Chapter 644: Heads Rolling Outside Yongchang Gate

In the Ming officialdom, deceiving superiors and concealing from subordinates was extremely common; it was a tacit understanding shared by bureaucrats. Zhu Yijun never believed that his officials were all loyal to the empire or to him. Under this tacit understanding, the income generated by these miscellaneous officials was thus concealed.

That government offices at all levels had certain hidden incomes was long within Zhu Yijun's expectations, but that it was hidden so severely in Zhejiang was something Zhu Yijun would never permit.

In Wu Yi County, Jinhua Prefecture, Zhejiang, the annual land tax and commercial tax converted into silver amounted to no more than 23,000 taels, yet the hidden income reached as high as 114,000 taels of silver—more than five times the official income.

"Therefore, the Great Audit of the world for the twelfth year of Wanli is coming soon. The mountains of silver piled up in the county, department, and prefectural offices must be digested somehow. No matter the time, distribution is always a difficult problem, and the Great Construction is the most suitable method, because it covers all bases and satisfies everyone."

"And the existence of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions blocks the Great Construction that is prevalent throughout Jiangnan." Zhu Yijun analyzed the phenomenon, the problem, and the cause; this methodology based on the theory of contradictions was very reliable.

The existence of the Zhejiang Nine Battalions stuck in the throats of the bureaucrats in the prefectures, departments, and counties because they had no way to use the Great Construction to distribute benefits or cook the books. When the imperial Great Audit came, they would discover the mountains of silver piled up in the prefectural and county treasuries—what were they to do?

The reason why the mining supervisors created by the Wanli Emperor were widely opposed had become very clear. While the mining supervisors exhausted the pond to catch the fish, they allowed the localities to use the name of the mining supervisors to push the exactions of miscellaneous officials to the extreme. Hitching a ride, the mining supervisors and the harsh taxes became the final straw that broke the Ming.

"Your Majesty, in order to consume this sum of silver, Wu Yi County even built a small bell and drum tower for the main yamen, but they still could not digest all the silver gathered by the miscellaneous officials through clever pretexts." Wang Guoguang further elaborated on this phenomenon. Even a small bell and drum tower for the main yamen had been built, yet the gathered silver still could not be digested, so they had no choice but to set their sights on the Nine Battalions.

They couldn't spend it all; they simply couldn't spend it all. After the opening of the seas, this hidden income was also constantly increasing and expanding.

Once the Nine Battalions were disbanded, they could thoroughly denounce and smear the Zhejiang Nine Battalions, tear down all the embankments they had built, and rebuild them—tearing them down to distribute the money once, and rebuilding them to distribute it again. If the quality was poor, they would rebuild them the following year, repeating the cycle.

"However, the only thing worth rejoicing over is that our Ming officials are still looking for excuses, rather than fabricating things out of thin air just to digest this silver. That is still somewhat better." Zhu Yijun said sincerely.

"Fabricating out of thin air?" Wang Guoguang was stunned. What kind of game was that? It was simply unheard of.

"Uh, the West likes to use this method. It's just fabricating out of thin air. A bag of bushings weighing two taels can be sold for 44 taels of gold. The reason why Philip II cannot build a five-masted ocean-crossing ship is also based on this reason; it is simply too expensive." Zhu Yijun explained slightly what was meant by fabricating out of thin air.

"What is King Philip's audit for? A bag of two-tael bushings for forty-four taels of gold!" Wang Guoguang was shocked beyond measure by the West's way of playing. With such rampant corruption, where were the audits? Where was the surveillance?

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "The auditors sent out might die for various reasons, such as being shot eighteen times in the back and committing suicide?"

"Ah?" Wang Guoguang asked dully, "Shot eighteen times in the back, and committed suicide? Is this reasonable?"

"It shouldn't be reasonable." Zhang Xueyan was stunned.

"It is unreasonable, but in the West, it might be reasonable." Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said, "This kind of tax established by miscellaneous officials under clever pretexts needs auditing and surveillance. Let's start with Zhejiang."

Is the Ming locality really poor? The yamen are very poor, but officials like Wu Shanyan are not poor in the slightest.

What are the Ming censors doing? Wu Shanyan was the Governor of Zhejiang in the capacity of Vice Censor-in-Chief. He was the head of the censors; this was the most intuitive manifestation of the failure of the power to correct errors.

The imperial court allowed local yamen to have a portion of hidden income, but Zhejiang had gone too far.

"Your Majesty, in the tenth year of Wanli, Your Majesty issued an edict to include uncultivated land in the performance assessment. If one-fourth of the land was left waste, the assessment would be the lowest grade. But because of various reasons, it ultimately could not be implemented." Zhang Xueyan mentioned a matter. This land-waste assessment edict was a bit like a decision made on a whim, and it ultimately became a dormant clause.

This kind of thing was also very common. Top-down edicts sometimes ended up like this. The Emperor did not admit his mistake, but the dormant assessment also let the localities see that the Emperor was not a dictator who acted arbitrarily. When it really couldn't be done, the Emperor would also change it at his discretion.

"Why did the Junior Minister suddenly mention this?" Zhu Yijun asked suspiciously. One shouldn't slap a person in the face or expose their shortcomings; if Zhang Xueyan wanted to scold the Emperor, he could be more tactful!

"Because Songjiang Prefecture did it." Zhang Xueyan said with a very strange expression, "The problem of land waste in Songjiang Prefecture has been greatly improved. In this year's Great Audit, the waste land in Songjiang Prefecture is less than one-tenth; more than nine-tenths is cultivated."

Two years had passed, and Shen Shixing had solved the problem of land waste in Songjiang Prefecture. This was an unexpected joy of the Great Audit of the twelfth year of Wanli. Shen Shixing did not even report it to the imperial court as a merit to claim credit, but handed in the accounts during the Great Audit.

"Ah? No, how did he do it?" Zhu Yijun asked blankly. Zhu Yijun was unwilling to let the "Edict Against Land Waste" lie dormant, but if it couldn't be done, it couldn't be done. Even if he killed all the officials in the world, it couldn't be done. But in a situation where Zhu Yijun had already given up, Shen Shixing had actually done it.

Strange!

"Because there are many workshops in Songjiang Prefecture, and the craftsmen do not engage in the primary business of farming; this is the demand." Zhang Xueyan explained the problem. The increase in workshops solved the dilemma of the small-peasant economy.

The number of workshops was increasing, the number of craftsmen was increasing, and the demand for grain was increasing. The strong labor force of Songjiang Prefecture entered the workshops, and there was no labor force left in the fields. In order to retain this labor force, landlords had to provide more labor remuneration to keep tenants on the land instead of entering the workshops. In this way, the dilemma of the small-peasant economy was broken.

The establishment of large-scale free-hiring production relations meant that land was no longer left waste.

"So that's it." Zhu Yijun was dumbfounded. His visible hand had been severely taught a lesson by the invisible hand.

"Your Majesty, I don't think this is some absolute freedom solution." As soon as Wang Guoguang saw the Emperor's expression, he knew that the Emperor might have thought wrong. The Ministry of Revenue was not praising absolute freedom; absolute freedom could bring nothing but the freedom to exploit.

Wang Guoguang's reason was very sufficient. In fact, this was still solved by the Emperor's visible hand. The opening of the seas was led by the Emperor, and the 37.12 million silver invested in opening the seas was also real money thrown in by the Emperor. Therefore, when it came time to blossom and harvest, the absolute freedom faction must not be allowed to pluck the fruits of victory.

Announce: The "Edict Against Land Waste" has been successfully piloted in Songjiang Prefecture!

If you don't occupy the high ground of public opinion, the enemy will occupy it. Moreover, what Wang Guoguang said was the truth: the change in production relations was led by the imperial court. No matter who it was, they could not claim the merit of heaven as their own.

"Ah, it seems that's the case?" After listening to Wang Guoguang's face-to-face report, Zhu Yijun discovered that things really seemed to be like that.

Wang Guoguang said very solemnly, "The theory of absolute freedom has two absurd assumptions. The first is that the free market is always effectively and efficiently allocating all resources. But we have all seen that money always flows to places that don't lack money, and goods, commodities, and materials also flow to people who don't need materials."

"The biggest dilemma of the small-peasant economy is that grain cannot effectively flow to the people who need it, because the people who need it do not have surplus production to buy the grain they need."

"The second absurd assumption is that all growth is good, regardless of what type of growth it is. For example, silver spinning in the trading houses, for example, the constant expansion of pleasure boats and brothels, for example, local squires, powerful families, and workshop owners would rather raise litigation shysters than pay wages to poor people and laborers, and then crown it with the lie that one person's luxury is the livelihood of thousands."

These two absurd assumptions are the core theories of the theory of absolute freedom and are extremely ridiculous.

Wang Guoguang did not want the wise Emperor to be influenced by this kind of nonsense in his judgment of state affairs.

"The Grand Secretary's words are reasonable. Then, I will trouble you, Grand Secretary Wan, to announce the successful pilot of the 'Decree Against Leaving Fields Fallow' in the *Di Bao*." Zhu Yijun highly approved of Wang Guoguang's viewpoint; for twelve years, this accountant of the empire had secured every expenditure of the Wanli Reform.

"How much is the quantity of silver coins minted?" Zhu Yijun brought up the silver mountain that gave him a headache. He couldn't wait to continue investing in opening the seas.

"5 million silver minted annually. Your Majesty, it is expected to exceed 6.5 million silver by the middle of next year. By then, Your Majesty can open the sluice gates to release the water. Can the Inner Treasury not hold on?" Wang Guoguang reported the quantity of silver coins minted by the Directorate of Weapons, which could complete the established goal half a year ahead of schedule.

"It can still hold on." Zhu Yijun breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's good that everything is going smoothly."

Everything was proceeding according to plan.

After Ma Wenying, Yang Tingyong, and others met the Emperor, they received a reward. In addition to a reward of one hundred silver each, there was a fine woolen cloak for each person, four flintlock muskets bestowed by the Emperor, and four cases of National Cellar liquor, six bottles per case.

"His Majesty has ordered the four Company Commanders to return to Zhejiang, select 4,500 elite soldiers to go to the Nagasaki Governor's Office, and at the same time, purge the old and weak soldiers of the Nine Battalions, and supplement the 45,000-man establishment of the Nine Battalions." Li Yougong detailed the work content of the four Company Commanders.

Return to Zhejiang, supervise the execution of Wu Shanyan and the 1,200 others, and then select elite soldiers, supplement the troop source, and go to the Nagasaki Governor's Office to exterminate the Japanese pirates.

Supplementing the troop source was a suggestion by the Minister of War Ceng Shengwu during the court discussion. The Nine Battalions' establishment was not full, and most had vacancies. Among Wu Shanyan's more than one hundred crimes, one was that he was eating empty military pay. Supplementing the establishment, the Nine Battalions would still patrol and resist floods as usual. At the same time, they would conduct hydrological and geographical surveys of the entire Zhejiang territory to determine the post roads of Yingtian Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, and Songjiang Prefecture. The Nine Battalions would later become an engineer regiment.

A new revolving door appeared: Zhejiang Nine Battalions engineer regiment, selection into the navy, Nagasaki Governor's Office personal guards and guest soldiers, and returning to the Nine Battalions as officers after retirement, responsible for the Great Construction in Zhejiang.

The imperial court did not want the hidden income of the Zhejiang prefectural and local yamen, and keeping it in Zhejiang would also be distributed through the Great Construction. But the Nine Battalions soldiers had to get a share of the distribution, and the poor people of Zhejiang also had to get a share of the distribution. The post road was a public construction investment; once repaired, it would be beneficial to everyone.

"Third Master, didn't we rebel? Why did the Emperor still give us so many rewards?" Yang Tingyong looked at his pile of rewards and was a bit confused. They had all rebelled. If meeting the Emperor was just for the Emperor to stabilize the Zhejiang Nine Battalions, then these extra rewards were a bit strange.

"Rebel? Who rebelled? Nonsense! We were entering the city to exterminate the sitting bandits at the request of the Hangzhou Prefect Yan Shiyuan! This is what His Majesty said in the Court Gazette! Are you questioning His Majesty!" Ma Wenying said sternly, "It was entering the city to exterminate the sitting bandits! In the process of exterminating the sitting bandits, we discovered the evidence of Wu Shanyan's deceiving superiors and concealing from subordinates!"

"It was clearly a mutiny..." Zhang Wenyuan muttered, "At the beginning, I had already thought it through. If a person dies, the bird faces the sky. No matter what, I had to kill this dog official Wu Shanyan! And his group of lackeys!"

"His Majesty naturally has His Majesty's considerations. Are you questioning His Majesty's wisdom?" Ma Wenying asked seriously.

"No! His Majesty is wise!" Zhang Wenyuan waved his hands repeatedly. He just hadn't figured out why His Majesty did this.

When Ma Wenying returned to Shuangyu Port in Zhejiang, it was already the end of the tenth month or the beginning of the eleventh month. Under the influence of the Little Ice Age, the northwest wind in Hangzhou was bone-chilling, and even the surface of Xihu had frozen a thin layer of ice. The execution ground was being built. Executing more than 1,200 rebels at once, those who could go to the execution ground were all officials. As for the lackeys, they didn't even have the qualifications to go on stage; they were all below the stage.

There were not enough executioners, so Shen Shixing had people go to the Nine Battalions to select a group of soldiers to become executioners.

Shen Shixing was extremely busy. The establishment of the Nine Battalions Experience Division had a thousand threads, but Shen Shixing still completed the institutional construction before the execution. Three-legged toads were hard to find, but two-legged scholars were everywhere.

Combining the experience of Songjiang Prefecture, Shen Shixing used outsiders for all the officials in the Experience Division and all the prefectures and counties in Zhejiang. Locals were too easily mixed up with local clans, local squires, and powerful families.

The Five Classics Doctors had arrived, and the survey preparations for the Ying-Hang Post Road and Song-Hang Post Road were about to begin in full swing.

Shen Shixing finally finished all the matters after the mutiny and found time to sit down and drink a cup of tea. It was already three o'clock in the afternoon, and he had only just found time to eat breakfast.

"This fish, it's better to let it be in the river. In the future, in Hangzhou, don't make fish." Shen Shixing looked at a plate of vinegar fish on the table and instructed his attendants. He really couldn't enjoy the blessing of Xihu vinegar fish.

Hangzhou is so prosperous, how did it become a culinary desert?!

"Governor, Hangzhou Prefect Yan Shiyuan requests an audience." A doorman walked in and said with great embarrassment.

"Let him in. I'm eating." Shen Shixing waved his hand and let Yan Shiyuan in first.

He hadn't eaten in the morning. Early in the morning, he went to Yongchang Gate and personally dug the first shovel of earth for the construction of the Loyalty Shrine at Yongchang Gate, which counted as laying the foundation. Then he went non-stop to the Jiuqu Battalion to comfort the families of the soldiers who sacrificed in the process of exterminating the sitting bandits. At noon, he returned to the prefectural yamen to process a batch of official documents, mainly because some Nine Battalions soldiers had looted the property of innocent people, which needed to be returned. After reading the official documents, Shen Shixing met the Five Classics Doctors from the capital and sent two hundred Nine Battalions soldiers to escort and protect the Five Classics Doctors in surveying the post road.

He had just finished his work and had only just sat down at the table, hungry to the point of sticking to his back, when Yan Shiyuan came knocking.

"I'll eat first. You speak, I'll listen." Shen Shixing signaled Yan Shiyuan to speak.

"Ma Wenzhong and the others are back, asking about the selection of elite soldiers; should the silver of the miscellaneous officials in each county be included in the Great Audit?" Yan Shiyuan explained his purpose. There were two things: selecting elite soldiers was easy to handle, the Capital Battalion had experience that could be directly applied, and when the navy was formed, it had already been selected several times. The main thing was the second matter.

Whether the hidden income of each yamen should be included in the Great Audit, the imperial court had not given specific instructions.

The imperial court did not give instructions because the imperial court was not in Zhejiang and did not understand the situation in Zhejiang. It was not particularly clear and needed the Zhejiang Governor to make a judgment.

Shen Shixing finished his lunch, which had been heated three times, at the fastest speed and said, "Include it in the Great Audit."

"I know, once it's included in the Great Audit, they will cry poor, and they will continue to use various methods to squeeze the marrow out of the poor people to make up for this part of the loss. But you have to know, this is the most suitable opportunity. The Zhejiang land has just experienced a mutiny. Is there a more suitable opportunity than this?"

"There will definitely be voices of opposition, and clever pretexts will also exist. This is a long-term struggle process. At worst, let the Nine Battalions soldiers enter the city periodically to exterminate the sitting bandits again."

"I have the same idea." Yan Shiyuan said very firmly, "The struggle has reached this point, so we cannot retreat anymore."

Shen Shixing said to Yan Shiyuan, "All the water pits and dung-channel owners in Hangzhou Prefecture are Wu Shanyan's lackeys. Now that Wu Shanyan has fallen, it cannot continue like this. Following the example of Songjiang Prefecture, establish an official water and fertilizer office to specialize in water supply and dung channels. Keep a close eye on this matter. Wu Shanyan must die, but he cannot die in vain. Zhejiang must make changes."

"The imperial court has always been wary of Zhejiang. This wariness has become a thorn in the Emperor's heart. To eliminate this wariness, this is the best opportunity. Clean Zhejiang thoroughly so that the imperial court can rest assured, the Emperor can rest assured, and the people of Zhejiang can rest assured."

Shen Shixing investigated Wu Shanyan. He did not agree with Wu Shanyan's choice, but he could understand it.

Zhu Wan, Zhang Jing, and Li Tianchong—two Zhejiang Governors and one Minister of War died on Zhejiang soil. It was no surprise that Wu Shanyan chose to collude with local clans, local squires, and powerful families. But Shen Shixing did not agree with this choice. If it were him, he would rather die with these people and burn with them.

Some people might think his idea was naive, but he felt that this might be the purpose of working hard to pass the imperial examination as a top scholar back then.

To be concerned about the world's troubles before the world, and to enjoy the world's joys after the world.

On the seventh day of the eleventh month of the twelfth year of Wanli, Shen Shixing arrived at the execution ground outside Yongchang Gate in Hangzhou Prefecture. The spectators surrounded the execution ground, and the execution ground stretched from Yongchang Gate to the Qiantang River.

Chen Tiande led the Coastal Defense Inspector, pulling six parade carts, on which hung Wu Shanyan and others. They walked through the streets and alleys of Hangzhou Prefecture and arrived in front of Yongchang Gate before letting Wu Shanyan and these officials down and throwing them onto the execution ground.

Then came the complicated process. It was necessary to verify their identities. Everyone needed to be checked. Verifying the identity was first judged by fingerprints, followed by scars, moles, etc. on the body. The identity of the head of the case needed to be verified by Shen Shixing personally.

"Shen Shixing! You have such great prestige! My today is your tomorrow! I can be beheaded and displayed by the Emperor today, and you will be the same tomorrow!" Wu Shanyan was somewhat disheveled. His imprisonment had lasted for a month and a half, and he was no longer the gentle gentleman he was at the beginning.

The Emperor once said that death is not terrible; what is terrible is waiting for death.

Wu Shanyan had been waiting for death, suffering every minute and every second. Now, the day of the end of this endless hell had finally arrived.

Wu Shanyan spat viciously and shouted sternly, "Do you expect the Emperor to be wise forever! How brilliant the Kaiyuan Prosperity of Tang Xuanzong was, and how miserable the Tianbao troubled times were! What about Emperor Shizong's twenty years of diligent governance? Wasn't he still hiding in the West Garden and living in seclusion?"

"The Emperor is a person, a living person, with flesh and blood. The Emperor is diligent now because he is restrained by Zhang Juzheng! When Zhang Juzheng is gone and the Emperor becomes slack, let's see what happens to you!"

"I'll be waiting for you on the road to the Yellow Springs!"

Shen Shixing stood with his hands folded, looking at Wu Shanyan, and was stunned for a moment before saying, "Although the teacher is very powerful, is the Emperor someone the teacher can restrain? Look at you, you don't understand. The teacher is always just a minister."

"As for the Emperor being slack?" Shen Shixing took a deep breath, closed his eyes and thought for a moment, looked at Wu Shanyan and said, "I don't regret it! Just like you haven't repented for your crimes until now. People are all like this. The path you choose, you just walk it yourself."

"Take him to the execution ground!"

Regarding Wu Shanyan's vicious curse before death, Shen Shixing responded directly. If one day the Emperor really became slack, not as high-spirited as he is now, hiding in the Tonghe Palace, ignoring state affairs, and governing by doing nothing, then Shen Shixing would have nothing to regret. He had lived up to his parents, the Emperor, the Ming, and himself in this life, and that was enough.

Choice is a personal freedom. After making a choice, one must bear the corresponding responsibility.

The eunuch Zhang Cheng, the Naval Admiral of Songjiang Town, flicked his whisk, and two young eunuchs opened the imperial edict. Zhang Cheng shouted in a high-pitched voice, "By the grace of the Emperor, the edict says:"

"Facing many difficulties, the ambition to rectify the power, heaven has not yet repented for the disaster, the luck is in danger, the group of evil people are ugly, stealing the power of the country, the evil heart is lurking, and the provocation is not planned."

"I relied on the Wu thief as my confidant, yet the Wu thief repaid my kindness with treacherous power! This scoundrel colludes in evil, a beastly and ugly creature, daring to defy the laws of Heaven. He knows not the grace of restoration, but repeatedly schemes in his madness. He resists the imperial mandate, misleading my peaceful subjects and cruelly harming my innocent soldiers! The common people in the counties and towns are wailing across the land. I, the parent of the people, the sovereign of the world, and the master of the state, how can I not be filled with shame?"

"Relying on the righteous people of the country, correcting the wrongs, entering the city to exterminate the sitting bandits and evil rebels, and hearing that the villain's lair has been completely overturned, my heart is comforted. Correcting the criminal book, abandoning it with the public, this is the national code!"

"Today, outside Yongchang Gate, Shen Shixing, acting as Zhejiang Governor, will supervise the execution. Wu Shanyan and his party will all be beheaded and displayed to clarify the criminal law, witnessed by soldiers and civilians, and witnessed by heaven and man!"

"The established constitution of the dynasty, spreading virtue and grace, the edict is announced to the world, so that everyone knows."

"Respect this."

There was a format error in the imperial edict. It should have been Shen Shixing, the Ministry of Personnel Director inspecting Songjiang and Zhejiang, but the Director is a fifth-rank official. If he were demoted by one more level, Shen Shixing would not be as happy as taking the imperial examination again. The Ming Emperor gave Shen Shixing some face.

Shen Shixing drew the order sign from the sign tube in the main hall, wrote Wu Shanyan's name on it, threw out the order sign, and said with a serious expression, "The time of noon has arrived, execute!"

The order sign landed, and the executioner stepped forward, took off the criminal's death card inserted in Wu Shanyan's neck. The death card should have been written with the crime, but there were too many crimes to fit, so he just wrote a "death" character. After the executioner threw away the death card, he took out the beheading knife, took a sip of wine, and sprayed it on the beheading knife.

The executioner stuck the beheading knife on the ground, took out a bone-prying knife two fingers wide from his waist, felt Wu Shanyan's neck, counted the vertebrae, inserted the bone-prying knife, and pried it gently. *Click. *

Wu Shanyan only felt a chill in his neck and could not feel his body at all. He smelled the smell of feces and urine. This was the scene that would appear after the spine was broken and the body was out of control. Wu Shanyan wanted to cry, wanted to laugh, wanted to shout in pain, but he couldn't do it at all. His body was completely out of control.

In fact, at this time, he was already dead.

The executioner looked at the sun, raised the beheading knife in his hand, swung it down violently, and cut it at the place where Wu Shanyan's spine was broken, cutting off his head.

Wu Shanyan's head rolled down in response. He actually still had some consciousness. After feeling the world spinning, he saw a group of people wearing short brown clothes. He blinked hard. His life flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern, and then all perception disappeared, falling into endless darkness.

Wu Shanyan regretted it at the last moment of his life.

Because he saw himself in the forty-first year of Jiajing, dressed in fine clothes and riding a fast horse. At that time, he had just passed the imperial examination and was high-spirited. At that time, he wanted to use his own hands to make the world clear and bright.

Later, when exactly did he slide into the abyss?

He didn't know. Wu Shanyan didn't even remember it himself, and he left the world.

"Well killed!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd. Along with the cheers, the executioners waved the long knives in their hands, reflecting the noon sun, and one head after another fell to the ground.

The execution of 1,200 people beheaded and displayed was completed within the quarter of an hour at noon.

Ma Wenying picked up Wu Shanyan's head, put it in a sandalwood box, sent it to the front of the Loyalty Shrine outside Yongchang Gate, and buried it at the entrance where everyone had to pass. This was the Emperor's request: treacherous officials who betrayed the Emperor and betrayed the common people would be trampled by ten thousand people for generations.

After putting in the head, Ma Wenying began to fill the soil. What he filled was lime, which was mixed cement.

Concrete can preserve the head for a longer time.

"Governor, something happened at the shipyard!" The secretary handed a letter to Shen Shixing in a panic.

After reading the letter, Shen Shixing looked at Yan Shiyuan for a long time. He swore that he would never be Yan Shiyuan's immediate superior in this life! ===== CHAPTER 645 =====