The cane was a special tool used to carry out punishment. It was usually made of chestnut wood, and the end of the stick was shaved into the shape of a hammer. The outside was covered with an iron sheet, and there were barbs on the iron sheet. As long as the stick was dragged along, the barbs would be able to tear off a large piece of skin and flesh. Therefore, as long as the torturer was not willing to be lenient, death would be certain after thirty strikes.
When Li Zhaode arrived at the palace, he was even more delighted when he heard the Emperor's order to bestow the cane, but did not specify the number of strikes. "Execute!" The order was given, and the two Featherwood Guards swung their staffs.
Because in this era, the cane punishment was usually used to punish and humiliate, and it was rare to beat someone to death. Therefore, when the two Imperial Forest Guards struck down, although they did not hold back, they did not use the "drag" formula. After a few strikes, although Wang Qingzhi cried out in pain, his cries became louder and louder.
This time, Wang Qingzhi had entered the palace to make a request and gathered more than three thousand people. Apart from a few people who were related to the Wu Clan, the rest were all idlers that he had hired with money. At this time, when they saw Wang Qingzhi being beaten, these people all started shouting and cursing.
Li Zhaode saw this and laughed coldly. He said to the deputy general of the Imperial Forest Guards, Fei Chengxuan, "This minister has never rubbed sand in my eyes. Now that I have been ordered to supervise the punishment, if you don't pay more attention, I'm afraid you won't be able to explain yourself to this minister today! "
The one on duty today was still the Left Imperial Forest Guards, and the general of the Left Imperial Forest Guards was Yang Fan. However, Yang Fan had taken a leave of absence due to his marriage, so his deputy, Fei Chengxuan, was now in charge. Fei Chengxuan knew that this general had a small background and was friendly with the Wu Clan, so he did not dare to be too harsh on Wang Qingzhi, who was waving the flag for the Wu Clan. However, since Li Zhaode had said so, Fei Chengxuan could not be merciful. This prime minister was also not someone he could afford to offend.
Fei Chengxuan thought to himself, Anyway, this was Prime Minister Li's order. If the general blames me later, I can just push the blame onto Prime Minister Li! I was only following orders, so he can't blame me! "
Thinking of this, Fei Chengxuan cast a meaningful glance at the two Featherwood Guard soldiers who were waiting to carry out the punishment. He raised his hand, stroked his beard, and then slammed it down heavily. This was the signal for a great punishment. The two burly soldiers saw his movements and nodded their heads in an almost imperceptible manner.
The first two sergeants struck the cane twenty times before retreating to rest. The two who had just received the signal slammed their canes on the ground and walked forward with large strides.
Wang Qingzhi had been flogged twenty times. Although his injury was not serious, his buttocks were bleeding. As soon as he saw them withdraw, he thought the punishment was over. Enduring the pain, he raised his head. He was just about to shout something when he saw two fierce-looking sergeants with big sticks in their hands were walking toward him. "What are you doing?" he cried out in alarm. What are you doing? "
Wang Qingzhi struggled with all his might, but his head and hands were shackled and he could not move at all. The two sergeants stood on either side of him. 'Whoosh!' the sergeant on the left struck down with his stick and dragged it. 'Rip!' Wang Qingzhi's robe and trousers were torn by the barbs on the stick. Turned out it was only the bloodstained skin and flesh split open. Immediately blood gushed out like a fountain.
"Ah!"
Wang Qingzhi howled in pain, his features contorted. He gritted his teeth and was just about to curse at Li Zhaode when the sergeant on the right swung his cane down again. With a swish, Wang Qingzhi's two halves of buttocks were slashed into a pulp.
The two sergeants swung their canes one after another, and after twenty strikes, Wang Qingzhi's lower body could no longer be seen. His robes had been completely torn, revealing his bloody lower body. His two buttocks had been scraped into strips of flesh by the cane, and the white bone could faintly be seen at his hips. Wang Qingzhi was in so much pain that he was unconscious.
Fei Chengxuan walked in front of Li Zhaode and said in a low voice, "Prime Minister, Wang Qingzhi has already fainted!"
Li Zhaode narrowed his eyes and looked coldly at the two to three thousand so-called representatives of the people who had already stopped making noise and were just staring blankly, ignoring his request for instructions. Fei Chengxuan coughed softly and said, "Prime Minister, Wang Qingzhi … is already crippled!"
Li Zhaode did not say a word and only turned his back on him. Fei Chengxuan gritted his teeth and waved his hand forcefully, and the third team of punishing sergeants rushed forward.
"Puff, puff, puff …"
The large cane hit Wang Qingzhi's body with a dull thud. Wang Qingzhi's body was stiff, and only trembled with the movement of the cane. His eyes, ears, mouth, and nose were all bleeding, and his two eyes were wide open, but there was no longer a trace of life in him.
"Puff!"
Another strike of the staff came down, the soldier exerted his strength to drag, unexpectedly one of Wang Qingzhi's legs was separated from his body, and was hooked down by the staff. The soldier's footing was unstable, he staggered backward several steps and almost fell down. The onlookers let out a cry of alarm and quickly retreated more than ten feet.
Fei Chengxuan took a deep breath and turned to Li Zhaode with cupped fists, saying, "Prime Minister, the person being punished … is dead!"
"Mm!"
Li Zhaode slowly turned to the pale-faced petitioners, pointed at Wang Qingzhi's mutilated body, and said sternly, "This traitor wanted to depose my imperial heir and make Wu Chengsi the crown prince! Today, this Prime Minister is following the imperial edict to beat him to death to uphold the imperial law! Who else is willing to plead for Wu Chengsi's life, step forward! "
The people were so frightened that they retreated again and again. When those hired saw that their employer was dead and that they would definitely not get their money, they turned around and left. The others saw that something bad would happen to them if they stayed, so they hurriedly followed behind them and left. When the tree fell, the monkeys scattered, and there was not a single idle person in front of the Meridian Gate.
Li Zhaode looked up to the sky and laughed, saying, "The so-called will of heaven and the will of the people, is there not even a corpse collector?"
Li Zhaode laughed as he walked towards the palace. The Imperial Guards said to Fei Chengxuan, "General, what do we do with the corpse?"
Fei Chengxuan said in annoyance, "Find a sleeping mat to wrap it in and wait for his family to identify the corpse. Go, bring some water and wash the floor clean! "
Xue Huaiyi swaggered towards the palace gate with his two disciples, Hong One and Hong Six.
Hong One was his eldest disciple, and Hong Six was clever and obedient, to Xue Huaiyi's liking. As a result, he became his most favored disciple, and Xue Huaiyi liked to bring the two of them with him when he went everywhere. When they were about to reach the Meridian Gate, Xue Huaiyi had to turn towards the eastern palace wall. One could also enter through the gate in front to meet the emperor, but to enter through this gate, one had to first pass through the Hall of Governmental Affairs.
Therefore, when the Prime Ministers entered the court, they all went through this gate. This palace gate had almost become the exclusive passageway for the Prime Ministers. In the past, Xue Huaiyi had also passed through this palace gate, but in the end, because he ran into Prime Minister Su Liangsi, he was arrogant and disrespectful, and was ruthlessly beaten up by Su Liangsi.
Xue Huaiyi ran to complain to Wu Zetian, but Wu Zetian told him to enter the palace from the north gate in the future, and not to fight with the Prime Ministers. Although things had changed with the passage of time, and his power was far from what it used to be, and no Prime Minister could scold or scold him like in the past, he was not willing to pass through this palace gate again.
Xue Huaiyi was about to turn along the palace wall to the north gate when he saw a group of people running towards him with faces full of fear. Judging by their clothes, they were all ordinary people. Ordinary people would not easily come to the Meridian Gate, and seeing their panicked expressions, it was even more strange. Xue Huaiyi could not help but stop in his tracks.
"It's too scary! Wang Qingzhi was literally dismembered alive! "
"Yes, yes, this is even worse than being dismembered by five horses! Even if he was dismembered, he would only jump a little, and then he wouldn't feel any pain anymore. He was beaten to death by a staff! "
"Did you see that? Even ghosts would be afraid of Wang Qingzhi when he was bleeding from his seven orifices. My scalp is still cold. You guys go home first, I have to go to the Heavenly Palace Temple to pray. I'm a coward!"
"Wang Qingzhi?"
Xue Huaiyi touched his bald head, suddenly suspicious. Of course, he knew who Wang Qingzhi was. This person had pleaded for Wu Chengsi's life time and time again, and the whole court had long known about it. Xue Huaiyi had entered the palace today to act as a lobbyist for Wu Chengsi. When he heard that Wang Qingzhi had been beaten to death, how could he not be suspicious?
"Hong Liu, go and find out what's going on."
Xue Huaiyi ordered, and Hong Liu hurriedly chased after the person who was running away in a hurry. As soon as the person turned his head, Hong Liu stuffed a handful of copper coins into his hand, and then the two of them walked out together like old friends who had known each other for many years.
After a while, Hong Liu quickly ran back and said to Xue Huaiyi, "Master, disciple has found out. That Wang Qingzhi entered the palace to see the emperor and urged the emperor to depose the crown prince and appoint the king of Wei instead. The emperor was furious and ordered people to drag him out of the palace and beat him to death. I heard that Prime Minister Li Zhaode supervised the execution, and Wang Qingzhi was beaten until his bones and flesh were scattered. It was a horrible sight! "
"Ah?"
Xue Huaiyi's expression changed when he heard this.
In the past two years, the number of times Wu Zetian asked him to enter the palace to serve her had decreased. Xue Huaiyi didn't know that Wu Zetian had a new favorite in the palace, and thought that Wu Zetian was getting older and wasn't as enthusiastic about bed matters as before. But no matter what the reason was, it was true that she didn't favor him as much as before, so Xue Huaiyi wasn't as confident as before.
"Wang Qingzhi was beaten to death when he tried to persuade the emperor? Could it be that the emperor has made up his mind and doesn't want to appoint a nephew of the Wu family as the crown prince? Then, this trip of mine … "
Xue Huaiyi pondered along the way, walking slower and slower. He did not believe that Wu Zetian would sentence him to death just because he had spoken up. However, if he offended the heavens and made Wu Zetian angry, it was inevitable that he would be rebuffed. What if I don't speak up for Wu Chengsi? I've already accepted his gift, and I've even done him a favor. I can't return it, so what should I do? "
"Master, is there something on your mind?"
As Hong Liu walked ahead, he suddenly felt his master's footsteps slow down. Turning his head, he saw Xue Huaiyi rubbing his bald head with his palm, looking troubled. Hong Liu knew that Xue Huaiyi had something difficult to deal with, so he hurriedly stopped and asked. Xue Huaiyi muttered to himself, "Damn it, I've fallen into Wu Chengsi's trap."
Hong One also hurried over and asked, "Master, what's wrong?"
Xue Huaiyi said, "Wu Chengsi told me that the emperor has long wanted to replace the crown prince, but the crown prince has never done anything wrong and doesn't know the intentions of the officials, so he asked me to put in a good word for him in front of the emperor. How would I know if what he said was true or false, so I agreed. Today, the emperor beat Wang Qingzhi to death, clearly telling the world that he has no intention of replacing the crown prince. If I don't know what's good for me and continue to speak up for Wu Chengsi, the emperor will definitely be displeased! But if I don't speak up for him, I've already accepted the gift. How can I go back on my word? "
Hong Liu's eyes turned and an idea came to him. He smiled without a care and said, "Master, what's wrong with that? Every time you enter the palace, you're summoned by the emperor alone. There's no one around anyway, so who knows what you've said and not said? If we come back and say that we've already spoken up for him, I don't believe that Wu Chengsi would dare go to the emperor to verify it!"
"This …" Xue Huaiyi rubbed his chin and said, "Doing this doesn't seem very kind …"
Hong One said, "Master, if we're talking about being unkind, it's Wu Chengsi who schemed first. What do we have to feel bad about?"
Xue Huaiyi blushed and said, "Yes, that's right! He's the one who's unkind, so I'm unkind! "
Hong One and Hong Liu said in unison, "That's right, Master is wise!"
Xue Huaiyi laughed and waved his sleeves. "Let's go! To the palace! "
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