This imperial edict was included in its entirety in the Ming Shilu.
Yang Wan could recite the whole thing silently. As a document that exposes the crime, this imperial letter was not too sharp. The writer seemed to be hiding behind the standard and calm words, wearing a plain shirt and sitting quietly in a corner. He quietly endured the scrutiny of all officials and people.
The first charge at the beginning of the story is murder of a clan member.
This is the most serious of all the charges, but also the weakest.
Without elaborating, the man was sent directly to the execution platform with three thousand knives.
According to the "History of Ming Dynasty", the second emperor Zhu Yijue died in the late Zhenning period, but in fact he died of illness in the early Jinghe period.
The former erased the "false edict case" before Yi Lang ascended the throne in history, while the latter used a ambiguous charge to put an end to the reckoning in the early years of Jinghe.
Whether it is history on paper or the reality before us, nothing violates the laws of history. Only human hearts are the source of errors and omissions.
However, even so, there is no need to discuss individual gains and losses.
From a macro perspective, history is progressing, and various social systems (harmony) are constantly being improved. The Jinghe Dynasty, which was a rare period of political cleansing in the history of the Ming Dynasty, saw a sharp decrease in cases of corruption among eunuchs, and Yang Lun's new tax policies were smoothly implemented in the south. Later, officials of the Imperial Household Department were all cautious and worked together with the Imperial Household Department to help government policies flow smoothly for a period of time.
When Yang Wan studied Deng Ying, she also had to face up to the historical significance of this reckoning.
If she had not been in the Ming Dynasty six hundred years ago, and if she had not accompanied Deng Ying for four years, she might not have felt sad for Deng Ying. It was just like when she first saw Deng Ying in the torture chamber. She knew that he would be cut into pieces, but she had no fear or heartache. Instead, she was full of "expectations" for his tragic life.
However, at this moment, looking at the imperial edict on the Shenming Pavilion, she finally couldn't hold back her tears.
"Yang Wan, let's go!"
Song Yunqing took Yang Wan's cold hand.
The crowd in front of the declaration pavilion was already rushing towards her.
Song Yunqing tried to pull Yang Wan away, but she broke free.
"Yang Wan..."
Song Yunqing's hand fell empty, and when he turned around, he saw her alone, walking towards Shenming Pavilion.
There was a lot of noise all around, with lots of foul language, but I couldn't hear it clearly.
Yang Wan stopped and raised her head and said, "Whatever you want to say, speak louder. I'm listening."
"To commit oneself to a eunuch, how shameless!"
An elderly man shouted, his voice cutting through the noise and causing the crowd to echo, "You have no sense of shame! You have no sense of shame!"
The evil words were like knives slashing at her face. Yang Wan stood in the crowd and listened quietly until the sound gradually died down. She held back her tears and said calmly, "Is there any?"
Yes…
The people in front of the Shenming Pavilion were startled.
Yang Wan raised her head and looked at the imperial book. "I heard this sentence a few years ago."
She repeated, "To give oneself to a eunuch is shameless. I have heard this many times and I even believe it myself. Today, I want to ask you a question: what is the meaning of the word 'shame'? Can it save lives?"
"Save people..."
"Can you kill people?"
She raised her voice dramatically and took a step closer to the crowd. "Are you trying to kill me with 'shame'?"
As she spoke, she wiped away her tears and said with a smile, "You can't kill me, because just as you said, I, Yang Wan, have devoted myself to serving eunuchs. I, Yang Wan, have no shame!"
After saying that, he raised his hand and pointed to the Shenming Pavilion. "But I ask you to take a good look. This place is full of notices of executions. Deng Ying's teacher Zhang Zhanchun, the students of Tongjia Academy, and the censor Huang Ran were all tried here. Today, the court has rehabilitated them, built temples to worship them, and treated their descendants well. You all know that these people had a sense of shame. But they are all dead."
At this point, she paused, and a hint of teasing came into her voice, "But I, who have no sense of shame, am still alive. Do you want to live?"
As he spoke, he tilted his head, a sad smile forming on the corners of his tearful lips. "Do you want to die?"
The crowd was silent, not because they were overwhelmed by Yang Wan, but because they didn't know how to answer for a moment.
No one would have asked this question in the Ming Dynasty when the sense of freedom had not yet sprouted and the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues were respected.
Yang Wan once cautiously believed that later civilizations should not be allowed to intervene too early. After all, reversing the concepts of the times is like building a castle in the air without a solid foundation. Those who climb up suddenly will eventually fall to their death.
But at this moment, Yang Wan couldn't help it, or rather, she was a little depressed.
She turned the image of "people" in the post-modern civilization into a question of "either life or death" and threw it out directly. Everyone could understand what she was saying, and everyone could feel the coldness of the knife scraping against the skin. People instinctively felt a little scared.
The old man who had just taken the lead in speaking retreated into the crowd, and the originally angry people gradually fell silent.
Yang Wan closed her eyes and let the tears flow out.
"Yes, my husband is on death row, I admit it, but I don't admit that he is as shameless as I am."
After she finished speaking, she looked at the imperial letter for the first time. At that moment, she suddenly saw clearly who the plain-clothed person hiding behind the words was. It was not the young Yi Lang, but Deng Ying who had always refused to speak in front of others.
A writer can leave behind a last poem to summarize his life's thoughts and destiny for future generations to mourn.
He wrote "A Record of One Hundred Crimes" to personally end his life as a slave, and from then on he no longer needed to be mourned or worshipped. Deng Ying, a gentle man all his life, was actually more cruel and "cold" than anyone else.
"If a gentleman dies for his loyalty, he will kneel before forging a knife and let others kill him."
Yang Wan finally said this, then bent down with tears in her eyes and bowed deeply to the crowd in front of her, "I thank you all on behalf of my husband."
After saying that, he stood up and walked away with his back to the crowd.
From then on, Song Yunqing never watched Yang Wan cry again.
The autumn of the first year of the Jinghe era was colder than in previous years, with more rain. Qingbo Pavilion was damp everywhere, but it nourished the banana trees, making them even greener and more vigorous even in autumn.
Yang Wan locked herself in Qingbo Pavilion and silently transcribed the notebook. At the same time, she began to purchase ink and paper from the capital and several nearby counties in the name of Qingbo Pavilion and Kuanqin Hall. The shopkeepers Yang Yu and Song Yunqing said, "We in Qingbo Pavilion have been doing the business of examinations in the past, and we have a lot of ink in stock. We originally thought that there would be a market for Kuanqin Hall's books, so we were going to print more, but the boss stopped us. Now we have to use that money to buy paper, and it's not the time we usually buy. Not to mention the high price, the goods may not be good when it rains, hey..."
He sighed and said, "We all know that the factory official sentenced him to death by slicing, and the boss is upset. So I dare not say anything, I can only talk to the girls, forget about other things, at least advise the boss to take care of himself."
Song Yunqing also said to Yang Xu: "This last sentence is true. I saw that she was so busy these days that she couldn't even get the medicine."
Yang Yu patted Song Yunqing's hand and said, "Regarding business matters, you guys should follow her wishes. As for her health, I will take care of her."
Song Yunqing and the shopkeeper nodded without saying anything more.
Yang Xiu rolled up her sleeves and walked into the kitchen to look after Yang Wan's medicine. While watching the fire, she ate a bowl of Yangchun soup and carried it on a tray into Yang Wan's room along with the medicine.
The light was on in the room. Yang Wan was sitting by the lamp with her clothes on, rubbing her brows while stopping writing.
Yang Yu put down the tray, looked at the nuts and dried fruits spread out next to Yang Wan, and whispered, "Is this enough for us?"
When Yang Wan heard Yang Yu's voice, she let go of her hand, stood up and called out, "Sister."
Yang Yu moved the bowl in front of her and helped her sit down. "Eat something before taking the medicine to cushion your appetite."
Yang Wan looked at the steaming hot soup and her eyes suddenly felt hot.
She quickly picked up the chopsticks, lowered her head and took a big bite of soup, pursed her lips and said, "Ever since my sister taught me how to cook, I've been cooking for Deng Ying and the emperor for convenience in the palace. The emperor is a little better, and Deng Ying must be tired of it, but now, I don't want to give him anything to eat. I just want to push him to the edge of the table and let him eat a bowl of soup I cooked."
Yang Yu smiled gently, "Neither he nor Yi Lang will get tired of eating it."
Yang Yu patted Yang Wan's shoulder and said, "Take it. Take the medicine and drink it, then you can continue writing. Sister will help you grind the ink."
After saying that, he stood up and walked to Yang Wan's side, took off the bracelet on his hand, scooped water with a silver spoon, and ground ink for Yang Wan.
Yang Wan lowered her head to eat, and suddenly heard Yang Yu ask, "Is it too late?"
Yang Wan was stunned.
"What?"
Yang Yu looked at her notes and asked, "Will you have enough time to finish what you wrote?"
"Does my sister know what I'm writing?"
Yang Yu shook her head. "I don't know, but you have been writing in this notebook since I saw you in the palace. You have never stopped for four years."
Yang Wan held the chopsticks and nodded, "Yes."
Yang Yu put down the inkstone and asked, "Written for the factory officials?"
"Alright."
Yang Wan lowered her eyelids. "This was once the purpose of my life, and it is still the purpose now. I recorded everything that happened with him from the twelfth year of Zhenning to the early years of Jinghe, in bits and pieces, totaling 200,000 words. Now I have condensed it into one volume. I want to... print it out."
Yang Yu was silent for a while, then asked, "Rehabilitate him?"
"no."
Yang Wan shook her head. "Only the imperial court can redress my injustice. I am not just a rebellious citizen who "does not obey". I am not willing to be famous only after my death, nor do I want to be famous before my death."
The autumn wind blowing through the window blew the candle flame and blew out the lamp at hand. Autumn knocked on the door again and again, as if someone was waiting weakly but unwillingly, stating one sentence after another that he wanted to go home.
"Aren't you afraid?"
Yang Yu asked Yang Wan, "This is a counter-article."
"Afraid."
Yang Wan coughed and said, "So before that, I have to settle my sister and Yun Qing."
Yang Yu shook her head, "No need."
She held Yang Wan's hand as she spoke, "Sister has a lot of regrets, and will spend the rest of her life looking at the moon and being tortured. You are different, and sister really wants to watch you do what sister can't do in this life."