Going to Beijing to save his father, all the powerful officials in the city are vying to be his fath

Having solved a major problem in his heart, the emperor's mood also improved a lot. He looked at Tong Zhongqian with a kinder look: "They knew that their crimes were serious and committed suicide out of fear of punishment. It was really because the Ministry of Justice was short of manpower that led to this. What does this have to do with Master Tong? I will send more people to the Ministry of Justice later. Master Tong, please stand up first."

Tong Zhongqian thanked the emperor and stood up, standing aside. On the steps, at the emperor's instruction, Liu Jin had already begun to read out the charges against the guilty ministers.

Tong Zhongqian listened silently, but his eyes uncontrollably looked at Zhao Liangchen who had his head lowered.

Only then did he understand why the emperor liked Zhao Liangchen so much. The matter of Prince Liang was so important that the emperor would listen to Zhao Liangchen's opinions.

Zhao Liangchen really understood the emperor's thoughts. He had only wanted to find out the evidence of all officials' crimes according to his duty. As for how to sentence them, it was up to the emperor and the other three regent ministers to worry about it, and it had nothing to do with him.

But Zhao Liangchen reminded him yesterday that the emperor might not want him to investigate thoroughly. The emperor wanted these people to die, but they could not be convicted by the emperor.

Although he wanted to be a loyal minister and did not want to get involved in factional struggles and intrigues, he was not stupid. If he could do the same thing, it would definitely be better to do it in the emperor's favor. Who doesn't want to be appreciated by the emperor and make his official career smoother?

So after Zhao Liangchen left yesterday, he went to talk to those who had committed the most serious crimes, suggesting that they use their own deaths to exchange for the lives of their entire family.

Although those people were afraid of death, they were more afraid of having their entire family exterminated by the emperor. Although the emperor promised yesterday not to pursue them, they knew that was impossible. He might not sentence them to death at that time, but later on, if the emperor wanted to kill them secretly, it would be easy. It would be better for them to die on their own initiative and let the emperor spare their families.

Especially Mrs. Zhao's father. His family was imprisoned in the same cell with Zhao Jian and others yesterday. He saw how Mrs. Zhao killed Zhao Jian, and later learned that Mrs. Zhao committed suicide.

Mrs. Zhao's family also understood why Mrs. Zhao did this. If they died, their children could live. Therefore, Mrs. Zhao's father went with Mrs. Zhao before Tong Zhongqian came, and his wife also followed him.

Of course, some officials were still worried that if they died, the emperor would not let their families go. After all, this was a serious crime of treason, punishable by the extermination of nine generations of the family.

Tong Zhongqian was not worried about this because the emperor was still young and had not yet truly taken charge of the government. What he needed most now was to win over the hearts of the people and stabilize the court.

If he kills them all, other officials will inevitably think he is a cruel person. They will inevitably be afraid of the emperor and will not be on the same page with him. He believes that the emperor can understand this.

Therefore, Tong Zhongqian told them that their families would probably be exiled, and that it would be a life-or-death journey, and it would not be easy to reach the place of exile alive, so the emperor would not kill them all.

As long as their families behave themselves in the place of exile, the emperor will soon forget about them.

These criminals also knew that not many people could survive exile, especially women, but as long as their family members survived, there would still be hope for the family. Therefore, for this hope, they were willing to die.

Facts have proved that Tong Zhongqian was right to do so. When a person dies, his debts are forgiven, and there is no need to investigate the evidence of those people's crimes in detail. They have all rebelled, and other charges are no longer important. His workload has been greatly reduced.

As for those criminals who did not die, it doesn't matter. It is impossible that all of them committed suicide. That would be too obvious. Their crimes were not too serious. Most of them were bribed by King Liang and kept alive recently. The emperor did not necessarily want them to die.

It would be easy to decide whether to exile or dismiss from office depending on the severity of the crime.

The important thing is that someone died, allowing the emperor to vent his anger.

The voice of Liu Jin reading out the evidences echoed in the hall. Everyone else was silent. They were all experienced people, so who could not see the trick? However, no one would object to Tong Zhongqian's approach.

Whether those people live or die has nothing to do with them. What is important to them is that this matter passes as soon as possible and the government returns to normal as soon as possible.

After the evidence is read out, all that remains is conviction and sentencing, and now the officials have to speak.

According to convention, any matter in the court cannot be passed unanimously, and there will always be some debate.

Therefore, everyone started arguing in tacit understanding. There were two voices in the court. One was that those who participated in the rebellion should be severely punished, convicted of serious crimes, the main offenders should be sentenced to death, their homes should be confiscated, and their families should be exiled; the other voice was that they had come to their senses and turned back, and the emperor was merciful, so they should be given a lighter sentence.

Those who are in charge of giving lenient sentences are basically civil officials, because if someone rebels, the impact on them is not that great. Those who are in charge of giving severe punishments are basically military generals, because if someone rebels, they need to charge into battle and fight desperately. Although they can earn military merits, they may also die in battle.

It's not that they have to be against each other. The main reason is that if their opinions are too unified, it will give the emperor the feeling that all officials are on the same side. The superior does not want to see the people below being too united, and they are afraid of being sidelined.

Therefore, no matter what people really think about the affairs of the court, they always have to argue about it.

The ones who instigated this quarrel were Grand Tutor Yan and Duke Lu. As the leaders of civil and military officials, their opinions represented the views of the people below.

Of course, this kind of quarrel cannot continue forever. It will be annoying if it continues for a while. After a while, you have to let the emperor make the decision.

Finally, the emperor issued an edict that for families closely connected with Prince Liang, if the main culprit committed suicide, his family members would be exiled and their property would be confiscated. If the main culprit did not commit suicide, their property would be confiscated and they would be exiled as well.

Those with lesser involvement were exiled, dismissed from office, demoted, and all their property was confiscated, depending on how long they had followed King Liang and how much they had done for him.

This result not only punished the guilty minister but also fulfilled the emperor's promise. No one was killed and no nine generations of the family were exterminated, resulting in rivers of blood.

Everyone was satisfied with the result, and the most satisfied one was the emperor. He was not satisfied with the exile of those people, but with the confiscation of their property.

Although Qi Lusheng had made some money from the auctions before, after the relationship between King Liang and the Emperor began to become tense, everyone was more concerned about who would win, and no one dared to spend money indiscriminately. Therefore, the subsequent auctions did not make much money, and the money earned was sent to Chanzhou to support private soldiers, so the emperor was still very poor.

After the property was confiscated, the emperor suddenly became rich. Dozens of officials' homes were confiscated. Even if they were not greedy, their property would not be small. Especially the families of Prince Liang and Princess Liang, their property was abundant, and Princess Liang's family was the richest.

After this confiscation of property, the national treasury will be filled up immediately, and the emperor will have money to do whatever he wants in the future.

After dealing with the criminals, they began to reward people according to their merits. Most of the rewards were given to military generals. Marquis Wuning, who had been dozing off with the help of Zhao Liangchen, also became much more awake.

In dealing with King Liang, the Wuning Marquisate and Zhao Liangchen contributed the most, followed by the Lu Duke's Mansion.

The emperor also asked Liu Jin to read out everyone's contributions, so that all officials knew what role Wuning Hou and Zhao Liangchen played in this matter. Especially Zhao Liangsi, who had been standing at the back waiting for rewards, was almost mad with anger.