The officials had a complete showdown. This was their last resort. They had to kill Qin Bangping and Chen Guang.
The humiliation they suffered has become the shame of Shilin. In the entire Shaanxi Province, everyone who knows the inside story will laugh at them behind their backs. They have completely become the laughing stock and become the entertainment objects for others to talk about after drinking.
In three to five months, their deeds in Xi'an will be spread throughout the world. By then, not only those around Xi'an, but also the entire officialdom and scholars of the Ming Dynasty will laugh at them.
Although they are officials mainly for personal gain, they also care deeply about reputation.
Many of them are ambitious. Who doesn't want to be a scholar leader and be respected and looked up to by others?
Especially to establish a high and upright image among the emperor, colleagues in the officialdom, and scholars, it takes a lot of time and energy to invest, basically the entire official career.
Although they are just local officials now and are not prominent in the official circles and scholars, they may one day make political achievements and be promoted to serve in the capital.
Moreover, what is reputation? Reputation is not determined by the size of the official position. Even if some people sit in the high position of Six Ministers or Ministers, they may not have a sense of presence among the scholars because of their unclear reputation.
Some people may never hold an official position in their entire lives, but they firmly occupy a high position as a scholar leader and are respected by thousands of people.
But to have this status, there must be no stain in life, especially for people like them who are suppressed and humiliated by lowly military officers. No one will look down on them.
So no matter which angle they stand on, they have to find their place. No matter what, they have to kill these two men who have brought stains to them. Only in this way can they still have room for redemption and opportunities to keep their reputation.
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In order to achieve their own goals, they can slander without any limit.
And they also believed that the killing move they performed would definitely achieve their goals and effects.
From ancient times to the present, no emperor can tolerate the existence of anyone who can threaten his throne, let alone the rise of a person with such ambitions.
As soon as this young emperor came to the throne, he seized power without hesitation, organized and trained a new army, and personally led the army to conquer. He had done so many things. It was obvious that he cared more about these things.
"Qin Bangping has already written a memorial to explain this matter to me clearly. They followed the military laws and military orders set by me and acted in accordance with the order. I also specially commended them!"
"Wu Aiqing should stop making a fuss about this matter. The duty of a soldier is to unconditionally obey military orders. Their handling of this matter was not wrong."
"I believe they have warned you before. It's just that you insist on going your own way and don't take the general's laws and my will seriously."
"They didn't hold you accountable for trespassing into the military camp, but you used this matter to hold them accountable. Isn't this a slap in the face?"
The emperor's remarks shocked the officials. They heard it right. The emperor just defended them. After all, they had also thought about this happening.
But they never expected that the emperor would protect them to such an extent that they would be attacked with firearms by the army. Was it their fault?
At this time, Wu Yizhong was deeply dissatisfied and had to argue with the emperor.
"Your Majesty places so much emphasis on military force and neglects civility, which is really not in line with the way to govern the country and secure the people. History can serve as a guide. In the past dynasties, if military commanders were given too much power, they would eventually be counterattacked."
"Liang Ji and He Jin of the Han Dynasty, Sima Zhao of the Wei Dynasty, the governor of the Tang Dynasty, and Lan Yu, the powerful general of this dynasty, were either autocratic and treacherous ministers who disrupted the imperial court, or they were arrogant and arrogant, causing harm to the country and the people.
Chaotic rebels and rebellious ministers.”
"The source of all this is, isn't it caused by the general's power?"
"Does Your Majesty not know these old things? Are you trying to repeat the tragedy of the previous dynasty?"
"In all dynasties, the emperor sat in court, civil servants governed the country, and military generals only led the troops to fight. Your Majesty took over local city defenses in the form of an army and deprived local officials of their authority. Looking at history, is there any precedent?"
“Isn’t your Majesty’s move imitating the Tang Dynasty’s vassal system?”
"With such indulgence, within ten years, won't our Ming Dynasty produce another An Lushan and Shi Siming?"
This is one of the skills that officials are best at, telling historical events to frighten the current supreme ruler.
But it was such a simple conspiracy, and countless emperors still fell into it, without any power to refute it.
Emperor Chongzhen was frightened in this way. In the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign, the Ming army fought a decisive battle with the Manchu Qing Dynasty in Songshan and was defeated.
The last remaining troops in Jiubian and the capital were completely wiped out, leaving only two generals, Wang Pu and Wu Sangui, who had escaped and were defeated.
Within the pass, bandit leaders such as Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and Luo Rucai made a comeback, and the power of the rebel army reached its peak. The rebel army attacked cities and plundered territory along the way. Important cities such as Kaifeng, Luoyang, and Xi'an fell one after another, and the affairs of the Central Plains were no longer possible.
Emperor Chongzhen wanted to move south to Nanzhili and try to revive the country, but he did not dare to speak out and could only hint to a young, low-level official.
As a result, as soon as he opened his mouth in the court, he was ridiculed by a group of people led by Guang Shiheng. Emperor Chongzhen, who was trying to live an ignoble existence, sat in a high position and silently watched all this, seeing the last person who was willing to speak for him.
A loyal minister was reviled by his fellow ministers and resigned from office, doing nothing.
Not long after, Emperor Chongzhen proposed that the prince should go to Nanjing to prevent unexpected events in the capital. It was Guang Shiheng who took the lead in opposing the proposal and brought out the old events of Suzong of the Tang Dynasty.
Emperor Chongzhen, who had always been opinionated and self-willed, and who valued power very much, could not bear this. He was so frightened that he panicked and immediately decided to end the discussion on the prince's move to the south and never mention it again.
As a result, Li Zicheng invaded Beijing and the Ming Dynasty was officially declared destroyed. He himself left a sentence, saying that I was not wrong, and it was all the ministers who were wrong because they missed my important event.
After saying this famous saying that was widely circulated in later generations, he hanged himself and it was over.
This sentence was pure blame-shifting. Until the moment of his death, he had not yet figured out why the Ming Dynasty came to this point and why the Ming Dynasty perished.
However, just such a remark about blaming others, coupled with his moral integrity to commit suicide and sacrifice his country, instantly raised his image by several levels.
But in fact, the things he did during his reign were like pigs and dogs. Even if he was an emperor in a peaceful and prosperous era, and a prosperous dynasty was entrusted to him, with his IQ and talent, he might not be able to compete with Emperor Sui Yang.
Just like that, it ruins the family and harms the people.
But his three sons were harmed by him, especially the most important prince, the orthodox heir of the Ming Dynasty, who disappeared from the world.
Facts have proved that the emperor cannot be afraid of trouble, especially in front of his ministers. His authority is unquestionable and challenging, and no one is allowed to dare to look directly at it.