Chapter 8: See You in Court

On the other side, ever since Hei Fu and Ji Ying had arrived at Anlu County town, they had been taken by the prison clerk to the county jail for lodging — not in a cell, though, but in the jail's guest quarters, which were said to be specially prepared for "voluntary accusers" like them. The room was not large, but it was reasonably clean; on the floor were two straw pallets for them to rest on. They could not move about freely, however — even trips to the privy (latrine) required someone to keep watch — and two meals a day were provided, though of course it was only the coarsest unpolished rice.

Ji Ying was very uneasy. While Hei Fu rested with his eyes closed, Ji Ying paced back and forth the whole time, fretting over this and that. After a while, he suddenly asked:

"Brother Hei Fu, do you think that Magistrate Xi can handle the case impartially?"

"He should be able to..." Hei Fu answered nonchalantly, lying on the straw pallet.

When he had heard "Xi" announce his own name, Hei Fu had been slightly startled too. He remembered a television program from his past life saying that the greatest discovery among the Shuihudi Qin bamboo slips was not the letter "Hei Fu" wrote home, but the coffin of an Anlu County official named "Xi," crammed full of Qin legal excerpts, which had opened the door to the Qin dynasty for archaeologists...

Apart from the thousand-odd scattered bamboo slips that Xi had personally transcribed, there was not a single other valuable burial item inside his coffin — which showed just how much this civil servant loved his work.

A man like that surely wouldn't pervert the law, would he?

It was laughable to say, but at this point, Hei Fu could only place his hope in the fairness and justice of Qin law.

The sky had grown dark, and the two of them had drowsily fallen asleep. Unexpectedly, someone outside suddenly pushed the door open and entered!

Hei Fu hurriedly got up. Faint light spilled in from outside, and he saw a kindly-looking minor clerk in black clothing, holding a brush and a scraping knife. His attire and bearing were practically a replica of that "civil clerk figurine" among the terracotta warriors.

Seeing Ji Ying and Hei Fu salute him, the minor clerk said with a chuckle, "No need for such ceremony. I am merely a petty 'grain-measure' clerk, not an official at all. Sit and speak, the two of you."

So Hei Fu and Ji Ying knelt and sat on the straw pallets. This prison clerk, who called himself "Yue," sat opposite them, placed a small wooden stand for holding bamboo slips on the desk, lit an oil lamp, yawned, and began the routine questioning.

The matters he asked about were nothing more than Hei Fu's and Ji Ying's names, status, and native places — and most importantly, whether they had any prior criminal record!

"No, absolutely not!" Ji Ying shook his head like a rattle-drum.

Hei Fu also said that his family had three brothers, all of them were commoners of the rank-and-file, and had never done anything unlawful.

"It's good if you haven't." Yue's face was all smiles, but the words he spoke sent a chill down their spines.

"If you have prior crimes and deliberately conceal them, once the County Deputy informs the township and village and learns the truth, it will be greatly to your disadvantage!"

The two of them still maintained that they had never broken the law, and only then did Yue let the matter drop.

After a moment, Hei Fu could not hold back and asked, "Superior Clerk, the two of us came to the county to perform corvée service, and the final deadline is the first day of the tenth month. If we miss the service period..."

Yue gave him a reassuring assurance: "Do not worry about the corvée matter. The County Deputy has already sent a document to the County Commandant's office explaining the circumstances. The two of you just need to cooperate properly with the trial."

Yue also told them that after the information from today's questioning was recorded, it would be sent to their native place for verification, and the township and village would be required to reply in written form — this was called a "deposition." This process applied not only to the plaintiffs; the defendants' side would follow the same procedure. Once both sides' identities were confirmed without error, the formal interrogation would begin.

Hei Fu asked, "May I ask, Superior Clerk, roughly what day will the interrogation be?"

Yue smiled and said, "The native place the bandits confessed to is not far — it's in the neighboring county. The deposition only needs two days to go back and forth. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the court hearing can begin in three days. At that time, the two of you, as voluntary accusers, will confront the accused in court, explain the course of the incident, list the witnesses and evidence, and then cross-examine each other..."

Hei Fu was stunned. Huh? So trying a case in Qin meant having the defendant and plaintiff go at each other, while the court silently listened in and then made a decision.

When the time came, the two parties in the lawsuit would also have to act as their own lawyers and engage in a battle of wits and words?

This was something Hei Fu had not expected. His impression of ancient trials was from all sorts of historical costume dramas, where the incorruptible magistrate would slam his gavel, and arm-thick planks would be struck down upon the criminal...

At the end, as the minor clerk Yue was leaving, he dropped one final remark.

"When the time comes, the two of you need only state the facts truthfully. You absolutely must not lie! Remember it, remember it well!"

After the door closed again, Ji Ying began to worry, because although he had heard the village minor clerks explain some laws — and he remembered very clearly what fines applied to which offenses — he had never litigated against anyone or confronted them in court.

"What do we do?" He looked at Hei Fu and asked.

"We'll deal with it when the time comes!"

Hei Fu, however, lay down and went straight to sleep.

From the look of things, Qin truly lived up to its world-renowned Legalist reputation. Trials were conducted methodically, with their own rules, rather than being handled arbitrarily according to an official's personal whims.

Not to mention that their side was in the right on this matter. And besides, in his past life at the police academy, he had taken courses on criminal interrogation and had also gone to observe court sessions many times. Wasn't it just confronting the accused? What was there to be afraid of!

For a moment, Hei Fu actually began to look forward to the "court hearing" three days from now.

In the average person's imagination, an ancient trial probably looked something like this:

Outside the county office, a sea of people; in the great hall, a plaque bearing the four characters "A Clear Mirror Hangs High" hung squarely in the center. Below it sat the county magistrate, wearing a black gauze cap, and beneath the hall were placed the dragon, tiger, and dog executioner's blades. When the criminal was escorted up, the bailiffs on both sides would shout "Awe-inspiring!" and the incorruptible magistrate would slam his gavel with a crack, point at the criminal, and declare, "First, give him three hundred strokes of the subduing rod!"...

However, on the day of the "court hearing" — that is, the day they met in court — the scene Hei Fu saw was like this:

The trial was not held at the county office compound, but was arranged at the county jail, just one wall away. The inner part of the county jail was the prison, and the outer part was the main hall. From the outside, it was just a cramped little courtyard, without any of the imposing air a government office should have. Yet even the paths paved with pebbles were swept completely clean of fallen leaves.

After entering the main hall, Hei Fu discovered that there was no place here for people to beat a drum and cry out their grievances, nor was it open to the public. A "screen wall" — that is, an earthen partition — blocked the entrance. It was painted white and inscribed with several lines of Qin seal-script characters in ink.

Hei Fu was literate to begin with — otherwise, how could he have written letters home from the military camp? He saw that what was written on it was an article titled "The Way of Being an Official."

"For all who pursue the way of an official, they must be pure, upright, cautious, steadfast, meticulous, impartial, minutely observant, calm, not harsh, and judicious in reward and punishment..."

Then there were things like the "Five Virtues" and "Five Failings"... These were Qin's requirements for all officials, great and small. Translated into plain speech, it meant being incorruptible and devoted to public duty, loyal to one's post, forbidden from using public office for private gain, being close to the common people, and as an official, eliminating harm and promoting benefit for the common people — it was probably similar in content to the "Code of Conduct for Integrity in Governance for Leading Cadres of the Communist Party of China."

In short, it made Hei Fu stare blankly. Was this still the legendary "Tyrannical Qin"?

"I hope the officials trying the case today can truly live up to these points."

Guided by the prison clerk Yue, Hei Fu and Ji Ying walked around the screen wall and stepped into the main hall. Only then did they discover that the presiding judge seated in the hall was not the Anlu County Magistrate or the County Deputy, but the Prison Scribe Xi! Today he was dressed all in black, wearing a xiezhi cap, sitting upright and solemn — a truly awe-inspiring sight.

Seeing this man, the great stone in Hei Fu's heart immediately dropped to the ground. He had heard from that prison clerk Yue that this Magistrate Xi was famous throughout Anlu County for being completely impartial and incorruptible, and was deeply relied upon by the County Deputy. Difficult cases were all handed over to him to handle on their behalf. With him trying the case, there shouldn't be any problems, right?

At this moment, Xi was already hearing the case of "the robbery of the merchant Bao." Just as Hei Fu and his companion were led into the hall, that merchant "Bao" happened to be recounting his experience of going to the village market that day and encountering bandits who robbed him on the roadside nine li from Huyang Pavilion, and how he had fled in terror.

After that, it was the turn of the three bandits, wearing cangues, to kneel in the hall and state the facts of their crimes.

The burly, bearded man who had fought with Hei Fu was the first to confess: "My name is Pan. I am a rank-and-file soldier of Jingling County, residing in such-and-such village. In the second month of last year, I was conscripted into the army and sent north to the state of Zhao to fight. Because of heavy rain, I feared the long march and deserted. Later, I fled into the Cloud Dream Marsh and became a bandit, where I became acquainted with the other three. My crimes are just as the merchant Bao described. I have committed no other offenses."

Jingling County was one of the 18 counties of Nan Commandery, facing Anlu County across the Cloud Dream Marsh. As the big man made his statement, the clerks seated to the left and right in the hall all held brushes and wrote with a rustling sound on wooden tablets and bamboo slips. Their diligence was just like the court reporters in later-era courtrooms. They had to record every word and deed of the criminal, which would then be sealed and stored as archival files. Most of the Qin bamboo slips unearthed by later generations were similar things.

The presiding judge, Xi, did not interrupt Pan during his statement, only continuously writing something on the bamboo slips. It was only after Pan had finished speaking that he asked further: "Apart from this robbery of the merchant Bao, are there no other crimes?"

Pan hesitated for a moment, then said, "No!"

At this, Ji Ying tilted his head over and muttered to Hei Fu, "I remember that day, didn't he say he had several lives on his hands..."

PS: Xi was born in the 45th year of King Zhao of Qin. The previous chapter had a mistake, now corrected. At midnight, there will be another bonus chapter (to swindle recommendation votes).

(End of chapter)