Nie Chen rode a big horse and led his escort team straight to the Tianlao in the inner city of the capital.
The prison cells in the capital are very large, very tight, and well-defended. The walls alone are almost as big as the city walls.
After Nie Chen arrived, the guards of the Tianlao immediately opened the door and invited Nie Chen in.
The cells are partly underground and partly above ground.
The prisoners on the ground are all prisoners whose crimes are not very serious. They are generally not the kind of prisoners who are sentenced to death and can be released after a short period of time.
After all, there are five types of punishment for being beaten to death, and when it comes to imprisonment, it usually only lasts for a few years. No matter how serious it is, it is exile, and it is exiled to the border to become a slave.
Just a sentence of six months and one year in prison is not worth sending someone to the border. The travel expenses are very expensive.
As for the underground part, the most heinous criminals are imprisoned, and they are basically the ones who want to be beheaded.
The prison in the capital is even more special, because those who can be imprisoned are usually either rich or noble.
Ordinary people have no way to get in.
Those who can be imprisoned here are either wealthy people, high officials or nobles.
Those locked up above are usually given minor punishments, and they have to go out soon. The jailers are careful to serve them, and provide them with good food and drink.
After all, they don’t want people to say after they get out, so-and-so in the prison has beaten me and treated me badly, so go and deal with him.
Those are all awesome people.
Those who are imprisoned at the lower level are basically hopeless and can be tortured at will without fear of retaliation.
Of course, occasionally there are special circumstances that can turn things around.
Then they can only consider themselves unlucky.
Prison guarding is really a high-risk profession.
But it was also a fat job. After all, the family members of those high-ranking officials would give them gifts and ask them to take care of their families in prison.
It is also okay for enemies to send gifts and ask them to take "special care" of a certain prisoner.
After Nie Chen came in, he saw that in the sky prison above, the prisoners were all palace maids, servants, and the like, not serious criminals or important figures.
Because of Nie Chen's explanation, the jailers did not deliberately embarrass them, because Prince Nie said that they would just let these people go after their identities were found out.
"Meet the prince."
"Meet the prince."
Everyone held their hands together.
Nie Chen nodded to them, walked slowly down the corridor of the prison with his hands behind his back, looking at the overcrowded cells.
The people in the cell looked at Nie Chen quietly and fearfully. They didn't even dare to complain, for fear of angering Nie Chen and having his head chopped off.
"Your Majesty, you are here."
A commander hugged Nie Chen.
"Are you the commander of the Tiantai Army?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, Lin Shuai asked the villain to come here to temporarily guard the cell and interrogate and investigate with the Shadow Guard to ensure that there will be no mistakes."
"Well, remember, you can't have the mentality of killing the wrong one rather than letting it go. These are poor people. In this war, a lot of people have died. Those who don't deserve to die should die as little as possible."
"Prince Renyi, don't worry, we are all doing cross-examinations, asking servants from other families to identify people from other families. As long as there are family members of the Mingxuan royal family and officials hidden inside, we will immediately bring them up and torture them, and then throw them to Go below.
However, we will not let one person identify it. We will only do this if two or more people identify it. "
"Okay, if you confirm that your identity is correct, those in the palace will be arranged to return to the palace. Those from the officials' families will be arranged to go to the Marquis' Mansion first, and let the madam arrange their whereabouts. Arrangements will be made for the generals and officials. Our court will be back soon. ”
Unintentionally, another job was assigned to Weng Qiuchan.
Nie Chen tilted his head slightly and said to the commander,
"Remember, when you release people, tell them that this is all the grace of Prince Nie."
"The villain understands, the villain understands."
The commander held his hands and continued,
"My lord, there is a strange person imprisoned at the end of the cell."
"Strange person? Who is it?"
"He was an official. We found him in the corner of the dungeon. He was almost dead at that time.
We asked the jailer who this was, and the jailer said his name was Jiang Lian. He was a minister of the former dynasty, with a fourth-rank official position and served as Minister of Household Affairs.
On the day Mingxuan entered the capital, he did not go to court due to illness. After hearing that the late emperor had died, he blocked the entrance to the palace and cursed Mingxuan as a thief who stole the country.
Mingxuan was furious and ordered him to be arrested, tortured, and interrogated with his accomplices. He also told him that he would never let him die and would torture him severely.
When we found him, he was almost dead, so we quickly moved him up and put him in a well-lit cell in the corner. We also asked a doctor to bandage him and nurse him back to health.
He just woke up today and asked us what year it is now. We didn't know what to do and were about to report it. You happened to be here. "
"Hey, this is a loyal minister. Take me to see him quickly."
"yes!"
After arriving at the southernmost cell, Nie Chen saw a man lying on a coarse blanket with his eyes closed, letting the sunlight from the window shine on his face.
The man looked to be about forty years old, but he already had white hair, a haggard appearance, a red face and thin muscles. His right leg and knee were still bandaged with white cloth. There was a medicine bowl next to him, which contained medicine that he had not yet drank.
"Master Jiang, wake up, the prince is here to see you."
The commander slapped the cell door and shouted.
Jiang Lian opened his eyes, suddenly picked up the medicine bowl, smashed it towards the cell door, and then shouted,
"Traitor! Die, traitor!"
The soup spilled all over the floor. Fortunately, he didn't have enough strength to spill it on Nie Chen. The soup bowl fell to the ground and broke a hole.
Nie Chen said in surprise,
"Didn't you tell him that we are the Feng Army?"
The commander sighed in embarrassment and said,
"I told you, but he didn't believe it and even beat us. We didn't bother to say anything more, so we locked him up here."
"Open the cell door."
Nie Chen shouted.
"Your Majesty, this man has a strong character and always beats people. We imprisoned him because of his beatings. What if you go in and he offends Tianwei?"
"It's okay, I can beat him."
Nie Chen said confidently.
The commander had black streaks all over his head, stopped talking, opened the cell door, and followed Nie Chen in.
Zhou Long and Zhou Hu also followed immediately, while the other guards were on guard outside.
Nie Chen was not wearing a noble uniform, just a sky blue brocade robe.
He came to Jiang Lian and said with a smile,
"Master Jiang, do you recognize me? I am Nie Chen, the North King of Dafeng Zheng."
Jiang Lian frowned and looked at Nie Chen, narrowed his eyes and said,
"Master Nie? I have never seen you. Are you really Nie Chen?"
"If it's true, you've never seen me, but you must have heard of me, right? I'm about twenty years old, a young man. I used to guard the Tiger Army in the north, and I was the teacher of the Sixth Prince. Do you remember me?"
