"Every day you claim that you are a descendant of Confucius, but the things you have done are just a smear on the face of Confucius."
"I didn't expect that in this day and age, I would actually raise something like yours, which is even worse than an animal."
"If I don't get a severe punishment today, how can I have the face to see the people of the world, and how will I have the honor to see my fourteenth generation late Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the future?"
"In accordance with the decree, Kong Yinzhi supported the rebels, collaborated with the enemy and betrayed the country, smuggled prohibited items, and embezzled military camps. He was guilty of unforgivable crimes and should be executed."
"The rest of the Kong family in Qufu did not report the knowledge, and most of them participated in it. They betrayed the imperial court. All the men were beheaded, and the women were sent to the Jiaofang Bureau and entered into slavery. They will never be forgiven."
"Everyone who belongs to the Kong family in Qufu will have his or her house searched, the household department, and the imperial court inspected. The Jin Yiwei will take stock of the guards, military camps, and people's fields they occupy. After that, everything will be returned to the original owner."
"All the property, shops, land, manors and houses under the name of the Kong family will be returned to the imperial court and registered in the Ministry of Household Affairs. I will personally inspect it when I arrive."
"The houses of all Kong's associates, regardless of their minor or serious crimes, were ransacked. After a joint trial by the Procuratorate, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Dali Temple, they were convicted in accordance with the Ming Dynasty Law."
"As well as those officials who previously protected the Kong family and risked the lives of their whole families to bet against me, they were immediately taken to interrogation and let me check carefully to see if they had done anything shameful."
"After the investigation is completed, if the innocent person is found guilty, he will be allowed to hang himself so that his family will not be harmed. His fame and official position will be retained, and it will be more dignified."
"If there is a guilty person, the Jin Yiwei will immediately search for evidence, and upon conviction, the family will be confiscated and the family will be exterminated."
Listening to the emperor's series of penalties, it would be false if the officials present were not shocked.
If all of this is really revealed, the number of heads would be 10,000 yuan, which is no small matter.
Moreover, it involves so many officials and the entire Kong family in Qufu.
Not to mention the three major Hongwu cases, even if we look at the entire history of China, they are unique.
Some officials wanted to stop it, but the emperor was violent and murderous, and he was still angry.
If you go against and protest at this time, isn't that asking for death?
Some officials were so frightened that they stood aside without even daring to take a breath, for fear of causing disaster.
As the head of the civil service, Wang Xiangqian, the chief minister of the cabinet, naturally cannot remain silent.
At this moment, he had to stand up and speak out even if he couldn't change the established facts. Of course, he didn't want to change.
I saw him saying:
"Your Majesty, Kong Yinzhi's crime cannot be punished, and I have no objection. However, he is also a direct descendant of Confucius Sheng, and he was the Duke of Yansheng. He was sentenced to be cut in half. Isn't it..."
"Yuanfu, I already gave him a lighter sentence for the sake of Kong Sheng's face."
"Otherwise, just for the things he did, if I didn't kill him for three days and three nights, it would be regarded as my partiality and perversion of the law."
"Your Majesty is the Holy Lord and Mingjun. If you treat the Kong family like this, you will probably be criticized by the world. It will have a very serious impact on your Majesty's reputation and the reputation of the court."
"Your Majesty has only been on the throne for three years, and is still less than twenty. He still has a great time. The Ming Dynasty needs to be prosperous under your Majesty's rule."
"If you are really burdened with such an infamy, even future generations will probably think that Your Majesty is a tyrant."
Although the old man Wang Xiangqian was not as unswervingly on his side as Xu Guangqi and Wang Zaijin.
But in his words, Zhu Youxiao could naturally tell that he was thinking about him.
It's a pity that he is not the kind of person like Zhu Youjian who becomes a bitch and still builds a memorial arch.
A dignified man, a man who dares to take action.
What's more, he has already offended most of the gentry class to death.
Even if he wanted to leave a good reputation, it was impossible, and he didn't want to leave a so-called good reputation.
"Yuan Fu doesn't need to persuade me anymore, I've made up my mind, let's just go with it."
"What they think of me is their business and I can't change it."
"What I can do is to change the national destiny of our Ming Dynasty, so that the people of our Ming Dynasty can have enough food and clothing, live a stable and peaceful life, and no longer decline."
"Aren't they shouting about the king of heaven and earth every day? Now that Kong has betrayed the imperial court and has no king or father, I want to see which one is more important in their eyes: me, the king, or the descendants of the saints."
The emperor had said this, and Wang Xiangqian also understood this determination and returned to his original position silently without giving any advice.
There was no longer any objection in the huge Huangji Palace. Zhu Youxiao immediately said loudly:
"Jinyiwei, please go on an errand immediately."
Zhu Youxiao said he was on duty, Xu Xianchun and Yang Huan immediately came out, and then according to the previously recorded betting list, they were dragged out of the Huangji Palace on the spot.
Even though each of them was still crying about being wronged and begging for mercy, Zhu Youxiao did not respond.
When the other surviving officials saw this, they were also thankful for their previous sanity and silence.
The long court meeting that lasted a whole morning and a whole morning was finally over.
In this struggle, Zhu Youxiao was completely victorious.
What happened in the Huangji Palace was also announced to the world in the early morning of the next day through the imperial edict and the Ming Dynasty Daily. The process was streamlined and announced to the world.
There is no fraud in the content, nor is there any deliberate exaggeration of the facts. Zhu Youxiao just restored the facts.
And in order to prevent uneducated people from being unable to understand classical Chinese, this edition of Daming Daily is all in vernacular.
He didn't know how long it would be, and Zhu Youxiao didn't read it, but for such breaking news, it probably wouldn't work if it didn't have 18,000 words.
To the surprise of many people, when what Kong did was exposed to the world, not many people supported them at all, let alone acquitted them of their injustice.
Some intellectuals who have no brains and have been brainwashed by Confucian culture for a long time are aggrieved and claim that all this is a conspiracy and all unfounded charges.
Some extreme people even insulted Emperor Tianqi in the street, and even commented that he was a cowardly and tyrannical king who had only seen him in a thousand years.
It is said that Emperor Sui Yang was not one ten thousandth of the emperor. The Ming Dynasty's country and family were about to be destroyed.
Naturally, these people would not end well. Before they could finish scolding them, they were taken away by the Jin Yiwei or the police patrolling the streets. They were sent directly to the underworld to explore the way for the Kong family first.
Xu Hongru and other thieves naturally disappeared from this world after playing their roles.
How can we really let these people live?
As the saying goes, a person who is not ruthless cannot stand firm, and Zhu Youxiao does not need to keep his so-called promises at all.
If you want to be a qualified emperor, you must first be sinister.
Besides, for them, this is just a chance of survival.
If Cui Yingyuan was not his absolute confidant, Zhu Youxiao would have wanted to deal with him personally to prevent the news from leaking out.
Ten days after the Great Court Meeting, those officials who had bet against Zhu Youxiao were also presented as an appetizer.
Eleven people hanged themselves, 19 people were beheaded in public, seven people were cut in half, four people were skinned and made into grass, and two were tortured, but it was a good show for the people who loved watching the excitement.
However, the amount of property, money and food confiscated was not as much as before.
The total money is more than 520,000 taels of silver, and he has a lot of acres of land. Unfortunately, it is all in his hometown, and it will take some time to really recover it.