The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

When Zhou Chu went home to catch up on sleep, the morning court session had already begun.

At the court assembly, Zhu Houcong first had Zhang Yong read out the charges against the officials arrested by Zhou Chu the previous day, as well as the amount of gold and silver confiscated from their homes.

After Zhang Yong finished reading, the entire court was in an uproar.

Many of them knew about yesterday's events, and some even went to the gate of the Northern Garrison to cause trouble. However, they never expected these people to confess so quickly and decisively.

What terrified them most was the astonishing efficiency of the Northern Garrison Command; they had just arrested people yesterday, and today the list of those whose homes were being confiscated was already out.

As the saying goes, "When the rabbit dies, the fox grieves," how many of these people are clean? In an instant, all the civil and military officials in the court felt a chill run down their spines, and their fear and hatred of Zhou Chu, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, reached a new level.

Before yesterday, many of them didn't even take Zhou Chu seriously, thinking it was just the emperor being ridiculous by appointing a mere child as the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

But then they realized they were wrong, terribly wrong.

This Zhou Chu is shrewd and capable, and most importantly, he is so ruthless at such a young age. The scene yesterday in which Zhou Chu killed Liao Feng, the Vice Minister of Rites, in front of all the officials is still vivid in the minds of many officials, who are still shaken by it.

Tang Bohu, such an unreliable scholar, actually took in such a disciple.

"Gentlemen, look at this. These are the officials of my Great Ming Dynasty. They are so corrupt. How much money does my Great Ming treasury have in a year? These people have embezzled so much. These parasites are just sucking the blood of my Great Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Houcong spoke with great confidence, each word like a hammer blow to the hearts of the officials, silencing them and leaving none daring to refute him.

First of all, there was nothing wrong with what Zhu Houcong said, and they couldn't find any fault with it.

Of course, in the past, even if they couldn't find fault, someone would still jump out and make irrelevant accusations, and all sorts of veiled criticisms would come out.

However, times have changed. Putting aside everything else, the officials investigated were among those who most vehemently opposed Zhu Houcong yesterday. Apart from Yang Shen, none of them escaped punishment.

Everyone knows who Yang Shen is. Although he is the son of Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe, he is a genuine upright official. Unlike other nominal upright officials, Yang Shen, as the son of the Grand Secretary, never had to worry about money and never thought of embezzling.

Moreover, Yang Shen held a pivotal position in both the literary and official circles of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, the influence of his son in the literary world was indispensable to Yang Tinghe's rise to the position of Grand Secretary.

The father and son can be said to complement each other.

"Gentlemen, why are you all so quiet? Do you dislike speaking?"

The officials remained silent, but Zhu Houcong had no intention of letting them off the hook.

However, at this moment, these civil officials were all good at pretending to be confused. Since so many people were not speaking, the emperor must not be talking about them.

Seeing that his provocation had no effect, Zhu Houcong lost interest. He had originally prepared for a fierce confrontation with these civil officials, and the thought of him single-handedly defeating them and leaving them speechless filled him with excitement.

He just hadn't expected these civil officials to be so useless, or rather, so irresponsible. Unless they were named, they all simply became cowards.

Zhu Houcong has gone too far, yet no one has come forward to speak up for these officials whose property has been confiscated.

However, Zhu Houcong was not prepared to let them off so easily.

"Since no one has any objections, let's propose a crime."

Zhu Houcong waved his hand and said.

Originally, the task of proposing a crime should have been handled by the cabinet, but Zhu Houcong knew that if it were handed over to the cabinet, the punishment would definitely be lenient, and there was even a possibility that the defendant would be released without charge.

Determining crimes in court is in accordance with procedures and rules. There is nothing that cannot be handled in court, and it has the highest priority.

Zhu Houcong intended to take advantage of the court assembly to have these corrupt officials executed.

Therefore, the main topic of the court assembly that followed was to propose crimes against these disgraced officials.

The crimes of these officials were obvious, and each of them was extremely corrupt. Even Yang Tinghe could not openly speak up for them in court. He could only try to mitigate their punishments by subtly proposing their crimes when proposing their sentences.

Some of the charges were negligible, and according to Yang Tinghe's opinion, they should be dealt with leniently.

"Your Majesty, they were just confused for a moment. They have served the Ming Dynasty for so many years. Even if they have not made any great contributions, they have certainly worked hard."

Yang Tinghe knew very well that since stating the facts was useless, they would use the concept of loyalty between the emperor and his subjects to coerce the emperor, which was something that civil officials like them were best at doing.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Houcong did not reply immediately, but instead looked at Yang Shen below.

This was something Zhou Chu specifically instructed Zhu Houcong to do yesterday: to call on Yang Shen whenever possible, to test his resolve.

Zhu Houcong naturally wanted to recruit Yang Shen, a great talent and literary giant of the Ming Dynasty, so he always kept Zhou Chu's instructions in mind.

"Yang Wenxian, what do you think?"

Yang Shen was extremely conflicted when he heard Zhu Houcong specifically name him.

He originally didn't want to get involved in these matters, after all, on one hand it was his father, and on the other hand it was the law of the Ming Dynasty.

But now that the emperor had specifically named him, he had no choice but to participate, whether he wanted to or not.

"Your Majesty, I also think that we should give these veteran officials some dignity."

Yang Shen said with a hint of helplessness.

From his personal standpoint, these officials whose properties were seized should at least be exiled, or even beheaded.

But in this court, he never represented himself personally, but rather his social class, his family, and his father, the Grand Secretary.

These things weighed on him like mountains, making him feel like he couldn't breathe.

"Decent?"

Zhu Houcong looked at Yang Shen and asked in return.

"Indeed, Your Majesty, we should preserve some dignity."

With things having come to this point, Yang Shen had no choice but to bite the bullet and proceed.

"When you advised me yesterday, did you ever consider saving face for me? I was merely acting out of filial piety, wishing to posthumously honor my father. What harm would this do to the Ming Dynasty, or to the people of the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Houcong stared intently at Yang Shen, his imposing aura instantly rising.

"What I have done has not harmed my Great Ming, nor has it caused you any harm. Yet you oppose it so vehemently. These parasites are causing immense harm to my Great Ming and its people. These rats are constantly and diligently stealing the property of my Great Ming, and you expect me to give them some dignity?"

"Yang Wenxian, is this the Confucian and Mencian doctrine you've been studying?"

"Yang Wenxian, is this what you call loyalty to the emperor and patriotism?"

“Yang Wenxian, I, your sovereign, am wrong. You can remonstrate without hesitation, showing me no respect whatsoever. Has your father, Yang Tinghe, never made a mistake? As his son, have you ever remonstrated with him?”

"Yang Wenxian, you are truly a fraud and a charlatan!"

Jiajing became more and more excited as he spoke, and the more he felt that he had performed exceptionally well that day.

These words from Yang Wenxian were like sharp blades piercing Yang Shen's heart, turning his face pale. He opened his mouth, but couldn't think of any rebuttal.

Not only Yang Shen, but all the civil and military officials were shocked. They never expected that Zhu Houcong, the young emperor who had just ascended the throne, would be so sharp-tongued.