weaving

Chapter 462: Acting for the Heavens?

Zhougong Temple is located four miles outside the west gate of Luoyang City. It was built in the last years of the Sui Dynasty.

It is a four-entry courtyard facing south. There is a memorial archway in front of it, followed by Lingxing Gate and Jimen Gate, and then Yuansheng Hall, Dingding Hall, Huizhong Temple, and Ancestor Hall. pattern.

In addition, there are wing rooms on the east and west sides in front of the main gate of Zhou Gong Temple, while the bell tower and drum tower are on both sides of the main gate.

In the hall of Dingding hall, there are five holy statues of Zhou Gong and his younger brothers Zhao Gong and Bi Gong, the eldest son Bo Qin, and the second son Jun Chen.

On the walls around the hall, Chinese painting scatter-point perspective is used, and six pictures are used to describe Zhou Gong's battle in Muye, assisting King Cheng, conquering chaos in the east, enfeoffing princes, building Luoyi, making rituals and making music, etc. Six major achievements.

Now it has become the residence of Chuang Wang Li Zicheng. He had previously ordered people to remove the statues of Zhou Gong in Dingding Hall and turned it into a meeting hall for use.

…………

On December 13th, the [-]th year of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, when the sun was approaching, the Zhougong Temple in the west of Luoyang City was already crowded with people, from the Zhougong Temple to the outside of Xiguan.

Although Bao Jiqiang came late, he was not an ordinary citizen in the city. He was seen squeezing left and right in the crowd, and after a while, he entered the third row, but he didn't dare to come back. Squeeze forward.

He stood behind the two rows of people and silently watched the square in front of Zhou Gong Temple, looked at the rows of bandits in armor and armed with guns in front, and listened to the discussions of the people around him.

It turned out that not only King Fu and Lu Weiqi, the former Shangshu of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, but also more than [-] officials and generals in Luoyang City, as well as many wealthy gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen, were detained in the temporary military prison set up by Zhougong Temple.

Even Wang Yinchang, the patrolling soldier of the Henan branch, Kang Menghui, the magistrate, and Zhang Zhengxue, the county magistrate, were among them. Only Wang Shaoyu, the general soldier of Henan, was escorted out of the city by his subordinates and fled.

Now Lu Weiqi and King Fu have been escorted into the law hall in Zhougong Temple, and they are probably being interrogated by King Chuang and other generals. It is said that after the interrogation of King Fu and Lu Weiqi today, they will be beheaded for public display at the old execution ground outside Xiguan. To relieve public anger.

The remaining soldiers Wang Yinchang, prefect Kang Menghui, magistrate Zhang Zhengxue and other officials, as well as other officials, big and small, noble gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen, etc. will be interrogated in the next few days. Before beheading, to resolve public grievances.

Bao Jiqiang scoffed at this statement in his heart. He remembered that his grandfather, the general, once said that the rogues were doing sabotage in the name of righteousness. Every time a city was destroyed, the officials were first killed, and then money and food were taken. He shoveled the city, coerced the people, and thought it was his own use.

No matter how well he said it, he could not get rid of his nature of rogues. He only knew about destruction, ran around to grab food and plunder people, and did not produce at all. For ordinary people, they are simply the third disaster after drought and locust plague. .

Suddenly, there was a burst of voices around, and I saw a group of tall and straight bandit soldiers walking out of the Lingxing Gate. They were carrying more than ten large wooden boxes, and random guesses spread from the crowd.

I saw those wooden boxes opened one after another, and inside were all kinds of land and mu account books, land deeds, slave prostitution contracts, etc. copied from the Fu Wang's mansion.

A young general in the Chuang army strode forward, announcing that all the documents in Fu Wang's mansion are invalid, and from now on, there will be no more Wang Tian and Wang Zhuang in the world.

Afterwards, the bandits piled up those documents and books and lit a raging fire. Seeing the ashes of the paper flying, the people onlookers clapped their hands and cheered. Many people were so excited that they shed tears. He knelt on the ground and worshiped.

They all guessed the name of this little general. Some said he was the young general "Zhang Nai", and some said he was the young general "Li Shuangxi", the adopted son of King Chuang. In short, there were different opinions, but no one called him. not allowed.

Then I saw Fu Wang Zhu Changxun and Lu Weiqi being tied up and pushed out by Wuhuada. Their coats had been stripped off, their loose hair was pulled up to the top of their heads, and there were death flags on the back of their necks. The thieves stood up.

Bao Jiqiang suddenly heard a curse from beside him:
"Well, I told your mother to be domineering all day long, I never thought that today would happen!"

…………

On the execution ground outside the Xiguan of Luoyang City, a bandit infantry stood every five steps to prevent the onlookers from crowding into the high platform and the empty space in front of the platform.

In the outer circle of the Xiguan Execution Ground, there are even teams of cavalry guarding the execution ground from a distance. Although we know that no one will come to rob the execution ground, we still arrange it like this, just to show it to the people of Luoyang. King Chuang's horses and power are nothing more than that.

On both sides and behind the tall surveillance platform, there are neat rows of infantry standing upright with guns. They are all wearing cotton armor and covered with dark blue crotches. White cloth with the word "Chuang" embroidered on it.

Under the high platform of supervision and execution, around the execution ground, flags fluttered, spears were like a forest, and the tips of the spears shone brightly under the setting sun.

An old farmer with a white beard sighed softly: "Oh, this killing field has only killed thieves since ancient times, but today it is going to kill the king. Even Lord Fu can be killed. I didn't dare to think about it earlier. Yes!"

A middle-aged man with beards beside him snorted coldly through his nostrils, and then said: "Never mind your mother's gold skills and jade leaves, sons and grandsons of dragons, crowned kings and marquises, domineering and showing off Yes, riding the sun and the moon on the heads of our common people, and now the crime is in the hands of King Chuang, it is not worth a piece of skin money."

A young strong man also laughed and said: "That's right, that Wan'an King in Yongning, wasn't he already killed by King Chuang? Don't look at this King Fu is the uncle of 'Today', cut it down with a knife, and with a click, Still the melon seeds on the head fell to the ground, the blood splattered in the yellow sand, and the corpse was thrown to the dogs, what a chicken thief's 'blessing and fate'!"

Another middle-aged man said even more angrily: "Since ancient times, the princes have been rich and the people have suffered. The world has been in chaos for more than ten years, and I don't know when it will end."

Another young man answered and said: "I see that King Li Chuang is the right man. Today, I cut off the old man, King Fu. Tomorrow, I will join the army of King Chuang, and in the future, I will fight him as a hero for the founding of the country..."

Beside them, there were a few people discussing in low voices, a thin old man leaning on a cane and said: "In the past, people killed people only during the winter solstice every year.

But since Chongzhen seven years later, this rule has become chaotic. Human life is a matter of heaven, and if a person is sentenced to death, it has to be played layer by layer, waiting for the order of the Ministry of Punishment, before the criminal can be executed on the day of the winter solstice.Killing people is not as simple as killing chickens and dogs..."

The old man sighed, and continued: "In this place, more than a hundred people were killed at a time a few years ago. Our little people encountered a famine, and they were so hungry that they couldn't help it, so they stole some. Grain,
However, no matter how big or small the crime was, the officials ordered them to follow the bandits and attach themselves to the bandits, and they did not submit them to the Ministry of Punishment for approval. "

The person next to him couldn't bear it anymore, and said angrily: "We are all poor people who were killed, so which son was killed?"

A middle-aged man with a gall neck even said: "Hmph, it's better for Prince Chuang to come. Once Prince Chuang came, he turned the damn world upside down, and even chopped off Prince Fu and Lu Shangshu who were usually high above you. They really only kill officials, not civilians."

A hungry man with a slightly swollen face also interjected from the side: "This is called doing justice for the sky!"

(End of this chapter)