Thief Emperor

Chapter 1014: Suppression for a hundred years!

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone, including Mr. Du, changed their expressions slightly.

Zhuo Guangrui was a founding hero of the Tang Dynasty and one of the few dukes of the founding of the country. He had been diligent and conscientious over the years and rarely slacked off.

Whether he was the prefect of Jinling or Luoyang, or later was in charge of the Ministry of Works, and then entered the Secretariat, Prime Minister Zhuo may not have made particularly great contributions over the years, but his hard work can be said to be the best in this dynasty.

Even Du Qian probably didn't work as hard as Zhuo Guangrui.

Not to mention, the Wujun Zhuo family could be said to have bought the "original shares" of the Jiangdong Group. Mr. Zhuo of the Zhuo family had invested a huge amount of money in Mr. Li.

Although the news of the Emperor's punishment of Mrs. Zhuo from Wu County has now spread to Luoyang City, no one in Luoyang City believes that the Emperor will severely punish Prime Minister Zhuo this time.

In everyone's mind, the most that would happen to Prime Minister Zhuo this time would be a salary deduction and dismissal.

Now, when Emperor Li said "severely punish according to the law", the four people present all changed their expressions.

Zhuo Guangrui was the chief examiner in the seventh year of Zhangwu. No matter how the scandal came about, who did it, and no matter whether he knew about it or not, as the chief examiner, he could not escape the greatest responsibility.

According to the law, Zhuo Guangrui would certainly be sentenced to death, and the three judicial officials would have no way to pardon him.

Among the people present, except Xu Kun, the chief of the Jinling Literary Society who was in the same subject as Yao Zhong and the Minister of Dali Temple, the other three were all meritorious officials of the new dynasty. If Zhuo Guangrui was really convicted and executed, the three of them would inevitably feel sad for the others.

Prime Minister Du hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and bowed his head, saying, "Your Majesty, the three judicial departments have been tossing and turning over this matter for more than half a year. All the details have been examined and understood. In the previous corruption case, Prime Minister Zhuo was at most guilty of negligence..."

"I request that the crime of negligence be punished."

The emperor was silent for a while, but still shook his head slightly: "The imperial examination is the most important thing for the country. It is a top priority. It has only been eight years since the founding of our dynasty. The imperial examination the year before last was only the third regular examination since the founding of the country."

"This happened during the third imperial examination. If we don't enforce strict discipline, how can the court enforce strict discipline in the future?"

"You can't leave a precedent of leniency for future generations, right?"

The Zhangwu Dynasty was the first dynasty of the Li Tang Dynasty. This major event concerning the imperial examinations would have probably led to a major case involving hundreds of people if Emperor Li had not abolished the system of collective punishment in the early years of the founding of the country.

Li Yun had been keeping this matter under wraps, waiting for his return to deal with it personally, to show it to future generations.

The two prime ministers looked at each other, but neither said a word.

Fei Xuan, the Minister of Justice who was already over sixty years old, also looked at the emperor and sighed: "Your Majesty, if this matter causes the death of Prime Minister Zhuo, I am afraid that the court and the public will talk about it."

Li Yun waved his hand and said calmly: "I have been thinking about this matter for several months. I have made up my mind, so there is no need to say more."

In private, His Majesty the Emperor is relatively friendly and basically never refers to himself as "I". He still regards himself as the former lord of Jiangdong and the backbone of the Jiangdong Group when talking to his ministers.

But when he referred to himself as "I", he was talking to them as the emperor.

After this sentence, even Du Qian remained silent.

The emperor returned to his seat, sat down, tapped the table with his hand, and continued, "Besides this, there are two more things."

"First, there will be a make-up exam in Luoyang this fall. Candidates who failed the exam in the seventh year of Zhangwu can take the exam again. Others who meet the requirements can also take the exam."

"This scientific examination will not affect the regular subjects next year."

This year is the ninth year of Zhangwu, and next year is the tenth year of Zhangwu, and there will be another regular examination.

When the Emperor said this, he looked at Du Qian and said, "To be fair, you, Brother Shouyi, will be the chief examiner for this autumn's imperial examination."

"This way, no one will dare to mess around anymore."

The chief examiner of the imperial examination in the first year of Zhangwu was Du Qian. Given Du Qian's prestige and status, no one dared to do anything wrong under his command.

Du Xianggong bowed his head silently and replied, "I obey your command."

Emperor Li thought for a moment and continued, "There is one more thing."

"Although this dynasty has abolished collective punishment, this incident is extremely bad and I am very angry. If I do not punish severely, future generations will inevitably take risks, so that such incidents will continue despite repeated bans."

"In the past few months, I have also thought of a way."

The emperor looked at everyone and said, "This time, all those involved in the case, regardless of whether they are officials or their entire families, will not be allowed to take the imperial examinations or become officials within five generations, and they will not even be allowed to work as clerks in government offices."

As soon as these words were spoken, the four people present were all stunned. They looked up at Li Yun, all a little shocked.

In this era, the whole family is considered one family, which means that as long as the family has not split up, cousins ​​and even distant cousins ​​are all considered one family!
One person may implicate dozens of people in a family!
Five generations down...

Even if people get married very early in this era, at the age of fifteen, it would take at least seventeen or eighteen years for a generation. Five generations would be nearly a hundred years!
Not being allowed to hold office or engage in politics for a hundred years means that the entire family has completely lost the path to upward mobility and the possibility of rising in social class for a full hundred years.

Moreover...the people involved in the case this time, especially those former officials of Wu Zhou who were already serving as officials in the Ministry of Rites, basically all came from prominent families!
The candidates involved in the case, who had this channel, must have come from good families. Maybe they were from prominent families in the previous dynasty!
In this era of officialdom, not being able to be an official meant the end of one's family's life. With just one word from the emperor, these noble families were driven to a dead end!

Mr. Du's breathing also became rapid.

Emperor Li looked at the four people, paused, and continued: "Zhuo Guangrui has made great contributions over the years, and he is also an important minister of the founding of the country. Considering his many years of hard work, I will pardon Zhuo's family for this crime and will not prohibit his family members from entering the government."

"The rest of the people are no exception."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun, and at that moment, the old friend already understood what Li Yun meant.

Li Tang had indeed abolished the policy of collective punishment, which meant that the court could no longer wipe out the physical lives of others based on the crimes of individuals.

But that doesn’t mean the imperial court can’t wipe out other lives.

For example, this sentence from His Majesty the Emperor is equivalent to wiping out the political lives of dozens, possibly thousands of people!

And it is a political life of a hundred years.

A hundred years later, even if these families still exist, by that time, even if they are able to pass the examinations and enter officialdom, it is hard to say whether they still have the ability and capital to do so.

Although this move did not directly implicate the three Yi clans and shock people, for people in official circles and aristocratic families, it was not necessarily worse than the three Yi clans!
This wiped out an entire family's future for a hundred years!
Du Qian was stunned for a long time before he bowed deeply and said, "Your Majesty, I obey your command."

The other three people also bowed their heads to Li Yun and said, "I obey your command..."

His Majesty the Emperor nodded with satisfaction.

"I almost forgot, there is one more thing. After the Crown Prince's wedding, the King of Yue will also be preparing for his wedding. If you have suitable candidates for the King of Yue's Consort, you can recommend them to me."

The four of them bowed their heads once again.

When they were about to leave, the Emperor stopped Xu Kun, the Minister of Dali Temple, and asked him to stay for a while.

This Xu Qing stayed in the Ganlu Palace and bowed to the Emperor: "Your Majesty."

Li Yun looked at him and asked, "How does it feel to take over the Dali Temple?"

Two or three years ago, Master Xue Song retired from the position of Chief Justice of Dali Temple because he was too old, and was succeeded by Xu Kun.

Xu Qingzheng bowed his head and saluted, "I... can still cope with it."

Li Yun stood up, hummed, and said silently: "The officials who were taken to the Dali Temple should be counted and sorted out as soon as possible and handed over to the Zhongshu for filing."

Xu Kun bowed his head deeply: "I obey your command."

After he finished speaking, he looked up and saw Li Yun walking out. He quickly followed him and asked, "Where are you going, Your Majesty?"

"Go to Zhuo's house and see old friends."

As Emperor Li walked, he said, "The three judicial officials should draft the imperial edict as soon as possible. I will read the edict in front of all the civil and military officials at the grand court tomorrow."

After saying that, he strode away.

Xu Kun, the Minister of Dali Temple, stayed where he was, looking at Emperor Li's back, without saying anything for a long time. After a while, he came to his senses and hurried towards the Secretariat to draft the document together with the two ministers and Minister Fei.

Emperor Li left the palace and came to the Zhuo family.

The Zhuo family immediately opened the central door and welcomed the emperor in. When Li Yun saw Zhuo Guangrui again at the Zhuo family, it was discovered that this Mr. Zhuo had many more white hairs on his head than a few months ago.

Almost doubled.

He knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the emperor.

The emperor helped him up, then pulled him to sit down, looked at his hair, and said silently: "At this time, we must execute him, so we have to do this."

"At the court meeting tomorrow, you will ask your son to hold up the imperial decree and the iron certificate."

"Go to the Taiji Hall for a grand meeting to atone your sins."

Zhuo Guangrui looked at Li Yun, then looked down at his own hands, and suddenly spoke, muttering.

"Your Majesty... minister..."

"I am willing to die."

(End of this chapter)