Chapter 242: The Winner Is Justice!

Thief Section Clerk Tang Qian was no stranger to Prison Section Left Clerk Xi. Though this man had only been transferred to the commandery a year ago, he had already gained some small renown and was highly valued by the Commandery Assistant and the Commandery Governor.

But Xi was an eccentric who would not be swayed by either hard or soft tactics. For example, in every case he handled, he liked to investigate and question step by step, following procedure to the letter. He was nothing like the jailers and ordinance clerks under Tang Qian, who would, regardless of the circumstances, first give the accused a severe beating to force a confession...

This far-reaching "internal spy" case was no different. Although Douran had already been detained in prison and interrogated several times by several ordinance clerks, the man had kept his mouth firmly shut, refusing to answer any questions...

"Use torture!"

Tang Qian had lost his patience and made his demand to the Prison Section.

"A flogging, and this pampered Chu state duke will surely confess everything!"

Xi, however, objected: "The Qin Code states that using testimony to pursue questioning and clarifying a case without torture is the superior strategy; using torture to extract the facts of a case is an inferior method. This is only the first interrogation, and we have not yet reached the three-session limit. Why resort to torture?"

Tang Qian's face darkened: "The Commandery Commandant has ordered that this case be thoroughly investigated with all haste. If delays allow the Chu internal spies to leak more secrets, what then?"

Xi shook his head: "Douran has been a captive for over half a year and has no direct connection to the recent assassination attempt. The former Ruo'ao clan retainers who were in contact with him are not necessarily internal spies. Therefore, Douran is not a suspect, but a witness. In the Qin Code, using torture on a suspect is already an inferior strategy, let alone using it on a witness. Furthermore, if word gets out that Qin officials flogged a captured Chu state duke, it would not sound good. Thief Section Clerk, please be patient and allow me to slowly interrogate and question..."

"Patient? The Commandery Commandant gave you no deadline, so of course you are in no hurry!"

Seeing the two beginning to argue, Heifu hurried over to mediate. In the end, Tang Qian and Xi reached a compromise: Xi would be allowed one more attempt. If he still could not get anything out of him by tomorrow, they would then request the Commandery Assistant's approval to use torture.

"Sir Xi is still so averse to using torture, even though Douran is a man of Chu."

After Tang Qian left in displeasure, Heifu chatted with Xi inside the commandery prison. He remembered that over two years ago, when he had been involved in a lawsuit at the Anlu County prison, Xi had never once used torture on any of them. Instead, he relied on collecting evidence, interrogation, and cross-examination, slowly peeling back the layers to uncover the truth.

Over these past few years, Heifu had discovered that not every law official could follow the procedures in the Qin Code as Xi did; Xi was rather an exception.

"I once encountered a case."

Sitting behind his desk, Xi flipped through the dossier on Douran while recounting a past incident to Heifu: "Last year, when I first arrived at the commandery court, I received a petition for retrial case."

A "petition for retrial" was equivalent to what later ages would call an appeal. If a party believed a judgment was unjust, they could request a higher judicial authority to re-examine their case. A county court's judgment could be retried by the commandery court. If there were still major doubts, a commandery court case could be re-examined by the Commandant of Justice, the supreme court of Qin.

"On the guihai day of the twelfth month of the twenty-third year of the King's reign, a commoner named Mao was brought to the Dangyang County office by a village head, charged with stealing an ox. Mao confessed fully to his theft and also implicated an accomplice, a musician named Jiang. His testimony was that on the fifth day of the twelfth month, he and Jiang had stolen the ox together and led it to Jiang's house..."

"Based on Mao's testimony, the Dangyang County Assistant and several ordinance clerks handling the case determined Jiang to be a co-conspirator and sentenced him to tattooing and hard labor."

"Jiang refused to accept this and thus requested a retrial. That is how the case reached my hands, by which time it was already the fourth month of the twenty-third year of the King's reign."

The deadline for a retrial petition was three months. Jiang had been sentenced to tattooing and hard labor on the guihai day (the sixteenth) of the second month. The retrial was on the bingchen day (the eleventh) of the fourth month, a gap of fifty-four days, nearly missing the retrial window.

It was this short gap of just six days that allowed Xi to save an innocent man who, through a confession beaten out of him, had nearly been condemned to hard labor.

Following his consistent method of handling cases, Xi first collected all records and reports related to the case, then summoned all relevant witnesses to the commandery for questioning. The testimony of three successive witnesses all proved favorable to Jiang.

Xi could not help but be astonished. With such obvious holes, why had the Dangyang County officials acted as if blind and continued to find Jiang guilty? And why had Jiang, during his first interrogation, also confessed to being an accomplice in the ox theft...

Under Xi's meticulous questioning, Jiang finally revealed a hidden detail from the initial trial: because he had refused to admit to participating in the ox theft, he had been beaten by the Dangyang County ordinance clerk "Yao," who had also doused him with cold water. Xi ordered the commandery court's jailers to conduct a physical examination, which revealed that Jiang's back was indeed covered with injuries. There were thirteen major scars as thick as a finger alone, and smaller scars crisscrossed each other, stretching from his shoulders all the way down to his waist...

Even more shocking was the re-interrogation of the ox thief Mao. He, too, had been tortured into confessing: Mao had initially admitted to stealing the ox alone. However, the Dangyang County ordinance clerk in charge of interrogating him was convinced he could not have stolen the ox by himself, so he had him severely beaten on the back, buttocks, and thighs with a bamboo rod until blood flowed everywhere.

Unable to bear the pain, "Mao" had no choice but to drag his neighbor "Jiang" down with him, just to make the beating stop. A physical examination found that Mao's body was covered in countless scars; on his buttocks and both legs alone, there were at least four scars as thick as a finger...

Under Xi's thorough investigation, the truth of the case came to light. The Dangyang County ordinance clerk who had used torture to extract confessions knew he could no longer deny it and could only dejectedly accept punishment. The County Assistant and several officials involved in the trial also had to admit to errors in their work during the first instance and were all punished for dereliction of duty.

As for the wronged musician Jiang, his grievance was redressed, and his status and reputation were restored. His wife and children, who had been collectively punished and sold into slavery, were redeemed by the authorities. His confiscated and sold property was likewise reimbursed at its assessed value. Because Jiang's face had already been tattooed, he could no longer work as a musician. The commandery office resettled him in another county, granting him a hundred mu of land so he could support himself and his family through farming...

After finishing this story, Xi said to Heifu with deep meaning: "This is precisely why the statutes recommend that law officials handling cases not resort to torture lightly. Only when the accused has been cross-examined to the point of having no more words, has repeatedly deceived, and still changes their testimony and refuses to admit guilt, can they be tortured according to law. The reason for the torture must also be recorded in the report."

Heifu understood. Because it was merely a "recommendation" and not a strict prohibition, Qin officials did not abide by this clause. Only a minority, like Xi, quietly adhered to it.

In the parlance of later ages, Xi was a judge who believed in "procedural justice." He would do his utmost to maintain the fairness of the trial process, only in this way could he achieve "justice under the Qin Code."

Heifu could not help but feel ashamed. He remembered when he had first become a village head, he too had been a good officer pursuing "justice." But after experiencing many things, after scrambling through battlefields and officialdom for a couple of rounds, Heifu's state of mind had begun to change. Some principles had been abandoned, and he had started to use any means to achieve his ends. This time, he had not hesitated to drag Douran into this "internal spy" case, mainly to pull the Anlu Yun clan down into the water...

Xi was also from Anlu County and knew of the long-standing feud between Heifu and the Yun clan. He could guess Heifu's purpose in actively participating in this matter, but Heifu was cautious in his actions and left no handle to be grasped.

Therefore, upon parting, Xi said to Heifu, seemingly casually but with intent: "Left Arms Section Clerk, though you are young and have earned merit, rank, and a high position, you must always remember: wrong actions inevitably bear wrong fruit!"

Using the name of public duty to exact private revenge is unacceptable!

Xi's words carried hidden meaning. Heifu outwardly listened respectfully to the admonishment, but inwardly he could only sigh helplessly.

He would not mock Xi for being pedantic; rather, he would admire him.

The world drifts with the current, stressing adaptation to changing times. Only Xi has always stood in place, clutching several scrolls of the Qin Code, adhering to the principles in his heart.

But Heifu could never emulate him.

"The winner is justice!"

Silently reciting the famous words of Komikado Kensuke in his heart, Heifu walked into the pitch-black streets. He still had to visit Thief Section Clerk Tang Qian that very night to discuss with him the need to quickly have the "Provincial Public Security Department" Thief Section wrest the authority to interrogate from the "Provincial Court" Prison Section.

Just as Heifu had expected, Douran was a proud Chu state duke with a strong aristocratic complex. Without torture, he would not utter a single word. The next day, the only response Xi got from repeated interrogation was Douran's contemptuous back of the head.

Thus, spurred on by Heifu, Thief Section Clerk Tang Qian began petitioning the Commandery Governor and Commandery Assistant to transfer Douran to the Thief Section, guaranteeing they could get something out of him!

Considering that Douran was not a suspect but merely a witness, and also a captured Chu state duke who might later be sent to Xianyang to meet the King, the Commandery Assistant threw a difficult problem at the Thief Section: they could interrogate him, but must not leave any visible scars...

Tang Qian was somewhat troubled, but Heifu was secretly delighted. He happened to know quite a few later-age interrogation methods that left no scars!

After being transferred from the Prison Section to the Thief Section jail, Douran finally realized what a courteous treatment the unhurried questioning of that Qin law official Xi had been...

He first underwent a routine interrogation, where Douran still chose to remain silent. Afterward, he was roughly tied to a long bench. The Qin official Heifu, who had captured him, appeared before him and directed a group of jailers, their faces twisted in cruel grins, toward Douran.

"You wretch! This duke will never utter half a word!"

Douran had long anticipated this day, but this staunch aristocrat was utterly fearless. Whether it was the lash or the knife, he could endure it as if it were sweet nectar!

With the bloodline of Zhurong, a noble scion of Chu, he did not even fear cutting his own throat with a sword—why would he fear punishment?

However, what followed was not the imagined whips and clubs. The jailers merely covered his mouth and nose with layer after layer of thick hemp cloth.

This was not among the "Ten Great Cruel Tortures of Tyrannical Qin" widely circulated in Chu. Douran felt a bit strange. As the hemp cloth grew thicker, he instinctively opened his mouth wide to breathe and swallow forcefully. But then, ice-cold water was poured onto his face...

A large amount of water was sucked into his stomach, lungs, and windpipe. A suffocating sensation quickly set in. Douran's throat spasmed, and he began to vomit and cough uncontrollably.

Douran struggled desperately, his hands flailing and legs kicking wildly. Just as he thought he would choke to death, the wet cloth was removed from his face, and the faces of Heifu and Tang Qian appeared before his eyes.

"Will you confess?"

Tang Qian's voice buzzed in his ears: "Who in the Anlu clan has been corresponding with you?"

Douran clenched his teeth and did not utter a single word.

Heifu smiled and instructed the jailers: "Continue."

So after that, he repeatedly savored the flavor of "water torture," enduring the near-death experience of drowning without pause. His lungs and windpipe secreted copious thick mucus, blood trickled from his mouth, he even lost control of his bowels and bladder, and he was steeped in an agony and humiliation beyond words...

At last, when the torment had driven him to the verge of mental collapse and his consciousness was gradually blurring, he could no longer endure the pain and mumbled out the things Xi had failed to extract.

"I'll talk..."

"Stop!"

Tang Qian was overjoyed and raised a hand to halt the jailers, who were still not satisfied. Together with Heifu, he approached Dou Ran.

They saw Dou Ran desperately suck in a few breaths of air, then close his eyes and move his lips faintly: "The one I exchanged letters with is a former vassal of the Ruo'ao clan..."

"Yun Man..."

Hearing it was the Sheriff of Anlu County, Tang Qian's expression turned grave. A trace of a cold smile also surfaced on Heifu's face. With Dou Ran's confession, plus the dirt his subordinate Li Xian and the others had been digging up over the past half year, it was enough to give Yun Man a serious reckoning!

Unexpectedly, Dou Ran's words were not yet finished.

"Also... the Li clan!"

PS: A bit late, my apologies. Couldn't manage to write the second chapter tonight, so I'm now nine chapters behind again, ⊙﹏⊙b sweatdrop. Things have been a little busy these past few days; I'll make up for it after the 20th, when I'll be free.

(End of chapter)