The development of the matter did not exceed Hai Rui's expectation. After Jiaxiang County Magistrate Zhou Wande sent people to spread the news, it quickly caused an uproar in the local area, and the people were talking about it.
At this moment, at a tea stall outside Jiaxiang County, several customers began to discuss this matter.
"Hey, have you heard that the gentleman sent by the imperial court to investigate the case took someone away today at the Zongsheng Temple in front of the head of the Zeng family!"
"What, did that gentleman take the courage of a bear and a leopard? He actually dared to go against the Zeng family. Where did he get the confidence? You know, the Zeng family is not simple!"
"Yes, that's right. Not only does the Zeng family have people in the court, but they also have a very good relationship with Yan Shenggong!"
"Hmph, it's superficial. Do you know who the gentleman sent by the court to investigate the case this time is? Let me tell you, that gentleman is a senior official from the Inspectorate. His name seems to be Hai... Hai Rui? "
Just as the local people were discussing this topic in full swing.
On the other side, the remaining members of the Zeng clan also found out through various channels that Hai Rui was interrogating the detained Zeng clan members at the Jiaxiang County government office.
At this moment, in the room, after taking Zeng Hong's pulse, the doctor turned around, looked at the concerned Zeng clan member not far away, and gave instructions.
"He must rest during the next period of time, and he must not be exposed to any stimulation again. Do you understand?"
"Okay, doctor!"
When the doctor saw this, he immediately looked away and said to himself.
"Next, I will give you a prescription, you just need to follow it and take the medicine!"
"Three coins of Angelica sinensis, six coins of deer antlers, two coins of Schisandra chinensis..."
Before the doctor finished speaking, he heard rapid footsteps coming from outside.
Not long after, the door to the room was pushed open with great force, and several panic-looking Zeng clan members filed in. They immediately turned their attention to Zeng Hong, who was resting on the bed, and reported breathlessly.
"Clan... Patriarch, no... it's not good. That Hai Rui sent someone to release the news, saying that our Zeng family has something to do with the White Lotus Sect. Everyone involved has been escorted to prison by him. Now he is in prison. In the Jiaxiang County government office, interrogate our clansmen!"
When the doctor heard this, his expression suddenly changed. Just as he was about to give some advice, he saw Zeng Hong, who was originally lying on the bed, suddenly sitting up from the bed.
After listening to the clan members' report, Zeng Hong's face suddenly became extremely ugly. An endless anger filled his chest. He gritted his teeth and struggled to get up from the bed.
After repeated attempts to no avail, he could barely support half of his body and said in a deep voice.
"Hai Rui, my Zeng family will never forgive you. I must let you understand the consequences of angering my Zeng family!"
Seeing this situation, the few Zeng clan members who came to report the situation wanted to ask Zeng Hong about the next countermeasures.
But before they could speak, Zeng Hong suddenly vomited blood and his spirit visibly weakened. After losing support, Zeng Hong fell onto the bed again.
When everyone saw this, they immediately panicked and hurriedly stepped forward and begged the doctor for help.
"Doctor, the patriarch is vomiting blood, please save him!"
"Clan leader, please don't let anything happen to you!"
"If something happens to you, our Zeng family will be in ruins! Doctor, hurry up, save the patriarch..."
…
While the Zeng family was in a hurry, the Jiaxiang County government office was in jail.
Ever since the Zeng clan, headed by Zeng Xian, the leader of the Nanzong branch, were taken into prison in Jiaxiang County, what awaited them was the torture of Jin Yiwei.
Especially Zeng Qing, who had previously left his name on the confession, received special attention from Jin Yiwei.
At this moment, in the prison, after being tortured by Jin Yiwei, Zeng Qing was already dying. His hair was scattered and his head was hanging weakly.
The bright red blood flowed down his chin and kept dripping to the ground, making a "plop" sound.
Seeing this situation, Guan Rui, a member of the Jinyiwei family, immediately gave instructions to the Jinyiwei who was in charge of the torture.
"Pour him awake and continue the torture!"
"Yes, sir!"
As early as before, after enduring the punishment of Jin Yiwei, Zeng Qing had been tortured to the point of being deformed, and there were not even a few good pieces of meat left on his body.
Not only that, there were various scars all over his body, and some wounds were oozing blood.
Soon after, Jin Yiwei came forward and poured a bucket of cold water mixed with salt down Zeng Qing's head.
The moment the salt water came into contact with his body, Zeng Qing suddenly woke up. The burning pain that came from all over his body almost drove him crazy. Since his hands and feet were tied tightly, even though he had exhausted all his strength I tried my best to break free, but to no avail.
Suddenly, Zeng Qing's shrill wails sounded in the prison, making people shudder.
Guan Rui, a member of Jinyiwei Baihu, has been watching with cold eyes from beginning to end.
Seeing Zeng Qing's voice gradually calm down, Guan Rui immediately stepped forward and asked.
"Why, is Jin Yiwei's punishment easy to bear? Do you want to tell me?"
When Zeng Qing heard this, he did not respond. He just lowered his head and kept repeating the previous sentence.
"I...I don't know anything. I was wronged..."
When Guan Rui heard this, the expression on his face suddenly became extremely gloomy. He snorted coldly and immediately spoke.
"Hmph, I really can't shed tears until I see the coffin. Let me give you a taste of the "Three Needles of the King of Hell"!"
As Guan Rui spoke, he slowly took out the steel needle from his arms and explained to himself.
"Do you know how the name "Three Needles of the King of Hell" came from? It means that no matter how tough a person you meet, if you take three needles, you will open your mouth!"
After Guan Rui finished speaking, he suddenly pierced the steel needle in his hand into Zeng Qing's spine. In an instant, Zeng Qing felt an indescribable severe pain gradually spreading. Zeng Qing burst into tears from the pain and frantically pushed He threw his head back and hit it against the post that bound him, hoping to relieve the pain.
However, because his hands and feet were tied tightly, Zeng Qing was unable to achieve his wish. Later, as his struggle became more and more intense, the severe pain became more and more clear, and the expression on Zeng Qing's face was extremely ferocious. , his eyes were full of begging, and his mouth was still whimpering.
Upon seeing this, Guan Rui immediately pulled out the steel needle from Zeng Qing's spine. After a moment, he saw that the unspeakable pain was relieved, and the expression on Zeng Qing's face became calm again.
At this moment, Zeng Qing's clothes were soaked with sweat. He was seizing this rare opportunity to breathe, breathing heavily.
Just when Zeng Qing thought he could breathe a sigh of relief, Guan Rui's joking voice sounded in his ears again.
"How does the "Three Needles of Hell" taste? Do you want another one?"
After Guan Rui finished speaking, he made a gesture to prick the steel needle in his hand. Seeing this, Zeng Qing's pupils suddenly shrank, he shook his head like a rattle, and said with a sob.
"Please don't pierce me anymore, I say, I say everything!"
Seeing that Zeng Qing could not withstand the punishment in the end, Guan Rui chose to tell everything, an inexplicable smile appeared on his face, and he immediately spoke.
"Humph, wouldn't it be enough if it was just like this?"
After that, Guan Rui turned his attention to the Jin Yiwei who was responsible for recording the confession and gave instructions.
"Write down everything he said to me word for word later!"
When the Jin Yiwei on the side heard this, he immediately looked stern and responded in a deep voice.
"Yes, sir!"
After ordering the Jin Yiwei, Guan Ruixuan turned his attention to Zeng Qing and spoke unhurriedly.
"Go on, tell me everything you know!"
"Sir, this is what happened, half a year ago..."
After listening to Zeng Qing's narration, Guan Rui couldn't help but sneer: "Humph, your Zeng family is doing business without capital. You only need to stand up secretly and don't need to take too much risk, you can easily take those people's hands. Squeeze out all the remaining wealth!"
After Guan Rui finished speaking, he immediately turned his eyes to the Jin Yiwei who was in charge of recording and asked.
"Is everything recorded?"
Upon hearing this, the Jin Yiwei immediately stood up from his seat, immediately lowered his head, handed the recorded confession to Guan Rui with both hands, and said respectfully.
"Sir, everything is recorded in the book. Please check it!"
"Um."
Guan Rui responded inaudibly, and immediately took the confession from the hand of the Jin Yiwei.
After checking it carefully and confirming that it was correct, he turned around, pointed at Zeng Qing, who had fallen into a coma, and gave instructions.
"Go ahead and watch him carefully, don't let him die!"
"Yes, sir!"
After that, Guan Rui planned to report the matter to Hai Rui with his confession.
At this moment, the door of the cell was pushed open, and a guard in Jinyi hurriedly entered the cell where Zeng Qing was held with a confession.
The moment he saw Guan Rui, he lowered his head and handed over the confession in his hand without thinking.
"Sir, that Zeng Xian also confessed, and here is the detailed confession!"
After listening to his subordinate's report, Guan Rui quickly took over Zeng Xian's confession. When he saw the content recorded on it, he couldn't help but frown and said to himself.
"This Zeng family not only secretly supports the White Lotus Sect, but is actually related to those coastal smuggling families!"
"Huh, what a bunch of out-and-out insects!"
After Guan Rui finished speaking, without any hesitation, he immediately left the prison with these two confessions and met Hai Rui in the county government hall.
…
In the Jiaxiang County government hall, Guan Rui looked around, then turned his gaze to Hai Rui and said in a deep voice.
"Sir, here are the confessions of Zeng Qing and Zeng Xian. Please check them!"
"Well, thank you!"
After Hai Rui finished speaking, he took the two confessions from Guan Rui's hands and began to read the contents meticulously.
After Hai Rui finished browsing all the contents recorded above, he slammed the table and said in a deep voice.
"Hmph, what a great Zeng family. Most of the land in Wucheng County and several surrounding counties has fallen into the hands of his Zeng family!"
"These damn worms, not only colluded with the White Lotus Sect, but also had connections with the smuggling families on the coast. They are lying on my body to suck blood from the Ming Dynasty!"
The commander Zhang Yuan, who was closing his eyes and concentrating at the side, was startled by Hai Rui's sudden action. After he reacted, he quickly stood up from his seat and spoke comforting words.
"Please calm down, sir!"
When Zhang Yuan's words fell, Jiaxiang County Magistrate Zhou Wande who was on the side also followed up with words of admonishment.
"Yes, Lord Censor, it would be inappropriate for you to get so angry over this!"
After that, Hai Rui's emotions gradually calmed down. After putting aside the confession in his hand, he immediately turned his gaze to Guan Rui and gave instructions in a deep voice.
"This matter is not trivial. It may involve the remaining six families. Your Majesty must be informed of this matter immediately!"
Guan Rui also deeply agreed with Hai Rui's words, nodded, and then echoed.
"Your Majesty is right. There are more and more problems being investigated at the moment. We must inform His Majesty as soon as possible so that we can prepare for the next step as soon as possible!"
"Well, okay, let's do it like this. When I write a letter to His Majesty, I will send it to His Majesty along with these two confessions!"
Jiaxiang County Magistrate Zhou Wande who was on the side heard this and immediately stood up from his seat, turned his eyes to Hai Rui and said respectfully.
"Please also ask the Imperial Censor to accompany me to the study room!"
"Um."
After Hai Rui responded, he and his personal bodyguard Xiao Er, led by Jiaxiang County Magistrate Zhou Wande, arrived at the door of the study.
"Sir, this is the county government's study room!"
Hearing this, Hai Rui nodded slightly to Zhou Wande and immediately spoke.
"Excuse me, Mr. Zhou!"
After that, Hai Rui didn't exchange too many greetings, but went straight into the study.
After entering the study room, he went straight to the desk. After grinding the ink, he spread out the pen and paper and wrote on the letter paper.
"Your Majesty, Wei Chen Hai Rui, since you sent the royal guards to assist Wei Chen in investigating the case, you have already gained a lot!"
"Based on the previous confessions of the White Lotus cultists, Weichen successfully identified Zeng Qing, Zeng Xian and others of the Zeng clan, and learned the whole story from their mouths."
"The Zeng family not only colluded with the White Lotus Sect, but also had an ambiguous relationship with the smuggling families along the coast. Before the imperial court officially lifted the sea ban, the Zeng family colluded with those smuggling families along the coast. Get up and profit from it!"
"Not only that, most of the land in Wucheng County and surrounding areas has fallen into the hands of his Zeng family. According to Wei Chen's conservative estimate, there are at least hundreds of thousands of acres of land!"
"In addition, I am worried that this matter may involve the other six families. Therefore, I just took the liberty to write to your majesty. I hope your majesty will forgive me!"
After the last word came out, Hai Rui put the brush in his hand back to its original position. After reading the above content from beginning to end and confirming that there were no mistakes or omissions, Hai Rui felt relieved.
After the ink on the letter paper was dry, Hai Rui solemnly put it into an envelope, opened the door, and walked out of the study.
(End of chapter)
