Chapter 377

Jiajing 24th year, October 16th.

The ruins caused by last night's explosion had not yet been cleared; the fly ash was first rolled into the high sky by the wind, and then fell like snow, dyeing half the capital into a white ash like a negative film.

Inside a civilian house, a woman timidly poked her head out and looked around.

Just one look, and her face turned pale.

Just outside her door, on the ground less than three feet away, white ash rose eerily, outlining the silhouette of a human figure. Around the silhouette was a patch of dark red dried blood.

The woman closed her eyes.

Although she was terrified to the extreme, she knew she couldn't let the corpse lie at her own door. So she first turned back to scold her children to hide under the bed, then timidly walked out the door, endured the fear, grabbed the corner of the corpse's clothes, and dragged it toward a nearby alley.

There were water channels and manholes in the alley; it would be fine to just throw the corpse in.

Malnutrition, fear, and exhaustion almost squeezed the woman's strength dry; just a few dozen steps left her sweating profusely.

Dragging the corpse to the edge of the water channel, the woman just wanted to push it in, but hesitated for a moment. Looking at the exquisite and comfortable clothes on the corpse, she thought of the hard coarse cloth on her own children.

"Should... anyway, it's a corpse..."

"Just wash it in the water channel..."

The woman gritted her teeth and laboriously stripped the corpse's clothes, even finding some broken silver in the lining of the clothes with surprise.

Next, just wash the clothes.

The woman soaked the clothes in the water channel.

Dark red blood scabs bloomed in the water, dragging a long tail along with the current.

The woman scrubbed hard.

After scrubbing for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the water gradually became clear.

The woman breathed a sigh of relief and was about to scrub a few more times to clean the clothes before going home. But as she scrubbed, she found that the blood water coming out was becoming increasingly thick.

"Could it be that the blood inside just melted?"

The woman was strange and continued to scrub a few times, but her hand seemed to be entangled by something very thin and tough, which made her fingers hurt. She raised her hand to look, her face turned pale instantly, and she sat down on the ground with a thud.

That was a clump of long hair.

Oily, smooth, and extremely well-maintained long hair.

Wrapped around her fingers.

Chatter-chatter-chatter—

Teeth clattering against each other, the woman stiffly turned her head to look upstream of the water channel.

She knew why she couldn't wash the clothes clean.

Just a short distance upstream of the water channel, a round object was stuck there, two round, shining eyeballs were silently looking at her, and blood flowed from the torso, dyeing the water channel a scarlet red.

There wasn't much blood in a head; to achieve the current effect—this head had been cut off for no more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

The woman froze in place.

She looked back at another water channel under the other wall.

It was also scarlet red.

The blood water was too much and too thick; the sound of water hitting the channel wall was even sticky. It was as if there was a sea of blood upstream, pouring down along the water channels that covered the entire capital.

The perspective followed the water channel, chasing all the way to the source.

Passing through several streets, passing through several headless corpses lying beside the water channel and pouring the blood from their torsos into it, passing through countless miserable wails and cries, finally arriving in front of a huge and magnificent vermilion gate.

A middle-aged official wearing a scarlet official uniform knelt outside the gate, his hands and feet bound, his originally well-maintained beard scattered, covered in tears and saliva.

He shouted with eyes about to split.

"Lord Tang! What is the meaning of this!"

"You are also a civil official, a veteran of two reigns; why collude with those eagle dogs of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to harm us loyal officials!"

Tang Lanzhou stood in front of him, flipping through an account book, and looked at him upon hearing this, saying calmly.

"Collude?"

"Where did Lord Liu get this idea? This old man is the head of the Ministry of Justice, and I am leading the people of the Ministry of Justice. I just came to your mansion to search for the thieves who caused trouble last night, and happened to find evidence of your crimes. When did I ever collude with the Embroidered Uniform Guard?"

The middle-aged official choked.

"You... you are digging your own grave! Cutting yourself off from the world!"

"Having done such a thing, do you think you can still live! Your family—"

Tang Lanzhou suddenly swung his hand!

Slap!

A slap hit his face, knocking him sideways to the ground, only to be helped up by the soldiers standing behind him.

"Family... Heh."

Tang Lanzhou sneered in a tone without any fluctuation.

"Since Lord Liu mentioned family, this old man remembers one thing."

He beckoned.

Soldiers escorted several people who were struggling and wailing incessantly, walked out from the gate, and pressed them down in front of the middle-aged official. The middle-aged official had just been slapped and was about to curse angrily, but when he saw these people, his eyes widened suddenly, and he swallowed his words back.

"You—"

"Your son, Liu Shiao... Hmm, riding a horse to hurt people, forcibly seizing women; there aren't many lives on his hands, but there's no benefit in keeping him." Tang Lanzhou rubbed his right hand and said without raising his head.

"Kill him."

Squish—

The blade pierced the neck, and blood sprayed out, splashing on the middle-aged official's face.

"Ahhhhhhh—"

He screamed, struggling to move forward, but was pressed in place and unable to move.

Tang Lanzhou continued calmly.

"Your nephew, Liu Zhixin, didn't do anything very evil, but this old man remembers that he seemed to have taken Yan Song's path to get his official position, right?"

"Your wife... Forget it, this old man is tired, too lazy to talk."

Tang Lanzhou rubbed his eyebrows and waved his hand.

Squish, squish, squish.

Long blades pierced their necks, and the corpses fell one by one.

The middle-aged official was already in tears, struggling and wailing on the ground, trying his best to break free, but he couldn't break free from the soldiers' capture at all, and could only squeeze out incoherent wails from his throat.

"Uh-ahhh—"

Tang Lanzhou frowned.

"Alright Lord Liu, stop shouting."

"This old man is old, I can't stand the noise."

Boom!

The soldier who captured the middle-aged official understood, and a sword hilt hit his waist, forcibly cutting off his wailing.

So Tang Lanzhou continued.

"Now, Lord Liu should understand this old man's determination."

He stepped in front of the middle-aged official, looked down at him, and said calmly.

"In your house, there are still three people."

"Your young son, young daughter, and a concubine; these people, this old man can kill, or I can not kill... It all depends on Lord Liu's next answer."

"Last October, you drank with Lord Shi of the Dali Temple and Lord Qi of the Five Military Governor's Office; did you say at the table, 'The current Emperor is lazy in government, looking not like a ruler of men'?"

The middle-aged official was stunned.

"Last October? I didn't—"

Squish.

A spray of fresh blood sprinkled behind his back.

He shivered and looked back.

His concubine had already fallen to the ground, and blood flowed along the cracks in the ground into the water channel in the corner.

He understood.

Whether he had drunk that wine or not, he must have drunk it.

Whether he had said that sentence or not, he must have said it.

"I, I... said it..."

He lowered his head with difficulty and said in a low voice.

"Did Lord Shi and Lord Qi say it?"

"Said, it."

"How many sentences of such rebellious words did you say?"

"Three, no, ten... many sentences, I can write them down..."

Tang Lanzhou nodded.

"Sign, behead, go to the next house."

He turned and got on his horse.

"Lord Shi of the Dali Temple's mansion is just ahead; I remember his official mansion is nearby?"

An official nodded in agreement.

"This old man remembers that there should be a conspiracy to rebel and private storage of armor between their two houses, right?"

The official understood and turned back to give a few low instructions.

Then several soldiers quickly took off their armor and wrapped it together with long bows. Another team of knights grabbed the packages and galloped away on horseback.

Tang Lanzhou said calmly.

"Let's go, time is tight, try to kill as many as possible."

"Don't let my wife wait too long."