Liu Fu raised an eyebrow and looked coldly at Emperor Wanyan Xi of Jin, asking:
"You want to die, don't you?"
Faced with Liu Fu's questioning, Wanyan Xi steeled his resolve, a surge of anger rising within him:
"Hmph! If I were to even frown, I would be insulting all the ancestors and the late emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty. Liu Fu, if you want to kill me, then kill me. Why do you need to come and ask me again?"
Throughout Wanyan Xi's speech, Liu Fu carefully observed Wanyan Xi's expression.
When Liu Fu first questioned him, he hesitated for a moment but then made up his mind. This was certainly a good thing, as he was determined to die. Throughout history, emperors who died in battle could be considered heroes.
But Wanyan Xi then said these words while clearly breathing heavily. Liu Fu knew, of course, that Wanyan Xi was so angry with him that he was losing his temper and becoming irrational.
In such situations, once the other party calms down, more than 90% of them will regret what they have done.
Liu Fu nodded, agreeing to Wanyan Xi's words. Immediately, a series of names of harsh laws and punishments popped into his mind. Liu Fu thought to himself, "Since you're willing to walk into the line of fire, then you can't blame me."
"Okay, very good."
Liu Fu clapped his hands and laughed, looking at the Golden Emperor with immense joy, and said:
“When your Later Jin invaded the Central Plains, you burned, killed, and looted southwards every year. If all the civilians you killed were added up, the number of people who died over the past few hundred years would probably be in the millions or even tens of millions. With such deep hatred, how could I not avenge them?”
At this moment, Emperor Jin was still consumed by rage and felt no fear whatsoever, appearing as if he were bravely facing death.
But Liu Fu's next description caused cold sweat to break out all over his forehead without him even realizing it...
Liu Fu then spoke in front of everyone:
"I've heard of a form of punishment called honey torture."
"Do any of you know what honey torture is?"
Hearing Liu Fu say this, the civil and military officials had never actually heard of the so-called honey torture before.
Liu Fu smiled and said:
"It's actually very simple. First, pour three catties of honey into this person's mouth. After just one hour, the blood in this person's body will turn sweet."
"At this point, make a light cut on the person's body, just enough to let the blood flow. Then, smear honey all over the wound and skin, and fix the person to a spot in the soil. In a short time, a large number of ants will be attracted by the honey."
"When tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of ants crawl all over the wound and begin to gnaw on the honey, the honey and flesh mix together, and even the flesh smells sweet. These ants will keep gnawing until they have eaten all the honey and flesh off the person. At that point, all that will be left on the person is a smooth, white skeleton. All the flesh will have disappeared without a trace. The person being gnawed on will suffer the pain of being devoured by thousands of ants from head to toe. The pain of ants crawling all over the body and constantly gnawing on the flesh is more terrible than being slowly sliced to death. If the person's entire body is covered with honey, the pain they will suffer after death will be less."
"But if you were to bite off one of this person's legs today, he would suffer for four or five days in a row. If you were to bite off his other leg tomorrow, and so on, and so on, and all the flesh and blood of his limbs were eaten, then this person would suffer the pain of being eaten by thousands of ants for several months before he would die. At that time, he would truly be worse than dead."
When Liu Fu mentioned this, almost everyone shuddered at the same time.
Especially for Wanyan Xi, the emperor of the Later Jin dynasty, this was the first time he had ever heard of such a terrible form of punishment.
But that's not all.
Liu Fu continued:
"This second type of punishment is called wax torture."
"We tied you up and turned you upside down, took off your pants, spread your anus open, and poured hot broth directly into it. This torture is also known as anal sealing."
"When the wax is injected into the body of someone whose anus is sealed, it is scalding hot, like being burned, and goes straight into the intestines. The pain is simply terrifying. Once the anus is sealed, no matter how much you eat, you cannot expel it. In three to five days, your stomach will be filled with a ball that is about to explode. At that time, your abdomen will feel like it is being stabbed with a knife. Then someone will pour hot water into your intestines from behind. When the candle melts and the wax is released, the large amount of feces accumulated in your intestines will rush out together. At this time, it is harder than climbing to heaven to defecate. Most people cannot endure it. In the end, their intestines and stomach will gush out from their anus, along with their internal organs, and they will die from the gushing. It is simply terrifying."
Liu Fu's words became increasingly outrageous. At this point, not only Wanyan Xi and the ministers, but even the seasoned soldiers of the Later Jin army began to feel fear.
"This third form of punishment is called skinning a person alive."
Upon hearing about this punishment, everyone knew how severe it was.
It is quite simple. The first two cruel punishments were used by a cruel official named Lai Junchen under Wu Zetian, who specifically used them to force prisoners to use their tortures.
This latter method, however, was what Zhu Yuanzhang used to deal with corrupt officials.
For some heinous criminals, a hole is made in their skull and a large amount of mercury is poured into their skin.
Mercury is extremely dense and will continuously seep down along the cut skin. When poisoned by mercury, one experiences unbearable itching all over the body. This, combined with the pain of the skin being peeled away inch by inch by mercury, creates a sensation of both itchiness and pain that makes one unable to resist constantly scratching...
But the more you scratch, the more you struggle, and the more you struggle, the more it itches and the more it hurts. In this endless cycle, eventually the living person will jump out of the human skin and struggle to shed a bloody human skin, which is truly terrifying...
Liu Fu could think of far too many punishments at once; just mentioning these three was enough to send chills down the spines of everyone present. He then turned to Emperor Jin, Wanyan Xi, and asked:
"I will not let you die a quick and clean death. I have dozens of similar punishments here. I will think carefully and use as many punishments as possible on you, so that you can neither live nor die. Ideally, you will be in a state of being unable to die and suffering endless torment. Tell me, Empress Zhenlie of the Later Jin, which one do you want to experience first?"
After Liu Fu finished asking his question, Wanyan Xi swallowed more than a dozen times. Now, if you say he wasn't afraid, it would be a lie.
Wanyan Xi was terrified. While he was being frightened by Liu Fu's three rounds of torture, Liu Fu secretly stalled for time, wearing down his anger.
Once a person regains their senses, it's difficult for them to act impulsively again. Wanyan Xi was no exception. When he was no longer impulsive, the thought of what he was about to face filled him with dread, and he suddenly felt terrible...
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