Gu Zhengchen took out his handkerchief, bent down to hold the blade, carefully sheathed it, and then handed it to Zhang Pei: "You take this knife and don't allow anything to touch the handle, including your clothes and hands."
Although Zhang Pei was a little confused, he still did as he was told.
There are many servants in the Guo Liu family, twenty-seven of them. After asking one by one, no one was missed. They are all here.
Gu Zhengchen ordered people to search and walked around Guo Liu's house, but no usable evidence was found. Guo Ning, Wang's Pharmacy, Guo Liang and other people who intervened in the case and their families have also been arrested.
Guo Liu died, Guo Liang, Guo Jie and others were arrested, and even their family members were taken to the county government. After the people of Hezhuang heard about it, they came out one after another, beating gongs and drums to celebrate, and even heard the sound of firecrackers.
When people within a ten-mile radius heard the news, they ran to Jurong County one after another. After catching up with Gu Zhengchen's team, they even cheered and spread the news to the villages along the way.
The Guo family is a wealthy family in Jurong, but the county magistrate was not afraid of the wealthy family and used strong methods to arrest Guo Liang, Guo Ning, Guo Jie and their family members. I heard that Guo Liu was actually forced to commit suicide out of fear of crime!
Gu Zhixian's actions to eliminate the harm in Jurong and uphold justice made the people happy.
Gu Zhengchen looked at the people along the way and looked back at the people following the team, feeling a little hot in his heart.
The people actually don’t ask for much, they just want two words:
fair.
There is no absolute fairness in this world, but there is relative fairness.
Give rules, give rules, give laws and regulations, and trap everyone at once and restrain everyone. This is relative fairness.
But in this world, too many people don’t want to have their necks tied.
Officials use the power in their hands to loosen the rope around their necks and want to live a life that is superior to everyone else.
The wealthy gentry use their money to loosen the rope around their necks and want to live a life of superiority to the common people.
Where are the people?
They were people who bowed their heads and bent over, people who hoeed and cultivated the fields, and did not have the strength to loosen the rope. They abided by the law with simplicity and simplicity.
But in the end, it was this seemingly relatively fair legal rope that bullied them and hung them.
And it is people who pull the rope and hook the people's necks.
People have an unfair heart.
The people are eager to see that this rope is not always hanging on the people, making people unable to breathe. They are eager to see this rope of law hanging on the big families who bully others.
They saw it.
At this moment, they believe Jurong has achieved justice.
In the feudal dynasty, whether it was fair or not, in many cases it was not the laws that had the final say, but the people who held them.
Gu Zhengchen does not expect any real fairness and justice. Not to mention unrealistic, even the price is not something he can bear. All he can do is to achieve relative fairness in Jurong and win the hearts and minds of the people.
Without the support of the people, it is impossible to build a big industry.
Without the support of the people, Jurong cannot play a game of chess.
Without the support of the people, it is absolutely impossible for Jurong to change within three years.
Gu Zhengchen knew that he was far away from the court now, but if he wanted to win the political capital to get to the court, he must show his ability, wisdom and means!
Every case and every administration in Jurong is related to the future, and to Lao Zhu and Zhu Dalang's understanding and positioning of themselves.
There is no room for carelessness or laxity.
When we returned to the county government office, the sun was already heading west.
Gu Zhengchen wanted to hold the sun down to prevent it from going so fast.
There are only two nights and one day left for yourself.
The day after tomorrow, Zhao Hailou, Wang Liang and others will return to Jinling, and the documents will also be brought back by them.
In such a short period of time, if he cannot solve the entire case, he will have no choice but to stop at Guo Liu.
But Guo Liu, a dead man who was killed, could never be the mastermind behind the scenes.
Gu Zhengchen was unwilling to assign the case to a dead person, and then sent Lao Zhu an incomplete and questionable document. This was neither responsible nor guilty.
What's more important is that Lao Zhu's temper is uncontrollable and his actions are unpredictable. Once his actions are too big and destroy all the people connected with the clues, it will be difficult for subsequent investigations to yield results, and the entire case will become unsolved.
Only eighteen hours!
Gu Zhengchen took a deep breath and must find all the answers within eighteen hours!
"Take the people from Guo Liu's family."
Gu Zhengchen ascended to the throne.
Outside the gate, people crowded.
The people from Guo Liu's family, including the servants, were all brought there. The lobby seemed a little insufficient, so the government officials stepped back to make room for them.
Gu Zhengchen asked sternly: "Why did the fire break out in Guo Liu's house? Why didn't you put out the fire at the beginning?"
Guo Fu, the housekeeper, said, "Back to the county master, there are rules at home. No one is allowed to move around during nap time, and no one is allowed to enter the backyard without being summoned. When we found the water, we hurriedly fetched water, but the fire had already started, and it was already too late."
Gu Zhengchen looked at Guo Fu coldly: "So, no one has seen Guo Liu kill someone?"
"That's not true."
Guo Fu looked at the others, shook his head and replied.
When Zhang Pei saw Gu Zhengchen looking over, he took out the bloody knife and put it on the knife rest in the hall. Gu Zhengchen said solemnly: "When I was at Guo Liu's house, I asked you, Everyone said they had never touched or used this knife. Guo Fu, you also said that this knife was Guo Liu’s favorite thing and would never be used by others. Is that true? "
Guo Fu nodded: "I have served Mr. Guo Liu for eight years, and I have never seen Mr. Liu lend this knife to anyone else. The servants also know the rules of the family and dare not touch the master's belongings without permission."
Gu Zhengchen nodded and looked at everyone in the Guo family: "I want to ask you one last time. This bloody knife fell beside the well. Has anyone touched it?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Gu Zhengchen looked at the scribe Lin Shan: "Let them mark it to prove that no one has ever touched this knife."
Lin Shan was a little confused. After asking a few words, he signed off. Isn't this too casual?
Reluctantly, I took the recruitment form and had my fingerprints pressed one by one.
Gu Zhengchen's face darkened: "Guo Liu's family was almost wiped out. People say that Guo Liu committed suicide out of fear of crime. How could a man who committed suicide out of fear of crime kill his wife and children? Besides, how could Guo Liu kill Liu Guo so easily at his age? Human? Also, if Guo Liu wanted to commit suicide out of fear of crime and also set fire to the house, why didn't he just stay in the house and burn himself to death, instead of falling into a deep well and dying? "
"Many doubts prove that Guo Liu was killed by others, and Guo Liu's wives, concubines, and sons were also killed by others! The reason why Guo Liu fell into the well was because the murderer needed me to identify Guo Liu's body, so the investigation was stopped. .This murderer is one of you!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone was in an uproar.
All the servants looked to the left and right, vigilant and fearful.
Snapped!
Gu Zhengchen was shocked and said coldly: "If you dare to kill someone, you don't dare to stand up and admit it, right? Don't worry, I have a way to make you show up. This knife is a murder weapon. After killing someone, you should You never thought of wiping off your handwriting and fingerprints, right?"
Zhang Pei, Yao Zhen and others stared at the servants. After Gu Zhengchen finished speaking, the butler Guo Fu's hand moved slightly, but there was nothing strange about the others.
Gu Zhengchen also saw this scene and looked at Guo Fu coldly: "It seems that I can only extract the fingerprints on the murder weapon and compare them with the fingerprints of the murderer. If the fingerprints are consistent, it means he is the murderer! Who is here? , get a soft brush and graphite powder.”
The yamen servant quickly found these two things.
Gu Zhengchen walked down the hall and saw that the people were curious, so he shouted loudly: "Handprints and fingerprints have been used to solve crimes since ancient times..."
As late as the end of the Warring States Period, in judicial investigations, there are records of using traces of people's hands and knees to investigate and solve crimes. The Qin Dynasty's "Sealing Diagnosis Style·Acupoint Thief" records that the thief left as many as six traces of hands and knees at the scene.
"History of the Song Dynasty·Yuan Jiang Biography" records a case in which fingerprints were used to solve crimes and resolve disputes over land deeds.
During the Yuan Dynasty, Yao Sui recorded in his "Mu'an Collection": An official determined a person's body shape and age based on "zhili", that is, the density of fingerprints, and verified it in detail, exposing a long-term conspiracy. The backlog of cases in which rich people forged deeds of prostitution finally brought justice to the poor who had been wronged.
From ancient times to the Ming Dynasty, there have been many classics about "fingerprints" in solving cases, and there are also many classics surrounding "fingerprints".
In ancient times, few people paid attention to fingerprints when killing people. After all, the practice of extracting fingerprints was rare in ancient times. It is said that the first person to do this was forensic doctor Song Ci. It is unclear whether this is true or not.
Gu Zhengchen plans to extract fingerprints to find the real murderer.
Everyone stared at Gu Zhengchen. They saw Gu Zhengchen sighing at different parts of the knife handle. Then he picked up a soft-bristled brush and dipped it in dry graphite powder. He brushed the handle lightly and seamlessly to spread the powder evenly on the knife handle. On top of the scattered fingerprints, he shook the handle of the knife to shake off the excess graphite powder, and clear fingerprints appeared one by one.
"There are fingerprints!"
Yang Liang shouted.
Guo Fu's expression changed greatly, and he quickly stood up and wanted to run away. Unexpectedly, Zhang Pei was staring at him, grabbed him, threw Guo Fu heavily to the ground, and then stepped on him. Gu Zhengchen even heard the sound of his ribs breaking.
"Sir, these are the fingerprints from when Guo Fu was detained just now."
Lin Shan, the scribe, handed over the call sheet.
Gu Zhengchen compared the fingerprints on the knife handle with the fingerprints pressed by Guo Fu. They were very similar. Coupled with Guo Fu's panic and escape behavior, he knew that this was the murderer without any comparison.
"The fingerprints match. You are the murderer! Tell me, why did you kill Guo Liu's family? Who asked you to do this?"
Gu Zhengchen asked coldly.
Guo Fu gritted his teeth and shouted: "I didn't kill him!"
Gu Zhengchen stared at Guo Fu: "It's murder and arson again. Time is so short. You probably don't have time to change clothes. Take off his clothes!"
Zhang Pei tore off Guo Fu's clothes, revealing the white clothes underneath, and the blood stains were clearly visible to everyone.
"You still don't admit it until now?"
Gu Zhengchen slapped the table.
Guo Fu lowered his head slumped, then his expression became ferocious, and he shouted at Gu Zhengchen: "The reason why I killed him is because this man has done many evil things, he deserves to die! Gu Zhixian, Jurong County Yamen Yin and Yang files, selling prisoners as slaves, The mastermind is Guo Liu, I killed him to put an end to violence and bring peace to the people, and to eliminate harm for the people!"
Gu Zhengchen snorted coldly: "No, you killed him because you received an order and someone asked you to kill him and silence him! Guo Fu, tell me, who gave you the order?"
