Chapter 73 Section 73 Personally issue the death penalty decree

After the meal, the county court lit a big candle as thick as an arm.Zeng Guofan and Eunuch Cao sat down in the signing room and were about to be promoted to handle the case when Li Bao came to report and Hong Shoubei came to see the Lord. When Zeng Guofan said "please", he knew that the edict to promote Hong Jia must have arrived. Sure enough, Hong Jia walked in with great strides, and when he saw Zeng Guofan, he gave a big gift, and said repeatedly: "Thank you for your recommendation, my lord!" Zeng Guofan said: "Please ask Hong Dusi to be promoted to Kang."

Hong Jia had no choice but to sit half of his buttocks on the kang. Zeng Guofan said: "Hong Dusi, although your promotion this time was recommended by the Ministry, it was actually achieved through your personal efforts. The Ministry needs to borrow a few people from you to try the case in the county hall overnight. Have you ever been optimistic about criminals? ?” Hong Jia Shili replied: "My lord, I know that the prisoners are all sons of respectable families in Daxing, so I put all the prisoners in the camp early in the morning after my lord entered Beijing. Now the prisoners have been handed over to the water prison of the county government office. No one escaped."

Zeng Guofan exclaimed: "Thank you for being thoughtful!" Then he said: "After you go back, take a good rest. Please send a battalion of soldiers over tomorrow morning. The headquarters will be of some use." Hong Jiali replied: "The lowly position is to be done according to the adults. Is it enough to keep twenty people tonight?" Zeng Guofan said: "That's enough, Hong Dusi, please go back. As a minister of the imperial court, he was scolded because he participated in the reform of a professor. Hong Dusi, if you have been in the county government for a long time, someone should It is said that the military military officer has interfered in the local lawsuit! Please go back."

Hong Jia made a deep salute and said, "Let's take my leave first." Then he strode out. Zeng Guofan straightened his hat with his hands, and dusted off the dust from his court uniform before walking towards the court. When they arrived at the court, Zeng Guofan sat down in the middle, and asked Duo Ze to sit on the jury at the top, and the master at the bottom. Eunuch Cao stood beside him holding the king's order in both hands, and Li Bao and Liu Heng stood behind Zeng Guofan. With the order to ascend to the hall, the yamen servants on duty came in one by one with water and fire sticks, and took their positions; 20 soldiers stood guard on both sides of the gate of the county yamen.The instruments of torture have already existed, and they are placed behind the office guards on duty, and they can be carried out for use at any time.

The person who was brought up first was not very tall, and he also had a savage face, with his eyes rolling around.Zeng Guofan patted the tree of surprise, and shouted: "Kneel down! Report your name." The yamen servants of the two classes followed suit and drank together: "Kneel!" The prisoner held his head high and said, "Luo is a dignified scholar. According to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, those who have meritorious reputation are not allowed to kneel in the hall, and Luo must stand and speak." Zeng Guofan said: "Prisoner, listen, this department hall is now conveying to you the emperor's oral order: All the county students in Daxing County who broke into Xingyuan at night will be dismissed! Did you hear clearly?"

A certain Luo straightened his neck and said, "I don't believe it! Zeng, you falsely spread the imperial decree, and I want Beijing Control!" Zeng Guofan looked at Eunuch Cao standing beside him. Eunuch Cao understood, and said slowly: "Your surname is Luo, don't be arrogant, you will cause a big disaster this time! The emperor is talking to Mr. Zeng, and our family is right next to him. It's not a big case, the emperor will let our family come Daxing? Don't be so dazed anymore, get down on your knees!" Luo looked at Eunuch Cao and said: "The emperor wants to cut off the head of the Lord, and the Lord admits it, and the Lord accepts it! Why should his surname be in charge of the Lord? His surname is Zeng, to put it bluntly, it is a dog of our Manchurians! How many masters?" I just can't swallow this breath!"

Eunuch Cao smiled and said: "Luo, you should wake up, open your eyes wide to see what our family is holding?" As he spoke, he slowly opened Wang Ming.When Luo saw the word "Ling" brightly embroidered on the small flag, he immediately collapsed to the ground, only then did he know in his heart that the disaster this time was really serious. Next, the one surnamed Luo became a sheep.Whatever Zeng Guofan asked, he would answer, and never dared to say anything. Zeng Guofan sneered inwardly, and said to himself, "Manchurians are nothing more than that!" The surname Luo is a camel, and his parents gave him such a tall name because they hoped that he would grow taller.

Camel is a man with a yellow banner, who entered the county martial arts in the 23rd year of Daoguang.Sheng Dada's grandfather was a baron awarded by Emperor Kangxi, and all the students regarded Instructor Sheng as a person.However, the emperor was bewitched by the Han officials, dismissed Sheng Dada, and even cut off his title.The scholars were all very angry when they heard about this (all the Manchus thought they were masters), and relying on how many punches they made, they made an appointment to teach Zeng Guofan a lesson, and cut off the Han officials' involvement in the Manchus. idea.Sheng Dada has always treated the Han people like this, and the emperor didn't do anything to him. I believe this time it will be the same as before. At worst, he will be reprimanded.Sheng Dada didn't come out that night, but gave two hundred taels of silver to everyone who participated.He also said that after sending away Zeng Guofan's life, each person will be reissued three hundred taels.Although some of the scholars are not short of money, they will not bite their hands if they have more money.

Things that shouldn't have happened happened. Zeng Guofan went through these scholars one by one, and the confessions were similar.Count the number of people, there are 18 people in total. Of the 18 people, each of them recorded their statements, signed their calligraphy and paintings, and charged them. Zeng Guofan asked Duo Ze to put these people in the water prison again.Duo Ze dispatched the arresting office overnight to arrest Sheng Dada. Sheng Dada was arrested straight away, and he lost his usual arrogance, and became a sheep to be slaughtered, which is clearly defeating Dada.After all these people have been interrogated, it is already midnight.Duo Ze asked the cook to prepare supper, and asked Zeng Guofan and Eunuch Cao to share it before personally escorting them back to Xingyuan to rest.

Duo Ze got up early and rushed to Xingyuan to personally serve Zeng Guofan and Eunuch Cao for breakfast.After the meal, the three of them drank tea for a while, and then moved to the Jiaoxian County Yamen's house.Zeng and Cao were invited into the study to continue drinking tea, while Duo Ze arranged for the master to copy the murder notice stroke by stroke in the signing room. Because 19 people were to be executed at a time, and they were all descendants of the Manchu family. This was the first time since the founding of the Qing Dynasty. The master who wrote the pen was dripping with sweat and secretly glanced at Zeng Guofan. idle.

Before the master's murder notice was finished, Hong Jia had brought two teams of soldiers to the county government office to pick up the errand.Duo Ze arranged the army to cooperate with the government officials to keep the law and clear the streets, and at the same time held the written notice to Zeng Guofan.He is the busiest in the Yamen. Zeng Guofan lit incense on the lobby first, and asked for the Wang Ming flag, then picked up a pen, and ticked each person's name on the notice. The murder notice was quickly posted.Daxing County was an instant sensation. After three cannon shots outside the gate, Zeng Guofan raised his hand and pulled out the red stick, but grabbed the pheasant plume that Duoze put in the stick for fun. When Zeng Guofan saw it, his expression changed suddenly, and he fell down with a plop on the ground.Everyone in the hall was shocked. Li Bao and Liu Heng carried Zeng Guofan into the signing room, and Duo Ze followed behind, calling out "Master" one after another with a pale face. Soon, Zeng Guofan woke up, and the first thing he said was: "Mansion Duo Ming, please issue orders for the headquarters." Zeng Guofan was afraid of chicken feathers since he was a child, and never dared to touch or touch it.Today, it was because I accidentally touched the chicken feathers that I fainted. Duo Ze didn't know what was going on, so he had to go to the lobby, pull out a red stick, throw it down, and shouted: "Take the prisoner to the execution ground!" Because Daxing County is located in the capital city, executioners are not allowed to parade in the streets, and most of them are taken directly to the execution ground for questioning and beheading.