Hearing Changsheng's words, everyone responded in unison, led their horses out of the house, and galloped everywhere.
After dispatching the police officers, Chang Sheng immediately summoned the chief clerks and civil servants in the mansion to assign errands. When the police officers caught the person, they would immediately conduct separate interrogations. It was necessary to arrange for someone to write a confession and sign it in advance.
The next thing to do is to wait. Since he doesn't know when the court will disperse, he is not sure when the police will catch the person. According to his estimation, there will be a large number of officials impeaching him in the morning today. It stands to reason that at this time The court meeting should not have ended yet.
After waiting for two quarters of an hour, no one came back. Chang Sheng was relieved. The policeman who had been sent out for such a long time had not returned yet, which meant that the morning court had not ended yet, and everyone was still squatting separately.
At half past midnight, the police officers sent out began to return. The returning police officers successfully arrested the people. The arrested officials were all tied up and gagged.
Changsheng continued to wait outside the mansion, and ordered the police officers to take the captured officials to prison for strict supervision and not to interrogate them for the time being.
Since all those arrested were officials of fifth rank and above, and they all left the palace at the same time, the time interval between their arrests was not long, and each was only a stick of incense. All thirty-six civil and military officials on the list were arrested. Among them were the high ministers from the province.
Changsheng gave an order, and all the doors of the mansion were closed. The police patrolled the mansion and were on strict alert. No one inside the mansion was allowed to leave, and no one outside the mansion was allowed to enter.
Changsheng then went to the prison in person. At this time, all the captured officials had not had their gags removed. Everyone's reactions were different. Some were so scared that they peed their pants, while others were so angry that they hesitated and cursed. Don't let it happen, just wait and see what happens.
Changsheng knew that there was no turning back, so he directly ordered people to bring Gao Shizhong out.
Although Gao Shizhong was imprisoned, he was still calm. After the gag was removed, he immediately shouted, "You are so outrageous, I will be the butcher of the court..."
Before Gao Shizhong could finish speaking, Changsheng slapped him in the face, "Old man, you and the eunuchs have controlled the government these years, deceived the emperor, ignored the superiors, practiced favoritism, perverted the law, and harmed the country and the people. I have been ordered to investigate and deal with it. You'd better tell the truth to avoid any skin abuse." suffering."
Changsheng was determined to kill the chicken and scare the monkey with Gao Shizhong. Before he could say anything, he winked at Datou. The latter understood and directly picked up the soldering iron from the brazier and pressed it on Gao Shizhong's left chest.
Branding is a form of torture, and it stands to reason that the prisoner's clothes must be taken off before execution, but Datou knew that every second counts, and directly burned him. Accompanied by screams like a slaughtered pig, Gao Shizhong's clothes caught fire, and the skin and flesh were torn apart.
People who have never been in prison can't imagine how cruel the punishment is. The skin and flesh scorched by the iron gave off a pungent smell. The cell was closed and the smell could not dissipate. It lingered throughout the entire prison.
"Are you going to say it?" Changsheng asked coldly.
After Changsheng finished speaking, there was no reaction from Gao Shizhong. He frowned and took a closer look, only to find that Gao Shizhong had fainted.
Before Changsheng could speak, Da Tou picked up the water ladle, scooped out a ladle of cold water from the wooden bucket and poured it on.
Gao Shizhong was stirred up and woke up. Seeing Chang Sheng's cruel attack, he was so frightened that he said, "Longhushan and I have always been on good terms. Do your masters know that you are acting like this?"
"I am an official of the imperial court, and I only obey the emperor's orders," Changsheng said loudly, then raised his eyebrows and asked, "I am asking you, do you know your guilt?"
The reason why Changsheng picked the high-ranking servant to attack was because this person was the head of the civil servants. As long as this person opened his mouth, the other civil servants would naturally fall apart. And Gao Shizhong himself also knew this. Although he was frightened in his heart, for the sake of his face, it was inconvenient to admit his guilt in front of everyone. He just bit the bullet and shook his head slowly, "I don't know what crime I am guilty of?"
Chang Sheng turned to look at Da Tou again. Da Tou was unambiguous and directly used a red-hot soldering iron and slowly moved it towards Gao Shizhong's left face.
The high-ranking servant was so pampered that he had never been subjected to such a punishment. He had been burned before, and when he saw the iron coming to his face and knew the consequences of stubborn resistance, he was so frightened that he could not care about his face. His voice was so frightened that he said out of tune, "Don't use torture. Don’t use punishment, I will plead guilty.”
"Louder, I can't hear you." Chang Sheng raised his eyebrows and scolded.
"I'm guilty, I plead guilty, don't use any more punishment." Gao Shizhong repeatedly begged for mercy.
After confirming that all the officials detained in various prisons had heard Gao Shizhong's words, Changsheng waved his hand to the jailer and said, "Take him to the inner room and ask for questioning."
After the jailer dragged away Gao Shizhong, Changsheng discovered a puddle of yellow urine on the ground. The torture was really not something that ordinary people could bear, especially the punishment that may lead to physical disability, which can really frighten the prisoner to the point of peeing and pooping.
Changsheng immediately raised his spirits and spoke, "Listen to me, the emperor has an edict. After the case is brought, as long as you confess truthfully and expose the crimes of the eunuchs, you can avoid the death penalty. Those who stubbornly resist, and those who avoid the important and take the easy, will all be punished by the Nine Clans."
When Chang Sheng was speaking, he was walking slowly in front of the prison cell. Everyone was frightened out of their wits after being taken into the prison. The high attendant was burned earlier, which frightened them to death. When they saw Chang Sheng walking in front of the prison cell, they hurriedly He struggled and hesitated, expressing his willingness to confess.
Changsheng ignored them, but found the Minister of Punishment from the seventh prison cell, and personally pulled out the gag cloth from the Minister of Punishment.
The Minister of Punishment felt guilty and fell to his knees with a plop, "Sir, please spare my life, Your Majesty, please spare your life."
"Can you plead guilty?" Changsheng asked coldly.
"The lower official pleads guilty, the lower official pleads guilty." The Minister of Punishment kowtowed as if pounding garlic.
"I heard it all. Wen Shangde, the Minister of Punishment, committed a heinous crime, but refused to plead guilty. Come here, burn it for me." Chang Sheng ordered loudly.
Feeling that others were not quick enough, Datou took action himself and ordered two jailers to grab Wen Shangde, pick up a soldering iron and press it directly on his chest. With a horrifying scream, Wen Shangde fainted.
After being splashed with cold water to wake him up, before Changsheng could speak, Wen Shangde shouted loudly, "I'm willing to recruit, I'm willing to recruit."
"Oh, since you refuse to confess, then let's do it again." Chang Sheng winked at Da Tou.
At this time, there was a brazier burning outside each prison cell. Da Tou came closer and picked up a red-hot iron. Ignoring Wen Shangde's frightened screams, he gave him another blow.
Wen Shangde immediately fainted and peed his pants. Changsheng said loudly, "This man is stubborn and in vain. He was dragged into the inner room and tortured in vain."
After Chang Sheng said this, the two waiting guards immediately stepped forward and dragged away the dead pig-like Wen Shangde.
Seeing that Wen Shangde was willing to confess, Chang Sheng still refused to let him go. The remaining officials became more and more frightened, because Chang Sheng's actions showed that he ignored the law and acted wantonly. Whether to punish him or not depends solely on his own likes and dislikes. Even if he was willing to confess, it would also depend on his mood.
There were more than thirty people, who said a lot, a lot, but not much. Chang Sheng then gave instructions one by one. The jailer and the police officer came forward and removed the gag. Once they were able to speak, everyone begged for mercy, saying that they were willing to confess and expose the eunuchs. offense.
Although the prison at Yushitai was not as big as the prisons at the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple, it was still very large. Officials were taken to different cells and interrogated by special personnel and wrote down confessions.
Not everyone is afraid. The generals who lead the army think that they have experienced many actual battles and are passionate and unwilling to give in. In fact, there is no need to ask. You only need to look at their angry eyes to know what they are thinking.
Seeing Chang Sheng's expression of embarrassment, Da Tou took the initiative and shouted to the jailer on the side, "Bring out that man who is squatting on horseback."
These generals were all captured by Shi Xuanming. Shi Xuanming was proficient in acupuncture. After sealing the acupuncture points, he could not move. This general was caught by Shi Xuanming when he was riding back. He was still riding a horse at this time.
When the jailer carried the general out, he stepped forward and pulled off the man's gag. As soon as he could speak, the general immediately shouted loudly, "You don't know whether to live or die. Although we have been plotted by you, it won't take long for justice to be done." Father will get the news and send people to rescue you, and then you will die."
The big head ignored him, replaced it with a red iron, held it in his hand, and shouted to the jailer, "Tear off his pants for me. Since he recognizes the eunuch as his father, let him also be a eunuch." "
The jailer also knew that both sides were at a critical moment of life and death and did not dare to delay. Upon hearing this, he immediately stepped forward and pulled off the general's pants.
There may be some people who are not afraid of death, but no one is not afraid of being castrated into a eunuch. Seeing the red iron close at hand, the general collapsed instantly, "Don't burn it, don't burn it, I'll move, I'll move."
Datou saw this and turned to look at Changsheng.
Changsheng knew that Datou was asking him whether to continue the torture. He hated these military generals more than the civil servants who had defected to the eunuchs. As military generals, they should be passionate and loyal to the emperor and serve the country, but they were just like those deceitful and disloyal civil servants. , deceive the king and ignore the superiors, and regard thieves as their fathers.
Seeing the expressionless expression on Changsheng's face, he directly glared at Changsheng and struck him. He screamed in agony. In addition to the indescribable severe pain, he also felt hopeless that life would be worse than death.
Seeing that he had really ruined the descendants of the general, the rest of the people finally believed that he could really do anything. They stopped pretending to be a hero and pretended to be a good man. They bowed their heads one after another, and no longer dared to look coldly at each other.
Seeing that all the arrested people surrendered, the long-life jailer and the police officers took them away for interrogation separately, and then quickly left the prison, regained their strength, and flew away from the Yushitai to the medicine shop.
This medicine shop was owned by the Ni family. After entering, Changsheng immediately opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed more than ten different medicines from various drawers, then returned eagerly with the medicine bag.
When he returned to the Yushitai, he immediately began to prepare the medicine. Datou's previous actions gave him a lot of inspiration. Men may not be afraid of death, but they are most afraid of being a eunuch. His sudden attack was purely helpless. The biggest problem he faced now was that he could not control it. He wanted to gamble on the military power of the military camp outside the city. He would poison the generals, apply them externally or internally, and force them to atone for their crimes and lead the troops to protect them.
After preparing the medicine, Changsheng returned to the prison. At this time, various cells were interrogating and confessing in an orderly manner. Changsheng called Datou aside instead of speaking his mind.
"Do you think this method can scare them?" Changsheng asked.
"It should be possible," Datou nodded, "but the pain must gradually increase, otherwise they may take chances."
"Okay, poison them," Changsheng turned and walked towards the prison cell, "I'll give them internal medicine, and you can give them external application..."
