Zheng Haizhu did not directly answer Eunuch Zhang's hypocritical inquiry. He only said in a friendly voice: "Please open the trial to the public."
Eunuch Zhang pursed his lips and told the servant who came with him from the palace: "Go and take care of this guy and put him down."
The wooden cage crane rose and lowered, and the little eunuch who followed him took out a steaming lead bucket.
Zheng Haizhu whispered to herself: "Asphalt?"
Luo Sigong, who was standing next to her, gave a dull "hmm" sound. Zheng Haizhu turned her head slightly to look at him. Through the flickering light of the torch, she could make out the commander of the Imperial Guard, whose temples were stained with frost, and his brows were furrowed.
Eunuch Zhang leisurely walked up to the scribe prisoner and said: "Our family is so kind to Lord Long live that he entered the inner study since he was a child. After all, he is a scholar like you. Fang Juren, our family will finally give you An opportunity. Tell the name of the censor who ordered you to speak nonsense and slander the government, and you can get on the boat and go back to your hometown in Wuxi today."
"Bah!" The bloody scribe tried his best to spat at the eunuch in front of him, and said angrily, "Scholar? You, the eunuch who flatters superiors and bullies subordinates, abuses lynching, does not distinguish between good and evil, and misleads the emperor and the country, do you deserve to call yourself a scholar? ?”
The scribe raised his chin again, turned his gaze to Luo Sigong, and continued to scold: "Luo Sigong, you are a majestic commander of the royal guards and a third-rank foreign minister of the country. Your official position comes from the king, and your food and salary come from the people. Why did you end up working for these filthy men?" You are such a bastard that you can lick hemorrhoids and suck carbuncles! Where is your blood as a military general? Your ancestors of the Luo family have lost all face!"
Luo Yangxing was furious when he heard this. He changed his attitude of always standing quietly and was about to rush forward, but was stopped by his expressionless father who raised his hand.
Eunuch Zhang smiled solemnly: "Oh, listen, this man really thinks that his surname is Fang and that he is the reincarnation of Fang Xiaoru, and he keeps talking about integrity. Mr. Luo, don't be upset, I will teach him a lesson for your Luo family."
As he finished speaking, two young eunuchs came forward. One cut off the hemp rope that tied the scribe's right hand, and tied him to a wooden frame like a high table from his forearm to his palm. He picked up a wooden spoon, scooped out hot asphalt, and poured it directly on the scribe's arm. "
A sharp and piercing scream immediately rushed out of the scribe's throat and resounded through the gloomy dungeon.
Eunuch Zhang tasted the pain of the tortured person and laughed ferociously.
integrity?
No matter how upright a person is, he is still a human being. If he is given a tough job, wouldn't he still cry for his father and mother?
"Bake it dry quickly so that it can be peeled off. Don't think about writing any clever articles about this claw in the future," Eunuch Zhang ordered, then turned to Luo Sigong and others to calm down and said, "Look, everyone, this is the emperor's eldest grandson. My eldest companion, Eunuch Wei Jinzhong, the method he figured out from plucking ducks is so interesting."
The scribe wailed and moaned for a while. When the little eunuch in Dongchang's brown robe saw that the asphalt had almost solidified due to the fire, he took an iron thing with a flat front end from his waist and hooked it like a rope around the asphalt and the skin. Pluck the edge hard.
Accompanied by even more shrill screams, a foot-long piece of human skin was wrapped in black asphalt and torn off in one piece.
Zheng Haizhu felt as if her chest had been struck by lightning, her scalp felt as if needles pricked her, and her vision had become blurry for a moment, as if her brain had automatically shut down for protection, leaving her blind for a short period of time so that she could no longer be stimulated by the tragic scene in front of her.
Li Daniu and Hua Er couldn't help but let out an "Ah" sound, and immediately stopped speaking, leaving only rapid breathing, showing the horror in their hearts.
However, after a moment, the howling like the roar of animals turned into human speech that could be heard clearly.
"The blessed king Zhu Changxun received so much reward during the vassal period that he was almost an enemy of the country. However, he behaved like an enemy of the clan, raping wives and daughters in the fiefdom, seizing official land as an imperial estate, indulging his domestic slaves, lynching, and oppressing local officials. The Master submitted a letter to complain. The affairs of the world can be discussed by the people of the world. The affairs of Henan cannot be discussed by the scholars in Nanzhili!"
Eunuch Zhang became angry and stepped forward to point at him: "Tell me, was it Yang Lian who was instigated by the Military Department? Was it instigated by his mother-in-law Dong Lin? Now that I have given an explanation, you can still live!"
"Bullshit! Bird castration!" The scribe's eyes were splitting. "I don't look down on Donglin. Gu Xiancheng only dares to hide in the academy and complain. Do you have half the courage and courage like me? But Confucius disciples, how can I False accusations? Even if you peel off all my skin, I will still say this. Letters impeaching King Fu and scolding Concubine Zheng were distributed outside Tiananmen Square. I am responsible for the work alone, and Yang Lian, Dong Lin, and half It has nothing to do with a copper penny."
Eunuch Zhang was furious: "Okay, I will fulfill your wish! I will peel off your entire human skin."
"Little Eunuch Zhang..."
Luo Sigong suddenly called out in a deep voice and walked up to Eunuch Zhang with his sleeves on his back.
Eunuch Zhang glanced at him: "What advice does Commander Luo have?"
Luo Sigong said calmly: "I don't take the advice seriously. I just want to remind my father-in-law that this is not the inner prison of Dongchang. It doesn't matter whether my father-in-law wants to perform tricks or compete with me on torture strategies. But If someone is killed and my father-in-law walks away, how will I, Beizhen Fusi, deal with the aftermath?"
"So?" Eunuch Zhang stared at Luo Sigong.
"So, please stop it, father-in-law. Of course, if you want to follow the route of your Dongchang, if there is a pen from Long Live Lord later, you can take the person away and go to the inner prison to continue the torture. Not to mention cramping and skinning, even if To dig out his heart and liver and hang it at the foot of the imperial city to show the public as a warning is also an achievement of Dongchang and has nothing to do with the imperial edict of Fusi in Beizhen."
The confrontation between the factory and the guards came to an abrupt end.
In the dungeon there was only the murmuring of the scribe Fang, like the waves crashing on the shore, rising and falling continuously.
After a while, Eunuch Zhang twisted his shoulder blades and suddenly smiled and said: "After all, he is Commander Wei, and he has thought carefully. OK, let's do this for today. Let's go back and report to Eunuch Lu, and then we can make a plan with Commander Wei."
…
The footsteps of Eunuch Zhang and others disappeared in the corridor overhead.
Luo Sigong pointed to the angry scribe and ordered the jailer: "Go get a bowl of honey and put it on his hands."
Zheng Haizhu had seen it on both the northern and southern battlefields. If officer-level generals were injured, military doctors would apply honey on them.
This is the ancient way to prevent wound infection.
Scholar Fang tried his best to raise his head, but instead of thanking him for saving his life, he still responded in a conclusive tone: "The imperial guard, the leader of the emperor's personal army, must not join the ranks of the eunuchs."
Luo Sigong looked at him steadily for a while, then turned around and raised his hands to Zheng Haizhu: "Luo made poor arrangements today, which has stained Madam's eyes."
"Ruthless than the Tatars." Zheng Haizhu muttered.
"What did Madam say?"
"I would say, they are more ruthless than the Tatars," Zheng Haizhu raised his eyes and looked at Luo Sigong. "The Tatars waste human life and do it to foreigners, but Dongchang will not hesitate to use hellish means to treat fellow citizens of the Ming Dynasty."
Luo Sigong smiled coldly and walked out of the dungeon: "Ci does not control soldiers. I won't say any more. I would like to ask my wife to check in with me and have a cup of light tea to calm down the shock."
When the group of people passed by the cell where Ma Qiancheng's tablet was enshrined again, Zheng Haizhu stopped.
"Commander Wei, can you let me in and give Ma Xuan a stick of incense?"
Luo Sigong was not surprised and nodded readily.
Zheng Haizhu walked into the cell, twisted new incense from the altar table, lit it, and raised it to the memorial tablet: "Ma Xuanfu, the junior and Xianglin have a friendship, and I admire Ma Xuanfu and Qin Xuanfu even more. Mr. Ma is above , please bless my sons from the camp in Chongming, so that they will be less sick and less prone to disasters in peacetime, have strong offspring, be invincible in wartime, and guard the gateway to the East China Sea for the people of Ming Dynasty."
She inserted the incense stick into the incense burner and turned to meet Luo Sigong's research-intensive gaze.
"Madam, are you familiar with General Pony?"
Zheng Haizhu thought to himself, you are the leader of Jinyiwei and you are on good terms with Liu Shimin, how could you not know?
But his face was full of sincerity: "We are very familiar. He and his wife and I have been in trouble several times. Commander Wei, let me take the liberty to ask, there have always been many people who died in imperial prisons, why did they worship the horse alone? Xuanfu’s tablet?”
Luo Sigong said: "Grandpa Yue is enshrined at the entrance, and Ma Xuanfu is enshrined in the prison. They are all respected by us warriors. It is not surprising."
Zheng Haizhu nodded, looked at the dungeon at his feet, and said decisively: "Commander Wei, I want to see where Ma Gong lived."
Luo Sigong did not refuse and told his son: "Nurture your character and light the lamp for your wife."
Zheng Haizhu walked down the stairs in the light and walked to the center of the narrow dungeon.
There is no longer a table for torture or writing confessions. There is only a wooden board set up by stones. The grass on the ground is sparse and the dirt is directly exposed.
Luo Yangxing said in a quiet voice: "Madam, when Ma Xuanfu was imprisoned here, my father was just a member of the Hundred Households who was away on business."
Zheng Haizhu understood what Luo Yangxing meant and said warmly: "But the former Wei Commander was also kind-hearted and even arranged a bed for Ma Xuanfu."
Luo Yangxing added: "Yes, those who came to torture Duke Ma at that time were, just like today, eunuchs and subordinates of Qiu Chengyun. I heard that the cage was filled with nails and the prisoners were not allowed to move. It was Eunuch Qiu who came up with it. of."
"Master Luo, please lend me a lamp."
Zheng Haizhu took the oil lamp and looked at the bed board.
The board was covered with dark masses, presumably from old blood stains.
Suddenly, Zheng Haizhu saw a rune-like pattern in a dark stain.
She leaned forward and stared closely.
Yes, the carvings are not shallow and the direction is weird.
Zheng Haizhu immediately decided that it was not the texture of the wooden board, because he had seen it on another item.
A self-defense item that I never leave without.
Looking around, there are still two scratches.
"What's wrong, madam?" Luo Yangxing was puzzled and came over to take a look.
Zheng Haizhu said hurriedly: "Nothing, nothing. I was dazzled and thought there were still pieces of Ma Gong's robe."
Zheng Haizhu returned the oil lamp to Luo Yangxing and bowed respectfully to the bed. When he followed Luo Yangxing upstairs, he caught a glimpse of a bamboo in the corner.
"Mr. Luo, what's the use of this?"
"Oh, sometimes the prisoners' legs are broken and they can't climb the wooden steps to get food, so the guards will use bamboo poles to fork them."
At this time, there was a commotion at the end of the corridor and in the direction of the prison gate, and footsteps followed, accompanied by the sergeant's call.
"Commander Wei, Commander Wei, the palace has sent word that Long Live has passed away!"
