Chen Haoran escorted the Fanlou staff to the Hu Yasi prison, and then brought out the shopkeeper Zhu Zhiwen, Liu Dapeng, and the accountant Pu Shulin for interrogation.
The three were taken to the interrogation room, where the lighting was dim and candles were even lit in the dark areas. Only a small window on the west side let in some sunlight.
This is a psychological tactic. When you enter the torture chamber under such oppressive conditions, your psychological defenses will collapse faster.
The officer in the interrogation room had a familiar numb expression on his face: "Master Duzhi!"
Chen Haoran nodded: "Tu Yaban, bring three people to interrogate them." After that, Chen Haoran walked out.
The guard surnamed Tu waved his hand at his men and said, "Tie them up."
Several men took Liu Dapeng and the other two and tied them to wooden stakes.
Zhu Zhiwen cried out in shock: "Sir, please spare my life! Sir, please spare my life!"
Pu Shulin was so scared that he couldn't even speak and looked at Liu Dapeng helplessly.
Liu Dapeng was, after all, a regent who knew a lot. He glared at us and said, "How dare you bring us here, knowing that Fanlou belongs to Master Zhang Bangchang? I'm going to tell Master Zhang!"
"Hahahaha..." The officers seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world.
The guard surnamed Tu laughed grimly and said, "Master Zhang? We are arresting Zhang Bangchang's men!"
Tu Yaban turned around and shouted to his men: "Begin the torture!"
After the three men were tied up, a tall and thin officer came over with a whip.
"Snap!" A tall and thin man cracked his whip in front of Park Shulin, with a loud and clear sound.
Before the torture began, Pu Shulin finally cried out, "Sir, please spare my life! Sir, please spare my life! If there's anything I want to know, I'll tell you everything. Sir, please tell me everything."
The tall and thin man didn't listen to him at all. He whipped over with a "swish!" and Pu Shulin screamed "Ah!"
The tall, thin man whipped Pu Shulin dozens of times, until blood was dripping from his body. Then he stopped. Looking at Pu Shulin again, he was beaten half to death.
The tall, thin man turned and walked up to Zhu Zhiwen, causing him to tremble slightly. How could they interrogate someone like that? They whipped him before they even asked him any questions.
Zhu Zhiwen watched the tall and thin man swinging the whip, his eyes twitching, and his body involuntarily shrinking back, but he was tied to the pillar and couldn't move at all: "No, no, no!"
"Crack, crack, crack." The tall and thin man gritted his teeth and beat Zhu Zhiwen hard. Zhu Zhiwen cried and screamed, tears streaming down his face. The tall and thin man finally stopped beating him when he was tired.
Look at Zhu Zhiwen again. As a restaurant owner, he had never suffered such punishment before. He was tied to a pillar and cried loudly with snot and tears.
In this situation, Liu Dapeng dared not to be stubborn anymore, and his tone softened: "Sir, Sir, can you please allow us to report to Lord Zhang later and then..."
It would have been fine if he hadn't mentioned Zhang Bangchang, but as soon as he mentioned Lord Zhang, the tall and thin man lashed out with a whip and hit Liu Dapeng in the stomach.
The whips were soaked in water and then dried, so they were hard and cruel. Liu Dapeng's chest was immediately torn into pieces.
The tall, thin man whipped him and shouted, "Master Zhang, Zhang Bangchang may be the prime minister in your eyes, but he is nothing in our Tiger Yasi!"
The tall and thin man was beating and cursing at the same time, but Liu Dapeng was quite tough and didn't say a word.
The tall, thin man finally stopped: "You still have a few bones left. I'll take the rest of the whip for now. But you can't refuse. No matter how hard your bones are, they can't withstand the torture of the Tiger Yasi!"
Is there any justice in the world? The three of them were beaten as soon as they entered. After the beating, they told them that it was impossible not to confess. Liu Dapeng and the other two had no idea what the people from the Tiger Court wanted to interrogate them for. They just asked them if they confessed. Where did this trick come from?
Finally, the butcher next to him explained the reason: "If you come to the Tiger Court, no matter if you have committed a crime or not, you must be whipped with the thirty whips."
After a while, the chief judge Chen Haoran walked in. He looked at the three guys who had just been whipped and chuckled: "So, how does it feel to be a tiger yamen official?"
Zhu Zhiwen and Pu Shulin begged for mercy weakly, but Liu Dapeng said nothing.
Chen Haoran walked over to the table next to him and sat down. There was a teapot on the table. Chen Haoran poured himself a cup of tea and said, "Your Fanlou has been open for more than 20 years, right?"
Liu Dapeng stared at him. After all, a prime minister's steward still had some aura, so he said coldly: "Twenty-one years."
Chen Haoran didn't care much about his tone. He took a sip of tea and said slowly, "Twenty-one years. The account books in your warehouse only cover the last five years. Where are the other fifteen years?"
Mr. Pu Shulin, the accountant, said weakly, "Sir, all the old accounts from five years ago are with Mr. Zhang's house. Fanlou only has the accounts from the last five years."
Chen Haoran put down his teacup and said, "I've checked for you. Over the past five years, you've evaded a total of 56,310 guan (approximately 230,000 guan) in taxes. If you extrapolate this, that's over 230,000 guan (approximately 230,000 guan) in 21 years. Is that right?"
Pu Shulin cried, "Sir, the accounts are all in Lord Zhang's house. I really don't know."
Chen Haoran slammed the table and stood up: "Come on, go to Zhang's house!" When he reached the door, Chen Haoran turned and said: "These three people stay, and let all the other servants in Fanlou go. We don't have enough spare money to feed them here in the Tiger Yamen."
Tu Yaban bowed and said, "As you command!"
Two servants from Prime Minister Zhang Bangchang's mansion stood at the door and stopped Chen Haoran and others.
"This is Lord Zhang's residence, no outsiders are allowed to trespass!" said a servant.
Chen Haoran laughed, and the officer beside him kicked the servant to the ground, then beat him up with his fists and kicks. Seeing that the situation was not good, another yamen runner crawled into the mansion.
The officers from the Tiger Yasi kicked the door open and rushed in.
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