Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 569
The second case is Xu Yunwa's murder case, which took place in Huangzhou, which was formerly under the jurisdiction of Huguang, and this case is similar to the case of Li Jinsi's revenge for his mother just now.

The cause of the incident originated from a murder case caused by a land dispute in the neighborhood five years ago, and now the principal culprit in this case, Xu Shui'er, was the eldest son of the deceased who was underage at the time.

Five years ago, Xu Yunwa, a villager in Xujiapu Village, Guangji County, Huangzhou Prefecture, went to question her neighbor Hu Quan's family because of the invasion of her homestead. Xu Shuier, who was only 14 years old at the time, also went to Hu's house.

The Hu family is a relatively wealthy family in Xujiapu Village. They have tens of acres of fertile land and ten acres of mulberry fields. The head of the family, Hu Quan, has also become the head of the village. He also has a close relationship with the secretary office in the county government. Shang Huquan has three sons, who also belong to a big family in Xujiapu Village, and they are usually looked up to by the villagers.

And Xu Yunwa next to him is just an ordinary villager, and she is also an honest person, who can't get half a fart with a stick. The five members of her family are farming more than ten acres of land. In addition to paying rent and taxes, the remaining grain Adding some miscellaneous grains can barely make ends meet.

As the family became more and more prosperous, the second son who had reached the age of 15 was about to face the big event of building a house and marrying a wife, so Hu Quan demolished the courtyard wall adjacent to Xu Yunwa, and extended it to Xu's side for several days. Chi away, and then prepared all kinds of bricks, tiles, wood and stone, and invited craftsmen to prepare to build a few more houses.

However, the site that the Hu family moved sideways without authorization has crossed the center line of Hu and Xu's two houses, and has invaded many homesteads belonging to the Xu family. Nagging and complaining from morning to night, he summoned up his courage and took his eldest son Xu Shui'er, who is still underage, to Hu's house, wanting to discuss this matter.

The domineering Hu Quan saw that Xu Yunwa, who was usually listless and chattering, dared to come to his house to make trouble, so he yelled at Xu Yunwa loudly when he felt impatient, claiming that the area extended by his house belonged to the public land, The construction started after the approval of the county government, and the Xu family's homestead was not invaded at all. Xu Yunwa's visit to the house to make trouble was purely unreasonable. If he didn't quit the Hu family, he would drive them away.

Xu Yunwa, who was already honest, saw that the other party moved out of the banner of the county government, and he, who was planning to make a theory, was immediately discouraged.

Under Hu Quan's scolding and the posture of the three sons of the Hu family rolling their arms and sleeves, Xu Yunwa bowed her hands and said she didn't dare. After that, she planned to take her son home and let her mother-in-law talk about it.

Unexpectedly, Xu Shui'er, who was young but stubborn, didn't want to let it go.

He remembered all his mother's nagging in his heart, and he had decided that this matter was the Hu family's bullying and bullying their family's weakness, so Xu Shui'er stood up and told what he heard from his mother The general idea is that the Hu family forcibly occupied the Xu family's homestead, and must pay one tael of silver and three stones of grain.

It is not too much to say that the Xu family wants this little property, and it is not a big deal for the wealthy Hu family, but Hu Quan, who has always been domineering, puts such a small family like the Xu family in his eyes. He opened his mouth to ask for money and food, but Hu Quan immediately cursed, and the second son of the Hu family even rushed forward and kicked Xu Shui'er to the ground, and then began to punch and kick him.

Seeing her son rolling and howling after being beaten to the ground, Xu Yunwa rushed forward like crazy and wrestled with the second son of the Hu family. Hu Quan and the other two sons also joined the battle group immediately.

During the fight, Xu Yunwa, the second son of the Hu family, smashed his nose on the head, and his face was immediately covered with blood. In his anger, he ran to the side and picked up the hoe for digging the ground, and then came back and smashed it with the hoe. On the back of Xu Yunwa's head, Xu Yunwa was knocked to the ground all of a sudden, and then a large stream of blood flowed out from the back of her head, her body twitched a few times and then fell silent.

This sudden change stunned everyone present. Hu Quan's second son stood blankly holding a blood-stained hoe, his mouth slightly opened, his eyes full of horror. After Xu Shui'er sat up from the ground, After staying for a moment, he crawled to his father's side with all hands and feet, and began to cry loudly while shaking the gradually cold body.

The matter of beating someone to death cannot be concealed. No matter how tyrannical Hu Quan is, he is just a wealthy household in the village. Immediately arranged to arrest the yamen servants to come to Xujiapu village.

It has been a rule since ancient times to kill people for their lives. Hu Quan knew that if he didn't let some blood out this time, his second son would be put in prison soon, and then he would be hanged or beheaded.

Money can turn the devil around.

After gritting his teeth and handing over 100 taels of silver to the headhunter who led the team, the other party gave him an idea: because there was no one else at the scene except the young Xu Shui'er, it can be said that the Hu family did not know who was in the scuffle. Pushing Xu Yunwa to the ground, the back of her head hit a stone, causing her to bleed to death.

If this is the case, the Hu family and his son only need to hand over one person to cover the crime, and they will be convicted of negligence and wounding.

Afterwards, the two parties involved in the incident were taken to the county government. Under the personal inquiry of the county magistrate, Hu Quansui took out that set of arguments, and the head catcher also provided a stone stained with pig's blood as evidence, and also reported the benefits to the scene. That's it.

Although Xu Shui'er cried bitterly in the hall and screamed desperately that his father was beaten to death by the Hu family, but because the hoe had been hidden long ago, and there was a witness sent by the county government, there was no evidence to prove that his words were true. Yes, so the county magistrate adopted Hu Quan's confession and sentenced Hu's eldest son to three hundred li for three years for the crime of negligent wounding and death. up.

After this incident, Xu Shui'er became taciturn.After burying her father, Xu Shui'er helped her mother take care of the family's fields, raised her younger siblings, and married a wife and started a family two years later.

Although the Hu family made a fortune, they managed to save their son's life, and this matter has also disappeared in people's memory with the passage of time.

However, what is unexpected is that just this year, five years after Xu's father was beaten to death, a murder case happened again in Xu and Hu's families, and it was Hu Quan who was beaten to death this time.

The Hu family father and son, who had been worried about being retaliated, had been carrying Xu Shui'er, who was growing up, and avoided him far away when they met him on the road, but Xu Shui'er had always behaved as honest and dull as his father. After a long time, Hu Shui'er The vigilance of the father and son has also turned into a sense of normalcy.

One day in the early summer of the 11th year of Chongzhen, Hu Quan led his five-year-old eldest grandson to play with a group of half-sized children on the street. When he was standing aside and focused on his eldest grandson, Xu Shui'er quietly appeared behind him, He swung a hard wooden stick the size of a baby's arm and hit Hu Quan's head hard, and Hu Quan was knocked down by the stick just like Xu Yunwa back then, and died on the spot.

Xu Shui'er, who endured for five years and finally had to avenge her father, threw away the wooden stick and laughed loudly. Tears welled up in her eyes, and then big tears fell on the skirt of her clothes.

The ensuing scene was the same as before, the officials were reported, the county government came, and the murderer and the murder weapon were seized, but the final result was different. The newly appointed county magistrate of Guangji sentenced Xu Shui'er to beheaded for the crime of murder without reason.

The three judicial divisions also had major differences in the verdict of this case. Many people believed that Xu Shui'er should avenge his father and should be innocent.So after the dispute was fruitless, he was sent to the palace and waited for the holy order.

With the case of Li Jinsi just now as a reference, Zhu Youjian's thinking has become much smoother.

After witnessing the tragic death of her father on the spot, the underage Xu Shui'er chose to endure temporarily because she was single and weak. She didn't stand up until she grew up, married a wife and had children, left offspring, and was strong enough. This kind of tenacity and courage to kill the principal criminal to avenge his father is really admirable.

And from the case of Xu's father's wrongful death five years ago, it can be inferred that there was very likely something behind the scenes at the beginning of the judgment. If not, the murderer was sentenced to death at the beginning, and there would be no vicious murders five years later.

The judiciary must be impartial, otherwise the dignity of vulnerable groups will be greatly damaged, and indirectly lead to an increase in social instability.

Although Xu Shui'er deserves sympathy and respect in this case, he cannot save his life. All he can do for him is to bring to justice the person who bent the law for personal gain in the past, so as to let him go freely.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian brought up Zhu Bi again and wrote the verdict: Xu Shui'er's case was rooted in the unjust death of his father, which is sympathetic, but his intentional murder violated the law and is unforgivable, so he was sentenced to hang.

The case of Xu's father's death was thoroughly investigated by the Sanju Judiciary together with Jin Yi. The truth must be found out before Xu Shui'er's execution and made public.

Because Xu's family lost their labor force one after another, fearing that their family members would not be able to raise their children, the government compensated Xu's family with 50 taels of silver.

The chief culprit of the Hu family is dead, so we will not pursue his responsibility in detail.

After writing the verdict, Zhu Youjian put the vermilion pen on the pen holder. Wang Chengen hurried forward to gather up the two files. Zhu Cihong came hurriedly with Zhao Xin from one side, with a solemn and heavy look on his face, as if he had encountered some major event.

　Thank you for the [-] starting point reward that I missed.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)