Young Master Gao? Call me Little Grand Secretary!

The Imperial City Guard was the emperor's personal army, but it was independent of the Three Military Offices and not under the control of the outer court. It was only responsible to the emperor. Its main duties were investigation and maintaining order. It had immense power, and theoretically, there was nothing it couldn't handle if it wanted to!

During the Yuanfeng era, when Shi Deyi, a powerful eunuch serving Emperor Shenzong, was promoted to the position of Director of the Imperial City Guard, even Cui Taifu, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, had to flatter him and help him fabricate charges and concoct crimes!

This shows how powerful he was!

The Censorate was the place to supervise all officials, and the crows inside were all like mad dogs, cursing the prime minister and impeaching princes. The higher the official's rank, the more excited they became!

Su Shi once praised the Censorate's system, saying that the censors could act independently without regard to the opinions of their superiors, the Censor-in-Chief.

Then came the "Wutai Poetry Case" that terrified Su Shi so much that he wrote several poems as a last farewell poem!

Yeah, that's a bunch of bastards!

If Gao Zhao invites these people over, this matter will no longer be just a public order issue; it will escalate to a political level!

Fu Jin was completely panicked. No matter how powerful he was, it was impossible for him to bribe all three of these powerful government offices.

As for whether Gao Zhao can invite these two government offices to come?

He didn't know about the Imperial City Guard, but the Censorate would definitely come!

These crows who impeach others have quotas to meet. Besides gathering information from the memorials and edicts of the Imperial Secretariat, they also listen to gossip among the common people.

Anyway, if you report something based on hearsay and criticize the wrong person, it won't matter. But if you don't meet your performance targets, it will affect your performance evaluation!

As long as you tell him that this matter is about corruption in Kaifeng Prefecture, even if he has a concubine in his arms, he can push her away!

"Young master, spare my life!" Fu Jin, no longer as composed as before, begged repeatedly, "I am willing to be your henchman from now on, at your beck and call!"

"You'd better be reborn with grass as your beard!" Gao Zhao sneered, turning to look at Lin Chong, only to see him still hesitating. He immediately pointed to the hole in the ground and shouted, "Go down and see what's inside, then think about whether you should spare him!"

Lin Chong was taken aback and was about to head towards the cave when Lu Zhishen rushed ahead, shouting, "There must be treasure down there! Let me go and explore first!"

But as soon as he jumped down, he started cursing again.

The hole was wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. Because of his large waist, he got stuck in the middle, unable to go up or down.

Gao Zhao was furious. He turned around and kicked Lu Zhishen several times, which made Lu Zhishen curse even more!

Lin Chong had no choice but to step forward and pull Lu Zhishen out. This fellow immediately wanted to settle accounts with Gao Zhao, but Gao Zhao was not stupid. He jumped down into the hole and felt very happy. This flower monk was too hateful and made him very angry!

"I'll piss you to death!" Lu Zhishen was also furious. He lifted his monk's robe and was about to take off his pants.

Lin Chong quickly stepped forward to stop him, advising, "Senior brother, please keep an eye on this bandit leader. I'll go down and take a look first!"

Lu Zhishen peered down and saw that Gao Zhao had vanished. Disappointed, he gave up and turned to grab the money.

Seeing Gao Zhao enter the cave, Lin Chong dared not delay. He leaped down and looked up to see another entrance on the side of the cave, extending diagonally downwards, with faint light visible.

He quickly bent down and crawled inside. After walking more than ten steps, a secret room suddenly appeared before him.

Inside, a rammed earth wall stood supported by several round logs, and several torches were lit. Gao Zhao was standing in the secret room with his back to him, looking at something.

"Young Master..." Lin Chong stepped forward quickly, about to speak, but when he followed Gao Zhao's gaze, he was immediately stunned.

That wasn't a wall, but a prison cell containing a group of young children, dressed in rags, with vacant stares. What was even more shocking was that they were all disabled, with missing limbs!

"Young master, this..."

"Lin Chong, do you know why I made you come down?" Gao Zhao turned to look at Lin Chong, his expression indifferent. "You know what 'harvesting and mutilating' means, but knowing and seeing it with your own eyes are two different things! Tell me honestly, does this man deserve to die?"

Lin Chong looked at those innocent and bewildered faces. They seemed unaware of what had happened to them, perhaps even naively believing that this was how he was supposed to be!

They deserve to be disabled like this, they deserve to be locked up here like pigs and dogs!

Heart-wrenching cries can be moving, but their calmness is even more touching!

"He deserves to die!" Lin Chong gritted his teeth and squeezed out the words.

"Lin Chong, I know you have many concerns, but a true man has things he should and shouldn't do. Since Heaven has given you this skill, how can you be timid and shirk your responsibilities!"

Gao Zhao looked him straight in the eye and said firmly, "A person can't live a life only thinking of themselves!"

These words started with flattery, which stirred his blood, and then turned into moral blackmail, cutting off his escape route. Lin Chong naturally couldn't refuse, so he could only cup his hands and say, "Young Master, I'll go and fetch someone right away!"

Gao Zhao nodded, watching him leave, and sighed softly, "A person shouldn't be too concerned about saving face!"

After giving himself a warning, he turned around and walked towards the children, intending to let them out. However, the children trembled with fear when they saw him coming and shrank back into the corner. He couldn't bring himself to force them.

Just as he was in a dilemma, he suddenly heard the faint sound of a woman sobbing again, and Gao Zhao's hair stood on end!

Stop it! Sister Ghost, I'm a good person!

He mechanically turned his head, looking left and right, but found nothing.

Could it be behind me?

In an instant, countless classic images flashed through Gao Zhao's mind, and he felt his scalp tingle and cold sweat pour down his face.

There was a little girl in the cell, tilting her head and looking at him with great confusion, wondering what he was doing.

Suddenly the crying started again. The girl saw Gao Zhao's expression change drastically, and in a daze she understood something. She pointed to the wall to his right.

Gao Zhao looked in the direction she pointed, but found nothing unusual. He squinted and looked closely, and then he noticed a barely perceptible crack in the wall!

He stepped forward and knocked a few times, only to hear a hollow "thump-thump" sound, and the crying became more agitated!

This is a secret room!

There are people locked up inside!

Gao Zhao suddenly became bolder. "We're all human, I'm not afraid of you!"

He fumbled on the wall for a moment, but couldn't open it. He then turned to look at the cell. The little girl seemed to understand him and pointed to the torch stand on the wall.

Gao Zhao understood immediately, stepped forward and struggled to move it a few times, and suddenly heard a click, the wall loosened.

He quickly grabbed the torch and stepped forward, pushing hard to open the hidden door in the wall. Inside was a small, dark room where two young girls were bound.

Holding the torch, he was surprised to find that he recognized the two girls; they were none other than his family's little tablet... Qian Bao'er and Li Qiaoniang!

Gao Zhao ripped the rags out of their mouths and was about to ask what was going on when Qian Bao'er burst into tears, crying, "Young Master, did you come to save us?"

"We shouldn't have disobeyed you, sob sob sob... Qiao Niang's father took the money but didn't pay back the debt, and then he gambled it all away... and even sold us off..."

Gao Zhao straightened his back slightly, glanced at the two crying people, snorted coldly, and scolded, "I knew you two would cause trouble. Luckily, I had someone follow you, otherwise..."

[Gratitude points from Qian Bao'er +1]

[Gratitude points from Li Qiaoniang +1]