Jiajing Chengming

After hearing this, Dai Fu froze in place, his face turning even paler.

Then, Dai Fu knelt down in front of the prefect Han Yue and begged with tears in his eyes, "Mr. Han, can you please let me go?"

"You go and ask His Majesty for mercy yourself."

Han Yue only replied with this one sentence and walked into the Dai family's house.

So, Dai Fu was taken to Weihui, Zhu Houcong's palace.

Not only Dai Fu, but other people who were involved in land encroachment and spreading rumors to mislead the public were also brought here.

When Dai Fu and other local officials who came from wealthy and luxurious families came to Zhu Houcong, Zhu Houcong was playing chess with Zhang Cong.

As Zhu Houcong was picking up the cloud, he glanced at the local officials who were kneeling in the room.

Then, after getting off Yun Zi, Zhu Houcong said, "You can't just show your benevolence and morality in front of me and the government! This will only make people hate you even more after knowing the truth!"

"We have let His Majesty down, and we deserve to die!"

After Zhu Houcong said this, Dai Fu and other local officials knelt on the ground with a look of extreme regret on their faces, saying that they deserved to die.

Zhu Houcong laughed and said, "You really deserve to die! I just want you to stop over-exploiting the people and bringing disaster to the country as you did before, but you don't hesitate to use natural disasters to create human tragedies and threaten me with anonymous posts. Any monarch with a weak will would be frightened by you."

When Zhu Houcong got to this point, he asked the three judicial officials who were accompanying him, "Have they been convicted?"

At this time, Fang Xianfu, the Minister of the Dali Temple, stepped forward and handed over a stack of case documents: "Your Majesty, the decision has been made. However, it is not appropriate for us to make a decision on our own for deliberately destroying dikes and flooding fields and setting fire to houses. Please make a decision on your behalf and make it a precedent for punishment."

“It’s not difficult!”

"During the imperial lectures, my teachers always taught me that the people are the most important, the emperor is the least important, and the country is the second most important. Since it involves the survival of thousands of people, it should be treated as regicide and treason! I will be sentenced to death, and the nine clans will be implicated!"

Zhu Houcong waved his hand and said, "Let's do it this way. Take these rebels away and execute them. Then burn their fertile fields and exile their entire clans to remote places. Make them slaves for the military!"

After hearing this, Dai Fu and others raised their heads in shock.

"Your Majesty, please have mercy!"

Then, Dai Fu and others kowtowed and replied that since they could not accept being sentenced to death and having their fertile fields burned, they also could not accept that their families would be enslaved by the military households.

Snapped!
But Zhu Houcong suddenly slammed the table, causing the chess pieces on the table to jump.

"What are you crying for!"

"Is it wrong to convict according to the righteous principles of the saints who put the people first?!"

"Besides, if you had a little kindness and respect in your hearts, why would I do this?!"

After Zhu Houcong reprimanded them, he added: "Remember, as long as you don't treat the people as human beings, you should be prepared for me not to treat you as human beings!"

"In short, you can't just admit that the winners are kings and the losers are bandits when you are strong, and think that the strong should slaughter the weak at will! And when you become weak, you expect others to be kind to you."

"There is no such good thing in the world!"

Zhu Houcong turned around and looked at these people and asked with a smile: "Also, didn't you warn me in the name of heaven not to use Zhang Fujing and Gui E? Then you should go to the underworld to ask Taizu and Taizong to tell them that Zhang Fujing and Gui E can't be used, and then have them come to me in a dream to let me know that these two people can't be used!"

These people just kept crying and did not respond to Zhu Houcong.

Zhu Houcong returned to the capital shortly afterwards.

By asking the governor of Henan to investigate the encroachment of government land and punishing a group of treacherous, hypocritical and extravagant wealthy people, Zhu Houcong's anger was greatly reduced.

For him, as long as he finds an opportunity to discipline these extravagant wealthy people, he will not be too polite to them, and they will inevitably pay a heavy price for it. After all, he now completely understands that he can't wake up those who are pretending to be asleep, nor can he make these people really change through ideological guidance.

Because what he is doing now is not so much a lack of reform as it is a war between him and the traditional ruling model.

War will inevitably lead to revolution and a series of violent incidents, and ultimately the war can only be resolved in this way.

After Zhu Houcong returned to the capital, the second princess had already been buried, but he still visited the princess's tomb in tears, and comforted her mother, Xue, all night.

Then, Zhu Houcong went to Wanggongchang of the Armory Bureau.

In fact, after Zhu Houcong ascended the throne, he also planned to move various arsenals of the court to the outer city.

However, because it involves comprehensive consideration of confidentiality, defense, and management efficiency, the relocation has not been completed over the years.

This also ensured that Wanggongchang's function of manufacturing military equipment continued to exist.

When Zhu Houcong arrived at Wanggongchang, he saw that there were still many ruins that had not been cleaned up, and many pieces of wood and iron were piled up in a mess in the ruins full of gunpowder ash.

"We didn't know the emperor was coming so suddenly, so we didn't have time to clean up thoroughly. Your Majesty, please punish us!"

Zhao Bing, who was in charge of the manufacture of military equipment, therefore bowed his head to Zhu Houcong and confessed his guilt.

Zhu Houcong raised his hand and asked Zhao Bing to stand up, then said: "This is good, so that I can see with my own eyes that there was indeed a big explosion here."

Speaking of it.

Zhu Houcong put his hands on his hips and sighed: "It's so sad! An arsenal that I, the ministers and the craftsmen have poured so much effort into is gone just like that!"

"Have you found out the exact reason?"

When Zhu Houcong got to this point, he asked about Huang Jinlai, who was now in charge of the factory guards.

Huang Jin bowed his head and replied, "It has not been investigated yet, but according to the subsequent investigation, a craftsman is missing. I think a craftsman in the factory was bewitched by a villain and did such a treasonous thing, but it is just a guess! I don't have any solid evidence yet."

"Although it is just speculation at the moment, it may not be untrue."

"These wealthy and powerful people are now omnipresent. They don't care about the interests of the country at all. They will do anything for their own selfish interests!"

Zhu Houcong then asked Zhao Bing, "Before I left, I asked you to organize the craftsmen who made chariots for the court to develop a four-wheeled carriage. How is the development going now?"

"Your Majesty, since the smelter improved the ironmaking process, making the steel stronger and producing tool steel that can be used for cutting steel, it has made the bearings, springs and differentials that your Majesty mentioned, but the shock absorber you mentioned has not yet been manufactured."

Zhao Bing replied at this time.

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this: "We must speed up the research and development. Even if they sabotage us, we cannot stop the pace of making the Ming Dynasty greater! The craftsmen who died in the explosion will be given generous compensation and treated as if they died in the line of duty. For the missing craftsmen, their families will be held accountable, their clans will be expelled from the craftsmen register, and their entire families will be exiled to the extreme borders and enslaved by the military households. When the craftsmen come back to confess their crimes, their families will be released!"

Zhao Bing bowed and said yes.

He was not surprised at the emperor's way of handling the matter.

He knew that his emperor had always been generous to those who worked diligently, but extremely cruel and harsh to those who were disloyal.

Therefore, Zhao Bing did not dislike the emperor's cruelty. He knew that as long as he worked hard, he would not have to worry about a tragic end.

What made Zhu Houcong even more proud was that three days later, because of his severe treatment of the families of the missing craftsmen, Huang Jin came to report that some missing craftsmen had voluntarily appeared outside the gate of the Northern Pacification Office to apologize, hoping that the emperor would spare their families.

(End of this chapter)