With a squeak, the door of the Dongchang Tianlao was opened by a stall owner with a white face. The stall owner was the leader in charge of this section of the Tianlao. Under Li Zhi's gaze, the leader was covered in cold sweat and trembling all over.
.
After opening the door of this section of the prison, Fanzi did not dare to take Li Zhi to find Cui Changwu. He suddenly knelt on the ground and shouted like a mourning heir: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! I really did what I was ordered to do! Back then,
God... when Wang Dehua wanted to punish Mr. Cui, who dared not to obey?"
"In my heart, I really respect the courage of the Chief Assistant, and I don't make things difficult for him in the slightest!"
Li Zhi looked at the leader of the gang coldly and couldn't help but frown.
Li Zhi rushed to Beijing from the Wuqing battlefield without stopping, not because he was busy enthroning the throne. In fact, Li Zhi came in such a hurry mainly because he wanted to see Cui Changwu early and see what Cui Changwu had become now.
Personally speaking, Cui Changwu is Li Zhi's brother-in-law, and he is a brother-in-law. In public terms, Cui Changwu is Li Zhi's confidant. He has been indispensable for Li Zhi at critical moments many times. Li Zhi values Cui Changwu very much. Now Cui Changwu is being inspected by Zhu Youjian
Having been detained in the Dongchang Sky Prison for nearly four months, Li Zhi was very worried about Cui Changwu's condition.
The fans in Dongchang fled after the Huben Army entered the city, and many fans even fled the city directly. It took Han Jinxin some effort to find the stall that managed the keys to the Tianlao, and caught him in a small village outside the city.
.
Judging from the panic at the banzi stall, Cui Changwu was looking very bad.
Li Zhi snorted a puff of air from his nose, and without waiting for Fan Zi to lead the way, he strode towards the sky prison. However, the sky prison was heavily locked, and Li Zhi only walked twenty meters when he encountered another iron door.
The door was blocked.
When Zhong Feng saw that Li Zhi was being blocked, he kicked the stall driver in the face, causing the stall driver to roll twice on the ground. "It's a dog! Are you making a noise? If you don't open the door quickly, we will destroy your three clans."
!”
When the stall driver heard this, he was so frightened that he had no idea. He got up from the ground in a fit of pee, ran to Li Zhi as fast as he could, and fumbled for a long time before opening the iron door.
"Jun... Your Majesty, your chief assistant is right in front."
Li Zhi took a few steps forward, but he smelled a disgusting rancid smell. Li Zhi rarely smelled this smell, like the smell of pork that has been left for too long.
Li Zhi's face sank, his feet stagnated, and he couldn't help but move forward a little slower.
There were some imperial prisoners in the cells on both sides of the Tianlao. Many of these people were Cui Changwu's subordinates, and some were even old officials in Tianjin. Zhong Feng quickly called for people to open these cells and let the cadres in the prison go.
come out.
Fanzi ran forward on his hands and knees for more than a hundred meters, walked to the innermost cell and opened the door. Then he knelt on the ground with a plop and said: "Your Majesty, the chief assistant is inside.
"
Only then did Li Zhi realize that the rancid smell was coming from Cui Changwu's cell.
Li Zhi was a little afraid to move forward. After closing his eyes for a while, he gritted his teeth and raised his feet and walked into Cui Changwu's cell.
In the cell, what Li Zhi saw was a shivering patient on the haystack. The man was close to a coma, his hair was disheveled, and his hair was so dirty that it stuck together and turned into strands. There were traces of whipping all over his body.
The scars on the prison clothes stained the prison clothes with red marks. The prison clothes seemed to be white at first, but now they have turned into black and gray.
Obviously, this is the tortured Cui Changwu.
There was a foul smell in the cell. Li Zhi took a look and finally found that the smell was coming from Cui Changwu's feet. Cui Changwu's feet had probably been tortured by torture instruments and were completely ulcerated. There was yellow pus on the wounds.
, exudes a disgusting smell.
Seeing Cui Changwu's appearance, Li Zhi couldn't bear to close his eyes.
Shen Yuji, the medical officer next to Li Zhi, quickly walked up, touched Cui Changwu's forehead, then untied Cui Changwu's prison clothes and looked at his body, and finally looked at Cui Changwu's legs and feet, and took a breath.
Li Zhi couldn't help but asked: "Mr. Shen, how are you doing?"
Shen Yuji nodded and said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Cui has a high fever due to the suppuration of the wound on his foot. Fortunately, the wound has not suppurated for a long time, and the other wounds are not infected. Now it seems that if the legs are cut off,
, it can still be saved.”
Hearing this, Li Zhi frowned.
Zhong Feng said angrily: "Shen Yuji, Mr. Cui is the emperor's confidant! If he loses his legs, how will he do anything in the future?"
Shen Yuji shook his head and said: "Uncle Zhenbei, even a junior official has no choice. According to the prince's medical skills and the junior official's medical experience, amputation is the only way."
When the waiter outside the cell heard these words, he was so frightened that he lost control and peed all over his pants. His face looked like paper, and he kowtowed desperately on the ground. Soon his forehead was cut open, and there was blood all over.
Li Zhi frowned and said nothing.
Hearing everyone's discussion, Cui Changwu, who was shaking on the ground, woke up in a daze and opened his eyes.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty...?"
Li Zhi knelt down and grabbed Cui Changwu's hand.
Cui Changwu looked at Li Zhi's face carefully, and after looking for a long time, he confirmed that it was indeed Li Zhi, and suddenly laughed. The face, which was full of scars, extremely dirty, and red due to high fever, smiled, which Li Zhi could not see.
My heart tightened.
"As expected...as expected...as expected...the prince won."
Li Zhi nodded and pressed Cui Changwu's hand hard.
Shen Yuji knelt in front of Cui Changwu and said, "Master Cui, I'm afraid you can't save your legs."
Cui Changwu was stunned when he heard this. He tried his best to look down at his suppurating legs, and finally smiled.
After thinking for a long time, Cui Changwu said: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, please don't... don't get angry because of your subordinate's legs. Although Zhu Youjian acted rebelliously, but... but..."
Cui Changwu coughed violently and continued: "But, he was determined to reform and save the country before. He... After all, he once supported the prince and fought with the Jiangbei army. If he were to be killed, I'm afraid... I'm afraid
It will damage the prince's reputation. If the prince's reputation is damaged, I'm afraid there will be resistance when implementing various policies, and killing people will waste a lot of time."
After taking a breath, Cui Changwu said: "If we waste time, the people of the world will suffer for a few more years."
Li Zhi sighed, grabbed Cui Changwu's hand with both hands, and said, "Don't worry, Chief Minister, I have my own idea."
Cui Changwu looked at Li Zhi and smiled. He was suffering from a high fever and his physical strength could not support him at all. After speaking, he slowly closed his eyes, tilted his head and fell into coma again.
Zhong Feng gritted his teeth and said: "The order to torture Xianggong Cui must have been issued by Wang Dehua."
Li Zhi looked at Cui Changwu on the ground, his eyes growing more and more angry.
"Right now, pass on my order to cut the eunuch Wang Dehua of Dongchang into quarters at Caishikou!"
