Although spring is approaching, there is still a bone-chilling chill lingering in Luoyang City. This winter, for many people in Xijing City, it is too cold, not only the body is cold, but also the heart is chilling.
Of course, this group refers to the nobles and officials involved, the elite of the Han Empire. However, this series of scandals broke out among these country's cornerstone elites, and they were disgraced, and even the prestige of the court was affected to a certain extent.
However, this is only from a macro perspective. For most ordinary people in Xijing, it actually does not have much impact. They may be surprised, but it is definitely difficult to feel the same or worry about the country. They are not involved at all. The possibility of not even having the slightest influence, and being disappointed with the court is far from that level.
More people just acted as melon-eating people, discussing after tea and dinner, showing their concern and knowledge of the national affairs and political situation of the people of Xijing.
In Luoyang Nanshi, the layout of the city has changed drastically due to the breaking of the boundaries between cities and districts. However, Nanshi is still the largest downtown in the capital and the most lively place in the capital, regardless of spring, autumn, cold or heat.
It was already the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, and it was even more lively, with a huge flow of people and cars coming and going, fully interpreting the prosperity of the capital. After all, the new year is about to begin, and the tenth year of Kaibao is coming to the subjects of the Han Dynasty at a fast pace.
No matter what major events and turbulence happened within the imperial court, life had to go by, and so did the New Year. Under the gloom, both officials and families of the people were happily buying new year's goods to welcome the new year.
Emperor Liu had previously stated in an instruction to his ministers that as the new year is about to begin, the matters of the year should be settled that year and should not be left to the next year. This is also one of the reasons why the officials of the Three Law Departments worked day and night to urgently handle a number of cases under huge work pressure. After all, the emperor had already set a time limit.
In the commotion and commotion, someone shouted that he was going to be beheaded, which quickly caused a sensation, and the crowd became orderly, flowing in one direction in an orderly manner.
Next to the fish market, in front of the meat shop, fishy and stinky smells surrounded the place, human voices and animal sounds intertwined, and the breath of human fireworks drove away the cold air of late winter. Thousands of soldiers and civilians came after hearing the news, and some even It is gradually increasing, and soon it is impossible to see the end or the edge.
It's human nature to watch the excitement, especially this kind of excitement.
In the center of the market, a huge execution platform had been erected. There were seventy-three executioners wearing red scarves and holding torture knives, standing neatly on the platform. Given the size of Xijing, it was impossible to have so many executioners on standby. Many of them were soldiers selected from the army to serve as temporary executioners.
The executioners all had serious and indifferent expressions, not affected by the surrounding environment at all, as if they were indifferent to all interference. There seems to be a kind of reverence for death and respect for life in their attitude, and they sincerely treat the life that they are about to take away personally.
The imperial court paid the greatest attention to this execution, not only because of the identity of the criminal, but also because Emperor Liu was watching from above.
In the Han Dynasty, Emperor Liu never let go of certain powers. The final instructions to the condemned prisoners were all signed by Emperor Liu himself, and they remained unchanged for so many years.
According to Han law, there were not many crimes involving the death penalty. Except for rebellion, deception, treason, official theft, murder and other crimes of extremely serious nature, there were few cases where the death penalty was directly imposed. Therefore, in addition to the harsh punishments in the early Qianyu period, in the past fifteen years, although there were many cases in the Han Dynasty every year, those that constituted the death penalty were in the minority.
Even if it is stealing an official or killing someone, the punishment will be determined according to the seriousness of the case. In addition, for most cases, the death sentence will be alive. Among the living punishments, the main ones were exile and flogging, and due to the needs of the imperial court, exile was the most important of them.
Of course, looking at it from another perspective, perhaps exile is more painful than the death penalty. The suffering of being exiled is already severe, but those who are exiled to mines and various projects are the most severe. It almost represents the abyss of despair. Only one out of a hundred has served his sentence.
Therefore, over the years, every time we check the files collected by the Ministry of Punishment, we can find a large number of new crimes, but the prison cells in various parts of the Han Dynasty have always been maintained at an extremely low level.
The imperial court does not support idlers, let alone prisoners. This can be regarded as a characteristic of the Qianyou and Kaibao era of the Han Dynasty: empty prisons. It's not that there are fewer people committing crimes, but that the prisoners are basically placed where they should go, places where the court does not have to worry about and wantonly exploit them.
Although the death penalty is rare, every time it occurs, it is a major crime and can basically cause a sensation, even for ordinary murderers.
Of course, in the past, the most eye-catching ones were the nobles and bureaucrats, because their crimes were often implicated in a wide range of crimes, and their crimes were difficult to pardon. In addition, the privileged class served their sentences.
Concentrating executions is not a strange thing in the Han Dynasty, but like this time, more than seventy people are either powerful or noble. The highest-ranking officials are even the Minister of Household Affairs, and among the descendants of the nobles, there are also people with the surname Fu.
How could such a situation not arouse a rush of onlookers? To use a commonly used idiom to describe it, it is like a crowd of spectators. In a very short period of time, more than 10,000 people from Xijing gathered at the Nanshi execution ground, and they continued to do so.
People bumped into each other, and people were crowded, which directly caused the traffic in the nearby broad streets to be paralyzed. The nearby fish market, meat shop and other markets were also briefly closed. The soldiers and the people were obviously extremely enthusiastic about this execution.
Even if there have been similar situations in the past, it has never been such a sensation. The enthusiasm of the people in the capital this time is already comparable to that of a large-scale festival celebration. Obviously, watching the heads of those powerful people fall to the ground is a rare enjoyment for most ordinary people, even if it is a bloody killing.
As it was foreseen, Luoyang Mansion sent more than 200 officials and servants to the scene to cooperate with the execution, and the Inspection Department also dispatched 2,000 soldiers to the scene to maintain order.
It is obviously a trial to solemnize the national laws, but it is so lively, like a celebration. There is no cheer, but it can make people feel a kind of joy, authority falls to the ground, as if it is worthy of celebration.
Not far from the execution platform, there was also a beheading platform, which was guarded by armed soldiers. Emperor Liu issued an edict, and all the dignitaries in Beijing and all the sixth-rank officials in the court except those on duty came to watch the execution.
Probably for the convenience of viewing, the beheading platform was built close enough and high enough for the nobles and bureaucrats to clearly see the whole process of the heads falling to the ground.
Compared with the curiosity and clamor of the onlookers, the tall Han superstructures on the execution platform were much quieter. They were basically silent. They just stared at the execution platform silently, and no one had a relaxed expression.
Although we are in the same execution ground, it seems like there are two worlds, one world is noisy and the other is calm. Coupled with the execution platform that attracts everyone's attention, these elements together form a wonderful landscape.
There were also VIP seats for watching the execution. In a pavilion a little further away, several windows were opened generously, and a group of top dignitaries, including several princes, stayed inside for a long time.
The view here is wide, not only Xingtai can be seen, but also the crowds of people in the market. Although seats were set up, except for the elderly Fu Yanqing, Guo Wei, Wei Renpu and others, most people were standing in front of the window lattice. They were also very quiet, few people spoke, and no one seemed willing to break the somewhat solemn atmosphere.
Zhao Kuangyin was naturally among them, with his body still upright and his expression as cold and serious as steel, but his eyes inadvertently revealed a hint of deep exhaustion.
The officials responsible for supervising the execution were somewhat unexpected. Emperor Liu had specially ordered that Luoyang Prefecture Yin Zhao Kuangyi supervise the execution. This job may not be easy or even embarrassing in the eyes of many people, but Zhao Kuangyi always accepts it calmly.
Using nobles to kill nobles was probably what Emperor Liu wanted, but for Zhao Kuangyi, he only regarded it as a petition to restore his image in Emperor Liu's mind.
When he was in prison, he usually sat on the monitoring platform. Zhao Kuangyi didn't squint his eyes, letting it be noisy and noisy, and just stared at the seventy-three prisoners on the execution platform who were about to be executed.
One characteristic of these prisoners, apart from the fact that they are all distinguished officials, is that their crimes are not included in the voluntary surrender. They are all investigated and interrogated one by one by the department.
Perhaps what makes Zhao Kuangyi less embarrassed is that Zhao Kuangmei, the fourth brother of the Zhao family, is not among them.
As the hour passed, as Zhao Kuangyi read out the edict righteously and righteously, as the execution plan fell to the ground, as the knife rose and fell, amidst the waves of exclamations, the seventy-three criminals, The crowds of people and the blood-stained downtown brought a touch of joy to this bleak winter.
