Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 55 The Silent Prime Minister

Dou Ding, the Criminal Department's Censor, was dragged out of the Meridian Gate and pinned to the ground by Liang Ze and another soldier.

Dou Ding was unwilling to accept the defeat and struggled desperately: "I don't want to die! Woohoo! Your Majesty, I was wrong. I know I was wrong!"

Click!

But Guo Rong did not hesitate at all. He raised the long knife in his hand and immediately cut through the void like a meteor, accurately cutting a bloody mark on Dou Ding's neck, which was fat as twice as circles, and cut it off in an instant. Only gurgling blood spurted out and rushed straight into the blue sky!
The lower half of Dou Ding's body was still wriggling on the ground, rubbing the white ground outside the Meridian Gate into a blood-red hue, and only his mouth opened and closed twice, and there seemed to be a look of surprise in his wooden eyes.

……

At the Fengtian Gate, when Zhu Houzhao directly ordered the Criminal Department's Censor Dou Ding to be dragged out and beheaded, all the officials present were horrified.

Because since the Hongzhi reign, no civil official had been punished in the court for eighteen years! Even during the Chenghua reign, they were only punished with caning!

For a moment, the civil servants present were still a little uncomfortable with this atmosphere.

Just like that day in front of the Cining Palace, Emperor Zhu Houzhao suddenly issued an order to kill Sun Meiling, the Chief Censor of the Ministry of Rites.

However, the three cabinet elders did not say a word at this time.

Although Liu Jian, the chief minister of the cabinet, also hoped that Zhu Houzhao would re-examine the case as Dou Ding said, he also knew that the hope was slim, because the new emperor now controlled the inner court and naturally wanted to re-establish his authority in the outer court.

The second assistant of the cabinet, Li Dongyang, squinted his eyes, as if he was about to fall asleep, but in fact he had begun to pay attention to Zhu Houzhao again, hoping to find out Zhu Houzhao's true character.

Xie Qian, one of the three ministers in the cabinet, really wanted to help his student, but he noticed the look in Zhu Houzhao's eyes and knew that Zhu Houzhao wanted to establish his authority, so he became intimidated and lowered his head.

Minister of Personnel Ma Wensheng, Minister of War Xu Jin, Left Vice Minister of Personnel Jiao Fang and others guessed that there would be bloodshed in the court today when they saw Liu Jin replaced Wang Yue. After all, the Emperor already controlled the inner court, and as a young emperor, there was no way to make these outer court officials fear his majesty unless he took action against them.

But it is obvious that Zhu Houzhao's behavior did make the civil service group feel threatened and uncomfortable.

Therefore, many civil servants were very resistant and even angry about Zhu Houzhao's behavior.

When Dou Ding, the Criminal Secretary, was dragged out of the Meridian Gate and beheaded by Zhu Houzhao, the fearless censor He Tianqu stood up and said directly: "Your Majesty! Dou Ding is a censor! If censors are convicted for their words, it may block the way for speech! Please spare his life and reward his loyalty!"

"So you don't think he is guilty, but I am guilty?"

Zhu Houzhao asked. He was very familiar with He Tianqu and knew that he was the censor who had advised him to return to the palace that day.

"I dare not speak of the mistakes of my king and father, but if they have made mistakes, I, as an imperial censor, should naturally advise them. Your Majesty's actions are undoubtedly those of a tyrant!"

He Tianqu smiled coldly as he spoke, and he seemed to be very stubborn. In his opinion, the censors could not be killed, otherwise they, the civil officials, would not be able to criticize the emperor and the high officials, and would not be able to protect their own interests, so he was fearless. At the same time, He Tianqu naively thought that he could make the young emperor Zhu Houzhao change his mind by giving a few harsh words of advice.

It is obvious that He Tianqu misunderstood Zhu Houzhao's intentions, or perhaps a large number of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty still do not know how to figure out Zhu Houzhao's thoughts.

So, what He Tianqu did not expect was that Zhu Houzhao ignored him and just sat back on the dragon throne after he spoke.

At this time, Guo Rong had already returned to Fengtian Gate: "Your Majesty, the criminal Dou Ding has been executed!"

The civil and military officials present were all very surprised when they heard this, and they also began to fear Zhu Houzhao. They thought that the emperor was either young and fearless or he didn't care about his reputation. He was really daring to kill people! He had already killed two censors in a row.

Censor He Tianqu was also stunned. He did not expect that Zhu Houzhao did not withdraw his decision to kill Dou Ding, the Censor of the Criminal Department, because of his advice. At the same time, he became a little scared. His legs went soft and he fell to the ground unconsciously.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao happened to raise his hand and pointed at He Tianqu: "Drag him down and chop him off! Confiscate his property!"

The scene was very quiet!

The three ministers of the cabinet and the nine officials of the six ministries looked at Zhu Houzhao in surprise, and at the same time shrank their heads back in fear. They did not expect that the new emperor would start killing people without a word. Not only had he killed two censors, but now he was going to kill another one.

Zhu Houzhao had no intention of being polite to the civil officials today, because his goal today was to establish his own authority. He had to let these civil and military officials, especially the civil officials present, understand that the emperor is not just a bodhisattva. He cannot bless you just by asking for a few words of praise. The emperor is sometimes also a butcher. Don't forget the saying that serving the emperor is like serving a tiger.

When Censor He Tianqu heard that Zhu Houzhao wanted Guo Rong to also behead him outside the Meridian Gate, he was so frightened that he immediately stood up and knelt in front of Zhu Houzhao:
"Your Majesty, please spare my life! I have no other intentions. I just think that censors should not be killed casually. Of course, if Your Majesty really wants to kill me, it's fine. If the king wants me to die, I have to die. I am just worried that it will affect Your Majesty's reputation in the future. I really have no other intentions. I know my crime. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

Zhu Houzhao rolled his eyes helplessly, thinking that this censor had a really low EQ. He still didn't understand why he killed him. Didn't he know that he killed him because his views were different from his? Didn't he know that it was Dou Ding's fault for saying at this time that His Majesty the Emperor's initial understanding was wrong?

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand: "Drag him away!"

Censor He Tianqu didn't expect that he would fail, and of course he didn't expect Zhu Houzhao to be so cruel, but now he only knew that he might die, so He Tianqu took advantage of the fact that Guo Rong and other soldiers could not catch him and went straight to the cabinet chief Liu Jian:

"Teacher, save the students! Save the students!"

At this time, Zhu Houzhao also looked at the Chief Minister of the Cabinet Liu Jian. He actually wanted to see how the Chief Minister of the Cabinet Liu Jian would react when he saw this scene.

The Chief Minister of the Cabinet Liu Jian was in a bad mood at this time, but he also knew that the emperor Zhu Houzhao now had control of the inner court, which also meant that the army was also controlled by the emperor. Even if he was the Chief Minister of the Cabinet, he could not compete with the emperor without the help of the inner court. On the contrary, he, the old chief minister, had become an obstacle to the new emperor's power.

Therefore, Liu Jian knew that Zhu Houzhao was hoping that he would disobey him at this time and would use an excuse to punish him. Liu Jian even felt that Zhu Houzhao deliberately killed two censors so cruelly today just to force him to submit.

Therefore, when the Prime Minister of the Cabinet Liu Jian saw his student He Tianqu asking him for help, he just remained silent.

(End of this chapter)