So, the story goes, the former Minister Zhao Shuqiao was ordered to commit suicide. It happened like this. In the previous year, on the 25th of December, the Emperor issued a decree, intending to sentence him to be beheaded. He was already imprisoned in the provincial court awaiting his fate, with his family waiting there. However, the day before, the Empress Dowager told the Emperor's advisors, "Actually, Zhao Shuqiao did not collude with the bandits, but he should not have used the words 'that it wasn't a big deal' to deceive me." Upon hearing this, Zhao Shuqiao still held a little hope, thinking that the Empress Dowager might spare his life.
On the 29th of December, rumors spread outside, saying that the foreign powers insisted on Zhao Shuqiao's death and had to chop him. When the officials and people of Xi'an heard this, they were all indignant. Over three hundred people stormed the government offices, willing to use the entire city's population as a guarantee to save his life. However, the military officials dared not submit this petition. Xue Yunsheng, the Minister of Justice, who was Zhao Shuqiao's uncle, said at the time, "What kind of justice is this?!"
On the second day of the first month, things got even worse. Early in the morning at six o'clock, the military officials entered the palace to see the Empress Dowager and did not come out until eleven o'clock. Zhao Shuqiao's guilt had not been determined yet. By this time, there were already tons of people gathered near the Drum Tower. Some clamored to storm the execution ground, while others shouted, "If the ministers are killed, we will ask the Empress Dowager to return to Beijing!" There were also many onlookers. Seeing the situation so tense, the military officials hurried to tell the Empress Dowager that it would be better to order him to commit suicide.
On the third day of the first month, the Emperor issued the decree of death. The imperial decree arrived at eight o'clock in the morning, requiring him to respond before the hour of You (5-7 pm). Minister Cen went to deliver the decree. After reading the imperial decree, Zhao knelt and asked Minister Cen, "Are there any other instructions?" Minister Cen said, "There are none." Zhao said, "There must be other instructions!" At this moment, Zhao's wife said to him, "We can die together as a couple! There will definitely be no other instructions!" His wife then produced some gold, and he took a small amount.
From one o'clock to three o'clock in the afternoon, nothing happened. He was still in good spirits, making arrangements for his family after his death and sobbing about his ninety-year-old mother, encountering such a great tragedy. At this time, many of Zhao's friends and relatives came to visit. Cen Zhongcheng tried to stop them at first but then gave up. Zhao shouted, "Gang Ziliang did this to me!" Seeing Zhao was still loud and clearly alive, Cen Zhongcheng had someone bring him opium to smoke. By five o'clock, he still hadn't died. Then, he ordered arsenic. Finally, he lay down, groaning and pounding his chest, begging for a chest rub, complaining only of discomfort. By this time, it was already eleven o'clock in the evening, and Cen Zhongcheng became anxious, saying, "It's past the deadline! He's still alive?!" Someone nearby suggested, "Why not try wiping his face and orifices with alcohol-soaked cloths? This might help him hold his breath." Cen Zhongcheng did as suggested, wiping his face and orifices with five cloths soaked in burning alcohol. After a while, there was no movement, and his chest cooled down. After a fit of weeping, Zhao's wife killed herself. Zhao was originally in good health, so it was not easy for him to die. Maybe the opium dose was too small.
Lao Zhuang Wang, convicted and exiled to Puzhou, resided in the temporary Xing Tai office, with his wife and children following him. The court sent Ge Baohua to order his suicide. Ge Baohua set off after receiving the order. He arrived in Puzhou early, greeted by cannon fire at the Xing Tai. Zhuang Wang roared, "What's with all the cannon fire?!" Someone said, "The imperial commissioner Ge Baohua has arrived." Zhuang Wang asked, "Is he here for my matter?" Another replied, "The imperial commissioner is just passing by."
After Ge Baohua entered, Zhuang Wang inquired in detail about the court situation, but Ge Baohua did not say much. Behind the governor's office, there was originally a ruined temple. Ge Baohua went to take a look and found an empty room inside, deciding to arrange for Zhuang Wang's suicide there. He hung a white noose on the beam, locked the door, and ordered soldiers from Puzhou Prefecture and Ying County to guard the area to prevent any accidents. When the decree was delivered, Zhuang Wang was ordered to kneel to receive the imperial edict. After receiving the order, Zhuang Wang stood up in front of Ge Baohua and asked, "Are you going to behead me?" Ge Baohua said nothing, just read the decree. Zhuang Wang said, "You want me to kill myself! I know I will die sooner or later, and I'm afraid the Empress Dowager Cixi won't live much longer either!" He asked Ge Baohua, "Can I say goodbye to my family?" Ge Baohua said, "Please hurry, Your Highness." At this time, Zhuang Wang's child and concubine also arrived. Zhuang Wang said to his son, "You must serve your country well; do not let our ancestral heritage fall into the hands of foreign powers!" The son cried and could not speak. The concubine fainted in fear and lost consciousness. Zhuang Wang asked, "Where will I die?" Ge Baohua said, "Please, Your Highness, enter this room." After Zhuang Wang entered, he saw the white noose hanging high there. He turned to Ge Baohua and said, "You've certainly thought of everything!" He then put the noose around his neck, and in a matter of minutes, he passed away.
Yingnian, a high-ranking official of the former Metropolitan Procuratorate, was a particularly timid person. On December 25th, the Emperor ordered him to jail Zhao Shuqiao in Shaanxi Province. When his family went to see him, they found him alone, silently crying all night, saying to others, "Prince Qing (the Emperor's brother) should not have failed to speak up for me!" No one dared to answer him. On New Year's Day, everyone was too busy celebrating the new year to bother with him. Yingnian cried until midnight, then suddenly stopped. The next day at noon, his family found him dead on the ground, his face covered in mud. They realized he had apparently suffocated himself with mud. At that time, the imperial edict had not yet arrived! No one dared to make a fuss about this matter until the edict came on the third day, when they reported it to the Cen Prefect.
Before receiving the imperial edict to be sent to the frontier, Prince Duan Zaiyi was already in Ningxia. When the order came to exile him, the eldest prince (Duan's older brother) was already terrified, but Prince Duan was not afraid at all; instead, he was very happy. He said to others, "This is a blessing from the Emperor; why wait? Get to Xinjiang quick, before you make the Emperor even angrier!" He urgently asked those around him, "Is our elder brother guilty?" They said, "We haven't heard of any." Prince Duan said, "Then it has nothing to do with him; he should be fine." So on the day he received the order, Prince Duan immediately set off, fearing that the foreigners would pin a crime on him.
After receiving the imperial edict to be exiled to Xinjiang, the Governor of Shanxi, Yuxian, set off, already very ill and too ill to walk on the way. When he heard about the order to execute him, he was already near death, nothing like his usual fierce and domineering self. The day before his execution, he was already critically ill, so getting him to the execution ground was no trouble. There were rumors that before his death, someone in Gansu City posted posters asking people to plead for his life. Yuxian knew it was useless, so he also posted a notice, stating that he died with dignity and instructed everyone not to obstruct.
I wrote two pairs of couplets (a type of paired rhyming verse used in traditional Chinese funerary rites) for myself. The first pair goes like this: "I die for the country, my wife and kids die with me—so what? What's the big deal? What saddens me the most is leaving my old mother and little girl alone; I've let them down and failed in my duty of filial piety. I killed someone, the court kills me—what regrets are there! I'm ashamed of my loyalty to the Emperor for twenty years, serving in three provinces and achieving nothing; I've let the Emperor down."
The second pair of couplets reads: "I deserve to die for my crimes; I have no other ambitions! I pray my children will have a bright future, unlike me, who'll die in prison. I've failed the Emperor's grace—who can relieve his worries? I hope the court will look after my family and comfort the Emperor and Empress Dowager."
Sounds like a deathbed confession, right? But it's so calm, you'd almost think he wrote it when he wasn't sick. Maybe a friend wrote it for him?
