Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 444 The criminal arrives in Beijing
The Eastern Depot's Criminal Division had two large prisons, one above ground and one underground. The above-ground prison, as part of the imperial city, was constructed alongside the city of Beijing. However, due to its simple structure and the lack of heavy materials, it was completed much earlier than other areas of Beijing. The underground prison, on the other hand, was added long after the capital's relocation.

Although the exact time and reason for the construction of the dungeon are no longer known, the general consensus within the East Depot is that the dungeon was built beneath the prison because the prison above ground was overcrowded and a new place was needed to house the prisoners. Furthermore, the screams from executions would disrupt the normal operations of the neighboring government offices. After all, most people in this world dislike the heartbreaking wails of their own kind.

Regardless of whether the rumors were true or not, whenever the factory wanted to impose brutal punishment on prisoners, they would bring them to the dungeon. And once in the dungeon, humans became animals to be slaughtered.

In the deepest reaches of the East Factory dungeon, on the rack once used to hang countless corpses, a man with a sack over his head and covered in mud was tied. It was Li Laicai, the leader of a merchant group sent by the Wuqing Marquis Li family.

Li Laicai had been forced to stand in an extremely uncomfortable position since he entered. But he couldn't even shout, because before the sack was put on his head, someone had stuffed a dirty, smelly piece of rag into his mouth or throat. Only God knew what it had been used to wipe before.

Li Laicai couldn't move, couldn't see, couldn't even hear anyone. The extreme silence, the endless darkness, and the inescapable restraints robbed Li Laicai of his sense of time, leading him to believe more than once that he was dead, hence the reason he was stuffed into a coffin and buried underground. However, the stench from his respiratory tract and the fatigue that permeated his body constantly reminded him that he was indeed still alive, tragically alive.

Suddenly, Li Laicai heard footsteps approaching from a distance. This was the first sound he had heard besides the ringing in his ears since the group of people escorting him left. After a brief moment of confusion, Li Laicai realized that someone had come to interrogate him, and this actually made him feel a little happy.

Shortly after the footsteps stopped, Li Laicai first smelled a woody scent mixed with the scent of pollen. Then, Li Laicai heard an unfamiliar voice. "Take it down."

"Yes." With a response, there was finally a faint light in front of Li Laicai's eyes.

"And that." The person who spoke just now spoke again.

This time, the person who attacked him didn't say anything, but just pulled out the smelly rag that was stuffed in Li Laicai's mouth with force.

"Ugh!" The foreign object in his throat disappeared, and Li Laicai immediately began to dry heave instinctively.

Snap! Without a word, a hard slap in the face yanked Li Laicai's instinct back. In a place like this, even instinct needed approval.

"Enough!" The person who had spoken initially stopped the violence with a single word. "Everyone, stand down."

"Yes." Noisy footsteps squeezed out of the torture room.

When the noise in the prison died down again, the man who had spoken at the beginning said his first words to Li Laicai: "Do you know where this is?"

"Probably. Ugh. Yeah." As soon as he said that, the uncomfortable feeling of being blinded by shit came flooding back. "It's the East Factory."

"Haha, clever." The visitor nodded with a smile. "This is the dungeon of the Eastern Depot's Criminal Division."

"If it's a prison, why is it so empty?" Perhaps the fragrance calmed him, and after a few breaths, Li Laicai felt much better, at least he no longer retched.

"Empty?" the visitor asked, "Don't you have something on your head? How do you see?"

"I can't see." Without the rag to absorb the saliva, Li Laicai's mouth quickly moistened with saliva. The saliva and the remaining dirt mixed together to form dirty water. He wanted to spit it out, but the pain from the previous slap still lingered on his face, so in the end, Li Laicai swallowed the dirty water. "But I can hear. From the time I came in until now, I haven't heard any other sound. Not even a shout."

"Of course there won't be any screaming, because everyone who deserved to die is dead. You're the first person to be captured since then," the newcomer said quietly. "But, as long as you cooperate, I can get you out alive."

"Haha." Li Laicai was unconvinced. "May I ask who you are?"

"Guess."

"It's hard to guess." Li Laicai wanted to shake his head, but his head was also fixed. "It's too dark in here. I can't see the color of your clothes, let alone the patterns on them. However, you have a pleasant scent surrounding you. I think the sachet is filled with precious fragrance, perhaps musk. So my guess is that you are at least a noble. There are many nobles in the palace, and many can afford musk. But since this is the East Factory, I guess you must be Admiral Cui, Cui Bingbi."

"As expected of the leader of the merchant group, this dog's nose is really sharp. Of course there are other things in this sachet, but the main ingredient is musk." Cui Wensheng was very happy and actually took off the sachet hanging from his waist and tied it around Li Laicai's waist. "Since you are so connoisseur of goods, I will give it to you."

"Thank you for the reward, Admiral Cui, but I want something to eat more." Li Laicai's stomach began to ache with hunger.

"Food?" Cui Wensheng asked hypocritically, "You've been here for so long, and they haven't let you eat anything?"

"I haven't eaten since I boarded the ship!" Furthermore, during their detention and interrogation, Mao Yuanyi rarely gave them a full meal. As a precautionary measure, to prevent them from escaping and causing trouble, Mao Yuanyi fed them only a few mouthfuls of corn porridge with a meager amount of salt and oily meat each day to maintain their basic vital signs. Only during the interrogation could they negotiate for a bowl of dry rice. As for meat, there was absolutely no such thing.

"Oh, how pitiful," Cui Wensheng's voice seemed to have a hint of sympathy. "Then he must have been hungry for several days, right?"

"I don't know. Anyway, I haven't seen the sun since I put on the hood." Li Laicai replied.

"Someone go." Cui Wensheng didn't turn around, still looking at Li Laicai. "Get him something to eat."

"Yes." Immediately, the sound of hurried footsteps running away came into Li Laicai's ears.

"It needs food for people." Cui Wensheng added before the footsteps left the dungeon.

"Yes." The echo came from afar, reverberating in the dungeon.

Soon, a rich, meaty aroma permeated the dungeon corridor and finally stopped at the door of the torture chamber. Li Laicai guessed that it must be the smell of braised pork.

"A perfectly braised pork knuckle," Cui Wensheng waved his hand, and the aroma of meat carried him two steps forward. "This is a rare delicacy here. Here, human trotters are more common than pig's trotters."

Li Laicai's appetite was excited, and he asked directly, "What do you want me to exchange for it?"

"You're quite sensible!" Cui Wensheng nodded appreciatively. "I want you to trade it for honesty." Li Laicai's demeanor in trying to entangle others made Cui Wensheng suspect he was trying to frame Wu Qinghou with his own life. While Shen Caiyu's case alone was enough to bring down Wu Qinghou, that case was handled by the Jinyiwei and the Western Depot, and had nothing to do with his own Eastern Depot. If Li Laicai falsely confessed for some reason and the Western Depot discovered it, it would be a stain on his and Cui Yuan's credit history.

Li Laicai didn't know what Cui Wensheng was thinking. At this moment, Li Laicai felt that he was going crazy with hunger. The smell of the braised pork elbow irritated his nerves and amplified his already intense hunger. The hunger was piercing his stomach and was like torture. "Oh!" Li Laicai sighed and said anxiously, "Grandpa Cui! Everything I confessed is true. I haven't told a single lie! Whatever is written on the confession is what it is. I admit this deadly crime. What else can be false!"

Although Cui Yuan sent away the key confessions of Li Laicai and others, along with the report compiled based on them, by noon the next day, Cui Yuan and Sun Chengzong did not give them a break. Instead, they continued cross-examination, trying to elicit more details. The interrogation was frequent and repeated, with questions asked repeatedly and from different angles. Li Laicai was annoyed, but he had to endure it.

"Haha, it seems you're really hungry." Cui Wensheng waved his hand, and the aroma of meat immediately drifted to Li Laicai's mouth. "Then I'll let you have a piece first to taste it and satisfy your craving. Come on, open your mouth."

Li Laicai quickly followed his instructions. Immediately afterwards, a small piece of greasy, braised pork was stuffed into his mouth. Although Li Laicai was extremely hungry, he continued to chew the piece of meat repeatedly, not wanting to swallow it for a long time.

Cui Wensheng waited patiently until Li Laicai finally squeezed all the fat and water out of the pork, then he said, "This plate of meat is all yours. But not yet." He waved his hand, and the aroma of the meat drifted away again.

"Grandpa Cui, please ask quickly." After eating this small piece of meat, Li Laicai became even more anxious. "Whatever you want me to confess, I will confess! Whoever you want me to confess, I will confess!"

"You're talking as if I'm asking you to make a false confession." Cui Wensheng's face turned stern. "I just want a genuine confession and solid evidence." Then, Cui Wensheng immediately lobbed a question: "The report I received said you were the first to confess. Why?"

Li Laicai replied, "Because I know that Governor Sun and Chief Justice Cui's tactics will surely crack those fools' mouths. Once their mouths are cracked, it will be useless for me to keep my mouth shut. It's better to confess early and avoid suffering."

Cui Wensheng pressed on: "Is it just because of this?"

"What else can I do?" Li Laicai said, "This is a case that goes to all the world, and I'm the main culprit. I'm going to die anyway. Rather than dying in torture and pain, it's better to die quickly."

Cui Wensheng was stunned for a moment. "Aren't you afraid of death?"

"Of course I'm afraid. Who wants to die if they can live?" Li Laicai actually laughed. "What you just said about getting out alive, I'm afraid that at most it's just 'getting out' alive, right?"

Cui Wensheng narrowed his eyes. "If you knew you were going to die, why did you take this job?"

"I just don't know." Li Laicai sighed, "How could I have known that I would be targeted by the Eastern Depot as soon as I left the capital."

"No, that's not what I'm talking about." Cui Wensheng shook his head. "I'm asking why you're willing to take on this kind of 'high-profile case' where you'll die if caught, just because you're 'ignorant'? Aren't you afraid that the Li family will dump you if something goes wrong? Just like that fat guy who tipped off Shen Caiyu. His face was smashed and he was thrown on the street like a dead dog."

"Can you refuse the job assigned to you by His Majesty?" Li Laicai asked back.

"How dare you!" a young voice shouted angrily outside the torture chamber. If the voice's owner were inside, they would probably slap Li Laicai again.

"Shut up." Cui Wensheng stopped him, "Don't yell."

"Godfather, he..." Cui Zhongqing wanted to say something.

"Enough." Cui Wensheng raised his hand.

"Yes." Cui Zhongqing shrank back.

"You mean, I'm a running dog just like you. Right?" Cui Wensheng didn't hide it at all.

"That's not what I meant." Li Laicai quickly denied.

"That's what you mean." Cui Wensheng's eyes sparkled. "But a good dog won't betray its master."

"Didn't you also betray the Zheng family?" Li Laicai actually felt a little inexplicably courageous.

"There's no such thing as two suns! This old dog of mine has always been loyal to the late emperor, the emperor. The Zheng family is nothing but crap." After saying so much, Cui Wensheng started to believe it himself. "Tell me, who is your real master? Even if you don't tell me, the East Factory can find out."

"I don't understand what you mean," Li Laicai said bewilderedly. "If you want to add someone's name to the confession, just let me confess."

"Who did they promise you? What benefits did they offer that made you so eager to crush Li Mingcheng and his son to death?" Cui Wensheng simply laid it out.

Li Laicai was stunned. It took him a while to realize that Cui Wensheng was treating him as someone's assassin. "Do you think I'm that kind of person?"

"Likely. You're calm and logical, and even when you're talking about death, you can still laugh. And after all this time, all you asked for was a pork elbow." Cui Wensheng looked Li Laicai in the eye. "It's rare to be able to hold on in the East Factory prison without begging for mercy. I've never seen someone as ruthless as you, coming back with a sarcastic remark."

Li Laicai smiled bitterly and said, "If you make a mistake while working for the Li family, begging for mercy is useless. Just endure it, and maybe you can get fewer lashes. If you scream, I'm afraid the whip will be replaced with a board. And you didn't punish me, did you?"

"Do you want to try it?" Cui Wensheng's tone dropped half a degree.

"Of course not." Li Laicai's voice trembled a little, and it was unclear whether he was greedy or frightened by Cui Wensheng.

"Then tell the truth, or I'll have someone torture you!"

(End of this chapter)