Emperor Ming: Your Majesty, you have caused me so much suffering.

Once a person has a goal, they can be full of energy.

At this moment, the most urgent goal of the court officials was not to reach the Oirat forces heading south to protect the capital, but to quickly eliminate the impact of the Meridian Gate massacre.

Starting with Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism was highly revered, elevating the principle of "the ruler is the guide for the subjects" to a fundamental principle, and making the emperor's position inviolable.

The actions of the court officials at the Meridian Gate were a provocation against this set of principles and ethics, and a questioning of the way of the sages.

Yet these court officials entered officialdom by reading these classic texts, profiting from them while disregarding their teachings. Such inconsistency between words and deeds, and disregard for the emperor and father, is the behavior of a petty person.

If a good excuse is not found to back up this matter, it will inevitably attract criticism from the public in the future.

It was under such pressure that various affairs in the capital progressed remarkably. At least in the past few days, no one has been hindering things anymore. It's as if these officials have become saints, no longer concerned with personal gain, and are cooperating with the Six Ministries of the court.

The preparation of grain and other supplies was already more than halfway complete. In fact, officials even sent their family members and servants to Tongzhou to assist in transporting the grain, demonstrating an astonishing level of determination.

This outcome was unexpected for Zhu Qiyu. Could this be considered a redemption of conscience for the criminal?

Zhu Qiyu had no way of knowing the answer, but it was undoubtedly of great help to the current situation.

What Zhu Qiyu did not expect was that the trial of Wang Zhen was completed in just three days, miraculously, with evidence so detailed that it was outrageous.

This clearly indicates that someone has been preparing evidence of Wang Zhen and his gang's crimes, ready to deliver the final blow to Wang Zhen at any time.

These civil officials were like ninja turtles, their level of forbearance beyond imagination. Even with such important evidence in their hands, they did not easily make a move. It seems they knew the emperor in the north too well and knew that if they acted rashly, Zhu Qizhen would protect Wang Zhen and they would be powerless to deal with this villain.

However, no one expected that Wang Zhen would die in the Tumu Crisis, and thus he could not personally judge this villain.

The three people who came to report today were Chen Yi, Right Vice Censor-in-Chief; Ding Zi, Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice; and Yu Shiyue, Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.

Seeing Zhu Qiyu carefully reviewing the files, the three of them couldn't help but feel inexplicably nervous.

The three men, taking into account the opinions of other senior officials, decided to severely punish the case. The more serious the case, the lighter the punishment for the Meridian Gate massacre. If the crimes of Wang Zhen and his faction were so great that they aroused the wrath of Heaven and the resentment of the people, then the Meridian Gate massacre could be considered as the work of Heaven and the elimination of traitors for the Emperor.

Zhu Qiyu stared at the case file, his heart filled with shock. The scope of this case was so vast that even some minor officials were not spared, not to mention the execution of Wang Zhen's entire family.

While it's said that the entire family would be implicated, it's impossible to actually kill all nine generations of relatives. It's just that with this pretext, they act according to the principle of "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free."

The water here is deep!

Zhu Qiyu looked up at the three of them. Chen Yi was fine, his expression was normal, but Yu Shiyue and the other two looked obviously unnatural.

Zhu Qiyu had already guessed most of what the group was thinking. Looking at the list in the dossier, apart from relatives related to Wang Zhen and important officials who died in the Tumu Crisis, he was not very familiar with the rest of the people.

Zhu Qiyu was particularly cautious about this.

Because the slightest stroke of the pen could mean the death of a person, it was almost like comparing the evidence in the case files one by one, to prevent these officials from deceiving their superiors and concealing the truth, otherwise the blame would fall on their own heads.

After a long while, Zhu Qiyu finally turned to another list. This list had very few names, but when Zhu Qiyu saw it, he was slightly surprised because these names were all too familiar.

"Wang Ji, Cao Jixiang, Liu Yongcheng, Guo Jing, Wang Jin!"

Zhu Qiyu looked up and asked, "What is the meaning of these people's statement?"

Yu Shiyue replied, "Wang Ji, Liu Yongcheng, and Wang Jin are alright. They have connections with Wang Zhen, but they are still loyal to the country. Cao Jixiang and Guo Jing, however, are deeply involved and have committed many illegal acts. We are not comfortable dealing with these people and need Your Highness's instructions."

Zhu Qiyu frowned slightly and asked, "What does this mean?"

"Your Highness, Wang Ji is leading troops in the field. Your Highness previously praised him as a loyal minister, and we believe that there is no need to pursue the matter further. The remaining four are all garrison eunuchs or supervising eunuchs, and they all have important duties to attend to. They are among the few eunuchs who are knowledgeable about military affairs. If we act rashly at this time, it may affect the affairs of the court. We must be cautious."

Zhu Qiyu finally understood their concerns. Although the court officials hated Wang Zhen's faction, not all of Wang Zhen's followers were useless. Some of them were still useful and might have attached themselves to Wang Zhen to gain power and realize their own ambitions.

The country is currently in a critical situation. If we deal with these eunuchs without good supervisors, and replace them with some incompetent fools, it could be quite fatal.

Apart from Wang Ji, the other four were long-term military supervisors and knowledgeable about military affairs, especially Liu Yongcheng, who was a renowned general.

He followed Emperor Taizong on his northern expeditions in his early years, and later participated in suppressing the rebellion of the Prince of Han. Now he is in charge of the garrison in Gansu. In the eyes of the court officials, he is no longer regarded as a eunuch, but as a great general, so the court officials must be cautious in dealing with him.

The ancestral system of having eunuchs supervise the army cannot be changed. The court officials also hope that there are one or two eunuchs who truly understand military affairs and are in charge, rather than a group of incompetent people who only cause trouble and hinder the war.

This person also participated in Zhu Qizhen's restoration in history, but he was not the mastermind; rather, he acted based on his assessment of the situation.

Zhu Qiyu still wanted to keep this person, but there was no chance of seizing power in this lifetime.

Whether some officials were loyal or disloyal was not that important to Zhu Qiyu; the key was that they could be used.

Zhu Qiyu was not so naive as to expect all the officials in the world to be loyal to him; that was undoubtedly wishful thinking.

However, Cao Jixiang, as one of the masterminds behind the coup, was ultimately executed by Zhu Qizhen, which shows that he was not a good person.

Cao Jixiang's unexpected appearance on the list before him was of little use to Zhu Qiyu. Moreover, one of the charges against Cao Jixiang was misappropriation of military equipment and harboring brave warriors. Based on this alone, this man was already doomed.

Zhu Qiyu could only apologize and say that he would keep Guo Jing company on the road to the underworld.

Where is Cao Jixiang now?

Chen Yi, not expecting Zhu Qiyu to inquire about this person, hurriedly replied, "He's in the army of Marquis Ningyang, Chen Mao!"

"Take Guo Jing and Cao Jixiang back to the capital. Leave the other three alone for now," Zhu Qiyu decided immediately, perhaps Guo Jing was already on his way back to the capital.

"Here you go!"

"Combine the two files and draft another memorial. I need to convene a joint trial by the Nine Ministers (Note 1)," Zhu Qiyu suddenly said.

He hasn't even ascended the throne yet, and he's already killed so many people, including their entire families—such a ruthless act. His ministers must be involved. If he makes the decision directly, he'll definitely be held responsible.

It could even be compared to Emperor Taizong's extermination of Fang Xiaoru's entire clan.

Because of this incident, Emperor Taizong has been criticized for countless years, and the debate among scholars has not stopped to this day.

Zhu Qiyu did not want to suffer such infamy. Although the targets of the executions were different, the execution of Wang Zhen might have been covered up by civil officials using subtle writing, but this could not be done. Exterminating his entire clan was enough.

Yu Shiyue hesitated slightly, glancing at Chen Yi and Ding Zi. He hadn't expected there to be any variables. If Zhu Qiyu made the decision directly, then it could be carried out.

However, when Zhu Qiyu proposed a joint trial by the Nine Ministers, none of them dared to object, since this move did indeed have the appearance of plotting against the Prince of Cheng.

Seeing that the others did not respond immediately, Zhu Qiyu smiled meaningfully and asked, "What's the difficulty in this matter?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Shiyue immediately understood Zhu Qiyu's meaning. He figured it was better to sacrifice a friend than himself, and replied, "Your Highness, there's no difficulty!"