Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 462 Torture

Although Jia Mu was angry, Jia Lian was her own grandson after all. No matter how big a mistake he made, she had to support him behind his back.

Therefore, Jia Mu temporarily calmed down the anger in her heart, and then said: "Then what do you mean? Let him stay in Beijing with nothing to do, or should he go and work hard outside?"

Jia Mu is testing Wang Xifeng to see what her attitude is towards her husband's hard work outside.

Who is Wang Xifeng? She immediately guessed what Jia Mu meant. Her eyes turned red and she lowered her head, pretending to be very embarrassed and said:

"Although I also hope that the second master will stay with me, I can't delay his future. I think it's better to let the second master go out to be an official. In the future, our Rongguo Mansion will have another supporter."

After hearing this, Jia Mu nodded repeatedly. This was exactly what he hoped for.

Jia's mother can now see that although she loves Jia Baoyu, she has to admit that Jia Baoyu's character is not suitable for being an official outside.

And one generation below Jia Zheng. It seems that the only one who can hold on is Jia Lian.

In order to prevent Rongguo Mansion from being ruined, Jia Mu still hoped that Jia Lian could go out and support Rongguo Mansion after Jia Zheng retired.

"Hey, I'm sorry for you kid." Mother Jia said with some emotion.

She has also tasted the feeling of being alone in the empty boudoir.

But for the sake of the entire family, sometimes a woman has to endure it.

"Let's do this. Let Jia Lian stay in the ancestral hall for a few days to calm down. After two days, I will go and talk to Rui Ge'er and ask him to arrange an errand for Jia Lian elsewhere."

Wang Xifeng seemed to be very pleasantly surprised. She went up to thank her repeatedly, and then hurriedly started to serve her mother-in-law again.

Mother Jia was very fond of Wang Xifeng's diligence. Since she was older, she liked liveliness and listening to nice words, and the only one in the entire Rongguo Mansion who could match her was Wang Xifeng.

Otherwise, Mother Jia would not be so doting on Wang Xifeng, and even took away all of Mrs. Wang's housekeepers, just to let Mrs. Wang make room for Wang Xifeng.

As for Jia Lian, as soon as he arrived at Wu Guofu, he was taken to the ancestral hall and then placed in a small room next to the ancestral hall.

Next, Jia Lian began an endless road of repentance.

Every day, the elders of the clan would come to supervise Jia Lian and ask him to kowtow to the memorial tablets of his ancestors in the main hall of the ancestral hall.

Moreover, from morning to night, there was no food even for noon, which was very frustrating for Jia Lian.

Life is even worse than in the northwest. In addition to the harsh environment, at least there is freedom.

Moreover, in that remote place, no matter how much he said, he was still a county magistrate, and he could say exactly what he said on a three-thirds of an acre of land.

And now he is being held in the ancestral hall, without even the time to eat or sleep. If he had known this, he would never come back.

After thinking of this, Jia Lian felt a little regretful, so he quickly said to Jia Liu, the clan leader who supervised him:

"Grandpa Six, you see I have repented for several days and realized my mistakes. Can you tell Ruidi that I am willing to return to the northwest to be an official and I will never cause trouble to my family again."

Jia Liu looked at Jia Lian with hatred, and then said: "You know how many people in our clan want to be officials outside, but our clan leader has not agreed. The clan leader just thinks that you are still a talent, so he is ready to pull you out. I didn’t expect you to smear his face, do you think the patriarch can not be angry?”

Jia Lian also lowered his head in regret.

Jia Rui said that it was really good for him. He had always wanted to give himself an official position. Although they were small officials such as county magistrates, as long as he persisted, he could be promoted.

Every time, he came back because he was in trouble, or because he was too miserable and didn't want to stay. Thinking about it now, Jia Rui felt really guilty.

Seeing Jia Lian lowering his head in regret, Jia Liu also sighed, "You can correct your mistakes if you know them, and there is no greater good. Now that you have realized your mistakes, I will show my face to the clan leader."

After Jia Lian heard this, he quickly bowed gratefully.

In fact, Jia Lian would have misunderstood. Jia Liu was not going to intercede for him just for Jia Lian's sake.

Two days ago, Wang Xifeng sent someone to his house and gave him a thousand taels of silver, asking Jia Liu to plead with Jia Rui so that Jia Lian could continue to serve as an official outside.

Jia Liu didn't think much about it. He thought Wang Xifeng cared about Jia Lian, but he didn't know that Wang Xifeng wanted Jia Lian to leave Beijing immediately.

Therefore, for the sake of Wang Xifeng's status in Rongguo Mansion and the money, Jia Liu readily agreed.

In fact, even if Jia Lian doesn't say anything today, he is planning to go to Jia Rui to plead for mercy in the afternoon. Now that Jia Lian has said it, he will be even more able to sell favors.

After appeasing Jia Lian and having a sumptuous lunch in the ancestral hall, Jia Liu strolled to the study room in front.

After asking the boy guarding the study, he found out that Jia Rui hadn't come back yet, so he had to wait for him in the study.

At this time, Jia Rui was dealing with the rebellious ministers in the royal study.

This time he almost lost his life and the emperor almost got another advantage. Naturally, Jia Rui was so angry that he trembled all over.

Therefore, Jia Rui, the court official, is preparing for a major purge.

Those court officials who were arrested in the name of rebellion were taken to prison and later tortured under Qin Shun's personal supervision.

It is undeniable that among the arrested officials, there are still some who are upright.

No matter how Qin Shun tortured him in various ways, these people gritted their teeth and did not spit out a word. But most people didn't have the perseverance, and the first to speak was the principal criminal Zhou Heng.

This guy is in charge of Guanglu Temple.

That place was the second fattest one after the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Who is the chief official in this place who is not greedy? Which one doesn’t have a mouth full of oil?

Even when he first became an official, he still had some will, but under the long-term corrosion of money and beauty, his will was also worn away.

Therefore, as soon as this side was tortured, Zhou Heng was ready to be loyal to the emperor at first, but he gritted his teeth and said nothing.

But the pain in his body was too severe, hitting his brain in waves, and soon the defense line in his brain was broken.

Zhou Heng then revealed the clues about how his accomplices poisoned Jia Rui under his arrangement.

There are at least seven or eight officials pulled from this line, and of course these are all officials from Guanglu Temple.

Zhou Heng then confessed many officials he suspected, and bluntly said that Li Chun came to him after receiving instructions directly from the emperor.

This is tantamount to selling the emperor directly.

In addition to these, he also revealed many of his informants in the palace.

After hearing this, Qin Shun's face was all smiles, and he finally caught these traitors hiding in the palace.

During this period, Qin Shun was often criticized by Jia Rui. If something was slightly wrong, he would kneel down in the yard and slap him.

Therefore, Qin Shun hated the guys who poisoned Jia Rui with itch to his teeth.

This is because Qin Shun captured Zhou Heng's family members within the stipulated time, otherwise he wouldn't be able to stand by Lao Li and watch others being tortured.

After taking out what he wanted from Zhou Heng's mouth, Qin Shun temporarily let Zhou Heng go and allowed him to rest for a day.

Then he went to other execution sites and saw the civil and military officials who were arrested.

These are the people who stood up to support the emperor's execution of Jia Rui in the Qianqing Gate Hall a few days ago.

Jia Rui was not polite to these people and told Qin Shun that he would be severely interrogated for treason.

Qin Shun knew that these people had been wronged, but he was determined to carry out the things arranged by Jia Rui.

Although you are unjustly accused and I can't find any evidence, I can create my own evidence.

In this way, Qin Shun wrote a batch of letters in the past few days, all of which were letters in which these people contacted each other and wanted to murder the emperor.

After that, Qin Shun began to torture him with leather whips, tiger stools, and pepper water.

Many officials could not withstand severe torture, so they confessed and signed the documents, which became evidence of other people's crimes.

However, there were still a few diehards among them who gritted their teeth and refused to agree, which made Qin Shun a little troubled.

When he entered the torture room, he saw an old man in his sixties tied up. This man was none other than Kou Gang, the master of Hanlin Academy.

When this old guy was fighting in the court, he took advantage of the situation and caused a stumbling block for Jia Rui.

Now that Jia Rui had taken it, Qin Shun thought that this old guy would be the first to attack, but he didn't expect that this old guy was so tough-mouthed that he even used dozens of punishments without letting him say a word.

Qin Shun couldn't let the old guy die, so in the end he didn't dare to use severe punishment, he could only grind it slowly.

"How's it going? Has this old guy been recruited?"

When a young eunuch saw Qin Shun coming in, he quickly stepped forward to give him a thousand salutes, and then replied:

"Going back to my father-in-law, this old guy is as smelly and hard as the rocks in the pit. The younger one has exhausted all his methods, and he didn't say a word!"

Qin Shun stepped forward, lifted Kou Gang's head with the stick in his hand, and then asked: "Old man, I'd better do it quickly to avoid suffering this physical pain."

"What did you ask me to do?" Kou Gang said in a weak tone.

"Recruit your accomplices. This way, you will be comfortable, and I can save myself some trouble."

Kou Gang looked at Qin Shun with disdain, and then said:

"You look like a shrewd eunuch, why are you confused about this matter? There are some people I can recruit, but there are some I dare not!"

Qin Shun became interested when he heard this, "Don't be afraid. With our master supporting you, I don't believe there is anyone in the world who can threaten you?"

"Wu Guogong can protect me for a while, but he can't protect me for life. What's more, I still have family and friends. If I confess casually, I'm afraid my family will be removed from the world."

Qin Shun frowned, looked at him coldly, and then said: "If you don't recruit, I'm afraid your family will become famous soon. If you recruit, you may be able to live comfortably under the protection of our master." Get comfortable, do you want to think clearly?"

"If you ask me to recruit a few ordinary little people, I will admit it. But among the people you ask me to recruit, which one does not have a big power behind him? I don't care about one or two, but if you ask me to recruit seven or eight, Even if I had the courage, I wouldn’t dare.”

(End of this chapter)