The big prison is different from the big prison. The big prison is under the control of the Ministry of Punishment, while the big prison is the imperial prison prepared for Lao Zhu when he wanted to set up the Jinyi Guards. However, due to Han Du's dissuasion, Lao Zhu gave up the idea of setting up the Jinyi Guards. This imperial edict is naturally useless.
Moreover, Lao Zhu was also stingy and reluctant to spend money. When he heard Han Du say that there would be hundreds of thousands of Jin Yiwei to support in the future, he immediately felt numb and never mentioned the establishment of Jin Yiwei again.
However, although the Jinyi Guards were not established, the responsibilities of Yiluan Si still existed, so the imperial prison was changed to the Great Prison and fell into the hands of Yiluan Si.
As soon as the Shen family landed at the shore, they were secretly escorted to the prison, and Shen Zhou was imprisoned in the innermost cell. The cell was dark and closed. Under the light of the torches on the mud wall, the doorposts of the cell left dark shadows on the messy ground. They were like ghost claws crawling out of the underworld, constantly rubbing and caressing Shen Zhou's body. jump.
Shen Zhou raised his head and stared at the flames dancing on the wall with deep fear in his eyes. This was the only thing he could see moving in the past two days.
There was no daylight inside the cell, and Shen Zhou didn't know what time it was outside. He just suddenly felt an unusually deep cold, as if even the fire in his eyes was beating much slower.
Shen Zhou's face was lost and dull, and he subconsciously turned his gaze in the direction of the corridor. After waiting for a moment, he saw a deep black shadow slowly protruding from the shadow.
The visitor was dressed in night clothes, and even his hair and face were tightly wrapped in layers of black cloth. There were only two eyes, shining with a chilling light under the firelight.
Shen Zhou suddenly trembled, feeling as if he was enveloped by a bone-chilling chill. Extreme fear clenched his heart, making him forget to even breathe. He couldn't help but kick his feet on the ground several times, as if he wanted to stay away from this person.
"You, who are you?"
The visitor did not speak, but walked towards Shen Zhou in a leisurely manner, taking each step as if measured with a ruler.
Shen Zhou was suddenly invaded by a strong fear, and he shouted in excitement: "Someone is coming, someone is coming quickly..."
But Shen Zhou yelled several times, but there was no reaction at all from the prison that was supposed to be heavily guarded.
The person who came was not slow in his steps, deliberately lowered his voice, laughed twice with a bit of hoarseness, and said: "You don't have to shout, I transferred everyone away for too many reasons at this moment. Do you think , just how many times you roar can you escape?"
The man in black walked outside the cell door, reached out and took out a key from his arms, and easily opened the cell door.
When Shen Zhou saw this scene, his eyes widened in fear and he backed away repeatedly. But the cell is so big, where can he retreat to? After retreating to the corner, his legs were still glaring hard like he was playing a pipa, as if he wanted to squeeze himself out of the cell and stay away from this person who was getting closer and closer.
"You, who are you? Why do you have the key to the cell, and how did you transfer everyone away?"
The man in black approached Shen Zhou unhurriedly and sneered: "Of course I can transfer the people under my command. As for the key, what do you think?"
"Don't come over!" Shen Zhou was sweating on his forehead, his face was pale, and his eyes were wide open, filled with extreme fear.
Shen Zhou looked at the man in black who was approaching him step by step. He shouted in his heart and wanted to rush forward to fight for his life. But with his physique, how could he be the opponent of the man in black?
The man in black just calmly stretched out his right hand and pinched Shen Zhou's neck. The scene was as if Shen Zhou took the initiative to give his neck to the man in black.
"Fighting to the death!" The man in black smiled ferociously, then tightly grabbed Shen Zhou's throat with his five fingers, and lifted him up bit by bit.
Shen Zhou felt an irresistible force that lifted him off the ground bit by bit. His eyes were wide open, and his face was full of fear of death. He tried desperately to make some noise and get the slightest chance of survival, but no words came out of his mouth, only the violent ups and downs of his chest and the sounds of his throat.
The two feet were stretched straight, and the toes were stretched with attachment to the earth, wanting to touch the earth again.
"Bang!" A loud noise erupted, echoing repeatedly in the sealed underground, causing Shen Zhou to have a buzzing auditory hallucination in his ears.
The man in black was suddenly startled, and couldn't help but loosen his right hand. His eyes were full of surprise and fear, and he turned around to look for where the sound came from.
Shen Zhou suddenly fell to the ground, and the restraint on his throat was instantly released. After regaining his freedom, Shen Zhou desperately breathed air again and again. The greed for air reaches the point of disregard.
Jiang Wei held the revolver in one hand and walked out of the shadows step by step with a smile on his face.
When the man in black saw Jiang Wei, his expression was not moved at all. When he looked at the person coming out from behind Jiang Wei, his pupils suddenly shrank to the size of a needle tip.
"So this is a game, a game against me?"
After saying that, the man in black looked back at Shen Zhou, who was sitting on the ground. Seeing that he looked completely useless, he looked back at the person behind Jiang Wei.
emperor!
Lao Zhu walked forward with a gloomy face, stood across the cell door, looked at the man in black, and asked in a deep voice: "How long are you going to hide it? Mao Xiang."
Hearing this, the man in black lowered his head helplessly and pulled off the black cloth covering his face, revealing a face that was familiar to everyone. It was indeed Mao Xiang!
Lao Zhu sighed heavily, "I promoted you from a school captain and asked you to protect me. I put my safety in your hands. I didn't expect that you turned out to be a poisonous snake."
Lao Zhu was really sad about Mao Xiang. If Mao Xiang was not Lao Zhu's trusted confidant, he would never have let Mao Xiang serve as the commander of Yiluan Division. One can imagine how Lao Zhu felt after being betrayed by the person he trusted the most.
At this point, Mao Xiang was not going to make any excuses, but since Lao Zhu talked about friendship with him, he naturally wanted to vent his grievances.
"Your Majesty also knows that I am always with you. If I really want to do harm to Your Majesty, Your Majesty, ask yourself, can you escape?"
Lao Zhu's heart sank, and this was what he couldn't understand. Since Mao Xiang was sent by those people, why has Mao Xiang been by his side for many years but never done anything bad to him?
"What exactly do you want to do?"
Mao Xiang sighed slightly and said: "I have served the emperor all my life, but unfortunately my background is a hidden danger. In addition, I have served the emperor through life and death for more than ten years, and I have blocked many open and secret arrows, but in the end, the emperor does not even have a title." Give it to me.
Han Du had only been in the emperor's sight for two years. He was first granted the title of uncle, and soon he was granted the title of marquis. He has only been with the emperor for two years, but I have been with the emperor for more than ten years. Why does the emperor favor one over the other? If it were the emperor, would he be willing to do so? "
Lao Zhu laughed angrily and said: "Is that why you are here? Just because I banned Han Du but not you?"
Mao Xiang took a deep breath and said seriously: "Yes, I admit that in terms of talent, I am indeed inferior to Han Du. However, no matter how capable he is, he has only been with the emperor for two years. I have been with him for more than ten years. Years, there is hard work without merit. Can't you give me a title? Even an earl will do!"
"More than ten years?" Lao Zhu smiled and shook his head. His tone slowly turned cold. He raised his head and looked at Mao Xiang and said sternly: "You shouldn't keep a dog that you haven't grown familiar with for more than ten years."
"Hahaha..." Mao Xiang laughed suddenly, looked at Lao Zhu with a relaxed expression, and said, "I know the emperor wants to kill me, but you can't kill me."
The traitor Lao Zhu was always killed without mercy. For poisonous snakes like Mao Xiang, Lao Zhu hated him beyond measure. When he thought that Mao Xiang, as the commander of Yiluan Division, had been installed by others, Lao Zhu could not help but be filled with fear.
If only Mao Xiang had the idea of murdering him, Lao Zhu might not be able to escape the day he was born.
Lao Zhu folded his hands and asked calmly: "I can't kill you? Do you think I don't dare?"
"The emperor has killed countless people in his life. He can kill whoever he wants. Why don't you dare?" Mao Xiang said in a relaxed tone, without any consciousness of killing people. He continued: "However, we are here in the Central Plains. It has been in business for more than a hundred years. We have people both inside and outside the court. If the emperor kills me, then prepare to sleep with one eye open."
"If the emperor can let me go, I will tell you everything I know immediately, how about it?"
Lao Zhu was threatened by Mao Xiang, and his face suddenly turned frosty. He had never been threatened in his life, but until now, the grass on the graves of those who had threatened him had dried up countless times.
"Haha..." Lao Zhu smiled faintly at first.
This laughter made Mao Xiang feel cold all over.
When Mao Xiang was unsure, Lao Zhu continued: "You mean you? Oh, by the way, I heard that your original surname is Yang. Should I call you Yang Xiang? Or something else?"
Mao Xiang's pupils suddenly shrank, he suddenly thought of something, and quickly turned his head to look at Shen Zhou on the ground.
At this time, Shen Zhou didn't know when he quietly crawled in front of Mao Xiang close to the cell. When he saw Mao Xiang's murderous eyes, he was suddenly frightened.
He rolled and crawled out of the cell, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, save me, Your Majesty, save me..."
Mao Xiang saw that the head of the Shen family was so cowardly, his face turned red with anger, and he wanted to step forward and catch him. But suddenly he felt a stinging pain in the middle of his eyebrows. When he looked up, it turned out to be Jiang Yu who raised his hand and pointed the black muzzle at him.
The steps Mao Xiang had just taken paused for an instant, and he cursed at Shen Zhou angrily: "Trash! How can there be a family head like you among the six families?"
Shen Zhou fled to the emperor's side, and there was no life or death crisis. He suddenly became arrogant. Faced with Mao Xiang's insults, he jumped up and scolded him back: "I'm a waste? Do you think you are good? Don't you want to sell yourself to others for glory? "
After scolding, he quickly turned around and bowed to Lao Zhu and said: "Your Majesty, I know the arrangement of the Shen family in Daming. If the Emperor can spare this villain's life, I will submit the list now."
A proud smile appeared on Lao Zhu's face. Mao Xiang glanced at him, raised his hand to stop the excited Shen Zhou, and said, "There's no rush."
"Yes, yes, yes... No rush, no rush. Whenever the emperor wants it, the villain will give it to him." Seeing that his life was expected to be saved, Shen Zhou quickly nodded humbly, as flatteringly as a The dog wagging its tail. He stood aside obediently and said nothing.
Lao Zhu smiled, looked at Mao Xiang and said, "It seems that you have never thought about truly repenting. What you just said was just a temporary measure on your part, right?"
Mao Xiang was immediately speechless. He really had never thought about repenting. In other words, Mao Xiang never really trusted anyone from beginning to end. He not only completely obeyed the orders of the six families, but also disobeyed Lao Zhu Yang.
From beginning to end, all he cared about was himself. If Lao Zhu could give him a knighthood, then maybe he would have found a way to betray the members of the six families, so as to become a stepping stone for him to rise higher and higher. Of course, if the Six Families could give him more benefits, then maybe he would not hesitate to attack Lao Zhu.
The reason why he was angry at Shen Zhou's shamelessness just now was because Shen Zhou took the path he wanted to take, leaving him with no way to go.
"Ha, hahaha..." Mao Xiang raised his head and laughed, his laughter full of frustration and sadness.
"Now that the matter has come to this, I have nothing to say. It's up to you whether you want to kill or behead him."
Seeing how clean Mao Xiang was, Lao Zhu nodded slightly with satisfaction and said, "You can't run away if you are cut to pieces with a thousand cuts, but before that, I still have something to ask you."
Mao Xiang snorted coldly and turned his head to the side with a look of disdain, obviously not prepared to answer Lao Zhu.
Lao Zhu didn't care. He was even more pleasant than before and said in a positive tone: "When I found out that Fang Benzhai colluded with the female officer and killed my grandson, I was thinking that the Imperial Guards Department is very strict in selecting school captains. Things. Since Fang Benzhai’s background is not clean, it will be extremely difficult for him to be chosen. Now it seems that your contribution should be involved in this, right? "
Mao Xiang's face twitched, and he said in a broken voice: "Yes, I arranged for him to enter the East Palace in the first place. Not only that, when he escaped, I also arranged it in advance."
Lao Zhu nodded, "That makes sense. Originally, I was still wondering how a small captain could accurately deliver the message to the female officer after leaving early."
Originally, both Lao Zhu and Han Du were surprised by this. You must know that although Fang Benzhai had colluded with the female officer, it was impossible for him to let the female officer take action a few months in advance. Fang Benzhai was not a magician who could figure things out, so how could he possibly know that Zhu Xiongying would become seriously ill in a few months?
At that time, Han Du wondered whether Fang Benzhai had not left the capital at all and had been hiding in the dark, commanding the female officers. But later, Yi Luansi found no trace of Fang Benzhai, and the matter fell into disuse.
After Han Du caught Fang Benzhai, he knew he would die and refused to say anything. This became an unsolvable mystery.
Now, Lao Zhu finally understood what was going on. It turned out that there was a poisonous snake lurking next to him, conveying news to them.
Thinking of this, Lao Zhu's hatred for Mao Xiang burst out instantly, and he no longer wanted to say anything to him. He raised his hand, moved his fingers, and said: "Come here, take him down for me and wait for him to be punished!"
"No need!" Mao Xiang shouted suddenly, frightening Jiang Ying who was about to step forward. Before anyone could react, he held the key to the cell door in his hand and stabbed himself in the temple.
The one-card-long iron key was halfway into Mao Xiang's temple in an instant. Mao Xiang's eyes widened and his lips moved, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't even say a word. The look in his eyes quickly faded, and his whole body fell softly as if his bones had been torn apart. There is no life left on the earth.
Mao Xiang has led the Yiluan Division for many years and is fully aware of Lao Zhu's ruthless methods. He knew that if he was caught, he would probably be greeted by someone who could not survive but could not wish to die, so it would be better to die cleanly.
Therefore, after Lao Zhu rejected his plea for mercy, he was already preparing to seek death. Just now, he deliberately yelled to scare everyone temporarily, and then he quickly took action.
Jiang Wei's expression changed, and he quickly stepped forward to check Mao Xiang's true identity. Two fingers were placed on Mao Xiang's neck, and he couldn't feel the slightest blood pulse, and his expression could not help but darken.
Today's game was planned by him after he reported it to Lao Zhu after getting the news. Originally, he wanted to expose Mao Xiang's true colors, and then take advantage of Mao Xiang's downfall so that he could use it to achieve success.
Things did develop in the direction he expected. After Mao Xiang learned that the head of the Shen family had been caught, as he expected, he couldn't wait to come and silence him. This scene happened to be seen clearly by the emperor, and Mao Xiang was indeed exposed.
But he did not expect that Mao Xiang would be so decisive. When he saw that there was no way to survive, he gave up his illusions and committed suicide on the spot.
This makes Jiang Yu always have the feeling of giving up halfway and failing to do his best.
But now that the person is dead, it is useless for Jiang Yu to be reluctant.
He slowly stood up, turned around, shook his head towards the emperor, and replied: "He is dead."
Lao Zhu snorted coldly, "It's an advantage for him."
He waved his sleeves and robe, turned around and walked towards the outside of the prison.
Jiang Wei kicked Mao Xiang's corpse angrily, wanting to chop it into pieces and feed it to the dogs.
At this time, Lao Zhu's faint voice came from the front, "Bury it."
Jiang Wei was startled and quickly bowed and said: "I obey your order."
When Lao Zhu spoke, he walked out without stopping at all. Lao Zhu naturally hated Mao Xiang, but now that he was dead, Lao Zhu gave him some dignity because he had been by his side for many years and had not done anything to him.
Jiang Wei lowered his head and looked at the emperor and his entourage. He didn't straighten up until the last person's back disappeared at the end of the corridor. After taking a look at Mao Xiang's body, I didn't understand why the emperor let him go at the last moment even though he hated him so much.
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