Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 350: Your Majesty, please learn from Taizu and start a massacre!
The day Guo Xun came to see Zhu Houcong was the same night he received the victory report from Wang Hong and Zhu Wan.

Zhu Houcong did not immediately send the news of Wang Hong and Zhu Wan's victory to the Ministry of Public Administration to announce it to the public.

Because after discussing with the ministers in the Imperial Study, he suspected that the purpose of these Japanese pirates who had increased their troops on Shuangyu Island was to inspect the East Ocean, and he was afraid that there were armed forces of large families in the southern coastal areas to provide support on land.

Moreover, Lu Bing had already sent intelligence from the south that a southerner had attempted to infiltrate his own people into the fleet patrolling the East Ocean through the inspecting minister Huo Tao.

Therefore, the outside world is still unaware of this victory news, not even Guo Xun, the general of the Governor's Mighty Camp, knows about it yet.

The Minister of War Li Chengxun was a proponent of ritual, so he naturally did not spread the news in advance without the emperor's knowledge.

And now, when Guo Xun came to him anxiously to make his case and ask for an imperial decree, Zhu Houcong was carefully looking at the memorial submitted by the three judicial officials.

The three judges went against his will, which made him very angry.

Because, this at least shows that the officials of the Three Courts are essentially unfaithful to themselves, but are more loyal to the interests of their entire bureaucratic group!

Although this did not surprise Zhu Houcong, since there were people blocking his way and disobeying his orders, he had no choice but to get rid of them.

But he couldn't help but give a warning to people like Guo Xun who were not very honest.

After all, Guo Xun was so excited. Of course, he was afraid that he, the emperor, would lean towards the bureaucracy and compromise with the power of the scholars, but he also wanted to completely abandon the civil servants and only use the nobles and relatives so that they would have more power.

Specifically, Guo Xun hoped that the emperor could help him out so that he could kill people at will.

But Zhu Houcong knew clearly that Guo Xun was not a perfect person like Xu Da at the beginning of the country. He was greedy for power and did not have the lofty ideal of seeking the welfare of the people of the world. If he was completely freed, he would become the second Shi Heng.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong only glanced at Guo Xun, then asked with a smile: "What are you afraid of? I don't believe that if I don't agree, they can really tear down my Golden Palace and send me to the guillotine! At worst, as the rumors say, I will fall into the water! I am practicing water kung fu, I am not afraid of him!"

"Your Majesty, although that is what they said, they have repeatedly disobeyed your will and simply do not take you seriously. The death of my subjects and the extinction of my clan are minor matters, but the power of the emperor who has been established since the time of Taizu in the Ming Dynasty is a major matter!"

Guo Xun choked up and then kowtowed and sobbed.

Zhu Houcong smiled faintly after hearing this: "They don't take me seriously, but are you so loyal?"

Guo Xun was stunned.

Zhu Houcong then asked sternly: "I asked you to kill Zhang Yin suddenly, why haven't you done it yet?"

Guo Xun's heart skipped a beat and he said, "Your Majesty, calm down. I thought the three judicial officials would listen to you and not pursue the matter any further! But I didn't expect that they didn't listen to you either!"

"You want to protect him, Zhang Yin, so that the scumbags around you can continue to stay by your side to flatter you and do things for you that you are not comfortable doing."

"You still put your hope of protecting him on those civil servants in the outer court who hate you to the core."

"Guo Xun, what would your ancestors think if they knew you were such a fool?"

"Didn't you read the historical records of the early Ming Dynasty carefully? The power struggle in the court was a life-and-death struggle. It was not about being gentle and polite, inviting people to dinner, or making concessions just by threatening them. Even a strict person like Emperor Taizu Gao had to repeatedly launch major cases and implicate tens of thousands of people. Don't you know the reason behind this?"

"Especially in the case of the North and South List, Taizu tried to compromise at the beginning, but in the end, didn't he have to raise the butcher knife and start a massacre?"

Zhu Houcong sneered and criticized Guo Xun.

Guo Xun kowtowed like crazy: "Your Majesty, you are scolding me for being stupid. I am no better than them. I did not listen to your Majesty and had thoughts that I should not have. I should not have hoped that they would voluntarily back down after your Majesty asked the three judicial officials to re-examine the case and hinted at their dissatisfaction! I am guilty! But as your Majesty said, it is not possible not to kill them now! Therefore, I request an order to impose martial law and arrest them!"

"If one's virtue is not worthy of his position, he will suffer disaster. I would like to give you such power, but you are not worthy of it yet!"

"If I give you such power, it will only harm you!"

"People in the world, even those who are loyal to me, will feel that it is you who is more likely to endanger the stability of the world, not them! You might as well ask Zhang Cong and others to see if they are willing for you to do this!"

Zhu Houcong refused coldly. Guo Xun remained silent.

He admitted that the emperor was right.

It seems that he does not have the moral integrity and prestige to make people feel at ease after he gains power.

The fact that the three judicial officials were so determined to punish him this time might also be due to their dissatisfaction with Guo Xun's personal morality.

Zhu Houcong stood up at this time, walked to Guo Xun, and pointed at the top of his head.

"You!"

“We must continue to cultivate merit!”

"We must focus on serving the country and the people. We must not be like some civil servants in the outer court who want to be loyal to the emperor while doing things that violate the country's laws and conscience."

"You are a noble, different from them!"

"They can do that because their civil power is greater than your nobles, so as long as I don't pursue it, or their own people don't pursue it, they can get away with it. But if you do this, even if I don't pursue it, they will pursue it, and then those who are dissatisfied with you in the military honors will also pursue it!"

"In this case, how can I protect you?"

"If your crimes are so serious that everyone will hold you accountable, even my inner court and harem will be dissatisfied with you."

When Zhu Houcong said this, he turned around and looked at Guo Xun, and said in a serious tone: "I can't protect you either!"

"It is because I am a low-minded minister that I cannot help Your Majesty to eliminate the treacherous villains!"

"Your Majesty can only bear this injustice."

"I deserve death for my crime!"

At this time.

Guo Xun kowtowed with a look of guilt on his face and tears streamed down his face.

Zhu Houcong laughed: "The person who will make me suffer injustice has not been born yet! What kind of injustice can I bear?"

"Within ten steps, there must be fragrant grass; I will not let them restrict me."

When Zhu Houcong said this, he asked Qin Wen to give Guo Xun a report from the Jinyiwei: "Take a look at this report. Ma Lu tortured the county magistrate to force a confession and confirmed the case. He is undoubtedly completely disloyal to me! But this also means that the confession can still be changed. If they can, then they can't do whatever they want! I am the only one who can do whatever they want in this world. They don't have the qualifications to do so."

Guo Xun took the report from Qin Wen and read it carefully.

He knew that the emperor had secretly dispatched the Jinyiwei to various places in the world, but he did not expect that the emperor would have the Jinyiwei keep such a close eye on things, even the trial of Ma Lu, the magistrate.

After reading it, Guo Xun said, "Your Majesty, if this is the case, you can issue an order to arrest Ma Lu."

"It's too early to arrest him. I have to wait for the latest situation of the inspection in the East Ocean in the south."

"I will issue an order to allow the civil and military officials in important positions in the capital to continue the trial, and no longer have the three judicial departments to conduct the trial together."

"I'm doing this to let you know, first, that it's not just the civil officials who want to punish you and hate you; second, to buy time and wait for new news from the south; third, I'm giving them one last chance to see how many of them start to understand the situation when it comes to banning and opening the sea, and how many still don't."

"Those who don't know what's best for them can only be killed!"

(End of this chapter)