In the Great Feng, the Jingcha system for imperial officials is assessed every three years, and promotion and demotion are based on the "Four Grids" and "Eight Methods". Unqualified officials will be demoted or even reduced to commoners. This is related to their future prospects. If they have a distant relative who is a censor, they could be impeached and lose their position.

The backlog of unsolved cases in Changle County could become a reason for political enemies to attack.

"How did he die?" Xu Qi'an asked casually.

"He went to collect rent in the countryside and was killed by a thief when he returned home at midnight," a colleague said.

"Is there any evidence?" Xu Qi'an asked.

"The wife heard some noise and went out to check. By the time she found him, he was already dead in the courtyard. However, we found footprints on the outer wall," the colleague replied.

"Is it possible that it was an enemy disguised as a thief?" Xu Qi'an poured himself a cup of tea and added some preserved fruits from his colleague.

His tone was like when he used to discuss murder cases with his colleagues at the police station.

"We asked his wife, children, and servants, as well as the neighbors, and the deceased did not have any enemies recently," the colleague said.

"Did the night patrol soldiers ask around?" Xu Qi'an asked.

"The Imperial Guards said that there were no suspicious people around that night," the colleague replied.

There are three walls in the capital city, the Palace City, the Inner City, and the Outer City. Although there are night patrol soldiers in the Outer City, there is no curfew, and the city gates are open all day and night. As long as merchants and traders have the proper documents, they can enter and leave the city gates freely.

This system greatly improves the commercial trade of the capital city and promotes economic development.

"That means, if it was a thief, he must have been familiar with Kangping Street and knew the patrol rules of the Imperial Guards," Xu Qi'an nodded and analyzed while instinctively reaching for a cigarette in his pocket.

He found nothing and couldn't help but think of the time when he was addicted to smoking while working at the police station.

His colleagues were surprised and looked at Xu Qi'an.

"That's very reasonable."

"Why didn't we think of that?"

"Ning Yan has become smarter after spending time in prison."

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There is no systematic teaching curriculum for catchers, and their success depends on experience. The one with the best performance can become the head of the catchers.

"You didn't think of it, but Captain Wang must have. Have you asked around the west side of the city?" Xu Qi'an said humbly.

"We've been asking for two days, but we haven't identified any suspects yet," the colleague replied.The west of the city was a slum full of petty thieves and swindlers, where law and order were only maintained by the yamen runners and their white servants. "How much silver was lost?" Xu Qi'an instinctively started to reason in his mind and asked.

A colleague glanced at Xu Qi'an and thought he sounded like a county magistrate. He replied, "Nothing was lost. The victim had just collected rent, and all he had was broken silver, copper coins, and grain. How could the thief carry away a large box of silver after killing someone?"

Something's not right!

Xu Qi'an narrowed his eyes. If he were the thief, he would come to steal the next day instead of today. He didn't voice his doubts and continued listening to his colleague while cracking melon seeds.

"It's a pity that such a beautiful woman will become a widow at such a young age. Her figure and breasts are so outstanding that you won't find a better woman in the theater. Even if it costs one or two silver to sleep with her for a night, I'm willing to do it," his colleague said.

"She's not that young anymore. She's about thirty years old, twenty years older than that surnamed Zhang. Women at this age can't keep their husbands alive."

Hearing this, Xu Qi'an sighed, "A thirty-year-old woman is great. She knows more about the bed and can bring endless pleasure."

His words of wisdom didn't get his colleagues' approval. They laughed and teased him, "You're still a virgin who has never been to the theater. What do you know?"

If you want to practice martial arts, you have to break through the Qi cultivation stage before you can achieve the body-refining stage. Once you lose your virginity, it's hard to open the Tianmen.

Therefore, Xu Qi'an had carried the Dinghai divine needle for nineteen years and had never surrendered to any female demon.

...

In the backyard where the county magistrate lived, Wang, the head catcher, who looked like an old farmer, listened to the county magistrate's scolding with a lack of interest.

The county magistrate, surnamed Zhu, was a wealthy and fat man from Yanzhou. He was a third-rank scholar in the Yuanjing period and was good at scheming but not at public affairs. He was a scholar who knew how to be an official.

His advantage was that he had a conscience and was not too greedy. His disadvantage was that he had a bad temper towards his subordinates and was prone to using foul language.

"Incompetent! How incompetent you are!" The county magistrate was angry when he learned that Wang had made no progress in the case.

"You're an experienced old hand, and you've been investigating this murder for so many days without any clues." Wang was sweating profusely and felt uneasy.

With the Jingcha inspection coming soon, the county magistrate became even more irritable... Li, the historian, didn't dare to interrupt, even though he had been friends with Wang for more than ten years.Li Dian Shi knew that the county lord had been wanting to rise up in rank, and there were two conditions for promotion: having a backer and political achievements!

Without political achievements, only having a backer would make it easy to be impeached and the position unstable.

Only with both political achievements and a backer could one rise up steadily.

Where do political achievements come from?

The Jingcha is an important assessment standard.

After a quarter of an hour, County Lord Zhu withdrew his gaze and picked up his teacup for a sip.

It was customary in officialdom to serve tea to guests!

Seeing this, Li Dian Shi pulled the silent Wang Catcher, and the two left in a sorry state.

...

Wang Catcher returned to the resting room with an unpleasant expression. The messy room suddenly quieted down, and everyone looked at him carefully.

"Boss, did County Lord Zhu scold you again?"

Wang Catcher rolled his eyes, grabbed a teacup and took a sip. "Damn it, the person is dead and the thief is gone, where can I find them? Today is too unlucky, and I even lost a silver coin."

"That coin was lost by you... Xu Qi'an shrank his neck, drank tea to hide his guilt.

It's obvious that the silver coin has nothing to do with you.

After hearing Wang Catcher's complaint, a small catcher gave him a bad idea. "How about we fish?"

Xu Qi'an's eyebrows twitched. Fishing is a professional term in the lower-level officialdom!

It means finding a scapegoat.

Due to the limitations of technology and equipment, most ancient cases were headless cases, with a very low clearance rate. Sometimes, officials would find a scapegoat to take the blame in order to show achievements or to satisfy their superiors' pressure.

The process is like this. First, the local officials select a group of old rascals who often commit crimes, write their names on paper and fold them up. The officials randomly pick one.

Whoever is picked becomes the scapegoat.

That's why it's called fishing.

After the unlucky person is identified, the officials send someone to arrest them and bring them back to the yamen to go through a "forced confession" process. Even the toughest person will confess.

The superiors are satisfied, the middle-level officials are rewarded, the officials are rewarded, and everyone is happy. The scapegoat is not wronged either. Anyway, they are a bad person, and it's better to send them on their way to reincarnation early, which is also for the benefit of the people around them.

There are many similar tricks in officialdom.

Wang Catcher nodded. "We can only do that. Xiao Li, you go and pick a few older rascals."

Just as Xiao Li was about to nod, Xu Qi'an frowned. "Wait! Boss, this case has many doubts and is not easy to handle."

Xu Qi'an didn't agree with this reasoning. Although he hadn't been a policeman for many years, the three views he had established back then were still intact.Although he was a scoundrel who committed crimes, he didn't deserve to die. Even if he deserved to die, it should be a fair punishment.

If we find someone else to replace him, the real culprit will get away with it.

Wang, the head catcher, frowned and looked at him unhappily without saying a word.

Everyone persuaded, "Ning Yan, don't be nosy."

"The boss gets scolded every day, but there's nothing we can do. Besides, he's just a troublemaker."

Those who had a better relationship with him said, "Boss, Ning Yan's family just suffered a great disaster, so he may be sensitive to this kind of thing."

Wang, the head catcher, ignored them and stared at Xu Qi'an, becoming unhappy. He said with a stern face, "Tell me, how do we investigate?"

"Give me the file!" Xu Qi'an said straightforwardly.