Yang Fan hesitated for a moment and secretly raised his guard. Suddenly, he saw Su Fangzheng coming out of an alley with his hands behind his back and a frown on his face. Yang Fan quickly went up to greet him, "Su Fangzheng!"
Su Fangzheng saw him and stopped, "Oh, Xiao Fan is back!"
Yang Fan said, "Yes, I went out for a few days and didn't find a proper job. Bōshō, did anything happen in our workshop? Why does everyone look so weird? "
"Our workshop … Sigh!"
Su Fangzheng shook his head and sighed, "You, go take a look at Maqiao. This child is finished this time."
Yang Fan was shocked, "What happened to Maqiao?"
Su Fangzheng shook his head and sighed, "The child has no mother, it's a long story. If you wait for me to finish, I'm afraid you won't even be able to see him for the last time. You better go take a look!"
"Oh! Alright! "
Yang Fan didn't have time to say more and ran towards the Ma residence. Su Fangzheng quickly called out to him, "Where are you going! He's going to be executed at Nan City's south gate, if he's at home, what else could happen? "
"Execution?"
Yang Fan was even more shocked and quickly ran out, thinking as he ran, 'Execution? It's only been a few days, what happened to Maqiao? '
Su Fangzheng looked up at the sky, then shook his head and sighed, then looked down at the ground, shook his head and sighed again, stomping his feet, "No, I have to exorcise the evil. Sigh! Erhuo, go to Hongshou Monastery and get Daoist Yizhuo … Oh! Daoist Yizhuo has become a monk, go look for him in the city and see which Daoist is still around, invite him to the workshop to perform an exorcism, go! "
…
At the crossroads, there were more people gathered to watch the show than the last time when the seven criminals were executed. But this time, there was only one person to be killed. His name was Maqiao.
Maqiao was now a celebrity in Luoyang.
Although he had committed adultery with the wife of the merchant Wu Guangde, and it was he who accidentally tripped the woman to death, the authorities did not find out anything about him. However, on the execution ground, he stood up and openly admitted his crimes, saving the innocent Wu Guangde. In the hearts of the Tang people, many people were too lazy to criticize him for having an affair, but they praised him for his righteous actions.
Therefore, there were even more onlookers today. Some came to watch the show, while others wanted to see this person with their own eyes.
In fact, some people who knew the inside story and were familiar with the law felt unfair for Maqiao. Because according to the law of the Tang Empire, except for intentional homicide, other crimes could be absolved if they were not investigated by the government and voluntarily surrendered. But for those who knew these things, who would offend the Luoyang government and Zhou Xing of the Ministry of Justice for a commoner?
The Luoyang prefecture was angry that this case of almost killing an innocent person had given the Luoyang prefecture a bad reputation for not handling the case properly and had lost face. As a result, they decided to sentence Ma Qiao to death for intentional homicide.
Ma Qiao, on the other hand, didn't understand the law at all. He didn't understand that there was such a big difference between writing "murder in anger" and "pushing to death" on the charge sheet. When he first turned himself in, he already had the idea that he was going to die. He also felt that although Bao Yinyin was vicious, he didn't deserve to die by his hands. He also felt that he deserved to end up like this, so he didn't care about the details of the confession and actually signed it.
Jiang Xuning and his mother supported the horse's mother, and looked at Maqiao on the execution platform with tears in their eyes.
Tied up, Maqiao knelt on the execution platform with the word "behead" stuck on his back.
All the brothers of the Ma family were here. Maqiao had six brothers from his father's generation, three aunts, and six elders who were still alive. He had even more cousins of the same generation. Today, almost all of the Ma family were here, occupying a corner of the execution ground, but they did not carry the coffin.
This was because after Wu Zetian came to power, she advocated the revival of the Zhou Rites. According to the Zhou Rites, criminals who abandoned the city and died had to be displayed for three days before their families were allowed to collect their bodies. The six criminals who were executed a few days ago had their bodies exposed for three days before their families were allowed to collect their bodies. Although Maqiao had surrendered, they could not make an exception.
The person supervising the execution today was not the Luoyang Commandant, Tang Zong. Last time, Tang Zong had almost mistakenly killed Wu Guangde. This was a case that he had personally handled, so he had lost a lot of face. Of course, he would not come to make a fool of himself this time. The person supervising the execution was another official from the Luoyang Prefecture, Pushing Official Jue Po.
Maqiao knelt on the execution platform and looked at his mother, who was sobbing uncontrollably. He shouted, "Mother, your son is unfilial and has failed to live up to your kindness in raising me!"
As he said this, Maqiao kowtowed three times.
Maqiao straightened his back, his cheeks stained with tears, and said to the brothers of the Ma family, "Brothers, Maqiao has passed away. From now on, I will leave Gaotang and Gaotang in your hands!"
As he finished, he bent down and kowtowed three more times.
The supervisor of the execution, Du Po, frowned slightly. He stretched out his body and took out a red stick, tossing it to the front of the table. He said in a deep voice, "The time has come, execute!"
A bare-chested executioner in red clothes and a red headscarf took a bowl of wine and said to Maqiao, "Ma, you are a real man. I admire you very much. Today, I will send you off on your journey. Please drink this bowl of wine and be happy on your way! "
This man's face was fierce, but his tone was surprisingly gentle. Maqiao looked at him and nodded, "Thank you, brother, for lending me your hand. I will drink this bowl of wine!"
The executioner laughed and said, "Good!" He brought the bowl of wine to his mouth and Maqiao started to gulp it down.
Maqiao usually fought with people in the streets and was not afraid of death. Other than being afraid of ghosts, he had always been known as a brave horse. But today, with death at hand, he could not help but feel timid. Now that he had drunk this bowl of wine in one go, his head was slightly dizzy, but his timid feeling had lessened a lot.
After drinking the bowl of wine to the last drop, Maqiao gasped for breath and licked a drop of wine from the corner of his lips. He looked at his mother again. Seeing that her son was about to be beheaded, Ma's mother felt a pain in her heart and fainted.
"Hero, it's time to go!"
The executioner bellowed and raised the ghost-head blade in his hand!
"Stop!"
Following a loud shout, a public servant who was maintaining order fell to the ground with a cry. A bright knife light flew up to the execution platform and knocked away the executioner's knife. A figure then pounced into the execution platform and grabbed the ghost head knife. With a flash, the figure cut off the rope binding Maqiao's back.
"Let's go!"
The man, whose face was covered with a green cloth, shouted and pulled Maqiao away. At this time, the public servant who was maintaining order crawled up from the ground in embarrassment. He angrily pulled out the knife from his waist and shouted, "Someone is robbing the execution ground!"
Unexpectedly, when he tried to grab it, he only grabbed the scabbard. Only then did he realize that when he was pushed, the knife was also taken away.
The masked man held the knife in his hand and pulled Maqiao to a corner.
"Robbing the execution ground! Robbing the execution ground! "
The common people who were watching from all around shouted. They were a little panicked but also a little excited.
The people at the back desperately squeezed forward, wanting to see this once-in-a-century robbing of the execution ground. The people in front were afraid that they would accidentally hurt themselves, so they desperately moved back. The execution ground immediately became a mess.
There were so many brothers and sisters in the Ma family, and there was no lack of quick-witted and clever ones among them. When they saw this scene, they immediately scurried around the execution ground, desperately creating a better opportunity for Ma Qiao to escape.
Robbing the execution ground was an everlasting scene in storytelling and dramas, but in reality, it would not happen even once in a hundred years. Those public servants were used to doing their job. Usually, when they executed criminals, the most they would encounter was a family member crying too hard, or there were too many people watching one day, and they would rush over the wooden poles at the four corners of the execution ground. When had they ever seen robbing the execution ground? They were inexperienced and could not react for a moment.
The masked man pulled Ma Qiao along, fought off the two officials, and charged into the crowd. With over a thousand people mixed together, how could he find them? More than twenty public servants who were responsible for maintaining order in the execution ground were running around with knives in their hands. The crowd was so noisy that it was impossible to distinguish who was a criminal and who was a common person.
Maqiao's mother slowly woke up from her coma and screamed, "My son …"
Jiang Xuning happily called out, "Auntie, Maqiao has been rescued by someone. Someone is robbing the execution ground!"
As Jiang Xuning said this, a doubt arose in his heart, "Strange, who is the rescuer? Look at the back of the masked man, why does he look like Xiao Fan? "
…
The masked man pulled Maqiao and ran wildly. After shaking off the public servants, he ran into Jiashan Lane and made a few turns in the streets and alleys. Finally, he stopped in a secluded alley and turned back to look at Maqiao. With a hoarse voice of a middle-aged man, he said, "I'm afraid you can't go back to your home. Take advantage of the fact that the city gate is not sealed, quickly leave the city and take refuge!"
Maqiao stared at him and said, "Xiao Fan?"
A strange look appeared in the masked man's eyes. In a hurry, he only tore a piece of his robe to cover his face. His hair and skin were unadorned. He did look younger than the middle-aged man, but how could Maqiao be so sure that it was him?
Maqiao said with certainty, "Xiao Fan, I know it's you!"
There was a slight hesitation in the masked man's eyes. Then he pulled off his mask and revealed his face. It was indeed Yang Fan. Yang Fan asked with a puzzled expression, "How did you recognize me?"
Maqiao also had a strange look on his face. He said, "I didn't recognize you. I only know that it must be you! Who else would save me? Haha … actually, that night at Yang Langzhong's residence, when Huang Qilin was killed, I saw it. I saw you shoot Hua Xiaoqian to death with one arrow. Then you jumped back and fell on the ground, pretending to be unconscious. "
Yang Fan was startled. His eyes showed a trace of warmth. He patted Maqiao's shoulder and said, "This is not the place to talk. I will accompany you out of the city first!"
The criminal was robbed at the execution ground, which was right under the feet of the Emperor. It immediately caused a huge uproar in the capital. The supervisor of the execution, Xu, was extremely angry. He ordered his men to report back to the yamen. He also ordered his men to inform the Nine Cities to strengthen the checks on the people entering and leaving the city. He then led the rest of the officials and aggressively chased in the direction where Yang Fan disappeared.
Yang Fan threw away his saber and mask. He and Maqiao passed through the streets and alleys. They only took small paths and hurried to the city gate. They saw a long queue of people coming in and out of the city gate. Many people were complaining. Maqiao's expression changed. He said, "Not good! We can't get out in time! "
At this time, they saw seven or eight officials running towards the city gate with sabers in their hands. One of them was the supervisor of the execution, Tu Po. The supervisor of the execution, Tu Po, angrily shouted, "Increase the security! The yamen has sent more people. We must catch the criminal. We must catch the criminal who robbed the execution ground! "
"We can't stay here. Let's go!"
Yang Fan pulled Maqiao back into the alleys and fled in another direction.
At this time, White Horse Temple's Xue Huai Yi was leading a group of shameless monks. He was swaggering along the road. Suddenly, he saw many officials rushing back and forth with sabers and sticks in their hands. He couldn't help but wonder, "What are these yamen dogs busy with?"
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