The Chamberlain of Dependencies, the Supreme Court, the Embroidered Uniform Guards, and the six departments of the imperial court.
The intelligence of the West Military Hall kept reaching Zhu Houzhao's ears. In one night, the West Military Hall had arrested more than 70 officials from the seventh grade to the first grade.
Outside the palace, the six ministries and the cabinet chief, Li Dongyang, kept sending memorials to the director of ceremonies and presented them to the emperor.
It was nothing more than West Hall being tyrannical and taking people without evidence.
"Summon them for an audience!"
Zhu Houzhao looked at the memorials from the West Hall. He wanted to see the Cabinet, the Chamberlain of Dependencies, the Supreme Court, the Brocade Guard, and the six ministers of the imperial court. No, it should be the five ministers.
After seeing the memorials confiscated by the West Military Hall, how could they still have the face to cry and beg for mercy in front of him?
"The Emperor has decreed that Li Dongyang, Yang Yuxuan, Azure Dragon, Liu Zhengming, Yang Yanhe and the others be summoned.”
The eunuch quickly brought everyone to the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
"This subject greets the emperor."
After everyone entered the Palace of Heavenly Purity, they bowed to Zhu Houzhao in unison.
"No need for formalities, rise!"
"Thank you, Emperor!"
Everyone hurriedly thanked the emperor. Zhu Houzhao looked at the chief assistant of the cabinet, Li Dongyang, and said,""Lord Li, it's already late. Why have you gathered so many people?”
Among the people behind Li Dongyang, a man dressed in the official robes of the Ministry of Revenue took the lead and bowed."Reporting to Your Majesty, we entered the palace to beg the Emperor to retract the order and abolish the West Hall at the same time!”
"Abolish the West Hall?"
Zhu Houzhao narrowed his eyes and asked,""Why?"
"Reporting to the Emperor, Yu Huatian is arrogant and relies on the West Chamber's men to act recklessly in the capital. Not only did he connive at his subordinates to attack the Northern Garrison's Bureau of Governors and the Supreme Court, but he also caused a ruckus in the Six Bureaus and the Cabinet.”
Zhu Houzhao shifted his gaze from Yang Yanhe to Li Dongyang, the six ministers behind the cabinet, the Supreme Court, the Chamberlain of Dependencies, and other important officials of the court.
"Evidence?"
"I have given you an imperial edict and a sword to allow Yu Huatian to act as he pleases. If he is obstructed, he can act first and report later. He is acting according to the laws of the Great Ming Dynasty.”
"Ah!"
Zhu Houzhao was furious. In the Palace of Heavenly Purity, other than the Green Dragon of the Jinyiwei, most of them were important officials of the imperial court. They came together to see His Majesty, but the first thing they said was to abolish the West Hall and retract the order. What did they want? Forced him to abdicate?
"This is the memorial from the West Hall. Show me who should not be killed.”
Zhu Houzhao threw dozens of memorials from the West Military Hall on the dragon table to these important officials.
Shi Tong, assistant minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, embezzled the expenses of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, privately embezzled public funds, and took bribes totaling 800,000 taels of silver.
Du Shengli, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, revealed the examination questions in exchange for gold and silver. He received more than 50,000 taels of silver as bribes.
Yuchi Ling, a junior official of the Supreme Court, took out 460,000 taels of silver, 50,000 taels of gold, and about 700,000 taels of jewelry and porcelain.
Kong Mingwen, assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites and imperial scholar of the Imperial Academy, seized about two million taels of silver, 150,000 taels of gold, and about 1.3 million taels of porcelain and jewelry.
The Minister of Rites, Yan Song, had formed cliques for personal gain and colluded with foreign enemies. His family had copied letters from Meng Yuan. In the past six years, he had secretly sold military secrets of the nine border towns twenty-one times. He had asked for bribes of about six million taels of silver, five hundred thousand taels of gold, and no less than three million taels of porcelain and jewelry.
Each of the memorials contained the exact amount of gold and silver taken from the residences of the officials.
Li Dongyang casually picked up a memorial. According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, every one of them was either cut in half or skinned alive. However, there were too many officials in the West Hall that night. All of a sudden, it implicated the six ministries, the cabinet, the Inspectorate, the Chengxuan Administrative Commissioner, the Supreme Court, the Imperial Academy, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, the Imperial Academy, and various departments.
If they were all executed according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, even if the court would not be in turmoil, there would be chaos.
"Emperor…Emperor, this matter is very important. Why don't you allow the three divisions to decide after a joint hearing?”Li Dongyang bitterly proposed his own suggestion. In every report that could be presented to Zhu Houzhao, the least amount of corruption was at least 50,000 taels. Moreover, the evidence was conclusive, so there was no need to investigate further.
However, he was the chief assistant of the cabinet. What he needed to consider was not only the integrity of the officials, but also the entire court and the world.
Once these people were dealt with, it would be easier to deal with the vacant positions of officials.
The most difficult thing to do was to find out about the complicated forces behind these people.
Killing all of them was indeed a temporary pleasure, but there would be endless trouble in the future.
Especially the Minister of Rites and Imperial Academy Scholar Kong Mingwen, who was a direct descendant of the Kong family in Shandong. If the West Chamber had not been interrogated, they would be directly punished by the Supreme Court or the three divisions.
Would the scholars of the world not criticize the West Chamber and even Zhu Houzhao?
"We agree!"
Yang Yan He and the other cabinet elders, as well as a few important officials of the court, stood up.
Yang Yuxuan, the Minister of War, seemed to have gained some confidence from Li Dongyang and Yang Yanhe's suggestions. He stepped forward and said,""Your Majesty, the Minister of Rites, Kong Mingwen, is a direct descendant of the Kong family and is well-versed in the books of the sages. I don't believe that he would do such a corrupt thing. Your Majesty, please be wise and ask the three departments to review and make a new decision.”
"Humph!"
Zhu Houzhao snorted coldly and looked at Yang Yuxuan and the other ministers who were kneeling on the ground. He said,""Before I read the memorial, you said that the West Hall had no evidence to arrest people. Now that the evidence is conclusive, you want me to have the three divisions hold a trial?”
"This…"
Yang Yan, the cabinet elder who was leading the group, and some of the important officials who had been entrusted with the task all shivered. They could tell that Zhu Houzhao was truly enraged. They immediately lowered their heads and did not dare to speak.
"Emperor…"
Yang Yuxuan still did not give up and wanted to plead for his good friend.
Unfortunately, his insatiable actions would only attract Zhu Houzhao's disgust and killing intent."You want to defy the decree?"
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。