At night, thousands of stars gather in the city of Hangzhou.
Although the martial law was strictly enforced for a while because the emperor's grandson first entered the city, when night came, the prosperous city of Hangzhou once again became a land of singing and dancing, with flowers blooming like a flower in heaven and on earth.
Restaurants and singing shops, fireworks and willow alleys, painted boats on the river, teahouses and academies are all overcrowded. No matter whether they are scholars, merchants or ordinary people, they are all talking about the sudden arrival of the emperor's grandson in Hangzhou when they are drunk.
It is an honor for the place to have the Crown Prince in person, and it is even more proud to be a native of Hangzhou.
People are simple. If they had not experienced it personally, it would be difficult for them to imagine that there would be so much darkness in the world. Even if they did, the real darkness is a hundred times darker than they thought.
They never expected that while they were discussing happily, the atmosphere in the Chief Secretary's lobby had already reached freezing point.
Zhu Yunxi was still sitting under the high-hanging plaque on the mirror, holding his chin with one hand and tapping the fingers of the other hand gently on the table. In the hall, the kneeling officials in Hangzhou were all trembling with fear and dripping with cold sweat.
The Chief Secretary's Yamen occupies a huge area. Officials are kneeling in the lobby here, and the room next to it is directly used by the Third Secretary and the Jin Yiwei as a room for hearing cases.
Whenever there are exclamations and screams coming from the side room, the bodies of the kneeling officials will tremble a little. Moreover, from time to time, colleagues will be pulled directly out of the crowd by the Jin Yiwei, which makes them even more shocked.
I was frightened and terrified.
The principal officials of Hangzhou Prefecture, such as the prefect, Tongzhi, Tongpan, and Chasi, became prisoners in an instant. As they explained, more officials in charge were taken down one by one. Now everyone in the hall is in danger.
On the floor made of gray bricks, sweat flowed like a river.
Your Highness, have a meal! You haven’t eaten lunch! The bastard came over quietly and said beside Zhu Yunxi, I have asked you to cook pearl fragrant rice porridge for you...
Not less than this moment, not less than this meal! Zhu Yunxi looked at the officials in the hall, Gu, just wait here, wait until the real truth comes out, and no more fish slips through the net. Otherwise, Gu will not eat.
I don’t feel at ease, and I can’t even eat it!
If Zhu Yunxi was just an ordinary citizen, and heard about this kind of thing, he would probably just curse a few words in his mind and complain. Then he would say one more thing, the truth of being an official for thousands of miles is just for money, you should eat and drink as you should, and you will forget it after a few days.
.
But now he is the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty and the helmsman of the future empire. This kind of matter must be strictly investigated and dealt with without mercy. It must not be tolerated, let alone relaxed.
In his memory, he deeply believed in the words of Gu Yanwu, a great scholar in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
The shamelessness of scholar-bureaucrats is a disgrace to the country!
All the land in the world is the king's land, and all the land on the coast is the king's ministers. In the Central Plains Dynasty with a huge territory, the ministers are all the emperor's helpers.
Throughout the ages, scholars have always been officials.
Officials select scholars because their writings carry the Tao. The doctrines of saints that scholars read are the way to govern the world, educate the people, and benefit the common people.
Virtue is the first choice for officials. The reason why scholars are scholars is that they have more moral values than ordinary people. Being without morals and virtues means being shameless.
Because they are moral and upright, they are given the power to govern the world, enjoy the support of the people in the world, make wives, support their children, make their families rich and noble, and stand high above them.
This is not because Zhu Yunxi used his modern thinking to impose demands on the ancients. But according to common sense, this is what the past dynasties required of officials and scholar-bureaucrats. This is what the ancients' moral requirements for officials were.
Because while enjoying huge power and status dividends, officials and scholar-bureaucrats have obligations to the emperor and the world! And the common people, they are the ones being demanded, they are humble devotees. They have no obligations to the emperor and the world.
Throughout the history books, most of them record the reputation of loyal ministers and filial sons, but there are few records of the steadfastness of the people.
For thousands of years in China, when dynasties changed and people were devastated, the common people wanted nothing more than a bowl of stable food. History will never demand harsh things from the common people, much less force it on them. It will only despise those who do not fulfill their official duties and do not fulfill their obligations.
A shameless person who takes his own responsibility.
The spirit and character of scholars are the best interpretation of their obligations. Such as Yan Zhenqing, who destroyed his family to save people from trouble. Such as Wen Tianxiang, who died generously. Such as those good officials in history who loved the people as their sons, such as those upright and upright sages who have left their names for thousands of years.
minister.
Just like the teachers around Zhu Yunxi, such as Fang Xiaoru and others, Zhu Yunxi knew that sometimes they were too pedantic, too whimsical, and too stubborn. But every time these people spoke, he had to listen with an open mind.
A true scholar only speaks the truth for the common people and does not flatter the king.
Those who only want to enjoy power and do not want to fulfill their obligations are shameless scholar-bureaucrats.
But the reality is ironic. Over the past thousands of years, there have been more and more shameless officials. No emperor in the past dynasties dared to demand ultra-high moral standards from his ministers.
Because everyone is human, has emotions and desires, and loves power. Therefore, no matter how majestic the Holy Lord is, he will turn a blind eye to corruption, privileges, etc. Because he can't control it, let alone control it.
However, when it comes to morality, you have never relaxed. No matter what you do in private, you cannot be immoral, unethical, or shameless.
The Hangzhou case and the Knockout incident showed a shamelessness that is even more terrifying than corruption.
The Ming Dynasty in history was shamelessly destroyed.
Zhu Yunxi never expected that all his future ministers would be saints. But he would never tolerate shameless people in high positions. He should take precautions to prevent the slightest change and nip problems in the bud.
Outside, there was a flurry of footsteps, and a captain in brocade clothes came in, knelt down and announced, "His Royal Highness the Grand Sun, Sun Bu Bu and his mother, as well as thirty-two of the Sun family's intimate servants, have been arrested!"
Zhu Yunxi did not reply, but first glanced at Sun Xiaozhong, who was still paralyzed on the ground. After hearing this, Sun Xiaozhong, who seemed to accept his fate, began to struggle violently.
Bring it up! Zhu Yunxi said.
walk into!
Kneel down!
The Jin Yiwei scolded and kicked, and a young man with a round face of fright and shaking like chaff was brought up. In front of the young man, there was a woman with disheveled hair who kept looking around.
master!
Father!
Li and Sun exclaimed at the same time.
Father, save me! Sun Bubu cried loudly.
Master! Mrs. Li burst into tears.
Sun Xiaozhong's body struggled violently under the hands of the guards for several times, and his eyes showed deep unwillingness. But in the end, his expression slowly calmed down, and the thousands of words in his heart finally turned into a sigh. Two lines of tears fell, and he grabbed the ground with his head.
.
Are you Sun Bubu? Zhu Yunxi asked jokingly.
Sun Guo was kneeling on the ground, his eyes filled with tears. To an uninformed person, he would have looked a bit pitiful. But thinking of what he had done, this man did not deserve to cry.
The villain is Sun Bubu! Sun Bubu said in a trembling voice.
You beast, you actually look like a human? Zhu Yunxi sneered, saying that he was using his hands hard, and threw the confession he had just read on the table over. Is this all your doing?
Sun was just like being electrocuted, rolling backwards and crawling, not me! Not me!
Evil people only attack the weak. When faced with the power of the emperor, their performance is worse than that of the weak people they bully.
Kneel down! A guard in robes came forward and banged his scabbard a few times.
Don't hit my son! With a scream, Mrs. Li threw herself on her son, raised her face and shouted, Your Highness, my son did not do these things, no!
There is a mountain of irrefutable evidence! It is clear and clear, but you still dare to quibble! Zhu Yunxi laughed in anger.
Your Highness, Your Highness! Mr. Li panicked and shouted loudly. He was instigated by others, and he was not the main culprit. It was all instigated by his friends, and my son was not the main culprit!
I asked him why he, a beast, was wearing a human skin, but it turned out that he had a beast mother who was also wearing a human skin! Zhu Yunxi said angrily, and he also had a beast father! What a three beasts, a strange story through the ages!
Father, save me! Sun was crying under his mother's body.
Son! Sun Xiaozhong burst into tears. What happened now is like a man! He said and yelled, "Your father and mother will die with you, you are like a man!"
Zhu Yunxi stared at Sun Xuanzhong for a long time. He said that he was wrong. You are not beasts. Beasts still have hearts and know good, bad and good. As he said this, he sneered. It was his fault that he failed to educate his father. I thought you would say that you did not teach him well.
As a result of today's disaster! Unexpectedly, even before your death, you didn't regret it!
Immediately, Zhu Yunxi said again, do you think that you can just die? It's not that easy! What you have done must be repaid tenfold. Only in this way can you be worthy of the people who harmed you, and only in this way can you comfort the world!
At this point, Zhu Yunxi was no longer interested in seeing the ugly behavior of the Sun family. He waved his hand impatiently and pulled him down for interrogation!
Several members of the Sun family were dragged down again.
Zhu Yunxi stood up, walked down the hall, and picked up the confession on the ground.
Every word of the bloody confession is filled with sin. It is possible to find the victim who has a name and a surname, but there may be many more who are nameless and dare not speak out.
Paste these in the city, pass on the handwriting of the orphan, and let the people who suffered in the city redress their grievances. It can be anonymous. Zhu Yunxi said coldly.
Obey the order! Fu Rang stepped forward and asked someone to do it immediately.