Liu Yanzong bowed and said, "Thank you for your trouble, Commander He. Let's go and meet this Liu Yueqing together."

Liu Yueqing was placed in a separate room, tied to a wooden stake, his jaw was dislocated, and his wound was filled with salt. He had already fainted from the pain.

After being woken up by a bucket of cold water, Liu Yueqing was almost in a state of collapse.

"Speak, who gave you the order?"

"This humble citizen has confessed truthfully; it was Chairman Shangguan!"

Liu Yanzong laughed cruelly, "Do you think I'm a fool? If Shangguan Hongru dared to issue such an order, wouldn't he have told Minister Tang and Minister Xu? Are you perhaps criticizing the order issued by the prime minister on the spot?"

Liu Yueqing's face was contorted in pain, blood and snot mingling together. He kept screaming, "Sir, spare my life! Sir, spare my life! Everything I've said is true!"

"Men, keep hitting them!"

Liu Yanzong and He Liming sat to one side. Liu Yueqing was the most important clue, and everything had to be extracted from him.

Before long, a guard from the Imperial City Guard entered and said, "Reporting to Commander He, we went to Liu Yueqing's house and found that the entire family, including servants, a total of thirty-two people, had been killed!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yueqing, who was already tortured beyond recognition after being tied to the wooden stake, screamed in agony, "Beast! Beast!"

He Liming and Liu Yanzong exchanged a glance, but it was too late.

The torturers stopped, and after Liu Yueqing finished wailing and fell unconscious, they splashed him with cold water to wake him up.

Liu Yanzong said, "Can we talk about it now?"

P.S.: Today is the Winter Solstice, remember to eat dumplings!

Thank you to "Mourning Wu Huaxia", "Story Inside", "Another Brick of Revolution", "Tea in Dreams", "Light Ink Xiaoran", "Li Yan Book Friend", "Heart of Scorpio", and many other readers for their generous donations. There are too many to list them all. Thank you all for your support.