Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 122 Officialdom Philosophy, Immediate Execution!

Jinling City, Prince Wu’s Palace.

Hearing what Yao Guangxiao said, Zhu Yunhuan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

Has Huang Zicheng finally lost his patience?
"What do you think?" Zhu Yunxun asked the old monk with a smile.

Yao Guangxiao pulled out a secret report from his monk's robe and handed it over: "According to the information obtained by the Intelligence Department, Huang Zicheng had a violent conflict with Prince Xian before going to the Ministry of Justice."

"Huang Zicheng even announced loudly in public that from today on, he would sever all ties with King Xian and would no longer have any connection with him."

Zhu Yunxi was stunned for a moment.

Huang Zicheng's behavior obviously shows that he is ready to fight to the death?

He severed ties for fear of bringing trouble to Zhu Yunwen.

The old monk said, "In my opinion, Your Highness should rush to the Ministry of Justice immediately to prevent Huang Zicheng from being desperate and killing Wang Bi and other military generals and nobles at all costs."

Are you losing your temper just because of Fang Xiaoru's incident?

He's really not someone who can accomplish big things!

Zhu Yunhuan shook his head, but his expression was very calm, not panicked at all.

"Don't worry, Huang Zicheng can't kill Wang Bi and others at all."

Yao Guangxiao was stunned for a moment: "He has the emperor's order and is the judge appointed by His Majesty."

"He wants to try a case, and no one can stop him."

"If he really wanted to risk his life, he could just torture Wang Bi and other military generals and nobles to death by ordering severe beatings in court."

Zhu Yunxun laughed and said, "It's fine to beat Wang Bi and the others with a stick, but if they really want to use severe punishment and cause death, Yang Jing, the Minister of Justice, will be the first to stand up and oppose it."

"Huang Zicheng is just a scholar, he was only assigned to do a temporary job, so what does it matter if he has an imperial order?"

"The clerks in the Ministry of Justice have plenty of ways to deal with him."

"Don't be too hasty in saving Wang Bi and the others."

"Otherwise, they would really think that we are begging them."

The old monk's expression changed again and again, and after a while he clasped his hands together and said, "Your Highness, what you said makes sense. I was just too anxious for a moment."

Times have changed.

The current situation is on Zhu Yunhuan's side.

How could the officials of the Ministry of Justice not know this?
Even if Huang Zicheng wanted to do something reckless, the people in the Ministry of Justice would not go crazy with him.

After all, Huang Zicheng was just a Hanlin editor. It was true that he had a noble status, but he was not from the Ministry of Justice and had no roots in the Ministry.

There would naturally be no problem in handling ordinary matters simply by relying on an imperial order.

The Ministry of Justice will also cooperate obediently.

But when it comes to important matters, it’s a completely different story.

This is like an unfamiliar civil servant suddenly taking an imperial edict to the camp outside the capital to announce that there has been a change in the court and that troops must be dispatched immediately to surround the palace.

Can the general of the garrison obey orders immediately after receiving them?

will not!

They would only ask again to confirm the authenticity of the imperial edict.

Unless the person who goes to convey the imperial edict is a eunuch close to the emperor, or is simply the immediate superior of the garrison general.

Then they will obey orders immediately.

The same applies to Huang Zicheng's trial.

If Huang himself was the Minister of Justice and was ordered to try the case of Wang Bi and others, it would be easy for him to kill Wang Bi and others.

But he is not.

Once the people from the Ministry of Justice find out that something is wrong, they will immediately stop him on their own.

No imperial decree or sacred order is of any use!

Therefore, Zhu Yunhuan was not worried at all.

If Huang Zicheng really thought that he could do whatever he wanted with the imperial order, then it can only be said that although he has been an official for many years, he still does not understand the basic rules of officialdom.

"By the way, how are you checking the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue?"

Zhu Yunhuan asked about another thing instead.

Yao Guangxiao bowed and said, "After several days of checking, I found that the Ministry of Revenue's accounts over the years had a total of 2.37 million taels of silver that didn't match up."

"All other accounts have been checked."

"In addition, during the period of closing the accounts and checking the accounts, someone reported that the Minister of Revenue Zhao Mian had embezzled and accepted bribes, totaling hundreds of thousands of taels of silver."

A hint of surprise flashed in Zhu Yunxun's eyes.

He had already expected that there would be discrepancies in the Ministry of Revenue's accounts.

After all, the inherent defects of the original accounting method determine that there will definitely be omissions in the records of a large number of accounts.

However, the amount of more than two million taels was still far beyond his expectations.

As for Zhao Mian's corruption and bribery of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, Zhu Yunhuan was deeply shocked.

It should be noted that Zhu Yuanzhang's punishment for corrupt officials was very severe. Anyone who embezzled 60 taels of silver would be executed.

How could Zhao Mian have the guts to embezzle hundreds of thousands of taels of silver?

Relying on your status as the Minister of Revenue, do you really think that others dare not report you?
This closure and audit of the accounts meant that the power of the Ministry of Revenue fell into the wrong hands, and someone immediately came out to report it.

"My spy department has already checked and found that Zhao Mian's corruption and bribery are true."

"The person who accepted the silver and presided over the relevant matters was Zhao Mian's wife Liu."

"She is Liu Sanwu's daughter."

"How to deal with this, please let your highness decide."

Liu Sanwu?
The old Hanlin who was determined to push Zhu Yunwen to be the crown prince and help him ascend to the throne?
Zhu Yunxun thought for a moment and said, "Liu Sanwu was once a close minister to Grandpa Huang, and Grandpa Huang still has some affection for him."

"Zhao Mian is his son-in-law again."

"How about this, you collect all the evidence of Zhao Mian's corruption and abuse of power."

"When we send someone to deliver newspapers to the palace tomorrow, we will present them to Grandpa Emperor for his review."

"How to deal with it? He will make his own decision."

Killing Li Jinglong was ten times more serious than killing Zhao Mian.

But Zhu Yunhuan killed him just because he said so.

But as for Zhao Mian, he did not act on his own.

The difference is that Li Jinglong was openly provoking him, so he had to deal with it on the spot without delay.

Otherwise, his authority as regent would be damaged.

But there is no need to rush into Zhao Mian's case.

The second is that Zhu Yuanzhang had previously sent someone to pass on a secret order, telling him to just go ahead and do it, no matter if they were meritorious officials or royal relatives, he could make the decision on his own without having to report to the emperor again.

In other words, Zhu Yuanzhang had long expected Li Jinglong or other people of equal status to come forward to stop it.

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang specifically issued an order to let him handle it himself.

In fact, it is telling him that anyone who dares to provoke him will be killed without mercy!

If I report this to Zhu Yuanzhang again, he will be in a difficult position because of the human relationship and face.

Zhu Yunhuan knew this clearly, so he did not hesitate to kill Li Jinglong.

Yao Guangxiao took the order and left.

Zhu Yunhuan returned to his room, picked up a pen and began to organize the knowledge he had learned in his previous life.

These are indispensable if we are to reform the Ming Dynasty.

There is quite a lot of knowledge in his mind, but it is all very fragmented, and there are many things he has forgotten, which need to be sorted out and summarized slowly.

……

The lobby of the Ministry of Justice.

Wang Bi and others were taken out of prison and brought to the court.

During this period of time, they have suffered a lot in prison.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, they have been granted high positions and generous salaries, enjoying all the glory and wealth. How could they have ever suffered such hardship!
When they were first imprisoned, they thought that Zhu Yunhuan would use them to establish his authority and behead them and have their property confiscated.

Many people are not afraid of this.

They were all men who had fought in many battles for many years. They had charged into battle countless times and had brushed shoulders with death countless times...

They are brave enough!

Life and death are bearish, if you don't agree, just do it!
Otherwise, he would not have joined Zhu in the rebellion, and would not have climbed to his current position.

Now that disaster is imminent, everyone is full of heroic spirit.

There was a scar as big as a bowl on his head, but eighteen years later, he is a brave man again!
However, as time went on, the court did not deal with them.

No one even came to interrogate him.

It was as if he had completely forgotten about them.

This immediately made all the generals and nobles become active again.

It seems that the King of Wu has taken action to protect them!
Right.

Although he and his men surrounded the King of Wu with weapons, it was also to save the Duke of Liang, Lan Yu.

Now Lan Yu and the King of Wu have reconciled.

Lan Yu was the great-uncle of the King of Wu and was loyal to him.

He and others are Lan Yu's friends and confidants. Doesn't that mean they are also the King of Wu's confidants?

Why would the King of Wu cut off his own arm and kill himself and others?

Thinking about it this way, it seems that sooner or later, he and others will be acquitted.

Thinking of this, they all became happy.

Although I am not afraid of death, who would not want to live if they could?
After risking one's life and fighting bravely in this life, one finally becomes a meritorious official and can enjoy wealth and glory. Who really wants to die?
For a moment, the military generals and nobles in the prison celebrated.

But the good times don't last long.

As the days passed, there was still no movement from the court.

Their cases have always been ignored.

But life in the Ministry of Justice's prison made their life worse than death.

It’s so unbearable!
The light of hope gradually disappeared in the endless waiting and torture.

Just when they thought there was no hope.

A few days ago, Duke of Liang Lan Yu finally sent a message through someone, asking them to write a confession as soon as possible.

This shocked the generals and nobles in the prison.

It's not that they don't trust Lan Yu.

Otherwise, he would not have risked his life and brought his servants to do such a thing.

But if he wrote a confession and admitted that he had committed treason, would he still have a chance to survive?

After thinking it over, they finally decided to listen to Lan Yu and write a confession!
It's just death anyway.

It's better than dragging it on like this and suffering.

If we delay any longer, they will all commit suicide.

Unexpectedly, the confession had just been written and had not yet been submitted when the judge arrived.

Saved!
This was the first reaction of many military generals and nobles.

When they were brought to the court, the generals and nobles looked at the officials sitting in the hall, but there was no fear on their faces. Instead, they were full of joy.

It looks like he will be acquitted today.

They didn't even wait for Huang Zicheng to ask.

"My Lord, we confess everything!"

"It is true that we gathered a crowd to besiege His Royal Highness the King of Wu with the intention of rebellion."

"This is our confession, please have a look at it, sir."

A group of military generals and nobles took out confessions from their pockets and pleaded guilty one after another.

In the lobby, Yang Jing, the Minister of Justice, who was sitting nearby, was stunned.

what's the situation?
Are these people crazy?
It hasn't been reviewed yet?
Just admit it yourself first?

Admit that you are plotting treason?

This this……

Huang Zicheng was ecstatic.

He was thinking about how to kill the group of military generals and nobles in front of him.

Although I have decided to go all out, I still need a reasonable excuse to justify the killing.

Otherwise, the people in the Ministry of Justice may not necessarily obey orders.

Unexpectedly, as soon as these people came on the stage, they brought me great gifts.

Plead guilty!
One by one, they rushed their heads to the guillotine!

Huang Zicheng took their confession letters and quickly read through them.

I finished watching them all very quickly.

Unexpectedly, these people's confessions were written very clearly and without any clever excuses.

This made him feel both surprised and unhappy.

Although he was not sure why they did this, Huang Zicheng knew that the opportunity was not to be missed.

At that moment, he slammed the gavel and said, "You are nobles and have received the grace of the country, but you have no intention of repaying the court and His Majesty, and you actually want to do such a treasonous thing."

"Now the evidence is there, the facts are clear, and you have already pleaded guilty."

"But the law of the land is ruthless. I have been ordered by the Emperor to try this case. I have no choice but to impose severe punishment on you for what you have done."

"Wang Bi... and other nobles are plotting to usurp the throne, which is extremely treasonous."

"I consider that you have made contributions to the country in the past and have confessed your crimes voluntarily, so I will give you a lighter sentence and spare you the torture of being cut into pieces. I now sentence you to be executed immediately!"

"Come here, drag them out and kill them all!"

……

(End of this chapter)