At this time, three people dressed in prisoner's prison clothes and tied up with flowers came to the platform under the escort of a group of strong guards. The three people were arranged by the people of the criminal department near the big wooden pier, because their backs were facing the people, so the people did not see the appearance of the three people clearly. However, some ordinary people with better eyesight could vaguely see the appearance of the three prisoners, and the three of them were not very old, especially the one who walked behind seemed to have just reached adulthood. The three men were pressed down by the executioner and knelt behind the big wooden pier, and the three men did not seem to struggle at all.

At this time, several high-ranking officials came out, and they were the on-site commanders of the beheading prisoner. There is an official term called the prison beheader, which is the official who supervises the execution of the prisoner and the official who later verifies the identity of the prisoner. They had three responsibilities, the first was to verify the identity of the prisoner before he was executed, to announce the prisoner's crime and the emperor's decision to behead him. The second is to supervise and observe the execution of prisoners on the spot. The third is to determine that the deceased person is the prisoner himself, that is, to verify the identity again. After everything is completed, the mission is considered complete, and they can go back to the emperor.

Master Zhang, the secretary of the Criminal Department, was the prisoner this time, and he held the prisoner's crime and the final verdict written by the emperor himself. Master Zhang is the supreme commander of the Criminal Department and a veteran of executing criminals, so he knows the process of executing criminals. He sat down unhurriedly, thinking repeatedly in his heart what to do for a while to be both majestic and smooth, this was a rare opportunity to be in the limelight. He wants to show the majesty of the court in front of the people of the capital, and let the people know their abilities and abilities, which will be of great help to his future progress. On the contrary, if he does not do this errand well, not only will the common people look down on him, but even the emperor will no longer pay attention to him, and his future will not be good. For the sake of his future, for the sake of him and his family's future, he does not allow himself to make mistakes, and he does not allow the people below to ruin his future. He had repeatedly stressed to his subordinates that there must be no surprises or shortcomings this time, otherwise he would definitely deal with his subordinates as soon as possible.

This time, Zhang Shangshu was basically satisfied with the noon gate beheading plan, at least until he appeared, he felt that everything was safe and accident-free. Zhang Shangshu was the highest executive officer of the beheading this time, so he was arranged to sit in the most central position of the beheading platform. He motioned for the other officials who had been with him to sit down, and then he closed his eyes and rested alone, recuperating himself and preparing for a personal performance for a while. Several other officials also followed Zhang Shangshu's example and closed their eyes to recuperate, but they were actually a little jealous of this Zhang Shangshu in their hearts. Zhang Shangshu turned out to be just an inconspicuous petty official, and he was almost not ranked in the capital. If it weren't for Zhang Shangshu having a rich father-in-law who was willing to spend money on Zhang Shangshu to buy an official to dredge up the relationship, Zhang Shangshu wouldn't know where he was being an inconspicuous petty official now. Since the little emperor was in power, he first needed power, second needed money, and third needed to be loyal to his subordinates, especially after overthrowing Zhang Juzheng, he felt the lack of financial resources and manpower. At this time, his subordinates recommended Zhang Shangshu to him, Zhang Shangshu is not very capable but his family has money, and he expresses absolute loyalty to the little emperor one by one. The little emperor also wanted everyone to understand what he meant, so he set Zhang Shangshu as a new benchmark, and in this way, Zhang Shangshu went from an inconspicuous seven-rank petty official to a second-grade criminal department secretary in just one year. How can this make the old boss on the side, and now his subordinates not jealous of this Zhang Shangshu?

Zhang Shangshu had already watched the little emperor's decree on the way to the noon gate, and took advantage of the rest time to think about how to announce the criminal's crime in his mind for a while. The charges of the prisoner announced in the Little Emperor's decree were not detailed, and Zhang Shangshu did not know why the prisoner was ordered to be executed immediately by the Little Emperor. None of this is important to Zhang Shangshu, because these prisoners have offended the little emperor, and the little emperor wants to kill them, Zhang Shangshu just needs to do a good job. Zhang Shangshu knew very well in his heart that he must carry out everything that the little emperor wanted to do, and those who offended the little emperor in everything were his biggest enemies, and those who opposed his master, the little emperor, were the great enemies of his family. Only by following the little emperor step by step can we be a good dog of the little emperor and have a bright and lofty future.

"Disadvantage, disloyalty to the king, deception, and snooping on the imperial palace" This is the crime that the little emperor personally convicted, that is, the reason for killing these prisoners. Zhang Shangshu didn't know what the little emperor wanted these people to do, and how these people replied to the little emperor, anyway, the little emperor felt that not only did these people not do things well, but also made the little emperor very dissatisfied. In particular, the last crime is "spying on the imperial palace", which is very important and delicate. Zhang Shangshu privately thought that these few people who didn't know whether they were alive or dead must have known the secrets of the little emperor's family, which caused the little emperor to be unhappy. What is not good for doing things, what is not doing a good job, is just an excuse. It is estimated that these people have already completed their work, and even completed the task assigned by the little emperor, but they only knew secrets that they should not know, which led to the disaster of killing. Zhang Shangshu will not sympathize with these people, nor will he inquire about secrets, otherwise he himself will be in danger, let alone let others know the secrets of the little emperor. Therefore, Zhang Shangshu decided that the meeting would not only have to speak when the verdict was announced, but also that the verdict should be pronounced as soon as possible to kill these people as soon as possible.

One of his subordinates who was watching the hour for Zhang Shangshu and the others on the side saw that the time was almost up, so he went over to inform Zhang Shangshu and the others. Zhang Shangshu and the others once again sorted out their official uniforms with the help of their cronies, and their experienced subordinates also knew that the time was almost up, so they began to cheer up. The people on the side also knew that the show was about to begin, so they hurriedly stood up and stretched their necks to look carefully. Some elderly people and children who were sitting on the ground to rest also stood up with the help of family members or friends, especially some children clamoring for adults to pick them up.

Zhang Shangshu glanced at his cronies and expressed his dissatisfaction with this messy scene. The cronies immediately understood the meaning, and several people shouted "silence" together, telling the people to shut up. Immediately, in order to watch a good show, in order not to be treated as a co-defendant by the officials, the common people shut up and stood quiet. Zhang Shangshu nodded with satisfaction, it seems that the deterrent effect of the imperial court and the yamen on the common people is still very powerful. Officials all hope that the common people will fear and obey the imperial court, so that they can manage the common people under their rule well.

The cronies once again reported the time, reminding Zhang Shangshu that noon was approaching, and it was time for Zhang Shangshu to announce the criminal's crime. According to the normal procedure for the execution of a prisoner, there are still certain steps and procedures to be completed before the execution of a prisoner at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. At noon, the offender is declared guilty, and then the prisoner is identified by the prison officer. At a quarter of noon, the prison officer announces the sentence of the condemned prisoner, and the death row card is inserted for the condemned prisoner. At two o'clock in the afternoon, a severed head meal or a life-giving wine is delivered, so that the condemned prisoner can finally eat and drink enough to go on the road. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the prison officer formally executed the condemned prisoner, the executioner executed the prisoner, and the prison officer finally verified the identity of the condemned prisoner. At this time, the task is completed, and it is time for the people to clean up the execution ground and the bodies of the condemned prisoners.

At noon, the prison officer announced the death penalty on behalf of the emperor, and at this time, if the big corrupt official or the big traitor or the big bandit, the common people would throw rotten eggs or other garbage at the prisoner. This was allowed by the imperial court, and it was also intended to allow the condemned prisoner to receive physical and mental torture again before he died. After clearing the debris of the execution ground at a quarter of noon, the warden announced the final sentence on behalf of the emperor, which was basically the death penalty of beheading. At this time, after verifying the death row prisoner's body, he changed into the red prison uniform used for the execution of the death row prisoner, and inserted a death card with the name of the death row prisoner. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the executioner poured the death row prisoner with a death bottle and fixed the death row prisoner on the execution table. Because it is a noon gate, it eliminates the need for the family of the condemned prisoner to feed the prisoner. In order to prevent the prisoners from making trouble or saying something inappropriate, the executioner put an anesthetic in the wine that the condemned prisoner had drunk. This will prevent the condemned prisoner from saying something he should not have said at the end, and secondly, it will make the death row prisoner feel less painful when he dies. The people who can be beheaded at the noon gate are either the big people in the past or people with status and status, and the executioners and prison officials are also worried that the families of the prisoners will make trouble for them in the future, so it is worthy of the people to make the death row prisoner feel better when he dies. Some people with a conscience know very well that most of these death row prisoners have died unjustly, and they are no longer able to help these death row prisoners, so they have to let these death row prisoners not suffer when they leave, and they can be regarded as accumulating virtue. At three o'clock in the afternoon, as soon as the drums stopped, it was time for the prison officials to execute the condemned prisoners and the executioners to take the knife. Since noon, there is a big drum at each of the four corners near the execution platform, and the drum is beaten according to the rhythm of slow and then fast, which is the famous "final drum". The drum must not be stopped, nor can it be beaten too fast, according to the rhythm of the slowest drum from the first quarter to the first quarter of the afternoon, the drum at a medium speed from the first quarter to the second quarter of the afternoon, and the fast drum from the second quarter to the third quarter of the afternoon. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the drums beat most quickly and loudly, and when the drums stopped, that is, the heads of the condemned prisoners hit the ground. If there are several condemned prisoners on the execution table, the moment the drumming stops on each side, it is the time when the head of the condemned prisoner falls to the ground. If the coordination is not good, both the drummer and the executioner will be punished afterwards. If there are too many condemned prisoners, the torture table will prepare a few more drums, and the number of drums must be greater than the number of condemned prisoners. When the last drum stops, it is when all the condemned prisoners have died, and if there are other condemned prisoners alive, even the prison officials will be unlucky. Therefore, whether it is the supervisor or the executioner, they all hope that the last drummer will play for a longer time, otherwise they will be in trouble.