Cao Jixiang was beaten half to death and could not be interrogated. Xu Xianchun took all his godsons, godsons, and more than a dozen young eunuchs into the Jin Palace.
When these little eunuchs still didn't understand what was going on, the guards who escorted them in unceremoniously kicked their knees, knocking them down and kneeling on the ground.
Then he reminded them affectionately that the handsome and wealthy young man in front of them was the emperor, which frightened them into kowtowing repeatedly.
Although they didn't know what happened, looking at their ancestor Cao Jixiang lying in front of them covered in blood, they knew that today was going to be a bad day.
The guarding eunuch who used to dominate Taiyuan City has now fallen, and they have no shelter.
The man in front of them was the emperor, and they had no chance to stand up again. In order to survive, the dozen or so young eunuchs all shouted in unison that "Long Live Lord, spare their lives" to calm down their anger.
One of the young eunuchs even rebelled on the spot. Instead of begging for mercy, he directly became a tainted witness. While others watched in shock, he denounced Cao Jixiang's illegal and criminal behavior during his tenure in recent years.
He also used words to whitewash himself, claiming that although he was the god-grandson of the old eunuch, he had always endured the humiliation. He was obviously his person, but in fact he was investigating his details and obtaining evidence of his crime.
He was waiting for an opportunity like today to expose the traitor's crimes to the public, so that he could personally send this evil traitor to prison and punish him according to the law.
I have to admit that when it comes to selling misery and acting, these eunuchs are indeed top-notch. If they were left to future generations, they would at least take home a little golden man.
What does it mean to fly away when disaster strikes? The little eunuch in front of Zhu Youxiao perfectly demonstrated it. As the saying goes, a dead Taoist friend will not die but a poor Taoist. It can only be said that this little eunuch is much smarter than others.
As long as one member of a gang cannot withstand the pressure, there will be no room for final defense.
Now that someone has confessed, there is no point in interrogation. Zhu Youxiao is not interested in this either. He only needs to know the final result.
Zhu Youxiao turned around with a half-smile, looked at the timid Zhu Qiugui and said:
"Prince Jin, is there any free palace in the palace that I can lend to my use?"
Zhu Qiugui replied slowly:
"Yes, yes, even if I have to requisition my palace, I can move to another place!"
"That's not necessary!"
Then he looked around at the eunuchs who were kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, with a look of disgust.
The young eunuch who took the initiative to self-destruct before and confessed was extremely nervous. He was still young, and he still wanted to become a powerful eunuch like Cao Jixiang who could control the situation. He didn't want to die so early.
Fortunately, the emperor saw that he was so aware of current affairs and had meritorious service in the prosecution, so he really showed mercy to him outside the law.
He immediately promised to absolve him of the crime and asked him to unconditionally cooperate with Jin Yiwei in investigating and collecting evidence.
The little eunuch was so excited that he kowtowed his head more than a dozen times, and his forehead became red and swollen, but he could no longer feel the pain, only the joy of surviving the disaster.
When other eunuchs saw this, they began to imitate him. Each one expressed their willingness to expose the evil things Cao Jixiang had done during his tenure, and begged the emperor to spare their lives.
Zhu Youxiao waved his hand in disgust, and Xu Xianchun ordered a group of guards to drag them all down.
If Zhu Youxiao didn't want this matter to spread out and chill people's hearts, he wouldn't even want to let go of the little eunuch who took the initiative to blow himself up just now, let alone these people.
"Your Majesty, what should we do about Cao Jixiang?"
Looking at the dying fat eunuch, Zhu Youxiao said calmly:
"Just find a better doctor to ensure that he can survive tonight. Tonight, you quickly take people to collect evidence of his crime. Tomorrow, we will hold a public trial at Caishikou in front of the people of the city, and then combine his crimes.
, sentenced truthfully according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty!"
The common people are most willing to see things like this kind of punishment of corrupt officials. It can be said that they want to skin them, boil them and eat them.
And Zhu Youxiao could just take this opportunity to leave a good impression on the people of Taiyuan City, and a great eunuch of this level would definitely have a lot of money, food, and wealth. As the saying goes, he could achieve multiple things with one stone.
When the guards dragged Cao Jixiang to the palace gate, Zhu Qiugui's eldest son, the crown prince of Jin Dynasty, Zhu Shenxuan, just pushed the door open and entered.
Seeing that Cao Jixiang was covered in wounds and his flesh was turned over, he screamed at the door on the spot. It was obvious that he was frightened.
The middle-aged eunuch who was responsible for looking for him carefully glanced at Zhu Youxiao's location, and then reminded Zhu Shenxuan in his ear:
"Your Majesty, please be careful, don't disturb the Long Live Lord!"
As the crown prince of the Jin Dynasty, Zhu Shenxuan was arrogant in the local area, but he was not stupid enough to ignore the emperor. He followed the eunuch's gaze and secretly glanced ahead, only to see a young man sitting leisurely on the steps.
, while his father stood aside and bowed his head.
The middle-aged eunuch stepped forward first and reported to Zhu Youxiao that the Crown Prince of Jin had arrived.
Under the guidance of the eunuch, Zhu Shenxuan ran all the way. When he reached the center of the hall, he knelt down in the direction of Zhu Youxiao and shouted:
"The Crown Prince of the Jin Dynasty, Shenxuan, pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor. Long live Your Majesty!"
"Get flat!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
If he hadn't planned to cut down the vassal vassal, and with Zhu Youxiao's temperament, he would never have made time to see Zhu Shenxuan.
There is no other reason. Zhu Shenxuan's performance in history was really humiliating to the Ming clan. He first surrendered to Li Zicheng in order to survive. After Li Zicheng was defeated, he made a special trip to Beijing to surrender to the Manchus.
But what he didn't expect was that the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not give preferential treatment to him, the former clan prince, but instead drove him around like a dog. Finally, in the second year of Longwu, he was beheaded by the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the street.
In fact, from the perspective of Zhu Youxiao and later generations, your surrender to Li Zicheng is not unacceptable. Although Li Zicheng created your Zhu family to rebel, he still wanted to return the favor to the Han people. In the land of China, the change of dynasties is the most normal thing.
thing.
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty at that time was indeed no longer worthy of the support of the people. In terms of corruption, it ranked among the top three dynasties.
In the late Ming Dynasty, trash like this, who were shameless, greedy for life and fearful of death, insulted their ancestors, and ignored national justice, were everywhere. Whether they were literati, military generals, or nobles of the clan, they were simply too numerous to count.
Although Zhu Shenxuan had stood up, he was even more nervous than when he knelt down just now.
The emperor made no sound except for a word of silence. His intuition told him that the emperor's eyes were looking at him.
Driven by the sultry weather, the beads of sweat on Zhu Shenxuan's forehead were clearly visible.