My father is Jiajing

The blazing white sun was scorching the earth, causing the atmosphere inside and outside the capital to become suffocating.

The golden tiles of the Forbidden City, under such scorching sun, are also reflecting the scorching light that is even more unbearable.

At the same time, there was a suffocating heat in the air, which made people wonder if there would be a storm at this time.

Unfortunately, God is always like this. He always likes to do the opposite of what people think.

Chen Hong stood under the eaves in front of the East Factory Prison, playing with two walnuts in his hands that he had been playing with for who knows how long.

This pair of walnuts are not only polished to a shiny gloss, but also have an extremely rich color, just like jade.

But at this moment, he didn't seem to be paying attention to the walnut in his hand, but was staring at a group of officials being escorted by the East Factory guards.

In Chen Hong's eyes, these officials used to be arrogant roosters, but at this moment they looked like they had lost their souls. Their faces were pale, their official uniforms were messy, and some of them didn't even have their shoes on properly. They were pushed forward roughly.

"Second Ancestor, this is the third batch today."

A young eunuch in a green coat trotted over and bowed to report.

Chen Hong's movements, which were originally slow and meticulous, suddenly changed. With a fierce light in his eyes, he raised his hand and slapped the eunuch with an extremely loud slap, even smashing the walnut in his hand on the little eunuch's face!
"Second ancestor? What second ancestor?!"

Chen Hong's chest heaved with anger. What he couldn't stand the most was that his subordinates didn't respect him enough.

Huang Jin had just returned, and Emperor Jiajing restored his status as a eunuch in the Imperial Household Department. But this bastard started to change his attitude according to the situation and called Chen Hong the second ancestor.

How could this not make Chen Hong furious?
The beaten eunuch covered his face with his hands, blood was flowing from his mouth, he knelt on the ground in fear, begging for mercy incoherently, "Grandson knows he was wrong, grandson knows he was wrong"

But Chen Hong seemed to be still unsatisfied, and said to the other Dongchang guards on the side: "Lock him into the imperial prison and interrogate him strictly. I suspect he has also taken advantage of the traitors!"

The Dongchang guards nearby rushed out like wolves and tigers, grabbing the young eunuch by the back of his collar like an eagle catching a chick, and dragged him into the Dongchang prison.

The young eunuch screamed in fear and became visibly incontinent on the spot, leaving an extremely eye-catching mark on the ground.

After watching the young eunuch being taken into the imperial prison and disappearing, Chen Hong's mood finally improved.

As the current eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, he knows very well that this position was not easy to come by!

Now that Huang Jin has come back to fight again, if he cannot establish his authority in front of others and cannot handle the case entrusted to him by Emperor Jiajing, then he may soon be replaced by Emperor Jiajing.

So, at this time, Chen Hong must be ruthless!
And it has to be so cruel that it makes even his own people tremble in fear!

After watching the group of officials being dragged into the prison gate, Chen Hong cleared his throat again. His voice was not loud, but it was extremely ruthless and he said, "You continue the interrogation today and make sure to find out all of Dong Fen's followers inside and outside the court. The emperor hates forming cliques and pursuing personal interests the most. These people are all Dong Fen's accomplices, and none of them can be let go!"

"Yes, my son understands."

A group of core eunuchs from the East Factory, who were not much older than Chen Hong but whose status and position were obviously inferior to Chen Hong, quickly responded.

It seemed as if he was very worried that if he responded slowly, Chen Hong would hold a grudge against him.

Then one of the eunuchs had beads of sweat on his forehead, and it was unclear whether it was because of the hot weather or the tension at the moment.

He said carefully to Chen Hong: "Grandfather, there are many people arrested these days, and there are discussions in the court. I am wondering if we should wait for a while."

Chen Hong turned around abruptly, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and he stared at the eunuch fiercely. His voice was filled with a bone-chilling coldness, "Discuss? Who dares to discuss?"

Chen Hong sneered, "Dong Fen colluded with the Japanese pirates and smuggled overseas with ill intentions. The emperor was furious and ordered us to investigate the matter thoroughly. Those who are crying out for Dong Fen, if they are not his accomplices, then what are they? Did you also receive benefits?"

The eunuch was frightened by Chen Hong's momentum and knelt down, slapped himself directly, and cried: "Grandfather, please understand, my son has never accepted any benefits from anyone."

Chen Hong looked at the eunuch's cowardly look and waved his hands impatiently, "Get out!"

All of a sudden, all the eunuchs around Chen Hong scattered, for fear of provoking Chen Hong again.

After these eunuchs walked away, Chen Hong pulled out another list from his sleeve. On it were densely written the names of court officials. Some of them had been ticked by him, indicating that they had been captured. Some had not been ticked, indicating that they had not been captured. There were also some names that only had a dot behind them, indicating that Chen Hong was hesitating.

Looking at the list of accomplices "found" from Dong Fen's home, Chen Hong fell into deep thought.

"Should we take Xu Jie down as well?"

Chen Hong narrowed his eyes and thought of Xu Jie's name.

Xu Jie is now a time bomb for Chen Hong. If he had known that Emperor Jiajing would entrust him with such an important task, he should not have flirted with Xu Jie in the first place.

Now that he was in a passive position, Chen Hong couldn't help but feel upset.

After all, compared with the benefits and power that Emperor Jiajing could give him, what Xu Jie could give him was really too little.

So, at this moment Chen Hong couldn't help but feel conflicted.

But soon, Chen Hong could only sigh, because Dong Fen's fate today was the same as Xu Jie's fate when he reported him for the sake of justice.

If Chen Hong tried to implicate Xu Jie at this time, he might end up losing more than he gained.

Just as Chen Hong was struggling to think, a sudden burst of hurried footsteps interrupted his thoughts.

A breathless Dongchang clerk came running over in a panic and bowed to Chen Hong: "Reporting to the ancestors, something terrible has happened! Dozens of officials have gathered at the Meridian Gate, kneeling on the ground to petition for the release of their arrested colleagues! At the same time, they want to impeach you."

Upon hearing this, Chen Hong's expression suddenly darkened, and a colder light flashed in his eyes: "Who are they?"

"The leader is the Minister of Rites, a Left Vice-Chief Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate, a Doctor of the Ministry of War, and an Editor of the Hanlin Academy. Almost all officials from various government offices in Beijing are participating, and the number is still increasing!"

Chen Hong's eyes flashed with anger, and he said in a deep voice: "Let's go, let's see which so-called loyal ministers dare to protect these rebels at this time?"

At the same time, Chen Hong said to the person who came to report, "Go and get a team of Dongchang soldiers, and have them all carry whips. I want to see the faces of these 'loyal ministers' myself!"

Outside the Meridian Gate, the bluestone slabs were scorching hot under the scorching summer sun.

Dozens of officials dressed in official uniforms of various colors knelt neatly in the center in front of the Meridian Gate, unafraid of the summer heat at all.

The people in the front row are the ones that the Dongchang head just mentioned.

They knelt in the front with their backs straight, holding a memorial in their hands, and knelt motionlessly. Behind them, the other officials who came to petition also had solemn expressions. Even though their foreheads were covered with sweat and their official uniforms were soaked with sweat, no one changed their posture, as if at this moment they had brought out the perseverance they had practiced hard when they took the imperial examinations!

"His Majesty!"

The leader let out a loud yell.

"The Dong Fen case involves a wide range of people, and many ministers are innocent victims. We implore Your Majesty to investigate carefully and not implicate innocent people!"

The people of the capital, who were eager to watch the excitement, heard about the hustle and bustle at the Meridian Gate and gathered there under the scorching sun. Those who had the means even held an umbrella for themselves, while those who had the leisure time were still eating a handful of melon seeds, as if they were treating the kneeling and remonstrances of the officials in front of the Meridian Gate as a rare and good show.

However, no one dared to get close to here. After all, the Meridian Gate was still part of the imperial palace, and there were many imperial guards holding spears and guarding on both sides of the Meridian Gate with expressionless faces.

So the common people could only watch the excitement from afar.

"Mr. Qian, we have been kneeling for half an hour, but His Majesty still has no response."

A young Hanlin whispered to an elder in front of him, with uneasiness in his voice, saying that if he had known that petitioning at the Meridian Gate would be so difficult, he would not have come.

However, when they think of their glorious record after the petition at the Meridian Gate, these young officials can easily be encouraged to knock on the palace gate together and show their presence.

The old man called Qian Gong did not reply and whispered: "This is related to the principles of the court. How can we allow eunuchs to cause trouble? Chen Hong is just using chicken feathers as a token of authority and trying to disrupt the government. Moreover, we are not pleading for Dong Fen, but for other innocent colleagues who were implicated. We are both on the side of justice!"

The young Hanlin thought it made sense and nodded slightly, "Mr. Qian is absolutely right!"

At this moment, a commotion came from outside the Meridian Gate Square.

The crowd automatically made way for each other, and Chen Hong, surrounded by a group of Dongchang men, walked slowly over.

He even specially changed into the dragon robe bestowed by the emperor and didn't feel hot at all!
Chen Hong walked in front of all the officials and snorted, "What are you doing? It's so hot, why are you gathering here to make trouble instead of working in the government office?"

The leading official looked at Chen Hong with disdain and said, "Eunuch Chen, you are too serious. As officials appointed by the imperial court, we should speak up for justice when we see our colleagues suffering innocently. How can we say that we are causing trouble?"

Chen Hong laughed, "Innocent? How innocent? The evidence that Dong Fen colluded with the Japanese pirates and smuggled overseas was provided by Xu Fan, the son of Xu Ge Lao. Don't you know about this?"

"Now the Emperor has ordered us to thoroughly investigate this case. We naturally cannot let any of the traitors involved go. Are you trying to excuse the traitors?"

Chen Hong deliberately dragged out the tone, and the implication was self-evident.

The leading official was shocked when he heard this.

However, there were also officials who were not afraid of trouble and dared to stand out. They suddenly interrupted Chen Hong and refuted him sternly: "Eunuch Chen! The case should be handled according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty. How can you implicate others at will? Among the officials arrested by your Dongchang in the past few days, many were framed just because they were from the same hometown as Dong Fen or had the same Jinshi year as Dong Fen. How is this different from what Yan Shifan and his ilk did back then?"

This kind of official is tough, and is also a specialty of the Ming Dynasty. Regardless of whether their stance is right or wrong, just based on their fearlessness and courage, they can instantly kill many so-called righteous and outspoken officials of other dynasties.

Chen Hong's face suddenly changed when he heard this.

This damn thing actually compared him to Yan Shifan and his ilk!

You must know that the mistakes and problems that Dong Fen is making now are the same crimes that Yan Shifan has committed, and they are even worse.

Now, some people actually compare him to Yan Shifan!

In Chen Hong's opinion, this person was just confusing right and wrong and speaking for the traitor Dong Fen! It was simply a naked provocation!

"shut up!"

"Chen Hong shouted sternly, and continued: "How dare you slander our family! Come, slap him in the face!"

Two Dongchang guards immediately stepped forward, grabbed the outspoken official by the collar and were about to attack him.

But this man was not afraid at all, instead he laughed loudly: "Chen Hong! You are just a eunuch, how dare you lynch an official appointed by the court? If you dare to touch a hair of mine today, you will be punished by God in the future!"

Seeing this man's courage, the people around him couldn't help but admire him for a moment.

At the same time, I was thinking, why not me?
What a great opportunity!

If he was beaten up by Chen Hong, it would be like winning a medal of honor. When he gets promoted in the future, everyone who sees this glorious resume will look at him with admiration, right?

So at this moment, seeing this, other officials hurriedly shouted: "Eunuch Chen, wait a minute! He is just speaking his mind, but he has no intention of offending you. Today, we are here only to ask Your Majesty to be discerning and carefully examine the case of Dong Fen. We have no other intentions!"

But at this moment Chen Hong was already furious.

What he needs most now is to establish his authority!

How can we allow these unknown people to cause trouble and provoke us?
What's more, Chen Hong also knew very well that what Emperor Jiajing hated most was his ministers forming factions to oppose the imperial power.

Doesn't this scene right now qualify as "forcing abdication"?
Chen Hong's heart was set on steel, and a fierce light flashed in his eyes. Since these people wanted to gain fame, let them do it to their heart's content and do it thoroughly!
"You have gathered at the Meridian Gate without permission, and you have helped the traitors and threatened the Emperor. This is already a serious crime of treason!"

"We are in charge of the East Factory under the order of the Emperor. How can we allow you traitors to act so recklessly here? Come on! Beat them up! Beat them hard! Let these ignorant fellows remember this lesson!"

Following Chen Hong's order, the Dongchang men who had been prepared immediately rushed into the group of officials waving whips.

The whip cut through the air, making a sharp whistling sound, followed by the dull sound of flesh being whipped and the officials' cries of pain.

Some officials who just wanted to join in the fun and brush up their resumes did not expect that Chen Hong would really dare to take action, and he beat everyone indiscriminately. They were stunned for a moment!

"Ahhhh!"

For a moment, screams rang out one after another, echoing in the Meridian Gate!

It was a great excitement for the crowd of onlookers!

"Chen Hong!!!"

"You will die a miserable death!!!"

The beaten officials screamed and cursed
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