The Ming Dynasty began in the seventeenth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign.

Seeing Zhou Kui's generosity, Liu Zongmin was overjoyed. It seemed that Wei Zaode's weakness could be filled by Chongzhen's father-in-law.

He stepped forward, grabbed Zhou Kui by the collar, lifted him up, and burst into laughter:

"Old man, you're very sensible. You'll definitely be a loyal subject of the Great Shun Dynasty in the future. I just love dealing with smart people like you!"

Zhou Kui already knew that Wei Zaode had been tortured to death, and seeing Liu Zongmin's reaction, he truly believed that he had passed the test.

At this moment, Zhou Kui dared not think about how high an official position he could be granted; his main concern was saving the lives of his entire family. He hurriedly nodded, bowed, and smiled obsequiously.

"Thank you for your praise, General. Serving the Great Shun Dynasty is my greatest wish."

Liu Zongmin's eyes darted around, and he chuckled:

"Oh, very good. Great Shun needs a good minister like you. Take out all the gold and silver you have in your mansion, and I guarantee you a high official position."

Zhou Kui was immediately shocked and hurriedly knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly:

"what……"

"General, spare my life! This old man has already given me all the silver!"

Liu Zongmin's eyes widened, and he roared:

"real?"

Zhou Kui kowtowed again:

"It's true, absolutely true! The old man's words are more reliable than gold!"

"Bang..."

"You bastard, how dare you lie to me! Give me a spanking!"

Liu Zongmin suddenly raised his leg and kicked Zhou Kui hard, knocking Zhou Kui over twice and almost killing him.

Liu Zongmin changed his mind faster than flipping through a book, and Zhou Kui was filled with regret, thinking how much better it was to be Chongzhen's son-in-law!

"Spare me! This old man really has no money. Emperor Chongzhen ordered a donation drive, and I only donated a little over ten thousand taels. Donating one hundred thousand taels to the Great Shun Dynasty is all I have..."

Zhou Kui pleaded desperately, but Liu Zongmin ignored him and directly applied the finger clamps, cracking his fingers so hard they looked like they were about to break.

"Stop grabbing it! There's still 50,000 taels left in the mansion, buried in the cellar under the artificial hill!"

Zhou Kui couldn't stand it any longer and hurriedly revealed another cellar where silver was hidden.

Liu Zongmin immediately sent people to search, and they indeed found more than 50,000 taels of silver and more than 30,000 taels of gold!

"Keep going, the old man's up to no good, he definitely has a lot of wealth and luxury at home!"

After being tortured four times, Zhou Kui handed over more than 200,000 taels of silver. Liu Zongmin was furious, but also found it very amusing.

This old guy is like water in a sponge; if you squeeze him a few more times, there's still water left.

His life wasn't as tough as Wei Zaode's; he couldn't even last two days before his brains splattered out, and he was tortured to death.

Almost simultaneously, Zhou Kui's wives, concubines, eldest son, daughter-in-law, and others were all tortured to death.

They also confiscated gold and silver treasures, with a total value of over 500,000 taels of silver.

It must be said that the old man was very good at hiding. Zhu Cilang had already robbed hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, which was only half of the gold and silver he had hidden.

Zhou Kui was like a rat, digging many holes in the underground of the Jiading Earl's Mansion.

He hid some in the east, some in the west, some in the upper reaches of Tibet, and some in the lower reaches of Tibet. If Liu Zongmin hadn't been so extreme, he really wouldn't have been able to squeeze it out.

This large-scale torture resulted in many deaths, and the most famous figures among them were Zhou Kui and Wei Zaode.

During this period, Liu Zongmin personally tortured three people, two of whom died from the torture.

The other one was even more famous; he was the renowned Duke of Cheng, Zhu Chunchen, who was nearing his death.

Looking at the large, fat man in front of him, Liu Zongmin spoke calmly:

"Duke Zhu Chunchen of Cheng, 100,000 taels isn't much, is it?"

Zhu Chunchen had already witnessed the bandits' methods and, fearing torture, hurriedly said:

"Not much. Even if the Duke's mansion were to go bankrupt, it wouldn't be enough to raise the money."

Zhu Chunchen didn't mind spending 100,000 taels of silver; he had prepared 100,000 taels of silver to buy an official position from the beginning.

However, after being robbed by Zhu Cilang, the Chengguo Duke's family lost more than half of their property, and it was really painful to spend another 100,000 taels of silver.

Despite feeling sorry for him, even if he were to lose everything, Zhu Chunchen could still raise more money.

The Duke of Chengguo had lived alongside the state for over two hundred years and had squandered his entire fortune of 100,000 taels of silver. How could Liu Zongmin possibly believe him?

Seeing that Zhu Chunchen seemed completely unfazed, Liu Zongmin coldly said:

"The Duke of Cheng of the Great Ming Dynasty has lived alongside the nation for over two hundred years, owning countless fields and shops. He has commanded the Beijing Garrison for many years, enjoying a comfortable life of receiving a salary without working. Ten thousand taels is far from enough; he needs at least five hundred thousand taels!"

Before Liu Zongmin could finish speaking, Zhu Chunchen's legs buckled and he knelt at his feet:

"General, spare my life! Five hundred thousand taels of silver—even if the Duke's mansion sold everything it owned, it wouldn't be enough. Fifteen hundred thousand taels of silver is all we have..."

Liu Zongmin ignored him completely and waved his hand to apply the clamp.

Amidst screams of agony, Zhu Chunchen finally died under the torture of the cangue. His home was confiscated, yielding over 200,000 taels of silver, including more than 10,000 taels of gold.

In fact, his wealth was far more than that; hundreds of thousands of taels of silver lay beneath the moat of the imperial city, which Liu Zongmin was unaware of.

The Grand Eunuch Wang Zixin, despite having long since surrendered to Li Zicheng, could not escape the fate of being tortured this time, but he managed to save his life.

Since most of the rebel army hated corrupt officials, once they were caught and tortured, even if they didn't die, they would suffer a fate worse than death.

Some people thought that they would be fine if they obediently handed over the money, but as soon as they left the Zhenfu Division, they were quickly taken back to the palace and tortured again.

Chen Yan, the former Grand Secretary and chief minister during the Chongzhen reign, was tortured to death!

Luo Yangxing, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, surrendered and even helped arrest people, but he still could not escape being tortured.

His two younger brothers, Luo Yangxin and Luo Yangzhi, were crushed to death, and he himself was seriously injured.

The imperial son-in-law Ran Xingrang, the father-in-law of the emperor Zhang Guoji, the Duke of Yingguo Zhang Shize, the Grand Eunuch Wang Dehua, the Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial Wang Yongzuo, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Zhang Minghan, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites Yang Cheng, the Commander Zhou Fengji, and more than a hundred other Ming Dynasty officials and nobles were tortured to death.

Two eunuchs from the Directorate of Ceremonial, Wang Zhijun and Xu Gao, committed suicide during torture.

……

Liu Zongmin was in charge of torture, which resulted in the deaths of over a thousand people.

Several hundred people died on the spot, more than two hundred died within a few days, and more than three hundred were injured.

The value of the seized items was over 20 million taels, including over 9 million taels of silver and over 100,000 taels of gold. Liu Zongmin embezzled over 1 million taels.

Although the exact amount differs greatly from historical records, it was still a huge fortune, enough for Li Zicheng to squander for a while.

Historically, the total value of torture instruments exceeded 70 million taels of silver.

After Li Zicheng suffered a major defeat at Shanhai Pass and retreated to Beijing, he scattered gold and silver along the way to stop the Jurchen pursuers.

The Jurchen pursuers found quite a lot, enough for a year's military pay.

Zhu Cilang's arrival from another time involved a great deal of looting beforehand, but thanks to Li Yan's intervention, Wu Sangui's father and Chen Yuanyuan escaped unscathed.

Apart from Wu Sangui's family, Li Zicheng has not yet taken action against some gentry, wealthy landowners, and rich merchants, and it is estimated that he will continue to receive silver.

Of course, because Zhu Cilang intercepted the goods in advance, if Li Zicheng were to be defeated at Shanhai Pass, he wouldn't have taken away so much gold and silver.

Nine million taels of silver is already a considerable sum, but the Great Shun Dynasty had previously owed too much in military pay.

The officials of Da Shun divided the spoils, the generals divided the spoils, and then the military pay was distributed. In the end, only a little over one million taels of silver remained.

Li Zicheng still needed to ascend the throne, and more than one million taels of silver were simply not enough. Moreover, the national treasury needed to be replenished and new buildings needed to be constructed, so the national treasury could not be empty.

Li Zicheng promised Wu Sangui and the soldiers in Liaodong 500,000 taels of silver, but now it seems there's no hope for that.

Seeing Li Zicheng's tense expression, Liu Zongmin once again suggested using torture, preparing to target the gentry, wealthy merchants, and rich...