Deng Chanyu rode on the strong horse, using fire attack to arrive at the city of Zhaoke.
She wore a snow-white straight-collar Taoist robe, her waist cinched with a wide belt adorned with moonwhite auspicious cloud patterns, from which hung an exceptionally fine jadeite inkstone.
Unlike the Xuanzang and Shengzhang, who are still dressed as Taoist apprentices, as a high-level refiner on the Nibei Mountain, she can now wear Taoist robes without any hesitation.
She is now a person of Tao.
Today's Zhaoke City is incredibly noisy, with heads crowded and filled with people. The sights and sounds are all bustling and never-ending.
What's going on? Deng Chanyu instinctively wanted to calculate with her fingers, but her mind changed when she remembered that she was in the city of Zhaoke. She immediately withdrew her hand.
The higher one's Taoist cultivation, the more evident the suppression energy of human cultivation on Xian cultivation in the city of Zhaoke becomes. Anything you do here is inconvenient.
"Aunt Piao, what's happening today?" she saw Huang Feibiao far away and immediately came over to ask.
Aunt Piao looked around, covered her mouth with her hand, and whispered, "The doctor of the court, Mei Bo, has offended the emperor. He is to be executed today, and I hear it's a capital punishment."
Deng Chanyu was slightly surprised and asked, "What caused him to do that?"
"It's because of the ban on wine, some merchants violated the ban and were still selling wine and liquor secretly. Mei Bo directly spoke out, believing that the wine ban was ridiculous, so" Huang Feibiao lowered his voice by three degrees.
He recounted the story, and Deng Chanyu listened attentively.
The underground wine business in Zhaoke is now extremely prosperous, and many royal nobles are involved in it.
This trading network is very vast. For money, Fei Zhong and You Hun would even sell their ancestors. Now selling some wine is nothing. Both of these two are also share in the trade, King Zhou wants to investigate, but the results are totally unable to trace back.
At this moment, Mei Bo stepped forward. This man was also very upright, and he even spoke directly to King Zhou without any hesitation, saying that the common people do not care about the ban on alcohol, and those who are banned are all court officials. He believed that King Zhou's ban on alcohol was forcing the court officials to rebel against him.
The ministers have no army, no financial power, and no political power. What they don't have, they can't have. We might as well go home and drink! The ministers would definitely think that being treated so harshly, they might as well rebel!
King Zhou is not trying to understand these principles. It's just that Mei Bo's tone of "You're an idiot. I still have to remind you" angered King Zhou. To save his face, he could only kill the chicken to scare the monkey, and Mei Bo was the chicken in this case.
Originally, he was to be beheaded, but the fox spirit timely presented the design of the cauldron of suffering. King Zhou was overjoyed and ordered the craftsmen to make it overnight. Today, when the cauldron was ready, he intended to use it for a trial punishment on Mei Bo!
"Look, that bronze column over there is the cauldron of suffering. It's 20 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter. It has three fire doors at the top, middle, and bottom," Aunt Piao pointed to a bronze column in the distance that was already being heated and said.
Mei Bo was stripped of his shirt, and the thin old man was placed in a carriage and paraded through the streets. At 11:00 a.m., he was to be tied to the cauldron of suffering and burned to death.
"You stupid ruler, Mei Bo's death is just a trivial matter. I, Mei Bo, held the post of the Senior Doctor, and was an old minister of three dynasties. What crime have I committed to deserve such cruel punishment! Alas, the six-hundred-year-old realm of Chengtang has been lost at the hands of a foolish ruler! Yin Shou, in the realm of the dead, what face do you have to face the ancestors of Chengtang throughout the dynasties!"
Mei Bo cursed loudly in the carriage.
An old woman with a wrinkled face, ragged clothes, but distinguished temperament, moved slowly and awkwardly along the carriage. She cried along the way. That was Mei Bo's old wife. The couple had lived together for a lifetime and had no children. They originally thought they could live together until the end of their days, but they didn't expect to suffer such a disaster.
Surrounded by ordinary people, only Aunt Piao was riding on a tall horse, and with Deng Chanyu's extraordinary and elegant appearance, it was clear that they were not ordinary folk. The old woman hesitated for a moment, then hunched over and took a step towards them for help.
The old woman came over to kneel and said, "General Huang, could you please ask the Lord of Wu Chengwang to speak for my husband?"
Before she came over, Uncle Piao and Deng Chanyu had already dismounted.
At this moment, Uncle Piao was supporting the old woman with both hands: "Aunt Mei, my older brother is also in the court now. Alas, it's a shame. The Huang family truly wants to help but is at a loss as to how."
The old woman was extremely disappointed, sighed, and nodded gently at them before continuing to follow the carriage.
Uncle Piao saw Deng Chanyu's face show no tolerance and immediately gently shook his head, indicating that she should not be impulsive.
"Nowadays, some actions of the court are very, very subtle. The elder master Du Yuanxian of the Astronomical Bureau was beheaded in public because of the blood-red sky in the east. A three-dynasty old minister ended up with a severed body. The old prime minister Shang Rong returned to his hometown. The realm of Chengtang is truly a sad sight!"
The words "It's over" remained in her mind, and after holding them back again and again, she finally couldn't say them out loud.
It can be seen that Uncle Piao, as an old veteran, still has feelings for the Yin Dynasty.
However, this feeling has turned into fear with the increasingly cruel behavior of Zhou.
Fear that King Zhou would go crazy one day and bite the Huang family.
"We just need to protect our own family. We're not descendants of the Chengtang Dynasty." Deng Chanyu was calm. These days, it's not a big deal to switch loyalties; if the ruler treats you poorly, it's very common to directly join the opposing camp.
As he watched Mei's carriage gradually disappear in the distance, Uncle Piao sighed and didn't say anything else.
In the original timeline, when Mei was executed on the cauldron of suffering, the old chancellor Shang Rong voluntarily resigned and turned a blind eye. The rest of the heavyweights, including Guan, Huang Feitig, Wei Zi, and Qi Zi, were actually all present but none of them spoke up. The key reason was that Mei's people's relations were very poor.
This person is a loyal and upright official, bold in his advice and saying whatever he sees. He has offended many people. Now that things have come to this, he doesn't even have anyone to help him or intercede on his behalf.
A direct official does not necessarily mean a loyal one. Wei Chuan was a direct official, but after the death of Li Zhen, he switched allegiance to Li Shimin. Zhang Zhao, known as the "official who switched allegiances" in the Eastern Wu, was also famous for his boldness and courage in speaking the truth.
The current Deng family is not short of troops or territory, but lacks a direct official who is bold and willing to speak the truth.
Deng Chanyu often doesn't know if her policies are correct. The principles of Yin and Yang, the five elements, and governing the localities are two different fields. She now needs someone who occasionally goes to the people to understand their needs, and then comes back to pour cold water on her decisions.
Since King Zhou doesn't want it, the Deng family will take it.
Uncle Piao looked suspiciously at her. Deng Chanyu smiled and waved her hand: "Today Uncle Piao didn't see me. If something happens later, please don't be surprised. By the way, if you see my father and my brother, tell them I will come to Zhaoke after a few days when the situation has died down."
Deng Chanyu turned left and right, her figure darting, quickly moving through the crowd, and soon arrived at the Longde Hall where King Zhou was holding court.
Here, the human spiritual energy is becoming more and more powerful, and her ability to control her breath is becoming harder and harder to maintain. She has to hide herself behind flowers and trees to avoid being detected.
The guards in front of the palace, Fang Biang and Fang Xiang brothers, were still doing the work of watching the gate, which was not very promising.
"Brothers Fang, do you still recognize me? We met once at the Ghost Market."
The two brothers were surprised by Deng Chanyu's sudden appearance and looked at each other, but then remembered that she was the friend of Su Nvanguang.
Fang Biang said in a low voice, "Yes, yes."
