Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 369: Shoot! Shoot!
boom!
Liang Menglong didn't hesitate. He picked up the rifle, pulled the bolt, and shot at Froni!
The sound of gunfire shook the entire parliament hall.

And Froni's forehead turned from white to bright red, and he fell on the parliamentary table.

Blood seeped out from his arms, slowly flowed to the edge of the table, and then fell drop by drop onto the carpet.

The originally noisy parliament hall suddenly became quiet.

Very quiet!
Just like a still oil painting, time has been frozen in the frame.

The sound of dripping blood was just like the needle of a clock advancing time little by little, as if no one could stop it from happening.

This is a very surprising and unexpected picture.

Even Zhu Houzhao himself had never thought of it before.

Sitting in the parliament hall was Zhu Zaiyun, dressed in the clothes of a Ming prince, but he was the King of England.

There is also the emperor emeritus from the Ming Dynasty, whose influence extends across the globe!
But the Speaker of the parliament, Roger, is still a Westerner wearing a Western suit.

Standing next to Roger was a Han Chinese man dressed in Confucian robes - Xu Wei.

On the opposite side of the king were various Westerners serving as parliamentarians, including Fronyi who had been shot dead at this time.

Liang Menglong and the other two standing in front of Fronyi, like the guards standing behind King Zhu Zaikun, were all Ming soldiers with black beards and black eyes.

They were still wearing the standard military uniforms of the Ming Dynasty.

They wore cotton armor, a badge on their chest, a star on their shoulders, and a hat-shaped helmet on their heads, which was very different from Western soldiers.

But at this moment in the British Parliament, they were the ones maintaining order.

It can be said that the entire parliament hall is a mixture of Ming and Western clothing, with both Eastern and Western people.

But in this day and age, this is not surprising.

First of all, it is not surprising that Zhu Zaiyun became the King of England. There have been cases in England’s history of welcoming royal relatives back from other countries to serve as kings.

Secondly, the Kingdom of England was originally established by an alliance between the king and other nobles. There was no so-called centralized power, nor was there a so-called national army.

Now Liang Menglong and others are considered royal troops, so it is reasonable and appropriate for them to appear in the parliament to escort Zhu Zaikun.

However, at this moment, the members of parliament did not expect that their king of oriental descent would order them to be shot for their disrespect to the retired emperor Zhu Houzhao.

"Your Majesty, Froni has done nothing wrong! You shouldn't have shot him! Your father was never the king or a member of Parliament of England, you should have driven him away!"

At this time, a member of the Gogen parliament stood up and continued to defend Fronyi, and continued to demand that King Zhu Zaiyun drive Zhu Houzhao away from here.

"Yes, Your Majesty, you should drive him away!" Senator Aris also echoed.

Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu Zaiyuan in a cold voice: "Yuer, I am your father. Since ancient times, filial piety is more important than heaven. They are so disrespectful to your father. If you don't shoot them, do you want to go against filial piety and let them trample on your royal power?!"

"Shoot him! Shoot him!"

With Zhu Houzhao's support, Zhu Zaiyun naturally showed no mercy and shouted the order to execute twice in a row.

then.

Liang Menglong raised his rifle again, aimed it at Gogen, and shot him directly, hitting Gogen in the forehead again.

Gogen fell under the table, and blood naturally flowed out, dripping onto the ground.

Followed by.

Liang Menglong raised it again, and Aris, who was trying to escape in a panic, was shot in the back of the head and fell on the desk of another congressman.

Blood flowed everywhere!

pat!

pat!

There was a constant sound of blood dripping after the gunshots.

As an officer and soldier of the Ming Dynasty, Liang Menglong would naturally not show mercy when killing Westerners.

"Your Majesty, I didn't expect you to be so cruel! You are so good at killing members of parliament. You will be deserted by everyone and punished by God. I refuse to participate in such a parliament!"

Senator Kren stood up and shouted, his fists clenched, obviously very angry at the king's act of killing.

"I also refuse to participate in such a parliament!"

Councillor Shedder also stood up and prepared to leave.

"Me too. At the same time, I feel it is necessary to reconvene Parliament and exercise Parliament's power to drive this unbeliever devil off the throne! Execute him!"

Councilman Zierci said.

Seeing that some members of the parliament were about to leave in anger, Zhu Houzhao continued to question Zhu Zaiyi: "Yi'er, if you don't kill those who despise the royal power like this, do you want to let them go back and start an uprising?!"

Zhu Zaiqi nodded in agreement, and continued to order: "Anyone who leaves will be shot!"

boom!
boom!
boom!
Chief of the Imperial Guard Liang Menglong held a rifle and continued to shoot the congressmen who wanted to leave, just like shooting flying saucers.

Naturally, Kren, Xuedel and Zierxi all fell in the parliament hall, and their blood began to spread on the carpet of the parliament hall.

If Zhu Houzhao had to abide by the rules and not dare to kill his political enemies in order to reform and eliminate malpractices and establish a legal society in the late Ming Dynasty, now he came to England with no intention of establishing a legal system. On the contrary, he wanted to trample on the legal system here and thoroughly establish an autocratic and more centralized empire in England!

An agricultural civilization empire with a more centralized power!
A British Empire ruled by Confucian civilization!

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao wanted to let these parliamentarians representing the British bourgeoisie know what filial piety is, what the majesty of the emperor is, and what it means that if the emperor wants his subjects to die, the subjects have to die!

And the current situation is naturally just the beginning, just a punishment for those who despise the royal power.

Some congressmen who were about to stand up were so scared that they sat back down, while some congressmen who were about to leave were so scared that they hurried back and sat down.

In short, under the threat of guns and cannons, these congressmen finally dared not speak nonsense anymore and dared not leave here at will.

Zhu Houzhao continued to say to Zhu Zaiyun: "Let's discuss the matter first. There is no need to move the body away in a hurry. Let's continue to intimidate those members who are not on the same page with you."

"Yes!"

Zhu Zaiyuan responded and then told Luo Jie, "Mr. Luo, please start the discussion on the Anti-Enclosure Bill."

Roger, who was the President of the Privy Council, the President of the House of Lords and the Chief Justice, was the confidant of King Zhu Zaikun. Since his power and status were given by the king, he had no need to disobey Zhu Zaikun's order and began to announce the beginning of the debate on the "Anti-Enclosure Bill."

When the draft content of the Anti-Enclosure Bill was announced, members of the entire parliament hall showed expressions of disapproval.

Some members of parliament began to murmur among themselves.

Some lawmakers couldn't help but clench their fists, unable to stop getting angry and wanting to denounce something.

The "Anti-Enclosure Law" that Zhu Houzhao asked Zhu Zai to draft was indeed very strict, because the law clearly required that anyone who occupied farmers' land would be sentenced to death and their property would be confiscated once discovered, regardless of their status!
"Mr. Luo, ask them if they have any suggestions for revising this bill?" Zhu Zaiyuan asked at this time. Roger understood and conveyed Zhu Zaiyuan's words in English to the English MPs present.

"I don't agree with this bill. Banning land enclosure will restrict the development of our textile industry in England!"

Councillor Odossi stood up. He really could not tolerate such harsh laws that were willing to kill people just to protect the interests of farmers.

"Lord Luo, continue to ask if there are any suggestions for amendments. Don't bother with those who disagree. There is no need to discuss the implementation of the anti-enclosure law with them. This is my power! Tell them that if they don't have any suggestions for amendments, then pass the bill. The time limit is one hour!"

Zhu Zaiyuan continued.

Roger continued to convey Zhu Zaiyuan's meaning.

After hearing this, all the members of the parliament found it extremely difficult to accept Zhu Zaiyun's attitude towards the parliament.

absurd!

If the parliament does not have the power to make decisions, is it still a parliament? !
"I don't agree with the king's view. It is the power of Parliament to pass bills! The king is only responsible for the final review, but he does not have the power to ignore Parliament!"

Councillor Qiu Lunche stood up and said.

Zhu Houzhao and Zhu Zaikun ignored it and just waited for time to pass.

Roger just continued to ask the members present whether they had any suggestions for amendments, but the members of Parliament mistook Roger's tireless questioning as the king's weakness. As a result, more and more members of Parliament forgot the gunshots just now and opposed more and more fiercely in order to safeguard their own bourgeois interests.

An hour passed.

Zhu Zaiyun ordered: "Lord Luo, tell them that since the members have no objection to the draft, declare the draft officially passed and establish it as a bill, which will be implemented on the first Monday of next month. Let the Speakers and Clerks of the two Houses sign it! It can be promulgated! And tell these justices and judges to implement it according to the bill and not to cover up, otherwise they will all be executed for disobeying the order!"

Roger continued to convey Zhu Zaiyuan's intentions to the members of parliament.

But at this time, the members of the entire parliament were furious. The resolution had not been discussed in the parliament, and they were not even allowed to vote. They were only allowed to propose amendments and were given a time limit. Now that the time had passed, it was going to be promulgated throughout the country. How could these members not be angry?
then.

These lawmakers all started to make a fuss, shouting that this was wrong.

"Mr. Qi, don't pay attention to these people, just let your officials sign," Zhu Houzhao said at this time. For the former emperor of the Ming Dynasty, this kind of wealthy people opposing monarchical dictatorship was already accustomed to it, so naturally he didn't find it strange.

Zhu Zaiyun followed Zhu Houzhao's wishes and continued to ask Roger and other officials to sign.

Roger, as the Speaker of the House of Lords, signed first, and the clerk of the House of Lords appointed by him also came over to sign.

But at this time, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sophie, threw all the documents and pens in her hands under the parliamentary table: "I refuse to sign. Such a bill is not in line with the system of my Kingdom of England. It is against the rules!"

"it is good!"

Seeing that the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sophie, refused to sign, some members of parliament could not help but cheer loudly, and threw their documents and pens on the ground, and some even threw their ink bottles on the ground to express their protest against the bill.

It stands to reason.

The Speaker of the House of Commons was also appointed by the King. After all, the Tudor dynasty was still an absolute monarchy, and there had not yet been a bourgeois revolution in England.

Therefore, in many cases, the bills of parliament are basically decided by the king, because the king has the final say, and the Speaker of the House of Commons and the House of Lords are appointed by the king, so the bills of parliament can often represent the will of the king.

But this was only when the Act of Parliament was consistent with the King's interests.

Although England is an absolute monarchy, it is not highly centralized. At least the parliament still has great power.

However, no matter what, Sophie's behavior was considered a betrayal to the king, so Zhu Houzhao only asked Zhu Zaiqi: "Why do you keep such a treacherous minister who disobeys the king instead of shooting him?!"

Zhu Zaiqi shouted: "Sophie disobeyed the order, dismiss her from the position of Speaker of the House of Commons and execute her immediately!"

boom!
Liang Menglong fired again.

Sophie, the smug Speaker of the House of Commons, fell on his pile of papers.

The sound of gunfire silenced the entire parliament again.

The members of parliament present had to reaffirm that the king would not allow anyone to resist his will.

Zhu Zaiyuan continued to order: "Now, I hereby announce that Xu Wei is appointed as the Speaker of the House of Commons! Sign it immediately!"

then.

After paying his respects to Zhu Zaiyuan, Xu Wei countersigned his name together with Luo Jie, and the clerks from the two houses also countersigned their names.

The Anti-Enclosure Act was officially passed!

The congressmen present watched all this in amazement, feeling unwilling and somewhat fearful.

They did not expect that the king would pass the Anti-Enclosure Act so cruelly and harshly.

Only after this did Zhu Zaiyun announce the end of the parliament.

Naturally, these executed congressmen were carried out one after another and prepared for cremation.

As they watched the bodies of the members of parliament being carried out one after another, the English officers and soldiers guarding the parliament hall did not understand what was going on.

The blood shed in the Parliament Hall had already flowed out of the hall, as if it was going to dye the entire land of England red.

Zhu Houzhao's goal was indeed to dye the entire land of England red.

"This time, the bill was passed by force, and many people were killed. This will definitely cause dissatisfaction among the English nobles and bourgeoisie. I am afraid they will take action. Therefore, you need to have your own intelligence organization! You need to recruit capable people from the civilian population immediately!"

Zhu Houzhao suggested to Zhu Zaiyun.

Zhu Zaiyun also did as he was told and asked Roger to help him find commoners among the people of England to set up a personal guard, similar to the Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty.

……

A month later, when Zhu Zaikun began to organize and train the Imperial Guard according to Zhu Houzhao's wishes, the anti-enclosure policy was officially implemented.

However, the results are not obvious.

"Father, the chief judges of various counties are pretending to obey our bills and are still shielding the powerful and the bourgeoisie. Many people are still being driven into the cities. This is the latest situation reflected by my newly established Imperial Guard," Zhu Zaiyun said to Zhu Houzhao.

"England is not even as big as a provincial governor of the Ming Dynasty. How difficult is it to implement a policy? This little resistance is nothing. So, I will lend you a regiment of troops. You can set up inspectors in each county and deputy inspectors in the central government. Let them lead your officers and soldiers to inspect everywhere. If the local judges protect the criminals, they will be killed! The inspectors must be people you can trust!"

Zhu Houzhao said.

"I have the same idea, but there are not many Westerners in England that I can trust," said Zhu Zaiqi.

"You need to recruit talents. It seems that England must also implement the imperial examination system. You should ask the Privy Council to draft another bill, a bill for the imperial examination, just like the imperial examinations of the Ming Dynasty before Zhengde, which will test eight-part essays. Of course, it doesn't have to be so difficult in the early stages. In the first few years, you can only test the Mingjing subjects, and only test the recitation of Confucian classics such as the Four Books and the Five Classics. First use Westerners who are close to the Ming Dynasty and Confucianism and who are actively learning Chinese!"

Zhu Houzhao then asked Zhu Zaiyun to discuss carefully with Roger, Xu Wei and others how to establish an imperial examination system in England that would allow poor students in England to advance to become aristocrats.

Thanks to my book friend I Love Flying Bird for giving 100 Qidian coins

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(End of this chapter)