Chapter 63: Pulling Up a Radish Drags Out Mud (Celebrating for Helmsman Deng Huo Lan Shan Chu and Others!)

"Speak! How did you end up in league with that Li Shancai, and was Imperial Physician Weng's death in the Imperial Academy of Medicine really from the plague?"

"And was Weng the old imperial physician's lawful wife, Lady Zou, also murdered by the two of you in collusion?"

Chiliarch Li Youcheng, in charge of punishments, looked at the wooden donkey set before him and asked this with a face full of lewd smiles. Seeing that the woman Xie was cowering and refusing to speak, he immediately waved his hand and shouted:

"Men, strip her!"

Three Eastern Depot agents who had been waiting nearby for some time immediately rubbed their hands, grinned lewdly, and stepped forward to obey.

This woman Xie was fair-skinned and beautiful, with a round rear and full bosom — no wonder the old man had taken her in as a concubine, and no wonder this Li Shancai would risk grave transgression to commit adultery with her.

The agents may have been driven by some inner impulse, for they moved with particular speed. Within moments of the order, a 'Rip—' sound was heard as Xie's outer robe was torn open, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin.

"This wooden donkey was prepared just for you. In all my years, I've never seen such a beauty ride it — what a sight that would be, hahaha! Men! Strip her completely and press her onto it..."

"No, no, I'll talk, I'll tell you everything..." Xie was like a sheep seeing a wolf, pitiful and delicate, quite arousing of sympathy — but unfortunately, in the Eastern Depot's dungeons, the word 'pity' did not exist.

Seeing this scene, the agents only grew more excited.

The agents did work every day that outsiders could not even imagine. Once such deeds became known, one could very likely be hunted down and silenced — this was the consensus of all. Thus, almost no imperial prisoner who came in ever walked out alive.

In truth, however, it was not that none ever walked out alive.

But even if you could walk out of the Eastern Depot's dungeons alive, your soul would already be gone — you would have become an idiot, unable to say anything.

"Wuwuwu, I'll talk. Lady Zou was killed by us. He said that only this way could I become the lawful wife. And since my husband was deeply trusted by the Emperor, delivering medicine to the palace daily, my rise in status in the Weng household could also help him. Wuwuwu, I've told you everything, please don't come any closer, don't come any closer..."

The moment she finished, Li Youcheng strode forward furiously, grabbed Xie by the hair, yanked her up hard, and demanded angrily:

"Fine! Then continue — how exactly could your rise in status in the Weng household help that Li Shancai? And since Lady Zou was already dead, why did you also kill Weng the old imperial physician?!"

"It hurts... it hurts so much..." Li Youcheng had used eighty percent of his strength, and Xie cried out in agony continuously, even blood seeping from her scalp. Almost sobbing, she begged:

"I don't know — I asked him all these things, but he simply wouldn't tell me. Let me go, please let me go. It hurts, it hurts so much..."

Li Youcheng gave a cold snort, released Xie's hair, and said:

"Keep stripping! Strip her bare!"

In another cell, Gao Wencai, the Chiliarch in charge of punishments who was handling Li Shancai separately, nodded upon receiving Li Youcheng's message, his expression unchanged.

He stepped forward, patted Li Shancai's face, and laughed:

"Li Shancai, don't think you can bluff your way through the Eastern Depot. Do you really take us for idle good-for-nothings?"

As he spoke, Gao Wencai suddenly lashed Li Shancai with his leather whip. Hearing his screams, he then took a wooden splint from the torture rack and turned back, saying:

"Hold his hand down for me!"

"No, please no! I truly know nothing! Let me go — my family has silver, I can give it to you!"

Li Shancai, pinned motionless by several agents, could only watch helplessly as Gao Wencai drove the wooden splint into the flesh between his fingernails, and began to scream wildly.

"Your Li family is finished. Silver stained with this sort of thing — I'd find it inauspicious even to touch! Men, keep driving them in until he talks!"

"Yes!"

Watching a Centurion closing in on him, Li Shancai finally broke down and shouted loudly:

"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"

"Why did you kill Lady Zou?"

"Because... because she could help our Li family gain Weng Bingshi's trust."

"And why did you need to gain the old imperial physician's trust?"

"The Emperor is benighted and cruel, doting on eunuch slaves, and has cast Consort Kang into the cold palace — he is a ruler like Jie and Zhou..."

Before he could finish, Gao Wencai immediately stepped forward and delivered a sharp slap, then followed with a backhand slap. Seeing blood seep from the corner of Li Shancai's mouth, he said angrily:

"Showing no respect for sovereign and father — you deserve that beating! Say such things again, and I'll drive splints into all ten of your fingers and toes!"

Li Shancai's face was full of fear. He gasped a few rough breaths and said with resignation:

"The old imperial physician went to the palace daily to deliver medicine and had already won the Emperor's deep trust. That Xie woman was foolish indeed — she actually went and urged the old fellow to poison the Emperor's medicine."

"Heh, but the old fellow wouldn't listen. He even flew into a rage, cursed Xie, and locked her in the woodshed. Tell me — what use is keeping such a muddle-headed, benighted old fool alive?"

Gao Wencai's expression shifted. He gave another cold laugh and asked:

"If there were no one in the court behind you, your Li family wouldn't dare recklessly harm the Emperor, would they? Speak — who is the mastermind!"

Li Shancai laughed heartily and retorted:

"My Li family are relatives of the imperial house. The Emperor is benighted..."

Seeing him about to say such things again, Gao Wencai could not be bothered to argue further. He simply waved his hand in signal, and the agents swarmed forward to pin Li Shancai down again, driving three more wooden splints in succession into his fingers, the pain making cold sweat pour from him.

"Will you talk or not!"

"It was Minister Zheng of the Ministry of Personnel — Zheng Sanjun, Minister Zheng!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Wencai staggered back several steps, his heart churning with waves of shock. This had dragged in yet another person — and a Minister of the Ministry of Personnel at that, one whose standing among the Six Ministers ranked near the top.

Gao Wencai continued the interrogation while swiftly reporting the matter to Director Wang Cheng'en.

Upon hearing it, Wang Cheng'en could hardly believe it either. This case, which had begun as a matter of the Weng household, was spreading ever wider. As the saying goes, pull up a radish and you drag out mud — but wasn't this mud a bit too much and too big? And it seemed endless — the more they investigated, the more they found.

Initially, those found to be connected to the matter included former Chief Grand Secretary Chen Yan, former Embroidered Uniform Guard Regional Military Commissioner Luo Yangxing, Supervising Secretary Gong Dingzi of the Bureau of Military Appointments, Guang Shihang, and Censor Che Shen of the patrol — already causing a sensation throughout the capital region.

All the above had been ordered investigated and punished by imperial decree. It had been thought the matter was fully resolved and should have come to an end. But judging from what the Eastern Depot had now uncovered, the masterminds were clearly not Gong Dingzi and Luo Yangxing — these people were likely just shields for someone else.

After the failed assassination of the Emperor, the Donglin Faction had not given up. To succeed, they had even gone so far as to make contact with Consort Kang Li. They first set their sights on Weng Bingshi, the veteran imperial physician of the Imperial Academy of Medicine who was loyal to the throne, and used this great plague in the capital to murder Weng Bingshi and several other imperial physicians who refused to cooperate with the Donglin Faction.

Setting aside Consort Kang Li and the Li family of capital nobles for the moment — even Minister Zheng Sanjun of the Ministry of Personnel had been dragged into this affair. Whether Li Shancai was a mad dog biting randomly aside, the likelihood of Zheng Sanjun's involvement was extremely high.

This Zheng Sanjun was a member of the Donglin Faction. And for a matter as enormous as assassinating the Emperor, how would Zheng Sanjun dare do it himself? If Zheng Sanjun were arrested and tortured, not only would it rouse the fury of the entire court, it might also drag out an even bigger fish.

By then, with truth and falsehood mixed together and the entire court implicated, the Eastern Depot would likely not dare act rashly either.

These were extraordinary times. Given the Emperor's current methods, Wang Cheng'en felt the most likely outcome of reporting this up would be to deal with all those uncovered in one sweep.

But this time was different from last. If too many people were dealt with at once, the vacancies in the various ministries and offices of the capital would be too numerous to fill at once, and it would be hard to avoid the Donglin Faction's disciples uniting in solidarity and breeding great chaos.

So whether he should tell the Emperor the full truth — pondering this, Wang Cheng'en sank into deep thought.