It is already the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, and there has not been a single snow on the ground of Beijing and neighboring provinces since the beginning of winter in the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing. There is no snow in winter, and next year will definitely be a great harvest of insects and locusts, and famine is coming, and God is going to accept people. People's hearts are panicked, and folk rumors are like the wind: the Ming Dynasty has gone through ten emperors since Emperor Taizu Gao, and has never suffered such a curse! Who is the Wrath of the Heavens? This year, the state treasury has been so short that even the Beijing officials of various ministries and offices in Beijing have not paid their money for several months, and the people's suffering can be seen. Yan Song, the first assistant who had been in charge of the cabinet for nearly 20 years, and his son Yan Shifan, who was openly called Xiaoge Lao, and many Yan parties immediately became the abyss of boiling public resentment. In the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, a fire in Xiyuan suddenly burned down the Wanshou Palace where Emperor Jiajing practiced Taoism and cultivation day and night. So the floating rumors of the government and the opposition quietly spread to the emperor again. A political upheaval caused by celestial phenomena has been surging.

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year's Eve, and Jingshi is a high day in winter. And the last batch of newspapers from neighboring provinces rushed into the palace today, which is even more desperate: there is still no snow in Shandong, no snow in Shanxi, and no snow in Beizhili!

Emperor Jiajing, who had made several altars of Luo Tian Dajiao and prayed for snow, finally couldn't sit still, and he had never believed in Fang Shi and did not listen to the analysis of the celestial phenomena of Qin Tianjian, and he urgently summoned Zhou Yunyi, the Qin Tianjian Supervisor, into Xiyuan Yuxi Palace. He wanted Qin Tianjian to find an example of three generations of prosperity without snow to prove that this winter's lack of snow has nothing to do with personnel. But the monarch and the ministers asked correctly, and Zhou Yunyi's reply made Emperor Jiajing so angry that he smashed the Khotanese jade pestle in his hand. Zhou Yunyi was immediately escorted to the noon gate by the eunuch of Dongchang, and the crown and belt were taken away. At noon, he stood on the road on the central axis of the noon gate and looked up at the "visionary" sun in the sky, waiting for the court staff that all the officials of the Ariake generation heard coldly.

"On my behalf, I'll ask you one last time." A voice came from the direction of the noon gate behind Zhou Yunyi, "Why hasn't it snowed since the beginning of winter this year?" ”

"I've already said it. The palace has excessive expenditures, the cabinet is greedy for ink, the treasury is empty, and the people are struggling to make a living, this is a warning from heaven! Zhou Yunyi's eyes were still only looking at the "visionary" sun in the sky.

"Alas!" The eunuch behind him let out a sigh of disappointment, not loud, but terrifying. The four court rods of the four Dongchang execution eunuchs beside Zhou Yunyi immediately moved, the first two passed through his armpits to erect his upper body, and the last two hit the crook of his hind legs at the same time. Zhou Yunyi knelt down. The first two of his canes were pulled back, and his body lay on the brick floor of the noon gate, and his four feet immediately stepped on the backs of his two hands and two back ankles, and Zhou Yunyi was stepped on tightly in a large shape. Then, the eyes of the four Dongchang eunuchs all looked at the eunuch who was questioning in the direction of the noon gate.

It was Feng Bao, the eunuch of the East Factory who was ordered to question, he hesitated for a moment, but still did not give the order to execute, paced to Zhou Yunyi's side, slowly squatted down, and put it to his ear, his voice was full of compassion: "Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year's Eve, and your family is waiting for you to celebrate the New Year." Can't you just change your story? ”

Zhou Yunyi's head was pressed against the masonry floor, his eyes were closed, and his mouth was closed, only two tears came out of the corners of his eyes. Feng Bao was disappointed and stood up: "Let me ask you one more question, who taught you to say these words to the emperor?" Zhou Yunyi still closed his eyes: "I am an official of the Ming Dynasty who observes celestial phenomena, and I preach the will of heaven to the Son of Heaven, except for heaven, no one can teach me!" Feng Bao took a step back and stopped looking at him, and the toes of the two feet standing in the form of an outer figure suddenly turned inward, and they stood in an inner figure: "Court staff." ”

This is a sign of the rod of death! The eyes of the four eunuchs touched, and then all four pairs of eyes were closed, and the four court rods took turns to slam into the kidneys on Zhou Yunyi's back and waist.

There was no sound from each cane, and no blood stains seeped out of the robe, all that was shattered was internal organs, and blood immediately spurted out from between Zhou Yunyi's mouth and nose.

The twenty canes were finished in a moment, and the first two canes passed under Zhou Yunyi's armpits against the ground, lifting his upper body up. Zhou Yunyi's head hung softly, and his upper body also hung softly. Feng Bao squatted down again, picked up his head, and tore off one of his hairs and stretched it in front of his nostrils. The hair didn't move.

Feng Bao sighed and stood up: "Inform his family to collect the body." ”

The sun still hung in vain over the blue sky of the Forbidden City, coldly shining on every roof of the more than 9,000 palace rooms where the emperor had not lived since the 21st year of Jiajing.