It’s just entered the fifth watch and it’s still dark.
The gates of Jinjiang City were closed tightly, and the few soldiers on the wall were standing and taking a nap with long guns in their hands. When they heard something moving outside the city, they rubbed their sleepy eyes and looked.
Under the starlight, a dozen people slowly came pushing three carts.
When they arrived outside the city, they set up the cart and the man sat casually on the roadside. The old man in the cart was wrapped in a shabby quilt and quietly waited for the city gate to open.
Sergeant Shi Hai raised his hand to straighten his helmet, lay on the crenel, squinted at it, and shouted: "What are you doing? It will take an hour until dawn."
Wang Sanlang sniffed and shouted: "Master Jun, we are villagers from Wangmengzhai. Last night we heard that the government was going to chop off Wu Kang's head. We didn't sleep that night, so we came here specially."
Shi Hai frowned.
It's more than forty miles from Wangmengzhai to here, and it takes midnight to get there. The old man on the billboard seemed to have a smile on his weathered face.
Just as Shi Hai was about to speak, he looked up and saw some people arriving in the distance.
There is an endless stream of people. I don’t know how many nights they have walked, I don’t know which village they come from, and I don’t know their first and last names, but they all seem to come for the same purpose:
Observe the punishment.
There are more and more people outside the city. Shi Hai has been guarding Jinjiang City for five years. This is the first time he has seen so many people waiting outside the city for the city gate to open. Although it cannot be said that the people are like a sea with no end in sight, there are at least four to five thousand people in this vast sea of people.
The sky is bright and the city gate is wide open.
Countless people poured into the city and headed to the execution place at Caishikou.
The rising sun rises in the east, and the clouds like fish scales spread out piece by piece, and the white scales are dotted with a touch of blue.
On this day, it was sunny.
The people of Jinjiang City found that they had woken up late. Not to mention the lack of good seats at Caishikou, even the teahouses, restaurants and guest rooms along the street had no seats. They could only watch from a distance. Many people stamped their feet anxiously.
At this time, Wu Kang, Qin Xin, Wu Yi and others were escorted to the execution platform set up at Caishikou.
Gu Zhengchen, wearing official robes, sat down majestically.
There was still an hour before the execution. During this long hour, Wu Kang, Qin Xin and others could only kneel, as if they were making atonement in the end. .??m
Qin Xin burst into tears, repented and begged for mercy.
Wu Kang despised Qin Xin very much. This guy who used to have no opinion in the past had started to drift off since he had been acting as the prefect for a few days. Now something happened and he was brought back to his original shape.
Everyone has arrived at the execution ground, and there is only one thing left to do, so begging for mercy is of no use.
Wu Yi also begged for mercy. He had done meritorious service in the prosecution. He had told Wu Kang so many crimes and so many secret things. If it hadn’t been for him, how could Wu Kang have confessed so easily? If he had meritorious service, his sentence would not be reduced by one degree. He would have exiled me for three thousand miles and treated me as a top soldier. OK, as long as I can survive, I can go to Datong to guard the border.
Gu Zhengchen turned a deaf ear.
Lao Zhu was probably also thinking about the ideological construction of the army during this time. The frequent exile of criminals to guard posts should be withdrawn from the stage of Ming Dynasty history in a few years.
Soldiers are not sinners and should not be reduced to the same status as sinners. This is not conducive to the reshaping of soldiers' minds. If someone like Wu Yi went to Datong, he would probably be hacked to death. It would be better to stay in Quanzhou and be hacked to death to save some travel expenses and food.
Gu Zhengchen raised his sleeves to cover himself, yawned, and looked at the sun. Time passed so slowly. He really wanted to finish cutting and call it a day. No wonder when it comes to beheadings in later movies and TV shows, officials rush to throw away their warrants and sit and wait for so long. Who doesn’t want to get off work quickly...
Time is up.
The order was signed.
The ghost head sword was raised high and suddenly fell.
It's not just the red blood that's dazzling, but also the flashing white on the blade, the light in the sun.
Wu Yi's head fell off first.
Then came Qin Xin, Yang Zaoduan, Feng Zheng... and finally it was Wu Kang's turn.
Wu Kang looked up at the sky and shouted: "Gu Zhengchen, thank you!"
Gu Zhengchen raised his brows, watched the head fall, and said softly: "Don't harm the people in the next life."
Faced with this bloody aspect, people among the people became lively. Some bowed their heads and cried, some looked up to the sky and laughed, some were foolish and stupid, and some clapped their hands and cheered...
Bu Shou stood in a restaurant far away and saw the heads of Wu Kang, Qin Xin and others falling to the ground.
Bu Suanzi said bitterly: "Father, Gu Zhengchen really dares to kill someone."
Bu Shou leaned on crutches and turned around a little lonely: "This is not the first time he has killed someone. If he is not crazy, it means that the emperor allowed him to kill first and then report. We can't fight such a person."
Bu Suanzi took a deep breath and understood instantly.
Some of the young officials are arrogant and do things without knowing the rules, but no matter how random these people are, they all know what cannot be done. He could disrespect other officials and bully local wealthy families and people, but he would never overstep the emperor's power and cause death.
Gu Zhengchen dared to kill Yang Baiju with a cane, and those who could mobilize watermen cooperated to capture and kill the "sea pirates". He dared to publicly execute Qin Xin, Wu Kang and others, which only shows that behind his bold actions, there was the emperor's tacit approval.
For a long time, I had not thought about this, but now I see that it is very possible.
"Let's go back."
Bu Shou sighed and slowly went downstairs.
Bu Suanzi followed, and as soon as he left the restaurant gate, he saw a man wearing a government uniform.
Bu Shou's pupils were slightly condensed, and he suddenly felt uneasy.
Bu Suanzi also trembled, thinking that Gu Zhengchen was going to take action against the Bu family.
Qin Song stepped forward, saluted, and presented an invitation: "The yamen servant in the lower government office, on the orders of Magistrate Gu, came to deliver a greeting invitation to the old man Changyuan."
"Better greetings?"
Bu Shou glanced at Bu Suanzi, who stepped forward to take the invitation and handed it to Bu Shou. Bu Shou opened it and saw a simple line written on the greeting card:
Gu will come to the door at sunset today to complain.
No head raised, no signature, no honorific, no courtesy.
Bu Shou thought for a while and looked at Qin Song: "Please go back and inform Magistrate Gu. Bu will definitely prepare a banquet."
Qin Song nodded and left.
Bu Shou handed the invitation to Bu Suanzi and gritted his teeth and said: "I'm being watched by people from the government office. I'm afraid it won't be easy to escape. From now on, you will be responsible for the evacuation of the Bu family. You must be careful to avoid being behind." Has a tail.”
Bu Suanzi nodded heavily.
Gu Zhengchen was killing people in the distance, and the yamen came here to send greetings. Obviously, every move of the Bu family fell into the eyes of the yamen.
We can no longer take chances and prepare for evacuation quickly.
Gu Zhengchen fulfilled his promise and ordered the corpse stitcher to sew up Wu Kang's body, found a coffin, and buried him in the unclaimed woodland south of Jinjiang City. He erected a tomb, inserted a wooden sign, and Write:
Tomb of Wu Kang.
No place of origin, no epitaph, simple.
The sound of firecrackers rang out in Jinjiang City, mixed with the sound of gongs and drums, and the people rushed to tell each other.
News that Wu Kang and Qin Xin were beheaded spread wildly to the seven counties of Quanzhou Prefecture, and then spread to Zhangzhou Prefecture, Xinghua Prefecture, Yanping Prefecture, Tingzhou Prefecture...
Government office, second hall.
Zhao Sanqi walked in and announced: "Lin Baifan, a member of the Quanzhou Guards family, wants to see the Lord."
"please."
Gu Zhengchen is writing documents.
After killing so many people, Lao Zhu always needs to explain the situation and the reasons. In addition, Zhu Xiongying should be born soon, so I have to ask Zhu Dalang.
Lin Baifan saluted.
Gu Zhengchen put down his brush, looked at Lin Baifan, and asked, "What's the matter?"
Lin Baifan said seriously: "Prefect Gu, Commander Huang and Tongzhi ordered me to come and deliver the message. The Bu family has been sending people to contact the sergeants of the guard camp, hoping to find out information about Zhou Yuan, Cai Ye and others."
Gu Zhengchen didn't expect Huang Senping's ability to control the Wei camp to be so strong. Zhou Yuan's head had been hung up for several days, and the news hadn't spread beyond the Wei camp yet, which was really surprising.
If you think about it carefully, you can understand that this guy has led more than a thousand people and his family to escape in history. Such a big movement was not noticed by anyone, which shows that the confidentiality work is very good.
"How about this……"
Gu Zhengchen said a few words to Lin Baifan.
Lin Baifan looked at Gu Zhengchen in surprise: "Is this appropriate?"
Gu Zhengchen picked up the brush, moistened the ink again, and said softly: "There is nothing inappropriate. This can be regarded as helping others. You know, I am a good person. Being happy alone is not as good as being happy with everyone..."
Lin Baifan swallowed and smiled unnaturally.
You are a good person, the people here do think so, but I just don’t know what those people who go to the underworld will say about you...
"Anything else?"
Gu Zhengchen lowered his head and asked while writing.
Lin Baifan turned his head and looked at Xiao Cheng, who was standing in the corner, with fighting intent in his eyes: "Prefect Gu, I want to compete with this person. I heard Commander Huang tell Yu Qianhu that he is a master."
Xiao Cheng was idle and bored, but he didn't expect someone to entertain him. Without waiting for Gu Zhengchen's consent, he talked to him: "You don't need to ask him if he wants to discuss with me. I'm happy with it. But I have a request."
"any request?"
"Put on your armor so you don't get beaten to death by me."
"That's such a big tone. Come on, let me see what you are capable of!"
Lin Baifan pointed to the door.
Xiao Cheng rubbed his wrists and walked out.
Gu Zhengchen put away his pen and sighed secretly. It's not good for this guy to pick anyone. He has to pick Xiao Cheng. You should try to pick Zhang Pei first...
It's time to write a letter home.
Pick up the pen.
My wife Xiwan.
Gu Zhengchen stopped writing and didn't know where to start writing.
After being away from home for so long, I was too busy to think about it, but once I missed it, it was so heavy.
I don’t know what Xiwan is doing at this time, I don’t know if her body is okay, I don’t know how she is feeling, I don’t know...
The two of them separated in a hurry after half a year of marriage. Gu Zhengchen was deeply reluctant to leave. However, Quanzhou Prefecture was really dangerous, so luckily he didn't let her follow him.
Now things in Quanzhou Prefecture have exceeded his expectations. He won't be able to go back at the end of the year, and he will have to be busy through next spring and summer at least. Some have endured such long days...
Just as Gu Zhengchen was pouring out his thoughts, Qin Song hurriedly walked in and whispered: "Master, there is news from Lin Nanshan that the Bu family has ordered the Lu brothers to go to Luoyang Town to find the fisherman and use the old plan."
"Fisherman?"
Gu Zhengchen raised his head and chuckled: "Quanzhou Mansion is like the water of the Yellow River that has been shaken. It is very turbid. Now that Qin Xin, Wu Kang and others are dead, no one shakes the water, and the clear and turbid water is finally divided into two places, hidden in It’s time for the people in the darkness to surface. Tell Lin Shannan to catch the fisherman!"
