Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 138 Iron-fisted suppression, corpses strewn on the streets!
"Which Queen Mother's decree?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

The eunuch Zhang Zhong who delivered the imperial edict replied, "Your Majesty, this is the edict of Empress Dowager Cishou!"

"What is the Queen Mother's order?"

Zhu Houcong continued to ask.

Zhang Zhong replied, "The Empress Dowager issued an edict asking the Emperor to make a decision for the two uncles and the late Emperor, saying that the Northern Zhi scholars are taking advantage of the fact that the late Emperor is no longer around, so they want to frame the Marquis of Jianchang and the Marquis of Shouning and force them to die!"

"It is clear that the two uncles are benefiting the people, but they are accusing them of harming the people. It is obvious that they are taking advantage of the fact that the late emperor is not around, so they dare to do this!"

"If the emperor doesn't kill them to comfort the late emperor, she can only follow the example of that disloyal and lowly scholar Yang He and hang herself to prove to the emperor that she will not sit idly by and watch the Marquis of Jianchang and the Marquis of Shouning suffer an injustice!"

"Go and persuade the Imperial Aunt!"

"Tell the Imperial Aunt!"

"I will not let the late emperor suffer any injustice after his ascension, nor will I let her suffer any injustice!"

Zhu Houcong said as he looked at the ministers and officials: "Did you all see that? The Queen Mother wants to die to clear her name. How can I bear the name of disrespecting the Queen Mother and violating the law of the country?"

"If I force the Queen Mother to death, I will have no choice but to abdicate!"

"I am waiting for the death penalty!"

"Your Majesty, I only ask you to suppress the rebellion, comfort the Queen Mother, and comfort the late Emperor!"

Naturally, the cabinet chief Liang Chu and others did not dare to object anymore. They prostrated themselves on the ground and kowtowed.

"allow!"

"Immediately draft an edict according to the Empress Dowager's instructions, and then, with the Empress Dowager's instructions, order the city inspector to lead the troops of the Five Cities Military Department to suppress the rebellion!"

Zhu Houcong said.

Liang Chu and others bowed and agreed.

then.

These people left the hall.

"Hasn't the Queen Mother changed her character?"

"Why did such an edict suddenly come?"

When leaving, Right Censor-in-Chief Li Kun couldn't help but grumble to Wang Zun.

Wang Zun said, "It could be that the Queen Mother had always been patient before, but now that she is right, she naturally doesn't need to be patient anymore! It could also be that before, it was the other Queen Mother who persuaded her, but this time the other Queen Mother stopped persuading her, and maybe she supports her."

Li Kun nodded: "This shows that His Majesty is determined to reshape the currency system in Shuntian Prefecture, and no one can stop him! These Beizhi scholars who dared to cause trouble have really encountered an iron-fisted emperor!"

"That's right!"

Wang Zhan nodded and then instructed, “Tell the inspector to suppress the rioters and then post a notice saying that Your Majesty had to do it by the order of the Queen Mother. The great scholar Yang and other Northern Zhi scholars died for their loyalty and filial piety to Your Majesty, so they died a worthy death. Don’t really say that Your Majesty also intends to forcefully promote the new law!”

Li Kun nodded: "This is in line with the emperor's will."

In front of the Marquis Jianchang’s mansion.

The scholars from Northern Zhili, carrying the great scholar Yang He, surrounded the Marquis of Jianchang's mansion in the chilly spring breeze.

Zhang Heling, the Marquis of Jianchang, was now too frightened to go out, and hid behind the gate, saying through the crack in the door:

"Damn it, I told you that these nobles are not easy to mess with!"

"I bully the common people, and at most they come to the board and curse me a few times, but few of them dare to take my life!"

"But now, I really listened to your majesty and started fighting for their interests, and they came to block my door. Will they not stop until I get out and get beaten to death by them?!"

"Your Majesty said you would take care of this for me, so why hasn't he sent the Royal Guards to help me?"

"Your Majesty, are you not going to be as cowardly as my brother-in-law was back then?"

The more Zhang Heling thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.

for a while.

He even kicked the retainers around him in a rage, saying, "You all usually say you are smarter than Zhuge Liang, but why are you all silent now? Come up with a solution!"

"Tell me, if I go out and beg for mercy now, will it be of any use?"

"Uncle of the Emperor, you can't do that. We don't even know if the Emperor has surrendered or not. How can you be afraid first?"

Wen Zhengming, who had failed again because he had gone to Beijing to take part in the special examination, had temporarily applied to be a guest at Zhang Heling's house to earn some living expenses. At this time, he hurriedly persuaded Zhang Heling.

Zhang Heling nodded: "Yes!"

But because of this, Zhang Heling became more and more uneasy, and couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty, are you going to make the decision for me, or are you going to give in?"

"Step aside!"

"Step aside!"

At this time.

Zhang Heling looked outside and saw a large number of soldiers and horses appearing.

This made Zhang Heling very excited.

"Is His Majesty here to support us?"

Zhang Heling asked with a smile.

But soon.

Zhang Heling discovered that the people coming outside were not the Jinyiwei, but soldiers from the Wucheng Bingmasi.

"Damn it, why are they soldiers from the Five Cities Army?"

"Did His Majesty compromise?"

Zhang Heling was quite disappointed.

Wen Zhengming said, "That's not necessarily the case. Maybe His Majesty forced the ministers to obey his will and deal with these scholars, so he used the troops of the Five Cities Military Department."

"Is your Majesty so powerful?"

"So that all the ministers are willing to support him in taking a tough stance against these scholars?"

Zhang Heling looked at Wen Zhengming with some disbelief. He always felt that Wen Zhengming was trying to deceive him with nice words.

Wen Zhengming thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty can't do it alone, but what if the Queen Mother follows the example of that great northern scholar and threatens to die?"

Zhang Heling nodded: "That makes sense."

At this time.

Outside.

The city patrol censor Shi Dao had already ridden his horse to the front of the Northern Zhili scholars who were besieging the Marquis Jianchang's mansion.

When these Northern Zhili scholars saw that the troops coming were from the Five Cities Military Division, they were not too panicked.

Li Hong even said, "Don't be afraid! It's not the Jinyiwei who came. It means that the ministers in the court persuaded Your Majesty. It means that the death of the great scholar Yang Gong was not in vain. Your Majesty has to consider the feelings of scholars like us now!"

These Northern Zhili scholars became even more excited.

but.

Shi Dao said loudly at this time: "You surrounded the Marquis's Mansion with the intention of rebellion. The Queen Mother has issued an order to Your Majesty that if you are not executed, you will be killed to prove your injustice and accuse the late emperor. Your Majesty heard this and had to persuade them again and again, and had to follow her order and rebuke you for being disloyal and unfilial, so he ordered the soldiers of the Five Cities Military Department to quell the rebellion and restore peace to the city!"

Li Hong was shocked after hearing this.

But Shi Dao had already waved his hand.

then.

The soldiers from the Wucheng Bingmasi immediately rushed over with knives.

"what!"

Li Hong wanted to escape when he saw this, but he was stabbed in the back and blood spurted out.

He couldn't help but scream. The other Beizhi scholars were also stabbed to death.

for a while.

Outside the entire Jianchang Marquis Mansion, corpses were spread out on the street.

Zhang Heling and his retainers and servants inside the door were all stunned.

Zhang Heling half opened his mouth, and after a long while he looked at Wen Zhengming: "You are not only good at painting, but also very good at guessing His Majesty's thoughts!"

"Your screen money will be tripled from now on!"

"Add three more maids to serve you!"

Zhang Heling started talking.

Wen Zhengming himself said thoughtfully: "Reshaping the currency system will indeed lead to deaths! But who could have expected that the first to die would be people like me in the literati circle?"

"fart!"

"It was the common people who died first!"

Seeing that Wen Zhengming was talking to himself and did not respond to him, Zhang Heling replied in an unpleasant tone.

Wen Zhengming came back to his senses and said hurriedly, "My uncle is right. The common people died first. But no matter what, this reform will indeed kill people!"

"Your Majesty, you must be more vigilant in the future and not run into the knife edge of His Majesty's reform and revival."

"But what I want to tell you, my uncle, is that I have decided to concentrate on preparing for the imperial examination next spring and no longer serve as your staff."

After Wen Zhengming said this, Zhang Heling was quite disappointed and said with a smile: "You are a strange person. Didn't you see that many of you scholars were just killed outside? Why are you so eager to continue to be an official?"

"Don't you scholars have a saying that goes 'clean water washes the hat, turbid water washes the feet'? Now, don't you think this is a time when the water is turbid?"

Zhang Heling then asked.

Wen Zhengming smiled and said, "My Lord, you don't know that scholars are so strange. When they meet this kind of king, some don't like him and want to avoid him, but some like him very much and want to be his vanguard. I happen to be one of the latter."

"There is no other reason!"

"Your Majesty is really determined to reform the system, and he has the means to do so!"

"He is a rare and kind ruler who can rule the world."

Wen Zhengming looked up at the sky, sighed, and then hurried back to his room, shaking his sleeves as he walked, saying: "It would be fine if I didn't meet him, but since I did, if I can't serve under him and leave my name, it will be the biggest regret of my life!"

Zhang Heling didn't quite understand what Wen Zhengming said, so he just looked outside.

At this time.

The soldiers outside have already started moving the bodies.

People from the City Supervision Bureau also began to clean up the streets.

The people also dispersed.

Zhang Heling laughed when he saw this.

He was glad that the emperor did not lie and indeed stood on his side in this incident and supported him very strongly.

This gave him more courage to compete with the gentry for profit.

Thinking of the many times these gentlemen had offended him in the past, he decided to take this opportunity to have a good fight. He decided to be generous, contrary to his usual behavior, and said with his hands on his hips:

"Announce that our temples and monasteries will all reduce their interest rates by another 5%."

"Until the loan of one hundred thousand taels is completed."

Zhang Heling thought about it and added this sentence.

"Yes!"

……

"Someone will die to reform the system. If no one dies, the system cannot be reformed!"

"Just talking about reason is not enough."

After receiving the memorial from Shi Dao, the Imperial Censor who patrolled the city, stating that the rebels had been eliminated and law and order in the capital had been restored, Zhu Houcong told the Prime Minister Liang Chu about his views.

"Your Majesty said so."

"The nobles of Northern Zhili do not understand the difficulties of the imperial court, do not comply with your majesty's determination to govern the country, and just make trouble. They really deserve a lesson like this. They will know that it is not okay to act like a shrew and confuse right and wrong."

Liang Chu replied.

Zhu Houcong waved his sleeves, clasped his hands in front of his chest, and said with a smile:
"After giving them a lesson, we should also see if they have improved."

"Draft a decree."

"Let the incumbent and retired officials of the fourth rank and above of Beizhi come to Wenhua Hall to participate in a court discussion to determine the nature of this incident. Let me also hear what these Beizhi nobles are thinking. Are they still trying to confuse right and wrong and forcibly frame the nobles and relatives in the loan matter?"

"I never protect the nobles and relatives of the emperor, but I will not let them suffer in vain!"

"The same goes for the Kong family. I will not condone the Northern Kong family's rebellion just because they are descendants of a saint, nor will I abandon the Kong family and show no respect or favor to them just because they are descendants of a saint."

"The same goes for the Northern Zhi scholars. I will not indulge them just because they are naughty, nor will I stop using them just because I have taught them a lesson."

"Governing a country is like holding a scale. Weighing things and distributing them equally is the way to govern a country.

"Just right!"

"The head of the Southern Kong family has also come to the capital. Let's ask him to attend the court meeting and decide together who is at fault in this incident and whether Marquis Jianchang and Marquis Wuding are harming the people!"

After Zhu Houcong's words, Liang Chu bowed and agreed, and was deeply shocked.

Because he knew that by doing this, the emperor was equivalent to giving the Northern Zhili scholars a severe lesson and then asking the Northern Zhili officials and gentry whether they were convinced or not. It was obvious that there was a kind of hegemonic method involved.

But in Liang Chu's opinion, how could the officials and gentry in Beizhi not be convinced?
If you don't accept it, you must rebel!

This would cause the Southern School of Confucius to not be able to obtain the title of Duke Yansheng, and would further cause the status of Confucian scholars throughout the world to decline.

Liang Chu had to admit that the emperor could stir up trouble.

Others thought that he was still at the stage of being angry with the officials in Fuque and holding grudges with the trouble-making Hanlin like Yang Shen, but they did not know that the emperor had already begun to plan to kidnap Empress Dowager Zhang and work together with Confucian scholars all over the world to force the officials and gentry of Beizhi to kneel before the emperor to justify the reform.

Let’s talk.

It was also from Jiang that Empress Dowager Zhang learned about the Northern Zhili scholars' siege of Marquis Jianchang's mansion.

After Empress Dowager Jiang persuaded the emperor that it was the scholars of Beizhi who were wrong this time and deliberately framed Marquis Jianchang and forced the great scholar to death in an attempt to force the emperor to punish Marquis Jianchang, Empress Dowager Zhang also panicked. Under the persuasion of Empress Dowager Jiang, she also followed the example of the great scholar Yang He and issued an imperial decree by threatening to commit suicide to prove that she and her brothers were not wrong this time.

Now, after hearing that the emperor was firmly on the side of her and her brother, Empress Dowager Zhang was truly relieved.

When Empress Dowager Zhang heard that the emperor had decided to hold a court discussion to restore the reputation of Marquis Jianchang, she was even happier and said, "Your Majesty has considered everything! I just wonder if those Northern Zhili gentry will give in!"

"Don't worry, sister!"

"They have to give in even if they don't want to, unless they really don't want to be officials and take the imperial examinations anymore."

Empress Dowager Jiang also persuaded Empress Dowager Zhang to come.

Saying.

When the officials and gentry in Beizhi learned that the great scholar Yang He's threat of death did not arouse the emperor's wrath against Yang Shen, but instead led to the execution of their own troublemakers, they were naturally shocked and angry at first.

Many even clamored to resign from their posts and to boycott the examinations in spring and autumn next year.

But up to now, most of them have calmed down and have not actually resigned from their posts or stopped taking the exam.

But just when Zhu Houcong issued an order to hold a court meeting to determine the nature of the matter.

Wang Yangming, the Minister of War, urgently requested to see Zhu Houcong and sent him a report, saying, "Your Majesty, Datong has sent an urgent report that the enemy has sneaked into Huanghua Town. General Hang Xiong and Deputy General Liu Zhen request your permission to come to the rescue!"

"The invaders are coming?"

Eunuch Qin Wen and others were all shocked.

Zhu Houcong's eyes tightened, and he took the report and asked, "Why is it that only two military generals reported in this report? Where are Wang Xian and Yang Shangzhi?"

Wang Yangming said: "Your Majesty is wise. I'm afraid that the enemy is sneaking in to clear the emperor's side!"

(End of this chapter)