Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 12 Reopening the West Factory!

The miserable roars of Zhou Shou and Zhou Yu woke up Zhang Yuan, who was still in shock, and those who were pleading for the Zhou family.

In an instant, regret, fear, terror, anger, hatred and other emotions surged into their hearts.

At this moment, they really hated the Zhou family.

They never expected that the Jinyiwei would charge them with treason.

If they knew this, they would never say a word for the Zhou family even if they were beaten to death.

Zhang Yuan was now extremely regretful and had cursed Zhou family ancestors hundreds of times in his heart.

But now that he has been dragged into this situation by the Zhou family, if he wants to survive, he can only help the Zhou family get rid of the crime first.

At least, the crime of treason cannot be charged.

After thinking clearly about the interests involved, Zhang Yuan immediately cried and begged Zhu Youtang.

"Your Majesty, how could Empress Dowager Zhou be willing to rebel?"

"There must be a villain behind this, Your Majesty, please investigate!"

"Your Majesty, the Zhou family's loyalty to the Ming Dynasty is evident to all. Please reconsider your decision!"

Zhang Yuan was the most ruthless, directly bringing up the idea of ​​filial piety.

"Your Majesty, when Taizu founded the country, he advocated filial piety as the most important virtue. Your Majesty, as the Son of Heaven, should set an example for the people of the world and explain filial piety!"

"Your Majesty, confiscating Zhou's property is unfilial!"

"..."

The ministers below the stairs were arguing in a mess. The three elders of the cabinet and the five ministers of the six ministries were also feeling uneasy at this moment.

Zhou had secret communications with external officials, and the people he had secret communications with were ministers and chancellors like them.

If the Zhou family really falls, and His Majesty investigates, none of them will be able to save their heads.

However, if Your Majesty really wants their heads, who will govern the world for the emperor?

Does Zhu Youtang really have the guts to kill several of their ministers in one go?

Wan'an exchanged glances with several ministers and officials, and suddenly they all kept silent, as if they were sitting on wax.

Zhu Youtang's face became increasingly gloomy, and his patience had reached its limit.

"Shut up, everyone!"

"Anyone who says this again will be punished with the same crime as Zhou, and his entire clan will be exterminated and executed by slow slicing!"

All civil and military officials were silent as a cicada!
"Zhou has been convicted of treason. I will spare his life because he is my elder, but everyone in the Zhou family will not be able to escape the death penalty!"

Zhu Youtang threw the Zhou family genealogy in front of Mou Bin.

"Mou Bin, I order you to exterminate all three clans of the Zhou clan and execute them by slow slicing!"

"Execute him at Caishikou and throw him into the streets!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Mou Bin knelt down to receive the order.

Zhu Youtang then pointed at the more than 30 officials who had pleaded for Zhou.

"These people, their property will be confiscated and their heads will be beheaded, and they will be executed together!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Mou Bin waved his hand, and a group of Jinyiwei rushed out, pulled up the official who was kneeling on the ground, and dragged him out of the Meridian Gate.

The officials on the ground were so frightened that they kowtowed profusely.

Zhang Yuan was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground, with dirty things flowing out from under him.

"Your Majesty, please have mercy! I was deceived by the Zhou family and I was completely unaware of it!"

"Your Majesty, please show me your mercy! Your Majesty, please show me your mercy! I never knew that the Zhou family would dare to harbor such evil intentions!"

"Your Majesty, I am your uncle, your dear uncle! Your Majesty cannot kill me!"

"..."

After the Jinyiwei took the Zhou family and the remnants of Zhou's party away from Fengtianmen Square, the court meeting filled with screams and cries finally quieted down.

The remaining officials were trembling with fear.

They never expected that Zhu Youtang would be so cruel.

Even his own uncle was exterminated if he said he would exterminate three tribes.

Not to mention those officials who pleaded for the Zhou family. They would have their property confiscated and their heads beheaded at any time. They are simply tyrants!
Looking up at the densely packed Jinyiwei on the Fengtian Gate Square, the officials lowered their heads silently again.

After Zhu Youtang dealt with the remnants of the Zhou family and Zhou party in the court, he was finally ready to move on to the topic of this court meeting.

Zhu Youtang glanced at the ministers, and everyone on the steps bowed their heads, no one dared to look him in the eye. "Since I ascended the throne, from the harem to the court, from the capital to the local areas, there have been countless forces opposing me."

"I will never allow the Zhou family's rebellion to happen again."

"So I have decided to reopen the Western Factory from today!"

boom! ! !
It was like a thunderclap, exploding in the ears of all officials!

Everyone raised their heads, their faces pale, and looked at Zhu Youtang in disbelief.

Some of the more timid ones would collapse with weak legs, or faint with their eyes rolled back.

From the cabinet minister to the assistant clerk, no matter whether high-ranking official or minor official, everyone changed color when they heard the news, as if they had lost their parents.

"Your Majesty, you must not do this! You must not reopen the Western Factory!"

"Your Majesty, the West Factory is brutal and brutal, and they have no evidence to investigate the murder. If you reopen the West Factory, the officials will have no intention of sharing your worries!"

"Your Majesty, if you reopen the Western Factory, all officials will be in danger, which will shake the foundation of the country and will not benefit the country!"

"..."

Just these four words were enough to prompt civil and military officials to submit memorials in an effort to oppose the reopening of the Western Factory.

Zhu Youtang knew that it was because the Western Factory had hurt and frightened these civil servants.

In the 13th year of Chenghua, Emperor Xianzong first established the Western Jishi Factory.

Wang Zhi, who was less than 20 years old at the time, was the director of the Western Factory.

The first case that Wang Zhi handled after becoming the governor of the Western Factory was to raid Yang Rong’s house.

Yang Rong and Yang Shiqi took advantage of the power vacuum when Yingzong ascended the throne at the age of eight, colluded with the harem, and gained power in the court.

His power was comparable to that of Zhang Juzheng, who claimed to be regent during the Wanli period.

The Yang Rong family had been operating in the Minzhou area for generations, bringing disaster to the local community and acting tyrannically, resulting in dozens of deaths and hundreds of people being displaced.

When Emperor Xianzong heard about this, he sent Wang Zhi to investigate the case.

Wang Zhi directly took more than a hundred members of the Yang family from Minzhou to the capital for execution.

The Yang family, which had been operating in Minzhou for more than half a century, was wiped out.

In the Western Factory supervised by Wang Zhi, within just a few years, more than a dozen officials of the third rank and above had their properties confiscated and their families killed.

The struggle between officials and the Western Factory never stopped during the Chenghua period.

The Western Factory had been ordered to be closed twice by Emperor Xianzong. If Zhu Youtang reopened the Western Factory again, it would be the third time he established the Western Factory.

No official in the court would want to see this scene.

"Your Majesty, please think again!"

"Your Majesty, please take back your order!"

This time, all the civil and military officials knelt down to beg for orders, and there were hundreds of them!

Zhu Youtang looked calm and unmoved.

"I have made up my mind, no need to persuade me anymore!"

The cabinet chief Wan An gritted his teeth and stood out from the team: "If Your Majesty insists on opening the Western Factory again, I will retire!"

The cabinet's second assistant Liu Wei followed closely behind: "Your Majesty, I also ask to retire!"

"Your Majesty, I also request to retire!"

Liu Ji also stood up.

At the same time, the only three elders in the cabinet requested to retire.

During the Ming Dynasty, this was simply unheard of.

And then, the resignation of the three ministers seemed to have touched a switch.

Officials came forward one after another and requested to retire.

"Your Majesty, if you want to reopen the Western Factory, I will retire!"

"Your Majesty, I also request to retire!"

"Your Majesty, I wish to retire with you!"

"..."

For a time, there was a collective, panic-stricken, and escapist wave of retirement in Zhu Youtang's court.

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(End of this chapter)