Qin Yang nodded in agreement, and after the two landed in a deserted place outside Bingzhou City, they walked straight to Bingzhou City.
Bingzhou is the hometown of Qin Yang and an important town in the southern part of Yunluo Kingdom. It has many scholars and is known as the hometown of talented scholars. Qin Yang's father, Qin De, is a famous scholar in Bingzhou and serves as the dean of Bingzhou Academy.
When Qin Yang was seven years old, an inconspicuous incident happened in Bingzhou. Bingzhou Academy accepted a student from out of town. This person was named Yin Tianyang. He lived in Bingzhou Academy for half a year. There were mentions on the wall of the dormitory where he lived.
Wrote some poems.
Shortly after Yin Tianyang left, the state government received a report that someone in Suzhou Academy had written anti-poems. The state government acted vigorously and immediately closed down Suzhou Academy. As expected, several anti-poems insulting the current emperor were found on the wall of the house where Yin Tianyang lived.
poetry.
The state government immediately brought all the more than 100 moderately famous scholars from Suzhou Academy to the capital for questioning without any hesitation. As for their family members, it was unprecedented in history that all of them were executed on the spot.
Qin Yang's father was brought to the capital for questioning as the chief criminal. However, Qin Yang's mother, sister, and unmarried uncle were all arrested by the Suzhou city government and executed. Qin Yang was at the home of a distant relative in the countryside at that time.
I was afraid that the government would catch up and arrest Qin Yang and cut off the roots of the Qin family, so I took Qin Yang to Suzhou City overnight.
Strangely, a similar case occurred in Suzhou City. He was still a traveling scholar. After living in Suzhou Academy for half a year, he left behind a book from the current dynasty. The government investigated and arrested more than 100 people from Suzhou Academy.
All the scholars were brought to the capital for questioning, and their family members were interrogated and beheaded by the local officials.
Suzhou Academy was also auctioned by the government, and after being bought by a man, it was built as a brothel. After Qin Yang fled to Suzhou, the brothel happened to be looking for talents. Seeing that Qin Yang was quite clever, the old bustard asked him to be a boy who specialized in back-room chores.
.
In order to conceal his identity and make a living, Qin Yang stayed in the brothel for six full years.
Qin Yang, who wanted revenge, thought about ways to kill the emperor every day. He got involved with street gangsters and even thought of forming a rebel army and marching into the capital to avenge his parents.
In the end, he still felt that through studying, he would pass the examination and become famous, and bloodshed with the emperor in the Golden Palace during the palace examination.
Scenes of the past emerged from the depths of Qin Yang's memory, and Qin Yang entered the city with a frosty face. They walked on the longest street in Bingzhou City. It used to be the busiest street in Bingzhou, and it used to be full of pedestrians.
, various vendors filled the streets, but now they seemed deserted and there were only a few people there.
Revisiting old places makes me miss people after seeing things. The last time Qin Yang was on this street was with his mother and sister. He had just turned seven years old at that time. His mother’s voice and smile were still vivid in his mind, and his sister’s innocent and lovely smile seemed like yesterday.
.
At the end of the long street is an academy with a history of nearly a thousand years, Bingzhou Academy. Qin Yang’s father was the dean here. There used to be hundreds of well-known Confucian sages and thousands of students from all over the country. But since
After Yin Tianyang's case was committed, everything changed. My husband was killed and the academy was disbanded. More than ten years later, this place has become dilapidated.
Qin Yang has always suspected that Yin Tianyang has a ghost. This Yin Tianyang deliberately framed Bingzhou Academy for unknown reasons. Qin Yang met Yin Tianyang once in the academy when he was seven years old. His gloomy face and knowledge of Confucian classics gave him a
Qin Yang was deeply impressed.
Later, he asked around about Yin Tianyang, but never heard about his whereabouts. There was no such person's name in the official announcement of executions. In fact, it was not only Qin Yang who had doubts about Yin Tianyang, but also his whereabouts.
The entire academic community, after the Bingzhou Anti-Poetry Case and the Suzhou Exploitation Case, speculated that Yin Tianyang and the scholars studying in Suzhou were instructed by someone to deliberately frame these two academies.
But what is their purpose and does it do them any good?
Looking at the few wild grasses trembling in the wind on the top of the mountain gate of Bingzhou Academy, Qin Yang speculated on Yin Tianyang's motive for framing his father.
On the list of Qin Yang's enemies, Emperor Zhu Lei ranked first, and Yin Tianyang definitely ranked second. Unfortunately, Yin Tianyang was not as easy to find as the emperor, so Yin Tianyang's debt had to be settled on Emperor Zhu Lei. This pair of Qin Yang
I have to say it is a pity.
Silently accompanying Qin Yang, Xiao Yue's eyes were filled with an indescribable tenderness and affection. She looked at Qin Yang's broad back, suddenly stepped forward, hugged Qin Yang from behind, and rested her head on
On Qin Yang's back, he said softly: "Brother Qin Yang, you still have Yue'er, and Yue'er is your relative."
Qin Yang held Xiao Yue'er's smooth and warm little hand and said to Xiao Yue'er: "Let's go. Let's go to the government office."
Qin Yang now really wants to find trouble with the government. Qin Yang originally wanted to kill the emperor and then cause trouble with the Bingzhou government, but now he can't care so much.
They walked out of the long street and walked towards the government office. Suddenly they saw a group of people gathered around in the street to read a government notice.
Qin Yang and Xiao Yue'er stepped forward and after reading the notice, they almost said in unison: "Let's go to the cross street."
There was some resentment in his tone.
Today, a group of criminals will be executed in Cross Cross Street. These criminals are not heinous people, but family members of some scribes. Those scribes who committed crimes were taken to the capital for questioning, while their family members were interrogated and executed in Bingzhou.
We were still two or three miles away from Crossroads Street, and we could already hear commotion and crying from a distance.
From a distance, I saw a large number of people gathered around the square on Cross Street. The chatter and cries came from that place.
Hundreds of officers and soldiers formed a circle to isolate the onlookers, and inside the circle was the execution ground.
There were more than fifty criminals awaiting execution at the execution ground, including men, women, and children. The oldest was nearly eighty years old, and the youngest was probably only about five years old.
They were tied up with five-flowered ropes and knelt on the ground in a row, all with their heads lowered and sobbing. Behind them was the executioner holding a ghost-headed sword and exposing his upper body.
Qin Yang glanced at the prisoners awaiting execution, and then moved his gaze to the execution platform. Thirty-six officers and soldiers were standing around the execution platform. The executioner was dressed in official clothes and was sitting on a grand master's chair. Next to him, there was another
A grand master's chair was empty at this time, and obviously there was another one who hadn't arrived yet.
Next to the prison and execution platform, there is another garden platform, and nine lamps have been lit around the garden platform. This garden platform and the nine lamps attracted Qin Yang's attention. According to the punishment system of Yunluo Kingdom, the layout of the execution ground and the time of execution
There are established examples, and neither this platform nor the lamp should appear on the execution ground.
This garden platform and the nine lanterns made Qin Yang feel a little strange.
Xiao Yue'er also noticed the lamp and asked in a low voice: "What are those lamps for?"
Qin Yang said: "I don't know."
The man next to him said: "I don't even know this. This is the nine-lamp altar set up by the immortal master invited by the government, specifically for the repose of souls."
"Rest for the soul?" Qin Yang asked in surprise.
The soul is a feminine thing and is extremely afraid of yang energy. "Nine" is the number of the great yang. Qin Yang has never heard of using nine lanterns to pacify the soul. Qin Yang felt that there must be something ulterior in it. Qin Yang suddenly remembered,
The place where Xiao Yue'er's father was executed when he was beheaded also had such a garden platform and nine lanterns. It was just that he had little knowledge at the time and did not notice this problem.
Qin Yang was thinking about the purpose of the garden platform and the nine lanterns, and several people around him began to talk in low voices.
A hoarse voice said: "You think Mr. Zhang is such a good person, how could he slander the court? Look at his eight-year-old child who is also suffering."
Another slightly shrill voice said: "What do you know about such a big baby? How come the government doesn't even let an eight-year-old baby go?"
Another deep voice said: "Mr. Zhang's students wrote articles to slander the government and implicated Mr. Zhang. This is a serious crime to kill the nine tribes. How could the court let his family go?"
The hoarse voice from before said: "The strange thing is that Mr. Zhang was escorted to the capital for questioning, but why were his family members executed here?"
When Qin Yang heard this, he also wanted to know why his father and Mr. Zhang were sent to the capital for questioning, while his own family members were executed in Bingzhou.
The deep voice said: "Who knows, anyway, the literary cases in recent years have been like this. The famous Confucian scholars are sent to the capital to be questioned, and the results of the inquiry are not known, but their family members are questioned locally.
Beheaded. Wasn’t this also the case with the anti-poetry case at Bingzhou Academy more than ten years ago? Mr. Qin was escorted to the capital for questioning, but his family members were all questioned and beheaded in Bingzhou.”
Qin Yang thought for a while and found out that when he was in the secular world, similar cases he saw and heard about were indeed handled in this way by the court. Moreover, those well-known scribes who were escorted to the capital for questioning were not publicly interrogated or executed.
The hoarse voice said again: "Last time I heard you said that two people from the Qin family survived. Is it true?"
When Qin Yang heard this, he was shocked and wanted to listen to what they said.
The low voice whispered in the hoarse ear of the man. Although his voice was very low, Qin Yang heard it very clearly. He grabbed the man who made the low voice and said in a trembling voice:
"You, uncle, what you said is true."
Xiao Yue'er also heard what the low voice said and looked at Qin Yang with a happy face.
The man who made the deep voice was in his forties, with a slightly dark complexion. He was wearing a green robe and looked like a businessman.
Seeing Qin Yang's excitement, he was so frightened that he trembled all over and begged in a low voice: "I didn't say anything just now. Please forgive me and don't report me to the official."
Qin Yang's actions frightened the people who had just spoken. They took advantage of Qin Yang's opportunity to seize the green-robed businessman, turned around and ran away, hiding in the crowd.
Qin Yang quickly loosened his hand and apologized: "Uncle, I was offended just now. It's not convenient to talk here. How about we take a step to talk."
The Qingpao merchant looked at Qin Yang helplessly and nodded. Qin Yang placed a simple ban to isolate him and the Qingpao merchant from the outside world so that outsiders could not hear their words.