Chapter 241: The Starved Chancellor!

At the same time, the whole Bianjing City, like boiling oil struck by a massive stone, erupted completely!

"Cai Jing! It's Cai Jing! The leader of the Six Thieves!"

"Hua Shigang! So it was he and Zhu Mian behind the mischief! My uncle's family was ruined and wiped out by Hua Shigang!"

"Tore down hundreds of homes to expand the West Garden? This West Garden… was actually built over the corpses of our common folk!"

"Selling offices! No wonder the officials now are hardly any good ones!"

"Traitorous minister! National traitor! Down with Cai Jing!"

"Go find the emperor! Ask the emperor to execute the traitor!"

Angry shouts rose from all directions, quickly converging toward the palace and Cai Jing's residence.

Many officials, scholars, and commoners once persecuted by Cai Jing's faction now found an outlet, flooding the streets with shouts and cries.

Outside Cai Jing's residence, the angry crowd quickly surrounded it, hurling bricks and rotten vegetable leaves like rain onto the high red‑gate walls.

The palace, Yanfu Palace.

Emperor Song Huizong Zhao Ji was admiring a newly acquired ancient painting, while eunuch Liang Shicheng attended at his side.

When the Heavenly Curtain appeared, Zhao Ji at first paid it no mind, even finding it amusing.

But as the Heavenly Curtain exposed Cai Jing's crimes one by one, especially labeling the "Feng Heng Yu Da" as a misleading "perverse doctrine" that confused him, and noting Hua Shigang's role in inciting the rebellion.

In the end, Jin troops marched south, and the Northern Song faced collapse.

Zhao Ji's complexion gradually turned ashen, his fingers gripping the scroll whitening from the strain.

"Cai Jing… Cai Yuanchang… he… how dare he deceive me?!"

Zhao Ji's voice trembled, uncertain whether from anger or fear.

He may be incompetent, but he is not foolish.

He had vaguely sensed many of the revelations of the Heavenly Curtain, but Cai Jing had brushed them off with the "Feng Heng Yu Da".

Now that the veil was completely torn away, he realized that the chancellor he had favored for nearly twenty years was in fact a grave‑digger!

And he himself seemed to have become an accomplice?

"Your Majesty, calm your anger; the Heavenly Curtain's rumors should not be taken at face value…"

Liang Shicheng forced himself to speak, saying that he too was one of the Six Thieves, his heart pounding with terror.

"Rumors?"

Zhao Ji snapped his head around, his gaze icy as he stared at Liang Shicheng.

"The Heavenly Curtain says Hua Shigang, forced demolition of homes, selling offices and titles, forging salaries… are these rumors? Liang Shicheng, did you also take part?!"

Liang Shicheng, terrified, fell to his knees with a thud, repeatedly kowtowing: "I dare not! I am utterly loyal to Your Majesty!"

At that moment, faint shouts from outside the palace rose like a mountain‑roaring tsunami, chanting "Execute Cai Jing" and "Purify the court".

Zhao Ji's complexion changed.

The popular anger boiled to this point; if we still fail to act, we fear…

At that instant, the Heavenly Curtain's punishment arrived.

【Considering that Cai Jing usurped the prime ministerial position, was greedily corrupt, brought disaster to the nation and its people, accelerated the Northern Song's downfall, his crimes are countless and unspeakable!】

【Now the Heavenly Dao imposes punishment:】

1. Deprive him of thirty years of lifespan!

2. During his remaining yang lifespan, he must endure six hours (twelve clock‑hours) of "bone‑shattering, heart‑rending" pain each day!

A deep‑gray pillar of light and a dark‑red beam, as if condensed from countless wails of agony, fell simultaneously from the Heavenly Curtain, precisely enveloping Cai Jing, who was slumped in a chair in the West Garden!

"Ah—!!!"

Cai Jing let out a scream so unhumanly mournful it reached the extreme of anguish!

His body, once well‑kept and slightly plump, now seemed instantly drained of all moisture and vitality.

He rapidly withered and hunched, his black hair turning snow‑white and brittle, large patches falling off; his face became a map of wrinkles and age spots, skin clinging to bone, eye sockets sunken.

In an instant, the vigorous power‑holder turned into a ninety‑year‑old man on the brink of death, as if he would gasp his last breath any moment.

Having thirty years of yang life stripped away, he was nearly pushed to the edge of death!

But this was only the beginning.

The weakness from the life‑shortening had not yet passed, when another indescribable, terrifying agony suddenly erupted from every bone, every inch of marrow, and the deepest part of his heart.

It was as if countless invisible hammers were frantically hammering and crushing his entire skeleton.

And as if scorching iron hooks were continuously gouging his heart.

"Crack… crack…"

Cai Jing could even "hear" the phantom sound of cracks forming in his own bones.

He shrieked as he rolled off the chair onto the ground, like a live shrimp tossed into a boiling oil pot, thrashing wildly, rolling, smashing his head against the floor, clawing at his chest and limbs.

His flesh was instantly torn into a bloody mess, yet it did nothing to lessen the "bone‑shattering, heart‑rending" pain emanating from deep within his soul!

"Kill me if you must! Mercy! Lord Heaven, have mercy!"

Cai Jing's wail pierced the West Garden wall, sending shivers through the onlookers, but was immediately answered by even louder cheers.

"Retribution! This is retribution!"

"Bone‑shattering, heart‑rending? Good! Let him also taste the feeling of bones being smashed and heart being sliced!"

"Cai Jing, old thief! You have met your day!"

Within the palace, Zhao Ji heard the faint wail and the crowd's cheers outside, his complexion shifting unpredictably.

The Heavenly Curtain's life‑shortening punishment rendered Cai Jing powerless.

But the people's fury must be quelled, the national traitor must be severely punished, or else his own reign would become unstable.

"Issue the decree!"

Zhao Ji finally gritted his teeth and issued the edict, his voice cold.

"Cai Jing deceives the ruler and harms the state, greedy beyond measure, his crimes evident; hence he shall be stripped of all offices and titles, his register abolished for the people, his property confiscated, and handed over to the authorities for strict investigation!"

"As for him… considering his old age and that he has already incurred Heaven's punishment, he shall… be exiled to Lingnan, never to return!"

"His sons Cai You, Cai Tao, and others shall be taken together for interrogation!"

"Liang Shicheng, you must immediately deliver the edict and… oversee the confiscations!"

He still showed some leniency, not killing Cai Jing on the spot—perhaps thinking Heaven's punishment was enough, perhaps still holding onto old sentiments, perhaps… fearing to slay the leader of the six traitors at once and provoke greater unrest.

But exile to Lingnan, for Cai Jing at this moment, is no different from the death penalty.

"Your servant… obeys the edict."

Liang Shicheng's face turned ashen as he stepped back, realizing his good days were likely over.

The imperial decree was issued, and the Imperial City Office and Kaifeng Prefecture constables surged in like wolves and tigers into Cai Jing's various residences, confiscating his assets.

Although Cai Jing's family had gotten wind of it early and moved and hid many items, the seized gold, silver, land deeds, and treasures still piled up like a mountain, especially the deeds to five hundred thousand mu of farmland, which were shocking to behold.

His extravagantly lavish Western Garden was sealed.

Cai Jing himself, after enduring days of excruciating "bone‑shattering, heart‑rending" pain and the extreme weakness brought by his shortened lifespan, was dragged out like a dead dog, shackled to a prison cart, escorted out of the capital, and exiled to Lingnan.

His son Cai You and the others were also imprisoned for interrogation.

On the road to exile, the escort officer received a hint and did not trouble Cai Jing excessively (perhaps also fearing his immediate death would be hard to account for), but the common folk along the way, upon hearing the news, all cursed and blocked the path.

Indeed, as Heaven's punishment had foretold, no one would sell food or water to this leader of the six traitors.

Cai Jing survived on the meager coarse food and cold water grudgingly supplied by the officer, while enduring six hours of agonizing torment each day, looking like a skeletal demon.

Near Tanzhou, a band of southern refugees who harbored a deep hatred for the flower‑stone spear and were displaced recognized the dying Cai Jing in the prison cart.

Rage instantly drowned reason; the refugees surged forward, broke through the officer's blockade, dragged Cai Jing out of the cart, and beat him with fists, kicks, and clubs.

"Kill him! Kill this treacherous dog!"

"Revenge for my parents!"

"Revenge for the villagers whose houses were torn down!"

How could the weakened Cai Jing endure such beating?

He soon suffered broken bones and torn tendons, barely clinging to life.

After the officer dispersed the refugees, Cai Jing was left with only his last breath, thrown into a grass hut by the roadside.

That night, amid endless pain, hunger, cold and despair, he swallowed his final breath, ending his sinful and tragic life years earlier than "history" records.

His body was hastily buried, soon becoming nameless.

The news returned, and the common folk of Bianjing clapped with delight.