In the spring of the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, when the flowers were in full bloom.

The streets of the imperial capital of Jinling are full of people, and all kinds of stalls and small vendors can be seen everywhere on the streets, a lively and prosperous scene. However, at this moment, the atmosphere at the entrance of the vegetable market is completely different from other places, and the whole scene is filled with the invective of the onlookers.

This is the execution ground, the place where death row inmates are beheaded for public display!

It was close to three o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun was at its strongest. Three death row inmates knelt on the execution ground with their heads bowed and shivering, awaiting execution. Their heads were stained with blood, full of egg whites, yolks, vegetable leaves, and other things, all of which were lost by the people when they were escorted all the way.

Behind the death row inmates, stood three stout executioners with fierce faces. They were dressed in coarse and red hair, with red turbans on their heads, and the right half of their arms bare, revealing the well-developed muscles of their upper bodies and thick chest hair------

The executioner carried a ghost-headed broadsword in his arms, unsheathed, and covered with a red cloth that would only be uncovered at the time of execution, showing the world the cold and bloodthirsty side of the forest.

On the periphery of the execution ground were the ordinary people who got the news one after another and hurried to watch the execution.

The official presiding over the execution looked up at the sun, which happened to be in the middle of the day, and then turned his head to look at the missing moment on the side. After confirming that the time was accurate, he lifted the red pen and ticked the names of the three people, reached out and took out a sign engraved with the word "behead", threw it forward, and shouted majestically: "The hour has come, execution!" ”

The executioners received the order, and with all their hands pressed the prisoner to the guillotine, and removed the red cloth wrapped around the blade, then grasped the handle of the knife with both hands, and raised the butcher's knife high.

The sharp blade of the broad-backed broadsword glowed with an incomparably cold light under the scorching sun.

Click------

The ghost head knife was simply swung down.

Cut in two, the corpse is separated!

Three pillars of blood rose into the sky, splashing the executioner's face, reflecting the cold scarlet color under the scorching sun, which looked particularly infiltrating. At the same time, three blood-stained heads also rolled out.

Three living lives were harvested.

After Li Qian arrived at the scene, he just squeezed to the front of the crowd and happened to see this extremely bloody scene.

The executioner, who was covered in blood, and his tense face, looked even more hideous at the moment. Moving his gaze down slightly, Li Qian saw a more terrifying picture, the three pairs of lifeless eyes were deadly open, and they seemed to be full of complex and diverse emotions such as fear, unwillingness, and remorse, but they could only be frozen helplessly------

With just this hurried glance, Li Qian felt dizzy, and his stomach turned over even more, and he couldn't help but lean over and retch on the spot.

In this era, it is still very common to execute death row prisoners in the execution ground, and most people are already familiar with it, so only a few women at the scene are relatively timid, and they all scream in unison at this moment, covering their eyes tightly with their hands, but they can't help but secretly open their eyes from the cracks in their fingertips------

In history, Hong Wuye Zhu Yuanzhang killed people like hemp, and Li Qian also knew something. It's just that, after all, it is a historical story in the pile of old papers, how can I ever experience it in person?

Now that I am fortunate enough to see it, I feel a little regretful, I just wish I had never seen such a palpitating scene. In that way, at least I can be calmer and feel at ease to be an official of the Ming Dynasty.

As soon as I thought of this, I couldn't help but sigh in my heart and muttered to myself.

"People often say that a companion is like a tiger, and it seems that what he said is true------ not to mention a fierce Siberian tiger like Brother Chongba------."

Because the voice was not loud, these somewhat rebellious words were not listened to by others in this noisy environment. What's more, the onlookers are talking about it at the moment, and no one will notice him at all.

"The emperor has killed a lot of corrupt officials recently, and these dog officials really deserve to be killed!"

"Isn't it? I heard that the officials of these three people are not small, they are all high-ranking lords on weekdays, and I didn't expect that there would be today's ------"

"Such a big corrupt official, if you kill one less person, our life can be better, right? If you want me to say, the emperor is a rare good emperor, and the lives of the common people will only get better and better------"

“------”

Li Qian's heart sank, and he said in his heart that if he entered the court as an official, what kind of fate would he end up in the future?

In an era when human life is like grass, is it really good to be an official?

Thinking like this, he turned and left the execution ground, which still looked gloomy under the scorching sun, like Shura's hell.

Today's scene is actually just the tip of the iceberg under Zhu Yuanzhang's iron-blooded rule, and countless officials have been killed before, and many relatives of officials have been involved.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born as a small farmer, was born with the most hatred of corruption. In recent years, he has been thunderous and bloodily killed many corrupt officials, causing panic among the Manchu people.

The officials were all terrified, fearing that bad luck would befall them in the next moment.

Yin and yang are wrong, I accidentally came to such an era when the monarch killed officials like killing dogs, and his identity was still a scholar, Xie Yuan of the Zhejiang Township Examination, and the third place in the undergraduate examination!

Thinking that he was about to become an official in the court with the background of two Jinshi, Li Qian did not have the joy of "ascending to Tianzitang" at all, but began to worry about his future. Walking silently on the bluestone paved street, I felt depressed in my heart.

Please, Lao Tzu never thought of taking the imperial examination, right?

The damn predecessor, the good landlord and young master, is not appropriate, and he prefers to respond to the imperial examination of this Laoshizi, which is really harmful------

When passing by a small teahouse, Li Qian paused.

I just ran for a while to see the excitement at the entrance of the vegetable market, and now I have walked for so long under the scorching sun, I really feel a little dry, so I simply went in to drink a cup of tea, and first suppressed the shock on myself.

The teahouse is not large, with less than ten small square tables, and there may be a small space in the attic. In the hall on the first floor, there are some men in short shirts sitting at several tables, drinking tea and chatting and bragging.

Li Qian walked inside, and he didn't have the heart to listen to the topics that others were talking about, so he found an empty table and sat down alone, and ordered a pot of tea at random.

After raising his glass and quenching his thirst with two sips of tea very elegantly, Li Qian's whole person fell into a state of contemplation.

Do you still want to be an official?

As soon as he thought of that scene, he felt a chill down his spine.

The worst situation at the moment is that in a few days, the imperial court will appoint an official to itself, how can this kind of just let yourself bump into it?

Unconsciously, Li Qian remembered a poem.

Immediately, he called the shopkeeper to get pen, ink, paper and inkstone for himself, intending to express the depression in his heart.

Everything was ready, Li Qian rolled up his sleeve with his left hand, and held a wolf hair soaked in ink in his right hand, which fell on the rice paper spread out on the tea table in front of him. Between the splashes of ink, a line of vigorous and powerful small letters slowly appeared on the paper——

"Xijiang Moon ------"

"Sad old things for the ages, a spring breeze of talking and laughing. Fragments of fragments of heroes are always used to attract ------ fame"

"Everyone is vigorous, and everyone is in a hurry. Glory and wealth turn empty, just like Nanke's dream. ”

This poem is extraordinary, naturally not his own handwriting, but one of the three great talents of the Ming Dynasty, Yang Shen, the first genius known for his most profound knowledge.

After writing a poem, Li Qian gently bowed his head and said to himself with deep approval: "Well, fame and fortune, Nanke has a dream, it is not as easy as the pastoral life------"

After the haze in his heart dissipated a lot, Li Qian rolled a few rolls of rice paper that had not yet dried and threw them into the corner.

Speaking of pastoral life, it reminded him of an incident at home in Hangzhou.

It seems that his "cheap dad" has already arranged a family affair for himself?

To be an official for Zhu Yuanzhang, it is better to hurry home and marry a daughter-in-law, but I don't know what that girl looks like, I heard that the family education quality is very good, if it is also good-looking------

Unconsciously, the corners of Li Qian's mouth rose more and more, and a handsome face actually made him smile a little obscenely, but fortunately, there were no acquaintances nearby------

------

------

Exterminate the heroes and expel Hu Yuan.

From a herd of cows to the lord of the world.

The hero is white-headed, the beauty is twilight, this emperor is now old, his beard and hair are all white, and his face is like a thin plum branch in the cold winter, with deep wrinkles.

Zhu Yuanzhang happened to have some leisure time today, so he went out in micro-clothes and walked around Jinling City at will.

People are old, and their physical strength has been greatly reduced, so they will be a little tired after leaving. Seeing that there happened to be a small teahouse next to him, Zhu Yuanzhang stepped straight inside, intending to rest here.

His eyes swept around, and he went straight to Li Qian's table, showing a slightly kind smile and said, "This son, the old man is a little tired, can you sit here for a while?" ”

Li Qian looked up and found that although the old man was old, he had a momentum of not being angry and arrogant. In particular, his eyes looked as sharp as an eagle and majestic as a tiger.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at the feet of the Son of Heaven, just by looking at it, Li Qian faintly realized that this was a big man, and the origin was definitely not simple. At that moment, he hurriedly got up and bowed back, and replied politely: "Old man, please sit down." ”

Sitting at a table, both of them looked at each other.

At this time, several men at the adjacent table were discussing the imperial examination loudly, only to hear one of them say: "You have all heard it, the champion of this palace examination has come out, it is Li Qian, Li Zhongqing, who is the new leader of Zhejiang and the third in the examination!" ”

Xu is excited, after Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he opened his mouth and asked Li Qian: "Is Gongzi also a person who is taking the exam in this subject?" Tomorrow is the day the list will be released, why is it rumored who the champion is now? ”

"This ------"

Li Qian didn't want to answer this question, and secretly raised a little vigilance in his heart.

The champion in the man's mouth is none other than him Li Qian!

And this person in front of him may be a certain high-ranking official in the court, and some clues can be seen from the two unsmiling entourages behind him. Could it be that Zhu Yuanzhang suspected that someone had cheated in the imperial examination, so he specially sent him out to investigate the matter?

This is really not a joke, if Zhu Yuanzhang is angered, it is very likely that he will be dragged to cut down the "champion" who is suspected of fraud in the imperial examination.

As for that nursery rhyme, of course Li Qian has heard it, and it is said that it just confirms the top three rankings in the general examination and the palace examination. Now that the palace test has not yet been released, it is rumored in the entire Jinling City that he has won the championship.

The news should have come from the Ministry of Rites, and it was a pre-selected ranking by the paper reader, but it was accidentally leaked. Although the ranking of the palace examination can only be finally confirmed with Zhu Yuanzhang's personal permission, generally speaking, the pre-selection is basically a fixed ranking.

Now, in the same year, friends all call themselves "Li Zhuangyuan".

In order to avoid burning himself, Li Qian thought urgently in his mind for a moment before he replied cautiously: "As the so-called 'three people become tigers', the rumors in the market have always been the same as everyone else, and they should not be true. Who will win the champion in the end------"

After a pause, he arched his hand as a "respectful" appearance, and Li Qian continued: "Naturally, it has to be appointed by the current saint, and it will be known after the case is committed tomorrow!" ”

After patting Zhu Yuanzhang's ass a little, Li Qian hurriedly got up and said goodbye to this "high-ranking official" and left after checking out.

Seeing that he was in a hurry, Zhu Yuanzhang was not easy to stay, but his impression of him was not bad, he felt that this person did not have the arrogance of ordinary scholars, not only spoke and behaved decently, but also was very humble and polite------ as for the obscene smile he saw before, it also belonged to the normal state of young people, after all, he was also young!

Inadvertently, Zhu Yuanzhang saw the roll of waste paper in the corner, and couldn't help frowning.

"Huh?"

With just this gentle sound, the servant behind him immediately understood, quickly went over and picked up the crumpled rice paper, spread it out and respectfully presented it.

After taking it casually, he only glanced at it casually, and Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned.