Chapter 6 Section five

Why are you always acting like an answer guy?I vented my anger on Concubine Lan and robbed her and said, "You have a graceful appearance, but your stomach is actually full of straw, you will never be able to tell the truth from the false from the black from the black."After I finished speaking, I walked away, leaving the two women standing under the swing frame dumbly.After walking a few steps away, I pushed aside the willow branches and looked back. The two women were talking in a low voice, and from time to time they covered their mouths and snickered.Then I saw them sitting on the swing frame one by one, working together to swing the swing frame high, their skirts and skirts fluttering in the wind, pearls and jade peepers singing, they looked so happy and relaxed.I think they are getting higher and higher, and their figures are getting thinner and more brittle. I think they are also two pieces of paper figurines.One day it will be swept by the strong wind to some distant and strange place.

The news from the southern battlefield is both worrying and joyful. Duanwen's army has forced Li Yizhi's Jitianhui to the valley eighty miles east of the Hongni River. The Jitianhui has run out of ammunition and food. Sticking to the cottage, the other part crossed Bijia Mountain and scattered into the jungles of Yu and Ta counties. Duanwen captured Li Yizhi's wife, Cai Shi, and a pair of children. He put them in a ring of fire, and beat the wooden drum to induce surrender at the foot of the mountain, hoping that Li Yizhi on the mountain would come down to rescue them.The result of this induced surrender was beyond everyone's expectations. Mrs. Cai and her two children were suddenly shot by a rain of arrows and died on the spot inside the ring of fire.The officers and soldiers present were all shocked. Looking in the direction of the arrow, they saw a man in hemp and filial piety riding a white horse, holding a bow in one hand and covering his face with the other, galloping through the dense forest.They told me that that person was Li Yizhi, the leader of the Heaven Sacrifice Society.I can no longer remember the appearance and voice of Li Yizhi who once trespassed in the court hall. Sometimes I would see him during the afternoon nap in the Qingxiu Hall, with a back full of worry and anger, a pair of straw shoes covered with mud and dust, and those straw shoes I can walk around, stepping heavily on my imperial couch, but the back is as unpredictable as water stains. It belongs to Li Yizhi, a farmer, and brother Yang Song, who joined the army. It is more like the back of my half-brother Duanwen.It really filled every corner of the Seminary Hall like a water stain, and made me wake up in a sleepy sleep.The afternoon in the palace wall was long and lonely. I occasionally passed the dusty warehouse and saw the cricket coffins I played with in childhood neatly piled up under the window. I felt that childishness and ignorance were actually the greatest happiness.

The actor's assassination happened in full view.It was a well-known opera troupe in the capital who entered the palace that day, and some of the male actors were deeply in the favor of the female relatives in the palace.I remember that I was sitting in the flower pavilion. On the left were Mrs. Meng, Concubine Jin and Concubine Han, and on the right were Queen Peng and Concubine Lan. Their bewitched expressions and incomprehensible comments made people feel very uncomfortable. It’s ridiculous, halfway through the lingering and mournful play on stage, I noticed that the male actress, Xiao Fengzhu, took out a dagger from under her lapel, and sang and danced at the same time. strange.Almost at the same time when I suddenly realized the signs of an assassination, Xiao Fengzhu jumped off the stage and rushed towards me with the dagger held high.Amidst the frantic screams of the concubines, the guards in brocade clothes rushed up and grabbed Xiao Fengzhu.I saw that male actor's face was covered with powder, and his lips were bright red and charming like maple leaves. Only his eyes shot out a man's crazy light. I knew that this kind of gaze belonged only to assassins or enemies.

Kill your fatuous and licentious sensual emperor, and exchange for a clear world where the country is strong and the people are peaceful.This is Xiao Fengzhu's impromptu singing when she was dragged out of the garden. His voice sounds extremely high-pitched and sad.A false alarm brought about several days of illness. I felt weak and didn't want to eat or drink.The imperial doctor came to see a doctor and was blocked outside the Qingxiu hall. I knew I was shocked and didn't need that kind of dispensable prescription.But I still don't know why a weak actor would assassinate me.Three days later, Xiao Fengzhu was beheaded in the execution ground outside the capital. There were a huge crowd of people watching. They found that Xiao Fengzhu still had red and white powder makeup on her face, and the costumes had not been removed in time. Connected with the dead criminals under the gallows, they generally speculate that there is some kind of shady background behind this incident.I have also had various speculations about the actor Xiao Fengzhu acting as an assassin.I once suspected that the behind-the-scenes messengers were Brothers Duanwen and Duanwu, Prince An Duanxuan and Prince Feng Duanming, Xiao Fengzhu was a hidden member of the Jitian Society, and even suspected that it was arranged by the neighboring Peng Kingdom or Meng Kingdom for this assassination.But the interrogation of Xiao Fengzhu in the lobby of the Ministry of Criminal Justice was fruitless. In the lobby, Xiao Fengzhu had tears in her eyes, opened her mouth wide, and seemed to be singing but not singing, and she lost her original bright and high voice. The tongue was cut off by the roots at some point, and it was impossible to find out whether it was self-mutilation or his injury.The Ministry of Criminal Justice has been busy for three days in vain, and finally put Xiao Fengzhu's corpse on public display to settle the case.The actor's assassination case was later deliberately exaggerated by historians, and became a famous court mystery in the history of Xie Kingdom.The strange thing is that all the records are eulogizing the stele of Xiao Fengzhu, a famous actress of a generation, but I, as a target of assassination, as the sixth emperor of Xie Kingdom, was ignored by the historians.

When the pomegranate flowers bloomed in May, my grandmother, Mrs. Huangfu, fell ill, flickering on and off like an oilless lamp in Jinxiu Hall. The strong spices could no longer cover the sour smell of her dying body. Confid to me that the old lady won't see summer coming.When Mrs. Huangfu was dying, she called me to Jinxiu Hall many times to talk with her and listen to her memories of her life in the palace.Her memories are cumbersome and monotonous, her voice is vague and weak, but her face flushed because of this memory, I entered the palace gate at the age of fifteen, and I have only been out of the Guangxie gate twice in decades, both because of death I knew that the third time I left the palace was to go to the royal tomb at the foot of Tongchi Mountain, and it was my turn.Mrs. Huangfu said.Do you know that when I was young, I was not beautiful, but I used chrysanthemum and velvet antler to wash my lower body every day, and I used this secret recipe to envelop King Xie's heart.Mrs. Huangfu said, sometimes I want to change the name of the country to Huangfu, and sometimes I want to send all you princes and grandchildren to the mausoleum, but my heart is so kind and loving that I can't bear that murderous hand.Mrs. Huangfu said, her withered and shriveled body squirmed under the fox fur, and I heard her fart; then she waved her hand and said in a vicious voice, get out, I know you all hope that I will die sooner.I really can't bear the last struggle of this annoying old woman, and when she speaks in that feeble, snarky tone, I count silently, one, two, three, up to fifty-seven, and I hope to see her At the end of her life, I saw her close those two old purple lips, but her lips were still moving, and her memories were endless, I had to believe in this stupid and ridiculous state It will continue until she lies in the coffin before it can end.

Seeing that May is coming to an end, the old lady's life is gradually dimming, and the maid of Jinxiutang heard her calling Duanwen's name in her sleepiness.I guess she wanted to wait until the day of the victory of the Southern Expedition to die.The news of Duanwen's capture of Li Yizhi came to Daxie Palace one morning, and the fast horse that reported the news brought Li Yizhi's red helmet tassel and a lock of severed hair at the same time.The good news seems to have arrived as expected, Mrs. Huangfu showed signs of returning to life.That day the huge Luanfengnan coffin was finally carried outside the Jinxiu Hall. The crowd in the Jinxiu Hall stood in silence, the caged birds were silent, and there was an ulterior and festive atmosphere everywhere.At first there were Mrs. Meng, Queen Peng, Duanxuan, Duanming, and Duanwu who were waiting in front of the bed, but Mrs. Huangfu asked them to withdraw one by one. In the end, I was left alone to face the dying old woman. The woman stared at me for a long time with a strange and sentimental look. I remember that my hands and feet were cold at that time, as if I had a premonition of what was going to happen next.Are you King Xie?Mrs. Huangfu raised her hand slowly, caressing my forehead and face

cheek, the touch was like the winter wind and sand flowing through my blood, and then I saw her hand retracted and began to pull the sachet around her waist.I have worn this sachet with me for eight years, she smiled and said, now it is time to give it to you, you cut the sachet and see what is inside? I cut open the mysterious sachet and found that there was no spice stuffed inside, just a sheet of thin paper folded in multiple layers.In this way, I saw another version of the former king's edict to establish the emperor, which recorded another will of the former king in black and white, and the eldest son Duanwen was the successor king of Xie Kingdom.I was dumbfounded holding the will, and I felt like my whole body was falling like a stone thrown into a well.I don't like Duanwen, and I don't like you either.This is just a joke I made with you men.I created a fake King Xie just to control you better in the future.A bright smile appeared on the old woman's haggard face, and finally she said, I ruled Xie Kingdom for eight years, and I lived to be fifty-seven years old, and this life is enough.But what is this?Why don't you take these plots and sins to your grave, why tell me?Anger and sorrow suddenly filled my chest, and I shook the body of the old woman on the bed vigorously, but this time she was really dead, and she ignored my disobedience.I heard the sound of phlegm sliding down her chest.I wanted to laugh, but what finally broke out was an uncontrollable cry.The old lady died.As the palace warden's funeral announcement came out of the bead curtain, there were tidal noises inside and outside the Jinxiu Hall.I stuffed a night pearl into the mouth of the dead old woman, and the dead man's palate bulged and sunk, so that her face looked more like a sneer.I spit hastily on the dead man's face before they rushed to the coffin, realizing that such an act should not be the work of a king, but I did it, as women often do.

Eight years later, when I went to the royal tomb, the green pines and green cypresses at the southern foot of Tongchi Mountain already gave me the feeling of a lifetime away.At the grand and complicated funeral of Mrs. Huangfu, I saw a rare kind of gray sparrow. They were not afraid of people and the sound of drums, and they perched very calmly on the nearby tombstones and tombs, observing this unprecedented white funeral. I suspect that those gray birds are substitutes for Mrs. Huangfu's ghost. The crowd in mourning clothes covered the grassy slope with a vast expanse of whiteness.There were nine little red coffins buried with him. This number exceeds the number buried with his father eight years ago. All the maids in the palace were buried voluntarily, and they accompanied Mrs. Huangfu's life and death. On the night of Mrs. Huangfu's death, the nine maids clambered into the nine small red coffins with golden pills in their hands.They will continue to serve that great lady on the road to the underworld.

The bronze drum was struck ninety-nine times, and the royal relatives, relatives, and important officials of the court all cried loudly.The chaotic mourning that resounded through the sky sounds ridiculous. It is a group of people who have been disguised and have their own ghosts.I can distinguish which crying is cheering, which mourning is resentment, which sobbing is actually moaning and jealousy, I just don't want to expose this ancient deception. I vaguely relived a similar scene eight years ago. I saw the phantom of Mrs. Yang quietly appearing on the tomb on the left side of the royal tomb. She waved a paper of imperial edicts at the crowd with full of regret. I heard a voice like a nightmare again. , You are not King Xie, the real King Xie is the eldest son Duanwen.Then I noticed that the flock of gray finches on the tomb suddenly flew up, and they flew into the sky in a strange rectangle.

The fleeing finch was frightened by another group of mourners, in their war robes and armor, hastily wrapping their horses in mourning scarves and white silk.They brought a smell of blood and sweat, which also made the crowd who came first burst into exclamations.No one expected Duanwen to rush thousands of miles day and night to catch up with Mrs. Huangfu's funeral.I saw Duan Wen sitting on a red-maned horse, his pale and tired face was bathed in the last rays of the morning light, the black panther banner and mourning banners were hunting and flying above his head, Duan Wen, the eldest prince Duan Wen, Guang Lu General Duan Wen, Governor of the Three Armies of the Southern Expedition, Duan Wen, my half-brother, my natural enemy, now he is standing in front of me again.I remember the first strange flash of thought at that time, why is it that Duanwen's hooves startled the group of bold and ghostly gray birds?And that is the only question I ask the victorious and returning hero.I pointed to the western sky and said to Duanwen, who are you?You scared the flock of gray finches away.

The last fierce battle at the foot of Bijia Mountain led to the complete defeat of the Tianjihui.The officers and soldiers stepped on the dead bodies all over the field, and planted the black panther banner on the top of the mountain.On the hidden ancient plank road on the back mountainside, they attacked back and forth, and captured Li Yizhi, the leader of the Heaven Sacrifice Society who abandoned his bow and fled.Li Yizhi was secretly escorted to Beijing and thrown into a water prison privately set up by the Ministry of Punishment.Li Yizhi's trial in three courts was useless. He always insisted on the theory that offering sacrifices to heaven would help the world and the people, and he denied that he was a grassroots bandit.After some discussion, the interrogating officials decided that the state punishment imposed on Li Yizhi was just a superficial pain. They proposed several capital punishments that had never been used before, and tortured Li Yizhi for the last time.My chief eunuch Yan Lang participated in this torture as a special envoy in the palace. Later, Yan Lang described to me the unprecedented and unprecedented execution process. The first is called hozen down undressing.Yan Lang said that it was a piece of iron sheet made into a barrel, with densely packed needles nailed into it.They wrapped the iron bucket around Li Yizhi's body, and one of the two criminals held down the iron bucket, and the other dragged Li Yizhi's hair bun out of the bucket.Yan Lang said that he heard Li Yizhi screaming wildly, his naked flesh was being scratched by the needle, and blood flowed profusely.A executioner next to him took a bowl of brine and slowly sprinkled it on his bloody body.Yan Lang said that the pain must have been piercing, because he heard Li Yizhi let out another scream, and then passed out.The second type is called Immortal Riding the Mist, and it perfectly matched the former type of punishment, which made Li Yizhi wake up in a short time and experience another kind of pain.The executioners hung Li Yizhi upside down on a pot of boiling water. Your Majesty, guess what is in the pot?Yan Lang suddenly laughed and said, it was a pot full of jealousy, thanks to them thinking of it.When the lid of the pot was lifted, hot and sour air sprayed directly on Li Yizhi's face. When he woke up, he felt a hundred times more uncomfortable than when he was unconscious. Next is the eggplant.Yan Lang said that the cutting of eggplants was the simplest and most straightforward; they let Li Yizhi off the beam, two executioners separated his legs, and stabbed a very sharp knife straight into Li Yizhi's backyard.Yan Lang paused for a while, and said in an ambiguous tone, "It's a pity that a thick and strong hero also made him taste the pain of a powder-faced husband.When Yan Lang said this, he suddenly fell silent, his expression was a little embarrassed, I guess he was sad because of Shu Jing, and he remembered some hidden pain from the past.I urged him to say, go on, I'm just listening to something interesting.Does His Majesty really want to hear it?Yan Lang returned to normal, he looked at me tentatively, doesn't Your Majesty think these capital punishments are too cruel and heartless?What cruelty?I scolded Yan Lang and said, do we still have to pay attention to etiquette and morality for a reckless thief?You go on, what interesting punishment did they come up with?