Chapter 28 The Peach Blossom Fairy Plants Peach Trees
Update time:2012-10-04
According to the order of Wang Qinian, a member of the Rites Department at Shangfeng, "there is no need to go to the Rites Department for duty", Zhang Ning went directly to the Jinyiwei Yamen the next day.
Anyway, wherever he worked as an errand, he would get a salary plus seniority, so Zhang Ning didn't take it to heart. Unexpectedly, his easy life was broken because of this errand. When he was asked to assist Hu Butang in handling the imperial case, he didn't think much about it.
When he arrived at the Jinyiwei Yamen and looked at the files, he realized that they were dealing with the case of Emperor Yongle being poisoned by a palace maid. That was fine. He soon saw words such as "Peach Blossom Villa" and "Peach Blossom Fairy" in the files, and he couldn't calm down.
.This is the confession of Zhou Ne, the censor who was arrested and imprisoned. Zhang Ning thought that the Peach Blossom Fairy he met on the way to Beijing was related to Zhou Ne, and she should be that group of people.
Why is Zhang Ning anxious? Of course he is not worried about the female assassin with whom he only had a one-time relationship. He is worried about himself. The last time he met an assassin on the road and was on the line between life and death, he plagiarized a peach blossom poem by Tang Bohu, and it was written by himself.
!
It doesn't matter if the Peach Blossom Fairy is just a private salt dealer or a gangster. The big problem is that she is involved in the assassination of the emperor, which is very relevant. The imperial meal poisoning case has not been long ago, and hundreds of people have been arrested.
, some of the reasons for being implicated are very absurd. What about the personal safety of Emperor Yongle when he is an official? The magistrate of Yangzhou was arrested just because he suspected that the palace maids were selected from the beautiful women in his jurisdiction.
If the Peach Blossom Fairy is captured and the poem is found, how can Zhang Ning escape? Say I don’t know anything, maybe she bought it from somewhere else? If this explanation is acceptable, then the magistrate of Yangzhou can find out
There are almost a hundred reasons to excuse myself.
This is really unlucky.
Zhang Ning remembered the statue of Yue Fei enshrined in the Jinyiwei Yamen. There were four big characters on it, "Serve the Country with Loyalty". Should he pay homage to it?
After spending a long time on pins and needles in the office, Hu Ying came and greeted Zhang Ning: "Today I will interrogate the palace maid Zhou. The contents of the secret interrogation must be kept confidential. Ping An will come and record the confession."
"Yes, Hu Butang." Zhang Ning stood up and responded calmly. He was a little preoccupied, but Hu Ying was quite satisfied with his taciturn and indifferent behavior. He seemed to know the rules.
Zhang Ning packed up the paper, pen and ink and followed Hu Ying to a room downstairs. There were two chairs facing each other in the middle, with a table and a stool next to it. Zhang Ning took a look at the situation and put the things on the table next to him.
He waited for Hu Ying to sit down before sitting on the stool.
After waiting for a while, a thin eunuch and several royal guards escorted a girl in. She was only in her teens, and she was estimated to be about the same age as Zhang Xiaomei. Her hands were tied behind her back, and her feet were also shackled.
There is also a piece of cloth tied around her mouth. It is not because she is afraid of yelling, but because she is afraid that she will bite her tongue and commit suicide. But it is very difficult to bite her tongue and commit suicide. Her hair is messy, and her face and clothes are a little dirty, but it looks like
If there are no scars, most of them have not been tortured.
Sure enough, the eunuch came over and whispered: "The female prisoner is an important living person. The commander of the Jinyi Guards was afraid that something would happen and no one touched her. She was also the one who refused to eat or drink the fine wine, so she said nothing."
In compliance with the emperor's decree, as long as you say a word, I will bring several sets of torture instruments to the spot. There will be almost no people in this place who are silent."
Hu Ying looked at the female prisoner Zhou and winked, and the eunuch turned back and said: "Get the thing off her mouth."
After Zhou's tongue was freed, she still remained silent. She did not shout or cry. Instead, she showed a quietness that was inconsistent with her age. She looked down at the floor, her eyes dull. There was no expression, but Zhang Ning clearly felt it. It was a lifeless thing. He thought of the bare bamboo peach in the yard without a trace of life. What kind of things had she gone through to end up like this when she was only a teenager.
Hu Ying started with an extremely bland question: "What's your name?"
Zhang Ning dipped his hand in ink and quickly wrote a sentence in cursive script on the manuscript paper. It was impossible to keep up with the speed in regular script in this situation. But it soon became quiet. After a long period of silence, he actually had enough time to record.
Zhou remained in his original position, neither struggling nor speaking, as if he didn't hear the question at all.
"Why don't you go through the punishment first and grasp the severity so that you won't die?" the eunuch suggested.
Hu Ying was noncommittal and asked: "Have you checked your body?" The eunuch said: "There is nothing. I have searched it long ago." Hu Ying asked again: "Are there any clues such as tattoos?" The eunuch replied: "This... I don’t know, I haven’t taken off her clothes, she is a palace maid.”
"She is just an imperial convict now. She has no good intentions as soon as she enters the palace." Hu Ying said calmly, "Tear off her clothes and take a closer look."
After hearing his words, the eunuch felt no pressure and ordered the Jinyi Guardsman: "Take off your clothes!"
Several captains rushed over happily, two of them held her down, and one of them went to untie her belt. When her coat was untied to reveal her red bellyband, Zhou immediately started to struggle. When Hu Ying saw this, she looked like her plot had succeeded. , no time to cover up.
With a "wow" sound, the captain unceremoniously pulled off the palace maid's bellyband, immediately revealing her small white breasts, which were not yet fully developed and looked immature. "Beast!" Mrs. Zhou really spoke. .
She struggled so hard that she fell from the chair to the floor, and her skirt and pants were pulled down together. "Let me go!" Zhou started to cry, but the Jinyi Guardsman turned a deaf ear and would not let her go, and quickly pulled up her skirt. His pants were pulled down to his ankles, but the shackles prevented them from being pulled off directly. "You bunch of beasts, killing innocent people indiscriminately, insulting women..." Ms. Zhou cried and cursed in a hoarse voice. She couldn't move her hands and feet and could only act like she was dehydrated. The fish usually struggles by twisting and turning its trunk.
In Zhang Ning's eyes, this so-called torture was just a gang of men and a eunuch bullying a teenage girl. He sat upright and had no idea of stopping him, because this was an absurdity allowed by order and rules. He was not a person willing to take it easy. People who try to challenge the rules understood this truth many years ago.
The lieutenants were still "carefully inspecting" the area where the breasts were clearly visible. They even had to open Zhou's legs to examine the inner thighs. Zhang Ning dipped a few brushes into the inkstone. Going back and forth, trying hard to get rid of distracting thoughts in my mind, thinking about the eunuch's words "she is a palace maid", I recorded it in "detailed and appropriate": Hu Butang ordered a tattoo search, (nothing was found) and waited for the Jinyi Guardsman to report the results. Add these four words.
He also felt that Zhou's scolding sentence might contain hidden information, so he weighed it and wrote it down: The criminal Zhou cursed, you guys are a bunch of beasts, killing innocent people indiscriminately and insulting women.
At this time, Hu Ying sat calmly and asked: "What is the relationship between Peach Blossom Villa and you? What is their background?"
Mrs. Zhou spat: "I won't tell you until I die!"
The eunuch reminded him: "All her clothes have been taken off. It's better to find Wen Po to check whether her body is broken." Hu Ying thought it was true, so she asked someone to call Wen Po, and wrapped Zhou in a quilt while waiting. , after all, the weather is November, and even though there is a charcoal fire in the room, I am afraid that she will get sick and die.
After Wen Po came, she opened her legs again, examined her and reported: "The female prisoner has committed some moral misconduct, and she cannot be wrong."
Hu Ying turned to the eunuch and said: "My lord, even a broken flower or a fallen willow can become a beautiful lady and be selected into the palace. It seems that your father-in-law will have to capture two more."
The eunuch surnamed Wang was in charge of Wang Gou'er. He replied: "I have arrested him a long time ago. All the people who handled this palace maid are not free of involvement! No one dares to poison the emperor's royal meal. No one has the guts to cover it up. Hu!" Don’t worry, Bu Tang.”
Hu Ying looked at Mrs. Zhou with disdain and disdain: "You are not married yet, who ruined your body?"
Zhou was wrapped in a quilt, looked at Hu Butang with hateful eyes, and stopped talking.
"That's it for today. Let's put her into prison uniform and watch her carefully so that nothing goes wrong. If anything happens to her in the wrong hands, she will be silenced!" Hu Ying said in a serious tone.
The torture ended in absurd chaos, and nothing was asked at all. The female prisoner made no confession except a few curses.
Hu Ying took a special look at Zhang Ning's record. After reading it, she nodded approvingly and said, "Ping An's handwriting is very good." But Zhang Ning knew that his approval was definitely not because of the handwriting. This kind of torture record handwriting was not good. What's the use of it?
"Hu Butang is so complimentary." Zhang Ning said casually and modestly.
When Hu Ying saw that there were no outsiders around, she smiled and said: "One of the few words contains a lot of meaning, be safe and cherish the ink, do you remember the curse words in detail?"
Zhang Ning explained calmly: "The curse words were uttered when she lost control of her emotions. At that time, her psychological defense was low. Maybe she had a clue."
Hu Ying chuckled: "It seems that I did not choose the wrong person when I asked you to be my deputy. You and I have similar views. For example, 'killing innocent people indiscriminately and insulting women' is just an insult to women. Why do we still kill innocent people indiscriminately?" No one was killed. Therefore, today's interrogation is also fruitful. At least she got to speak... The key person is still the palace maid Zhou. We have to get something from her. As for the other people involved, they are of little value. If those people knew about it, I won’t take such a big risk to cheat in the female talent show. And whether the person from Peach Blossom Villa caught by Jin Yiwei is related to the case is just speculation for the time being."
"Hu Butang's words make sense." Zhang Ning bowed calmly.
Now that things have happened, he has a vague guess: Hu Ying chose him to participate in such a major torture, and that was definitely not the reason why he said, "he didn't choose the wrong person." He was a small official who had just entered the officialdom, why wouldn't someone choose him instead?
Zhang Ning recalled what Hu Ying said during the interrogation: "What does Peach Blossom Villa have to do with you? What is their background?" I am afraid it has a profound meaning. Since the mastermind behind the impeachment case of the East Palace Censor was the King of Han, why did Hu Ying Are you going to blame someone like Peach Blossom Villa? I’m afraid I don’t believe that the person who is the king of Han is the emperor. Hu Ying is sandwiched between the emperor and the East Palace, so he wants to find someone close to the East Palace? But why doesn’t he find Yu Qian? …
{Piaotian Literature www.piaotian.net thanks all book friends for their support, your support is our greatest motivation}