eldest son of Ming dynasty

"Your Majesty, it's cold and humid here, should I ask Shilang Gu to come out and Rong Chen to make arrangements?"

Mao Yuwen really felt that it was not a good idea to bring the emperor to such a place, but the Holy Majesty insisted on doing so, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Open the door."

Unmoved, Zhu Houzhao ordered.

Gu Zuo in the cell also said, "Your Majesty, Deputy Envoy Mao's words are correct. How can Your Majesty, His Majesty, come to such an unbearable place? I implore Your Majesty not to step into this place!"

Zhu Houzhao sighed, and he didn't want to embarrass Gu Zuo anymore, so he ordered: "Bring a chair over here."

This was a compromise, and the two stopped talking.

In fact, the emperor had thousands of words in his heart on the way here, but at this moment, he suddenly didn't know where to start.

The government was really bothering him, so he didn't really want to say it; he didn't want to say such hypocritical things as arresting him and protecting him.

In the end, it was Gu Zuo who spoke first.

"...Your Majesty, the guilty minister committed a serious crime and was willing to be punished, but on the way back to Beijing in Yangzhou, I met three young talents. Hearing what he said, he was not an ordinary scholar. I still want to recommend talents for the country, and I hope His Majesty will allow it."

Zhu Houzhao looked at the man quietly.

He was thinking, if everything about Gu Zuo is just pretending, then he is also pretending too much.

In fact, he doesn't care much about the so-called talents. The country has no shortage of talents, what is lacking is the ability to make good use of them.If they are all framed and put in prison, then no matter how many talented people there are, it will be useless.

So he wants to say something else.

So after a long time, a sentence floated out,
"...I know, you are not greedy for money."

Gu Zuo's eyes froze. No matter how calm he was before, he couldn't help crying at this moment. It can be said that tears and snot came down together, and he shouted: Your Majesty! "

Zhu Houzhao tried his best to open his eyes. He also wanted to cry, but he held back all the time, "But I doubted you, and I won't lie to you. Because there were not many officials in the Ming Dynasty who really didn't reach out. The Lianghuai Transportation Department in Yangzhou The yamen is even raising a group of corrupt officials. I am really afraid that you will take the money, and then I will not know how to deal with you."

"Your Majesty's kindness to my ministers is as important as Mount Tai, and my ministers will die hard to repay!"

"Gu Liqing, let's not talk about those empty words today. This is not the Qianqing Palace, let alone above the court, and some empty etiquette is also exempted between us monarchs and ministers. I can tell you right now, I will not kill you, let alone ask you to marry me. You are dead, and you will be indispensable to the reform of the salt law, the gradual rise of sea trade, and the construction of the capital. I will be of great use to you."

Gu Zuo had this confidence in the earliest days, but no matter how strong his confidence is, he would actually doubt himself if he was really locked up here for so long, so now he is very excited when he hears the emperor say this,
"Your Majesty! The criminal is willing to follow His Majesty, rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty, and create a great prosperity for the people of the world! The criminal has been thinking about maritime trade, thinking about the word economy that His Majesty said, and all kinds of thoughts in his heart. It has been compiled into a book, and will be presented to His Majesty after completion!"

"Okay, I'll wait for you to finish writing." Zhu Houzhao felt a little more relieved, "You may not know it when you are locked in. I have ordered to investigate the disadvantages of the salt class. The difficulty is as expected at first, and there are many obstacles. These obstacles forced My methods are a little more drastic, and the veterans in the court can't help but feel that I'm mean, ungrateful, unreasonable, and even miss the late emperor."

"Has Your Majesty regretted it?"

"regret?"

"When the criminal minister first went to Yangzhou, he also thought about whether he wanted to offend so many people. Later, when he saw the prevalence of private salt and the poverty of kitchen households, I knew that some people must be offended."

Zhu Houzhao nodded thoughtfully, "If you don't offend them, you will offend the people of the world. If you don't cut off their heads, the people everywhere will cut off the heads of the court."

Gu Zuo took a deep look at the Son of Heaven. In fact, in his impression, nothing and no one could block the will of the Son of Heaven.But at this moment, he felt a certain shake.

presumably,

The disadvantages of salt lessons must be extremely difficult.

Or there were bizarre events that the emperor himself could not have imagined,

From these events, the emperor felt a great deal of opposition.

"Your Majesty, the body of the dragon is important, and you must pay attention to saving labor."

Zhu Houzhao actually relaxed a lot in his heart, but it was also because of the relaxation that he felt a little tired and lack of energy, but it was better because he was young, so it was nothing.

……

……

On the other side,
Actually...the palace is going to be in chaos.

Liu Jin caught the Taoist priest and Wu Qing, and You Zhi caught Zheng Zhou and the court lady Chun He. After getting the emperor's approval, they showed what is called a "perverted eunuch" and treated the four with almost inhuman methods. People used all kinds of soldering irons and stickers, and even took dozens of needles and stuffed them into their fingernails one by one.

Zhu Houzhao never said that those tortures should be put an end to. Although the tortures are a bit cruel, they can still serve as a deterrent.

And Wan Shenyuan also changed from a fat, fat man with a rich face to a steamed bun of blood glistening with blood, the blood on his finger trickled down bit by bit along the needle,

The amount is small, you can't die, absolutely life is worse than death.

"Ancestor...you should spare the servant girl... woo..." He really cried and spoke,

"change."

If you haven't recruited yet, then turn to the needle inserted in the nail.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The screams of pain were a bit shrill, because there was less torture in the palace, and some eunuchs nearby also turned pale.

How can I treat people as people...

"Take off his shoes." Liu Jin's expression was very calm, "There are still toes, and if you don't move your toes, they will be full."

"Old ancestor! Old ancestor!" Wan Shenyuan was so frightened that he lost his soul, "Old ancestor, I beg you, please kill me, kill me..."

"I will kill you. But you think it's a good idea to die so early. Hurry up," Liu Jin urged the people next to him, "If you wait any longer, our family will tie you up too!"

Wan Shenyuan was tortured enough, he already knew that he was doomed,
Since they are all dead, why bother to suffer this kind of crime.Seeing the needles getting closer and closer to his toes, he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Old ancestor... woo," Wan Shenyuan seemed to be disintegrated, his words were full of tears, "Woo... Is it okay to recruit a servant girl..."

"Say it earlier, why would you suffer so much if you said it earlier?" Liu Jin curled the corner of his mouth and pointed to the person next to him, "Make a record."

After waiting for a while, Liu Jin continued, "Let's ask you first, how did you and Wu Qing get in touch, how did you know each other, and how did you recommend you to Yongshou Palace?"

Enduring the extreme pain, Wan Canyuan confessed bit by bit, "I entrusted someone, so I sent a message to tell him that this servant has a profound Taoism."

"Is it really profound?"

"Slaves really like the art of Buddha and Lao."

"Why did you entrust someone to deliver the message? Who did you entrust?"

"It's not...it's not a servant, but...it's Eunuch Huo from Shang Baojian."

"Huoping? What does he want to do?"

By this time, he was going to die anyway, and Wan Canyuan just wanted to die quickly, so he spoke more smoothly, "Eunuch Huo said... slaves are related to the case of the salt class, and they will die sooner or later. Only Find a way to gain His Majesty's trust and benevolence by means of Taoism and gods and spirits, so that you can escape from birth. It happened that two nobles in the palace worshiped God and begged for a child, so he came up with such an idea for the servant."

"You gained His Majesty's trust, what good is it for him?"

"Eunuch Huo also has... and money from the salt merchant. Also, he said that after I gain His Majesty's trust, I will give him a lot of good words. In the future...even if I can't enter the Prison of Rituals in the future, I can still go to the Imperial Horse Supervisor or Internal officials. The palace needs mutual support, so..."

"So you agreed to him." Liu Jin smiled disdainfully, "You have a big heart. Besides Huo Ping, who else?"

Asked here, Wan Shenyuan's face turned miserable again,
"Say!"

The stern voice trembled in fright, "And...there are three father-in-laws, Wu, Xie, and Shang who are beside Eunuch Huo,"

"continue."

"Zhou Yuan and Yang Ning from the Acupuncture Bureau, Xu Xianting, Zhong Yifu, and Lu Gong from the Banking Bureau, Zheng Zhou from the Shangshan Supervisor, Deng Qun from the Mixing Department..."

……

Whoa!
"Open the door!"

Wan Shenyuan's confession also indicates that many people's doors will be knocked open.In fact, when the emperor was furious in the Yongshou Palace, many people were terrified!

"Forgive me! Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

The arrestees didn't have the time to listen to this, they all behaved violently, knocking on doors and knocking over tables.

"Catch it! Take it all!"

This kind of rectification of the salt class is not only blowing in Yangzhou, but also blowing in the capital, outside the palace, and inside the palace. It is to let everyone know that whoever plays sloppy with the emperor on this is not allowed!
Among these people, Zheng Zhou is some key, and You Zhi is also tormenting him,
"Is it Zou Cheng?!"

If it is said that other people are greedy for money and want to climb up.Zheng Zhou's crime of colluding with foreign ministers is even greater.Some people are just greedy for money and silver. The emperor may not kill them all. He can also order them to spit out the money and then let them spend the rest of their lives in a bitter cold place, but Zheng Zhou is obviously different.

"Eunuch You, he passed out."

You Zhi got up and poked his head, "Wake him up!"

It was also at this time that Jin Yiwei's deputy envoy Han Ziren left the capital for Yangzhou in advance.

If the strength inside and outside the palace in the capital is the same, he can't make any trouble in Yangzhou, at least the inner guards can't do it.