Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

On the eighth day of April, the morning sun rises from the east.

The entire capital has long since woken up, and the streets are as lively as ever.

An execution team was bathed in the sunshine and heading towards the execution site.

Du Ming, the Minister of Punishment, personally escorted the death row prisoners, and it was Li Guangdu who was detained in the prison car.

When we arrived at the Sixi archway, there was already a sea of ​​people here, and the nearby roofs were full of people, just because: the punishment of an envoy from a foreign vassal was a new and strange thing.

Li Guangdu is not tall, but has a strong body and dark skin. Even now as he is being taken to the execution ground, obscene words are still being spoken all the way.

At first, he used Chinese, then switched to Vietnamese. Finally, he wanted to change back to Chinese, but it turned out to be... wu wu, because there were more lumps in his mouth.

Du Ming, the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, who was wearing a second-grade official uniform, looked at the unruly Li Guangdu and realized that the ancients were sincere and would not deceive others - those who are not of my race must have different hearts.

When these foreign vassals paid tribute, although they kept claiming that the Heavenly Kingdom was above them, they did not necessarily think so in their hearts. Once the Ming Dynasty is in trouble in the future, these foreign vassals will definitely expose their wild ambitions.

At this time, he finally understood His Majesty's painstaking efforts to strengthen the army. He had to "exterminate their kind" against some foreign vassals with different intentions to avoid future troubles forever.

Downstairs of Dongpai, the execution platform has been arranged in advance, and a thick wooden pole with forks on top has been erected on the execution platform.

Li Guangdu was temporarily placed under the Nanpai Building. Several tall officials opened the prison van, then asked him to sit in a large basket and removed his shoes and other items.

Li Guangdu was forcibly stuffed into a large basket. The cloth ball in his mouth had just been taken off, and he shouted: "The Ming emperors are all cowards and cowards. If they dare to kill envoys, why don't they dare to raise troops! Even if they have no brains, they are all cowards and cowards." I really lost my head today, with a scar as big as a bowl. In the eighteenth year, I was a hero of the Li Dynasty, and I will definitely raise an army to destroy your Ming Dynasty!"

Huh?

The people who were watching were originally very angry when they heard Li Guangdu's shouting, but as they listened, they realized that something was wrong, and they couldn't help but look at each other.

There was movement on the execution platform. Several executioners carried small baskets and came to the thick wooden pole of the execution platform. One executioner took out his iron hook and polished it on the gravel, while the other executioner was sharpening his own. Sharp blade.

Li Guangdu suddenly noticed the strange movements of the executioners on the execution platform, and couldn't help but asked in confusion: "What are you doing with such a small knife?"

"The emperor is destined to be transported by heaven, and the edict says: Li Guangdu, an official of the Li Dynasty in the outer vassal, took advantage of the opportunity to pay tribute to Beijing to steal items prohibited by the Ming Dynasty. When he met the emperor's decree on his way back, the governor was defeated and led his troops to resist the decree, and killed nine people including Zhu Gong of Qianhu, one of the emperor's own soldiers. , but all his tribesmen were executed by the emperor's own army, and he was arrested and returned to the capital. However, the thieves had no regrets and thought that they would be exempted from responsibility for their crimes. It is really ridiculous. The Ming Dynasty is the country of the suzerain, and the vassal kings must be punished for their wickedness. What about the ministers of the vassal state? Today, Guangdu has committed the crime of treason and insulted the emperor. Now he is punished by Lingchi. According to the law, he should be chopped into pieces with 3,600 knives. I admire you here!" Officials from the Ministry of Punishment came out with the order and said: The people watching on the scene read out.

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

"Haha... no matter who the messenger is, he should be killed by a thousand swords!"

"I hate that the imperial court spared Japan back then, but now Ling Chi Annan's envoy is trying to show off the prestige of our Ming Dynasty!"

…

The people who were watching learned the cause of the matter and saw that the emperor actually wanted to execute Ling Chi, the arrogant Annan envoy, and couldn't help but cheer.

Li Guangdu's hands and feet were tied, and then he belatedly looked at the executioner who was sharpening his knife on the execution platform, and realized that things were far worse than he thought.

In fact, he was already afraid on the way to the escort. I just took into account the face of the Annan people and wanted to win the favor of the Emperor of Li Dynasty, so I thought of closing my eyes and coming here.

Li Guangdu realized that he had far underestimated the Ming Emperor's courage, and immediately shouted to Du Ming, the Minister of Punishment on the execution platform: "Du Shangshu, there must be something wrong, there must be something wrong, how can you insult Chi Ben... Xiaochen ?”

"It is indeed a crime worthy of execution, but anyone who insults the king and father will be punished with a penalty of three thousand six hundred knives! Come, prepare for execution!" Du Ming saw Li Guangdu's reaction and immediately ordered in a cold voice.

"Foreign ministers are not familiar with the laws of the Ming Dynasty. Please beg His Majesty for mercy and forgiveness... Wuwu!" Li Guangdu thought that the Ming Dynasty would use the most terrifying criminal law against him, and he immediately begged for mercy.

In order to prevent him from biting his tongue and committing suicide, someone stuffed peach kernels into his mouth.

Li Guangdu saw an executioner sharpening the blade of his knife to a crisp. Thinking that such a blade would cut him 3,600 times, his crotch felt hot.

He was really scared. He thought that as long as he gritted his teeth, he could be a heroic man and even be named a hero by the Emperor of Li Dynasty.

As a result, he was quick to talk for a while, and he was about to become the most miserable person to die in the entire Li Dynasty.

When he arrived, the prison officer took Li Guangdu to the execution platform.

After three cannons were fired, a thick wooden pole with forks on the top was erected on the execution platform and Li Guangdu, including himself and the net, was suspended with a rope, while Li Guangdu screamed in horror.

"Execution!"

Du Ming, the Minister of Punishment, took out a stick from the bamboo tube and immediately threw it towards the ground.

Although it was said that it was a joint trial by the three councils, the two actually still listened to me, so naturally I had to rub the emperor's mind.

Compared with the previous emperor, the current new emperor is indeed a wise and mighty young emperor. On the judicial side alone, after beheading Qingyun Hou Zhou Shou, officials and gentry all over the world began to fear the law.

For example, the son of Ma Wensheng, the former censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, beat someone to death. In the past, he could be pardoned, but in this dynasty, he must be punished. Only today's emperor has the attitude of a wise king.

This handling of the Annan envoy further demonstrated the authority of Ming law.

From bottom to top, from within the sea to the four seas, the Ming Dynasty advocated the rule of law so much, why worry about the failure of China.

Ling Chi did not need to wait for three quarters to noon. When Du Ming, the Minister of Punishment, dropped the token, the execution began.

"I haven't seen Ling Chi for a long time!"

"Ling Chi with three thousand six hundred swords is extremely rare!"

"This man really deserves it, how dare he offend our Ming Emperor!"

"They should be given a taste of Lingchi, so that these envoys can improve their memory!"

…

The people watching saw Ling Chi starting immediately and saw that the long-awaited show was about to take place, and they couldn't help but start talking.

Li Guangdu's hands were tied behind his back, and he needed to adjust the direction of the net so that he could kneel down and his body, affected by the center of gravity, would press downward against the net.

Although Li Guangdu wanted to resist, he was now tied up and even had his mouth full of nutmeg, but he couldn't even speak.

Snapped!

A strong executioner slapped Li Guangdu's heart hard. Li Guangdu suddenly felt a sense of suffocation, his heart ached, and his whole body couldn't help but curl up.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the executioner used a sharp knife to dexterously spin off a piece of meat the size of a copper coin from Li Guangdu's right breast. This knife just rotated away the milk particles, leaving a wound that resembled a blind man's eye socket.

This executioner's surname was Wang. Because of his superb skills, he could always make the prisoner suffer the most number of knives before dying, so he was nicknamed "The executioner's king".

After King Xi turned off the first piece of meat, he did not continue the execution. Instead, he walked to the edge of the execution platform. The apprentice next to him counted "one", and he threw the meat high and said: "Thank God!".

Li Guangdu still felt chest tightness with the peach core in his mouth, and the pain of the new wound made him cry. He felt like a pig about to be chopped alive.

Now, in his heart, he regretted his arrogant move.

If I had kept a lower profile and had more respect for this dynasty, I wouldn't have acted so recklessly, and I wouldn't have ended up like this.

It's just that there is no medicine for regret in the world, and his happiness has just begun.

When King Xizi came back, he cleansed the left breast of Li Guangdu neatly. When the disciple counted "two", he threw the piece of meat as big as a copper coin on the ground and said: "Thank you!".

Two bloody holes appeared on Li Guangdu's chest, which were like copper coins, but the amount of blood on them was very small. It is said that the legendary executioner could make a pearl with only one blood drop.

An executioner next to him used a rag made from a sheep's belly dipped in salt water to simply stop the bleeding and clean up the blood stains for Zhu Guangdu. However, he wanted to extend the number of cuts for the prisoners as much as possible and prolong their... suffering.

Li Guangdu felt as if his body was constantly being burned by small fires. Before he could react, another piece of meat the size of a copper coin was missing from his chest.

If he could see his body, the third cut was on the side of the first cut, with only a thin line between them, so it was also called "fish scale cut".

King Hao Zi walked to the edge of the execution platform again. When his apprentice counted "three", he threw the meat on the tip of the knife into the air and said, "Thank you, ghost!"

With each cut, the number of blood pearls seemed to be getting less and less. An assistant next to him continued to use a wool towel and salt water to stop the bleeding and clean up the blood stains, which seemed to be done in an orderly manner.

Du Ming, the Minister of Punishment, sat on it and witnessed the entire execution process. At this time, he was even more afraid of the man in the Forbidden City. After all, he was also afraid that this kind of torture would happen to him.

At that moment, he even suspected that Zhu Youtang did it to him on purpose, to make him loyal to the emperor at all times.

There is a break every ten cuts and a shout. This is a technical job of cutting into pieces with a thousand cuts.

Some of the people watching couldn't stand it anymore and left. Some people watched with gusto all the time, and many people joined in to watch later.

The people who arrived belatedly saw Xi Zi's hand taking out something from the bamboo basket. It turned out to be human lungs and liver, hanging directly on the rope hanging from the forked thick wooden pole.

"Three thousand five hundred and ninety-five!"

"Three thousand five hundred and ninety-six!"

"Three thousand five hundred and ninety-seven!"

…

King Hao Zi continued to cut the lungs and liver. Every time he made a cut, the apprentice next to him was still counting.

Although Li Guangdu could no longer bear it, he would kill him with a thousand cuts.

"Three thousand six hundred!"

As the last knife fell, the liver could no longer be cut, and the entire execution officially came to an end.

Two assistants nearby hung up Li Guangdu's head and body respectively, and the cut meat was sold, which is said to be a good medicinal material for medicine.

In addition to the overall skeleton, Li Guangdu's body also has residual mesh skin and long strips of muscles, as if the skeleton is covered with a special forces ghillie suit.

At this point, the first Annan man in history who was punished by the Ming Dynasty was born.

The reason why Zhu Youtang adopted such a cruel punishment against Li Guangdu was not only to demonstrate to the foreign vassals that the sovereign power of the suzerain country was irreversible, but also to show the world that the monarch's power could not be desecrated.

After all, if the Ming Dynasty wanted to take the road of becoming a powerful country, it was inseparable to a certain extent from severe torture.

History has long proven that when a certain virtuous monarch abolished the death penalty for corruption crimes in his "Regulations on Punishment", what he gained was not the integrity and self-discipline of his ministers, but more crazy collective corruption.

April is an uneasy month.

While Li Guangdu was being tortured, Zhu Fu, the prince of Chengguo, faced a more severe situation.

Dongchang, imprisoned.

Similar to the prison in Beifuzhensi, there are no windows here and require torch lighting all year round.

After Qin Conggui's ruthless performance during this period, he has successfully taken the second position in Dongchang. Because he has a close relationship with Hongzhi, the governor now wants to give him a little less favor.

After finding his own position, he cherished the opportunities in front of him, so he had already determined to become a person like Wang Zhi.

Qin Conggui was sitting in front of a prisoner. Although the air here had a strange smell, he was still sipping tea slowly, and there was a strong energy from inside to outside.

"Eunuch Qin, I have no intention of having any affair with any foreign vassal! I have made it very clear that the reason why I gave the Xuefeng Sword to Li Guangdu was to trick Li Guangdu into using the Xuefeng Sword to kill Wen Jin, the envoy who captured the city. Venting your anger can help you deal with a powerful enemy in the city!" Zhu Fu already looked a little embarrassed, but he refused to admit his guilt.

Qin Conggui looked at Zhu Fu who was still thinking about getting out of crime, and asked very calmly: "Zhu Fu, the Za family is here today, and they don't want to hear these sophistry anymore! Today I only want to ask you: Is that Xuefeng knife yours?" If it was handed over to the Annan mission, did you know that the Annan mission left the capital with the Xuefeng knife and did not stop it or report it?"

"That's right, but...!" Zhu Fu found out that these two things were true, and he could only say helplessly.

Qin Conggui glanced at the eunuch who was accompanying him, then continued to drink tea and said: "Since it is all the truth, then just sign and sign it, there is no use in talking more!"

"My prince did not have an affair with a foreign vassal!" Facing the confession sent to him, Zhu Fu knew that he still had to plead guilty and defended himself again.

Tan Conggui handed the tea cup to another eunuch who was accompanying him, looked deeply into his eyes and said, "Zhu Fu, now that things have reached this stage, do you think it is important whether you have an affair with a foreign vassal or not? Just because of your plot this time, The Ming Dynasty is at war again. Even if you are as late as Li Guangdu, you are not unjust at all! Today, His Majesty only pursues you for stealing the Xuefeng Sword and giving it to the Annan envoy. I can say that the Duke of Chengguo is very kind to you. Aren't you still dissatisfied? Do you really want His Majesty to reveal everything you have done and submit your case to the Tribunal of Justice for trial, so that the whole family of the Duke of Chengguo can feel at ease after you are wiped out?"

Zhu Fu's mouth trembled, and the last trace of fantasy was shattered.

He was born as the high-ranking prince of the country, and he was born with intelligence, so he always thought that he was the chosen one. In terms of intelligence, he would never be inferior to anyone, including the one in the Forbidden City.

It was this arrogance that caused today's disaster.

Even Li Jin, the Marquis of Xiangcheng who was closest to him, chose to stay far away after learning the whole story.

Although he always wanted to defend himself, he already knew in his heart that the consequences of this matter were much more serious than expected, and he inadvertently chose a path of no return.

Not to mention that his plan violated the emperor's taboo from the beginning. Even if it was not his original intention to let Li Guangdu bring the Xuefeng Sword back to the Li Dynasty, it did almost lead to a big mistake.

Choosing the lesser of two harms, this is already a better result for them to become the Duke of Guo.

Zhu Fu knew that the matter of Xuefeng Dao could not be denied at all, so after some consideration, he still chose to sign the confession.

Qin Conggui took Zhu Fu's confession and took a look at it. He knew that the matter had been settled, and he was ready to leave this stinking prison.

After walking only a few steps, he suddenly stopped and said seriously: "Zhu Fu, you have to remember one thing!"

"What?" Zhu Fu looked very frustrated.

Qin Conggui looked into Zhu Fu's eyes and warned seriously: "Don't say that you instigated Wen Jin to commit suicide in the future! Whether it was the Xuefeng knife or Wen Jin's motive for committing suicide, these have nothing to do with you, and Wen Jin He is a good minister who sacrifices justice, do you understand?"

If a general purge was really to be carried out, Zhu Fu's clever "layout" would not be too much to confiscate every household in Chengguo's palace. But in the face of national justice, Zhu Youtang still took the country into consideration.

Only Wen Jin, the envoy who occupied the city, sacrificed his life for justice can contrast Li Guangdu's arrogance, and Ming Dynasty naturally became the incarnation of the messenger of justice.

Champa naturally has nothing to say about this result. The emergence of such a good minister is something that all the people of Champa are proud of.

As for the Li Dynasty, if they don't want to follow the footsteps of the Hu Dynasty, they have to accept the result of this treatment.

What's more, there is irrefutable evidence that Li Guangdu openly resisted the imperial decree and killed the emperor's own soldiers. In addition, he dared to insult the Ming Emperor. The consequences of this will naturally be shattered and dusty.

That's why, based on the actual interests of Ming Dynasty, the truth about Wen Jin's suicide must be hidden, and Zhu Fu naturally wants to keep his mouth shut on this matter.

"I know!" Zhu Fu felt annoyed in his heart and replied somewhat perfunctorily.

When Qin Conggui heard that Zhu Fu's tone was wrong, he stopped and warned seriously: "Zhu Fu, this secret is kept for your Duke Chengguo! Once the matter is publicized, even if your Majesty does not care about it for the sake of your ancestors, We will pursue it, but then I’m afraid it will be a different matter!”

"I won't tell anyone!" Zhu Fu realized that the matter was far more serious than he thought, so he made a sincere statement.

As Zhu Fu confessed to "having liaison with a foreign vassal", Zhu Yi, who was far away in Nanjing, was treated in a cheating way. His position as Nanjing garrison was directly taken away by the court, and he was demoted and stayed at home to think about his faults, while Zhu Fu guarded Leizhou on the border.

So far, in April of the first year of Hongzhi, only the Yingguo Palace and the Dingguo Palace were left in the capital. The once-prominent Chengguo Palace was also destroyed.