I, Emperor Chongzhen, have extended the life of the Ming Dynasty by five hundred years.

As soon as the door opened, Wang Dehua darted inside.

The room was empty except for a girl dressed in her undergarments, who was covering herself with a blanket and screaming, looking terrified.

The window was wide open. He hurried to the window and looked down. He saw a figure scrambling to his feet and stumbling forward.

"Don't panic, Master Eunuch! I'll go and warn the brothers outside to intercept them!"

"No need!"

A ruthless glint flashed in Wang Dehua's eyes as he continued, "Search the other rooms; this man definitely has accomplices!"

After saying that, he pressed his left hand against the window frame, twisted his body, and jumped down.

The people on the street exclaimed in surprise. They saw Wang Dehua spread his arms wide, his robes fluttering, and he looked like an eagle spreading its wings, pouncing on its prey below.

The man was fleeing in panic when he suddenly heard a whooshing sound overhead and immediately rolled to the ground.

This was an instinctive reaction, a vigilance honed through years of fighting on the front lines, which allowed him to evade a fatal blow.

Wang Dehua missed his first strike and before he could regain his footing, he suddenly twisted his waist and turned around, only to find his opponent's fist already in front of him.

This man's attacks were clean and swift, his punches whistling through the air, powerful and heavy—clearly killing techniques honed in the military.

Wang Dehua's lips curled slightly. Suddenly, he reached out his right hand, grabbed the other man's wrist, and pulled him with the force of the movement. At the same time, his left palm flashed out and slashed towards the man's throat. The man reacted extremely quickly, tilting his head to the side and using his shoulder to withstand the blow. He then used the momentum to lower his waist and, with his other hand forming a claw, viciously dug towards Wang Dehua's heart!

boom!

Wang Dehua dodged to the side and then swung his elbow at the man's shoulder blade.

The man groaned and staggered two steps, but gritted his teeth to steady himself, his eyes flashing with even more ferocity.

Immediately afterwards, he let out a low roar and pounced forward, his arms wrapping around Wang Dehua like iron hoops, trying to use brute force to restrain him.

A cold glint flashed in Wang Dehua's eyes, and he suddenly retreated, his right leg sweeping like a whip, striking the back of the knee.

The man knelt down in pain, but still refused to give up. He braced himself with his hands on the ground and launched a sweeping leg attack on Wang Dehua's lower body.

"court death!"

Wang Dehua let out a cold shout, his body suddenly leaping up. He tapped his toes on the other man's leg, using the momentum to jump into the air, and slammed his right knee into the man's chest!

Click!

The sound of bones cracking was clearly audible. The man spat out a mouthful of blood and fell heavily to the ground.

He struggled to get up, but Wang Dehua had already stepped on his back and said coldly, "If you dare to move again, I'll break your spine and make you wish you were dead!"

The man finally stopped resisting and just started panting heavily.

Several guards then ran over and tied the man up tightly with ropes.

Wang Dehua, with a smug look on his face, said, "Take him back and interrogate him thoroughly!"

"Master Eunuch, we just arrested three more people in another room; they must be his accomplices!"

"Well done! Take them all to the imperial prison. We must get a verdict today!"

In the Beizhen Prefecture's prison, four prisoners, naked from the waist up, were wailing in agony.

The leader was a burly man, all muscle, with a ruthless glint in his eyes, and he bit his lip tightly, refusing to let go.

The other three were beaten to the point of near death, and apart from admitting that they were soldiers from Dengzhou Guard, they knew nothing else.

They only knew that they had come to the capital to carry out a mission, but only their captain knew what the mission was. And their captain was the man who had been captured by Wang Dehua.

After waiting for a long time, Wang Dehua finally couldn't help but say, "Take those three away!"

"yes!"

Soon, only Wang Dehua and the blood-covered prisoner remained in the torture chamber.

"This is the imperial prison; getting in is easy, but getting out is difficult!"

Wang Dehua took a leisurely sip of tea, then continued, "It's alright if you don't speak. You know Du Yang, right?"

The man's eyes seemed to be spitting fire, but he still gritted his teeth and slowly lowered his head.

Seeing this, Wang Dehua laughed and said, "He's already confessed, what's the point of you still stubbornly denying it?"

"Even if you don't say anything, it's fine. Our family can wait and see. Don't you have any family?"

"If you're single, then so be it if you die. But if you have family, we advise you to tell the truth, otherwise..."

"Pah! You damned eunuch!"

The man suddenly spoke, his voice vicious: "What methods do you have? Show them to me! Using women and children as hostages, what kind of hero are you?"

Seeing this, Wang Dehua immediately had a plan and said, "It's not that we're threatening you, but rather..."

At this point, he suddenly stopped and then stole a glance to observe the other person's reaction.

Sure enough, the man's eyes looked panicked, but he tried his best to hide it.

This shows that he did indeed have family in Dengzhou, and that he cared about them a lot.

Wang Dehua continued, "To tell you the truth, the imperial court has already dispatched troops to Dengzhou to quell the rebellion. Rebellion is punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family! If you tell the truth, I guarantee I will spare your family's lives, how about that?"

"snort!"

The man snorted coldly and said, "Don't give me that! I'm just in the capital to see a friend and catch up. Who's rebelling?"

"So, your friend is Du Yang, the Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, isn't that right?"

"So what if it is?"

"That's strange. Censor Du is from Jiangxi and entered officialdom in the thirteenth year of the Chongzhen reign. I've never heard of him living in Shandong."

"I'm also from Jiangxi, and I'm with Du, Du..."

"Du Yang!"

"Yes, Du Yang and I are childhood friends, we practically grew up together, isn't that okay?"

"In that case, can you speak Jiangxi dialect?"

"Me, me... I joined the army in Shandong, and I spoke Shandong dialect every day. I've completely forgotten my Jiangxi dialect!"

"Haha, hahaha..."

Wang Dehua suddenly lowered his voice a few times, then said, "Actually, Du Yang is from Fujian!"

"You...you damned eunuch, are you trying to fool me?"

"Yeah, what can you do about it?"

"Aaaaah, I'll beat you to death, you son of a bitch!"

At this moment, a guard came in, holding a note.

After reading it, Wang Dehua smiled and said, "Sun Biao, thirty-eight years old, from Dengzhou, currently the captain of the fourth battle team of Dengzhou Guard, has a son who, according to the records, is already ten years old this year. Ten years old, hmm, not young anymore..."

"Shut up, you damned eunuch!"

Sun Biao was extremely anxious; veins bulged on his forehead, and his eyes burned with rage.

Wang Dehua put down the note and then slowly said, "You need to know where you are. Once you're in the Imperial Prison, being stubborn won't get you anywhere. The Embroidered Uniform Guard's treasury contains the resumes of all the high-ranking officers in every garrison across the country. Just by comparing Du Yang's confession with the testimonies of those few seasoned soldiers, finding out your background will be a piece of cake."

He slowly rose, looking down at Sun Biao: "Now, do you have anything else to say?"

Sun Biao, panting heavily, his chest heaving, gritted his teeth and said, "Kill me if you want! Don't let my family suffer!"

"The sins of the family should not be visited upon them?" Wang Dehua suddenly laughed, but his voice was as cold as ice. "It seems Commander Sun still doesn't understand that treason is a capital offense, punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family!"

"Bullshit!"

Sun Biao suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot: "I'm just here to deliver a message, who's plotting rebellion?"

Wang Dehua immediately retorted, "What kind of letter was sent?"

Sun Biao's Adam's apple bobbed, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead. After a long pause, he hissed, "It was nothing more than sending Imperial Censor Du a letter written in blood, instructing him to impeach Luo Yangxing, the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, at the morning court session today. I know nothing else!"

Wang Dehua narrowed his eyes: "Who ordered this?"

Sun Biao gritted his teeth and said, "No one ordered them to do this. The Embroidered Uniform Guard is indiscriminately killing innocent people in Shandong. Censor Du is a man of integrity, so naturally he should speak up for us!"

"What does it have to do with the Embroidered Uniform Guard handling cases in Jinan Prefecture, compared to a mere captain in your Dengzhou Guard?"

"I...I just can't stand it!"

"Jinan Prefecture is more than 800 li away from Dengzhou. How did you know that? Also, as the captain of the Fourth Battalion of the Dengzhou Guard, how could you leave the military camp unless on official business? Furthermore, do you even know what case the Embroidered Uniform Guard is handling?"

Wang Dehua bombarded Sun Biao with a series of questions, leaving him speechless. He could only reply, "I don't care what case it is, the Imperial Guards are all bad people!"

"Did the imperial guards eat your rice? Or did they withhold your pay?"

"Pah!"

Sun Biao spat coldly and said, "You dare to embezzle the brothers' compensation money, and you still have the nerve to call yourself a good person?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Dehua was completely stunned. After a long while, he asked, "Did you just say that someone was withholding the soldiers' compensation money?"