In ancient times, medical conditions were backward, and even the methods of autopsy were very scarce. In ancient times, people were dying for the most part, so dissecting the corpse was absolutely not allowed. Otherwise, it would be regarded as a traitor. Therefore, it was actually very difficult to find out the cause of a person's death in ancient times. If you understand a little medical knowledge, you may use some hidden means to kill others, thereby escaping the sanctions of the law.

Coroner appeared very early in the Central Plains. As early as the Warring States Period, countries had the position of "Lingshi", mainly responsible for leading some slaves to inspect the bodies. During the Han Dynasty, there were several yamen runners in the county government offices responsible for autopsy. However, the name coroner was not available at that time. It was not until the Sui and Tang Dynasties that the name coronerer officially appeared.

The name coroner did not actually refer to the person who was probing a body of a body, but to the person who was engaged in the funeral industry. However, autopsy is more taboo and most people are unwilling to do it. People in the funeral industry are originally dealing with dead people, so there are much less taboos in this regard. Therefore, local prefectures and counties in the county and government offices will hire several people with the funeral industry to work part-time in the yamen. Usually, they still do their own funeral industry. Only when encountering a murder case will they be summoned to perform a body of autopsy. Over time, coroner became the name of the occupation of ancient forensic doctors.

It is precisely because the coroners of the Tang Dynasty were all part-time jobs and had not studied medical knowledge that the methods of coroners and autopsy were naturally not very clever. In contrast, although Wu County Wei of Xinzhu County was not a coroner, his family's grandparents and grandchildren served as county lieutenants and summarized a lot of experience in the examination of the corpse. Therefore, his autopsy methods were much better than ordinary coroners. But even so, he still had to go through Li Xiu's reminder before and found that the suspected body of Huiming was burned after death. This shows how backward the forensic science of the Tang Dynasty was.

Although Xiao Yu was an important official in the Tang Dynasty and was very knowledgeable, he was born into a noble family and naturally had no idea about the lowly profession of coroner. Therefore, when he heard that Li Xiu had just determined that the other party was burning the body after death, he felt very absurd, let alone convinced him.

However, in Li Xiu's opinion, it doesn't matter whether Xiao Yu believes it. What is important is to make Li Shimin, Changsun Wuji and others believe it, so he asked Wu County Wei to explain. As far as he knows, Wu County Wei had verified his statement before.

When Wu County Magistrate heard Li Xiu ask him to explain, he couldn't help but become even more nervous. However, this was his job and he could not tolerate him at all, so he could only grit his teeth and go forward and said, "Your Majesty, the three generations of my grandparents and grandchildren all served as county magistrates, and they have a lot of experience in autopsy, so I dare to swear with the reputation of my third generation of the Wu family. The body suspected to be Huiming would definitely be burned after death!"

People in this era value family the most, and even the importance of family is ahead of the country. Therefore, when Wu County Wei swears with his reputation as his grandparents and grandchildren, it can't help but make people more convinced. If he is not sure, he will never dare to make such a big oath.

"Why are you so sure? Is it because of the prince consort's words?" Li Shimin asked with an interesting smile when he heard this.

"It's not just a reminder from the prince-consort. After taking the body back to the county government, I tried to verify the words of the prince-consort. I first found a live pig and then put it in the fire. But after I died, I found that the mouth and nose were full of smoke and ashes in the pig's mouth and nose. Later, I put a dead pig in the fire, but the mouth and nose were very clean. In fact, if you think about it carefully, you can understand that when the live pig is burned by the fire, it will definitely scream loudly, and naturally suck a lot of smoke and ashes, but this will not happen to the dead pig!" Wu County Wei was also a little bolder at this time and explained again.

"Your Majesty, I can guarantee the Wu County Majesty. When he was these things, the situation was indeed as he said. If Your Majesty and you all don't believe it, I and Wu County Majesty can do it again on the spot!" At this time, the magistrate Zhang also spoke out to guarantee the Wu County Majesty.

Hearing the words of the Magistrate Zhang and the Magistrate Wu, Li Shimin couldn't help but smile indifferently. He first looked at Li Xiu, and then he spoke again: "I believe the Magistrate Wu's words. After all, this principle is very simple. I wonder what your dear friends have to object?"

Li Shimin trusted Li Xiu the most. Even if Wu County Wei did not conduct the experiment, he would not doubt Li Xiu's words, because Li Xiu's words have never been wrong for many years, and he was sure that County Magistrate Zhang and Wu County Wei had absolutely no courage to lie in front of him. So although he did not say it explicitly, he felt that there was no need to do another experiment.

The ministers in the hall were all human wise, so they naturally heard what Li Shimin said. Therefore, Changsun Wuji was the first to express his belief in Wu County Magistrate's judgment. Other ministers also agreed, saying that there was no need to do any more experiments. However, at this time, Xiao Yu came forward stubbornly and said, "Your Majesty, it's no basis for speaking. The old ministers think it's better to do it again to verify whether the words of the prince-consort are credible!"

Li Shimin couldn't help but feel angry when he heard Xiao Yu's old stubborn words. However, as the emperor, he could not show too much to one side. If he wanted to convince Xiao Yu, he had to come up with certain evidence in front of him. Therefore, in the end he could only say helplessly: "Okay, since Xiao Xiang doesn't believe it, let's do it in the palace to see if the prince consort's argument is credible!"

At that moment, Li Shimin immediately ordered someone to prepare. In a short while, a guard prepared two fires outside the hall and led two sheep. Although the pork had been recognized by many nobles and even Li Shimin liked to eat it, the most mutton in the palace was mutton, so the live pig could not be found, so he could only replace it with live sheep, but it would not affect the result.

"Kill one of the sheep, and throw it into the fire together!" Li Shimin led Li Xiu and others to the outside of the hall, and then ordered the guards beside him.

"Let's wait!" But at this moment, Xiao Yu interrupted Li Shimin's order again, then stepped forward and said again, "Your Majesty, I want to check these two sheep first!"

Seeing that Xiao Yu didn't even believe him, Li Shimin's face changed. However, he had no choice but to Xiao Yu, the old stubborn man. Finally, he shook his sleeves and said angrily: "Since Xiao Xiang doesn't care that it's dirty, please let yourself do it!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Xiao Yu thanked again, and then he actually stepped forward in person, even opened the sheep's mouth and looked at it. He probably was afraid that someone would be tampered with. This made Li Xiu behind him quite helpless. The old man Xiao Yu was simply too stubborn, and he did not care about Li Shimin's face at all, so he deserved to be stopped many times in the future.
Chapter completed!