Chang County.
Prison.
The air was filled with a very complex stench.
The stench of sewage, feces, and spoiled food...
Various smells mixed together in this damp and dark prison with turbid and stagnant air, forming an indescribable pungent stench.
There's even a rancid smell.
I don't know if it was the rats that died in prison and their bodies rotted away.
Hulala.
Magistrate Zhang, whose official robe was embroidered with flying birds, had an angry expression on his face. Led by the yamen runners and jailers, he ignored the foul-smelling environment in the prison and hurried all the way to the deepest part of the prison where the death row prisoners were held.
"Sir, sir, save us, save us, there's something evil in this cell!"
"There's something dirty in the prison! Help me!"
"Zhang, Magistrate, please change my cell. I confess, I confess, I'm willing to confess anything, just change my cell! Please, Zhang, please change my cell!"
At both ends of the torch-lit corridor, pairs of arms stretched out from behind the wooden fences. The disheveled and smelly prisoners cried out to Magistrate Zhang.
It was as if there was really something in this prison.
The prisoners were scared out of their wits.
"What's wrong with these people?"
"My Lord, ever since Li Dashan's unnatural death, all the prisoners in the prison have been crying and clamoring for a change of cells."
The jailer's face was pale and he explained hurriedly, trying hard to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
County Magistrate Zhang didn't have time to argue with these people. He glared at the jailer and continued walking deeper into the prison.
finally.
Led by the jailer, a group of about 20 people came to the cell where Li Dashan was imprisoned.
At this time, the prison door had been opened by the jailer.
Li Dashan's death was very strange. Not long after he died, black spots and corpse spots appeared all over his body. There was a large pool of water under his body, but his clothes were dry. He curled up and died in pain at the door of the cell.
Li Dashan held his head high, like a turtle coming out of the water to breathe on a rainy day, his neck stretched out long, with blue veins bulging out.
His facial features were distorted and hideous, as if he had experienced great pain before death and struggled for help, but none of the jailers heard anything.
County Magistrate Zhang, the County Magistrate, several constables and yamen runners were all shocked as it was the first time they had seen someone die in such a strange way.
Watching Li Dashan's strange death was very similar to the absurd feeling of an old turtle looking at the moon.
The jailer was called Sun Fu, and he had a pair of rat-like whiskers on his lips.
He was a veteran in the prison, often extorting money from the inmates. This was a very lucrative job. Sun Fu was the local tyrant of the prison, used to being so domineering that no one dared to disobey him.
But now, in front of Magistrate Zhang, his face was pale and ugly, and he didn't even dare to fart, holding it all in quietly and leaving. Now he was no longer worried about whether he could still keep this lucrative job, but whether he would bear all the responsibility for Li Dashan's death and whether he would still be alive.
Jailer Sun Fu, with sweat on his forehead, observed Magistrate Zhang's expression. He saw Magistrate Zhang's face darken after seeing the strange death of Li Dashan, so he hurriedly tried his best to perform in front of Magistrate Zhang, just to escape this disaster.
I promise to sweep my ancestors’ graves during festivals and never stay overnight at a widow’s house again, to leave some good karma for myself.
"Your Excellency, County Magistrate, we brothers are well aware of the importance of Li Dashan, who is implicated in a major case of private gunpowder possession. Therefore, we have been unaware of any negligence and have refused to allow anyone to visit Li Dashan in prison."
"Old Qian, Old Xu, and the others never dared to lynch Li Dashan."
"We all understand the priorities here, so we have been keeping a close watch on Li Dashan."
"Bai, during the day... Li Dashan was fine. Tonight's prison food was brought by Lao Qian. I can testify to this. At that time, Li Dashan was fine. He could eat, drink, sleep, and go to the toilet."
"Furthermore, during the two days he was imprisoned, no one was allowed to visit Li Dashan. During these two days, Li Dashan was imprisoned alone. Apart from us jailers, he had no contact with any outsiders."
"But, but this is where the weird thing happens..."
"When we delivered the prison meal at You (you) hour, he was fine, nothing unusual happened... Only half an hour passed, and at Xu (xu) hour, Lao Qian, as usual, was patrolling the cells at regular intervals. Then we heard Lao Qian's screams... When Lao Xu and I ran to the door of Li Dashan's cell, we saw Lao Qian sitting on the ground in fear. Li Dashan had mysteriously died in his cell."
"The cell door where Li Dashan was imprisoned was locked tightly, and there were no other signs of damage. No one could enter the cell, but the strange thing was that... Li Dashan died in there in such a bizarre way."
The jailer nervously explained the whole story.
"Master Zhang, could it be food poisoning?"
"Li Dashan has a lot of connections behind him. Maybe there are other accomplices who have slipped through the net. They're afraid that Li Dashan will expose them...so they're killing him to silence him?"
The person who spoke was the county magistrate.
When the jailer heard this, he hurriedly explained to himself and the others, "The food couldn't have been poisoned in advance. All the prisoners in this jail eat from the same pot."
"If someone really poisoned the food, Li Dashan wouldn't have died alone. All the prisoners in the prison would have died. It's impossible for all of them to have survived."
"Also, prison food is delivered randomly to each cell. It's impossible for someone to know in advance which bowl of food is for Li Dashan and then poison him specifically."
After hearing what the prison boss Sun Fu said, these jailers were indeed doing their job conscientiously.
County Magistrate Zhang's face looked very ugly. He turned to look at a middle-aged captain of the police standing beside him who was wearing a sword.
"Captain Feng, have you found any clues in this prison?"
Captain Feng said, "I have brought the coroner here with me. I'm sure the truth will be revealed once the coroner performs an autopsy. I beg the magistrate to allow the coroner to perform an autopsy."
At this time, everyone was standing outside the cell.
Without the personal consent of County Magistrate Zhang, no one dared to enter the cell without permission.
"Then let's do an autopsy! No matter what, this matter must be investigated thoroughly before the higher-ups come to the capital to take the bodies away. Only then can I give an explanation to the higher-ups!"
As County Magistrate Zhang agreed to perform an autopsy, a hunchbacked old man carrying a medicine box became the first person to step into the cell among the crowd of people crowded in the corridor outside the cell.
The ancients had no concept of gloves.
Perhaps because of years of contact with corpses and infection from various bacteria on the corpses, the coroner's hands have many scars and pustules. These wounds healed and became infected again, and then healed again over and over again, leaving his hands covered with scars.
The air in the prison was stagnant, foul and smelly, and with so many people crowded together, it was difficult for everyone to breathe.
But no one dared to complain at this time.
Even if my legs and feet became numb after standing for a long time, I would only dare to lift my buttocks quietly and continue to grit my teeth and persevere.
After such an agonizing wait, the autopsy results finally came out.
"Reporting to the County Magistrate and Captain Feng, Li Dashan's cause of death was not poisoning, but drowning. Strangely, although his skin has developed lividity, his internal organs appear to have been dead for less than an hour."
"Died from drowning?" Everyone was dumbfounded.
"absurd!"