Henry was still marveling at the advanced forensic system of Qin, which could rival that of modern forensic science, when he heard Jack ask him, “Who taught you your martial arts?”

He thought to himself that this was bad. His enemy-capturing boxing was not something from this era. Seeing that Jack, like someone with Virgo-level obsession for details, would not let any flaw go, he dared not make up a story and could only use a dead man as a scapegoat.

So Henry said, “It was passed down by my late father. He once served in the army, earned merit by beheading enemies, and was granted the rank of commoner-knight. He also used to chop wood in the mountains and once fought a wild boar, from which he developed a set of boxing techniques. Since he favored me most among his three sons, he taught it only to me…”

What a lie! If he remembered correctly, his cheap old man’s favorite was actually the youngest son, “Frank,” the very brother who, according to history, went to the army camp with Henry. But now Henry had become skilled at lying without showing any cracks. Anyway, the old man had been dead for years—no matter how capable Jack was, could he question a ghost?

Sure enough, Jack frowned. Although his intuition told him that Henry was not telling the whole truth, he found nothing suspicious and did not pursue it further. He simply said to the clerks in the hall:

“Record this: the three thieves were indeed captured by Henry and Edward, no mistake. Next, we move to the case of the Luyang Ting Chief…”

He looked at Henry: “Henry, earlier you accused the Luyang Ting Chief and Robber of trying to steal credit and cheat for rewards. Do you still stand by this?”

Henry cupped his hands and replied, “The authorities encourage reporting wrongdoers. I still stand by my accusation.”

Jack put on a stern face and said, “The Luyang Ting Chief is an official of the government. Do you know that if you falsely accuse an official and it is proven, you will be charged with false accusation and severely punished!”

At this point, there was no turning back. Henry raised his head and said, “I know, but I am only stating my grievance and dare not conceal anything.”

“Good.” Jack nodded and signaled to Mark and David: “Bring in the Luyang Ting Chief and the others! Today, both cases must be concluded!”

With the sound of footsteps, the people from Luyang Ting were brought in one by one. There was the small and thin Robber, and three Ting soldiers. After entering the hall, they all glared fiercely at Henry, their hatred written all over their faces…

The Luyang Ting Chief, with a horse-like face, came in last. Upon entering, he first looked around and found the merchant Baker, who was standing aside as a witness, and stared him down. Only after Baker shrank back and nodded did the Ting Chief breathe a sigh of relief.

He then turned to Henry, secretly sneering: “You brat, when we confront each other later, I’ll make sure you’re left speechless and unable to clear your name!”

……

PS: The interrogation process, Q&A, and the judge’s final verdict in this chapter are based on the “Feng Zhen Shi” interrogation articles.

Also attached is a translation of the “Death of a Thief” from the Yunmeng Qin bamboo slips:

A male corpse was found lying on its back south of a certain house. There was a blade wound on the left temple, and two blade wounds on the back, all vertical, each 4 cun long and 1 cun wide. The center of the wounds was sunken, resembling the mark of an axe. Blood had flowed around, staining the head, back, and ground. No other injuries were found.

The body was dressed in a single-layer cloth short coat and a skirt, each with one piece. The back of the short coat, corresponding to the wound, had two slashes, and both the back and front of the coat were stained with blood.

To the west of the body was a pair of Qin-style hemp shoes—one was just over six paces from the body, the other ten paces away. When the shoes were put on the corpse, they fit perfectly. The ground was hard, with no trace of the killer. The deceased was a robust adult male, with fair skin, 7 chi 1 cun tall, and hair 2 chi long. There were two old moxibustion scars on the abdomen…

After reading this, I feel I need to calm down.

Chapter 0010: Which hand hit you?

The Luyang Ting Chief’s name was Grace, a man in his twenties, living in the county seat. It was said he was a relative of the county’s Left Commandant, inheriting his father’s rank, and held the third-level title of “Zan Niao” (zān niǎo). He passed the Qin official examination with his martial skills and was appointed as the Luyang Ting Chief. Young and successful, he had always been arrogant.

Perhaps because Grace had a title and official rank, he was allowed to speak first about the incident…

“Let the superior officer be informed.”

Grace seemed very familiar with interrogation procedures. He first bowed respectfully to the presiding officer, then slowly said:

“That day, I was in Luyang Ting, practicing weapons with two or three men. Suddenly, the local merchant Baker came seeking help, saying a group of thieves had attacked him nine li south of the Ting.”

“I dared not delay and immediately gathered Robber and the Ting soldiers to rush over. When we arrived, we saw the three thieves already tied up, but the two who had captured them were whispering to each other, discussing something.”

“I became suspicious, went up to question them, and as usual, checked their identification and asked how the two of them managed to capture four thieves. Unexpectedly, the one named Henry kept making excuses and, after a few words, actually started a fight with me and even hit me! Later, when he saw the superior officer’s carriage, he knocked down Robber and the Ting soldiers, ran into the road, and falsely accused me of stealing credit and cheating for rewards… That’s what happened, nothing more.”

“He’s lying!”

Edward was anxious, but managed to remember why he had been hit earlier, and waited until the Ting Chief finished before hurriedly refuting him.

“Ting Chief, I didn’t know you before, and we had no grudge. Why would I falsely accuse you? How could I, alone, dare to hit you, a Ting Chief, in front of all the Luyang Ting people?” Henry couldn’t help but start questioning him.