After taking a few steps forward, Xu Xianchun was slightly stunned, then stepped back.
He looked at Chen Hong hesitantly, then asked, "Eunuch Chen, I have something I want to ask Yanshenggong. Is that okay?"
Chen Hong had already turned around and left, but when he saw Xu Xianchun coming back, he was stunned for a moment and then realized that he had something to do.
After hearing Xu Xianchun's words, Chen Hong's heart moved. However, Chen Hong was not Xu Xianchun, and he understood His Majesty's thoughts better.
Chen Hong coughed softly and said unhappily, "Xu Xianchun, are you deaf or what? Or are you deliberately not hearing? What did His Majesty just say?"
"My Lord, His Majesty has said that this investigation will be thorough and that no one will be tolerated, no matter who is implicated." Xu Xianchun straightened his expression and said quickly, "I know what to do."
"Then let's do it quickly." Chen Hong waved his hand and said.
After leaving the house, Xu Xianchun quickly found his men outside.
Waving at them, Xu Xianchun asked, "Are those people that Eunuch Chen arrested before still here?"
"Your Excellency, they are all being held with us," the subordinate said hurriedly.
"Those people" were naturally the grain resellers that Chen Hong had arrested earlier. According to the Jinyiwei's investigation, these people were all members of the Kong family, but they had been under custody and had not yet been interrogated.
These people did not reveal their masters. After all, according to the Ming Dynasty law, they were not required to say anything. In the Ming Dynasty law, there is a saying that relatives should protect each other.
As early as the Han Dynasty, Confucian classics were used as the theoretical basis for adjudicating cases, which was known in history as the "Spring and Autumn Judgments", and formally established the judicial principle of "protecting relatives from harm".
Successive dynasties continued this principle and expanded upon it. The Tang Dynasty expanded it to include "covering each other's crimes," meaning that even slaves and servants, who were not related by blood, were obligated to conceal each other's crimes.
The Ming Code also stipulates the legal principles of "relatives living together should cover up for each other's crimes" and "a younger brother should not testify against his elder brother, a wife should not testify against her husband, and slaves should not testify against their master."
If a son or daughter-in-law reports the crimes of his father or father-in-law to the government, the government will impose severe punishment on him or her for the crime of "unfilial piety".
Of course, the application of the principle of "protecting one's relatives" has its exceptions. The theoretical basis of protecting one's relatives is "filial piety", and according to Confucian theory, the highest interest in feudal society is naturally the "loyalty" of the subjects to the monarch.
Therefore, when loyalty and filial piety conflict, loyalty must be chosen over filial piety. Therefore, it was stipulated that "treason, high treason, and rebellion are three crimes that cannot be concealed, so the law of concealing each other does not apply."
In other words, the three crimes of treason, high treason, and conspiracy to betray do not apply to the principle of mutual concealment, and must be exposed. (Treason and conspiracy are both easy to understand, but the crime of "high treason" refers to the destruction of the feudal emperor's ancestral temples, tombs, and palaces.)
Originally, these people were hiding for the Kong family. If they were really interrogated, it would easily lead to complications and there would be no way to implicate the Kong family.
But now it is different. The whole case has become a case of treason. His Majesty was assassinated and there is already a reason for it.
If it involves a case of treason, then loyalty is also involved, and no matter what is done, it is not excessive.
The moment he left Eunuch Chen, Xu Xianchun had already thought of what to do.
"Bring all those people here, I will carefully examine the documents." Xu Xianchun said with a sneer.
"Yes, sir." When the subordinates saw Xu Xianchun's smile, they couldn't help but shudder. Naturally, they didn't dare to neglect it and quickly agreed. Then they went to call for people and prepared to let them pick up the prisoner.
When they came back, the prisoners were also brought in.
"What's the leader's name?" Xu Xianchun looked at the row of disheveled prisoners in front of him and said directly, "Bring him up first. We'll start with this leader today."
"Sir, the leader is called Kong Shangli, and is said to be from the side branch of the Kong family." The subordinate said hurriedly.
"Then it's him." Xu Xianchun nodded, sat on the chair, picked up the teacup and took a sip of water. He said, "Hang him up first and give him twenty lashes. Oh, and don't forget to dip him in salt water. You guys are just careless. It would be so boring if you didn't. You can't be frugal when it comes to torture. How can you get promoted if you're lazy?"
The people below quickly agreed in a submissive manner: "Yes, sir, we will do it right away."
The subordinates responded respectfully and quickly carried Kong Shangli up.
Kong Shangli was terrified at this moment. He twisted and turned to try to break free and couldn't help but yell, "Sir, sir, what are you doing?"
These Jinyiwei were not easy to deal with. They quickly stripped off Kong Shangli's shirt and pants, leaving him only in shorts.
Kong Shangli looked to be in his forties. He was used to a life of luxury, and his complexion was fair, tender, and smooth. Although he wasn't very thin, he had some flesh. Now that he was stripped of his clothes, he felt uneasy.
Xu Xianchun ignored Kong Shangli and simply raised his hand to signal his men to torture him.
The Jinyiwei people naturally did not hesitate. They swung the whips in their hands instantly, and the whips fell on Kong Shangli with crackling sounds.
The whipping was very fast and strong, obviously done by professionals. After whipping twice, they would put the whip into a bucket nearby.
What is put in the bucket is naturally not clean water, but salt water that has been mixed in advance (sometimes something like chili powder is added).
Then they picked up the whip and hit Kong Shangli again, then dipped it in salt water again, and repeated this process over and over again.
Kong Shangli was in so much pain and had nowhere to hide. He could only scream in fear, his face twitching.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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