Chapter 349 An Unexpected Joy

Chapter 349 An Unexpected Joy

Commander Wang and Zhou Tongchun exchanged glances. The next moment, Commander Wang stepped forward and volunteered, "Sir, I am willing to lead men to arrest the Chen family members involved in the case."

Jiang Yuan glanced at him, then at Zhou Tongchun, who hadn't had a chance to speak because he was a step behind due to his slow reaction. "Since Commander Wang has volunteered, then you will lead the elite troops to the Chen family immediately to arrest the Chen family members involved in the case. The women and children will be temporarily detained at the Chen family mansion and must not be offended."

Commander Wang happily accepted the order, while Zhou Tongchun lowered his eyes in annoyance. But then Jiang Yuan said, "Commander Zhou, you are in charge of leading men to seal off the four gates to prevent the suspect from escaping."

Zhou Tongchun was overjoyed and accepted the order with clasped hands.

Not long after they left, the two brought back Han Tao's father-in-law Chen Feng and his brother-in-law Chen Guowen.

Accompanying Chen Feng were his three other sons and a grandson who was already an adult.

Chen Guowen was found by Zhou Tongchun in a teahouse in the city. This guy was neither good at literature nor martial arts, nor was he good at managing affairs. He usually did most of his time doing cockfighting, horse racing, eating, drinking and having fun.

Zhou Tongchun had lived in Dinghai County for many years and knew the eldest son of the Chen family well, so he easily caught Chen Guowen, who was listening to a female singer playing the pipa and singing a folk song.

Moreover, this muddle-headed leader surprisingly showed some cleverness for once, taking the initiative to suggest that Jiang Yuan and Magistrate Pang interrogate Chen Guowen first.

According to him, Chen Guowen had never suffered since childhood and had lived a life of luxury for half his life. He was definitely the one in the Chen family who was the easiest to talk to.

Just as Zhou Tongchun had said, Magistrate Pang simply tossed out a token and said, "Bring on the torture!" Chen Guowen, ignoring his father's angry shouts to stop him, cried out with his eyes closed, "I confess! I confess! I confess everything!"

He twisted his body forcefully to avoid the two constables wielding fire and water sticks that approached him, fearing that the sticks would fall on him and hurt him.

His cowardly behavior was even worse than that of his son, who was not yet twenty years old. Not to mention the people in the courtroom, even the onlookers despised him.

The same question arose in everyone's mind at this moment—if this guy is so afraid of even sticks, is it really necessary for the yamen runners to bring out a row of other instruments of torture to scare him?

Chen Guowen didn't care what others thought of him. As the eldest grandson of the Chen family, and the fourth-generation eldest grandson born after three generations of only sons, he was always extremely favored by his grandparents.

His grandmother, in particular, treated him like the apple of her eye, cherishing him dearly.

Later, although his biological mother and his stepmother also gave birth to sons for his father, his biased grandmother felt that all his younger brothers were brought to the Chen family by him.

Therefore, he was not less favored because of the birth of his younger brothers; on the contrary, his status became even more elevated.

From childhood to adulthood, he has never been beaten, and his skin has rarely even been scratched. His skin is even more delicate than that of an ordinary woman.

Such a person would naturally not be able to withstand any torture.

Fearing he would be tortured if he spoke too late, Chen Guowen spilled everything he knew, revealing all the details.

Despite being a lazy and dissolute young man, this guy is quite aware of the shady dealings his father, his brothers, and his son have done.

He also knows a lot about his brother-in-law, Han Tao.

With such a useless teammate around, even if the Chen family and Han Tao didn't want to accept their fate, they had no room for argument at this point.

Seeing that the situation was beyond repair, his father, Chen Feng, also confessed.

To Jiang Yuan's surprise, Chen Feng gave him an unexpected treat.

Chen Feng not only confessed to the crimes committed by his family and Han Tao, but also to the prefect of Ningbo Prefecture, who was also the brother-in-law of the gambling den's owner.

According to him, although the Chen family and Han Tao did it together, the prefect had been covering for them all these years.

He told Jiang Yuan, "Initially, we agreed with him to give him 20% of the profits. Later, he felt that he was not getting enough and asked to increase it to 30%. We agreed after discussing it. But at the beginning of this year, he said that he was short of money and urgently needed cash flow, so he forced us to give up another 10% of the profits."

After all, they were engaging in illegal activities that risked their lives to make money, so naturally they wouldn't be willing to give up 40% of their profits to the prefect all at once.

Han Tao also had this idea, wanting to use his brother-in-law, who was in charge of the liaison, to deal with him, hoping that he and Jiang Yuan would fight each other, while he would hide behind and reap the benefits.

After all, Han Tao was doing the most dangerous work, and his in-laws were doing the hardest work. The person who put in the least effort is now demanding the most. It would be strange if someone with Han Tao's personality could continue to be tolerant and yielding.

Chen Feng spoke frankly, but Magistrate Pang and Han Tao both looked extremely grim.

Han Tao had completely lost hope of turning the tables, while Magistrate Pang was surprised that Chen Feng had directly implicated his superior.

What should he do next to avoid putting himself in danger and getting implicated?

Magistrate Pang was in a panic, while the other officials and yamen runners in the county government were all astonished.

No, what did they just hear?

Their prefect of Ningbo...

Chen Feng ignored them and kowtowed repeatedly to Jiang Yuan and Magistrate Pang, saying, "What I have said is all true. I beg you gentlemen to show leniency to the Chen family, considering that I have taken the initiative to confess and report my accomplices."

He paused and then said, "My grandchildren and the women in my family are unaware of what I and my sons have done. I hope that you gentlemen will spare their lives, considering that they are just ordinary women and children."

Jiang Yuan snorted coldly: "Show leniency? Why don't you Chen family show leniency to those innocent people who died unjustly? Your Chen family's women and children are women and children, but other families' women and children aren't? Every time the enemy invades, aren't the first to suffer those defenseless old, weak, women and children? Not taking advantage of your misfortune is already the greatest mercy I can give you."

Even this mercy was not because he had any compassion for the women and children of the Chen family, but because since he had taken up this official post, he had to set an example and uphold the law and the court.

He looked at Magistrate Pang and said, "Magistrate Pang, I can send men to assist you in sealing off the Chen family's iron mine and arresting other people involved in the case. What do you think?"

Magistrate Pang instinctively shuddered. He... he...

Before he could figure out what was going on, County Magistrate Liu, who had been holding back his words, could no longer remain silent.