Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 740 The villain is always sad

On the Lantern Festival of that year, Fang Zhongyong ordered Che Guangqian to conduct a "comprehension" of the entire Bianzhou. According to the intelligence previously learned, all the people on the "blacklist" were to be exterminated as a family unit, leaving no one alive and killing them all.

This operation was very clever, because that night, the city of Bianliang was full of people who came to visit the Lantern Festival. How could they ensure that no one would slip through the net?
What if all these people go out to visit the lantern festival? It would be a waste of time!

The reason given by Fang Chongyong was very straightforward: those who participated in Li Wei's plan must have known that if the plan was accomplished, after midnight, the area centered on Kaifeng County (not Bianliang City) would be in chaos!
The gunpowder workshop exploded, and the soldiers were wandering around, which would have made for a chaotic scene, making it difficult to distinguish between friend and foe.

By that time, the army will be busy putting out fires and suppressing rioters. The scene will be so chaotic that it is impossible to look at it directly. Any outsiders waiting nearby may be affected.

Therefore, these clever little ghosts will definitely not participate in the Lantern Festival. They will turn off the lights and go to bed early, lock the doors and windows, and wait for the next day to dawn, when the world will be completely changed!

In other words, if Che Guangqian led the troops directly to the door, they would definitely catch one. On the contrary, if all the members were not at home and went to Bianliang City to participate in the lantern festival parade, then the intelligence was wrong, which means that these people were injured by mistake.

They can be removed from the blacklist afterwards.

The facts were exactly as Fang Chongyong had expected, almost exactly.

For example, the Cui family, who were from the Qinghe Cui family branch and lived in Kaifeng County, went to bed early.

However, they could not escape the precise and ruthless knife of their superiors.

Outside the yard, fresh footprints were lined up on the snow, and the red-painted gate was knocked open by a copper-clad pillar used to batter city gates. Before the tremor of the copper bottle falling to the ground had dissipated, Cui Hongjian, the owner of the house, had already heard the sound of metal clashing in the front yard.

That's someone fighting a desperate battle!
He hastily pushed open the bedroom door, only to see a glazed lantern broken into two pieces rolling on the blue brick floor. The warm yellow candlelight in the courtyard reflected the frost on the iron armor of the imperial guards.

It’s Fang Qing’s Silver Spear Filial Piety Army!
Cui Hongjian was horrified, knowing that what they had planned had gone terribly wrong.

"Father! What happened?"

Cui Shierlang's cry was cut off in his throat, and he was running towards Cui Hongjian when he suddenly fell to the ground.

Shi Er Lang was kicked to the ground by a soldier of the imperial guards and seemed to be unconscious. However, the other party obviously would not let him go, and cut off his head with a knife, and rolled forward for a long distance.

Cui Hongjian was so shocked to see his legitimate son die. He suddenly saw the side room door opened and one of his children fell down in front of the mother-of-pearl cabinet, with dark red spots on the hem of his snow-white undershirt.

One of his concubines stuffed another young son, who was less than three years old, into a sandalwood trunk filled with a brocade quilt, and her fingertips scratched bloody marks on the mother-of-pearl peony pattern.

There was a knife stuck in her back and blood was all over the ground. She was already dead.

The imperial guards in the house were holding the young boy's hair, and then they slashed him with a knife without mercy!

Blood splattered all over, another life!
At this moment, inside and outside the three courtyards, there were sounds of porcelain breaking.

There were also the sounds of servants fighting with the imperial guards, and the cries of women and children.

Cui Hongjian straightened his hat, smoothed out the wrinkles on his purple silk round-collar robe, and then knelt weakly on the ground.

In the light of the swaying torches outside the carved lattice fan, he saw the white jade statue of Laojun that he had worshipped for thirty years suddenly fall to the ground, and the broken jade flew everywhere like falling stars.

One after another, the family's sons and daughters were either killed on the spot or caught and executed in the yard.

The imperial guards came to their house, obviously just to silence them, and they didn't even bother to look for the piles of money in the storehouse. At this time, no matter what Cui Hongjian shouted, it was useless, and it was impossible to stop those soldiers.

"Mr. Cui, please commit suicide. If you had known this would happen, why did you do it in the first place?"

Che Guangqian stepped forward, holding a horizontal sword in his hand, with blood still condensed on the tip of the sword. He wanted to give the head of the Cui family a final respect.

Cui Hongjian smelled a disgusting smell of blood. He looked up at the young general in front of him. He knew that the other party had made great achievements in battle and was Fang Qing's sharp claw!

"You, you will not have a good death in the future!"

Cui Hongjian tried to hold it in for a long time, but could only utter this sentence. If begging for mercy would not work, he would have wanted to kowtow and beg for mercy right now.

It's a pity that it's too late.

From the moment they got involved in Li Wei's plan, everything was destined.

Che Guangqian was too lazy to talk nonsense with him and winked at the guards beside him. The latter drew his sword and chopped. After a flash of the sword, Cui Hongjian fell in a pool of blood.

The death was not much different from that of a stray dog.

The sobbing of the women in the west wing was heard, but was immediately cut off by the sound of the blade breaking through the wind. There were many people in the Cui family, but not a single one escaped that night.

Che Guangqian's personal soldiers moved Cui Hongjian's body to the wall. The body hung its head, as if looking at the dark color gradually spreading on the silk screen in the main hall.

His Twelve Brother had half of his sleeve pressed under his body, while the other sleeve had an auspicious deer embroidered with gold thread immersed in the snow in the courtyard, and the deer's antlers had blossomed into a red plum blossom.

The two were only a few feet apart, yet they were so far away and could never be together again.

This tragic scene would leave even the most heartless person indifferent.

Che Guangqian glanced at Cui Hongjian with sympathy and said with a hint of ridicule:
"The emperor is the most kindhearted. If you had not colluded with Li Wei, even if you had assassinated the emperor alone, the emperor would not have killed your family. You have read so many books, but don't you understand how to write the four words "you have brought this upon yourself"?

You feel it is unfair. The emperor has worked so hard to build the current foundation. If it was taken away by Li Wei, wouldn't he feel it is unfair? Wouldn't we, who have our lives at stake, feel it is unfair?

"What a corrupt scholar! You have brought trouble to your family! Remember to be more discerning in your next life!"

The dead cannot speak, and Cui Hongjian's body certainly cannot speak. Facing Che Guangqian's scolding, Cui Hongjian could not answer.

When a person dies, everything is gone, including right and wrong and morality.

The yard was already in a mess. The soldiers who had cleared out all the people here came to the yard one after another and formed a team.

Everyone had empty hands and their swords were sheathed; no one hid anything.

Che Guangqian looked around at everyone and didn't notice any signs of anyone doing something dirty. She nodded calmly and said, "Go to the next one, hurry up."

The death-like team quietly left Cui's house. Before leaving, the soldiers did not forget to lock the door.

Tomorrow, the officials from the Kaifeng government office will come here to count the supplies. After collecting all the money, the Ministry of Revenue will allocate it to the Juyangyuan and Anjifang in Bianzhou to provide relief to the refugees and help them settle down.

Fallen flowers are not heartless things, into Chunni more quadrangle.

Che Guangqian, who had already walked far away, suddenly remembered the half-finished poem that Fang Chongyong had said. She looked at her bloody hands again, shook her head helplessly, and did not look back at the mansion.

……

The afterglow of the Lantern Festival had not yet faded away, but early the next morning, all the officials had already gathered in the imperial palace of Bianliang City. Then, they were led into the Purple Palace by the eunuchs.

The palace was still as solemn and majestic as before, and even the eunuchs were the same as before. People who didn't know the inside story didn't think there was anything unusual today.

This is a routine court meeting after the Lantern Festival!

However, when the ministers entered the Purple Palace, they saw an extremely shocking scene!
Chenliu Prince Li Qi was wearing a dragon robe and sitting on the dragon throne in the main hall of the Purple Palace. He had a blank expression on his face and his eyes were fixed on the ground, like a lifelike statue.

But Li Wei, the emperor, is not here!
Li Qi's trusted eunuch Huo Xianming stood beside Li Qi, holding the imperial edict in his hand and began to read it.

Huo Xianming's clear and precise voice echoed in the hall.

Although a large number of the central officials in the hall are Fang Qing's confidants, many of them have been promoted through the imperial examinations in recent years.

They didn't know that Li Wei had been placed under house arrest during the riot last night.

The content of the edict was very explosive: Li Qi felt that his health was getting worse and worse and he was unable to govern. In addition, his sons were young, and the country was in doubt. They were not suitable to inherit the throne. Therefore, the throne was passed to his uncle Li Qi. He was willing to demote himself to "Duke of Renguo", and his descendants would only inherit the title of Duke of Renguo in the future and would no longer have anything to do with the throne. Then, Huo Xianming took out another imperial edict, which was the "Confession of Sins" mentioned in the abdication edict, and began to read it out.

They're all clichés anyway.

The flooding of the Yellow River is my fault as the emperor. The flooding of Luoyang is my fault as the emperor. The sow from the Wang family next door died of dystocia is my fault as the emperor.

In a word: I am incompetent and disabled, and I am not qualified to be the emperor. Let my uncle Li Qi handle everything.

From now on you can just call me "Duke Rang".

Shock, speechlessness, worry, horror, countless emotions echoed in the hearts of many uninformed ministers in the hall.

Such a big thing happened, but Li Wei was unable to show up in the Purple Palace and inform the ministers about it on the spot!

The weirdness in this may be the answer to all the questions.

Not being here means you can't be here, but the reason is no longer important.

Li Wei wanted to abdicate because he was truly "incapable of governing the country." However, the reason was not "poor health," as he said in the imperial edict.

Those who understand will understand, and those who don’t understand don’t need to understand. Many things are just there as facts, and there is no need to seek answers.

"My dear ministers, I have just ascended the throne and am not familiar with government affairs. Do you have anything to say?"

Li Qi asked, pretending to be "eager to learn".

Everyone in the hall looked at each other, everyone had their own thoughts, but no one wanted to ask where Li Wei had gone.

From being an emperor to being a "Duke of Renguo" means withdrawing from politics and disappearing from the officialdom's sight.

To exist is to be reasonable.

"Your Majesty, it has always been the emperor who manages the affairs of the court. If you have any questions, just ask the emperor directly."

Yan Zhuang stepped out and saluted Li Qi with his arms crossed.

"Well, I understand, so be it.

If there is something to report, then report it. If there is nothing to report, then leave the court."

Li Qi said casually, then stood up and left, very decisively!
"Congratulations to Your Majesty!"

With someone taking the lead, the ministers began to shout in a scattered manner, one after the other.

Some people were at a loss, some understood, and some had cold sweats on their backs. This scene seemed a little absurd, but it was also terrifying when you think about it carefully.

No one spoke, and they were even less willing to whisper to others. They walked out of the palace one after another, looking up at the sun in the sky, and it seemed that the color of today's sunlight was slightly different from the past.

The situation changed so quietly. Fang Qing's methods were powerful. It can be said that a good warrior is not necessarily famous for his achievements.

Many central government officials who had gained power through the imperial examinations could not help but sigh in their hearts.

The streets of Bianliang City and along the canal were bustling with activity.

Many errand boys (ordinary people doing corvée labor for the government) cleaned up the garbage on the streets. After the Lantern Festival, the shops on the street made a lot of money, but there was only garbage on the ground.

Under the emperor's feet, this kind of situation will naturally not be allowed to occur for a long time.

Some people were sweeping the floor, some were dismantling the huge lamp wheel, and some were yawning and packing up the shop, preparing to close for the day.

A beautiful young woman, wearing a veil, was strolling in the market near the imperial city with a young man who looked a little arrogant.

The young man picked up a big pear sold at a stall, and without washing it, he started biting into it.

But the pear didn't seem to be to his taste. He took two bites and threw it to the side of the road, then prepared to leave.

Soon the two of them were stopped by the stall owner.

"Thank you. One penny."

The stall owner said with a smile that no one wants to give customers a bad face on the first day after the Lantern Festival, which is also the first day of the new year.

"My name is Fang Lai Que, and I am a servant of the government. The government doesn't know how to oppress the people, so I will do this for him."

Fang Laique said shamelessly, staring at the stall owner with a pair of dead fish eyes and shouting.

"Ah, then please do as you please."

The stall owner also noticed that the idiot was not very smart, so he made a gesture of invitation and almost laughed out loud.

"You are too sour, not worthy of my help."

Fang Laique waved his hand and walked forward with a swagger.

Anaye, who was standing by, sighed, stuffed a penny into the stall owner's hand, and hurriedly followed.

"The government is merciful. If it were any other family, a servant like this would have been beaten to death long ago."

The stall owner looked at the two people's backs as they left and sighed to others.

After a while, Fang Laique came to a bookstore and flipped through some books.

He flipped through the pages very quickly, as if he was playing. Only Anaye knew that Fang Lai Que had a photographic memory and an extraordinary memory. He memorized the book he just flipped through by heart.

“Hey, this book is talking about you, right?”

Fang Lai Que suddenly came to Anaye with a book and laughed.

"What are you doing again?"

Anaye frowned and asked. She touched her slightly bulging belly and secretly complained in her heart. She shouldn't have gone out with this idiot when she was pregnant.

"Look, the book says that when Fang Qing was ten years old, he went to Liangzhou to serve as an official. He saw an eighteen-year-old girl with a tender face, firm and beautiful breasts, and a stunning appearance.

So they stripped her naked in the street and had sex with her in public, scaring the passers-by.

You still say it's not you, it must be you."

Fang Laique pointed to a book titled "Hunting for Beauties in the Western Regions" and said to Anaye proudly.

Hearing this, Anaye's already fair face turned even paler. Of course, there was no need to delve into the authenticity of such nonsense, but it was a huge problem that such a banned book could appear in the market in Bianzhou.

"Don't make it public."

Anaye whispered, calmly paying the bill and putting the book in her arms.

She led Fang Laique out of the bookstore, pointed in the direction of Kaifeng City and said, "Let's go to the government office now. Something big has happened this time."

(End of this chapter)