usatvline Chapter 491 Nothing to Hide
Chapter 491 Nothing to Hide
Xie Ci'an raised his hand and held Gu Jianchu's white fingers, "There is a place in the capital that can accommodate these girls."
Gu Jianchu's eyes immediately lit up and he looked at Xie Ci'an, "Where?"
"Prince Li's Mansion." Xie Ci'an opened his thin lips and uttered these three words coldly.
The ministers present couldn't help but recall that Prince Li had used the excuse of returning to the capital and brought a dwarf to pretend to be his son in an attempt to murder the emperor. Fortunately, the queen bravely blocked the knife, so that the emperor was not injured. However, Prince Li was arrested for attempting to rebel against the emperor. Although he was not beheaded, he was imprisoned in the dark place of the Clan Court, living like an ant all day long. He could not die, but could only live in cowardice.
However, although Prince Li was captured, the Prince Li's Mansion is still there. Although it has been abandoned for a long time, it can still be used to house these women. Moreover, the Prince Li's Mansion can still be used in this way, which can be regarded as a kind act, helping Prince Li to accumulate some merit.
"Your Majesty's suggestion is good. Why don't we do as Your Majesty says and place these women in Prince Li's Mansion first, and then take action after the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice have investigated the matter thoroughly." Gu Jianchu said gently.
Although the emperor and empress were in charge of the trial, many details still needed to be verified by the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice. They could not leave all the details to the emperor and empress. After all, there were still many details about the origins of these women and how they were deceived. The emperor and empress only wanted to arrest the culprit Cao Li first.
The issue of placing these women was left to the Ministry of Justice. After all, the bodies were handed over to the Dali Temple for disposal. We couldn't leave all matters to the Dali Temple, and the Dali Temple couldn't handle so many things.
The Ministry of Justice immediately arranged for people to send the women present to Prince Li's Mansion and let Miss Zhou help with their treatment.
Afterwards they sent people to question them one by one. The important thing now was to calm the girls down and help them detoxify. After all, they had been harmed by Cao Li for such a long time, and it would be difficult for them to accept the news that they had been rescued, so they needed to be given some time.
Just at this moment, Wen Zhu came in.
Wen Zhu smelled strongly of blood, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Cao Li has confessed."
As Xie Ci'an waved his hand, Wen Zhu naturally ordered someone to bring Cao Li in. Cao Li's face was covered in blood and his body was covered with bruises. There was almost no good place on his body except his face. There were visible whip marks on his body. His hands seemed to have been pliers and were now obviously red and swollen. His nails had been pulled out clean during the torture. Even his legs had been pliers. There were several large bloody holes on his body. It was hard to tell what torture instrument had caused them.
Cao Li couldn't stand straight now and was lifted up by two attendants from the Imperial City Department. As soon as they let go, Cao Li fell to the ground like a weak shrimp, and his blood was all over the floor of the Shangshu Mansion. At the moment he fell, he couldn't help but gasp.
Wen Zhu kicked Cao Li on the leg and said, "Repeat what you just said from the perspective of the Emperor and Empress."
Cao Li curled up in pain after being kicked. It took him a while to recover before he said, "I did all this. I saw my friends from the same hometown cheating on the women in the brothels and spending their money like gigolos. So I came up with an idea. I used the women's feelings to lure them out, then kidnapped them to a small courtyard not far from the City God Temple. Then I gave them obedience drugs I bought from the Beggars' Gang. After taking them for a month, they would become addicted and would then listen to my instructions and go out to cheat the dignitaries."
"As for those disobedient girls, I killed them all and used their deaths to intimidate others who were equally disobedient. Later, I discovered that this method really worked. When they saw their companions having their hands and feet cut off for disobedience, they would obediently follow my orders. So I used this method to control them. Later, I even wanted to make them into specimens to intimidate the newly captured women, but after several attempts, I failed and had to give up."
"There are usually some who are disobedient or want to take the opportunity to run away. I will bring them back and lock them up in the water dungeon for two days. Over time, they will become obedient."
"I knew I couldn't get that many women on my own, so I started developing offline relationships, asking them to help me trick women into coming. Whether they were skinny Yangzhou horses or prostitutes, I would pay them three hundred taels of silver for every woman I could get. When they heard they could get so much money, they naturally tried their best to help me and find ways to trick more women into coming."
Hearing this, Gu Jianchu gradually retracted his fingers, his eyes stained with an unprecedented anger, "How did you find those subordinates? How many people are there in total? What are their names?"
Cao Li crawled on the ground, breathing deeply. He felt that even breathing was painful.
Before he could adjust himself, Wen Zhu kicked him again on the leg that had been clamped. Instantly, he felt a pain as if his bones were broken. Cao Li took a few breaths and finally managed to catch his breath. "Most of them are from the same hometown and friends. Some are poor scholars. They appear noble on the surface, but they are actually dark at heart. They also want to make money. I only need a few words to provoke them into doing my bidding."
"There are ten people in total. I don't dare to recruit too many people for fear of being discovered by the government, so these ten are enough. Zhang Qiang, Li Wu... Seven of them are in the capital, and the rest are in Yangzhou. In addition to them, there are a few others who will help me provide information, and then we can carry out the fraud."
Fearing that Wen Zhu would kick him again, Cao Li quickly said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I have confessed everything I should confess and I have nothing to hide."
"Are you sure there is nothing to hide?" Gu Jianchu stroked the hot water bottle in her hand. She did not forget the purpose of coming here.
Cao Li nodded repeatedly, his head about to fall to the ground. "Your Majesty, I have confessed everything. I have nothing to hide. If I dare to hide anything, Your Majesty will hand me over to the Imperial City Administration for punishment."
"But you sent Hongqiao to the Shangshu Mansion to sow discord between Miss Pingxi and Kong Lin, and caused her to have a miscarriage, framing the incident on Miss Pingxi."
No one expected that the Queen would bring the matter back.
Hearing this, Cao Li felt a little relieved. He was most afraid that the Queen would ask a lot of random questions, and he would not be able to react at all to what was going on, let alone confess.
Cao Li said truthfully, "It was indeed me who arranged for Hong Qiao to approach Kong Lin, the eldest son of the Shangshu Mansion. I noticed that Kong Lin was generous and often went to restaurants with his friends for drinks, and he always paid for them. He must be a wealthy young man who was willing to spend money, so I sent Hong Qiao to approach him."