Chapter 232

Ying Zheng's expression changed as he looked at the description of the person on the list.

"Pests! Rats!"

"No, they are jackals! As a court official, not thinking about protecting the border and the people, but becoming a bandit leader!"

"The Western Jin court actually has such a shameless person."

"And that Emperor Wu of Jin, taking national treasury treasures to help his uncle show off wealth? Absurd! If the country is about to perish, there must be monsters!"

Xiao He frowned: "Robbing merchants, cutting off the flow of goods in the world, is actually destroying the foundation. Rich and arrogant, arrogant and perish, the common reason of the ancients."

Tang Dynasty, Zhenguan period.

Li Shimin slapped the table,

"Bastard! Frontier official! A high-ranking official actually fell to the point of being a thief himself, robbing merchant ships?"

"If my Great Tang had such officials, I would definitely exterminate their three clans!"

"And that wealth-showing, candles as firewood, brocade paving the floor? The vermilion gates smell of wine and meat, while there are frozen bones on the road! This kind of extravagant atmosphere must not be allowed to grow!"

"Xuanling, Keming, write it down for me. Future descendants, whoever dares to imitate Shi Chong will be expelled from the clan genealogy!"

Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui hurriedly agreed: "Ministers remember!"

Song Dynasty.

Zhao Guangyi shook his head and sighed: "Governing the world with scholar-officials is for governing the country."

"If all scholar-officials are like Shi Chong, how are they different from bandits?"

"Wealth rivaling the nation is not a blessing for the country, but a root of disaster."

"Shen Lun (the current prime minister), our dynasty needs to strictly investigate the local areas, especially the key points of water transport and shipping, and absolutely cannot have such official thieves!"

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu period.

Zhu Yuanzhang was already walking back and forth in the hall, like a furious lion.

"See that! To what extent can an official be corrupt? To what extent can he be bad? He is not corrupt, he is robbing! It's open robbery! Even fiercer than bandits!"

"When I was begging for food, I hated two kinds of people the most, one is corrupt officials, and the other is robbers who rob the life-saving money of us poor people! This Shi Chong occupies both! Should be killed! Should be skinned and stuffed with grass!"

"No, I should find all the money he robbed and return it to the descendants of those who were robbed! Although it's across dynasties… it's killing me!"

Empress Ma hurriedly persuaded: "Chongba, calm down, that was the Jin Dynasty…"

"Jin Dynasty? Who knows if my Great Ming Dynasty will have such bastards!"

Zhu Yuanzhang roared, "Biao'er! Write down everything you heard and saw into the 'Imperial Ming Ancestral Instructions'!"

"Future descendants, whoever dares to indulge subordinates to rob merchants and people will be guilty of the same crime as Shi Chong! I won't let them go even as a ghost!"

Zhu Biao said: "The minister obeys the decree! I will definitely write this example into the ancestral instructions to warn all generations!"

Qing Dynasty, Kangxi period.

Xuan Ye looked solemn: "Jingzhou… the thoroughfare of nine provinces, a place where merchants gather. If such a key position is not used by the right person, it will be a great disaster for the country."

"Mingju, you are in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, keep a close eye on it for me. Anyone who dares to reach out to commercial taxes, or indulge relatives and followers to harass merchants, investigate one by one, and never forgive!"

Mingju felt a jolt in his heart and hurriedly bowed: "Understood! The servant must strictly supervise!"

Western Jin, Taikang period (before Shi Chong was executed).

Luoyang, Golden Valley Garden.

The silk and bamboo music was pleasant, and the wine was fragrant.

Shi Chong was holding a grand banquet for guests in the garden, enjoying singing and dancing.

Suddenly, the sky screen appeared, and all his future crimes and endings were nakedly displayed before all the guests, concubines, and even the people of Luoyang City!

The laughter at the banquet stopped abruptly.

The eyes of all the guests looking at Shi Chong were full of shock, disdain, fear, and a trace of… schadenfreude?

So Shi Ji Lun's sky-high wealth came from this?

Robbing merchants? Killing and robbing?

The golden cup in Shi Chong's hand fell to the ground with a "clatter," and the wine splashed all over him.

His face was ashen, his lips trembling, wanting to pretend to be calm, but he couldn't hide the chill and panic rising from the bottom of his heart.

The sky screen… how could the sky screen know?

Those things, he did extremely secretly, and those who knew were either confidants or silenced… and wealth-showing, and being confiscated and exterminated…

"No… it's not like this… the sky screen is talking nonsense…"

Shi Chong argued in vain, his voice trembling.

But no one believed it.

The guests stood up one after another, found an excuse, and fled in panic, fearing to be tainted with bad luck.

The concubines were also terrified and trembling.

The servants in the mansion were even more flickering, starting to think about their future.

Those merchants and their families who had been robbed on the Yangtze River and luckily escaped or were ruined, seeing the sky screen at this moment, were all filled with grief and indignation, crying bitterly.

They finally knew who the enemy was!

It turned out not to be ordinary water bandits, but the Jingzhou Inspector, the high-ranking official Shi Chong!

"Dog official! Return my father's life!"

"Shi Chong! You won't die well!"

"Heaven has eyes! The sky screen has eyes!"

Curses began to sound in Luoyang City, gradually gathering into a sound of anger.

Just then, the punishment of the sky screen arrived as scheduled.

【Given Shi Chong's acting as a thief with an official position, robbing merchants, killing and robbing, accumulating wealth rivaling the nation, and being extremely extravagant, corrupting the atmosphere, his crime is monstrous!】

【Now descending the punishment of the Heavenly Dao:

One, deprive him of twenty years of lifespan!

Two, suffer the torture of "Coral Thorn"! Countless coral-shaped bone thorns will grow inside his skin and flesh, and he will endure the severe pain of coral thorns breaking through flesh and blood and growing slowly every day, lasting for a month.】

"No——!!!"

(Snowflakes drifting, north wind whistling……)

(Big guys with pictures can show the despair at that time ✌︎˶╹ꇴ╹˶✌︎)

Shi Chong let out a desperate roar.

A gray-defeated beam of light fell, covering Shi Chong.

He only felt his vitality passing away rapidly, his hair instantly turning gray and withered, his skin full of wrinkles, and his waist and back hunched.

As if he had suddenly aged twenty years, turning into a weak old man.

But this was just the beginning.

Immediately after, he felt countless small hard objects frantically drilling out and growing under his skin all over his body!

First it was a slight stinging pain, then the pain intensified rapidly, as if countless red-hot steel needles were being pierced out of his bones and muscle gaps!

"Ah! Ah——!!"

Shi Chong screamed and fell to the ground, frantically tearing his clothes.

I saw small red dots starting to bulge on his exposed skin.

Then the red dots grew larger and harder, the color turned dark red and gray-white, the texture became hard and rough, really like clusters of tiny corals "growing" out of his flesh.

Forehead, cheeks, neck, arms, chest… everywhere.

Every coral thorn breaking through the flesh and growing brought heart-drilling severe pain.

And this growth process seemed to be continuing!

"Monster! Monster!"

The concubines and servants around were scared out of their wits, screaming and fleeing in all directions.

No one cared about the former master who was rolling and wailing on the ground, covered in strange "corals".

Shi Chong hit the ground with his head in pain, and used his hands to pick at those "corals", but picked himself into a bloody mess, adding pain to pain.

He remembered the end of his future family being confiscated and exterminated on the sky screen, and felt the torture of life worse than death at this moment, his heart filled with endless regret and fear.

He cherished his life and didn't dare to commit suicide immediately, but this "coral growth" pain every moment was even more tormenting than lingchi!

The people of Luoyang, especially those merchants, looked at the Golden Valley Garden from afar,

Although they couldn't see the specifics, they could hear the faint screams, and the news had spread, all clapping and cheering.

"Retribution! This is retribution!"

"Let him rob! Let him kill! Let him show off wealth!"

"Coral thorn? Good! Let him taste the taste of being stung!"

Shi Chong's miserable state would become the most terrifying legend in Luoyang City of the Western Jin Dynasty in the next month.

It also became a sword hanging over the heads of all corrupt officials.

The sky screen golden light flowed, slowly condensing the name of the next corrupt official.