The officials from the Ministry of Rites drew in sharp breaths.
They vaguely felt that this incident sounded familiar.
They hid behind the crowd and whispered among themselves.
"...Jinli Commandery? Wait, Jinli Commandery has gone mad? They want money and grain so badly they don't care about their lives? They actually dared to close the case as 'Yin Ghost Steals Grain.' Do they really think the current Sovereign is the same as Zheng Qiao?"
If they remembered correctly, something similar had happened before.
But back then, Zheng Qiao had still been in power. The Director of the Department of Host and Guest still remembered the fleeting sneer on Zheng Qiao's face.
He had shown no reaction on the surface, but in secret, he'd arrested the mastermind and the mastermind's wife and children, then chopped them into tens of thousands of glistening "slices of the living" through the slow slicing execution and bestowed them upon the meritorious officials who had "solved the case." The weather had been sweltering then, and by the time the slices were handed out, they were already stinking and crawling with maggots. Those who refused to eat them were immediately executed for "showing contempt for the Sovereign." Those willing to eat were encouraged to have a few more plates; there was plenty to go around.
What normal person could endure such torment?
Half were killed, and half were driven mad.
Just hearing it retold by others was enough to make one shudder.
A colleague whispered as well, "Whether it was the former Sovereign or the current one, neither of them ever leaves anyone alive when they make a move."
Personally, he felt that his chances of survival would actually have been higher under Zheng Qiao. No matter how deranged and perverse Zheng Qiao was, he still weighed