zChapter 1082 - Execution By Dismemberment (1/2)
Zhang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, if the old Emperor was in this state, he was reassured. At least he did not feel emotional after seeing this mother and son pair or felt pity towards his son and softened his heart. If it was like that, the work put in by the Ninth Prince was going to be wasted.
The good thing was the hatred the Emperor felt for these two people surpassed everything else, what kinship, what love, under this huge amount of hatred, there was no need to talk about these. He heard the Emperor say: “With them being locked in here and suffering, they must be very lonely as well. Xiao Yuan Zhi, tell Our other sons and those concubines in the harem, ask them to line up here and visit. If this grand scene is not shown to others, then the effort of Ming-er and Ah-Heng will go to waste.” After saying this, he glanced at Liu Shi, speaking with loathing: “When everyone has visited, send this woman to the execution grounds, We bestow her with execution by dismemberment.”
With this sentence delivering the execution order, Liu Shi was almost frightened to death. Death by dismemberment! In the past, regardless of how grave a sin the concubines and noble ladies committed, they would only be given a death by hanging or a cup of poisonous wine, or for those who were not obedient at all, strong Eunuchs would strangle them to death directly, no one had ever been given death by dismemberment. In reality, not just the concubines, even in the law of Da Shun, though execution of dismemberment did exist, not many people were given this punishment.
Execution by dismemberment was also known as cutting the meat away from the bone. It was said to be a specific process, a living person would be tightly tied up completely, then the executioner would use a brightly polished blade to cut off their flesh piece by piece until they die. The ones who were executed by dismemberment have already committed very serious crimes, and the law-executor felt that dying was not enough to pay for their crimes, so they would use this method to punish them. This was still not the point, the scariest part about execution by dismemberment was that during the process of the execution, the convict could not die. From the first cut, they needed to experience all one thousand cuts and could only die after the last cut.
Once Liu Shi thought about these, she wanted to hit herself against the wall, but the wardens stopped her. The Emperor commanded: “If she dies before that, none of you will be allowed to live.”
Finally, after seeing everything he came to see, the palace staff carried the Emperor out from the death row prison. On the way to Zhao He Hall, the Emperor told Zhang Yuan: “They said that kinship does not exist in the imperial family, We did not believe this in the past, and always thought to treat these sons well so they will not be disappointed. But We know now, the imperial family really does not have any kinship! You treat them well, but that does not meant that they will treat you well, you treat them as a son, but they do not treat you as a father. For the sake of a throne, they can harm Us to this extent. For this kind of son, what is the use of Us keeping them?”
Zhang Yuan quickly advised him: “Your Majesty, please calm your anger, not all the princes are like this! That third son in the past did not count.”
“Yeah.” The Emperor nodded, “It’s still alright to think like this, as least the other brats are still good.” He might have said this, but he was still unhappy and listless. He even felt irritated at the sun shining over his head. Even if there were palace staff holding an umbrella over him, he also felt that the sunlight could shine on him through the umbrella, making him raise his hand to cover his forehead, rushing the servants: “Walk faster, We do not wish to bask under the sunlight.”
Because the Emperor gave his orders, the princes and the concubines in the harem had no choice but to queue up and go to the death row prison to see the pitiful state of the Eighth Prince and Liu Shi. The princes were still alright, at most sighing for a long time after looking at this. But the concubines were not so lucky, each of them throwing up in disgust and practically had to be carried out from the prison. They were afraid. In the past, they only focused on currying favour with Liu Shi, but unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, Liu Shi and the Eighth Prince have fallen to this state.
Someone smart said: “Has anyone opposing the Ninth Prince gotten a good ending before?”
The Sixth Prince Xuan Tianfeng had the important task of regent, so he was the last of the princes to enter the death row prison. He did not go there alone and took the effort to take out Noble Lady Li from Jing Ci Palace, heading to the death row prison together.
Noble Lady Li was a very neurotic person, her thoughts were extreme and she would overthink problems easily. Being imprisoned in Jing Ci Palace these days, she would cry sometimes, laugh sometimes, sometimes feeling hatred when she thought about her older sister who was sent to the death row prison, and sometimes when she thought about her son sitting on the dragon seat and taking up the position of regent, she would feel that her life was filled with hope. When the Sixth Prince came to get her, she was currently telling her maid Zuo Er what she would do after becoming Empress Dowager, and when she heard that her son came to bring her to see the Eighth Prince, she became unhappy.
But so what if she was unhappy? This was a decree given by the Emperor, she was not given the choice to sit out of this.
Noble Lady Li followed behind the Sixth Prince and thinking that she was going to see those two people, she momentarily became clueless on how she should face this. That was her older sister and nephew, and at the same time, they were the two people she hated the most. With these two identities, when she saw them again, what would she think about it?
Noble Lady Li’s mind continued to run wild, and until she arrived in front of the death row prison, she noticed that there were still many concubines and noble ladies waiting at the prison gates. And those people who came out, all of them were pale and throwing up. Some people even turned a little crazy, shouting in a crazed manner, “It’s too scary! Too scary! The Eighth Prince is a monster, he is going to rot to death!”
She felt afraid and paused in her steps, unwilling to walk forward anymore. Around her, she could still hear the whispers from the concubines and noble ladies who were waiting, with people saying: “Yesterday, I heard Concubine Hua say that Liu Shi has already gone mad, seeking her death every day, but the wardens have kept her under watch, so she cannot die even if she wanted to.”
Someone also said: “The Eighth Prince is in an even worse state, his bottom is fully rotten, he’s even worse than a Eunuch now.”
“I heard that the conditions in the death row prison are especially bad, the convicts will eat and excrete in the same jail cell, the smell is so bad that people can throw up on the spot.”