Zhang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. If the old emperor had this mentality, he would be relieved. At least he would not feel any emotion when seeing the mother and son, or feel pity for his son and become soft-hearted. If so, the Ninth Prince's efforts would be in vain.
Fortunately, Emperor Tianwu's hatred for these two people has surpassed everything. What family affection, what love, under such great hatred, nothing can be discussed. Then I heard Emperor Tianwu say: "They are imprisoned here and suffer. I think it is very lonely. Xiaoyuanzi, go and tell my other sons and the concubines in the harem to line up and come in for a visit. If such a grand occasion is not shown in front of people, wouldn't it be a waste of Ming'er and Ah Heng's efforts." After that, he glanced at Liu and said with disgust: "After everyone has visited, send this woman to the rack and I will sentence her to death by slicing."
The word "hanging" almost frightened Liu to death. "Slicing"! In the past, even if the concubines in the palace made a big mistake, they would be punished with a three-foot white silk or a cup of poisoned wine, or if they were really disobedient, they would be strangled to death by the powerful eunuchs, but no one had ever heard of being sentenced to slicing. In fact, not only the concubines, but also in the Dashun criminal law, although slicing existed, few people had ever suffered such a crime.
The punishment of flaying is also called cutting bones and separating flesh. It is said to be very particular. A living person is tied up and the executioner uses a well-sharpened blade to cut the flesh off the criminal's body one by one to kill him. The person being flaying is often guilty of a serious crime, and the law enforcers believe that death is not enough to atone for the crime, so this method of punishment is used. That's not all. The most terrifying thing about flaying is that the prisoner cannot die during the execution. From the first cut, a total of one thousand cuts must be made, and the person can only die after the last cut.
When Liu thought of this, she was about to hit the wall, but was stopped by the guards. Emperor Tianwu ordered: "If she dies early, none of you will survive."
Finally, after seeing everything they should see, the palace servants carried Emperor Tianwu out of the death row. On the way to Zhaohe Hall, Emperor Tianwu said to Zhang Yuan: "It is said that the royal family has no family affection. I didn't believe it before. I always wanted to treat these sons well and not let them feel disappointed. But now I know that the royal family really has no family affection! You treat them well, but it does not mean that they can treat you well. You treat them as sons, but they don't treat you as their father. For the throne, they can harm me to this extent. What's the point of having such a son?"
Zhang Yuan quickly advised him, "Your Majesty, calm down. Not all princes are like this. There is only one eighth prince! The third prince doesn't count."
"Yes." Emperor Tianwu nodded, "It's okay to think so. At least the other kids are fine." He said so, but he was still unhappy and listless. He even felt irritated by the sun above his head. Even though there were palace servants holding umbrellas, he felt that the sunlight could shine directly in through the umbrellas. He couldn't help but cover his forehead with his hands and hurriedly urged: "Hurry up, I don't want to be exposed to the sun."
Due to the order issued by Emperor Tianwu, the princes and concubines had to line up to visit the death row to see the miserable condition of the Eighth Prince and Liu. The princes were fine, and at most they sighed for a while after seeing it. But the concubines were not so lucky. They were so sick that they vomited continuously, and were almost carried out of the prison. They were also terrified. They had been trying to curry favor with Liu, but they didn't expect that in the blink of an eye, Liu and the Eighth Prince would end up like this.
A wise man said, "Who has ever had a good ending by opposing the Ninth Prince?"
The Sixth Prince Xuan Tianfeng was entrusted with the important task of supervising the state, and was the last of the princes to go to the death row. He did not go alone, but brought Concubine Li out of the Jingsi Palace to go to the death row with him.
Concubine Li is a very neurotic person, with extreme ideas and is easily obsessed with trivial matters. During this period of time, she was locked up in Jingsi Palace. Sometimes she would cry, sometimes she would laugh, sometimes she would hate her sister who was thrown into death row, and sometimes she would feel that life was full of hope when she thought of her son sitting on the dragon throne and taking charge of the country. When the Sixth Prince came to pick her up, she was talking to her maid Zuo'er about what she would do when she became the Queen Mother in the future. When she heard that her son was coming to take her to see the Eighth Prince, she became unhappy again.
But what could she do if she was not happy? This was the emperor's order, and she had no choice but to go.
Lady Li followed the Sixth Prince, and when she thought about going to see those two people, she didn't know how to face them for a moment. They were her sister and nephew, and they were also the two people she hated the most in her heart. How would she feel when she saw them again, people with such dual identities?
Concubine Li was full of wild thoughts until she arrived at the death row, where she discovered that many concubines were waiting at the door. Those who came out were all pale and vomiting. Some even lost control of their minds and shouted crazily, "It's terrible! It's terrible! The Eighth Prince is a devil, and he's going to rot to death!"
She paused in fear, unwilling to move forward. She could still hear the concubines waiting outside whispering to each other. Someone said, "Yesterday, Concubine Hua said that Liu has gone mad and tried to commit suicide every day, but she is being watched by the guards and cannot die."
Others said: "The eighth prince is even more miserable, his butt is rotten, he is worse than a eunuch."
"I heard that the environment in the death row is extremely bad. The prisoners eat, drink, defecate and urinate in the same cell. The smell is enough to make people vomit on the spot."
"The Emperor sentenced Liu to death by slicing. She didn't want to be punished like that and wanted to end it all by dying. Unfortunately, she couldn't die. Even if she went on a hunger strike, it was useless because Princess Yu would come to the palace every day to give her some kind of injection. After the injection, she wouldn't die even if she didn't eat."
Concubine Li was trembling and her teeth were chattering. She wanted to tell Xuan Tianfeng not to go in, but the person walking in front of her had no intention of stopping. The palace servants following her kept reminding her, "Your Majesty, hurry up and catch up. The Sixth Prince has walked a little far."
The Sixth Prince now holds the post of Regent, and his status is basically the same as that of the Crown Prince. The concubines are still somewhat awed by him, and they are also cautious of Concubine Li. Regardless of whether she is Concubine Li or Concubine Li, she is the biological mother of the Sixth Prince after all. And the Sixth Prince is different from the Eighth Prince. He is an elegant scholar, an idol of the literati and scholars in the world, and a reliable prince. During this period of time, he has taken the post of Regent, and he has also managed to deal with the chaos in the court in the past few months, and his achievements are also gratifying. Therefore, no one dared to underestimate the Sixth Prince. When they saw him coming, they all stepped back a few steps and made way for him.
Xuan Tianfeng still had a scholarly air, this kind of temperament was innate, just like Xuan Tianhua's immortal aura, it could not be wiped away. Even though he had a serious face at this moment, wearing the pale yellow robe of the regent prince, under the pressure of nobleness, he could not suppress the bookish aura.
He took Concubine Li into the death cell. When the guards saw that it was the Sixth Prince, they understood what was going on and handed Concubine Li a sachet of sachet that they had prepared in advance, picking out the one with the strongest fragrance so that she could cover her mouth and nose with it to block out the smell in the death cell.
Although Concubine Yuan had made some psychological preparations, and even adjusted her mentality when she heard people talking about the situation inside the prison gate, she thought that even if she couldn't face it normally, she wouldn't be scared to the point of crying and vomiting like those people. But when she actually saw the Eighth Prince and Liu, all the psychological defenses she had built up before collapsed in an instant, so that her legs became weak, and if it weren't for the two strong eunuchs supporting her, she would have sat on the ground.
The Sixth Prince turned around and personally supported his mother, then pointed at the Eighth Prince and said to her, "Mother, do you think he looks miserable? Is he scary?"
Concubine Li nodded blankly and said tremblingly: "Feng'er, take a look, let's go out quickly!"
Xuan Tianfeng shook his head and said, "Mother has to take a closer look and think about it. I won't hide it from you. His miserable condition was caused by Princess Yu, because he sent a person who knew something to break into Feng Zirui's bedroom at night, in an attempt to make the child, who was not even ten years old, lose his virginity at such a young age. Princess Yu was angered, so she took the sin back on him. You see, this is the end of going against them. Mother doesn't want me to be the one imprisoned here one day, right?"
"How could it be you? How could it be you?" Li Guiren said loudly: "Aren't you on good terms? You even helped her before, how could she possibly harm you?" ⑧☆⑧☆.＄.
"I helped her out of affection, but everyone has their own bottom line. Feng Yuheng's bottom line is my ninth brother. If you touch it again and again, she may blame me. Mother, if you really love me, live a good life and stop thinking about those ghosts and gods." He pointed to Liu in the cell on the other side and said, "Look at her. You are sisters. The Liu family has close contact with the ancient Shu poison family. This matter has been exposed. If your son does not depose you from the concubine position and send you to Jingsi Palace first, I am afraid that mother will not be able to escape a miserable end. After all... the poison master was brought into the palace by your hands."
Li Guiren shuddered. It turned out that her son knew everything. It turned out that nothing she did could escape the eyes of others! She thought that no one would know about it. Could it be that... would it really harm her son?
“You are already the prince regent, so you don’t have to… don’t have to be afraid of them, right?” Concubine Li made her final struggle.
"He is just the regent, not the crown prince. Moreover, even if he is the crown prince, he is still my brother. All I can do for them is to protect them, and I will never hurt them. Mother, this is my son's principle, please don't destroy it wantonly."
After he finished speaking, he signaled the palace servants to send Concubine Li out, and he stayed in the cell for a while longer. Looking at Lao Ba and Liu, even though he felt extremely reluctant, he had to admit that all of this was their own fault. He had just scared Concubine Li, and he believed that no matter what Concubine Li did, Feng Yuheng and Xuan Tianming would not hold it against him. But if that day really came, even if they didn't blame him, how could he have the face to face those two people again?
If a prince who serves as regent cannot even take care of his own mother, how can he manage the world?
Ten days later, the former imperial concubine Liu was executed by being cut into pieces...
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