Chapter 865

After Zhao Tiezhu finished this sentence, the wind in the square carried the smell of blood.

Qian Wansan was tied to the blood-stained wooden stake, his chest heaving violently, his screams already out of tune.

The executioner put the thin flesh he had cut off into a tray, the tray was taken by a minor official and sent to the incense table.

Zhao Tiezhu did not let the minor official put it down.

He reached out to take the tray, his palm shaking, the edge of the tray hitting the incense table with a light sound.

Chen Yan glanced at him.

"If you can't stand, sit."

Zhao Tiezhu shook his head.

"This subordinate wants to stand."

"Those six brothers of mine didn't sit down that night either."

He placed the tray in front of the first empty bowl and looked up at the sky.

"Zhou Heng."

"You said that after the audit was finished, you wanted to go home and buy a thick quilt for your mother."

"I am keeping it in mind for you."

He poured another bowl of wine, the wine spilling over the corner of the table.

"Liu Sanhe."

"You don't need to pay back the drink you owe me."

"The Pillar of State is treating today."

Someone below the platform cried until they bent over.

Zhao Tiezhu turned to Qian Wansan, his throat hoarse enough to cut.

"Do you hear?"

"You didn't kill just a few minor officials."

"Those were people with names and surnames."

Qian Wansan cried out.

"I was wrong."

"Political Commissar Zhao, I was wrong."

"You plead for mercy for me to the Pillar of State."

"I will give you silver, I will give you an official position, I will build a shrine for you."

Zhao Tiezhu stared at him, and it was a long while before he spoke.

"My brothers have no shrine."

"They died at Heifeng Pass, their bodies blown by the wind for half the night."

"And now you talk to me about building a shrine?"

He splashed the blood and water from the tray at Qian Wansan's feet.

"You are not worthy."

The executioner's second knife fell.

Qian Wansan's screams rose again.

Lin Xin watched this scene, his legs going soft beside the stake.

He turned his head and shouted at Chen Yan.

"Pillar of State, the Lin family is willing to pay two million taels."

"The Lin family's grain warehouses are all given to the government."

"I only beg for the sentence to be changed to beheading."

"I beg the Pillar of State to show mercy."

Chen Yan sat in the chief seat, holding a cup of cold tea in his hand.

The tea lid rested on the edge of the cup, not moving.

"This Duke gave you a chance."

"On the day of the salt cut-off, if you had opened your doors to sell salt, it wouldn't have come to today."

Lin Xin cried: "Qian Wansan forced us."

Qian Wansan shrieked: "Fart."

"Lin Xin, your son was selling more happily than anyone."

"Your Lin family's black market salt cart collected three thousand taels in one night, didn't you know?"

Lin Xin turned his head to curse him.

"You still blame me."

"The price for the Rouran side was negotiated by you personally."

Wu Hongyuan closed his eyes, his teeth biting his lip.

"Stop shouting."

"The more you shout, the more you make the commoners laugh at us."

Someone below the platform immediately cursed: "Laugh at you?"

"Wu Hongyuan, you harmed people and are still afraid of people watching?"

"When your Wu family's iron shop was repairing blades for the Turkic, why weren't you afraid of people watching?"

Wu Hongyuan opened his eyes, looking at the faces below the platform.

Among those faces were the wrinkles of the elderly, the tear stains of women, and the red-rimmed eye sockets of youths.

He wanted to say he was just doing business.

The words reached his lips and turned into a low sentence.

"Trade routes are just like this."

Gu Yuci turned his head to look at him.

"Trade routes?"

"The roads that border soldiers guarded with their lives were taken by you to sell military equipment to the enemy."

"You call this a trade route?"

Wu Hongyuan could not speak.

Yang Huairen had been lowering his head.

It was not until the executioner walked in front of him that he raised it.

"Pillar of State."

"I still have words."

Chen Yan said: "Speak."

Yang Huairen swallowed a breath.

"On the Chang'an side, there is a secret line not in the roster."

"As long as the Pillar of State leaves a branch of incense for the Yang clan's young children, I will say it now."

Gao Jiong walked in front of him.

"Yang Huairen, you are not worthy to mention the words 'incense' now."

Yang Huairen stared at Chen Yan.

"Does the Pillar of State not want to know?"

Chen Yan said: "This Duke wants to know."

"But this Duke will not be blackmailed by you."

Yang Huairen became anxious.

"That line involves Jinyang."

As soon as these two words came out, Gao Jiong's brows moved.

Gu Yuci also looked at Chen Yan.

Jinyang was the military capital of the Qi Kingdom.

The Yinzhou Chamber of Commerce colluding with the Rouran and Turkic was already a capital crime.

If it also involved the Qi Kingdom, it would not be as simple as a Chamber of Commerce case.

Chen Yan's fingers paused beside the tea cup for a moment.

"Speak."

A glimmer of life floated in Yang Huairen's eyes.

"Then the Pillar of State must promise first."

Chen Yan raised his eyes.

"Execute."

The executioner's knife pressed against Yang Huairen's shoulder.

Yang Huairen shouted urgently: "I will say."

"It is a person who came from Chang'an."

"Every winter month, he passes through Yinzhou to the north, then goes out to the grassland from the Heifeng Pass secret tunnel, and finally turns to Jinyang."

"He does not use his real name."

"We only know his surname is Cui."

Chen Yan said: "Which Cui?"

Yang Huairen shook his head, crying.

"I don't know."

"Qian Wansan knows."

"Every time that person comes, he only sees Qian Wansan."

Everyone's gaze turned to Qian Wansan.

Qian Wansan was being tortured by the third knife, his face covered in sweat; hearing the surname Cui, his whole body began to shrink toward the stake.

Gao Jiong walked over, leaned down, and asked.

"Chairman Qian, who is the one surnamed Cui?"

Qian Wansan was panting heavily.

"I don't know."

Chen Yan said: "Slow down the knife."

The executioner understood and changed the force of his wrist.

Qian Wansan screamed as if his throat had been torn open.

Yet no one below the platform pleaded for him.

A woman holding a child said in a low voice: "Don't look."

But the child struggled to see.

"Mother, he sold blades to the Rouran and killed Uncle."

The woman covered his eyes, but she herself stared at the execution platform.

Zhao Tiezhu stood beside the incense table, the third bowl of wine poured out.

"Little Chen."

"You were the youngest, only seventeen."

"You said you wanted to save enough military merit to marry the girl in the next village."

"Watch this knife today."

The executioner's rhythm was controlled by the execution supervisor.

Qian Wansan, Lin Xin, Wu Hongyuan, and Yang Huairen were punished in turns.

Every knife avoided the vital points.

Every scream allowed the commoners to vent a portion of the resentment they had accumulated over these years.

Someone patted their chest and shouted.

"Good."

"Again."

"This gang has caused so many broken homes, they cannot be allowed to die easily."

After Lin Xin was splashed awake with salt water, his first words were still begging for mercy.

"Pillar of State, I will say."

"The Lin family's grain carts did indeed go to the Rouran camp."

"But that was Qian Wansan's arrangement."

"He gave me triple the price, so I sent them."

Zhao Tiezhu turned and asked him.

"Triple the price?"

"For one life of my brother, how many times the price did you give?"

Lin Xin opened his mouth, emitting a dry, hoarse cry.

Wu Hongyuan could no longer hold on, his eyes rolling upward.

The executioner splashed salt water on his face.

After Wu Hongyuan woke up, his first sentence was actually cursing Qian Wansan.

"You said Chen Yan would bow his head."

"You said the Chamber of Commerce would not lose."

"You said as long as we cut off the salt, the commoners would force the government for us."

"You harmed the Wu family."

Qian Wansan shouted: "You all took the silver."

"Now you blame me."

"When the first cart of iron went to the Rouran that year, you, Wu Hongyuan, verified the goods yourself."

Wu Hongyuan's voice trembled violently.

"I only thought it was being sold to a small tribe on the grassland."

"You didn't say it was the Rouran Royal Court."

Gao Jiong sneered.

"Clan Leader Wu, you didn't recognize the secret pattern of the Military Equipment Bureau on the crossbow parts either?"

Wu Hongyuan shut his mouth.

When Yang Huairen was cut more than ten times, he finally collapsed.

He shouted at Qian Wansan.

"Qian Wansan, if it weren't for your greed to swallow the Yinzhou salt and iron, this old man would not have been tied together with you."

"You bought assassins to kill the Pillar of State, not even leaving us a way out."

"Your whole family deserves to die."

Qian Wansan cursed back.

"Yang Huairen, you didn't tell us when you were building the secret tunnel."

"You wanted to escape alone."

"You still have the face to curse me?"

Yang Huairen hissed: "I should have escaped long ago."

"Being an ally with a fool like you is the biggest mistake of my life."

Someone below the platform shouted.

"Dogs biting dogs."

"Let them curse each other."

Chen Yan did not stop them.

He let them curse.

Let the Yinzhou commoners hear clearly how these people tore each other's skin off layer by layer before they died.

Zhang Wenqian stood beside him and said in a low voice: "Pillar of State, the confessions they are spitting out now can already implicate another batch of people."

Chen Yan said: "Let the clerks record it."

"Today's execution platform is the trial hall."

Zhang Wenqian nodded and beckoned for two clerks to come forward.

"Qian Wansan, Lin Xin just said the grain carts entered the Rouran camp, do you admit it?"

Qian Wansan cursed, trembling.

"So what if I admit it."

Zhang Wenqian said: "Record it, the Qian clan admits to organizing grain carts to the Rouran camp."

"Wu Hongyuan, who verified the first cart of military equipment?"

Wu Hongyuan panted: "The second branch of the Wu family, Wu Qinian."

Zhang Wenqian said: "Record."

"Yang Huairen, who arranged the accommodation for the person surnamed Cui when he passed through Yinzhou?"

Yang Huairen endured the pain and said: "Inspectorate Chief Clerk Zhou Deyu."

Gao Jiong looked at Chen Yan.

"Pillar of State, Zhou Deyu can be interrogated further."

Chen Yan said: "Interrogate."

"The name of the one surnamed Cui must come out tonight."

Gao Jiong lowered his head.

"This subordinate understands."

The wailing on the execution platform continued until the sun tilted west.

The commoners in the square did not disperse.

Some went to buy water, some sent their children home, and then returned.

The charges against the Chamber of Commerce were read out repeatedly.

Several literate scholars stood by the wall, reading the proclamation for the illiterate commoners.

"It is written here that eight million four hundred thousand taels of silver were found in the Qian clan's underground vault."

"One hundred and eight thousand taels of pure gold."

"One hundred thousand shi of grain."

A chorus of curses rose in the crowd.

"One hundred thousand shi of grain."

"They had so much grain, yet they let the porridge shed in the south of the city be cut off for three days."

"Beasts."

Another scholar continued to read.

"There are also usury loan notes, land deeds, and indentures still being counted."

A young woman heard the words "indenture" and stood in the crowd wiping tears.

"My younger sister is in the Lin family."

"She was forced there by debt."

A Mingjing Si hidden agent nearby heard this and walked in front of her.

"What is her name?"

The woman was stunned for a moment.

"Xu Yuniang."

The hidden agent took out a booklet and recorded it.

"After today, go to the east shed outside the Governor's Office to register."

"All those forced into slavery by the Chamber of Commerce will have their contracts verified."

"If it is confirmed that they were forced to sell due to debt, they will be released."

The woman's legs went soft, and she knelt on the ground.

"Military Lord, is this true?"

The hidden agent said: "The Pillar of State's order, no one dares to pass it on falsely."

The woman kowtowed, crying.

Chen Yan saw this scene on the execution platform and beckoned to Zhang Wenqian.

"Double the manpower at the east shed."

"Don't let the commoners wait until night."

Zhang Wenqian said: "This subordinate will mobilize people right away."

Zhao Tiezhu had already held on until his face turned pale.

Hongye stood behind Chen Yan and glanced at his wound.

"Pillar of State, if Political Commissar Zhao continues to hold on, he will collapse."

Chen Yan said: "Let him sit."

Hongye walked to Zhao Tiezhu's side.

"Political Commissar Zhao, the Pillar of State wants you to sit down."

Zhao Tiezhu shook his head.

"Two bowls of wine left."

Hongye did not try to persuade him, but directly brought a low stool and placed it behind him.

"You can watch while sitting."

Zhao Tiezhu hesitated for a moment, then sat down.

He poured the fifth bowl of wine.

"Ma Cheng."

"You said you weren't afraid of death, you were afraid of dying for nothing."

"Today, it was for something."

When the last bowl of wine was poured, Zhao Tiezhu's voice could no longer be emitted.

He placed Zhou Heng's badge between the six bowls and pressed his forehead against the incense table.

"Du Xiaoman."

"You had only been in the One Heart Society for half a month."

"The Pillar of State has already given compensation to your parents."

"Rest assured."

Chen Yan walked to his side.

"This Duke will support their families."

Zhao Tiezhu raised his head, tears streaming down the gray dirt on his face.

"Pillar of State, this subordinate thanks you on behalf of my brothers."

Chen Yan said: "What are you thanking me for?"

"They did things for this Duke, and this Duke collects their bodies, avenges them, and supports their families."

"This is the rule."

Zhao Tiezhu choked: "In the future, I want to stay in the Yinzhou One Heart Society."

"I want to guard this place well."

"I cannot let them die in vain."

Chen Yan looked at him for a while.

"Talk about it after your wounds heal."

Zhao Tiezhu said: "My wounds can heal."

"But if Yinzhou lets these people climb back up, the brothers' blood will have been shed in vain."

Chen Yan did not answer immediately.

The last round of execution on the platform was nearing its end.

The voices of the four chief culprits grew lower and lower.

When the executioner's knife stopped, the execution supervisor stepped forward to verify, then turned back to report.

"Pillar of State, the four criminals have been brought to justice."

The square fell silent for a moment.

Then the noise of the crowd surged up.

"Pillar of State, Blue Sky."

"The traitors to the state have been brought to justice."

"Rest in peace, brothers of Heifeng Pass."

Zhao Tiezhu stood up and took the horizontal blade.

Hongye reached out to block him.

"You are seriously injured."

Zhao Tiezhu looked at Chen Yan.

Chen Yan nodded.

"Let him go."

Zhao Tiezhu dragged his injured leg to the four corpses, raised the horizontal blade twice, and only cut down on the third time.

The four heads were put into wooden boxes and sealed with quicklime.

Zhao Tiezhu picked up one of the wooden boxes.

"Pillar of State, this subordinate wants to send them to Heifeng Pass personally."

Chen Yan said: "Granted."

"Send twenty Beiwei Death Guards to protect you."

Zhao Tiezhu knelt down.

"This subordinate accepts the order."

Gu Yuci walked to Chen Yan's side.

"Pillar of State, the execution is finished."

"The commoners below the platform still refuse to disperse."

Chen Yan looked at the people filling the square.

Some were crying, some were cursing, and some were standing in place holding their children.

The revenge had been half-taken.

The other half was to let them live.

Chen Yan said: "Killing is only the first step."

Gu Yuci said: "What does the Pillar of State plan to do next?"

Chen Yan did not answer, only raised his hand.

The Beiwei Death Guards below the platform acted immediately.

Several large iron-skinned wooden boxes were carried onto the execution platform.

The boxes hit the ground, the wooden boards making a dull sound.

The commoners' curses slowly stopped.

Someone asked.

"What is that?"

"It wouldn't be Qian Wansan's gold again, would it?"

Gao Jiong walked to the boxes and raised his hand to lift the lid of the first box.

There was no gold or silver inside.

A box full of paper.

Loan notes, land deeds, indentures, debt contracts with thumbprints, land deeds with the old official seal, all piled together.

Chen Yan walked to the box and reached out to pick up a debt contract.

He glanced at it and handed it to Zhang Wenqian.

"Read."

Zhang Wenqian took it, his brows furrowed.

"Wang Er from the south of Yinzhou City, borrowed three dou of millet, monthly interest of three percent, overdue and not repaid, mortgaged three mu of ancestral land."

A thin man below the platform suddenly shouted.

"That is my father's contract."

"My father borrowed three dou of millet, the Lin family took three mu of land from my family."

Chen Yan held up the contract.

"Is Wang Er here?"

The thin man squeezed out of the crowd and knelt in front of the platform.

"Commoner Wang Er."

"My father is dead."

"The land is gone too."

"My family has been tenant farmers for the Lin family for six years."

Chen Yan looked at him.

"After today, those three mu of land will be returned to you."

Wang Er raised his head, his eyes staring blankly.

"Pillar of State, what did you say?"

Chen Yan threw the debt contract into the fire basin.

"This Duke said, the accounts of Yinzhou will be recalculated today."

He turned around and looked at the heavy wooden boxes.

"These broken papers have pressed down on you for too long."

"Now, this Duke will burn them for you."

The crowd below the platform squeezed forward a step at the same time.

Gao Jiong looked at Chen Yan and said in a low voice: "Pillar of State, burn them now?"

Chen Yan said: "Burn them now."

"While they are still watching on the platform."

He pulled a torch from the fire basin.

The tongue of fire curled onto the top of the torch.

Chen Yan held the torch and spoke to the square.

"Qian Wansan and the others are already dead."

"But the debts they left behind are still crawling on you."

"If we only kill people today and don't burn the debts, the Chamber of Commerce could return under a different name."

"This Duke does not want it to return."

He threw the torch into the first box.

The paper pages met the fire and quickly curled with black edges.

The commoners watched the flames swallow the debt contracts, and for a while, no one made a sound.

Then Wang Er knelt in front of the platform, his forehead smashing into the ground.

"Pillar of State."

"My family's land has returned."