Although spring is approaching, there is still a bone-chilling chill lingering in Luoyang City. This winter is too cold for many people in Xijing City, not only the body is cold, but also the heart is chilling.
Of course, this group of people refers to the nobles, officials, and elites of the Han Empire involved. However, these are the cornerstone elites of the country, but this series of scandals broke out among them, and they were disgraced. Even the imperial court
’s prestige has been affected to a certain extent.
However, this is only from a macro perspective. For most ordinary people in Xijing, it actually does not have much impact. They may be surprised, but it is definitely difficult to feel the same or worry about the country. They are not involved at all.
The possibility of it could not even affect him in the slightest, and he was far from being disappointed with the court or anything like that.
More people just acted as melon-eating people, discussing after tea and dinner, showing their concern and knowledge of the national affairs and political situation of the people of Xijing.
In Luoyang Nanshi, the layout of the city has changed drastically due to the breaking of the boundaries between cities and districts. However, Nanshi is still the largest downtown in the capital and the most lively place in the capital, regardless of spring, autumn, cold or heat.
It is already the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, and it is even more lively. The crowds and cars are coming and going, fully interpreting the prosperity of the capital. After all, the new year is about to begin, and the tenth year of Kaibao is approaching at a fast pace for the subjects of the Han Dynasty.
Come.
No matter what major events and turbulence happened within the imperial court, life had to go by, and so did the New Year. Under the gloom, both officials and families of the people were happily buying new year's goods to welcome the new year.
Emperor Liu had previously stated in an instruction to his ministers that the new year is about to begin, and the matters of the year should be settled that year and should not be left to the next year. This is also the reason why the officials of the Three Laws Department are working day and night to carry out huge tasks.
One of the reasons for urgently handling a case under pressure was that the emperor had already set a deadline.
Amidst the commotion and commotion, someone yelled that he was going to behead his head, which quickly caused a sensation. The crowd became orderly and poured in one direction.
Next to the fish market, in front of the meat shop, fishy and stinky smells surrounded the place, human voices and animal sounds intertwined, and the breath of human fireworks drove away the cold air of late winter. Thousands of soldiers and civilians came after hearing the news, and some even
It is gradually increasing, and soon there is no end or side in sight.
It's human nature to watch the excitement, especially this kind of excitement.
In the center of the market, a huge execution platform has been erected. The executioners with their heads wrapped in red scarves and holding torture knives stand neatly on the platform. There are seventy-three people in total. Given the size of Xijing, it is impossible to have so many executioners on a regular basis.
Yes, many of them are soldiers selected from the army to temporarily serve as executioners.
The expressions of the executioners were serious and indifferent, not affected by the surrounding environment at all, as if they were indifferent to all disturbances. There seemed to be a kind of awe of death and respect for life in their attitude, and they sincerely treated the people who were about to be killed by them.
life taken away personally.
The imperial court paid the greatest attention to this execution, not only because of the identity of the criminal, but also because Emperor Liu was watching from above.
In the Han Dynasty, Emperor Liu never let go of certain powers. The final instructions to the condemned prisoners were all signed by Emperor Liu himself, and they remained unchanged for so many years.
According to Han law, there were not many crimes involving the death penalty. Except for rebellion, deception, treason, official theft, murder and other crimes of extremely serious nature, there were very few cases where the death penalty was directly imposed. Therefore, except for committing crimes, In addition to the severe punishments in the early days of the Right, in the past fifteen years, although there have been various cases of execution in the Han Dynasty every year, those that constituted the death penalty were in the minority.
Even if it is stealing an official or killing someone, it will be determined according to the seriousness of the case. In addition, for most cases, they will be sentenced to death. Among the life punishments, the main ones are exile and flogging, and due to the imperial court There are real needs, and exile is one of them.
Of course, looking at it from another perspective, perhaps exile is more painful than the death penalty. The suffering of being exiled is already severe, but those who are exiled to mining and various projects are the most severe. It almost represents the abyss of despair. Only one out of a hundred has passed his sentence.
Therefore, over the years, every time we check the files collected by the Ministry of Punishment, we can find a large number of new crimes, but the prison cells in various parts of the country have always been maintained at an extremely low level.
The imperial court does not support idlers, let alone prisoners. This can be regarded as a big man's right, a feature of the Kaibao era: empty prisons. It is not that there are fewer criminals, but that the prisoners are basically assigned to where they should go. places where the imperial court did not have to worry about it and exploited it wantonly.
Although the death penalty is rare, every time it appears, it is very serious and can basically cause a sensation, even for ordinary murderers.
Of course, in the past, the most eye-catching ones were the nobles and bureaucrats, because their crimes were often implicated in a wide range of crimes, and their crimes were difficult to pardon, and the privileged class served their sentences.
Concentrating executions is not a strange thing in the Han Dynasty. However, like this time, more than seventy people were either powerful or noble. The highest-ranking officials and even the Minister of Household Affairs and the descendants of the nobles also had the surname Fu.
How could such a situation not trigger a rush of onlookers? To use a commonly used idiom to describe it, there was a crowd of spectators. In a short period of time, more than ten thousand people from Xijing gathered at the Nanshi execution ground, and there was an endless stream of people. .
People bumped into each other, and people were crowded, which directly caused the traffic on the nearby broad streets to be paralyzed. The nearby fish market, meat shop and other markets were also temporarily closed. The soldiers and the people were obviously very enthusiastic about this execution.
Even if there have been similar situations in the past, it has never been so sensational. The enthusiasm of the people in the capital this time is already comparable to that of a large-scale festival celebration. Obviously, seeing the heads of those powerful people fall to the ground, it is a disgrace to the vast majority of ordinary people. It is indeed a rare enjoyment, even if it is a bloody killing.
As it was foreseen, Luoyang Prefecture sent more than 200 subordinate officials and officers to the scene to cooperate with the execution, and the Inspection Department also dispatched 2,000 soldiers to the scene to maintain order.
It is obviously a trial to solemnize the national laws, but it is so lively, like a celebration. There is no cheer, but it can make people feel a kind of joy and authority, as if it is worthy of celebration.
Not far from the execution platform, there was also a beheading platform, which was guarded by armed soldiers. Emperor Liu issued an edict, and all the dignitaries in Beijing and all the sixth-rank officials in the court except those on duty came to watch the execution.
Probably for the convenience of viewing, the beheading platform was built close enough and high enough for the nobles and bureaucrats to clearly see the whole process of the heads falling to the ground.
Compared with the curiosity and clamor of the onlookers, the tall Han superstructures on the execution platform were much quieter. They were basically silent. Everyone just stared at the execution platform silently, and no one had a relaxed expression.
Although we are in the same execution ground, it seems like there are two worlds, one world is noisy, and the other is calm. Coupled with the execution platform that attracts everyone's attention, these elements together form a wonderful landscape.
There were also VIP seats for watching the execution. In a pavilion a little further away, several windows were opened generously, and a group of top dignitaries, including several princes, stayed inside for a long time.
The view here is wide, not only Xingtai can be seen, but also the crowds of people in the market. Although there are seats, except for the elderly Fu Yanqing, Guo Wei, Wei Renpu and others, most people are standing in front of the window ling. It was very quiet, few people spoke, and no one seemed willing to break the somewhat solemn atmosphere.
Zhao Kuangyin was naturally among them, with his body still upright and his expression as cold and serious as steel, but his eyes inadvertently revealed a hint of deep exhaustion.
The officials responsible for supervising the beheadings were somewhat unexpected. Emperor Liu had specially ordered that Zhao Kuangyi, the governor of Luoyang, supervise the beheadings. This job may not be easy or even embarrassing in the eyes of many people, but Zhao Kuangyi always accepted it calmly.
Using nobles to kill nobles was probably what Emperor Liu wanted, but for Zhao Kuangyi, he only regarded it as a petition to restore his image in Emperor Liu's mind.
When he was in prison, he usually sat on the monitoring platform. Zhao Kuangyi did not squint his eyes, letting the noise and noise come to him, and just stared at the seventy-three prisoners on the execution platform who were about to be executed.
One characteristic of these prisoners, apart from the fact that they are all distinguished officials, is that none of their crimes were voluntarily surrendered. They were all investigated and investigated one by one by the department.
Perhaps what makes Zhao Kuangyi less embarrassed is that Zhao Kuangmei, the fourth brother of the Zhao family, is not among them.
As the hour came, as Zhao Kuangyi read out the edict righteously and righteously, as the punishment chips fell to the ground, as the sword rose and fell, among the waves of exclamations, the seventy-three criminals, The crowds of people and the blood-stained downtown brought a touch of joy to this miserable winter.
