The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 74 Before the Killing Spree

Wanli clearly wanted to follow the example of his ancestor, Emperor Hongwu, and go on a killing spree.

All the civil and military officials in the court did not want to be implicated in the rebellion, and no one dared to say a word.

The red light in the sky seemed to foreshadow that a bloody storm was about to come. The officials in the capital were in a state of panic and extremely nervous.

Unexpectedly, the little emperor seemed to think that the number of people implicated was not enough and wanted to continue implicating others.

Not long after the morning court ended, he actually ordered the Jinyiwei to arrest the Minister of Works He Qiming!
There are government offices all around the Ministry of Works. Ninety percent of the government offices in the Ming Dynasty are concentrated in this area south of the imperial city.

As soon as He Qiming was arrested, more than 90% of the court officials received the news.

What is the little emperor doing? Could it be that the Minister of Works He Qiming is also involved in this rebellion?

This is unlikely.

Although the Minister of Works is also an important official in the court, he has no power to mobilize troops. He can only mobilize craftsmen.

Could it be that He Qiming was mobilizing the craftsmen to rebel?

Even if he gave the order, the craftsmen would not follow him in rebellion.

He Qiming confessed quickly.

There was nothing he could do.

Zhang Cheng has confessed. If he doesn't, the torture instruments in the imperial prison are no joke. If the Jinyiwei dares to arrest him, they will definitely torture him.

He was used to a life of luxury and his body was very delicate. He definitely could not withstand the torture in the imperial prison.

When the time comes, he will be tortured to death and will have to confess. Why should he endure torture in vain?

Besides, if he confessed, it would only be corruption and abuse of power, which is nothing compared to rebellion.

In this situation, he naturally confessed honestly and quickly.

If he dared not confess, the young emperor might even implicate him in the rebellion.

Emperor Hongwu did this kind of thing many times.

Wanli received the confession but did not act rashly.

He also ordered someone to summon the Minister of Personnel Wu Dui.

Wu Dui was so frightened that his face changed.

He Qiming was suddenly arrested, and he was the only important official in the six ministries and seven departments who belonged to Zhang Siwei's party.

He didn't even know whether Zhang Siwei would break up with the young emperor for him and threaten him with the northern barbarians or even the border troops.

Besides, Zhang Siwei is still far away in Puzhou. It takes nearly three days to express the message across 800 miles, and five or six days to go back and forth.

The news of Zhang Cheng's rebellion probably hasn't reached Puzhou yet.

If the young emperor implicated him in the rebellion, even if Zhang Siwei was willing to break up with the young emperor for him, it would be too late. By the time Zhang Siwei received the news, he would have been killed.

He was really scared, and his heart was beating like a drum.

When Wanli saw the appearance of this guy, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly, and he smiled evilly to himself.

You are not even a descendant of the three great families of Puzhou, yet you dare to go against me for them. Are you scared now?
After the emperor and his subjects exchanged greetings, he deliberately stared at the guy with a stern face for a long time, until beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Then he pretended to be suspicious and said, "Lord Wu, I heard that you have a good relationship with He Qiming."

He Qiming is Zhang Siwei's lackey, so of course I have a good relationship with him.

Wu Dui shook his head repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, He Qiming and I are just friends of gentlemen. After all, we are all colleagues in the court, so we still have to maintain a superficial relationship."

You are still a gentleman.

Wanli pretended to look at this guy with suspicion for a while, then picked up the two confessions and asked Chengguo Gong Zhu Yingzhen to hand them over.

When Wu Dui read the confession, his hands started shaking with fear.

Zhang Cheng actually confessed He Qiming's crime.

He Qiming actually confessed!
Although He Qiming's crime was only collusion with Zhang Cheng to embezzle money for repairing the imperial palace, that was still hundreds of thousands of taels, so he was bound to be confiscated and exiled.

Is the little emperor going to continue to implicate others?

What if Zhang Cheng confesses him?
He and Zhang Cheng are in the same group. Although he has never been involved in corruption with Zhang Cheng, who knows whether Zhang Cheng knows what he has done.

What was the meaning of the little emperor showing him the confession? Was it to warn him?
He read the confession with trembling hands, then thought about it carefully before saying cautiously, "Your Majesty, I never thought He Qiming was such a person. He is so corrupt and perverts the law. According to the law, he should have his property confiscated and be exiled."

You are still playing the selfless game, right?

It seems that you still don't understand what I mean.

Wanli's face was filled with suspicion as he continued, "Li Wenquan confessed to a crime. The Wuqing Marquisate had been responsible for supplying uniforms to the border troops, but the materials were provided by the three great families of Puzhou. There were serious problems with the materials provided by the three great families of Puzhou. The cotton-padded clothes used by the border troops were not warm at all. For this reason, the generals of the Liaodong Military Commissioner's Office submitted numerous memorials of impeachment.

I heard that you have a good relationship with Yang Bo, Wang Chonggu, and Zhang Siwei, and you have also served as the Minister of War. Were you also involved in this matter?"

what?
Li Wenquan confessed everything!

What does the little emperor mean by asking this?

What if the little emperor insisted on implicating him in this case?
Wait, the three great families of Puzhou!
The little emperor must know what his relationship is with Yang Bo, Wang Chonggu and Zhang Siwei.

But the little emperor asked this question.

Does this mean that I should warn the three major families in Puzhou or that I should sever ties with the three major families in Puzhou?
He thought about it carefully, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, I know about this matter, but it has nothing to do with me. The supply of military uniforms for the border troops was decided by the previous Minister of War. Besides, Marquis Wuqing is the father-in-law of the emperor. I dare not interfere in this matter."

You are either afraid to intervene or you are condoning it.

Wanli stared at him for a while, then asked suspiciously, "You and Zheng Luo have a good relationship, right?"

Why are you bringing Zheng Luo up again?

Wu Dui shook his head repeatedly and said, "No, no, I only have official dealings with Zheng Luo, not any personal relationship."

You did it quite cleanly.

Wanli still looked skeptical and asked, "Then why didn't you allow Zheng Luo to return to Beijing to report on his work? His three-year term has already expired."

This!
You mean I shouldn't help the three powerful families of Puzhou to seize the positions of Governor of Xuanda and Shanxi, right?
The question is, if I don’t help them with this, will they still treat me as their own?
This is really confusing.

The little emperor's meaning was very clear. If he continued to help the three major families in Puzhou, he would be dealt with.

If he doesn't help the three major families in Puzhou, Zhang Siwei will deal with him!

However, it is obvious that the young emperor has great power in the court now, and Zhang Siwei is not even the prime minister.

Moreover, both the young emperor and Shen Shixing would definitely try their best to prevent Zhang Siwei from returning to the court.

In other words, it is not certain whether Zhang Siwei can return to the court and take power?

A good man doesn't suffer immediate losses.

If he provokes the little emperor now, he will be finished. As for Zhang Siwei, we will talk about it later.

Wu Dui hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "I understand. I will handle this matter impartially."

I'm glad you understand.

I will keep you as a pretext to paralyze Zhang Siwei to prevent him from doing anything desperate.

There is a technique to this massacre. Both the emperors at the beginning and the end of the Ming Dynasty committed massacres, but the results of the killings by Emperor Hongwu and Emperor Chongzhen were completely opposite.

Emperor Hongwu launched a massacre and brought about the prosperous Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Chongzhen started a massacre and directly destroyed the Ming Dynasty!
This is a world of difference.

In terms of the number of people killed, Chongzhen's kills were incomparable to those of Emperor Hongwu.

Emperor Hongwu not only used the Hu Weiyong case and the Lan Yu case to carry out two mass killings, but also the Kongyin case and the Guo Huan case. Emperor Hongwu also carried out mass killings on those two occasions.

According to incomplete statistics, the four major cases during the Hongwu Dynasty implicated at least 100,000 officials and their relatives and friends, and more than 60,000 of them were killed.

The number of people killed by Chongzhen was nothing compared to those killed by Emperor Hongwu.

If we talk about a major case of mass killing, it would be the Wei Zhongxian treason case in the first year of Chongzhen.

In the first year of Chongzhen's reign, there were only about a hundred officials implicated in Wei Zhongxian's treason case. However, Chongzhen refused to let go and continued to implicate others.

The then Prime Minister Han Yu pretended to follow Chongzhen's request and added a few people three times, each time adding a few more people.

Chongzhen still felt that it was far from enough and had to continue.

As a result, in the Ji Si Rebellion in the second year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji's army was at the gates of the city!
From then on, the Ming Dynasty fell into chaos and became uncontrollable until its demise.

Therefore, there are skills to killing people. It is impossible to kill everyone in one go. If it doesn’t work in one go, just try a few more times.

This time is almost done, there will be next time.

Wanli pretended to stare at Wu Dui and hesitated for a while, then nodded slightly and waved his hand, saying, "Well, go down."

Upon hearing this, Wu Dui bowed and left as if relieved of a heavy burden.

It seems that we can start a killing spree next.

However, there is one more thing to do before we start the killing spree.

(End of this chapter)