Chapter 429: Treading the Bones of Officials on the Heavenly Street

October 16th, the 24th year of Jiajing.

The ruins from 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 in a white ash like a negative film.

Inside a civilian house, a woman timidly poked her head out to look left and right.

Just one glance, and her face turned pale.

Just outside her door, on the ground less than three feet away, white ash bulged eerily, outlining the silhouette of a person. Around the silhouette was a patch of dried blood, black and red.

The woman closed her eyes.

Although she was terrified to the extreme, she knew she couldn't let the corpse lie at her own doorstep. So she first turned back to scold her children to hide under the bed, then timidly walked out the door, enduring her fear to drag the corpse by the hem of its clothes 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 had almost drained the woman's strength; just a few dozen steps left her drenched in sweat.

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 clothing on the corpse, she thought of the hard, coarse cloth on her own children.

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

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

The woman gritted her teeth and painstakingly stripped off the corpse's clothes, even finding some broken silver in the lining of the clothes, which surprised her.

Next, she just needed to wash the clothes.

The woman soaked the clothes in the water channel.

Dark red blood scabs dissolved 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 continue scrubbing a few more times to wash the clothes clean before going home. But as she scrubbed, she found that the blood water being scrubbed out was becoming increasingly dense.

"Could it be that the blood on the inside just dissolved?"

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

It was a clump of long hair.

Long hair that was shiny, smooth, and well-groomed.

Wrapped around her fingers.

Chatter-chatter-chatter—

Her teeth collided, and the woman stiffly turned her head to look upstream of the water channel.

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

Just upstream of the water channel not far away, a round object was stuck there, two round, shining eyeballs were looking at her silently, and blood was flowing 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 must have been cut off no more than a cup of tea's time ago.

The woman froze in place.

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

It was also scarlet red.

There was too much blood, too thick, and the sound of water hitting the channel walls carried a sticky quality. 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, tracing all the way to the source.

Passing through several streets, passing through several headless corpses lying by the water channel, pouring the blood from their torsos into it, passing through countless miserable wails and cries, and finally arriving before a massive and gorgeous vermilion gate.

A middle-aged official wearing scarlet official robes knelt outside the gate, his hands and feet bound, his well-groomed beard disheveled, 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 official of two reigns, why collude with those eagle dogs of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to harm us loyal and good people!"

Tang Lanzhou stood before him, flipping through an account book, and upon hearing this, he glanced at him and said calmly.

"Collude?"

"Where did Lord Liu get this idea? I am the head of the Ministry of Justice, leading the people of the Ministry of Justice, coming to your mansion to search for the thieves who caused trouble last night, and just happened to find evidence of your crimes. When have I ever colluded 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 landed on 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, I just remembered one thing."

He beckoned.

Soldiers pushed several people who were struggling and wailing incessantly, walking all the way 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 upon seeing these people, his eyes widened abruptly, and he swallowed his words back.

"You—"

"Your son, Liu Shiao... Hmm, riding a horse to hurt people, forcibly seizing women, he doesn't have many lives on his hands, but keeping him is no good either." Tang Lanzhou rubbed his right hand and said without raising his head.

"Kill him."

Squish—

The blade inserted into the neck, blood sprayed out, splashing onto 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, doesn't have any great evil, but I remember, he seems to have taken Yan Song's path to get his official position, right?"

"Your wife... Forget it, I'm tired, too lazy to say."

Tang Lanzhou rubbed his brow and waved his hand.

Squish, squish, squish.

Long blades inserted into necks, corpses fell one by one.

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

"Uh ahhh—"

Tang Lanzhou frowned.

"Alright Lord Liu, stop shouting."

"I am old, can't stand the noise."

Boom!

The soldier capturing the middle-aged official understood and struck his waist with a sword hilt, forcibly cutting off his wailing.

So Tang Lanzhou continued.

"Now, Lord Liu should understand my determination."

He walked to the 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, I 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 blood splashed behind his back.

He trembled and looked back.

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

He understood.

Whether he had drunk that meal or not, he must have.

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

"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 were said?"

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

Tang Lanzhou nodded.

"Sign the confession, cut off his head, go to the next house."

He turned and mounted his horse.

"The mansion of Lord Shi of the Dali Temple is just ahead. I remember his official mansion is nearby?"

An official nodded in agreement.

"I remember, 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-voiced instructions.

Several soldiers quickly took off the armor they were wearing, wrapped it together with long bows. Another team of knights grabbed the packages and galloped away.

Tang Lanzhou said calmly.

"Let's go, time is tight, try to kill more."

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

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 430 =====