People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 626 Torture
Dangdangdang!

It was clearly the quiet moment of the night, and all living things on earth should have entered a dormant stage at this time, but suddenly a rapid and loud gong sounded, breaking the silence of the night.

Guan Hai, who had just narrowed his eyes and began to nod, immediately woke up from his daze.

At this moment, he had a strong urge to fall asleep, but the disturbances from the outside world and the extremely uncomfortable physical feeling of sitting on the stool made it difficult for him to fall asleep.

If possible, he really wanted to lie down on the ground and have a good sleep, so that he could recover his spirit and physical strength after being interrogated in the high temperature for a whole day. However, the field stones outside made it impossible for him to close his eyes.

This was destined to be an extremely unfair contest. Guan Hai could only hold on by himself, but Tian Shitou could rotate with the others.

Sure enough, after seeing Guan Hai extremely tired and awakened by the sound of the gong, Tian Shitou stood up and looked down at Guan Hai with cold eyes. No matter what Guan Hai's previous identity was, as long as he became an official in the Censorate, in Tian Shitou's eyes he was just a prisoner awaiting trial.

"Have a good rest tonight, sir. I will come to accompany you tomorrow."

Guan Hai raised his head when he heard the voice. Under the dim moonlight, Tian Shitou's dark face looked like an evil ghost. His sharp and cold eyes made Guan Hai's heart tremble.

In the past, Guan Hai had heard that others were afraid of the Censorate, especially Tian Shitou, but he never took it seriously. As an early meritorious official who had taken the initiative to lead his people to join the Yellow Turbans, there were not many people in the Yellow Turbans whom he could look up to, and it was obvious that a guy like Tian Shitou was not among them.

Only when he faced Tian Shitou in person today did he feel how sharp the blade forged by Xu Chen was.

It was not until Tian Shitou turned and walked away that Guan Hai breathed a sigh of relief. Now he could only grit his teeth and cheer himself up. He believed that when he was away, the Qingzhou officials under him would clean up their hands and feet.

Everyone is an old fox who has been in the officialdom for a long time. At this sensitive juncture, everyone knows what to do and will not leave anything substantial to the Censorate anyway.

This kind of thinking also provides Guan Hai with the motivation to hold on. Although his current situation is extremely torturous, he will not give in at all.

Once all the cases brought forward by the Censorate were confirmed, Guan Hai was certain that not only his official career would be over, but even his life would be over.

No one knows better than him what he has done. He did these things without any scruples, but once he is investigated and liquidated, it will be fatal.

That night, Guan Hai was in a daze and didn't know how many times he heard the sound of the gong. The torment of his will made him feel so painful that he wanted to die, but he could only grit his teeth and hold on. However, in his confusion, he couldn't help but think of the names of the executed officials that Xuan Xia had publicly announced.

The imperial court has always attached great importance to the cleaning of the ranks. Every time a case of a guilty official is investigated and dealt with, an internal announcement will be made through the court bulletin to alert all officials.

Now Guan Hai had to start thinking about a question: would he end up like these criminal officials, with his head and body separated?

He was afraid and aggrieved. Why did he work so hard to conquer the world? Wasn't it to gain achievements so that he could enjoy power? Otherwise, all his efforts would have been in vain.

I went through so much trouble to conquer the world, is it just to serve the people? Isn't that bullshit?

What's wrong with the literati and the emperor sharing the world like in the Han Dynasty? Guan Hai never believed in what Ziran Dao said, but he couldn't reverse Xuan Xia's path at all. On the contrary, he had to hide his heart carefully, otherwise there would be no place for him in Xuan Xia.

Even though he became the governor of Qingzhou and had the power of life and death over a piece of land, he had to do things secretly if he wanted to for fear of being known by others. This feeling made him extremely uncomfortable. Besides that, what made him even more uncomfortable was the uncontrollable fear deep in his heart.

The more he did those things, the more uneasy he felt, and now this fear has finally come true.

When the next day came and the sunlight shone through the window, Guan Hai's dazed eyes finally showed a hint of spirit. Thinking back to the torture of last night, he didn't know how he had endured it.

But yesterday was not the end, today was just the beginning, which means that I am about to start to endure new torture.

Sure enough, after dawn, a new batch of officials from the Censorate outside came, which made Guan Hai despair. He felt like a rooster being teased. In such endless torture, even the proudest rooster would lower his head.

Although a new group of officials from the Censorate had been replaced, they were all cut from the same cloth. The questions they asked were still as annoying as ever, and they were questions that had been asked more than a dozen times, but they still kept repeating them without getting tired of asking.

The questions include but are not limited to whether you know a certain person, what you did on a certain day, whether you knew about this case, what made you approve this project, why you granted this piece of land to someone, etc.

The cases involved were so broad and involved so many details that Guan Hai himself could not remember them clearly, and he could only respond mechanically.

Whenever I hear these questions, my head feels like it's about to explode. Those voices are like flies surrounding my ears, which I can't get rid of and can only endure silently.

Of course, he also realized that if he continued to ask like this, he would make mistakes sooner or later, but he was powerless to change anything.

They persisted like this until noon, when the scorching heat began again. Guan Hai felt that the breath he exhaled was like steam. But when Tian Shitou and his group came here, what happened next made his whole body start to feel cold.

Tian Shitou just waved his hand, and two people quickly moved a table into the room, and then placed piles of papers on the table.

Tian Shitou then walked into the room and sat down opposite Guan Hai. After taking a look at Guan Hai, he said coldly, "Master Guan, don't blame me for not giving you a chance. There are some things that we can still find out even if you don't tell us."

After saying that, Tian Shitou took out a piece of paper from the table and placed it in front of Guan Hai.

Guan Hai looked down and saw a long list of addresses on the paper, and these addresses made him breathe hard.

"You should be familiar with these houses, shops, and factories. Although these things are nominally owned by others, you should know who they belong to better than anyone else. Based on our rough calculations, the value of these things is astronomical. You really have a big appetite."

Tian Shitou sneered and slapped the pile of papers. "Since we have found the envoy, we are well prepared. There are many murders and evidence of corruption here. Do you want me to list them all for you?"

(End of this chapter)