I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 564 Confrontation
"Prince Heng Zhu Youji plotted rebellion and had evil intentions, so he is sentenced to death! All descendants of Prince Heng are demoted to commoners, their land and palaces are confiscated, and their family members are exiled to various places in America and Australia, and they are not allowed to return to the Ming Dynasty for generations!" Zhu Houxuan announced the verdict coldly.

The Prince of Heng, Zhu Youji, who had been so tough just now, could no longer hold back. Death is the only hardest thing in the world, and no one wants to die. But when death really comes, it is impossible to remain calm.
"Why do you punish me? You are a prince of the Ming Dynasty, and I am also a prince of the Ming Dynasty. I am also your elder. Why do you punish me? Only His Majesty can punish me! You let His Majesty punish me," said Prince Heng Zhu Youji with some guilt.

But Zhu Houxuan was too lazy to talk nonsense with him. He just waved his hand and two guards came out, picked up Prince Heng Zhu Youju and dragged him out. What was waiting for him would be a three-foot white silk or a pot of poisoned wine.
At first, Prince Heng Zhu Youji kept cursing, but soon his tone softened and finally turned into a voice of begging for mercy.
"Your Highness Prince Heng, a man should die if he wants to. Why act like this?" The speaker was an old minister, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet Fei Hong.

He is the highest-ranking civilian official involved in the coup.

But his words didn't have much effect, King Heng was still wailing.
The Fengtian Hall was now full of people kneeling. These were the officials who participated in the coup. When they saw what happened to Prince Heng, they all knew what their fate would be, and many of them cried out loud.
"Mr. Fei, do you have any last words?" Zhu Houxuan said indifferently to Fei Hong.

"Of course!" Fei Hong said proudly.

Fei Hong was a descendant of Fei Yi, a famous prime minister of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He was born into the Fei family of Qianshan, Jiangxi Province, a family that was also very famous in the Ming Dynasty.

"Our ancestors of the Ming Dynasty worked hard to govern the country. During the reign of Emperor Xiaozong, the country was prosperous, the people lived and worked in peace, and the country was thriving. It was called the Hongzhi Era. But when you became regent, you made many mistakes in the use of people. The officials were angry but dared not speak out. You appointed people who did not know the meaning of the classics as officials, and practiced the way of Legalism instead of Confucianism. How could the Ming Dynasty not lose the hearts of the people?"

"It has been an ancient system for thousands of years that gentry do not serve and do not pay taxes, but you insist on going against the rules, causing complaints from gentry all over the world and people to panic. How can the political situation not be chaotic? The sage said: The people are the most important, the country is second, and the monarch is the least important. The gentry are the most important of the four classes of people. Without the support of the gentry, how can the Ming Dynasty be stable? You must know that the monarch governs the world together with the gentry, not with the people!"

"Since you became regent, you have deceived His Majesty and carried out reforms all day long. You have changed so many systems! Those systems are the ancestral systems of our Ming Dynasty! They are the ancestral systems left by the previous emperors! Are those ancestral systems so bad? You change them every day? Even if some ancestral systems are very old and no longer relevant, you can change them, but you want to change the systems newly established by Emperor Xianzong and Emperor Xiaozong. Aren't you trampling on and ignoring the hard work of Emperor Xianzong and Emperor Xiaozong?"

"You established the Royal Group, and as a prince you personally run a menial business, competing with the people for profits and exploiting the common people. The Royal Group is making a fortune, but you are also imposing taxes on each acre of land and persecuting the gentry. You keep saying that you are doing this for the Ming Dynasty, but I think you are here to destroy it!"

Fei Hong's attack power is maxed out.
Zhu Houxuan was stunned after hearing this. This Grand Secretary Fei usually looked cautious and prudent, but he didn't expect that his level was so high!
They attacked him from all angles he could not imagine, and even dragged out Zhu Jianshen and Zhu Youtang to help, directly denying the legitimacy of his reforms.
What he did well was not to mention it at all, and then distorted the facts to put a hat on him, putting four or five hats on him in a row, and constantly magnifying the distorted facts. This trick was really played well.
Although Fei Hong's words had many logical flaws and ignored many facts, they were still able to inspire the hearts of these criminal officials.
After listening to Fei Hong's words, many people stopped crying and their mood became better, as if they were really fighting for a just cause.
At this time, Zhu Houxuan was too lazy to debate with him, because it was meaningless. As long as he kept winning, there would always be great scholars in Jiangnan lining up to debate with him.
"Behead him! Then send his head to all parts of Jiangnan!" Zhu Houxuan said coldly. Fei Hong was much calmer after receiving the news. He did not cry or beg for mercy. He did not let the guards drag him out, but walked over to die.
As he walked, he said to the prisoners in the hall: "Don't be sad, be cheerful. Although we are about to die, we are the winners of this round! We will continue to win, and then we will enjoy the sacrifices of future generations, and he will be infamous for thousands of years."

Zhu Houxuan narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression became dangerous, he knew that Fei Hong was right, although he finally recaptured the capital, but the capital was the heartland of his most powerful forces, such a heartland was thrown into chaos by such a small number of people, he recruited millions of talents to quell this incident, it wasted countless money, Zhu Houzhao was seriously ill and dying, the guards also suffered heavy casualties, no matter from which aspect, he lost miserably in this incident
The morale of the prisoners in the hall was raised again. Some of them stepped out directly to follow Fei Hong to die, which seemed very heroic. However, they were only a minority. Most of them still knelt in the same place and trembled.
"You don't think this matter is over, do you?" Fei Hong suddenly stopped and looked at Zhu Houxuan.

"This matter has just begun! Go and check the account books of the Ministry of War carefully, you will get a big surprise. Hahaha!" Fei Hong looked at Zhu Houxuan meaningfully, then walked out of the palace gate with a big laugh.

Zhu Houxuan's eyes fixed, he understood the implication of Fei Hong's words, and some of his previous bad speculations seemed to be coming true.
"Then exterminate all the male members of their three clans, and exile the rest overseas." Zhu Houxuan added in a cold tone.

"As for these people! Detain them first and sentence them on another day!" Zhu Houxuan continued.

The hall fell silent for a moment, and many of the prisoners collapsed, relieved.
The hall soon became empty, and the criminals were taken away.
"She hasn't come yet?" Zhu Houxuan asked coldly.

"Your Highness, the Queen Mother said she was not feeling well and refused to come," Jiang Jiangong replied quickly.

"Refuse. Humph! Where are her two younger brothers?" Zhu Houxuan asked.

"Marquis of Shouning Zhang Heling and Marquis of Jianchang Zhang Yanling are now hiding in the Empress Dowager's bedroom." Jiang Jiangong replied.

(End of this chapter)