Chapter 165: Lingering Death, and Lingering Death Once More

Chongzhen crooked a finger and rapped it against the surface of the imperial desk before him, then abruptly asked Xu Xianchun, "Yuan Chonghuan — and those two called Yoto and Šoto — how are they doing?"

Long accustomed to the Chongzhen Emperor's refusal to follow any predictable script and his wildly unconstrained train of thought, Xu Xianchun merely bowed and replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty: Yuan Chonghuan has now given up all hope and simply waits for death each day.

As for Yoto and Šoto, they have been shouting and making trouble the whole time, so the jailers of the Imperial Prison gave them a thorough re-education."

Chongzhen grunted an acknowledgment, then asked further, "And what of Prince Fu's household? Also Prince Rui and Prince Hui — how much longer until those two enter the capital?"

Xu Xianchun, still bowing, said, "His Highness Prince Fu is presently confined in a civilian residence beside the old Imperial Clan Court. Apart from the young prince being somewhat restless, there is nothing else of note.

His Highness Prince Rui and His Highness Prince Hui will require roughly another half-month before they can enter the capital."

No computer — what a pain!

After grumbling inwardly, Chongzhen gave his orders: "Take Yuan Chonghuan and Bao Chengxian together to the the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground execution ground and have them sliced to death; send their heads on a tour of the nine border garrisons.

As for Yoto and Šoto, slice them to death as well, and deliver their heads to Shanhai Pass. Have Wang Zaijin send someone to deliver Šoto's head to the Jianzhou barbarians."

Chongzhen's decision gave the common folk of the capital a fine spectacle to watch. The the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground execution ground became so thoroughly steeped in gore that it stank to high heaven.

In ordinary times, when the people of the capital cursed someone, they would say, "Sooner or later you'll end up at the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground!"

From this one can see that the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground had completely supplanted the former role of the West Market execution ground — heads rolled at the drop of a hat, and because there was so much blood pooled on the ground, even the dogs at the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground could no longer be bothered to lick it.

The common folk simply moved their vegetable buying and selling to the next street over.

The Forty-Nine Wards of the capital hold no secrets. Aside from news that His Majesty the Emperor deliberately seals off, any remaining news can basically spread across the entire capital in a single day; by the next day, even some of the surrounding counties will know of it.

Today was no different. Common folk from all over the capital were swarming toward the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground.

The Commandant of the Five Wards Military Office was already cursing up a storm inside his yamen — it was just slicing a few men to death, plus the nine degrees of kinship of Yuan Chonghuan who were to be beheaded.

Even counting generously, that was no more than a few hundred heads, for crying out loud, and yet the entire populace of the capital was squeezing into that tiny, shabby patch of ground called the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground.

The result was that the whole of the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground, though lacking in blaring gongs and drums, was nonetheless a sea of people — a perfect real-life illustration of the phrase "rubbing shoulders and jostling elbows."

Putting everything else aside, if any sort of incident were to break out in that crush, when those Censors with too much time on their hands submitted their memorials, he himself would certainly end up taking the blame.

Since he was not willing to part with his own official skin, there was nothing more to say.

The Commandant of the Five Wards Military Office cursed out his five Guard Commanders one by one, driving them like beasts of burden — if he was going to suffer misfortune, he would make those five grandsons suffer alongside him first.

The five Guard Commanders, knowing full well that their chief was in a foul mood at the moment, bore their burdens without complaint — who knew when this Commandant-in-Chief might fall from grace? There was no point in quibbling with him, was there?

What if, before his own downfall, he first laid the rod across their own backs?

Fortunately, thanks to the direction of the soldiers from the Five Wards Military Office, the whole of the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground, chaotic as it was, still left a passageway open for the prisoner carts to pass through, and moreover no stampede or trampling incident occurred.

Upon receiving the report, the Commandant-in-Chief of the Five Wards Military Office, even as he cursed the people of the Forty-Nine Wards for their love of rubbernecking, found that he himself truly could not resist going to take a look — since the common folk had not caused any real trouble, then the fine spectacle of slicing traitors and Jianzhou barbarians alive was absolutely not to be missed.

His mind made up, the Commandant-in-Chief promptly waved a hand and said to the five Guard Commanders, "Come, let's go have a look ourselves. Who knows when we'll next get the chance to see Jianzhou barbarians sliced alive."

"Heh heh, Your Excellency is wise!" the Guard Commander of the East Ward Military Office flattered.

The Commandant-in-Chief of the Five Wards Military Office, however, laughed and said, "Spare me the bootlicking. Who wouldn't want to see a fine show like this? Let's go, let's go."

By the time the several of them reached the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground, they discovered that Yuan Chonghuan's family dependents had all been beheaded, and the lingering death by slicing of Yoto and Šoto was already underway.

Upon the execution platform, Supervising Secretary of the Office of Punishments Xue Guoguan observed that the sun had already risen three poles high.

He rose from his chair and proclaimed in a ringing voice, "Aisin Gioro Yoto, Aisin Gioro Šoto — grandsons of the old slave of the Jianzhou barbarians, Aisin Gioro Nurhaci, and sons of Aisin Gioro Daishan.

Having followed the old slave and Daishan in rebellion against the Great Ming, they are sentenced by law to death by lingering slicing."

After the many executioners who had previously carried out the beheadings had in unison repeated Xue Guoguan's words, Xue Guoguan drew a punishment tally from the tally cylinder on the table, flung it to the ground with a sweep of his hand, and roared, "Carry out the sentence!"

The executioners drawn from the Court of Judicial Review and the Embroidered Uniform Guard to perform the sentence stepped forward, came before Yoto and Šoto, removed the hemp-wrapped walnuts from their mouths, and then, with a practiced motion, dislocated their jaws to prevent them from biting off their own tongues to commit suicide.

Then, using small hooks, they hooked up the two men's eyelids and first sliced the eyelids off, so that the two could not close their eyes. Only then did they begin slicing down, cut by cut.

Throughout the entire execution process, several executioners took turns. With each slice, they would toss the flesh and skin down from the execution platform, inciting the nearby common folk to scramble madly for it.

One man, whose hatred for the Jianzhou barbarians ran deep, snatched a piece and then burst into wild, unceasing laughter. A bystander asked, "What are you laughing at?

It's just a piece of skin and flesh."

That wildly laughing commoner replied, "I'm originally from Liaodong. My whole family was done to death by those dog Jianzhou barbarians.

Now that I've got my hands on the blood and flesh of these dog barbarians, I'm going to take it home and feed it to the pigs. Once the pigs are grown, I'll slaughter them and eat the meat — now won't that be satisfying?"

The commoner beside him, hearing this, suddenly saw the light and said, "That's a fine idea! A fine idea!"

With that, he threw himself into the scrambling crowd, also hoping to snatch a piece of flesh to take home and feed to the pigs.

According to the Great Ming Code, the cruel punishment of death by a thousand cuts was to be carried out slowly, slicing a full thousand cuts.

However, ever since the last time Chongzhen had sliced Hooge alive with over three thousand cuts, this capital punishment of a thousand cuts had been changed to three thousand six hundred cuts.

Calculated this way, even if Yoto and Šoto were sliced clean together, that would only amount to a little over seven thousand two hundred cuts — and how many pieces of flesh would that yield? How many common folk were there below the platform?

So much so that later on, people were offering money to buy it. The price rose from one wen to five wen, then to ten wen, and finally climbed to half a string of cash just to buy a single piece of Jianzhou barbarian skin and flesh.

Until the sun was nearly setting behind the mountains, both men were still alive and had not breathed their last.

Imperial physicians from the Imperial Academy of Medicine had been dispatched to pour a great bowl of ginseng decoction, brewed from century-old ginseng, down their throats, to prevent the two from succumbing to the punishment and dying.

Even more wicked was the Chongzhen Emperor himself. He simply ordered men to bring out the "blessed longevity paste" stored in the palace.

After the two had been sliced all over once, the paste was smeared across their entire bodies. Stimulated by the medicinal properties of the paste, the two men, far from succumbing to the punishment, instead grew invigorated.

Unable to cry out, yet unable to die.

For a time, the common folk of the capital were in no hurry to go home; they simply remained at the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground, slowly watching the two men's punishment proceed.

It was not until the moon hung high in the sky that the two men were finally considered to have received their full three thousand six hundred cuts.

At the final cut, the executioner drove the small knife in his hand, used for slicing flesh, violently into the two men's hearts, finishing them off with a single thrust. Then he fetched an axe, hacked off their four limbs, and finally, with one axe blow, severed their heads.

After carefully treating the heads with a preservative, they were placed into boxes. Officers of the Embroidered Uniform Guard at once took the boxes, tied them to their waists, and galloped off at top speed in the direction of Shanhai Pass.

Pitiable — who knows how many Qing time-travel romance heroines had yearned with all their hearts to love Yoto and Šoto, the very objects of their desire. Thus did they meet their end.

The update is late; continuing, continuing. There will be another update a bit later.

(End of chapter)