Three days later, in the early morning of March 16, the people of the city poured into the streets to see the traitor Liu Jin being Lingchi, and from early in the morning, there was the sound of firecrackers in the streets, and it was lively like the New Year's holiday, and people flocked to both sides of the street, waiting for Liu Jin's prisoner car to pass by. When the prisoner cart parade through several main streets, the people on both sides of the street smashed the mud and stones, rotten vegetable leaves, rotten vegetable leaves, rotten eggs and rotten eggs in their hands at Liu Jin's prisoner cart like raindrops, and the scene got out of control for a while, and finally they had to dispatch officers and soldiers to beat the people on both sides of the street with long whips, so as to ensure that the prisoner cart arrived at the execution ground in the west of the city before noon.

The so-called punishment of Ling Chi is to use a knife to cut off the flesh on the body one by one, this time the Ministry of Punishment invited the best executioner, it is said that it can slice a piece of meat that can transmit light, and can Ling Chi thousands of knives without death.

At noon, the execution began, and Liu Jin, who was tied to a wooden post, had strips of cloth stuffed in his mouth, his hands and feet were tied in a large shape, and he was wearing only a pair of shorts on his body; The executioner soaked the thin-bladed sharp knife in salty salt water and cut Liu Jin's fat thigh, and skillfully cut off a bloody thigh meat, which was bent in the salt water and then stretched out. The onlookers applauded thunderously, admiring his excellent skills, and no one cared about Liu Jin's painful death and resurrection tied to the pillar.

On the first day, 1,123 knives, the flesh of the two thighs and the chest part were almost cut, I don't know if Liu Jin's vitality is tenacious, or the executioner's means are superb, after being escorted back to the cell, Liu Jin actually drank half a bowl of gruel.

On the second day, 1,089 knives, the flesh on his arms and back were cut, Liu Jin couldn't hold it anymore, and he died that night after being imprisoned.

On the third day, Liu Jin, who had died, was still escorted to the execution ground, and the executioner used 1,145 knives to carefully cut off all the remaining intact parts of his body.

In three days, it took 3,357 knives to complete Ling Chi's punishment, and the cut flesh was put on the pine crossbar on the side of the execution ground, and the families of officials who had been persecuted by Liu Jin begged the executioner for Liu Jin's meat, and the executioner had the skill to make money, and actually peddled it, but the price was too low, only one penny per piece of meat, and Liu Jin's whole body was sold out, but it was only worth three taels of silver.

Liu Jin was ambushed, and the fate of many officials of Liu Jin and his party can be imagined, Jiao Fang and Gu Zuo naturally couldn't escape, although they did not participate in the rebellion, but because they did a lot of things because they were attached to Liu Jin, they naturally could not escape punishment; Liu Jin's henchmen in the inner court were wiped out by Yang Tinghe, beheaded and sent to prison to distribute one-stop service, and dozens of officials fell to the ground, including Liu Jin's hardcore Gao Feng Wei Bin and others in the inner court; More than 100 officials inside and outside Beijing have been implicated, and many of them have voluntarily turned themselves in and bitten others in an effort to reduce their criminal responsibility.

For a time, the arrest in the capital was about to come out, the officials were rushing, a long list of officials and their families were arrested, and a long list of people were escorted out of Beijing to the border towns to fill the army.

After half a month of commotion, it was only after settling down that the courtiers of the two cabinet elders of Li Dongyang and Wang Wei suddenly focused their attention on one thing, that is, the many vacancies in the outer court after the Great Purge, and it was time to seek a high position.

Yang Tinghe is in front of the mansion, and people with a little brain know that the outer court is now headed by Yang Tinghe, and after Jiao Fang was imprisoned, Yang Tinghe concurrently served as the secretary of the ministry, and the appointment and dismissal of all officials must be approved by Yang Tinghe. Yang Tinghe moved quickly, and under his recommendation, the six cabinets came to a big change.

After his recommendation, Liang Chu, Liu Zhong, Fei Hong, Jin Gui and several other unknown people suddenly ascended to the position, and were respectively awarded the post of university scholar to serve in the cabinet, these few seem to have nothing to do with Yang Tinghe, but under careful investigation they found that they have a common experience: they have all worked with Yang Tinghe in the Hanlin Academy, and now they are also scattered in various ministries and departments to serve as deputy or departmental positions, and they are also experienced and young officials. Among the six departments, in addition to retaining Lu Wan's position in the Ministry of War, the remaining five departments of the Ministry of Secretaries were also replaced, Liu Ji, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, He Jian, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, Fei Hong, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Liu Jing, the secretary of the Criminal Department, and Li Sui, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, were all newcomers nominated by Yang Yiqing.

When the dust settled, everyone was shocked to find that after the fall of Liu Jin, the biggest beneficiary was actually the outer court, to be precise, Yang Tinghe; Almost all the people in important positions were arranged by Yang Tinghe, and the new cabinet chief assistant firmly grasped the outer court in his hands and crumbled it together.

And Song Nan, the biggest hero who overthrew Liu Jin, disappeared from people's field of vision at this time, and someone suddenly found that soon after Liu Jin's death, this great hero who overthrew Liu Jin suddenly took a month off and disappeared from the court.

The little grandfather Zhang Lun has been to the Song Mansion two or three times, and each time he saw Song Nan lying in the backyard basking in the sun with Erlang's legs crossed, looking indifferent, Zhang Lun blamed Song Nan for why he didn't come out to preside over the situation at this time, this is the time when Song Nan's prestige reached its peak, how could he let Yang Tinghe grab the fruits of this victory. And Song Nan said nonchalantly every time: "Little grandfather, when you have pleasure, you have fun, why do you care?" Yang Ting and love tossed him to toss, isn't there a saying that he has to hide his merit and fame when he is gone? I am the one who has hidden his merit and fame. ”

Zhang Lun was so angry that he bitterly accused Song Nan of not operating at such an important time, wasting a great opportunity, and walked away; After doing this several times, Zhang Lun simply stopped persuading.

In fact, all of Yang Tinghe's actions Song Nan knew clearly, but Song Nan had his own little Jiujiu in his heart, Li Dongyang's words in the palace that day reminded Song Nan, Li Dongyang's words actually represented the thoughts of most officials, after that day, Song Nan suddenly realized that as soon as Liu Jin fell, he immediately became the eyes of the outer court.

Song Nan didn't want to be Liu Jin's second, and even if he came out to speak, what right did he have to prevent the reorganization of the cabinet and the big change of blood in the outer court? The only thing that can be done with certainty is to bite the crimes committed by Lu Wan's subordinates, pull Lu Wan down, and put Yang Yiqing on the throne of the military department.

But not to mention that Yang Yiqing wants to go back to the northwest to carry out the rectification of the border preparations as the chief officer of the three sides to the end, even if Yang Yiqing agrees to be the secretary of the military department, as soon as he exerts his strength, it is equivalent to turning his face with Yang Tinghe immediately after Liu Jin, for the position of the secretary of the military department, it is not worth it for the time being. In fact, he has not yet reached the time when he can fully oppose the outer court, and he is only a commander of the Jinyi Guard, just a commander of the Shenshu Battalion.

And in fact, there is another important reason that made Song Nan make up his mind to stay in obscurity for a period of time, a few days after Liu Jin was Ling Chi, Song Nan wanted to enter the palace twice to meet Zhengde, but Zhengde refused, which is a unique thing.

Zhang Yong passed the word out, saying that Zhengde had nightmares for several nights, and after waking up, he cried and said that Liu Jin might have been wronged, these words made Song Nan tremble, and at this time, Zhengde was still thinking about Liu Jin, and still suspected that Liu Jin was wronged, that is to say, he was skeptical of all the evidence he published, what a terrible thing. At this time, he still regarded himself as the hero who killed Liu Jin, jumping around pointing fingers, and with his righteous temperament, he was afraid that he would be really annoyed by him.

In view of the above situation, Song Nan decisively chose to take a month off and let Yang Tinghe toss, anyway, he couldn't intervene in the outer court, the more joy Yang Tinghe tossed, the more Zhengde's hatred, Song Nan wished he tossed so much. Song Nan is not worried at all that Yang Tinghe will sit in the conference to deal with him, no matter what, the urine of the civil officials of the outer court, they and Zhengde will definitely not be able to pee in the same pot, if Yang Tinghe is smart, he will not be as nosy as his predecessors, otherwise his fate will definitely not be much better.

Song Nan believes that Zhengde is just angry with himself for a while, in the final analysis, Zhengde has no one to really rely on except for the inner court and himself, and even the relatives are unwilling to settle some things for him.

So Song Nan lived a small life in the house without hearing anything outside the window, and at the same time did some planning and design for one thing he had always wanted to do, which was much more important and practical for the future.

End of this volume. Please see the next volume: Stormy Turmoil