Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 442: Xia Yan was stripped of his official title and retired!

"Your Majesty is right. I do not agree with this either and think we should discuss it again."

Yang Yiqing replied at this time.

Zhu Houcong said without hesitation: "Of course we should discuss it again!"

Then, Zhu Houcong looked at Yang Yiqing and other ministers in the Imperial Study and asked, "Who among the three judicial officials proposed this?"

"Ye Yingcong from the Dali Temple."

Yang Yiqing replied immediately.

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this: "He is not upright and cannot distinguish right from wrong. He is a villain and should be demoted to a commoner!"

Being stripped of one's official title and becoming a commoner means there will be no chance for one to serve as an official again.

Ye Yingcong's suggestion resulted in such a result, which naturally shows that Zhu Houcong was very dissatisfied with the fact that these scholars and officials wanted the emperor to cooperate with them in hypocrisy and let the Jinyiwei Beizhenfu Division do the dirty work.

Zhu Houcong then continued to order: "Xia Yan did not go through the judicial department to kill the Hanlin, and he should be directly interrogated in court! I don't believe that the civil and military officials in the court can't come up with a fair result!"

……

……

"This Xia Guixi, since he dared to violate the law and kill the Hanlin, he should have hanged himself after killing the Hanlin!"

"That way, those courtiers who hate him won't have to be so embarrassed!"

After the cabinet conveyed Zhu Houcong's intention, Xu Zan, the left vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, was very depressed and complained about Xia Yan's choice in front of his former good colleagues such as Zhu Xizhou and Zhou Lun.

Zhou Lun smiled and said, "He dared to kill Hanlin because he knew that those officials who hated him for this would be in such a dilemma that they would not be able to kill him. They would even choose to let him live and speak well of him. "

"Yeah, there's no need to be upset about this now."

"A real man should be able to endure things that he cannot endure!"

"During the court trial, we can only speak well of Xia Yan. We must not sentence Xia Yan to death just because he did not report the impeachment first and did not ask the emperor to issue an order to the judge to kill the Hanlin! In short, the principle of judging cases according to the Spring and Autumn Period must not be violated!"

Zhu Xizhou replied.

Zhou Lun followed up and said, "That's right, only those who don't support the Spring and Autumn Period and want to put the law above etiquette will insist on sentencing Xia Yan to death!"

"I know, but I can't kill Xia Yan without destroying the consensus of the scholars in the Spring and Autumn Judgment. It still makes people feel aggrieved when they think about it!"

Xu Zan replied.

Zhu Xizhou laughed and said, "That's why he is so talented!"

At the beginning of the court trial, Xu Zan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, who was temporarily on leave from his post, was dissatisfied with Xia Yan's killing of his Hanlin colleagues, but he still spoke first:
"I still hold the same opinion. Although Xia Yan was good at killing his colleagues, he did so out of loyalty, filial piety and righteousness, which is in line with the teachings of the saints!"

"The ancient sages believed that the punishment should be determined according to the great principles of the Spring and Autumn Annals. Therefore, Xia Yan should not impose a heavier punishment of death penalty, nor should he be humiliated. Otherwise, it would be harsh treatment of loyal and good people and corrupt the moral principles."

At this point, Xu Zan said, "So, I suggest that Xia Yan should only be convicted of impulsiveness and ordered to retire, but because of his loyalty, filial piety, and chastity, he should be rewarded, so he should be ordered to retire with the title of Minister of Rites!"

"I agree!"

"Although Xia Yan is arrogant and rebellious, he is actually a loyal minister. When governing a country, courtesy should be the most important thing. For such a loyal minister, we should discuss his merits. We cannot sentence him to death just because he kills people without asking for the emperor's edict or going through the court. We can only force him to retire, and we cannot treat him unfairly."

Zuodu Yushi Zhou Lun also followed suit.

At this time...

Zhang Cong said, "I don't agree! Regardless of whether the murdered Hanlin was loyal or treacherous, if they were guilty, they should be punished according to the law. Otherwise, where is the law and order?"

"If someone disobeys the law and kills out of righteous indignation, and an official of the imperial court is mistakenly killed, the consequences will be even more serious! After all, the dead cannot be resurrected."

Gui E followed up by saying, "That's right. The court is not a gangster, and the ministers are not gangsters. If the subjects can kill people for loyalty, can the emperor say that even if he massacres the whole city, it is not unjust?"

"Of course!" "There is no king who is not wrong. Even if the king is angry and massacres the city, you can't blame the king!"

Minister of Rites Zhu Xizhou gritted his teeth and replied.

Dali Temple Minister Fang Xianfu also nodded solemnly: "Yes, the law of governance should follow the principle of loyalty and forgiveness. Xia Yan killed a disloyal minister for the sake of the king, which is loyal. His crime should be forgiven and a light punishment is enough!"

Yang Yiqing also spoke at this time: "I still say the same thing, if you want to kill Xia Yan, you must kill me, Yang Yiqing, first!"

Seeing that most court officials advocated not killing Xia Yan, Zhang Cong and Gui E did not insist any further.

However, Gui E sneered at the end of the court trial and said, "Since you have pardoned Xia Yan's crime now, if you advise the emperor to be strict and kill him again in the future, he will really deserve to be put to death!"

"That's natural!"

"No one can criticize the emperor or father! Anyone who criticizes him is disrespectful and deserves to be killed!"

At this time, Yang Yiqing took the initiative to respond to Gui E.

Gui E said no more.

Therefore, the result of the court interrogation was that Xia Yan was only asked to retire with the title of Minister of Rites.

Zhu Houcong also complied with the results of the court interrogation and allowed Xia Yan to retire with the title of Minister of Rites.

However, many court officials who supported not killing Xia Yan did not feel a sense of joy as if they had won.

Especially when these people thought of the conversation between Gui E and Yang Yiqing, they felt even more disappointed.

"Did those Hanlin scholars really die in vain?"

As Xu Zan was leaving the palace, he couldn't help but tell Zhu Xizhou and Zhou Lun who were traveling with him, with a wry smile on his face.

Zhou Lun also smiled bitterly and said, "Otherwise, they are not important at all! In other words, whether they are important or not is actually up to the emperor to decide. To be more precise, whether the saints' righteousness is important or not is also up to the emperor to decide, not us."

"But we advocate the righteousness of saints and the judgment of cases according to the Spring and Autumn Annals, so that propriety is above law and there is order in hierarchy, not so that the emperor can kill anyone in the world at will, regardless of their status!"

Xu praised.

Zhu Xizhou then sighed and said, "But it is difficult to have both in this world. We can't be as foolish as those who were killed, thinking that the emperor cannot kill people at will, and at the same time we can decide the life and death of the humble."

"Is there really no other way?"

However, Xu Zan asked again unwillingly at this time.

Then, Xu Zan proposed: "What if the wealthy and powerful families in the world no longer ask the court to go to the countryside to collect taxes, and the court cut off the land tax and capitation silver?"

"This is not a smart strategy, it's even pretty stupid."

"As the saying goes, if the nest is overturned, how can the eggs remain intact? If we do not provide the imperial court with land tax and silver, the world will be thrown into disorder, and it will not benefit the world's wealthy and powerful families."

"Besides, the amount of land tax and silver that the wealthy and powerful families in the world have increased for the imperial court to pay to the Taicang warehouse for military supplies is only about 4 million taels of silver, which is no longer the main source of income for the imperial court today."

"And the court's main source of income now comes from overseas."

"So, this method of no longer actively collecting taxes for the court will not only not threaten the court, but will even prompt the court to further decouple from the world's wealthy and powerful families."

Zhu Xizhou said.

Zhou Lun nodded, "That's right! Originally, His Majesty might not be so harsh on the wealthy families in the world because of these four million taels of silver and the tax grain and silver left in the local area. If there is really no income in the future, I am afraid that His Majesty will really use the righteousness of the saint to be more daring to kill, and even dare to massacre the village and destroy the country!"

"After all, there's no contribution in keeping it anyway."

Xu Zan nodded after hearing this, and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "It seems that not only can the tax contributions of the world's wealthy families not be reduced, but they should be increased!"

"Yes……"

(End of this chapter)