Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 212 The First Ironclad Case in All Ages
The last rays of the setting sun finally lingered and sank below the horizon.

The light, like blood, stained the still-drying dark bloodstains on the edge of the platform into a shocking blackish-red.

On the stage, more than seventy heads have been counted one by one.

Several of them rolled off the stage in the chaos, where they were kicked around like trophies by the excited crowd, until they were retrieved by the expressionless soldiers of the Beijing garrison.

Below the stage, the once boiling, lava-like sea of ​​people, composed of tens of thousands of people, had now calmed down.

After the exhilarating cheers and cathartic release, a deeper silence descended.

People gathered in twos and threes, their faces a mixture of exhaustion and weariness after avenging their great grievances, a slight bewilderment about tomorrow's livelihood, and an uncontrollable, low sob as they reminisced about the day's blood and tears.

They looked at the blood-soaked platform with complicated expressions.

That place was once their sacred ground for revenge, but now it has become a blood-red monument inscribed with the imperial power and majesty.

In the midst of this relative silence, on the other side of the high platform, several skilled executioners brought from the capital were leisurely constructing a small, yet even more horrifying, execution platform.

Their movements were skillful, as if they were assembling a delicate piece of wood.

As for Duke Yansheng Kong Yinzhi, who was tied alone to the pillar, his wails and curses had long since become hoarse and broken from the continuous torture.

He watched helplessly as his people were beheaded one by one, and as the instruments of torture prepared specifically for him were gradually put together. His mind finally collapsed completely in endless fear.

His shouts turned into howls like those of a wild beast, and then, gradually, even the howls disappeared.

……

The emperor stood at the very top of the platform.

His shadow, stretched by the setting sun and the rising moon, became enormous and elongated, like a silent deity shrouding the entire wilderness.

Zhu Youjian's face was expressionless, his gaze blankly fixed on the distant horizon, where Mount Tai, which had served as a backdrop during the day, was now just a blurry yet majestic silhouette.

Below the steps, Wen Tiren, Lu Xiangsheng, Tian Ergeng and others stood like statues, even deliberately keeping their breathing slow.

Even Tian Ergeng, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who had personally handled the cases of Shanxi merchants colluding with the enemy, Zhou Yanru's treason, and the hoarding of grain merchants in Jiangnan, and whose hands were stained with blood, was now experiencing a storm of emotions.

He had seen far more bloody scenes than this, and had killed members of the imperial clan who were of higher status than Kong Yinzhi.

However, none of them can compare to today.

This was a terrifying power he had never seen before.

Intangible and formless yet overwhelming, foolish and impulsive yet imbued with the most basic sense of justice.

And the emperor, this young monarch, was able to so precisely and skillfully wield this terrifying power, enough to overthrow any dynasty, into the sharpest and most irrefutable blade in his hand.

This completely overturned Tian Ergeng's and all the important officials present's understanding of imperial power, court affairs, and the emperor they thought they knew well enough.

This... is the Kong family!

It is the "Duke Yansheng", whose lineage has lasted for two thousand years and who was treated with great respect even by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty and the Taizu Emperor!
It is the sacred image that will never fall in the hearts of scholars all over the world!
The emperor not only killed him, but also used such a thoroughly humiliating, public trial method, allowing the people to revel over the corpse of this sacred statue.

Shock is an understatement to describe their feelings at that moment.

At a deeper level is a deep-seated fear of the future.

Murder is never the end.

Murder is often just the beginning.

How can this earth-shattering scene be brought to a close?
How to deal with the impending monstrous wave stirred up by scholars across the land, a wave that could absolutely shake the very foundations of the nation? This is the truly severe test.

Wen Tiren's hands trembled slightly, uncontrollably, inside the wide sleeves of his official robe.

He forced himself to calm down, but his brain was racing at an unprecedented speed.

He tried to use his decades of experience in officialdom and political maneuvering, as well as his knowledge of governance and people's welfare, to figure out the emperor's next move.

However, he discovered to his despair that everything he had been proud of in the past had become meaningless in the face of this young emperor.

Although he had been trying very hard to keep up with the emperor's pace, from the Shanxi merchants case to the current Confucius family case, he thought he had grasped a bit of the emperor's modus operandi.

But the emperor's every step always took a way that was completely unimaginable to him, defying everyone's expectations and shattering all established rules!

……

In the eerie atmosphere where all was silent and the stench of blood had not yet been dispelled by the evening breeze, the emperor finally broke the silence.

His voice wasn't loud, but it was like ice hitting boiling oil, instantly shattering the deathly silence.

"Tian Ergeng".

"Chen is here!"

Tian Ergeng was jolted awake and almost instinctively took a step forward, kneeling down on one knee.

However, the emperor's order was completely beyond his expectations.

"The matter of the encirclement and suppression has come to a temporary end." The emperor squinted, his gaze falling on a group of officials not far away, led by Wang Ji, the imperial envoy for investigation, who looked travel-worn but were in high spirits.

"From this moment on, all the Imperial Guards and elite soldiers under your command will be at the command of the Imperial Investigation Bureau!"

Zhu Youjian ignored the expressions of his ministers and continued to clearly assign tasks:

"Immediately transport all the files, account books, letters, land deeds, private records... everything in the Duke Yansheng's mansion that could be used as evidence, leaving not a single box or piece of paper behind, to the Qufu County government office!"

"Arrest any witnesses Wang Ji and his men need! Seize any physical evidence they need! If any local officials or gentry dare to obstruct or refuse to cooperate, kill them on the spot without even asking for permission!"

His voice suddenly turned fierce, filled with a steely intensity.

"What I want is 'caught red-handed, with irrefutable evidence'! All the evidence in this case will be the nails I use to nail the Kong family to their coffin!"

"Your subject... obeys the decree!" Tian Ergeng's heart pounded wildly. The real killing blow was not the beheading on the high platform, but the impending psychological attack in the county government office!

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Youjian slowly turned around and faced Wang Ji and the group of officials who were already kneeling on the ground.

The emptiness that had been on that young face was gone, replaced by a chilling clarity and majesty.

His words were no longer addressed to just one person, but to all his ministers and to the entire world.

"Today, I, in accordance with the will of the people, wield the sword of divine punishment! This is in accordance with Heaven and the people, and is the inevitable trend of the times!"

"And you, as the pillars of the Ming Dynasty's laws, must forge an eternally unshakeable legal sheath for this sword of public opinion, which has drunk its fill of rebellious blood!"

He stretched out his hand, pointing to the gradually brightening lights of Qufu City in the distance, and to the county government office that would soon become the center of the legal storm of the future Ming Dynasty.

"I don't want a 'roughly accurate' result, nor do I want a vague and unclear dossier!"

"What I want is a case that future generations will be unable to crack, refute, or question... the greatest ironclad case in all of history!"

(End of this chapter)