"Sir! Sir! If you have anything to ask, please ask me. I will tell you everything I know!" Kong Shangli had tears on his face, his tone was pleading, and his attitude was sincere.
Xu Xianchun, however, seemed unmoved. He gently picked his ears and flicked them in the air, as if to eject a large piece of earwax.
The person next to him immediately understood what he meant and took a smelly sock and stuffed it into Kong Shangli's mouth.
Only then did Xu Xianchun withdrew his hand, picked up the teacup and continued drinking tea.
It was not until after twenty lashes that the Jinyiwei men pulled out the smelly socks stuffed in Kong Shangli's mouth, then stepped aside and waited for Xu Xianchun to question him.
Xu Xianchun stood up gently, took a silk handkerchief to cover his mouth, and walked to Kong Shangli with an expressionless face. "I don't really want to interrogate you today. I just feel a little bored."
Xu Xianchun said slowly, "I haven't tortured anyone in a while, and I feel uncomfortable. Anyway, you have delicate skin, so I think it will feel good when I torture you."
"But you're disappointing. How could you be so spineless? We Jinyiwei have many torture instruments. Why are you crying and screaming after just a few lashes? Aren't you from the Kong family? Where's your backbone? You're so disappointing!"
Kong Shangli was so frightened when he heard this.
The Jinyiwei are all perverts!
You know, among the rumors outside, the reputation of the Jinyiwei has never been good. There are more and more legends about the Jinyiwei, and most of them are negative.
Some even said that people in the Jinyiwei ate babies alive, and that Xu Xianchun dug out people's hearts and livers, and even developed a dish called "Dragon Liver and Phoenix Gallbladder", which was quite horrifying.
Things like torturing others for pleasure are completely normal in the Jinyiwei.
Originally, Kong Shangli didn't care much about it, because these rumors had nothing to do with him, and he just treated them as a joke.
Now that he saw Xu Xianchun torturing himself for fun, Kong Shangli panicked. Thinking of those rumors, he suddenly felt unwell.
He quickly said, "Sir, although my last name is Kong, I am not a member of the Kong family. Besides, you represent the court and His Majesty, so I must be loyal to the court and His Majesty. In my heart, apart from the court and His Majesty, there is no one else!"
Xu Xianchun looked Kong Shangli up and down, and said with a sigh, "I didn't realize you were quite talented. If I hadn't met you here, I would have really wanted to recruit you as my subordinate. But now that I've met you here, there are some things I can't discuss."
"Sir, I know I'm guilty, but I'm willing to redeem myself and make meritorious contributions." Kong Shangli said quickly, "As long as you're willing to give me a chance, I'll do my best for you."
Looking at Kong Shangli, who was obviously sweating from the pain, but had to force himself to smile with envy and say such words, Xu Xianchun really didn't know what to say.
If this person were to work for him, he would definitely be a qualified subordinate, or even an outstanding subordinate. At this moment, Xu Xianchun actually developed a love for talent.
"Don't say I didn't give you a chance," Xu Xianchun turned around and sat back down, saying, "Let me ask you, who instructed you to embezzle the disaster relief food?"
"My lord, do we need to give orders for such things? Everyone does this." Kong Shangli said quickly.
After hearing this, Xu Xianchun raised his eyebrows and said in a cold voice: "I originally thought you were a smart person, but I didn't expect you were just pretending to be smart. At this time, you still don't tell the truth. Do you really think I'm easy to fool?"
"My Lord, my Lord, I haven't finished what I was saying!" Kong Shangli said quickly, "We've been doing this for so many years. As for who ordered us to do this, there's no such thing as orders or no orders."
"The Kong family has connections. Which government office in Shandong doesn't have Kong family members? As long as the Kong family is willing, there is nothing they can't accomplish. It's just a matter of a word."
"It's just some disaster relief food, and they exchanged it for something with just a few words. They can easily resell it for a huge sum of money. In this situation, there's no such thing as orders or no orders. This is a business that happens every year, and everyone is used to it."
"So, your business is for the Kong family?" Xu Xianchun said to Kong Shangli.
"Of course." Kong Shangli nodded quickly and said, "With my limited ability, how could I dare to do such a thing in Shandong? Who would be willing to do such a thing with me? If it weren't for the Kong family behind me, the people in the Prince of Lu's Palace would have eaten me up long ago."
Xu Xianchun nodded in satisfaction and said, "So you gave all the money you earned from these people to the Kong family?"
"This is the Kong family's business." Kong Shangli said quickly: "I am just the shopkeeper. I receive a fixed salary every month. The money I earn naturally goes to the Kong family."
After hearing this, Xu Xianchun nodded with satisfaction.
Of course, these things are definitely not enough.
Xu Xianchun then continued to ask, "This time, you sold all your grain to the White Lotus Sect. Do you know what the White Lotus Sect does?"
"My lord, the White Lotus Sect is a rebel against the imperial court." Kong Shangli said quickly.
In fact, Kong Shangli had no idea what White Lotus Sect the grain was sold to. But he had to tell Xu Xianchun about it, so he decided to listen to what he had to say.
"You may not know that these rebels are so audacious that they dared to assassinate Your Majesty!"
"We've arrested some traitors. According to their confessions, all the disaster relief grain you resold was given to the White Lotus Sect, where it was used as military rations to prepare for rebellion. Therefore, you are colluding with the traitors and conspiring against the law. Do you know what this crime is?"
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