As more and more people from the capital followed the prison cart, the brows of Yuan Su, the left vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, furrowed more and more, because no matter how those officers explained Fang Yun's crimes, the people of Jing simply did not buy it.
Coupled with the defense of the students in the academy, the anger of the people around them grew stronger and stronger.
Finally, someone cursed out.
"You dog official!" An old woman selling eggs suddenly grabbed an egg and threw it at Yuan Su.
"You bold and unruly people!" A private soldier beside Yuan Su suddenly drew his sword and used the blade to block the egg.
With a "pop" sound, the egg liquid splashed everywhere. Although it didn't hit Yuan Su, several private soldiers were covered in eggshells and egg liquid, looking a little embarrassed.
Yuan Su thought to himself that something was wrong. Before he could make a decision, he saw people nearby throwing whatever they had in their hands. They all moved away from the prison van and threw the weapons at the soldiers and runners. The area around Yuan Su was the hardest hit.
The old woman who threw the eggs first also distributed the eggs to the people around her and asked them to help throw them.
"Speed up and head to the Tiger Prison immediately!" Yuan Su roared, holding the official seal in his hand, and directly mobilized the talents of the Holy Temple in the capital to form a huge invisible shield to protect the team and separate all the people.
When Fang Yun heard the words "Tiger Prison", his eyebrows twitched and he continued to recite the scriptures of the saints.
Those people from the Ministry of Justice and the Palace of Punishment all showed expressions of reluctance, and the soldiers, who were already a little slack, became even more powerless after hearing what Yuan Su said.
The people's cursing suddenly intensified, and some elderly scholars even cursed loudly.
"You bastard Yuan Su, you are harming my Jingguo Qilin!"
"A dog official is a scoundrel. The dragon of Jing State should not be subjected to such a great humiliation!"
"Traitor to Jing State, running dog of the Left Prime Minister!"
Everyone knows that people of Fang Yun's status are usually confined to their homes if they are not convicted. Even if they are imprisoned, they should be sent to the "Ruolu Prison" where high-ranking officials are imprisoned, or to the "Shanglin Prison" where ordinary officials are imprisoned. Even if Fang Yun is framed, the most he can do is to be sent to the "Jing Prison" in the capital government office, where civilians are imprisoned.
But Tiger Prison is different. It is for scoundrels or those who have been imprisoned many times and are extremely evil. It is the prison with the worst environment in the country, with plague, insects, rats, rotting corpses and filth. More than half of the people often die in there.
What was even more terrifying was that the Tiger Prison was not blessed by the power of the Holy Temple, and it was the middle of winter. Other places in the capital were protected by the power of the Holy Temple and were only slightly colder than autumn, but in the Tiger Prison it was freezing cold, and people were frozen to death every day.
The students from the academy following behind were filled with indignation.
One person said, "Brother Juze, are you going to watch Fang Yun enter the Tiger Prison?"
Qiao Juze sighed, "The noble families are not allowed to interfere in the internal affairs of the country, and the royal family is not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the Holy Court. The Queen Mother is powerless. Now only the people from the Criminal Court and the Ministry of Justice of Jing State can intervene in this matter. The Criminal Court has handed over the power of imprisonment to the Ministry of Justice of Jing State. Now only the traitor Yuan Su can decide where Fang Yun lives. Who would have thought that the Left Prime Minister and Yuan Su had been planning this day!"
The hatred in Qiao Juze's eyes far exceeded that of others. He was from the Chen Sheng family and already knew about the Moon Tree Divine Punishment. He never expected that the Zong family and the Lei family would not stop before Fang Yun died, but instead intensified their efforts, attempting to put Fang Yun to death.
"You are a relative of an aristocratic family, why don't you ask the Chen Sheng family to ask for help from the Holy Court Criminal Hall?"
Qiao Juze shook his head slightly and said, "The saintly families should have more important things to do. In the eyes of those great scholars or even semi-saints, being imprisoned in the Tiger Prison is nothing."
"It's so infuriating!" A student couldn't help but complain.
The laws of the Ten Kingdoms were strict. When everyone saw Yuan Su using the power of the official seal, they dared not force him any further and could only stop. They cursed and watched the criminal team leave.
The team was out of touch, and it was difficult for the people in the front to know the specific situation. Not many people followed, and only Qiao Juze insisted on moving forward.
"Brother Qiao, things have come to this point, there is no point for us to go."
"From today on, I will go to the Tiger Prison at sunrise and leave at sunset. Not for anything else, just to tell the people of Jing that the treacherous party of the Left Prime Minister once imprisoned the human race's virtual saint and the pillar of Jing country in the Tiger Prison!" Qiao Juze continued to walk forward, with no hesitation on his face.
"As long as Fang Wenhou doesn't leave the Tiger Prison, I will strike for one day! I will go back to the academy and call on my classmates to strike! Fang Yun should not be humiliated like this in Jingguo! What's more, he saved my cousin Zhixing! Everyone, who is willing to work with me to write a notice and spread it throughout the capital?" Zhang Chengyu said.
"I!"
"We are willing to go!"
Hundreds of people responded.
"Okay! The rest of the classmates, follow Brother Qiao to the Tiger Prison to support Fang Wenhou. The rest of you, follow me back to the academy, copy the message overnight, and call for a strike!"
"Fang Yun was safe and sound in Jiangzhou, but was imprisoned in the capital! Candidates from all over Jingguo are about to enter the capital, and we cannot let the people from the other four states look down on our students in the capital! The traitors are all over the world, but we have our integrity!"
"Let's go and redress the injustice for Fang Zhenguo!"
The students in the academy were divided into two groups, one went to the Tiger Prison, and the other went back to the academy.
Fang Yun always turned a blind eye to the outside world and silently recited the scriptures of the saints.
It was late at night and lights were on in every house. Fang Yun suddenly felt the temperature around him change. He opened his eyes and found himself in another world.
Before, people on the street were lightly dressed and leisurely and comfortable, but on this street, people were either wearing thick cotton clothes or running fast with their bodies huddled up.
"Hiss..." Many people around were gasping because of the cold, and the white mist formed by their breath merged into one.
Fang Yun looked around. The grass and trees here were withered, and it was cold and bleak, as if it was a dead place.
Fang Yun was a Jinshi, so such cold weather had no effect on him, but ordinary people would quickly get frostbite if they did not wear thick cotton clothes.
Not long after, Fang Yun saw a different building. The red walls there were extremely tall, with many sharp gravels on the top of the walls. Every ten feet there was a stone guard tower with a bonfire burning in it, and the guards on top were clearly visible.
The convoy stopped in front of a dilapidated gate. The stone lions in front of the gate could no longer be recognized, the paint on the door was peeling, a corner of the plaque was missing, and the gold paint on the three words on it had almost fallen off.
Tiger prison.
Fang Yun's eyes left the plaque and he heard the door creaking as it slowly opened. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the door was made of cast iron and needed a winch to open.
"Put the human traffickers in the death row and treat them the same as the prisoners on death row for the most heinous crimes. Anyone who dares to disobey can only blame the sharp swords on the execution ground!" Even without Yuan Su saying a word, a minor official shouted in a domineering manner.
The officers escorted Fang Yun down from the prison van, sent him to the gate, and handed him over to the jailer.
Then a man in an eighth-rank official uniform ran out with a big smile. He was about 40 years old and shouted as he ran, "This subordinate greets Yuan Suyuan, the Hanlin!"
Yuan Su dismounted and waved his hand, signaling the jailer to follow him in. Without even looking at the man, he said as he walked, "Prison Officer Huo, do you remember what happened four years ago?"
Huo Siyu immediately smiled flatteringly and followed Yuan Su and said, "I will never forget your great kindness!" (To be continued...)