Yang Yu, the Young Minister of Dali Temple, just said that another minor official had confessed. This was of course to bluff Zhang Sanxiao. In fact, the other minor official did not confess either.??
About half an hour later, when Zhang Sanxiao was tortured again until he passed out, Dali Temple Qingzheng Xu Rong took Zhao Hongrun and others to a nearby cell to rest for a while.
After drinking a few sips of tea, Xu Rong couldn't help but sigh: "I have been investigating cases and solving cases for more than ten years. I have never encountered such a strong person as this time... The clues are clearly right in front of me."
With a bang, Xu Rong's hand hit the table next to him. Everyone in the room could see that the old man was holding back his anger.
At this time, Zongwei Chief Wei Jiao interjected: "Can we start with his family members and persuade them to confess?"
Xu Rong glanced at Wei Jiao, took out two pieces of paper from his arms and handed them to Wei Jiao, saying: "That Zhang Sanxiao is a widower. He lives alone and has no relatives. The other Liu Wang has only one person in his family.
The blind old mother has been bedridden all year round..." Note: a widower, a man whose wife has died.
Liu Wang is the name of another petty official.
Zhao Hongrun pondered for a moment, then turned to ask Yang Yu, Shaoqing of Dali Temple: "Yang Shaoqing, how is the situation over there?"
"They also refused to recruit." Shaoqing Yang Yu shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Liu Wang's body is quite strong. Several of the jailers were panting like cows from exhaustion. That guy was better. He was beaten with his eyes closed and said nothing.
…”
"Silent?" Zhao Hongrun looked at the two pieces of paper handed over by Zong Wei and asked doubtfully: "Didn't Liu Wang complain about injustice?"
"That's not true..." Shaoqing Yang Yu hummed softly: "I guess that guy also knows that there is no escape, but that guy is really a tough guy."
Zhao Hongrun looked at the two pieces of paper in his hand and saw that these two pieces of paper were filled with information about the lives of Zhang Sanxiao and Liu Wang.
Suddenly, Zhao Hongrun said: "Master Shaoqing, can you take me to meet Liu Wang?"
Shaoqing Yang Yu was stunned and asked curiously: "Could it be that Your Highness has a way to get this person to speak?"
"Try it."
As a result, Zhao Hongrun took Wen Qi and Zongwei Chief Wei Jiao to another execution room under the leadership of Yang Yu, the young minister of Dali Temple.
Sure enough, one prison officer and three jailers in the execution room were all panting from exhaustion, while Liu Wang, who was tied to the rack, had his eyes closed and remained silent.
Glancing at the whip marks all over this man's chest and back, even Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but praise him: He's a man!
"Your name is Liu Wang?"
Zhao Hongrun walked to Liu Wang and asked calmly.
Liu Wang opened his eyes and glanced at Zhao Hongrun, then closed his eyes again, obviously not intending to say anything to Zhao Hongrun.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun didn't care. He raised the two pieces of paper in his hand and said calmly: "It is said that the servant Zhang Sanxiao who is in the same class as you has lent you a lot of money in the past few years. This sum
Is the money used to treat your bedridden mother?"
"..." Liu Wang opened his eyes again and looked at Zhao Hongrun, but still did not speak.
"Don't worry that Dali Temple will send people to torture your mother. Mr. Xu has already sent people to ask the doctors who have been diagnosing your mother's condition. He learned that your life is short. If Dali Temple sends people to arrest your mother, I'm afraid your mother will
Dying in the middle...is this the reason that makes you feel confident?" Zhao Hongrun looked up at Liu Wang.
Liu Wang opened his mouth slightly, but still didn't say anything more.
At this moment, Zhao Hongrun stared at Liu Wang for a long time, then suddenly turned around and said to Shaoqing Yang Yu: "Yang Shaoqing, please send someone to inform Liu Wang's mother at home and tell her that her son is suspected of harming the Minister of Punishment of the imperial court and committing a crime.
For the unforgivable crime of conspiracy and rebellion, her Liu family... will be extinct!"
Yang Yu, the young minister of Dali Temple, was stunned for a moment. Just as he was about to accept the offer, he heard a roar from the execution room.
"How dare you?!"
Opened his mouth...
Shaoqing Yang Yu looked at Liu Wang in astonishment. You must know that just now, no matter how tortured he was by several jailers, this man who was as strong as an ox never opened his mouth.
"Why are you panicking?" Zhao Hongrun looked at Liu Wang calmly and said coldly: "Are you worried that your father-in-law will be angered to death by her unfilial son?"
Liu Wang glared at Zhao Hongrun angrily.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun stepped forward and said in a deep voice: "Liu Wang, for the sake of your filial piety in serving your mother, I will give you a chance... If you are willing to confess, I will make the decision and will not take your life away."
What you have done informs your Majesty, so that before your death, your Majesty can still think that your filial son is a kind person, and I can also make the decision to exempt you from the death penalty and change it to a military service... But if you are stubborn and incompetent...
, I don’t mind telling your matter to your court. I will only give you ten breaths of time to think about it.”
"..." Listening to Zhao Hongrun's threats, Liu Wang, who had just faced the torture without fear, looked slightly panicked.
I saw him swallowing his saliva and asking in a low voice: "Who...are you?"
Seeing this, Shaoqing Yang Yu, who had realized that there was a breakthrough in the situation, quickly came over, pointed at Zhao Hongrun and introduced: "This is His Highness Su Wang Hongrun!"
"King Su...?" Liu Wang looked at Zhao Hongrun in horror.
Perhaps guessing the fear in Liu Wang's heart, Zhao Hongrun chuckled and said: "I am in Daliang, and I am somewhat famous. Your Majesty should believe what I say, right?... Maybe she believes in her son more. You have to take a gamble.
What?"
Liu Wang's lips trembled slightly, and after a while he whispered: "Please let my mother... die in peace, Your Highness Prince Su."
"It depends on you, Liu Wang." Zhao Hongrun said seriously.
Liu Wang was silent for a moment, and then whispered: "...I don't know why Brother Zhang wanted to kidnap Zhou Shangshu. When he called me that day, Zhou Shangshu had already fallen to the ground..."
"Is Zhou Shangshu still alive at that time?" Zhao Hongrun asked tightly.
Liu Wang nodded and continued to narrate in a low voice: "At that time, Zhou Shangshu was still alive... I didn't know it was Zhou Shangshu at that time, but looking at the official uniform on his body, I guessed that he was a high official...
…I was very panicked at the time, but Brother Zhang asked me to do him a favor, so we tied Zhou Shangshu up with a rope and took him away from the back door of the official office..."
"Take him where?" Zhao Hongrun asked in a deep voice.
"I don't know about this." Liu Wang shook his head and explained: "At that time, there was a carriage in the alley at the back door of the government office. Brother Zhang and I loaded Zhou Shangshu into the carriage. Then, before getting on the carriage, Brother Zhang
, gave me a letter of money and asked me to buy some food for my mother..." At this point, he glanced at Zhao Hongrun and added: "That letter of money is hidden in the stove at my home..."
Zhao Hongrun didn't care about the money. He waved his hand to interrupt Liu Wang and asked, "Where did that carriage go?"
Liu Wang shook his head again and said, "I don't know about this. Brother Zhang didn't take me there. He just told me not to reveal this matter to anyone." At this point, he looked at Zhao Hongrun with pleading eyes and lowered his head.
"That's all I know," he said.
"..." Zhao Hongrun and Yang Yu, the young minister of Dali Temple, looked at each other and walked out of the execution room.
"Does Your Highness think what this person says is credible?" Yang Yu asked in a low voice.
Zhao Hongrun pondered for a moment, nodded and said: "This Liu Wang is not even afraid of death, but is afraid of being found out by his mother. Coupled with his past filial behavior, this son should be a filial son... I guessed it right, this Liu Wang
, is not a member of the evil party, he is just unable to show affection because of Zhang Sanxiao’s daily care... The key is still that Zhang Sanxiao!"
After saying this, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but sigh.
Because, after all, Liu Wang still has a blind old mother who is bedridden, but Zhang Sanxiao is a widower who lives alone and has no relatives or friends in Daliang. There is no way to pry open this person's mouth with the same method as Liu Wang.
.
"Let's try it."
Zhao Hongrun said with no confidence.
The two returned to the torture room where Zhang Sanxiao was tortured and told Zhang Sanxiao exactly what Liu Wang had revealed.
Maybe it was because he had just been fooled by Shaoqing Yang Yu once. Zhang Sanxiao didn't take it seriously at first and just complained that he was wronged. But when Yang Yu told Zhang Sanxiao exactly what Liu Wang said, he questioned the latter.
When Zhou Yan, the Minister of Punishment, was brought somewhere in a carriage, Zhang Sanxiao's expression changed a little.
"That bastard, if I hadn't been afraid of arousing suspicion, I should have killed him with a knife!"
Perhaps because he felt that his pretense had been exposed, Zhang Sanxiao no longer complained about injustice. The face that had just been so submissive and crying about injustice immediately became vicious.
Seeing this, Xu Rong, the minister of Dali Temple, asked sternly: "Who is the person who is contacting you? Where did you take Shangshu Zhou?"
At this time, Zhao Hongrun also revealed his identity and said to Zhang Sanxiao: "As long as you are willing to reveal the person behind you, I can make the decision and allow you to be executed like Liu Wang and be exiled to the army..."
However, before Zhao Hongrun could finish speaking, Zhang Sanxiao spat out a mouthful of blood on Zhao Hongrun's face.
"You guy!"
Wei Jiao, the chief of Zong Wei, rushed forward angrily and strangled Zhang Sanxiao's neck.
However, Zhang Sanxiao still stared at Zhao Hongrun with his eyes, gritted his teeth and said with difficulty: "It's time to recover the blood debt, you... will not end well..."
After saying that, he dropped his head and seemed to have fainted.
Wei Jiao was stunned for a moment, stretched out his hand to check his breathing, and found that Zhang Sanxiao was already dead.
"How could it be?" Wei Jiao immediately opened Zhang Sanxiao's mouth and groped for a dark object from inside. Then he turned back and said, "He is dead... He bit the poison sac in his teeth."
Dead soldier?
Zhao Hongrun, Xu Rong, Chu Shuli, Yang Yu and others looked at each other in shock. No one expected that a small official in the Ministry of Civil Affairs would actually be a dead soldier.
After a while, Zhao Hongrun raised his sleeves and wiped the blood on his face with his cuffs, and then looked at each other with Xu Rong, the minister of Dali Temple who also had doubts about this.
Why me?
Zhao Hongrun glanced at Xu Rong's location.
It was obviously Xu Rong who was standing closer, and whether it was arrest or torture, it was Xu Rong's order. Zhao Hongrun didn't say anything, but Zhang Sanxiao turned towards him. Zhao Hongrun