Chapter 406: The Hall is Full of Distinguished Guests
In order to deter people, the Qing government always liked to place executions in places like Caishikou.
When Li Yu arrived, many people had gathered around him.
Looking from a distance, there were two teams of officers and soldiers lined up on the left and right to maintain order, and tied to a tall wooden platform was a short, dark man, who was probably Kang Xiaoba who was about to be punished.
A man saw Li Yu wearing a special dress and came over and said: "Sir, if you want to watch the show up close, you only need 100 yuan to go to the front row; for half a drop of money, I can also let you go to the best place."
Front row seat.”
Li Yu was surprised and said: "Can I still buy tickets?"
The man said: "This is much more enjoyable than buying a ticket to watch a movie. The big scene of execution has not been seen for many years."
Li Yu waved his hand: "It's fine if I'm here."
The man was bored and went to find other people. Two foreigners were very interested in it, so the man let them come nearby for a silver dollar.
They even raised the price.
The weather was already very cold at this time. Kang Xiaoba's skin on the wooden platform was a little red from the cold, and his body was covered with fish scale-like bumps from being strangled by the fishing net.
Someone in the crowd said: "I thought Master Kang was a burly man, but I didn't expect him to be so thin."
"That's right, maybe you can't even beat me."
"Come on, do you dare to shoot at the big man?"
…
Li Yu was not surprised at all. Thieves in ancient times could not be tall. They could only climb over walls and houses if they were thin.
Suddenly there was a burst of cheers from the front, it turned out that the executioner had arrived.
"Look, it's Mr. Cai Liu!"
The person who carried out the execution was certainly no ordinary person.
Cai Liuye was in his sixties, wearing clothes that were almost turning white after being washed. After putting down the knife, he saluted the audience. It seemed that he was used to being watched by people when executing prisoners.
Mr. Cai Liu sprinkled a little water on the slender knife, then wiped it with a piece of cloth. At the same time, he said: "Xiao Bazi, Mr. Liu, I am executing you today. You can't blame me. Where is the sentence written? It's in your hand."
There are several human lives, and this life of yours is not enough. I only hope that you can continue to atone for your sins in the underworld. Alas, I don’t know how many people died under the knife of the old man. I would still remember it before, but now I don’t even remember it.
I don’t dare to think too much about it. Another execution today may be the sin of the old man.”
Kang Xiaoba's eyes couldn't help but twitch when he saw the knife, but when he looked at the people around him, he suddenly got the courage to say: "Come on, if I, Master Kang Ba, say a word, I am not a good man!"
Mr. Cai Liu has been carrying out executions for many years and has seen many cruel people of all kinds. He stopped talking and started the execution directly.
Each cut only cut off a little bit, perhaps because the cold weather had dulled his nerves, but Kang Xiaoba actually gritted his teeth and didn't scream.
The people below were expressionless, but after seeing this bloody scene, they immediately started shouting.
Before Li Yu was reborn, he couldn't stand it when he saw medical dissection corpses from a distance in medical school, let alone now, his stomach couldn't stop churning and he almost vomited it out.
But looking around, people were concentrating and didn't want to miss a single scene.
No wonder Brother Xun described the people at this time as indifferent. Li Yu finally saw the situation, turned around and left.
Although Zhao Qian was a little unfinished, he could only follow back.
——
Fortunately, not all people are so numb, otherwise there would be no hope at all. There are always some people who are the backbone of the nation.
Li Yu returned home, took out the newspaper, and read the news that happened during this period.
The first thing worth noting is that in September, Wu Yue, a revolutionary member of the Liberation Association, assassinated five ministers who were preparing to go abroad for inspection.
Unfortunately, the early activities of the Revolutionary Party suffered from insufficient planning and lack of experience. Wu Yue's assassination was not successful, but he was killed by a bomb at Zhengyangmen Railway Station.
Another piece of news is that the Six Beiyang Towns have finally been completed, which also declares that Yuan Shikai's status is even more unshakable.
While reading the newspaper, Konoe Akiyuki very attentively brought over a letter, "Sir, it was sent from Japan."
When Li Yu took the letter, he asked: "How is the factory operation lately?"
Konoe Akiyuki replied: "Everything is fine. Mr. Xu Shichang from Beiyang even built a raw material factory in Tianjin."
Li Yu nodded: "That's good."
Li Yu opened the letter and read it. Yu Heqin had gone to Japan to study, and then he asked about Zhong Guanguang's situation in the letter.
Zhong Guanguang was also involved in Wu Yue's assassination case.
This solved Li Yu's doubts: Wu Yue could not have made the bomb. It turned out that there were intellectuals behind it, and the bomb was made by an "assassination group" composed of students studying in Japan.
Li Yu immediately sent a telegram to Shanghai to inquire about Zhong Guangguang's situation.
Unexpectedly, Zhong Guanguang did not want to run away at all. He guessed that the Qing government would not understand what happened to the bomb, let alone trace the source of the bomb to him.
At the same time, Zhong Guanguang also mentioned in his letter that he was inspired by Li Yu and was also preparing to build a primary school.
Li Yu was naturally very encouraged by this and telegraphed back: "Brother, if you have any difficulties, please let me know at any time."
——
After many days of rest, Lu Bicheng's body recovered completely, and Li Yu prepared to prepare for the wedding.
The wedding banquet was held in my own home, and it was a completely Chinese-style wedding.
Since Li Yu was alone and did not have a seat in the high hall, the procedure was simplified to worshiping the sky and the earth as a couple.
According to the rules, the bride cannot come out to toast like later generations, and can only stay in the bridal chamber.
Li Yuze and Tang Shaoyi, who presided over the ceremony, entertained guests outside.
Most of Lu Bicheng's mother's family came, including her uncle Yan Fengsheng, mother Yan and several younger sisters.
What is more surprising is that people from Lu Bicheng's father's clan, who have passed away many years ago, also came over from Anhui.
Yan's expression was a little unhappy, because these people occupied the thousands of acres of fertile land and thousands of books that belonged to her family.
However, it was impossible for Li Yu to make things too tense at the wedding ceremony, so he still treated it as Lu Bicheng's mother's family did.
Lu Bicheng's uncle Lu Fengyi said: "My worthy son-in-law is the emperor's teacher and has been awarded the position of academician of the Royal Society of England. Today he is married to my Lu family. It is really a great thing!"
Li Yu forced a smile: "Uncle, please sit down."
However, Mrs. Yan couldn't hold back her emotions, pointed at his nose and said loudly: "Lu Fengyi, today is my daughter's happy day, what are you doing here?!"
Lu Fengyi smiled and said: "I am the head of the Lu family. There is a good news in my family, so I am here to celebrate."
Yan said angrily: "When you occupied my family's property and hijacked our mother and daughter, why didn't you see such good intentions?"
Lu Fengyi said: "Sister-in-law, you have calmed down the anger now and then. You have always acted according to the clan rules. Fengqi (Lu Bicheng's father) has no son, and we cannot see the great family property falling into the hands of outsiders."
Thinking about what happened back then, Mrs. Yan was so angry that she trembled with anger: "Outsiders, I think you treat us as outsiders!"
Lu Fengyi said: "How can a female generation inherit the family property? I hope my sister-in-law understands the ancestral family law."
"You——!" Mrs. Yan still wanted to argue, but Yan Fengsheng held her down and whispered: "Some court officials have arrived, please don't ruin Yu'er and Bicheng's happy event."
Only then did Yan hold back her anger and sit back.
The person who came to express his congratulations was Zhang Baixi, the president of the Capital University, the minister of management, and a second-rank official. When he saw Li Yu, he was happy and said: "You have finally completed a major event in your life by starting a family and building a career and recruiting talents!"
Li Yu smiled and said: "The principal is here. It's an honor for the students. Please take a seat."
When Zhang Baixi entered the main hall, Yan Fengsheng saw his second-grade coral crown with flower feathers, and immediately stood up to greet him: "Master Zhang!"
Zhang Baixi waved her hand: "No need to be polite."
Yan Fengsheng felt a little uncomfortable when he sat down. The first level of official rank would crush people to death. This was many levels higher.
Lu Fengyi on the other side was also quite shocked. What shocked him even more was that Zhang Baixi, a dignified second-rank official, did not sit at the top of the table. There were still three empty seats above.
Soon he knew why.
Uncle Wang at the door shouted: "Master Yuan Shikai, Governor of Zhili, and Master Xu Shichang, Secretary of the Ministry of War, are here!"
The tea bowl in Lu Fengyi's hand almost fell to the ground.
Li Yu went over to greet him and said, "The commander-in-chief came to congratulate you despite his busy schedule."
Yuan Shikai arrived with his two sons Yuan Kewen and Yuan Keding. He smiled and said: "Shu is a rare pillar of talent, and he has been very kind to me in Beiyang. It is only appropriate for me to come and say hello."
Xu Shichang said: "The commander-in-chief has been talking about this. I didn't expect you to go to the northwest some time ago."
Li Yu smiled and said: "It was a honeymoon."
Brothers Yuan Kewen and Yuan Keding held two large gift boxes and said, "Master, where do you put the congratulatory gifts?"
Li Yu called Zhao Qian over and asked him to accept it.
Then he said: "You two adults, come into the house quickly."
Yuan Shikai was already well-known in both the government and the public, and he held a large number of troops in Beiyang. He seemed to have the momentum to become the next Li Hongzhang.
However, Xu Shichang was promoted quickly, and by this time he had become the powerful Minister of the Ministry of War.
After thinking about it for a moment, I realized that this was the Beiyang side's attempt to completely control the military power of the Qing court.
Yan Fengsheng and Lu Fengyi were both frightened. They stood up and said respectfully, "Master Yuan, Master Xu."
Yuan Shikai just nodded, and then sat down at Cishou, with Xu Shichang next to him.
Yan Fengsheng and Lu Fengyi waited for them to sit down before slowly sitting down. However, facing several powerful figures, they felt a little bit like sitting on pins and needles.
Mrs. Yan moved to another room with some female relatives.
After a while, Uncle Wang shouted at the door again: "Shang Shu of the Ministry of Commerce, Mr. Beizi has arrived!"
Zai Zhen and Li Yu had a pretty good relationship, so they cupped their hands and said, "Brother Shucai, congratulations!"
Li Yu said: "Master Bei's visit has brought glory to the humble house."
Zai Zhen smiled and said, "I know this place used to be the residence of Rong Zhongtang. It's not a humble abode."
After Zai Zhen entered the main hall, Yuan Shikai said: "Zhen Beizi, I'll leave the seat for you."
Zai Zhen said politely: "You are the Governor of Zhili, so naturally you must be the one taking the seat."
Yuan Shikai, who knew how to be a good person, immediately said: "Zhen Beizi is joking. You are Master Bei Zi. No matter how brave I am, I can't let you take my place."
Zai Zhen was no longer polite: "It's polite."
Yan Fengsheng and Lu Fengyi broke out in cold sweats. Damn it, Li Yu's communication skills are so strong?