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

Chapter 261 If the dragon heir is lost, I want all the sons of officials in the city to be buried with him!

The Jiangnan officials kneeling on the ground were anxious and desperate.

Zhu Youtang has already arrested them. Doesn’t this show his attitude?
Because of the smuggling case yesterday morning, Zhu Youtang was already certain in his heart that it was these Jiangnan officials who were behind it.

This is really like yellow mud falling into your crotch. It's shit if not shit.

It’s all Zhang Ning, Huang Yun, Xu Lai’s fault. It wouldn’t matter if they died, but they ended up getting them into trouble!

Thinking of the fate of Zhang Ning and others, these Jiangnan officials could not help but feel sad, and many of them shed tears.

Zhu Youtang looked at these Jiangnan civil servants crying bitterly and sneered.

Cry? Crying also needs time.

"He Qiaoxin, you are the Minister of Justice, do you have any clue about this matter?"

He Qiaoxin behaved very calmly, and even had a sense of relief and acceptance of his fate.

"Your Majesty, there are too few clues. I have no clue at all."

Zhu Youtang sneered: "Humph, since there is no clue, there is no need to keep this head."

"Behead immediately!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

During the conversation, Mou Bin, who was standing next to the team, suddenly walked up quickly, grabbed He Qiaoxin and pulled him forward a few steps.

Then he drew his sword and chopped it down with one blow, and He Qiaoxin's head fell to the ground instantly!

He Qiaoxin didn't even make a sound. After a large amount of blood spurted out of his neck, the headless body fell to the ground.

From the time Zhu Youtang gave the order to the time He Qiaoxin died, it took only two breaths of time.

Zhu Youtang, a minister of six ministries, was killed on the spot without even blinking an eye.

The speed was so fast that many people had no time to react. All they could see was blood all over the ground and heads rolling around.

"Ah ah ah ah ah……"

"Your Majesty, please spare me! I really don't know about this, Your Majesty, please spare me!"

"Your Majesty is wise. Even if I had ten times the courage, I would not dare to send people to burn down your palace. Your Majesty, please have mercy!"

"..."

He Qiaoxin's death shocked all the Jiangnan civil servants present. This unexpected disaster made them full of resentment and they had nowhere to complain.

Zhu Youtang looked at the Jiangnan civil servant who kept begging for mercy with a sharp gaze and a cold tone.

"Since you are all wrongly accused and innocent, do you have any clues about the fire in Xianfu Palace last night?"

This left the civil servants in Jiangnan speechless.

They are afraid that after they say “I have no clue”, they will really have no clue anymore.

All the civil and military officials in the court were hesitant, and no one dared to speak.

Zhu Youtang was also unwilling to stay in Fengtianmen Square and continue to waste time with them.

"You have no idea, right?"

"Mo Bin!"

Mou Bin held the blood-stained sword in his hand and shouted, "I'm here!"

"From now on, every quarter of an hour, we will randomly select one of these Jiangnan officials and behead him as a warning to the public."

"Keep killing until they have a clue!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Mou Bin bowed and accepted the order. When he turned around, the cold light in his eyes made every civil servant in Jiangnan tremble with fear.

The civil servants in Jiangnan were filled with sorrow and despair.

Other court officials who had not been affected breathed a sigh of relief and felt somewhat fortunate.

But it was obvious that they were happy too early, and Zhu Youtang had no intention of letting them go.

Zhu Youtang stood up from the dragon throne, his eyes swept across the faces of every official in the court, and a rare sinister and crazy look appeared on his face.

"I know that you Jiangnan people will try every possible means to stop me from sailing to the West again."

"But I didn't expect you to be so cruel and cruel as to attack my child."

"Remember, from now on, if anything happens to my son, then all the children of officials in the capital will not be allowed to stay!"

"You'd better pray that every one of my children can grow up healthy."

"Otherwise, if one of my children dies, I will kill all the children of officials in the capital to bury them with my child!"

"Retreat!"

After Zhu Youtang finished speaking, he turned and left, not even thinking about how much shock his words would bring to these Ming officials.

It was not uncommon for Ming officials to poison the heirs of the throne in history, and the most rampant period was during the Hongzhi period of Emperor Xiaozong.

Many people thought that Zhu Youtang had only one son, Zhu Houzhao.

But in fact, Zhu Youtang had another son and one daughter, namely the second son, Prince Weidao Zhu Houwei, and the eldest daughter, Princess Taikang.

Prince Weidao Zhu Houwei and Princess Taikang both died young.

Historically, in February of the ninth year of Hongzhi, Geng Yu, then Minister of Personnel, died. Emperor Xiaozong immediately appointed his confidant Tu Yu to take over as Minister of Personnel.

Then in April, Ye Qi, the Minister of Revenue who revised the Kaizhong Law, was ordered to retire by Emperor Xiaozong, and Zhou Jing, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, took over the position of Minister of Revenue. In this way, Emperor Xiaozong kept placing his trusted subordinates in the six ministries.

By the end of the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign, except for the Minister of War Ma Wensheng, who was a close friend of the cabinet and whom Emperor Xiaozong could not touch, the other five ministers had been replaced by Emperor Xiaozong's own people.

It was also at this time that Xiaozong began to personally lead the army and seize power.

But in the same year, Emperor Xiaozong's second son, Zhu Houwei, died inexplicably in the palace at the age of three.

The cause of death is unknown and is not recorded in history books.

After Xiaozong took control of the six ministries, he began to want to interfere in the military and political affairs of the north.

In the tenth year of Hongzhi, Emperor Xiaozong reinstated Wang Yue, the Earl of Weining, and appointed him as the Prince's Grand Tutor, the General Manager of Gansu and Liang border affairs and the Governor-General. Later, he was also in charge of Yan and Ning towns.

In this way, the military power in the northwest was concentrated in the hands of Wang Yue alone.

Emperor Xiaozong regained control of the government in the capital and the military power in the northwest, so he began to take action against the cabinet.

In July of the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign, Emperor Xiaozong successively dismissed the chief minister of the cabinet Xu Pu, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue Liu Daxia, and the minister of the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing Qin Hong.

Then he sent eunuchs Mo Ying, Song Yu, Liu Jing and others to start checking the granaries in the capital and Tongzhou.

As we all know, any unexpected thing could happen once the emperor of the Ming Dynasty checked the accounts.

Those who are luckier, like Emperor Wuzong, are simply easily soluble in water.

Those who were less fortunate, like Emperor Yingzong, would be cursed for the rest of their lives because of the Battle of Tumu.

The same went for Emperor Xiaozong, because there was no way to check the account.

When Emperor Xiaozong ascended the throne, the cabinet took advantage of the power vacuum and removed all the eunuchs who were in charge of supervising grain in the granaries.

Without the supervision of the eunuchs, wouldn't these civil servants be able to do whatever they want?

Now, eleven years have passed, and the deficit in the granaries in the capital and Tongzhou is simply unimaginable.

Emperor Xiaozong wanted to investigate old accounts going back eleven years. The former chief minister of the cabinet Xu Pu, the former minister of war Ma Wensheng, and the former minister of revenue Ye Qi, none of them could escape, they all had to die!

The Ministry of Revenue tried its best to stop Shangshu Zhou Jing and others, and tried its best to stop Emperor Xiaozong from checking the accounts, writing in a letter that "every incident will cause harm, and every increase in official position will cause expenses."

Translation means, it is better to have less trouble than more. Your Majesty, forget it. Only when you are well, and I am well, can everyone be well. Let's just check the accounts as a gesture.

We can't check everything, right? What if we find out something?
But Emperor Xiaozong refused to listen and insisted on checking the accounts.

So in September of the eleventh year of Hongzhi, Emperor Xiaozong's only daughter, the four-year-old Princess Taikang, also died inexplicably in the palace.

Like King Weidao Zhu Houwei, the cause of Princess Taikang's death is not recorded in history books.

In the same year, in October of the eleventh year of Hongzhi's reign, the Qingning Palace where Empress Dowager Zhou lived and the Qianqing Palace where Emperor Xiaozong lived caught fire at the same time.

That night, Emperor Xiaozong's trusted eunuch Li Guang was killed. Zhou and the cabinet joined forces to launch a palace coup, once again sidelining Emperor Xiaozong.

This audit, just like the one of Emperor Yingzong, ended in nothing.

Except for Emperor Xiaozong, Emperor Wuzong had no heirs, Emperor Sejong had six children who died young, and Emperor Guangzong had three princes and seven princesses who died young.

The most miserable one was Emperor Xizong. His three princes and two princesses all died young. Emperor Xizong had no heirs, so he was forced to pass the throne to his younger brother Zhu Youjian.

Of course, the situation Zhu Youtang is facing now is much better than that of Emperor Xiaozong in history.

First of all, the stubborn elements such as Xu Pu, Ma Wensheng, Liu Daxia and Ye Qi had all been executed by Zhu Youtang.

Zhou was also imprisoned by Zhu Youtang and lost all power.

Now, even if these civil officials wanted to take action against Zhu Youtang's heir, it would be extremely difficult.

But there is always a loophole, and the fire in Xianfu Palace sounded a wake-up call for Zhu Youtang.

If you can only be a thief for a thousand days, how can you prevent a thief for a thousand days?

Therefore, Zhu Youtang convened another court meeting in such a hurry this time just to provide an insurance for his heirs.

And this insurance means the lives of all the officials’ children in the capital!
Zhu Youtang left, and the officials in the court stared in disbelief.

They really couldn't believe their ears, they actually heard such horrifying words.

If anything happened to Zhu Youtang's heir, he would actually kill the children of all the officials in the capital to bury him with them.

What a cruel order this is, this can no longer be called a tyrant, right?

Even Emperor Taizu Gao had never done such a cruel thing, right?

What’s even more terrifying is that they didn’t doubt at all that Zhu Youtang could do what he said!

The officials in the capital were completely devastated!
"Oh my God! Is your Majesty serious about what he said? How could this be possible? How could this be possible?!"

"Your Majesty, this is really too radical. Life and death are unpredictable, fire and water are merciless, what does this have to do with us?!"

"Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have only been precedents of concubines being buried alive with the emperor. How could it be possible for the sons of officials to be buried alive with the princes and princesses?!"

"..."

In Fengtian Gate Square, civil and military officials were extremely excited and anxious.

At this moment, a sudden scream brought peace back to Fengtianmen Square.

"what!!!!"

"Don't kill me! No! Please don't!"

Everyone turned to look and saw that there was a touch of fresh blood on the Xiuchun Knife in Mou Bin's hand.

And on the ground, there was a headless corpse.

(End of this chapter)