Chapter 104 Immediate Execution She looked up at the sky; it was already past noon…
The torrential rain washes over the green tiles, cascading down from the grooves between the layers of the roof, forming a plunging curtain of rain that spreads in all directions, seeping into the cracks in the ground or into the culverts.
The signs along the street have been exposed to wind and sun, and have faded after being washed by heavy rain.
The Censor-in-Chief descended with imperial might, like a heavy cloud pressing down on the city, as powerful and imposing as a thunderstorm, determined to thoroughly cleanse away the long-standing filth hidden within.
Fengling Pass was completely sealed off and under martial law. The troops surrounded Ruicheng like an iron barrel. Even the dogs on the roadside had to tuck their tails between their legs. Merchants and travelers from all directions were forced to stay here. Not even a fly could get out.
"A major case has occurred in Fengling. A high-ranking official from the capital has arrived and ordered the ferry to be closed." Inns, teahouses, and taverns were all talking about this incident. "I heard that more than a dozen smuggled salt boats with fake permits were seized at the ferry, and several groups of salt smugglers were arrested. Not only were the ferry magistrate and tax officials implicated, but even the county magistrate was imprisoned!"
"It is said that it was because officials colluded with salt smugglers to embezzle salt!"
"Hmph, a bunch of foxes and dogs, a den of snakes and rats. If you ask me, the imperial court should have punished these corrupt officials long ago."
"Officials are busy catching thieves and recovering stolen goods every day, but the biggest thieves and robbers are actually these officials and bandits!"
"Who can argue with that!"
At this moment, several soldiers in armor and straw hats passed by in the rain, and the inn's lobby immediately fell silent. These were the officers and soldiers who landed last night!
Zhou Yaren and Bai Yuan, along with several teenagers, sat in a corner, eating and talking in hushed tones.
“Apart from the Northern Garrison, these are all soldiers borrowed by Lord Cao from Henan Province.” Zhou Yaren had a keen ear and had recognized the soldiers’ accents last night.
Lin Mu didn't understand: "Doesn't Hedong Circuit have its own garrison troops? Why go through all that trouble to borrow troops from Henan Circuit?"
"Regarding the counterfeit salt monopoly, collusion between officials and merchants is inevitable. It's not just salt officials involved; the network in Hedong Circuit is intricate and complex, and no one knows how deep its roots run or how wide its reach. If officials, merchants, and clerks at all levels of the prefectures and counties are involved, the arrival of people from the capital will alert them. All those involved will collude to cover up their crimes, destroy evidence, and make the investigation extremely difficult." With such powerful interference, the evidence from Fenglingdu would either be transferred or destroyed, leaving not a trace. Zhou Yaren took a sip of tea. "Therefore, Lord Cao led the Northern Army to conduct a covert investigation and gather evidence, without alerting the officials of the prefectures and counties in Hedong, and chose to launch a surprise attack by drawing troops from another region."
Five teenagers witnessed a major arrest in which the perpetrators were caught red-handed, and they were very interested in the case, so they couldn't help but ask questions and express their opinions.
"I see," Wen Yi said, picking up some food and eating a steamed bun as he chewed. "What did Liu Yun see at the Liao residence last night?"
After swallowing the food in his mouth, Li Liuyun spoke: "The Northern Army found 7,560 fake salt permits, two sets of salt permit printing plates, ink mixed with cinnabar, and three boxes of specially made hemp paper mixed with mulberry bark in the secret room of Liao's residence. The paper was inlaid with anti-counterfeiting patterns of the Hedong Salt Lake. The craftsmanship was so exquisite that it was almost indistinguishable from the genuine permits."
Yu He clicked his tongue in astonishment: "They've gone to such lengths; they're incredibly audacious!"
Lin Mu broke open a steamed bun and dipped it in the innkeeper's special soybean paste. He could eat four or five at a time: "This is a capital offense."
Unsurprisingly, according to the Great Law, anyone who forges more than ten salt permits shall be executed immediately, and their family property shall be confiscated by the government.
Li Liuyun said: "Because of the rampant use of fake permits, the private salt trade in Daduan was rampant. Despite repeated bans in various places, it could not be stopped, which led to a sharp decline in the annual revenue of the Ministry of Revenue and a shortage of national funds."
In other words, the national treasury is empty and the court has no money, so they have to kill these salt smugglers. Wen Yi raised his head: "Liu Yun, is this something that can be said?"
"What can't be said?" Since it was neither taboo nor taboo, Bai Yuan moved the sauce dish forward so that Lin Mu could dip his steamed bun in it. "We eat from lakes and ponds, and manage mountains and seas. The benefits of mountains, forests, rivers and lakes have always been controlled by the imperial court to supply military and national needs."
To trade salt, one must possess a salt certificate issued by the Ministry of Revenue.
Merchants had to pay salt taxes to obtain salt permits before they were qualified to purchase and sell salt. The quantity, duration, and even the destination of each permit were all regulated. The amount of salt required for each permit had to be strictly verified and implemented. Excluding normal losses, even a pound more would be treated as smuggled salt.
Salt and permits are inseparable and will be subject to verification and inspection at any time and place. In order to make smuggled salt "legitimate", fake permits were created.
Over the course of several months, the censors secretly investigated the smuggled salt and sent secret reports to Chang'an without interruption. Once the perpetrators were arrested and the stolen goods were seized, the evidence of their collusion with officials and merchants was presented to the emperor overnight.
The emperor was furious and immediately issued an edict, which, along with the storm, reached the Ruicheng government office.
The torrential rain lasted for three days. After three days, the wind and rain stopped in Ruicheng, the ferry service in Fengling resumed, and those involved in the case were executed on the spot!
"What? Execution on the spot!" Lin Mu stepped into his boots, stood up abruptly, and bumped into the candlestick, making it teeter on the verge of falling.
Yu Heqi immediately reached out to support him: "The execution will take place at noon. The people are all heading to the ferry crossing now. Shall we go and take a look?"
"Of course I'll go." He had never seen an execution before. Lin Mu went to the window to look out and saw that the crowd was indeed flowing towards the ferry. "Is the execution ground set up at the ferry?"
"right."
"Why?"
"Of course, it's to deter those officials and salt smugglers. The ferry crossing was closed for three days, and the execution will be carried out today as soon as it reopens, so that all the passing ships can see it."
As a waterway transportation hub, it is a place where all kinds of people gather and move about, with all kinds of related and unrelated people coming and going in an endless stream, making its deterrent effect extraordinary.
Are my senior brothers going?
“Let’s go together,” Yu said. “But I heard that he might not be able to see the execution because he is blind.”
Having witnessed countless deaths involving dismemberment and other forms of execution, Bai Yuan had no desire to actively seek out execution grounds.
Although she was used to seeing dead people, she only saw ready-made dead people and rarely stared at other people dying, nor was she interested in how other people died.
When the boys arrived at the ferry, the area was already surrounded by vendors, porters, fishermen, and even women and children.
The execution ground was set up on the most conspicuous high ground of the dock, facing the rolling Yellow River. After the rain, the river rose and the waves surged, and the Tongguan Pass tower could be seen in the distance across the river.
One fisherman said, "What a coincidence! It just so happens to be the spring flood season, a blood sacrifice to the River God."
Several prisoners, barefoot and shackled, with death warrants for execution stuck in their backs, dragged their shackles across the wooden walkway, making an unmistakable clanging sound.
Suddenly, a bruised and swollen boy rushed to the fence and smashed a pebble hard on the head of County Magistrate Chen Heyuan: "You corrupt officials! You killed my father! You deserve to die! You deserve to go to the eighteenth level of hell!"
The county magistrate was bleeding profusely from his head on the spot, but he simply closed his eyes blankly.
The boy was He Xiaoyu, the son of He Laishun. The day before yesterday, he was brought before the censor for questioning and poured out all the crimes of the county magistrate and tax collector Cui Jin, hoping that this high-ranking official from Chang'an could help him and severely punish the county magistrate and tax collector.
Now that his wish had finally come true, he only regretted not being able to kill these people with his own hands to avenge his father. He picked up another stone and hurled it fiercely at the tax collector Cui Jin: "I told you you would get your retribution, but I didn't expect it to come so quickly, did I? You bloodsucker! Today I will watch your head roll! Go and be buried with my father!"
As soon as he took the lead, the people watching the execution threw rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggs at the execution platform. People burdened by taxes and corvée labor hated these officials at the ferry crossing and pass.
Cui Jin seemed oblivious to the pain, quietly watching the boy's face below the stage. Perhaps because the boy's face was bruised and swollen from his beating, it appeared particularly ferocious at this moment. Cui Jin couldn't recall seeing such a face in a temple mural before; it resembled a hideous demon from hell.
When people are filled with hatred for you, they can truly become repulsive.
Cui Jin opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word. It turned out that under the guillotine, the immense fear and despair could render a person speechless.
Cui Jin knew he was always a coward who clung to life. Because of this, he was extremely diligent and dared not make any mistakes. He held a copper ruler to weigh the ships and their cargo, checked the quantities, calculated the taxes, and recorded the income and expenditure. He was meticulous and careful every day, often keeping track of the accounts until midnight. The taxes he handled ranged from small amounts to large sums.
Because he was afraid of death, he dared not charge an extra penny; because he was stingy, he would never charge less than a penny. Whether it was the merchants trying to smuggle in their own goods and flattering him, or the impoverished peddlers struggling to survive begging for mercy, it was all in vain. He only wanted to protect himself, to ensure his own livelihood and safety, and had no obligation to take risks to make things convenient for anyone else.
Even so, he still knelt on the execution platform.
Cui Jin couldn't recall when or where he had received any bribes, which is why he let the salt smugglers pass.
He had carefully checked everything, so why were those salt certificates fake?
Cui Jin couldn't understand it, and he couldn't understand it until his death.
Why did the murdered Hong family of Hedong become a confidant of the imperial envoy?
He Xiaoyu accused him to the imperial envoy of accepting bribes and exploiting him, allowing private salt ships to pass, and then murdering someone to frame him when he failed to extort a bribe from the "Hong family's salt ships." All these accusations showed that he was determined to kill him.
"Go to hell!" He Xiaoyu was still yelling at him viciously.
A rotten egg flew and smashed against Cui Jin's brow bone, the sticky egg liquid obscuring his vision and making it impossible for him to see the faces of the people below the stage clearly.
It turns out that everyone thought he deserved to die, and that his death was not a pity.
That's true. Various taxes already arouse public resentment, so who can tax officials be liked?
Indeed, many tax officials abuse their positions to exploit merchants and common people, almost like plucking feathers from a passing goose, but Cui Jin has never done so!
Because he was trapped in the mud, he became mud himself, and no one could recognize the "blue lotus".
He didn't consider himself some kind of pure lotus rising from the mud unsullied; he wasn't that noble. He just felt he shouldn't have ended up like this!
Only when he was about to die did Cui Jin realize that simply adhering to etiquette and law was useless. This turbid world had no tolerance for honest and unscrupulous people, and he would eventually be punished by etiquette and law, powerless to protect himself.
Finally, officers and soldiers stepped forward to maintain order at the execution ground.
Lian Zhao grabbed Lin Mu by the collar and dragged him to his side: "Sanmu, don't squeeze in."
The few people could only squeeze on the outer edge of the crowd, at a great distance, and could barely hear the official on the execution platform reading out the charges. They could only hear bits and pieces: "The salt administration is the foundation of the nation, and the establishment of laws is to uphold the law... The traitors Liao Cheng, Liao Qi, and Liao... privately forged salt permit stamps, colluded with Chen Heyuan, the magistrate of Ruicheng County, to illegally sell official salt and embezzle government revenue... Their crimes are tantamount to theft of the country... Nine thousand four hundred counterfeit permits were seized, causing harm to three provinces... Their crimes are unforgivable! According to the Great Duan Law, anyone who forges salt permit stamps shall be executed! Those who use counterfeit permits to smuggle official salt... Their crimes are compounded, and they are hereby beheaded immediately and their heads displayed to the public!"
At noon, the censor, dressed in official robes, threw down his command arrow!
"Execute them!"
The ferry crossing, which was packed with thousands of people, suddenly fell silent.
Those closest to the execution platform could even hear the magistrate's heavy breathing before his death. Chen Heyuan suddenly shouted, "I'm innocent..."
The executioner's skills were passed down through generations, making them veritable messengers of the underworld, precisely timing their departures without a moment's delay. Before Chen Heyuan could even finish his protest, a flash of light appeared in the air, and he was cleanly severed in two!
Blood gushed from the severed neck, splattering onto the fluttering banner that proclaimed "Protect the Salt and Secure the People."
Several heads rolled on the ground together.
It's truly gratifying to see officials and businessmen brought to justice!
However, as the head rolled closer, He Xiaoyu in the front row was caught off guard and met Cui Jin's unclosed eyes, which were still staring at him as before, making him suddenly feel cold all over!
Only then did He Xiaoyu belatedly realize that she was afraid and took a step back, retreating behind someone, but still staring straight at Cui Jin's head.
Cui Jin stared at him intently, his eyes fixed on him without blinking.
Why?
The person is dead, why don't they close their eyes?!
Why are you staring at him like that?!
He Xiaoyu was inexplicably gripped by a sense of panic, as if being watched by a dead man. It wasn't until someone picked up Cui Jin's head that He Xiaoyu shivered as if from the cold. As he turned around, he accidentally bumped into someone. He hurriedly looked up and caught a glimpse of a scar under the person's three-white eye.
Before He Xiaoyu could see clearly, the man had already lowered his straw hat, turned around, and squeezed out of the crowd.
The man with the white eyes who had leaped out of the crowd suddenly paused, turned his head, and looked out from under the brim of his hat at a distance where several Taihang Mountain youths dressed in white stood.
Lin Mu kept his head down, still unable to bear watching such a cruel and bloody scene.
Lian Zhao patted him on the shoulder: "Let's go back."
The executioner picked up the severed heads and, in accordance with the final sentence, beheaded them and displayed their heads to the public.
When Lian Zhao and the others turned around, they saw the executioner hanging the heads of several people on the top of the Fenglingdu sluice gate, facing the river, so that passing boats and people could see them. This was to warn all salt merchants and those involved in salt and iron that the court would never tolerate anyone who dared to violate the salt law!
A makeshift execution ground was set up at Fenglingdu, and almost the entire city of Ruicheng was deserted.
Bai Yuan stood under a vibrant pear tree, stepping on the still-wet bluestone slabs, idly watching a three-year-old child squatting in the corner playing in the mud.
The child was quite mischievous. He picked up a flat stone and scraped off a layer of the mottled plaster from the wall, then smeared it with a mixture of mud and plaster. As he scraped and scraped, he kept muttering to himself, "One back six two five, two leave one two five, three become one eight seven five..."
Because a stranger was watching, the little boy kept glancing up at Bai Yuan, whether out of shyness or fear, his eyes full of curiosity but he never dared to approach. As he pasted the wall, he continued to mumble incoherently, "Every fraction must be accounted for, for even the slightest mistake is an unforgivable crime..."
Bai Yuan, who seemed to have been idle for a long time, asked the dirty child, "What are you reciting?"
The child looked up, his face covered in mud, and said in a clear voice, "The abacus calculation formula!"
Who taught you that?
"My dad!" The child immediately began to boast proudly when his father was mentioned. "My dad can use an abacus, he's so fast! He can calculate the accounts for the government, and he can calculate ships that are so big, bigger than houses. He's amazing! When I learn how to use an abacus, I can be as amazing as my dad."
"Yeah?"
The child, his hands covered in mud, gestured to her, then smiled, revealing two cute little tiger teeth: "My dad also has a copper ruler, this long, he measures my head!"
Bai Yuan glanced at his small stature and asked with a faint smile, "What's your name?"
"My name is Cui Qingyuan!"
Bai Yuan asked again, "Where is your mother? Why did she leave you here all alone?"
“My mother went to the ferry to bring my father food, and she will be back in a little while.”
Bai Yuan didn't speak again. She twirled her fingers and lightly touched the tender leaves on the branch. The branch trembled instantly, and a thin layer of ice immediately covered the tip of her tooth.
She looked up at the sky; it was already past noon.
From then on, there was one more child in the world without a father.
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