On the Wufeng Tower, Emperor Longqing held binoculars in both hands and stared at Zhao Shouzheng, who was pulled into the shape of a "木" character, with excitement on his face.

Then the big general raised a three-finger-wide board high up and was about to hit the big white butt of the evildoer!

"Beat him!" Long Qing raised his left hand, clenched his fist and shouted. "Beat this evildoer into a mental retard!"

He suddenly didn't want money anymore...

Even just a fight would be fine.

Oh, forget it, it’s only one hundred taels.

The emperor, who was poor and had low aspirations, felt that it was not worth wasting money on a set of talismanic porcelain.

I also need to save money to burn a set of embroidered pictures of "Jin Ping Mei".

"Hey, how come there really is a fight?" Long Qing was so shocked that he almost threw away the telescope in his hand.

How can I explain this to Ning An? !

~~

Under the Meridian Gate.

With a snap, a big red mark appeared on Zhao Shouzheng's butt!

Mr. Zhao's eyes widened in pain and he bit the wooden stick in his mouth tightly!

Xu Fan was so happy that he trembled all over and his soul seemed to fly to the clouds.

"Old senior!" Li Chengen's eyes immediately became bloodshot, as if a stick had hit him on the buttocks.

"Eunuch Feng!" Zhao Hao also shouted loudly and decided to use his ultimate move!

Amid the shouting, the big general got into a full stance, raised his arm high, and delivered a second powerful blow.

But the bramble suddenly stopped when it was just a millimeter away from Master Zhao's butt!

The strong wind blew away all the hair on Mr. Zhao's buttocks, but the brambles did not touch him at all.

A professional cane player, his output is so stable.

"Why are you speaking so loudly? I can hear you." Feng Bao scratched his ears, then he seemed to remember something and slapped his forehead and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. His Majesty said that I can pay silver to atone for my crime."

"What's the price?!" Zhao Hao immediately took out his ticket folder.

"One hundred taels of silver is worth one stick." Feng Bao said quietly.

"Okay!" Zhao Hao didn't even wait for bargaining.

He is extremely grateful now.

If Feng Bao and others spoke after the second attack, Zhao Hao was already prepared to mobilize his money power and donate 200,000 taels to help the emperor out of his difficulties.

Now, I'm sorry, that's all the fifty thousand taels!

Oh no, this is forty-nine thousand nine hundred taels, not a tael more!

"Why didn't you tell me at the beginning!" Zhao Hao angrily pointed out 50,000 taels of bills and threw them to Feng Bao, saying, "Find the money, find the money, find the money!"

Seeing that the vice chairman was really angry, Feng Bao sighed helplessly, pulled him aside, and said in a low voice: "Young master, you don't know what's going on. We are not giving your Highness a court stick. We are conferring him an honor..."

"Oh?" Zhao Hao understood immediately.

As the saying goes, civil officials die for their advice, and military officials die for their battles. In the Ming Dynasty, the glory of military officials was the scars on the battlefield; the glory of civil officials came from the "sheepskin buttocks" after being caned in court.

The laws of the Ming Dynasty were used to punish bad people, but the extra-legal caning was used to beat those loyal and honest people who spoke out and gave advice.

The scholar-official class attached great importance to the elegance and morality of literati and regarded the caning in court as a symbol of honor. Everyone craved it, but few could get it.

When a scholar-official was beaten with a stick in the court, it was equivalent to being stamped with the official seal of loyalty!

If you have been approved by the imperial court and are still alive, then congratulations. You can walk sideways when you go out in the future. Even if you meet the Prime Minister, you don’t have to kneel down. You only need to hold your head high and say:

"Don't touch me, I've been caned before!"

I promise that the Prime Minister will be humble and respectful to you first...

That's why Eunuch Feng said that this was not about beating Zhao Shouzheng, but about awarding him honors.

~~

Zhao Hao, who saw the benefit in this, could not help but feel all his resentment disappear, and smiled again. He asked Feng Bao in a low voice:

"Sir, does this court cane hurt anyone?"

"Don't worry, sir." Feng Bao thought to himself, you are too cautious, who can be hurt by just one stick?

However, considering the promise made by Mr. Zhao about the shares in the Lugouqiao coal yard, he patiently explained: "There are nine kinds of sticks used in court caning. This is the most deceptive kind. Don't be fooled by the wide and thick chestnut wood board. It is hollow inside. It only makes a sound but doesn't hurt anyone."

"Is that so?" Zhao Hao whispered, "Then hit him nine more times."

"Why?" Feng Bao was stunned. He hadn't heard of anyone taking the initiative to increase the stakes. Could it be that they had already paid 49,000 yuan and were reluctant to part with the 1,000 taels?

"If I just hit him once, it would be embarrassing to talk about it in the future..." Zhao Hao looked at the sky. Hmm, it was a sunny day, so he shouldn't be struck by lightning, right?

"That's true." Eunuch Feng smiled and said, "Young Master is very thoughtful. Why didn't I think of that?"

Yes, although it is more glorious to have been caned than not to have been caned, but the road is long and you will inevitably run into someone else.

At that time, everyone was bound to compare, who had received the most strokes of the cane? Others received thirty, forty, fifty strokes, but my father only received one. Wouldn't that make others look down on him?

Bah, how dare someone who got hurt to hang out with us sheep?!

"In that case, we suggest adding ten more strokes." Eunuch Feng whispered, "Generally, the minimum number of strokes for a court cane is twenty. I've never heard of ten strokes."

"Is that so..." Zhao Hao sucked his teeth and nodded in agreement. "Okay, twenty is twenty!"

At worst, I won’t go out when it rains this year…

~~

"Be careful to hit twenty!"

Feng Bao put the thick stack of tickets into his sleeve and gave instructions to the big general in a deep voice.

So, Mr. Zhao, who thought he had been freed, was pulled into the shape of a Chinese character "木" again.

Then the big Han general swung the board, hitting Mr. Zhao on the buttocks one after another.

The pain made Mr. Zhao grimace...

Well, except for the first hit, it was actually not bad, much lighter than what my father hit me with...

"Dad!" Seeing that his father was in pain again, Zhao Hao quickly lay on the ground, winked at him, and cried, "If it hurts, just scream out. The louder you scream, the better the pain!"

“Oh, then I can’t bear it. Ah, it hurts so much…” Although Mr. Zhao didn’t understand what was going on, he would make no mistakes in cooperating with his son.

Li Chengen was also unaware of the situation, and tears of distress streamed down his face. If the number of strokes had not been reduced from 500 to 20, he would have rushed forward to take the punishment for the old man.

~~

According to the "Old Ming History·Biography 113":

Zhao Shouzheng, with the courtesy name Daqi, the pseudonyms Gongming and Sunshan Jushi, was a native of Huizhou, Zhili. He was mature and dignified since childhood. When he was a student, he failed five examinations, so he lived in a humble house and worked hard. In the second year of Longqing, he won the first place in the imperial examination and was appointed as a Hanlin editor.

At that time, there was a man called Xu Fan, the Minister of Rites, who, by taking advantage of his father's power, manipulated the country and wanted to be the second Yan Shifan. However, he had great ambitions but little talent, and the people of the world dared not speak out. Shouzheng was furious and beat him in the street, causing his blood to splatter at Gongsheng's gate.

Fan was the son of the Prime Minister and was good at making friends. So they all rose up to attack Shouzheng. The emperor ordered all the ministers to discuss the matter in the court. Shouzheng made an impassioned speech, angrily denouncing Fan for being idle and causing the chaos in Shizhou and the suffering of refugees. All the civil and military officials were moved, so they discussed to exempt him from punishment.

However, at that time, the Prime Minister Xu Jie had just retired. The emperor wanted to reassure the powerful minister, so he severely punished Shou Zheng, ordered him to be beaten with a stick in the court, fined him three years' salary, and demoted him to a remote place 2,000 miles away.

When Shouzheng was beaten with a stick outside the Meridian Gate, he was talking and laughing calmly, but he fainted after the beating. All officials were grieving and regarded him as a hero, and his name "iron-boned champion" became known throughout the world.

According to the "Old Ming History Annotations":

"Iron Bone Champion" is also recorded as "Iron Leg Champion". There are many different opinions. The former is used and the latter is retained, thinking that it is a taboo for the respected person.

Ps. I don't know why, but when I wrote about beating Mr. Zhao with a stick, my personal experience was similar to that of Mr. Xu Xiaoge. How can I describe it in one word: it feels so good!

If you feel the same way, please leave a comment below this post to see how many people share the same opinion. Please give me a monthly ticket~~