Chapter 891

Dali Temple official office, criminal prison dungeon.

The interrogation room was filled with a pungent smell of blood, making one's hair stand on end, mixed with the heavy medicinal scent of ginseng soup.

The two smells mixed together, exuding an abnormally eerie terror, making people chaotic between life and death, seeking life through death, and finding life worse than death.

Duan Chunjiang was subjected to torture; whenever he was on the verge of despair and his vitality was exhausted, the jailer would stop the torture and then pour ginseng soup into him.

They used genuine old ginseng, never passing off inferior goods, and other drugs were mixed into the ginseng soup, which could instantly stimulate the prisoner's blood and energy.

This strange life-sustaining ginseng soup was a secret recipe of the official prison; the medicinal power was very overbearing, and even after being ravaged by torture, one could recover their breath after a few sips.

But for a major criminal being tortured, this ginseng soup was absolutely not a good thing, because for a major criminal being tortured, the best result was to faint.

Fainting could cut off the intense physical pain and give the body a chance to breathe, but this ginseng soup with strange medicinal power would prevent the tortured criminal from fainting.

Even if subjected to the most severe torture, just pouring down a cup of this ginseng soup could make the major criminal wake up as before, with blood and energy flowing and pain sensation clear and sharp.

The endless pain caused by the torture would be clearly magnified in the body; for a major criminal, this ginseng soup was more terrifying than any torture instrument...

……

Duan Chunjiang was poured the ginseng soup by the jailer; in a moment, his dim consciousness was like oil being lit, instantly becoming intense and clear, his whole body in extreme pain, life worse than death.

His hearing also became sensitive, hearing Yang Hongbin's words clearly, without missing a single word.

When Duan Chunjiang heard his background being told to Yang Hongbin by someone else, a flash of horror crossed his weak eyes, which was keenly captured by Yang Hongbin.

Yang Hongbin continued: "Every spy, every move, every word, is between life and death; their daily behavior and speech are never without reason.

To want to spy on information or pass on secrets, relying on oneself alone, is absolutely impossible.

Connecting with accomplices, passing information up and down, maneuvering, and weaving a network are all things that must be done daily.

Everything in this world, as long as you have done it, no matter how careful and cautious you are, will leave traces; as long as one is attentive, one can trace it back.

Just now, someone was chatting about your trivial matters; although it sounded very fragmented, I still heard quite a bit of the foundation.

For example, there is a grain dealer named Ma Bai on Hehua Street in the south of the city; the grain in your shop is all taken from him.

Even if other grain dealers in the city ask people to find you to solicit business, you are unmoved and still only do business with Ma Bai.

You and Ma Bai meet frequently to settle business and money; you owe Ma Bai four hundred taels for grain, which you haven't paid off yet, and he hasn't even urged you to pay.

There is a Wufu Restaurant on Chunhe Street that has been open for less than a year; it is said that the food and wine there are delicious, and you often go there for a small drink.

And you are on good terms with the restaurant owner because he is also from Datong; it is reasonable for fellow countrymen in a foreign land to be close.

Even when you go to Hui Niang's house, you often have the restaurant send food and fine wine; this owner must know you inside and out.

There is a street-side eatery on Yongchun Street that sells fried yellow pancakes with top-grade sauce and pork; you go to that eatery every day to buy two pork pancakes for breakfast.

But when you were in Datong, you only ate mutton or beef and never touched pork because you felt pork was fishy and smelly, a low-grade, inferior meat.

A person's taste is cultivated over a long period and is usually not easily changed; why did your taste change so suddenly after you arrived in the Love Shenjing?

I know many things like this, and the various people involved here all have close dealings with you for various reasons.

If you were an ordinary person, these things would be normal, but you are a Mongol spy, so these things are not normal and need to be dug into and investigated thoroughly.

You have been in here for less than half a day, and your accomplices haven't noticed yet; the clerks in your shop all know that you went out to manage business.

I have plenty of time to arrest and interrogate these people; it's actually not that difficult to distinguish whether they are your accomplices.

As long as I check their background slightly, when they came to the Love Shenjing to make a living, if it's close to the time you came to the Love Shenjing, then there is a lot of suspicion..."

……

Yang Hongbin spoke unhurriedly, exuding powerful confidence and certainty, his eyes calm and steady, quietly watching the changes in Duan Chunjiang's expression.

As he spoke, Duan Chunjiang's eyes flickered, his chest heaved slightly, and it seemed his mind was already somewhat chaotic.

The corners of Yang Hongbin's mouth twitched, his gaze becoming brighter and brighter...

He continued: "I will interrogate these people with severe torture; I don't believe their bones are as hard as yours!

I can be very certain that among these people, there must be your accomplices; as long as someone can't withstand the severe torture, they will confess everything.

As long as I take one of them, they will bite out more people, and eventually, I will follow the vine to find all your accomplices.

Once one person starts to confess, a second and a third will soon appear; I will know everything I want to know, in every detail, without any omissions.

The palace has already issued an edict today; the war situation is urgent, and the nine gates of the Love Shenjing are closed from today; none of you people can escape.

Whether you, Duan Chunjiang, open your mouth or not is fundamentally unimportant to me; your refusal to confess even to death is just a joke..."

……

Hearing this, Duan Chunjiang's body tied to the torture rack, even though covered in scars, subconsciously twitched, his eyes revealing anger and panic.

Yang Hongbin's eyes revealed contempt and coldness, and he continued: "If your accomplices confess honestly, I will let them die well and leave them a whole corpse.

But it's different for you; you think that by refusing to confess, you can muddle through, or that you can just die, then that's too wishful thinking.

The Three Judicial Offices' trial of such a major case requires a joint trial by the three offices, and the procedures are very complicated; the nuclear approval of various documents is even more time-consuming.

To wait until the autumn execution period, it will take at least half a year; if it drags past the execution time, dragging it for a year is also a common occurrence.

I won't let you be idle during this year; you are the main culprit in the military stockpile leak case, with eight hundred soldiers of the Donggao Town military stockpile and forty thousand wronged souls of the Xuanfu Town.

No matter how I abuse and torture you, I will be very at ease, and the superiors of the Three Judicial Offices will turn a blind eye.

I will torture you every day, use top-grade ginseng soup to keep you alive every day; to prevent you from committing suicide, I will cut your tendons and hamstrings and cut off your tongue.

We will let you suffer all kinds of torture, let you find life worse than death, and let you regret coming into this world.

Let you pay the price for what you have done and for your stupid stubbornness!"

……

Yang Hongbin's words were plain, echoing faintly in the interrogation room, carrying bone-chilling coldness and cruelty, making everyone present hair-raising.

Even those few Embroidered Uniform Guard torturers, who were all cruel people, felt cold in their hearts, and Duan Chunjiang's broken body on the torture rack was already trembling uncontrollably.

Duan Chunjiang collapsed instantly, actually starting to curse: "You are also a dignified court official, yet you are so cruel and bloodthirsty; you are simply worse than a beast!"

Seeing that he had provoked Duan Chunjiang to speak, Yang Hongbin showed a triumphant smile on his face.

He said gloomily: "Do I need to talk about human ethics when dealing with a beast like you? Since you don't want to die well, I will surely fulfill your wish!"

He continued: "Even if you wait until the autumn execution, wanting to die quickly is also a daydream.

A major criminal of the state like you, who owes too many blood debts and is so stubborn, don't dream of having your head cut off with one knife; you don't even have the qualifications to be cut at the waist.

I will write to the Three Judicial Offices to request severe torture, let you receive the punishment of Lingchi, die after three thousand six hundred cuts, and after death, your bones will be ground to dust and scattered, never to be reborn..."

The few Embroidered Uniform Guard torturers nearby, although they all did cruel things and were used to bloody and ruthless matters, couldn't help but shiver when they heard of the punishment of Lingchi.

Because they understood better than others what Lingchi meant; Lingchi is divided into eight cuts to three thousand six hundred cuts according to the severity of the torture, and it is a horrific punishment.

In the nearly ninety years since the founding of the Great Zhou, the number of major criminals subjected to Lingchi has been only a few, all of whom were heinous villains.

The three thousand six hundred cuts Yang Hongbin mentioned is the extreme punishment of Lingchi, which requires three days of torture to complete.

After the torture, the criminal still cannot die, but except for the internal organs, there is almost only a skeleton left on the body, and finally, the head is cut off to take the life; the cruelty is indescribable...

……

After Yang Hongbin finished speaking, he stood up slowly, and when he walked to the door of the interrogation room, he said: "Continue the torture, use all your skills, as long as he doesn't die!"

Those few Embroidered Uniform Guard torturers hurriedly nodded and bowed in agreement, and after Yang Hongbin walked out of the interrogation room, several people breathed a sigh of relief in unison.

One of them said to the leading Embroidered Uniform Guard: "Brother, this Magistrate Yang is refined and looks like a scholar; how can he be more vicious than us?

Just now, I heard it and my legs went soft; with such a ruthless person in the Dali Temple, why let us brothers come to make a fool of ourselves."

The leading Embroidered Uniform Guard said: "You damn fool, he is a scholar, and he does dirty work himself, so naturally he lets others do it.

When scholars become ruthless, they are a hundred times more black-hearted and wicked than us; we brothers thought we knew how to abuse people, but compared to this magistrate, it's a joke.

The more books this person reads, the more ruthless and black his heart becomes; his methods of abusing people are truly varied, and we couldn't come up with them even if we racked our brains.

We people only know how to use brute force; look at this person's methods, it's truly an eye-opener.

I truly admire Magistrate Yang's methods of abusing people, but it's a pity I can't learn them no matter what.

This life has truly been wasted; if I fell into his hands, I would definitely not say a word, but immediately slit my throat to avoid being tortured bit by bit, life worse than death."

The Embroidered Uniform Guard said this, turned his head to glance at Duan Chunjiang, his eyes full of contempt and disdain.

He sneered loudly: "This beast also ran into a knife; acting like a hero in front of Magistrate Yang, he's truly damn tired of living."

"You'd better have some backbone and hold on like this, so I can open my eyes and see you being sliced three thousand six hundred times, tortured for three days and three nights."

"If I could see it with my own eyes once, I would be satisfied in this life."

……

The Embroidered Uniform Guard next to him said: "Brother, your taste is too heavy; what's there to see about that? It should be very unlucky."

The leading Embroidered Uniform Guard cursed: "You useless thing, we are in this line of work."

"Without Magistrate Yang's brain and methods, we can only rely on our own craftsmanship; to not die after three thousand six hundred cuts, how high must that craftsmanship be? It would be a pity not to see it."

Duan Chunjiang on the torture rack no longer had the courage to curse, his whole body trembling non-stop, his crotch already wet, and all his stubbornness had vanished.

He could no longer suppress his endless fear, all his mental defenses collapsed instantly, and he shouted hoarsely, losing his mind: "I confess, I confess everything..."

Several Embroidered Uniform Guard torturers, although they were all cruel, felt a chill in their hearts when they heard Duan Chunjiang's plea and thought of Yang Hongbin's methods.

They had used all their strength to torture the prisoner, but still couldn't pry his mouth open.

Magistrate Yang only moved his lips and could scare the prisoner into wetting his pants, crying and shouting to confess; this Mr. Yang is truly too terrifying...

……

In the corridor of the dungeon, Yang Hongbin was pacing back and forth, appearing somewhat leisurely, as if strolling in a courtyard.