Are We Going to Kill One Million Vagrants?
When Zhangsun Wuji heard Li Shiming's words, his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
He raised his head. His face was extremely pale and his mind was blank. Even someone as scheming as him did not know how to explain himself.
After all, the riot outside was still going on. Li Shiming's rage was burning him to ashes. Zhangsun Wuji knew that if he didn't have a proper explanation, he might really be in big trouble.
After all, Li Shi Min had completely lost his cool.
At this time, he must not provoke Li Shiming anymore. If he lost his cool and killed him, who would he cry to?
At the thought of this, Zhangsun Wuji knelt down without a word.
The tears in his eyes flowed down. His forehead kept touching the ground as he cried,"Your Majesty, I was wrong. I didn't expect that these unruly people would have disloyalty, causing their rebellion to go out of control. I didn't prepare countermeasures in advance and alarmed Your Majesty. I was wrong.”
"All of this is my fault, and it's also Li Ke's fault. If it weren't for Li Ke's charity, it wouldn't have come to this. Therefore, I beg Your Majesty to punish Li Ke and me severely!”
It had to be said that Zhangsun Wuji was the person who understood Li Shiming the most in this world.
He knew that when Li Shi Min was enraged, any explanation would be futile. Moreover, the person who caused this serious result was actually Li Shi Min.
Therefore, the only thing he could do now was to admit his mistake and put all the blame on himself, as well as Li Ke, who Li Shiming hated very much. Only then could Li Shiming get rid of the blame and pour all the dirty water on Li Ke, making Li Ke bear the responsibility of the riot that was enough to be nailed to the pillar of shame.
As expected, after Li Shiming heard Zhangsun Wuji's words, his angry expression finally eased a little.
He looked at Zhangsun Wuji coldly and said,"You are indeed at fault, but all of this is because of that unfilial son, Li Ke. Therefore, his fault is above everyone else.”
"If it wasn't for him, why would the people riot?”
"If it wasn't for him, why would such a humiliating scene appear at the feet of the Son of Heaven?”
"If it wasn't for him, why would the soldiers massacre the people?”
"So all of this is Li Ke's fault. I will burn his bones and scatter his ashes to make the Great Tang law!”
Li Shi Min's tone was cold. When he mentioned Li Ke, there was no trace of kinship, only hatred.
When the officials heard that there was finally someone who could bear everything and that they were no longer in danger, they didn't care whether Li Shiming's words were reasonable or not. As long as they didn't have to bear all these, it was fine.
Therefore, they all stood up and agreed with Li Shimin.
"Your Majesty is wise. All of this should be borne by Li Ke!”
"As long as Your Majesty lists Li Ke's crimes one by one and makes them known to the world, I believe that the people will definitely understand Your Majesty's righteous act of putting righteousness above family and will support and love Your Majesty even more!”
"Your Majesty is wise!"
The officials all stood up.
Fang Xuanling couldn't describe what he was feeling as he witnessed all of this.
Was it the excitement of finding a scapegoat, Li Ke, so that the imperial court would no longer have to bear the stain?
Or had Emperor Li Shi Min become such a miserable person?
He took a deep breath and suppressed the messy thoughts in his heart. He stood up and said,"Your Majesty, the most important thing now is not to find out who the culprit is, but how to resolve the rebellion of the people and how to resolve the subsequent problems.”
Li Shi Min frowned and looked at Li Jing,"Li Jing, how is the riot going?”
" Your Majesty," Li Jing said," In the beginning, it was because there were many refugees, but there were only a thousand soldiers. It was difficult to take care of all the refugees, so the refugees broke out of control."”
"However, after the refugees rebelled, I ordered the soldiers stationed outside the city to move out. Although there are many refugees, they are all unarmed civilians. Moreover, many of them are so hungry that they can't even pick up their weapons.”
" Now, it's up to Your Majesty whether you want to arrest the refugees or…"
Li Jing looked at Li Shi Min and paused for a moment before saying,"He will still be punished for treason and will be killed without mercy.”
"Your Majesty, we must not kill them anymore. The suppression from before has already had a huge impact. If we kill all these refugees, it will only disappoint the people of the world and make the other refugees completely lose faith in the imperial court!”
Fang Xuanling was shocked and quickly said.
But who knew that Li Shi Min's eyes were cold and his entire body was filled with emperor might. He snorted coldly and said,"Don't kill? Capture them and feed them? The imperial court did not have any extra food to begin with. If they were captured, they would have to feed them. Where would they get food?”
"Moreover, these unruly people dare to rebel under the feet of the emperor and even dare to attack the palace. If I don't suppress them with iron and blood methods, how can I intimidate the villains in the future? Where will my face be placed?"
Li Shi Min didn't listen to Fang Xuanling and was about to order the extermination of all the refugees.
"Your Majesty!"
Fang Xuanling's voice suddenly became louder. He looked at Li Shiming and said,"Your Majesty, don't be blinded by hatred and anger! You can't kill the refugees!"
"Allowing soldiers to kill commoners is a great taboo. If this matter spreads, how can the commoners trust Your Majesty and feel at ease?”
" Moreover, there are millions of refugees in the Tang Empire, while there are only tens of thousands of refugees in Chang 'an. There are still more than 900,000 refugees. Does Your Majesty want to kill the remaining 900,000 refugees as well?”
"Your Majesty, have you forgotten the tyranny of the Qin Emperor and the destruction of the previous dynasty?”
Fang Xuanling did not want to oppose Li Shiming, but for the sake of the Great Tang, he could not care less.
He knew that if he allowed Li Shiming to continue acting like this, the Great Tang would be finished.
…………
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]