The next morning, Wang Da had just had breakfast at Chen Sankuai's house and was about to leave for the county. After bidding farewell to Chen Sankuai and the Wei brothers, Wang Da drove his carriage to the county town.
After Wang Da left, Chen Sankuai felt a little uneasy, so he took the two brothers from the Wei family and followed him in a carriage.
When it was almost noon, the government officials took the arrested dozens of people to the vegetable market to prepare for execution. At this time, Zhou Pingchang felt that he was really unlucky. He helped Wang Da escape, but now he was going to be beheaded by the government. , but now it’s too late to regret it.
The other dozen or so people were unlucky. For the other dozen or so people, it was a sudden misfortune. Others stabbed people with knives, but I was just watching the excitement from the side. In this way, I was arrested by the county government and prepared to behead. Is there any justice in being beheaded if you look at the excitement?
Besides, there were at least one or two hundred people watching the excitement on the street at that time. Why did you arrest more than a dozen of them? This was unjust and unjust to death. And that Wang Da, you ran away after killing the people and made us so Many people were unlucky.
When Wang Da drove his carriage to Zhengyang County, he saw a notice announcing his arrest posted at the gate of the county town. Wang Da had been selling pork on the streets of Zhengyang County for more than ten years. Many people in the county recognized him. In order not to be discovered by others after entering the city, Wang Da disguised himself before daring to enter the city.
At the execution ground, Zhou Pingchang and more than a dozen people were tied up and knelt in a row. The county magistrate Cao Wannian personally supervised the execution. A large number of onlookers stood below the execution ground. Some relatives of the prisoners were still shouting loudly in the crowd that they were wronged.
It's three quarters past noon
The county magistrate Cao Wannian immediately ordered the execution. The executioner on the execution ground first picked up a bowl of wine and took a sip, and then sprayed the wine in his mouth on the big knife in his hand. After doing all this, the executioner immediately raised the big knife to prepare. After cutting off Zhou Pingchang's head, at this critical moment someone in the crowd suddenly shouted "Save someone under the knife", and the executioner immediately stopped the execution after hearing it.
At this time, everyone followed the shouting and looked towards a person in the crowd. They saw that this person was wearing a bamboo hat and his head was slightly lowered. His face was just covered by the bamboo hat and he could not see clearly. He looked a little fat. Some people present thought the body looked familiar, but they couldn't remember where they had seen it.
Just when everyone was wondering who this person was, the person wearing the bamboo hat suddenly took off the bamboo hat on his head. After the bamboo hat was taken off, everyone could see clearly the appearance of this person. This person was none other than the person who was wearing it a few days ago. Wang Da, who was on the run for murder.
After seeing Wang Da, everyone present felt a little incredible. Hadn't Wang Da fled in fear of crime a long time ago? How could he appear here? Everyone was a little confused for a moment.
Magistrate Cao was also very surprised when he saw Queen Wang. He didn't expect that Queen Wang would take the initiative to come to the door today. Magistrate Cao was stunned for a while and the Queen quickly realized it. Magistrate Cao immediately gave the order Capture fugitives.
Wang Da had no intention of running away this time. The government officials quickly arrested Wang Da. Wang Da was brought to Magistrate Cao by the government officials. After seeing Magistrate Cao, Wang Da said to him: "All of this is the work of my king alone and has nothing to do with anyone else. I would like to ask the county magistrate to release all the others. If you want to kill or behead my king, please do as you please.
Seeing Magistrate Wang Dacao kneeling in front of him, he became angry. This Wang Dacao ran away after killing everyone, and now he came to act as a hero in front of him. How could he let him go so easily?
Next, Magistrate Cao asked Wang Da who secretly shot arrows to kill several police officers. Tell the magistrate truthfully whether that person is your accomplice and where he is now.
After hearing this, Wang Da said: "The people only killed Zhao Liu and Lu Xiang. As for the person who shot the arrester with an arrow, the people didn't see who it was." Wang Da did not know at that time that he shot the arrow to kill the arrester. Who is the fast person?
When Wang Da was escaping, he happened to meet Chen Sankuai and others. Later, he found out that it was Chen Sankuai and others who shot the policeman to death. Strictly speaking, it was Chen Sankuai who did it alone, but Wang Da would not die even if he died. Chen San will be confessed quickly.
County Magistrate Cao also felt that Wang Da did not know that Wang Da's murder was a spur-of-the-moment move and it was unlikely that he would have made preparations in advance. Besides, there were so many people on the street at that time and no one saw who the person who fired the arrow was. Presumably this person must be a sharp archer or something. Wang Da is just a butcher and there should be no interaction with this kind of person.
The person who fired the arrow could not be found, so Magistrate Cao could only put the matter aside for the time being and wait until later. However, Magistrate Cao was not polite when Wang Da came to the door himself.
As soon as Magistrate Cao finished asking questions, he immediately ordered Wang Da to be taken to the execution ground for execution. Since Wang Da had already punished those who had nothing to do with the matter, he should be released. However, Magistrate Cao did not want to let them go so easily. .
Next, County Magistrate Cao announced to everyone that since the main criminal Wang Da had been brought to justice, no one else except Zhou Pingchang would have to be executed. More than a dozen people on the execution ground were very happy to hear that they would not have to die.
Magistrate Cao went on to say that although these people could be exempted from the death penalty, they could not escape the living crime. No one needed to pay a fine of ten taels of silver before they could be released. The dozen or so people who were happy just now had to pay a fine of ten taels of silver to be released. When he was released, he couldn't be happy immediately.
Ten taels of silver is not a small amount for these people. Five taels of silver is enough for a family of these people to live for one year. These ten taels of silver are enough for the whole family to live for two years. How can that person go to work? To get so much money.
Magistrate Cao still wants to make a fortune from these people. Their families have no choice but to go home and sell their property to redeem their people. However, this is at least better than losing their lives. Now these people can only comfort themselves in this way. .
After Magistrate Cao said this, he had the dozen or so people taken away. Now only Wang Da and Zhou Pingchang were left on the execution ground. Zhou Pingchang saw that everyone else had been let go but he was still sentenced to death, and his heart ignited. Hope suddenly disappeared again. Zhou Pingchang's face was ashen at this moment.
Wang Da saw that he had come to punish him, but Magistrate Cao hadn't released Zhou Pingchang yet. Then he began to question Magistrate Cao. When Magistrate Cao saw Wang questioning him, he told him that Zhou Pingchang helped kill people. If a person escapes, he will be guilty of the same crime as a murderer. Of course, Anlu will be questioned and executed. Wang Da was speechless for a moment when Magistrate Cao said it.
Next, Magistrate Cao ordered the executioner to start the execution. Wang Da looked at Zhou Pingchang who was about to die with him. He died because of murder, but Zhou Pingchang ended up in the same fate as himself because he helped him escape. Wang Da was filled with guilt when he thought about the outcome. He just wanted to die alone, but he didn't expect that he would still hurt others when he was about to die.
Finally, Wang Da said to Zhou Pingchang on the side: Shopkeeper Zhou, I am sorry for you. If there is an afterlife, I, Wang Da, will repay you even if I am a cow or a horse.
Zhou Pingchang thought it was interesting that Wang Da could throw himself into a trap to save himself, so Zhou Pingchang said to Wang Da: Brother Wang, don't blame yourself, maybe you and I are destined to be like this today.
As soon as the two of them finished speaking, Wang Da's executioner raised his sword and was about to chop off Wang Da's neck. At this moment, an arrow suddenly flew from the distance and hit the executioner's chest. The executioner immediately fell to the ground. When the people present saw this situation, they immediately started to commotion.
