Before the others could plead for mercy, the guards quickly dragged Wu Hong out, shouting in the process that he was wronged and not guilty.
When the others saw that the emperor was actually serious, they all began to be frightened. They had all spoken out just now.
After Wu Hong's voice gradually became weaker, these officials began to calm down and prepare for the emperor's next move.
They knelt on the ground and said nothing. They did not excuse their former colleagues, nor did they angrily criticize the emperor's actions like the officials in the capital.
Zhu Youxiao also looked at them quietly and was not in a hurry to convict everyone.
Wu Yizhong broke the eerie silence. He raised his voice and said loudly:
"His Majesty sentenced him to a severe sentence based only on an account book with unknown origins and the one-sided words of these unscrupulous people. Isn't he deliberately covering up and protecting the various evil deeds committed by the second general?"
"If today's incident were to spread, what would the world think of it, and what would happen if it aroused public indignation?"
Zhu Youxiao sneered and said in a playful and sarcastic tone:
"Unknown origin?"
"That's still more credible than the distortions you make up at will."
When they continued to slander despite being reminded by Zhu Youxiao's kind words, they were already sentenced to death.
Zhu Youxiao also committed many crimes by slandering and spreading rumors, disrupting the officialdom, colluding with gentry and merchants, harming the people, and falsely accusing the court's heroes and generals. All of them were sentenced to beheaded in half, and their homes were confiscated and their clans exterminated.
Because Wu Yizhong's arrogance just now had already made the guards in the lobby extremely angry. As soon as Zhu Youxiao gave the order, they couldn't wait to drag all these people out one by one.
No one could bear to tell the emperor in front of them that he would kill them all.
Although their three tribes were not wiped out like Wu Hong, their end was not much better. Zhu Youxiao also issued an order specifically. The men from the three tribes of these people were sent to the northwest as slaves, and the women were sent to the northwest as slaves.
Then they were sent to the Jiaofang Department and all their homes were searched.
In fact, Zhu Youxiao had no evidence or even clues for several of the charges against them. It was all based on his knowledge and understanding of the officials and the public in the late Ming Dynasty.
But there is no way, who calls him the emperor? The final power of interpretation lies in his hands.
Moreover, the main crime and name of the punishment was that they conspired with each other and colluded to frame the loyal ministers and generals of the imperial court, as well as their crime of deceiving the emperor.
And not only the officials, but also the gentry and merchants were not spared this time. They were also ordered by Zhu Youxiao to investigate strictly. Anyone who committed illegal things would be convicted according to the law, and no mercy would be tolerated.
This purge was more thorough than Zhu Youxiao's purge in Taiyuan. Last time he only killed more than twenty local officials in Taiyuan.
But this time in Xi'an, he was really ruthless. There were more than a hundred officials, big and small, in total.
The gentry merchants who were mainly arrested and punished were all wealthy and powerful families who were very famous and powerful in the local area.
The emperor discussed state affairs without permission, bribed officials, colluded with officials to evade taxes, and participated in the frame-up of military generals and other serious crimes. All of them were punished with confiscation of their homes and genocide.
But the scope was not very large. Zhu Youxiao did not launch a full-scale war this time, but with the purpose of testing. There were only less than ten noble families in total.
And even such a simple test caused a slight turmoil to break out in Xi'an.
As the saying goes, even though these noble clans are not very united and usually compete with each other for some interests and engage in intrigues, at this critical moment, they still stand together with a tacit understanding to oppose the emperor.
If the emperor hadn't brought thousands of soldiers to clean up Xi'an's officialdom, they would have taken measures to prevent peace in Xi'an.
When they saw that the emperor knew enough was enough and did not deal with them like officials, they began to remain silent.
The wealthy noble families always only care about their own interests. As long as their interests can be protected, they will support you no matter you are the emperor or an official.
If you want to harm their interests, they will not recognize you. At that time, they will no longer care whether you are the emperor or anything else, they will all be plotting behind your back.
Just like in history, when they took advantage of Li Zicheng to go north to attack Wu Sangui, they kept making small moves behind him.
Although they were much inferior to the scholar-rich families in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, their local influence and resources were still huge.
No matter in any dynasty, it can be said that as long as it is a feudal dynasty, if the emperor wants to rule the world, these nobles must provide local assistance.
Especially in areas far away from the capital, where the imperial power is most concentrated and powerful, it is even more necessary for these local nobles to rule for the emperor, otherwise chaos will inevitably break out within a year.
Zhu Youxiao was quite sure of the appropriateness in this and had a clear understanding of himself.
He can now rely on the power of the army to suppress them severely, but what if he doesn't?
Or has he left here? These gentry have lost their control and threat, will they still obey their orders? Will they still abide by the rules honestly?
This is obviously impossible. The saying that the emperor and the gentry share the world is absolutely correct. No matter how the dynasty rises or falls, the emperor will always compete with the gentry for the power to truly rule.
But the contradiction is that the two complement each other, and neither one of them is enough. Unless Zhu Youxiao can change the status quo of imperial power not going to the countryside, otherwise, he will not shoot himself in the foot.
After all these officials were dealt with, Zhu Youxiao immediately ordered the governor of Shaanxi who was in charge of disaster relief in the disaster area to return to Xi'an immediately to take charge of the overall situation of the province and avoid trouble.
As for the matters of disaster relief and people's relief, all matters were left to the right chief envoy to make decisions.
After arranging all this, Zhu Youxiao went to Prince Qin's Mansion in a big way.
When he entered the city earlier, Zhu Youxiao specially sent someone to tell King Qin Zhu Yizhen to wait for the news in the palace and there was no need to go out of the city to greet him.
First of all, Zhu Yifeng was already very old and was suffering from diseases. According to the report from the Jinyi Guards who stayed at the Qin Palace, the old man was only alive day and night. Zhu Youxiao was really afraid that he would belch if something happened to him.
Secondly, even if a vassal king with no soldiers and power comes, it will not be of any help to him. Apart from being a little follower, mascot or the like, it has no effect at all.
Therefore, in recent days, Qin King Zhu Yizhen pretended not to know about the things that happened in Xi'an City and ignored them. In fact, even if he knew, he could not do anything. At most, he could just watch the show.
Zhu Yifeng is Zhu Youxiao's nominal imperial uncle. He is the tenth generation grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang, while Zhu Youxiao is the eleventh generation grandson. He has been the king of Qin for more than thirty years.