The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

The Yang energy is at its strongest at three quarters after noon, which is the most suitable time for killing people.

The snow had stopped long ago, the sky was clear and the sun was dazzling. The thick snow on the ground at Caishikou reflected the sunlight, and the weather was so bright that it was difficult to open one's eyes.

Inside the execution tent, Li Hu half covered his eyes with his hands and looked at the open space in front of the execution platform. The space was densely packed with officials. All the officials above the fourth rank in Beijing were there!
After taking a quick look around, Li Hu glanced to his left. Led by the chief minister, the four ministers of the cabinet were all leaning back in their chairs. None of them looked outside the execution room. They all looked as if they were looking at their noses and their noses at their hearts.

At this moment, there was a noise and commotion in the distance:

"I'm coming!"

"Look, the one in the front is the former deputy minister, and the second one is his grandson!"

Li Hu took out his pocket watch and it was almost noon.

Placing the pocket watch on the table, Li Hu sighed silently. The Imperial Hospital had tried every possible means, but the little emperor still passed away this morning. The Emperor Wushang issued an order to execute the ten clans of the second assistant, the nine clans of the bookstore owner, and the three clans of the officials of the Zhanshi Mansion, which amounted to thousands of people. Those who were not in the capital were beheaded on the spot.

The Supreme Emperor also issued an edict that all officials above the fourth rank in the capital must come to watch the execution!

It would take several days to kill so many people.

"Wow."

The sound of shackles colliding brought Li Hu back from his thoughts. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw Ci Fu, wearing prison clothes and chains, slowly approaching.

In just a few days, Ci Fu became a completely different person, with all his hair turning completely white.

Ci Fu walked to the steps in front of the execution platform and stopped. Although the steps were not high, he was covered with chains from head to toe and could not lift his legs to climb up.

Everyone in the Imperial Household Department and the Southern Pacification Office knew that the Supreme Emperor hated this man to death, so no one stepped forward to help him climb onto the execution platform. They all wanted to watch him kneel down and then climb up step by step to give him the final humiliation.

All eyes were fixed on him, wanting to see how the former deputy prime minister would kneel down and climb onto the execution platform.

I saw Ci Fu sitting down on the second step with great effort, grabbing the iron chain on his feet, then lifting his feet and moving his body to put his feet on the step, then grabbing the iron chain and slowly standing up, slowly moving his body and sitting down on the fourth step.
The crowd of onlookers let out a tut-tut sound.

The second assistant climbed onto the execution platform and moved toward the beheading site.

The people from the Imperial Household Department and the Southern Pacification Office looked at each other and stopped making things difficult for others. They carried them up one by one and sent them to the execution platform.

Ci Fu stood there, looking up at the slowly moving sun in the glaring light.

Soon, all of Cifu's immediate family members were sent to the execution platform.

The executioners in red clothes carried knives and walked up to the execution platform in a line.

Ci Fu's family members could no longer hold back and started crying and shouting.

Suddenly, the second assistant began to sing softly: "Resentment is rising to the sky and filling the earth, where are the wronged souls? Drops of blood are staining my clothes. It is difficult to redress the injustice, and the fate is unpredictable."

Jia Jing was promoted to the second assistant of the cabinet, and sitting on the left of Li Hu was a university scholar named Meng.

Li Hu likes to listen to operas, but he only listens to operas like "The Peony Pavilion". He doesn't know what opera the second singer is singing.

He nudged Scholar Meng gently with his elbow and asked, "What are you singing?"

Scholar Meng: "Little Sun the Butcher."

Li Hu: "What story is it?"

Meng Daxueshi: "This is a case drama about Sun Bi Da, a man from Kaifeng Prefecture. His father died early, and he indulged in pleasure all day long. He redeemed the official prostitute Li Qiong Mei and married her. His brother Sun Bigui made a living by slaughtering people, and was called Little Sun the Butcher. Later, this Li Qiong Mei had an affair with the clerk Zhu Jie, and planned to kill the maid Mei Xiang and put the blame on Sun Bi Da. Sun Bi Da was arrested and imprisoned, and confessed under torture;
This little butcher Sun was also hanged to death in prison, and his body was abandoned in the suburbs. The Lord of Mount Tai in the East reported to the Jade Emperor, who sent down nectar to save him. In the end, Bao Zheng tried the case and sent Li and Zhu to the streets to be tortured to death!

To blame?

Li Hu glanced at Jia Jing calmly.

Jia Jing sat there quietly, his face as calm as still water.

The deputy assistant raised his voice: "According to the fair judgment, he will be taken to the street and tortured to death!"

"Good singing!" Someone in the crowd cheered softly.

Li Hu has a hunch that this play will be a big hit!

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and the flags around the execution ground were blown loudly!
Meng Daxueshi suddenly grabbed Li Hu's arm, his voice trembling: "Yun, Yun"

Li Hu was also shocked when dark clouds appeared in the sky!
The second assistant laughed loudly, shaking the heavens and the earth!

Li Hu looked at Jia Jing subconsciously.

Jia Jing's eyebrows trembled violently, and a look of fear appeared on his face! The wind was getting stronger and stronger, making it difficult for everyone to open their eyes.

Rays of sunlight slowly shrank towards the sky, and large dark clouds rolled in from the horizon.

The onlookers knelt down one after another, each with a look of awe on their face.

Li Hu swallowed his saliva. It wasn't even May or June. How could the weather change so suddenly? !
The only sounds above Caishikou were the wind and Ci Fu's laughter!

The Prime Minister had come here with the attitude of "getting the job done", but he didn't expect the situation to develop to such an extent. The people were in awe of the gods of heaven and earth, and the opera that the Second Minister had just sung.
The Prime Minister's face suddenly became serious, and he turned to Jia Jing and asked, "This matter has become a big fuss. Jia Cifu, what are your rules?"

Jia Jing suddenly lost his composure and yelled, "My rule is to execute them immediately! Execute these traitors immediately!"

The Prime Minister was a little surprised and stared at him.

Jia Jing came to his senses and realized that he had lost his composure. He said hastily, "These traitors were convicted by the Supreme Emperor himself. How could they be wronged? If we hesitate at this moment, we will attract rumors and gossip, which will cause great damage to the reputation and authority of the royal family!"

Before he finished speaking, the grandson of the second assistant shouted loudly: "I am innocent! I am innocent!"

The onlookers uttered a surprised cry.

The Prime Minister's face changed immediately.

Jia Jing was anxious: "No more hesitation!"

Another scholar named Shi spoke up: "It's already three quarters past noon."

Seeing that the officials who were ordered to watch the execution began to whisper to each other, Meng Daxueshi also spoke up: "Prime Minister, you can't hesitate any longer!"

The Prime Minister turned his gaze towards Li Hu.

Li Hu: "We are supervising the execution under the order of the emperor."

After being criticized by Li Hu, the Prime Minister finally realized that it was the Supreme Emperor who wanted to kill the Second Prime Minister's family.

The Prime Minister turned his gaze towards the doctor of the Ministry of Justice.

The doctor of the Ministry of Justice understood and shouted, "Fire!"

The sound of artillery fire rang out.

The Prime Minister, Jia Jing, Grand Secretary Shi, Grand Secretary Meng and Li Hu stood up at the same time.

The execution trumpet also sounded!
The executioner stepped forward and pulled out the death row prisoner labels on Ci Fu and others.

The Prime Minister reached out to the command arrow tube, grasped an arrow, but hesitated.

Suddenly, the resentful voice of the second assistant grandson came from the execution platform: "Stupid emperor! You killed loyal people, you will not die well."

The Prime Minister's face changed and he immediately drew out the command arrow: "Execute!" Then he threw the command arrow onto the execution platform.

The doctor of the Ministry of Justice repeated loudly: "Execution!"

A flash of knife light appeared, and heads rolled to the ground!

Li Hu shook his head slightly. The second assistant minister had given birth to a good grandson! If he hadn't yelled those few times, the first assistant minister might have hesitated and the third quarter of the afternoon would have passed.

Thinking about it, Li Hu looked at the pocket watch on the table. The needle gradually pointed to four quarters after noon, just one minute left!
Someone yelled, "Snow!"

"It's snowing!" Immediately afterwards, several exclamations sounded almost simultaneously from different places.

The Prime Minister was the first to run out.

Except for Jia Jing, everyone rushed out of the execution room.

Li Hu raised his head, his eyes froze, staring at the sky, and snowflakes slowly fell down.

This is not normal! Raining is fine, but snowing? Scientifically speaking, this is not possible! This is fucking weird!

Suddenly, a cold wind blew and Li Hu shivered. Is the cold air from Siberia coming?

The onlookers were already going wild.

Li Hu shook his head. It was even harder to explain now! (End of this chapter)