Chapter 272: Gone in Smoke

West Street Restaurant, Restaurant, Inn, Silk Shop, Gold and Silver Shop, Antique Shops, etc. abound, it has always been the most lively place in Qingzhou City, the Lantern Festival is held here every year, and people who enter the city for small business often come here. However, in addition to doing business, there is also a large vacant lot at the intersection of this West Street. Every time a prisoner is executed after autumn, it is often the third floor inside and the third floor outside, and the good seats in several restaurants on the street will be booked out, and even rich people from the countryside make a special trip to the city to watch the killing.

As soon as the list came out this time, the thresholds of the restaurants were almost broken, and the seats on the third and second floors were all snatched up, not to mention, and even met many people who made special requests. What uses screens to separate private seats, what carries dishes and porcelain at home, and wealthy merchants who spend a lot of money to cover the entire floor alone. When I knew that there were many female relatives who came to see the murder this time, even if the shopkeepers of these restaurants were all well-informed, they only smacked their tongues.

Only the old people who had experienced the Battle of Jingjing did not think of people's enthusiasm for watching the excitement, and this cutting off one person's head was certainly bloody and exciting, but cutting off the heads of ten people was a stumbling person, and cutting off the heads of a hundred people...... Those who watch the excitement don't come in vertically and go out horizontally! As a result, there were people who were afraid that the world would not be chaotic, and there were also many people who decided to close their doors on that day, and the shopkeepers of many shops also decided not to do business that day after careful consideration.

Although it has only been a month, the craze for petitions seems to have become yesterday's obsolete. According to the words of the government, the White Lotus Cult uses the name of the Buddha's mother to confuse the public, and if there are believers, they will be severely punished. For this reason, some people put the immortal tablet of the Buddha's mother in the secret place of the home for offering, but more people choose to forget and avoid, after all, good people do not fight with officials. There are even former believers who happily dragged their children to watch the killing, completely forgetting that they were also one of the people who worshiped and believed in the first place.

On the day of the execution, the officers and men cleared the road early in the morning and set up checkpoints in various places, and near the execution ground, in addition to the elite soldiers of the various guards arranged by the Shandong Metropolitan Division, the elite of the 500 Beijing battalions were also scattered in the city, and heavy troops were stationed at the city gate. Before noon, the scorching sun baked the ground hot, and many people who watched the excitement were wilted, until one by one the people tied up with flowers were escorted by a string of ropes, and everyone had the spirit, and there was a burst of noise in the crowd.

"Why is the line so long...... How many people are going to be killed today? ”

"I don't know, do you? This time, I have to kill more than 400 people, and I don't know if there are enough executioners in the government! ”

"The last time I watched Ling Chi, it was really three whole days, this time more than 400 people can be killed in one day? According to me, this time it will take ten days to kill, and within these ten days, everyone will be lively to watch! ”

"I think let's go back, so many people are beheaded together, and the blood is soaring, maybe there will be some demonic atmosphere......"

The last low offer was quickly drowned out by the clamor of the crowd. Except for the time of execution after the autumn, how many times can you meet murderers this summer? Don't look at such a bustle, have you to wait for the next time that you have the Year of the Monkey? As a result, the sound of discussion and laughter mixed with the cries of children turned the execution ground into a noisy vegetable market.

For Zhang Yue, who was already sitting on the high platform in front of the execution ground at this time, he naturally thought of the detailed description of the murder at the execution ground at the Roman Carnival in "The Count of Monte Cristo" - it is not only the Ming people who love to kill people, this is the same all over the world. But even so, there were various ways to execute, and Zhu Di had to stubbornly behead these more than 400 people. Even if the Criminal Department successively transferred forty executioners from various places and the army, there were still four people in Qingzhou, and it was still enough to kill them in one day.

The sun was rising high in the sky at this time, and the bareheaded prisoners on the execution ground were scolding at first, but after kneeling under the scorching sun for only a while, they were so faint from the sun that they drooped their heads one by one. The crowd of onlookers was full of energy, and even shouted for these dying people to leave a message.

At the end of the execution ground, the prisoners were tied up like rice dumplings, some knelt on the ground and struggled desperately, some resigned themselves to their fate, and some reluctantly responded to the shouts of the crowd to answer, and more people only glanced at the crowd, hoping that their companions would come to the rescue.

"Father-in-law, it's two o'clock in the afternoon!"

Despite the canopy, it was unusually hot on the high platform. Lu Feng had already drunk three cups of tea, and he didn't care about the decency of Lord Qincha, he just waved the fan in his hand. Hearing the little eunuch next to him say that it was only two o'clock in the afternoon, he couldn't help muttering angrily, and seeing that Zhang Yue was still sitting flat, he licked his thick lips again. He was a little excited about the upcoming killing scene, and his palms were all sweaty.

This is a murder, more than 400 people, and when he returns to the palace, of course he can show off greatly!

Zhu Zhantan, the prince of the Han Dynasty, was crooked on a soft couch, squinting his eyes at the prisoners on the execution ground, his fists clenched and relaxed, relaxed and clenched. After years of painstaking planning, I hoped to drive such a group of mud-legged people to do something, but the result was that they were uprooted, and even the best plan turned into nothing. Not only that, but Qiu Changtian disappeared without a trace as if he had disappeared from the ground. If it weren't for the fact that Hainan was too far away, and the Qiu family would be able to restrain this person, he couldn't wait to count all the accounts on the rest of the Qiu family.

What Zhang Yue did was insignificant, and the worst thing was that Du Zhen was so accurate, even if he knew that he was going to offend the Han Palace, he still didn't care about it, and even didn't hesitate to put himself in. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glance at Zhang Yue, and found that the other party was just sitting there with a calm face, and he sighed again.

If it weren't for the fact that his father, who only knew how to fight and kill, and spit out wild words, had to find some face, how could he have come to such a place? Who wants to watch their efforts come to naught, and they can't fight back at all!

There were hundreds of people around the execution ground, at least in circles, all of whom were isolated by heavily armed sergeants, and their heads were showing out behind the windows and railings of the restaurants and restaurants around them. At this time, no matter whether noble or lowly, there is only one thing in the eyes, and that is the executioner's knife. Countless people talked about the good or bad of the executioner's knife skills, countless people talked about how far the blood in the cavity could spurt out, and countless people speculated whether there would be an executioner who would retreat when he was about to retreat, but almost no one cared about those who were going to die.

On the swallow floor diagonally opposite the execution ground, all the elegant boxes on the third floor were booked out. Because the shopkeeper is thoughtful, all the private seats are separated by four screens and do not disturb each other, so most of the women of the rich and noble families here are everywhere, and here are full of soft words and laughter of warblers and swallows. On the east side of the railing, two women in stone blue gauze shirts were looking down at the execution ground below, one of them had a blue face, the other was clenched into fists, and suddenly turned his head sideways and asked in a low voice in an inaudible voice.

"Is there really no way to save them?"

"How to save it, didn't you see it when you first came, the government is strictly guarding this time, just waiting for us to take the bait!"

"But even if we don't do it, will we watch them drill into the trap? They have let out the rumors, and the one who rescued Bin Hong is the new sect leader. Third sister, if you don't come forward this time, no one will obey you as the leader in the future. ”

"Am I ignoring them, or are they ignoring the big picture? If it weren't for Bin Hong suddenly raising the banner in the stone unloading shed, how could it alarm the government and cut off our best foundation? Don't say anything about occupying the mountain as the king, those stockades were burned and destroyed by the officers and soldiers, and now we can't stay in the mountains of Qingzhou anymore, and even Potai has begun to check the people who believe in religion, what else is there to be for this Laoshizi sect leader! Even if they want to save Binhong, it's time to do it now, do you think there is someone at this time? It's not that I underestimate them, at most they will make a fuss afterwards, but after seeing today's torture and killing, ordinary people have already been frightened! ”

Tang Qingshuang was choked by these words, and her face turned pale after a long time, and she held back a sentence: "Then third sister, what are you doing here?" ”

"I want to see the dog officer sent by the Dog Emperor! If I had known that he was such a ruthless character, I should have taken his life in the Meng family in the first place...... It's a pity, I don't want to kill in front of my master, but I left such a scourge! In addition, I also want to know how the people in our sect could have something to do with the Han Wangfu, although Yue Changtian ran away without a trace, but I know that this matter is inseparable from him, and if you want to figure out this, you can only investigate it slowly. ”

Hearing these three words of Yue Changtian, Tang Qingshuang no longer had a trace of blood on his face, and he regretted it extremely much. She gave everything to Yue Changtian almost without reservation, but that person turned over and destroyed everything cleanly. Could it be that he pretended to deceive her about the tenderness and sweetness at that time? Or did he say that in his eyes, all this was originally a play on the spot, in order to calculate the power of the White Lotus Sect?

When the prison official came to report that it was three o'clock in the afternoon, Zhang Yue took out the token from the lottery holder and threw it down with an expressionless face. Thinking of the next scene, he couldn't help but take a deep breath and try his best to force himself to remain calm.

Seeing the token landing, the crowd of onlookers all stirred, and when the shirtless executioners strode forward with ghost head knives in their hands, the atmosphere reached a high point.

Countless pairs of eyes stared intently at the bright and flickering big knife, staring at the arc drawn by the blade - suddenly, the blade fell, bringing up a series of high-flying blood arrows, spraying on the execution ground in different depths, far and near, the neat movements did not make a person let out a miserable moan, but the crowd resounded one after another screams, gasps, admiration, applause, and coaxing...... The more timid fell to the ground with a grunt, drawing laughter from the people around them.

Zhang Yue, who watched murder for the first time in his life, only felt that there was a red curtain in front of him, and his heart almost jumped out of his throat, but Lu Feng next to him praised left and right after seeing the blood: "This time they are all capable people, such fast knives!" ”

The corpses and heads were quickly cleaned and carried down one by one, and more than a dozen buckets of cold water were poured on the torture platform, and before the blood stains could be cleaned up, a sergeant rushed up another group of people tied with ropes, and pressed them to the ground one by one in the blood that had not yet been drained. Most of the prisoners who saw the blood had already weakened, but there were also those who went crazy and wanted to resist, but they were kicked to the ground by the executioners who had just killed the red-eyed executioners. When more than forty heads landed on the ground again, the uproar in the crowd was much smaller than just now, and the air was already filled with a thick smell of blood.

After four or five killings, Zhu Zhantan couldn't stand it anymore - he was not a butcher like his grandfather and father after all—so he ordered the guards to block in front of him, deeply regretting why he didn't let his other younger brothers go on this trip this time.

Lu Feng, who was still indifferent just now, was as white as a dead man at this moment, and his body was trembling. The few little eunuchs next to him were already so frightened that they couldn't move, and one of them was so frightened that he peed his pants. Most of the officials of the Qingzhou Mansion who came to watch the execution couldn't support it, and even the military attaches of the Shandong Metropolitan Division were quite shocked by such a scene, and their faces were not very good-looking.

The crowd of onlookers had completely lost their initial excitement, and they all stood there quietly, their expressions fixed at the moment when the ghost head knife was swung by Shicai, and they didn't even move their eyes. The ladies in the restaurant had long since moved away from the windows and railings, and the timid ones had even fainted. In front of all the window seats facing the execution ground, there were very few people who could still be interested in standing and watching. Even these people have more fear and less excitement in their eyes.

It's exciting to watch a killing, and it's a little exciting to watch a second time in a row, but after three or four or four or five times in a row, people are left with deep fear and horror.

The people who watched the murder could no longer support it, not to mention those lambs to the slaughter under the scorching sun, and there were not a few who fainted. Even though many of the executioners were veterans of death row prisoners in the army, the posture of wielding the knife at this time gradually became a little stiff and tired, and the originally sharpened butcher knife did not seem to be as sharp as it was at the beginning. The four local executioners in Qingzhou even felt that their legs and feet were weak, and they only relied on the fierceness of the liquor and the bright sun in the sky to reluctantly continue the killing.

"Little ...... Lord Xiao Zhang ......" Lu Feng finally stiffened and turned his head, seeing that Zhang Yue was still sitting upright as before, he had some fear in addition to admiration. However, at this moment, he really didn't have time to care about others, so he forced a smile, "I suddenly feel a little uncomfortable in my stomach, and I will leave for a while, this shouldn't be tight, right?" ”

"Father-in-law Lu can go."

Hearing Zhang Yue's flat voice, Lu Feng suddenly felt a panic in his heart, and subconsciously decided to stay away from this murderous Qin. At this moment, he completely forgot that he was also a murderer. Taking advantage of the fact that there was no blood this time, he almost ran away and flashed into a restaurant next to it that had been requisitioned a long time ago, inhaled heavily, and violently ordered the shopkeeper to bring wine. He poured down a large bowl of spirits, and he came back to his senses. At this moment, a scream came from outside.

"Hell!"

Lu Feng's legs were weak when he heard the sound, and he actually sat down on the ground, and then he saw that the shopkeeper was already half short, and a few young men had already hidden behind the counter. Seeing this scene, he suddenly felt that he was not too embarrassed, as long as he was a human being, it was impossible to be indifferent when he saw the scene outside!

When the seemingly endless torture finally ended, all those who were still alive exhaled with relief, but some of them vomited uncontrollably. Qingzhou City has never killed people like this, and the entire Shandong world has never killed people like this during the Taiping period. Hardly anyone was still in the mood to see the excitement, and the first person dragged his stiff legs back in a panic, and then the second and third ...... When the last corpses were cleaned up, the crowd of onlookers had almost dispersed, and the surrounding restaurants and restaurants were gone.

There were only countless sergeants with long knives at their waists on the empty streets, and at this time, Lu Feng finally slipped back, and his walking leg was still a little disobedient. Seeing that the officials who were watching the execution all left with bad faces, he felt a little more comfortable. Seeing Zhang Yue get up from his seat and nod to himself, he immediately put on a solemn posture, but he came to Zhu Zhantan first.

"Is His Royal Highness the Prince alright?"

Zhu Zhantan had just swallowed a pill, and when he heard this, he couldn't help but snort coldly: "Grandpa Huang sent you to prison for a sentence, just to establish authority to the common people, but you couldn't stand it halfway, abandoned your duties and ran away, you envoy can't help but be too easy!" Come on, prepare the car and return to Le'an, I have seen it today! ”

He didn't look at Lu Feng, who was embarrassed, and he glanced at Zhang Yue meaningfully: "Lord Xiao Zhang is not moving like a mountain, this time the killing made Qingzhou tremble, and even the whole Shandong will be shaken, I am afraid that in the future, Lord Xiao Zhang will have the name of a butcher." The peaceful and prosperous era has never killed people like this, although the emperor's grandfather will not be merciful in his decision to kill, but after all, you are a civil official, and the name of this murderous butcher will be with you for the rest of your life. In addition, your teacher has offended countless military ministers at the beginning, and you can be regarded as more than you gain! ”

Seeing Zhu Zhantan leaving with a large number of entourage, Lu Feng couldn't help but slander himself, and then stepped forward and said to Zhang Yue with a smile on his face: "Lord Xiao Zhang, although our affairs have been completed, but this time the blood is flowing like a river, and the people will inevitably be terrified, should we stay for a while and leave again, and have an explanation to the emperor when we turn back?" ”

After ten massacres, Zhang Yue had already become numb, so he didn't bother to pay attention to Zhu Zhantan's weird words at all. Seeing that Lu Feng was alive again at this time, he didn't know his temperament, so he said casually at the moment: "Father-in-law Lu is very thoughtful, let's stay in Qingzhou Yi for a few more days, if there is anything, it is better to deal with it as soon as possible, so as not to have more complications after going back." It's just that I have some things to discuss with Lord Yaling, and if there is anything, Grandpa Lu is in charge of himself. ”

This is exactly what Lu Feng is looking forward to the most, he immediately agreed with his eyes shining brightly, the tragic energy when he killed just now had already been thrown out of the clouds by him, and he just wanted to take advantage of the extra few days to do what he promised that night.

Taking advantage of Lu Feng's departure with a few little eunuchs, Zhang Yue, who was a few steps behind, immediately instructed Hu Qi behind him: "Keep an eye on him, don't use any method, write down all his every move in Qingzhou, especially the exchange of money." ”