"Where did you two eat yesterday?"

Wet paper on his face again, Da Hai's eyes were blank, and he looked straight ahead. Xu Ping sat on the chair and asked casually while flipping through the paper in his hand.

"In Uncle Chen's little foot shop at the corner of the street." The huge sea replied dumbfoundedly.

Xu Ping nodded: "When did you enter the store, how many people are in the store?" ”

"I can't remember."

"How much did the two of them drink together? What did you eat? ”

"I can't remember ......"

Xu Ping shook his head, stood up, and said to a few soldiers: "You interrogate slowly, I'll go out for a walk." When this guy remembers these things, go out and call me. ”

The soldier promised.

Xu Ping walked out of the room, thinking that there was nothing else to do, so he walked towards the military case hall.

Liu Xin, Sima Chi, and Wu Zunlu were so busy that they were full of juice, lying on the table facing the names of the three divisions.

At this time, it was almost the end, and there were nearly four hundred people, and seventy or eighty people did not have the right name. In addition to the one or twenty people brought by Liu Xin, there are fifty or sixty people who don't know what their identities are.

Seeing Xu Ping come in, the three of them hurriedly got up to salute.

Sima Chi introduced the situation to Xu Ping, sighed and said: "Now it seems that these people who don't have the right names are the ones who lead the trouble, but I don't know where to find them." If we just deal with those blindly obedient officials, and don't say that it is unreasonable, and those who took the lead in making trouble yesterday are only afraid that they will do something in the future, how can we deal with it? ”

Xu Ping looked at the list on the table and said to Sima Chi: "Arrest the people first, and you will interrogate them separately." Everyone asked who they could recognize yesterday, and they were all arrested and interrogated, whether they were on the list or not. ”

Sima Chi should be, and discussed with Liu Xin and Wu Zunlu.

Xu Ping said again: "Don't rely on the officials below during the interrogation, if you can't see it, go to the Yushitai to call some officials over." The officials of the three divisions and the troublemakers will inevitably have affection for each other, and they cannot be fully trusted. ”

The public officials of the Yushitai are demanding, and they can be trusted compared to other yamen, but the number of people is too small, and there are not many people to adjust.

Sima Chi thought about it and made sense, so he wrote a post and called a military general to come over and ask him to go to Yushitai to call someone.

Several people gossiped together for a while, and the soldiers guarding the gate came over to report to Xu Ping, and there was a result there.

A ray of sunlight that came in through the crack in the window jumped to and fro with the shaking of the window, adding a lot of life to the gloomy room. Looking at this ray of sunshine, even the cold feeling has faded a lot.

Da Dahai's face turned pale, and his whole body shrank beside the pillar and shivered. When I heard the door, I couldn't help but tremble. It wasn't until Xu Ping walked up to him that he raised his head, his eyes full of panic.

"Tell me, who made you pretend to be a public servant yesterday to make trouble?"

Xu Ping didn't talk nonsense and asked bluntly.

"Yu - the official is Feng Lixing, the head of the Urging Division. He said that as long as the two of us did this well, he would give each of us ten yuan. If you give him up, you will—just—"

Speaking of this, Qin San, who was not far away, shouted: "It turns out that the money given by Director Feng is ten guan per person, how can you tell me that it is five guan?" You swallow even my money! ”

Xu Ping shook his head, no matter how the two quarreled in the house, he went out and called the soldiers to come over, and went to urge the division to arrest the person in charge of Feng Lixing.

The Urging Division is not under Xu Ping's control, but the third division envoy Kou Ying has already handed over this matter to Xu Ping with full authority, and since there is definite news, then arrest people directly.

After arranging the soldiers, Xu Ping thought about it for a while, returned to his official hall, spread out the paper, and wrote down today's events roughly. Then he summoned a handyman and asked him to deliver the letter to Kou Xuan.

In any case, Kou Ying is the head of the Third Division, and these things still have to be told to him, so as not to be ugly if he is suddenly asked and doesn't know anything. Although Kou Xuan has no power in the court, he has taken a lot of pressure on Xu Ping in front of him, and Xu Ping is grateful to him from the bottom of his heart.

Liu Xin's list has been proofread, and in addition to Liu Xin's people yesterday, there are about sixty or seventy people's names that cannot be found in the name of the third division. Either it's not from the third division, or it's a fake name made up yesterday.

At this time, the courtyard of the Yantie Division was already full of people, all of whom were lower-level officials who had been on the street yesterday. Although there were soldiers on the side to suppress the order, there was still a lot of noise, which was even more chaotic than the vegetable market.

At this time, these little officials all knew that they had caused a big disaster, some were at a loss, some secretly wiped their tears, some pulled people to cry, and some even lost control of their emotions and scolded the sky.

Liu Xin, Sima Chi, and Wu Zunlu came to the courtyard, and couldn't help frowning when they saw this chaotic scene. Hundreds of people interrogated one by one, I don't know how much time it would take, but I couldn't find a clue if I didn't sink down.

Not long after, more than a dozen officials from the Imperial Historical Observatory came to the Third Division and saluted Sima Chi.

Sima Chi said to Liu Xin and Wu Zunlu: "These people are all old officials, and the interrogation of prisoners is usually familiar, so there is no need for others to teach them." But there are too many people for us to see, and we can't let them judge them at will. It's better to come up with a charter after a few of us, and list everything we want to ask one by one, and we don't have to bother with the rest. ”

"Okay, just do what you say."

Liu Xin and Wu Zunlu naturally had no objections, this was the only feasible way. If you ask them one by one, these hundreds of people still don't know what day they want to ask.

The three of them got together to discuss the content of the interrogation, which was nothing more than the name and ministry, the resume of the three divisions, why they went to the street to make trouble yesterday, and who instructed them. And at the end, Xu Ping reminded me that I saw people I knew on the street yesterday and which yamen they worked in, and they all wrote them down.

In the chief hall of the Salt and Iron Division, Xu Ping looked at a thin and capable middle-aged man standing below, and asked in a deep voice, "You are Feng Lixing, the head of the Urging Division?" ”

Feng Lixing bowed and said: "Back to the deputy envoy, the little one is Feng Lixing, who is in charge of the urging department." ”

"You are the head of the Urging Division, there is a lot of money every month, there is cotton in winter, and there is meat in the New Year, where does the third division not live for you?"

Feng Lixing didn't know why he was escorted to the Salt and Iron Division, and when he saw that Xu Ping's complexion was not good, he hurriedly apologized and confessed: "Why did the deputy envoy say that?" The small family relied on the money and food issued by the three divisions for food and clothing, and they only had gratitude in their hearts. ”

"Really?" Xu Ping looked at Feng Lixing and slapped the table suddenly, "Then why did you instigate the street idlers to pretend to be the people of the third division to make trouble on the street?" Now that the matter has been posted, I am still here to make clever statements! Is it to beg for a beating! ”

Feng Lixing chuckled in his heart, he didn't expect Xu Ping to touch him so quickly, but he didn't dare to admit it: "Where did the deputy envoy hear the gossip?" The small one has always done his duty in the three divisions, how could he do such a thing? ”

Xu Ping snorted coldly, stood up, arrived at the door, and ordered the soldiers guarding the guard: "Bring that guy over!" ”

The two soldiers grabbed Feng Lixing's arm and carried him like a chicken and followed behind Xu Ping.

Entering the hut where he interrogated Dang Hai and Qin San, Xu Ping said: "Put this guy down and let him recognize the person he is looking for." ”

The soldier agreed and threw Feng Lixing to the ground.

Huge Hai had already been scared out of half his life, and when he saw Feng Lixing on the ground, his expression was dull, and he just frowned. Qin San on the side did not suffer as much as the huge sea, he had already come to his senses at this time, and when he saw Feng Lixing, he immediately shouted loudly: "I can be hurt by you this time, Master Feng!" Your money has not been spent yet, and you will have to suffer a lawsuit! ”

Feng Lixing got up from the ground and shouted at Qin San: "Qin San, what nonsense are you talking about!" You're just an idler on the street, what does it have to do with me! ”

Xu Ping walked to the front of the case, picked up the pleadings and said: "Here Da Dahai and Qin San both explain clearly, it is to urge Feng Lixing, the director of the driving department, to give them money, and provide official clothes for them to make trouble on the street. ”

Putting the situation down, Xu Ping turned to Feng Lixing and said, "Your sin is enough to ask for the autumn queen!" Honestly, I will tell you who is the mastermind, why you are doing this, and you will be able to spare your life! ”

Feng Lixing twisted his neck: "I don't know anything about what the deputy envoy said!" ”

Xu Ping smiled and shook his head: "That huge sea, his mouth was harder than you before, and now he is not honestly recruiting?" Say it happily and suffer less, why bother? ”

"Hmph, the deputy envoy has set up a private torture hall here to extort confessions by torture, and I can't believe a word of these street thieves! I'm innocent, and no matter how much I ask, it has nothing to do with what they say! ”

Xu Ping looked at Feng Lixing, and his tone was a little helpless: "I don't want to use torture either, but it's strange, since you people have done this, why haven't any of you confessed honestly?" Do you dare to do it? You are different from the two of them, you are a public official of the three divisions, and you haven't said a word of truth in front of the chief, and the punishment will not be as easy as the two of them! ”

Feng Lixing said with a cold face: "The deputy envoy must be wronged, what do I have to say?" ”

"Come on, tie people up!"

The soldiers stepped forward to tie Feng Lixing up, Xu Ping walked slowly in front of him, and said in a deep voice: "The confessions of the two are clear, and the official uniforms copied out of the family are also in line with what they said, you took it out from the Urging Division, don't say that you were wronged!" Since you don't want to say anything about the torture, then I will fulfill you. But this time it's not as easy as the two of them, and if you keep your mouth hard, those hands will be useless. In the future, even if you encounter an amnesty, you will be a waste, think clearly! ”

Feng Lixing closed his eyes and didn't pay attention to Xu Ping at all, obviously with an iron heart.

Xu Ping asked the soldiers to tie Feng Lixing to the pillar, and stretched out his hands, each finger stretched straight. Then he asked the soldier to take a slingshot made of ox tendons, and he took off only the cow tendons, and flicked them at his knuckles.

This is the torture of the Ming Dynasty Jinyiwei that Xu Ping learned from miscellaneous books in his previous life, and it was not very powerful at the beginning, and the more he went to the back, the more painful it was to the bone marrow. This punishment was heavier than the one used on Da Da Hai and Qin San just now, and the pain was getting worse and worse. (To be continued.) )