The punishment of Jingmin originated from ancient times.
It is one of the capital punishments, but it is also famous among the capital punishments - the two monarchs who used it the most are the models of cowardly kings and tyrants known to foolish people and women: Xia Jie and Shang Zhou.
Jie Jie's minions were passed by Long Feng, and Zhou Jie's minions were mined by Mei Bo.
These are all things that anyone who has read history books will know.
Although this punishment was included in the canon during the Western Han Dynasty, it was probably too cruel. Even Empress Lu, who made Mrs. Qi into a human pig, issued an edict to abolish this system.
One can imagine the notoriety of this punishment.
Therefore, this punishment was no longer publicly listed in the imperial laws and regulations. Even if it was a major crime committed by the Yidang tribe, it was often only punished by being cut in half.
In the Wei Dynasty and the previous dynasties, this punishment was not mentioned at all for hundreds of years - but now the Holy Emperor not only wants to punish loyal ministers with this punishment, but the person who is being punished in this way is also a son of a noble family!
Although Wei Yu is a branch of Ruiyu Hall, he still has considerable influence in the clan. As the old saying goes, a doctor cannot be punished with punishment. This kind of treatment is not only cruel, but also humiliating.
The gentry were in an uproar!
They knew that the Holy Spirit was unreasonable now, but they never imagined that the Holy Spirit would come and want to add cruelty to their mediocre life - this is going after Jie and Zhou!
However, all their pleas were blocked outside the palace gate!
Gu Xiaode held the imperial edict in his hand and blocked the palace gate with an expressionless face. The Xuanjia guards behind him were as silent as a rock, firmly blocking everyone's way.
"At the end of the day, the journey is poor. Commander Gu, are you still stubborn?" Among the people in the Wei family who are serving as officials in the court now, apart from Wei Yu, there is also Wei Shengyi. Because of Wei Zhenghong's recovery, Wei Shengyi has been very decadent in the past two years. , but if something like this happened to the Wei family, it was impossible for him not to come forward as long as he was still alive.
At this moment, he was blocked by Gu Xiaode, and he scolded him angrily.
Not only him, but also the first-rank officials such as the Grand Master, the Grand Tutor, and the Grand Protector who came with him, as well as all the officials in the court, including the nobles who only received the title of casual official but had no actual duties, all gathered together - at this time According to people's opinions, it is generally said that Wei Yu was remonstrating for the sake of his loyalty to the emperor, and he was not guilty. Even if he committed a heinous crime, given his status as a noble disciple, being executed in public was the limit, and he would probably be sentenced to death. —醹醢? Before the Holy One issued the decree, it was something that even they would have never imagined!
This is clearly a slap in the face to the nobles!
How could they tolerate it
But His Majesty was determined to slap him in the face!
For this reason, the Holy One even hinted at Gu Xiaode - it was time for him to prove whether he was loyal to the Holy One or whether his heart was with the nobles!
Therefore, Gu Xiaode allowed everyone to use all their means to explain the truth, and always guarded the palace gate and refused to enter.
Even Grand Tutor Shen Xuan couldn't restrain his anger and threatened the Gu family of Hongzhou, but Gu Xiaode ignored him!
In this case, everyone had no choice but to curse Gu Xiaode for being crazy!
After all, the most powerful force near the imperial capital at this moment is in the hands of Gu Xiaode. He insists on carrying out the holy order, who can do anything about it
However, many of these people were furious, but Wei Yu, who was ordered to be tortured by the Holy Emperor, regarded death as if he were dead. After knowing that hundreds of officials gathered in front of the palace to plead for mercy, he even sent a message from prison to persuade them to disperse - but he saved his life to serve the country. Your heart is broken, but how can your family bear this
Wei Yu's old wife, Mrs. Qian, was bedridden after the imperial edict was issued. When she learned that the officials' request for orders had failed, she would be dragged outside the Meridian Gate to be tortured in three days. He went in one step!
Wei Yu's daughter, Queen Run, has been worried about her daughter, Princess Chengxian, being childless after marriage. She has been ill for several days. As a result, before Princess Chengxian could solve the problem, her father suffered like this, and her mother went there first. Her condition suddenly worsened, to the point where she could not even go back to her parents' home to express condolences - Princess Chengxian was so frightened that she also Unable to control the heirs, she confessed her love to her parents-in-law, and rushed back to Prince Run's Mansion overnight to serve her mother's decoction, for fear that Queen Run would follow in the footsteps of Mrs. Qian.
When Wei Changying heard the news, he was naturally shocked and angry!
Although she and Wei Yu are far apart in blood, they are from the same clan. What's more, since she married into the imperial capital, Wei Yu's group has always gotten along well with her. After hearing the news, she immediately asked Mrs. Huang to put down everything she was doing, and went back to the backyard to take care of the two children. She hurriedly changed into the attire for going out, and followed Mrs. Su to Wei Yu's house to express her condolences.
At this time, Wei Yu's mansion was already in chaos.
Originally, Wei Yu's disciples were all very mediocre. Otherwise, when Wei Huan and Wei Qi fought to the death and finally drove Wei Qi away from the position of Situ, there was no one among Wei Huan's close relatives who could take over. For this position, Wei Yu would not be chosen from among the remote tribesmen. It was just a plan that even if Wei Yu became ambitious in the future, it would be easier to deal with his own heirs if they were not very good.
Now that they have encountered great changes, these people are so panicked that they simply don’t know what to do.
It is said that it was the second wife, Mrs. Deng, who really couldn't stand it, so she wiped her tears and stood up to make the decision, so she built the mourning hall before most of the mourners arrived.
Under such circumstances, the entire mansion naturally looked particularly desolate and dilapidated.
Everyone who came to express condolences, no matter what they thought of Wei Yu's family, was moved by this scene. Wei Changying himself was very sad, but he still supported his mother-in-law, Mrs. Su - because Mrs. Su was crying. Crying makes my legs weak.
Among the people who tried to prevent this crazy and dishonorable thing from happening, there were also those who rushed to Gu's house, either to intimidate or persuade Gu Xiaode's wife and children, and let them persuade Gu Xiaode. The royal family in the imperial capital, especially Princess Linchuan and others, also received batches of lobbyists.
However, Gu's wife and children made it clear that they had no control over Gu Xiaode and could only leave it to fate. Princess Linchuan shed tears and said: "You are all the pillars of the country and the mainstay of the Wei Dynasty. You can't change your father's will, let alone my daughter who is already married? I am just a little girl, so what? Can I compare with you? What you can’t do, can I do it?”
When the lobbyist tried to persuade her about the relationship between father and daughter, she said: "My father has been tired of listening to advice for a long time. It's no secret. As a daughter, I serve my father with filial piety as my top priority. How can I tell my father that he doesn't like it?" After all, you also know that my father is old, how can I bear to ask him to listen to unpleasant words again? What’s more, after saying it, it will only be in vain! "
Anyway... the princess just won't go - Linchuan is not stupid. In this situation, will the Holy Father still recognize the love between father and daughter? Even Qingxin, the most favored legitimate daughter before, was demoted to the county head. If I go to Linchuan, I'm afraid I'll be treated like a commoner.
As for Princess Lingxian and others, because they were not favored in the past, when faced with some lobbyists who were urgently ill and sought medical treatment indiscriminately, they simply said, "Sister Linchuan is still helpless. I have been too stupid to do what I want, so I dare not come near." .
All in all, after three days, under the suppression of Gu Xiaode's Xuanjia Guards, Wei Yu was finally taken outside the Meridian Gate and executed.
Because this punishment has long been known as cruel, and because Wei Yu had a good official reputation and was quite prestigious, no one could bear to watch. No one was watching or talking, but many people at home were secretly weeping and grieving.
But although I didn't go to the Meridian Gate to see it, there was a scene that everyone saw at home - it was snowing.
It was early May. Although it was not yet the dog days of summer, it was already full of chirping and midsummer. But in the sky, huge clumps of snowflakes actually floated, like catkins flying in the late spring, falling in clumps, filling the whole city!
Some people who couldn't believe it stretched out their hands and took one. They felt the coolness turn into water stains in their palms, and then pinched themselves hard to confirm that the water stains and coolness were still in their palms... The hairs on the whole city almost stood on end. stand up!
Snow in May! Not as extreme as June, but—
The Grand Master was an old man, and although his blood was racing with excitement, he couldn't get up for a while. For example, when Shen Xuan was still in his prime, he almost didn't even wear shoes, so he rushed out of the palace with his men, left several guards in front of the Meridian Gate to stop the execution, and rushed into the palace without looking back!
...It's just that everyone thought that with such an abnormal celestial phenomenon, the Holy One should pardon Wei Yu just on this step, and the sentence should be light if the punishment was too bad. However, Shen Xuan broke his forehead when he was downstairs in Hanyuan, and the Holy One was still cold and cold. Two words: "No forgiveness!"
Until the end, the Grand Master and other ministers arrived, and the preferential treatment they obtained was that Wei Yu would not have to endure torture, and he was allowed to be executed first, and then his body was buried in the grave.
Afterwards, the meat dumplings were sent back to Wei Yu's mansion. Among the descendants, some were frightened and grieved and could not restrain themselves. They either fainted or died, or became sluggish. The mansion was in chaos, and there were even cases of slaves stealing property and escaping at night.
After Shen Xuan and others found out, they sent people to help take charge of the overall situation, and at the same time they sent people to hunt down the escaped slaves - these escaped slaves happened to be a place where the nobles vented their anger. No matter how much property they took, they were all punished with fines!
However, the climax of Wei Yu's unjust murder by the Holy Emperor did not lie in these places.
It was during his funeral - since Mrs. Qian died three days before him, the couple were buried together. In addition to his descendants attending the funeral, several of Wei Yu's disciples who joined the family also paid filial piety to his son.
Among them, the closed disciple Huo Chenyuan was the most silent, but the look of mourning between his brows was also the heaviest.
… Because Wei Yu was originally a descendant of Ruiyu Hall, according to common sense, after he and Mrs. Qian passed away, his descendants should go south and be buried in Fengzhou. But now Huo County is occupied by refugees, the war in Donghu is tense, the emperor is holding the Imperial Guards and refuses to send troops, the imperial court is unable to control the review, and the north and the south are cut off.
Even Wei Changfeng, the future head of Ruiyu Hall, couldn't get married. It was obviously impossible to support Ling's return home at this time.
Therefore, after some discussion among the Wei family members, they also consulted several other elders for their opinions, and decided to bury their parents in the farmland outside the city. When there is an opportunity someday, the coffin will be lifted up and buried in Fengzhou.
Going out of the city, you can only see green buckwheat along the way, but there is no smoke from farmhouses far and near. Occasionally, there are pedestrians hiding by the roadside. Most of them have yellow and thin faces and dull eyes. This is still Gyeonggi Province, and many villagers are servants of noble families or have connections. With the protection of their masters, they can have a living. It is said that a little further away, there are people dying of hunger everywhere - that's why there are so many refugees gathered in Huo County.
This scene made the mourners feel even heavier.
After finally arriving at the chosen field, since it was only a temporary burial and the grave would be moved later, and Wei Yu had been deprived of all official status at this time and only had the status of a nobleman born with him; and he died so miserably, It is really not suitable for grand arrangements, so the funeral here is relatively simple.
But after Wei Yu and his wife were buried together in the coffin, the memorial service was over, and everyone was sighing and about to disperse, Huo Chenyuan, who had been silent before, suddenly came out, saluted everyone, and bowed deeply: "Unfortunately, my master. , faced with this difficulty, I have written a memorial these days, and I hope you will listen to it. "
As soon as everyone slowed down, anger appeared on many people's faces - it wasn't that they were eager to leave, but they thought that Huo Chenyuan was also a descendant of the Yunxia Huo family and a close disciple of Wei Yu. How could he be so shallow and shameless
His mentor's body is still cold, but he seizes this opportunity... Do you want to be famous? !
After all, when he read other people's eulogies before, he didn't say anything!
To stand up now, isn't it because he wants to take advantage of Wei Yucai's death, come up with some beautiful article to become a blockbuster and earn a literary reputation, so what is it
However, nowadays, everyone is filled with grief, anger and sorrow for the death of rabbits and foxes. No matter how good the article is, who can not hate such conduct
The head of the Huo family had a mixture of embarrassment and anger on his face, and he immediately shouted: "Get out of here!" (To be continued)