Ming Dynasty 1566

Chapter 1 Wedges
It is already the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, and since the beginning of winter in Jiajing 39, there has not been a single snowfall on the ground of the capital and the neighboring provinces.There will be no snow in the winter, next year there will be a large number of insects and locusts, the famine is imminent, and God will take people.The hearts of the people were panicked, and folk rumors were like wind: The Ming Dynasty has experienced ten emperors since Emperor Taizu Gao, and has never suffered such a punishment from heaven!Who is Skywrath?This year, the national treasury is so short that even the officials in Beijing's various ministries have not paid their salaries for several months. The people are suffering.Yan Song, the chief assistant who has been in charge of the cabinet for nearly 20 years, his son Yan Shifan, who is openly called Xiaoge Lao, and many strict parties immediately became the source of public grievances.In the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, a fire in Xiyuan suddenly burned down the Longevity Palace where Emperor Jiajing practiced Taoism day and night.So the rumors of the government and the public quietly spread to the emperor again.A political tide caused by celestial phenomena has been undercurrent.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and the capital is in full bloom in winter.And the last batch of reports from the neighboring provinces was rushed to the palace today, making people even more desperate: there is still no snow in Shandong, no snow in Shanxi, and no snow in Beizhili!

Emperor Jiajing, who had made several altars of Luotian Dajiao to pray for snow, finally couldn't sit still. He had always believed in alchemists and never listened to the analysis of the sky by Qin Tianjian. Xi Palace.He wants Qin Tianjian to find an example of no snow in the prosperity of three generations to prove that the lack of snow this winter has nothing to do with personnel.But the monarch and his ministers asked the right questions about the sky, and Zhou Yunyi's reply made Emperor Jiajing so angry that he smashed the Khotan jade pestle in his hand to pieces.Zhou Yunyi was immediately escorted to the Meridian Gate by the eunuchs of Dongchang, and his crown and belt were taken away.At noon, he stood upright on the sidewalk on the central axis of the Meridian Gate, looked up at the "visionary" sun in the sky, and waited to be entrusted with the imperial staff that all officials of the Ming Dynasty felt chilled by.

"By order, I will ask you one last time." A voice came from the direction of the Meridian Gate behind Zhou Yunyi, "Why hasn't it snowed since the beginning of winter this year?"

"I've already said it. The palace's spending is excessive, the courts are greedy for ink, the treasury is empty, and the people are struggling to live. This is a warning from the heavens!" Zhou Yunyi's eyes were still only looking at the "visionary" sun in the sky.

"Ah!" The eunuch who asked behind him sighed in disappointment, although the sound was not loud, it was full of terror.The four court sticks of the four East Factory execution eunuchs around Zhou Yunyi moved immediately, the first two passed through his armpit to erect his upper body, and the second two struck at the bend of the hind leg at the same time.Zhou Yunyi knelt down.The first two court sticks that supported him pulled back again, and his body lay on the brick floor of the Meridian Gate, and his four feet immediately stepped on the backs of his hands and two rear ankles. Stomped on tightly.Then, the eyes of the four Dongchang eunuchs all looked at the eunuch who was interrogating in the direction of the Meridian Gate.

The eunuch Feng Bao, the admiral of the East Factory, who was ordered to interrogate him, hesitated for a moment, but still did not order the execution. He walked to Zhou Yunyi's side, squatted down slowly, and pressed it next to his ear, his voice full of compassion: "Tomorrow! It's New Year's Eve, and your family is waiting for you to celebrate the New Year. Can't you change the wording?"

Zhou Yunyi pressed his head against the masonry ground, closed his eyes, and closed his mouth, only two teardrops came out from the corners of his eyes.Feng Bao was disappointed, and stood up suddenly: "Let me ask you again, who taught you to say these words to the emperor?" Zhou Yunyi still closed his eyes: "I am an official of the Ming Dynasty who observes the sky. God, no one can teach me!" Feng Bao took a step back and stopped looking at him, his two toes that were standing outwards suddenly turned inwards, and stood inwards: "Tingzhang."

This is the signal of Death Rod!The eyes of the four eunuchs met, and then all four pairs of eyes were closed, and the four court sticks took turns hitting Zhou Yunyi's kidneys on the back and waist.

There was no sound with each blow, and there was no blood seeping from the robe, only internal organs were crushed, and blood spurted out from Zhou Yunyi's mouth and nose immediately.

The twenty sticks were finished in a short while, and the first two court sticks stuck to the ground and passed through Zhou Yunyi's armpits, lifting his upper body up.Zhou Yunyi's head drooped limply, and his upper body also drooped limply.Feng Bao squatted down again, held his head up, pulled off a hair from his head, and stuck it in front of his nostril.The hair remained unmoved.

Feng Bao sighed and stood up: "Notify his family to collect the body."

The sun is still hanging in vain over the tile-blue sky of the Forbidden City, coldly shining on every roof of the nine thousand palaces where no emperor has lived since Jiajing 21 years ago.

(End of this chapter)