Soon, General Long finished his confession.0

Qi Xuansu took the recorded testimony, quickly glanced through it, then returned it to the Daoist responsible for documentation and asked, “General Long, your account was very detailed. Let me ask you this—when you carried out these actions, were you acting on your own initiative or following someone’s orders?”0

General Long lowered his head. “I acted under the orders of the Deputy Chief Military Officer Ma Jinguo. I used the Nanhai Navy’s warships to conduct smuggling operations.”0

Qi Xuansu asked again, “For what reasons?”0

General Long replied, “Partly because I was tempted by greed and received a share of the profits, and partly because I was threatened by Deputy Chief Ma and dared not disobey.”0

After the recording Daoist finished writing down the final sentence, he looked toward Qi Xuansu and asked for instructions. “Chief Deputy, may we proceed with the signing and fingerprinting?”0

Qi Xuansu nodded. “Let General Long sign it.”0

The Spirit Guards took the confession from the recording Daoist. Normally, precautions had to be taken to prevent prisoners from tearing up or swallowing their confessions. However, Qi Xuansu had maintained a gentle attitude toward General Long throughout....0