(I wish you all a prosperous New Year, a prosperous and prosperous New Year!) ）

The whole city of Yangzhou has already caused a sensation, and there is no need for the government to issue a notice, and the people have long known that Brigadier General Huang'en and his prisoners were executed in Yangzhou.

Since then, the people have spontaneously gathered on both sides of the street leading to the entrance of the Nancheng vegetable market in the government jail, people are elated, take out new clothes at the bottom of the box to change, and some people buy hanging whips to cast along the street, the crackling sound provokes the children to hide their ears and laugh, as if the New Year has come early.

The whole Yangzhou Xiang army was dispatched, and thousands of soldiers stood along the street with five steps, one post, ten steps, and one sentry, and some special people used lime powder to draw white lines on both sides of the street, and beat gongs to announce discipline, warning the people that when the prisoner car passed by, they were not allowed to exceed the white line warning range, otherwise what would happen.

One hundred and eighty Ma soldiers took on the responsibility of escorting the prisoners, and although dozens of Ma soldiers had to ride the inferior horses that Su Jin temporarily bought, it did not affect the tall and mighty image of the Ma army in the slightest; Following Su Jin's order, the convicts, together with Feng Jingyao and his men, a total of 52 death row inmates, were escorted into prison vans and began to parade through the streets.

The people on both sides of the convoy blew up the pot at the entrance of the convoy to the south, and rotten vegetable leaves, rotten eggs, mud balls, and even stinky dog feces were smashed on the prisoner car, which was no less dense than the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor; None of the 52 prisoner vans were spared, and within two miles of walking, the people on the carts were almost overwhelmed by debris.

The soldiers of the Ma Army were originally guarded on both sides with bright armor, but in this case, they were inevitably hit, and their bodies were smashed into a mess, and the annoyed Zhao Dutou and Fang Dutou scolded their mothers.

Su Jin, Ouyang Xiu, and Song Zhen rode at the end of the procession, and when they saw that the people were so excited, they felt a little inappropriate, and if they didn't get to the execution ground like this, these people would be stoned to death.

Ouyang Xiu looked at Su Jin and said, "Envoy Su has a high prestige among the people of Yangzhou, so let's go and persuade him." ”

Song Zhen said: "I'm afraid that persuasion won't work, so I ordered the soldiers to arrest the most troublesome and teach a lesson with a whip, and it will naturally stop." ”

Su Jin and Ouyang Xiu's eyes were full of disdain when they looked at Song Zhen, and Ouyang Xiu sighed: "Governor Song, today is the day for the people to raise their eyebrows, you can actually make such a suggestion, this official really feels strange." ”

Song Zhen hurriedly shut up, it is better to hide the ugliness than to be clumsy, if you say too much, you will lose, and after meditating for a few days, you can't help but open your mouth again, it is really cheap.

Su Jin smiled: "I'll try." ”

After that, he urged the horse forward, rushed over from the side of the prisoner car, and said in a loud voice: "Everyone, stop first, listen to my Su Jin's words." ”

The people smashed up, and a piece of mud smashed on Su Jin's nose impartially, and blood flowed for a long time; Someone shouted: "That's Su Qingtian, who the hell doesn't have long eyes, how can you smash it on him?" It's just too unusual. ”

"Whoever smashed it, get out!" Someone yelled.

A weak junior cautiously whispered, "Yes...... The small one missed. ”

"Fuck you, you must be Feng Jingyao's gang, take the opportunity to make trouble......" Several big men waved their fists and beckoned to the latter student, who hurriedly squatted down with his head in his hands.

"Stop!" Su Jin hurriedly shouted.

With such a hard effort, the blood in the nose flowed faster, and he hurriedly took out the mandarin duck silk handkerchief embroidered by Huanniang for himself and prepared to wipe it, and after thinking about it, he stuffed it into his pocket, which was really reluctant; So he raised the sleeves of the blue official robe, snorted and wiped it clean, and arched his hand: "Everyone! I know that you hate these scumbags to the core, and I understand your feelings; However, the execution of criminals is a major matter of official affairs, and if you stoned these criminals to death by mistake, the imperial court will definitely blame you and others, and I, Ouyang Zhongcheng, and the Song prefect will all be punished; Besides, they are all going to be beheaded, and this last stretch of the road will let them walk through in peace, and no matter how bad their deeds are, they have already paid for their crimes with their lives, why don't we be a little more lenient? ”

The people felt that what Su Jin said made some sense, they were all about to be cut off their heads, why should they be so unforgiving, and some people hurriedly threw away the things they were about to throw out in their hands.

Su Jin saw that there were still people pinching mud and rotten eggs and waiting, and said again: "Today, thanks to the emperor's attention, he ordered me and Ouyang Zhongcheng to behead him, for the sake of me, Su Jin has done something practical for the people of Yangzhou, give me a face, and let me finish this errand properly?" I won't tell you that I haven't been home to see my mother for half a year, and seeing that the New Year is approaching, I just want to do this last errand with one mind, and go home to accompany my old mother, is this request too much? If you really feel that you are still angry, then you will smash it at me, how to relieve your anger and how to smash it, I have no complaints. ”

Someone in the crowd was actually moved to tears by Su Jin's words.

"Su Qingtian is not easy, he has done so many good things for the people of Yangzhou, and the lives of more than half of the people in our Yangzhou City can be said to have been saved by Su Qingtian, let's not let Su Qingtian stop, is that still a human being?" Someone lost the thing in his hand.

"Yes, we can't smash Su Qingtian's errand, let the benefactor be punished, don't smash things, let's change the scolding, scold those who hate in their hearts, anyway, these turtle grandchildren all have ears."

"Yes, yes, yes, scolding their ancestors for eight generations is not allowed to live in peace, Su Qingtian, it's okay to scold people, right?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "Despite scolding, scolding tricks, scolding is more exciting." ”

The people laughed, passed the latest strategies to each other, and all of them became gentlemen from small people, only talking but not moving.

Su Jin waved his hand, the prisoner cart team continued to move forward, and he rode back to the back of the car, Ouyang Xiu raised his thumb and said: "Good eloquence, move with emotion and reason." ”

Su Jin said with a smile: "The adults praise falsely, but they just want to pollute the ears of the adults, and they don't like to be scolded in the market." ”

Ouyang Xiu said: "It's okay to scold and get angry, these people have too many evils, and they should have today." ”

Under the guidance of the new strategy, the scolding everywhere the prisoner car went, and the slang and scolding in the market were naturally unbearable, but there were many kinds of tricks, and Su Jin, a person who traveled through it, did not feel dirty, but felt novel.

Although the scolding was shocking, it was orderly, no one littered, and the horse soldiers also regained their majestic momentum, riding their horses high, escorting the prisoner cart to roll past.

Feng Jingyao was smiling on the prisoner car, it didn't look like he was going to die at all, this person was completely crazy; But at this moment, being crazy is luckier than not crazy, and then look at the other people, all of them are colorless, and some of them are even already feces and pee; Some of them wanted to shout out loudly about what Su Jin and Ouyang Xiu had hidden, and some wanted to shout a few words with a hard heart, 'Another good man after eighteen years!' I want to cry loudly and ask my mother to beg for mercy, but unfortunately before getting into the car, my mouth was stuffed with hemp walnuts, don't talk at the moment, I can't even move my tongue a few times, I don't feel numb.

The road was bustling, the people followed the prisoner car and scolded, as the prisoner car ran, traffic jams would occur from time to time, and the prisoner car also stopped several times, and finally at noon, came to the entrance of the South Gate vegetable market.

The wooden platform has already been set up, and the three tables are placed on the north side of the wooden square, which is the position of Ouyang Xiu Song Zhen and Su Jin, and there are six wooden pillars erected on the platform facing the table, and a huge wooden pier is placed in front of each wooden pillar, which is the guillotine for cutting off the head.

Because there were too many prisoners, it was impossible to put all of them on the stage, so there were only six positions on the stage, which were reserved for Feng Jingyao and other main criminals, and the rest all knelt in a circle under the stage, and behind each stood an executioner holding a big knife.

All the soldiers gathered in a large circle along the side of the stage, and the bright and dangling knives danced wildly, controlling the crowded people outside the circle, the entrance of the vegetable market at the south gate was not large, but at this moment there were seventy or eighty thousand people in a dense turn, and the surrounding houses, branches, and walls were all crawling with people, and all the heads and eyes were black as far as the eye could see, and the people who watched had goosebumps.

Ouyang Xiu sat down behind the table in the middle, Su Jin and Song Zhen sat down on both sides, Ouyang Xiu picked up the token on the case, held it in his hand and said, "The executioner is in place!" ”

The six big men waiting in the audience with red cloth and head strode up the wooden ladder and climbed up to the stage; Each of them carried a rusty, thick-backed broadsword in their arms.

The six of them lined up and saluted Ouyang Xiu and Su Jin, and Ouyang Xiu shouted: "Sharpen the knife with wine, I have worked hard today." ”

The six of them said in unison: "Don't worry, my six brothers' skills are not bad. ”

Su Jin almost laughed out loud, it turned out that these six people were six brothers, and the six brothers were all executioners, which was also a strange talk, and what was even funnier was that they actually regarded beheading as a craft.

Ouyang Xiu shouted: "Left and right! with prisoners Feng Jingyao, Guo Pinchao, Shen Dezhang, Zhou Zhe, Hou Shanrong...... Get on stage! ”

The Ma soldiers shouted loudly and agreed, and in pairs, they dragged the six named people to the stage like dead dogs, and tied them to six pillars.

More than a dozen jars of liquor were also brought to the stage, and each of the six executioners took a large bowl and poured a full bowl, and first drank a large gulp and sprayed it on the blade, and the rest was brought to the six prisoners and shouted: "Drink! Get drunk and go on the road with less suffering. ”

Except for Feng Jingyao, how could the other five people drink it, and they all looked at Su Jin and Ouyang Xiu in front of them with vicious eyes, wanting to scold but couldn't scold, making a strange sound in the room.

"Please ask the Song Governor to verify the prisoners' bodies one by one, and execute them as soon as three o'clock in the afternoon."

Su Jin said to Ouyang Xiu: "Lord Zhongcheng, give the order, understand it as soon as possible." ”

Ouyang Xiu said: "It's not yet three o'clock in the afternoon, and the execution is unknown, so let's wait a while." ”