This inference is reasonable and well-founded, coupled with the fact that Li Xing and Wang Ningxian showed the appearance of being thieves, which made everyone present even more convinced that what Yang Chen said was indeed true. Zhu Xuan immediately slapped the shocked wood, and shouted again: "Li Xing, Wang Ningxian, so far, do you two still want to quibble?" If you still have a little heart, you should bring the truth to the truth! How many tricks and feet have you done in my partial pass, and who are you colluding with! ”

This loud shout shocked the two people who were named, and their faces became more and more pale, just for the sake of their own lives, they didn't really open their mouths to tell the truth.

Seeing this, Yang Chen added another bargaining chip: "Although most of what I said just now has no conclusive evidence, there is one thing that can definitely be found, that is, the relationship between Li Xing and Chen Zhigao." The lady of the Chen family once inadvertently mentioned something to me that day, she said that her husband had a good friend who was a child and later entered the yamen to do things, but unfortunately I didn't take it to heart at that time, just as she was lamenting her deceased husband's life experience. It wasn't until I returned to Biguan County this time that I remembered the connection.

"Why is it that among the many sand and gravel merchants in this county, only Chen Zhigao can get such an opportunity to cooperate with the government and make a lot of money? Why did he, a small businessman, dare to have such great audacity, collude with you and others to embezzle the silver taels of the government to build the Guancheng in a shoddy manner? The answer to all this lies in the relationship between you and him. Because the two of you are good friends, you can trust each other and cooperate seamlessly.

"I think that at this point, the county must be able to ask for clues, even in this county office, there must be people who can know the relationship between you and Chen Zhigao. Li Xing, even now, are you still refusing to confess to the crimes you have committed? Aren't you afraid that your friend Chen Zhigao, who was killed by you, will come to you to ask for your life? By the end, his tone had become a little calm.

"Zhigao ......" was continuously mentioned by Yang Chen about the relationship between Chen Zhigao and himself, which made Li Xing a little unsettled: "I ...... I ......"

Just when he wanted to insist again, a county scrivener who looked like he was in his forties suddenly shouted: "I...... I remembered that a few years ago, Chen Zhigao did have a close relationship with Li Dian, who was still the secretary of the Yamen, and the two of them did have a good friendship! ”

These words were like the last straw that broke the camel's back, and after falling into Li Xing's ears, his whole person suddenly softened like a deflated ball, and he couldn't resist it anymore: "That's right, I did have friends with Chen Zhigao since I was a child, and I did cooperate with him, thinking about getting a ...... from the construction of Guancheng."

Hearing that he finally collapsed and confessed to the crime, Wang Ningxian's body also shook and almost fell headlong, while Yang Chen and Zhu Xuan were suddenly in good spirits, knowing that they had finally forced the truth to come out. And Zhengde, who was outside the hall, looked at Yang Chen with some appreciation while being annoyed: "This person's confession method is indeed clever, and it is progressive layer by layer, and in the end, the other party has no way out." That's a cut of the way you can only use torture to extract confessions. The latter sentence was said to a few companions around him.

These good hands in the brocade guards could only laugh dryly when they heard this. However, they can't help but admit that when it comes to coerced confessions, there is indeed a gap between them and this person, and anyway, in the face of such a situation, it is impossible for them to hold their minds and not use heavy punishment against the suspect.

At the same time, Li Xing in the hall continued his confession: "I was really greedy for a while, so I conspired with Zhigao and him, and then I also found Ge Wei, the secretary of the military who was in charge of the construction of the city at that time, to make it shoddy...... Originally, I only planned to make one vote and give up, after all, it was a matter of my safety in the Guan, and I didn't dare to let Guancheng have a complete accident. But as a result, this matter was known to some generals in the army, and they also wanted to get a piece of the pie, so they could only continue to do things, and in the end they couldn't turn back completely. As he spoke, he glanced at Wang Ningxian, who was already faceless beside him: "During this period, Wang Xiancheng also noticed the matter, so he threatened to expose the report, and forced us to share a part of the benefits to him, which made the matter more and more difficult to clean up......

Listening to him tell the truth with some trembling, the faces of everyone in the hall have become extremely gloomy and solemn, especially Zhu Xuan, who was even more angry and trembling, pointing his finger at him, unable to speak for a long time. Finally, he said: "Do you know that because of your greed, you have turned my head off and brought me a lot of hidden dangers." Once the Tartars in the north find out this, they will definitely not let go of this great opportunity easily. At that time, none of you will want to live, and when the time comes, you will all become sinners of my Ming Dynasty. Have you ever thought that because of your greed, how many innocent soldiers and people will die? ”

This time, Li Xing and Wang Ningxian both lowered their heads and didn't dare to say anything more. In fact, when the truth is revealed, they are left with no idea how to react.

At this time, Yang Chen's voice sounded again: "I think the next thing should be because of timidity, and almost all the benefits were shared by others, and Chen Zhigao, as one of the parties involved, plans to withdraw from this matter." As a result, you were worried that he would reveal the truth afterwards, so you took the first step and got rid of him, right? Judging from the results I got after surveying the scene and his corpse that day, he was killed by someone with a knife in a completely defenseless situation, and it seems that the only person who can do all this is you, who has a good martial arts and is his friend, right? As he spoke, he stared at Li Xing's face.

"Nope! How could I kill my best friend? Li Xing immediately denied it: "And it is impossible for him to reveal the inside story of this matter, because he and I are already in the game, as long as we expose everything, we will inevitably die!" The only thing I did was to put away the half of the pawn ticket he had grabbed after Zhigao was killed...... And later, under the pretext of mourning his funeral, he wanted to find the other half of the pawn ticket from his family, but unfortunately he couldn't find his whereabouts at that time, so he had to ask the maid in his house to find it on his behalf. ”

Yang Chen looked at his anxious appearance and spoke without thinking, and knew that what he said was true. At the same time, some previously unsolved doubts have also been solved.

At that time, he felt strange why a maid who stayed in Chen's house all the year round and couldn't see outsiders would have such a secret transaction with outsiders. Now he understands that because of Li Xing's identity, he can easily enter the Chen family, so he has reached an agreement with the maid. It's just that in this way, who killed Chen Zhigao? Could it be that some military attache who colluded with them killed people because he was greedy or worried that he would leak secrets?

Just thinking about it, I heard another bang on the ground, but it was Zhu County's order that sounded the shock again: "Li Xing, you and Wang Ningxian and others have done such a lawless thing for their own selfishness, and it is really an unforgivable crime." Now you are still trying to deny the charge of murder, do you really dare not torture you? Come on, take them all down for me! ”

This time, the order of the county lord is much better than before. As soon as he gave the order, the yacha on both sides immediately agreed, and quickly pounced, twisting Wang Ningxian and Li Xing to the ground, and sending them into a pile with Na Qiu Yang and the two assassins.

If it is just a power struggle between officials in the county yamen, these old fritters in the yamen will still stand on the side of Wang Xiancheng and others who have been operating in the county government for many years. But now, the matter has been related to the Biaotou Pass, and even the safety and survival of the entire Great Wall and the Ming Dynasty, as well as their own life and death, and it is naturally impossible for these county officials to help these treacherous people.

Zhu Xuan also obviously felt a burst of raised eyebrows, and as soon as his spirit was shaking, he glared at the two of them condescendingly: "Now, you quickly confess the crime." In the end, who else are your accomplices among the guards, and who killed Chen Zhigao? Although he deserves it, he should also be punished by the imperial court. As for his wife and others, they are even more innocent. If you refuse to recruit again, this official can only use heavy punishment on you! After saying this persecution, he slapped the shocked wood again, and the momentum was terrifying.

Li Xing, who was already almost devastated, no longer insisted, and immediately told everything he knew like a bamboo tube pouring beans, and reported a series of names and positions of military officials. Hearing this, the faces of everyone present were solemn for a while, and now more than half of the people in the guards' army were involved in this corruption case. The only thing that is a little consoling is that at least the thousand total thunder is not among them, and this defender is not completely corrupted.

But even so, Zhengde, who was hearing the trial outside the hall, had a gloomy face, and was almost about to rush in, grabbing the other party's neck and shouting why do you treat me like this. He really didn't expect that a small off-the-beaten-head pass, an ordinary corruption case, would involve so many civil and military officials. What if the same is true for officials here and elsewhere? Can this northern Ming frontier still withstand the invasion of the Tartars?

It wasn't until he heard the other party explain these things clearly that Zhu Xuan asked again: "What about Chen Zhigao and his family?" Who killed him? ”

"My lord Mingjian, we really didn't harm him......" Li Xing hurriedly denied it, and even Wang Ningxian, who had been stunned before, also vigorously denied it: "No matter how bold we are, we don't dare to do murderous deeds." ”

"That's not necessarily, you dare to ignore the safety of Guancheng and dare to poison my county order, are you still afraid of killing a few innocent people?" Zhu Xuan didn't believe their words, and immediately patted the shocked wood again: "Give me torture, just see if it's their hard mouth, or the hard cane of my county government!" ”

Immediately, someone responded to the call, ripped off the pants of several people, and directly beat them with wooden sticks, and after a while, several people screamed, mixed with the sound of crackling and torture, which made people look sideways.

Seeing these subordinates who had always been in trouble with him before, Zhu Xuan only felt a burst of relief and happiness, and he didn't mean to stop at all, he just wanted to let them suffer enough.

After being beaten with more than fifty canes, Wang Ningxian finally shouted: "My lord, the criminal official is willing to recruit, then Chen Zhigao and his family are indeed our victims, as for the reason, it is indeed related to Yang ...... The general ...... speculated by Yang Dianshi "

As soon as these words came out, Zhu Xuan was finally satisfied, and immediately waved his hand to order the torture to be stopped. But Yang Chen on the side showed a somewhat strange expression, the matter seemed to have been successfully resolved, but he always felt that there were some doubts, but he couldn't grasp the problem for a while......