amaotonovel Chapter 385 This is utterly disregard for official duties!
Chapter 385 This is utterly disregard for official duties!
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Zhu Shouchun casually.
He was slender and upright, with a slightly dark complexion that couldn't hide his delicate features. He had a presentable appearance, and even in prison clothes, his demeanor was undeniable.
A typical image of a scholar.
It's probably not a good thing.
Yang Shaofeng reached out and grabbed the gavel, slammed it down, and shouted at Zhu Shouchun, "You criminals, state your names!"
Zhu Shouchun, wearing shackles and with his hands barely clasped together, replied, "This humble official, Zhu Shouchun, greets Your Highness, the Imperial Son-in-Law."
Yang Shaofeng grunted and said, "Zhu Shouchun, now that I'm interrogating you alone, you should know what that means, right?"
Zhu Shouchun chuckled and said, "I know, it's nothing more than printing blank money and grain registers, but..."
Changing the subject, Zhu Shouchun continued, "The practice of blankly printing money and grain registers has existed since the time of the Hu Yuan dynasty. I am merely following the old custom of the previous dynasty. If I am punished for this, I will not accept it."
Yang Shaofeng glanced coldly at Zhu Shouchun. "Zhu Shouchun, I am a scholar and have never liked fighting and killing. But if you keep treating me like a fool, I will naturally have a way to deal with you."
Zhu Shouchun smiled dismissively and said, "I answered Your Highness's question truthfully. How did that make me think Your Highness is a fool?"
Yang Shaofeng chuckled, flipped through a few files, and then suddenly looked at Zhu Shouchun and said, "Zhu Shouchun, whether you can withstand it is another matter, but can Liu Yuanqing and Zhu Shoujin withstand it?"
"Whether or not those gentry and corrupt officials you've implicated can withstand the consequences remains to be seen."
"You know this is a heinous crime that could lead to the extermination of nine generations of one's family. Don't Liu Yuanqing and Zhu Shoujin know that?"
Yang Shaofeng smiled meaningfully: "What if they pin all the blame on you..."
Zhu Shouchun felt a sudden panic.
The crime they committed was a heinous crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of their family. If Zhu Shoujin and Liu Yuanqing did not want their parents, wives, and children to suffer as well, they might actually try to shift all the blame onto themselves.
Just as Zhu Shouchun was feeling uneasy, Yang Shaofeng continued, "Besides Liu Yuanqing and Zhu Shoujin, don't those gentry and officials you've linked up care about their nine generations of relatives?"
"Oh, right, there's one more thing I need to tell you."
"The imperial court recently restructured the Censorate and the Court of Judicial Review, and the Ministry of Justice is also revising certain legal provisions."
"For example, if the confessions and evidence provided by Liu Yuanqing, Zhu Shoujin and others are complete, the Dali Temple can still convict you."
Sitting under the desk, Xia Yu suddenly laughed and said, "Your Highness, I have seen many fools, but I have never seen anyone like him who would use his own family to take the blame for someone else."
Yang Shaofeng said helplessly, "Who knows? Logically speaking, we should confess at this time to give our wives and children a chance to live, or at the very least, try to reduce the number of deaths in our family."
"But he stubbornly refuses to confess, showing no thought to his parents, wife, children, or relatives."
"They're even dumber than those idiots who were exiled to Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture the last few times."
"At least those idiots know to protect the lives of their parents, wives, children, and extended family."
Xia Yu's heart skipped a beat, and then he sighed helplessly, "How about we hand him over to me? There are many ways to get people to confess in the Inspectorate. I can let this Magistrate Zhu see them for himself."
"For example, washing involves pouring boiling water onto his skin and then using an iron brush to scrub away the skin layer by layer."
"If you think the scene of washing him is too unsightly and may leave him with injuries, I can also give him a promotion. Just wet the paper and stick it on his face layer by layer. I guarantee he won't suffocate, and there won't be a single injury on his body."
"If you want him dead, I can have people fill sacks with sand and pile them on top of him, until he can't breathe... hehe, he still won't have a scratch on his body."
Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement and said, "I'd actually rather see that finger-pinching torture. I've heard it can pinch fingers and ankles, right?"
Watching Yang Shaofeng and Xia Yu talk about various punishments in a back-and-forth manner, Zhu Shouchun wanted to ask Yang Shaofeng and Xia Yu if they were performing a comedy routine, and also wanted to ask them if they had any regard for the law.
How could this be considered a forced confession?
This is utterly disregard for official duties!
As Zhu Shouchun thought about the various punishments Yang Shaofeng and Xia Yu had described, he became increasingly frightened. Suddenly, he felt a warm sensation in his pants.
Yang Shaofeng frowned slightly and looked at Zhu Shouchun, who was slumped on the ground, and asked, "You were scared to death?"
Zhu Shouchun blushed when asked the question. He wanted to retort, but the warm feeling in his pants and the faint smell of urine made him unable to say a word.
Yang Shaofeng shook his head slightly, sighed, and said, "Zhu Shouchun, I'll give you one more chance. Will you confess or not?"
Zhu Shouchun first shouted "I confess" twice, but then fell silent.
Where should we start recruiting?
The key question is, what the hell are you asking me to recruit?
Zhu Shouchun felt wronged.
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "Zhu Shouchun, I ask you, where did all those ironwares hidden under the blank money and grain registers go?"
Zhu Shouchun's heart skipped a beat. He was about to say, "This humble official does not know," when he suddenly thought of his entire extended family.
But with such a big case, even if he confesses, it's still uncertain whether his entire family can be saved.
Yang Shaofeng sighed again and said, "If you are willing to confess honestly, I will consider it a meritorious service for you to atone for your crime, and I can go to His Highness the Crown Prince to plead for you later."
His Highness the Crown Prince is kind and wise...
Thinking of the Crown Prince's reputation, Zhu Shouchun gritted his teeth and said, "Your Highness, most of those ironwares were sold to the barbarians of Europe."
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "What about the remaining small portion?"
Zhu Shouchun was at a loss for words. Just as he was hesitating, Yang Shaofeng continued, "That small portion has probably already ended up in Hu Yuan's hands, right?"
Zhu Shouchun simply acquiesced.
Yang Shaofeng didn't press further, but instead changed the subject: "Who suggested printing blank money and grain registers? Or rather, who advocated for the outflow of ironware?"
Zhu Shouchun's eyes lit up, and he suddenly shouted, "It's Zhu Jian! It was Zhu Jian who instigated this! It was all him!"
Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback, then asked, "Who is this Zhu Jian? Why did he instruct people to print blank money and grain registers? And why did he want ironware to leak out of the country?"
When Yang Shaofeng asked him this question, Zhu Shouchun's expression suddenly became somewhat strange.
After a long while, Zhu Shouchun finally stammered, "Zhu Jian is a descendant of Zhu Wengong. His actions... are actually related to His Majesty."
Xia Yu suddenly felt an urge to go home.