Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 196: All forces, unified settlement!

Liu Jin wanted to inflict all the pain that Xu Pu had suffered on Liu Daxia.

Liu Jin's resentment towards Liu Daxia was no less than Xu Pu's.

"Master Liu, Master Xu won't tell you, so will you tell me?"

Liu Jin passed his hands across the various hideous torture instruments in front of him, but his eyes were fixed on Liu Daxia.

Liu Daxia was stared at by Liu Jin's venomous eyes, and suddenly felt his scalp tingling, his whole body weak, and his heart trembling violently.

"Xu Pu knows everything I know. We have confessed everything. There is really nothing to hide!"

Liu Daxia was filled with despair and felt immense pain and regret.

Liu Jin's face turned serious, and he shouted sternly: "You are so bold, Liu Daxia! You are still stubborn even when death is imminent. I will punish you with acupuncture!"

"Yes, Mr. Factory Supervisor!"

Needle punishment, as the name suggests, is the use of fine needles to carry out executions.

Previously, Tan Lu, the second in command of the Western Factory, had used this kind of punishment when he was interrogating Zhang Hai, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, and Liu Zong, the deputy director of the Ministry of Agriculture.

But at that time, the West Factory only used needles to prick the fingers, while this time, the East Factory directly pierced the head.

After a few silver needles were inserted, Liu Daxia screamed and roared in pain.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!"

"We've confessed! We've confessed everything!"

“We really don’t know anything anymore!”

"Liu Jin! Kill me if you dare! Kill me now if you dare!"

"..."

Beads of cold sweat were dripping down his face. Soon, Liu Daxia looked as if he had just been pulled out of the water, with his clothes soaked with sweat.

Liu Jin chuckled a few times with pleasure, and then ignored Xu Pu and Liu Daxia.

Tonight, his main target is still Yang Tong.

"Yang Tong, you've seen what happened to Xu Pu and Liu Daxia, and you won't say anything?!"

But Yang Tong kept his head down and did not respond to Liu Jin's questions.

Liu Jin's face immediately darkened, and he immediately ordered: "Use the clamps!"

"Yes!"

The clamp is a torture device made of a wooden stick and a rope, which is used to clamp the ankles and toes.

Several clamps more than one foot long are connected together by iron bars. The wooden sticks can move in the middle. When the iron bars are pulled, the wooden sticks will tighten towards the middle.

The guard from the Eastern Depot didn't waste any time. He took out the tongs, put Yang Tong's toes through the sticks, and then pulled the iron bar outwards with force.

The wooden sticks were suddenly squeezed together, causing Yang Tong to let out a heart-wrenching wail in pain, his eyes wide open and his face flushed.

This kind of torture is extremely painful. As long as the force is strong enough, it won't take long before not only the skin and flesh are torn, but even the bones will be crushed.

In just a quarter of an hour, the Eastern Depot had already clamped all ten of Yang Tong's toes off!
The bones of all ten of his toes were broken, leaving only a piece of skin hanging down.

But even so, Yang Tong remained silent.

"Humph! You're so stubborn!"

This was the first time that Liu Jin was defeated by the person being interrogated, and he was so angry that he sneered repeatedly.

"We want to see how long you can stay hard!"

"Someone, change the brain hoop!"

"Yes, Mr. Factory Supervisor!"

Liu Jin tortured Yang Tong for a whole night and used countless kinds of punishment on him, but he was still unable to make any breakthrough in him.

Fortunately, not only Yang Tong was arrested at that time, but also a group of middle-level military officers including Zhou Hongyi.

These people are deeply involved in it, but they are not as tough as Yang Tong.

After the Dongchang men tortured them in turns, they confessed everything.

Before dawn, the East Factory finally pieced together the full picture of the mutiny from the mouths of these middle-level officers.

At the same time, the investigations by Wang Zhi and Xu Chang also yielded results.

Wang Zhi investigated everything the border generals in Xuanfu did in Xuanfu.

Those soldiers who participated in the mutiny were also caught by Xu Chang.

After dawn, Liu Jin also obtained the entire process of the Xuanfu Rebellion written by the East Factory.

At this moment, Yang Tong was dying after being tortured by Liu Jin for a whole night.

Yang Tong collapsed on the ground, like a pile of rotten meat.

He was covered in blood, not a single piece of healthy flesh on his body.

His throat became extremely hoarse due to the incessant screaming.

The way he is now, he won't live much longer.

Xu Pu and Liu Daxia also looked extremely miserable, but much better than Yang Tong.

But they also didn't have the strength to get up, and lay on the ground like dead dogs.

After Liu Jin flipped through the documents in his hand, he glanced at Yang Tong lying on the ground with a sinister look and snorted in extreme dissatisfaction.

"Humph, so what if you're tough?"

"After all, we got the whole process and details of your mutiny."

"Let's go, it's time to report to His Majesty."

"You guys, keep these three people under our care. Don't let them die so easily."

"Yes, Mr. Factory Supervisor!"

After taking revenge in the military prison, Liu Jin walked out of the prison feeling refreshed.

After taking a deep breath, Liu Jin quickened his pace and walked towards the Xuanfu government office. …

This morning, when Zhu Youtang woke up contentedly, Mona was still sleeping peacefully beside him.

There were two clear tear marks on her face.

Mona is still young, she likes to cry and make noise, and she can't sleep well.

Zhu Youtang did not wake Mona up. After washing and dressing with the help of the eunuch, he had breakfast alone.

Not long after breakfast started, a young eunuch came to report that Xu Chang, Wang Zhi and Liu Jin wanted to see him together.

Zhu Youtang nodded: "Let them wait in the reception room first."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After the young eunuch went down to deliver the message, Zhu Youtang came to the reception room after finishing his breakfast.

As soon as Zhu Youtang walked into the reception room, Wang Zhi and the other two immediately saluted him.

"Your humble servant, humble general, servant, pays respect to Your Majesty!"

Zhu Youtang sat down in the main seat, picked up the hot tea beside him and took a sip.

"Stand up and tell us the results of your investigation one by one."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The three men stood up, and Xu Chang was the first to report.

"Your Majesty, I have already checked the Xuanfu garrison and found more than 3,700 soldiers who participated in the defeat."

"I have arrested these soldiers and put them in jail. Your Majesty, please make the decision."

Of the 70,000 troops in Xuanfu, only more than 3,700 were found.

Zhu Youtang was quite satisfied with this number.

This means that the soldiers in Xuanfu are basically still border troops loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

And those rebels either died in Tumu Fort or in the previous siege.

Zhu Youtang had no hesitation in facing these disloyal soldiers.

"All those who participated in the mutiny will be brought to the parade grounds immediately and await execution!"

"All the soldiers who participated in the mutiny, whether dead or alive, and their families will also be seized and taken to the parade grounds to await their fate!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Xu Chang was not surprised. These rebels had no other fate except death.

After Xu Chang, Wang Zhi stepped forward and reported on the Western Factory's investigation.

"Your Majesty, after a thorough investigation by the Western Factory, the amount of arms Yang Tong smuggled in Xuanfu is incalculable, and the amount of silver involved is more than 1.3 million taels!"

"At the same time, Yang Tong, the general of Xuanfu, reported to the court that there were more than 112,000 border troops."

"But Xuanfu actually only had more than 90,000 border troops. Yang Tong reported more than 20,000 border troops, and ate the empty salaries of more than 20,000 soldiers."

"In addition, Xuanfu was seriously behind in paying food and wages. Since the 19th year of Chenghua, the border troops have no longer received full pay and food."

"Over the past few years, Xuanfu has owed the border troops a total of 1.67 million dan of grain and 1.13 million taels of silver."

"There are a total of 369 Xuanfu officers and 117 court officials involved."

"The officers of Xuanfu and the imperial officials who followed the army to the battle have been arrested by the Western Factory and are awaiting your Majesty's decision."

Although Zhu Youtang had long anticipated the degree of corruption in Xuanfu's military and political affairs.

But when he heard such shocking data, he still frowned tightly.

"No wonder you tried every possible means to prevent me from leading the army in person. No wonder you risked your entire clan being exterminated and launched a mutiny."

"These things are enough for me to kill them ten times!"

"From the military commanders at the border to the civil officials at the imperial court, has the Ming Dynasty become so corrupt?!"

"If I hadn't come to the border town to investigate personally, I'm afraid I would never have discovered these problems!"

There is a high degree of overlap between the civil and military officials involved in the mutiny and those involved in smuggling in border towns, drawing empty salaries, and withholding food and wages.

In other words, it was because these people were afraid of being liquidated by Zhu Youtang that they took the risk and launched a mutiny.

Moreover, border towns are not like other places where the factory guards can investigate as they please.

The military generals in the border towns have soldiers under their command. If Zhu Youtang only asked the factory guards to come and investigate, the result would be like Liu Jin, who was directly assassinated by the generals in the border towns!

Therefore, Zhu Youtang had no choice but to send a large army to the border town to conduct a thorough investigation.

At that time, Zhu Youtang was fighting on three fronts, and there were not many troops left around the capital.

Once Zhu Youtang sent the remaining troops from the vicinity of the capital to the border towns.

Without the protection of the army, the capital city was in danger.

That's why Zhu Youtang decided to lead the army himself, and brought along those civil and military officials in the capital whom he thought had problems.

Zhu Youtang has made what he believes to be the most correct decision within the scope of his ability and knowledge.

He is not God, and he does not know everything clearly.

But there is only one thing that is certain, once Zhu Youtang knows about these things, he will never tolerate it!
Zhu Youtang immediately issued an order: "All the Xuanfu generals involved in this case will be taken to the parade ground immediately, their homes will be confiscated, and their entire families will be exterminated!"

"All the civil and military officials involved will be arrested immediately and taken to the capital for unified punishment."

Then, Zhu Youtang looked at Wang Zhi as if he remembered something.

"By the way, did you remember the identities of the Xuanfu troops who participated in the attack on Tumubao?"

Wang Zhi quickly replied: "Your Majesty, I have written it all down."

"Alright! Immediately arrest the families of all the soldiers who participated in the attack on the camp, take them to the parade grounds, confiscate their property and confiscate their property!"

Before Zhu Youtang ordered the soldiers who attacked the camp to be buried alive, he specifically instructed Wang Zhi and others to write down the identities of these people.

For those who dare to attack the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, it is absolutely not enough to simply be executed!
At the very least, their property must be confiscated and their nationality confiscated!
Wang Zhi's face turned stern, and he immediately accepted the order respectfully: "Yes, Your Majesty!"

(End of this chapter)