Li Zhi looked at Qian Qianyi and said: "If the gentry in the world continue to obtain wealth by evading taxes, and continue to rely on this country to suck blood to survive, I will not stop even if I kill all the gentry in the world!"
When Qian Qianyi heard Li Zhi's murderous words, he opened his mouth in surprise. Based on Qian Qianyi's understanding, he had never thought that a person would dare to stand alone on the opposite side of the world's gentry and control the gentry class of the Ming Dynasty by himself.
Be an enemy.
Qian Qianyi was originally prepared to say a lot of words, and even hoped to save his own life through words. As long as Li Zhicun had the idea of easing the relationship with the gentry and had a hint of peaceful coexistence, Qian Qianyi would be useful. But after hearing
With Li Zhi's decisive words, Qian Qianyi knew that nothing he said would be of any use.
If he goes on to say this, he will only anger Li Zhi. It would be terrible if Li Zhi doesn't give him a clean answer and Ling Chi himself.
Qian Qianyi trembled and stopped talking.
Li Zhi waved his hand and said: "Tomorrow, I will be taken to the execution ground in the suburbs with other Nanjing death row prisoners, and I will be the leader."
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On March 23, the execution ground in the western suburbs of Nanjing was crowded with people.
It rained heavily that morning. By almost noon, the clouds were still very dense, and drizzle was falling all over the fields. The whole of Nanjing was wet, as if it had been fished out of the Yangtze River and was soaked.
The dirt roads in the suburbs were in poor condition due to rainwater. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, finances were tight, and even the sanitation in the capital was in a mess and there was no money to clean it. That's why the great plague broke out in the 17th year of Chongzhen. Road construction was a costly infrastructure project.
It was almost completely abandoned by local officials everywhere, even in the so-called wealthy Jiangnan.
At this time, the dirt road was almost invisible in the rain, and there were puddles everywhere on the dirt road. The turbid muddy water was as deep as the sole of the foot, and underneath was the soft soil soaked by the water. If you step on it accidentally, the whole foot will become
A big ball of mud.
But even in such weather, the people of Nanjing still flocked to the execution ground in the western suburbs to watch the Duke of Jin kill civil servants and gentry.
Qian Qianyi, Zhang Shenyan and others are really well-known in Jiangnan.
Although Qian Qianyi was dismissed from his post due to imperial examination fraud as early as the early years of Chongzhen, the Donglin Party is not a collection of truly modest gentlemen. A notorious embezzler like Zhou Yanru can be the leader of the Donglin Party, and Qian
Qian Yi, a fraudster in the examination room, relied on his personal influence to become the leader of the Donglin Party for more than ten years. Even after Wen Tiren once again presented evidence to prove Qian Qianyi's fraud, Qian Qianyi was ordered to return home by the emperor.
, Qian Qianyi is still the leader of Jiangnan scholars.
After Qian Qianyi, Zhang Shenyan and others came forward to organize the Jiangbei Army for the southern gentry, these Jiangnan literati leaders became more famous. Many Jiangnan gentry pinned their hopes of maintaining their tax-free privileges on Qian. Zhang et al.
On several people.
If in the 19th year of Chongzhen's reign, the South had parted ways with the emperor Zhu Youjian and gradually had its own will and actions, then the people who controlled the direction of the South's progress were Qian Qianyi, Zhang Shenyan and others.
However, such a southern leader would be defeated by Li Zhi.
Not only the people of Nanjing, but also the lively people from all over Nanzhili came here.
Li Zhi's generals had previously attacked the prefectures and counties in southern Zhili separately, captured the gentry who sponsored the Jiangbei Army, ransacked their homes in various places, interrogated and beheaded the enemy gentry. It can be said that they killed heads and blood flowed into rivers. But today in Nanjing, Li Zhi is even more demanding.
Killing the leader of the southern scholars, such a major event, will naturally not be missed by good people everywhere.
In front of the high execution ground stood tens of thousands of gentry and common people, all standing in the drizzle. In front of the heavily armed Tiger and Guard soldiers, no one dared to make any noise, and everyone looked quietly at the people kneeling on the stage.
More than a hundred prisoners on death row tried to keep their voices down even when they spoke.
Qian Qianyi knelt at the front of all the prisoners, with disheveled hair and a beheading mark stuck on his back. There was no turban on his hair, which was wet by the rain and stuck to his scalp. He looked very embarrassed. He knelt on the ground and took the
His eyes searched for his sons in the crowd, but he didn't see any of them.
Qian Qianyi suddenly saw a cry, "Mu Zhi!"
Qian Qianyi followed the sound and saw Liu Rushi holding his daughter in the crowd. There was a whip mark on Liu Rushi's face, which was caused by Jiang Chong that day.
Qian Qianyi looked at the woman who accompanied him for the last few years, this famous prostitute in Jiangnan, smiled bitterly, and nodded towards Liu Rushi.
Liu Rushi's house had been ransacked by Zhong Feng at this time, and all the belongings in Jiangyun Tower were confiscated by Zhong Feng. Liu Rushi didn't know what he would do for a living in the future. Seeing her husband nodding towards her, Liu Rushi was so excited
Tears flowed from his eyes, flowed over the whip marks to his chin, and fell into the turbid mud together with the drizzle.
Li Zhi and others sat on the viewing platform in the north of the execution ground, looked at the sky, and waved their hands.
"Noon has arrived!"
Zhang Shenyan, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly turned around and kowtowed to Li Zhi desperately.
"My lord, spare me! My lord!"
"Your Majesty, please spare me. I will recruit and surrender the two generals of the Jiangbei Army on your behalf, so that your Majesty will no longer have to worry about anything!"
The execution soldier held down the excited Zhang Shenyan and pushed him back to the edge of the execution platform. Zhang Shenyan felt cold all over and cried out.
The broadsword drew a curve in the air and slashed into Zhang Shenyan's neck, causing Zhang Shenyan's head to fly out.
Qian Qianyi looked at Zhang Shenyan with a pale face as he turned into a headless corpse, and his body began to tremble. However, the executioners seemed to torture Qian Qianyi deliberately and refused to kill the Jiangnan leader.
More than a hundred prisoners on death row were killed on the platform until the execution platform was filled with blood, and then they finally approached Qian Qianyi.
Qian Qianyi was so frightened that he couldn't control his urine and peed all over his pants.
"Qian Qianyi, do you regret that you colluded with the Tatars and stabbed our Hu Ben Army in the back?"
Qian Qianyi's whole body was shaking, but he was speechless.
One of the executioners snorted coldly, held down Qian Qianyi's head, and pointed Qian Qianyi's face towards the audience. The other executioner touched the spine of Qian Qianyi's neck and found a bone between the bones.
The gap between them determines the position of the knife.
The faces of the scholars in the audience were ashen, as if they were mourning for their heirs. The common people watching the excitement were not as sad as the scholars. Some people wanted to squeeze to the front to take a closer look at this scene, but who of the people in front was willing to step back? In the drizzle, the people in the audience were
The crowd surged slightly like a tide.
The executioner raised his sword and swung it hard in the air.
Cut in two, Qian Qianyi's head hit the execution platform hard in the rain, splattering a pillar of blood several feet high.
