Today is the eighth day of June, an auspicious day. The sun is already blazing, and the air is as hot as summer.
Such hot weather can't stop the people of Kyoto from squeezing into the market.
There was no other reason. King Pei Xiuyan of the Qing Dynasty and his concubine Ye Chuyan were to be executed at noon. The main crime was treason, and the execution method was Lingchi.
The governor of Kyoto specially seconded a barracks of people to come here today to maintain order.
The first is to prevent crowds from rioting and stampeding, and the second is to prevent people from robbing the execution ground.
There are still two hours before the execution, and the vegetable market is already surrounded by water. The people watching are talking about it, and it is very noisy.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk~ Last year during the Laba Festival, Pei Xiuyan raped a male member of the Ye family here. Today, it's his turn to be raped here. It's been exactly half a year. Things in the world are so unpredictable."
"The crime of treason is unforgivable. After I heard that the Qing King was imprisoned, not only did not one of the officials who usually fawned over him intercede, they also wanted to have the emperor kill him immediately, for fear that he would bite and bite him randomly in prison and harm them. ”
"That's not true. Who dares to plead for treason? Are you tired of living? Besides, this was reported by his pillow person in person. The twists and turns in it are thought-provoking."
"What's so intriguing? Ye Chuyan reported a traitor who wanted to rebel. That was to eliminate harm for the people and destroy relatives for justice."
"But I always feel that this matter is strange. It seems that Ye Chuyan did this deliberately for revenge. I heard that King Qing was arrested because he broke into the harem for her. Otherwise, with King Qing's skills, he would have tried to escape outside the palace. It’s easy.”
"Ye Chuyan is stupid. The Ye family is gone. What's the benefit of her doing this? Isn't it bad to follow the Qing King to enjoy the world? When the Ye family was wiped out, she escaped because she was the Qing Princess. This time, she There is no hiding.”
"I suspect that Ye Chuyan did this to vindicate the Ye family. I heard that Pei Xiuyan deliberately framed the Ye family. After Pei Xiuyan died, the emperor was ready to vindicate the Ye family."
"real or fake……"
"It's absolutely true! I have an uncle who works at Dali Temple. He told me this personally. If you don't believe it, you will know after announcing the charges before the execution and see if there is any way to frame the Ye family."
"If you put it like that, then Ye Chuyan is too scary. He lurked for half a year and slept with Pei Xiuyan just to kill him."
These people desperately discuss the news they have heard, guessed, and suspected with the people around them.
This execution has not yet begun, but it has already turned into a carnival of public opinion.
A scholar with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a square face stood among the group of people, his lips pursed, silent and stunned, obviously out of tune with the excited crowd around him.
He is Zhang Puyu, who has been missing for a long time.
On the tenth day of the first lunar month, he was forced to commit suicide by Pei Xiuyan, thinking that he would definitely die. Unexpectedly, when he woke up, he found himself lying in a dark basement. However, the environment was not bad, and the decoration even looked like a study room. .
Only then did he know that Pei Xiuyan did not let him die, but saved himself and was imprisoned there.
He didn't understand what Pei Xiuyan meant, and no one explained the whole story to him. Only the mute delivered him meals on time every day, pens, ink, paper, inkstones, and even various out-of-print books.
He lived like this day after day, like a walking zombie. First this morning, the cold-faced guard who had threatened him opened the door and let him go.
He also said something to him: "The prince was afraid that you would cause trouble and annoy the emperor, which would lead to death, so he had no choice but to use you to threaten those scholars and lock you up here. The prince said that you can only be released after the Ye family is rehabilitated. , Now the prince is about to be executed, and the Ye family is about to be rehabilitated, so you can go."
After saying that, the cold-faced guard disappeared.
He came out in a daze, saw the light he had not seen for a long time, and found that he was actually staying under a dilapidated courtyard near the Qing Palace.
He walked out of the yard and heard everyone in the streets talking about Pei Xiuyan and Ye Chuyan, and learned about Ye Chuyan's report on Pei Xiuyan's rebellion.
He felt that all this was like a dream. He was waiting in the basement every day for Pei Xiuyan to be cut to pieces, hoping to get out alive and reveal Pei Xiuyan's true face.
On this day, he came out.
The words of the cold-faced guard kept lingering in his mind. As if he was being manipulated, he forgot to go back to Zhang Mansion to report that he was safe, but walked here completely unconsciously.
He stood here for a long time, hearing various sounds next to him flooding into his ears like a tide.
He wanted to see Pei Xiuyan and ask him: Since he had Qianqiu in his heart and tried every means to protect them as scholars, why did he want to rebel now?
He raised his head and glanced at the scorching sun in the sky. The dazzling light blinded people.
He subconsciously squinted his eyes, and in a flash of lightning, he suddenly understood.
At that time, the Ye family was destroyed, and he thought everything was Pei Xiuyan's fault, so he thought of overthrowing Pei Xiuyan to rehabilitate the Ye family. In fact, all this was the emperor's intention.
The emperor is like the sun in the sky, people look up to him but cannot look down at him. Once he becomes powerful, the sun's wrath can destroy everything.
Zhang Puyu's shock turned into confusion. He was a little confused about how to distinguish right from wrong in this world.
The surrounding discussions continued and became more and more intense.
Suddenly, there was a huge explosion in the distance, shocking the ground, causing the ground to shake.
The crowd suddenly screamed and became commotion.
Everyone looked in the direction where the explosion came from.
There were bursts of black smoke and raging flames. The heat wave rushed into the sky, distorting the air. The billowing black smoke quickly dispersed to the west and piled up heavily over Kyoto, blocking the scorching sun.
The explosion lasted for half a stick of incense before it stopped.
After the explosion stopped, someone shouted first, "That's the location of Dali Temple!"
"Ye Chuyan and Pei Xiuyan are both locked up there."
"Someone blew up Dali Temple!"
"Someone wants to rob the prison?"
"The King of Qing has an accomplice!"
"Go and have a look..."
The crowd of onlookers seemed to be boiling, noisy, screaming, and pushing.
The officers and soldiers responsible for maintaining order shouted loudly, "No crowding allowed, it's dangerous, be careful when you step on it."
However, no one listened to these officers and soldiers. The people frantically broke through the officers and soldiers' defense line and ran towards Dali Temple.
Only Zhang Puyu stood there blankly, not moving at all, letting the crowd crowd past him.
"Pei Xiuyan really rebelled?"
※
The bombing of Dali Temple on June 8th quickly caused a sensation in the entire Kyoto and even the entire Dafeng.
The extremely evil Qing King Pei Xiuyan disappeared in the explosion.
Ye Chuyan was blown away until his face was blurred and died on the spot.
Shi Lu, the minister of Dali Temple, was injured in his left arm and became bedridden. Many government officials of Dali Temple were blown to pieces on the spot.
Pei Ye was furious at Long Yan in the palace and broke everything in Yungan Hall.
The Royal Guards sealed off the entire city within half an hour after the explosion. No one was allowed to enter or leave Kyoto unless they had an officer's token.
Zhang Qingman was appointed at the critical moment and was responsible for investigating the truth of the explosion. All officials and soldiers in Kyoto were at his disposal.
Pei Ye said, if Zhang Qingman cannot solve the case within a month, come and see him!
Officers and soldiers searched for Pei Xiuyan from house to house day and night. These days, the officers and soldiers who searched Pei Xiuyan searched every cellar in Kyoto, not even missing the mouse holes.
Pei Xiuyan seemed to have evaporated without a trace.
Pei Ye ordered again to expand the search area to a thousand miles around Kyoto.
A wanted order was issued all over Dafeng, and as long as Pei Xiuyan could be caught, he would live or die. Anyone who provides clues or traces of Pei Xiuyan's hiding place will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold. Anyone who dares to harbor Pei Xiuyan will be punished by the Ten Clan if discovered.
Everyone in Kyoto is in danger and people are panicked.
The common people did not dare to discuss this matter in public, and they all whispered in private about who was so powerful that he could secretly plant gunpowder around the Dali Temple in Kyoto and blow up the Dali Temple in one fell swoop.
If this person is really Pei Xiuyan's accomplice, it would be terrible! It is not impossible for them to blow up the palace in the future.
Pei Xiuyan is indeed a traitor and intends to rebel.
※
Ten days later, She Town.
This is the town closest to Kyoto. It only takes two hours to reach Kyoto by horseback.
However, because the town is small and the terrain is remote, although it is close to Kyoto, the song is not very popular.
Ten days have passed since the bombing, and Kyoto has not yet lifted its lockdown.
Many people who were going to Beijing for business were living in She Town, waiting for Kyoto to be lifted from the lockdown.
This unpopular town suddenly became extremely lively, with inns of all sizes packed with people, especially the largest inn here: the Restaurant, which was extremely popular.
The fat shopkeeper here smiled so hard that he couldn't even see his eyes.
Seeing that Kyoto was still unblocking, he took the opportunity to raise the price of guest rooms again and again. Even the lowest guest rooms were raised to five taels of silver a day, which was dozens of times the normal price. My income in the past year has not been as much as it has been in the past few days.
The guests who had no money cursed and left the place and moved to a cheap inn. Even the rich ones grit their teeth and continue to pay to live. Except for the shopkeeper, everyone is looking forward to finishing the case in Kyoto quickly and entering Beijing as soon as possible so that they don't have to be slaughtered here.
Although the few waiters in the restaurant were so busy that they never touched the floor, they were smiling from ear to ear.
When business is good and there are many customers, the guys are busy delivering water to the house. Some customers will give them some extra silver and ask them to deliver it to themselves first. The guys took advantage of this opportunity and made a lot of money.
At this moment, two waiters in the store were carrying a large bucket of hot water and knocked on the door of a room. A voice quickly came from inside, "Come in."
The voice was frighteningly cold.
The two guys didn't care and carried the water in with a smile.
The rooms on the third floor here are the most expensive, and have risen to twenty taels of silver a day. A distinguished guest brought a group of people over and booked the entire floor at once, without caring about the price.
The man living in this room was a bit scary, and he was blind in one eye. He also spoke very coldly, but he was very generous and gave the man a whole ingot of silver every time.
The two boys put the water away, and the one-eyed man in the room threw them a silver coin as usual. The two boys happily took the silver and exited.
The one-eyed man locked the door from the inside. After bathing and grooming, he started to twist his hair in front of the mirror.
After twisting his hair, he touched his empty left eye with a sad expression.
"Ayan, no one will hold my hair back like you do. Does living like this count as your punishment for me?"
"You wanted my left eye, and I gave it to you. You wanted my life, and I can give it to you."
"But before that, I can't die. Before I die, I want to tear up the He Lishu and snatch you back. I want you to become the most noble woman in Dafeng, I want you to become the Queen of Dafeng, I want you Bury with me in the imperial mausoleum, and you will be my wife for all eternity."
"Ayan, don't let me live so lonely, please give me a dream..."
There was a knock on the door suddenly, and he suddenly frowned and said in surprise: "Who?"
A gentle man's voice came from outside the door, "It's me!"
