Volume 1 Zhangqiao Iron Coffin Chapter 43: Closed Court Trial
Xinye County, Yizhuang.
That night, the moon was dark, the sky was high, and the wind was cold.
Since most people were transferred to the county government office and Shen's residence, there was only one group of guards left to guard the place.
The shortage of manpower and the lack of shift changes meant that these people had to keep watch here the entire night. If they really stood outside on patrol meticulously, they would probably freeze to death.
In the cold wind, several guards were so cold that their hands and feet were numb, and they had to huddle in the corner of the wall where the wind was not blowing.
Originally, they could hide in the hall to keep warm, but there were four stinking corpses lying in the hall, and they would rather freeze outside than go into the house.
The wind was getting colder and colder, and the guards thought that nothing would go wrong tonight in such horrible weather.
However, they were wrong, as several dark figures in night clothes had been waiting in the dark for a long time.
Seeing that the time was ripe, they sneaked into the charity cemetery quietly, went around under the window, opened the window, and tiptoed into the hall.
There were four people in the group, all of them carrying barrels of tung oil.
After climbing into the hall, several people immediately split up and tried to spray the tung oil in their hands on .
Unexpectedly, before they opened the cork of the oil barrel, a huge net suddenly fell on their heads!
ah!!?
The four people were shocked, and one of them was covered by a huge net!
The other three reacted faster and rolled to the sides to avoid the big net.
Unexpectedly, before one of them could even stand up, he was hooked by several hooks.
As the hook tightened, the man's flesh could be heard cracking.
ah!
With a scream, the man was dragged into the shadows...
"Oh no, there's an ambush!"
The remaining two men in black realized that the situation was not good and immediately retreated towards the window.
Just as they leaped up and tried to escape through the window, several iron rods suddenly poked in from outside the window!
Boom!
The iron rod stabbed the two men, knocking them to the ground and causing them to spit blood.
Immediately afterwards, a dozen people dressed as guards rushed out from the darkness and pinned the two men to the ground with a special steel fork.
It turned out that the guards knew that there would be a sneak attack tonight and had been lying in ambush here for a long time.
Seeing the four men in black being subdued successfully, the guards thought the mission was accomplished.
But he never expected that the one covered by the net would suddenly strike a fire and ignite the oil barrel in his arms!
boom……
Tongues of flames gushed out instantly and then exploded from the net. In an instant, a huge fire broke out and the man was burned into a fireman!
But even so, the man still pounced on one of the corpses .
"Quick! Stop him, stop him!"
The leader of the guards was horrified and hurriedly called on the guards to stop them.
But at this moment, a ball of fire burst out from the darkness again. It turned out that the man in black who was hooked by the hook also ignited the oil barrel in his arms!
boom……
In an instant, the fire broke out and the guards were in a panic.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the man in black used up his last breath and finally threw himself on the corpse, causing the corpse to catch fire as well.
Seeing the corpse burning, the man in black finally showed a look of relief and was ready to die.
But he never expected that as the white cloth curled up from burning, he was surprised to find that underneath the white cloth was actually just a scarecrow, and there was no body at all...
ah……
The man in black howled in despair, then curled up into a ball, no longer moving...
A quarter of an hour later, the fire was put out by the guards. The two men in black who ignited the oil barrels had been burned beyond recognition.
"Boss..."
Just then, a guard reported to the leader, his tone full of regret.
The leader of the guards hurried over to check, only to find that the two men in black who were subdued by the steel forks had no vital signs.
After removing their masks, they saw that their faces were black, their lips were purple, and they were foaming at the mouth. It was obvious that they had committed suicide by taking poison...
…
The next morning, the sun did not appear on time, but was blocked by dark clouds, and tiny white granular snowflakes floated in the air.
"One, two, three, fall!"
boom!
A loud noise was heard in the courtyard of Xinye County Government, and a huge and heavy iron coffin fell in the middle of the courtyard.
The county government compound, which was originally spacious enough, suddenly looked small and depressing after the black iron coffin was placed in it.
After the iron coffin was settled, the workers began to dismantle the scaffolding. However, due to their unskilled operation, it took them a whole incense stick of time to finally remove all the tools.
After the workers left, more than 40 people including yamen runners, constables, jailers, servants, and handymen from the Xinye County government were brought into the courtyard one by one and stood around the iron coffin.
At the same time, the guards from the Internal Guard, the Ministry of Justice, the Governor's Office, and the County Magistrate's Office, all holding weapons, blocked and surrounded the entire county government office.
Looking at the court of the county government, there were four corpses lying . They were the Taoist in the iron coffin, the chief clerk Liu Zhang, and You Dalang and Chunniang.
The body was covered with a white cloth, which gave the court an eerie and solemn atmosphere.
There were five people sitting on the seats on both sides of the court. On the left were the censor Chen Taiji, the governor Li Yan, and the county magistrate Taimin.
On the right are the county magistrate Qiu Yongnian and the county magistrate Luo Baiwan.
Behind the five people stood clerks of various levels, including the legal advisor Yao Jin, and a group of guards from the Inner Guard Palace.
Sitting on the main seat behind the desk was the person in charge of this iron coffin case, the head of the Internal Guard Bureau - Cai Kun!
At this moment, Cai Kun was not as heroic and imposing as before. Instead, he was playing with the jade pendant from the Japanese in the East China Sea thoughtfully, as if he was thinking about something important.
Moreover, from his sunken eye sockets, it can be seen that he must have not slept the whole night and can hardly hide his fatigue.
"Sir..." At this time, a subordinate came to Cai Kun to report, "Everything is ready, we can start!"
"oh."
Cai Kun responded, immediately picked up the gavel on the case and slammed it down hard.
Bang!
With a crisp sound, the entire county government office suddenly became quiet.
It was different from previous trials, as here a large number of people were likely to be implicated in the case, so people held their breath and dared not even breathe.
The courtroom was dead silent and extremely depressing.
"Should I shout 'open court'?" Cai Kun asked Qiu Yongnian.
"Yes, yes!" Qiu Yongnian nodded quickly.
"Okay," Cai Kun said loudly to everyone, "I'll make it clear to you in advance that the Iron Coffin Case is a serious case with many implications, is complicated, and is quite sensitive.
"Therefore, we are going to have a special closed-court trial today. No matter what the final result is, everyone present must keep it secret until death. Do you understand? "
"Yes!" Everyone bowed and said yes.
"Okay!" Cai Kun nodded, "I declare that the Iron Coffin Case will now officially begin trial. Go to court! Bring the prisoner!!! "
