During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, a temple fair was held in Luoyang City. That day, the streets were bustling with people and it was so lively. At noon, suddenly there was a loud noise not far away, and there were calls for help. It was said that several shops were on fire. Officials quickly arrived and arrested six arsonists.
Among the six people arrested, one was a butcher, a farmer, a scholar, a small salesman, a charlatan, and a tea merchant. The six people were imprisoned in the cell, and they were all terrified. Only the scholar looked upright. Although he was polite, there was no trace of fear on his face.
That night, a fierce-looking official came to the prison cell and handed six portions of rice inside. The meal was very sumptuous, including fish, meat, and wine. This was strange. How could anyone in a cell eat so well? Life in the prison cell is so easy, everyone is suing!
The tea merchant had seen the world. He took a look, his brows knitted into knots, and asked the official: "My lord, that's not right. Why are the meals given to us so rich?"
The officer outside curled his lips and snorted: "Why is the food so sumptuous? Because this is guillotine, you will be beheaded soon!"
As soon as he said this, everyone was stunned. They were frightened, their legs were weak, their eyes were dizzy, and some people peed their pants. But when death was imminent, what else could be done? After the officials left, everyone thought that they would not die of starvation, so they had to tearfully put the food into bowls and eat while crying.
After a while, the official came again with a strange expression. He walked to the prison cell and said: "One, two, three, four, five, six, there are six of you. Mr. Jingzhao Mansion said that the number 'six' is too smooth. You may cause trouble when you go to the King of Hell together." After thinking about it, I decided to kill five and keep one."
After hearing this, the six people looked at each other in confusion. "Kill one?" Is there really one lucky person who will survive? With this thought, several people immediately crowded in front of the official, vying to beg for mercy. Everyone gave a lot of reasons why they should live. Only the scholar looked calm, said nothing, and showed no sign of timidity.
The officer listened and ignored them. With a wave of his hand, two jailers brought a small table with a stack of one-foot-square white paper, a brush and grinded ink on it. .
Several people looked at each other, and the official gave two dry coughs and said: "Six of you, write down the person among you who deserves to die the most on paper. Write them in larger characters, one for each paper. Whoever's name appears the most in each round will be killed. If five of the six are killed, the one with the toughest life will be left - he can survive."
The officer said, and then. According to the rules in the cell, each of the six people was given a "King of Hell name": the butcher Qian Sheng, the farmer Zhao Guan, the salesman Chen Xiaqiu, the scholar Gai Tinghua, the doctor Sun Shihe, and the tea merchant. Zhou Zhentian.
Choose a good name, let everyone think about it, and write whoever should be written. The prison cell was in a state of shock. Everyone tried to persuade others not to write their names. The tea merchant said that if he survived in the end, his family would have plenty of money and he would treat the other five families well. The butcher said that if he survived, , you can provide pork and mutton to the other five families every day... Everyone begs and curses, and people's joys, anger, sorrows, emotions, and desires are all written on their faces and spoken in their mouths.
The scholar was reluctant to write at first, saying it was unkind and unjust. The official sneered and said, if you don't write it down and you can't identify the person who can avoid death, then all six people will die. The scholar thought for a while and had no choice but to write. So, the six people took paper and pen, each hid away from others, and started writing one after another.
In the first round, each of the six people submitted a name. After submitting, except for the scholar, all of them had earth-colored faces and their whole bodies were trembling, not knowing whose head the disaster would befall.
The officer read the six pieces of white paper one by one. Every time he looked at one, he looked at the six people. His eyes were like sharp swords. Whoever fell on them would be frightened.
After reading, he slammed the table and shouted: "The results are out, the one with the most names is - Qian Sheng!"
"Qian Sheng" is the butcher. Although the butcher turned pale with fright, he still After all, he usually used white knives to go in and red knives to go out, so he was naturally more courageous than others. He immediately cursed: "Why should you choose me? Over the years I have been a butcher, the elderly can buy meat at half price, and the disabled can buy meat for free. I am a butcher." Good people, you don't distinguish between good and bad, good and bad. I'll wait for you at the King of Hell. If you come over, I'll stab you to death!"
The butcher shouted, but there were many people in the government, and he had seven hands. Bajiao escorted the butcher out. Immediately afterwards, a "click" sound came from the cell next door. It was clearly the sound of a knife cutting on the flesh. There was no movement after that. It looked like the head was missing. His life was cut short.
In the second round, the official looked at the five names handed over and shouted: "The second person is Sun Shihe, take him out and chop him!"
"Sun "Shihe" was the doctor, and the doctor was immediately escorted out. A moment later, there was another "click" from the next door, and the doctor also died.
The person killed in the third round was "Zhao Guan", the farmer; the person killed in the fourth round was the salesman Chen Xiaqiu...
The official was about to call the fifth person. Suddenly, the tea merchant said: "Master, I think this is a bit strange. Logically speaking, the person who gets beheaded every time must be the person with the most votes. The name I handed in for the first time was Zhao Guan. You The one who beheaded was the butcher Qian Sheng; the name I submitted for the second time was Chen Xiaqiu, and the one you beheaded was the doctor Sun Shihe. From this point of view, the person who was beheaded may not be the one who got the most votes. I think the others may be. Do you have the same concerns as me?"
After hearing this, the official was very angry and gritted his teeth: "What are you talking about? If you want to die, you will die, or you will die. "Death, come here, chop Zhou Zhentian."
"Zhou Zhentian" was the tea merchant. As soon as the tea merchant dragged him out, all five people were killed. Although the process was really strange, the scholar was the last one. As a survivor, he frowned and said with emotion: "I didn't expect that I could get out alive."