Chapter 630: Interrogation 2

"I... I... I don’t know!"

The official was stuttering, clearly lying.

Ji Youzhi was an old hand at interrogating criminals; he could tell with a single glance if they were lying.

"Perhaps you think I’m too merciful."

He stood up, seized the official, hoisted him upside down by his feet, and dangled him out over the railing, a hemp rope tied to the man gripped firmly in his hand. The official, terrified, immediately started wailing.

"No, don’t throw me into the sea! I’ll talk, I’ll talk! WAAAH... I’ll talk!" he shrieked, begging Ji Youzhi for another chance.

Ji Youzhi hauled the man back up and stared at him intently.

"Speak! I’m giving you one more chance. If you don’t tell the truth this time, I’ll throw you into the sea, and I won’t be pulling you up again."

The official stammered, still trembling, "The residents on both sides of the Yunhang Coast disappeared many years ago. At first, only a small portion vanished.

"It wasn’t many people, only twenty or so. The County Magistrate reported to his superiors that they had died or gone missing after a natural disaster.

"Later, an Imperial Envoy was dispatched from above. However, the Imperial Envoy only distributed relief supplies and left after a cursory visit.

"After that, the residents on both sides of the Yunhang Coast gradually vanished. Within two years, they were all gone."

"How long ago did this happen? When did the people on both sides of the Yunhang Coast start to disappear?"

The official was around forty-five years old and familiar with the situation on both sides of the coast. He was capable of answering this question.

"It began about fifteen years ago."

"Fifteen years ago?"

Ji Youzhi and the Emperor exchanged a glance. The Emperor suddenly felt something was amiss. "Fifteen years ago, what was the name of your Yunhang County Magistrate?"

"His name was Wu Li!" the official answered.

"Wu Li?"

The Emperor recalled a report he had received from Yunhang County just a few days prior; the County Magistrate named on it was also Wu Li.

"Don’t tell me the current County Magistrate of Yunhang County is also named Wu Li. Does that mean Yunhang County hasn’t had a new County Magistrate in over ten years?"

This was extremely unusual, completely against the norm!

"That’s right. Our County Magistrate of Yunhang County hasn’t been replaced for much longer than a decade. I remember when I was a child, he was already the County Magistrate of Yunhang County, and he still is to this day!"

Hearing the official’s words, Ji Youzhi and the Emperor couldn’t help but exchange astonished glances.

"How could this be?" the Emperor muttered to himself.

"This is indeed problematic."

In Great Han’s officialdom, County Magistrates were supposed to be rotated every three years. If a three-year rotation wasn’t possible, they were to be replaced within six years at the latest. Any longer was unacceptable.

And now, they learned from this official that Yunhang’s County Magistrate hadn’t been changed for decades!

"Apart from this, has anything else unusual happened in Yunhang County?"

The official shook his head, but his gaze was evasive.

Ji Youzhi gave a cold smile, picked the man up again, and threw him into the sea, still holding the hemp rope tied to him.

"Are you going to confess honestly? Or should I let go?"

The official, terrified to death, screamed and begged for mercy.

"I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Don’t let go! Please, I beg you, don’t let go!"

"So now you’re willing to talk. But I’m afraid I’m no longer interested in worthless information."

"No, no, no! I know something valuable! I know where those people went!"

The moment the official uttered these words, Ji Youzhi swiftly hauled him back onto the deck. Pinning the man’s chest with his foot, he said in a low voice, "If you dare lie, I’ll just press down with my foot. Then, with a ’POP!’ your heart will burst, and your life will be over."

Ji Youzhi’s words terrified the official so much that he wet his pants.

"I wouldn’t dare lie, I wouldn’t dare! Rest assured, I’ll tell the truth. I’ll definitely tell the truth."

"Good! Then tell me properly, what do you know? Where exactly did the residents from both sides of the Yunhang Coast go?"

"They were taken out to sea! Truly, I’m not deceiving you! I remember it was stormy weather. The residents from both sides of the Yunhang Coast were herded onto a large ship and transported out to sea overnight."

"What did you say?"

Ji Youzhi’s eyes widened.

The Emperor was also extremely surprised. The residents of Yunhang County had been transported out to sea, yet he would still, every year or two, receive disaster reports and approve large sums of silver for relief!

The Emperor, unable to control his agitation, boomed, "Why were those residents transported out to sea? And where were they taken?"

This was simply too incredible, and it stirred him deeply. If he weren’t experiencing this firsthand, he would never believe it to be true!

"The residents from both sides of the Yunhang Coast weren’t transported all at once, but in several batches. I once secretly investigated and found out that it seemed Magistrate Wu conspired with someone to move them to some island."

"To which island? What were they doing, transporting people there?" the Emperor pressed eagerly.

But the official just shook his head. "I don’t know. I investigated but couldn’t find out. I only heard that this matter is supposedly connected to someone surnamed Wu?"

"Surnamed Wu? Could it be Mister Wu?" Ji Youzhi murmured.

"Yes, that’s right, Mister Wu! I’ve heard Magistrate Wu mention this Mister Wu on more than one occasion. It seems he’s a very formidable person, and Magistrate Wu follows all his commands!"

"Besides this, what else? Tell me everything you know, down to the last detail," Ji Youzhi pressed.

"I don’t know anything else! I’ve told you everything I know. Even if you throw me into the sea now, what I don’t know, I still don’t know!"

The official looked utterly helpless; he was telling the truth.

Ji Youzhi could see he wasn’t lying. However, Head Constable Zhou, whose mouth had been gagged with a rope from the start, had shown from the beginning that he was hiding something—something very significant.

"I think you have a lot you want to say, don’t you!" Ji Youzhi said, removing the rope from Head Constable Zhou’s mouth and staring at him coldly.

"HUFF... HUFF... I... I don’t know anything!" Head Constable Zhou gasped, denying any knowledge.

"You think I’ll believe you just because you say that?" Ji Youzhi retorted. As he spoke, he bound Head Constable Zhou’s limbs with the hemp rope, then hoisted him upside down and threw him into the sea.

This time, Ji Youzhi’s approach was different from how he’d handled the previous official; he truly plunged Head Constable Zhou into the water.

"AAAH!"

Ji Youzhi hauled him up, only to throw him back in again!

"AAAH!"

Again, Ji Youzhi hauled him up and hurled him into the sea.

"AAAH! I’ll talk, I’ll talk! I know where those residents were taken!"