Chapter 160 Do you really think we dare not kill people?
Emperor Jiajing is going to hold a court meeting.
This is the most important event since the beginning of the world.
When the news came out, it instantly caused a sensation in the entire officialdom of Beijing.
After all, the emperor had not been in court for nearly thirty years, and many junior scholars in the court had never even seen what the emperor looked like.
This time I can finally open my eyes.
Early the next morning, a large number of officials wearing bright red court uniforms began to gather at Huangji Gate.
These people are all officials of the third rank or above of the Ming Dynasty. The red, red and purple nobles who are rarely seen in the past are all present this time, and no one dares to be absent.
Yesterday, Zhu Yuanzhang met Xu Jie, and the story of Yan Song had already passed through the mouths of various spies and spread throughout most of Beijing.
Everyone knows that the emperor's temperament has completely changed last night. At this time, no one dares to touch the emperor's bad luck.
Although the emergence of Confucianism and Taoism talents now allows the great Confucians to master extraordinary power, this extraordinary system is too special and extremely subject to imperial power.
If he is an emperor who does nothing, he may be controlled by the ministers in the court, but Emperor Jiajing is not easy to deal with.
This emperor was extremely smart, masterful in controlling things with one hand, and playing with checks and balances. He was the best at leveraging his own strength. No one knew what he was planning to do due to his sudden change in temperament.
"Is it possible that they have no money and are using this method to force the courtiers to donate money?" Some distinguished ministers have begun to have various speculations in their minds at this moment.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not keep them waiting for too long, and soon boarded the throne surrounded by two eunuchs and a group of royal guards.
The Jinyi guards who followed Zhu Yuanzhang in were fighting with open fire, and their bodies were full of evil spirits. It was obvious at a glance that they had been on the battlefield.
"Hey!" Lan Yu and Mu Ying, wearing royal imperial robes, stood on the left and right under the main hall, facing the gazes of these ministers without any hint of timidity.
"The faces are unfamiliar..." Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng secretly looked at these Jin Yiwei, looked at each other without any trace, and smelled an unusual atmosphere from these Jin Yiwei.
"Don't rush to show off today, just wait and see what happens!" Xu Jie's voice sounded in Gao Gong's head next to him.
"Humph!" Gao Gong glanced at Xu Jie and smiled disdainfully.
"What are you afraid of? I will die!" He waved his sleeves and walked into the main hall first.
Xu Jie sighed inwardly and followed Gao Gong into the Huangji Hall.
The entire Huangji Palace is very large, and more than 600 officials of the sixth rank and above in the capital can fully fit under it.
"Long live the emperor, long live the emperor!" The courtiers began to pay homage to Zhu Yuanzhang.
"Forget it!"
"There are a lot of things to do today, and time is tight. We don't like to do anything frivolous!"
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at the ministers below and said with a smile: "We have received nearly 800 memorials in the past three days, including memorials from adults in the capital and foreign officials."
"We really didn't expect that 90% of these memorials were for Yan Song and Yan Shifan to plead for mercy."
"Hello you all!"
"You guys really opened our eyes!" Zhu Yuanzhang sighed with a sneer.
Yan Maoqing below couldn't help but smile when he heard this. This big move was his handiwork. He just wanted to let the current emperor take a look at Ge Lao. Xiao Ge Lao's current status in the Ming Dynasty officialdom was to
Let your Majesty understand that the current Ming Dynasty can be without anyone, but it cannot be without Mr. Ge and Mr. Xiaoge.
Soon Zhu Yuanzhang's voice sounded again from above.
"There is no point in reading it alone in Xiyuan. After thinking about it, I simply called all of you here today. We will review these memorials here."
"This is not only an explanation for you all, but also a final decision for Mr. Yan Song, Mr. Yange, and the Mr. Xiaoge you are talking about."
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at everyone with cold eyes, glanced at Emperor Jiajing next to him and said solemnly: "Read the memorials one by one in the order they were presented."
"Yes!" Emperor Jiajing also became a little excited.
He has also played this kind of drama of confrontation between the emperor and ministers in court. In order to fight for his father, he beat more than a hundred ministers in court.
At that time, he was young and vigorous, and had a certain attitude of being in a desperate situation. If he were to do it again now, he would never be able to do it.
I don't have that anger anymore.
But now Emperor Taizu wants to do this, and he is afraid that what he will do will be even more cruel than what he did back then. To be honest, he is a little worried, but more importantly, he is looking forward to it.
After all, we are beating these ministers, who wouldn’t want to!
"Shen Mao, a doctor in charge of the Qing Dynasty in the Ministry of Household Affairs, wrote in a memorial: The world is so vast, and so many scholars and people have devoted themselves to speaking out, and there are countless people who have advanced together..." Emperor Jiajing began to read Shen Mao aloud in the hall.
's memorial.
Hundreds of officials in the entire hall listened quietly, slightly confused as to what the Lord meant.
Soon after reading the memorial, Zhu Yuanzhang looked around at the ministers below and said, "Who is Shen Mao? Come out and answer!"
"Welcome minister is here!" A middle-aged official in his forties came out and knelt down to salute.
"Let me ask you, what do you mean by writing this memorial?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
"Old Yan Ge, Mr. Xiaoge are respectful and loyal to the country. They work hard for the government every day. Now they are framed by traitorous ministers. The humble ministers are just speaking out for justice." Shen Mao said without being humble or overbearing.
Yan Maoqing looked at Shen Mao, who was playing against Zhu Yuanzhang, with a hint of joy in his eyes.
This person is a die-hard loyalist of the Strict Party and one of the people he arranged to remonstrate this time. Otherwise, he would not be the first to submit a letter. Unexpectedly, by coincidence, Zhu Yuanzhang was the first to call him out and remonstrate in court.
right.
Things will be easier to handle from now on.
No matter what kind of medicine Emperor Jiajing sells in his gourd, there is no chance of success with Shen Mao here.
"If you want to blame it, it's your bad luck, the Holy One, for choosing such a ruthless character!" Yan Maoqing thought.
"You said there is a traitor in the court, who is that traitor? Point it out to us?" Zhu Yuanzhang said, squinting his eyes.
"I don't know, but I asked for an order to investigate, and I will know once I investigate." Shen Mao said.
"You are a doctor from the Department of Cleaning and Officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs, tell us, what are your duties?"
"Why should you, a small household doctor, come to investigate a major case in the imperial court?" Zhu Yuanzhang continued to ask.
"Although I am a doctor in the household department, I am also passionate and willing to shed my blood for the imperial court." Shen Mao said passionately.
"Do you have any evidence?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked again.
"Wei Chen is speaking out for justice and does not need any evidence!" Shen Mao continued.
He was already crazy with excitement at this moment.
This was a confrontation with the emperor in court, and it was an argument and confrontation that was not afraid of imperial power.
After today, no matter what the outcome is, his name will be recorded in history and become an iconic figure who fought against imperial power.
As long as he doesn't die, it only takes a few years, and when the limelight is over, what awaits him is his rise to prominence.
One of the important reasons why Emperor Jiajing refused to go to court for thirty years was that there were too many people who wanted to gain a reputation as a Confucian scholar by trying to impress him.
"Haha, there is no evidence, and you don't know who the traitor is, so you just report it directly, and you still have to care about things that are beyond the scope of authority of a doctor like you, are you trying to amuse us?"
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at this fifth-grade official with cold eyes, and suddenly shouted: "Chen Hong, according to our Ming law, what should such a person do?"
"Kill!" Next to Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Hong, the chief eunuch of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, spoke loudly with his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Then what are you waiting for? Do you want to keep such a slanderer and rumormonger to celebrate the New Year?" Zhu Yuanzhang said.
When Shen Mao heard this, his expression suddenly changed.
Obviously the emperor is in a bad mood today.
But he didn't panic at all.
Because he knows that he is just a pioneer, and the real show is yet to come!
If the emperor says he wants to kill people, he will kill people. So what is the use of all the civil and military officials in the dynasty?
"Your Majesty, no!"
"Although Shen Mao made some offensive remarks, he was speaking out for justice. He can be punished with a small punishment. If he were killed, it would probably chill the hearts of the scholars in the world!" Lu Yi, the left servant of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, came out to present the memorial in the main hall.
And his actions seemed to sound the clarion call for a charge.
Soon more than sixty people came out at the same time and knelt down in front of Zhu Yuanzhang.
"I would like to ask Your Majesty to take back your order..."
Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng and others looked on coldly at the confrontation between these strict party members and His Majesty, and the glints in their eyes could not help but flash.
This situation of His Majesty personally stepping down and directly confronting the strict party was something they could never have imagined before going to court.
Is this still the Jiajing Emperor who lived in seclusion behind the scenes and commanded the Ming Dynasty through remote control for thirty years?
Zhu Yuanzhang was also looking at this scene coldly. His voice showed no emotion at all, and he slowly said: "Don't mess around with us, we act in accordance with the laws of the Ming Dynasty!"
"how?"
"You guys, you keep talking about safeguarding the ancestral system, but today you are even absolved of the crime of slander and spreading rumors clearly recorded in the Ming Dynasty Code?"
"Are you trying to force our palace?"
"Give you a chance, stand back immediately, we will just pretend that nothing happened, otherwise we will be punished with the same crime as Shen Mao." Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice.
"Your Majesty, we are risking our lives to remonstrate because of the cultural heritage and culture of the Ming Dynasty. I beg your Majesty to take back my life!" Lu Yi had a heavy look on his face, as if he was a loyal and upright minister who really cared about the Ming Dynasty.
It was quiet inside the main hall, and no one among the more than sixty people got up.
For them, if they dare to listen to Zhu Yuanzhang at this time, they are afraid of the imperial power, and their future official career will be cut off.
If you don't get up, if you can really persuade the emperor to withdraw his orders, you will be a dead remonstrator.
This is the immortal golden body in the future officialdom.
Anyway, Emperor Jiajing in front of him didn't dare to really kill them all.
If they died, less than half of the people in charge of the six ministries would go directly. No emperor would dare to kill ministers on such a large scale with such madness.
But unfortunately, they forgot that Emperor Gao, the great ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, killed almost all the ruthless people in the officialdom during his reign in history.
There is no one in this world that he dares not to kill and no one that he cannot kill.
It is a pity that Emperor Taizu Gao is now standing in front of them.