Chapter two hundred and ninety fourth literati weakness
When Li Gang heard what Chao Yong said, he immediately panicked. Although he was not trying to leave a name in history, he definitely did not want to be infamous for thousands of years. For noble literati like them, honor and integrity are more important than life.
Chao Yong looked at Li Gang's change of expression and continued: "In my opinion, the decadent Song Dynasty and the mediocre Zhao Ji are not worthy of any loyal ministers. Is there anyone else who wants to be Zhao Ji's loyal ministers? Come forward, I am not short of swords.
Axeman, all will be executed in five days. I heard that Cai Jing built a monument to Yuanyou’s party membership. Later, I will also build a monument to the traitors of the Song Dynasty. Although your position is lower, I still reluctantly let you and Cai Jing.
Let’s get together.”
A few years ago, Cai Jing took full power and classified 309 people, including Yuan You, Yuan Fujian, Sima Guang, Wen Yanbo, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, and Qin Guan, as traitors. His names were engraved on stone and announced to the world, hoping to make his political enemies infamy for eternity.
However, people like Sima Guang only had different opinions from Cai Jingzheng and did not do anything evil themselves. Therefore, the Yuanyou party membership monument did not become a traitor monument among the people.
The situation is different for Cai Jing, Zhu Meng, Wang Fu, and Cai You. Zhu Meng presided over the Huashi Gang in the south of the Yangtze River, which made the people in the southeast boil with resentment. It can be said that the Fangla Uprising started all because of him. Cai Jing has controlled the government in recent years, and even more
I don't know how many harsh policies were enacted, and the people complained a lot. Although Wang Fu and Cai You were less famous in the countryside, all the officials knew that they were flattering the emperor, and their reputations among the scholars were extremely bad.
There is no doubt that once the four of them are engraved on the monument, it will be a real traitor monument, and I am afraid that the people will spit on them when they see it.
Although Li Gang was a clean figure and the people's livelihood in the court was excellent, not many people knew about him. Once he was carved with the four people, he would definitely be regarded as a traitor and be scolded together.
If Chao Yong asked the historian to record them as the five thieves again, the truth would be completely lost in the long river of time in a few decades. And he, Li Gang, would be regarded as a traitor and be reviled forever.
Li Gang thought of the horror, pointed at Chao Yong and said, "Tyrant, tyrant."
Wu Song saw that Li Gang was rude to Chao Yong, so he stepped forward to teach Li Gang a lesson.
"Wait a minute, I'll have a few words with him."
Wu Song stopped when he saw Chao Yong speaking, but his strong body still gave Li Gang a heavy sense of oppression.
Even many veterans on the battlefield would be intimidated by Wu Song's majestic body and strong killing intent when they faced Wu Song, but Li Gang did not change his expression.
To him, Wu Song's threat was not as good as Chao Yong's few words just now.
Chao Yong pointed to Zhao Ji and asked Li Gang, "Is he a tyrant?"
If he were an ordinary minister, he would definitely not dare to comment on the emperor at will, or his comments would be blindly flattery.
But Li Gang said: "Although the current emperor has some faults, he is a benevolent king. But if he tolerates the faults of his subordinates, he is definitely not a cruel king."
"Ha ha ha ha"
Chao Yong couldn't help laughing after hearing this.
Li Gang was embarrassed by Chao Yong's laughter and scolded him: "He is indeed a bandit, so rude."
Chao Yong looked at Li Gang with disdain and said: "I thought you were a loyal and upright person who could be reused, but it turned out that you are just a fool. Is Zhao Ji a benevolent master by being tolerant to you ministers? Why didn't he treat you like a benevolent person?
How much of his kindness can he extend to the people of the world? Ask the people of the world, is Zhao Ji the merciful Lord?"
Li Gang was speechless.
Chao Yong didn't bother to recruit this kind of people anymore. He waved his hand and said: "Drag him down and kill him all together in five days."
Li Gang was not afraid of death, but he did not want to be killed with Cai Jing and others. When he saw two soldiers approaching, he immediately went to grab the weapons of the soldiers.
Chao Yong's soldiers were all elite men, how could they be robbed of their weapons by a scholar? As soon as Li Gang rushed over, his wrist was twisted.
Seeing that he couldn't grab the weapon, Li Gang bumped into the pillar next to him.
The soldier twisted Li Gang's wrist, seeing that he was seeking death, so he quickly grabbed Li Gang, and another man also stepped forward and grabbed Li Gang's other arm.
Chao Yong looked at Li Gang and said, "If you commit suicide, I will kill your whole family."
Li Gang originally thought about finding an opportunity to commit suicide after going down, and would never be taken to the execution ground with Cai Jing and others. After hearing what Chao Yong said and thinking about the family, he had to give up the idea of suicide, but he looked at it unwillingly.
Looking at Chao Yong, he said: "Li Gang has been an official for many years and has never lost his integrity. Why do you treat me like this?"
Chao Yong sneered: "Do you still think that you are a loyal minister and should be praised by others?"
Li Gang said: "It's up to you to decide whether you are loyal or traitorous. Li Gang has a clear conscience when he asks himself."
"I have a clear conscience. The people in the north are suffering from the confinement of their fields. After generations of accumulation, they were expropriated in one day. The people were displaced and starved to death all over the fields. The people in the south were suffering from the flower and stone gang. In order to move the flower and stone gang, many people's houses and graves were destroyed. How can you not do it for them?
Are you loyal to the Song Dynasty? Now this decadent Song Dynasty is about to perish, but you have jumped out to be loyal to the Song Dynasty. Can I understand that you are the guardian of this decadent Song Dynasty?"
Li Gang felt that he had a clear conscience just now, but now he was a little red-faced after being criticized by Chao Yong.
Chao Yong smiled and said: "Since you want to be buried for this foolish king, I will grant you the honor and give you the title of traitorous minister. This is a perfect match for the foolish king and traitorous minister. Okay, drag it down, and we will ask and behead you together in five days."
Li Gang also woke up at this time. It turned out that he had never been a true loyal minister, but just a trace of persistence in his heart. If he was really loyal to the Song Dynasty, then he should die early, whether for the Song Dynasty or for the people.
Advice, maybe Zhao Ji can be awakened by then and change the fate of the Song Dynasty. Instead of waiting until the Song Dynasty is destroyed to be a loyal minister with his life.
Although it is not something ordinary people can do to make people sacrifice their lives to remonstrate, what he wants to do is also not something ordinary people can do. The same death, if he died to remonstrate when Zhao Ji just ignored the government, might be able to wake Zhao Ji up.
That would be heavier than Mount Tai; but waiting until the fall of the Song Dynasty to die would not help matters. It can be said to be lighter than a feather.
When the two soldiers saw Chao Yong's order, they dragged Li Gang out without hesitation.
However, Li Gang didn't yell or struggle.
Chao Yong looked at the civil and military officials in the hall and lost interest. He sat on the dragon chair and said indifferently: "Once again, those who are willing to submit to me stand on the left, and those who want to accompany the Song Dynasty to perish are on the right."
As soon as he finished speaking, several people stood directly to the left.
Chao Yong saw the others dilly-dallying and said impatiently: "I'll count to five and drag out all the ones still on the right side."
"one"
Zhao Ji also looked at the officials below. It can be said that the salary of the Song Dynasty was higher than that of previous dynasties. His original intention was to make the officials' lives more comfortable, which would reduce officials' corruption and bribery. However, there were no corresponding severe sanctions. The corruption of Song Dynasty officials
However, it is not any less than the previous dynasty.
"two"
"three"
Chao Yong counted neither fast nor slowly. When he counted to three, the officials swarmed to the left to grab it.
"Four"
"five"
After counting five, everyone went to the left.
Zhao Ji saw that all his civil and military officials rebelled, and he was greatly shocked. He looked reproachfully at Su Yuanjing. In his opinion, Su Yuanjing was also a clean figure in the court. His favorite villains rebelled. He
It's understandable, but these Qingliu should fight to the death.
When Su Yuanjing saw Zhao Ji's reproachful eyes, he could only respond with a helpless expression. He was not afraid of death, but for him to bear the reputation of a treacherous minister, to be engraved on a monument, and to be reviled by future generations, he was really
of fear.
Chao Yong looked at the crowd and said: "Although you have all surrendered, not all of you can become my ministers. If there are people who have done many evil things among them, they will still have to face charges if they are found out in the future."
Some treacherous ministers originally thought that they could save their lives by changing their banners, but they did not expect that Chao Yong was still preparing to settle accounts after the fall. However, those who had not done any evil deeds felt that Chao Yong had done a good job, and they had some respect for Chao Yong.
A sense of recognition.
Chao Yong also knew that now he only controlled the palace. If he wanted to control the city of Tokyo without any bloodshed, he would need the cooperation of these civil and military officials.
"Who is in charge of the Imperial Guard in the capital?"
The newly appointed commander in front of the palace, Duan Chang, trembled and came out of the queue: "Prince, the villain Duan Chang has just taken over the position of Gao Qiu and is in charge of the Imperial Army."
Chao Yong pointed at someone casually and said, "Did you use your power to bully others and disregard human lives during this period?"
Duan Chang couldn't help but change his face in fear when he heard this, and looked nervously at the person pointed by Chao Yong.
The man hurriedly said: "Master Duan is careful, but this villain has never heard of him doing evil."
Chao Yong pointed at another person and said, "What about you, have you ever heard of his evil deeds?"
The person who was pointed out this time was Zhang Bangchang. Zhang Bangchang thought hard and said politely: "I have never heard of him doing any evil things, but when he was an infantry lieutenant, he followed Gao Qiu's lead.
, maybe he helped Gao Qiu do a lot of bad things."
Duan Chang heard this and said hurriedly: "The prince is aware that although the villain is nominally in charge of the infantry, Gao Qiu used the favor of the emperor..., no, Zhao Ji... to usurp my authority. The villain
I didn't dare to resist, but I didn't help Gao Qiu do any bad things. Gao Qiu and Liang Shicheng formed a party, and they covered the sky with one hand in the government. When he did evil things, people would rush to do them, so he didn't need me at all.
.”
When Chao Yong heard this, he nodded and said: "Yes, there is also the traitor Liang Shicheng. If you don't tell me, I forgot. Take Liang Shicheng out."
Liang Shicheng originally thought he could escape, but he was betrayed by Duan Changgai. He collapsed on the ground in fear and was dragged out by the soldiers.
When Duan Chang saw Chao Yong looking over, he was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and said, "The villain really didn't do anything evil. The prince is aware of it."
Chao Yong nodded and said: "Get up, you are one of the rare good officials in the Song Dynasty if you don't bully others. I'll give you a reward. You go to the harem and choose a concubine from Zhao Ji to suppress your shock."
"ah?"
Duan Chang didn't expect that Chao Yong would actually reward him, or such a reward, so he couldn't help but scream in surprise.