"Your Majesty is saying that Mr. Zeng had a different heart? There is indeed a possibility. If our speculation is correct, those people left by the late emperor were sent by Mr. Zeng. A person who has always made his own decisions will suddenly one day take control. The power in his hands will be handed over, and he will certainly not be so willing."
Shen Yu remembered the mysterious force that appeared beside King Yue in his previous life. He always thought that that force would help because King Yue saved Young Master He. It seems that he thought wrong from the beginning.
That force will take action, just because Shang Junyue is the King of Yue, and Young Master He is just an excuse to fool them, or even the King of Yue.
He followed King Yue in his previous life and handled matters large and small for him. It is certain that the mysterious force never showed its true colors from beginning to end, and the person behind the scenes never appeared, and it was not ugly from King Yue's attitude. When he came out, he was extremely respectful to that person, and he also carried a trace of dread that was not easy to detect.
Shen Yu felt that maybe until the end, King Yue didn't know who the real master of the mysterious power that helped him was.
"To be sure if this is the case or not, we will find out when we meet someone." Shang Jun said in a low voice.
The day to go to the Ministry of Punishment is set in three days. These days, Shen Yu has been letting "Yinghuo" people pay attention to the movements of Zhenbei Hou's mansion, especially Shen Qingran's side. As the "protagonist" of the story, Shen Yu will not take it lightly.
There is no abnormality in Zhenbeihou Mansion for the time being.
Three days passed in a blink of an eye, Shen Yu changed into civilian clothes, and got into the carriage to the punishment department with Shang Junlin.
This trip was a simple trip by light carriage. Not many people knew about it. The Minister of Punishment made preparations in advance. When they arrived, they directly led the carriage to the vicinity of the prison.
"Which lord is sitting in this carriage? Why is it being picked up by Lord Shang Shu personally?" Under the eaves, a few small officials saw this scene and looked curious.
"No matter who it is, it's not something you and I can discuss at will."
Shen Yu sat in the carriage, and the Minister of Criminal Justice reported the progress of the case to Shang Junlin outside the car.
Shang Junlin held a gloomy hand and whispered in his ear: "I vent my anger for you today."
"What?" Shen Yu didn't react for a while.
"Will Ayu be afraid?" Shang Junlin didn't answer Shen Yu's question.
Shen Yu was even more confused: "What are you afraid of? Your Majesty is saying that something will happen?"
"Well, interrogating a prisoner may involve punishment."
"Does Your Majesty think I'm such a cowardly person?" Shen Yu pressed the man's generous palm with his fingertips, "Your Majesty don't have to worry about me."
"Ayu is really courageous." Shang Junlin touched Shen Yu's palm, where there was a scar that Shen Yu injured himself.
His palms were a little itchy, and Shen Yu shrank his hands: "Your Majesty can do whatever you want. I came with Your Majesty, not to restrict His Majesty's behavior."
"I know, no matter what happens later, Ayu can't be afraid of me because of it." Shang Junlin held Shen Yu's hand tightly.
"Will not."
After a while, the carriage stopped, and as before, Shang Junlin got off the carriage first, followed by Shen Yu.
Shang Junlin carried the person out, ignoring the stunned gaze of the Minister of Punishment, and said, "Take me over there."
The Minister of Punishment hurriedly restrained the expression on his face: "Yes."
He knew that His Majesty would come, but he did not expect His Majesty to bring your noble lord with him. As soon as he saw Shen Yu walking out of the carriage, his first reaction was shock.
How did Your Majesty bring your noble lord?
Nowadays, no one in the court knows that His Majesty loves your noble lord, and all major affairs in the court are discussed with him. It is not that the ministers do not want to object, but Shen Yu has grasped this degree so well that they cannot find a reasonable rebuttal at all.
If you go to other places, your Majesty will bring your lord with you, the Minister of Punishment can still understand, how come to the prison of Punishment and bring people with you?
Suppressing all the thoughts in his mind, the Minister of Punishment honestly bowed his head and led the way.
The structure of the large prison and the dark prison are different. The minister of punishment took the two through the cell and came to the innermost, where the criminals who committed capital crimes were all imprisoned.
The jailer guarding here was selected in advance. Knowing the identity of Shang Junlin, he did not dare to be slighted. He took out the key to open the prison door, and pressed the prisoner to the interrogation room.
Mr. Zeng was tied up, and two jailers stood beside him, one on the left and one on the right, to prevent him from suddenly injuring others.
"There has been a lot of movement in the prison these past few days. I thought something happened. It turned out that His Majesty came in person." Mrs. Zeng raised his head and looked at the man sitting opposite.
"I'm not here to reminisce about the past."
"I know," Mrs. Zeng nodded, "His Majesty has a lot of time to spare, and it is not easy to find time to see me, but it's fine for His Majesty to come by himself. It's not good to be scared."
The Minister of Punishment stood respectfully behind Shang Junlin. Hearing the words, just as he was about to scold him for being rude, he heard your gentleman speak:
"You know my identity?"
Master Zeng snorted and said, "Who knows Shen Guijun, who loves the crown harem?"
Shen Yu: "It's okay if you know, let me introduce it again, since you know who I am, why don't you attack me over and over again?"
Master Zeng: "Who made your majesty fall into His Majesty's eyes?"
Shen Yu: "Is this also what the late emperor meant?"
Master Zeng: "Your Majesty can think so."
Shen Yu: "Since you listened to the late emperor so much, why didn't you hand over the power left by the late emperor to the king of Yue? When the late emperor chose you, did you ever think that a loyal dog will have a day when it will devour its master?"
"Your Majesty is so eloquent," Mrs. Zeng turned to look at Shang Junlin, "Your Majesty just let him climb on top of you?"
"You won't have to worry about your affairs with your lord. As long as your lord is happy, I can leave everything to him." Shang Jun said in a low voice.
"Your Majesty is happy." Seeing that the provocation was unsuccessful, Mrs. Zeng looked back angrily.
"You can't protect yourself, why are you still worried about other people's affairs?" The Minister of Punishment couldn't help muttering in a low voice.
Except for the beginning, Taifu Zeng's attitude was quite cooperative. He would answer all questions asked by Shang Junlin. These were the results of Fang Jun's interrogation. Shang Junlin asked again to reduce Taifu Zeng's defensiveness.
Make him think that this is all they want to know.
At the end of the question, Shang Junlin stood up: "I have always been curious, how much the late emperor cared about Shang Junyue when he was alive, why did he leave so many things for him when he was dying? If you really want to make Shang Junyue emperor, He can make Shang Junyue the crown prince."
"Of course it's because King Yue is the son of the late emperor." Zeng Taifu replied without hesitation.
"The late emperor has so many princes, why is it unusual for King Yue to be alone?" If Shen Yu remembered correctly, before the late emperor died, there were other princes alive besides Shang Junlin and Shang Junyue.
Shang Junlin only killed a few who had seized power and won the most powerful ones, and some of them were not competitive or were young, so they didn't move.
"How can we, as ministers, guess the thoughts of the late emperor, I just listen to the orders of the late emperor."
"I think you really don't know," Shang Junlin slowly walked to the shelf where the torture tools were placed, and took a cartilage whip from it, "Now I ask you, is it you who ordered the harm to your noble lord? ?"
"Don't use the late emperor to prevaricate me. The late emperor is already dead. It is impossible to predict the existence of the noble lord. I just ask, is it you who gave the order?"
"...Yes." Facing the awe-inspiring man, Taifu Zeng closed his eyes.
"very good."
The voice fell, and a fierce wind passed by.
"Snapped--"
There are barbs on the bone whip, and when the whip goes down, the skin and flesh are split open.
No one expected that Shang Junlin would suddenly act.
The Minister of Punishment opened his eyes wide and looked at the man who was waving the whip in shock.
Shen Yu suddenly remembered that on the way here, Shang Junlin said that he would be angry for him.
The smell of blood spread, and beads of sweat rolled down on Mr. Zeng's forehead, which was painful.
"Three times, I will keep it in my heart." Shang Junlin said indifferently.
Zeng Taifu, who was very close to him, clearly felt the cold killing intent from the man, as if he was more concerned about the fact that he hurt his noble lord than the treason.
The bone spur was soaked in salt water, and under the excruciating pain, all his mind was used to resist the pain.
After being imprisoned, in order to ask useful information from his mouth, those people tortured him a lot, but none of them could be as painful as today.
The wound was hot, and Shang Junlin used his skill to pick the most painful place to start. What he wanted was to make the other party feel unbearable pain.
"Your Majesty is really a lover." Mrs. Zeng gritted his teeth, his voice trembling slightly.
"I warned you before, don't do anything to you, it seems that Taifu Zeng didn't take it to heart."
Taifu Zeng remembered the tragic end of those who were arranged to deal with the depressed people, and fell silent.
"Your Majesty, this..." Didn't he come to interrogate the rebellion? Why doesn't your majesty care about important matters at all? The Minister of Punishment couldn't help but speak in a low voice.
Shen Yu was only shocked for a moment. Hearing the inquiry from the Minister of Punishment, he got up and walked to Shang Junlin's side, hooking his finger: "Your Majesty."
Shang Junlin threw the bone whip in disgust and took Shen Yu's hand.
Fingers are cool.
Shang Junlin turned his head and looked at Shen Yu for a while, but he was slightly relieved to see that there was no fear on his face.
"You were ordered by the late emperor, and you should have assisted the king of Yue to ascend the throne, but you changed your mind halfway through holding the power for many years. Yes, you have become the one who controls the power left by the late emperor."
The gloomy and indifferent voice slammed into Mrs. Zeng's chest. He was caught up in the pain and had no time to devote more energy to dealing with the gloomy question.
"Yes, you're right, obviously those forces are in my hands, why should I be lower than King Yue? Actually, I might as well tell you that the first emperor chose me to do this just because he thought I would not be against the power. I'm tempted, but he never asked if I would like it or not!"
"I don't want to, I have a bright future, why should I be a dead person who can't see the light?"
The grievances that had been accumulated for many years erupted, and Taifu Zeng looked at Shang Junlin's face that was somewhat similar to the previous emperor, and could hardly control his emotions.
"If you really don't want to, you can refuse at that time." Shen Yu's tone was calm, not affected by Mrs. Zeng's attitude.
"It's useless, as I said, the late emperor is the king, and I am a minister. If I refuse to agree, then I will really die. They all say that the late emperor was angry because of my death. It's ridiculous, and how many people know about it. The one sent to kill me was not some traitor, but the late emperor?"
"The late emperor wanted his bloodline to become the master of Dahuan Jiangshan, but I didn't. Unfortunately, he didn't completely put his guard down on me until he died. If not, why would I waste time on King Yue?"
"Now that my forces have been almost wiped out, and I myself have been imprisoned, I know that I can't escape this disaster. Maybe I shouldn't have chosen this path in the first place. It would be better to die cleanly than now. ."
Taifu Zeng glanced at the gloomy, young man dressed in white, with a temperament like bamboo, standing in a dimly lit prison, out of tune with everything around him, just like the self who was still able to keep his heart when he was in power back then.
He lowered his head and looked at Shen Yu. He remembered that he used to be high-spirited, able to form his own way in the materialistic officialdom, not to be disturbed by foreign things, and to have a good reputation. Whoever doesn't praise his good character, in the end, he has become the most hated of himself. a class of people.
"Don't you want to know the other arrangements of the late emperor? I can tell what I know. In exchange, I only ask for one thing. The mistakes I made were made by me alone, and have nothing to do with Master Zeng. People shouldn't reappear in the world."