Li Zhen quickly walked to his official room and walked away. He saw a Taoist nun sitting in the outer room. It was Xie Ying, the leader of Shangqing Tower. Seeing Li Zhen in, Xie Ying quickly stood up and smiled, "I'm so embarrassed to disturb Commander Li so late."

Li Zhen knew that she had come at this time and there must be something important, so he nodded and asked with concern: "How is A Gu's injury?"

"Fortunately, the injuries are not serious, they are all flesh and blood trauma, and they will be healed in a while."

The two sat down, and Xie Ying whispered: "I just came from the palace and reported some information to the shepherd. The shepherd asked me to tell you this information."

"But it has something to do with Lai Junchen?"

Xie Ying nodded, Li Zhen thought for a while, got up and walked out of the door, and ordered someone to find Jiuzhi. After a moment, Jiuzhi hurried over, "Old Li, are you looking for me?"

"I'll let you know someone."

Li Zhen smiled and introduced to him: "This Xie Agu is the leader of Shangqing Tower, you should know Shangqing Tower."

Jiuzhi certainly knew that Shangqing Tower was a secret organization founded by Shangguan Wan'er, and was as famous as Taiping Prefecture, Military General Hall, and Black Officials. It turned out that its leader was actually a Taoist nun. He hurriedly bowed and said, "Jiuzhi meets Xie Agu."

Li Zhen said to Xie Ying again: "This is my brother Jiuzhi. He is currently in charge of intelligence in the inner guard and serves as deputy lieutenant."

Xie Ying smiled slightly, "I heard that Qianniuwei has a 'Brother Jiu, who is quite popular, probably you."

Jiu Zhi's face turned red, "That's what my brothers used to love me. Now I'm working with Lao Li."

Of course, Xie Ying knew that Li Zhen brought Jiuzhi to let him participate in Lai Junchen's affairs, and since he was in charge of intelligence, he should have heard of it.

The three of them sat down again, Xie Ying smiled at Jiuzhi and said, "The Deputy Guardian should know what happened today, Su was arrested by Lai Junchen."

Jiuzhi nodded, he was unwilling to fall behind and said, "I know Su's arrest was related to his son, and he was actually betrayed by his son."

"Yes," Xie Ying praised: "The news of the deputy lieutenant of Jiu is indeed well-versed. Su's arrest is indeed related to his son. His son fell into Lai Junchen's trap and betrayed his father in order to save his life."

Li Zhen pondered for a moment and asked, "Su Zhen is related to Xingtang Association?"

Xie Ying nodded, "Su is the periphery of Xingtang Association. Like Yang Pei, his son stole some secret letters from the study, which became evidence of Lai Junchen's arrest of Su."

"Does A Gu know who the letters to communicate with?" Li Zhen asked the key point.

Xie Ying sighed, "It was a letter with Guangling King Li Yuanjia. Li Yuanjia is one of the bones of the Xingtang Association. However, Su was not guilty of dealing with Li Yuanjia, but he had close contact with Langya King Li Chong when he was the chief of Weizhou. Su should have joined the Xingtang Association at that time."

Li Zhen was not interested in Li Chong, it was already many years ago. He only cared about Guangling King Li Yuanjia and asked again: "Where is Li Yuanjia now?"

"He is now in Yangzhou."

Xie Ying was silent and said, "The Su case may not only involve Li Yuanjia. Su is actually Princess Taiping. It was Princess Taiping who strongly recommended it. Su Cai was promoted from Weizhou Chief Shi to Minister of Rites, and later to Minister of Works. In addition, Su is also a younger brother of Su Weidao clan. He and his subordinate minister Cui Yuanzong were relatives. Lai Junchen chose him as a breakthrough point and was also very sensible. Shangguan Sheren said that the court might cause a storm."

"What did Shangguan Sheren want me to do?" Li Zhen asked again.

"She said you should know what you should do."

The two of them said a few more words, Xie Ying stood up and said goodbye. Li Zhen sent her out of the official office and returned to his room. Jiu Zhi hurriedly asked, "Old Li, what does Shangguan Sheren mean? I mean, what should we do?"

Li Zhen knew what Shangguan Wan'er meant very well. He shook his head gently, "We should not do anything, just wait and see what happens."

"ah--"

There were heart-wrenching screams from the dungeon of the Censorate. In a cold and terrifying torture room, hundreds of complete human skins were covered with walls. A middle-aged man with stripped naked clothes hung upside down on a huge iron hook. He had just been tortured, and the little finger bones of his feet were completely crushed. He couldn't help but feel severe pain and fainted.

This person was Su, the Minister of Works of the Ministry of Works, who was arrested in prison. Lai Junchen began to torture him just one hour before his torture was initiated. Lai Junchen was very confident that he would completely defeat Su. In Chengdu, his conditions were insufficient and he could not conquer Yang Pei, which made him feel resentful, but in the capital, he had no worries.

This man-covered punishment room alone is enough to destroy the will of most people to resist. Seeing that Su had fainted, Lai Junchen ordered: "Wake him up."

‘Wow, a bucket of ice water that had just been thawed from the feet to the head. The strong stimulation made Su slowly wake up. Lai Junchen gently gestured on Su’s ankle with a cold and sharp dagger, and sneered: “Do I know what I’m going to do next? For skinning, I will peel off one of your feet and stick it to the wall.”

Lai Junchen grabbed his hair and asked him to look at the wall, "Do you see clearly what is on the wall?"

A big man quickly raised the lamp to the wall, and a snowy white light suddenly appeared on the wall. Lai Junchen said with a ferocious look on his face: "See, these are women's skins, and your wife's skins will also hang here. As for you, peeling is too cheap for you, I will chop you up piece by piece and feed the dog."

Su's eyes showed extreme fear, and his teeth were clattering. Lai Junchen could see clearly. He knew that he was still one step away and Su was completely collapsed. He used a dagger to knock on a round bronze cover beside him, and ordered his left and right: "Open it."

Two great men divided the bronze cover into two and opened it. There was a dark hole inside. Lai Junchen smiled and said, "This hole is five feet deep, with snakes and scorpions inside. We call it the mouth of hell. More importantly, it is very small. You can't move after you go in. I'll put you in for two days first, so that you can taste what this mouth of hell tastes first?"

Lai Junchen waved his hand and said, "Put him in."

Several great men hung Su upside down, tied his hands and feet, and slowly put his head down into the hole, but it was only less than a meter in. The huge horror brought by the dark claustrophobia caused Su to completely collapse. He cried loudly: "I'll do it, I'll do it."

Lai Junchen laughed proudly. He had more than 100 kinds of tortures in total, so he put three tortures for Su, including broken fingers, skinning and claustrophobia. Su couldn't bear it anymore. It seemed that he was even more arrogant to him.

"Pull him up"

The big man tugged the wheel and slowly pulled Su up. Su lay on the ground, his whole body twitched in a ball. Lai Junchen Duan smiled in front of him and said, "You are very smart. If you get the tricks sooner, you will suffer less."

"What did you... ask me?" Su asked weakly.

"I need materials from Xingtang Association." Lai Junchen looked at him and said.

"But I... don't know much."

"It's okay. You can say as much as you know, and I will tell you the rest for you."

When Lai Junchen returned to the mansion, he was about to sort out the torture materials and report them to Wu Zetian. At this time, a subordinate stepped forward and whispered a few words to him. Lai Junchen immediately smiled and quickly walked to the east house.

Dongzhai is the beauty pageant for Lai Junchen. All the beauties plundered must be sent here first. After being selected by Lai Junchen, he will send them to Luming Villa. He will go to Luming Villa to have fun after a moment of time.

In the room, a young and beautiful woman was crying at the desk. Her name was Liu Bizhu, who was the newly married wife of Qiao Zhizhi, the doctor of the Right Secretariat. Qiao Zhizhi was arrested by Su's confession. Lai Junchen led people to search his mansion. Not only did he search the Qiao family's family treasure Xueyu, but Lai Junchen had long taken a fancy to Qiao Zhizhi's wife Liu Bizhu, and took this opportunity to snatch her away.

Liu Bizhu was worried about her husband's life and death, but she didn't know her fate. When she was crying sadly, the door opened. Lai Junchen smiled lewdly and walked in slowly.

Liu Bizhu was so scared that she stood up quickly, took a few steps back, and hit the bed screen. Lai Junchen looked at the beautiful woman. She liked her very much, so he pretended to say, "Your husband committed a death sentence. The emperor ordered me to execute him. It's very difficult for me to do it."

"Nonsense"

Liu Bizhu cursed: "My husband was arrested in the morning, will he be executed now? No matter how stupid the emperor is, he will not be so chaotic. It is obvious that you want to hold me up."

"Oh, you actually called the emperor stupid. I guess your husband taught you that I got another charge and I will torture him tomorrow."

"Shameless"

Lai Junchen didn't care at all. He knew how to deal with these fierce women. He took out a small leather bag from his arms and poured something out from it. It turned out to be a human finger with a ring on it. Lai Junchen said coldly: "You should know this ring."

Liu Bizhu recognized the ring. It was her husband's finger. She suddenly threw herself on the table and started crying.

Lai Junchen put another confession on the table, "This is your husband's confession, admitting that he has joined the Xingtang Association. I have a secret decree that you can execute your husband at any time. Now I am giving you a finger. If you make me unhappy, it will be a hand or even a head. You can do it."

"What do you... want?" Liu Bizhu asked slowly gritted her teeth.

"It's very simple. Now that you have left me, I will burn this confession and spare your husband's life. Otherwise, he will be tortured tonight and die without even a complete body."

Liu Bizhu slowly closed her eyes, unable to help but shed tears. Lai Junchen was extremely proud, stepped forward and hugged her, tearing her open her chest.

Just as Lai Junchen bowed his head, Liu Bizhu seized the opportunity and bit his shoulder hard. Lai Junchen screamed in pain. He was so angry that he pulled out a dagger from his boots and stabbed into Liu Bizhu's chest with a sharp knife.

In the imperial study, Lai Junchen endured a pain in his shoulder and presented a thick stack of materials to Wu Zetian. "Report to Your Majesty, this is Su's complete confession, which was written by him and written by him."

Wu Zetian took the confession and looked through it. Then he took out a leather bag from the imperial case, poured the items in the leather bag on the table, several letters and a silver medal in the Xingtang Association. These evidences and confessions are relatively complete and convincing.

Wu Zetian found a letter from it and asked, "The letter vaguely revealed that Li Yuanjia was recruiting soldiers in Yangzhou. Is there any confession in his confession?"

"You" Lai Junchen hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, on the third page, the confession is very clear. Guangling King Li Yuanjia secretly recruited soldiers and horses in the Yangzhou area, and there were as many as thousands of people."

Wu Zetian turned to the third page of the confession and looked at it, and couldn't help but snorted coldly, "The light of fireflies dares to be more than the bright moon's brightness, something that is overestimated."

She asked Lai Junchen again, "How many people know about the content of this letter and confession besides you?"

"Report to Your Majesty, there are two chief clerks who copied copies."

"No one can know about this except you, and no copy is allowed to be left. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

Lai Junchen understood what Wu Zetian meant that he had to silence the two chief clerks who knew the content, and could not alarm the snake, and leaked the news in advance.

Wu Zetian took a few more steps behind his hands, pondered for a moment, and said coldly: "I believe that he is not the only senior officials of Xingtang Association in the court, and he will catch a few more."

"Minist obeys the order"

Just as Li Zhen was worried, the Su case gradually expanded, and Su confessed more than a dozen Xingtang co-party members, including Prime Minister Su Weidao, Xue Yuanzong, Secretary of the Secretariat Zhou Yunyuan, Minister of War Sun Yuanli and other senior officials, as well as dozens of middle and low-level officials. Lai Junchen arrested them and was tortured and severely questioned.

He personally led hundreds of gangsters and warriors to search door by door, nominally searching for evidence, but actually searching their family wealth, using a large amount of gold, silver and fine materials as rebellion and wealth to collect them all. For a moment, the government and the country were shocked and panicked. The ministers all hated Lai Junchen to the core, and his infamous made the children dare not cry at night.

A few days later, the Su case did not stop, but instead became increasingly fierce and the situation became more and more serious. Zhou Yunyuan, the Minister of the Secretariat, could not withstand the torture and died of illness in prison. Even the powerful prime minister Li Dezhao was implicated and was accused of being a member of Su Weidao. Wu Zetian immediately issued an order to remove Li Dezhao from his position as prime minister and put him under house arrest in the Censorate for interrogation.

In the Left Bank Tavern, Li Zhen, Di Yan and Sun Li sat in an elegant room on the third floor to discuss solutions. Li Zhen did not want to participate in the Xingtang Association case fabricated by Lai Junchen, but Sun Li's father Sun Yuanli was imprisoned. If the crime was convicted, I am afraid that Sun Li's official position as the Minister of Dali Temple will not be saved.

Sun Li sighed, "I have seen through it. When I don't regard ministers as human beings, I will be promoted to prime minister today and I will be imprisoned tomorrow. Even a person with a smooth taste like Su Wei can't protect himself, let alone others, it doesn't matter whether I am a humble official or not. The key is to hope that my father can be safe and not die in prison like Zhou Yunyuan."

Li Zhen knew that Sun Liyan was not sincere. He valued his official position very much. After so many years, he had to climb up little by little. He didn't want to lose his official position. It was just that he had no choice but to say such indifferent words.

Li Zhen knew it well, but he couldn't say it clearly, so he had to comfort him and said, "It was because Zhou Yunyuan was too upright and offended Lai Junchen, so he was revenge by Lai Junchen and died of torture. Lingzun and Lai Junchen had no holiday, and I think nothing would happen."

At this time, Di Yan said angrily: "It's just a mess. I heard that even Li Xiangguo was arrested. Although he is a royal family, will he be a member of the Xingtang Association? And Su Munlen, everyone knows that he is a turtle with a head-reducing turtle, and even he is designated as the Xingtang Association. All the civil and military officials in the court are all there, what else needs to be tried? Just take it in one go."

Sun Li smiled bitterly and said, "Actually, Miss Di is right. It's not for the Xingtang Association. My father is obviously from the Wusansi faction, and he is also designated as the Xingtang Association. There is also Li Dezhao. He was arrested because his prime minister's power is too great and threatened the monarch's power. Su Wei Taun is Li Dezhao's die-hard party, so he was eliminated together. In fact, everyone knows that Xingtang Association is just a basket, and everything can be filled in."

Li Zhen was speechless. He now understood why Shangguan Wan'er kept him silent. This was actually a major official cleanup that emerged by the rebellion of Xingtang. No wonder Wu Sansi was useless to impeach Lai Junchen, because Lai Junchen was of great use.

However, Li Zhen still felt that Wu Zetian used Xingtanghui to attack Li Dezhao and others, which was actually a smoke. In order to conceal her real purpose, her real purpose should be Xingtanghui.

"Tell me my father, do you think I can save him?" Sun Li looked at Li Zhen with anticipation. He and Li Zhen did a lot of things and always admired his gaze and mind. He had no choice but to ask Li Zhen for help.

Li Zhen thought for a while and asked, "Can you meet Ling Zun?"

Sun Li nodded, "I'm going to visit the prison tonight and give him something. This is Lai Junchen who will give us some face to Dali Temple before agreeing."

"If you can see Ling Zun, you advise him not to force Lai Junchen, and save his life first, and you can admit that you have contacts with Xingtang."
To be continued...