Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 48 Interrogation
The dungeon door slowly opened with the sound of heavy chains, dust and cobwebs dancing in the air. A damp and cold air blew in, instantly making people feel the darkness and coldness inside.

Wang Chengen descended the not-too-steep stairs. He took each step carefully, for the bluestone floor was slippery and cold; he could almost hear the chill seeping through his shoes. Fortunately, thick candles burned every few steps on the stone walls, guiding his path. Otherwise, he would have been driven out by the endless darkness.

This is the dungeon of the old West Factory. Even after a century of disuse, the cries of the wronged still seem to echo. At the end of the staircase are two straight corridors, lined with sixty cells of varying sizes, fifteen pairs in two rows, designed to hold two hundred prisoners.

Excluding the nearly 100 members of the family of Yan Guo, the centurion in charge of criminal cases, there are only more than 40 criminals in the Western Factory at present, so the vast majority of high-ranking people directly involved in the case are very lucky to get a single room.

There are five trial rooms deep in the dungeon, four of which are interrogation rooms facing each other in pairs at the end of the straight corridor, and one trial room connects the two straight corridors and exists as a single large room.

"Who are you? Still from the Ministry of Justice?" In the interrogation room No. 1, a man who had not slept for many days still tried to put on an arrogant look.

"I am Wang Chengen, director of the External Inspection Department of the Inspection Bureau of the Western Investigation Factory." Wang Chengen looked directly into Zou Kaiyun's eyes.

"Just you, kid?" Zou Kai snorted with disdain.

Zou Kai was imprisoned and did not know the system of the Western Factory. He thought that Wang Chengen was a boy catamite sent into the Western Factory by the nouveau riche Wei Zhongxian.

"I am the Imperial Adjutant, a direct commander appointed by His Majesty!" Compared to Zou Kaiyun, whose hands were stained with blood, Wang Chengen was a fledgling. Even though Zou Kaiyun's face was exhausted, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes still held a cold murderous intent. And even with all his might, Wang Chengen could only barely dispel the fear brought on by the darkness and chill.

"Direct commander?" Zou Kaiyun seemed a little surprised, and his eyes flashed with vigilance in the reflection of the candle flame.

"You still don't admit that you embezzled the money from the confiscation of Zheng's house, and committed extortion and personal gain?" Wang Chengen didn't intend to waste time talking to him.

"I've said the same thing to the Ministry of Justice many times. I'll say it again: Zou Kaiyun, the Chief of the Eastern Depot, did not embezzle money! The money from the Zheng residence is in the Eastern Depot's treasury! You, the Western Depot, should have found it." Zou Kaiyun was getting impatient; he desperately wanted to sleep. "As for blackmail, how can that be called blackmail? We were just questioning the suspects! This is how the Imperial Guard and the Eastern Depot have always operated."

He tried to drag the Jinyiwei into the affair with his words. If you, the Western Depot, want to investigate this matter, of course you can. Investigate the Jinyiwei as well. The more people who are implicated, the more likely it is that the law will not hold everyone accountable. If you could arrest a group of Jinyiwei officers, it would take more than just forty to handle them.

"You want to torture us? You don't dare, right? There's a fight going on up there, right?" Zou Kaiyun suddenly raised his voice, and his voice echoed throughout the dungeon.

Zou Kaiyun believed that after the cabinet instigated the Criminal Department to block the Jinyiwei's move, the case had devolved into an internal conflict between two eunuchs. Wei Zhongxian, previously unknown, had suddenly risen to power and naturally hoped to crush Cui Wensheng to death, thereby proving his worth to the emperor. This would allow Wei Zhongxian to use Cui Wensheng's corpse as a stepping stone to climb higher.

The confessions of the East Factory personnel involved in the case were the key to this struggle. Once they confessed, Admiral Cui would lose, and the case would be sealed. The struggle between the East and West Factories would ultimately end with Wei Zhongxian's victory.

He had good reasons for this judgment:

It had been several days since they were arrested. During that time, it was the Ministry of Justice, not the Western Depot, who had interrogated them repeatedly, and none of the suspects had been tortured. This must have been because the Emperor was unaware of the situation, hesitant, and fearing that the Western Depot would torture them into confessing, so he sent for the interrogation.

Seeing that the outer court couldn't get the result he wanted, Wei Zhongxian finally lost his temper and sent in the Western Depot to investigate. The case was almost over. If the Ministry of Justice reported to the emperor that the silver was in the Eastern Depot's vault, and the emperor sent their old superior, the current eunuch Wang An, who was in charge of the Imperial Household Department, to investigate in person, Wei Zhongxian would be completely defeated.

Zou Kaiyun didn't know who had promoted Wei Zhongxian, but he knew very well that Admiral Cui was promoted by Wang Zhangyin. Wang Zhangyin certainly didn't want to slap himself in the face in front of the emperor, so with "silver as evidence", he would definitely protect Admiral Cui.

The next few days would be the most difficult, as Wei Zhongxian might become desperate and torture officials implicated in the Dongchang case. Zou Kaiyun, himself a thousand-householder in charge of punishment, knew how cruel the methods of the factory guards were, but as long as they could endure it, they would surely pass!

So his loud shouting wasn't just to psychologically intimidate the young judge, but also to remind the others in the cell to hold on. With the Ministry of Justice withdrawing, the struggle from above would be over. But in reality, he was overthinking it. The Emperor had only sent the Ministry of Justice because the Western Depot was newly established and didn't yet have its own interrogation team. By not torturing them, Zhu Changluo simply wanted to test the effectiveness of sleep deprivation, the prisoner's dilemma, and repeated interrogations, rather than torture.

Judging from the current situation, it is obviously meaningless to use simple interrogation to deal with the well-prepared experts from the East Factory.

"Look at this." Wang Chengen took out a confession and placed it in front of Zou Kaiyun.

Zou Kai picked up the confession with a nonchalant look. However, when he saw the words on the paper in the dim light of the candle, his face suddenly changed.

"This is..." Countless thoughts flashed through Zou Kai's mind. He looked at Wang Cheng'en again, his eyes filled with fear. "This is impossible!"

This confession is stamped with the seals of the Imperial Household Department and the Eastern Depot...

Cui Wensheng accepted the offer.

"I'll ask you again, do you admit to embezzling the money seized from Zheng's house, as well as extortion and personal gain?" Wang Chengen looked directly into Zou Kaiyun's frightened eyes and spoke slowly.

"You...I..." Zou Kaiyun was so frightened by the contents of the confession that he broke out in a cold sweat. In his eyes, even Wang Chengen's childish eyes began to become terrifying.

"It seems that you agree." Wang Chengen's mouth curled up slightly, his heart full of respect for the emperor.

The Ministry of Justice interrogated him for days but found nothing, yet the Emperor, through his divine might, had driven the culprit to his knees and surrender. In Wang Chengen's imagination, Zhu Changluo's figure began to grow larger and larger. It was as if beneath his dragon robe lay no longer a puffy mass, but a powerful arm.

Zou Kaiyun knew he had no defense. He lowered his head, as if accepting his fate.

Wang Chengen raised his head, looked at Zou Kaiyun and said, "Do you have anything else to say?"

Zou Kaiyun was completely desperate at this moment. He shook his head weakly and said, "I accept it."

"Well, go ahead." Wang Chengen signaled the clerk to prepare to record.

"What will be my fate? How will the emperor punish us?" Cases in the inner court were never decided by the Ministry of Justice.

"Given your status, you should still have an intact body." The Western Factory Executive Bureau is now rehearsing the upcoming drama in full swing.

"What about my son? He knows nothing!" Zou Kaiyun asked in a pleading tone. At this time, the cruelty and cunning in his eyes had completely disappeared.

"You can rest assured about this. As long as it is found that he has nothing to do with this case, he will not be implicated. But your hereditary title of Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard will definitely be gone." Wang Chengen had never seen Zou Kaiyun's son and didn't know that he was a child less than ten years old.

(End of this chapter)