The crowd, which had been shouting just now, was extremely quiet at this moment, and you could hear a pin drop.
The common people stared wide-eyed, covering their mouths with their hands, and their expressions were dull, as if they were still stuck in the bloody scene just now, and they didn't come out.
The officials in the stands either had serious faces, or the corners of their mouths twitched, or their brows furrowed slightly.
One hundred people, one hundred expressions.
Zhu Gaochi sat on the chair, and the fingers of his right hand placed on the armrest of the chair shook involuntarily.
Xiao Chen, who was standing next to him, had no expression on his face. He slowly turned around and looked at the group of officers and soldiers on the right.
"Bring someone to commit the crime."
The criminals on the right are all civil servants from various departments of the imperial court who were secretly discovered by Xiao Chen and had a lot to say about Dongchang, hoping to take advantage of the situation.
Taking advantage of Ma Yunshan's case, he was also involved.
In the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, they had already suffered a lot of torture. They had just witnessed the bloody beheading scene. Almost everyone had lost their balance and collapsed on the ground.
But so what if he collapsed, he could not survive the procedure of being hung with a rope around his neck on the spot.
After hearing Xiao Chen's order, ten more soldiers came up in groups of two, dragging five prisoners.
The prisoner at the back was fat, limp, and as helpless as a dead pig.
The two soldiers dragged him to the edge of the execution platform, panting and unable to drag him any longer.
Xiao Chen frowned slightly and nodded towards the team of officers and soldiers beside him.
If two people can't drag it, then four people can do it; if not, then eight people can do it.
No one can escape from this execution scene that serves as a warning to others.
With Xiao Chen's approval, two more soldiers came out, one holding a trouser leg, and the four of them worked together to lift the prisoner to the gallows, and slowly placed him on the ground.
"Li Zheng, a foreign minister from the Ministry of Civil Service, Cao Xianhe, the secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, Mei Pinchang, an inspector from the Ministry of Revenue, Wang Bing from the Ministry of Revenue, and promoted Guo Shu by the Ministry of Revenue." Xiao Chen checked the names and positions of the prisoners one by one again.
The person whose name was called nodded subconsciously.
"Torture." Xiao Chen ordered.
Several soldiers quickly shook off the name tag behind the prisoner, reached for the buckle hanging from the crossbar, and put it around the prisoner's neck.
He turned around and, together with the five executioners, hung the prisoner in the air with a few "squeezes".
The criminal who had been paralyzed in a ball just now suddenly regained consciousness.
He grabbed the noose around his neck with both hands and struggled desperately.
Both feet were kicking in the air without any control.
There were several women in the crowd who couldn't bear to watch and quietly turned their heads.
Those who brought their children to watch the fun quickly reached out and covered their children's eyes. They slowly backed away towards the outside of the crowd.
Zhao Hai, the Minister of Revenue in the stands, grinned a little and looked embarrassed.
This time, among all the departments of the imperial court, the one with the most officials implicated was the Ministry of Revenue.
Once this matter is over, the emperor will probably have to hold himself accountable for how he managed the Ministry of Household Affairs. So many officials were dragged into the water by Ma Yunshan, and he didn't even know it.
I don't know how many breaths passed until the five prisoners on the rope were all limp, their arms drooped, their tongues stuck out of their mouths, their eyes rolled up, revealing most of the whites of their eyes, then Xiao Chen grew taller
Sighed.
"This hanging is really a waste of time. Let's put it down and collect the bodies."
It wasn't until the bodies of the five prisoners were loaded onto the cart that Xiao Chen looked at the team on the left again.
Unknowingly, more than two hours had passed. Xiao Chen looked at the list of criminals marked with an X in his hand. He roughly counted them and found that there were less than 200 people.
If this continues, these criminals will be dealt with before it gets dark.
The dark and dark dismemberment of Ma Yunshan by five horses may not achieve even half of the expected shocking effect.
He looked at the executioners on the right and said, "Go down."
"yes."
Hanging is no better than beheading. It only requires one swing of the sword. If the head is not cut off at once, it will only take one more blow.
Although this hanging was done with the help of two soldiers, it was still a physically demanding way of survival.
After strangulating for two consecutive hours, these people were exhausted.
After hearing Xiao Chen's arrangement, he hurriedly put away the rope and walked off the execution platform.
"You guys go down too." Xiao Chen waved his hand to the executioners on the left holding broadswords.
Although swinging the sword is not too tiring, one can continue to kill for two hours, but the sword is no longer sharp.
Without a sharp knife, beheading is a waste of time.
After rearranging ten executioners with broadswords, Xiao Chen walked to the execution platform and looked at Zhu Gaochi: "Your Highness, there are nearly three hundred prisoners. It's already late at this time. Otherwise, we will behead them directly."
Aren’t you going to verify their names and positions?”
"Yes." Zhu Gaochi nodded, "Hurry up and dismember the five horses in Ma Yun Mountain at the end. The big job is to leave a little more time."
More than two hours later, following Xiao Chen's order, the heads of the last few criminals were chopped off. Of all the criminals who wanted to be beheaded, Ma Yunshan was the only one left to be beheaded.
"Da da da..." Amidst the sound of horseshoes rubbing against the ground, five fat and strong military horses were pulled up.
Duan Tianming, Du Shaoqin, Liu Rufeng, and the two captains from Dongchang sat on horseback, divided into five directions, and arranged their positions on the execution platform.
"Bring in the main culprit of the case of embezzlement of imperial resources, the former Jinyiwei commander and comrade Ma Yunshan." Xiao Chen shouted.
As soon as he finished speaking, the five executioners who were already ready carried Ma Yunshan, who was like a dead man with only one breath left, onto the stand.
After placing it in the middle of the execution platform, the five men each picked up the noose hanging from the horse's back and waited quietly.
Xiao Chen took a step forward and slowly glanced from the left side of the square to the right side.
"The former commander of the Jinyi Guards, Tongzhi Ma Yunshan, as an official of the imperial court, knew the law and broke the law. He corrupted and colluded with other officials of the imperial court. He also collaborated with his brother Ma Lianshan to oppress the people and kill people. In the name of building water conservancy, he used the power given to officials by the imperial court to
Secretly embezzling the assets of the imperial court. Taking the imperial salary and poaching the corners of the imperial court. This kind of black sheep with no gratitude at all. After days of trials and investigations by the Ministry of Punishment, it was confirmed that he had committed the crime of exterminating the nine tribes. After the Ministry of Punishment and the Inspectorate, he
, Dali Temple jointly tried and sentenced Ma Yunshan himself to be quartered with five horses."
Xiao Chen held his fists in his hands and bowed to the sky: "But the emperor's grace is great and the emperor is kind. Thinking of the nine tribes in Mayun Mountain, most of them are people who make a living by farming and paying taxes to the court for many years. I can't bear to have their heads killed."
But no matter how merciful the emperor is, the laws of the country are ruthless. The implication of the nine tribes is Ma Yunshan's own fault."
"After a joint trial by the Ministry of Punishment, the Supervisory Office and Dali Temple, the nine tribes of Mayunshan were sentenced to the penalty of digging a pit and being buried alive. The execution will be carried out on a later date."
The crowd was talking a lot.
"Did you hear that all nine tribes will be buried alive?"
"It's really not a good thing to have relatives as officials."
"It's not that it's not a good thing to have relatives who serve as officials. It's better not to be a bad official."
"It's better for me. All the nine tribes are common people, and no one is an official."
"I have a distant relative who is a county magistrate in Shanxi. What should I do?"
"What should I do? Just go home and burn a stick of incense every day and pray that he won't do bad things."
"Is it useful to burn incense? Otherwise, when I have time, I will go to my relative's house and talk to him about this matter."
"Just burn incense and it will be done. Official documents from the imperial court will definitely be issued about this matter."
"The official document can't be as shocking as the actual scene. I'd better take the time to go there. Although I'm poor and shouldn't visit rich relatives, I want to live."
"That's right, who doesn't want to live."
...
In the stands, the expressions of all the officials at this moment were particularly unified.
All of them looked at Xiao Chen quietly in the middle of the execution platform with straight faces, thinking back on every word he just said.
The emperor's kindness is great and the emperor is kind.
The emperor's grace is so great that he just can't bear for all the officials to miss this large-scale "feast" of beheading court officials, so why should he take a day off from court?
The emperor is so merciful that he cannot bear to have the heads of the nine tribes in Ma Yunshan disappear, so he wants to bury them alive?
Is the law ruthless?
The national law is ruthless, but what the emperor says is not the national law? Even if the laws and regulations established earlier cannot be temporarily changed, isn't there still an amnesty?
Since he has been paying taxes to the court all year round and just farming will not pose any threat to the court, it is enough to bury the young and strong alive and give the old, weak, sick and disabled a way to survive, right?
The emperor was a bit cruel, but he was also targeting the elders of the Jianwen Dynasty.
At the beginning, Ji Gang, the commander of the Jin Yiwei, even hid weapons secretly with the intention of treason, and not so many court officials were implicated.
Ma Yunshan just wanted to check the jadeite stones in the river and make some windfall, but he inexplicably implicated 400 to 500 Beijing officials.
This is not the emperor's intention. This is clearly the style that Dongchang has always pursued, killing everyone.
Looking at Xiao Chen's slightly thin back in the center of the execution platform, Baiguan couldn't help but feel a trace of hatred in his heart, mixed with a faint hint of fear.
