I don't know what's wrong with this year, but Wuchao Gate has become a slaughterhouse. Countless people have been killed one after another, and the vegetable vendors have long since moved elsewhere.
Today, it is said that the Emperor will personally oversee the execution of a serious criminal in Qingzhou. Both the Imperial Gazette of the Great Song Dynasty and the Tokyo Express have given extensive coverage to the Qingzhou incident. In addition, the victory in the war in the Northwest has further enhanced the Emperor's prestige. Some people privately say that the current Emperor is the reincarnation of Emperor Taizu.
In any case, for ordinary people, life is changing for the better.
Everyone skipped lunch and rushed to the Wuchao Gate early in the morning. By noon, a total of 135 people, including Qingzhou Prefect He Liren and members of the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce, were escorted to the Wuchao Gate.
Among the onlookers, some even recognized Gao Shunlin, a former wealthy merchant from Qingzhou. He was a major figure in the grain transport industry in Jingdong Road. It was said that he had over 700,000 strings of cash, more than 50 concubines, countless fertile fields, and 5,000 tenant farmers!
He once went to Tokyo to curry favor with a powerful figure. This was during Cai Jing's time in power. What probably left a deep impression on many people was that he booked the entire Chunfeng Tower to host a banquet for important officials of the court.
The once-glorious and wealthy man is now kneeling outside the Five Dynasties Gate, waiting for a fatal blow.
The common people felt that what had happened in the past few months was too unreal. Countless high-ranking officials had been beheaded, taxes had been reduced, and even corvée labor had been exempted.
From any perspective, the current emperor is a sage ruler for all ages.
Take the Qingzhou case, for example. When the emperor wanted to execute people, officials in various places were collectively silent. Not a single person dared to submit a memorial saying anything more nonsense about not being able to kill scholar-officials.
What is the current situation? Some people are deceiving their superiors, embezzling public funds, and harming the country and its people. Anyone who dares to plead for leniency for such crimes will inevitably be treated the same way.
Today, the emperor is sitting on the execution ground. He Liren is crying like a stray dog, his head is bleeding from kowtowing, begging the emperor to spare his life. The others are also shouting that they are wronged and begging for mercy. Some people who used to bully others in Qingzhou are now terrified and trembling all over.
He Liren cried out, "Your Majesty, please be wise! I have been wronged!"
Zhao Huan chuckled coldly: "Now that things have come to this, you still dare to claim you're innocent? You oppress my people and seize my fertile land! I didn't send you to Qingzhou to do these despicable things for me! I sent you here so you could bring prosperity to the region! And you've done me a disservice! Colluding with these parasites of the Song Dynasty! If I don't kill you today, how can I face my people!"
The emperor's words prompted the onlookers to shout "Long live the emperor!"
This time, the executioner's blades were not the sharp ones of the past; they were all replaced with very dull blades, so that these people could not be given a quick death.
The emperor removed the execution warrant and threw it down. The executioner raised his broadsword and with one stroke, everyone's neck made a cracking sound—the sound of bones breaking.
However, no one died immediately. Everyone screamed like pigs being slaughtered, their necks twisted and their whole bodies convulsed. If they hadn't been tied to the wooden stakes, they would have broken free long ago.
The second cut caused extensive bruising on many people's necks, and some people's neck bones were completely shattered, but they did not die immediately.
The third cut can shatter a person's neck into a completely deformed shape, leaving their head hanging limply, yet they still have breath.
The executioner used all his strength in these blows, sweating profusely. With the fourth blow, some people's necks drooped completely, and they could only exhale but not inhale.
It was He Liren, the prefect of Qingzhou. After the fourth blow, he could no longer scream. His head was still hanging on his neck, and he seemed to be alive, but his whole body was convulsing violently.
After the executioner's fifth blow, He Liren died completely. It wasn't until the sixth blow that his head fell off his neck.
The last time the emperor personally supervised an execution was in the case of embezzling grain and military supplies. The last time the emperor personally supervised an execution was in the case of taxes and corvée labor in Qingzhou. The emperor personally supervised the execution to express to the people his determination to crack down on corruption and implement the new tax and corvée labor law!
After beheading more than a hundred people in Qingzhou, the emperor personally ordered all the families involved in the case to be exiled to the northwest. He also confiscated all the fertile land in Qingzhou and returned it to the imperial court, which then reappointed a prefect to manage it.
After that, all common people who farmed on the government's fertile land were subject to the new tax and corvée laws.
The Qingzhou case and the Confucius Mansion case were completely different in nature. The Confucius Mansion case concerned the dignity of scholars and their beliefs in the spiritual realm. As a result, it affected hundreds of thousands of people, who were eventually exiled to the Northwest.
The Qingzhou case, to some extent, was even more provocative to certain people than the Kong Family case. Moreover, it was no longer just a matter for the scholar-officials; wealthy merchants were also involved. It was a matter of life and death, and the emperor had already demonstrated his resolve by sacrificing more than a hundred heads.
The outcome of the Qingzhou case also provoked many people in the countryside. The imperial court confiscated all the fertile land owned by the wealthy merchants in Qingzhou and rented it to the farmers with very light taxes. This was robbing the rich to help the poor!
Damn it! When did the imperial court start playing this kind of game?
Is the emperor trying to emulate the heroes of Liangshan?
If things continue like this, the commerce of the Song Dynasty will collapse, and eventually all of it will become farmland of the imperial court, rented to farmers. Will the imperial court still need to pay commercial taxes?
Although it greatly stimulated merchants, in the past few days, some new policy plans have slowly begun to be implemented from the government affairs hall. For example, in Tokyo, some merchants received news that the court planned to expand Tokyo and there were many large-scale construction projects.
In the past, these construction projects were carried out by the Ministry of Works by finding people from the countryside to perform them free of charge. This was known as corvée labor, and every adult male was obligated to perform corvée labor.
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