Records of Criminal Prosecution Cases in the Song Dynasty

During the Qingli period of the Northern Song Dynasty, Shen Yanzhi, an official in Tingzhou, did not like the imperial examination and was obsessed with the art of criminal law and autopsy. He offended the powerful in redressing unjust cases and was demoted to the west of Fujian. Three days after taking office, he encountered a "ghost house massacre case" - a wealthy businessman's family of five were sitting in the hall, their faces were blue and purple, and they died in strange ways. People all said "the ghost is asking for her life". Shen Yanzhi did not believe in ghosts and gods, so he used a piece of black powder between his fingernails and the remains of an extinguished oil lamp to tear apart the illusion of the "haunted house" and uncover a murderous murder of his father that had been hidden for ten years. From the haunted house in Tingzhou, to the serial murder case of the embroidered lady in Bianliang; from the floating corpses in the south of the Yangtze River, to the bones on the border; from the salt poison curse, to the power struggle in the court, and the spies of the Liao Kingdom... Shen Yanzhi took his widowers, arresters, and staff along the way to examine the corpses, examine the bones, and peel off the cocoons. In the shadow of the Song Dynasty, he tried to bring justice to the dead and protect the peace of the living.