let's go to the governor's mansion first!"

After the death of the former governor of Qingzhou, no governor has been appointed in recent years, and the position has remained vacant.

Su Wen never imagined that he would one day become the acting governor of Qingzhou. You have to know how much power the governor of Qingzhou wields.

All judicial and administrative power in Qingzhou rests in the hands of the Governor of Qingzhou—he's the undisputed number one!

Before long, the two arrived at the governor's mansion. Su Wen had originally planned to make some arrangements with the people first, but he found that Qingzhou did not have a governor; the governor was the highest official position. In fact, Qingzhou was not a particularly important place. It belonged to Henan Circuit and was an inner prefecture. It was next to Hebei Circuit and very close to Qizhou and Mizhou in Henan Circuit.

Therefore, no governor's office has been established in Qingzhou yet. After the death of the original governor of Qingzhou, the position was vacant, and there was no acting governor. Su Wen is currently the acting governor, which is already the highest official position he can hold!

Su Wen called out to Xu Ge, and the two went directly to the inner hall to look at the case files.

The case should have been investigated by the local county government, which was responsible for the murder in that county. If the county government could not solve the case, it would request an investigation from the next higher level, namely the judicial officer. If the judicial officer could not solve the case, it would request an investigation from the prefectural government, namely the governor's office, to transfer personnel from the Court of Judicial Review to investigate.

The case in Qingzhou has been investigated by the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, appointed by the imperial court. Therefore, the case files are no longer under the jurisdiction of the county government!

Su Wen first flipped through the autopsy report, which was just a normal record and investigation, nothing special or remarkable. This was normal, because in ancient times, encountering a skilled coroner was already considered very lucky.

Su Wen began to look through the case files.

The first case occurred on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. The deceased went to participate in the Buddha Bathing Festival held at the local temple. At night, he was found dead by a stream at the foot of the mountain. His eyes had been gouged out and a lotus flower had been drawn on his forehead.

After that, the case would uncover a new victim almost every three, five, or seven days. The victims' eyes had been gouged out and a lotus flower had been drawn on their foreheads.

Furthermore, all the victims had one thing in common: their clothes were kept very neat, the crime scene was cleaned up very thoroughly, and all the victims had their throats slit with a single cut, with the bloodstains from the wounds washed away!

Therefore, all the dead were found by the stream, the well, the water tank, and the river.

After reviewing the case files, Su Wen turned to Xu Ge and said, "Xu Ge, let's go to the morgue and examine the body first!"

Xu Ge responded.

The two arrived at the morgue, where they saw more than a dozen corpses, a truly horrifying sight.

The fact that the killer murdered more than a dozen people in just over a month demonstrates the extent of his ruthlessness.

Su Wen, wearing gloves, glanced at Xu Ge. Xu Ge took out paper and pen, and Su Wen began to carefully examine the body.

The previous bodies were all found using the same method, and all the victims were women, with not a single man among them. Clearly, the murderer had a specific purpose!

When examining the seventh corpse, Su Wen noticed something unusual. First, the wounds were completely different from the other corpses. The other corpses were killed by the murderer facing the victim head-on and attacking suddenly, killing them with a single blow. But this corpse was killed by a single blow while the victim was in a state of panic!

Upon seeing this, Su Wen hurriedly looked at the eyes and the space between the eyebrows. Although the wounds had been cleaned, the cleaning was completely different. The previous corpses had been cleaned very carefully, as if the murderer enjoyed the process and showed great respect for the dead. Therefore, the lotus flower between the eyebrows was drawn particularly carefully and meticulously, as if the murderer would not accept it if it was even slightly careless.

However, the area between the eyebrows of this deceased person was completely different. It was not only hastily drawn, but also not carefully drawn, and not as exquisite as the previous ones. Although both were lotus flowers, the difference in the painting skills was huge.

More importantly, Su Wen discovered that the genitals of these deceased individuals showed signs of rape, with fine skin flakes, dirt, or bloodstains found under their fingernails!

Su Wen seemed to be deep in thought. After thinking for a while, he continued to examine the corpses and eventually discovered that four of the corpses were completely different from the others!

Su Wen looked at Xu Ge and said, "Summon the Commander-in-Chief of the Qingzhou Prefecture's military forces!"

Xu Ge responded and then turned and left.

Su Wenze was alone in the morgue, separating the four corpses from the others.

Su Wen then carefully examined the other corpses besides the four mentioned. Judging from the wounds, these corpses seemed to know the murderer, or rather, they were all unprepared for the murderer, which allowed the murderer to launch a sudden attack and kill them with a single stab to the throat. As a result, the victims' bodies did not react in time before they died, and almost all of these victims died at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM).

Because, before a person dies, their hands and feet are the most restless, especially if they are killed by having their throat slit. If they are afraid, they will instinctively run or resist. As long as they run or resist, they will inevitably suffer injuries to other parts of their body.

However, none of these bodies exhibited this phenomenon, indicating that the deceased had no suspicion of the murderer!

A moment later, Xu Ge and a man dressed in brocade robes entered the mortuary.

The man bowed to Su Wen and said, "This humble general is Wang Ting, the military commander of Qingzhou Prefecture. May I ask what business it is of summoning me here, Young Master Su?"

Su Wen looked at Wang Ting and said, "Although I am the acting governor of Qingzhou and can command the Qingzhou garrison, I still cannot overstep my authority. You are the commander-in-chief of the garrison. Qingzhou does not have a governor, so you have the authority to manage the army. Although you cannot mobilize the army, you can manage its daily operations!"

Wang Ting replied, "Yes, but I wonder what exactly Su Shaoqing is referring to?"

Su Wen walked to a table with tools on it and handed the case file to Wang Ting, saying, "I've read the records. These four bodies were first discovered by soldiers from Qingzhou Prefecture. I now order you to arrest these five people and detain them separately!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Ting was taken aback and wanted to ask, but Su Wen showed no intention of continuing to speak, and he dared not ask. After all, Su Wen was the actual acting governor of Qingzhou, and also held the official positions of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice and Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. He had come here to investigate the case on the orders of the Emperor, and he had no right to question his superiors!

Wang Ting responded, "Yes, Your Excellency will immediately arrest the four and bring them to justice!"

Su Wen then looked at Xu Ge and said, "After you bring them back, separate the four of them and detain them separately. Don't let them communicate with each other, understand?"

Xu Ge responded, "Yes!"