(I wish you all good luck in the new year, abundant wealth, and everything goes well!)
The whole city of Yangzhou has been in a state of shock. Without the need for a notice from the government, the people have already known that Emperor Brigadier General En was responsible for the execution of prisoners in Yangzhou. High-speed updates
Since then, people have spontaneously gathered on both sides of the street leading from the government office to Nancheng Caishikou. People were very happy, taking out the new clothes from the bottom of the box and changing them. Some people bought hanging whips and used them along the street. The crackling sound annoyed the children.
They covered their ears and laughed, as if the New Year had arrived early.
The entire Yangzhou Xiang Army was mobilized. Thousands of soldiers stood along the street with five steps, one post, ten steps and one sentry. Special personnel used lime powder to draw white lines on both sides of the street, beat gongs to announce discipline, and warned the people when the prison cars passed by.
Never take one step beyond the white line warning range, otherwise what will happen?
One hundred and eighty Ma Jun were responsible for escorting the prisoners. Although dozens of Ma Jun soldiers had to ride poor horses temporarily purchased by Su Jin to make up the number, this did not affect the tall and mighty image of the Ma Jun at all; as Su Jin
At Jin's command, the prison officer, Feng Jingyao and his men, a total of fifty-two death row inmates, were put into prison cars and began to parade through the streets.
As the motorcade headed south from the yamen gate to the main road, the people on both sides started throwing rotten vegetable leaves, rotten eggs, mud balls, and even smelly dog feces at the prison car. The intensity was no less intense than the Japanese bombing of pearls.
Hong Kong; not one of the fifty-two prison cars was spared. Within two miles, the people in the cars were almost drowned in debris.
The horse soldiers, who were wearing bright armor and guarding on both sides, were inevitably attacked in this situation, and their bodies were smashed into a mess. Zhao Dutou and Fang Dutou were so angry that they cursed their mothers.
Su Jin, Ouyang Xiu and Song Xiang rode at the end of the team. Seeing the people's emotions being so excited, they felt a little inappropriate. If this continued, these people would be beaten to death before they reached the execution ground.
Ouyang Xiu looked at Su Jin and said: "Special envoy Su has a high prestige among the people of Yangzhou. I would like to trouble myself to persuade him."
Song Xiang said: "I'm afraid that persuasion won't work, so I ordered the soldiers to arrest the ones who made the most noise and give them a lesson with a whip, and then they naturally calmed down."
Su Jin and Ouyang Xiu looked at Song Xiang with eyes full of disdain. Ouyang Xiu sighed: "Prefect Song, today is a day when the people are proud and proud. I am really surprised that you can make such a suggestion."
Song Xiang shut up quickly. It is better to hide one's humility than to show one's ugliness. If you talk too much, you will make mistakes. He thought hard for a few days and learned a lesson, but he couldn't help but speak. He was really mean-mouthed.
Su Jin smiled and said, "I'll try it."
After saying that, he urged his horse forward, rushed past the prison car, and said loudly: "Everyone, please stop first and listen to what I, Su Jin, have to say."
The people started smashing, and a piece of mud hit Su Jin's nose impartially, causing blood to flow out immediately; someone shouted: "That's Su Qingtian, who the hell doesn't have eyes, how can you hit him?"
It’s simply outrageous.”
"Whoever smashed it, get out!" someone yelled.
A frail young man whispered cautiously: "It's... I made a mistake."
"Fuck you, you must be one of Feng Jingyao's group, and you took the opportunity to cause trouble..." Several big men waved their fists and greeted the young man, who quickly squatted down holding his head.
"Stop!" Su Jin shouted hurriedly.
With such exertion, the blood in her nose flowed faster. She quickly took out the mandarin duck silk handkerchief that Huan Niang had embroidered for herself and prepared to wipe it. After thinking about it, she stuffed it into her pocket. She really couldn't bear to part with it. So she raised the sleeves of her blue official robe.
He wiped it clean with a snoring, and said with a cupped hand: "Everyone! I know that you hate these scum to the core, and I understand your mood very well; but beheading criminals is a public matter. If you accidentally smash these criminals to death,
The imperial court will definitely blame you and others, and Ouyang Zhongcheng and I, as well as the prefect of Song Dynasty, will all be punished; besides, they will all be beheaded, so this last section of the road will allow them to walk through it safely, and they will die.
No matter how bad their evil deeds are, they have paid for their crimes with their lives, why don't we be a little more tolerant?"
The people felt that what Su Jin said made sense. They were all going to have their heads chopped off. Why should they be so reluctant? Some people quickly threw down the things they were about to throw out.
Su Jin saw that there were still people holding lumps of mud and rotten eggs waiting for them, so he handed over his hands again and said: "Today, thanks to the emperor's respect, he ordered me and Ouyang Zhongcheng to be executed. You see, I, Su Jin, have done something practical for the people of Yangzhou."
For my sake, how about you give me a face and let me finish this errand properly? To tell you the truth, I haven’t been home to see my mother for half a year. Seeing that the New Year is approaching, I just want to concentrate on finishing this last step.
Is it too much to ask for someone to go home and spend time with my old mother on an errand? If you really feel that you still don’t feel relieved, then just hit me as hard as you want to relieve your anger. I have no complaints.”
Some people in the crowd were actually brought to tears by Su Jin's words.
"It's not easy for Su Qingtian. He has done so many good things for the people of Yangzhou. It can be said that Su Qingtian saved the lives of more than half of the people in Yangzhou City. If we don't let Su Qingtian calm down, will he still be considered a human being?"
Someone lost the thing in his hand.
"Yeah, we can't ruin Su Qingtian's job and let our benefactor be punished. Don't smash things. Let's scold him instead, and scold anyone who hates him in his heart. After all, these idiots all have ears."
"Yes, yes, you are scolding them for eight generations of ancestors who have been unable to live in peace. Su Qingtian, is it okay to scold them?"
Su Jin smiled and said: "Go ahead and scold him, come up with tricks and make it more exciting."
The common people laughed and passed on the latest strategies to each other. They all turned from villains into gentlemen, using only words but no actions.
Su Jin waved his hand and the prison car team continued to move forward. He rode his horse back to the back of the car. Ouyang Xiu raised his thumb and said: "Good eloquence, move with emotion and explain with reason."
Su Jin said with a smile: "My lord, your compliments are just to stain your ears. Swearing in the market is not acceptable."
Ouyang Xiudao: "It doesn't matter if you curse or vent your anger, these people have committed too many sins and deserve to be punished today."
Under the guidance of the new strategy, wherever the prison car went, the curses were loud and loud, and the slang used by people in the city was naturally unpleasant to hear. However, there were so many different ways of cursing that Su Jin, a time traveler, did not feel dirty, but found it novel.
Although the curses were loud, the order was orderly, no one was littering anymore, and the horse soldiers also regained their majestic momentum, riding their horses with heads held high, protecting the prison cars as they rolled past.
Feng Jingyao was smiling all over the prison car. He didn't look like he was going to die at all. He was completely crazy. But at this moment, those who are crazy are luckier than those who are not crazy. Looking at the other people, they all had colorful faces and pale faces. Some of them had even peed.
They couldn't help it; some of them wanted to shout out the things that Su Jin and Ouyang Xiu had concealed, some wanted to yell something like, 'Eighteen years later, another hero!
I cried loudly and asked my mother to beg for mercy. Unfortunately, before I got in the car, my mouth was stuffed with Ma Hutou. I couldn't even move my tongue a few times, and I couldn't even speak. It was so numb that I couldn't feel it.
The road was bustling with people following the prison vans and yelling curses. As the prison vans ran, traffic jams would occur from time to time and the prison vans stopped several times. Finally, at a quarter past noon, they arrived at the Nanmen Caishikou.
The wooden platform has already been set up. Three tables are placed on the north side of the wooden platform. That is where Ouyang Xiu, Song Xiang and Su Jin sit. There are six wooden pillars on the platform opposite the table. There is a huge wooden pier in front of each wooden pillar. This is
Guillotine for beheading.
Since there were too many prisoners, it was impossible to put them all on stage, so there were only six places on the stage reserved for Feng Jingyao and other principal criminals. The rest knelt in a circle under the stage, with a man holding a big knife standing behind them.
executioner.
All the soldiers formed a large circle along the side of the stage, waving their bright swords wildly to control the overcrowded people outside the circle. The Nanmen Caishikou venue was not big, but at this moment, there were seventy or eighty thousand people surrounding them densely.
The surrounding houses, trees and walls were all covered with people, and as far as the eye could see, they were full of dark heads and eyes, which made people's skin crawl.
Ouyang Xiu sat down behind the table in the middle. Su Jin and Song Xiang sat down on either side. Ouyang Xiu picked up the token on the table, held it in his hand and said: "The executioners are in place!"
Six burly men with red cloth turbans waiting under the stage strode up the wooden ladder and climbed up to the stage; each held a rusty thick-backed sword in his arms.
The six people lined up and saluted Ouyang Xiu and Su Jin. Ouyang Xiu shouted: "Serve you with wine and sharpen your knife. You have worked hard today."
The six people said in unison: "Don't worry, adults, my six brothers are not bad at craftsmanship."
Su Jin almost laughed out loud. It turned out that these six people were six brothers, and the six brothers were all executioners. It was a strange story. What was even more funny was that they actually regarded beheading as a craft.
Ouyang Xiu shouted loudly: "Left and right! Bring the prisoners Feng Jingyao, Guo Pinchao, Shen Dezhang, Zhou Zhe, Hou Shanrong... to the stage!"
The soldiers of the Ma Army shouted in agreement, and working in pairs, they dragged the six people whose names were called onto the stage like dogs, and tied them to six pillars respectively.
More than a dozen jars of strong liquor were also brought to the stage. Each of the six executioners took a large bowl and poured a full bowl. He took a big sip and sprayed it on the blade of his knife. The rest was brought to the six prisoners and drank.
: "Drink! It will be less painful to hit the road when you are drunk."
Except for Feng Jingyao, the other five people couldn't drink it. They all looked at Su Jin and Ouyang Xiu with vicious eyes. They wanted to curse but couldn't, and made strange noises in the room.
"Please ask the Magistrate of the Song Dynasty to identify the prisoners one by one and execute them immediately at three quarters noon."
Su Jin said to Ouyang Xiudao: "Lord Zhongcheng, give me an order to understand this as soon as possible and get it done soon."
Ouyang Xiudao: "It's not yet three o'clock at noon, and the execution is unknown, so we'd better wait a while."