Seeing Emperor Deqing's eyes fixed on him, Young Master Guo Tang couldn't help but tremble.
Then, Guo Tang stumbled out of the line of officials, knelt down in front of Emperor Deqing, and cried first: "Your Majesty, I am guilty! In recent years, I have been concentrating on government affairs, and I have neglected to discipline my clansmen. Unexpectedly,
They actually did so many illegal and erroneous things without telling the old minister! After the incident, the old minister failed to discover the truth of the matter in time. Instead, he blindly trusted them and thought that someone was deliberately retaliating against the old minister. In the end, he almost fell into chaos again.
Chao Gang, interfered with the law and discipline... I am guilty! Your Majesty, please punish me!"
Upon hearing Guo Tang's cry, everyone in the hall felt contempt in their hearts.
This Guo Tang seemed to be directly admitting his guilt, but he always avoided the important and trivial in his words, as if his fault was just an "oversight".
The most despicable thing is that in order to protect himself, Guo Tang actually put most of the blame on his brother Guo Min and his grandson Guo Mingtai, telling Emperor Deqing that these things were not his protection and favoritism, but Guo Min and Guo Mingtai's.
Others have deceived me! Such an approach is not only irresponsible, but also somewhat unkind and unjust!
Only in times of crisis can we see the true nature of a person. Now that Guo Tang is about to face a disaster, he no longer cares about his former aloof image, and his cowardly and selfish nature is fully revealed!
After seeing Guo Tang's statement, Emperor Deqing's eyes became more gloomy.
Then, Emperor Deqing slowly said: "Oh? You really don't know these things? It's just the matter of Guo Mingtai deceiving the world and stealing your reputation. But as far as I know, although you claim to be honest, you have always lived a good life and been pampered.
It's you alone, and your monthly expenses are as much as hundreds of taels! Some time ago, in order to celebrate your birthday, Guo Min actually spent 16,000 taels of silver to buy the second running script in the world, Yan Zhenqing's authentic handwriting
"Manuscript of the Nephew Memorial"! Also, your Guo family has been buying properties in the capital these years, and all the money comes from the "Sitong Trading Company"! There are many businessmen doing business in the world, and there are several trading firms like
Is it just like Sitong Trading Company's huge profits? Didn't you really notice anything unusual or strange?"
At this point, Emperor Deqing sneered and said: "In my opinion, you probably didn't notice the abnormality, you just pretended not to know about Guo Min's illegal behavior, and you just want to sit back and enjoy the results with peace of mind, right?"
Hearing Emperor Deqing's accusation, Guo Tang trembled again, but he firmly refused to admit it and said: "Your Majesty clearly knows that I have never been good at financial management, and I have never asked about Guo Min's business affairs. It's true.
I don’t know these things!”
Emperor Deqing snorted coldly and said: "If you can't notice such an obvious thing, it only means that you have no knowledge and are incompetent! You are really a completely incompetent person! No matter what, you don't
He is suitable to take up the position of Young Master again!"
Then, as soon as Emperor Deqing raised his hand, the eunuch Zhang De sent a book of poems to Emperor Deqing.
Emperor Deqing threw the collection of poems in front of Guo Tang and said coldly: "Also, you just said that you are focused on court affairs and have no time to discipline the people, but you have time to compose these vicious anti-poems and sarcastic articles.
The imperial court is mocking me and mocking my ancestors?"
Speaking of the latter, Emperor Deqing could no longer suppress his anger and roared angrily at Guo Tang.
After Guo Tang saw the "Collection of Crane Poems" in front of him, his expression suddenly changed and his mood was confused.
Only a handful of people knew of the existence of this collection of poems, but why did it fall into the hands of Emperor Deqing?
Is it possible that the factory guard has already started investigating him?
On the other side, Emperor Deqing sneered and said: "Haha, 'The emperor treats his scholars with sincerity, and his ministers are kind to the emperor', 'Looking at the emperor from afar is a special person, and his holy virtues are worth a lifetime'... Guo Tang, you are really talented.
What a poem! What a writing style!”
Hearing Emperor Deqing's sarcasm, Guo Tang trembled all over and did not dare to deny it anymore.
At the same time, most of the officials entered the officialdom through the imperial examination. After hearing the poem recited by Emperor Deqing, they quickly figured out the deeper meaning, and looked at Guo Tang with even more schadenfreude.
They knew that because of this collection of poems, Guo Tang was in far greater trouble than they imagined.
Seeing that Guo Tang no longer dared to defend himself, Emperor Deqing finally revealed his punishment for Guo Tang.
"As a young master of the imperial court, Guo Tang did not want to be loyal to the country and serve the government impartially. Instead, he protected favoritism, confused right and wrong, deceived the emperor, and slandered ministers. This is a heinous crime! He also wrote anti-poems to ridicule the imperial court and the previous emperors.
, it can be said to be evil and rebellious, and it is a crime of great disrespect! According to my decree, Shaofu Guo Tang is dismissed from his official position and sent to a prison to await trial!"
"In addition, 'Sitong Trading Company' smuggled and evaded taxes amounting to nearly one million taels of silver, which is shocking! Shuntian Prefecture and Dali Temple were seized together with the Ministry of Household Affairs! All properties of 'Sitong Trading Company' were confiscated! Most of the Guo family's property comes from
All the money from Sitong Trading Company was also confiscated!"
"Guo Min, Guo Tang's younger brother, has violated laws and disciplines. The evidence is conclusive and has been handed over to the Shuntian Prefecture for conviction! Guo Tang's direct grandson, Guo Mingtai, defrauded the world and stole people's articles, which is against the rules. From now on, his honorary title will be taken away forever.
Accepted!"
After hearing Emperor Deqing's order, Guo Tang's face turned pale and bloodless.
He knew that not only was he completely finished, but the Guo family was also completely finished! From now on, he would never be able to get ahead again!
Guo Tang didn't expect that he could end up in such a tragic ending because he just couldn't help impeaching Zhao Junchen and made a slight mistake during the impeachment!
Then, Guo Tang was so excited that he could no longer hold on. His body suddenly twitched, and he passed out again. Then he was dragged out of the Huangji Palace by the guards like a dog.
At the same time, no one among the officials dared to intercede for Guo Tang. The Qingliu people who were friends with Guo Tang had just been reprimanded by Emperor Deqing, and at this time they did not dare to touch Emperor Deqing's bad luck again.
After Guo Tang was taken away by the guards, while all the officials were silent, Emperor Deqing issued another decree: "The scholars in the world have disrespected the imperial court for a long time! The imperial court has always treated scholars generously, with tax reductions and exemptions, and many
privileges, but the scholars do not think of repaying their loyalty and service. Instead, they take pride in criticizing the government and ridiculing the emperor all day long. They are unscrupulous and have a bad influence! According to my decree, from today on, all the ministries of the imperial court must strictly monitor the movements of scholars in the world, and strictly control the activities of scholars in the world.
Check all kinds of anti-poetry and anti-articles. If we encounter another anti-poetry case like Guo Tang's, we will definitely punish him severely!"
In this way, Zhao Junchen's punishment of Guo Tang finally came to an end.
But the impact of this incident is far beyond just the fall of the Guo family.
Prince Zhu Heyu was banned by Emperor Deqing twice in a short period of time. Naturally, his reputation plummeted, and many discerning people saw some signs.
Because of Emperor Deqing's criticism, the Qingliu people also suffered a loss of reputation and may keep a low profile for a long time.
In addition, Guo Tang's anti-poems also caused a huge literary disaster, implicating many scholars, and the impact was extremely far-reaching!
*
When the day's morning court ended, Zhao Junchen left the Huangji Hall surrounded by officials from the "Zhao Party". Many officials respectfully stepped aside to make way for the road, and their eyes when looking at Zhao Junchen also changed.
I became more and more awed.
After Guo Tang offended Zhao Junchen, in just three days, not only did he lose his official position and go to jail, his life's reputation was ruined, his brother Guo Min and his grandson Guo Mingtai were also in bad luck, and even the entire Guo Tang
Everyone's property was confiscated and all their property was confiscated. It can be said that the entire Guo family was destroyed!
Prince Zhu Heyu and Qingliu officials wanted to support Guo Tang, but they were eventually implicated one after another!
The speed and intensity of Zhao Junchen's revenge methods were really frightening. Many officials who had offended Zhao Junchen were even more panicked at this time and began to seriously consider apologizing to Zhao Junchen and asking for mercy.
In this way, because of Guo Tang's incident, Zhao Junchen's prestige in the temple has been initially established.
However, the officials did not know that at the same time that Guo Tang's house was being confiscated, a more massive house confiscation frenzy was being launched in Nanzhili, thousands of miles away, because of Zhao Junchen's secret promotion!
Compared with the changes in Nanzhili during this period, Guo Tang's incident was nothing more than a trivial matter!