Wiping the tears away from the blurred petitions loaded with fervent words, and sorrowful pleas, he merely glanced at them before relegating them to the shelves.
By noon, the execution ground at Vegetable Market was already swarmed with people.
When the appointed hour arrived, Yang Ge, adorned in a scarlet robe with four-clawed dragons and the imperial sword on his waist, wearing a half-mask of a ferocious demon, ascended the execution platform amidst the escort of a large group of guards clad in embroidered uniforms.
"Bring him up!"
The moment Yang Ge sat down, he shouted loudly.
Instantly, two muscular guards dragged up an official dressed in prisoner’s garb, gagged with a rag, still struggling violently, and strode onto the platform.
"The criminal Yang Yuting has been brought!"
The two guards loudly proclaimed, hauling the criminal up to the execution stand; one of them lifted his disheveled hair, shouting: "Verify his identity!"
"It’s truly Lord Yang..."
At just a glance, the crowded populace of Yangzhou erupted into chaos!
They might not recognize anyone else, but how could they not recognize Yang Yuting?
This scoundrel had served as an official in Yangzhou for over a decade, rising from a seventh-rank County Magistrate to a Magistrate, how could they not know him!
Was this revelation so explosive right from the start?
Foll𝑜w current novℯls on ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm.
"Silence!"
Dozens of guards forming a human wall at the base of the platform rose and shouted.
The noisy crowd quickly quieted down.
Yang Ge waved his hand, and a plump guard holding the dossier of Yang Yuting stepped forward, pulling at his voice to loudly declare: "The criminal Yang Yuting, former Magistrate of Yangzhou, since last September, colluded with Yongtai Grain Firm and Changfeng Gang to monopolize the grain route, manipulating grain prices for outrageous profits, wreaking havoc over thousands of miles. In June this year, the criminal instructed his steward Yang Wangcai to violently abduct Ms. Zhang from Wutong Lane, secretly killing Zhang and her entire family of nine. In July, in order to steal the secret brewing formula from Yuyu Wine Estate, he caused the catchpole Liu Mao to frame the Qian family of Yuyu Wine Estate, torturing them into false confessions leading to death in wrongful imprisonment..."
The relatively brief document encapsulated the blood-drenched lives of forty-five, with phrases ranging from slaying entire households to sending innocents to die in prison.
The higher the officials read, the quieter the crowd became, and the more fervently their gazes flickered.
They might not know about other matters.
But they, at least to some extent, had heard about the incidents listed in the dossier. Some even recognized the names of the victims mentioned and knew the real story...
Was this imperial envoy serious?
Once the reading of the criminal’s dossier concluded, Yang Ge lifted his hand, and a guard promptly removed the rag from Yang Yuting’s mouth.
Yang Ge: "Criminal Yang Yuting, with all evidence and witnesses present, what else do you have to say?"
Yang Yuting, with a face torn by rage, desperately shook his head and yelled ferociously, "To impose charges, why worry about lacking excuses? I am wronged. I am the Magistrate of Yangzhou appointed by His Majesty himself, a high fourth-ranking official of the court, you, a mere scoundrel, have no right to kill me!"
Yang Ge, uninterested in listening to his barking any longer, emotionlessly grabbed a commanding arrow and threw it out: "Execute!"
"Thud."
The sound of the arrow hitting the ground was faint, yet it echoed in everyone’s ears simultaneously, causing numerous people to quiver and freeze in place.
The two guards holding down Yang Yuting had been waiting for a long time; they certainly didn’t freeze!
The moment the command tile hit the ground, they efficiently forced Yang Yuting’s head onto the execution block and secured it.
Then, they stepped back at the same time as another guard with a "clang" sound drew a scimitar from his side.
The brilliantly shining scimitar caught the bright midday autumn sunlight, drawing everyone’s gaze.
Until this moment...
Some were still doubting, thinking this execution was just a show.
Some were still waiting, waiting for a command to stay the executioner’s hand.
"Swoosh."
The shining long blade swung down, a large head rolled off, and blood spurted, splashing the front-row spectators.
"Ah? He really killed him!"
"Damn, they’re serious!"
"Bloody hell, Lord Yang really has the guts..."
Cries of shock, like a tidal wave, surged from the front to the back, as countless spectators, not sure whether shocked or exhilarated, clenched their fists tight, their bodies covered in goosebumps.
Just as Yang Ge anticipated, killing an official in front of them turned out more effective than a thousand explanations...
On the platform, where once the sight of a dead man’s head had haunted Yang Ge for several nights, he now stared at the still-bleeding headless corpse, his expression as cold and unmoved as solid ice.
He waved emotionlessly: "Take the criminal away!"
The moment his words fell, guards stepped forward to haul the corpse away.
At the same time, two guards dragged up another person drenched in excrement, a zombie of a living person, onto the execution platform: "Criminal Mei Ren brought..."
Below the platform, someone in shock loudly exclaimed: "Ah, it’s Official Mei!"
The tidal wave of cries once again swept from the front all the way to the back of the crowd where the platform couldn’t be seen.
"Verify his identity!"
"Criminal Mei Ren, former official of Yangzhou, since last September, colluded with Yongtai Grain Firm and Changfeng Gang to monopolize the grain route, manipulating grain prices for outrageous profits, wreaking havoc over thousands of miles..."
"Execute!"
Another command arrow fell onto the execution ground.