Zhao Defang's road to the virtuous king

Defang understood what the officers and soldiers said, so she said, "What the officer said is true, but I don't know what crime this death row prisoner committed?"

"This person usually does evil in the township. He not only harassed his neighbors, but also beat and scolded his parents. Afterwards, he was punished by the county government and imprisoned for three months. After he got out, he didn't know how to repent. He ganged up with four people to commit banditry. He dared to rob the official bank and killed an official. Four other people died in the fight. He was injured and captured. The government sentenced him to death. We have come to assist the Yamen to escort him to Beijing."

"If that's the case, then he really deserves to die, but it's not easy to escort death row prisoners now. We have lived in the capital for a long time, and we used to see death row prisoners escorted to Beijing from all walks of life dressed in rags, and almost half of their lives are left. I heard people say that death row prisoners can live Less than half of them arrived in Beijing."

"What this master said is true. In the past, there were still some things to escort the death row..." The officers and soldiers shook their hands. "Now, hey! There is no benefit, and we need my brothers to feed and drink the death row! Bah! What a shame! Bad luck!"

"The imperial court has laws, and it is also for the sake of not being wronged or indulged. It is indeed hard work for several officials to escort the death row prisoner, but once the Ministry of Punishment approves this person's crime, those few will also eliminate harm for the people."

"Yes, sir, where are you guys going on Jinghu North Road?"

"In the area of ​​Yuezhou, apart from looking for ancient artifacts, I also want to visit the eight hundred li Dongting."

"Dongting, well, it's worth seeing, but there is no big lake like Dongting in the capital."

"Yes, when Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty wrote an annotation for "Shui Jing", he wrote: Xiang, Zi, Yuan, and Li, all these four waters are injected into Dongting, and the north meets the great river. The lake is more than five hundred miles wide, and the daily The moon seems to haunt it. And Sheng Hongzhi of the Southern Dynasty also recorded in "Jingzhou Ji": there is Qingcao Lake in the south of Baling, hundreds of miles away, and the sun and moon haunt it. Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai also made a poem "You Dongting Lake" Poetry: "Dongting looks west at the branch of the Chu River, and when the water runs out, there are no clouds in the southern sky. You can see the vastness and grandeur of this Dongting."

The officers and soldiers looked at Defang and said, "Master, you are really powerful. You are a scholar when you hear it. I admire you."

The officers and soldiers chatted happily with Defang. Both groups had had enough rest. The yamen servant lifted up the death row prisoner, and the officer cupped his hands and said, "My lord, we are on official business, so we take our leave."

Defang also bowed his hand and returned the gift, "Okay, we have to continue on our way, and the officials should take care, please."

"Please" the government officials and soldiers escorted the condemned prisoners out of the pavilion and walked towards the capital along the official road.

The eight members of Defang also continued to set off on Jinghu North Road.

"Ling'er, my father just saw those government servants and death row prisoners, but he thought of someone, why don't I tell you his story."

"Father, who is it?"

"Master Zhang Qixian."

Concubine Di asked, "My lord, why do you think of Mr. Zhang?"

"Ma'am, did you see how the Yamen servants treated the condemned prisoners just now?"

"I see, the yamen servants and officers and soldiers, although they are full of reluctance, still feed and water the condemned prisoners."

"Yeah, if this happened a few years ago, the death row prisoner would have been beaten to death or bruised all over his body." Defang said, "And we only saw them escorting death row prisoners along the way."

"My lord, I just heard what the officers and soldiers said about the imperial court's strict order. Could it be related to this?"

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