There is a place called "High Wall" in Fengyang, the capital of China. This is the place where criminals Long Zi and Long Sun were imprisoned during the Ming Dynasty. It is also the only prison of this kind in history.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty would always throw the offending prince into the clan house and imprison him. It was not bad. At least he would be given a courtyard to raise him. This high wall of the Ming Dynasty was like being imprisoned.

The high wall was less than a kilometer away from the imperial palace where Zhu Cixiang lived. On this day, Zhu Cixiang led everyone here, accompanied by Li Tingbiao, Xu Sheng, Wu Zhong, and Qiu Zhizhong.

A deposed prince is now imprisoned in the high wall. When the Qing troops entered the Pass in the 9th year of Chongzhen's reign, he was the Tang king Zhu Yujian who secretly recruited troops to lead the troops northward, but was stopped halfway.

The name "High Wall" is not for nothing. From a distance, Zhu Cixi saw the majestic building with several floors. After entering, he felt only darkness. Fortunately, the further inside, the more candlelight there was.

The eunuch in charge of Gaoqiang was very surprised by the arrival of the Crown Prince. He quickly stepped forward to greet him and said, "Slave Shi Yingzhao pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Zhu Cixiang nodded and said calmly: "Take me to see Prince Tang."

Shi Yingzhao reminded: "Your Highness, the man in the high wall has been deprived of the title of vassal king by your Majesty, and he is just a commoner..."

Zhu Cixiang glanced at him and said: "Lead the way!"

Shi Yingzhao was secretly panicked and said quickly: "Yes!"

The prison where Zhu Yujian was imprisoned was opened, but there was no one in the prison, only a large square box.

"Where is the King of Tang?" Zhu Cixiang frowned.

"Over there..." Shi Yingzhao pointed to the big square box and said.

Everyone looked and saw that there were four holes in the top cover of the box, and they could faintly see people's hands and feet locked in the four holes.

Zhu Cixiang signaled, Xu Sheng opened the big box, and saw that Tang Wang Zhu Yujian's limbs were tied and his head was hanging downward. His mouth was not sealed, but he kept his face and said nothing.

Li Tingbiao smiled lightly and said: "There are so many talented people in the high wall. I didn't expect that there are still people who torture people with this kind of punishment!"

Zhu Cixi said in a deep voice: "Let him out!"

Xu Sheng put Zhu Yujian down and loosened his bonds, brought him to Zhu Cixiang and said, "This is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"The common people have met Your Highness!" Zhu Yujian said with a deep salute.

Zhu Yujian was three or four generations senior to Zhu Cixiang. Zhu Cixiang was a little speechless: "Zeng..."

Zhu Yujian said quickly: "Your Highness must not call the guilty minister this way. The guilty minister has now been deposed as a commoner and cannot afford to be called such by Your Highness."

Zhu Cixiang said helplessly: "Who tortured you?"

Zhu Yujian pointed at Shi Ying and said: "This eunuch loves money. Seeing that I am in trouble, he wants to blackmail me. If I don't obey, he will torture me day and night."

Shi Yingzhao immediately knelt down and said, "I know that I have sinned. Please forgive me, Your Highness."

Zhu Cixiang glared angrily: "Even if the King of Tang is removed from the title of king now, he is still of royal blood. Who do you think you are? Dare you torture him?"

Zhu Cixi said coldly and solemnly: "Since you love money so much, I will reward you with some. Come, go to the inner treasury and transport 30,000 taels of silver!"

"Yes!" Xu Sheng took the order and left.

Not long after, Xu Sheng brought several large carts of silver with a few personal guards.

Zhu Cixiang glanced at Shi Yingzhao who was paralyzed on the ground, and said coldly to the young eunuch Qiu Zhizhong beside him: "Qiu Zhizhong, bury him with money!"

"Yes..." The young eunuch Qiu Zhizhong was startled. After receiving the order, he began to move money one by one from the car and pile it on the eunuch Shi Yingzhao.

Shi Yingzhao turned pale with fright. He lay on the ground and did not dare to move, allowing Qiu Zhizhong to pile money on him.

When Qiu Zhizhong moved to more than 8,000 taels, he was already sweating profusely. Xu Sheng wanted to ask a few personal guards to come forward to help.

Zhu Cixi stopped him and said coldly: "Let him move it by himself!"

When Qiu Zhizhong heard this, his hands trembled, and a hundred and ten taels of silver fell to the ground with a thud. He quickly picked it up again.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Qiu Zhizhong began to bury the silver coins from the car on Shi Yingzhao again. Hearing Shi Yingzhao's screams of being crushed, the more he buried him, the more frightened he became. He occasionally looked at the crown prince and saw his face was gloomy.

looking at himself.

Cold sweat fell from Qiu Zhizhong's forehead like raindrops, and he finally knelt down on the ground and cried: "Your Highness, I know that I have sinned, and I beg Your Highness to forgive me!"

Zhu Cixi said coldly: "What are you guilty of?"

Qiu Zhizhong said with a tearful tone: "This slave has received the ceremonial money sent by the officials of the states and counties along the way..."

Wu Zhong was shocked. He did not expect that Qiu Zhizhong, who had taken care of the crown prince with him since childhood, would actually accept bribes...

Zhu Cixiang continued: "How much did you collect in total?"

Qiu Zhizhong said in a trembling voice: "A total of thirty thousand taels..."

Zhu Cixiang took off a short whip from the wall and whipped it hard at Qiu Zhizhong, who was kneeling on the ground. While whipping him, he cursed angrily: "I'm making you greedy! I'm making you mean!"

Zhu Cixiang's beatings became harder and harder, until Qiu Zhizhong's body was bruised and bruised, but he did not dare to cry out in pain.

Everyone was shocked to see that Qiu Zhizhong was the eunuch accompanying the Crown Prince. They did not expect that the Crown Prince would be so harsh to his own people.

Wu Zhong, Xu Sheng, Li Tingbiao and others felt nervous. They were not stupid. The crown prince was beating Qiu Zhizhong, and he was also beating himself.

Zhu Cixiang whipped more than thirty times in a row, and his hands were sore. One of the whips hit Qiu Zhizhong directly in the face, causing him to stagger and leaving a long trail of blood on his face. It was scary to look at.

.

Zhu Cixiang threw down his whip and took a breath and said: "This high wall not only imprisoned the emperor's relatives, but also the imperial family slaves, such as Wei Zhongxian, who was condemned by his father to spend the rest of his life in this high wall. It is a pity that he

Didn’t come, died on the way!”

Zhu Cixiang pointed at Qiu Zhizhong and said: "I intend to let you spend the rest of your life behind a high wall. Fortunately, you are still honest. Let me let you go today. If you are greedy again in the future, no one can save you!"

Qiu Zhizhong did not dare to wipe the blood on his face. He just fell to the ground and cried loudly: "Thank you for your mercy, Your Highness!"

Zhu Cihong turned around and was about to leave when he saw the eunuch Shi Yingzhao buried under the silver still groaning and half-dead. He said coldly: "Keep burying!"

After saying that, he snorted coldly and left the high wall.

Wu Zhong stepped forward to help Qiu Zhizhong up and whispered a few words of comfort. Li Tingbiao and Xu Sheng followed Zhu Cihong and left the high wall.

Zhu Yujian looked at the leaving crown prince and felt a little depressed. Didn't he come here to see me? Just to deal with his own family affairs?

At the same time, he was filled with emotions in his heart. This crown prince should not be underestimated at such a young age. He is extremely good at controlling his subordinates.

Zhu Yujian glanced at Shi Yingzhao, who was out of breath under the weight of tens of thousands of taels of silver, sighed, and said to himself: "It's better to stay here honestly. No one can save him without an imperial edict."
Chapter completed!