Chapter 170: Flaying and Stuffing with Straw

The Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Yongwei Camp searched Suzhou inside and out for an entire night. After taking stock, the haul this time was enormous.

In total they obtained over two million taels of silver, three hundred thousand mu of farmland, seventy-two thousand dan of rice and millet, twenty-eight thousand dan of miscellaneous grains, nine thousand six hundred dan of flour, over five thousand bolts of silk, over three thousand dan of raw silk, over five hundred satin and fur garments, and over a thousand pieces of antiques, calligraphy, paintings, and vessels.

These goods were enough to sustain the Yongwei Camp for a year, yet Zhu Cilang felt not a trace of excitement. He even felt it pitiable—if a single small prefectural city could yield this much in a house search, one could only imagine how terrifying the pests gnawing away at the Ming must be throughout the entire Fengyang Prefecture, the Southern Metropolitan Region, and indeed the whole Great Ming.

Impoverished households paid their grain levies until they went bankrupt, yet the official granaries in the prefectural city held barely a few bags of grain, while those officials would rather let grain rot in their own storehouses than contribute a single grain to share the nation's burden.

The next day, notices were posted throughout the city, detailing in full the crimes of every official from the Prefect down.

One literate elder by the notice swayed his head as he read aloud: "Suzhou is the hometown of Empress Xiaoci Gao, where the folk are simple and honest. Yet more than fifty officials of this prefectural city, colluding hand in glove, conniving left and right, have taken bribes without restraint, conspired within and without, deceived the court, and committed crimes of heaven-defying magnitude!"

"His Highness the Crown Prince, on imperial tour of inspection through Jiangnan, will brook no tolerance for such shameless corrupt officials. The public is hereby informed: come tomorrow to the Earth God Temple to witness the executions—do not bring children!"

Suzhou was the hometown of Empress Ma, the original wife of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Great Ming, and the people of Suzhou took pride in this. Upon learning that the court was to execute corrupt officials, everyone cheered and applauded—though they wondered why children were not allowed.

People began spreading the contents of the notice everywhere, making appointments with relatives and friends to go together to the Earth God Temple the next day to watch the executions and see how the court would deal with these lawless corrupt officials.

On the third day, at the first ke of noon, the sound of countless hoofbeats and rumbling cart wheels filled the streets as dozens of convicted officials were escorted by the Embroidered Uniform Guard to the Earth God Temple beside the prefectural office.

In the escort procession, Yang Qili rode atop a tall warhorse in full military dress, looking very impressive. From time to time he lashed with his horsewhip at the slower-moving convicted officials, and each crack of the whip drew cheers from the surrounding crowd.

In the crowd, a few young ruffians pushed through the jostling masses and craned their necks to stare at these manacled lord officials, feeling immensely satisfied—they had played the submissive fool before these officials more times than they could count.

One of the ruffians asked curiously: "Why hold the executions at the Earth God Temple? Wasn't it always at the Western Market before?"

An elder in the crowd chuckled: "Young man, you should read more books. The execution performed at the Earth God Temple is called flaying—it's a rule established by the founding emperor of this dynasty!"

That ruffian nodded repeatedly: "Oh, no wonder I heard my elders say this Earth God Temple is also called the Skinning Ground Temple. So this is where flaying executions take place!"

As people living under Fengyang Prefecture, everyone knew that the founding emperor came from poverty, understood the hardships of the common folk, and loathed corrupt officials with a passion. He liked to use the cruel punishment of "flaying for public display" to deal with corrupt officials—anyone who embezzled more than sixty taels would be flayed and stuffed with straw.

This punishment of flaying and stuffing with straw was even more cruel than death by a thousand cuts. The corrupt official's skin was stripped off while still alive, then the human skin was stuffed full of straw, sewn shut, and hung inside and outside government offices at every level "for public display," so that officials coming and going each day would tremble with fear and dare not embezzle or break the law.

The surrounding commoners were horrified. The Crown Prince was truly different—he came and immediately played this game. He truly had the founding emperor's style. No wonder children weren't allowed.

Gazing at the corrupt officials in the dozens of prison carts, the people's eyes shone with anticipation. In the crowd, a fat ruffian suddenly spotted Yang Qili riding over on horseback. He studied him curiously and muttered to himself: "Why does this imposing military lord look so familiar?"

The ruffian beside him nudged him and whispered: "Sixth Brother, that military lord is the fortune-teller from the tavern that day."

The fat ruffian was stunned at first, then his forehead began to sweat faintly. Finally he muttered over and over: "I misjudged him, I misjudged him."

Yang Qili happened to glance at this fat ruffian. As he rode past, he only gave a light laugh and paid them no heed—one couldn't show off too obviously, or the effect would be ruined.

At the second ke of noon, the prisoners, hands bound behind their backs and cloths tied over their mouths, had taken their positions one by one, kneeling in several rows before the temple. In front of the Earth God Temple there were also several deep pits dug on the spot.

Dozens of Embroidered Uniform Guard stood behind the prisoners with blades drawn, while soldiers of the Yongwei Camp surrounded the execution ground holding firelocks.

Li Tingbiao, beneath the royal command banner, tossed out a fire-tally order and said coldly: "The third ke of noon has arrived—commence the punishment of flaying!"

After three soul-chasing cannon blasts, the Embroidered Uniform Guard beside each prisoner drew their gleaming embroidered brocade sabers. Cutting in from the spine, they split the skin of the back in two, then slowly separated the skin from the muscle with the blade, tearing it open like butterfly wings spreading.

For a moment, the entire execution ground rang with wailing—a sight too miserable to behold. Had these convicted officials not had their mouths stopped up in advance, their screams alone might have frightened a few of the timid to death.

"Damn, they're flaying them alive!" someone in the crowd said, legs trembling slightly.

Flaying was a skilled craft, and those who still possessed this art were truly few. Fortunately, Li Tingbiao's Embroidered Uniform Guard were on hand, allowing the people of Suzhou to broaden their horizons.

Because some officials like the Prefect were too fat, with a layer of fat between skin and muscle that was hard to separate, the flaying proceeded with great difficulty.

"Sir, this bastard is too fat to flay easily!" a young Embroidered Uniform Guard said, deeply troubled.

Li Tingbiao was unconcerned and said flatly: "There is no punishment our Embroidered Uniform Guard cannot devise. Bring the black oil!"

Two Embroidered Uniform Guard brought melted asphalt and poured it over the Prefect's body. After a while, the pitch-black asphalt began to cool and solidify. Then the guards struck it repeatedly with hammers, and the asphalt came off together with the human skin, finally forming a complete shell of a man's skin.

Such a cruel punishment left the onlookers shaken to the core. Many would likely find it hard to sleep tonight. Several of the portly convicted officials in particular fainted from fright—though they had fainted, the punishment still had to continue!

Li Tingbiao nodded inwardly, thinking that this method Wei Zhongxian had devised back then really did work quite well.

After half a shichen of effort, several dozen complete human skins had been produced. The Embroidered Uniform Guard carefully stuffed straw inside them, then diligently sewed them shut, treating them like works of art.

Following Zhu Cilang's instructions, Li Tingbiao ordered some of these human-skin bags hung within the Earth God Temple, with the various instruments of torture also arranged as temple regalia to warn officials. The rest were hung on either side of the official seats in government offices, to warn serving officials to do their jobs well.

These placement arrangements were all devised by Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Cilang was also paying tribute to this legendary emperor. Later, when he went to Fengyang and Nanjing, Zhu Cilang planned to kill another batch to offer blood sacrifices to this founding emperor.

Zhu Cilang's methods of executing corrupt officials in Suzhou this time were extremely ruthless—the entire officialdom of Suzhou was nearly swept clean, shocking Fengyang Prefecture and even the whole Southern Metropolitan Region.

The reputations of "House-Seizing Crown Prince" and "Corrupt-Official-Slaying King of Hell" spread among the people. Yet no one knew that these dozens of human skins in Suzhou were merely an appetizer.

In the years to come, the officialdom of the Great Ming would face an even more violent storm of blood and gore, and this crown prince who slew corrupt officials would earn a title that made men tremble: the Blood Dragon!

Upon leaving Suzhou, Zhu Cilang appointed a ninth-rank clerk as acting Prefect of Suzhou, because apart from him, he was now the highest-ranked person in the entire city—the remaining government-salaried personnel had no rank at all.

Outside the city of Suzhou, this ninth-rank petty clerk, after seeing off the procession, still had trembling legs, his back long soaked with sweat. Surely, in the not-too-distant future of the Great Ming, there would appear a famously incorruptible official.

Requesting recommendation tickets