"As supervisors, you didn't come here to repay your country's kindness when the intruders besieged the city. Now that the intruders have been defeated, you didn't go back to study, but came here to gather. Are there relatives and family members who were arrested and came here to complain?"
Zhu Cixiang glanced at the hundreds of prison students below and said coldly.
"Your Majesty clearly knows that students and others are literati. Isn't the imperial examination the purpose of repaying the benevolence of the country and the king?"
"As for killing thieves and defending the city, that is the duty of the warrior..."
"Your Majesty just saw it. Commander Li Ruolian of the Jin Yiwei ignored the king's kindness and was corrupt and perverted the law. Not long ago, he ordered his subordinates to extort and exploit gentry and merchants from all over the country. Now he is allowing his subordinates to arrest and murder the people indiscriminately, causing public resentment inside and outside the capital to boil..."
"The students beg your Majesty to severely punish Li Ruolian, so as to use the anger of the people and set the record straight!"
"Students are risking their lives to remonstrate, and please Your Majesty to kill Li Ruolian, a treacherous villain, so as to rectify the situation with the anger of the people!"
After one scholar finished speaking solemnly and solemnly, hundreds of scholars knelt down and worshiped him as if they had rehearsed it in advance.
Li Ruolian on the tower was expressionless. He knew that this day would come sooner or later, and those civil servants would never let him go.
"What if I don't agree?"
Zhu Cixiang also had an expressionless face.
"If your Majesty insists on kissing a villain and a virtuous minister, it will chill the hearts of all the scholars in the world. I hope your Majesty will think twice!"
All the scholars said in unison, and then bowed their heads to the bottom.
Although they are not yet officials, His Majesty favors the factory guards so much, indulges the factory guards, favors military personnel, and treats civil servants like weeds. This is definitely not a blessing for the literati in the world.
"Haha, can you represent the world's scholars?"
Zhu Cixiang sneered, where would he have time to chat with them?
Then he shouted loudly: "Come here, beat these traitors without kings and fathers away with my stick!"
"yes!"
Groups of Han generals in uniforms rushed out with sticks in hand and beat the prison guards who were kneeling on the ground.
The screams and wails continued for a while, and the prison guards were beaten so hard that they rolled and crawled, clutching their heads and running away in all directions.
"Hunjun..."
"tyrant…"
In the distance, a group of civil servants dressed in disguise were all livid with anger and trembling all over.
What they are angry about is not that His Majesty beats people, but that His Majesty can take action and everyone is mentally prepared.
But you have to move a stool according to the rules, let people lie on it, and beat them seriously, right?
What is the difference between such random beatings with sticks and women driving chickens and dogs?
Everyone is not a fool, and they obviously understand that His Majesty is deliberately humiliating.
At the same time, he also showed his attitude that even if he bears the name of an eternal tyrant, he will not compromise at all.
The only thing that can make all the officials feel relieved is that now His Majesty does have some concerns in his heart and does not dare to arrest and imprison him as he did before.
The nobles watching secretly on the other side also had solemn expressions, and they all saw His Majesty's determination.
Today is just a test. If your Majesty follows the good example and directly kills Li Ruolian, it means that your Majesty is willing to compromise.
If Li Ruolian was dismissed from his post first, or directly imprisoned, it would mean that there was talk, but now the result of the test has made everyone feel cold.
…
That night.
British Government House, in the study.
Xu Yunzhen, Duke of Dingguo, picked up the tea cup and took a sip, and said calmly: "Mr. Britain, you must have heard about what happened outside the palace gate today. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Haha, what's the fuss about a group of hot-headed Confucian scholars? Your Majesty punishes them with a small amount of punishment."
British Duke Zhang Shize smiled.
Seeing that he was still pretending to be stupid, Xu Yunzhen stopped nagging: "Brother Zhang Xian, there are only you and me in this study. As a brother, I will say it bluntly. Your Majesty's character is not a blessing to the Ming Dynasty, nor to the civil servants, nor to me.
Waiting for the blessings of the royal family and nobles."
"Oh, brother, why do you say this? Although you are young, you have the status of an ancestor. If we help you with all our heart, we will be able to revive the Ming Dynasty!"
The British Duke frowned, and then said slowly.
Your Majesty now places great emphasis on military personnel, which is a great blessing for both nobles and generals.
"Haha, I'm afraid that I have the intention but you have no intention of doing so! Your Majesty gave all the thirty thousand soldiers to Zhou Yuji, but did you give any more soldiers to you or me?
What’s more, Wu Sangui was granted the title of General, and Tang Tong and Wu Xiang were also granted rewards. But what about us, the nobles? What else can we do other than reward some wealth?”
"My dear brother, Your Majesty no longer trusts me. I'm afraid that when Zhou Yuji takes full control of the 30,000 surrendered soldiers and Wu Sangui leads Guan Ning's cavalry back to Beijing, it will be the time to take back the troops and horses from our noble hands.
Without military power, it’s probably not far away from the Jin Yiwei coming to raid your home.”
"Brother, you are a bit alarmist. If His Majesty wants to take back our military power, it is still possible, but if you want to confiscate our homes, I absolutely do not believe it.
At the time, Duke Cheng and others, His Majesty had no choice but to take this strategy in order to raise money and food and recruit troops to defend the city.
Now that the intruders have been defeated, the crisis has been resolved, and Your Majesty is not short of money and food, it will never happen again."
The British Duke shook his head.
Duke Dingguo sneered.
He continued: "Your Majesty is indeed not short of money and food now, but your Majesty wants to revive the Ming Dynasty and raise the army to prepare for war. He is also extravagant and does not know how to be frugal. How long can you last with that little money and food?
His Majesty also exempted the three rings, abolished the northern taxes, and separated from the civil servants. In the short term, the national treasury will not be able to receive a cent of grain and silver supplements.
Once the money and food are exhausted, I am afraid that the first thing your Majesty will think of is us nobles who are extremely wealthy and powerful."
After Duke Dingguo finished speaking, Duke Ying's face couldn't help but become a little more solemn, and his brows gradually wrinkled.
Now if I say that Your Majesty does not know how much property they have, I am afraid that I am deceiving myself. The piles of gold and silver treasures in Wuying Palace are the best proof.
Duke Dingguo took the opportunity and said: "Brother, the lid has been lifted and it cannot be covered. Unless we are willing to hand over the family property, sooner or later Shen Wansan will end up."
"In my opinion, brother, how should we protect ourselves?"
Although the British prince was loyal to the Ming Dynasty, he did not want to end up having his property confiscated. He could ask him to hand over his military power, but he could not do so with his family property.
"Now we can only revive the Ming Dynasty by letting the Supreme Emperor come out to clean up the mess, repair the relationship with the civil servants as soon as possible, restore the tax revenue in Jiangnan, and then have our support and support."
Duke Dingguo breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he finally relented.
"Alas! Even so, how easy is it for His Majesty to abdicate? It is absolutely impossible to force the palace soldiers to remonstrate."
The British Duke sighed. To be honest, if it weren't for the confiscation of the house, he would still agree with His Majesty.
"This is natural. Force the palace soldiers to remonstrate. Such treacherous and unethical things are absolutely unacceptable to us nobles.
However, it is true that when Zhou Yuji was the general who defended the city, he treated his soldiers harshly and corrupted his military pay and rewards."
Duke Dingguo Fu Xu said.
"What does Brother Shi mean?"
"Yes, those scholars can go to the palace gate to petition and ask Your Majesty to kill the traitorous minister Li Ruolian. We will follow suit and let the soldiers in the capital camp to petition and ask Your Majesty to kill Zhou Yuji."
Duke Dingguo smiled testily.
In my heart, I have to admire the methods of those civil servants. They are indeed much more elegant and gentle than their military commanders.
"This is feasible. We don't have to bear the reputation of forcing the emperor to marry him, but we can also use Zhou Yuji to warn other generals."
After thinking about it, the British Duke nodded and thought it was feasible.
As long as your majesty can force him to kill Zhou Yuji, military generals will definitely rely on their nobles from now on, and since your majesty has no generals available, he can only rely on them.
(PS: I advanced to the second round today. Thank you for your support during this period. Whether you can advance or not depends entirely on your pursuit, so I once again beg those friends who like to raise pigs, please don’t raise them. I hope you can raise pigs every day.