Chapter 8: The Monarch and the Minister-

There was silence in the square in front of the noon gate.

After Zhu Xixiao finished, he looked at the four of them with a blank face. Yesterday, he was summoned by the emperor to the palace to give a face-to-face lecture. Wanli treats him, playing the board is not the purpose, the purpose is to make the hundred officials hang their heads. Zhu Xixiao received the will, so he separated from the four people in the edict and interrogated them, talked to them on their knees, put their hearts in their hearts, and told them that as long as they admit their mistakes in public today, not only can they be exempted from responsibility and the officials will be reinstated, but in the future, the emperor will focus on cultivating them and adding officials to knighthood, in short, the benefits are great.

In order to make them think about it, Zhu Xixiao detained them separately, hoping that someone could figure it out overnight, as long as one of them relented and admitted his mistakes, his goal would be achieved.

The four people in the audience were also thinking about the situation last night, but in addition to Zhu Xixiao's part, they were thinking more about another matter...... When the third watch was on patrol, the jailers of the Jinyi Guard were quiet, and the colleagues outside had already taken care of them, and they would not die or be disabled when the time came. Although the source of the news is extremely unreliable, the four of them all feel that there is no wind and no waves, and the jailer will not be able to eat enough to entertain himself.

"Talk back!" The silence for a long time made Zhu Xixiao's face unbearable.

Wu Zhongxing's four naturally refused to show their fear in front of the ministers, but they looked at the row of strong executioners in front of them, each of them holding a huge iron-clad staff with a barb on it. Don't take dozens of rods, even if you eat only one, you will be seriously injured. This makes their teeth weigh more than a thousand pounds, and it is difficult to speak full of rhetoric.

"Then please return to the emperor." In the end, it was the elder Aimu who mustered up his courage and protested loudly: "The dynasty rules the world with filial piety, and requires the people of the country to love the king as a father. ”

"Dare to quibble!" Zhu Xixiao's face changed suddenly, and he waved his hand and said, "Hold it down!" ”

As soon as the words fell, four wolf-like brocade guards came up, and the first two of them passed under Aimu's armpit and erected his upper body. The last two picked up their staff and struck Amu his knee. Aimu snorted, and was about to fall to his knees as soon as his legs went limp, but he was held up by the first two canes and dragged to the felt cloth in front of him.

As soon as the two of his canes twitched, Aimu lay directly on the felt cloth, and snorted again.

"Open your mouth!" One of the fighters shouted. Before he could react, Aimu was choked by the cheek, his mouth opened involuntarily, and then he was stuffed with a five-inch sandalwood stick, which was tightly fastened around the back of his neck with a belt at both ends. Aimu's mouth is so gagged that he can't shout, he can't even hum...... This is the preparation before the cane, because if the iron thorn sandalwood cane blows down, the skin and flesh will open in a few blows, and the prisoner will not be able to bear it, and will definitely tear his liver and lungs and scream. Now block it, so that you can't shout if you want to.

This is not over, next, his hands were tied to the ground by a single iron buckle of hundreds of pounds, and then ripped apart one by one, making him unable to move. With his mouth and hands set, Aimu couldn't move. Next, when it came to the most humiliating step, I saw the brocade guard remove his prisoner, and the lower half of Aimu's body immediately disappeared. Although there were no women present, this blasphemy still stung the officials present...... The scholar is the dignity of the country, and if he dies, he will die, how can he be so humiliated? Many had angry looks on their faces.

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Zhu Xixiao didn't look at Ai Mu, his attention was focused on the other three, seeing that they clenched their teeth and even closed their eyes, he sneered silently and asked, "What about you, what is your idea?" ”

"Hehe......" Wu Zhongxing laughed miserably and said, "Could it be that we, who went to the book first, are not as good as the latest?" ”

"Why should I be sorry for my cheap body?" Zhao Yongxian knew in his heart that if he didn't want the second half of his life to become a joke, he had to put down this scene, and he shouted: "Even if you die today, you can calmly go to see the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

The rest of Shen Sixiao thought about it, and simply replied with a poem about an idol in his life: "The heroic spirit is still too empty, and the spirit shines through the ages." I didn't report to the country in my life, so I left it as a loyal hun! ”

"I thought I was going to write a poem myself." Wu Zhongxing joked. Since it is a foregone conclusion, it is better to leave more money in the history books.

"I'm not Hanlin, so I won't be ugly." Shen Sixiao smiled and said.

"Sour ......," Zhao Yongxian rolled his eyes and said.

Seeing that the three of them not only did not say mercy, but talked and laughed happily, which greatly boosted their morale. Zhu Xixiao knew that he had made a mistake this time, so he hurriedly said angrily: "Bet it all down!" ”

So the twelve brocade guards stepped forward, concocted three of them in the same way, pressed them firmly to the ground, chewed their heads, and the kuzi faded, and the four bare-chested men were in broad daylight.

After inspecting the thousands of households one by one, he turned around and told Zhu Xixiao that he was ready. Zhu Xixiao squinted, looked at the smooth flesh of the eight petals reflecting in the sun, and with a slight bow, Qianhu turned back to his height and shouted: "Fight!" The voice echoed within the high wall in front of the noon gate. Some closed eyes suddenly opened, and some opened eyes quickly closed, hoping that a miracle would be presented to prevent the tragedy from happening in front of our eyes.

"Slow ......" a shrill shout came from the purpose of the city gate. The executioners who had already raised their court staffs, and the hundreds of officials whose hearts were raised to their throats, could not help but follow the prestige.

I saw a eunuch running panting and puffing, and he didn't pay attention to others, Liang went straight to Zhu Xixiao and showed a golden arrow and said: "The emperor has an order to take off the chewing heads of the four people and punish them." ”

Zhu Xixiao saw that the golden arrow was the token of the emperor's order to Jinyiwei, and immediately saluted solemnly: "Obey the order!" Then he got up and gave the enemy an order: "Go and chew!" ”

The brocade guards untied the sandalwood sticks from the mouths of the four.

Zhu Xixiao knew very well that the emperor's order was clear that he was in a certain place, watching everything in front of the noon gate, where did he dare to take mushrooms, and waved his hand heavily: "Execution!" ”

Almost at the same time, the eight torture rods were raised together, and then fell heavily, and in a single moment, the minced meat flew sideways, and blood splattered! The heavy blunt object struck it, making a dull, hoarse, but irresistibly penetrating sound. Immediately afterwards, the four tortured people raised their heads together and broke out into a hoarse howl.

Because it was the first cane, they could also respond quickly to the pain, their bodies twisted violently, and they let out a heart-wrenching wail, which made the officials watching the execution at the scene tingle for a while, and many of them were directly frightened into cold sweat.

"Smack......

"Smack......

"Smack......

"Smack......

The fall of the cane was very rhythmic, and each blow made the flesh and blood of the prisoner fly, and his whole body convulsed. On the side, the brocade guards who were in charge of counting loudly reported the number of strikes: "five, six, seven, 8, nine, ten......" hit ten times, the first two brocade guards withdrew their staffs, and the other two immediately connected them to connect the strength of the staff.

"Eleven, ten, two, thirteen, fourteen......" every number shouted out was like a heavy hammer, smashing on the hearts of every spectator. They watched their comrades twitch as their flesh and blood were blurred, and listened to their fainter and faintest shouts, and many of them were stunned, clenching their teeth and clenching their fists, eager to go up and receive the rod for them. There are also people who are so frightened that they don't dare to look at it, just hoping that this torture will end quickly.

"Twenty-one...... 30. 31 ...... Forty, forty-one...... "The man of the court staff changed a few more times, and the counting continued. The four people who were tortured passed out one after another after more than a dozen strokes. Let the rods fall like thunder, they remained motionless, each rod as if it were striking cotton. The emotions of the hundred officials are also on the verge of disintegration or outbreak.

However, above the noon gate, there is a person who has been in a state of euphoria. That was the ruler of the Ming Dynasty, the sixteen-year-old Wanli Emperor. Before the execution, he was led by his personal eunuch Wei Chao and quietly ascended to the Wumen Tower. Behind the high arrow stacks, condescendingly watching the entire execution scene, when the court staff began and the flesh and blood flew sideways, the Wei Dynasty was worried that the emperor would be frightened, so he persuaded from the side: "Master, don't look at it, this pomp is too scary." ”

Wanli stared intently at the rise and fall of the court staff, and his thin handsome face was full of excitement, as if he was watching a wonderful martial arts scene. Hearing this, he turned around and sneered: "Wei Zi, why is there no future so much? ”

"Master......" Wei Chao was frightened, he saw that Wanli's eyes revealed a murderous aura that was seriously inconsistent with his age, and he didn't have the gentle appearance that he was full of poetry and books on weekdays, just like a different person. Shocked, Wei Chao said, "Master, are you okay?" ”

"I'm good, I'm good, I've never been so good." Wanli stared at the hundred officials under the noon gate, took a deep breath of the air with the smell of blood, and said: "Until today, I have tasted the taste of the Son of Heaven!" ”

Wei Chao and the eunuchs who followed him all felt extremely shocked when they heard this. They finally compared to this day, grew up like the emperor, and looked like an emperor compared to the emperor! Thinking that after all these years of hardship, it was finally time to turn over, and the eunuchs all shed tears.

"What are you crying about?" Wanli asked strangely.

"Seeing the majesty of the master, the slaves and maids are happy." Wei Chao hurriedly wiped away his tears and replied.

"Han Gaozu has clouds, the wind is blowing and the clouds are flying, and Weijia has returned to his hometown. This time, the four bold rebels of the court staff are the beginning of the four seas of the Wei plus the four seas! Wanli said in high spirits: "Just now we were worried that I would be afraid, it is really ridiculous in the world, if you can't even see this bit of blood, how can you do the power of the Son of Heaven?"

"The emperor is heroic in the sky, and the slaves and maids wish the emperor an early success!" Immediately a flood of horses was used.

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In the middle of the conversation, Wu Zhongxing and Zhao Yongxian's cane punishment was over, and there were officials from the Hanlin Academy, as well as the imperial doctor, who wanted to spontaneously come forward to rescue, but they were covered by the Jinyi guards who were on guard, Ai Mu and Shen Sixiao had not finished fighting, and they could not let them come forward to mess around.

But after a morning of liáo, the officials' emotions were already a little uncontrollable, and they shouted loudly: "It's all over, why don't you let people help!" Do you have to wait until you die? There were even young and angry people who pushed and fought with the soldiers who stood in the way.

Seeing that the hundred officials were getting more and more moved, Zhu Xixiao looked at Shen Mo and said softly: "Yuanfu, can you persuade them." ”

"Public anger is not a crime, Lord Zhu." There was silence from beginning to end, and after a moment, he said leisurely: "If you can do some convenience, let's do some convenience." ”

"This, this is ......" Zhu Xixiao looked at the increasingly chaotic situation, and was afraid that once he got out of control, he would not be able to eat and walk around. When he got to the truth, he could shirk it when the time came, so he waved his hand and ordered: "Fork them both out......"

Jin Yiwei removed the torture tools for Wu Zhongxing and Zhao Yongxian, and then directly pulled the felt cloth and dragged the two out of the execution ground, leaving two thrilling red blood marks where they passed.

As soon as the two of them were sent out, the officials gathered around with a hula, and immediately began to cry bitterly when they saw that the two of them were as inhuman as rotten cotton and had no breath. In the midst of the earth-shattering cries, some cool-headed people hurriedly asked the imperial doctor for help.

The medical officers of the Tai Hospital, generally do not dare to mix this kind of thing, but there are people everywhere who are not afraid of causing trouble, as soon as the news of the court staff came out yesterday, seven or eight Tai doctors volunteered to come with medicine boxes. Among them is Li Shizhen, who was stranded in the capital because of writing the Compendium of Materia Medica. Although he was not a hospital official, he was older than any imperial doctor, and as soon as he spoke, the officials immediately stopped howling and hurriedly gave way to the vacant space and asked him to treat the two.

Li Shizhen stretched out his hand and took Zhao Yongxian's pulse, and then took Wu Zhongxing's, and then breathed a sigh of relief; "Don't worry, there's still a breath, you can't die." Although Doctor Li was like this, the officials still couldn't believe it, they saw that the buttocks and thighs of the two of them were beaten to shreds, and Bai Sensen's broken bones and stubble were revealed. When they die like this, they believe, and they live, but they do not believe anymore.

Li Shizhen didn't pay attention to them, first gave the two of them his own special pills to hang their lives, and then started the operation on the spot with his students, the two of them were already in a deep coma, saving general anesthesia...... The so-called operation is to cut off the dead meat like rotten cotton wool on the bodies of the two people, and these minced meat can no longer be replanted, and they will rot if they remain on the body. From this point of view, although it is inhumane to take off the kuzi and spank, it is of great benefit to the treatment afterwards, otherwise the rotten meat is full of rags, and it can't help but be cleaned up very. An operation like this is nothing on the battlefield, Li Shizhen is very experienced in battlefield medicine, he and his students skillfully set up large wounds, and then disinfect and bandage them, and the movements are orderly. But for officials who have never been on the battlefield, it is even more shocking to see the operation up close, and even when they look at the cane, for example. Many people dare not look at the meat with a knife, but everyone forces themselves to watch it...... With a pilgrimage mood.

Friends

Dizzy, I was not in a good state last night, I was sleepy at nine o'clock, gritted my teeth and insisted on writing, I fell asleep while writing, and when I woke up at three o'clock, I finished writing it quickly. I owe a chapter and make it up today. I just didn't sleep and continued to write until dawn......