Chapter 35 – Killing in Kyoto without a Sound

Kyoto is far warmer than the northern border, spring morning branches, urging flowers to bloom. Every night, ten thousand lights haunted the spring bridge, very lively, ten miles of red candles reflecting flowers river, ten thousand fragrant, it is a good time to step in the spring to enjoy the spring to play spring profane spring.

But in the daytime, Kyoto is a little quiet, it seems that both the people and officials, are a little difficult to resist the spring sleepy, lazy do not want to move, so the street is not too many pedestrians.

At noon, a scholar with a somber face, assisted a woman from the east city gate of Kyoto came in. This two people’s expression movement is not like a mother and son, also did not go to the inn to live, but directly to the west of the capital an inconspicuous mansion, only a very few people know, the real owner of this mansion, is the Duzha Academy of a royal historian.

Spring sleepiness can not file, but can be awakened. One day in March, as the day after the chun exams, no reason a few spring thunder struck, a pattering spring rain came down, soaked every building in Kyoto, every alley.

In the Supervisory Yuan around from the south of the Yangtze River to retrieve the relevant corrupt officials salt merchants, the court case is finally concluded, in addition to a minister sentenced to flow three thousand miles, the rest of the total of seventeen officials involved in the case were sentenced to capital punishment, which is the emperor’s will, and the irony of the evidence, there is no power dare to talk, and no ministers dare to put forward the slightest opinion.

Guo Youzhi, the Minister of Rites, was also sentenced to death, which is the highest ranking official to death since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, the news came out, the countryside was shocked, and even the Empress Dowager was said to have gone to His Majesty’s Palace to plead for leniency, but His Majesty’s gentle words, and then wiped some of the tears of the son of God, and then changed it into a prison hanging to keep Guo Shangshu’s whole body, and the Empress Dowager was saddened by it, and no longer said anything.

Along with Guo Youzhi, there were sixteen other officials who went to their deaths.

The rain slowly falls down from the sky, falls on the ground of the most lively Salt Market in Kyoto, but still did not drive away those who braved the rain to watch the execution of the people of Kyoto.

Sixteen officials dressed in white torture clothes, kneeling on top of the already built wooden platform. Clothes have long been bloodstained, think is subjected to a lot of torture. These past days bright officials, now is the face of defeat, hair messy tangled, look miserable, just do not know what means the Supervisory Yuan, some spirit of some strong offenders forced to open the eyes of the godless, want to find their own loved ones in the crowd of watching the sentence, the lips are wide open, but always shouted out words.

Ordered to supervise the execution of the three divisions and Supervisory Yuan a chargé d’affaires Mu Tie sitting under the canopy platform, looking at the scene in front of them. Mu Tie’s face was expressionless, but the faces of the rest of the civil officials were somewhat uncomfortable. Those criminal officials who are waiting to die under the torture platform, all of them were once their colleagues, also had a good time together on the flower boat, drunk together on the wine table, but now they have to watch them die.

Rain falls to the salt market entrance next to the eaves of the restaurant above, and then along the tile side of the waterway downward convergence, integrated a small waterfall from the sky to. There were many buildings in this place, so there were more than ten small waterfalls, like white dragons hitting the green stone ground, sending out snapping sounds.

A senior official stood up and declared his decree in a loud voice, only to be disturbed by the snapping sound of these small waterfalls, making it seem a little hard to hear. The crowd of onlookers only saw his mouth moving, but did not know what was being said, only to see that the last high official’s face solemn, stern voice shouted: “Chop!”

Surrounding the people heard this word clearly, immediately excited, vocal shouts will be crowded forward, want to be closer to the wooden platform so as to appreciate this rare hilarity.

The executioner on the wooden platform spat, wiped off the rain on his face, put the big knife behind his back, a foot forward, stretching out his left hand gently pressed the back of the neck of the first offender, confirming the position of the bone joints, and then roared, the knife light flashed!

When the knife fell, there was a muffled sound like a sharp blade cutting into pork.

With a brush sound, blood sprayed out from the headless cavity hole, splashing far away. The criminal’s head crumpled to the wooden platform, seems to be still in fear of the Qing court this big knife, rumbling rolled up, even through the rain flow, has not stopped, rolled to the edge of the wooden platform, fell down.

Seeing an open-eyed, confused, bloodstained head fell to their feet, the people of Kyoto, who had been so excited earlier, took a big step backward in fear.

Where the head rolled, leaving a bloodstain, only to be washed by the rain, quickly faded away without a trace.

Until this time, the people watching the torture only issued an applause, but the people who applauded is not very much, also not very neat, seems to be a little sparse. On top of the platform, sitting on the bottom hand chair to supervise the execution of Mu Tie face showed a color of hesitation.

Immediately after the executioner is another knife, another head falls to the ground, another blood light up to the sky, another burst of shouts, another life is gone from now on. There were a total of three executioners, but in a few moments, sixteen criminal officials were beheaded, leaving only dirty blood and corpses all over the ground.

Along with the beheading, the crowd of onlookers gradually bold up, cheering voice is also a higher than a voice, finally that the Ministry of Rites Fengzheng’s head finally left his body tragically, that the sound of cheering is even more shocking a loud sky! The rain in the sky was scared and drifted away.

A few government officials of Kyoto Prefecture were busy looking for the head of the criminal in the crowd, but they could not find it even after half a day’s search.

After a while, a black dog ran out from the crowd, mouth holding a head, sharp teeth biting the ears on the head, a pair of dog eyes glancing around, the light in the dog’s eyes but for no reason let a person feel a piece of chilling.

“Woof!” Black dog buttocks received the Kyoto Prefecture Yamen a knife sheath, ate the pain to loosen the mouth holding the head, wailed several times, leapt into the rain.

After a few days, the action again, the Ministry of Criminal Affairs Secretary for corruption and perversion of the law, was the Supervisory Yuan in his third aunt in a number of gold and silver, a number of forbidden things, reported to the court, transferred to the Da Li Temple to deal with, take the post down to Yi State State Judge, even directly from the first grade down to from the seventh grade.

Yizhou far in the south, more miasma heat and poison, I am afraid that the Ministry of Justice Han Zhiwei never return to Kyoto that day.

And the imperial inspectorate Guo Zheng seems to have no effect on the surface, but still by the court to find a reason, directly to the south of the river. Although Jiangnan is a beautiful place, but the Supervisory Yuan around in Jiangnan has long been full of manpower, only to see when to move the idea, how to put him.

Civilian system in the dynasty on the one hand because of the relationship between the prime minister, on the one hand, but also feel that the Supervisory Yuan hand holds the actual evidence, and the hand is not too hard, so did not hold a closed, because of this matter and the Supervisory Yuan expostulated.

But all the officials know, this is revenge, this is the Supervisory Yuan because of that far away in the northern region of the mention of Fan Xian, for the Ministry of Justice lobby naked retaliation.

Retaliation and counter-retaliation, control and counter-control, until finally reach a tacit balance, is the officialdom of the State of Qing in these decades the constant theme. So no one expected that when the retaliation of the Supervisory Board and the Chancellor stayed very leniently under a certain limit, the counterattack from Xinyang and the Empress’s office still came so quickly.

The young scholar mentioned earlier was none other than He Zongwei, who was unable to participate in the Chunxin exam this time because of the death of his old father at home. He is a student of the university scholar Zeng Wenxiang, and has always been close to the Guo family. I did not expect to hear the explosive news in his hometown, Shangshu adults in prison to die, the family property was copied, his friend Guo Baokun more do not know where to go, the most let He Zongwei some anger is that the Crown Prince of the East Palace in this matter did not lend a helping hand!

He Zongwei with that woman into the capital, to say that the life is even more bizarre, is actually the wife of Wu Bo’an. That Wu Boan is precisely the Princess inserted in the Palace of a strategist, last year instigated the second son of the Lin family and the North Qi side to join forces, want to assassinate Fan Xian in the Oxbridge Street, but unexpectedly ended up dying in the grape arbor.

Lin Ruofu as the prime minister, for this killed his only normal son Wu Bo’an naturally hate to the bone, although Wu Bo’an died early, but the Wu family still has a lot of family property in Shandong a place. The local officials are the prime minister’s disciples, so with the intention of the Wu family tortured, just half a year, I do not know how much silver, but also Wu Bo’an’s own son for no reason to ask into the prison, the death penalty.

The woman although illiterate, but also know that the chancellor of the power, not the Wu family can not resist, but the heart of the son died tragically, even will be a heart, a single person to the Kyoto to break ready to sue the Royal Court.

Outside the city when resting a little, the poor Wu’s very “coincidentally” happened to meet back to the capital of the He Zongwei.

He Zongwei is a smart person, after hearing, they know that this matter has a lot of potential, they comforted that Wu’s woman, said he will find a way to seek justice for her.

After entering the capital, He Zongwei relying on the teacher’s relationship, temporarily Wu settled in a sue the old imperial official’s residence. During those days, some mysterious characters often came in and out of the residence, asking Wu, in a gentle voice, about some details of the tragedy in her hometown.

He Zongwei watched all this with some indifference, and only when Wu asked herself questions with some trepidation would he heap up a full smile on his face and reassure her that the just officials of the court were getting on with it, and that the Lord Chancellor would soon fall.

The garden of the old Imperial House is a bit dilapidated, standing behind the rockery He Zongwei’s face flashed a slight hint of complacency, destroying the secret letter from Xinyang in his bosom, thinking of the officialdom of Kyoto after the collapse of the Chancellor, he couldn’t help but think of the in-laws of the Sanghs, Fan Shangshu, and that somewhat indifferent Fan family’s eldest young lady, and his heart warmed up slightly.