Niao Ni
Chapter 693: Smiling, Viewing Heroes, Not Idly (Part Two)
The vermilion palace walls were ignorant and unaware, indifferent to cold and warmth, silently and impassively welcoming the rain's washing. The rain soaked the magnificent imperial city, making the bright vermilion color deeper and darker, like a bloodstain about to congeal.
The deep palace gates slowly opened with a creak. The newly repaired brass nails on the large wooden doors shone brightly. More than a hundred officials emerged one after another with complicated expressions, led by a retinue of ceremonial guards, and walked along the imperial road to the depths of the square, lining up on both sides. These were all ministers of the Qing Kingdom's court, responsible for all affairs and people's livelihoods in this country. However, in such weather and atmosphere, they could only be silent onlookers.
With three whips cracked by the eunuch, faint drumbeats sounded from somewhere in the corner tower of the imperial city, emitting a buzzing, trembling sound that struck the hearts of everyone in the imperial city.
The morning court session had ended. Today's session dealt with only one matter: determining the crimes of Chen Pingping, the former Director of the Overwatch Council.
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Many Qing Kingdom people gradually walked into the streets and alleys surrounding the imperial city. These people wore clothes of different colors and carried different odors depending on their status. Summoned by the drums of the imperial palace, they slowly walked towards the square in front of the palace. The crowd grew larger and larger, gradually filling the entire vast square, densely packed like ants.
From before dawn, the Kyoto Prefecture and other government offices began to beat gongs and drums everywhere, posting notices to inform all the people of Kyoto what would happen today.
As long as the blade wasn't falling on their own bodies, these people always had an interest in watching the excitement. Especially since everyone knew that the high-ranking official to be executed by His Majesty today was none other than the mysterious Director of the Overwatch Council, Chen Pingping, the interest of all the people was even more intense.
The Overwatch Council had a resounding reputation in the Qing Kingdom's officialdom, and its image was too gloomy and terrifying. Few people had ever actually seen the old Director in the wheelchair. Everyone gathered towards the square, wanting to see if this big shot was really as rumored: three heads and six arms, covered in black mist, like a devil.
Especially knowing that this devil of the Overwatch Council actually resented His Majesty's disposition and went mad, assassinating His Wise and Martial, Benevolent and Loving Emperor in the palace, a heartfelt anger arose in the hearts of all the people. They wanted to watch with their own eyes how this evildoer would be scorched into a cloud of black smoke under the brilliance of imperial power.
The Overwatch Council had been known for its mystery and gloom for decades. Although it had always targeted the Qing Kingdom's officialdom, its methods were ruthless and terrible. Offending civil officials meant offending the scholars of the world, which meant offending the world's opinions. Therefore, the Overwatch Council's reputation among the people had always been extremely poor.
In folk legends, the Overwatch Council was a gloomy yamen that ate people without spitting out bones, most adept at extracting confessions by torture, forcing confessions, and killing people like flies. Perhaps the Overwatch Council really had many shady methods, but how much could the people of Kyoto, the people of the Qing Kingdom, the people of the world know? It was all just exaggeration.
Although in recent years, a brilliant Lord Fan had appeared in the Overwatch Council, slightly diluting the dark atmosphere of the Overwatch Council, his time in charge of the council was still short, and not enough to change the deeply ingrained impression of the Overwatch Council among the people.
Danbo Duke Fan Xian, after all, couldn't change much. The Qing Kingdom's people and scholars' admiration for Fan Xian was more focused on his personal image standing on the clouds, and there was not much change in their view of the Overwatch Council. For the people of Kyoto, the Overwatch Council might have gained a little more human touch, but they still had no goodwill towards the square, gloomy building. Instead, they subconsciously felt a sense of fear. Could the continuation of fear be inexplicable anger?
The legendary, incredibly terrible, dark leader Chen Pingping was about to die in front of them. All the people of Kyoto felt a faint excitement and agitation. Perhaps this was just an emotion naturally revealed by being a commoner. To have the opportunity in this life to see a big shot who originally only existed in legends die tragically in front of them, and to have more stories to tell over drinks in their boring future lives, perhaps it was a good leisure activity?
Just like a few years ago, when the Spring Examination scandal occurred, in Yan Shi Kou, the heads of those Ministry of Rites officials were chopped off and rolled around in the execution ground, almost being snatched away by wild dogs. This scene alone had filled the boring time of countless poor people in Kyoto and washed down countless cups of muddy, inferior wine.
And like the Kyoto rebellion three years ago, also in Yan Shi Kou, it was unknown how many generals who participated in the rebellion were beheaded there. The blood dyed half the long street red, and for several days afterwards, it still smelled of blood in the sky. And there was also Zhang Deqing, the commander of the Thirteen City Gates, who screamed miserably when he was subjected to the punishment of slow slicing.
In these three years, the details of Zhang Deqing's death had enriched the lives of the people of Kyoto, accompanied by countless spitballs. However, these major events that had occurred in Kyoto in recent years, of course, couldn't compare to today, because the person dying today was the Director of the Overwatch Council, the most loyal old black dog of His Majesty known to the world. However, this black dog had gone mad and was about to be slaughtered, haha!
Moreover, the execution site today wasn't Yan Shi Kou, nor the execution ground in front of the Ministry of Justice, but in front of the Imperial Palace, in the square! Since the founding of the Qing Kingdom, the official who had been publicly executed in front of the Imperial Palace was probably only this one today. The people thought of this with excitement, and couldn't help but feel angry in their hearts again. That big official named Chen Pingping must have done something extremely rebellious to die in such a place.
It wasn't that no one thought of Lord Fan because of the Overwatch Council, but all the people watching the execution subconsciously forgot about this point. They never believed that there was any connection between Lord Fan and that old black dog. They were just very ordinary commoners. They didn't know the entanglements between those who ruled this land. Even if some clever people did, they would probably think in another direction: His Majesty had just handed the Overwatch Council over to Lord Fan, and now he was going to kill the former Director, probably to cleanse the obstacles and sins of the past Overwatch Council for Lord Fan?
Countless people poured into the square in front of the palace, tense, indifferent, excited, and inexplicably sad. Enveloped in countless complex emotions, they surrounded the small execution ground. The imperial guards and yamen runners of the Kyoto Prefecture, responsible for maintaining order, forcibly kept these tens of thousands of people outside the boundary, ensuring the tranquility of the execution ground.
It couldn't be blamed on these Qing Kingdom people, because they were used to it. They were used to knowing what they could know, giving up what they couldn't know, enjoying what they could enjoy, and being angry about what they were allowed to be angry about. His Majesty wanted to kill a minister, whether this minister really deserved it or not, but they had been taught that if the ruler wants the subject to die, then the subject naturally has a reason to die, deserving to die ten thousand times, unwilling to decline even dying ten thousand times...
The dense crowd was like a sea, rippling in the vast square in front of the magnificent imperial city. The area near the palace gates had been cleared, and a very simple wooden platform had been erected, which was the so-called execution ground. Surrounded by the vast sea of people and the magnificent imperial city, this execution ground looked like a pitiful lone boat, seemingly likely to sink into the sea of people at any time, or likely to crash into the unshakeable giant rock of the imperial city at any time, shattering to pieces.
Along the open space below the imperial city, a silent and solemn procession walked over, passing the hundreds of Qing Kingdom officials on both sides of the imperial road, who subconsciously lowered their heads and remained silent. Under the curious and tense gazes of the Kyoto people not far away, they arrived below the small wooden platform.
A stretcher was carried out of the prison cart. An old man was lying on the stretcher, unconscious, not knowing if he was alive or dead. He Zongwei looked up at the top of the imperial city, his eyes twitching slightly. He waved his hand gently, and the stretcher was carried onto the wooden platform.
Finally seeing the high-ranking official who was about to be executed today, seeing the legendary old dark thief, the Kyoto people at the front sighed in satisfaction, and immediately became silent. They looked at the motionless old man, thinking in their hearts, was this person already dead?
Three eunuchs walked out of the dark gate of the imperial city. The small eunuch on the left held a table in his hands, on which lay the crimes determined by the court today. The small eunuch on the right held the incense table high, which contained His Majesty's decree to execute Chen Pingping.
The eunuch in the middle with an indifferent expression was Eunuch Yao. He also didn't come empty-handed, but was holding a small bottle.
Everything was ready on the wooden platform. Chen Pingping's seemingly lifeless, emaciated body was placed on the wooden planks that had been soaked by the rain. Eunuch Yao walked to his side and squatted down. With the help of the imperial physician, he fed him a pill, and then carefully fed the soup from the bottle into the old man's dry lips.
After an unknown amount of time, Chen Pingping slowly woke up from his coma. Having lost too much blood, his life force was about to extinguish. His face was very pale, and his eyes were turbid and listless. He looked at Eunuch Yao beside him, his dry lips parted slightly, and he slowly said in a hoarse voice: "Thousand-year-old ginseng... wasted."
Eunuch Yao's body trembled, but he didn't dare to say anything, nor did he do anything. Instead, he looked at the old man with a look that was both crying and smiling, and stooped over to the side of the wooden platform.
At the moment when Chen Pingping opened his turbid eyes, Yan Bingyun's body, standing to the left and behind He Daxue on the execution ground, also trembled. But he immediately calmed down and lowered his head weakly. With just a glance, he knew how heavily guarded this execution ground was. Not to mention the dense imperial guards all around, nor the inner court experts scattered around, just those experts wearing hemp clothes and bamboo hats had already made Yan Bingyun know that no one could change this today.
Last night, in the Overwatch Council prison, four experts wearing bamboo hats had made Yan Bingyun and He Zongwei feel a strangeness, but they all knew where these suddenly appearing experts came from. However, earlier, when the autumn rain drifted down and the clear light was faint, Yan Bingyun very keenly discovered that under the bamboo hats, these experts had no hair.
It seemed that they were the ascetic monks of the Qing Temple scattered in the world. It was just... the high priest of the Qing Temple had returned from preaching in the Southern Border not long ago, and then died mysteriously in the Qing Temple. And the Second Priest, Master Sanshi, had joined the Junshan Society and died tragically in the rain of arrows outside Kyoto, silenced by Her Royal Highness the Princess.
His Majesty the Emperor had always disdained the Tianshi sect and the ascetic monks of the Qing Temple, and the royal family had never had much contact with the Qing Temple. Why would these ascetic monks from the temple suddenly appear collectively in Kyoto today, appear in front of everyone, appear next to Chen Pingping's execution ground?
Yan Bingyun lowered his head and pondered. Only today did he realize that His Majesty had not only reached the peak of human power and strength, but even the Qing Temple had become a sharp weapon in his hands. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh faintly in his heart. Suddenly, a mountain-like shout startled him and he immediately raised his head.
A wooden frame was erected on the execution ground. Chen Pingping's emaciated body was tightly bound to it. The clothes on the old man's body had been completely removed, revealing his pale body. Because of years of disability, his chest and abdomen below looked particularly thin and small. In the cold autumn rain, he looked particularly desolate and pitiful.
The rain struck the emaciated body that had no life in it, and then slowly flowed down, returning to the dust.
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The shout on the square earlier was because the Kyoto people watching the execution finally saw the erected gallows, saw the heinous traitor tied to the gallows, and burst out a mountain-like shout, resounding around like a sea wave.
However, this shout quickly turned into silence. The people closest to the execution ground were the first to become silent. However, whispering and discussion spread from the front end to the back. It didn't take long before it turned into thunderous shock and discussion.
As if some immortal in the sky had issued a command, everyone up and down the imperial city became quiet and silent at the same time. The place where tens of thousands of people gathered at the same time actually became as silent as death. It even seemed that the people in the very back could hear the rustling sound of the straw rope and wooden stakes rubbing against Chen Pingping's body tied to the gallows.
Not only were these people shocked, but also the imperial guards, the officials supervising the execution, the eunuchs in the palace, and the very few officials of the Overwatch Council all looked at the old man's body on the gallows with horrified faces. Tens of thousands of eyes were looking at the old man's crotch.
There was nothing there.
Chen Pingping, the old Director of the Overwatch Council, whose name of darkness was known throughout the world... was actually a eunuch!
A silence, ten thousand eyes, countless emotions, either pity, or disdain, or horror, or disgust.
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Yan Bingyun's body finally couldn't stop trembling. He lowered his head tightly, his eyes filled with blood. He didn't know the old Director's hidden illness, this secret. He just felt that those gazes were not only directed at the old man's legs on the execution ground, but also at himself, at all the officials of the Overwatch Council. It was an indescribable humiliation.
He clenched his fists tightly, his fingertips digging deeply into his palms. He finally understood why the Supreme Emperor in the imperial city had to impose the punishment of slow slicing in public. It turned out that the torture on the flesh had to be combined with this spiritual humiliation.
His Majesty the Emperor wanted to declare to the world that this big shot who dared to betray him was just a slave, just a dog, in his eyes. He could humiliate him however he wanted. He wanted to trample Chen Pingping's dignity and the Overwatch Council's dignity under his feet, under the eyes of the public.
Understanding all of this, Yan Bingyun's mind buzzed, and he raised his head exceptionally strongly, meeting the old man's turbid and weak gaze on the execution ground. He didn't say anything, nor did he do anything. In his peripheral vision, he saw that the faces of those court officials below the execution ground were also very shocked. They probably never dreamed that the old Director of the Overwatch Council, whom they usually respected like their ancestor, was actually a eunuch whom they most despised!
This was Chen Pingping's heartbreak, this was Chen Pingping's secret. Not many people knew about his eunuch status back then. Most of them had already died. And later, under His Majesty the Emperor's supreme favor and the Overwatch Council's strong suppression, no one knew this fact.
That's why these officials showed such horrified expressions. However, in addition to horror, a trace of contempt appeared on their faces. Human emotions are always so strange. Earlier, when the court session determined the crime and left the palace to watch the execution, the faces of these officials were still solemn, and they still maintained a bit of respect and fear for the dying Chen Pingping. However, at this time, these emotions were all gone.
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Eunuch Yao took the scroll from the eunuch beside him, forcibly resisting not looking at the old man on the gallows beside him, and began to read the thirteen major crimes about Chen Pingping that were determined at the court session with a trembling voice. At this time, the autumn rain was hitting the execution ground, and Eunuch Yao's heart was also extremely cold. An indescribable sadness of the same kind began to rise in his heart, but he had to continue his work.
"First, on April 12th of the Qingli Seventh Year, the traitor secretly delivered aphrodisiac drugs into the palace, defiling the palace..."
"Second, the traitor repeatedly engaged in provocation, bewitching the ruler with flattery, and luring the princes with benefits, causing the Emperor to turn against his own son. This is a great rebellion..."
"Third, the traitor used the Overwatch Council's Sixth Bureau to plot to assassinate the Emperor at the Suspended Temple, and then assassinated Censor Fan Xian in Kyoto..."
"Fourth, the traitor colluded with the rebel Qin Ye, took military crossbows from the Inner Treasury without authorization, and ambushed the Imperial Envoy in the mountain valley outside Kyoto..."
"Fifth, the traitor sent assassins into the palace to assassinate the Third Prince..."
The thirteen major crimes were determined by the major ministries yesterday, but the first seven items were personally approved by His Majesty. It was precisely because these crimes of Chen Pingping were read at the court session that the ministers knew that the old Director Chen had actually committed so many heinous acts of rebellion. Even the scholars Shu and Hu, who had originally planned to plead for mercy, couldn't help but pale and shut their mouths.
The last six crimes were determined by the Six Ministries, but they were just crimes such as occupying land and bullying men and women, which seemed too ordinary compared to the first seven major crimes. However, any of these thirteen major crimes was a dead end. Thirteen items added together...
As Eunuch Yao's voice, forced out with internal energy, resounded in front of the imperial palace and drifted into the ears of all the spectators in the autumn wind and rain, the original strange silence was immediately broken. Countless buzzing discussions and angry accusations rang out from the crowd.
Originally, perhaps many people had come to watch the execution with tense and complex emotions, but as these crimes resounded in front of the palace, the gazes cast towards Chen Pingping became indifferent. Such a frenzied criminal deserved to be sliced to death by His Majesty.
"Kill him!" Someone took the lead in shouting in the crowd, and suddenly the crowd was stirred up, and the cries of killing resounded through the sky.
But Chen Pingping on the execution ground only had an indifferent expression. The thousand-year-old ginseng soup woke him up, but couldn't save his life. He seemed to have seen through everything, and his indifferent and listless eyes only contained peace. The autumn wind and rain made people sad and frozen. His face was pale and his lips were blue, but it was as if he couldn't hear the deafening cries of killing in front of him. He just turned his head with difficulty, as if he wanted to take one last look at the person on the top of the imperial city who was always victorious, forever victorious.
As if sensing his intentions, the wooden frame turned slightly, allowing his turbid eyes to have the opportunity to see the imperial city.
On the high imperial city, His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Kingdom, wearing a black dragon robe with golden belt, was standing alone under the eaves, standing in the most central place. There was no one beside him. The eunuchs and palace maids had been driven away far away. The Third Prince, who had been forcibly bound and ordered to watch the execution, was now watching his father's face from afar with a pale face.
His Majesty the Emperor was standing extremely high and extremely far away, and his figure was extremely small, but in Chen Pingping's turbid eyes, he was still so clear.
The lonely Emperor looked indifferently at the old partner surrounded by the sea of people on the execution ground. There was not a trace of emotion in his eyes, but this indifference was even more terrifying and chilling than resentment.
Most of the steel beads in his body had been taken out last night, but the knife wounds on his body were still bleeding, still hurting. The blood stained the black and gold dragon robe, and it couldn't be seen. His Majesty the Emperor's face was just slightly pale, and there was no taste of pain. However, looking at the miserable old partner at his feet, he had a desire that made him even more painful.
His Majesty the Emperor nodded lightly. The Third Prince, about ten zhang away, holding the palace wall with both hands, had a pale face. He subconsciously tightened his grip on the city wall. After a long time, the Third Prince shouted to the bottom with a trembling voice: "Execute!"
This shout actually forced Li Chengze, the young man who had been gloomy and ruthless since childhood, to almost cry, because he knew why his father had let him shout this. The shout from the imperial city came down, and Eunuch Yao began to read the last imperial decree, which was written by His Majesty himself last night.
"I have known you for decades and entrusted you with great responsibility, but you have deeply failed my heart, to my great sorrow, to my great sorrow. For all your sins, the Three Divisions shall jointly try you and execute you by slow slicing. I will not begrudge it. According to the law, your family members above the age of sixteen shall be beheaded, and those under the age of fifteen shall be made slaves. Now, I will only punish you for your crimes, and the rest shall be released and not questioned."
The imperial decree clearly spread to every inch of land in the imperial palace, every drop of rain, every strand of autumn wind, indifferent and resolute. His Majesty did not mention the crimes, but only said that his heart had been failed, and he was pained but did not begrudge it. At the end, he granted extra-legal grace and did not punish the eunuch's relatives, and the pain in between made people feel heartbroken and saddened.
However... these hypocritical words fell into Chen Pingping's ears, and he just smiled slightly, letting the rain seep into his dry lips, lowered his head, and no longer looked at the Emperor on the city wall.
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The execution began.
The fishing net tightly covered Chen Pingping's emaciated body, and with great difficulty, the mesh protruded the skin and flesh on his trunk. A sharp, specially made small knife trembled and fell, slowly cutting down, separating this piece of meat from the old man's body.
This was the first cut, and a mountain-like cheer came from below the execution ground!
The blade left the mesh, and a piece of meat fell to the ground, and was immediately picked up into a plate by the officials of the Ministry of Justice. What was strange was that the wound in the mesh was a little white and a little dry, and not much blood flowed out. It seemed that the blood in this weak traitor's body had already flowed out, and the essence and blood had long been completely dedicated to certain things.
The executioner was an old official of the Ministry of Justice, but even though he had drunk two jars of strong liquor today, he still couldn't stop his hands from shaking. He felt that the skinny old man under his knife today was different from the officials he had experienced before, because the other party's body had no blood, the other party had no flesh, and the other party's body seemed to only have a wisp of ghost, so cold that he couldn't help but tremble.
The second knife went down, and the flesh and blood separated, and faint strands of blood flowed on the fishing net. There was another cheer. How many hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of knives were there still to come?
Chen Pingping tightly closed his eyes, his face pale, his lips tightly closed, his whole body trembling, as if he was enjoying the pain that no human could bear. He suddenly slowly opened his eyes, looked at the executioner in front of him, and said panting: "Your technique... is a bit... poor."
The executioner had never seen such a person in his life, and he had already transcended what was called fortitude. What he had was only indifference, indifference to life, to his own life and pain. Perhaps some things in this old man's body had already transcended pain? His hand trembled again, almost dropping the knife on the wooden platform that had been soaked by the autumn rain.
Another knife, another knife, another knife, cheers rose and fell one after another, but these cheers gradually subsided, and finally returned to silence. All the officials and people watching the execution closed their mouths and looked at the old man being executed with extremely complex emotions.
No screams, no wails, no pleas for mercy, no pleas for death, no curses. In the autumn rain, the old man on the execution ground who was being subjected to the punishment of slow slicing was just silent, deathly silent.
So everyone up and down the imperial city was also silent, involuntarily silent, deathly silent.