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

Chapter 74: Poisoning the late emperor, killing them all without any investigation!

The bright moon hangs high in the sky above the capital, and night has fallen.

Huai En was worried all the way, his heart filled with anxiety about the unknown.

The scope of this incident far exceeded his expectations.

His mood also changed from joy and anger to anxiety and fear.

At this moment, although the investigation has not been completed, he can no longer hold it back.

This matter must be reported to Your Majesty for the final decision.

……

Hongde Hall.

Zhu Youtang was reviewing memorials when Huai'en walked in and knelt in front of Zhu Youtang.

"This old slave pays respect to His Majesty."

Zhu Youtang looked up at Huai En lying on the ground, then returned his gaze to the memorial in his hand.

"Get up."

"Your Majesty, I have something important to report to you and I will let you make the decision."

Huai En did not stand up. Instead, he took out the secret letter from his arms and raised it above his head.

Zhu Youtang could tell from Huai'en's tone that it was quite serious, even with a hint of fear.

Zhu Youtang put down the memorial in his hand and looked at Huai En.

"Send it over."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Huai'en carefully presented the secret letter in his hand to Zhu Youtang.

After Zhu Youtang took the secret letter, he stood aside respectfully.

Zhu Youtang opened the secret letter, and the first sentence on it made him frown deeply.

"In the 23rd year of Chenghua, Liu Wentai, the director of the Imperial Hospital and the right minister of government, colluded with Liu Ji, the cabinet minister, to poison the late emperor!"

Zhu Youtang looked down, and the more he looked, the more frightened and angry he became.

This case involves a large number of people, and the number of people whose cases have been investigated clearly and those whose cases have not been investigated clearly adds up to hundreds.

There are more than twenty or thirty officials above the fourth rank.

After reading it, Zhu Youtang was shocked.

The anger in his heart reached its peak, and even the hand holding the secret letter was shaking slightly.

“Bold!!!”

"How ridiculous! How ridiculous!!!"

"This is treason! This is simply deceiving the heaven, deceiving the heaven!!!"

"Wynn, what on earth is going on!!!"

Zhu Youtang slammed the secret letter on the dragon table, stood up excitedly, his chest shaking with anger.

This was the angriest time in Zhu Youtang's history.

He never imagined that the civil service group would be so bold and presumptuous.

The late emperor was actually poisoned to death!
Zhu Youtang's anger reached an unprecedented level, and the flame of rage in his heart wanted to burn everything.

Huai En was so frightened that he immediately knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Your Majesty, please calm down! Your Majesty, please calm down!"

"Your Majesty, please take care of the dragon's health and don't let it get damaged by anger."

Zhu Youtang roared in a low voice: "Stop talking nonsense and speak! Tell me everything!"

"Your Majesty, when the late emperor passed away, I was still guarding the Xiaoling Mausoleum at the foot of Zijin Mountain."

"I don't know much about what happened in the court, and I can't say for sure what was found out afterwards. I can only speculate."

"Speak!" Zhu Youtang squeezed out the word from between his teeth.

Zhu Youtang's patience has reached its limit.

"Yes, yes, sire, I will tell you at once."

Huai En organized his thoughts and began to narrate what happened on the eve of the late emperor's death.

"In August of the twenty-third year of Chenghua, the late emperor did not attend court due to illness."

"After four days of recuperation, the late emperor issued an edict stating that his health had improved."

"But that night, after drinking the medicine prescribed by Liu Wentai, the director of the Imperial Hospital, he suddenly became seriously ill and died a few days later."

"The main leaders of the Imperial Hospital, Shi Qin and Zhong Lan, were demoted to Imperial Hospital Directors, and Ren Yi, Zhang Yuan, and Liu Wentai were demoted to Imperial Hospital Judges."

"Then the cabinet issued an order that the case was closed and no further action would be taken."

"After the death of the previous emperor, no one was imprisoned or executed!"

"The following October, 564 officials and 1358 craftsmen directly appointed by the late emperor were ordered to retire." "The vacancies of these more than officials were quickly filled by people promoted by the cabinet."

"This matter is extremely strange, so since I took over the East Factory, I have been secretly investigating it."

"Now we have some clues. We have basically confirmed the fact that the late emperor was poisoned. However, this case involves too many people. There are 23 high-ranking officials above the fourth rank."

“But this does not mean that these 23 senior officials were involved in the plot.”

"The number of people who actually planned and carried out this case is no more than five."

"The vast majority of these officials were those who, after the incident, took advantage of the situation and fished in troubled waters to reap their own benefits."

"They watched the late emperor pass away with cold eyes. Not only did they not seek revenge for the late emperor, they also prevented others from thoroughly investigating the case."

"Taking advantage of the power vacuum after the death of the previous emperor and before Your Majesty ascends the throne, you are grabbing your own interests!"

"Your Majesty, please make the decision on this case!"

Huai En burst into tears at the end of his speech.

Zhu Youtang clenched his fists, the anger in his heart needed to be vented urgently.

When Zhu Youtang came here, it was already the first year of the Hongzhi reign.

Several months have passed since Zhu Youtang ascended the throne in September of the 23rd year of Chenghua.

Although he also had memories of before and after he ascended the throne, he had no way of knowing such a secretive matter.

But now that I think about it carefully, the death of the late emperor is indeed suspicious.

The first and most suspicious point is why no one was imprisoned or executed after the death of the previous emperor.

The second suspicious point is why it happened just after the death of the previous emperor and before Zhu Youtang ascended the throne.

The cabinet quickly dismissed the more than 500 officials appointed by the previous emperor and replaced them all with the cabinet's own people.

The so-called imperial officials are officials appointed by the emperor himself.

The appointment of these officials did not require the approval of the cabinet. The emperor could directly hand the list over to the Minister of Personnel, who would then make the appointments according to his imperial order.

Correspondingly, officials who were promoted could only take office after a list was drawn up by the cabinet and approved by the emperor.

Since these officials were appointed by the emperor himself and had no vested interests in the cabinet, they were not closely tied to it.

During the Chenghua period, the late emperor would appoint a group of officials every month.

By the end of the Chenghua period, there were hundreds of officials in the court.

After the death of the previous emperor, all these officials were ordered to retire.

There must be something fishy going on here!

Zhu Youtang sat back on the dragon throne with a gloomy face.

"kill."

"His Majesty?"

Huai En raised his head. He didn't quite hear what Zhu Youtang said.

"Kill them all!!!"

Zhu Youtang suddenly slapped the dragon table in front of him, feeling very emotional.

"There are more than 500 officials who have been replaced in the cabinet. No need to investigate. Arrest them all immediately and execute them all!"

“All officials who have been identified and not identified do not need to be identified again!”

"Anyone who is involved in the death of the previous emperor, anyone who is even slightly suspicious, will be arrested and killed without mercy!"

"And more! Keep investigating! Investigate till the end!"

"Let them bite each other. I must purge all the rebellious officials in the capital!"

"These civil servants actually dared to poison the late emperor. This is truly outrageous!"

"Kill! Kill them now! Don't wait even a moment!"

"Also, immediately dispatch 3,000 Dongchang soldiers to the palace to guard the Forbidden City. There must be no mistakes!"

"Go and get Gao Shun, Wang Zhi, and Mou Bin all here for me!"

"You, wait here and take orders!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Huai'en was terrified by Zhu Youtang's words.

With such an appointment, there will definitely be more than 10,000 people in the capital who will lose their heads.

At the same time, he was deeply shocked by Zhu Youtang's courage.

He originally thought that this matter involved many officials and a large number of people.

Zhu Youtang would choose to keep the peace and impose symbolic punishment on some people, and the matter would be over.

But unexpectedly, Zhu Youtang was so bold that not only was he unwilling to let things go peacefully, but he also wanted to clean up the entire civil service group in the capital!

(End of this chapter)