"Tell me quickly, do you confess or not?" The jailer was holding a whip soaked in salt water and brutally torturing a dying smuggler on a wooden stake.
The prisoner wailed in agony: "Sir, what do you want me to confess? Tell me what you want me to confess."
The jailer and the other one holding the record book exchanged a glance. The jailer holding the record book said, "Black Tooth, you provided information to the Mongols. You told the Mongols that there were more than 2,000 Song soldiers stationed in Hengshuigou."
The prisoner named Black Teeth immediately cried out, "Sir, I'm wronged! I haven't even been to Hengshuigou, how would I know how many beaches there are there?"
The jailer with the whip lashed out with a "swish!" and then began to whip him again with a crackling sound.
Blood splattered everywhere, and the man was covered in blood from being beaten all over. The intense pain made his forehead covered with sweat, and the muscles on his face twitched continuously. "Stop it, stop it. Yes, I said it, I told the Mongols."
The jailer finally stopped the whipping, and the man holding the record book asked again, "What did you tell the Mongols?"
Black Tooth Boy cried, "I told the Mongols that there are two thousand Mongolian soldiers in Hengshuigou."
"Swish!" Another whip lashed out: "They are Song soldiers, not Mongolian soldiers!"
Heiyazi immediately screamed in fear: "It's Song soldiers, it's Song soldiers, I told the Mongols that there are 2,000 Song soldiers in Hengshuigou, you kill me, wuwuwu..."
There was another person behind him, the imperial envoy Li Qingyuan.
Li Qingyuan smiled with satisfaction. "Yes, that's how I'll interrogate them. Torture them severely until they confess."
On the other side, a jailer reached out and felt the breath of another prisoner tied to a pillar: "Sir, this one couldn't hold on and is dead."
"Dead?" Li Qingyuan walked over and looked at the so-called 'prisoner' with a sad face: "Ah, look at him, look at him, how pitiful he is. He refused to confess even when asked to. This is suicide out of fear of punishment, suicide out of fear of punishment."
The jailer holding the record book stood there blankly with his eyes wide open, not knowing how to start writing.
"Write it down. This criminal committed suicide out of fear of punishment and confessed part of the facts before his death. Just write it down." Li Qingyuan said angrily.
"Oh, oh." The jailer suddenly understood and quickly wrote down the man's name, Zhang Bingde, and the cause of death, suicide out of fear of punishment, in the record book.
Qinghe Prefecture is now in a state of chaos, and the people in the city are all worried. The government is arresting people everywhere, especially businessmen. If anyone reports it, they will be in trouble.
Inside the government office, Li Qingyuan felt his eyelids twitching, which seemed to be a bad sign.
The people I sent out haven't come back yet. Could something have happened to them? It doesn't make sense. Zhou Guitong was traveling alone, without anyone else.
Even if they were brought along, no one could be a match for the Four Tigers of Beijing. How come Huang He, one of the Four Tigers, never returned?
Linghu Yunlong and Zhou Guitong arrived in Qinghe Prefecture and went straight to the Qinghe Prefecture government office.
At the gate of the yamen, the guard's face turned pale with fear when he saw Zhou Guitong: "You, you..."
Zhou Guitong clasped his fists and said, "Kui County Magistrate, I request an audience with the Envoy of Imperial Court."
The officer was so frightened that he ran back to the government office. The leading officer stopped him and said, "Sir Zhou, you have been dismissed from your post and are under investigation. You need to be notified before you can see the envoy. You should wait. It is hard to say whether the envoy can see you."
Linghu Yunlong sneered: "Then can I see him?"
The officer looked him up and down: "Who are you?"
"The fourth-rank commander of the sword-bearing guards in front of the emperor, Linghu Yunlong!" Black lacquer with gold letters, the guard in front of the emperor, Linghu Yunlong took out the token.
Although he was only a fourth-rank official, he held a high position of power. As the commander of the imperial guards, he was a favorite of the emperor.
Even if the emperor's favorites were of no rank, they were much more powerful than the average high-ranking official. If they whispered a word to the emperor, you could be promoted to a high position and generous salary in a matter of minutes, or you could be beheaded with just one word.
"It turns out to be Commander Linghu. Please come in." The officer was scared to death.
In fact, an official had already gone in to report: "Your Excellency, Your Excellency, something's wrong. Zhou Guitong is back."
Li Qingyuan, who was flipping through the files on the table, was so frightened that his hands trembled and the files fell to the ground. The servants next to him hurriedly picked them up.
"Who?" Li Qingyuan was shocked. He was trying to find a way to modify the confessions and make them more reliable so that even if someone investigated them in the future, they would not be able to find any loopholes.
"Zhou, it's Zhou Guitong, the county magistrate of Kui County, and he's brought a strong and handsome man with him." The officer was so panicked because he knew that Li Qingyuan wanted to kill Zhou Guitong.
Li Qingyuan was furious: "What a heroic man! How can I be so handsome? (Okay, this sentence was added by the author.)"
"It's me." Linghu Yunlong's voice came from outside the door.
Li Qingyuan's ears buzzed, and he felt dizzy. The sound was far away, yet seemed very close. He felt his vision becoming increasingly blurry, and the image kept spinning.
"Sir, sir!" Li Qingyuan only came to his senses slowly after the officer beside him shook him vigorously.
"Ling, Guard Linghu." Li Qingyuan's hands were shaking and his soul was trembling.
He was the Minister of War, so he naturally recognized Linghu Yunlong, the imperial guard beside Zhao Huan. This man was deeply favored by the emperor, and the fact that the emperor sent him here was a sign that something bad was going to happen.
Linghu Yunlong quietly walked over and picked up a file on the ground. He opened it and read: "Heiyazai from Kui County, a native of Zhangjiapo, personally admitted to providing intelligence to the Mongols, informing them that more than 2,000 Song troops were stationed in Hengshuigou."
Li Qingyuan forced a smile. He didn't know how the news here reached Bian Jing. "This, this is the result of the investigation by the people below. I, this envoy, I don't quite understand it either."
"What a misunderstanding!" Linghu Yunlong picked up another file on the table: "Lu Xiaoqing, out of fear of punishment, committed suicide. Before his death, he admitted to providing intelligence to the Mongols. Zhang Bingde, out of fear of punishment, committed suicide. Before his death, he admitted to providing intelligence to the Mongols."
Li Qingyuan's forehead was covered with sweat. He grabbed the pile of files and covered them with his hands. "Linghu Yunlong, what do you mean? I'm the Imperial Envoy appointed by His Majesty. How can a mere imperial guard like you have the right to read these files?"
Now that the relationship has fallen out, he cannot be allowed to see these files even if it offends the emperor's favorite.
"Not anymore," Linghu Yunlong took out a token in his right hand and held an imperial edict in his left: "I am the fourth-rank commander of the imperial guards. This is the imperial edict of His Majesty!"
Li Qingyuan was desperate and said, "I also have His Majesty's imperial edict here. It's clearly written. All matters of Qinghe Prefecture, big or small, are under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Envoy. And what you, Linghu Yunlong, have in your hand is only His Majesty's handwritten edict. Can it be compared to this imperial edict with the Jade Seal and the Golden Seal of the Privy Council?"
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