After bringing the people back, Jin Yiwei began to interrogate them separately. But there were too many people arrested and they could not be interrogated at the moment, so Lao Liu asked them to write explanation materials first.
Everyone must explain clearly every contact with Hu Weiyong, every word they have said, every thing they have done for him, down to the smallest detail.
As for the heads of various ministries and the core members of the Hu Party, he and his brothers would personally interrogate them.
The two of them sat side by side behind the big case, looking at Xu Duo, the Minister of Household Affairs, who was brought in with expressionless expressions.
Xu Duo was even worse than Xue Xiang, and was even shackled. When he was in Yingtian Mansion, he would shackle prisoners at every turn, but now he realizes that this thing can kill people.
However, after only wearing the 20-pound wooden shackles for half a day, he felt that his shoulders were about to shatter and his neck was about to break.
"Xu Butang used to put shackles on others, didn't he?" Lao Liu looked at him with a smile: "Isn't it quite uncomfortable?"
"Yes." Xu Duo nodded and said with a wry smile: "I really don't know if I haven't experienced it. It turns out that a casual punishment can bring so much pain to people."
"It's good to know." Lao Liu then waved his hand and motioned to Jin Yiwei to open his shackles.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Xu Duo felt reborn as if his shackles were gone. He carefully moved his bruised shoulders and neck, and asked in confusion: "I saw that only six or seven people were wearing shackles, and I was the only one in the six ministerial books.
A. I don’t know why this is?”
"Of course only the core members of the Hu Party receive this kind of treatment." Lao Liu said with a smile: "If Chen Ning is still alive, at least he should be given an eighty-pound shackle."
"Xiaoguan is not the core of the Hu Party." Xu Duo's face turned pale and he quickly denied it: "I'm not even a Hu Party member!"
"Fart, why don't we put shackles on others? We must have obtained the evidence!" Lao Si said coldly: "You can tell the truth and avoid the physical pain."
"The lower official is really not a Hu Party." Xu Duo said with a bitter face: "Yes, Hu Weiyong is my superior. The affairs of the Household Department are extremely complicated, so I get reports from Zhongshu every now and then. But it is really just a business relationship, not
Involving any personal matters."
"You are so dishonest!" Lao Si slapped the case, picked up a file, opened it and read:
"In the twelfth year of Hongwu, on the third day of June, it was Mrs. Hu Weiyong's birthday. You gave her a bunch of pearls and a copybook by Mi Fu."
"On September 18th of the same year, on Xiang Hu's birthday, I gave another pair of white jade stones and a thousand-year-old ginseng..."
"..." The fourth child read out Xu Duo's bribery records since last year one by one and said: "This is only one year, and the value given to Hu Xiang alone is more than two thousand guan!"
"How much salary do you get per year?! Where do you get so much money?!" As he spoke, he slapped the table hard and shouted sternly: "It's enough to skin you and pull the grass from you a hundred times!"
"..." Xu Duo was a little frightened when he first heard it, but then he gradually calmed down and said with a bit of a broken jar:
"His Royal Highness, Prince Yan, I have been on the job for several years. You should know that regulations are regulations and reality is reality. The reality is that when you reach the position of a lower official, you don't have to ask for bribes, the money will come to you automatically. It's not enough if you don't accept it.
"
"Besides, although Prime Minister Hu appears to be clean and honest, he doesn't need to be an upright official. If you don't give him heavy gifts, he won't trust you. The lower official moved from Yinyou of Yingtian Prefecture to Da Si Nong, and only gave Prime Minister Hu two thousand
Guan, it’s very shabby in all dynasties, right?”
"Don't keep talking about the past, it's the Ming Dynasty now!" Lao Si said displeased.
"The Ming Dynasty also had emperors, prime ministers, civil and military officials, and they were all the same." Xu Duo couldn't help but laugh sarcastically: "Even if it looks a little different now, it will go back to the old ways as time goes by."
"Don't ramble!" Lao Liu coughed and signaled to Fourth Brother that if he didn't know how to interrogate, he should talk less.
The fourth child curled his lips and asked him to come.
"Explain the problem between you and Hu Weiyong!" Lao Liu said in a deep voice.
"The lower official has already said that being filial to the superior official is a bad official habit. It does not mean that I am a gangster." Xu Duo said calmly.
"I'm not saying you gave or took bribes, I'm asking you to explain what happened in October last year!" Lao Liu said coldly.
"Last October..." Xu Duo's pupils shrank and he said calmly: "I don't remember anything."
"I would like to remind you," Lao Liu said solemnly: "On October 16th last year, you were planning to ask Gao Chao and Gaofucheng to go fishing on that day. You had already made a nest a day in advance. Why didn't you go?"
"This..." Xu Duo's forehead was damp and his face turned pale. Only then did he realize that his every move had been watched by the Jin Yiwei, so he said with difficulty: "I have business at the moment."
"Look, you remember it so clearly, and you still say you don't remember it." Lao Liu looked at the table and said, "Xu Butang, you have to understand clearly. Only by telling the truth can you have a chance of survival."
"..." Xu Duo began to breathe quickly.
"Even if you are tired of life, you should think about your family. Are you willing to send such a beautiful daughter to the Jiaofang Department and have a little bit of red lips tasted by thousands of people?" Lao Liu said in a more serious tone:
"I have made my words very clear. With Xu Budang's intelligence, I won't be able to understand!"
"I understand, I understand." Xu Duo nodded dejectedly and sighed: "That day, the treasure ship lifting department sent someone to tell them that they had caught a fugitive and asked me to send someone to bring him back to the capital. I didn't take it seriously at first, but it turned out
Hu Weiyong's nephew, Hu De, paid a surprise visit and brought a bottle of Qianji San, asking me to help poison the captured prisoners."
"I asked you to kill someone and you didn't even report it," the fourth child couldn't help but scolded him: "And you said you're not a gangster?!"
"I want to find a way to offend Hu Weiyong and not violate the king's laws..." Xu Duo quickly argued:
"Later, Prime Minister Gao Fu came up with the idea that he could lie to Hu Xiang that he had poisoned the fugitive, and then secretly sent the person back to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment. This would make the big thing a trivial one, so he was confused for a while and did not report it."
"You are not confused at all. There is no emperor in your eyes, only Hu Xiang!" Zhu Zhen shouted coldly: "You are still quibbling now, and you don't think about how we can know so clearly?!"
"It's Gao Fucheng..." Xu Duo's face turned pale. He had said too many things to him, which were not worthy of praise to outsiders.
"It doesn't matter who you are, what's important is that we all know what you said." Lao Liu said solemnly: "If Gao Chao hadn't stopped you, you would have taken action that day. Based on this, you will be labeled as a Hu Party, and no one will
I can’t say I’ve wronged you.”
"No, I really deserve to die..." Xu Duo shook his head in despair, and then quickly begged and asked, "I wonder where is the glimmer of hope that your two highnesses mentioned?"
"Confess that you are a gangster, and then confess a few of your accomplices who conspired against each other." Lao Liu said quietly: "The more confessions you make, the safer you will be. If all the seven ministers are involved, your official position will be reinstated."
It’s not impossible.”
"Ah?" Xu Duo was stunned and said, "Are you going to let your subordinates frame them?"
"Don't say it so harshly, you are saving them." Lao Liu said seriously: "Think about it, I don't have much time, give me a satisfactory answer in an hour."
