The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 256

As it turns out, professional tasks should be left to professionals.

Zhou Chu frowned as he watched the Imperial Guards use these torture methods; he couldn't bear to watch any longer.

"My lord, I have offended your eyes; I deserve to die."

The person in charge of the interrogation was a Jinyiwei officer in his forties who specialized in interrogation. He had countless methods of interrogation, some of which Zhou Chu had never even heard of.

Seeing Zhou Chu frowning, he was so frightened that he quickly stopped, came to Zhou Chu's side, and said respectfully.

"It's okay, just do your thing, don't kill anyone."

After saying this, Zhou Chu felt that his presence might be hindering the man's performance, so he simply turned around and left the interrogation room.

As the Imperial Guard watched Zhou Chu leave, his initial unease vanished instantly, replaced by a feeling of being on home turf.

"With Lord Zhou here just now, I dared not use all my methods, for fear of offending your eyes. You'd better not confess so quickly now."

The man looked at the bound prisoner with a face full of excitement and said.

As it turned out, these assassins lived up to their name; it wasn't until the fifth one was brought in that a breakthrough was finally found.

"Sir, I confess!"

Chen Zhao said excitedly.

"Oh? I thought they wouldn't say anything."

Zhou Chu said with some surprise.

When it comes to interrogating prisoners, it's generally best to strike hard in one go. If they're holding their breath and have a lot of anger inside, it's very difficult to get them to talk, and even the most painful interrogation methods won't be very effective.

This was something not only Zhou Chu knew, but also Chen Zhao and others.

Therefore, the interrogation methods of the Embroidered Uniform Guard emphasized a balance of tension and relaxation. They couldn't keep the prisoner constantly on edge; they also needed to appropriately ease their emotions and mental state. In this way, the prisoner would suffer twice as much during the next interrogation.

Or to put it another way, the prisoner's inner strength is reduced by half, and his ability to withstand pressure is much weaker.

Therefore, in general interrogation, especially when dealing with such a die-hard, if you can't break through on the first try, you should take it slowly, alternating between tightening and loosening the reins; this is the way to conduct interrogation.

However, since more than a dozen people were caught this time, if one didn't work, there would be another. So the interrogator didn't hold back. As long as they weren't killed, there would always be one or two who were relatively weak-willed.

Zhou Chu took the confession from the interrogator and found a familiar name on it.

Chen Jing.

Of course, the Chen family was only one of them. This dike breaching incident was a joint plan by three or four gentry families in Huating County.

Throughout the entire Jiangnan region, the gentry who hated Zhou Chu the most were undoubtedly those in Huating County. With Liu Damo's register in hand, the land in Huating County was the most thoroughly surveyed.

Moreover, when the rebellion occurred, the Imperial Guards in Huating County were dealing with local land issues, and Huating County had a much larger number of Imperial Guards compared to other counties.

Therefore, the wealthy and powerful in Huating County were the most severely robbed, and some were even wiped out before they could move.

These assassins did not come from one family, but rather from several families that collaborated, with each family sending a few people. After all, training assassins is extremely time-consuming, energy-intensive, and financially demanding.

The most important thing is to select loyal and unwavering true assassins. It would be good if you could pick out two or three out of dozens, otherwise you would end up like this. The assassins who confessed were obviously not carefully selected.

At this moment in Huating County, Chen Jing looked at his youngest son with a face full of anger.

"You mean you sent people to join forces with several other groups to breach the dikes in Suzhou Prefecture?"

When Chen Jinggang received the news, he almost choked.

"Father, your daughter-in-law and two grandsons all died at Zhou Chu's hands. Don't you hate him?"

Chen Jing's youngest son is only in his thirties, which can be considered a late-life child. Chen Jing has always doted on him, which has made him spoiled.

A few days ago, he suddenly suffered such a drastic change. Before his wife and two sons could even move to the countryside, the Imperial Guards disguised as rebels attacked.

Therefore, he harbored deep hatred for Zhou Chu, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and even the entire imperial court.

His cronies also suffered a great upheaval. Although they were all playboys, they were all in their thirties or forties and held a certain amount of power within their families, commanding several loyal followers.

The group was furious and, after a brief discussion, they all dispatched their henchmen to the dikes in Suzhou Prefecture, intending to breach them.

Upon hearing this, Chen Jing's blood pressure spiked, and he took two deep breaths.

"Don't you know that this action will bring utter destruction to my Chen family?"

Chen Jing roared.

"Father, you're too cowardly and afraid of death. Let's not even talk about whether we'll get caught. Even if we do get caught, these are all suicide squads. They won't betray our family."

Chen Jing's youngest son said nonchalantly.

Upon hearing this, Chen Jing, without saying a word, immediately swung his cane and struck, causing his youngest son to run away with his head in his hands.

After the fight, Chen Jing slumped into a chair, his face ashen.

"It's over! The Chen family is finished!"

Others may not understand Zhou Chu, but doesn't Chen Jing understand him?

Who is Zhou Chu? He's unreasonable and still makes trouble. Before, some people sent assassins to kill Zhou Chu, some even set fires. They had the same idea, thinking that Zhou Chu couldn't find any fault with them.

But Zhou Chu didn't need any leverage. Later events proved that you had better reason with Zhou Chu, otherwise, when it came to playing dirty tricks, they really couldn't outmaneuver this commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Moreover, Chen Jing did not believe that all of those dozen or so assassins were so tight-lipped. Not every family's assassins were selected so rigorously. If even one of them had a problem, the Chen family would be doomed.

As the saying goes, secrets are kept secret and leaks lead to ruin. It would be a miracle if Zhou Chu could keep something that so many people knew about it.

Digging up dikes has always been a serious crime, punishable by the extermination of three generations of one's family.

The more Chen Jing thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he suddenly felt his hands and feet turn ice cold.

"Men, tie this beast up. I want to personally deliver him to the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

After thinking for a long time, Chen Jing took a deep breath and said.

Now that things have come to this, the only option is to make a tough decision and cut off all ties to survive; only then might the Chen family have a glimmer of hope.

Chen Jing had given up hope of surviving; he knew very well that Zhou Chu would not let him go.

"Father, how could you do this? Are you trying to drive the Chen family to its death?"

Chen Jing's youngest son looked at his father incredulously.

"Tie him up, gag him, and tie him up with rope."

Chen Jing was too tired to listen to his rambling anymore and gave the order directly.

At this point, Chen Jing couldn't care less about anything else, not even the lives of other wealthy and powerful people. He was willing to do anything to give the Chen family a chance to survive.

Zhou Chu, who was already on his way to Huating County, was somewhat surprised to receive this news. He immediately hurried to the Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) office in Huating County.

The original temporary Jinyiwei offices have now become permanent offices. However, except for Huating County, the Jinyiwei offices in other counties only have a few Jinyiwei officers on duty, and they adopt a rotation system in order to prevent the Jinyiwei officers from being bribed by the local gentry.

"Lord Zhou, I know a place where Japanese pirates are hiding. I don't expect to live, I only ask that you leave an heir for the Chen family."

Before Zhou Chu could speak, Chen Jing directly stated his position.