There is a case that I believe many people are familiar with: someone was killed, but the murderer could not be found. The official who tried the case seized the wife or irrelevant person of the deceased and sent someone to follow him when he left. He was arrested when someone came forward to ask about the case. It must be the killer. This case has appeared in many crime-solving novels, but who started it? According to the information I have, this man is Lu Yun, a writer in the Western Jin Dynasty. "Book of Jin" contains: When he was a magistrate of Junyi County, one person was killed and the murderer could not be found. Lu Yun took the wife of the deceased into the county government, detained her for more than ten days before she was released, and then sent someone to follow her secretly, saying, "She can't walk ten miles, so tie her up if there are men waiting." Sure enough, the adulterer was caught. People asked him why and said, "If you communicate with this wife, you will kill her husband. As soon as I heard from her, I wanted to talk to her, and I was afraid of being close to the county seat, so I had to wait far away. " "So a county is called a god."
Since then, Li Jie in the Tang Dynasty, Yuan Jiang and Zhuang Zun in the Song Dynasty have all had similar cases, and Jiang Heng and Zhang Songshou in the Tang Dynasty have also had similar cases (they arrested irrelevant people). Officials of later generations must have read the Book of Jin, but they really can't be said to be studying. Modern criminal investigation has a special criminal psychology, which ancient officials naturally didn't learn, but it was used skillfully. Such as the following stories. When Chen Xiang was appointed as the magistrate of Pucheng County in the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a theft and several suspects were arrested, but no one admitted it. Sean said that there is a clock in the temple, which can tell the thief. People who don't steal will not make a sound when they touch it, but those who steal will make a sound when they touch it. Sean personally led county officials to pray for Zhong. After the sacrifice, cover the bell with a curtain and secretly send someone to smear ink on it. After a long time, the suspects were asked to touch the clock one by one, and then collectively examined. There is only one person who has no ink, and that is the person.
Similarly, when Liu Zai was the magistrate of Taixing County in the Southern Song Dynasty, a rich man lost his gold hairpin, and there were only two maids present, so he sent them to the yamen, and both of them cried grievances. Liu Tsai ordered each of them to take a reed, saying that the reed that did not steal Jin Chai would be the same tomorrow, and the reed that stole Jin Chai would grow two inches tomorrow. It is conceivable that the next day, the reed of the person who stole the gold hairpin was pulled out by two inches. When Wen Yang was appointed as the magistrate of Cao Zhou in Qing Dynasty, five people lived together. One of them lost his gold and sued the other four. Yang Wengan let them sit in the lobby and watch it for a long time. He said, "I caught the gold thief, but I'm not going to steal it." A man immediately stood up to leave, and he was caught between the left and right. It was that man who stole the gold. This is criminal psychology. What should I do if I know someone is guilty but there is no evidence? Officials in ancient China created evidence. An article was published in History, telling the story of Zhao He, the magistrate of Jiangyin in the late Tang Dynasty. This is not an isolated case.
Still the Liu zai in front. When he was working as a magistrate of Taixing County, someone in the neighboring county rented a cow in this county, and stole the lease while the owner's family was holding a funeral, so that the lessor had no evidence to get the cow back. The son of the cattle owner sued for ten years, but because there was no lease and it involved neighboring counties, the government never handled it. After Liu Tsai took office, the son of the cattle owner came to complain again. Liu Zai said: "The cow was lost for ten years. Once it is safe, it will be found back." He found two beggars, made them admit that they had stolen the cattle and sold them, took them to the house of the cattle renter, and identified the cattle renter as having bought the cattle they had stolen. The rented cow said, "My cow is rented by a certain family." The beggars insisted that this was the cow they stole. The renter was in a hurry and took out the contract to prove that the cow was rented. Send someone to take the two sides back to the county government and lobby. The renter realized that he had been cheated and had to return the cow to its original owner.
When Hu was the master book of Ninghai County in Yuan Dynasty, a younger brother of Yongjia County mortgaged the pearl to his younger brother. When he went to redeem it, his sister-in-law lied to him that it was stolen because he liked it. The younger brother sued many times, but there was no result, so he went to Ninghai County to find Hu. Hu Changru kicked him out on the pretext that he was not a resident of this county. Soon, when trying a theft case, he taught the thief to falsely accuse his brother of stealing the step shake and arrested him to the government. Of course my brother won't admit it. Nonsense, your family did take a walk. How can it be said that it is a false accusation? My brother said, "There is an innate thing, which is my brother's quality." So it was returned to its original owner. Is this method of judging cases useful for today's deadbeats? Not only the above, such as picking dustpans, tearing pockets, inspecting eggplants and asking cucumbers, in short, we are all Di Renjie. They have no surprising means of criminal investigation, but they can find out the truth of the case like crackle. In addition to their intelligence, having a love for the people should be the root of their magic.