From the moment the Xuanjing Division rushed in, Zhang Hongwen began to guess what reason he had been caught with.
He is not a good official. If the crimes he committed were counted one by one, it would be enough to be guillotined a hundred times.
However, the legal binding force of feudal society has always been inversely proportional to status.
As Li Jian said that day, there are not many crimes that can sentence a third-grade official to death in reality.
But Zhang Hongwen didn't think that he would be found out for feeding demons.
This matter has been going on for nearly five years, and there has never been an accident. All the people who knew about it were his confidants, and there was no way they would commit an act of betrayal.
As for other issues besides "feeding demons", Zhang Hongwen feels that he still has room for maneuver.
Of course, it is definitely impossible to voluntarily plead guilty.
As soon as the strip of cloth was taken out of his mouth, he stared at Wei Changtian and shouted in a trembling voice as if he had been greatly humiliated:
"Despicable boy! Don't talk nonsense!"
"I have been an official for decades, and my words and deeds are worthy of the emperor and worthy of the people!"
"More worthy of my own conscience!"
"You ask me if I know my guilt?"
"I want to ask you!"
"What's the crime for your Xuanjing Division to ignore the laws of Daning and force a third-grade imperial official to kneel down?!"
"..."
Zhang Hongwen's voice was full of sadness and anger, but at the same time he was also somewhat magnanimous with a clear conscience.
In his previous life, his acting skills were enough to win him the Best Actor Award. Anyone else would have been confused on the spot.
It's a pity that Wei Changtian is a "spoiler", so after hearing this, he just sneered and said with a leisurely smile:
"Mr. Zhang said it well. It seems that being ill all year round has not affected your words."
"It's just that I'm a little forgetful."
"How about this, how about I take you to a place and help you reminisce?"
"Master Huang!"
Wei Changtian's voice turned extremely cold almost instantly: "Take Mr. Zhang with you! Follow me!"
"Leave fifty people here to look after the Zhang family!"
"From now on, anyone who stands up or makes a sound will be beheaded immediately!"
…
The continuous torches illuminate the surroundings like a powerful light bulb.
Seventy black-clothed officers sandwiched Zhang Hongwen on three levels and followed Wei Changtian with sharp knives in hand.
Further ahead there was a shivering servant leading the way.
"Sir, sir, this room is the master's bedroom..."
The servant pointed to the door of the house tremblingly, and was immediately dragged aside by two guards.
Under the gaze of everyone, Wei Changtian stepped into the house while recalling the descriptions in the book.
Xu Qingwan had a small face and Huang Qianhu stood on either side of him, while Zhang Hongwen's face turned paler.
He raised his eyes and carefully looked at the layout of the room, and his eyes slowly locked on a floor-standing plum vase placed in the corner.
[...The colorful plum vase has a long belly and a handful of marigolds inserted in it...]
Although Wei Changtian didn't know exactly what marigolds looked like, he could tell that the small flower with white petals and yellow core in front of him was a type of chrysanthemum.
Yes, that should be it.
He took a step forward and stood in front of the plum bottle, then turned back to look at Zhang Hongwen.
"Master Zhang, is there anything else you want to say?"
"I, I..." Zhang Hongwen's legs were like sieves, and cold sweat had already soaked through his body.
Anyone could tell something was wrong with his current appearance.
Something is definitely wrong!
Huang Qianhu finally breathed a sigh of relief, and then saw Wei Changtian suddenly stretch out his hand.
"knife!"
"Ah, yes!"
"Canglang" the cold blade was unsheathed, and the Hualing long knife that could scare countless officials awake from their dreams was handed into Wei Changtian's hand.
Move the plum vase with one hand and find the gap between the stone bricks underneath.
Wei Changtian aimed the blade and then thrust it downward with force.
"Click! Click click dong dong..."
The five-foot-long knives sank into the cracks in the ground without any hindrance, and immediately the whole ground resounded with a slight sound of machine operation.
"no no!!!"
Zhang Hongwen suddenly screamed and his body struggled wildly.
However, the next moment he was immediately gagged and his hands and feet were restrained. He could only watch helplessly as the secret door hiding the Zhang family's biggest secret opened little by little.
"call!"
A dark wind rushed out, and inside the door was a series of stone steps going downwards. It was not clear where the end was.
But judging from the scenery in front of me, this is definitely a big project.
I just don’t know what is hidden in such a dark room...
A group of people did not dare to express their anger, and they all stared at Wei Changtian.
However, the latter suddenly took a step back with a strange look on his face.
"No, what are you looking at me doing? Come in!"
"Do you want me to go in first?!"
…
For a villain, and a big villain with a background.
Taking the lead in person and risking one's life is undoubtedly an operation that only people with cerebral palsy can do.
The protagonist rushed to the front just to show off, but Wei Changtian felt that it would be safer for him to just stay behind.
Although it is not mentioned in the book, what if there is some deadly mechanism hidden in this dark room?
Even though in the end it turned out that he was overly worried.
After a stick of incense was burned, the ten officers sent earlier came back one after another.
They were not injured, but their faces looked ugly.
"Master Wei, Master Huang..."
The lead officer reported with a livid face: "The steps lead to a huge stone cave, about fifty feet in diameter. We have carefully checked and found that there are no hidden tricks along the way."
Huang Qianhu hurriedly asked: "What's in the cave?"
"Yes, there is a swamp, and in it is..."
"what exactly is it?"
Huang Qianhu frowned and said sternly: "Why are you hesitant!"
"It's a toad demon..."
"Toad???"
"yes……"
"It's so ridiculous! It's so ridiculous!"
Huang Qianhu was shocked and angry at this time.
I was shocked that Zhang Hongwen dared to raise a demon in his home, and I was angry that a good man from the Mirror Division would be frightened by a toad.
The wet boy!
No matter how ugly and weird a toad is, how scary can it be?
I have been handling cases for so many years, what kind of bloody and brutal scenes have I not seen?
"Hmph! Master Wei and I will go down and have a look!"
Huang Qianhu glanced at the guards and immediately ducked into the secret door.
After half a stick of incense.
"Ugh...cough cough cough!"
"Wei, Mr. Wei, this..."
"Stay away from me, don't spit on me!"
Wei Changtian took two steps away in disgust, but his expression was actually equally ugly.
Although he had already been mentally prepared, the scene in front of him was still enough to shock any human's psychological defense line.
I saw a giant toad that was as tall as two people lying in the huge mire. Its body was covered with protrusions the size of a watermelon, and its whole body was tightly tied by dozens of iron chains as thick as a bowl.
Its cloudy eyeballs were full of viciousness, half a human leg hung from the corner of its mouth, and its body was covered with broken limbs and bones.
Even this area of swamp has turned deep red.
It seems that this method of providing food by living people has been going on for an unknown period of time.
Damn it, I can’t stand even a single villain!
Glancing at Zhang Hongwen who had fainted behind him, Wei Changtian suddenly asked Huang Qianhu.
"Master Huang, do you think we should let Master Zhang identify the monster he raised up close?"