The prison director handed Duan Chu a gilt medal, which was half the size of a palm.

It is similar to the waist card of Dongchang and Jinyiwei, and the shape is similar.

"Duan head card, all the executioners of the criminal department, the first time to execute on behalf of the criminal department, will get such a brand, and they don't have to hand it in after leaving office, they can be kept as a souvenir."

Duan Chu looked at the sign.

One side is engraved with the word "order", and the other side is engraved with the word "head card".

Under the two words "top brand", there are eight small words: chasing souls and killing people, never surpassing life.

Duan Chu knew about this brand.

Legend has it that with this brand, there is royal authority.

When the execution is carried out, it is more confident, and it can dispel the resentment and anger of the death row prisoner turned into a ghost.

Duan Chu thought of this, and flipped the sign, feeling heavy.

The prison director said: "Duan Toupai, ten people are late at a time, and they will be executed for three days, and you alone will definitely not be able to come, so these ten death row prisoners, you only need to use the first three knives against them one by one, and the rest will be handed over to them, and then we will be next to them to supervise their work." ”

They are the executioners he brought.

Duan Chu reached out and flipped through Ling Chi's knife.

Ling Chi's first three knives, the first knife is to cut off a thin piece of meat on the thigh and throw it high, which is called sacrificial meat.

The next two knives are to cut off the flesh and skin on the two eyes of the tortured person, put them down to cover the eyes, and there are many sayings, covering the eyes, hanging eyebrows, and so on.

Duan Chu smiled and put away the sign.

However, instead of holding a knife suitable for cutting meat and skin, he copied his own ghost head knife.

"The first card, use a knife to ......" an executioner also reminded.

The other executioners all looked at this executioner with contempt, the meaning is obvious, people can be the top card, that is, there is something outstanding, stronger than us, big knives and small knives, used in his hands.

The head of the prison also inquired in private, and Duan Chu was able to be the top card, mainly because he had cut off his bones, and he could be said to be a well-deserved executioner in the empire at present.

So he didn't think much of it.

……

The Praetorian Guards, just outside everyone, formed a circle.

At this time, the eldest prince of Qian came.

From a mere showman, he has become the second-in-command of the palace guards, second only to Changning Hou, the eldest son of Qian, and now he is also a hot figure in the capital.

However, he has a unique skill, unlike Yan Song, who needs to recruit people to increase his power.

As long as the prince Qian has the holy chess in hand, he doesn't need to form alliances everywhere at all.

The more he does not form a gang, the more the emperor is at ease with him.

Therefore, Mr. Qian is now in the capital, and he is also the target of many officials, but he is not interested in him.

Seeing Duan Chu, Prince Qian also greeted him.

Of course, now that he is the deputy commander of the Fourth Guard Battalion, Mr. Qian is much more stable, and the so-called greeting is just that the two of them look at each other and nod to each other.

I didn't speak, but everything was silent.

Old acquaintances, although they have not had a deep friendship before, but they also left their hometown and came to the capital, and their previous friendships are much more precious in a foreign country.

……

The tortured palace maid who had fainted just now was also woken up by pouring cold water.

The executioner of the criminal department has already stuffed walnuts in their mouths.

This proves that the execution can be started at any time, and the link of reading the guilt is also saved because it is necessary to save face for the emperor.

After Duan Chu and Prince Qian looked at each other, he walked up to the palace maid who was at the top of the line and took out the walnuts in her mouth.

"This sister, on her deathbed, can she wish?" Duan Chu asked.

"I have nothing else to think of, but I want to die quickly!" The maid replied.

Duan Chu nodded and said, "Okay!" ”

Before the words fell, the knife had been shot.

The sword flashed, and the palace woman's head fell to the ground.

……

Seeing Duan Chu beheading the palace maid, the prison master almost died in a hurry.

The emperor said that he wanted Ling Chi, just to make her suffer before she died, you are good, I want to give her a good time!

This is a great sin against the Son of Heaven!

You don't care about this sin, but you can't care about it!

You must know the position of this official, which is more than ten years of cold windows, plus more than ten years of officialdom in exchange!

Seeing Duan Chu holding a knife and walking towards the second palace maid, the prison director hurriedly shouted: "Stop him!" ”

More than 20 executioners also knew that they couldn't go wrong today, so they each held steel knives and ran to intercept Duan Chu.

At the beginning, these executioners were afraid of hurting the top card, so they showed mercy when they came out.

However, after Duan Chu used the handle of the knife to knock on his wrist, and after the wrist was taken off with a steel knife, Duan Chu also took the time to cut off the heads of the two palace maids, and the remaining executioners knew that it was not possible to deal with this top card without all their strength.

And the prison director was also panicked at this time.

There are ten in total, and you have cut three now, and you can't let you cut it again!

"Stop him no matter what!" The prison director shouted again.

In any case, it means that you can use any means.

So except for those few, the executioners who covered their wrists, the remaining twenty all surrounded them, and they all made a trick and killed Duan Chu.

Duan Chu didn't use knives to deal with them, but just used his fingers to flick away the knives that had been cut over one by one.

If anyone dares to stab him a second time, he will not bounce the knife away with his fingers, but with his fist, he will punch the bridge of the nose and knock the person unconscious.

The steel knives fell to the ground, and the people fell one after another.

No one can stop Duan Chu.

At the same time, his footsteps did not stop, and every time he walked in front of a stake, he beheaded a criminal palace maid.

And before those palace maids died, they had no resentment towards Duan Chu.

When Duan Chu arrived in front of anyone, everyone was grateful, and he closed his eyes willingly.

Compared to Ling Chi, being able to die so quickly is simply a great favor!

Seeing that Duan Chu had already beheaded seven criminal palace maids, and the executioners under his command had all lost their combat effectiveness, the head of the prison could only ask for help from Prince Qian.

If you don't ask for help, everyone will be cut down by him, and no one will be able to do it, how can you explain it to the emperor!

"Lord Qian, the matter is urgent, come and help!"

Listening to the prison master's request for help, Mr. Qian shook his head.

"Today, the official is leading people, just to maintain order, not to carry out executions, executions are the affairs of your criminal department, and your own people are fighting, it is also an internal matter of your criminal department, and it is inconvenient for us to participate."

Prince Qian politely refused.

He wasn't afraid that he wouldn't be able to beat Duan Chu, but he was thinking about his old feelings and didn't want to do anything with Duan Chu.

With his words, the Praetorian Guards all stood still.

Mr. Qian didn't help, and the head of the prison saw that Duan Chu had beheaded seven criminal palace maids, and then walked to the last one with a knife, and his eyes were dark and he fainted.

Duan Chu beheaded the ten criminal palace maids, and thrust the ghost head knife into the ground, and the head card was also hung on the handle of the knife.

Then he sat down next to the Devil's Head Knife.

Prince Qian also knew that Duan Chu's trouble was not small, and he looked at Duan Chu and felt very sorry.

Duan Chu did not hesitate to touch the emperor's rebellion in order to let the ten palace maids suffer less crimes.

This practice is admired by Prince Qian.

"If it were me, I wouldn't have the courage to do that! I thought that if I became a palace guard, I would be able to be one level higher than him, but I didn't expect that he was still the same mountain, and I couldn't climb it! ”

After sighing, Prince Qian arranged for the Praetorian Guards to evacuate in an orderly manner with those palace maids and eunuchs who were supposed to watch the execution.

Although the beheading is also very bloody, it is much stronger than Ling Chi after all.

Therefore, these palace maids and eunuchs, not only were they not afraid, but they were all boasting in their hearts.

Because even if these palace maids commit something, but the palace maids and eunuchs who don't commit a crime also have the sadness of the rabbit dying and the fox.

After all, everyone was oppressed by the emperor and sympathized with each other.

It's just that this sympathy can't be spoken.

……

The ten guilty palace maids were all given a quick death by Duan Chu, and now Duan Chu is sitting on the ground with no intention of resisting.

However, the prison director hadn't woken up yet, and the other officials and those executioners didn't dare to touch Duan Chu on the ground.

When the prison director woke up, he pointed at Duan Chu and yelled: "Arrest him!" ”

As a result, two teams of brocade guards came running and snatched the person from the hands of the criminal department.

The leading Jinyi Wei senior official is none other than Shen Qingchun.

"This matter, if your criminal department handles it, the problem will only cause trouble in the city, so the Son of Heaven will confess, and our Jinyi guard will arrest people and take them to the Imperial Prison for detention pending trial."

Shen Qingchun did not deceive the prison master, and it was the emperor who sent him to arrest Duan Chu.

……

The emperor arranged Ling Chi's palace maids, originally to kill chickens and monkeys, but the result was good, Duan Chu relied on his martial arts and superb sword skills, and he actually defeated more than 20 masters in prison, and all these guilty palace maids were stabbed.

This is not only a disobedience to the will, but also a lack of lawlessness!

Therefore, when the emperor heard about this, he was furious on the spot, and immediately gave an order to Jinyiwei to arrest Duan Chu and put him in prison.

Unlike the Criminal Department, the Imperial Prison is an internal institution of the Empire, and the prisoner also needs to be clerked and to review the facts of the case and the identity of the offender.

Therefore, putting Duan Chu in the edict prison can control the negative impact to a minimum.

……

Duan Chu did not resist in the face of Shen Qingchun's arrest.

When the people in the Criminal Department saw that Duan Chu was shackled, they wanted to take away Duan Chu's ghost head knife and the head card that had just been issued.

Shen Qingchun pressed down the handle of the ghost head knife inserted on the ground.

"Once the head card is awarded, no one can take it back without the emperor's words, in addition, this ghost head knife is today's murder weapon, and the official must keep it for evidence!"

After Shen Qingchun finished speaking, he asked his hundreds of households to put away the ghost head knife and the head card together.

Shen Qingchun said official clichés, in fact, he just didn't want Duan Chu's things to fall into the hands of others.

The people in the criminal department didn't dare to be tough with him, so they let him do it.

……

This time there was a turmoil in the execution ground, and the sentence came soon.

Prince Qian did not stop Duan Chu, and the emperor did not blame him, why did he ask the Praetorian Guards to stretch out their hands because of the sudden infighting within the Criminal Department.

In order not to expand the matter into a scandal that spread throughout the capital, the emperor only punished the people in the criminal department.

The prison officer is the chief officer of the scene, and he has twenty rods.

Other members of the criminal department, etc., each hit ten boards.

As for Duan Chu, the emperor said this: "Let him Ling Chi, he will not behead, and he will do it against me like this, obviously to show his mercy and set off my cruelty!" ”

Therefore, the emperor was furious and gave Duan Chu a top punishment: "Choose a day to be late!" ”

"Since he has a bodhisattva heart and gave those thieves a good time, then it is up to him to replace them and bear the pain of a thousand cuts!"

……

Duan Chu was in prison and did not suffer any pain.

After all, the edict prison belongs to the Jinyi Weibei Town Fusi.

And Shen Qingchun is the pacification envoy of the Beizhen Fusi.

So those Jinyi guards, not to mention the torture of Duan Chu, didn't even embarrass Duan Chu, didn't scold a word, even the prison food that Duan Chu ate was of the highest standard.

Although he did not suffer from the pain of Jinyiwei, the loss of freedom was the greatest pain in itself.

When the emperor's sentence came down, after Shen Qingchun told Duan Chu, Duan Chu bowed his head gloomily.

He wasn't afraid of death.

But I am afraid that if I die like this, what will happen to the women and children in the family!

"Brother Shen, I know that I can't escape death, but I am just a woman and child in the family, and I ask Brother Shen to settle it properly."

Shen Qingchun listened to Duan Chu's words and shook his head vigorously.

"Brother, what happened to these ten palace maids, I still told you, at that time I was just sorry for them, but I couldn't do anything, but you did it, so between the two of us, on who is the man, my brother is convinced of you, my brother will not let you die like this!"

Shen Qingchun said this and patted Duan Chu on the shoulder.

"Brother, I'll go to Lord Lu now and beg him to intercede for you in front of the Son of Heaven, as long as he can come forward, you will definitely not die!"

After Shen Qingchun finished speaking, he really went to find Lu Bing.

However, Lu Bing has been very annoyed lately.

His desk has piled up a lot of intelligence documents that are not good for Yan Song.

Forming a party for personal gain, embezzling public funds, and all kinds of crimes.

If it had been someone else, Lu Bing would have handed over this information to the emperor a long time ago.

But Yan Song and Duan Chaoyong are now the emperor's favorite two people.

The degree of favor seems to surpass that of himself and Huang Jin, so opening this mouth in front of the emperor to denounce Yan Song is a little more dangerous than before.

If the Emperor thinks he has ulterior motives, then it is very likely that things will go in a bad direction and then get out of his control.

When Lu Bingzheng was upset, where could he take care of Duan Chu.

So in the face of Shen Qingchun's request, Lu Bing immediately refused.

"Qingchun, you released so many Qin criminals last time, the Son of Heaven already has a mustard, this time in order to let Duan Chu live, let's go to the Son of Heaven to plead again, the result will only be counterproductive, didn't the Son of Heaven say, choose the day to be late, this proves that the Son of Heaven will not want to kill Duan Chu for a while, let's take a step at a time."

When Lu Bing rejected Shen Qingchun, Shen Qingchun glanced at those documents.

The paper is full of stringent indictments.

Shen Qingchun has long been unaccustomed to Yan Song.

This time, Duan Chu rebelled against the emperor, and he also wanted to give those palace maids a relief, which was tantamount to setting an example for Shen Qingchun.

Shen Qingchun planned that he couldn't let Yan Song, the scourge, continue to grow up!

Without him, Zhang Ge Lao would not have left Beijing gloomily, and the new policy would not have been hastily dismounted!

This kind of good thing for the benefit of the country and the people is because Yan Song cried and made trouble, so he died halfway!

The more Shen Qingchun thought about it, the more angry he became.

However, he still can't spare his hand to deal with Yan Song, because he has to find a way to save Duan Chu first.

……

Duan Chu is not so easy to save, because the emperor is still angry.

Shen Qingchun planned to inform Duan Chu's family first.

lest Duan Chu delay in returning, and their group of women will be worried.

Shen Qingchun thought of this, and didn't bring any subordinates, and walked to Duan's house alone.

vertex