"Minister Zhang, did you go to Zhengyang Gate last night to wait for the intruder?”
Zhang Jinyan quickly stood up, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed.
"Your Majesty, please spare me! Your Majesty, please spare my life!"
"Do you plead guilty?" Zhu Youjian asked.
"This subject's crime, this subject's crime deserves ten thousand deaths. This subject is willing to die, willing to accept the punishment of a thousand cuts.”
At this moment, how could Zhu Youjian not want to cut this Zhang Jinyan into a thousand pieces?
However, now was not the time. Li Zicheng was still alive, and there was still Zhang Xianzhong.
To resist foreign aggression, we must first pacify the country. The chief evil in the court must be dealt with. We should delay the pursuit of other people.
"Alright, Zhang Jinyan, I will spare you this time since you have the merit of defeating the bandits.
However, the death penalty can be avoided, but the punishment cannot be avoided. Now, you will be exiled to the land of Xifan. You will not be able to return to the Central Plains for three generations.”
Hearing that he was going to be exiled to the West, Zhang Jinyan cried,""Your Majesty! I'm willing to die. I really don't want to go to that place!”
It turned out that this Xifan referred to the areas west of Gansu, Qinghai, and Tibet.
The Ming Dynasty had always been on guard against this place. They pursued the policy of " using the West to subdue the North ", and they wanted to win over the tribes of the West to fight against the Mongol Empire.
Since the Wanli era, the Ming Dynasty had gradually declined, and the West could no longer care about it.
However, the annual trade of tea leaves alone was in the tens of millions.
However, it was a desolate place after all. The locals were hostile to the Han people, and there were even cases of them robbing the Han people as slaves.
Being sent there was really a narrow escape.
"Minister Zhang, don't worry. Zhen will give you a job in Xining Prefecture.
If you are not satisfied, then I have no place to arrange for you.”
Zhu Youjian's words were very simple. Either go or die.
Zhang Jinyan cried and thanked him before retreating.
Leave it to fate. If his family was not exterminated, what else did Zhang Jinyan want?
Zhu Youjian looked at the ministers below and thought to himself, The Yuan Dynasty shares the world with the nobles and monks.
The Ming Dynasty shared the world with the eunuchs and cliques. If they were to kill all these cliques now, even a pillar of this house would be gone.
Although this pillar was already rotten, it would not be replaced until there was a new pillar.
"Gentlemen, it has been seventeen years since I ascended the throne.
Although I forgive my virtue and despise myself, and the emperor is guilty of heaven's fault, it is all due to the weather and geography.
Our Ming Taizu Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn Annals 276. By my time, through Taizu, Huizong and Chengzu, there were sixteen emperors in total.
I did not inherit the throne at the age of Chongling, but I succeeded to the throne at the age of seventeen, and my strength was insufficient. Natural disasters, refugees, bandits and slaves have not yet been eliminated. How can we stabilize the country?
Now that I have passed and ascended the throne, Confucius said: A gentleman should establish his own morality and conduct. I have told myself that I hope to be a minister and a public, so that I can work together to preserve the eternal prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.”
Zhu Youjian modified the edict left by Chongzhen to Li Zicheng and took all the blame on himself.
"Lu Qing, carry the box up."
Following Zhu Youjian's words, Lu Xuan brought the Embroidered Uniform Guards and walked over with a few large boxes.
"Gentlemen, this was found in Li Zicheng's tent.
They were all officials of the court and local officials who had sent letters of surrender to the Great Shun Emperor.”
This sentence sent chills down the backs of all the ministers.
"However, I really don't have time to look at it. I only read Chen Yan's. I'm sad and heartbroken. I'm afraid I'll give up after reading a few more letters.
These letters that are related to breaking into the dark really make me uncomfortable.”
Zhu Youjian said as he caressed the letters, but he did not open them.
"Therefore, I have made a decision. Come, burn it."
A few iron pagodas held torches and lit up the boxes.
Instantly, black smoke billowed in front of Fengtian Gate. The worries and fears that had gathered in the ministers 'hearts also flew away with the black smoke.
Was it really burned? Zhu Youjian was only pacifying the officials. Lu Xuan had already memorized the people and things inside.
"Official, ever since I ascended the throne, I have already issued an edict to punish myself five times. I do not wish to issue another edict to punish myself.”
As he spoke, Zhu Youjian pulled out a dagger and cut off a tuft of his hair.
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty, why are you doing this?!"
"Doctor Xing Bushang! Let alone Tian Zi! Your Majesty, why bother!"
The few ministers were frightened by Zhu Youjian's actions. An emperor actually cut off his own hair.
This was even more shocking than the death penalty of a minister.
"I've made up my mind. I want to destroy Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and Jian Nu to restore peace to the world.
Once, I was headstrong and timid.
Today, I shaved my hair in place of punishment. Within ten years, if the world is unstable, I will naturally offer this head to comfort my ancestors!”
Hearing Zhu Youjian's evaluation of him as headstrong, timid, and suspicious, all the ministers raised their heads and looked at the emperor with wide eyes.
Didn't the emperor always think that he was absolutely right?
Why was he criticizing her today? With 3,000 iron pagodas, he defeated 200,000 soldiers of the Great Shun Army.
Was this still the same emperor who had once reenacted Li Weigong's exploits of defeating the Turks at Mount Yin with his three thousand cavalry and had the courage to slaughter his ministers?
Zhu Youjian's actions today had shocked all the ministers.
"Your Majesty, there are still hundreds of injured captives outside the city.”
At this moment, a middle-aged man in his fifties stood out from the queue.
In Zhu Youjian's memories, this person was Ding Qirui. This guy had some talent, but he was not good at military affairs.
Previously, he was dismissed from his post because he didn't do well in suppressing the bandits.
"Minister Ding, what do you think?"
"Your Majesty, when I was suppressing the bandits in Henan, I knew that after the war, there would be a great plague.
If it wasn't dealt with quickly, the plague would spread throughout the capital.
It was better to collect the corpses and burn them with fire or bury them with lime. In short, it should be dealt with as soon as possible."
Zhu Youjian looked at Ding Qirui and felt that this guy was quite knowledgeable.
"Alright, how about this, Minister Ding, you will be in charge of this matter. However, I want you to bury these corpses.
However, the heads of those corpses were chopped off and built into the capital. Three days later, they were burned to ashes.”
Hearing Zhu Youjian's plan, the ministers looked at each other in horror.
"Dear ministers, what's wrong with doing this?”
Upon hearing Zhu Youjian's question, all the ministers lowered their heads and did not say a word.
"Haha, do you have no confidence in your own opinions, or do you have no confidence in me?
How about this, I will issue an imperial edict now. From today onwards, other than plotting rebellion,
In the Ming Dynasty, we will no longer punish and kill scholar-bureaucrats, abolish the stick, and write a letter to say that those who speak are not guilty. How about this?”
The ministers discussed among themselves. They were surprised that the Emperor had actually canceled the staff.
This staff was a unique invention of the Ming Dynasty emperor.
Whenever a minister had a disagreement with the Emperor in court, the Emperor would order the eunuchs to drag him out of the Meridian Gate.
He took off his pants, pressed him to the ground, and beat him up with a big stick.
There was a lot of knowledge in this. When the officials were beaten, the prison guards opened their toes.
There was still hope for the tortured to live. If the two feet are clamped together, the prisoner will die under the stick immediately.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。