When Zhong Qingye was lost in thought, the child next to her suddenly grabbed her hand tightly.【】
Xi Zang held on tightly, and the pain was felt almost instantaneously. Zhong Qingye frowned slightly and lowered his head to look at him. However, he saw that the child did not have her at all, and his eyes were fixed on the long street not far away.
Zhong Qingye's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly followed his gaze. Sure enough, a group of people drove far away from the long street, tightly wrapped in two rows of soldiers with swords and sticks, pushing and staggering towards the main square.
come over.
These people were all wearing prison clothes, which were originally white, but now the color has been blurred by the dirty environment of the dungeon. Their bodies were more or less stained with blood, and their appearance was already unclear. These people had high
Some are short, some are fat, some are thin, some are male and some are female, some are old and some are young.
They range in age from the gray-haired old man Xiyang to a child who is not half as tall as Zhong Qingye, and in body shape from a fat man with ripped clothes to a frail woman whose bones are broken. There are all kinds of people. The crowd is baby-like.
They were tied with chains as thick as their arms and arranged in two rows. The long queue could not be seen to the end.
These people all wore thick wooden torture instruments connected to their wrists and necks, and heavy shackles on their hands and feet. Zhong Qingye even saw several elderly people with iron chains on their ankles, and heavy iron balls tied behind them.
Every time the old man took a step, the iron chain clanked, and the iron ball rubbed against the uneven ground, making a dull and long sound.
The child's wrist was bruised with blood, and dripping drips continued to flow. The old man's nose sprayed out thick mist, and every breath seemed to have exhausted his life's strength. Occasionally, he could hear
I couldn't help but groan, but the next second I was drowned by the roar of the soldiers around me.
The whip raised dust, and the dim light suddenly became dazzling. Every time the tip of the whip was thrown high, it seemed to carry heavy power. The sound of the wind was harsh, echoing in the long street, like a cry from the bottom of my heart.
Zhong Qingye was speechless, and all the onlookers were speechless. At this moment, no matter what kind of mentality the onlookers had, whether they were gloating about the misfortune or standing by and watching, everyone was silent, witnessing that
The long team marched helplessly towards death step by step.
The long street was silent, and the child held her fingers tightly, with such force that it almost crushed her bone marrow through the flesh. The pain gradually became numb in the silence, and could no longer be felt.
The air contained the crisp sounds of prisoners and children dripping with blood, the old man's heavy breathing, the unbearable moans of a weak woman, the clanking of iron chains, the heavy footsteps of feet on the bluestone, and the sharp voices of soldiers.
There were angry curses and the sound of the whip being whipped down.
These voices are articulated together. In Zhong Qingye's dark eyes, under the cloudy sky in March, and under the gaze of the crowd, they solidify the indifference and cruelty of the emperor's heart, and solidify the enchanting golden light from the high position.
The throne solidified blood and solidified people's hearts.
The long chain swayed, and the clanging sound seemed to hit people in the heart every time, and every blow seemed to warn these innocent people, this is the consequences of betrayal!
Zhong Qingye glanced at the people around him, and with all exceptions, fear, pity, and borderline fear slowly spread in their pupils.
Qi Mu's purpose of intimidation was achieved, these people were afraid, and perhaps no one would challenge his imperial honor for a long time.
However, in this huge crowd, perhaps only the prisoners and those who have experienced it personally, such as Zhong Qingye, can understand that these people who are chained by cold iron chains are all innocent.
To put it nicely, they went to death to establish Qi Mu's honor. To put it lightly, they were victims of power. Regardless of whether they had done something harmful to nature before, at least in this matter, they were indeed unjust.
On weekdays, I enjoy the dignity and grace that ordinary people cannot enjoy. Naturally, I also suffer the painful torture that ordinary people can experience. Accompanying the emperor is like accompanying the tiger, and power is always a double-edged sword. Zhong Qingye thought quietly in his heart, and for some reason suddenly remembered
He looked at Qi Mo's face and sighed slightly.
In this world, only the weak will have the strong. The two are interdependent and complement each other. Perhaps only people like Qi Mo can make good use of the double-edged sword of power to hurt the enemy but protect themselves.
Zhong Qingye turned his head slightly and glanced at the child standing close to him. The two held hands tightly, conveying support and belief that only the two of them could understand. Zhong Qingye did not know the Xiling family, but
Xi Zang's face became increasingly stiff and cold, and it was not difficult to guess that his relatives were also there.
Watching relatives go to the guillotine one by one, but she can't do anything about it. Zhong Qingye has also experienced this kind of pain, but there is no such thing as empathy in this world. What she understood at the beginning was only the death of her parents and Ah Xuan, and the child Xi Zang
, but he had to watch more than a thousand of his tribesmen die one by one. He couldn't save them, he couldn't even cry, and he couldn't do it openly.
Zhong Qingye couldn't even imagine how painful it must be.
She could only hold his cold hands tightly to support him from falling. Looking at the expression on the child's face, Zhong Qingye couldn't help but feel annoyed. It would have been better if he hadn't been brought here, but there was something in Xi Zang's body.
Similar to the existence of steel, he relies on those steels and will never fall easily.
What Zhong Qingye is most worried about is that this child has witnessed the deaths of his people one by one, and the blood will blind his soul. Even if he survives, he has closed the door of his heart and no longer believes in the existence of any warmth.
And resentment and regret will become the only reason for him to live.
Zhong Qingye woke him up with resentment, but at the same time he was panicking that he would be locked in resentment and never be released.
Because she has personally experienced the power of resentment. The self-blame and grief of being unable to do anything about the death of a loved one can arouse the strongest obsessions in people's hearts. Therefore, she understands more and more about the situation of redeeming yourself once you fall.
Even she herself has not yet been freed.
My child, if you become like this, how should I help you?
Even I can't save myself.
Zhong Qingye slowly narrowed his eyes and looked at the prisoners who were staggering from a distance. No matter how noble these people were in the past and how noble their looks were, at this moment, they were not unkempt.
His appearance and expression on his face were dull and lifeless without any hope.
No excitement, no sadness, no pain, nothing.
Zhong Qingye could only see the color of despair on their faces, which were pitch black without any light at all.
In addition to their sloppy appearance and lifeless expressions, everyone, whether they are old people or children, men or women, looks tired and tired. It is as if they have been knocked down by the harsh environment of the prison and the pain of having their dignity knocked down to hell.
Yes, although they are still alive, they no longer exist.
A stout soldier walked over arrogantly and scolded the crowd with rude words to make way for the prisoners. The people were afraid of the swords in their hands and backed away one after another. Xi Zang's whole body was as stiff as iron and he could not move at all. In order not to attract attention, he
Zhong Qingye had no choice but to squat down, pick him up, and follow the crowd to the side.
The team of prisoners slowly walked over and passed in front of Zhong Qingye. No one turned their heads. Xi Zang was obediently in Zhong Qingye's arms. He was originally worried that the child would be unable to control his words and call people out, but Zhong
Aoba was even ready to knock him out at any time.
But it was obvious that she had given birth to this child. He never made a sound from the beginning to the end. If it weren't for the terrifying paleness of his face and the uncontrollable trembling of the fingers holding Zhong Qingye, there was almost no reaction at all.
It was as if the people who were about to die in front of me were just strangers.
Zhong Qingye's heart clenched violently.
The line of prisoners was so long that one end was on the guillotine, and the other end was not even up to the end. Zhong Qingye carried Xi Zhan to the place where he could see the beheading platform, lowered his head and whispered: "If you can't stand it,
Just tell me and I will take you back."
Xi Zang didn't react at all, his pupils were dark, and he stared at the high beheading platform without blinking.
Zhong Qingye touched his head distressedly, and after holding it in for a long time, he finally managed to say: "Don't hold on too hard, it's okay if you cry."
Xi Zang still looked expressionless, like a soulless puppet, unable to do anything except looking straight ahead.
Zhong Qingye also turned to the high platform. The first batch of dead people were already kneeling on the high platform. There were exactly seven people lined up in a row. They were all men. They were basically between thirty and fifty years old. They should be
The official who was affected this time.
Behind these seven people, there stood seven tall men with bright red cloth tied on their heads. The weather in March was suddenly warm and cold, but they only wore a red coat and a black wide trousers.
He was wearing trousers, the black hair on his chest was thick and twisted, his face was shiny, and he stood behind seven death row inmates holding a knife with an expression on his face.
Behind the beheading stage, people were already seated behind three large sandalwood tables in the big tent. They were all young men in their thirties. The leader was a man with a beard, sitting upright, with expressions on their faces.
The crowd of onlookers fell silent, and several pairs of eyes were fixed on the beheading stage. Zhong Qingye didn't know what others were thinking at this moment. She only knew that Xi Zhan's hand holding her sleeve was almost to the point of killing her.
The fabric of her clothes was torn, and her heart was hanging uncontrollably.
Finally, the bearded man took out a sword-like token from the pen holder and threw it lightly. The token drew an elegant arc in the air, clanged, and landed with an ear-piercing sound.
"It's three quarters past noon. My emperor has ordered us to execute him!"
At that moment, Zhong Qingye's sleeve made a slight hiss and was completely torn by the seven-year-old child.
The shape seemed to be torn apart by something.
That is the heart that belongs to Xiling Lianchen.