Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 107 Blood splashed on the execution platform, the emperor heard the bad news

Chinese people have always liked to watch the excitement, but today is a rare "big day".

Usually, the autumn execution of prisoners in Xishi City would attract many people to watch, but the name of the prisoner executed today is really too famous.

Even if the identities of these people are not mentioned, one is the eunuch Chen Zhun, the most corrupt internal official of the Ming Dynasty, and the other is Li Min, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the most corrupt official of the Ming Dynasty, and the dignified Qingyun Hou Zhoushou and the right servant Ni Yue of the Ministry of Rites It can only be classified as accompanying beheading.

To be able to witness the blood of so many great figures splashed on the execution ground today is also a witness to history.

Ordinarily, the four well-known figures who are going to be executed now should be supervised by the head of the Sanfa Department.

It's just that the current officialdom of the Ming Dynasty can be described as troubled. The new censor Zuo Du of the Metropolitan Procuratorate has handed in his resignation.

If the palm print officer is missing, it is usually replaced by the second official, but Wang Yue, the deputy capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, is not in the capital.

The final result was that Du Ming, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishments and Song Cheng, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, supervised the execution. Du Ming, the Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, rode in front of the sedan chair, while Song Cheng, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, personally escorted the prisoner on horseback.

Due to the fact that there were too many people here today, the Wucheng Bingmasi and the Shuntianfu Yamen both sent people to maintain law and order, and more than 500 people were dispatched.

"I'm coming!"

Although Chinese people like to be lively, they are all rule-abiding people. When they see the line of prisoners on death row appearing, they all take the initiative to retreat to both sides of the street.

The team walked slowly through the street, heading towards the execution platform of the West Market.

"Who is this gagged?"

"Hehe...Qing Yunhou, this Lord Hou deserves what he deserves!"

"Which of them didn't deserve what they deserved? Look at how many 10 taels that eunuch stole. Can he spend it all?"

"I don't have any descendants, but this dead eunuch is so greedy for money, he really deserves to be hacked into pieces!"

……

The onlookers saw the prison cart passing by slowly, and they kept pointing at Qing Yunhou, who was at the front, and then looked at the prison cart of the eunuch Chen Zhun to comment.

"Here we come! Someone!"

"This big corrupt official deserves to be hacked to death, beheading him will be cheap!"

"Isn't it? Didn't the money he was greedy come from the pockets of us ordinary people!"

"One million taels! I really want to eat the most greedy meat of Ming Dynasty!"

……

When he saw Li Min being escorted by the prison car, he saw the old man with a wicked face in the prison car, and immediately gritted his teeth angrily.

This has been the case from ancient times to the present, even if you committed the mortal crime of treason, ordinary people may not have much hatred for you.It's just that if you are a big corrupt official, then they can't wait to eat your flesh alive.

Since the civil official group in the Ming Dynasty was becoming stronger and stronger, especially after the Tumu Fort change, the power of the civil official group reached a new height, so the civil official corruption of ink soon became a major case.

It's just that when everyone thought that these high-ranking Beijing officials were as clean as water, it turned out that the Minister of the Household Department was the most greedy in the Ming Dynasty. How could they not hate Li Min to the bone?
"How could this be?"

Li Min listened to the foul language on both sides of the street, and opened his mouth slightly.

He originally thought that Hou Zhoushou of Qingyun, who was walking in the front, would receive the most attention and hostility from the common people, but only after passing this street did he realize that his lifespan was less than one-tenth of his own.

In fact, Li Min still doesn't understand how things are done at home, how could the imperial envoys find the well-hidden silver?

The Ziyun Academy that he planned to build has a great reputation, and next to it is a [-]-acre dendrobium forest. It can be said to be the most ideal place to hide money, much better than the officials who hid stolen money in ancestral graves.

It's just that he is seized now, and he will be infamous for thousands of years.

But, can you really blame me for becoming a big corrupt official?
He was a top three Jinshi in high school when he was less than 30 years old. Because he was not born in a family of officials, he was very lucky to be selected by the imperial court as the supervisory censor of Huguang.

I was very lucky in my official career, and was called back to Beijing because of his meritorious service in pacifying Guizhou.Fortunately, Shang Ren, a high-ranking teacher, valued him so much that he was appointed by the imperial court as the inspector of Gyeonggi.

This low-key position can be said to have surpassed most of the same year, and naturally I am more valued by the teacher.

It's just that during the seven years of working in the capital, he knew that if he wanted to continue to climb up and really return to the capital, it was far from enough to rely on ability alone, and he needed enough ice and charcoal warning to open the way.

Even if my seemingly honest teacher is also a student, whoever gives more will take care of him more, and whoever gives less will not even have a chance to meet again.

After all, he is not like Xu Pu and Qiu Jun, the proud students who are trained by the teacher with all their efforts. He is valued by the teacher himself, but he is just a knife that can be full of attacks.

It's just that if this knife is no longer needed, it will naturally become worthless.

Li Min was not able to return to the capital officially, but was sent to Zhejiang as a tour inspector.

The bad side is naturally to leave the capital, but the good side is to go to the affluent Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the status can be said to be very important.

He knew that if he wanted to return to the capital, he needed to accumulate enough financial resources.

As it turns out, he was right.

Although he did not make any achievements during his tenure, he skipped directly to participate in politics, and soon became the left political envoy of Sichuan, achieving the highest position of local officials.

By this time, it was a matter of course for him to become the governor and temporarily serve as a Beijing official.

After only two years of transition as the governor of Datong, he officially served as the Minister of the Ministry of War, and then as the Governor of Water Transport, and finally became the high-ranking Minister of the Ministry of Households in one fell swoop.

From a newcomer in the officialdom with no background to a high-ranking Hubu Shangshu, he has completed a leap that most non-commissioned officers cannot complete in their lifetime.

It's just that all this is like a dream. Although there are countless moments of pride during his tenure, he still paid a heavy price for his greed in the end.

Snapped!
Suddenly, rotten vegetable leaves, dried cow dung, and rotten eggs flew from the corner of the street. Before he could react, these things had already hit his face, especially the disgusting rotten egg liquid that smeared his face.

woohoo...

Qingyun Hou Zhoushou was actually the first to be attacked, but his mouth was still stuffed with rotten cloth, and he couldn't avoid the rotten vegetables, dried cow dung and rotten eggs flying towards his face, and he seemed very angrily thinking about it. The appearance of wanting to yell.

Seeing that the execution ground was right in front of him, he still couldn't figure out how the wardrobe prince who had grown up with him would change his temperament drastically, as if he had changed into a different person.

It's just that all of this seems to have nothing to do with him, and the useless prince who was once looked down upon by him is going to cut his neck with a knife.

Today's weather is fine, with a touch of sunshine shining on the city.

West Market, a execution platform has already been set up here.

As the prison van drove into the execution ground, an officer opened the door of the prison van, and several wolf-like officers stepped forward to escort the death row prisoners out of the prison van.

"No! No!"

Chen Zhun was the first death row prisoner to be released. Out of the fear of death, his voice suddenly changed.The originally sharp voice lost its voice just by screaming.

In the face of death, humans usually instinctively show fear, but Chen Zhun's pants were suddenly wet, and he was still screaming hysterically and silently.

It's just that no matter how hard they struggled, it was impossible to escape the fate of being beheaded. Four important death row prisoners headed by them were put on the execution platform together.

Song Cheng, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, was a very serious person. When he came to the execution platform, each of the four prisoners had to look at them carefully.

In addition to the duty of supervising beheading, another important job of the supervisor is to prevent the prisoner from being mischievous in the middle, so he has to re-verify his identity here.

"Wow wow..."

Ni Yue, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, kept quiet all the time, but when he saw Song Cheng's black face staring at him seriously, as if he saw a ghost demanding his life, he was so scared that he immediately urinated and cried.

Huh?
Du Ming, who was sitting in front of the case and supervised the beheading, heard Ni Yue's cry and couldn't help looking at Song Cheng suspiciously.

Song Cheng didn't intend to scare Ni Yue, but Ni Yue had been imprisoned for the longest time, and now he was unkempt, so he had to brush Ni Yue's hair to determine if this was the high-ranking Minister of Rites, the right servant. Ni Yue.

After inspection, there was no subcontracting incident this time, and there is no doubt that the four important death row prisoners are all themselves.

There are more and more onlookers here, but the entire execution ground is completely surrounded, and some dignitaries with considerable status can clearly see the execution here in the restaurant in front.

Because the identity of the executed prisoner is not simple, many important figures have actually been attracted, and Xu Pu, the left servant of the official department and Hanlin scholar, came in person.

The shadow of the flagpole standing on the ground is shrinking little by little until it merges with the flagpole.

"I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"

The cloth ball in Qingyunhou Zhoushou's mouth was removed, but at this moment he no longer had the usual arrogance, but begged for mercy in a panic.

woohoo...

Ni Yue originally only wanted fame and fortune, but he couldn't control his stinky mouth, and now he paid a bloody price for his arrogance, and he was crying heartbroken.

Li Min, Minister of the Household Department, did not cry, but clenched his teeth tightly, his palms were already sweating with fear, and he hoped that everything in front of him was a nightmare.

"I only know regret now, it's too late!"

"Good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil. They are all to blame!"

"Now you have to be beheaded to know how to repent. It is clearly a fake mercy of a cat crying and a mouse!"

……

The tens of thousands of onlookers saw the reactions of the four important death row prisoners on the execution platform, but none of them felt sympathy, and instead criticized one after another.

Seeing the shadow and the flagpole merge into one, the time teller shouted loudly: "It's three quarters past noon!"

As soon as these words came out, the people in the audience were silent for a moment, and their eyes were fixed on the execution platform.

Du Ming, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, who was wearing a second-rank official uniform, picked up a fire stick from the bamboo tube, threw it heavily into the open space in front of him and said, "Chop!".

An execution officer came forward with a vermilion pen in his hand, crossed the name on the prisoner's card inserted behind the death row prisoner's back, then pulled out the prisoner's card and threw it on the ground.

Snapped!
When the guilty card fell on the execution platform made of wooden boards, there was a crisp sound.

The bare-armed executioner held up the ghost-head knife and shouted at the death row prisoner Qingyunhou Zhoushou in front of him: "Master, please get on the road!"

When seeing the ghost head knife being swung down heavily, more than half of the people watching the execution under the stage have already opened their eyes.

Although they like to watch the excitement, they just join in the excitement, and the vast majority of the people are unwilling to witness such a bloody scene.

The onlookers, especially those who brought their children, immediately covered their eyes.

Of course, there are also many people who like to show their courage. They are eating broad beans and showing their yellow teeth, and they seem to be watching the execution process with great interest.

puff!
A stream of blood splashed high, Qingyunhou Zhoushou's head had rolled to the ground, and Qingyunhou, the highest surviving foreign relative of Daming, became a dead soul under the sword.

puff!
When Qingyunhou Zhoushou's head was cut off, Li Min's head next to him rolled to the ground, and Li Min's eyes seemed to be dying.

puff!puff!
The heads of Ni Yue and Chen Zhun were then cut off cleanly by the executioner, but they both closed their eyes, as if they had already accepted their fate.

No matter how unwilling they are, they cannot escape this execution from the emperor.

In the original history, they did continue to enjoy the glory and wealth.It's just that with a soul coming over from more than 400 years ago, or just Zhu Youtang had a dream, everything has quietly changed now.

"Really...cut!"

Xu Pu, who was watching from a restaurant not far away, saw the heads of Zhou Shou and others being beheaded, and saw that the Marquis of Qingyuan had indeed failed to escape this catastrophe, and finally realized that times had changed.

At this moment, his memory of the former prince became blurred, and a new concept became clearer and clearer.

Their emperor was not indecisive, but a decisive emperor, a non-Confucian emperor who had not been brainwashed by him at all.

If he and Zhu Youtang continued to fight like this, he would probably be sent to the guillotine as well.

Qianqing Palace, Dongnuan Pavilion.

Zhu Youtang, who was dealing with the memorial, heard the report that Qingyunhou Zhoushou and others had been executed, and said calmly as usual: "I know!"

Seeing Zhu Youtang's calm reaction, Liu Jin couldn't help swallowing secretly, and found that it was getting harder and harder to grasp the emperor's mind.

"Your Majesty, these are the memorials just sent by Nanzhili, and the top one is from Lu Song!" Guo Yong came in with the memorials in his arms, and pointed out emphatically at the same time.

Liu Jin knew that Lu Song was sent by His Majesty to Wang Yue's side, and this Jinyi Baihu usually would not play unless there was something urgent.

Zhu Youtang knew that if all went well, Wang Yue would have arrived in Yangzhou by now, but he didn't understand why Lu Song made the report, so he opened Lu Song's report and said in surprise, "The official ship was attacked? Wang Yue ... fell into the water and disappeared?"

(End of this chapter)