Chapter 435 Dismemberment by Five Horses
The air was slightly cool on this early autumn morning. Morning light streamed through the tall, blue-brick city gate, where soldiers stood solemnly at their feet, halberds in hand. The once ordinary city gate of the capital was now imbued with a heavy atmosphere due to the standoff between the two sides.
The King of Lingnan rode atop a tall horse, his posture upright, his weathered face adding to his resolute air. Behind him, a dozen or so ebony carriages were lined up in a row.
Inside the city gate, the Prime Minister, leading a dozen or so officials from the Ministry of Rites, stood in solemn rows, their gazes fixed on the face of the Prince of Lingnan on horseback. The uncle and nephew met, their eyes meeting, but there was no fervent joy of long-separated relatives, only a heavy solemnity.
The Prime Minister had only received the imperial decree to welcome the King of Lingnan last night, while the King of Lingnan was only now learning that it was the Prime Minister who had come to fetch him. Both shrewd and calculating men were now filled with turbulent emotions, each with their own plans.
The Prince of Lingnan tightened his grip on the reins, his eyes narrowing slightly: The fact that the Prime Minister personally greeted him suggests the Emperor was already aware of his relationship with the Prime Minister. This arrangement served two purposes: to send a warning to the Prime Minister and to intimidate him.
"Hmph!" The King of Lingnan sneered, a mocking smile curving his lips. He knew the current emperor well; he was neither a pleasure-seeking tyrant nor particularly wise, but rather somewhat indecisive. To think he could instill fear in him through such means was simply a joke.
He dismounted and strode towards the city gate. The prime minister opposite him also stepped forward, and the two met at the city gate. The prime minister bowed and said, "Your Highness must be tired from your journey; please come into the city quickly."
The King of Lingnan returned the greeting: "I trouble the Prime Minister to welcome you."
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the King of Lingnan waved to his back and prepared to mount his horse. The Prime Minister also prepared to get into his sedan chair. Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out not far from the city. The people who had been watching the King of Lingnan enter the city on both sides of the street all ran towards the direction of the commotion.
Seeing this, the Prime Minister and the Prince of Lingnan exchanged glances for a moment, both seeing solemnity in each other's eyes. Such an important event as the Prince of Lingnan's arrival in the capital should not have resulted in a disturbance on this street.
"Your Excellency the Prime Minister." The Minister of Personnel quickly walked to the Prime Minister's side, bowed, and reported, "His Majesty has decreed that Pu Tonghe will be executed today, and the people are to watch the execution as a warning to others." He looked troubled. "The execution site is just ahead, and the road is already blocked by the people. Why don't we also go and watch the execution? We can continue on our way after the execution is over."
...
The execution ground was eerily quiet, the atmosphere so oppressive it was hard to breathe.
The Prince of Lingnan's hand gripped the riding crop so tightly it cracked. Even with his deepest composure, he couldn't hide the turmoil in his heart. The Prime Minister was the same; he narrowed his eyes, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot. But he was, after all, a man who had weathered many storms, and he quickly composed himself, nodding and saying, "Very well."
This is the capital city, right under the emperor's nose. If the other party wants to intimidate the Prince of Lingnan, then they are destined to face this challenge.
The Prime Minister gestured for the Prince of Lingnan to enter. The Prince of Lingnan took a deep breath, composed himself, and followed the Prime Minister toward the crowd. The Minister of Rites led the way, and soldiers escorted them. Even the eager onlookers quickly made way for the group to pass smoothly.
Before long, a rough wooden rack stood on a high platform ahead, with five dark brown horses standing at the four corners. The horse ropes firmly tied the person on the rack to Pu Tonghe.
His prison uniform was torn to shreds, and blood mixed with dust clung to his disheveled hair, obscuring half his face. Only his bloodshot eyes, with unfocused pupils, stared into the void. His hands and feet were marked with purplish-black welts from the ropes binding them, and even from a distance, one could see his trembling lips and the muscles in his face shaking with fear.
When the King of Lingnan's gaze fell on Pu Tonghe, the handle of his riding whip was so tightly gripped that it turned white, and his knuckles bulged. He was both angry at Pu Tonghe for his incompetence in exposing their whereabouts and even more shocked that the emperor would use such an extreme punishment as "dismemberment by five horses," and that he would specifically choose the day the king entered the city, clearly putting on a show of "killing the chicken to scare the monkey."
The prime minister beside him was in no better shape. His hands, hidden in his sleeves, clenched tightly, his nails almost digging into his palms. A barely perceptible look of surprise flashed across his eyes: the emperor, though usually shrewd, was rarely seen so ruthless. It seemed he had made up his mind to take over Lingnan.
"Execute them!"
A rough, loud shout rang out, and five grooms simultaneously lashed their horses with their whips. The horses, in pain, bolted in five different directions…
"ah!!!"
Pu Tonghe suddenly let out a heart-wrenching scream, the sound so sharp it seemed to pierce the morning sky. His limbs were pulled straight by the horse ropes, and under his tattered prison clothes, his flesh was stretched taut, the outline of his bones vaguely visible.
A moment later, a crisp "crack" came from the direction of the rack, the sound of bones breaking. First, Pu Tonghe's left arm was forcibly torn off from his shoulder and neck, and it slammed heavily onto the bluestone pavement, dripping with blood and flesh. Dark red blood splattered instantly, seeping into the cracks between the bricks, and the white bone fragments mixed with bits of flesh were exposed at the break, a horrifying sight.
Immediately afterwards, his right leg was also dislocated and broken, the rope digging deep into his flesh. The severed limb dangled behind the horse, dragged along the brick pavement, leaving a winding trail of blood. His tattered trousers were soaked in blood, dripping onto the road.
Blood dripped wildly from the hemp rope, quickly forming a pool on the blue brick floor beneath the rack, even the cracks between the bricks were soaked black. Pu Tonghe's screams had long since distorted, reduced to a series of gasping gasps. Half his body hung limply from the remaining ropes, his unfocused eyes fixed on his limbs scattered on the blue stone slabs, filled with utter terror and despair.
A collective gasp erupted from the crowd. Some instinctively covered their mouths and took a half-step back, yet couldn't resist craning their necks, their eyes a mixture of fear and curiosity. Some of the bolder ones even whispered about Pu Tonghe's "crimes," their voices buzzing through the air above the execution ground.
At this moment, Pu Tonghe tilted his head with difficulty, his cloudy eyes darting halfway around in their sockets before finally peering over the surging crowd and fixing their gaze on the Prince of Lingnan. Half of his gaze was filled with venomous hatred, as if he wanted to devour the Prince of Lingnan alive. The other half was a faltering plea; his lips twitched uncontrollably, and the hoarse sounds from his throat suddenly became rapid, but no one could understand what he was trying to say.
Only the Prince of Lingnan knew that Pu Tonghe was begging him to save his family. His face remained calm, but his hand, hanging by his side, gripped the riding whip even tighter, his knuckles turning blue and white. He had long anticipated that the emperor would make things difficult for him on this trip to the capital, but he hadn't expected to be set up with such a "grand show" as soon as he entered the city.
The prime minister beside him had completely composed himself. He turned his head and spoke in a calm tone as if he were talking about something ordinary: "Your Highness, the execution is almost over. We can enter the city after the cleanup is done."
The King of Lingnan nodded slightly, his voice devoid of emotion: "Very well."
The two stood there outside the crowd, the screams and commotion of the execution ground echoing in their ears, their faces maintaining an almost icy calm. But only they knew that the heavy weight in their hearts, caused by the emperor's ruthless methods, was already suffocating them.
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