Chapter 118: The Torture Chamber and the Suicide Notice
On the quiet long street of Suzhou, the clear sound of horse-drawn carriage wheels drowned out an exclamation in the car.
The third prince was taken aback and said, "Can this lawsuit still be fought?"
"Why can't you fight?" Fan Xian smiled: "I can't say if you win the fight, but you must fight if you fight." β
After all, the third prince was only nine years old, and he was still a child, so he became interested when he heard this, and said: "Sir, let's go and see the excitement when the time comes, I heard that Xia Qifei's biological mother ...... It was the current Ming Lao Taijun who was beaten to death. β
Fan Xian sighed: "It's a family property lawsuit, not an old murder case, it's just the articles on the Qinglu document, it's not interesting." β
The third prince was curious: "Sir, didn't make it?"
"Nope. Fan Xian smiled bitterly and shook his head: "If this is all successful...... So why bother doing all those tricks? Just drag on the time, and the longer the better. β
The third prince sat back on the chair sullenly, looked at the unfamiliar street scene that swept backwards around him, and subconsciously asked, "If you don't go back to Huayuan at this time, where are you going?"
Fan Xian looked at him and said: "Your Majesty asked Your Highness to study with me, and Your Highness has always been attentive, since His Highness has also come out with his ministers today...... Just drop by and learn something you'll definitely need to learn in the future. β
The three princes were stunned, not knowing what Fan Xian was talking about.
The carriage traveled from Xicheng to Beicheng, but instead of entering the place where those men had been entrenched all year round, it quietly turned to the west along an alley, and under the cover of the night, and the secret jΗng ring of the members of the Qinian group behind him, he got rid of the possible stalking and disappeared into the city of Suzhou.
ββββββββββββββββββββββββ carriage stopped outside a private house, which was so secluded that it was extremely difficult to notice. Gundam got down from the driver's seat, grasped the handle of the long knife behind him in his hand, and after observing indifferently and carefully for a while, he clenched his fist to signal safety, and Fan Xian took the hands of the third prince and got out of the car.
Now the six assassins who stayed by Fan Xian's side are all recuperating from their injuries, and the only two intact ones, Fan Xian is not willing to let them live and die again, so the current personal safety is all handed over to the Tiger Guard and the Qi Nian team, and they are becoming more and more careful in doing things.
Walking along the quiet doorway, the third prince felt a little hairy in his heart, the surroundings were dark, but he could smell a trace of fire smoke in his nose, this feeling was a little creepy.
The child subconsciously grabbed Fan Xian's palm.
Entering the house, I turned to another room, but it was a bedroom, and all the appliances in the room were there, and there was a large bed and a dressing table...... There was even a couple sleeping in the bed!
The third prince opened his mouth wide, and he didn't make a sound for a long time, thinking to himself which one of these games was playing? Fan Xian was slightly stunned, and glanced back at the officials of the Supervision Yuan who led the way.
The officer's face remained unchanged, and he walked straight to the bed, pulled the hook on the bed frame, only to hear a clatter, and the cloth curtain on the top of the bed slowly pulled open, revealing a diagonal downward path, and then made a gesture of please.
In the process of doing this, the couple on the bed just moved in, and did not react at all, nor did they look at the person next to the bed, as if they were blind and deaf, and as if Fan Xian and the others were like ghosts.
Fan Xian looked at this scene, couldn't help but smile bitterly, scratching his head, he always felt that it was very similar to some kind of novel he had read in his previous life, but he didn't expect it to become a fact in front of his eyes now.
This private house is naturally a secret residence that the Supervision Yuan placed everywhere in Suzhou City.
............ At this time, the third prince naturally knew where he came today, took Fan Xian's hand, and walked cautiously to the underground passage, beating a drum in his heart, and said in a trembling voice: "Teacher, although the student is a prince, according to the rules of the court, the student is not qualified to know the secret of the Supervision Yuan. β
Fan Xian smiled: "There are three to five secret residences in every state city, and it is not a strange matter, as for the rules, with me here, no one can say anything." β
He is the secretary of the Supervision Yuan, and after Chen Pingping's handwritten letter, he has the absolute supremacy of the Supervision Yuan.
Hearing Fan Xian say this, the third prince relaxed a little, and continued to move forward under the background of those dim lights. In fact, the four apartments of the Supervision Yuan in Suzhou City are not the largest, but they are the most secret, and not long after going down, they arrived at a secret room.
The interior light was quiet and condensed, and the dim light reflected the somewhat cramped room, in which there was a charcoal fire, two soldering irons, a few boxes of medicine, a few benches, and a dozen metal sharps of different shapes, long or short.
It is the standard preparation of coerced confessions, especially with the two dying and blurred people on the torture rack, which is extremely clear.
Fan Xian sniffed this familiar and intimate breath, couldn't help but sniffle, feeling that the third prince's hand was holding tighter, and couldn't help but smile in his heart, this little child is acting in the palace in Kyoto, but after all, he is still a child, where has he really seen such a slaughterhouse-like scene.
The officials in the four places who were extorting confessions, because of the heat, had already taken off their clothes, ** doing things on their upper bodies, and saw that the boss of the boss suddenly came to the secret apartment, was startled, and hurriedly looked around for clothes to wear.
Fan Xian waved his hand to stop their actions and said, "Keep doing things...... How's that going?"
An official was wearing a sleeve, and the wolf walked to the table in the corner of the room, and carefully took a few pieces of paper, which were the results of the forced confession.
Fan Xian took it and glanced at it, and couldn't help frowning, it was precisely because he had always remembered the affairs of the Junshan Society, so in order to hurry up, he came to see the interrogation in person today, but he didn't expect that several days had passed, and there was still not much progress.
Two people who were captured by the Supervision Yuan and have been on the means...... It was the night of March 22 rì that assassinated Xia Qifei's two swallow-like assassins in front of Jiangnanju!
When rì, these two assassins were poisoned by six swordsmen, and when they saw the opportunity, they wanted to escape, but they didn't expect to be knocked unconscious by Begonia on the way, and afterwards Fan Xian naturally took it unceremoniously, and hid in a secret apartment, tortured to extract confessions, just to know a little bit of the inside story of the Junshan Society - for the Supervision Yuan, the Junshan Society is really a bit mysterious, and even the forces that the Supervision Yuan has not been able to control, Fan Xian can't help but worry.
A loose organization, but can the two sacrifices of the Qingmiao be used as chess pieces?
Fan Xian frowned and looked at the results of the confessions extorted by his subordinates, these two assassins were well-known killers in the Jiangnan area, with strong martial arts and spicy behavior, but they didn't seem to know much about the Junshan Society, and they were just bought by the Ming family with silver.
"Wake them up. He shook his head helplessly.
An officer took a small bottle and put it to the nose of the two men on the torture rack and asked them to sniff it, only to see that the two men struggled weakly, their muscles twisted, and the blood from the wounds on their bodies seeped out again, and the people woke up.
The two assassins forcibly opened their eyes, their misty eyes filled with fear, they had long since lost the hardness they had when they were first captured, and it seemed that they had been tortured by the cool officials around the Inspectorate in the past few days.
Fan Xian and the third prince sat on the bench that was not very clean, Fan Xian flipped through the paper in his hand and asked softly, "Mr. Zhou, what you said in your mouth...... What does it have to do with Junshan?"
The two assassins knew the methods of the Supervision Yuan, and since they were not going to be martyrs, of course they had to rush to answer, and shouted in a hissing voice: "My lord, Mr. Zhou is the tent of the Junshan Society, as for what exactly is going on inside, the villain really doesn't know." β
Fan Xian raised his head in surprise: "Isn't Mr. Zhou the chief butler of the Ming family?"
An assassin said in a trembling voice: "The villain only heard it once in a while, and I really only know this one about the Junshan Society. β
"After staying up for a few days, the two of them are quite jΔ«ng gods, and they don't seem to have suffered too much. Fan Xian shook his head.
A look of despair flashed in the eyes of both assassins.
The officials of the Supervision Yuan began to torture again, carrying out such an unaesthetic but repetitive and boring work, and the miserable howls in the torture chamber came and went, which was extremely terrible, but there was no way to reach the ground.
Fan Xian didn't cover the eyes of the third prince.
The third prince looked at this scene, his face was pale, but he forcibly controlled his head and did not turn to the side, just looked at this bloody scene, and suddenly felt that the food in his stomach was a little uncontrollable and wanted to rush out of his throat, and his chest was depressed.
Fan Xian took the box of ointment from his arms, picked it with the tip of his index finger, carefully rubbed it under the nose of the third prince, and said softly: "The matter of the Junshan Society has been reported to His Majesty...... The other party's courage is so great, Your Highness can understand what kind of courage the other party has, for the enemy of today, the enemy of the future, there are some methods we must learn, but ...... Never be intoxicated. β
The third prince knew what Fan Xian was teaching him.
On the other side, the fresh flesh on the assassins' chests had been mixed with blood and turned into a scorched lump of flesh on the iron plate.
"You can't torture and cool officials...... Regarded as the supreme remedy for maintaining the rule of the imperial court, it is not possible to rely on this means. Weaving a wide net, there are still fish that slip through the net, and torture to extract confessions, but still cannot get all the information needed. Fan Xian said calmly: "The way of the royal family, leniency and strictness, faith is not doubtful, doubt is resolutely not used, based on leniency, the rest is just to play a role in paving...... Small means. β
The third prince had a very cool smell in his nose, and he understood what Fan Xian meant, and the very different attitudes of Ming Qingda and Xia Qifei clearly explained Fan Xian's way of doing things without doubt, and when he was suspicious, he resolutely did not use it, and he came to watch the punishment tonight to make himself understand that not all strong means can work.
............ "It's not bad to be able to ask about the Ming family." Fan Xian comforted his subordinates: "Handle the paper supply well, and heal the injuries of these two people, which will be useful in the future." β
After leaving this supervision court and staying in the secret residence of Suzhou City, Fan Xian's mood was a little heavy, he initially hoped to be able to trace the traces of the Junshan Society, but he didn't expect that the two assassins couldn't ask anything, so they had to teach the third prince some things along the way, in fact, it was just to hide his own helpless embarrassment.
Sitting in the carriage back to Huayuan, he thought carefully, after all, the Supervision Yuan is a secret agency of His Majesty, and there are many things that cannot be done openly, so in terms of institutional organization, there are inherent limitations, such as the number of people cannot be too large...... So much so that now it is far away in the important town of Jiangnan, although it has always been an important supervision area in four places, but the manpower is still quite insufficient.
If you want to investigate such a mysterious organization as the Junshan Society floating in the clouds, the power of the Supervision Yuan in Jiangnan is far from enough.
At this moment, Fan Xian very much hoped that Xiao Yan could be by his side, but he also understood that Yan Bingyun was now in charge of everywhere, and it was impossible for him to go out of Beijing lightly, and most of the work directly under him also needed Yan Bingyun to help Deng Ziyue get ideas.
Even if Wang Qinian is here, maybe things will be much easier.
He sighed.
βββββββββββββββββββββββ Yang Jimei not only gave Huayuan's hands to Fan Xian, the lord of the Qincha, but also kept the servants and cooks in the garden.
As a result, Sisi began to enjoy the treatment of less nΗinΗi in addition to the personal qiΔ thing, although she herself was a little uncomfortable, but she couldn't help it. And the poor little girls that Fan Xian bought on the way down to the south of the Yangtze River didn't have a chance to do any rough work, and they were really raised like big girls in big families.
What is especially commendable is that the chef left by Yang Jimei is of such a high standard that it can make the imperial chef in the palace embarrassed. Every three meals were made in a variety of ways, so that Fan Xian was reluctant to go out to taste Jiangnan food, but was willing to stay in the garden.
Sisi likes this cook the most, and the third prince naturally hates this chef the most.
In the morning, Fan Xian, Haitang and the three princes were drinking porridge boiled out of old corn mixed with ham and watercress around the small table, this porridge is really not very beautiful, but the flavors that are almost completely incompatible are mixed together, but it is extremely delicious and weird, Fan Xian drank three bowls in a row, so that Sisi who served the porridge next to him was a little too late.
At this moment, a few laymen came to the hospital, accompanied by a tiger guard, and walked inside. Those people came to the courtroom, looked at Fan Xian and the three princes sitting around the table, and glanced at Begonia again, and couldn't help but be surprised.
Fan Xian looked at the few people who stepped into the threshold, and his heart was even more shocked, the people who came were Sang Wen and Deng Ziyue, and the Sang Wen girl had already gone down to Jiangnan to help her, but Deng Ziyue was not staying in one place in Beijing, what was he doing in Jiangnan? When Fan Xian saw clearly the person standing between the two, he was even more shocked and subconsciously stood up and exclaimed: "Dabao! Why are you here?"
Yes, the big fat man who stood carelessly between Sang Wen and Deng Ziyue, looked demented, and looked around with some cringe...... Not Dabao or who?
Fan hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed his eldest brother's hand with one hand, and asked Deng Ziyue: "What's the matter?"
Deng Ziyue looked tired, and said with a wry smile: "Madame has not been in good health recently, so I will slow down Jiangnan for the time being, but ...... This young uncle heard that he was going to see you, so he kept making trouble at home, and Lord Shangshu sent an official to bring this young uncle to Jiangnan. β
"Nonsense. Fan Xian sighed, and then his heart tightened, and he asked anxiously, "Wan'er is not in good health?"
"Oh, it's fine. The girl with a gentle smile on her face, the flesh on her cheeks was still so amiable, and replied: "The county lord is about to suffer from the wind, and he is a little tired, so it's good to raise two rΓ¬." β
She took out two letters from her arms and handed them to Fan Xian, saying, "This is a letter to adults." β
Fan Xian took it and saw that it was written by his father Wan'er, and he had time to read it, so he put it in his arms first, and said angrily: "What does Father mean by this? Jiangnan is in chaos now, why did you send Dabao over?"
At this time, Dabao suddenly grinned, grabbed Fan Xian's ear and said, "Xiao Xianxian, this time you hide and seek, you have been hiding for so long...... That's amazing. β
Holding the porridge bowl, he stared curiously at the third prince at the door, and found that Fan Xian, who had always been terrible, was actually so ...... in front of this big fool I couldn't hold back any longer, and with a pop, I squirted out the porridge that had been in my mouth.
Deng Ziyue smiled embarrassedly, and hurriedly stepped forward with Sang Wen to salute the Third Highness, and he didn't dare to look at Fan Xian's wolf bèi appearance, presumably these two people were also troubled by this big treasure brother on the road.
Since Dabao is here, there must be people to serve along the way, think about it, and hurry out of the park to settle those people. And Fan Xian finally calmed down Dabao, first placed him in the back garden, and then asked those little maids who had nothing to do all day to accompany him to knock melon seeds, and then the front hall quieted down.
Haitang got up and bowed slightly, and left the front hall, she knew that Fan Xian must have a lot to say to Deng Ziyue.
After Deng Ziyue entered the hall, he didn't seem to see this village girl, but the other party took the initiative to salute him, and he still had to hurry back the salute.
Sitting on the table, Fan Xian frowned and said, "I was thinking last night, there are indeed few people around me now, it's okay for you to come, but what should I do in Beijing?"
"Jingli Xiaoyan Gongzi watched, after receiving the report you sent back to Beijing, the dean sent me to bring some people over to help. Deng Ziyue explained: "Besides, the thing you want to prepare, the second and third places have been busy for several months to make it, so I simply sent it over by the way." β
Fan Xian shook his head and said, "I thought someone else sent it, but I didn't expect it to be you." β
He glanced at the third prince who was drinking porridge and eavesdropping beside him, coughed twice, and asked the young master to go out.
After the third prince left a little sullenly, Fan Xian frowned and said, "Why was your expression so strange when you came in before?"
Deng Ziyue glanced around, and said with a wry smile: "When I left Beijing, it was rumored that Kyoto was too fierce...... It is said that you and the Northern Qi saintess Begonia girl go out together, sit at the same table, and lie down...... The court is full of discussions, and now that the lord is obsessed with the inner treasury, he always has to avoid some suspicions, and those officials in the court and China are preparing to use this matter to attack the lord...... The subordinates didn't expect that as soon as they entered Huayuan, they saw the girl, and they knew that the rumors were true, so they couldn't help but be a little worried. β
"Sleeping in the same bed?" Fan Xian sneered: "It's also thanks to those people who came up with it, don't talk about it, show me what you brought." β
Deng Ziyue carefully took out a flat box from his arms and handed it to Fan Xian's hand.
Fan Xian lifted the lid of the box and carefully looked at the piece of paper lying quietly in the middle of the box, the paper was slightly white and yellow, and the edge of the paper was slightly rolled, which could be seen to be some years, and the handwriting on the paper was a little crooked.
"Well done. Fan Xian frowned and said: "Although this suicide note still doesn't play a role, if this family property lawsuit is going to drag on, it depends on this." β
Deng Ziyue replied: "Don't worry, don't worry, the two and three places work together, referring to countless handwriting of the ancestors of the Ming family, and using the old paper that is extremely difficult to find now, plus the old craftsmanship and the attention to detail, no one should be able to see that it is fake." β
"Of course the Ming family knows that it is fake, and the real one has long been ruined. Fan Xian smiled and said: "With the real thing, there are really a lot of professionals in our yard, and if you go to do the fake antique business later, you can also earn a lot of silver." β
"I'll send it to Xia Qifei later. Ming rΓ¬ opened the court to try the case, and this suicide note was thrown there...... Suzhou Mansion is afraid that it will be dumbfounded. β
The investigation of the Ming family has continued, but it has been ineffective, on the one hand, the Ming family's efforts to smooth out the traces are too deep, on the other hand, there are inextricable relationships in the Jiangnan officialdom to protect each other, and Suzhou Mansion is naturally one of the links, although Fan Xian has no way to get rid of Suzhou Mansion directly, but it is still very easy to use a "secret tangerine peel suicide note" to make the officials on Jiangnan Road tremble.
When he was the only one left in the flower hall, Fan Xian took out the two letters in his arms, first scanned them roughly, and then looked at them carefully, Wan'er's letter basically talked about Kyoto's idle affairs, and occasionally mentioned the situation in the palace, but the language was relatively obscure.
His wife is in Kyoto, and the biggest advantage of having a tsubaki is that he can help Fan Xian understand which way the wind in the palace will blow in the first time.
The eldest princess returned to Guangxin Palace, and the second highness quietly returned to the stage, the prince's movements were the most secretive, and the old queen mother seemed to be a little dissatisfied with Fan Xian's arrogance in Jiangnan.
The strangest thing is that the emperor is still calm, this ...... What good does a emperor do to make the world so chaotic? Where does his confidence come from?
Fan Xian sighed, his fingers gently rubbed the letter paper with a hint of fragrance, and suddenly his longing for Wan'er came flooding up, he hadn't seen him for months, he knew that his wife was in Kyoto, and he was also worried and planning for himself.
After reading his father's letter, Fan Xian finally understood the purpose of Dabao's trip to Jiangnan.
Fan Shangshu told Fan Xian in the letter that he should find a time to send Dabao to Wuzhou, and after resigning, Lin Ruofu, the prime minister, lived in Wuzhou, and he hadn't seen his son for a long time, and Fan Xian sent Dabao to Wuzhou, so he could naturally visit his scheming father-in-law.
This excuse is very good, and the emperor has no way to oppose it.