Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 101 Execution of Three Ministers and Liu Wentai

The punishment for these outer court officials was actually no different from that for Wang Yue. Zhu Houzhao still ordered their execution according to the law on the grounds that the previous emperor had not sent them a dream. Naturally, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Liu Wentai and others were also to be sentenced to death.

There is no need to mention Liu Jian and Li Dongyang, they were also sentenced to death like Wang Yue!

But Xie Qian was different.

The main reason was that what Xie Qian did was too immoral. Zhu Houzhao also learned from Deng Bing's report what happened when Xie Qian was escorted, and also knew about Xie Qian's crimes.

But although Zhu Houzhao was surprised and ashamed of Xie Qian's behavior, it was not surprising. After all, he knew that from ancient times to the present, these so-called aristocratic families have never been clean. As Liu Xianglian said, these aristocratic families are probably only the stone lions in front of the door can be considered clean. There are countless things like adultery, murder, child abuse, wax figurine making and even other heinous things.

"Xie Qian's behavior must be severely punished. In recent years, the social atmosphere has become increasingly extravagant. Few scholars and officials are self-righteous and abide by morality. More and more people are arrogant and extravagant, and even bully men and women. If these are not curbed, it will not only damage the atmosphere of the scholars, but also bring bad influence to the administration of the Ming Dynasty, and easily destroy human ethics. The pursuit of fine clothes and beautiful houses may be understandable, but such acts that hurt heaven and harm people will only breed public resentment!"

At this time, Zhu Houzhao, who was in the cabinet and the Silijian duty room, expressed his views.

The current cabinet minister Ma Wensheng and the eunuch Liu Jin all follow Zhu Houzhao's lead. After Zhu Houzhao said this, Ma Wensheng and others did not object.

Ma Wensheng even asked directly: "May I ask Your Majesty, how should Xie Qian be dealt with?"

Now Zhu Houzhao placed the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department near his own Qianqing Palace, which made the Ming Dynasty even more autocratic. In this small duty room to the north of Longzong Gate, Zhu Houzhao could manipulate all military and political affairs of the empire at any time, including the execution of anyone.

Zhu Houzhao finally decided to sentence Xie Qian to the Sandalwood Punishment, and the severity of the punishment was even more severe than that of Mou Bindang. It was considered a deluxe version of the Sandalwood Punishment. Not only would the anus be cleared, but a few days before the execution, he would be injected with strong drugs that could make people excited and full of yang energy, in order to punish Xie Qian for the crime of abusing young girls and boys!
At the same time, because Liu Wentai was the direct murderer who killed the previous emperor, and also killed two generations of previous emperors, even poisoned them, Zhu Houzhao simply let Liu Wentai take lead and mercury medicine when he was sentenced to death, which hurt his liver and spleen! He died of severe pain!

……

"…Sentence Liu Jian to death…Give his flesh to the people whose land he occupied! To appease the people's grievances!"

"…Sentence Li Dongyang to death…Have his flesh thrown into the slaughtered villages of Sanyuan County, to be eaten by wild dogs, to avenge the souls of the people who were killed because of his conspiracy!"

"…Give Xie Qian three hundred pills of the magical medicine that will keep him from falling for three days. Take them first, and I will announce the punishment that will follow!"

"...Give Liu Wentai five hundred red pills and three bowls of moldy bean cakes to eat with them! Then announce the following punishment!"

At this time, when the official from the Ministry of Justice had just finished reading the imperial edict, Liu Jian and Li Dongyang who were present were both speechless.

Neither Liu Jian nor Li Dongyang expected that they would still be sentenced to death. Liu Jian even murmured to himself: "Why do you still want to sentence me to death? Why is it like this? Even more than Wang Yue!"

"Zhu Houzhao, I should not have allowed you to be the emperor. I should have killed you as well!"

Liu Jian roared angrily.

By this time, Li Dongyang had already fainted.

Only Xie Qian and Liu Wentai were complacent. Xie Qian laughed and said, "Fortunately, it was just poison. I don't know what kind of poison it was. Will it take three days for the poison to take effect and kill me? Well, I'll live three more days!"

Liu Wentai also said: "I am willing to die in the same way as the late emperor!" What these two people didn't know was that they would be even more miserable than Liu Jian and Li Dongyang!

……

At this time, Liu Jian and Li Dongyang were taken to the execution ground first. Like Wang Yue, they cried for several days and nights!

A few days later, after taking the medicine, Xie Qian found out that what he had taken was not poison, but aphrodisiac, and he had taken 300 pills of this medicine. He was so excited that he could not sleep that night, and he felt as if he was on fire. Unfortunately, his hands and feet were tied, so he could only stand still until the day of his execution, which was more painful than being tortured to death by slicing.

Liu Wentai was not much better off. The lead and mercury plus the aflatoxin in the moldy food directly led to Liu Wentai's acute liver cirrhosis and then liver failure. Liu Wentai suddenly had abdominal pain worse than a woman giving birth. He rolled on the ground and kept shouting, "I know my crime, I know my crime!"

"Impose the punishment of burning Xie Qian with sandalwood and skinning him alive... to punish him for the crimes of regicide and child abuse! The people of the capital are allowed to watch!"

After the official from the Ministry of Justice read out the decree, Xie Qian was taken to the execution ground, and then his anus was pierced that day. Xie Qian screamed in pain. When the knife cut his skin, Xie Qian's body, which was already dilated due to the effect of the drug, bleed like a fountain, and his ascending nervous system was ten times more sensitive to pain than before.

Liu Wentai suffered from both severe physical pain and severe physiological pain.

But no matter what, after the first month of the year, all those treacherous officials involved in regicide and treason were finally executed.

……

But the massacre in several villages in Sanyuan County has not yet ended.

The Inspector-General Lu Zhonghe never thought that bringing the Tartars in and massacring a few villages was a big deal. After all, he had the protection of the ministers above him, so nothing could go wrong.

Just as the officials and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River colluded with the Japanese pirates to promote maritime trade and looted coastal villages when the court issued an order to ban maritime trade, it was also normal to collude with the Tartars in the border towns to loot a few villages and annex some land.

Otherwise, there wouldn't have been the Shanxi merchants that grew stronger later and the huge political and business groups they nurtured. By the time of Wanli, they had people from the cabinet to local governors and directly nurtured the gravediggers of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, these officials and gentry did not care whether the Tartars they raised would become the gravediggers of the Ming Dynasty. In the eyes of most people of this era, the Ming Dynasty was not founded by them. They never regarded the Ming Dynasty as their own property. They only thought about how to gain more benefits for themselves in the Ming Dynasty society.

If the Ming Dynasty fell, they would just change to another dynasty. Anyway, as gentry, they could still become officials and enjoy privileges. The worst that could happen is that they would just overthrow another dynasty.

But just when Lü Zhonghe arrived in Shangzhou, Shaanxi for inspection, Wang Yangming came to him with his soldiers.

At this time, the Imperial Censor Lu Zhonghe also learned in advance that the imperial officers and soldiers suddenly appeared in Shaanxi. He could guess that it must be because of the massacre in Sanyuan County, but what he couldn't understand was why the imperial court sent officers and soldiers instead of the Jinyiwei. Was it because the Jinyiwei was very busy and couldn't spare any troops?
In fact, Lu Zhonghe's guess was correct. The Jinyiwei was indeed very busy, so Zhu Houzhao sent officers and soldiers.

But what Lu Zhonghe didn't guess was that the officers and soldiers would come directly to him and arrest him.

Thanks to the book friend Chaoxuexuechi for the 100 starting coins reward. Thank you to the book friend ll4100 starting coins reward. Thank you to the book friend BUCK500 starting coins reward.



(End of this chapter)